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drduncan

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  1. drduncan
    Ok, so where were we? Ah, yes the victim had been reduced to pieces (or at least stripped of its means of movement( and was ready for reconstructive surgery.  So now it is time to address the thorny subject of wheels.
     
    As I mentioned before, you have basically three choices: Aland Gibson, Markits and Ultrascale.  So lets compare what you can get for how much using a Bachmann 2251 Collett goods as our exemplar.
     
    Ultrascale offer a conversion pack that includes all wheels (inc tender) and crankpins - in fact as they state - everything you will need.  They also have notes offering advice on how to do the conversion.  

    What you get from Ultrascale.   See: https://www.ultrascale.uk/eshop/products/view/CAT007/30
     
    This will set you back £96.58 for wheels with Nickel Silver tyres or £70.57 for brass tyres (some Ultrascale packs offer steel tyres too which seem a couple of £ cheaper - the 3F tender engine for example). Ultrascale also state that the product is supplied as per the image.  I take this to mean that the wheels arrive in the case of the the 2251 ready assembled - so quartered, correct back to back gauge, pins fitted and and with a (brass) gearwheels fitted in place.  All you have to do is drop them in and add the coupling rods, reassemble, test admire followed by a bragging session at your local club of choice (although if you don't do the bragging at a model railway club you might get some odd looks or comments).  So all in all quite a good deal.  You can get the wheels unassembled with separate pins included and without a gear wheel for about £10 cheaper (in the 2251 example) - just make sure you select the correct diameter axle for the driving wheels.  The biggest problem is that the range or ready assembled wheels is quite small - The range of Bachmann steam engines covered is just 5, but both the standard DIY wheel range and the diesel conversion range is much more comprehensive. 
     
    Which brings me to a useful  digression … whatever your interest period if you are moving to EM or P4, buy a cheapo 2nd hand Bachmann or Hornby diesel, convert it (much quicker and simpler than a steam loco - I did one using an Ultrascale drop in set in under 30 mins) and you'll have something to test your track with (aka playing trains) while you build and convert your way to finescale nirvana.  
     
    Markits also offer complete conversion packs, the GWR 2251 is £72.15 (I emailed them to check) and for this you get all wheels (all with nickel silver tyres), 'super deluxe' crankpins and axle nut covers.  The Markits wheels will need assembly (and the gear wheel(s) salvaging from the victim), but they are self quartering so that is a considerable amount of heartache and pain done away with.  It is unclear whether these packs use their 'standard' profile or the finer flanged RP25 profile.  If you know please let me know.  It is also unclear from the website/catalogue whether P4 profile wheels can be supplied (I'm not hopeful) so these are probably an EM only option.   Again, remember to state gauge (OO is their default) and axle diameter when ordering.   Sometimes the Markits axle nut covers etch included in the conversion packs have balance weights too (for example the LNER V2) - a bonus that will save you fabricating them later.  
     
    Finally, there is Alan Gibson.  AG also offer a conversion pack for the Bachmann 2251 Collet Goods at £20.00 with steel tyred wheels.  However, this pack is for the driving wheels only.  So when tender wheels, crankpins and coupling rod bushes are included that takes the price up to £37.70 (prices from the most recent catalogue (2018) on the Alan Gibson website).  
     
    So buy Ultrascale and get a drop in set, spend £24.43 less and you get everything you need for Markits but with some assembly required, spend £34.45 less than that and you get Alan Gibson with quite a lot of assembly required.  But what Alan Gibson has in its favour (apart from being cheap) is that because its not an all in one deal you can spread the cost.  Being a perennially poor thanks to a multitude of children much as I would love to buy Ultrascale drop in products (and if you ask me to do a conversion for you I'm afraid I'll insist you do) I usually end up using AG products. 
     
    So having laid out your choices in wheels, I'm going to ignore choice and concentrate on the ones that are cheapest and also probably need the most work.  (It has struck me that these two things may be related).
     
    The first thing to note is that Alan Gibson doesn't have an e-commerce portal (unlike Ultrascale), but then again Markits don't either (or do lots of others) relying instead on human determination and the innate stubbornness of the finescale modeller in trying to press money on businesses that often give an impression of not wanting to take it off us.  For AG products there is a short cut - the EM Gauge Society stock his conversion packs and a limited range of other AG products - but unfortunately not the whole range.  Happily they stock both EM and P4 versions, so another reason to be an EMGS member (even if you do P4).
     
    So in preparing and assembling our AG wheels there are 4 different tasks:
    Fit crankpins Fit balance weights Assemble on the axle Quarter them  
    Fitting crankpins.  This is the job I do first for a number of reason, mostly centred on its much easy to do them now than when the wheels are on the axle (or even on the loco).  Some points to note:
    Some Alan Gibson wheels (the very earliest ones made for the range, like if my memory is correct, the J15) don't actually have any crankpin holes.  Instead there is a blind drill mark at the location where you have to drill the hole.  How big a hole?  Ideally 0.75mm (see https://www.trfastenings.com/Products/knowledgebase/Tables-Standards-Terminology/Tapping-Sizes-and-Clearance-Holes ) as this will mean that the M1 machine screws AG supplies as crankpins will then cut their own thread in the plastic wheel centre.  However, I have used 0.7mm drill bits quite successfully.  The difficult bit is making sure that your hole is at right angles to the face of the wheel. Take your time, look at it from many angles as you slowly drill the hole....  If it isn't it might be enough to cause binding as it will, as it rotates, slightly increase and decease the distance between the wheels (or actually the pins) and we all know thanks to the great Iain Rice the importance of wheelbase and coupling rods matching.... don't we?  I have in the past done this by hand, but now that I'm the slightly smug owner of a drill press and machine vice, hand shake is now a thing of the past.
    Here we have a set of AG wheels destined for a Bachmann Stainer mogul (or it might be a Jubilee, but I think a Mogul). Left is as it comes out of the packet with no crankpin hole.  Centre, with the crankpin hole drilled - and you can see its right on the edge of the indie of the boss.  Right, countersunk ready for the crankpin to be fitted.  
     
    Although I'll talk about coupling and connecting rods separately, it is also worth considering the combined thickness of the coupling  and connecting rods, especially as with some that aim for a more prototypical profile (and why not?) through using multiple etched layers they can end up thicker than the bit of the AG crankpin that is left sticking out of the wheel.  (It is also worth checking this even if you intend reusing the RTR rods - better safe than sorry.)  If they are too short it can be solved by getting longer ones (yes I know  - duh!!) (still M1 though) from any one of a multitude of sellers, many of whom inhabit ebay which at least makes buying them easy.  However, longer ones can make using the GW quartering jig hard as they will be too long to fit in the receiver (answer only use long ones when you have to, shorten them as much as possible (but still giving you 2mm proud of the rods, screw them half in  way, quarter the axle, and then screw pins fully home - but more on this later). The M1 machine screws have countersunk heads but the wheels do not have countersunk holes to receive them.  So grab a 1.5mm or better a 2mm twist drill, centre it in the hole and give it a quick couple of twists (but no more) to provide a counter sink but not one so deep as to go through the wheel...I normally don't even put it in a pin vice, instead just holding it in my fingers. It is possible for the screws to unscrew themselves if the crankpin nut or eccentric crank is a bit tight on the thread.  As this happens when the wheel is mounted on the loco, it is very difficult (but not impossible) to get it back in without undoing a lot of work.  So when, happy with all other aspects of the budding relationship between wheel, rods and crankpin, you decide to fully screw the pin home, stop just before the head goes into the countersink.  Using a pin introduce a bead of superglue between crankpin head and countersink and quickly screw home.  This is especially important if you have overtightened the screw at any point and therefore stripped the soft plastic thread the screw cuts for itself.    On some of the wheels the rear of the boss intrudes into the spot where the countersink will need to go.  So grab a scalpel (or better yet a chisel ended scalpel blade and carve away the area so you have nice flat space to countersink.  
    Fit the balance weights.  Take it from me (because I have forgotten to do this at this stage enough times), it is a lot easy to fit the balance weights now.  The can use etched or pre cut plasticard ones from Markits or Ultrascale (or indeed anyone that makes such things) or you can make your own out of 5 thou plasticard and a set of dividers.   Once the balance weights are fitted you can also, should the urge take you, paint/blacken tyre rims and paint balance weights - again its a lot easier now than once coupling rods are in place and you are staring at your new pride and joy wondering what isn't quite right (and its starting to annoy you....).  If you are one of the sensible people doing an ornate pregroup livery that has wheels other than black, definitely paint them now, and you may as well line them too if needed.
     

    For the Claude Hamilton I found that an egg cup was the perfect radius for finishing off the balance weights.
     

    Just to show that I don't do what I say I should do.  I forgot the balance weights on the Claude Hamilton until I had reassembled everything...
     
