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Dave John

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  1. Dave John

    72000

    By Dave John,

    Ok, this is a quick cross reference, since someome asked me about the ratio kit of 72000
     
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/dave_john/6158717900/in/photostream/
     
    The pics are all of Kelvinbank 1 , feel free to spot the mistakes....
  2. Dave John

    A backscene in place

    By Dave John,


    General
    Well there we are, a backscene in place. I’m not completely happy with it but it is just pictures stuck to cardboard and I can look to improvements over time. Taking a break from it and thinking about it while standing back from it all and running some trains is more likely to inspire me to better things than flogging on with it at the moment.

    The mirror across the end does give a feeling of depth. Again I think I’ll leave it there for now, if it begins to look wrong I could try and generate some backscene for the end. It is just clipped in place, easily removed.

    Posts and so on are actually straighter and leveller than they look in the pics, the camera has done its distortion thing a bit.










     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    Anyway with the long nights upon us I think I fancy sitting down and doing some stuff at the workbench.
  4. Dave John
    Fair enough, I know its a bit of a model railway cliche but the only place I could put the bus to get a picture was on the bridge.
     
    So there we are, more of a minibus than a full sized one. By the Edwardian era trams were very much the commonest public transport but I have seen pictures of this sort of small bus in the area. I think they were effectively used as a family sized taxi with seating for about six people at a push. It is based on a Scale Link etch, the figures are Andy Stadden though the driver has been Mikkelised with new arms.
     

     
     

     
     

     
     
     
    A loco rebuild next inline on the bench.
  5. Dave John
    Well, I got a bit diverted again this week. A friend was in looking at the layout and asking what I was going to do with the curved bits across the window. I had thought about just doing a curved embankment, but my friend suggested that with a bit of geographic bending I could have a go at the mouth of the Kelvin. Back in the later CR days there were shipyards capable of building sizeable ships served by lines from the CR and NB, but there were quays and moorings of a more modest size before them. I also had a prototype, further down the clyde at bowling the CR lines ran very close to the river and were on a viaduct close to the harbour.

    Hmm, bit of a quart into a pint pot, but it might just work. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of a basic mockup. River kelvin, rails on a bridge over it, leading to a lowish viaduct along a quayside, land rising along the banks of the kelvin valley, which was fairly wide before the retaining walls were built. Just messing about with ideas really.



    From the other direction


     

    So opinions ? Does it look daft as an idea or do you think I might just get away with it?
     

    Oh , and I made a stand for the signals. No point in having plugin in signals unless you have a safe place to put them when they are unplugged. The 7mm blue thing next to them is a whole other story, as they say…..
     


  6. Dave John

    A bit of a scene.

    By Dave John,

    Sometimes its good to set up a scene, it reassures me that all is coming together as a concept and reminds me of what I am trying to make in the longer term. The bridge now looks a bit bridge like, so I decided to set it up with a few bits and take a couple of pics from the east, since when in place it won't be seen much. Of course it wont be fixed in place, It just clips into the abutments. The columns which hold it up on the station platform are circular with an egg and dart moulding at the top, I have no idea how I'm going to make them. I think I'll take a break from bridges and build a couple of wagons.
     

     

     

     
    This is roughly how it will look in situ.
     

     
     
     
     
     
    Again, sorry about the poor pictures, new camera one of these days.
  7. Dave John

    A bit of a view

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have made a bit of progress, but for the weekend I decided to have a running session and reintroduce some stock.
     
    So looking over what will become an embankment with a view out of the window to the tenements across the road. The train is from John Boyle etches.
     


     
    A view from the opposite angle, the spire of Glasgow University in the distance.
     

     
    The big windows give the railway room a lot of natural light when needed, I have fitted blinds to prevent bleaching for most of the time.
  8. Dave John

    A bit of an experiment.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Last year I needed some styrene sections and as it happened the only place with stock was Hattons. Oh well. Anyway having ordered the stuff I needed I had a look at the pre-owned stuff. Just for fun, honest. Anyway I saw a Hornby generic 4 wheel NBR brake which had been dropped. The end was well bashed, buffers and couplings broken, the whole thing bent, body off. But all the bits had been put in the box and it was a tenner. Add to basket.
     
    But why ? A lot has been said about these coaches but I didn’t want to comment until I had a chance to break one myself. Having someone else break it for me and then selling it to me for less than a third of full price seemed a good idea. So it arrived, I had a look at it, harumpfed a bit, put the bits back in the box and left it to fester.
     
