Timber

Handrails are fitted next. The handrail stays are gently straightend and reinforced with a small bead of solder. There are two handrails on either side and one brake handle on the right hand side looking towards the rear of the tender. The handrails are small headed household pins. The brake handle is one of Markits "extra long" hand rail knobs. I will solder a cross handle into the handrail knob at the end of build so that it does not get damaged with handling during the build process.

Then a bead of solder around the edges to finish off.

Now to fit the tender top. This is taken from the etch and soldered to fit in the tender. On the prototype, judging by the rivets, the skin should curve into the body. But for ease of construction I just fold the skin into a ramp. I will fill the tender with coal and it makes the assembly alot easier as the ramp keeps the top nice and flat for soldering. First I do a quick dry fit...

A quick test now that the tender chassis and body can be fitted together using bolts from the underside up into the soldered nuts. This chassis is a bit bulky. As an alternative, there are two rockers on the etch (one of which should be soldered so that it does not rock), something that can be used as an alternative But I like the plastic chassis as it reduces the risk of shorting and the brakes are all in place. Originially I did fit extra pickups on the tender, this is something that can be used but I find that picking up off all six loco wheels sufficient. I have just spotted that the tender frame outer skin needs some more solder along a few of the edges, I will do that once the chassis comes off.

The frame fits to the tender with two 6BA screws that fit into two 6BA nuts that are soldered in side the tender body. These nuts are held in place when being soldered by a screw from the underside. You can see that at this stage all the other nuts and bolts have been removed from the tender.

The inner frame is now prepared by adding Gibson 2mm bearings. The bearings at the front are a push fit and once adjusted to the right hight will only require a small dab of super glue to hold in place. The rear axle is designed to rock. These bearings will be a more relaxed fit but if they do not move easily within the frame then each surface touched with a file will help free things up.

The steps are then folded out and the under frame top layer is added. Once again a good clean up is required but I will finish the build and then clean off all the excess solder in one go.

Soldering up the Tender body needs a bit of heat so best to have a large soldering iron. The curved tops may need a little trimming but a good bead of solder on the inside will close any gaps and leave a reasonable finish. Once the ends are all soldered then run a bead of solder along the bottom and smooth in with a sharp scrapper and a wire brush taking care not to remove the rivet detail. Photo below is WIP - a fine steel wire brush will be used take the remaining solder off the rivets.

Finally the chassis, floor and body are screwed together with 4 times 6BA nut and bolts. These are temporary but important to hold everything square for soldering. Once completed you have the basic chassis ready for soldering. You will see that the handrail "stays" are left pointing up in the air so that they are not damaged.

The floor has some holes at the front that are used to support the handrails. These are not etched through onto the chassis. It is easier for allignment if these are drilled. To ensure alignment screw the floor to the chassis, making sure that you have the front of the floor and chassis aligned.

Next up is the chassis....simply fold along the two etched lines

Then simply fold the sides but do not solder at this stage.

Building the tender is very simple. The first thing to do is to gently roll the top valance. I start by gently bending using pliars. Then finish by holding the part in a vice and gently smoothing the edges with a piece of hardwood. I do all my modelling on a Workmate type bench that is really suitable for holding and folding these types of part

Thank you - compared to many members my modelling skills are modest so I make models that work for me. The S Scale standards are very good and I find that even the simplist models can me made to run just fine.

Here are the etched parts that I will use to complete the build. I plan to build the base Tender, add to the loco, ensure that it is the right hight and couples up correctly then finish both the locomotive and tender together.

The Tender has some inside rockers for three point compensation, or there is a plastic 3D printed inner frame. It is a bit chunky, it uses Alan Gibson hornblocks but it includes brakes.

The Tender etch has the parts to make multiple versions of the Sharp Stewart 4 wheel tender. From my research there appeard to be two basic tender types, an "as built" and a post 1910 version. The "as built" were slightly longer base, had a tool box on the back and a central frame "strut" in the middle of the frames. The post 1910 version had a shortened base, the frame was open between the wheels and the toolbox was on top. At some point before 1910 the tender wooden block brakes were replaced with steel brakes. So there are early style tenders running eithe wooden and steel brakes. Post 1910 design the brakes were steel. There is also a cosmetic design features depending on the loco type, some had straight steps, others had curved steps. Over time there appears to be some tenders that were upgraded at some point in their life but retained features of the "as built". It appears that it was a bit of hit and miss as to what tender design ended up on the locos as they approached end of life. This etch will cater for all the above builds. For the Albion I would suggest the curved steps as these match the locomotive design. The components are dertailed below, I have shaded out the straight steps part and just focussed on the parts needed for the Albion.

These are cracking little locos and superb model engineering. I can see the pictures of how the build is constructed but how do you seperate the body from the chassis. I am starting an old I class build in S Scale and trying to determine the best path to fit the motor.

This is the loco running, almost straight off the blocks. It sounds like a crank pin is touching the skirt and the leading wheel is sticking....but these are easily fixed. Maybe the motor in the boiler may need a little insulating from touching the boiler......I will run it on the bench for a while to run it in properly. Before finishing the loco I am going to start work on the tender.....

Fitted 3D printer wheels with society rims and Markit axles to the chassis. Pickups off the chassis are my own design but gibsons will work just as well. The coupling rod is a two part assembly, back to back so that the finished item is just under 1mm thick. Markit crank pins are used,

Here both sides are in place.

Valance is dropped onto the cutdown cab side and solder seam is run along the top to hold on possition. Pins are then placed in to location and soldered.

Finally the body fits and the compensation movement seems OK. Now I will remove the boiler, give it a good smooth and then complete the build.

The gearbox is a High Level HighFlyer.... Fitting to the Hornby motor requires reaming out the fitting hole until it is a tight fit. I then twist this onto the motor almost as if it was as if it is self threading and then secure with a blob of super glue. It sound crude but I have made a few locos this way and it works. But I suspect that it is not a reversable process so if at some point in the future either the motor or gearbox need replacing then they will both have to be replaced. It is best to ream the etch before cutting off the fret as the force of the reamer cutting the metal can twist the unsupported etch - expensive mistake.

Next up is to fit the motor. Fitting the motor is a bit of a challenge as the boiler and firebox are very slim. With previous builds I have used small motors that fit within the firebox. But I recentIy discovered the Hornby X6152 motor that is only 11mm wide and has plenty of torque.. A flywheel would be nice but there is no spare shaft or room to accomodate.