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One thing I could not live with was the wire brake stretchers and white metal brakes in the kit, so I used Ragstone lost wax castings which are actually designed to prototypically hang off the inside of the our frames. I had to make mounting pads from scrap etch to mount them on the inner frames and drilled the ends of the stretchers to take 1mm brass rod. drilled out, 14Ba nuts were then added on the ends. The frame stretchers are 'U' shaped in reality, so strip from scrap etches ( again ) were soldered to the sides of the flat etch in the kit. The rear one is trapped by scoop lifter and to enable the chassis to separate from the main body, the stretchers screw with 14BA screws to 2mm 'L' angle soldered to the insides of the frames in the appropriate locations. I also had to knock up 12 small cranks to join the brake shaft to the pull rods, now that was tedious. Just pick ups to add now. The center bearing has a 1mm brass rod soldered into a drilling which locates into a split pin handrail knob on the inside of the frame. This allows the bearing to float in the slot in the frames and stop the bearing rotating.

A Crewe of tenders? I've had my head down getting these together, I had the hopper crooked in one and I thought I might get away with it, but eventually it comes back to bite you as it means that other components will not fit, and after far too much contemplation, I ended up cutting out the solder along the back and one side, bashing it out and redoing it - fortunately without any damage to the side sheet. A salutary lesson to double check that things are square, how many times have I told myself that? Some of the white metal items are soldered, others fixed with Epoxy, I can never quite make my mind up which is best. I added a mounting plate for the water treatment hatch, I'm not sure if they all had it, but at least one of Annesley's fleet had the patch. I soldered as much from the inside as I could before adding the chassis. I love the 1F tenders, they just look huge. Other items, I added the 2 pipe oilers at the front outside of the frames, stays for the front steps and remembered that the sieve boxes are not hard up against the frames, despite there being a convenient spigot on the back of the casting. The axle box and spring castings lack detail on the spring hangers. I'll live with that for the moment.

Thanks Simon, I never seem to be fully satisfied with them, once they have a fold it seems very difficult to correct. They are as good as I can get them!

I realise I need to be using a different set of skills, more akin to scratch building, where it is up to the builder to get parts in the right position and make sure they are square! After a couple of false starts, I tacked all the bits together temporarily, the tenders are well under way. I couldn't work out how to fit the combined bunker and tender top in one piece with the divider already attached and get it all straight, so I separated them and put in the top first with a temporary spacer soldered midway between the tender sides to keep them the correct distance apart. The remaining pieces were then all tacked in bit by bit and checked for square. I also had a little battle to get those top curves right and starting in the right place, using more blocks of wood and brute strength...

I've been working on the 1F tenders and I've got into the habit of checking photos for almost every part I fit these days. One thing I spotted, is that the tender 'floor' does not extent forward beyond the tank, so I have cut back the basic rectangular shape as can be seen in the photo. The tender front dragbeam also does not have a flat top surface as supplied, top tops of the outer edges are cut away. There is also an etched rivet strip to go on the underside of the floor, but I felt that would add unnecessary thickness so have left it off. It doesn't seem to be shown in the instructions but I think that is what it is for. Someone mention that the instructions are a bit thin, and they are, which means you have to study the exploded diagrams very carefully as not to miss anything out. I wasn't quite happy with the folds in the 1G tenders body etch either, so spent an hour or so on them with wood blocks and bars to try and get them to a shape that I was happy with, photos to follow tomorrow. Maybe I'm just picky... Raymond Whalely documented a 9F build a couple of years ago, so I have that as reference and copied beefing up the threaded holes for screwing the tender chassis to the body with some thick scrap etch.

The buildings immediately set the scene, nice to see. Do you still have them Clem? Regards Tony

And I don't know why it doesn't put each picture after the piece of text, it used to...

The back and the sides of the DJH tenders come pre formed and in one piece....... The top fold on the 1G tender was a little high, so some time was spent trying to bring that down a little and to achieve that I had to separate the sides and back. So I had to force a new, bend and then straighten the upper portion. Not easy. Then the front, back and sides can be assembled to form a box which can be checked for square. Then the fit of the hopper assembly can be made good. And there we are the almost complete body sat on the chassis, the tabs to fit the body to the chassis were wider than the slot arrangement, so I cut them off. I also removed the fixed cab doors as I prefer ones that move and as this particular loco will mainly be on shed, they will probably be folded back. So not quite as easy as I would have thought, but mainly, the out of position top fold was the problem.

