garethashenden

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Lets see your loco!

That gearbox looks lovely! Can't wait to test it out. It seems to be an area I get stuck on, so I ordered 3! Now I need to actually use them...

Its hardened steel, if its cut cleanly no hard done. However, if you try and use something that isn't up to the task there's a risk of damaging the motor. A cutoff disk in a dremel tool or similar is the best option.

Managed to get the inside motion working. There is a little tight spot I need to iron out, but overall I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g6YHv2CleE

The wheels ran pretty true, but the tires were all wobbly.

Further progress, it rolls! Unfortunately the tires aren't square to the wheel centers, so they're very wobbly. I'll need to print new centers and redo them. Oh well.

Picking this up again, some progress has been made. The cab has been changed again. Looking through the etches I found a taller cab which is the solution to the cab/tank height discrepency. I had overlooked it because it was drawn as the full cab front and sides, with long roof supports. The work of a moment to trim those and slightly longer to file the cab sides to match the splashers. Once this was fitted I revisited how to align the cab and boiler. I had been using two substantial rods on the inside corners of the tank, but its difficult to get them in exactly the right spot. So I came up with a system of four small pegs. Two mounted vertically in the footplate going into holes under the smokebox, and two horizontally in the cab, going into the back of the tank. This gives quite secure repeatable locationing, with one 10BA bolt holding the smokebox to the chassis. I have removed all the detail from the tank. It had a three course tank and I'm modelling an engine with a six course tank. It seemed easier to do all the rivets at the same time, rather than trying to match the existing ones. I need to rearrange the holes in the top of the tank. I think the dome and filler need to move, the dome a little, the filler a lot. Buffer beams have been made and fitted, ready for the cute pointy Dean buffers. Finally, the crank axle has had new cranks made. Unfortunately the eccentric sheathes didn't survive the disassembly process, so reassembling is on hold until a new etch arrives.

What causes those cobwebs? I don't think I've experienced it before.

Thanks Tim. That explains why there's so much depth in the model, with all those washes.

What do you use for a base colour for London brick? I feel as if I've asked this before but I don't remember.

The ones I have are 188 C

I have both 0.3 and 0.55mm balls. The 0.3mm balls are too small to handle in my opinion, whereas the 0.55mm ones are just the right amount of solder.

I've now replaced the window with the broken mullion. In addition to that, all the other details have been taken care of an initial painting has been done. I used a whitemetal crane from Scalelink. In person its a little chunkier than the prototype but I still like how it looks. I added two platforms for the upper storey doors. I think that one of them should have been modelled up, but they're quite firmly glued now. Good think I've got several other similar buildings still to make. The downpipe is 1/16" brass tube with a curve put in at the end. It fits the look I was after. I've also been working on the road in front of the warehouse. Getting the pavement at the right height relative to the building and the roadway at the right height to clear the trains at the back was more challenging than it should have been. In the end the building had to be raised about 1/2" off the baseboard. But the overall effect is correct and that's what matters. I had been procrastinating on the road because I didn't want to press all those setts, but then it occured to me that I could use Wills sheet for most of it and only make clay setts at the corner. I think I will employ this technique in the yard as well. If a sheet can be used whole, I'll use it. If I have to trim it then I'll use clay instead. That should speed things up without compromising the appearance. While its too new for the layout the Bentley was the only vehicle I had to hand. Its an Oxford Diecast model and rather heavy handed. The WO Bentley Memorial Foundation are in the process of sending me some factory drawings so that I can make better models, but that's the subject for a future thread.

I've now replaced the window with the broken mullion. In addition to that, all the other details have been taken care of an initial painting has been done. I used a whitemetal crane from Scalelink. In person its a little chunkier than the prototype but I still like how it looks. I added two platforms for the upper storey doors. I think that one of them should have been modelled up, but they're quite firmly glued now. Good think I've got several other similar buildings still to make. The downpipe is 1/16" brass tube with a curve put in at the end. It fits the look I was after. I've also been working on the road in front of the warehouse. Getting the pavement at the right height relative to the building and the roadway at the right height to clear the trains at the back was more challenging than it should have been. In the end the building had to be raised about 1/2" off the baseboard. But the overall effect is correct and that's what matters. I had been procrastinating on the road because I didn't want to press all those setts, but then it occured to me that I could use Wills sheet for most of it and only make clay setts at the corner. I think I will employ this technique in the yard as well. If a sheet can be used whole, I'll use it. If I have to trim it then I'll use clay instead. That should speed things up without compromising the appearance. While its too new for the layout the Bentley was the only vehicle I had to hand. Its an Oxford Diecast model and rather heavy handed. The WO Bentley Memorial Foundation are in the process of sending me some factory drawings so that I can make better models, but that's the subject for a future thread.

