GER_Jon

Thanks it can be hard to keep at it when every little bit takes so long but after the westinghouse pump goes on the boiler top fittings should be easy!

Jim,I like the idea of putting this detail on after the painting I might try it on the Y14 when I do that one .

Today was clack 2 and here are photos - one of the key things is not to cut the sprue too short so it locates in the boiler properly and obviously thats exactly what I did wrong this morning! However the clack that doesn't fit around the pipes on the S56 should be ok for the Y14 (LNER J15) which is less clutered. Leaving the long wire makes it easier holding the position for soldering.

Bit late to this discussion but check out eveleigh creations website David shows all his etch sheets on there and you can see how the non commercial etches have a lot of varied stuff on them. E.g I have a K9 loco etch which is on sheet 3 (only one per sheet) so if you order one he has to either get a full sheet or refuse to supply. In the case of getting the sheet in then he's left with signal boxes etc. So I can understand Chris Higgs position regarding his left overs!

Been slowly working on sandboxes with control levers (fitted both sides) and clack valves. THe sanboxes are built from the etch parts and have a tiny cube of lead inside just incase every little bit of weight helps.The clacks require driling out to 0.5mm for a length of brass wire to be soldered in then the sprue shortened (not completely removed ) so that it fits in a 1mm dia hole in the boiler. The LH side is done and shown below - when I do the other side I'll remember to photograph the clack valve before fitting. The final hole in the smokebox wrapper is for the handrail knob. The RH side is more complicated as it has another pipe and westinghouse pump in close proximity. I was trying to fit the westinghouse pump when I realised it would stop me getting the clack in position. The projecting hadrails below the footplate have been left to see if they help locate and strengthen the cab steps when I get to that stage

Did a bit of filling and set up a pose to see if the boiler furniture was looking right - the coaches are GER 6 wheel test builds and my first attempts at teak finish. Chimney and dome still loose. This will probably be my 1906 branch train although oil lamps may be wrong for third would probably be ok on the brake!

There have been moments when flying might have been considered😀

Somehow caught covid last week but not bad with it (apart from lack of concentartion/ fatigue) and fixed now. Had a good session at the bench yesterday - drilled all the holes needed (I hope) and after some serious thought about the best order to fit bits i prepared the smokebox door (n brass) by filing away most of the rear to thin it down and soldered it on - this is how I got it horizontal and also shows how little the area for solder is. Then on with the cab roof to get something looking a bit like an S56 loco. Another good example of the close up showing bits needing attention that pass me by in real life. Before I fit boiler furniture I'm going to work up from the footplate - some filler needed on the boiler, sand boxes (plus operating rods), pipework, clack valves and westinghouse pump. The n brass clack valves are slightly different to those in GER pictures so I sawed off one of the square bits and drilled a 0.35 mm hole into that end ready for the lower pipe (modified on right in pic. Still need to sort out the end into the boiler I'll have to solder the brass rod into the square end to give a handle . To give a clue how fiddly this is the following pic shows the part in my jewellers vice being sawed while held by the fat sprue sorry its not great.

Nipped to the shed and recreated the dome moment for posterity. Its surprisingly solid like this and allowed most of the sprue to be removed by the MF70 mill then finished with a file. You can see where I cross filed to get the fit. To complete the story I had polished the dome with wet and dry paper using the sprue to hold the dome in a drill chuck clamped in a vice prior to this step.

I'm lucky to only have this one RMWEB topic so I've reinstated all the missing pictures today and in addition heres the progress that took place during the intermission. First I attacked the big chimney to get it to a suitable size and drilled the top out -to do this it was soldered to a bit of scrap boiler to make handling easier. I do need to to improve my photographic efforts - they look ok on the small screen but when I get them ready for here not so good and too late now to redo but it shows the technique I've used. Falls off easily when exposed to the flame thrower. Then onto the dome which here is sat loose in a hole located by its sprue, I'm just checking the "look" of the combination with respect to an S56 - I'm quite happy with this. Because the dome sits astride the junction of the boiler and tanks I needed to completely remove the casting sprue ( not using a hole in the boiler for location) which is akward due to the flares so I used the mill. To present the dome securely I drilled a hole in a piece of 6mm ply in which the dome was a tight fit ( the hole allowed me to push out the dome from underneath when finished). This jig also allowed me to file the dome to a good fit on the boiler surface. The photos I took are useless so I'll do that when the current hail storm abates and I can get to the shed. You may be able to see in this picture the "german helmet" shape of the flares to accomodate the position required for fitting note the dome is perched in position when held properly it does stand nicely The job I've been putting off comes next -- drilling handrail holes.

