Dave Holt

I confess to being nosey! Dave.

Robin, Great to meet you at S4North. The Lawrence Hill Junction track looks very nice indeed - lovely flowing curves. In photos 4 & 5, there is a base-board joint at a very shallow angle to the track. Is this removable or a permanent section? If removable, it could lead to some interesting alignment issues on re-assembly! John's Brit looks completely at home. Will he have trouble reclaiming it? Regards, Dave.

Oh, right. I thought that must be something to do with the drive gearbox!

Tim, A possible reason why the rear sections of splasher seem way too long is that on the real thing they extend through the (wood) cab floor to meet with the drop section of footplate at the bottom of the cab side sheets. Perhaps the kit designer has replicated this? Dave.

I bet that ladder whipped about a bit when climbed to light the lamp! Lovely model, as always. Dave.

Tim, There is a boiler band just in front of the boiler/firebox cladding joint. There,s about a 1" gap between the edge of the firebox front and the rear edge of the band, so you will need to fill any gap in the model before fitting the band. The front corners of the firebox have a 4.5" radius. Hope that helps. Dave.

I'm not clear how the compensation works on this chassis. I presume, to give proper three-point suspension, the rear axle has a centre rocking pivot? Dave.

I must say, this is all looking very nice indeed. The work to produce accurate 9F wheels elevates this into miniature engineering rather than a normal small-scale modelling project, in my view. Us mere mortals will have to settle for standard Gibson 2MT wheels and not look too closely! The body and frame assembly looks very convincing. Best wishes for the rest of the work. Dave.

Tim, If you look at the plan view of the drawing, the part of the cradle which carries the trunions looks to almost fill the gap between the main girders and the barrel. Similarly, the bearing housings on top of the main girders are almost the full width of the top flange, such that the width of the bearings is probably similar to the diameter. Dave.

Tim. I think there should be a strap over the top of the barrel to keep it engaged in the grooves in the gun-slide. From the drawing, it looks like the strap is roughly in line with the trunions. In large guns like this, the barrel is fixed to a slide forging whose upper surface is machined to match the barrel diameter and which has grooves to match the rings on the barrel. the two are held together with the strap I mentioned (the kick strap). Thus, the barrel and slide move backwards and forwards, on recoil, as a unit. The slide runs in grooves in the elevating cradle and is connected to it by (usually 2) recoil and (usually 1) run-out hydraulic/air cylinders. The trunion pivots are actually on the cradle, not the barrel/slide assembly, of course. Obviously, on a non functional model it's perfectly OK to combine the slide and cradle into a single unit, as you have. However, I think KalKat is probably right that the trunions look a bit skinny, but the main problem is they're too narrow rather than too thin radially, if you follow me. Enjoying your project. Dave.

I've enjoyed seeing the layout and chatting to you at various exhibitions over the years and am sorry to see it go. Hopefully, it won't be too long before your current project is sufficiently advanced to start showing, perhaps as a "work in progress" at society events? Dave.

A very interesting and unusual modelling project which looks to be coming along nicely. If you look at the main girders, the top flange is progressively thickened towards the middle by rivetting on additional doubling plates. This is also quite common in bridge construction. Looking at the photos, one of the eye catching features is the extent of rivets. Are you intending to add these to the model? Regards, Dave.

John, Very nice work so far - I especially like the look of the lower boiler extension. I presume Bachmann made this part of their chassis block? Regarding the foot plate/boiler gap, I doubt they actually touched as this would lead to chafing of the boiler cladding. Locos with thin foot-plating, like BR standards and our modified MN, have the inner edge of the footplate turned up by about 1" to 1 1/2", to give some stiffness (you can still feel it flex as you walk along!). This brings the top edge closer to the curve of the boiler cladding and makes the gap look less. I agree there shouldn't be a gaping space between. Looking forward to following further progress. Dave.

