jazz

Thanks Deano, appreciate your kind remarks. The Black 5 is looking good. Regards Ken

Thanks OzzyO. I think the brass 'top hat' stuck on top of a dome looks rather silly. I had toyed with building her as oringinal ie with pop valves only but would have been wrong for my 1930's layout. Here she is on her first roster.

I built it fixed. Makes painting more tricky, true. But makes the build easier and quicker.

Finally, the paint dried enough today to finish it off. I have only to add the glazing, Dinghams and crew. Then a bit of weathering, especially on the rods as they are too bright. Also picking out the various pipework in copper as on the prototype. As always with Agenoria, great fun to build. Here she after a trial run on the layout. And for those interested in the prototype here is images of her at Didcot today. Note I have omited the buffer overlays as I think they are ugly and are not needed on on my layout. So I am assuming the railway removed them. Also I have omitted the bell for the same reason. It's not needed on this line. http://philtpics.fotopic.net/p63577119.html

Thanks Poggy 1165. I am now in the process of painting her. (It will probably take a couple of days for the paint to harden as I have used up some Railmatch spray paint that is rather slow drying.) Then I hope to make a video clip of her running to show that interesting valve gear and post it on the thread. Whatch this space, as they say.

Well, this is as far as I have today. (I have to start a project tomorrow that will keep me away from my WB.) I have most of the detailing done. The cab is almost finised, just the rear cab sheet and the detailing of it. Working cab doors to fit, buffers and cab roof to detail and fit. Annoying i have to put her to one side for now. Here she is so far.

Hi Jukebox. Yes, the slots and tabs are spot on. (Unkike quite a few kits where I have to open out the slot to get the tab to fit) It is amazing just how much filing can be done without filing the metal into a hole. I have created this problem on the cab sides. I had intended to build this as 1339. This one had rivets all around the lower cab side sheets. Then I suddenly decided it's to be 1338. She had onlt a single row just below the beading. So it required the rivets I had punched out being filed off. This left some tiny holes. The most effective way of repaing these is to run 145 solder on the rear of the 'rivets' then smooth off both faces. Result, an invisible repair.

Moving forward with the Kitson tank, after much thought and head scratching, I have decided to build it in the normal manner. i.e. body attched to the footplate. This does entail parts of the valve gear passing through the footplate. I have therefore soldered two bolts, one on the crosshead and one on the rear of the coupling rod, with the nuts facing to the out side. These nuts are then held in place with the smallest dab of locktight. removal for maintenance will then be a simple matter. Had I done the other way of making the footplate separate from the chassis, replacing the motor/gears in future would have been that much more difficult. There has been a bit of filing and adjustments to get the valve gear to operate smoothly. Not surprising really. It muct have been a nightmare to design this kit. All due repects to Pete Stamper in this. (Agenoria is now in the hands of Mike Williams). The first image shows the boiler after pundhing out the rivets and bending to shape. The kit employs the etched groove method the assist in the sharp bend under the tank. Whilst this is an excellent way to bend parts and one that I like a lot, it has a downside. Namely ugly fold makes as seen in this image. I use fine needle file to smmooth these our followed by a good going over with the fibre brush. When painted all looks good. The second image shows the boiler smoothed off. I have added lead to the boiler as the model is so small it's quite light. This now should pull a decent train of wagons with taxing the tiny Mashima needed to fit in the firebox. The rest of the images show boiler detailed and body under way. Also the valve gear completed. I have to say, it's fascinating watching the front above the footplate swing back and too plus the rear half rising and falling in an alarming fashion. Tomorrow will be the last day I can spare on this build for a week or so as I have to start another promised project.

I think I will leave that to your amazing skills

No, seriously, I hadn't thought of that. Probably because that answer was just too simple

OMG, I never though of that, brilliant idea. Thanks, Ken

Now here's an interesting prototype I'm building for my layout. The Agenoria Kitson 0-4-0ST as GWR 1338. What I find so endearing about this loco is the valve gear. Most is above the footplate and looks great swing about up there. Note the long return crank on the rear wheel, so much differnt from the usual trye to be found on the centre wheels of, say, a Black 5. As normal, I have sprung the leading axle which will give fauless current collection. As usual with Pete's kits, no problems at all in it's construction. Once you figure out how the valve gears works. I am going to have to give some thought to see how I can make the body part company with the chassis without have to dismantle parts of the valve gear. Maybe it cannot be done but I will see just how simple I can make it.

