Lemburg

To those nearing the end of this partwork or others learning from others before taking the plunge the following may be useful or of interest- Wheels !! or the masking/preparation of them prior to painting:- As the wheels that hatchette supply are made of an alloy rather than steel they will not corrode - however in terms of hardness they are much softer and are much easier to scratch and even score than the alternatives when you are rubbing away with coarser grit paper to remove paint, therefore the attention you give to reducing this laborious task will be worth it .Rather than the time consuming and frustrating task ( shown in the step by step) of cutting strips of masking tape(which sticks to anything and everything other than that intended) and trying to coax straight masking tape to form a curve and later (on removal and after painting) finding that paint has seeped everywhere - I have found the following method much quicker,more effective and easier. I use a 1/8'' vinyl masking tape around the steel rim -I bought this some years ago at an exhibition someplace and it has not deteriorated like the paper ones do.I then apply maskol around the steel flats and overlapping the edge of the masking tape.a lot of folk do not like maskol but the secret for me is to half fill the white spirit bottle cap with same and keep a tissue moistened with it to remove the elasticated build up from your brush(a no. 2 incidentally)with maskol you put enough on your brush to do the job without going back and playing about with it! The attached pic shows the ubiquitous earbud which when cut through makes ideal crankpin covers!

I bought (from that well known on-line trading site) a sultzer motor/gearbox combo about a year or so ago, with motor mount and pick-ups for about £50 if i remember correctly. It's 25:1 ratio, single stage and a substantial Phosphor bronze/brass/steel unit. These were marketed by Hatchette for the earlier F/S kit but prior to that were sold directly by DJH with a crailcrest CR 209 motor(which is the one i have).I have heard said that these units would not be 'man enough' for a pacific but i have no complaints notwithstanding the tender sides/back/reinforcing are nickel silver and brass and the tender front is w/metal. These units still come up every 2 or 3 months and if you persevere are well worth your trouble.

Hello to all For those of you who have the latest partwork issues I note that 127/128 covers injector castings and brackets .For the more clued up members where and what are these and are they visible on the skirted version? The-supposedly- final issue -130- is now available on Hachettes website -does this include the nameplates etc?? Would be grateful for any information re these questions.

Hi All As we are approaching the final lap of this partworks would be grateful if anyone can update me with contents of issues 120 -127 inc foe which i would be-as apart subscriber -most grateful

Hi All For the benefit of mere mortals like myself who will more or less make do with what hachette provide us (particularly for the skirted version which was always -after all what the partworks was offered as) It looks that anybody who wants older issues for one reason or another should purchase at the lower price before the end of January as after that the issue price will revert back to the original as is now the case with issue 120 to completion.I may be wrong but i wouldn't want to take the chance -so dally not!!

Hi All -great news for part subscribers like me (for future or back issues)-noticed today that Hachette have halved their Mallard partwork issue prices from 1 -119(latest shown on their website). Unsure as to what this will mean to current full subscribers but i am sure they will be asking the question/s!! I fancy that any redress in this respect will not be forthcoming - interesting to say the least.

Mine will be the same as your last sentence - 'fully skirted' and i agree as I have spent enough time on this project! Cold comfort -I know - but the costs associated with the necessary re-tooling to get the wheels properly quartered and the likely drop in take up/subscriptions for the project after issues 25-30 say when all you were getting were a few screws and white metal gauges for your eight quid will have -no doubt- left them feeling bereft of any anticipated return on their investment and as they have had 18 months since then to re-assess the situation the 'sinking of the ship for haipeth' o' tar' as I would put it doesn't surprise me at all. Good luck to all those trying to source valve gear items. Happy new year to all Tony

Yes i was surprised to see the pic of Premiers jointed coupling rods (which i prefer) I have the same as you. The bottom line with the wheels provided is that they are ok for a static model only. The F/S wheels were the same. They may well be made of an alloy rather than the steel of Slaters and therefore corrosion resistant but that is their only attribute. Reading these recent posts the added costs of wheels ,motor and valve gear etc to make a decent and presentable working model are pushing the overall cost into cloud cuckoo land.! I noted that a DJH unmade limited edition A4 with wheels sold on e bay a few months back for just over £500 As an aside -and it has been touched upon before i think-is anyone any wiser as to how the tender buffers will fit into holes which are mostly filled immediately behind with the tender side frames? Little side locating spigots perhaps? They must be keeping these buffers until the last few issues i guess unless being a part subscriber i have missed them.Either that or they are still working it out.

Bearing in mind the detailed lubricator linkage provided in issues 101/2 it seems illogical that key valve gear components will be omitted.

All i really need now are the name/worksplates/commemorative plates-nice to think that they would all be provided on one etch (Like FS) but bearing in mind 1 wheel =1issue etc etc I won't hold my breath. Perhaps guilplates keep a master bearing in mind the name -anybody been down that route??