    Assemble the wheels on the axle.
    First things first.  Make sure the axle is the right length (because it won't be if you are EM'ing your loco - AG supplies P4 length axles that you have to reduce to length for EM).  Finding out what the correct length is easy.  Take a pair of wheels and your back to back gauge.  Using hands (if you're like me you'll need two) hold the wheels on either side on the back to back gauge.  Then (possibly using the third hand that you get issued with on joining the finescale fraternity) place a digital vernier /caliper/gauge across the two wheel bosses, note the distance, and then, because you are squeezing the wheels too hard to try to keep a grip on  everything, catapult them into the air.    The next bit may sound bad, but it really isn't.  Reduce the axle to length.  First use a black Sharpie (or similar) pen to paint a nice thick band around the axle roughly where you'll be cutting.  Then with your vernier calipers put one end at the end that isn't black, and gently lay the other vernier prong aginst the other, spin the axle with your fingers and lo, a thin line shall appear around the axle.  And there was much rejoicing.  Which was rapidly stopped by the thought of how to cut the axle accurately.  You have effectively two choices: Put axle in Dremmel (or similar) shove in a vice, set Dremmel in motion, attack with bastard file until either the axle is the right length or you say goodbye to your fingers.  I DO NOT USE OR ADVOCATE THIS METHOD.  I know exactly how hard it is cleaning blood of walls and the ceiling (admittedly this was after a minor table saw accident but my darling wife still doesn't let me forget about it and the club I was with at the time were a bit off with me too as it was their walls and ceiling). The safer way is to use a lathe with a parting off tool.  Preferably someone elses - another reason to join a club, access to machine tools and gadgets you use too infrequently (or are too expensive) to justify having yourself.   The next important job is to offer up one of your newly trimmed axles into the slots for the driven axle.  Make sure you have an equal amount of axle sticking out of each side and part with your Sharpie (or similar) where the gear wheel needs to go. 
    Marking the position of the gear wheel on the axle.  
     
    Then using the bastard file knurl the axle where you have marked.  This means, on a resilient surface (not a hard one) like a cutting mat, using the short edge (mines about 4mm across), place it on the axle where you have marked roll the axle while pushing down hard with the file - don't allow the file to wander - and bingo a knurled axle that will probably grip your final drive gear wheel.  
    Knurling the axle for the gear wheel.
     
    Work out how many spacing washers for each axle.  A tip - if you have outside cylinders etc go for no sideplay if there will be a wheel lurking behind the cylinders or slide bars - its just too infuriating to assemble everything and then find that on a curve the crankpin fouls the outside gubbings.  For the other non gear wheel axles, probably not more than 1mm in total (unless you have a huge wheelbase and tiny curves to get it round).  On the axle with the gear wheel, as much as you can without causing the gear wheel to lose contact with the intermediate gears - probably less the 0.5mm in total.  So take the chassis, measure its width where the axle slots are, take this away from your back to back measurement and divide by 2 gives you the sideplay possible on each side.  Then just add 1/8 inch brass washers of suitable thicknesses until you have the sideplay that you want.   Take a 6mm (or there abouts drill bit) and using your fingers give it a quick twist where the axle fits into the rear of the wheel, just to take the sharp edge off and help the axle locate itself hopefully perpendicularly to the wheel when its is assembled. Now its time to assemble the wheels ready to quarter them.  As I use a GW wheel press and quartering jig I'm assuming you will too...So: Take an axle, add the gear wheel by pressing it on carefully and without twisting it until it is in the correct position.  Add any brass bearing that might have been included on the victim by the manufacturer, add the required spacing washers each side and grab a pair of wheels. And move to the quartering section.   Repeat with the other axles.  
    Quartering. 
     
    Using a wheel press and quartering jig like the GW models one to fit AG wheels (or Ultrascale self assembly ones) should reduce your troubles here, but there is wheel wobble to think about.  (I'm not going to worry about Markits ones as they are self quartering.)  Simply put, even using the jig might not stop a wheel going on not quite square leading to a wobble.  My view is that this is caused by the wheel boss sticking out beyond the wheel tyre, allowing it to twist on the mounting stud as the wheels are squeezed in the press.  To stop this I have superglued 30thou of plasticard about 6mm above and below the mounting stud on each side of the wheel press.  
     

    My modified GW wheels press.
     
    So you now should have the jig, with a wheel in each half, an axle with all the bits (bearings, spacing washers, gear wheel etc) and you are wondering how to get it all together.  Well, it can be a bit of a juggle but three hands probably won't be needed - (but doing the chamfer of the inside of the axle socket mentioned above will help), and gently close the jig until the axle just starts to engage with the wheel.  At this point stop, reach for your back to back gauge and insert it so that as you close the jig with finger pressure the B2B gauge will ensure that you set the correct gauge. 

    Squeezing everything together with the B2B  gauge in place.
     
    The jig is designed for axles that are the correct length, but this might not be the case, and it is easier to set the B2B now, rather than later.   When you feel the jig press the axle home, release it and you have a wheel that is probably square and probably quartered.  But until we get the coupling rods on, we can't be sure that each axle has exactly the same quartering...
  2. drduncan
    This is Mikkel's fault (something that Gareth of fond memory and posts past will be extremely grateful).  Mikkel kindly commented that he had found one of my blog posts useful for visualizing the work required for EM/P4 RTR conversions.  Unfortunately, the all too brief skirting over a great deal of faffing around with that particular conversion may give a false impression of the work - or thought - required.
     
    The theoretical basic flow is something like this:
    Invert victim in a suitable cradle (I use a PECO loco servicing cradle made from foam) Remove nut/bolt/pin securing the connecting rod to the driven axle (if victim has outside cylinders) Remove keeper plate (save screws in suitable container). Remove driving wheels. Remove coupling rods from wheels and remove carefully gear wheel from driven axle.  Remove any pony/bogie/tender wheels. There - very simple.  Now just put it back together...
    Assemble chosen tender wheels and fit Assemble pony/bogie wheels and fit Knurl the driven axle and fit the gear wheel Assemble and fit the driving wheels Fit coupling rods Fit connecting rod Refit Walscherts kitting (if used) Test Bask in the glory of your achievement. There.  Extremely simple.  Only practice can be very different...
     