Thanks OzzyO. It is a mine field. Does not help when the client does not specifiy a particular loco. Thanks for the roof vent info, I had missed that on the photos I have. They are now removed, Thankfully it had not been delivered yet. Regards ken

To be honest I did not know about the roof vents or anything about the axle box covers. This kit was supplied to build the early version and no alternative axle box covers were offered. nice backhead/floor. JLTRT are superb and the only one of their kits running on my layout is outstanding in its quality.

Hi All. Now here is a lovely little loco. An Eric Underhill kit of the Johnson 1500 class 0-4-0. A nice kit to build too. I have sprung the leading axles to aid good electrical pickup. There is dummy inside motion, slidebars etc. Really fills up the 'tween frames in such a diminutive loco. All ready for delivery to Geoff in the usual primer. (I would love this on my layout but Geoff is not going to part with it )

Hi Kev. It's all D Andrews except the screw couplings. Gladiator has had a major computor crash. EVERYTHING has been lost. The whole site is having to be rebuilt, that will take quite a time to so Geoff tells me. He's not a happy chappie as he is loosing a lot of trade. His email is still working though. You have some cracking Scorpio kits wating there. Looking forward to seeing them built. Ken PS six days is pushing it, even for me. It took six and a half days (LOL)

Hi All. After building a couple of mundane locos and, of couse, riding the Bluebell line on a weeks holiday day there. Here is something of interest to the GWR followers. A David Andrews King Class. As usual with his kits, this presented no problems in the build. Assuming care is taken is getting this square and forming the parts correctly, of course. I do like the cast resin firboxes on these kits. Maskes fife so much easier. She has the Ron Chaplin power unit. Gladiator plunger pickups. Suspension on the tender & loco centre axles. Also there is a LOT of lead in the boiler, so she is VERY heavy and will pull long passenger trains with no problems at all. To finish, she has Premier working screw couplings fitted. This guy wanted her in the early condition, so none of the later bits & bobs are present. She is now ready for Conrad Cooper to finish the painting & lining.

This is a Meteor Kit which is not in their current range. I may be wrong but I think Gladiator have bought it to add to his range. I will ask him when he collects the model later this month.

Thanks Dave. Appreciate your comment. Sadly, I doubt I will see the loco again once Geoff collects it as it is for one of his customers I believe.

Hi all. The B1 is finished, at last. Many interuptions on this one making it a bit of a drawn out build. Not a bad kit to assemble. Just a few minor irritations not difficult to overcome. For me, the valve gear is the most important aspect of a build, Thankfully there were no issues on this one. Have to say though, Geoff did send me slidebar assembly from one of hios own kits. Much better than the one offered in the kit. Here she is ready for delivery to Geoff and his painter.

Hi Jonathan. The B1 appears to catch the atmospher of the prototype. I have not been pedantic enough to check all the diamentions but the main areas seem OK. I have just primed her today, final assembly tomorrow, then I'll post pics. Regards ken.

Hi All. Just had a fabulous week on the south coast, riding the Bluebell line amongst other things. Just spent today doing a bit more painting on the Adans Radial. Not a lot left to do on her now. Here she is before weathering down to working condition.

Well, after playing around with films & youtube, it's back to the B1. The body is going well. It's great when parts fit as they should. I have filled the boiler and the firebox with lead, leaving just enough room for the motor to sit vertically in the firebox. This model is HEAVY.

Another film of Mondays visit to Johns loft layout. This time loco I built for him fours years ago. She is on an express none stop run. Thanks to Brian, I have the upload correct this time. Shame about the roof supports, but as John said, it would have entailed a very costly rebuild of the roof. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNbk8uvPTcQ

No tripod Martyn. I have just purchased the Panasonic SDR550. It has advanced O.I.S. which helps a lot. Also I use the two handed method of filming, like using the hand gun two handed, reduces the shake considerably. (I see so many folks using one hand and you can see the camera shaking) Hold the camera as normal in the right hand. With the left, firmly grip the pop out screen. Lock the right elbow into the side of your body, that will then give the most stability. This camera has 78x zoom, when using zoom, like using a high power telescope, a tripod is then a must.