Yes but premier do not provide the 12ba fixings to the motion bracket etc in their valve gear set - you do need to have some experience with fitting -if unsure i would stick to the model issues of which there will be 130 at my last understanding

Many thanks to Mike J and others who have taken the time or helped with issue updates - Now up to 115!!

Hi I have details up to issue 100 only so anything beyond this would be appreciated. As i have premier component valve gear and assume that more recent issues may well duplicate these items i want to avoid unnecessary outlay .

Hi all On the subject of the Mallard tender as referred to a few months back I went down a different route and decided to construct my own.This was -in the main -because i do not like plastic .I like plastic with ripples in it even less and not withstanding the comments about prototypical realism i smart at the thought of being supplied with substandard mouldings. Therefore I did not purchase the hatchette ones but assumed they would have tabs to fit into the slots on the chassis footplate. Pics show the n/silver 0.5mm sides and back and the 1/16 brass tabs that in turn are shimmed out to allow for my assumption that the plastic sides would be thicker. I dispensed with coal chutes as the tender would be coaled up but 1/16 square brass rod was used for top plate supports which also acts as lateral strengtheners.Needless to say the back steps /handrails and lamp brackets are not attached to the tender rear until the 'box' is soldered up. Having said all this the 'scotsman' tender sides I constructed several years ago were very good mouldings and other than being a bit over scale at top/edges still look ok and have not warped or become brittle. Incidentally if Mike47J still scans these pages a parts supplied update to issue 117 would be appreciated.

Hi Rosspop -Thanks for the trouble you have gone to I have the bogie -but not the springs -so that's useful! It's the pony truck I meant (the 2 in the 4-6-2 if you like) Even some kit manufacturers call bogies ponies so can be confusing. The actual picture is on the DJH website under Piercy -non valenced A4 where exploded diagrams can be viewed. Seems that Hachette have not released this part/issue yet!

Hi all The dark evenings are upon us and it must be time to get the superglue/soldering iron at the ready!! As i do not have all of the issues can anybody advise if the little fabrication for the pony truck has been released as yet ? I am assuming that this this will be a little cage with bearings and a pivot pin (a la bogie) as shown on the djh/piercy website as the chassis follows the same design as near as makes no difference!!

Hello all If there's anybody out there i'm just keeping this topic alive!! I recently reached the stage of priming the body and thought i would pass on a few of my experiences to those that are about to do the same. Firstly the gap where the valance joins the body-particularly at the short vertical section in line with the back of the cylinder fairing -there is some flexing here particularly when installing and removing the chassis. I initially used the single pack filler (which comes in white or green)but I found it brittle and difficult to apply.I found that using a 15amp backing wire glued in the gap(inset not proud) avoids pushing through the 2 part epoxy filler which i prefer to the aforementioned. This filler when mixed can be moistened with water and made into a thin sausage so avoiding a lot of cleaning up which is better for retaining the rivet detail on either side of the gap. Prior to priming i washed the 18 months or so of grease and debris off with a soft toothbrush in a large shallow plastic box to avoid loss of any parts like lamp irons but then made the mistake of using a single pack etching primer without solvent cleaning after the washing/rinsing off process(white spirit would have done) this resulted in a large section on the top of the boiler and the cab roof bubbling as if nitromors had been applied-Apparently etching primer contains zinc chromate which will react(almost immediately)with any lanolin residues which are not visible may i add.In a situation like this leave for 48-72 hours as i did and then remove the mess with white spirit which will not effect the cured areas at all then feather edge in with a flexible superfine abrasive pad. In respect of the topcoat I would not recommend gloss as when using a subsequent varnish over not easy to get a consistently uniform finish-better to use Railmatch which is a satin sheen and accepts transfers well. I used this with the scotsman and achieved excellent results Hope this is useful

As a part subscriber I am wondering how Hachette are going to pad out the remaining 27 or so issues! Particularly if -as in my case-the connecting rods and valve gear have been purchased (from premier components) The difficult to source transfers have been provided so other than the rear buffers and a few other detail parts -many of which can be easily fabricated- I am struggling to see how the extra few hundred quid+ can be justified Anybody with any thoughts on this?

Many thanks for the issue update -appreciated

As I decided with my Mallard to complete by scratch building(following the debacle of the wrongly quartered wheels episode) Would be most grateful if anyone can continue the issue /parts list from 71 to date (as produced/edited by Mike 47J 6months ago) I have noted that for the 1st time in their back numbers list(from 97) Hachette are describing the build details -let's hope that this isn't a one off. Tony

Probably a shaped brass overlay is on the cards with matching cut-outs for the piston flange and valve spindle -either way it will -no doubt -further compromise ease (if you can call it that)of removing/replacing chassis without damaging all the thin brass outriggers and brackets.