Caledonian tank loco scratch build (From post No. 10)

[Nelson Jackson]

Wow Steve! Great job on that chimney, superb job and only done with hand tools, nice one!

[Mike 84C]

Glad you like it Steve! I think it will be the next one to get done. I"ll let you into a secret Steve, Nelson from NI is also a first class modeller of Irish railways. lots of stuff on Irishrailwaymodeller.com A bit of mutual back slapping helps no end. Maybe I"ll hijack your thread and post a picture of my latest loco, got to take a picture yet!

  Regards Mike

[Londontram]

Feel free Mike, some people get a bit funny if other drift off topic but if its all connected so what the heck, I'd like to see it and while I'm waiting to paint mine not a lot is happening at the moment so go ahead be my guest. Oh and I've long been an admirer of Nelsons work and find his work inspirational. Steve

[Londontram]

Thought I had better post a progress update just to let you all know its still moving forward. Here is the chassis stripped down with the first coat of paint on it the wheels and connecting rods.

More to follow. thanks for looking Steve

[Mike 84C]

Hi Steve, things have gone a bit silent on the loco front! I have  just spent the most boring few hours putting Micro Mart rivet transfers on that tender. And I"ll bet they do not look straight, even though I marked their positions,when I get out the cruel camera. Regards Mike.

[Londontram]

At last a day with out drizzle the first one in about two weeks here, its quite sunny but a bit windy but managed to get a coat of primer on the loco so at last I can move it forward a bit. I'll have a good look over it now to see if any imperfections need sorting out. The chassis is about done and back together the Hornby based connecting rods with a bit of work don't look to bad now. With them I filled the flutes and when painted. I then used a needle file to clean up the areas around the crank pins and the heads of the crank pins them selves you can see this in the pictures and it copies the way the original one were on the real loco.

   Here are some pictures first a front then side view.

You can see the connecting rods in these two pictures

Couldn't resist sitting a couple of dumb buffer minerals and a Caley brake van behind it.

Next job after a good inspection of the body will be a coat of satin black top coat.

Well I'm very pleased with it and I think its beginning to look the dog b------ even if I do say so myself, being one colour all over makes a real difference any way thanks again for looking in Steve

Edited September 8, 2015 by Londontram

[Mike 84C]

She will look really nice in satin black. I can imagine the real thing was a bit of a pig to work on and fire. I should think a shallow flat grate over the axles and not much space between the ashpan and fire bars. Bet oiling up was not much fun! but a powerful chunky looking beast. Whats next?

 Mike 

[Londontram]

"Whats next" gosh what a question, so much to do but I think I might have a go at finishing the Dunalastair III that I had on the go last year which I was building using a T9 body on a modified B12 chassis cut down to a 4-4-0 that stalled for the same reason that this one almost did which was lack of availability of a dome and chimney but now I know I can make them I can push on with that loco the only other thing it needed was hand rails so Its quite far along. I think I need to clear up some of the back log first before starting any new projects.

   Also to be finished is a 439 class 0-4-4 tank which I was building from a Hornby M7 but I've learnt so much from this build that I'll need to strip that back down and virtually start again to get it to the standard I want now.

 

The rest of the loco wish list

Dunalastair I (The one with the sandboxes on the splashers) this has been built the same way as the Dunalastair III, the chassis and body are almost as far done as the other one but the tender needs a lot of work as its been cut down to a 6 wheel tender from a GBL T9 8 wheeler.

 

104 class 0-4-4 tank the chassis has been done and is running for this but the body will need scratch building like the 492 tank

 

782 class 0-6-0 tank the standard Caley 3F tank again scratch built body on a Bachmann chassis (All most a small version of the 492 tank)

 

323 class 0-6-0 saddle tank the forerunner of the 782 above, will go on a Hornby chassis

 

Jumbo 0-6-0 freight loco I did start this and was going to build it on the Bachmann chassis but the Bachmann can motor doesn't really suit this so this will most likely go on a Hornby chassis and the Bachmann chassis will be used for the 782 where the side tanks hide the can motor better.

 

I've a little pug 0-4-0 that needs super detailing as well

So you can see I've enough to keep me busy for a while to come

Edited January 18, 2016 by Londontram

[Mike 84C]

Steve, good to see your list,Cowlairs in Great Yarmouth has plenty to go at.I look forward to the continuing instalments. Mike

[ossy5190]

looks superb Steve, really do need to crack on with mine!

 

Ross

[manna]

G'day Gents

 

0-8-0 looking good, got yourself a nice long list of jobs to do, giddy up. LOL

 

manna

[Londontram]

Thanks chaps, your right Manna that is quite a list some of them have been started and other are quite near being  finished just need to get my ar$e in gear other wise it will stay just a wish list, trouble is that's just the loco list the coach and wagon list is much much bigger but that's the trouble picking a period to model where there's virtually nothing ready to run oh the joys of pre grouping. Steve

[Londontram]

Again another fine day so after going over the loco and doing a bit of filling and rubbing down I took it out side and gave it three coats of satin black and after it had about an hour to dry checked it over found a couple of spots missed one a slight trace of gray under the smoke box door and under the air pump so it was given one more coat starting with these two areas then left to dry for another hour before handling. Here's a couple of pictures in its new black coat.