    The actual flow:
    THINK about what you are about to do and the order that your think you need to do it!  Research; has anyone else done this before and what do they say about it?  Are there guides? - Alan Gibson (AG) does some on his website using his products (obv) but the EMGS has their own manual sheets too (and is one of many reasons for joining this society even if you aren't EM but are more interested in a finer approach...)  I'm not an S4 member so can't comment on what they supply but I can't imagine that they don't have similar advice sheets.  Read such guides/instructions carefully - do not assume they will be correct.  I know of at least one set where it looks like earlier components (in the instructions) had not been fitted at later points in the build photos...and yes it made a difference.  So do think critically about what you are being told/suggested to do! ORDER the necessary components/tools.
    Some of the bits ordered to convert a Bachmann Ivatt/Standard class 2 2-6-0 to P4.  Note AG colours the P4 bits blue compared to yellow for OO/EM/general parts.... 
    Wheels: Make sure you have 3mm axles not 1/8 inch ones!  You effectively have 3 choices: Markits/Romford (££); Alan Gibson (£); Ultrascale (£££).  [I know Sharman wheels are now available but I don't know if they can be supplied for 3mm axles].  Markits are pricey compared to AG but are self quartering (which AG aren't); Ultrascale can supply pre-assembled but you wait about 6 months and they aren't cheap (but are extremely high quality).  The EMGS do EM and P4 AG conversion kits; these normally are just the driving wheels and crankpins needed Make sure you get the correct profile - EM wheels aren't the same as P4 ones (although according to an article in a past MRJ (so it cannot be untrue)...no let's not go there again; certain P4 practitioners might just have a stroke if I bring that topic up again) Spacing washers - 2mm and 1/8 in a variety of thicknesses 1mm/0.5mm/0.25mm.  Buy more than you think you'll need; RTR chassis are very narrow! You'll only need about 0.5-1mm of side play (and in P4 you may need much less behind slide bars and piston crossheads) Do you want to use cosmetic sideframes? Ultrascale do some... Crankpins to suit the wheel.  Ultrascale do a variety to suit the amount of space ie special thin ones for tight spots behind those pesky slidebars. Valve gear rivets if doing anything with outside valve gear AG coupling rod bushes or do you want to use some of the replacement rod sets made by people like Lancashire Model Supplies that are designed for specific RTR models? If doing Walschaerts outside valve gear (first why????) you'll also need a pair of eccentric cranks - AG and Markits do them and they are not (to my knowledge) interchangeable ie if you're using AG crankpins you'll need an AG eccentric crank and vice versa. Tools 1:  if using Markits have you got one of their axle nut spanners?  If not get one - its worth the hassle saved.  If AG/Ultrascale do you want to get a quartering jig/wheel press? (Yes you do...) Driving wheel balance weights?  Make your own from 5 thou plasticard, use Ultrascale laser cut ones, or Markits etched ones?  Or from another source? Tools 2: You will need: Some sort of loco cradle (mine is from Peco) Flat and round needle files Pliers Side cutters Permanent marker pen Soldering iron, solder, flux (non corrosive please) Scalpel/craft knife 6" or longer bastard file. EM or P4 back to back gauge to taste. You may need: Cutting broaches (definitely if using AG Walschaerts eccentric crank) 1mm tap (as above) 0.7mm drill and pin vice Parallel pliers Empty clutch pencil hand vice small vice with smooth jaws. A Micro Rail 'truck tuner' A brass bearing tool:  Some things to ponder or try not to forget to do as you invalidate the manufacturers warranty by taking the beastie to pieces: Body on or off?  Body on is sometimes faster but any outside gubbins will get in the way and slow you down.  Better to take the body off so you can unscrew cylinder blocks and motion brackets  (especially with Walschaerts valve gear) to decrease the chance of snapping anything like a connecting rod where it is stamped into a crosshead (been there, done that).  Keeping the body on does decrease the number of screws you can lose... A Bachmamn L & Y Radial tank being converted to P4 for the Gosport Guru (who had me do three in a row).  This lacked any outside gubbins at all so was easy to do with the body on...  What about all the bits?  Plastic boxes and bags are your friends and something to put there and the body, chassis etc in will also help too.  I use carefully cleaned (in the dishwasher) Chinese takeawy boxes...  A Hornby J15 disassembled (well nearly) ready for conversion to EM. Beware keeper plate wiring between pickups and motor.  Hornby and Bachmann seem to favour using spit as solder and gossamer thin wires that snap as soon as you look at them.  Although breaking the soldered connection may require fiddley soldering to put right, replacing the dodgy wires with something better can allow you to do outrageous that manufacturers seem to think aren't necessary on all models - like tender pick ups, dcc sockets and moving the dcc socket into the tender where it can be accessed without going near any painfully reassembled (and temperamental bits) on the loco proper. You'll need to get the wheels off the axles to recover the gear wheel and any axle bearings (not that these are always deemed necessary by some manufacturers).  Do not twist the gear wheel - its on a knurled axle to you'll damage it if you do.  Direct downward pressure to shift it only (I use pliers)...   Using pliers to spread apart the wheels from a Hornby Claud Hamilton (EM conversion) to recover the axle bearings. With everything nicely reduced to components you can start putting it back together. If your pride (and possibly still at this stage, joy) has a tender start your surgery with that. Some RTR tenders are designed for inside bearings (like the Claud Hamilton tender below), some rely on outside bearings like the Stainier mogul even further below.  Inside bearing use blunt axles, ouside bearing ones will normally need pin point ones.   The Hornby Claude Hamilton tender showing (amongst other things) the plastic inside bearing that the axles push fit into. You may need to remove some material either from the inside face of the frames or around any slots in the tender floor for the wheels to get the wider EM/P4 wheels to fit and turn freely. For an outside bearing tender it is almost certainly worth giving the plastic pin point bearing surfaces a tune with the Micro Mark (or similar) 'Truck Tuner'.   The tender from a Stanier mogul being treated to a 'Trick Tune' to ream out plastic outside bearings.  You can also see where material has been removed from the inside face of the frame to get the wheels to fit.  
     
    In the next part (cos I'm sure you're bored now and I want to moan about the Bachmann Standard 4 Mogul elsewhere) I'll talk about the practicalities of getting the new wheels installed, mostly concentrating on the Alan Gibson offerings.
     
    All the best and stay safe.
     
    Duncan
     
     


     
     
     
     
     

     

     

  3. drduncan

    BR Standard 4 mogul to EM

    By drduncan,


    Rtr conversion
    So more progress on the Bachmann Std 4 mogul conversion to EM...
     
    The reassembly if all the exterior knitting has started (and I’m soooo glad the GWR didn’t go in for all this). One side done....
     

     
    Ive also finished the pony truck side control spring and drilled a hole in the lump of mazak behind the buffer beam to take the free ones of the spring.


     

    One day soon it might even go back to Kipford who has been extremely patient....
  4. drduncan

    Quite a pause in posts 2

    By drduncan,


    Update
    So the ex MSWJR 2-4-0... a nucast kit built by Great Shefford of this parish, but in exchange for him cading the hull for a St Ives Mackerel Driver (don’t ask) I said I’d do the chassis.  
     
    The chassis was to be nice simple and rigid.  The issue was the leading pony axle.  It needed to have a degree of compensation but also needed to take a lot of weight, the 2-4-0 being quite nose heavy.

     
    The solution was a central pivot from the main chassis that would take the weight and be easily tweaked until the ride height was right.  
     
    I then decided to make the tender on Mike Sharman’s free floating axle basis so that it would transfer the considerable weight of the cast tender to the loco and hopefully improve adhesion.  I also added pickups to the rear fixed tender axle, using a 2pin JST plug to link tender to loco. 
     

     
    At about this point I was chatting to GS abs he said something along the lines of ‘it needs to be dcc...’ which of course meant the 2pin was 2 wires too few for a chip in the tender.  So I added to small brass tubes on pcb to insulate them from the tender - you can see them peeking out in the photo above.  These take split pins soldered to wire to give the extra connections needed.


    So with that, my work was done abs having it run smoothly on the bench it too can go to its owner for painting and fitting the dcc chip.
     
    Still on the bench to finish us a P4 chassis for a nucast L & Y 0-6-2t for the Gosport Guru (who now resides somewhere other than Gosport);
    and a Bachmann Standard 4 mogul to EM conversion for Kipford which has proved to be a sod due to all sorts of problems with getting coupling rods that match the wheelbase.  More on this when it’s finished - it now rolls under finger power without binding so I’ve just got to put all the gubbings back together and sort out the walschaerts knitting on each side....
  5. drduncan

    Quite a pause in posts!

    By drduncan,


    Update
    So it has been an indecent amount of time since my last post.  I have been busy....
     
    As some might have been following, I’ve now got a layout thread (which also had not had a post for a while) and a 3D workbench thread which because I can do it in my lunch break at work gets rather more progress, although when the prints get printed they fall into the workbench black hole!
     
    Still when family, work and home maintenance permit I have actually managed to do some real modelling - just none of it mine!
     
    First was a Brassmasters easi-chassis for the Hornby 42xx for Davies the bridges.
     

     
    This was, despite its name, a difficult build. But the dam things finished, worked on the bench and as soon as lock down is over will be dropped back to its owner.
     
    Then there were these strange things:

    Yes, they really are diesels and no they are not 4mm scale.  They belong to my 6 year old son who had been given them by a friend on mine who wanted to dispose of his N gauge stuff.  The end result was that Teddy gained two more locos, some more coaches and a lot more track that just had to be incorporated into his layout!  
     
    The class 47 also needed some tlc as it made an audible clicking and ran roughly.  After much investigation (double drive is great for haulage and electrical pick up but my word them are lots of bits) it was found that one bogie was binding. Yet more investigation found that it was one axle causing the problem, and the problem was a split gear.  Replacing the axle and gear solved the problem.  
     
    The DMU needed to be de-chipped but getting the body off was nowhere near as gentle as the service sheet implied! Eventually it came off without damage.  Teddy now enjoys drive the diesel in the dark so he can see the working head and tail lights, which impedes work on my workbench!
     
    Another update to follow to discuss the GWR ex MSWJR 2-4-0 as the photos exceed the 10mb limit...
  6. drduncan
    I’ll be demonstrating wagon conversions and construction at the South Hants Area Group ‘Workshop wise’ on Saturday 14 July, Fort Widley, near Portsmouth. See https://www.shmrc.or...-South-2018.pdf for more details.
    DrDuncan
  7. drduncan

    Workshop news

    By drduncan,

    Well merry Xmas to you all!
     
    It’s been quiet, but modelling has taken place. Two commissions have made their way off the Work bench recently. A Bachman 3F that was a saga, mostly due to problems with the wheels being loose on the axles. Nuff said.
     
    The D16 went well after I managed to solve the problem of getting the gear wheel to stay put on the axle. Having tried pretty much every glue to hand without success I drilled down between the gear teeth and through the axle, inserting a bit of .5mm brass wire to keep it in place. Success!
     
    And here are pictures of it posed on Hope under Dinmore...
     



  8. drduncan
    For those who have been following my now rather sporadic workbench blog I will be demonstrating wagon bashing at the Great Western Study Group's Member's Day on Saturday 3 June.
     
    Despite the 'Member's Day' bit, the event is open to all comers, although the AGM at the very end of the day is members only. Besides me (if that isn't enough of an attraction) there will be at least the following:
    The P4 layout Lower Exbury running in BR (W) guise.
    The Sage of Fareham (aka Richard Butler of Westcliff fame) demonstrating how to photoshop backscences.
    Dick Hewins (of Rowington by Shrewley fame, appearing at this years SHMRC show in Nov in Portsmouth) showing off his absolutely beautiful stock.
    Peter Squib demonstrating signal construction
    A lecture at 1430 by Roger Davies on 'Constructing the Severn Tunnel.'
    A Member's sales stand.
    The GWSG sales stand.
     
