rowanj

I've used Mitsumi motors, of the 5 for a fiver variety, in the past, coupled with Highlevel gearboxes. A couple were a bit under-powered, bu usually they work fine, though my locos dont do long mileage up stiff inclines. Having said that, though small, these motors are chunkier that a Masima 1024, so whether they will be an option for the J25 remains to be seen.

The issue/problem with the bottom, round, plugs will not be easy to resolve, as the boiler has what I considered to be very helpful etched ovals where they fit. So simply fitting a round plug will leave the rugby ball surround visible. I'm not sure what the answer is, paricularly given that I've primed the boiler. In the meantime, I've succumbed to another act of potential folly and purchased the LRM J25. The manufacturer confirms it has a ready-rolled boiler, which reduces my anxiety. I'm trusting a 1024 motor with High Level Compact+ will fit, Rob. ArthurK recommends it, I believe, for his J24.

Those photos certainly dont look much like the etches in the model - certainly the lower sets. I'm not sure what I'll do about that. The photos from Mike are helpful in showing the rods leading to the sandbox, which, on the NER builds, seem "squarer" and are visible above thefootplate and through the gap below the boiler. On 63460 they seem round and are flush to the footplate upper side. Have I got that right? Has anyone tackled the LRM J25? I have it in mind for my next project and have a nice photo of one passing Little benton Sidings, north of Newcastle, which is my "In progress/just started" layout

Brian - that looks great - a really interesting conversion, and given that it is unlikely ever to see the light of day as RTR, it would be a shame not to go the whole hog and get it running on Water Orton. John

That A2 is a hard/impossible act to follow, but here is the latest picture of the Dave Alexander Q7. The boiler is complete, as is the tender, but details are still to be added to the footplate .Then, of course, there is the small matter of the motion.. I know Tony encourages even novices like me to show their work on his thread, and I truly wish more folk would do so. Incidentally, re the A2, Dave Alexander produces a casting for the multiple-valve regulator, in whitemetal.

Sound advice as always, Mike. In this case, I'm delighted to say that the bend is an optical illusion. I have to admit to having no interest in taking photos, so a digital camera is not on the agenda. However, Mrs rowanj wants a new on for her upcoming birthday, so she may allow me to borrow it. I recall you were testing an ArthurK Q7 some time ago. Did you get as far as fitting the rods to the front sandboxes and lubricators, and if so, do you have a photo? the footplate looks bare on my model without them. Best wishes as always John

Digital camera ?? Its just my Pay-as-you-go phone !! The smokebox is askew, true, or rather, it was. It's just force fitted into the whitemetal ring at this stage until the dart and numberplate are fitted. I meant to post, along with the photos, the dreaded warning for anyone looking at building a Q7 to find a decent photo, preferably of both sides of the loco. Of the 15-strong class, no two seemed to be the same in the manner of boiler fittings,. The wire run on the LH smokebox is a decent copy of the photo of 63464 in Yeadon, but I cant see another as "wiggly" as that. John

This is the state of play before the Works closes for September. The boiler is virtually finished, bar the smokebox door, and the tender is done other than the usual filling and filing. The footplate needs steps, buffers, lifting holes drilled, and the cab roof soldered in and cab roof "furniture" fitted. In addition, I'm going to have a go at the rods to the sandbox filler and lubricator on my return. The rear sandboxes will be fitted to the chassis.

I'm not sure whether this kit always had an etched boiler, or was originally whitemetal. The instructions suggest the boiler is screwed to the footplate, rather than soldered/glued, which seems a good idea in principle, to allow for repairs/mods etc. However the whitemetal ring which sits at the smokebox front, and prides both strength and the base for the smokebox door, blocks the pre-drilled hole in the boiler bottom. It would be possible, of course, to drill through and solder the brass nut to the whitemetal, but I foresaw problems if the nut ever became dislodged. it is also one the chassis fixing points, so would see a great deal of action. I decided to solder the brass nut to the boiler bottom and countersink the hole in the smokebox saddle. The photos should be self explanatory. even with a friction fit, the boiler sits tight to the footplate. I also started to solder the handrail knobs. The handrails will be bent in 2 sides, joined at the knob on the smokebox top which also holds the NER lamp iron. This is easier than trying to fit the handrail in 1 piece, though I recall reading a comment that someone (was it Daddyman) could do the 2 stages in 10 minutes. Believe me, it takes me longer...!!! I was planning to star the cylinders and brake gear, but as I'm off in the caravan for September, and don't want to leave that particular job half- finished, I'll concentrate over the next few days on loco and tender details. John

Hi Rob I got a reply about that pipework. Apparently they are Detroit regulators, and were fitted to the 10 later locos built by the LNER - the original 5 don't have them, As luck would have it, my model is an earlier loco, simply because there are good pictures of both sides in Yeadon at the same time period. 63464 The chassis kit provides the relevant piece of brass to support the coupling rod. I was wondering if it was worth bothering with, but I'm not now. Thanks for the tip

