jdb82

Spent a while yesterday straightening out the coupling rods. First, I unsoldered the laminates - as part of the front laminate is half-etched, it creased when everything twisted. A combination of pliers, vice and a small hammer largely straightened things out. Thought it best to finish opening out the holes whilst they were still in separate layers, as it's easier for the broach to cut. This proved tricky though, as the right hand end of the top layer, which was thinner anyway where it joins onto the half-etched part of the rod, was very weak due to the bending back and forth. 

Once I was satisfied the repairs were as good as they were going to get (and as the closeup shows, they're not perfect), I soldered the layers back together again.

Using the good coupling rods, I set up the chassis jig. Then I tried sliding the repaired rods on, and as was alluded to by N15class, discovered the rod had become longer as the metal has stretched in the twisting and subsequent attack with the hammer. It wasn't an enormous growth, but enough for it not to fir onto the jig. For now, I have just opened up the hole some more to allow it to fit - time will tell if this has introduced too much slop to allow the chassis to run smoothly once it's up and running. If so, I shall follow doilum's sound advice and fill & re-drill the hole in the correct place.

It should straighten out ok but and it is a very big BUT it will probably or will grow longer. So the hard part is adjusting this and the other side to be the same length.

 

One way to do it is to get a larger diameter nickle rod and increase the hole size to a good fit. solder in place and smooth off. Then using the good one mark and redrill in the right place. By using the a larger blank in the hole it will not twist or the drill is less likely to wander back into the old hole.

Good plan, thanks for the tip. As the front layer of the laminate is half etched, this part has creased a little. I have unsoldered the layers to enable me to get to the crease line - I'll attack it with a hammer in the next couple of days to see what I can straighten. Good point about this lengthening the rod though - I hadn't thought of that.

Isn't there enough scrap n/s on the fret?

Hammer it out. Iff it grows, slim down the simple end with a dremel or file and solder soome scrap across the hole. Use the other rod as a guide and drill a 1mm hole as a new centre.

Personally, I prefer the non engineers method of a high speed drill, but cannot pretend that I haven't done exactly the same thing once or twice or.......

I'll check when I get, back, but the frets are pretty tightly packed - there might be enough just below the chassis frames, but looking at it from this photo, it'll be tight. Good to know I'm not the only one to have done this!

I'm not sure that "Oh bother" quite covers this one.....

Whilst opening out the hole in the coupling rod to accept the Slater's crankpin bush, a momentary lapse in concentration allowed the broach to snag the metal, which then twisted. A lot. . 

Plan of action: Step away from the bench for a while!

Then once the blue mist has settled, see if it can be straightened out with pliers, vice and anything else then I can find to perform magic with.... If that fails, I think I'll be making a new rod from scratch, using one of the straight ones as a template. 'twill be good experience of scratch building if nothing else!

This is where my location rears it's head again. I do not have a sheet of nickel silver to craft a new rod from. If I was back home, I could order a sheet of nickel silver and it would arrive in a couple of days. Here, unless I butcher a spare nickel silver chassis frame which I had earmarked for another project in the future, I only have a sheet of brass, which is not ideal for the strength needed for a coupling rod. 

@N15Class.....you've just straightened out a pretty large dent - this must be a walk in the park in comparison - right?

Peter, is there no end to the magic you perform. That repair is quite amazing. All looking very, very good.

Magic is indeed the word! You're never know anything had happened to it in the first place. Nicely done!

⅜” axles? In 0 gauge?

 

Do you mean 3/16”?

Haha...it was very early this morning I wrote that! Yes 3/16"......

Bamburgh had 3’6” wheels rather than the usual 3’ or so.

Yeah, I noticed this when I was reading about the loco in a couple of different books. A rarely these days, but the kit was supplied with the wheels (upon my request) to make the buying of things easier whilst not in the UK. There was a certain amount of naivety in this, as at the time I didn't know any different. There are a few small bits and pieces I need, so I think I'll have a look on Slaters website and see if there's a 3'6" version available and get them and the other things I need shipped out. I'm always a bit reluctant to do this though, as the only reliable method of getting them to Brunei is by courier, which costs a small fortune. Standard post takes about 8 weeks out here, and even then there's a good chance it won't arrive at all! 

I took over 20 years to build Slaters K class. If I was to repeat this I would use plunger pickups. Given the space available I might try 4mm units.

Just from interest, are the axles the usual 7mm items or the thinner ones produced for their K class.

Good luck anyway.

Just standard 3/8inch, 7mm axels - although I'll be using Slaters wheels, it's an Agenoria kit, not a Slaters one :-) I like the idea of the plunger pickups though - not having used them before, it would be a good time to experiment.

Whose kit are you going to use? I built a L class a few years ago. from a very basic Jim Harris kit.