    During the last month I have made some wagons. They are at the painting stage and I want them in a bit of a faded red lead colour. My usual method for this is humbrol 100 with a spot of 61 flesh mixed in to fade it pinkish. I opened a tin of 100, it was a solid colour. Um nope,  it was just solid. So I opened my last new tin. Sludge, completely useless.
     
    This resulted in me going through all my enamels. Out of 80 tins I threw 40 away as unusable. Of course they were all the most recent and most useful ones, some tins dating back to the 1970s were perfectly ok, if i ever go back to making kits of ww2 aircraft.
    Now much has been said on rmweb about the decline of enamels and the subsequent withdrawal of many. So bite the bullet time, I shall have to learn how to paint with acrylics.
     
    Clearly this is two pronged experiment. Mess about with a generic coach and learn a bit about acrylics. So how did it turn out ?
     
    Perhaps I should have taken some progress pics, but I guess you will have seen similar. Anyway, chop a couple of panels out, shorten floor, weight and chassis to suit. Make proper footboards, add sprung buffers, safety chains, oil lamps, end steps, handrails, sensible door handles, lamp brackets, adjust brakes, reduce wheel flanges and adjust to my EM, chop off the huge coupling pockets and fit mag ajs and a CR number plate.
     
     

     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
    I think I can justify this under rule 2, vaguely plausible. The Caley inherited all sorts from absorbed railways. So this is a bit of stock from perhaps the Scottish central now being used as a tool /riding brake by the pw department. Any other nebulous excuses gladly accepted….
  9. Dave John

    A bit of blue.

    By Dave John,

    A useful week, the station building progresses, and I think apart from a bit of paintwork the track is now generally runnable.
     
    Anyway a bit of blue. This is a 104 class posed against a couple of old bits of backscene. The driver is probably wondering how on earth he ended up north of the clyde since he set the route indicator for the cathcart circle.
     


  10. Dave John

    A bit of lighting.

    By Dave John,


    General
    I decided to move the roof on a bit, seems like a good idea to get the lighting in at this stage.

    Very simple really , just 3 copper wires with LEDs via fine wire and suitable protection resistors. The internal and canopy lights will be separately dimmable.

    Easier to show a couple of pics than describe it all.
     




     


    Fairly fine wire, I think I’ll get away with it looking like gas pipe.
     


  11. Dave John

    A bit of shunting

    By Dave John,

    I have been enjoying a bit of shunting. There are two reasons, firstly I enjoy driving the trains I make, and secondly the layout has been sprinkled with post it notes based on the proposed signal diagram. The idea is to check that the possible train movements could be properly controlled from the signals before actually making and fitting them. So while I was at I thought I would take a few snapshots of moving trains. Just for fun and to see how they turned out. The answer is a bit grainy and of dubious focus, but hopefully conveying a sense of movement.

    Here goes.

    No. 245 bring a coal train in westbound.



    Run past the trailing crossing ready to shunt back to the eastbound line. Shunting signals needed there.





    Across the crossover. Pulling 17 wagons half of which are whitemetal is one thing. Pushing them through pointwork is a stiffer test. Thats them on the eastbound line.





    Ok, time to split the train. Thats a bit of old rail with a 1mm magnet stuck to it attached to a cheap keyring torch. Seems to uncouple AJ s rather neatly.



    Off the main line and onto the headshunt. , I think that would be a ground signal on the siding at the trap, and possibly a dwarf the call the train back. Hmm.



    Half the train into the coal siding.



    Back for the other half, the brakevan uncoupled.



    All in the right place.



    And there we are, 245 and brakevan now running correctly eastbound, a distant just past the box interlocked to the storage sidings.



    Seems like it might just work…..

    Sorry if thats too many photos, I really should learn how to do videos.
  12. Dave John

    A brake wagon, or two.....

    By Dave John,


    General
    Happy new year to everyone.
     
    So not one for celebrations and fed up with the dead time twixt Christmas and New year I decided to make something. I looked about and ferreted in various boxes, what did I have at my disposal? One last sheet of 10 thou styrene. An idea formed, a brake wagon. Something that has been sitting in the back of my head for a while. So I dug out the wagon book, scanned and sized the the drawing and re-read the section about them in the book and the CR forum.
     