Thanks, Arthur - that's just the information I needed, I'm always,pleased/relieved when the coupling rods and motor are fitted. The kit provides 3 laminated pieces on each side for the rods. I normally build these rigid, but in this instance have left them as designed by Peter/Dave. I was pleasantly surprised how litt work was needed to open them out to remove tight spots. The motor, a Mitsumi 1420 with Highlevel Compact gearbox fits easily between the frames and allows the motor to sit upright in the firebox, to be almost invisible. There is so much daylight below the boiler that I'm inclined to try to represent the inside valve gear if I can find an appropriate photo. It will be purely cosmetic, to fill the gap. A bit more soldering has taken place on the tender. Why was I scared, for years, of soldering whitemetal? Though the photo doesn't show it, I have fitted the bar where normally a handrail would go. This was an NER practice, and was one of the tips I was given when I fitted handrail knobs in error to my PDK B16.

I have a query about the Q7 tender. Yeadon states that it was "standard" other than not having a water pick-up arrangements, unlike those fitted to the B16. The kit supplies a casting for a water pickup dome, and other builds seem to have this fitted to their tenders. I cant find a decent top-down photo, though those I have would seem to suggest it wasn't fitted to tenders hauled by Q7's. Yeadon states tender exchanges were only within the class. So should it be there. I suppose it's possible it was fitted but not connected below the tender top? Help appreciated John

I quite enjoy US Crime Drama and Hallmark movies. Apologies. Progress on the Dave Alexander Q7 attached. I intend to use 52F model etches for the lamp irons and steps, and had the great pleasure of collecting them from Peter Stringer. He confirmed he produced the chassis, boiler and cab etches for Dave Alexander. Along with Arthur Kimber (ArthurK), you wont find more helpful folk to assist with your loco building ventures, especially if you model the NER. John

The etched boiler is probably the easiest I've dealt with, thus far. The kit supplies 2, pretty bulky, whitemetal rings which go inside to help keep the boiler "square" when soldering the bottom seam, which has an "underlay" on each bottom edge, to give sufficient bulk for the long soldered joint. Earlier photos show the etches in the boiler where the boiler bands and washout plugs go, This made soldering the bands easier, I'm quite pleased with how that worked out, though I did chicken out and used superglue on the washout plugs, and used a fair bit of fibreglass pencil. I also made the mod to the tender sides, using the etched coal rail overlay as a template. I now have etches from 52F for NER lamp irons and steps. These are available as spares, and I had the pleasure of visiting Peter Stringer to collect them. He confirmed that he supplied the etched chassis, boiler and cab for Dave Alexander. Along with Arthur Kimber (ArthurK) , you wont find 3 more helpful folk to assist with kit building. Though there is still a fair bit of detailing to do, most of it is, hopefully, pretty straightforward, so I'll turn my attention to the chassis next. John

The relevant Yeadon arrived , and it answered some questions and raised others, The tender top obviously needs amending at the rear of the coal rail. an etched overlay supplied should make this a tedious but simple job. I'm not sure why Dave supplied this shape. Q7 tenders didn't have a water scoop, unlike B16's who also got the 4150 gallon self-trimming, though I cant find any examples of B16's with a tender shape like this. The boiler seems to represent the LNER 49A, rather than the earlier NER 49. Both were fitted at various points to Q7's (and B16's) and, as I want my model to be in 1957/8 +, the 49A is more appropriate. However the pre-drilled holes for the safety valve and whistle look to in the wrong place - a little too far forward ? Certainly the whistle is wrong -it should be on the cab front. But the positions marked for washout plugs, etc seem accurate. I don't know if Dave will sell a boiler as a spare, but if so I'll get one for my planned PDK B16/2. Several photos show a maze of lubrication pipes running up the LH side of some, but not all Q7's. They seem to be fitted to both 49 and 49A boilers. Does anyone know the secret of why some them and not others? John

The cab is now soldered to the footplate. The extended floor was presumably needed due to the extent the spectacle plate and backhead took up the cab interior. The only problem I had was that the floor casting has 2 small cast ridges at one end, and the insstruction makes to reference to them. Do they go at the front or the back? I assumed they were the front, and provided a guide for where the rear pf the spectacle plates fit. I think this was correct, but it meant that, when the boiler was in place, these "ridges" pushed it forward. Some scraping thus ensued. Conversely, the design of the kit makes it simple to model the, unusual, 9" recess of the spectacle plate into the cab sides, and made it easy to assemble the cab sides at 90* to the footplate. Thanks for the tip on the footplate steps, Bob. They are terribly thick, aren't they ? John

Hi Mick. It was Dave Alexander who mentioned that Peter Stringer of 52F was doing his chassis etches. I understood Peter was planning an 00 version to sell, using his compensation system only if he was aware that there would be a demand for it. I'm pleased/relieved to say that the footplate bend looks to be an optical illusion. I'll keep an eye on it, though, as there is a potential for it to happen around the motor cut out. Thanks John