This is another Agenoria kit - number 23, so one from the Pete Stamper era. I'm hoping it will go together as well as the Hudswell Clarke

After a check of the contents revealed everything was present, it was down to work. I even scored Browny points with my wife as she saw me actually reading the instructions first. I then promptly ignored them. Or at lease re-ordered them.

Following the advice received from my last build, I decided to start with the coupling rods and get a working chassis before starting the body.

I laminated the rods which are of a 3 layer laminate design, soldered, filed and polished. The kit supplies brasses for the joints as a brass etch, but these are way too small, and so I made some larger versions from some waste etch. These were then soldered on, although the one in the top right in the photo needs straightening up. 

I find setting little targets is a good way to improve - having looked at numerous threads on RMWeb and WT, I will be striving to solder and clean up to a higher standard this time round. The work I see in photos from people such as PAD, Jazz, Nick Dunhill & Sandy Harper to name but a few (please don't be offended if you are not listed here!!!) is something I aspire to, so where better to start attempting to achieve this than here?! 

Manning Wardle L Class 0-6-0

And so to the next project! When I bought my previous kit, the Hudswell Clarke canal tank, I also purchased a Manning Wardle Class L 0-6-0. It was billed as another fairly straight forwards kit, which would be great for building my skillset. I also have an increasingly voracious penchant (if such a thing exists) for a Manning Wardle loco, so needed no further persuasion to add this to my shopping basket whilst I was doing.

The loco I intend to model will be no.1394, 'Bamburgh', and will be in 7mm scale. Bamburgh was the original, and for some time only locomotive on the North Sunderland Railway. The NSR opened in the 1890's, serving just a handful of small communities alongs it's 4 mile stretch. It was hoped that a combination of tourism and fish from the busy port at Seahouses would keep the line profitable, but this was never to be, and it suffered constant financial difficulties until it's eventual closure in 1951. 'Bamburgh' was used throughout this time to haul short passenger trains, as well as an assortment of freight wagons.

Harman describes in his book the livery as being a "light green, lined out with broad black lines edged in white. So that'll be interesting when I get to that stage!! Thoroughly looking forward to this one, and hopefully some of the experience gained from building the canal tank will make parts of this one more straightforwards! 

Sorry no thread on here, I'm having enough problems replying with some pics. Hopefully they should be here, still in primer awaiting some attention before the black goes on.

 

As you say the kit goes together well although the instructions were a bit vague!! Your thread was very helpful as a reference.

Looks great! Good to see another version of what I built, as they seem quite few and far between. I wish I'd have added the coupling chains on before painting - mine will be really tricky to fit without scratching the paintwork

A fine looking model! How you manage to achieve such a high level of detail and accuracy in something so small, I can only wonder!

I'm not even remotely in the same league as PAD, but I found that changing to a different "Brand" (not that either were branded) of scratchbrush. The first one I had was relatively soft and didn't achieve anything. Then when I eventually wore it out, the replacement was a lot harsher and removed solder so much easier.

Mmmmm.....me thinks I need to change mine - the ones I have are relatively soft it seems; fine for polishing brass but no good for removing much. They came as a refill pack of 10 from Eileen's. I shall try somewhere else!

Forgot to say in my previous post, but hats off to Pete Stamper for designing an awesome kit - I can't think of very much that I had to alter or change; everything went together beautifully! 

Craking job on the paintwork & weathering, you can be very proud of your first build.

I have just started in the paint shop with my 'Canal Class' loco, unlike you I did not fit the filler plates between the tank tops & boiler (I prefer the way it looks) but it don't half make it difficult to paint !!

Steve B

I can imagine it would! I think with my next project, I’ll make as much of it detachable as possible to make painting easier. One of the reasons I choose Hamburg to model is that it didn’t need lining. Several other Canal class locos were lined - I found just a simple black coat enough of a challenge! Maybe I’ll try lining next time....

Incidentally, do you have a thread for your canal class on here?

looking good!

 

you need to curve the roof just a little more, stop the light showing through underneath.  fingers and thumbs job...  gently!

 

the other thing is that the buffer heads look a bit conical rather than domed, might want to take a file / some emery cloth to them too. 

 

this is going to be excellent!

 

best

Simon

Roof has been attended to - as you say, just a gentle bend with the fingers. The buffers I will smooth out - gonna be away for the next few days if all goes to plan, but will get onto it when I get back. Thanks for all your help and advice over the last few months!

And so comes to an end(ish) my first kit build. There are still a couple of bits to do - altering some of the weathering in a couple of places that the closeup photos have revealed to be not as intended (although I didn't see these whilst I was painting it!), and also I still need to add couplings and vacuum pipes, neither of which I can purchase here in Brunei. I may attempt to make some from scratch at some stage.

For a first go, I'm pretty 'chuffed' with it to be honest! Thanks for all the help and advice from everyone who has contributed - I have learnt a huge amount (and still plenty to learn)! Painting and weathering still remain top of my skills list that I need to acquire - it looks great from a distance, but not sure it would pass muster against the pros......

