Nick Mitchell

Part 25 is here, and as promised, I am assembling the slide bars from the Black 5 etch. I even mangle one of them for your amusement. https://youtu.be/Ihv26Ong5RA Part 26 will introduce the motion bracket...

Here is Part 24 where, after a bit more preparation of parts, I move on to assembly of the cylinder block. The eagle-eyed may spot evidence that I brought fitting the brakes forward in the presentation sequence - the blocks and hangers can be glimpsed still attached to the etch fret at one point. Assembly and fitting of the slide-bars will be next. https://youtu.be/DeGO53vLpWI

Here is the next thrilling instalment... This time I'm looking at castings and making bits in preparation for assembling the cylinder block. The Black 5 castings I'm using here have just been made available once more from the 2mm Association shop. This time round you can order individual sprues rather than the whole set. On viewing it back, it seems this video ends rather abruptly. It is really the first half of a much longer piece, but I had to break them up before I went round the twist doing the editing. Part 24 will be along in a couple of days (I hope! "just" the voice-over to record...) and will pick up the story. https://youtu.be/r5a44c90E-U

The valve gear looks exquisite, Nigel. I've been thinking about your valve spindle crosshead guide. The ones on the real 2300s were bracketed from above, and look like they're floating in mid air in some photographs. Rather than fixing it to the radius rod/combination lever, could you maybe arrange for a dummy valve-spindle to project from the rear valve-chest cover, and attach the end of the guide "box" to that? A more radical alternative (if one wanted to model the loco "in gear" and make the valve rod move) might be to hang just the visible outer face of the guide from behind the footplate valance - if there's clearance...

After an enforced hiatus due to the annual September frenzy at work, I'm back with Episode 22. This time I'm tackling the brakes, which (if you're going to fit them) need to be done before the coupling rods get permanently attached. At the beginning of the episode, you'll see me drilling some holes. At the 2mm Association AGM recently, somebody was asking about the small drills I used. Several of my modelling heroes agreed that "modern drills are rubbish", and decent ones can't be had for love nor money. After buying and chucking away packets of tiny drills from the likes of Squires Tools for having either no flutes, or no metal between the flutes (the ones I had 10 years ago were fine), and hearing reports of current Microbox drills being made of an inferior material, I am relying on a stash of "old stock" HSS drills with shanks that I picked up from a clearance bin at Warley show a few years ago. Most of these are Swiss, made by Spirec. By way of testament to their quality - of the sizes I use most (0.3, 0.4mm), I am still using the first one out of the packet! While great for me, this is not much help to the newcomer who wants to buy some decent drills! I did a bit of googling when I got home, and found that Fohrmann in Germany supply new Spirec drills with 1mm shanks down to 0.2mm or with 2.34mm shanks up to 2.3mm, and also a Microbox-like set from 0.3 - 1.2mm. I don't know if they're the same as my "old" ones, but if I wanted some new tiny drills, I would give them a try. The nearest thing I could find from a UK supplier are made by Tamiya, who call them "pivot drills". The price is similar, but I have no experience of how good they are. Anyway, on with the show... https://youtu.be/heLc_HAu5aM

https://tinyurl.com/2FS-Jubilee

There's end float in the worm shaft, and end float in the motor shaft. The u/j shaft couples the two without much end play in the joints themselves, but If you get it the right length, there should be a bit of play over the entire system - which is needed to go round curves. Getting the shaft the right length (something I've found difficult in the past) is much easier to do with this system. At only £1.50, it is worth buying a set and having a play with it. Nick.

Thanks Jerry - and indeed everyone who has commented - for your encouragement. Yes, I intend to carry filming on until the chassis is complete and the body modified to fit. I certainly wouldn't feel right missing out what people apparently perceive as the most challenging / off-putting part, which is the valve-gear. I will have the Jubilee at the 2mm AGM in Bournmoor for anyone who wants to see it in the flesh - whatever state it is in by then. I am hoping to have it mechanically finished at least, but I'm about to start a very busy period at work and won't have much free time over the next few weeks. I'd really love to be in a position to film it pulling a train on a layout at the AGM for the final scene in the final episode though... Nick.

