Bluemonkey presents....

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.

Thanks Phil, brilliant. I have resized the first few pictures that I took after remembering I should document this. So a little de-construction in order to take everything back as far as possible without wasting too much time. I had planned this project with a couple of Mainline 57xx's but after looking at the Wills kit it seemed a too good opportunity to miss out on even though the wheel alignment is slightly out I am having to employ a little modelling licence throughout the build anyway.

​Ladies and Gentlemen, ​I am a Great Western modeller returning to the hobby in the past year or so but unfortunately only for a couple of hours a week and maybe a cheeky wet Sunday every now and then. I don't have the wealth of knowledge that some here do nor the superb modelling skills for locomotive, stock and structure making but I do try. I have spent much time 'lurking and learning' on this forum and I would just like to thank everyone for all of their comments and articles as it is for me and many others a great source of information, inspiration and, at times, humour. I have posed a few questions and received a great number of replies of which I am greatly thankful to all. ​Right to the matter in hand; ​This probably should be posted in a blog but I wanted for everyone to use this posting as a discussion base rather than a story about my build. I will of course update periodically and add pictures but welcome everyone to add thoughts and to let the discussion meander. I am writing this having built a lot of what is being described a couple of months ago. As I said I don't have much modelling time so wanted to make sure I had a bank of pictures and build already made to comment on so I would not leave huge delays between update postings. After coming to terms that I could not sensibly build all the kits I had amassed I had to reduce my collection of unbuilt kits. Listing a Wills kit for an open cab pannier tank kit I received a number of questions regarding how incomplete the kit was. So I checked off the parts against the parts list to ensure I was providing the correct information and low and behold I realised I had a nearly complete kit and after a little web searching found I could obtain the parts. Flipping through some old pictures I noticed a familiar looking pannier engine but with a difference, something I had forgotten but all too suddenly this memory was brought to the forefront and thus a herculean project was born. Well, not really a huge project as the description suggests but more to a hint at the project. ​The picture I discovered was one of the Western Pannier tank crane - Hercules. Having recently read a number of posts regarding the 'build a loco' challenge and posted a query regarding the availability of commissioned etched name plates, (thank you Phil Bullock and Stephen from Narrow Planet for your help), the project was a go! ​Listing deleted, additional parts and name/number plates ordered I set about the construction of the Wills pannier kit as far I could. I made the kit as far as possible so I could start planning the parts required for the crane body. The main body was planned to be constructed out of plasticard (as I have little metal work experience) and I knew I had a Cambrian kit of a GWR crane, just had to work out how to fix it all together. Is the crane to be a working model or totally fix and static? Another question to which I did not have the answer to. I am also not very good on the computer so need to find a way to reduce my picture file size before uploading it. ​The picture that started it all (again); ​Thank you for your time and interest. I will continue very shortly, feel free to discuss.

Thank you to one and all for your responses (some on good days some on bad days). I did look at a few posts whilst trying to research the stuff in my local area, obviously this takes time and sometimes the long a thread is open the more expansive the posts are. Again thank you everyone hopefully I will get some soon but I have since found out Royal Mail have prohibited sending such liquids and courier costs will make the item too expensive so will have to wait for a sizeable order from somewhere as there is none in my local area.

Dear All, Having just spilt my last flux over my bench I am now without any. I have asked some friends and shop keepers regarding types of flux to use for whitemetal and brass kit building and the majority go for liquid flux (as I did) but no one has it in stock or knowledge of whom may have some. Please can I have some suggestions (polite). Thank you in advance for any suggestions