Mr Grumpy

Mr Western Star sat down and took a good look over my 14xx chassis on Friday. The good news was that the chassis and axles appear square. He noticed one of the wheels was very slightly not square with the chassis and said it may be a burr on the axle. Strangely, with all crank pin nuts tight the chassis ran smoothly without actually doing anything! Also, I hadn't tightened the wheels fully for fear of the screws seizing again. However, they all have a smear of graphite grease (including the thread inside the axles) so hopefully won't sieze again. I have given the axle ends a careful sweep with emery cloth, popped the wheels back on and all is sweet as can be! To be honest, the burr was only visable to me with a magnifying glass. Still, lesson learned, check and check again! Thank you Western Star! All the sandboxes and rear sandbox pipes are fitted along with the guard irons. I'm just making some straps for the sand pipes but they are very fragile. I'm finding the front pipes a tad tedious as they need to be bent back behind the brake hanger before coming down to the wheel. I used to bend pipe for a living....

Gotcha!! Confusion reigns supreme! I have stars before my eyes :-)

Thanks Martyn, I have been busy selling a fair bit of stock so the pillar drill is next on the agenda :-)

I don't have a great deal of progress to report, as I have had a bit of a self inflicted war with the coupling rods. Problems began when a countersunk 6 ba allen slot screw refused to budge from holding a wheel in place. Unfortunately, the allen key slot rounded, resorting to drilling the offending screw out. Slaters did replace it for me a couple of days later. The 12 ba crankpin screws were 'cheese head' and fouled the chassis, so I drilled in to the rear of the wheel and sunk them in. Possibly during this exercise, I may have inadvertently caused the screws to not sit at right angles to the wheel faces :-( Anyhow, this took a lot of faffing, decrying kit building forever, threatening to go RTR 00 etc. etc. Poor Mark JJ got the brunt of this, and Mr Dog Star also advised. During a conversation with David Sharp, he advised to open the con rods a tiny amount, and every thing put together has worked! The chassis is incredibly free running now, so I can cheer up and should have the brake gear, etc on soon.

I couldn't afford the quantity of resin needed :-)

I'm hoping to add a driver and fireman. Please could anyone let me know the best models avaliable? I did tentatively think of having a 3D resin casing of my self driving, but thought a square blue chap with a hat wouldn't look prototypical :-)

I deliberated over making the horn block keeper plates removable. In the end I soldered them in as once the chassis springs are fitted, I couldn't see a way of removing them. However, I have soldered 14ba nuts to the rear of the brake shoe hangers and inserted a screw so that the brake linkage and shoes can be removed along with the wheels for painting. I have also got the slide bars in (Thanks Mark!) and the centre steps fitted. I found I had two identical front sand boxes sent by mistake, so will get those fitted soon. I'm hoping to have the con rods made up along with the life guards tomorrow.

Crikey.....at my age I can't see anything below 0 gauge :-)

Hi Dave check out post 284... all is revealed!Yes, the rear axle rocks in a cradle. The chassis really is exquisite! And virtually idiot proof. Dry runs are easy, although I should have done this with the rear stretcher.. but thankfully no harm done!

I will probably prime them for now. I will pick up some Casey fluid at the Reading show and try blackening the wheels and buffers.

The wheels and plunger pick ups arrived today andI Couldn't resist temporarily putting the wheels on the chassis. It rolls along beautifully. Hope that continues after I fit the con rods! Hopefully the chassis will be complete by the weekend.

Are you in a heavy metal band I have decided to make the brakes and linkage removable for painting and maintenance. I don't have any taps and dies, so will solder a 14ba nut to the rear of the brackets (Circled) and the brackets that attach to the middle steps. Also I have added a photo of the rear stretcher, which I managed to solder up side down Once the tabs have been twisted, soldered and cut back it is near on impossible to remove the item. believe me I tried! My fault I'm afraid! It won't really notice but annoys me as I know it's there!

