keitharmes

2 hours ago, Chris Higgs said:

 

Reading this again, has led me to ask the question - does the 28XX firebox also differ from the Hall? I think I would have glued the 28XX boiler to the Hall firebox if the latter is correctly sized. I assume needing to shorten the boiler is another of Dapol's inaccuracies as a Swindon No1 boiler should be identical on both locos.

 

Chris

 

 

Just had a measure up and the 28xx boiler/firebox is the right length. It's the Hall frames that are 1mm too short. The whole of the Hall smokebox/boiler/firebox is under-nourished so you can't join the 28xx boiler to a Hall firebox. Fortunately, because the firebox sits higher on the 28xx, there is enough material on the sides of the firebox to remove the 2-8-0 wheel arches and form the 4-6-0 ones.

Not that the 28xx as a whole is perfect, I might have already mentioned that the 28xx smokebox saddle is 1mm too high, resulting in the smokebox sitting too high and the boiler having a taper top and bottom instead of all on the top. Easily fixed by reducing the height of the saddle.

Keith

3 hours ago, Chris Higgs said:

 

This is on my to-do list as well. Unfortunately I only have one spare 28XX boiler and several candidates for its use - Hall, Grange, Saint, Star.

 

Next up is lining it, Keith.

 

Chris

 

 

I've already bought a set of Fox transfers for the large GW engines. Not cheap, and I only need the boiler bands, but we'll see how well it works. The first thing to do is try to match the boiler colour to the rest of the loco. Then make a new chimney. In fact , I've got several chimneys to make, my 2884 class needs a taper cast iron chimney and the Manor needs an original GW one in place of the slimmer BR.

Keith

10 minutes ago, keitharmes said:

Yes, the tender from the shop has all the brake gear, etc, the same as the commercial tender, just all loose.

Keith

I should have added that it doesn't include wheels.

Keith

4 hours ago, dpgibbons said:

 

Keith - does the Dapol tender from the 2mm shop come with all the detail fittings please?  

Yes, the tender from the shop has all the brake gear, etc, the same as the commercial tender, just all loose.

Keith

On 17/03/2020 at 19:06, Atso said:

 

A lovely start there! 

Here is a shot of progress so far with the 43xx. RH cylinder / piston assembly complete. Now to try and get the LH side to match! The tender is a Dapol 3500 gal tender via the 2mm shop.

1 hour ago, Nick Mitchell said:

I made some screw-in crank pins for Farish wheels out of 14BA studding. A length at one end was turned down to 0.5mm diameter, leaving a section with threads the same length as the thickness of the wheel. My original article (with pictures) is in the August 2014 2mm Magazine.

 

An alternative would be to drill out the threads in the wheel and insert a piece of appropriately sized tube that an Association crank pin would fit into. 

I do the same as Nick, except that I use 1mm brass studding. This fits the existing 1mm tapped holes, although some of them need a tap run through because they don't tap the whole way through. Easier for some to use 14BA, like Nick. Incidentally, I found the 1mm brass studding at www.prime-miniatures.co.uk.

Keith

4 hours ago, Chris Higgs said:

 

So it looks like a slightly different approach will be needed for a Dapol wheel as the spokes are the full thickness of the wheel?

 

Chris

No, the Dapol wheels just need thinning down closer to the bearing boss, leaving a little of the original thickness at the centre to space the wheel away from the frame. Depending on how sharp your tools are, you can end up with a bit of cleaning up where the spokes have been machined. Something like this, just starting on the wheels for the 43xx.

Keith

8 hours ago, richbrummitt said:

 

If I'm not mistaken:

Step one looks like boring and basically removes the flange. 

Step two depends on the spigot being concentric to the axle - is it? This is where Nick got caught out with his WD if I recall correctly. 

 

I feel like I have the information to be comfortable having a go at this now. I can at least fall back on some association wheels if I go badly wrong and it will be worth the learning experience. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

The spigot IS the bearing surface that the wheel runs on. So its important that that is the part used to hold the wheel when turning the outside diameter. The axle just holds the wheels apart, so to speak, and takes no part in the accuracy of running. The first step is turning the original flange off, not boring.

Keith

22 hours ago, keitharmes said:

Too much time on our hands looks like being a feature of all our lives, Tim.

 

Richard, I'm planning on doing a few notes and a photo or two before any MRJ article.

 

Keith

Just three pictures of Castle wheels preparation. The first pic shows 'After, Before and a Dapol wheel for comparison. The Farish wheel has spokes the same depth as FS, so machining away the thicker rim leaves it OK at the back, pic 2. Machining from the inside outwards leaves any burrs on the outside, easy to remove with a touch with a file. It is then chucked by the bearing spigot, 3mm dia, and the rim taken back by 0.2mm. If you are replacing the coupling rods, then the coupling rod boss can be machined back at the same time. Finally, the outside diameter is machined down to suit the 2FS rim. Remove any burrs, pic 3.

