Bluemonkey presents....

It has been a little while and not that much has been achieved. I have spent some time finishing off small details including the various shaped plates that protect the rear bogie, forming some lamp brackets and shaping some small off cuts of brass sheet to make the jib supports that are positioned on top of the tank. Will have to find away to connect them at right angle sin the centre forming a 'T' and then on to the pannier tank. Is that the smell of burning finger tips?! Whilst studying the pictures further to create the job brackets it occurred to me that I am missing some valuable details on the chassis. The omission of chassis details such as brakes etc would mean the final result would be some where off the mark. Small allowances can be accepted as modeler's licence but I think to overlook something as fundamental as brakes on a locomotive would deter from the desired outcome, so an appropriate chassis kit has been sourced and order from the original manufacturer. Fingers crossed it will fit now with the alterations that I have made.

Also finalised the abckhead for the boil. After finding a good example on a spare RTR chassis. This was a little short so I have removed the bottom detail for the fire door and inserted a little plasticard between that and the control details. Looks a little messy at the moment as various types of coloured plastic but hoping that once primed it will look like all one piece and after crew have been added will just give that little extra cab detail required.

Made a start in the tool box at the rear of the locomotive. Made from brass sheet cut and shaped as required then soldered. Seems OK and a nice fit. Took hours though constantly having to re-solder joints that either got too hot and parted or that were just rubbish. Also had to replace the whistles with a new set. I have finally destroyed them beyond saving but lesson learnt brass is better for finer details like these than white metal.

Thank you to everyone that have commented on the locomotive or have 'rated' it somehow I have lost my rating/replies. Steady progress has been made over the weekend with the addition of a rear buffer beam fashioned from brass sheet and buffers From the pictures I have in Russell's pictorial Hercules seems to have slightly different designed buffers. These are from what I can tell a Dean type but I am no expert and only taking a 'eye view'. I will add rivet detail to the side frames and buffer beans later when less handling of the locomotive is required to reduce any accidental removal. The buffer beans are slightly oversized, as the prototype this also explains the slightly larger than normal buffer, I believe. I was going to leave the additional height off of the front buffer and put it down to 'builder's licence' but for some reason I felt brave and so a thin slither of brass was cut and then recut, filed and shaped and then soldered from the front onto the top of the beam to suggest it all as one. The camera gives them impression there is a small step between the kit beam and my addition but this is not there on viewing. I am happy with the end result as I am the rear buffer bean creating a lovely narrow overlap all around. I later had a little go at mounting a motor and gears to the solid chassis. This proved a longer and harder job than first thought. Removal of some of the existing chassis was required in order to site the gearbox. This too required a little alteration. The chassis also needed some cutting and filing to mount the motor without it potentially fowling whilst keeping the electrical contacts far enough away from the middle wheel set. So far it seems OK but I am yet to apply power or connect the coupling rods. This is to come as I will need to look into ways of connecting the power supply to the motor and what suits best for this build. The gearing and motor all fit nicely into the main body cavity when the chassis is offered up to the locomotive, so far so good.

Could not resist the temptation of a dry placement of the parts to-date, very encouraging;

A quick visit to my local and a new footplate plan has been hatched. I found just what I was looking for and an extra couple of Parkside wagon kits to boot. It has taken quite some time to get everything soldered together and stay soldered, especially as all the pieces of brass and white metal are separate and support each other. The camera seems to make the joints look a little messy but to the naked eye they are sound and flush. Once painted I hope all joins will disappear as they are smooth to touch. I am not sure where I found the pair of steps but they are certainly very useful but very hard to line up the brass sheet to ensure a flush join.

After three layers of filler and plenty of filing and shaving with a blade, I think I may have got away with it. Phil a picture of Hercules in full steam through Sonning Cutting would be excellent to see but i have not seen anything other than static pictures and one in Russell's pictorial working at Paddington but that too appears a little staged. Darwinian mentioned the work in plastic which has got me thinking about the footplate and the potential for the joint between whitemetal and plastic snapping in the future especially when in use. Maybe I can use a small amount of brass sheet like the plastic I have already cut. This could be used to ensure there is a nice thin but even overhang the footplate over the frames, hmmmmmmmmmmmm. I'll have to investigate what my local shop has to offer this weekend. This may also help with the frame extensions required and plating over the bogie sides.

Slipped whilst cutting the last of slots on the chassis for the buffer bean to be attached. these have to be removed as they foul the movement of the rear bogie but me being heavy handed, cut all the way through. Filler time! Hopefully this will conseal my last of concentration.