Having worked on the wheels a bit, she runs really well, on the one piece of uninterrupted straight piece of track I have. Maybe one day it can have a go on a proper layout.

Next up is a Manning Wardle L Class, also from the Agenoria range. With a baby on the way, I have a deadline of mid-September to get it completed by before modelling time becomes even more restricted than it already is!

Nice job.

 

Look at real working steam locos and you will see the chimney and smoke box are a grey colour due to heat.

 

Gordon A

Thanks Gordon,

Just in the process of weathering her now, so will get to work with the grey weathering powders :-)

You know you're getting close to the end when the name plates go on :-) I made a little card template to ensure the plates were level and in the same place on both tanks. A small dab of Araldite was used to stick the plates to the tank, and held there for a few moments until the card template could be pulled away. 

Also installed the various elements of the cab. Now for the washes on the tanks and boiler.

I suggest that you think carefully about varnishing - if you invest time and effort in getting different colours and textures, sealing it in will diminish that, particularly the texture element

 

I never varnish my models, the paint and transfers seem to survive ok

 

Lots of different views out there of course

 

Best

Simon

mmmm.... food for thought. 

Does the weathering powered not get worn off after a while?

Dabbled with airbrushing the buffer beams and some weathering powders on the smokebox this morning. Whist not perfect, it's definitely given the loco a bit more of a 'used' look to it. Haven't done anything to the smokebox door yet, so still looks a bit shiny.

Not quite sure what's going to happen to the weathering powders once I varnish it; the plan is to vanish in satin first so I can add some washes more effectively, before then giving it a final matt coat of varnish to seal everything in.

Unable to think of a better way, I rectified the paint mistake on the tank top by using thinners in the end.I have a couple of very fine cotton buds, and so worked away at the affected area until the paint was removed. As it also removed the primer, I reapplied this before giving the model another coat of black, cover anything I'd missed first time round. Although you can see a small 'ridge' where the old paint meets the new, I think a good job on the weathering in this area will make that disappear. Drying acrylics in the heat here doesn't take very long (touch dry at least), and so I was able to unwrap the masking to see it's basic livery together for the first time. 

Next, the coupling hook needs painting black, and the coupling links need adding, before the whole lot gets a coat of satin varnish before I weather it. 

Back to the workbench today after a couple of weeks of craziness at work, followed by a week recuperating staring at a volcano and beach from a rather nice pool in Bali. Living this side of the world does have it's perks ;-)

Anyway, last news was that I'd primed the body, and just before I went away, I managed to paint the buffers, steps and cab. The cab isn't as yellow as it appears in the photo, although it's a deeper colour than intended.....needed a bit more white to make it more creamy.

Today, I masked everything (with the exception of one or two small parts.....intentionally, of course!) that isn't going to be black. Not the neatest of jobs in terms of bits sticking out all over the place, but it did do the job. 

A deep breath was taken, and on with the black coat. I can't help feeling this is probably a bit like watching your child growing up......it was all beautiful as a baby-faced brass beauty, and then it grows up.....

I knew it already, but painting was always going to be the most challenging aspect of this build for me. Whilst I'm fairly handy and practical, artwork is not my strength! I did manage to avoid any runs in the paint, which is the thing I was most concerned about.

I think she'll need another coat though, as looking at the photo below, the right side of the running plate, left as you look at the photo, hasn't had an even covering. This is something I only noticed looking at the photo - it was obviously difficult to tell with all the paint wet, and it's currently drying under it's ice cream tub to keep the dust off. Also, there are areas like under the lip of the chimney, and underneath the tank step that got missed, as by the time I thought about them, I couldn't then turn the model upside down. Ah well, learn as you go..... To steal Bucoops's signature below his posts, I still very much have my modelling L plates on. 

Now to the biggest booboo I made, which never crossed my mind before applying the black coat: when painting the cab a couple of weeks ago, I didn't mask off the windows, and a small amount of cream coloured enamel (satin) was spread onto the tank top behind one of the tank pipes. The black paint I have used is acrylic (Vallejo model air), which has otherwise covered really well. However, as we know, oil and water do not mix particularly well, and the black won't cover the cream. I'm reluctant to get the thinners out, as this might affect the surface of a wider area.... what would any wise heads out there do? 

Tony Wright's Loco Building videos are excellent; previously produced by Right Track Publications but now discontinued - they appear regularly on Ebay (there are two videos)

Here's the link to the Tony Wright video - I lapped up all 5 1/2 hours of it before I started building my first kit in September last year.... well worth every minute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1DGQsXapFk

Seems like I'm after the rarest of the lot.......Issue 12 of Model Railway Journal. I'v searched high and low, and it's about the only issue I've not managed to find! If anybody has one they would like to part with, I'd be most obliged!

John

Impressive stuff Peter - I aspire to this level of craftsmanship one day!