Exhill Works and other adventures in 7/8ths

[John Besley]

Thank you all for the comments, this is being designed on the hoof so to speak, we've moved on from CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) to real Plasricard now... made up a set of spectacle surrounds for the cab front and cut out the cab sides....

 

More updates in a day or so, as I work my way round the cab layout etc, this will entail making all the cab fittings along with injectors and clack valves.

[John Besley]

Further head scraching and came up with the following...

 

Cut out the cab front and sides to shape then started work on the footplate fittings, made up a screw reverser based on the ‘bacon slicer’ as fitted to BR Standard tanks, fabricated a fire hole door, and regulator, the gauge glass and test cocks where fabricated out of a 13amp plug and brass wire, 10BA bolts and all silver soldered together, the glass itself complete with ‘tube’ is in fact an optical illusion as this is made from a piece of Perspex drilled through with a 10BA clearance drill and then cut to size with the ‘glass’ frame cleaned up and polished with Brasso to remove the sanding lines leaving a clear glass frame complete with tube.

 

Fabricated up a drivers brake valve, ashpan damper control lever, spectacle frame and fitted glass from a CD case oh and made a Bulleid whistle...

 

 

 

Since the above was taken I’ve also made up a firebox tray that fits over the top of the fire hole.

 

Modified a pair of traction engine Pembethy injector bodies and mounted these on a brass strip that will bolt under the running plate, fabricated up a pair of clack valves out of brass rod and 12 & 10BA bolts

 

[John Besley]

We will be taking a break from this project to concentrate on Wilesco Traction engine parts and customers rebuilds... but heres a veiw of where we are.

 

 

The boiler and firebox are only slotted in place as is the cab.

 

Starting from the front end we have - The chopper coupling and smokebox door handles, a mounting plate to go under the smokebox, 2 washout plugs, clack valves and injectors with water delivery pipes from the tender, reversing rod shaft, the steam manifold and two control handles for the injectors, billy can, specticle plate surrounds and glass, the regulator, reverser, drivers brake valve, firehole door, gauge glass and mounts, damper control, pressue gauge and pipework, Bulleid whistle and valve handle, hydrastatic lubricator and condensor coil and finaly the rear chopper coupling. 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

A really informative photo - at first glance it almost looked like the bits for a miniature live steamer! Will await the resumption with interest.  I see the loco is no longer a 7mt as in an earlier photo - a touch of classic workshop humour I figured.  Hopefully the drivers arms are somewhere around too, Keith,

[John Besley]

6 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

A really informative photo - at first glance it almost looked like the bits for a miniature live steamer! Will await the resumption with interest.  I see the loco is no longer a 7mt as in an earlier photo - a touch of classic workshop humour I figured.  Hopefully the drivers arms are somewhere around too, Keith,

 

He's fairly (h)armless, but yes his arms are in for surgery at some point.... and yes it does look like a kit of parts for a live steamer

 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by John Besley
Spelling

[John Besley]

I am currently working on a customers Wilesco showmans engine... this started off as a 'pleaase can you sort out the paintwork for me' to a full on rebuild and upgrade with our parts etc so far this has been on the go for 12 months on and off as we work through the tasks etc.. 

 

 

starting to plan the work in October last year...

 

 

and a mock up with parts in stock to see how it all looks

 

 

90% of the parts sprayed and ready to assenbile - this phase took about 12 weeks as I waited for a couple of fittings to be cast having made the patterns and the name and number plates to come before I got to carryied away

 

 

and this is where we are at today...still quite a bit to do but I think we are getting there in the end.

 

[John Besley]

Back to this project for a minute while I wait for paint to dry on the Showmans engine...

 

 

Finished off a pair of washout plugs for the front section of the boiler, and cut and fitted the exhaust steam pipes from the cylinders – there is a short section to fit under the foot framing, started to fit the beading round the cab sides then the rain strip on the cab roof sides to be done.

 

Fitted the smokebox door handles on a short length of 10BA threaded rod and bolted them up on the inside of the smokebox, the lump of lead needs fitting inside the boiler with short screws and epoxy two part.