So far. so good with the Q7. The chassis is more or less complete, with the cylinder block and mechanical lubricator bracket in place. The wheels are W&T from Scalelink.. I was hoping to get 19mm from them, but they seem to have discontinued that size, so 18mm will be used. Prototype wheels are available from Markits and Gibson, of course. The tender has confused me. It is supplied by Dave in the kit as an NER 4125 gall. self-trimming, but does not match the photos I have of a Q7, and certainly not 63469, my chosen prototype The shape of the coal rail on the tender casting, and the whitemetal supports for the etched coal rail, are a giveaway.. I have ordered the relevant Yeadons, and will not do any further work on the tender until I get more info. The tender is supplied with a cast sub-chassis, but I prefer, all things being equal, to run the wheels in pinpoint bearings, so that is what I've done. Being whitemetal, there is already sufficient weight in the tender to render the sub-chassis unnecessary. 52F models produce an etched compensated alternative, and I believe they are also the source of the loco chassis supplied in the kit. The tender wheels are ex-Hornby, which come with plain axles. I find them awful when I try to reuse the Hornby axle, but they fit nicely when re-fitted onto Romford pinpoints,

I have found it necessary to check at an early stage that the chosen motor/gearbox will pass any etched spacers. This loco will have a Highlevel Compact driving the 3rd axle. As I hoped, there is plenty room in the chassis, and it looks as though everything will be concealed by the footplate and boiler. I suppose on modern chassis, this sort of check may be superfluous, but the sheer variety of motor/gearbox possible combinations makes it worthwhile for me. Incidentally, I have come across Tom Vance's excellent Loco Builder series on You Tube, where he assembles a High Level Gearbox. The whole series is worth a look. John

I have made a start on the Dave Alexander Q7, using for the first time the Poppywood Loco Builder box. I haven't quite worked out yet how to keep the frames fixed and secure while the first spacers are fitted, and as a result got my fingers warmed, but I'm convinced that the jig will be a valuable piece of kit. It would seem almost impossible to build the chassis out of alignment with it, but we shall see when I fit the wheels. For any new builderapprehensive about being able to build a working chassis, I suggest this jig should make life much easier. Has anyone spotted a video of the jig being used? The chassis etch, and the spacers, were excellent - a really good fit, Dave's kits are really excellent, but I believe are produced in very small batches, so get them while you can. John

I have made a start on the Dave Alexander Q7, using for the first time the Poppywood Loco Builder box. I haven't quite worked out yet how to keep the frames fixed and secure while the first spacers are fitted, but I'm convinced that the jig will be a valuable piece of kit. It would seem almost impossible to build the chassis out of alignment with it, but we shall see when I fit the wheels. The chassis etch, and the spacers, were excellent - a really good fit,

I suppose I've just about graduated above the"duffer" stage though won't be winning any awards for my locos any time soon, though they do actually run. Posters keep telling me that writing instructions is difficult so I suppose it must be true,,though I wonder if,in part,it is because it is a different skill set to kit design and building. I am certainly better on paper than I am with a soldering iron. I don't see why I should have to pay extra for being given instructions on a way to build the product I have bought. I just want an accurate description of the manufacturers recommended order of assembly, which I can then take or leave. But if I take it,I expect that any failures are either down to my workmanship or a design fault. Inaccurate instructions are inexcusable. Why do we tolerate poor instructions in model kits when we expect them with almost everything else that we buy? Should suppliers of electronics, for instance, stop putting guidance in new TVs? Rant over,,off to lay a bit more track on my model of Little Benton, ECML north of Newcastle in 1958 or so.

Here's mine on a Heljan 47 chassis. It was a very tight fit, and some metal had to be removed from the chassis at the front ends mainly round the corners. Really. the body needs a repaint, as the Sherwood Green is pretty poor,but I used it as a practice piece for dry weathering. As usual, pictures do my work no favours, but in real life, its not too bad.

As a novice at loco kit building, I need instructions which are accurate and reasonably comprehensive. My first,probably too ambitious project, was a PDK B16, which,although I completed, had pretty generic instructions. I'm not averse to supporting them with other guidance and photographs,etc but instructions should be a proper starting point. I thought the PDK stuff was a little light, but I worked through it. The next kit I tackled was an ArthurK J77 where the instructions were very comprehensive. Even then, I supplemented them with photos and additional guidance. My main problem was not always knowing what the part of the loco actually was on such a detailed kit and therefore quite where it fitted. But these instructions also added to my broader knowledge of loco building for when it came to later builds. I sometimes think that some posters here are so experienced, have built so many models, and have developed their own ways to construct, that they forget that others are more in need of guidance. There is rarely a single way of doing things but accurate instructions should offer a way which,if followed, will produce a successful model,all things being equal. After that,one can start to develop personal idiosyncrasies which one finds to work better. That is not to excuse instructions which are incorrect, for that is inexcusable. And I have no doubt that writing the things is not easy. But most who enter kitbuilding are not idiots,just less experienced than the designers, and need a little help... Unless you prefer they stick to RTR??

Thanks so much for your advice. I use Halfords Satin Black, but am tempted by the suggestion of the Railmatch Weathered Black. The N5 and Q7 should be suitable recipients for a weathered finish. John