    The Member's Day is in the Ladymead Room, Didcot civic hall, Brittwell Road, Didcot, OX11 7JN. Day opens at 1100.
     
    If you are remotely interested in the GWR and are within striking distance, I hope to see you there.
     
    Duncan
  9. drduncan
    I'm up to part 6! Oh now depressing...
     
    Anyway, having had a good moan about 2811's chassis (not at all a) kit, I thought some photos were in order. I also have sorted out the over long slide bars so everything now seems to turn as it should by hand.
     
    You can see in the image below the amount that has had to be trimmed.
     

     
    The dreadful sliding washer arrangement on the pony truck can be seen here.
     

     
    Anyway, now for more testing and another update in due course.
  10. drduncan
    Right, 4321 was supposed to be a quicky. But...
     
    The BR black body was repainted proper green, and made ready for lining. A replacement tender (with the correct unstrengthened underframe obtained - it was a Hornby 3500 gallon spare, the type used on their 28xx or a Star) was obtained.
     
    The Perseverance chassis went together without any problem, the cylinders were rolled up, everything fitted where it should. I was busy feeling pleased with myself and loudly announcing my chassis building prowess to all that would listen (the Gosport Guru, no one else was interested).
     
    The wheels were then fitted, rear driven, middle and then the front. The cylinders and motion bracket assembly fitted (Comet 28xx chassis please note and copy) and then it was gently turned by hand.
     
    Disaster!
     
    No movement. The front wheel was jammed fast by the crossheads and slide bars. Even turning the nut around didn't free up enough room, nor did putting the slide bars on a slight outward pointing V. There was noting for it but out razor saw and cut the cylinders off the stretcher, fit some brass shims and resolder. Only the mod had the strength of very warm chocolate and wouldn't hope its shape. And it was out of gauge...
     
    So after wondering how anyone manged to build the kit in EM gauge let alone P4 as the designer intended and imploring the gods of modelling to smite mightily the objects of my despair, I realized that the only option was to, glup, use the Comet GWR 2 cylinder kit.
     
    Now I have said some rather damming things about the Comet 28xx chassis in another blog and the 2 cylinder kit is one of those items I noted was a standard item that was pretending to have been designed to fit the kit and the Hornby 28xx body. Now the 2 cylinder kit is rather nice - its just not part of a chassis setup that was designed as one item - and offering up the bare bones of it showed it would work on the 43xx and that its slide bars (from the Comet 43xx motion kit) were appreciably narrower than the Perseverance ones - and even had location points for the motion support brackets - result!
     
    But it wasn't designed for the Perseverance chassis and the Perseverance chassis wasn't designed for it either.
     
    Cue lots of filing, adjustment and a short introduction to a piercing saw.
     

     
    Thankfully it looks like the Perseverance motion bracket can be reused.
     
    Next job will be to finished the cylinders by adding the whitemetal covers and odds and ends, reassemble the chassis and hopefully it will work this time. Another update beckons at some point...
     
    D
  11. drduncan
    While I confess time has been limited, I have also made some significant progress with 2811.
     
    Assiduous followers of this blog will remember that this has not been a happy tale to date. I now have a rolling chassis - well almost. The slide bars are too long and as a result the connecting rod strikes them jamming everything up nicely. This should be cured very soon with snips and a file.
     
    The Comet chassis 'kit' has failed to impress. I think the best way of describing it is a number of standard or generic components being passed off as sub-assemblies of the kit, but that are not actually designed as a complete kit. The result is that for every one step forward there seem to be two back.
     
    To get the chassis in the correct position under the body (remember its designed for the Hornby china made body) massive amounts of the cylinder stretcher had to be filled away.
     
    The motion bracket is laughable in its design - just the G shaped slide bar brackets which are soldered to the slide bars, but there are no location marks or any way of ensuring that they are in the right position and holding them them there; a perseverence motion bracket type design is clearly needed as advocated as the basic minimum for chassis kit designers by the great Iain Rice many, many years ago.
     
    The pony truck is generic and therefore again does not sit well under the chassis - in fact its a pig to get in the right position and solder a locating washer to it unless you are prepared to keep making adjustments to the washer position, each time removing the chassis from the body and the pony truck from the chassis, unsolder the washer, move it, resolder and try again. Repeat until you lose the will to live.
     
    The chassis frames and spacers are devoid of the normal tab and slot design making getting everything square a fun event (I used the Poppy models loco cradle in the end).
     
    The only compensation designed in is individual sprung axles. If you want a flexichas or csb set up get your ruler, scribe, drills and piercing saws out. While you might say that csb is too much to expect, I think that the other design issues make the 'kit' inferior to say a Ron Neep/Perseverence design standard of the early 1980s.
     
    Chris Gibbon, a 28XX chassis kit please!!! (or on second thoughts don't, I've nearly got this one done and a High Level kits version would just depress me...)
     
    D
  12. drduncan
    Its been a while, but I've not been too idle....
     
    Commissions have been keeping me busy (or as busy as a 2+ son and a 10 month old daughter allow) with P4 dominating over EM for the last few months (but I'm due to pick up a loco for converting to EM at the weekend.
     
    The Bachmann Hall was straightforward, although huge amounts of filling was needed to fit the P4 wheel sets to the tender.
     

     
    The Gosport Guru also prevailed on me to convert 3 Bachmann L & Y radial tanks as a rush job for an exhibition.
     

     

     

     
    Having made the deadline with hours to spare I handed them over to the Guru who then decided he would fit the dingham couplings and found that Mazak chassis blocks are a swine to file away. So back they went to his contact who had milled out the mazak tank sides to make space for the P4 wheels so have slots milled in each end of the chassis, which meant they didn't get to the exhibition anyway. Still he's very happy with the end result.
     
    D
  13. drduncan
    This is a preemptive blog post.
     
    Gareth, who delights in pointing out my errors, omissions and oversights (for the good of my soul and development, naturally), is - I am convinced - at this very moment penning a massive missive asking oh so sweetly, but with hidden barbs of reproach, what has happened to the the locos mentioned in previous blog posts. 'After all...' I can imagine him writing 'you've done all those other conversions that you talked about today, what about the others?'
     
    Ah yes, the others. I'd been trying to forget about some of those....
     
    So confession time.

    The 28xx no 2811. Having (almost) thrown away the Hornby chassis in disgust I have embarked on building a complete turkey of a chassis kit. Its a Comet one and has singularly failed to impress me. I have borrowed a Poppy's loco building cradle from my club and I hope this might help deal with some of the problems encountered. A blog post will tell the full tail of woe in due course. The Armstrong Goods no 788. A new tender chassis has been hacked out of brass strip using a piercing saw lubricated with bad language. This will mean that tender pick up should now be possible (unlike with the cast whitemetal offering in the kit) and have space for a sound chip and speaker. A blog post will continue the story when there is more definitive progress. The 43xx 4321. This was going great and I was looking forward to a triumphant single post on this loco but then I found that in EM gauge (EM gauge!) there was insufficient space between the crosshead and crankpin nut (even with it turned around) to prevent them jamming each other solid. The cylinders were cut off the stretcher and spacers inserted. Now screwing up the courage to see if it will still fit the body and then not foul Hope under Dinmore's platforms and ground signals. A blog post will report the success of not of this action... The Buffalo 1076 ST. This was going well until I decided to try to design in sub-assemblies to aid painting in that beautiful pre-1906 livery. It was set aside to complete 4321 as a quickie and you've already read how well that turned out. The 1854 saddle tank. On hold as I really should get at least one of the above finished first. The 2021 saddle tank. On hold as I really should get at least one of the above finished first - and I can't get the saddle tank to match up with the cab front (the saddle tank is too high) but without a good drawing I can't tell whether its the saddle tank being too high, or the cab front too low... I need a better drawing than you get in Russell's books. (If anyone has got a proper GA drawing for a 2021 ST please do PM me. Don't PM me to suggest the Russell books...) The 36xx. Chassis started but guess what? I really should finish one of the above first!

    What might throw these good intentions off track:
    Finding/being given (one lives in hope) a decent set of cross section drawings for the GWR D0 boiler, especially the shape of the lower firebox as this would allow me to have a crack at a 3031 or two (I've got three to build and at least one I want in one of them in rebuilt condition and yes I know that there were two distinct groups of rebuilds with two different boilers one of which was a D0 according to the RCTS bible). It would also allow me to have an un-rebuilt 26xx, a long standing ambition. If any of you 3d printer wizzes are bored.... The Great Bear. Getting a Scott Class Atlantic (don't have one yet but if you want to sell yours PM me).

