jdb82

Ian, you are a gem! Many many thanks. look forwards to the others tomorrow! As an enthusiast, but one with very little knowledge of the 'insides', these are the places I don't normally get to see.... Thanks again, John

Very little progress to report, but I think I've just about finished the front end of Bamburgh now. Looking at the photo's, there's some kind of tap/valve (please post answers below!) mounted on the front of the tank with a pipe leading into the left hand side of the smokebox (blower maybe?). This was made with some brass tube and some spare hand knobs, drilled through with some 0.7mm wire and soldered together. The flare on the chimney wasn't a particularly good fit for the curve of the smokebox - I had hoped the epoxy would squeeze out when I glued it on, but I mustn't have put quite enough on as there was still a gap. Given all the stuff I can't get here in Brunei, you can imagine my surprise when I found some super-fine Milliput of all things in the local hardware store! Good enough for filling the gap under the chimney flare. I slapped it on fairly liberally to start with, and after a few hours to let it cure, I filed and sanded it back. As I had plenty left over, I also used it to fill the two holes in the footplate to screw the sandboxes down with. These are now redundant, as the boxes on Bamburgh are set further forwards than the model prototype. I'll epoxy them on after painting. Finally, the front handrail, which was a PITA to shape correctly even though it's a relatively straight forwards shape, finished off the front end.

I'd be interested in following your progress with this layout - I'm a big fan of the sheds up at Grosmont, and I'm sure I've probably got some old photos knocking around somewhere if you need any. When I was in my teens, I built an N gauge layout which was a bit of a mixture of places: the station and signal box at Goathland, and the the coal stage/re-filler at Grosmont sheds. This was pre-digital age though, so no idea if I still have any old photos of them!

No problem Ian - thanks for the thought!

Oh to have beer on hand......Any colour beer would be nice! Living in a dry country, the only way I get beer is by driving an hour and filling my passport with yet more stamps to cross the border It does mean that more of the parts I solder together are actually straight though ;-)

I've been doing a bit of reading and research around the inside stephenson's valve gear, and understand how it works. Constructing one is another matter though! Does anyone know of a kit available for it? Possible not, as I guess they're all different sizes based on whichever loco they are used in. Laurie Griffin Miniatures do a working one I think, but I've no idea if it comes with assembly and fitting instructions or if it's simply a bag of well-cast parts.

Whilst I'm no expert, I did set one up in my garden when I lived in the UK. The 'pointy bit' needs to be pointing towards true north (rather than magnetic north). If you want to get really technical about it, the angle of the pointy bit is different depending where in the world the sundial is made/intended to be used. The angle needed for a sundial in southern Europe would be different to that needed in the Calder Vale. I think the angle needs to be the same as your latitude (I think around 54oN for you?). May be a bit overboard for a layout though! I'm sure your representation of true north with be perfect :-) We tried making one with the kids I work with here in Brunei, however being almost on the equator meant the sun was almost directly overhead for most of the day, and so barely cast any shadow at all!

Wow! Now that really is super fine detail, which could lead to all kinds of possibilities, and future strain on my bank balance!

Hi Ian, Yes please, that would be more than helpful! Thanks, John

Many thanks!

Thanks! This drawing will be really useful :-) Anyone know the name of this type of motion?

Just starting to think ahead to my next project, which will be a Manning Wardle Old i Class, for which I am having a go at producing a set of etches for. As there is a gap between the boiler and the frames, I want to include the inside motion for it to prevent it looking 'empty'. I do not currently have any engineering drawings (only scale drawings) - the question is, what type of inside motion did they have? I'm not massively knowledgable (yet!) about the inside workings of locos, so apologies if this is a daft question! John

I'm just about to blacken wheels for the first time too, so I eagerly await any response to Justin's question above!

Hi Nick, Each day throughout this build, I've been on tenterhooks to see if there was another update. It is simply magnificent! I love the Garretts, but for now at least, a kit that needs so much scratch building is a bit beyond me......one day. Just wondering if you had any drawings that you worked from, and if you did, where I might obtain a copy from? I do have a penchant for a good scale drawing or engineering diagram, and one day it might get used for a model!

OK, I get the usage costs etc, however for users who are uploading every day, they are unlikely to be willing to resize the photos they upload as this is an additional and often time consuming step. 10Mb is a woefully low limit in today's digital world. When high quality modellers are choosing to abandon posting on this site in favour of another with far more generous limits, alarm bells should be ringing. @Andy Y, would you be willing to consider an increase?