    Brake wagons were essentially an open wagon with a brake stanchion on it. Their original use was was as a brake vehicle in yards or short trip workings. The one I’m making was built under Drummond but a further 41 were hurriedly converted from old wagons in 1905 when the BOT complained that the CR had been running short trips on the mainline with no brake van at the end of the train.
     
    The drawing is not detailed, more of an outline. However the salient features are that these wagons were just 12 foot long with a 6 foot wheelbase. They were however weighted to 10 tons. They may have been converted from earlier wagons, but no details below the solebar are known, nor has any photo of one turned up. ( If anyone has one, shout ).
     
    Why two ? I designed the bits in the silhouette software, worked out how many of each part was needed and transferred them to a cutting sheet layout. Came to half a sheet of styrene. Click, click click. Nuff said…..
     
    Some parts cut and laminated.
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
    Fiddly to stick together, but coming along.
     
     
     
  13. Dave John

    A Caledonian ROD 2-8-0

    By Dave John,


    General
    Following WW1 the Caledonian, like many other railways, were short of locomotives. They therefore hired 53 surplus Robinson ROD 2-8-0 s from the large pool available locally at NBL . They ran 1919 to 1921. A comprehensive thread is available on the CRA forums
     
    Really it is a decade out of my time period, but Hattons were selling them at low prices so I bought one ( BR, ex GWR version ) just to see what I could do with it.
     
    First off loco chassis. I could buy all the stuff and make a proper EM version, but lets see what I could do with the Bachmann one. On examination the axles are 3mm with splined ends reduced to 2mm. These go into a plastic bush press fitted into a cast wheel.
     
     

     
    I dug about and found some perspex rod just over 3mm.  Cut 4 bits , in the lathe, drill 2mm and superglue to the original axle  at one end . When set put the axle back in the lathe and finish the perspex to the axle diameter.
     

     
     
    There followed a session of assembly adjustment and messing about. I made spacers so the front drivers have no sideplay. Even so the slide bars needed a bit of tweaking for the crossheads to clear the crankpins. The thing ran like a lemon first time, a fault traced to the second axle bearing being low. Well, when I say bearing I just mean the square slot in the chassis casting where it sits being low, so stripped down again and a bit of filing. It took a whole evening but eventually I got it running well enough. The bare chassis running round the layout and not derailing though riding a bit roughly through some pointwork. I could turn down all the flanges a bit but I’ll leave it for now.
     
     
     
    You would think that the tender would now be a simple job. Er, nope.
     
    The wheels have the same plastic bush and press onto 3mm axles with 2mm ends. These are a snap fit into the tender frames. Not going to go in if they are set for EM.
     

     
    Second problem, the outer faces of the wheels foul those internal “splashers”. Ok, chop those out.
     

     
    Well, I don’t like axles running in plastic anyway. So I might just as well make a proper tender chassis and bolt it on.
     
     

     
     
    It has the added bonus that I can make a set of pickups while I’m at it.
     

     
     
    Body next .
     

  14. Dave John

    A Caledonian ROD 2-8-0 part 2.

    By Dave John,


    General
    All things considered the modifications to the body were straightforward. It all comes apart easily and the plastic seems to work well. The list of things which need to be altered to make a Caledonian version are as follows;
     
    Replace buffers with continental style ones. ( these are from shapeways)
    Fit westinghouse pump, smokebox rhs.
    Remove safety valve cover, fit ross pop valves.
    Square off and slightly reduce chimney height.
    Reposition and fit single whistle.
    Remove boiler topfeed and pipework.
    Remove smokebox door handle, fit handwheel type
    Remove smokebox door number plate.
    Fit plate type smokebox hinge.
    Add lamp irons to cabside and tender rear top.
    Add safety chains to bufferbeams.
    Add header discharge valve, smokebox lhs.
    Add air brake reservoirs under rear footplate.
    Add brake pipes.
    Add 3 number plates. Cabsides and tender rear.
    Add NBL build plate. (I have some, can’t find them atm)
    There should also be a piston rod cover on the front of the cylinders, but since it would foul the front wheels I left it off. Jacks are another issue, some of the CR engines seem to have had them, others didn’t so mine hasn’t.
     
    One thing that the rtr manufacturers seem to do very well these days is backhead details. I wish they would sell all the bits as a separate pack for use in other models.
     