Hi Paul. I haven't done anything to the lining. Body work was mainly fitting new, brass, front frames (shallow type), easing mould lines, rear hand rails and some extra backhead details. The prototype I have in mind was so dirty, you couldn't see any of the lining although I might not go quite that far. Dave.

Thank you all for the kind comments. Dave.

Well, crabs are generally said to scuttle, but that's sideways, so it's not unreasonable that forward progress is fairly slow. Following the conversion work on the ex_GCR push-pull coaches, I thought I ought to try and finish off some part completed projects which have been sitting around for quite a while. One such is the ex-LMS Crab, which is a Bachmann body on a Comet chassis and a Comet brass tender, together with a Brassmasters detailing kit. The original idea, inspired by the demonstration version on the Comet exhibition stand, was for a quick production based on a straight forward assembly of the chassis kit for P4 gauge. Needless to say, I couldn't go through with that approach and ended up adding lots of extra details and some missing bits, all of which added extra time. So, in a mad bout of renewed enthusiasm, the final details have been added to the chassis and body and a bit more work done to the tender. There, the only outstanding parts are the cab doors. I've assembled the Brassmasters doors with working hinges and am dallying with the idea of springing them open but need to obtain some fine phosphor bronze wire to make the springs. A trial with 0.33 mm brass wire proved the geometry but was too stiff. On the loco, which sits on coil springs, I have had a bit of fun and games getting the weight in the right place. Initially, I added too much in the front portion of the boiler, causing the front driver springs to be nearly fully compressed. It was a mighty struggle to get the weight back out, having glued it in rather too well. That made things much better, especially after I managed to squeeze a bit more lead in the firebox and some under the cab roof, but after I fitted the the front pony truck, which is also lightly sprung, I found the reverse problem! Now the rear driving springs were fully compressed, so I had to re-fit part of the boiler weight and remove the lead from the cab roof to get a reasonable ride attitude. Compensation is a lot less bother!!! Anyway, here it is in its current state. The loco still needs overall weathering and the tender remains unpainted till the cab doors are sorted, but definite progress. Dave.

I'd stick with Dave's rods. At least you can be certain they're etched for the same wheelbase as the frames.

Yes, I seem to remember cranking the extended gearbox and seating the motor with the bottom end as low into the flared part of the ashpan, which is part of the chassis, as it would go, That way one can steal another mm or so for the motor.

John, I'm another who is very much looking forward to the 9F. I built one some years ago using a Model Loco Kits (basically DJH) body on a chassis made up from Gibson milled frames and coupling rods (correct wheelbase) with valve gear a mix of the kit and Comet parts and home made slidebar support and valve gear brackets. Suspension was partly compensated with sprung centre axle and pony truck. Like you, I used a vertical mounted motor in the firebox driving the 4th axle through a High Level gearbox - completely invisible despite the large gap between frames and boiler! I've also got a Bradwell chassis so have a particular interest in you new project. Good luck with it. Dave.

Hi John. I can't comment about the spring hangers as I'm not that familiar with GWR locos, but it is fairly easy to get pick-ups past any size obstacle if you have them bear on the back of the wheel rim, coming in from beyond the wheel so to speak. This photo of my under-construction Crab illustrates my way of doing it, hiding the pick up behinf the brake blocks where possible. Obviously, in this case you've overcome the problem, but my idea may be useful in the future. Dave.

It certainly does! Very neat set of compensated brake gear and well worth the effort. Dave.

...and the thinning of the cab roof.

I've now completed the modifications to the two coaches (apart from the AJ coupling at the loco end) and have painted the new bogies and also the coach underframes. Probably at bit of weathering on the sides, ends and roofs, when I set up my airbrush - warmer weather allowing work outside or in the garage, I think. Here are the coaches in their current state. First, the brake composite non-driving trailer: and the 12 wheel driving trailer: Dave.

Yes, I use 0.3 or 0.33 mm brass wire. Dave.