I want to get it right. Constructive criticism is an important part of that. In this case its made me review an aspect of the model I hadn't put much thought into before.

Try printing the axlebox vertically. I bet the hole is there, but resin got trapped in it.

I think its all angles afterall. Compare this picture of the model to this Standard gauge 1076. The model may be a little high, but its close. I think they saddle tank is a bit of a gothic arch at the moment, particularly at the back. This would cause the high point to be higher. But overall I'm thinking its right.

I was thinking that it was just the angle, but looking at the picture Miss Prism posted again I think you're right. I guess I was assuming that the cab was the same as the standard gauge locomotives, but clearly it isn't.

So I'm doing this all in Solidworks. Other CAD packages do things differently. I started with a few concentric circles. One at 1/8" for the axle, then the outside of the boss at a size that looked right, its probably 6mm or 1/4", since the axle looks to be half the diameter of the boss on the prototype. This was extruded whatever the thickness of the Gibson boss is, I think that was 3mm. Then I made another concentric set of circles as a second sketch. These are the outer rim. The diameters are same as the Gibson wheel moulding. This was extruded to 2mm I think. Then I drew one spoke and extruded it. I then used the spoke as a concentric pattern to reproduce them at a set number and degree. 16 spokes at 360/16 degrees, which I think is 22.5. Then I added fillets to the spokes to round the edges. The pin boss was drawn as arcs and straight lines. I started with a circle for the crankpin, spaced 4mm from the wheel center. Everything else was filled in around it and extruded to the height of the boss. The balance weights were drawn as sketches with two arcs and two straight lines. The outer arc was the same as the outer rim, and the inner arc was placed where it looked right.

Since the last post the footplate has largely been completed and the cab added. I've also reworked the bunker to the correct shape. Very easy with a small course file. i'm pretty much back to where I was when I picked up this project again a couple of months ago. The other thing I've been working on is the wheels. The ones I had were fine, I guess. Gibson wheels, I don't remember which code. But they've been on and off the axles too many times to really be useable. They're a little loose, but don't go on the axle squarely. So I could just buy more, but the spoke count is wrong and they should be pin-in-line not pin-between-spokes. Then there are balance weights.So I 3d printed some. Using the tires from the Gibson wheels, I designed new centers. I started with just the spokes, boss, and rim, then saved this into two files, one for the center axle and one for the outer axles. Then I added the balance weights and printed them. I had to do a revision or two, but I'm happy with them. The rivets will be added with transfers. So far only one has been fitted to its tire, the rest will follow soon.

If you’re going for CSBs, spring all three. You’ll loose the smoothness of operation if the rear is fixed. I would aim to have the motor completely above the frames, so go with one of the higher gearboxes. That should reduce the clearance problems in the firebox. The crank pins only need a tiny bit of clearance. If they need to move more than say 0.5mm you’re better off fixing your track problems. A super sloppy chassis won’t run well. Shim the rear axle for no side play, the front for a bit, and no shims on the middle.

Slowly making progress. I had the brainwave of using my CAD skills to make templates and sticking them to sheet metal, rather than trying to draw out the shapes I need on the metal. It worked really well and I now have two valances with the right wheelbase and radius curves, and a footplate to match. I took my time shaping them, I know I usually regret it when I rush. Splasher tops and backs next.

The Scalefour Society makes a kit. Not sure if it’s on sale to the general public or only members. The old version was on sale to the public but I don’t see the Mk2 kit listed in the public section.

No specific examples, but I would be interested in seeing specific examples. I've been seeing pictures of NCB internal wagons and was wondering what they were for, rather than just using BR wagons.

What do I not understand about collieries that necessitates internal user wagons? On a basic level, coal comes out of the ground, goes in wagons, and goes to customers. But apparently sometimes it comes out of the ground, goes in wagons, gets transferred to different wagons, and then goes to the customer. There's obviously something I'm missing about how the colliery processes the coal, but what?