Well I got my cutting discs ready to cut that big lump off to level the flooring; Yes Yes Noooooooooooooooooooooo!

Phil - that crane is beautiful. You are right that the steam cranes seem to have pipes and parts just for decoration there are so many. The bird feeder railings are fantastic. Good luck with the project. I have decided I am going to try and cut off the raised area in the cab space and tinker with the chassis mounting screw as this is where it is located. Just need a get a decent mini cutting disc as my current one is a little blunt. There is a show coming this weekend so will have to wait for that before any destruction can take place. I have been side-tracked with a couple of plastic kits as I could do a little and stop so may try and finish one of those at least before continuing.

Thank you Darwinian appreciate your thoughts I will keep them in mind whilst deciding the way forward for this footplate. I see what you mean regarding the cracking of the joint in the future, especially when storing etc. Appreciate your input I have a few thoughts but will need to 'dry run' before any major surgery, just to make sure the idea is plausible.

Hi Phil, No, not high jacking. I opened this project in the forum rather than a blog for exactly this I wanted people to feel they could discuss various skills and build items moving on a tangent to the main topic and coming back. This is exactly what I wanted, thank you. Nice idea regarding the bird feeder I will keep that in mind for sure.

It has been a little while since my last update. Unfortunately very little work on Hercules has taken place. A few seasonal distractions as well as a GWR ‘Beetle’ kit bringing construction to a mindful halt. I will chain up the crane later but now I will focus on the main locomotive and additional bogie. I believe I has a suitable backhead to put in place, after some re-sizing. The said bogie is part completed having semi constructed a Cambrian one suitable for the job, can be seen in previous pictures. I will add the additional plating that protected the prototype using thin plasticard and possibly some of the Archers rivet transfers recently purchased. As for the footplate and base for the crane mounting I am a little stuck. Initially I had cut a piece of plasticard to fit and to connect via the raised footplate of the pannier kit (shown in previous pictures). This is where the nut to attach the chassis is sited and a little higher than the side. My original idea was to continue this but sanding the plasticard down to meet the sides giving an impression the footplate was all one level, especially as everything is black. Now I am thinking do I cut into this raised area reducing the height to match the true footplate but potentially losing the anchoring site for the chassis. A possible disastrous cutting job but one if completed well would benefit the overall appearance. If there was no question in the fact that I knew I had the appropriate tooling and an easy replacement if things should go wrong I would probably not even think about it and go ahead cutting away but I don't have this luxury so a little hesitant. Alas; should I stick or twist?! I have been asking myself this for two weeks now, each time coming up with a different answer and solution.

Thank you to everyone for their very kind and supportive comments, I really appreciate them and all the advice/input received. I am not totally happy with the finish of the instruction/warning sign but if I tinker too much I know it will only become worse so best left especially as it would be foolish to ruin everything over a little black and white paint. I will be making a start on completing the rear bogie which also acts as the crane attachment to the footplate. I have not forgotten the Belpaire backhead. I have a couple of Mainline and Bachmann non-running panniers that I had put by for this project before I realised the potential of the Wills kit. We will see what I can find before looking elsewhere as previously suggested.

Thank you to everyone for their generous comments and support. The foil was primed and after a little reduction in width attached with a few tiny blobs of superglue to the inner rear of the rails. I am very happy with the appearance produce by using kitchen foil to make the thin protection screen. The counter weight also primed, then......... I have finally plucked up the courage to paint the crane body. The previous couple of plastic kits I have put together have been (in my opinion) ruined by disappointing paint results. Nothing to do with the actual paint quality just lack of user skills and/or experience. So here we go; sprayed completely in black, as I believe the prototype, allowed to dry and then brush touched up with more black paint in a couple of difficult to reach places when spraying. Also the pulleys and winding reels could be manipulated to show any areas missed when spraying. I thought the warning plate on the crane side would be relatively straight forward. Just a little dry brushing with white paint to highlight the raised areas simulating lettering. Well I was totally wrong. The raised plastic is not adequate enough and thus the paint went everywhere. So repaint with black and start again. A little dry brushing with white to high for me areas to be covered. Then using a tiny brush add the white whilst using black (slightly watered down) to correct any wobble and to run through the line where the white merged to one wide line when should have been two. End result, (after about an hour or so!), not perfect, a little amateurish but I think I am happy with it. I will give it a couple of days and return to it then, I find a little time away usually helps as the eye is less concentrated on the small errors and overlaps. Finally, if the paint work is to remain without further touching up, the lifting and jib chains need to be added.