    And then there are the following waiting to be started:
    A Finney City A Finney curved frame Bulldog A Finney Stella A Finney Dean Goods A Churchward Models 45xx A Mitchell 44xx A Jackson Evans 39xx Lady Margret

    So I'll be busy for a while yet - and then there will be the coaches too!
     
    drduncan
  14. drduncan
    It all started innocently enough - a gentle enquiry from a fellow club member about whether I'd be interested in converting RTR stuff to EM - not for him, naturally, but he'd had an approach from a third party and was it something I'd consider? Oh and I'd get paid for it too...
     
    Well as an EM modeller, I'd done a few RTR re-wheeling jobs including a GWR City for the Sage of Fareham so I said yes.
     

    Here is the GWR City I did for the Sage of Fareham. I swapped the Bachmann 3000 gallon tender and a Hornby 3500 one on the basis that I'd a picture of a City in plain green (the livery intended by the Sage) and I needed a 3000 gallon tender for my 28xx. After quite a bit of cursing I had manged to make the different electrical gubbins compatible and the Sage went away happy to wield his air brush.
     
    At the next area group meeting I was introduced to the third party and a deal was struck. I ended up sailing away on a sea of promises and expressions of mutual good will with a Hornby J15. Now the dark interior of East Anglia is something of a closed book to me and I had until this point cherished my ignorance of all things LNER (pre- grouping , post grouping or nationalisation its all the same - ie not GWR - to me).
     
    Th conversion itself went reasonably well for a given value of problems, chief of which being the axles over length to assembling on a wheel press to the correct gauge, resulting in a brief spin in the club lathe. In fact the biggest problem was the wheel balance weights. In the end, I decided that if Hornby had modelled one with no balance weights then I would too - in the absence of any other information of instruction from the client.
     
    I have to admit I rather enjoyed the task and the client was happy too.
     

    The J15 appears to have got badly lost as it is posing on a fragment of the North and West route between Shrewsbury and Hereford, just outside the station of Hope-Under-Dinmore.
     
    The next contract (of a sort) was a Brassmasters Easichas for the Hornby 42xx. I say or a sort because I sort of volunteered for it (and its almost finished - promise).
     
    Then came a Bachmann 3F in P4 for the Gosport Guru. This went fine (after I'd got brutal with a dremel drill and the underside of the footplate).
     
    Now it was time for some serious 'off piste' modelling - a Bachmann Jubilee in P4 with a replacement tender chassis to boot. I confess I have come to loathe Walscherts valve gear -return cranks will be the death of me. The tender was by Lanarkshire Model Supplies and a delight to build.
     

     

     
    Now I'm working on a Bachmann Ivatt class 2 mogul (more outside knitting to wrestle with) and waiting in the wings is a GWR Hall! At last a sensible loco!!!
  15. drduncan
    Well its been a while, but I've not been that idle - stop sniggering Gareth.
     
    ExpoEM went well - I think. I had a good few people drop by for a chat and the lecture seemed to be well received and promoted a fair amount of questions and discussion. Suffice to say that the 3 Mink conversions I was doing didn't get finished during the course of the 2 days. The only down side about demonstrating is you don;t get to see much of the show...
     
    Anyway after ExpoEM I got roped into demoing at the GW Study Groups members day - and no I didn't finish the Minks then either (I kit bashed a Mink D into the prototype V9 instead).
     
    So what have I fininshed?
     
    Well I have managed to do a few more GWR red wagons. As the Sage of Fareham noted when he saw them loafing around on Hope-Under-Dinmore one club night: "You do like red don't you." Well if it wasn't for Gareth being all so well informed....
     
    I digress.
     
    So we have a batch of red 4 and 3 plank wagons.
     

     
    On the left we have a Cooperccraft O5 as it comes out of the box (not because I couldn't be bothered to put the correct headstocks on or lower the floor, but because I made it decades ago and have just repainted it from grey to red). Then moving right are two David Geen 3 plank white metal kits - very nice castings and went together very quickly.
     
    Next we have a W2 Medium Mex cattle wagon.
     

     
    I've left the roof off so I can admire the interior - and add some straw... This kit has had the oil axleboxes replaced with grease ones which involved a fair amount of grinding away of white metal with the dental burrs.
     
    Last there is a J7 double bolster.
     

     
    This is a D & S kit (now available through ABS). Again a very nice kit to build.
     
    Lettering for all of them is by Pressfix or done by hand using a fine calligraphy pen and white ink. Weathering is dry brushed acrylics (Vallejo) and couplings are Alex Jacksons.
     
    Now I just have to finish my Armstrong Goods and 1854 saddle tank in pre-1906 linery so that I have some locos to haul my growing collection of Red wagons!
     
    drduncan
  16. drduncan
    Its been a while since I posted - not that I have been idle. Gareth, following his move back to the USA, has now been supplanted by Ray Hodson as the person voted by me as most likely to be blamed, although in the spirit of fairness and because we live in an inclusive world I do not intend to let Gareth's retreat across the Atlantic to get in the way of the blame game when the opportunity arises.
     
    Anyway, Ray. Ray volunteered me to demonstrate at this coming weekend's EXPO EM, doing modifying plastic rolling stock kits and giving a lecture! He has also been steadily adding to the projects on my workbench (or at least the storage shelves close by) forcing me by various nefarious means into DOING P4! I know....shock or what?
     
    However, I have managed to complete a few projects and other have moved along so more posts may follow in the coming weeks. For now here is a GWR Iron cattle van (Ratio and Shire Scenes) - pictured on Hope Under Dinmore.
     

     
    And here is a Z1 Gunpowder Van (and I'm not too happy with the GPV transfer but will have to live with it for now)
     

     
    Hope to see you at EXPO EM, do come and say hello, especially if you want a closer look at the above!
  17. drduncan
    I haven't posted for a while - this doesn't mean we haven't been doing anything we have - well I haven't but the team has. However, with an exhibition looming we have had a burst of activity that quite frankly puts our gentle summer progress to shame.
     
    The show - its all about the show after all - is the South Hants MRC's exhibition in Portsmouth on 21 November 2015 at the Admiral Lord Nelson school. It look like there will be some excellent layouts there - the sage of Fareham's beautiful 'Westcliff' which won the best of the best in show winners at Expo EM 2015 and 'Plumpton Green', which was deservedly best in show at Scaleforum a few weeks ago. I think 'Brighton East' will also be there - a wonderful piece of modelling by Dave Smith of this parish. Oh yes, and of course that brilliantly designed and executed (certainly someone will be for the chop if we fall flat on our faces) Empire Mills.
     
    Portsmouth exhibition flyer.pdf
     
    [i've just been sent the flyer (above) - Jol Wilkinson's London Road, AND Chris Lamercraft's Hemyock too...I must ask if its too late to change our minds about going!]
     
    So when the full horror of the list of things we wanted to get done between our last outing at Ally Pally and our visit to Portsmouth became clear, loud were the lamentations; hair pulled, ashes purchased to rub into sack cloth, etc etc. However, in a burst of camaraderie in adversity Gareth and I did not engage in our default method of dealing with problems - blaming each other and hoping someone else will sort it.
     
    First - well 2 weeks ago - we spent a day making the transport boards that will allow us to easily crate the layout for transport. Please don't ask how we managed to get the layout to two shows at Ally Pally without them - the whole thing is something we'd prefer to forget, lets just say it involved massive lorries and a lot of brute for and ignorance, as well as some very careful driving.
     
    While I was still basking in the reflected glory of Gareth's woodworking skills - it seems that any idiot can't saw timber in a straight line, despite my prognostications on the subject, Gareth then had to spoil the mood by mentioning 'wiring'.
     
    Now Empire Mill's wiring was best described as functional (mostly) and it certainly wasn't pretty, having been done at the rush in order to get the bare boards working for a demo at a show (Ally Pally 2 years ago or more). Yes, there does seem to be a theme here. As a DCC layout we had always intended to include DC operation as several members of the group had not yet seen the DCC light. Clearly, with just over a month to a show, now was the perfect time to do it. Well, actually it was, Gareth (superb chap) works well under pressure, so last Sunday he girded his loins (I hope he washed his hands afterwards), wrapped himself in layout wire and with all sorts of gung ho North Americanisms - lots of 'yeahs', 'hoo rahs', 'wooos' and 'hut huts' - charged into the fray, soldering iron in hand.
     
    The results are so far much prettier than what went before, especially as I was doing everything I could to get in the way:

     

     
    Meanwhile, I wasn't to be left out. Empire Mills has always been supported on trestles. I've always thought they were an accident waiting to happen and several more things to be left behind when heading to a show. So aided by Patrick, I made and fitted integral legs to the boards. The legs, which can be seen shyly peeking out of the corners of the top picture, fold up under the boards for transport, and thanks to an excessive number of captive nuts, should not need any bolts to be removed - I just have to make the new wing nut headed bolts so we don't need a spanner to collapse the legs... so as one thing gets crossed off the to do list so another gets added.
     
    Patrick also rashly volunteered to string the wire on the boundary fence at the front of the layout over the next few Thursday evenings at the MRC. I was delighted by this as I'd done just one strand and it had reduced me to not so silent fury.
     
