65179's workbench

[2mmKiwi]

On 15/02/2022 at 11:10, 65179 said:

A bit of work on the chassis.

 

As noted upthread I'd rushed a bit and so had forgotten to gap my pcb. In the meantime, I'd also taken note of @30368's 4mm build of 61475 and how he had swapped the initial gearbox used for a less obtrusive one part way through. My B16 posed no problem hiding the 38:1 worm on the middle axle,

 

but I reasoned the Association 30:1 gearbox I'd planned to use would be too obtrusive. So a change of plan:

I took a spare set of frames I had with an integral gearbox; trimmed off the unneeded bits; opened out the bearing holes for the driven axle to fit over the bearings on the inside of my frames; moved the holes for the worm inboard 0.25mm; and soldered it all up trying to keep things level by checking with lengths of axle steel through the bearings.

 

The missing gaps in the pcb were added by a combination of slotting file (one of the ones recommended by Tim Watson, I think during his Valour build) and scalpel.

 

Simon

Hi Simon,  What is the width of the slotting file? I've got a bit carried away with a couple of rail joins and need to open them up for isolation purposes. Would this tool do the job? 

Steve

[65179]

9 hours ago, 2mmKiwi said:

Hi Simon,  What is the width of the slotting file? I've got a bit carried away with a couple of rail joins and need to open them up for isolation purposes. Would this tool do the job? 

Steve

Hi Steve,

 

I don't know what the width of the ones Tim was recommending are:

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/slotting-screw-head-1840-vallorbe-swiss-with-tang

 

However the one I have is 0.5mm:

 

https://www.hswalsh.com/categories/screwhead-slotting-files

 

They are all screw head slotting files. Mine isn't super narrow, but is nice and easy to handle.

 

Simon

 

 

 

[2mmKiwi]

1 hour ago, 65179 said:

Hi Steve,

 

I don't know what the width of the ones Tim was recommending are:

https://www.cousinsuk.com/product/slotting-screw-head-1840-vallorbe-swiss-with-tang

 

However the one I have is 0.5mm:

 

https://www.hswalsh.com/categories/screwhead-slotting-files

 

They are all screw head slotting files. Mine isn't super narrow, but is nice and easy to handle.

 

Simon

 

 

 

Thanks Simon

[65179]

Some more progress. Trying to work out when to add detail is always tricky on a 2mm build. Too early and you'll damage it,  too late and it will be a pain to fit or fit neatly at least.

With access in mind I've done the oil pots and sandbox fillers on the footplate. The oil pots are just 0.5mm brass wire inserted in the provided holes which have been opened out to just the right size. The wire for the one forward of the sandbox area was soldered firmly underneath the running plate and then trimmed back neatly underneath and just over length on top. Those in the sandbox  area were soldered in from the top having been pushed in as far as they would go and the  trimmed roughly back. All six were then carefully sanded down to a consistent height with a big file (prior to adding the frame extensions). The same technique was used for the washout plugs in due course.  Sandbox lids are just flanged crankpins trimmed down once soldered in place. N Brass do some that might look better, but I've not checked them for scale.

 

I've also finished shaping the firebox. The not so cunning plan to deal with the firebox being too low was a thinned piece of nickel silver cut to the width of the firebox and soldered carefully in place (the middle will be cut out with a slitting disc once everything's soldered together). The overlapped cutouts for the splashers were reduced by soldering in .3mm wire to the firebox and then cutting these bits back and filing it all to neaten things up. You can see the residual solder at the firebox front.

Starting to introduce the front top curve of the firebox either side of the boiler showed I'd wasn't going to get the right look. My firebox top had curves of a radius which was more Midland than GC. Out with the big file and after some careful work on the firebox sides I have something at least a bit better, and without any holes. The brass here is now much thinner and so I'll try and fit the lead in here nice and tightly to provide a bit of reinforcement in due course.

 

The boiler is still loose but I've fitted the frame extensions to constrain movement of the smokebox while I check the fit at the firebox end. I can always move them in a touch later if really needed.

Simon

Edited April 4, 2022 by 65179

[65179]

Making a start on the tender. In 4mm scale this is designed so that the running plate and tender frames are constructed and the tank top is then built up around a rectangle bolted to the running plate. Removing the centre sections of the running plate and tank bottom to make way for the motor left me with some less than flat pieces of nickel silver so this wasn't an option. These then needed straightening out as far as possible with careful bending and tweaking.

Metal thicknesses had an impact when  making up the tank. In addition to the base rectangle, there are sides, end and a front and top which fold up to an L. The rear end of this top piece needed shortening slightly to allow the tender rear to fit properly. I also had to be careful to remove any etch cusp to ensure a consistent width down the body.

 

All went together well in the end, although an extra hand or two would have been useful at points.The flares to the tender sides are separate and so can be bent to shape without affecting anything else. They fitted very nicely with a half etched rebate at the top of the sides making them way easier to fit neatly than the overlays on the NER 4125 tenders I've assembled in the last few years.

On a flat surface I added the outside frames to the running plate which ended up pretty straight. I then fitted the bufferbeam and dragbeam. When I summoned up the courage, the valances were a perfect fit between the ends. Very fiddly though!