Next will be fitting some of the detail shiny bits I've already started but will post pictures tomorrow, thanks for looking Steve

 

[Northroader]

Now it's in black it's a very impressive loco, and a very nice model. Until you started it I had never heard of this class, which shows what a sheltered life I've had. With that long coupled wheelbase it would just laugh at the curves thru the points on my line. Now I want to see something painted blue, please. I'm knocked out by your workshops programme, moving St. Rollox, not the other place, to Gt.Yarmouth, should keep you going til Xmas. One tip If you do an M7 conversion, I tried making a NBR big 044T, which looks a dead ringer for the Caley equivalent, and it went well until I dropped the boiler to the right pitch, when I found the boiler came too close to the driving wheel flanges. As you're only chasing 4" and I suppose the boiler and footplate are a single moulding I expect you'll not bother?

[Mike 84C]

Looking good Steve, I must try the satin black.

[Londontram]

Thanks Northroader its actually a very tight little 0-8-0 chassis not much longer than an 0-6-0 and as the second axle is flange less (As was the original) Its not much different from an 0-6-0 its quite happy on medium Peco points and second ratios curves.

       Don't worry I'd never heard of it either until I really got into the Caledonian, there was only six in the class and they had all gone by the second world war, not that there was anything wrong with them but the Caley like a lot of other smaller Scottish railways built locos in very small batches for specific jobs and this never fitted with the LMS large standard class policy so these with many others small classes were soon sent for scrap. The Caley because it was fairly big lasted better than most with some classes lasting to the last few years of steam

[Londontram]

 Now I want to see something painted blue, please.

Don't worry mate I've pushed one of the half finished 4-4-0 Dunalastair's to the top of the to do list as soon as this one is done

[Londontram]

Once the paint had hardened off I could start adding the detail bits but first job was to take the tip of a scalpel blade and carefully scrape the black paint off the whistle which as you may recall was made from an old Romford brass crank pin. The spectacle plates cam next and it wasn't until I started to cut them out of the fret that I realized just how delicate they were, the front ones came off the fret OK but attempting to file the nibs off left both rings oval so had to be carefully "squeezed" back into shape before super gluing in place.

 

     The rear ones with the grills on were even worse being literally wafer thin but again with a bit of careful handling they also went on OK. You can see the results in the first two pictures.

 

    The next area was the smoke box front and even though I had attached the smoke box door handle I had removed it again so I could paint the loco and also I had picked up a fret with some of the star shaped backing trims that drivers fitted to there locos so wanted to fit that as well so this assembly was also super glued back in place. The final job was the valve chest lubricators a set of which I had picked up from a good friend who lived near by and also models the Caledonian, they were Furness style lubricators and these again with a touch of super glue were fixed into some pre drilled holes in the smoke box front, its a good job the super glue is quite slow drying as I spent the next five minuets twisting the lubricators back and forth with some tweezers until they were both straight a task I'd already had to perform on the rear spectacle plate, great fun - not. These and the smoke box door handle and wheel can be seen in this last photo.

 

   There's a coal merchant not far from us so I need to go and see if I can blag a nice lump of Yorkshire hard that I can smash up into scale size lumps to add to the bunker, also still to do is the lining and lettering plus the cab interior needs painting and the crew adding before the roof can glue on. Then I need to make up some links for the coupling so there's still plenty of jobs to do but I think were into the last lap now. One thing I need to is go and have a look in my Caledonian livery book (The Bible) to find out how the buffer beams should be painted. The Caley had a few different styles some having the whole buffer beam including the buffer red and others only having a panel between the buffers painted red so I need to see some pictures of the 492 class in Caley days to see which style to use.

     Thanks again for looking Steve

Edited September 13, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

Out of interest here's a look at the Caledonian modelers bible "The Caledonian livery book" and a view of one of the pages which show what makes this an essential reference book.

[Londontram]

Remember way back at the start of this build I said there was some things I'd do different well I came across one of those today, after checking in the livery book I found that all Caley black freight locos had full width vermilion buffer beams but the body's of the buffers were still left black (Bloody Caledonian) so I had to carefully paint around the buffers and touch up the black after and looking at the picture here I need to do a tad more touching up when the red is dry (Goodness isn't the camera so unforgiving)

 

     So lesson learnt next time I'll leave the buffers off until the buffer beam is painted. Both front and rear have had a coat but no doubt both will need a bit of touching up before its done. In this first picture is a shot of the rear buffer beam with its black buffers.

 

Also while the black paint was out I painted the grills on the rear spectacle plates and the smoke box door handle leaving the brass "star" plate beneath unpainted.

 

   While the body was off the chassis I also painted the area where the chassis can be seen under the boiler with the vermilion paint as you can see in this final picture of this post. Its a satin red but looks a bit glossy which is a combination of the light and the paint still being wet.