    Away from the club, Ivan is producing a number of boxes to transport the large china clay dry, the lighting rig and hold the large amounts of Commonly Required Accessories & Parts (CRAP for short) that are a feature of exhibiting. He is also producing one of these boxes with a dual purpose - one of them will be a 'step up box' to make reaching across the fiddle yard much easier, an idea I borrowed, well stole actually, from the sage of Fareham.
     
    So all in all, a busy few weeks and a busy few still to come. I'll be shortly disappearing behind a pile of locos and stock to make sure they all work as they should - I'll also be frantically trying to increase the number of steam locos available too, so watch drduncan's workbench blog for updates (if I get time).
  18. drduncan
    In a well ordered and just society I would be able to blame Gareth. The fact that I can't is annoying me somewhat and I think that deep down he (Gareth, whose default fault assuages so many wrongs and set backs) is avoiding any blame just to vex me. But I suppose then he is to blame for something...
     

     
    On that happy note on to the dirty wagons that are 'fresh' - if that is the right word - from the paint shop.
     
    It's worth remembering how dirty the old railway was (and the modern one is more than a little skanky too). Even the Edwardian railways couldn't keep humble fright stock clean - it very rapidly become dirty, even in the Elysium fields of the green and pleasant lands served by the GWR (Gods knows what it was like up in the dark satanic mills of the north - black and white pictures don't do the muck justice). Soot, filth and rust soon covered wagons, and that's before we deal with
    1) inconsistent paint mixes and
    2) weathering through oxidation and fading.
    And don't forget the chalk marks that seem to adorn almost every wagon.
     
    So if your little Disney land has immaculate wagons in ex-works conditions its probably time to get out the paints and practice your dry brushing and if you have one, use of an airbrush...
     
    Here are the latest attempts to get the muck spread around:
     



    This trio are all 4 plank opens (no diagram number was ever given to these examples)

    This is a very faded V6 Iron Mink. It's also got the lettering in the wrong positions (deliberately on my part - can't say what the signwritter at the time thought he was doing). Don't believe me? Have a look at John Lewis' lovely little book on the Iron Minks.

    And an N13 loco coal wagon.



    Here are three different 'Minks'. 16280 is a V12 (non vacuum braked example) with twin end louvre ventilators, 16685 is a V12 vacuum fitted DC3 braked example with an offset V hanger together with twin end louvre ventilators, and 93182 is a V16 vacuum fitted DC3 braked wagon with twin end bonnet ventilators. They all started off as Coopercraft V4s - the main differences between all of these wagons is brake gear, wagons ends, and buffers. I think you can get 21 different diagrams (or subsets of diagrams) from the humble Coopercraft V4 7' 6" kit so watch this space.






    This lot are 5 plank O4s with a solitary O2 7 plank and O15 vacuum fitted 5 plank.
  19. drduncan
    I blame Gareth.
     
    It all started with an innocent remark that I thought just betrayed our Yankee friend's touching ignorance of real railways: 'Aren't you going to paint your pre-1904 wagons red?
     
    'Of course not,' I replied brimming with confidence 'Red was only in use until the mid 1890s so I don't need to.'
     
    'Are you sure? I thought the Great Western Way said the balance of probabilities was on Red until 1904...'
     
    'Nonsense. See.' I showed him the pages from the bible.
     
    'Not that edition, the new one.'
     
    Ah.
     
    On reading the new edition it seemed that humble pie was in order. Gareth was quite right - the bible did now suggest that Red wagons were to be preferred on God's Wonderful Railway until the 1904 livery which saw the 24" high G W letters come into use and of course would still be seen for a few years after that date.
     
    Like the bad loser Gentleman I am to took this badly well and sulked offered him my congratulations on his new found expertise.
     
    Now I just had to repaint a load of bloody wagons...
     
    The first problem is that unaccountably no one does GWR freight stock red paint. Second, no one has a clear idea of what shade of red it actually was. Most helpful.
     
    In the end I decided to aim for a shade that was close to the lovely 7mm wagons on the GWR modelling website by mixing precision paints red oxide and GW signal red until it looked about right when compared to the web image. After I cleaned the paint off my tablet I thinned down the mixture with, er, thinners liberally dosed with bad language.
     
    And this is the result.
     

     
    Here they are on the drduncan patent portable workbench. The rake consists of 3 x O4 5 plank wagons, 1 4 plank (undiagrammed as it hasn't got DC1 brakes), and an Iron Mink. In the paint shops awaiting top coats and a visit from the signwriter are a couple of V5s, another Iron Mink, and some 3 and 4 plank opens.
     
    Here are a couple of close ups. First the 4 plank open:
     

     
    This one has been modified (quite a bit actually) from the Coopercraft original - lowered floor, square headstocks, compenstated and Thomas patent brake gear.
     
    The Iron Mink was also been modified - grease axleboxes being the main change from the kit. It has also been more heavily weathered and the livery faded.

     
    And here is the lot with a brake van on the South Hants MRC's Hope-under-Dinmore layout.
     


     
    The wagons still need more work on dirtying the brake gear and underframes - even for the ones that are supposed to be newly built - and chalk marks added before a final coat of matt varnish.
  20. drduncan
    Quite a while has passed since the last blog entry - I've been busy, but as the project progresses so the law of diminishing returns sets in: the closer you get to finishing, the longer it takes to see meaningful progress as details and testing take time, without the obvious leaps forward in progress that can be made early on!
     
    The observant will also notice that 2322 is now 2525. This is because the interesting arrangement of cylinder covers (or lack thereof) at the front of the smoke box would have meant major surgery and there just wasn't time before the MRC show at Alexandra Palace at the end March - I was also having a crisis of confidence about producing the pre1906 livery on all its glory. 2525 on the other hand was photographed around 1914 and had no such problems, either with smoke box or livery...
     
    So what has been going on?
     
    First both loco and tender chassis have been completed. I'd like to take credit for the quality of the job, but that must all go to Chris Gibbon of High Level Kits who designed the chassis kits to an exceptional standard and provided instructions that I have not seen surpassed. If you've never built a chassis and want to try, buy High Level Kits: I think they are the best designed on the market and the instructions explain exactly what you have to do, how to do it and in what order - perfect for the inexperienced, (or those, like me, who tire of trying to second guess what the kit designer or instruction writer was thinking - assuming they thought at all).
     
    The big head scratching points were:
    How to position and fit the pick ups and get the amps and volts from the pick ups to the motor.
    Where to put the DCC chip and speaker.
    The first was point was solved by using busbars under the loco and wipers on the backs of the wheels - it was just fiddley to set up and make sure everything stayed out of sight.
    The second point actually was easier than I first thought - the big Dean tender was perfect for the decoder and speaker and getting power there proved to be straight forward using a JST micro connector to link the loco electrics to the tender (and the tender pick ups).
     
    And now to the body. So what had to be done?
    Chimney replaced with Dean version
    Safety valve cover replaced with brass version
    Dome replaced with brass version
    Lubricator cover on right hand side of smoke removed and replaced with wire
    Reverser rod removed
    Churchward/Collett smokebox front & door replaced with Armstrong/Dean version
    Whistles replaced with turned brass ones
    Vac pipes replaced
    Screw link couplings added
    Moulded handrails on loco cab and on tender replaced with turned brass handrail knobs and wire
    And the whole lot repainted and lined in full GWR post 1906 livery...
    The Dean chimney needed a bit of work. The standard Dean chimney supplied by Alan Gibson was too tall, having measured the Dean one from a Finney kit so the AG one had a short section cut out and the remaining bits soldered together and cleaned up.



     
    Replacing the safety valve and dome with Alan Gibson brass ones was easy enough. The cavities left by the molded ones were filled with squadron putty and filed smooth.




     
    Removing the lubricator cover required careful fining and carving to avoid damaging the boiler band, and a pice of 0.3mm wire was bent up to shape and fitted into place based on the photos of 2525.


     
    The smokebox door seemed like it would be a major bit of surgery. However 'Quarryscapes' (of this parish) had designed a replacement one and it was (and is) available for purchase from the Shapeways site. Two were purchased (I will need one for 2322...) and it is a direct replacement for the Mainline/Hornby smokebox front molding - the original just pushes out of the end of the boiler. Here is the replacement in situ.

     
    The cab and tender molded handrails were replaced with AG turned brass knobs and wire - the handrails at the front of the tender and the cab had to be very carefully cut away from their upper mountings and a hole drilled to take the wire - the plastic is very fragile until the wire is glued in place to give it support. The fake coal was alos cut away and a flat piece of plasticard inserted.




     
    With the bulk of the bodywork done it was time to prime, paint and line, which dfortunatley wasn't as difficult as feared. The body was airbrushed GWR pre 1928 green and the black brush painted on (having let the black down with a little thinners so it flowed well and left on brush marks). The handrails and smoke rim/hinges were painted burnished steel and the whole lot given a cote of gloss varnish to give the lining something to stick to.
     