Hi Ian it's a long way from North Norfolk but I might be in Wiltshire soon so I'll check those dates.

Ally Pally trip off as travelling companion (and weekend host) tested positive for Covid last night, I was looking forward to seeing Freshwater in the flesh having followed it on here (already seen CF a few times). On the positive side this creates a theoretical modelling budget surplus so I've decided to commit to a second set of Eveleigh J69 etches to dispose of the spare cash. The intent is to fit with one of the new association 6 x15mm motors and a DCC chip to go modern and keep a clear cab. Compared to the old flat can motors these seem tiny so should also allow more lead in the side tanks. I should be able to whiz through* the build having learned all the lessons recorded here!!

Time to apologise to Nick Tilson at N Brass the taller chimney is not sold as a stovepipe but for some reason I had it in with my stovepipe stash. Probably I bought it due to it being suitable to modify to stovepipe shape! The actual large stovepipe chimney N Loco 23209 is 6.3mm tall whereas the required height is closer to 7.3mm. Should be able to get the pipe bash to work I think.

Tapped the anchor point 10BA but probably need shorter screws - luckily going to Ally Pally so should have some soon. Need to drill a lot of holes for fittings but decided to work on chimney first. N Brass have two stovepipes the short one is perfect for many GER locos but slightly small for S56, while the large is too fussy on top an slightly too big. So I attacked a big one with files to try out - it needs the flares slimming but might do even though it looks far too tall (correct for my drawings!). So I might go with a small to get the right look even if its 8 or 9" lower than it should be. Watch this space.

Finally after much bad language and fettling I have the boiler fitted. Once filed near to shape the tube part was held in a vice while it was soldered together. The final size was 9.2mm North/South and 9.0mm East/west. Due to the joint I decided not to cast lead directly as I had with the previous efforts but used piece of 9mm ply as a mould (suggested by David Eveleigh). 9mm was the length of the lead plug required and the hole drilled out used a drill I had the shank of which fitted the boiler (near enough!). So fanfare required: This weighs in at 10g bunker and tank lead not yet added. Next I need to drill all the holes for handrails etc and specifically the anchor point for the chassis which needs the boiler drilling from underneath and tapping out for the screw size chosen either 10 or 12 BA when I find my taps. Normally a nut soldered on the footplate is use but the S56 has a boiler right onto the footplate. See below also visible is the joint. Off for a pint.

Real life got in the way of modelling at the weekend but I did get some progress on this boiler. Cut a length of tube, then marked off with a shallow cut on the mill the length of the boiler front. A milled a slot in the front part followed by sawing the unwanted material from the back. The mill provides an excellent accurate slot - not sure if it would work using a saw to do this (in my hands). Next is a long session of filing intersersed with checking fit on the etch. Current status is this My working method for doing the filing involves holding the piece down on a slot in a piece of scrap wood as there is very little scope to clamp the tube while still being able to access the areas requiring attack. With the slot the tube is unstable so I used a piece of dowel inside to press against which worked ok. Shown below is the "jig" and the boiler graveyard. The reject boilers were useful guides to shaping the new piece. Next up is closing the gap by soldering scrap etch inside while it is wired together.

It's been a while but I'm still working on the getting the boiler correct. 9.5mm o.d. tube is still just oversize so I'm onto number 4 effort slitting underneath as suggested by Becasse above at just over 1mm. The MF70 mill has given me a good straight slit which I'll squeeze up once I do the awkward shaping. Fingers crossed might be a giant leap forward at the weekend.

Got the MF70 today so setup and tested it. Removed the boiler from the loco but it got damaged in the process so is not useable. The new tubing hasn't arrived yet, therefore finished off the original boiler but just as expected it's too small (leaves a too large gap underneath) so have to wait now for next steps.