I just posted on the Forum Questions section asking if it’s not just a quick fix of changing a value in a settings box somewhere. It seems like it should be an easy thing to change given the current and potential drain of talent that has / is leaving the site, which s a real shame. I read the WT forums regularly, but don’t tend to post very often as i don’t think my modelling skills even remotely compare to those of the regular posters there! I for one value very highly the input from other members here, as they are helping me develop my modelling skills and Very selfishly don’t want everybody to leave! There must be an easy fix somewhere!

Admin, This might have been covered in a different post recently, so feel free to redirect me towards that if you wish. There seems to be a growing discontent about the 10mb limit per post for uploading photos. Most of my activity on RMweb is in the kit/scratch building, 7mm and industrial forums, and I’m concerned that there are a number of very talented modellers who are choosing not to post on RMweb anymore due to the limit, and are heading over to WT instead. In an effort to prevent the considerable drain of talent, is it not an easy fix of simply entering a different value into a setting box somewhere behind the scenes?

Now you're talkin' ;-)

Coming from a man of your talent, I take that as high praise indeed! Problem is, I'm rapidly heading towards the painting bit, which is where I'm likely to undo all my hard work ;-)

Almost there with the front end now. I moved onto the sandboxes, which the instructions say to use castings for. Unfortunately, the castings are the wrong shape for Bamburgh, and in any case would need some significant surgery to repair the many blemishes and defects in them. I decided it would be quicker and more loyal to the original (even though there are plenty of other details which are not prototypically correct) to make my own. Easy enough from offcuts off brass sheet and nickel silver (didn't want to cut into a new sheet for 2 small lids). The first one I made I thought looked OK - the handle was made from a thin slice of brass tube, and a thin piece of scrap etch. It was soldered to the lid using lots of flux, a tiny amount of solder and my gas torch. Then I looked at the photo more carefully, and realised that the lid overhangs the sides a little, and so remade the lid. And then did it again for the other side The sandboxes are just placed for the photos at the moment, and I shall leave them off until after painting as I found getting behind them on my first build (Hudswell Clarke Canal tank) almost impossible. I should have done this with quite a few of the other details too - the handrails and various levers on the RHS, because lining - in which I have zero experience - will be rather tricky. Some buffer support struts and handrail will complete the front end, but that might have to wait until the start of April, as I'm back to the UK at the end of next week for a spot of job hunting.

Very good question! Don't know why I didn't - I have previously. To be honest through, it looks much worse on the closeup photo than it does on the model - you'd have to really go hunting for it to see it.

Few bits done on the front end of the loco today - the chimney was given a good seeing to with files & wet&dry, the dart was soldered to the smokebox door and the Westinghouse pump was attacked with a wire brush in the mini-drill. Holes were measured up and drilled in he side of the smokebox for the Westy to be mounted on..... And copper wire thinned down to take a 14ba nut on the end of a pipe between the Westy and the S.B. No idea what it's for, but I see it on the photos! The door & chimney were epoxied on. I did think about soldering them with the gas torch, but was worried I'd end up getting everything too hot and it all fall apart, so 'cheated' in the end by opting for the glue! The Westinghouse pump was soldered on, along with it's associated pipework. And posing on the chassis for the photos as it's not had an outing for a while. Front handrail, lamp irons and sandboxes next.

Going by your other builds, I very much look forwards to seeing these two one day :-)

Ah, I see! That could be a good option - and a good way of finishing off some spare paint that might not otherwise get used!

Thanks - appreciate the comments. The skills are getting there but still a long way to go yet..... Unfortunately I don't have the MRJ article - I had ordered a copy for me to pick up last time I was in the UK, but the seller (from eBay) contacted me shortly after I'd purchased it saying he wouldn't be charging me for it as it had some pages missing. He kindly sent the magazine anyway, but sods law would have it that the pages missing were the ones I needed. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time before I left to order another, as it was over Christmas. As for decisions, I had thought I would go for the earlier livery, hence the injectors the way they are, however thinking about it, the lining looks quite a bit thicker on the later version, and might be easier to deal with (not done any lining before - either painted or transfers). The weather boards will be added if I go for the later option - I presume these were either sheet metal or wooden. Wright describes the lining as "broad black lines edged with white". The photo on P47 clearly shows the black lines, but I don't see any white ones. Do you know anything about this? Maybe because it's a black&white photo? If the white lines are there, does 'edged' refer to the inside or outside of the black lining? I knew very little about the NSR before I started this build, but have become more interested in it the further in I have delved. It's a fascinating little story! Thanks for the info about the coaches - it probably wouldn't have been something I would have picked up on. There's no prospect of a layout for it to run on currently, so if I do build one it will be purely for experience once again. Have you started building your 'Bamburgh' yet? I'd be very interested in following your build if you have/plan on documenting it :-)