 

The mounting plate was fitted under the smokebox so the front of the chassis can be bolted through in place.

 

Still unsure whether to fit hand rails on the boiler - smokebox.... open to surgestions

[John Besley]

Using engineers blue to spot mark the boiler for the washout plugs then With the loco standing on a mirror so the set up was perfectly true along with my engineers marking gauge on a stand and a combination square to check for verticals against the chimney to sight this through marked out and drilled for the two forward washout plugs

 

 

 

Spent some time on the injector pipework bending up the pipe from KS Metals 3/32nd copper pipe, to form the bends Plastistrut rod was inserted inside annealed copper pipe allowing this to be formed over a round bar without collapsing the pipe, the plastic was then burnt out and the pipe flushed through with citric acid.

 

Using the same method as above, marked out the location for the injectors on the boiler barrel side once this was set up I fabricated a couple of brackets to support the water feed delivery pipes under the cab drag box ends.

 

For some time I had ponder how best to fit the reverser drive shaft through the footplate above the expansion die block, I had considered a gear box housing of sorts but nothing looked right, finally settled on a sleeve allowing the shaft to pass through this to the reversing link arm under the foot framing in a similar manor to rebuilt Bulleid Pacific’s

 

 

The above shows the live steam delivery pipework from the manifold to the injector coming in from under the cab is the water feed and the delivery pipe to the clack valve coming up through the foot framing

[John Besley]

The handrail knobs arrived and having marked them out drilled the barrel for 10BA clear and with these being an 8BA thread it was a simple task to screw them in by hand into the boiler barrel, cutting their own thread as they went.
 
Adjusted the set up and glued the reversing shaft sleeve in place on the foot framing so this lines up with the expansion die block and reversing link arm.

 

Next I cut the live steam feed handles down to length where they go into the manifold and finally marked out and fitted plastic rivet heads on the front buffer beam

 

Using a scrap bit of 60thou plasticard I filed up a pair of mud hole door clamps, added a plastic rod for the stem of the door along with a nut and bolt casting to finish off, drilled a hole both sides of the firebox sides and filed the round hole oval, back filled the hole as it was too deep and glued the clamp plates in place 

 

Using a small Lego brick for its neat shape fabricated up a pair of Wakefield lubricators to sit on the running plate, found a pair of handles in the spares box for the priming hand wheel and mounted this on a section of brass rod along with a backing 10BA nut.

 

Sorted out some fine copper wire for the pipework and soldered these up as branch work then formed the shape for both ends of the lubricator allowing for clearance of the live steam feed pipe.
 

[John Besley]

Spent some time tinkering around with CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) to mock up a tender body before I started cutting plasticard sheet in earnest...

 

 

 

There will by necessity be a dummy opening cab door as depicted by the hinges drawn on the side, contemplating cutting back the lower section on the tender to expose the bogies a bit more and reduce the slab sided effect

 

Please feel free to comment

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Hi John, even your cardboard work is neater than I can do!  Just wondered, have you also tried a version with rounded corners on the tender to match the profile of the cab sides?  Just a thought, Keith.

[John Besley]

6 hours ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

Hi John, even your cardboard work is neater than I can do!  Just wondered, have you also tried a version with rounded corners on the tender to match the profile of the cab sides?  Just a thought, Keith.

 

Hello Keith, I have been mulling over one or two ideas... I'll dig into this again and see how it looks... and await further comments from anyone else 

[John Besley]

Back onto CAD again and made a second body with some neat curves based on a Maunsell tender to soften the style, then removed the lower part of the tender chassis to expose the bogies better, to stiffen up the frame loctited a couple of sections of rail behind the Plastistrut L angle, looking better already...

 

 

 

[John Besley]

With a bit of a lull on other projects (waiting for paint to dry and transfers) I started to fabricate the tender, cut out some 60thou plasticard and profiled the body sides, then using a mirror as a flat surface along with some magnetic clamps welded this up with solvent adhesive.