Still progressing as you can see I think the next job will be the cab interior and I'll post pictures as soon as that's done in the mean time thanks for looking Steve

Edited September 14, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

Little bit more painting today and as promised I did the cab with the top half a cream colour and the floor boards a brown colour, sat next to the loco in this first shot id the underside of the roof also in cream though after trying the roof in place it just confirmed my suspicions that when done with the crew in there you wont be able to see a thing. Oh well at least we will know its there, here's the first pic.

I put the body back on and when fitted you can see the effect of the red paint on top of the chassis OK its a crude representation of what should be between the frames but at first glance at least you can see a bit of red there. I've also touched up the buffers with a bit of black and that's about it today. Next jop will be make up some links for the couplings.

   Before I go for those of you who have asked whats next and can we have a bit of Caley blue here's the next project (victim) The Dunalastair III being built around a T9 body supplied by fellow member Ben Alder and mounted on a much chopped B12 chassis. As its a Dunalastire III its build date means it will have to be done in the lighter shade of Caley blue. Some of you might remember the previous thread that was covering this, it stalled at the time because I couldn't get a chimney and dome but as I've learnt to make them with this build I'll have another go. Here's the link to the previous thread on the Dunalastair.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/92190-4-6-0-to-4-4-0-making-a-brace-of-scottish-locos/?p=1649500

Sorry its a bit of a cr-p picture I didn't realize there was so much clutter behind it but if you go on the link to the thread there's plenty more pictures on there.

Thanks for looking Steve

Edited September 14, 2015 by Londontram

[Londontram]

While out today with the wife shopping I popped into my local tyre center and blagged a length of wheel balancing weight the type with a sticky back that is used on alloy wheels and after cutting off two sections (easily done as it comes in segments) they were fitted inside the side tanks which along with a weight in the bunker gives the loco a nice solid weighty feel. Here's two pictures the first with the weight as it came and the second with it fitted in both side tanks.

On the advice of some one on the Caley forum who is much smarter than me I repainted the smoke box door handle and wheel in steel plus the star decoration behind it and also painted the buffer shanks which you can see in this last picture (Sorry for the poor picture my camera doesn't do close ups to well)

I've ordered a set of railway workers and loco crew off Andrew Stadden who specializes in Victorian period figures and here's a link to his range (Usual disclaimer)

http://www.acstadden.co.uk/Pages/oogaugefigures.aspx

if you scroll down to set No. 6 that's the ones I've ordered so as soon as they come I can get them painted and fitted then glue the roof in place.

     The only other job done today was with a pin drill was open up the slots for the coupling hooks on the buffer beams which were a bit paint clogged.

    Thanks for looking hope your all still enjoying this Steve

 

Edit sorry forgot to add link, now done

Edited September 18, 2015 by Londontram

[Horsetan]

While out today with the wife shopping I popped into my local tyre center and blagged a length of wheel balancing weight the type with a sticky back that is used on alloy wheels and after cutting off two sections (easily done as it comes in segments) they were fitted inside the side tanks which along with a weight in the bunker gives the loco a nice solid weighty feel. Here's two pictures the first with the weight as it came and the second with it fitted in both side tanks.

Bar weight.jpg

Weights fitted in the side tanks.jpg

 

 

You need to show the finished model to Chris at Golden Arrow Models - he might be able to create a resin kit out of it.

[Londontram]

Just been on the phone to 247 developments (What a thoroughly nice chap he is to deal with) and have ordered the number plates for the loco and he's put me on the wish list so will be done as soon as the sheet is filled. There was only 6 locos in the 492 class starting off with No,492 through to 497 and I've gone for No. 494 so she now has an identity. 

[andytrains]

While out today with the wife shopping I popped into my local tyre center and blagged a length of wheel balancing weight the type with a sticky back that is used on alloy wheels and after cutting off two sections (easily done as it comes in segments) they were fitted inside the side tanks which along with a weight in the bunker gives the loco a nice solid weighty feel. Here's two pictures the first with the weight as it came and the second with it fitted in both side tanks.

Bar weight.jpg

Weights fitted in the side tanks.jpg

On the advice of some one on the Caley forum who is much smarter than me I repainted the smoke box door handle and wheel in steel plus the star decoration behind it and also painted the buffer shanks which you can see in this last picture (Sorry for the poor picture my camera doesn't do close ups to well)

Buffer shanks.jpg

I've ordered a set of railway workers and loco crew off Andrew Stadden who specializes in Victorian period figures and here's a link to his range (Usual disclaimer)

http://www.acstadden.co.uk/Pages/oogaugefigures.aspx

if you scroll down to set No. 6 that's the ones I've ordered so as soon as they come I can get them painted and fitted then glue the roof in place.

     The only other job done today was with a pin drill was open up the slots for the coupling hooks on the buffer beams which were a bit paint clogged.

    Thanks for looking hope your all still enjoying this Steve

 

Edit sorry forgot to add link, now done

Be aware that the adhesive used on the tyre balance weights is not always plastic friendly, as it is to stick to the metal alloy of the car wheel.

I experienced this years ago whist using them on the underside of wagon kits. They turned the floor into an almost unusable mess.

What I did was to remove the adhesive strip, (some sort of rubber type compound), clean the weight surface, mine were lead, are they still made from lead. I cleaned with white spirit and then glue with flexible super glue. (Sureloc).