The chassis is coming on and everything went together perfectly. This is the chassis prior to folding with the rocking bars and horn block guides fitted: The chassis folds easily, but care was taken to ensure it is square and parallel. The rear axle box assembly has just been placed to show the slot and tabs. I will fit the brake cylinder to the rear stretcher before fitting, as I think it may be easier to gain access for soldering. Slaters wheels and ABC mini 7s and Maxon 4W motor all on order. Not sure about sound at present, but plenty of time to think it through.

Also the 20 strong 58xx class was similar to the 14/48xx but without auto coach gear.

It's going to be a busy morning.......

I can't afford to be finished that quick!! I need to re balance the modelling bank first!

I got the horn guides and rocking beams made up earlier. As cut out (Sorry rocking beams not shown, but look very much the same when soldered together. Basically the long parts at the top are folded and inserted in to the grooves on the plates below. Care is needed not to join the wrong parts together on the front guides, also solder must not get in the slot for the horn block. I also made up the ash pan assembly. The tabs which are used to join the assembly to the chassis can be clearly seen. This whole assembly went together without a drop of solder and was nice and rigid. All soldered now and excess tabs removed. (The part at the bottom is soldered when in the chassis.) So far everything has been very straight forward and really is very nice to build. I will order the motor from ABC and wheels from Slaters tomorrow.

I have got the rear axle box section complete (apart from buffers etc, which comes later). I can see why people love these kits. The steps were a dream to build and my wife has told me to slow down as I can't afford another kit too soon!! Due to the wonders of photography, I have spotted a little blob of solder on the top of the leaf spring, so will attend to this later. Now on to the chassis.....

........Thats better

As this is my first 0 gauge steam loco, I will probably not stray too far from the instructions, so I have started with the rocking rear axle box. My first encounter with MOK kits was back in the 80s when I built their 08 shunter in 4mm scale. The inside of the loco looked like a porcupine due to the slot and tab construction. Looked great from the outside though! So, the 7mm kits have the slot and tab aid to construction, although they are generally snipped off and dressed back once soldering is complete. While making up the two components for the axle box, it was really satisfying to hear a click as they are folded and the tabs enter the slots. It is then possible to check everything is square before soldering. I will have to watch the solder, as it is not so easy to see it flash along a joint as with brass. On the other hand, N/S is great to work with. Before opening the etching packs, I did notice the warning stating edges are sharp. Still cut my fingers, N/S does seem to have a sharper edge. Due to my inexperience with folding and shaping metal in this scale, prior to purchasing the kit I had a chat with David Sharp, and he gave me a couple of pointers to take extra care with: Folding the cab above the doorway/window. Shaping the bunker, although brass castings are provided for the corners. Still, this may be a little way off yet! Just noticed one edge needs to be tucked in slightly. Isn't photography great!

Thanks Mark, You have also been very generous with your advice and time!

Thanks Andy! Much appreciated. It is a very nice kit to build. Thanks also to Mark J for kindly sending me a couple of pairs of self contained buffers and axle boxes! The buffers really give the wagon a more rugged appearance. I'm looking forward to building a catfish later on.

Made the most of the fine weather and got the doggie sprayed. The inside of the hopper is bright steel, but looks a tad metallic light grey. It won't be seen under the weathering though! Once the transfers are applied I can get it weathered. So for now the bench is clear, and I have started to cut some parts for the 14xx.

Hi Warren, Love to see a photo of the 14xx. Must look pretty special! I'm almost certain mine will be grubby black!

The first coat of paint (black) has been applied to the dogfish and is looking very nice! (photo later) While the paint thoroughly dries, I will share a look at the MOK 14xx kit which I am hoping to start very soon. The kit arrived well packaged the day following my order. Obviously, the 14xx is a small, but pretty loco, so I didn't expect many etchings, which there aren't, but there are lots of castings. I haven't removed them from their respective bags yet, but they do look to be of very high quality as do the etchings. Everything was neatly packaged and there is a very comprehensive instruction 'manual' with lots of good quality photos of the build, reference prototype pics and a few scale drawings. This will be my first 0 gauge steam loco, an aperitif for the MOK 9f. (photos look a tad bent, that's my camera I'm afraid!)