    The lining itself was done using HMRS pressfix GWR lining transfers - at times a great deal of care and patience was needed but I think its worth the effort.




     
    Then it was time to test it! A short was identified when it was first tested at Ally Pally after the public had left for the day, so back to the shops... After a little tinkering and use of insulation tape around pickups the loco happily rolled up and down Westcliff at ExpoEM in May. And here is the (almost finished) beauty posing on Empire Mills a couple of weeks ago.


     
    Almost finished? Well yes - the observant may have noticed that the lamp irons are still to be fitted, as is the crew, and the lever reverser in the cab. Still it gives me a chance to post an update with more pics in due course....
     
    drduncan
  21. drduncan
    After a very hectic 3 days Friday to Sunday, the Ally Pally show is over! And despite our fears on Saturday that we weren't putting on a good show for the public, people were extremely complimentary about Empire Mills thought the exhibition and we came away with about a couple of enquiries about magazine articles and half a dozen or so invitations to other exhibitions in the future - so we can't have been as bad as we through we were! We also managed to get a few photos taken before the public came in which I'll scatter randomly through this post in the hope that between the pics and my ramblings there will be something of interest...
     
    So to the Friday... 0900 saw the layout at Ally Pally, Gareth, Ivan and Les in London either on the way in to the venue or would be there in the afternoon, and me in Portsmouth with all (and I really do mean all) the stock about to get in the trusty MG and hopefully about to avoid the worst of the traffic around the M25. I got the MG out of the garage, loaded it up with stock boxes, tool boxes, come in handy stuff, hope it isn't needed stuff, oh and some clothes. I then went to shut the garage door and found a large pool of fresh engine oil where there had been none the day before. Worrying. I opened the bonnet and found this:
     

    The oil cooler had blown and spayed oil everywhere. Clearly the MG was u/s but I was 100 miles from Ally Pally with all the stock. Trains were out - too much gear to carry. Just over three hours later than planned I left Portsmouth in the cheapest hire car I could get.
     
    Time passed on the M25 and the North Circular.
     
    I arrived at Ally pally about 1530 to find that the lads had done a sterling job getting the layout up and starting on the all the pre running checks as well as the list of last minute jobs that needed finishing, including fitting diffuser sheets to the lighting rig - well worth the effort. Meanwhile I went into overdrive checking and adjusting all the Alex Jackson couplings on the pre-grouping stock and making some last minute tweaks to one of the locos.

     

     
    With the almost layout ready Gareth and I nervously got out the GWR pre grouping locos that we had been working on in every spare minute in order to meet the organiser's demand for not BR hydraulics. Gareth's 850 pannier tank went first and bounced clear off the track - its csb spring was too soft and we also found we had a dodgy power supply to a point frog too. The dean goods went next and promptly shorted everything out. I went and found a darkened corner to cry for a bit - there not being a cat handy to kick. It was about this time that Andy York came round for a chat...Gareth smiled and pretended nothing was wrong (I hope - I was off regaining what was left of my temper) and Andy was very complementary about the layout. (Thanks Andy, your kind words were a great lift to us all.)
     

     

     
    Decision time as the clock approached the hour we were going to get thrown out of the hall: Gareth and I felt that the only option would be to run the diesel hydraulics on the Saturday while we tried to fix the pre-grouping locos in time for Sunday. The tiny problem with this was that we had spent several hours checking couplings on the pre-grouping stock, not the BR blue period stuff. But we'd been using it regularly at the MRC so it was bound to be ok - not that we had an option at this point.
     

     

     

     
    0800 Saturday saw me behind the layout frantically adjusting yet more AJ couplings only this time for the BR blue period stock, while Gareth was under the layout trying to produce a more reliable power supply to the troublesome point frog - although test running showed the diesels' wheel bases were long enough to bridge the gap - unlike the short limbed 850 Pannier.
     

     

     

     
    0930 saw the public come in and operation start. It also saw me start a 6 hour period of running repairs to stock and couplings....by the end of the day couplings had been broken (and replaced), back to backs had gone out of gauge (and been re-set), AJ hooks had become misaligned (and been adjusted several times). With hindsight nothing worse than happens when you use stock very intensively, but at the time it felt we were letting the side down - the only relief came when it my turn to play trains (and fume at the whichever wagon was playing up this time).
     

     

     

     
    Yet the public (amazingly) seemed happy and even complimentary!
     

     
    With all the work on stock during the day, neither Gareth or I had been able to work on the GWR locos, so Sunday saw more BR blue stuff, but now after the intensive TLC it had received on Saturday it all behaved a lot better and we managed to get the GWR locos working in the final few minutes of the show (well almost - the dean goods ran on DC but not DCC, cause to be identified...).
     

     
    Then it was just packing up, getting the layout back to the MRC and for me anyway getting me and most of the stock back to Portsmouth.
     

     
    Now to start getting everything ready for the MRC open day in May...., oh, and the South Hants MRC show in Portsmouth 28 November 2015...., and we need to get work started on the next phase (a colliery for the next set of lift out boards)...., and there is the possibility of an extension to the layout too....
     
    But I'm sure it will all be easy, work first time and be ready without any headaches.....
  22. drduncan
    Last Sunday the team met up to continue to work on Empire Mills.
     
    The first job was to remove one of the lift out sections so it would be easier to work on the new loading bank area. To get the lift out section out, however, required lots of swearing, several broken knife blades, and a great deal of straining in order to break the seal of the glue and paint that had seeped down between the baseboard joints.
     

     
    With the lift out section removed, Les was able to work on adjusting the position of the loading bank platform edge.
     

     
    Meanwhile, Gareth and I were hard at work trying to ensure that the Edwardian china clay option that we are due to exhibit at the MRC's Alexandra Palace show in March had at least two working locos. In other words I was building a Dean Goods chassis and he was finishing off his 850 class pannier tank and test running my 1076 Buffalo pannier tank around the MRC's test tracks (Gareth has rebuilt its chassis as a split axle one). Ivan was busy finishing off a china clay wagon and a couple of coal wagons which I had started the day before at the South Hants MRC show as a demonstration, but due to too much chatting (although I suppose that is the purpose of demonstrating after all), I hadn't finished them. Once he had finished adjusting the loading dock Les joined the rolling stock party and he and Ivan were soon hard at it building Slaters NER hopper wagons for phase 2 of the EMpire project - Empire Mill Pit.
     

     
    Above you can see Les closest the camera and Ivan furthest away
     

     
    Here Gareth can be seen wondering what has happened to the sloder he was using (Answer - I had taken it)
     
    The final member of the team, Chris was engrossed for much of the day painting the large clay dry - not quite the same as painting the Forth Rail Bridge, but I think he would disagree.
     

     
    The EMpire project team meet every 2nd and last Sunday - if you live near or in London, and are either an EM modeller or fancy giving it a try to broaden your skills, or just try soemthing different, do think about joing the MRC and becoming part of our team.
     
    drduncan
  23. drduncan
    While continuing to work on the loco and tender chassis I have started compling the list of modifications that will have to be made to the body for it to represent 2322. As a reult I have been diggin around for information on the Dean Goods. The first point to note is that there were two different widths of footplate. Before 2450 they were narrow, after 2451 they were wider. Having run a ruler over the martin Finney drawings it looks like there is a scale 3 inch difference between wide and narrow, or put it another way only 0.5mm difference on each side. Whether this is enough to make a difference to me I'll have to have a think....
     
    The first major difference to my eye is the arrnagement of the cylinder covers at the front end.
     

     
    This is an unusual arrangement and has caused me to post a question about it on the GWR rolling stock: model and prototype thread:
    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/92972-dean-goods-locos/
     
    I will also have to replace the front footplate step:
     

     
    Replace the curved reverser included in the High level Kit with a scrtahc build version of the earlier straight version.
     

     
    Also does anyone know what the sloping pipe that can be seen on the boiler side is for?
     
    The chimney will have to be replaced with a parallel sided version.
     
    The smoke box door will also have to be replaced with something that loos like this:
     

     
    (its not a picture of 2322 but shows the front more clearly than the almost broadside image I have of 2322.)
     
    The pipework cover on the left side of the smoke box will also have to be removed and replaced with a single pipe.
     
    The final possible modification is to the spectacle plate as there were two different versions, one with a much higher top curve than the one on the Mainline/Hornby model
     

     
    Any info about this higher curved version of the belpaire spectacle plate or more references for pictures of 2322 will be most warmly received!
     
    Anyway this list of mods, some involving quite a bit of work might cause me to look afresh for apre 1914 wide footplate belapired boiler Dean Goods to model - any suggestions for a suitable prototype?
     
    drduncan
  24. drduncan
    While I have been mulling over the horror story that has been 2811's progress (or lack of it) since the early summer - as detailed in The Locomotive shop- 28xx no 2811 - I have been making slow but steady progress with 2301 class or Dean Goods class no 2322. The loco is based on the familiar Mainline/Hornby model - a bit long in the tooth, but capable of making a high quality model, especially with a replacement chassis (essential if you work in EM or one of the even wider 4mm scale gauges...).
     