GCR tenders are a bit of a details nightmare. The tender etch includes coalrails and coalguard to allow various different tenders to be built. 61475's tender was one of the earlier 4000 gallon ones built with a beaded coalguard, but sadly a shorter one than supplied (The tender GA in Locomotive Modelling ...Part Two by Geoff Holt was useful here) and a low rear coalplate. That supplied is correct for later 'standard' 4000 gallon tenders including the ROD ones. Therefore I filed off the beading, shortened the guard and then used 0.2mm nickel silver wire to reinstate the beading. Not perfect, but OK from a distance.

 

My arrangement of the universal coupling between gearbox in the loco and motor in the tender is too high for the tender coal hole. Fortunately I could open out the space above, which is a toolbox.

 

As supplied the etch includes two closed toolbox doors on their runners. I filed off the runners, split the doors and soldered them in place either side of the space with 0.3mm wire runners.

 

Once in place I filed back the wire to make it appear of squarer section and snipped out the middle of the bottom runner.

Simon

Edited April 4, 2022 by 65179

[Nig H]

Hello Simon,

 

This is coming along very nicely and I'm looking forward to future reports. Can you describe how you formed the tender side flares, and approximately how deep are the flares?

 

Nigel Hunt

[65179]

Thanks Nigel. I'm pleased with how it is going so far. A long way still to go though!

 

I find forming tender flares consistently quite tricky. For the thin brass flares on the NER tenders I tried Arthur K's rod and tube approach:

 

 

That worked OK, but I struggled to keep the very narrow flare overlay pieces straight in the part tube. I still needed to form the flare at the top of the whole side anyway and did that by bending over a wood former.

 

The nickel silver flares on the Robinson tender are only a couple of mm tall. For these I borrowed the technique used by @jwealleans using a rubber band, masking tape and in my case a piece of axle steel (see post halfway down the page):

 

https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=937&start=825#top

 

One side worked beautifully with a couple of goes in the vice to ensure that I introduced the bend at the front where the beading acts as reinforcement against bending. The other not so well as I didn't follow the method properly and taped my flare to the rubber band and didn't quite line up the rod straight. I was able to sort that out, but you can see it's not quite as smooth close up where I've corrected the bend. The etched flares are very well designed and give an excellent fit at the rear if you get the curve about right.

 

Simon

Edited March 15, 2022 by 65179
Spelling

[65179]

Well rather more pictures have disappeared from this thread than just the last year's. I'll restore the ones I can locate. In the meantime here's a couple of finished and in progress projects:

 

 

[65179]

Nearly there with the Judith Edge B9 now. Just whistle, couplings and smokebox door furniture to add (buffers will be added after painting to make it easier to do neat black buffers and red packing) and crankpins to trim once I'm happy with its running:

 

 

 

Simon

[30368]

On 30/04/2022 at 18:57, 65179 said:

Nearly there with the Judith Edge B9 now

 

Really nice job Simon. I've built one of these and therefore know that you have had to roll your own boiler and firebox so well done.

 

I missread the firebox profile in the images that I was using and made one with curved firebox cladding as fitted to the Q4! It was not a total waste of time though since Michael Edge has plans to produce a Q4 etch so it will come in handy eventually.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

PS This is my version, one that just made it into BR...

 

PPS I have just realised that your B9 is, I assume, in 2mm scale. Fantastic work!

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by 30368

[65179]

On 01/05/2022 at 11:29, 30368 said:

 

Really nice job Simon. I've built one of these and therefore know that you have had to roll your own boiler and firebox so well done.

 

I missread the firebox profile in the images that I was using and made one with curved firebox cladding as fitted to the Q4! It was not a total waste of time though since Michael Edge has plans to produce a Q4 etch so it will come in handy eventually.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

PS This is my version, one that just made it into BR...

 

PPS I have just realised that your B9 is, I assume, in 2mm scale. Fantastic work!

 

 

Thank you Richard

 

Yes it's 2mm.

 

Whilst that created one or two issues where the metal thickness became significant, it also helped in some places, for example whilst I scratchbuilt the firebox I could just use 10.5mm brass pen tube for the boiler. A lot easier than rolling my own!

 

It was seeing your build, and the lovely job you did on it, that spurred me on to starting mine. I did feel guilty pointing out your firebox error, having missed it completely when you posted a view of the formers!

 

Mine will be 61475 too. Poor old 61469, the penultimate B9, barely seems to feature in the photographic record. I only noticed recently that when they were renumbered at Heaton Mersey the LNER "No" was left in place (just visible to the left of the coupling hook) with only 1469/1475 painted over:

 

 

Just another oddity, along with 61475 shedding its guardirons.

 

Simon

[30368]

3 hours ago, 65179 said:

It was seeing your build, and the lovely job you did on it, that spurred me on to starting mine. I did feel guilty pointing out your firebox error, having missed it completely when you posted a view of the formers!

 

Hi Simon,

 

Thanks so much for those kind words. I am very pleased that my efforts at a B9 encouraged your 2mm version. It really is a great piece of work. If I was a bit younger I would have a go at 2mm scale loco building but my eyesight, whilst good for my age, would not be up to it I'm afraid!

 

Keep up the good work,

 

Richard B

 

PS Absolutely no need to feel guilty about pointing out my firebox error, much appreciated.