Keith

1 hour ago, CF MRC said:

“three different ways to skin a Castle.“
Maybe ‘storm a Castle’ or if your rate of progress is slow, then ‘lay siege to a Castle’.

 

Maybe too much time on my hands...

Tim

Too much time on our hands looks like being a feature of all our lives, Tim.

Richard, I'm planning on doing a few notes and a photo or two before any MRJ article.

Keith

4 hours ago, Izzy said:

As far as I can determine they are nickel plated Mazak castings. So nice sharp tools and very fine cuts at slower speeds to prevent snagging and distortion/breaking of the spokes/rims, especially when cutting them edge-on rather than the front/back faces.

 

Izzy

I've done about a dozen conversions using the rim replacement method and none of them have had a problem with the metal of the wheels That's Dapol and Farish. As Izzy says, sharp tools and gentle cuts. Don't try to solder to them though. They don't take solder, and somebody wrote that it can cause the Mazak to crumble.

Keith

Hi Chris,

I only bought a basic chassis from DCC Supplies, just the metal chassis with wheels and gears. I wanted to use as much of your etched chassis as possible, in fact, I originally only intended to use the Dapol chassis as a gearbox and drive unit but then thought 'Why not use the whole of the Dapol frame'.

Keith

People will remember the GW 43XX posted on here recently by John Birkett-Smith. I was kindly given one of these excellent printed bodies by Jerry Clifford, so here is the start that I've made. I decided to use a Dapol Grange rolling chassis from DCC Supplies as a base and merge it with one of the Association's Chris Higgs etched 61XX chassis. The wheels will have 2FS rims fitted, that's the next job to do.

Keith

Looking forward to seeing that. The same type I'm waiting to fire from Llanfair to Welshpool during the short time te engine spent on the WLLR.

Keith

Regarding jigs for wheel quartering, it's not too difficult to do by eye. Remember that there is nothing sacred about 90 deg quartering, since three cylinder locos use 120 deg. The important thing is that all the axles are the same. By temporarily fitting the coupling rods on one side of the loco and putting them at, say, bottom dead centre you just need to make sure the other side crankpins are in a straight line. Adjust to suit. Move the coupling rod side to top dead centre and check again. If its different then your rods are out.

Keith

As the Castle was coded Red for route availability and the Chipping Norton route was coded Blue, I hope not! Interestingly, the route did see 28XX 2-8-0s, but the additional driving axle in place of a bogie axle reduced the axleload  just enough to make it Blue, despite it being essentially the same engine as the Halls and Saints. The main problem in the route was the spindly metal viaducts at Hook Norton.

Keith

Hi Chris,

The reason for replacing the splashers is twofold. Firstly, they are about the right height, but too large a radius. The pic of my modified Castle facing Steve's unmodified shows it well. The other reason is to move the front and the OS rear splashers further in by 1mm. The two mods together make a big difference to the appearance and feel. The second pic shows Steve's loco running in on Chipping Norton and shows it well the seen from that angle.

I wanted to paint and line the splashers after all the fitting and gluing. So I painted and lined a self adhesive label, cut it up and applied them last. Incidentally, I bought black vinyl labels from ebay, which means any accidentally showing edge is black, not white, and cleaner edged.

Keith

Hi Andy,

With 13mm wheels, yes, they are underscale, which allows for clearance between the flanges. If you made correct diameter wheels then you have to  move axles or stretch the wheelbase. In my opinion this leads to all sorts of problems with boiler length, splasher position, etc. (As has been said many times by Jim Watt). In any case, what is the correct wheel diameter. With the allowable reduction of tyre diameter before replacement, a Castle could be running on 6' 7" wheels instead of 6' 8 1/2". In this case, I fixed the motion bracket to the chassis at the top and took it down between the treads.

In answer to the earlier question about crank pin position, the Castles and Stars had 26" piston stroke, so the 2mm Assoc 2mm crank throw is not far off correct. Its the larger 2 cylinder engines that have 30" piston stroke, needing a 2.5mm crank throw.  Worth doing in that case, because it gives the characteristic sweeping coupling and con rod action.

Keith

As Ian Morgan said, my castle chassis mods look like they have violated the Farish warranty. If that's the case, then the body mods have finished it off! (photo from my own Castle)

As Steve said, the Castle chassis is a cut & shut job with the front and rear of the Farish chassis. A couple of photos show the method. The Farish brake gear was also persuaded to fit the 2mm Assoc chassis.

Keith