    Anyway, a simple paint job followed by a bit of a light weathering to bring out some of the detail. I need to wotk the weathering in a bit when the light is better.
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
    So how does it run? Well the honest answer is acceptably but not wonderfully smooth. It rides hard over some pointwork and the flanges hit the inner tops of the chairs in some places. The fact that I had to limit the sideplay of the front drivers so tightly means that it fishtails a bit on curves. That said it hauls 25 wagons happily and gets round most of the layout without falling off.  I am not going to try to turn the wheels down, they are diecast from something a bit soft and I doubt I could do a good job of it.
     
    If this was going to be a mainstay of my loco fleet I would get frames and a full wheel set from agw and build a compensated chassis, I still have the option to do so if I feel I want to run more post war stock.  However the point of the exercise was to see what I could do with a 50 quid bargain and I’m happy with the result for the amount I have spent.
     
  15. Dave John

    A corner improved

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have added a bit of scenic detail to that corner. Much improved in taking the eye round at the end of the viaduct. I am going to have a go a tree making to disguise the rather abrupt end of that big retaining wall, but for now thats the layout back together and some trains running again. 
     
    A couple of rough snapshots.
     
     

     

     
     
     
     
    Hope everyone is managing in these strange times. 
     
     
     
     
  16. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 1 , wheels

    By Dave John,


    General
    One of the CR engines I have always fancied making is the 323 class, also known as the Jubilee Tanks, first built 1887. There is no kit, so they are rarely modelled, though Jim Watt has made a lovely example in 2 mm fs.
     
    A pic.
     

     
     
     
     
    The first issue is the wheels. As  built they had 4’ 6” 10 spoke T section wheels. Later rebuilds had plain spokes, but thats after my time period. Nobody makes them, nearest offering is Gibson 11 plain spoke, so I’m going to have a go at converting them.
     
    Some parts cut out with the silhouette.
     

     
     
    The rear face of the wheel is skimmed down very carefully on the lathe. Over the christmas period I fitted a new motor to the lathe, one of the sewing machine types with electronic speed control. I really don’t know how I managed with the old 1920s open frame motor it used to have. Thanks to snitzl for that tip.
     

     
     
     
    The silhouette cut parts are then glued to the wheels.
     
     

     
     
    The parts cleaned up, assembled and a spray of paint.
     
     

     
     
     
    I feel that they do look sufficiently like the prototype, certainly in terms of normal viewing distances on the layout. I know that there have been developments in printing custom wheel centres to fit manufacturers tyres, but for now I am content to have a go with the resources available to me.
     
     
  17. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 2 tank.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Whilst waiting for the gearbox to arrive I thought I would have a go at the saddle tank.
     
    I cut the templates on the silhouette and glues them to 10 thou brass. The notched ones are 3 layers soldered together, with a single layer for the front face.
     
     

     
     
     
    The frame soldered up. Flat board with some stripwood and various clips to hold it all .
     

     
     
     
    Wrapper annealed, cleaned and formed with various tubes and rods. The wee vice with the red bits of plastic from lidl worked a treat for holding it all tight for soldering.
     
     

     
     
     
     
    Given a good scrub and handrail knobs soldered in.  I’m quite pleased with that, not as difficult as I thought it might be to get it all the right shape and size.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    Gears and hornblocks have now arrived, so frames next.
     
  18. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 3, chassis

    By Dave John,


    General
    Next step is to get on with some chassis building.
     
     
    Drummond designed these engines with a 7’6 + 8’9 wheelbase. This layout proved successful and was repeated on a number of subsequent designs. I therefore started with a set of Gibson milled frames for the 782 class, these are solid and of a heavier brass than normally found in etch kits.
     
     
    First things first. A set of coupling rods. These are the Gibson universal etch, soldered up so that the fluted parts go to the inside creating plain rods.
     

     
    Basic frames made up. The spacers are double sided copperclad, the strong glass fibre type. I didn’t include a vertical spacer, solder it all up vertical and it stays like that, one advantage of the thicker Gibson frames. The 323s were long at the rear, 8’ 8 3/4 “ from rear axle cl to buffer face.  These frames have been extended to suit, a bit more than needed so I can trim them to the rear of the buffer beam when the footplate is made up. Brake hangers are 1 mm od brass tube, makes the brakes an easier fit later.
     
