Michael Edge

Next job on this bridge is to build the walls at the sides of the road. The stonework is just Slater's, it's near enough for this job and a lot quicker than carving stones individually. The centre of each wall is three pieces of Plastikard laminated together with the thickest in the middle, this includes the hefty concrete pad on which the girders rest. Embossed stone added on both sides, the outside won't be seen but the way to build walls which won't warp is to do the same on each side to equalise stresses. Plain plastikard on each end which is carved with stone courses. The concrete pad is thickened on the inside but this won't bend the rest of it. Two pieces of plastikard taped to the drawing, these will form the pavements under the bridge, and the walls stuck to these. Wedged under the girders to check the fit, this isn't too easy with road and railway crossing at an angle and the road dipping down quite sharply under the bridge. It seems to fit OK though. Next job will be to build up the wing walls and buttresses.

The tender has now gone - didn't take long!

Nice to see you've got back to this George - I've got plenty more of these etches if anyone else wants them.

No it's not a full kit, paper patterns to cut the boiler and firebox from brass sheet and I don't think there are any steps on there. Generally these etches cover all the parts that need to be etched either for accuracy or detail but for reasons of space some simple parts aren't included. The dome is specific to these locos and I didn't think it would be available from anywhere, while moulding that I took a mould from the chimney as well. Other fittings should be available from other sources and the usual motor/wheels/buffers etc. You do get the full CAD drawing of my GA for the model and a parts identification sheet. V4 parts identification.pdf

I put this on the Judith Edge kits thread but it might be worth repeating it here. Etch for the LMS high sided tender I built for 40936 - only one available (I have two but one already booked by Blandford on here) and it won't be repeated, price is £32 + £1.50 postage.

I put this on the Judith Edge kits thread but it might be worth repeating here. We have some LNER V4 etches available now, price is £51.50 including postage. Mouldings for the chimney and dome are included.

The spur gears were in a job lot of miscellaneous plastic gears, also from china via Ebay.

That's the same one, all the ones I've had so far have been the same gear ratio but I'm not sure what that is. I gives a reasonable speed range at 1:1 in small 4mm locos and is fast enough for the small electric loco and Hunslet 05 in 7mm.

Chain and sprockets readily available from several sources, I get it from Branchlines. I keep buying these motors as and when I find them on Ebay, this configuration isn't as common (or as cheap) as the inline vesion but it's not critical to powering this loco - any large 4mm motor/gearbox will fit easily and provide enough power.

The boiler in the B1 kit was too big in diameter. I've built many of the other Proscale kits with no great problems - the V2 errors are well known but correctable , the A4 is OK, the P2 was probably the best of them.

I've still got one (Brunswick shed) and one is now in France (Upperby shed).

That's the easy bit in this case, just roll it parallel to the smokebox diameter and then gently open up the other end - most of the taper is down between the tanks in this loco anyway.

I've never seen that idea before - looks like a sort of hand held rolling bars - seems to work well though.

There won't be any specific drive arrangement included, it has been designed round Slater's 7136 wheels - these are a bit on the small side so the frame height has been adjusted in the production etch. Any small motor/gearbox for 1/8th axles will do and a pair of 8T sprockets and chain to connect the axles. The one I have built has one of the n20 motors with a spur gearbox driving on to the axle with a couple of plastic spur gears. I could have done this with a motor to each axle but this one small motor has more power than this tiny loco could ever use.

You will need to anneal this one since it's etched in nickel silver along with the rest of the loco. The bar in the suggestion above is a bit thin though, i would start with about 3/4" myself.

The other SR diesels with the BFB wheels are their version of the standard EE twin motor 350hp 0-6-0.

No, they are the Southern version of the EE/HL single motor 350hp (12000/1 and 15100) and they have ordianry spoked wheels. Many of the differences are due to the Southern asking for bigger wheels, as happened with the 08 - this is generally supposed to be for higher speed but I suspect it was more to do with keeping the coupling rods further from the third rail.

Latest test etch arrived this morning from PPD, this is mainly the SR Ashford 0-6-0DE 15201-3 but includes a few other bits as well. One is an etch for the LMS high sided tender I built for 40936 - only one available (I have two but one already booked by Blandford on here) and it won't be repeated, price is £32 + £1.50 postage.

I should have added £1.50 postage to that price for the B16 etch - so £9.50 total.

You can send a cheque (payable to Judith Edge) to: 5, Chapel Lane, Carlton, Barnsley S.Yorks. S71 3LE Alternatively you can pay by PayPal to edgemd@aol.com or phone us on 01226 722309 with a card number. Judith and Michael Edge

That's a bit unusual with the cladding band, I do normally solder them at the top as well - I didn't do this at one time, until I saw a couple of my P2s which had been professionally painted with most of the bands slid some way along the boiler (and then lined as well - they looked awful).

The B16/2 was built from a PDK kit but I didn't like the clunky motion provided, particularly the slidebars and crossheads. It was originally fitted with what was then standard equipment for this isze of loco, a Mashima 14x26 motor on a Branchlines gearbox (I now use High Level boxes and more powerful motors as a rule), when Tony acquired it he changed the motor - presumably for a definitely superior DJH one. The slidebars are laminated from the components on the left, this gives the correct appearance of a wide top bar and two lower bars instead of the usual two bars seen on most models. The crossheads are built up from the next components , two sides locate in the top plate with the connecting rod in the middle. There are two laminations for the return cranks, not visble here but they are partly half etched on each side to give clearance without bending the crank. Two lengths of eccentric rod are included, there is an error somewhere in the PDK kit and the correct length doesn't give the right movement to the expansion link. The roller bearing covers are included, these should really be brass but most B16s were reasonably filthy in service. On the right are two laminations for the slidebar bracket - an essential item which most models seem to ignore. There was a design error in this and it does need some modification to fit the kit. I used the coupling and connecting rods from the kit. We can still supply this etch for £8.

We have some LNER V4 etches available now, price is £51.50 including postage. Mouldings for the chimney and dome are included.

Next in the pipeline will be some more 7mm kits, etches on order for these now. The small Harton loco is nearly ready to go now but will get some lost wax cast buffers (not ordered yet). The Hunslet 50T 325hp 0-6-0DH has been under construction for some time but now ready to go with all moulding patterns made. This one is built in the style of the earliest ones with simple handrails and external casing door hinges. The later type hinges and a compressor housing for air brake fitted locos are included as options. I've done most of the patterns for the early version of the Hunslet 05 but this waiting for the final version of the cab interior and controls. A test etch for the controls is on order and it needs a pattern for the seats, otherwise all ready to go. This covers all the of first two batches of BR locos up to D2573 and industrials. Buffers won't be included, these are BR standard pattern from NMRS. The kit will have the fully compensated arrangement from the 4mm version (the 325hp 0-6-0DH has only partial compensation - the 4mm one has none) Both these Hunslets have only one set of frame spacers, they were both built with narrow frames, axleboxes (mouldings in the kit) on the outside for standard gauge, inside for 3ft 6in gauge - before the S7 brigade start complaining that the frames are too narrow.

More work on the 1361 this week. It looks better with the tank on. The tank wrapper is etched with overlays for the top plates, three wires peg it to the cab front, the front will rest on brackets from the boiler. Saddle tanks are not rested directly on the boile cladding although they are often fixed to the smokebox - they couldn't be fixed at both ends or the boiler wouldn't be free to expand lengthways. The cab is finished now, this one has the original roof, next job will be to fit the injectors and tank support brackets to the boiler - might all be finished next week.