After studying the pictures in Russell's Pictorial of the three cranes I believe I have muddled the two similar designs combing features from both. A school-boy error but one that can be rectified. A couple of options now present; firstly I could re-order new name and number plates so to keep the backhead and an open rear set of safety rails but research further into why the counterweight appears a different colour to the rest of the locomotive or remove the backhead replacing with the correct Belpaire version, paint the counterweight the same colour, keep existing name and number plates but create a plated screen to the interior rear of the safety rails possibly losing the open cage like effect. I chose to keep the name and number plates. I have attempted to reproduce a sheet steel safety screen to fit in the rear of the crane to protect the operator. After reading an article in the latest BRM about creating various stages of a barns life I noted the use of kitchen foil to create corrugated iron sheets for roofing, I thought maybe this could also aid me in creating a fine, thing yet strong sheet required. After folding a small piece carefully twice I had four layers of foil. Cut to shape ensuring the fold was at the top to create a nice smooth edge of the visible end. Each leaf was then lifted and a small amount of glue used to sealed and fix the sheets together. The sheet can be smoothed using the handles of metal scissors on a piece of glass to make sure the surface is smooth and without any dust/dirt. This provides really smooth finish to the foil, removing any creases made when folding or cutting. Left overnight to make sure everything had dried properly it can be rolled around a suitable sized cylindrical object to create the gentle curve required. The glued sheets seem to have also gained a little more rigidity from the layers whilst proving an extremely thin appearance. This will require painting along with the counterweight that has now been filed to shape. My intention when fixing the sheet to the rails is to secure at corner points only and along the base. The original backhead has been removed and the surrounding area cleaned up. Thankfully I soldered the kit and the removal and clean up was not too dramatic. Thank you to those who have offered information on sites to source appropriate backheads. The attached pictures are not very exciting but illustrate my ramblings and hopefully highlights how thin the actual rear plate is, remember that is four sheets of foil back to back and glued.

Finally the crane body has been primed. On the way to priming I dropped it luckily I just had to replace a hand rail and the crane has been detatched, (although this is good news as it would have been in the way when paiting). The primer, I think, has shown the rivet detail in a much better light than before, as too the warning sign located on the bottom right of the left hand side. Priming threw up a few intersting areas that I had not considered. I used a rattle can for priming and without support the aresol blew the model over due to the narrow base. Additionally something to be very careful of when spraying will be not to apply too much paint near any hinged areas that move. If too much added then they wont move and due to the delicate nature of the arms these could break and make for a huge job in trying to replace without further damage. Chains will be added after painting. In the pictures you will notice that the counter weight has been finished and added to the rear. made using Das clay rolling and forming by hand then drilling through the centre and filing with a fine file. I am yet to start painting this as I need understand why it appears to be a different colout to the locomotive in most pictures I have found. I believe the locomotive and crane to be completely black.

The rear protection or safety cage has been made by forming brass wire around an automatic pencil shaft for the horizontal ones and the vertical wires needed careful locating. I had failed to consider the location when initialling building the sides and adding the steam pipes so had to be real care when drilling locating holes; one to get the placement symmetrical with both sides and also so when place vertically they located as close to the edge of the plat as possible whilst still holding the vertical. Once this had been mark satisfactorily small holes drilled to run the vertical through the platform up to and into the main connecting bean adjacent to the steam pipe locations and supergluing. All rails then soldered at every crossing point to give the impression of rail connections. Cut excess and file flush. To neaten up things the solder was filed as cleanly as possible. To create the side grab rails and piston protection I used brass wire and a couple of hand rail knobs. Bending the wire around a small paint brush shaft to create the rounded area protecting the pistons and a pair of pliers for the more angular bends. Hand rail knobs have locating holes marked and drilled, held in place with superglue. For the crane I think I have now finished the build just have to smooth some Das clay and drill a hole through it, for the weight on the rear of the crane. Everything will need a spray of primmer and then in black. Once dry all hinged parts and weight will need reattaching. Dry brush a little white over the warning plate on the left hand side to highlight the raised text. It appears the weight is a different colour to the crane body so will have to investigate this, could be a stone type or concrete construction, not sure yet. Will post a picture of the completed part. I have glued a nut to the underside of the platform as part of the fixing to the base and bogie and added liquid gravity to the base for extra weight (just visible in picture one). We are no totally up to date with the project so postings will probably be a little sporadic, mirroring my modelling time. Next to complete the bogie sides and that backhead as previously mentioned.....