    I have given it a coat of black, I know a lot will come off but so long as the areas behind the wheels stay on I’ll be happy.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    A running chassis. All very conventional with a simple compensation beam. The plunger pickups are 1mm brass rod in a brass tube with a 9 thou guitar string spring. I have had issues with the Gibson style plungers in the past and if they go wrong its a devil of a job getting at them. This way they can be removed and replaced easily. Carbon brushes might be better, if I could think of a way of making them. High level gearbox and a Chinese motor, final position to be worked out later.
     
     
     

     
     
    Of course the question is does it run? A bit of video of it scuttling back and forth through pointwork.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Footplate next.
  19. Dave John

    A CR 323 class part 4 , body

    By Dave John,


    General
    A split blog , but there are quite a few photos.
     
    The footplate made up.  Looking at photos I think that as built they had Drummond buffers. Later they had the heavy duty ribbed buffers fitted. It may be that the second lot had them from the start, but I am going for the early version so Drummond buffers it is.
     
    Sitting here on the chassis, always a relief to find it is sitting slightly low. Sitting high can be a real pain. I’ll shim the compensation beam.
     

     
     
    Boiler barrel rolled and made up There are a couple of solid brass discs in there, turned to size. The firebox end one isn’t soldered, just tie wrapped.
     

     
     
    Then I chopped it up, using the lathe gently turned by hand.
     

     
     
    The cab was formed with parts cut out using templates made on the silhouette. The shortened boiler is soldered to the tank. Slight gap, but there will be a mounting flange to cover it.
     
     

     
     
    So far that is all straightforward.
     
    The simplest thing would be to have the motor vertical in the firebox. However I wanted to use that slightly longer motor and fit a flywheel. I cut the severed part of the boiler barrel longitudinally and fitted it to the footplate along with the firebox. The motor and flywheel comes up through the hole in the firebox floor and is constrained by a couple of foam pads and a spring steel clip located in two bits of brass tube. Needs a bit of refinement, but that is the idea.
     

     
     
    Viewed from the side the gap between the boiler barrel and footplate can't be seen.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    Second bit, room for a few more pics.
     
     

  20. Dave John
    Just a short blog, with the site being slow atm.
     
    I have made and added some detail, all made up from various bits of brass and wire. The smokebox door is technically a GWR one, but it is the right size and shape. If you don’t tell Mr Drummond then I won’t.
     
     
    A couple of pics all fastened together and wired up.
     

     
     

    Runs pretty smoothly so I think it is time for a spot of primer.
     
     
  21. Dave John
    Now things have settled a bit on here I am going to add a few blogs.
     
    It has taken some time to get this painted and finished. A fair bit of messing about with transfers again, I do wish someone would do CR goods lining.  All looks a bit rough close up, but passable from a distance I think.
     
     
    A couple of posed pics, the side on official portrait.
     
     

     
     
     
    At rest in the yard.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    They were a narrow engine, this view just how narrow.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    Being such an open cab I had a go at putting reasonable detail on the backhead.
     
     
     

     
     
     
    The 323 class were built for serious shunting work, so the question is can it actually shunt ?
     
     
     
     
     
    Runs pretty smoothly for a scratchbuild, should settle a bit with running in.
     
     
     
    With regard the the rest of the blog I will wait till that orange banner changes to “The server has replaced all the pics it can, the rest is up to you.“ I do have all the missing pics saved locally so I can fix whatever is still missing at that point.
     
  22. Dave John
    Sometimes you have to treat yourself. All the better if it supports the hobby as a whole. So I think a bit of loco building is in order.
     
    One of these from a caley coaches kit.
     

     
    Many thanks to Jim of Caley Coaches for getting it to me so efficiently, and to AGW and High Level for wheels and gearbox.
     
    The 670s were built in two lots and had a varied history with several rebuilds and swapping of tenders. Numbering is the usual Caley nightmare, indeed No. 719 carried 8 different Caley numbers and an LMS one through its 47 year life.
     
    For a full history the book to read is “Caldedonian Railway Locomotives , The  Formative years“ by David Hamiliton” . A very interesting and lavishly illustrated book, I recommend it.   I am therefore going for No. 252  which for my period would I think have the larger sandboxes, 6 wheel tender, westinghouse brake and be in lined blue livery.
     
    The kit contains two large etches, brass and n/s,  nice brass castings and sundry bits, all well packaged with decent instructions.
     
    With time on my hands I have made a bit of a start.
    Some coupling rods.
     

     
     
    A foot plate in progress, interesting curves. The kit has a fold up former to aid with the valences , but some wood helps too.
     

