James Harrison

I've got a 4mm Charles Reddy drawing, but that only shows the side elevation- if you have a 'proper' set of plans it would be quite useful, thanks!

The loco arrived this morning, and to be fair the chassis (I think it is the Black 5 chassis) doesn't look at all that bad.  Not right, but not so wrong as to be immediately obvious.  I switched out the Black 5 bogie with a spare B12 bogie I had lying around and this immediately improved the look of the thing.  The cylinders are set a little too far back bt to be honest I don't think there is anything I can do about that (and as the cylinders sit above the centre line of the smaller B12 bogie it 'looks' right even though it isn't).  I think the only real alteration I could make to the chassis and be confident it would be an improvement would be to replace a pair of huge plastic 'things' masquerading as motion brackets. 

Other than that there really isn't much wrong with the model at all- too few boiler bands and handrail knobs, the wrong buffers on the loco and a bit of cab roof which shouldn't be there.... a bit of care and some decent parts and I'll have a very respectable model.

It's a challenge indeed (though one I'm really looking forward to!) 

I am looking at picking up either a V2 or a Black 5 chassis to use, if I can't find one of those two I'll look for a pannier (which I think, though not entirely sure, uses the same chassis as the J83/ O8/ Jinty?)

Of course, if it turns up on a Black 5 chassis it would be great!

I've already found a chassis for it.... it looks like it'll turn up with a B12 chassis (driver spacings 7'3'' and 7'3'', vs. prototype spacings 7'3'' and 8'3''..) 

However it transpires that a J52 has the same coupled wheelbase.  Now the Hornby J52 has a slightly out-of-scale spacing, but that is something I can live with.  The J52 uses the same chassis as the Hornby 'Jinty', and I have one of those in my spares box.  So i'm thinking of using the Jinty chassis with the B12 wheels and bogie....

Yeah, of course.  It's quite an easy build, the main thing is to get some decent prototype photos as the kit comes with a plethora of alternate parts but the instructions don't really go into which locos carried which bits and when. 

I actually described the build way back in the early days of the blog... one moment and I'll get the links....

Part 1: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11284-in-which-i-get-going-and-get-stuck/

Part 2: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11291-success/

Part 3: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11299-choices-choices/

Part 4: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11302-fiddly-bits/

Part 5: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11333-replacement-coal-rails/

Part 6: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11347-any-colour-you-like-so-long-as-its/

Part 7: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11357-the-final-details/

Part 8: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1294/entry-11362-curved-handrails/

Cheers- I've got a thread on this on the prototype questions forum and on the LNER forums, so shall see if anyone knows different, though what you've said ties in with what a couple of others have said too.

Thanks!

Thanks!  The next thing of course, will be to sort out some appropriate stock for it to haul.  I have two sets of L.49's Ashbury stock to build (one to build, the other to cannibalise for raised panelling), but before I can build them I need to source some bogies... or scratchbuild some....

Brilliant; I've read your blog and I think you're a braver man than I for trying one from scratch in card. Nicely done!

Very nicely done!  As a fellow card & paper modeller I sympathise how difficult it can be working in the medium at times.... but you've got a nice little model there. 

It was lined out with Radley's Met/LT lining transfers.  I used the straw-black-straw lines to do the lion's share of it, then used the individual black lines over the joints and the crossings to get the straw borders to the edge of the body panels. 

I look forward to seeing it then BMR, sounds like things are going well. 

Now why didn't I think of just buying a second kit?  Thanks Ravenser, yet again I've been saved from my own folly   I shall look up these 7' bogies too.  Like your set mine is a fair way down the list of projects, I'd want ideally to get my GCR/ LNER rakes out of the way first and I've got about 20 carriages (making up 4 or 5 rakes!) to get through....

Glad to hear that BMR.  I bought some Ashbury stock about six months ago (a card kit from CDC models), but they'll need a heck of a lot of work to get it to the point where I'll be happy with them- for one thing I'd want to roll the coach sides to get the tumblehome, and for another I'd want to scan the drawings (if thats legal what with copyright) and then use my scanned copies to build up the panelling.  Good thing with 3D printing of course is that the detail is in 3D! 

LNER saloon you say? Would that be their GNR Directors' saloon?  Can't wait to see it!

Thanks for the offer of sharing photos- if I run into difficulties of the 'well what happens there?' sort I'll let you know. 

Well I do have a drawing (somewhere!) of a Sam Fay, but I'm keeping that hush hush at the moment (Gads, that's a bit of a hint!).  Just depends if I can get Sketchup to play nice.  I'd quite like to do some GCR fish vans to go with my Fish engine too.   