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by John Besley

[John Besley]

Further work on the tender including roughing out a location for the coal hatch (see pencil lines)

 

 

[John Besley]

The rear body folds have been sanded round to simulate a folded sheet body and a tank filler fabricated from a centre spool of a printer roll with a lid and hinges along with the handle.

 

 

The plywood is for the coal which will lift out to access the tender to loco power pick up connections

 

[John Besley]

I utilized a scrap of curved roof panel to make a coal hatch plate for the coal to feed down into along with starting the cab doors then fabricated a pair of water inlet valves for the injector feeds, and started on the handbrake.

 

[John Besley]

Finished off the handbrake stand then made a pivot for the handbrake shaft that lines up with a fulcrum in the side of the tender chassis. Then with the Dremel and a thin cut off disc carefully slotted out a section of brass tube to make a set of half round caps for the cab doors, added in place the beading around the tender body along with two drain pipes for the area by the tank filler, finally made a start on the coal hatch.

 

 

[John Besley]

Rewired the connections between the loco and the tender with mini pin socket then twisted single strand wire around both cores to keep them tidy.... had to see if the loco would do what I expected, apart from a bit of wheel slip climbing the gradient past the shed when hauling 6 fairly heavy wagons (must put some graphite powder on the axle boxes of the wagons) all went well.

 

 

 

Even the chickens were interested...

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by John Besley

[John Besley]

Gave all the axleboxes a puff of Kadee graphite powder (brought that 40 plus years ago) and tested the train with the loco again.... success, no trace of wheel spin and could restart the train on a curve on the steepest part of the bank completely sure footed.

[SteveyDee68]

Have been catching up on your thread from the start, and it’s been a joyous read, thank you! I used to marvel at the modelling on the (late lamented) Gn15 Gnatterbox website and at one point was going to take the plunge into Gn15 when poof! and it had gone…

 

I know that 7/8ths is not the same as Gn15, but your modelling has the same effect on me and I find myself drawn once more to BIG modelling (crikey - I have a box full of Big Big Train skips and bright red track, and far too many website bookmarks for dolls house supplies for my own good!) - however, marvelling at what you are building shall have to provide the scratch to that particular itch for the time being!

 

Looking forward to further developments!

 

Steve S

 

PS

For what it is worth, I like your little people!

[John Besley]

Thank you Steve your comments are appreciated and welcome - input and comments seem to be a bit thin on the ground on here.

 

It was seeing the work of Ian Thomson on GN15 Gnatterbox (Rawson Brothers Timber) in useing N gauge track and working in 1/35 scale that gave me the impulse to press on, I wanted to prove to hopefully a wider audience that large scale modeling could be done in a small space and also find a way of displaying my Wilesco rebuilds etc.

 

To coin a phrase - Hours of Fun!

[Sweet pea]

Hi John your railway modelling in 7/8th scale is amazing. I like it when you build from scratch. It reminds me of when I used to watch your traction engine builds on the unofficial mamod steam forum. It always amazed me.👍

[SteveyDee68]

1 hour ago, John Besley said:

To coin a phrase - Hours of Fun!

Ah yes - I unashamedly stole that from a regular Gnatterbox contributor! Sadly, I can’t remember who! 🫢

 

But I think it was a modeller who super detailed several Smallbrook Studio “Katie” kits (improving the motion in particular) before building an 0-6-0 “super Katie”.

 

Steve S

[John Besley]

2 hours ago, Kevin Johnson said:

Hi John your railway modelling in 7/8th scale is amazing. I like it when you build from scratch. It reminds me of when I used to watch your traction engine builds on the unofficial mamod steam forum. It always amazed me.👍

 

I still have the Garrett Steam Tractor project on there ... this is a long term project that I need to get back into (need something to kick-start the mood again) ... however paying customers come first... almost finished the Showmans Engine once the canopy transfers come, then I've got a Wilesco TE to rebuild as newbuild Fowler Road Locomotive "Talisman" in Norman Box livery, of which I have most of the parts already...