Here, as promised, is Part 20 continued - a.k.a. part 21, in which I complete the drive train. There's actually quite a lot in this: Adjusting the mesh of the worm; cutting the motor shafts (without getting grit in the bearings); wiring up the motor; making the drive shaft; testing under power (It lives!)... https://youtu.be/6TU4kB4KfUo

Sorry it has been a bit of a wait for Part 20, but here it is at last. What I was planning for this episode turned out to be much too long after I'd edited the footage, so I have split it in half. Part 21 will follow in a day or so, and concludes this topic - which is primarily concerned with the drive-train from tender to loco. Before filming, I spent quite few days agonising over what sort of universal joint to build. My usual arrangement can't be made without a lathe, but I really didn't want to go down that road for this project. Then I remembered the 2mm Association has recently started selling a 3D printed version, so I ordered one to try out. I must confess to some initial skepticism, but having now used one I think they are brilliant. I don't know who designed this for the Association, but they have done a first rate job. So, after a brief survey of universal joint options, I start to get to grips with the printed one. Then I make a shaft for the worm, and fit it to the worm. Then disaster looms as I discover a major problem with the worm housing I built back in Part 6(!) and have to make some corrections. There is at least one moment for the blooper reel to look out for... https://youtu.be/CMDkKOhbRo8

Part 19 is here where, after fitting the wheels to the bogie, I make the special sprung bogie bearing and test it out. There's a lot of fiddling about, checking clearances and making adjustments towards the end of the episode - illustrating that making a 2mm chassis is much more than simply assembling the parts... https://youtu.be/hDva7qmoMgc I don't think I'm too far away from having it moving under it's own power now.

Hi Ian, I started one of these many years ago, but never got round to finishing the body. I remember making a few small alterations: Having decided to build it with DSI brake gear, I thought the inner V hangers (part of the main fold-up unit) were too close to the outer ones. I cut them off and added separate ones (spare from another etch) to the inside of the solebar. (If you're building it with Morton brakes you might want to cut these inner Vs off anyway). I also filed a bit off the main floor near the coupler mounting plates that I thought shouldn't be there. Finally, I soldered some short lengths of T-section brass to the buffer beams to line up with the end stanchions. I hope the photos below help to explain how it goes together. Nick.

Two episodes in one day! Here's Part 18, which carries on the same theme of the previous episode. By the end of this one, all the driving wheels are in place, the coupling rods are temporarily fitted, and some initial testing takes place. Now that I've got to the stage of being able to push something up and down a length of track, it feels like a major milestone has been reached... https://youtu.be/qPnKdWMe87o

Here is Part 17, in which (after a misadventure with a couple of dodgy muffs) I use the 2mm Association wheel press / quartering jig to fit the rear driving wheels. https://youtu.be/siqpPAbVNVM

Hi Oli, Not sure why you're having a problem - as far as I can see the URLs are different. The URL for part 16 which you could try copy/pasting is: https://youtu.be/a0V8bQ33NiA Nick. P.S. I've also made a playlist for the entire set here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZZlPcvHpX05JrF3aEBkjJaOQiSBLHS9l

Part 16 has arrived, in which there is an inordinate amount of filing, scraping, measuring, rubbing, polishing and drilling just to assemble the gears onto their axles... https://youtu.be/a0V8bQ33NiA

I've got my paintbrush out in Part 15, to decorate the wheels and frames before putting them together. There are a couple of last little jobs to do to the bogie frames too, before they can be painted... https://youtu.be/-Ncy7GvIekM

Alas no need for mirrors, Jim. Looking sideways at the loco in motion, you can see the rods on the other side "bottom" through a convenient space between the front two drivers. Watch the video of it on the Coal Tank thread if you don't believe me. Also, looking at the loco head on when in motion, it is obvious which side is leading. It is one of those things that as soon as you know it is wrong, you keep finding new ways of seeing it.