But that's quite some way off in the future, I've got enough projects lying around the place either half finished or not even begun to keep me going for a few years yet.... at last count there were 9 engines, a Metropolitan EMU and about 20 carriages to work through.   

Interestingly the glue 'n' glaze I mentioned seems happier doing spectacle plates for steam locos than it does larger areas of glass on electrics- I've just done pretty much all of my hackbash steam locos in one go and it only took about half the time it did to do half the windows on the Met engine.   

I'm no electrical engineer, but that sounds plausible.  I'd have thought that the motors themselves would be right down in the bogies with physical gearing to the wheels, to get the power down without loosing too much to friction.  And those drums are right above the bogies... so they'd be (I imagine) just above the motors themselves and ideally placed to vent them. 

That's very good to hear, glad you're making progress.  I believe the bogies are an absolute pain to find RTR- they're only about 6' in length? 

I used White Strong & Flexible for the B5.  I don't think I would recommend it for fine work.  It was very porous, very obviously 'banded' (ie-you could see the lines where each layer had printed) and as for working it, well the less said the better really.  It didn't like being cut, sanded, sawn, filed, scraped, drilled or anything else.  As a prototype it is useful but I think next time I 3D print something (I'm itching for another Robinson 4-6-0 and I think a 'Sam Fay' would fit the bill nicely) I'd more likely go for the more expensive Fine Ultra Detail. 

I do hope that your project comes to fruition, 3D printing is a lot of hard work when it comes to drawing but once you've got it printed it's a lot of hard building work taken away.  Have you considered maybe drawing them up as a set of scratchbuild aids (say, for example, an accurate but basic carriage body) rather than a complete model- it might make it a little easier?  I tried my B5 as a complete model at first, then found it easier to just draw up a basic boiler/ firebox/ running plate model and rely on plastic sheet and brass castings to complete it. 

Thanks for the idea, to be honest one I hadn't considered.... my ideas on lessening the panelling were going along the 'sanding them down' route.  Is your MetroVick on here Sleeper, as I'd be interested to see it. 

Thanks.  I think it's a really useful tool for creating the large/ more difficult parts of a scratchbuild- I used it for the running plate and boiler, two particular areas where I tend to have difficulties getting a decent finish. 

Thanks!  I'm giving it another coat tonight, making for a total of about 5 brush coats and 2 airbrushed. 

I guess I'll really get to grips with the airbrush when I start airbrushing a finish up from the bare material rather than on top of a couple of brush coats.  Another reason to get on with my Met bo-bo there....

Cheers for the heads-up on the book; one I'll have to track down I think (still lots to find out naturally).  The ridges on the boiler are a result of the body having been 3D printed.  I have, several times, gone over and around it with filler, files and sand paper but to no avail it seems.  Ordinarily the ridges aren't all that noticeable and will eventually disappear under a nice layer of varnish and weathering.

The green bible turned up today and it looks like I have a reasonable choice of three identities I could go for- a bit of modellers' licence to get them down to Marylebone instead of working push-pull trains on the Met/GC joint and we're good to go.  I've ordered some M7 wheels- identical diameters for both leading/ trailing axles and drivers- and decided to swap the wheels over, add push-pull gear and a repaint... and leave it at that.  The flowerpot chimney came in from 1925 onward so suits my period- and why change it if it fits in?

Cheers for the advice- quite a bit I was ignorant of there.  I think I'll need the appropriate Green Bible or Yeadons for it (since I started using the RCTS series I've found them absolutely invaluable). 

Two ways to deal with it- a 'quickie' job involving new wheels, new chimney and a repaint, to create a 'general' model of the class, or a more involved job finding which of them were sent down to Marylebone ( I know somewhere I have a photo of an F1 on a stopping train somewhere on one of the GC-joint lines) and creating a model of a specific example.  I think I'd be happier with the latter option- but it will be sometime late this year/ early next year before I start it at any rate- plenty of time for research and thinking.   

More nice work to enjoy!  Making me want a B8 now too- something about those long splashers that just works, aesthetically. 

An hour here, and an hour there, and two or three hours each day on my weekends.  Amazing what you can get done when you know you only have a very short amount of time to play with! 

I do like that Millholme kit Barry.  Yours would be in 1930s condition, with lowered dome and flowerpot chimney?  That means I'll have to go through my Green Bible and see when they lost their GC fittings.... hopefully not before 1928/29....

I've ordered some 14mm wheelsets from Scalelink, which should hopefully have a little more leeway.  Thanks for the idea- not one I'd considered really!