     
    Coincidentally, this version of the Hornby Dean Goods (culled from internet) is actually numbered 2322!
     
    The Mainline/Hornby model is of a Belpaire boilered loco, a relative rarity in the early 20th century; the changes of boiler type for each 2301 class member can be found in the RCTS Locomotives of the Great Western Railway - Six wheeled tender engines, Vol 4. The Mainline/Hornby model is also of a loco with an extended smoke box - something that is not recorded in the RCTS information on the Dean Goods. So what is really needed is a picture of the loco. Fortunately in Locomotives Illustrated 55, there was a picture of 2322 with a Belpaire boiler, what looks like an extended smokebox and clearly in the GWR's pre 1906 livery. Perfect.
     
    Incidentally, if any one has any picture references for Dean Goods locos with Belpaire boilers (either B4 with the dome on the rear ring, or B2 boilers with the dome on the front ring) that are positively dated to 1914 or earlier, I'd love to hear from you - especially if you have a good picture of the front of 2322 in 1901 condition or 2336 in 1903 condition as seen in RCTS Locos of the GWR vol 4 image D140 (but the photo is too poor to make out the important detail).

     
    Now, the tender is almost certainly a Dean 2500 gallon, rather than the 3000 gallon supplied by Hornby, so one can't have everything and I may in due course replace it with a 2500 gallon version - if I can find one. perhpas Falcon Brass when the get back into production...
     
    Being an EM type, a replacement chassis for both loco and tender was on the cards. There were three choices:
    The Ron Neep/Perseverence/Chris Parish chassis kit for both loco and tender (if you can get one)
    The Comet Models offerings (getting one now, following the very sad death of Geoff Brewin, might be very hard)
    The High Level Kits offerings

    I plumped for the High Level Kits option for both loco and tender, having had a chance to examine the kits closely at ExpoEM, as the kits seemed to be well designed, come with inside motion for the loco, a good standard of detailing and the loco chassis also included the gear box.
     
    Having got home I got everything out for a good gloat. I have to say that on opening the boxes and above all when reading the instructions I was left feeling rather overwhelmed and more than a little intimidated by the apparent complexity of the kits. So I decided to start with the tender as this seemed to marginally less complex than the loco.
     
    I'm very happy to say that my fears were completely groundless. Yes, the instructions go on for pages - but they are designed to lead you through step by comprehensive step. No, 'assemble X and Y together in the normal way' - you are told exactly what to do, in what order, using what components, often with reference to one of the many diagrams; it will even give advice on the tightness of otherwise of the intended final fit of the components. Quite frankly, I wish other kit designers would take note of the comprehensiveness of the instructions - and it is a case of comprehensive, not complex. The High Level Kits might cost a bit more, but by God they are worth it.
     

    The design of the loco and tender chassis kits has proven to be as good - if not better - than the instructions. In the tender kit there are components whose fit is so precise that soldering is not needed! The loco chassis is equally well designed and again I can only say, others out there take note - you know who you are....
     

     

    Having made good progress with the tender chassis I also started working in parallel on the loco chassis. I'm now up to the stage where the compensation has to be fitted and then its on to brake gear and final details. It has been a delight so far and a real morale boost after the problems with 2811.
     
    For the future, there will need to be work on the cab roof, on the position of the chimney, and possibly the length of the smoke box - I'm going to dig out my Martin Finney Dean goods kit and have a good look at the parts and instructions to double check the possible options (in case you are wondering why I'm doing up a mainline Dean Goods when I've got a martin finnery Kit...time, money, and I've only got one, so it will be built - eventually - as a round topped boiler version).
  25. drduncan
    It has been quite a while since my last post, and even longer since my last update on 2811's progress - aside from some sulphurous mutterings in other posts which just may have indicated I was vexed and discontented.
     
    The causes of this winter (well autumn) of discontent were various:
    First, there was the tender issue expounded on at length in my last blog entry. In particular the rewiring to match the loco wiring was rather timeconsuming and is seems that Hornby used spit to solder the electrical leads to the motor.
    Second, there was the rather brassey finish to the Hornby motion once the chemical blacking had been cleaned off.

    I thought I'd just have to persevere with (1) but with (2) I could use Alan Gibson 28xx rods which were in nickel silver. A set was purchased. They arrived. I cursed. The Alan Gibson set were designed to be soldered up from 2 layers, but woe of woes, they weren't designed to be articulated, they were 2 single pieces per side. So I bit the bullet and chopped them up, layered up the pieces and and after much sweating and filing I had an articulated set of rods - but one vital section had to be made up of effectively two halves that shared no common joint over the knuckle which meant they had to be very carefully measured if they were to fit the Hornby chassis.
     
    Still, everything would be fine, wouldn't it????...
     
    Only it wasn't. Having fitted the rods I offered up the chassis to a test track and was somewhat surprised to find the wheels were too far apart. I'd used the GW wheel press to assemble the Alan Gibson wheelsets and this requires the axle to be the correct length. I measured and found that the axles were just over 0.5mm too long - in other words I'd got P4 not EM axles. I rang Colin at Alan Gibson and explained the problem and asked him to chuck some replacement axles in the post. However, Colin explained that all the axles were P4 length and that people turned them down to the right length. It was apparently a legacy issue that he'd been unable to address in time and there had been previously economic issues as the demand for P4/EM 3mm axles was too low to to justify both. While this position is reasonable up to a point, it still left me with an effectvely unusable wheelset (no lathe you see), and above all I feel that if something is supplied with P4 axles you really can't describe it as an EM conversion pack (it contains EM profile wheels after all, not P4 ones, despite all the discussion on the MRJ 234 threat about P4 with EM flange profiles), especially if there is no warning note for the unsuspecting customer who unreasonably expects the EM convserion kit to be, well, for EM gauge...
     
    Fortunately, I know a man that does have a lathe and can use it. So I prevailed on the sage of Fareham to reduce the axle length for me - oh and mind the gear axle fixed to one of them... Richard soon retunred the axles and I assembled the wheels again (which were by this time getting a bit loose on the axles - Colin did offer to recentre them but I decided to use the trusty Loctite 603 rather than have a further delay). The loco was placed on the test track and immediately started showing quartering issues, which was strange as it had been assembled with the GW wheel press. After a bit of head scratching I realised that similar problems (binding, crankpins unscrewing etc) would also be caused by that worrying rod made from two seperate pieces being a fraction out for length. Much swearing. [it's noticeable that Alan Gibson don't do a conversion sheet for the 28xx, it seems for good reason]
     
    So back to the brassey Hornby rods which were treated to a wipe of polished steel paint. They still looked awful but they should at least have the same spacing as the axle bearings.
     
    The loco was again placed on the test track and power applied. It moved smoothly for a few inches and then the final drive gear wheel started spinning on its axle despite the loctite. Even superglue wouldn't hold it. Essentially, the Hornby driven axle had rasied splines which made the final drive too loose a fit on the smooth Alan Gibson axle.
     
    By this time I was contemplating taking up stamp collecting.
     
    So I contemplated asking Ultrascale for a replacement final drive. I also contemplated getting their drop in wheel sets but ruled it out as it would cost more than I paid for the loco - and take at least 6 months.
     
    The way ahead is simple. I'm probably going to throw the chassis away, get a Comet one somehow (which is designed to fit the Hornby body) . This may seem extreme, but the object of the exercise is to get a working loco, not produce a never ending stream of web content and Empire Mills has an exhibtion looming and we need working and reliable locos. If I'm lucky (and on balance the luck in the project must be due to change in my favour) I'll be able to ream out the wheels to take a 1/8th inch axle so the only cost wil be comet chassis, motor and gear box, which while more than I had intended to spend is still less than the Ultrascale drop in wheel set, but I'll have to call in another favour with the sage of Fareham to get the axles. Mind you, if I can't get the wheels off the 603 encrusted axles then with the cost of a new set of wheels the Ultrascale option might not be so expensive (except in time.) Glup. Anyway the comet option (which was discussed with Scanman of this parish at Expo EM as a possible option if it all went horribly wrong - he'd just bought a comet chassis, sensible chap, and advised me that the 28xx rod set available as a separate item from comet was for the old 28xx model not the same as the one supplied with the new all singing and dancing comet 28xx chassis) will give me a good chassis that will be sprung or flexichas, so there will be some compensation for me....
     
    Happily the body conversion has been a doddle so far. And this will get a separate post in due course.
     
    Above all, the thing that really irritates me is the fact that I have not yet found a half decent reason to blame Gareth, my occasional modelling partner in crime, for this debarcle. More thought on the subject is clearly needed...
     
    In the meantime, I'll do something far more constructuve with my time - the Dean Goods High Level Kits chassis is coming along veery nicely.
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