Thats a good suggestion it looks like at least 0.5 too big probably as I have used 10.2mm tubing when it should be nearer 9.5. I have some 9.5 on order so will be able to confirm size with that. You can see the odd shape of the boiler in previous posts so if it can be salvaged that would be great. I should have measured the tube more carefully in the first place!

The Good the Bad and the Ugly Finished working on the boiler and fitting it to the loco body with a lot of fettling it went in nicely I'd even thought of drilling a pilot hole for the whistle which was very close to the cab front and difficult to access with a small drill before soldering in the boiler. But... the tube diameter used is slightly too large - this was not obvious while loose fitting the parts and measuring up but was when trying to fit the smokebox wrapper. So thats coming apart later in preperation for new boiler -- BAD Good news is that I've finally ordered my birthday present Proxxon MF70 mill so the next boiler will be a more accurate fit from the beginning! Compared to junior hacksaw and files although my filing isnt that bad due to my experiences studying Enginnering Workshop Theory and Practice "O" Level. I used to be able to file square bar to round and vice versa. But that was in 1976 so one does get a bit rusty. To de-stress I etch primed a bunch of wheels for three different loco builds (Tender, 2-4-2 and 0-6-0) but even that turned out UGLY. My eyesight didnt detect the poor finish quality. Luckily I have no time until saturday to resume work so hopefully the functioning of my hands and eyes will recover by then. All the best Jon

I decided to improve the boiler weight, earlier I showed the rolled lead approach which got 4g in (its only a small volume on a S56) giving approx 5g but probably only 4g near the front wheels. Setting up the boiler as shown in a hole in some plywood with a bit of floorboard as a base I used a proxxon flame thrower to melt in small bits of lead (outside) these little devices can give 1200 deg apparently so pleanty for lead. No damage was done in getting the final result shown (apologies for the photo quality). The result is a total weight of 8g so nearly doubled the lead present. Good result IMHO. Now onto building etched sandboxes.

First cuckoo of 2022 You know how it goes - I had a couple of hours modelling time available for the loco and jobs planned ---- however I noticed the Y14 (LNER J15) chassis and took look at it, in the process I managed to break the spacers . So needed to fix that before starting the real jobs. I couldnt get it straight at all, these chassis are designed with a folding box you cut off after building and even with a chassis jig I couldnt get the right alignment due to the other bits of spacer. I was just giving up when I noticed the assembly jig for an association 14xx in the scrap box - unelievably the axle spacing is the same as the front pair on the Y14 and since the chassis is designed to standard assocation dimensions I could fit it in and resolder the spacer hoorah. So remember nothing is trully junk!!

Nice little package arrived from Nck Tilson at N Brass with lots of fiddly bits thtat look right for finishing off the model. In addition I have a number of smokebox doors to select from which will need some modification to suit the GER design. Trains have been delayed by the wrong amount of Covid arriving in the grandchildrens Nursery School causing closure and implementation of plan B (our house) but back to normal from monday. Should be a lot more visual progress in the next week.

Last weekend was a mixture of construction followed by destruction. My guess is I didnt put the cab beading on originally because I thought it was beyond my soldering skills. Well it certainly isnt something I've mastered yet, two goes followed by desoldering took place and then I got something that was ok. Cleaned up the results and photographed - wow what looks ok can be killed by a photo!!! In addition I have now refitted the cab back plate, put in a bunker to hold lead and drilled out the footplate front for lamp irons, clack pipies and westinghouse connection at 0.3mm using witness marks for locations. The eagle eyed will have notice the numberplate shows 53 whereas I had started this topic identifying no 59 as the loco being built. As is often the case I couldnt find the 59 plates anywhere but I had 53 and 89 in the parts box so I chose 53 as also being a 1904 build S56 order loco. The plates soldered first time in correct location and then when looking for the sandboxes I saw 59 plates still on the etch! So 59 will have to be my second S56 build (one day!) Regards Jon

Got the 0.3mm drill and opened the footplate holes without breaking it. Also made up the spare set of coupling rods as mentioned above, when fitted saw a definite improvement in the chassis running. Got the beginners artist acrylics out and mixed a blue from black and primary blue to represent GER engine blue plus primary red and blue to do a vermillion. To my eye these looked good but no idea what the photos will show! So the wheels have been painted blue and the rods vermilion ready for the weekends assembly work. Cheers Jon