On the Jubilee, the balance weights were different on all 3 axles. They are 3 cylinder engines, and the middle cylinder drove onto the front axle. Some of the balancing of this was done with extended crank webs, and the rest with the weights on the wheels. With a steam locomotive, there are two sets of forces to balance - the rotational forces (i.e. the eccentric weight of the big ends of the connecting rods + coupling rods + crank pins going round) and also the reciprocating forces (i.e. the weight of the connecting rods and other bits going back and forth). Balancing is therefore a compromise, with different "hammer blow" being measured in various places (wheel, axle, rail, and engine as a whole). If you balance out completely one set of forces, you can add to the other. 3 cylinder engines are interesting in this respect. The reciprocating forces are easier to balance as they are more nearly opposite each other than on a 2 cylinder engine. A jubilee flying along at 70mph would experience very little hammer blow overall for the engine, but each rail would be pounded with over 8 tons five times each second. This is probably too much information, when a simple "sorry, but yes, you've been doing it wrong" would have answered Oliver's original question! Not one to know when enough's enough, however, the other closely related thing to worry about is which side of the engine "leads" - i.e. when you quarter the wheels, which side leads the other by a quarter turn. Most British 2-cylinder engines were right-hand lead, but I've recently realised I've got this wrong on my "Coal Tank"... do I pull it to bits to make it correctly left-hand lead? But then 3 cylinder engines aren't quartered at all, they're "thirded" (ish - unless it's a compound - it gets very complicated!)... though I'm not sure that anything other than quartering would work well on a 2mm model.

Hi John, It is called Trespa. Henk Oversloot first brought it to the attention of the 2mm Virtual Area Group as a potentially useful material back in 2005. I got a few small squares of it shortly afterwards for free by requesting samples from their website: https://www.trespa.com/en-gb/exterior-panels It looks like the facility to request samples on-line is still there. The company did contact me to follow up my request, and seemed quite happy that I just wanted to experiment with the material for use in building model railways. Nick.

Part 14 is here, in which the wheels are prepared by fitting the crank-pins and balance weights, and de-burring the spokes. There's also a minute or so in the middle where I drill some holes to represent the hollow axles most Jubilees ran with... Sorry but I absolutely had to use my lathe to do it. You can close your eyes for that bit if you like! https://youtu.be/CNC-h_ErL0c

After the warm-up act of part 12, here comes part 13 - and a double-length episode to boot. This time I'm fitting the pivoting platform to the tender frames, and amongst the usual broaching of holes and soldering, there are plenty of new techniques to discover. We'll have our first dealings with a muff, do some glueing, and use a mini-drill. You'll probably know by now that I own a watchmaker's lathe, and I'm not afraid to use it... however, it is a luxury rather than a necessity in 2mm modelling. (Having said that, I would not now be without mine.) Since the purpose of this series of videos is to encourage people to join in, I will endeavour to show alternative methods for the jobs I would normally do by default on the lathe. In part 11 there was the option of buying a bogie pivot instead of turning one, but we've reached the point now where we do have to start making things... https://youtu.be/Ovydc5KT5yY Next time I'll be preparing the wheels ready for fitting...

Hi Simon, Please accept my apologies for having left it a month before replying to your question - I didn't notice it before I went on holiday. The short answer is "yes"! You will need to reduce the length of your muffs anyway to fit between the bearing flanges. By how much depends on how much side-play you require for a given axle. For the sprung axle, I use a digital caliper to measure the distance between the springs (without squashing or otherwise distorting them), then subtracting the amount of clearance I require. This would be a few thou if I just want a running fit without sideplay. I can't give an ideal muff length, as each one needs to be made to fit its location. The process of fitting wheels to the frames can squash them in slightly, and your carefully measured running clearance may turn into a tight fit which binds. If this happens, you can always "tweak" the frames out a bit. You'll see me doing this in Part 13 which I'm about to upload. Chassis building is part science, part butchery! I should be getting round to fitting muffs between springs in 3 or 4 episodes' time. Nick.

After an enforced break of a few weeks while I selfishly went on holiday, I'm getting back in the swing of things with Part 12. I'm on to the tender chassis now. I've heard lots of advice that says you should start with the tender, but I find them so much less exciting. Anyway, this part is really the warm-up (call it a revision class if you like!), before I tackle the part of this kind of tender chassis which frightened me for years... https://youtu.be/ytGQFlFFu0w

That's a good thought, Jerry. The pivot and the spacer I was soldering it to are separated from the main frames and vice jaws by the double sided PCB insulation pads. I had assumed they wouldn't transfer heat that well, but being so thin, maybe they do.