Many thanks for your kind comments. I agree regarding the sizing but before I started I knew I would have to accept a few compromises and this like the chimney I can live with especially in OO scale. I had not realised about the backhead as I had been concentrating on the crane body and movement. Thank you, really appreciate your 'spot' and I will have to arrange something to change it before finalising the body works.

The main steam pipes have been fashioned out of a large paperclip as I had no other wire thick enough. very pleased with the resulting pipework for this and very robust. Holes drilled either end to locate and glued in. I have noticed small brackets which I will need to add. I think I will make these from tape as many do for gutter downpipes or boiler bands.

Thanks, unfortunately my layout is still very much in the infantile stages and non DDC but I am hoping to make the crane manually active. As for an exhibition appearance I don't think it will be up to that standard and I don't know anyone with such a layout. My layout, (Chippenham, Wiltshire), is still in an infantile stage and a non-running. The research side of things has taken quite sometime but I am getting there with building dimensions etc.

Now to make a representation of the inner workings of the crane itself. I have one picture in Russell's pictorial vol2 only so used this to mock something up. Again, in the knowledge that everything will be black and this especially will only be visible from the rear. The crane arm, borrowed from a Cambrian GWR crane kit, has been employed with minimal adaptions although I had to replace the main lifting part of the arm, fashioning some thin straight plates out of plasticard. I had finally made the decision that the arm can move. which in turn meant that the crane lifting mechanisms and the chain would require moving parts. The associated details on the body were removed and holes drilled to create space for the rolling type mechanisms that pull/release the chains to either lift the crane arm or the actual hook. New arms for lifting the crane arm created from plasticard and attached to the top of the arm and rear of the body has to have moveable fixings so they could flex with the movement of the arm. Holes drilled through each paired held with tape to ensure flush holes when separated for fixing. Then a shaft put through to secure in location. One pair for the rear and one for the front of the arm. Pulleys made from the reversing the buffers of the Cambrian kit and plastic weld together, providing a nice pivot either side to sit in pre-drill holes on the holding mechanism to allow rotation in situ. With little to no room to place or hide a motor the physical actions of the crane remain manual. Next up the steam pipes and grab rails......

Detail positions on the crane body marked out and research into creating rivets started. The main and most helpful source being RMweb, thank you again. I decided my choice would be either Archers rivet transfers or to try making my own using glue. Quick search for the transfers resulted in no suppliers anywhere near me and the one I email did not respond, imports at the time seemed very expensive for something I have not actually seen. So I experimented on a spare piece of plasticard using a cocktail stick and superglue. Pleasing result but when I touched them they all came off! I tried a different type of glue; Glue 'n' Glaze and this seemed to work as well and stayed when touched. Further details have been added to represent various mechanisms of the crane. I main issue I still had was to make the crane working or static. Pleased with the overall effect of the glue rivets, especially as they will be painted completely black anyway. I have since purchased some Archers rivets with the view of removing mine to replace with professional ones. After comparing them I decided that the model would not benefit much from the removal and replacement, possibly having them all absolutely in a straight line but not much all and I certainly will be able to use these transfers on the buffer beams, footplate extension and bogie.

Thanks Phil, I have not tried either of those methods straight in with soldering. I have made a couple of brass wagon kits a few years ago so decided straight away to go done that route oh and of course plastic kits. In fact I made a few whilst thing one was on the go. I will speed a few of the stages through to try and get up to current time ASAP. Next came fashioning the cab front with the lower roof profile and square windows. I had planned to use glue & glaze to make the windows (so practiced on a spare piece of plastic) but I have a concern over the tackyness of it when dry. White metal whistles from the Wills kit re-shaped and attached through drilled holes and fixed with superglue. The crane body sides shaped and now connected. I noticed a fine should all the way around so using micro strip fashioned something. I use Plasticweld and this was worked very providing very strong joints but it does dry rapidly and also it seems to evaporate in the open bottle fast as well. As you will see from the pictures I have marked a couple of key points in pencil on the crane body using Russell's pictorial guide. You will notice I have constructed a Cambrian bogie and is positioned under the proposed rear extension for the crane. I was not brave enough to try and produce my own from scratch although this bogies will look completely different from the original I just wanted the correct spacing, height and springs visible. Next up working on the crane body........

The coal bunker has been cut in half and flipped into the cab area either side. the filler caps repositioned along with the hand rails and steps along to body. Filing in any unrequired holes with solder and smoothing back to near flush with the model. The white plasicard pieces are the starting point for the crane main body.