     
     
    Splashers, a bit fiddly.
     

     
    Hope everyone is well.
     
     
     
     
     
  23. Dave John
    I have made a decent start on the body.
     
    The boiler is in two parts, I would have preferred the boiler etch to go all the way to the smokebox front and have the firebox wrapper go round that. Way round it was to find a bit of tube the right diameter and make a ring to support the smokebox wrapper and solder that to the smokebox front. The boiler and its spacer band can then be formed to the diameter of the tube and just slide into the wrapper.
     
    Someone will tell me I ought to buy a rolling machine. They would be right but, well one day. So the boiler is hand rolled.
     
    Key to that is really taking your time, it is a half etch and very delicate. Annealed first then rolled bit by bit until its the right diameter. Sags a little where its cut out for the motor, but I have an idea about that once I am really sure of the exact motor cut out size.
     
    The cab was fun. You can just see the brass fingers on the spectacle plate which are curved round to meet the roof. Solder generously and then file it back to a profile. I’m rather pleased with the way that came out.
     
    I have also drilled holes. Lost of them. Pipes all over on this one.
     
    Anyway, a rough progress pic. The boiler and cab are just sitting on the footplate, but all the tabs line up. Base of the chimney casting looks a bit plump too. 
     

     
    A badly photographed westinghouse pump assembly.
     

     
     
    Gearbox assembly and chassis next.
  24. Dave John
    I am awaiting some parts for the engine, so I thought I would push on with the tender.
     
    The kit does provide all the spacers and a basic compensation beam for the tender chassis. But as usual I have odd ideas about these things. So the chassis sides are adapted for High Level hornblocks and then connected by a length of double sided copperclad. This gives two large lands on the top for pickups and suppression components.
     

     
    The semi circular compensation beam would be visible through the tender cutouts, so I fabricated this one . Good steel pivots to reduce friction and adjustable for ride height by means of an easily accessible  screw underneath. Yep, completely lockdown madness, but why not.
     

     
    A pic of the chassis made up with wheels and brakegear. The pickups are gold tips from scrapped relays soldered to 12 thou spring steel guitar wire. Hopefully this will produce a low drag 6 wheel pickup to aid good running. Might need a bit of a tweek, but all seems to meet the pushing round the track and through points test.
     

     
     
    The tender body went together fairly smoothly. This class of engine ran with a bewildering array of tenders during their lives, so I have tried to work closely to a known period photo, some slight variations from the kit.  Forming the top flare with its flared corners is a time consuming task, but I think I got it about right. Probably a bit of filling will be needed along the joint, but that will be easier to see after a coat of primer. As ever I see things on photos I missed before, a few bits of tidying up needed. 
     

     
     

     
     
     
    For a while the CR used a strange style of handbrake with a vertical capstan wheel geared to a vertical shaft. I can only assume the gearing gave some mechanical advantage, but having a finer pitch on the threaded end might have been simpler. Anyway I have a tin of watch gears. So I had a go at fabricating the mechanism. The horizontal shaft is actually a tube so you can spin the handwheel round. Did I mention lockdown madness?
     

     
     
    Hope everyone is keeping well.
     
  25. Dave John

    A CR 670 Class part 5

    By Dave John,


    General
    The correct gears arrived and so with a fully assembled and tested gearbox I have been able to push ahead. Soldering needs a bit of a clean up, but thats the chassis built up and running smoothly. Driving the front wheelset means I can have a compensation beam at the rear. The kit suggests driving the centre axle, since driving the front axle would mean losing the view through under the boiler. However by using a roadrunner box and an extender with a narrow motor I was able to get the motor right up into the boiler and the drive goes down behind the front splashers. The slot in the bottom of the boiler is only 9mm wide and cannot really be seen from normal viewing angles.
     

     
     
     
     
    A pic with it paired up to the tender. The mini connectors are from Express Models. I didn’t want slop in the little end bearing causing fouling with the leading crankpin so I soldered a Gibson crankpin screw through the rod from the rear and so the piston rod runs on a steel crankpin bush to help keep it in line.
     

     
     
     
    A view from below. I managed to get a bit of weight in there and a fair bit in the smokebox and firebox areas. AJs are on small copperclad pads, removable if they ever need repaired.
     

     
    A side view. It all runs well, I am happy with the solution for the motor/gearbox allowing a view through the whole thing.
     
     

     
     
     
    Some primer and filler, then off to the paintshop.
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