5XP

Thanks Miss Prism/Kenton.. Yes I have to agree the mudhole covers do appear a little over scale and as I'm somewhat short of time I just used what came in the box. They do look worse than they should in that photo as I hadn't yet got around to cleaning up the solder. They do protrude on the prototype but perhaps not as much as this. As for the firebox I was in two minds as to annealing it but as the etch is only about 10 thou thick I just got on with it by pressing it down on a wooden block and rolling it while the soldering iron was applied. I too have had mixed results with firebox wrappers but I seem to have got the hang of it now. (I hope!) Darren.

Well the house is coming along but we currently don't have a roof as the roofers are unable to start re slating due to the weather so we only have a draughty piece of green felt covering the roof. Even with all the disruption as well as working on the house my self in the evenings I'm still making time to work on the ROD. The firebox took a bit of work but really wasn't difficult and with a bit of patience went together OK. The first picture shows the firebox wrapper and the two formers, the left hand former is four etches sweated together to make the Belpaire front and the left hand former is just a single etch that goes against the cab but forms the rear shape of the firebox. This pictures shows the four etches sweated together after shaping to form the Belpaire front. These next series of pictures shows the firebox wrapper being soldered around the formers while being shaped at the same time: The soldering finished before cleaning up: With the cleaning up done the holes for the washout plugs were marked out and drilled before being soldered in place: More to come later, Darren.

I have to agree on the instruction front as so often I think that both an A4 sheet clearly indicating whats what and an exploded diagram of the kit should be included as unless you have reference material available the orientation and placement of some components is a complete mystery. What have you opted for in the way of suspension at this stage? Darren.

While I haven't yet struck any majors and I have certainly built worse kits in comparison so far but you have flagged up two things that are already obvious to me which are the thickness of the frets borders on being to thin and the instructions are vague to say the least. Darren.

Thats a shame Phil but it would certainly be nice to see some pictures of your work. I've been around steam from an early age as my grandfather had Burrell traction engines and later a Marshall of which I grew up helping and playing at rallys . I would dearly love to become more involved again when hopefully in a few years we will be able to shift to a larger property with a workshop or space to build one. At the moment Im confined to the corner of the spare room/office with my Unimat 3:rolleyes: Darren.

Thanks Horsetan I did know about the current site as I did a little research before I started the build, any way how the hell do you know all these things? Darren.

I didn't think that was a naughty word.........

Hi Phil, I would love to see some of your 5" gauge stuff. Many many years ago I was involved with a club in NZ which had a raised 3 1/2" and 5" gauge track, I spent many happy hours driving some of Martin Evans and LBSC designed locos amongst others including Springboks, Enterprise, Maid of Kent, Brittannia, Caribou, Virginia, Simplex, a Juliet as well as a couple of New Zealand type locos from memory I think one was a J or a JA 4-8-2 . There was a vintage Stirling Single that was origanally built to 4 3/4" gauge which was converted to 5" gauge, it had a lovely exhaust note but was a ###### for priming without the dome. Darren.

Well I always seem to end up to my ears in it, after nearly a years battle to get planning permission to re roof our house with the edition of a conservation rooflight and then trying to get the roofing contractor to start they are finally going to land tomorrow. I'm both ecstatic and overwhelmed all at once as now I have to make a start inside our bedroom moving radiators, building a walk in wardrobe before over boarding the walls and roof before getting it plastered and finally having the floor polished, phew...:icon_eek: And then there's the cast iron guttering outside to paint while the scaffoldings up....... So needless to say I've got my work cut out to get all this work done and battle on with the ROD but I have inlisted the help of a friend as on his days off from being a firefighter he is also a builder :icon_clap: which is has worked out rather handy and takes a little pressure off me. Anyway sorry to babble on its just got on top of me a little as I wasn't expecting all this till the end of November but after the wait I dare not put them off and I shouldn't really whine on as I knew all this work was needed when I purchased the property. Anyway back to the more important stuff, the kit seems to be coming along OK even after all the warnings and commiserations it seems to be rattling along not to bad at the moment. I have formed up the bends in the valences and soldered them in place along with the dragbeam bufferbeam and its overlay and after drilling and filing out the lower windows in the cab front it was soldered in place. The cab sides have had their beading and handrails soldered on before soldering to the footplate. I got as far tonight as soldering one of the main splashers in place before calling it a day. Im still going to try and continue to progress a little each night as I did promise to have it ready for hull, so you will have to bear with me as the updates might have to wait till I have time later in the week. Added 25/10/09 The front splasher/sandboxes were folded up but when the top was formed it was found to be to etched to short to be of any use so some suitable scrap etch was found to replace the tops. Top part of slasher formed up but to short...... Scrap piece of etch being soldered in place to form top of sandbox/splasher. The finished splasher/sandbox ready to be soldered in place. Darren.

I have soldered up the the chassis using the 00 spacers provided in the kit and have modified the cylinders slightly by turning the glands in the lathe and drilling them to accept the Markits machined crossheads . I decided to do this to reduce fettling time with the lost wax items provided. I'm just now setting up the alignment of the motion brackets and position of the cylinders before starting on the footplate, more to come tomorrow as I'm off to the pub now.... Darren.

Yes Kenton I have heard all the horror story's but I do like a challenge and will do my best to oblige with many pictures.:icon_thumbsup2:

I have been on with this kit over the past few months and it is now nearing completion but I have to get on with the ROD now so it will have to wait till after the Hull Show. Its an Irish J15 marketed by Studio Scale Models in Ireland, It has TMD Models on the etch with the year 1985 on it but I cant seem to find any other information it. The kit is designed primarily for EM or 21mm gauge but I have built it as requested to 00 gauge which has thrown up no end of obstacles....:icon_mutter: It was supplied complete with |Gibson wheels and High Level gearbox but unfortunately the gearbox type was found to be to wide to fit between the frames so I have used a Comet box instead. I've taken a photo diary of sorts so here is where I'm at with it now, I will sort through the pictures and work back through them to explain/show the different stages of construction. Darren.

This is my first ever attempt at blogging so it is a little bewildering to say the least. I thought I would start a fresh with something new on my bench as well as later transferring over my other lingering projects from the old forum. The Falcon Brass kits seem to have a bit of a bad reputation so I'm keen to get on and build it to see why. I'm hoping to complete it in time for a close friends layout which will make its d?©but at Hull next month so its going to be hit and miss as to whether I complete it or not as well as not falling out with the wife while spending all my spare time hunched over the workbench...... It will be the GWR version with the top feeds finished in early 30's GWR green with the shirtbutton on the tender. I've only just started on the chassis this morning so I will have some updates later over the weekend.

Lovely place Richmond, Im at Richmond at least once a week sometimes a lot more if things are broken. It would have been my second choice to settle in when I came over here but as the wife comes from Harrogate and has family there still it had to be Ripon. Darren.

I was up for a couple of hours around 3 this morning pre this thread though with a sodding sore throat if that counts, where abouts in the Dales Simon as I'm off to Grassington and High Bentham today I hope it warms up a bit. Darren.

need to watch

type of teapot