Mr Grumpy

On to the water tanks and batteries. This is a really clever, if heavy, modular design allowing just about every configuration of under frame equipment to be modelled including long range fuel tanks, water tanks/no water tanks, early line side water filling equipment etc. In my opinion the battery boxes would have looked far better with etched detail overlays. Again, a few of the castings have suffered from possible mould fatigue. I have deliberately left some of the roughness on the castings to imitate corroded steel. I have given the assembly a blow over with frame dirt and dry brushed metalcote. They have come up a little flat in the pics, but look quite nice in real.

I'm really pleased with the profile of the cabs. All window surrounds are soldered on. The N/S frames are tinned with 145 degree solder then fixed to the body with 70 degree solder, with the iron set at around 140 degrees. There is so much pewter acting a heat sink, with the iron set any lower, the solder would not flow. After a chat with Brian Daniels, I even soldered a couple with 145 degree solder. The pewter seems very resilient. I found I need to squeeze some damp tissue in to neighbouring frames to prevent them coming adrift while soldering other frames.Handrails are N/S wire (Supplied) and the lamp bracket is a lost wax brass casting.

Heres an earlier photo of one of the cabs attached to the buffer beam/ valance. The buffers have since been chemical blackened and look much better......

..............Sorry forgot this one. Trouble is, this 1mb limit is a bl..dy nuisance! I can't re-size on the phone so have to transfer to my computer.....re size.......etc.... Again, sorry for the poor photo quality!

As a break from filing and fettling, I decided to make up the buffer beams and valences and the cab interiors. All these components went together well, although the drivers desk isn't totally prototypical. I noticed the drivers seat was tilted after taking the pics, this has now been rectified. Sometimes it is good to take a few pics and study over a cup of tea and some of the smaller mistakes show themselves! PS: sorry about the picture quality in this thread. All were taken on my phone mostly as I worked.

I had originally bought a DJH 47 kit around 10-11 years ago. The castings were much better. I bottled out from building it as I had no experience of large kit building and sold it on.....at a big loss!! I guess the fit of the bogies is also down to the accuracy of the water tank/battery installation. When I soldered in and tapped the four posts for the base, I spent a considerable time making sure they were spot on........bet the bogies still don't fit I will most probably fit the SWD Udrive XL. Did you use the DJH glazing or make your own? I have started cutting glazing, but its another tedious job on top of the filing!

I opened up the fan apertures with a Dremel sanding drum like this: Once both holes were opened, the drum was clogged and only fit for the bin! The cab is a reasonable fit, but in reality, there is a fair bit of fettling to be done. I couldn't resist posing the cabs at each end of the body. I have removed the casting feeds from the body and cabs with side cutters. The body is still to be chamfered to match the cabs.

I wasn't brave enough to chance the soldering iron!Here's one of the cabs with window surrounds, horn grille, wipers and hand rails attached. A little work to do on the body work and a tad more to sit the frames properly. Looks like a 47 though!

Hi , What size speakers and drive system have you used? Did you move the bogie centres inwards? I have seen around 3mm each advised.

Hey!!! Thats my baby you are talking about! Thanks Jeff

With the JLTRT class 47 on the horizon, I thought I would give a brief account of my build of the DJH version. My initial spec for the build changed significantly after talking with Steph Dale model products. We discussed the merits of split axles with twin gear box and cardan shaft drive for both bogies. This appealed to me as I am useless at making effective pickups but also the motors are mounted within the bogies, keeping more space in the locomotive body for decoder, speaker(s) and possible smoke unit. So the spec is: DJH class 47 with Serck rads and louvres Scratch built Clayton boiler exhaust (Not catered for in kit) Steph Dale gear boxes and cardan shafts Slaters wheels Added detail to bogie frames Flush glazing. (Use DJH offering until all cut) Cliff Williams speaker(s) Probably SWD XL decoder CPL n/s couplings. Assembly to be soldered construction, using my Antex TCS variable temperature iron and mostly 70 degree solder. Laco flux used throughout. DJH produce the diesel kits to order, possibly when they have X amount of orders in for a given kit, so I had a few weeks to wait after my initial order. When the kit arrived, I was staggered with the weight! The box is good quality and will hold the loco when complete. So, what do you get..... A huge pewter body casting, two cabs, very nice etchings in brass and n/s, lost wax and pewter detail castings, wire glazing and rubber tubing. My initial response to opening the box was one of dismay. The cabs had considerable flash and mould lines. The kit has been around a long time, so as the moulds wear, more flash is inevitable.The cabs and body have feed lines along their bottom length that have to be removed. However, on close inspection, I could see it was nothing a lot of tedious filing could not remove! I was also daunted by the task of soldering parts to these huge castings and ultimately soldering the cabs to the body. These are the cabs as delivered: The following photo is of one cab after several hours of filing and fettling. The window apertures are considerably smaller than required and when filing, constant checking against the N/S window surrounds is required. Once the initial cleaning is underway, the excellent shape of the cab is revealed. Just getting this far confirmed what I had heard about the great shape of the DJH 47 cabs and spirit lifted I cracked on!

MMP do super detailed 7mm kits of fuilly fitted 16t wagoms. Also the rivetted variety (and LMS) worth a look!!