So at last I am on the 3 DJH 9Fs. There has been some critism of DJH kits, at one time they were state of the art, and maybe they are lagging behind in the technology stales. For me, generally they go together well, and I've always found the customer support from DJH excellent. The early 7mm kits such as the Fairburn are weak compared with the later ones, I wonder if they were a toe in the water to test the 7mm market at the time. I'm aware of some of the minor pitfalls with the 9F after chatting to other builders, so I'll tackle them as I get to 'em.. I decided to start with the tenders, and so far the etches fit together with no problem - it would be nice to have twist tabs ( MOK style ) though! The first mod is to slot the tender chassis centre axle to allow a floating bearing, the original design is for an oversize bearing, but I don't like the thought of the axle windmilling around. I've also drilled the box re-enforcing etchings, I don't like sealed boxes.

Amazing work Ken, for me, the boiler/firebox combo look a little too large, but that's probably very difficult to change with the way it fits to the rest of the kit. A great result though, for a truly difficult kit, which would probably defeat a few people! Best regards Tony

Hello Clem ,the only drawings I have are those of a station building in one of the books - I have all the publications you mentioned. I was thinking of joining the GN society to get further information. The other option would be to approach the owners of any of the extant buildings... I do like the article sets, I designed the etches a good few years ago for the ones that Southern Pride sell/sold... Regards Tony

Thanks for the photos Clem, I am hoping a friend will make the buildings for me. I found some great aerial photos on www.britainfromabove.org.UK Regards Tony

Keep modelling mate, let us know what you are doing, it's always interesting and inspiring. Best regards Tony

Thanks Farren - there is some discussion going on regarding the Scot upper works, a paint strip and some enhancement work is still on the cards... One maybe 2 9Fs for me, one for a customer, followed by a Crostie for a customer. It will be like Crewe works here...

Workbench chaos.. with soon to be finished Scot Finished Scot And preparing for the next project, now what bits will I need from Ragstone...?

Thanks Clem - If you come across any photos of Basford North buildings or goods yard let me know! I visited last week and only found the Park Lane bridge and the Northern Baths I thought of doing West Hallam, but decided on Basford North as there is more operational interest. Cheers Tony

I remember when I had an unbuilt one Ken - a friend phoned up:-( in a Yorkshire accent ) 'Have you got one of those Acme Ivatts?'. 'Yes' I replied... 'Well chuck it in't bin, its rubbish!'. My friend has made two! I got shot of mine...... Cheers Tony

Thanks Farren - I'd have to ask the owner, as the bill is running up a bit now... Martyn - about the lamps, I like the Lee Marsh ones, otherwise they are all sorts...

Not quite the refinement of David Smiths Black 5, but a good improvement on the original I think. The underside of the cab has been populated with Ragstone injectors and associated pipework. The motion is an all nations mixture of Ragstone, scratch built and spares box. Getting all the dimensions and clearances right was a little challenging. The driving crankpins are 8BA studding, screwed into the plastic bushes with a retaining nut on the rear. Threaded brass tube is then screwed on to the crankpin and tightened against the wheel. The threaded return crank can then be wound against this tube without putting any load on the crankpin/wheel interface. I also had to resolder the sandpipes and replace the cylinder drain pipes. So here we are ready for some paint.

Nice work Clem - I see we are modelling the same line, which is interesting as it is a rather forgotten piece of history and I'm not aware of any previous layouts depicting it. I'm intend to build a representation of Basford North in 7mm scale for the 1962 era, and although I have been building stock for a long time, the layout itself has not started yet - maybe next spring if I can get the railway room extended as planned. The Derby Line thread might be a clue! I look forward to seeing further reports. Regards Tony

Ken, Putting my mate's Acme Ivatt alongside my MOK ones, the proportions are generally similar. Check the boiler/firebox, they do seem a little too large, so might need a little reduction in size... Regards Tony

Thanks Ray - yes that's pretty well what I established with the Scots, there are all sort of wheel rim variations. This engine is for a client, and it came with those rims.. Meanwhile I had chance at last to give 90383 a run on Heyside, it ran well, but I must add a lamp and put the fire irons on ( they are sitting on my workbench ). Photo by Richard Lambert:-

Richard Lambert helpfully pointed out at the weekend that the insulation on the San Cheng Scot is actually at the axle instead of at the wheel rim ( my experience on previous upgrades). That poses an extra challenge during the rebuild as the crankpins are mounted in plastic bushes. For the driving axle I screwed in 8BA screws and used nuts on the inside of the wheel, retaining the original insulating washers. The whole lot was glued with epoxy, so that here is a solid basis for the return crank. Lets hope... I've also started making up the rods and with a little work was able to make up a proper forked join with 3 laminations, using the etches for original square leading boss as well as the round ones suitable for BR days.

The valve guides are BR standard ones grafted on to the original housing, they seem pretty close.

So today, the cylinders were blasted apart with my plumbing blowlamp ( I must save up for a Nimrod ) and then re-assembled with Ragstone components, with Griffin front covers. Then with a test fitting to the chassis - the original position seemed very low, so the whole cylinder block is about 2mmm higher than before.