Sunday, November 15, 2009

517 ramblings




I have been working on this 517 for a period I shall define as "a while". Progress has been at a rather slow pace, sometimes due to the realities of life other times due to my ability to get distracted.
The model is a Malcolm Mitchell kit - as sold by David Geen. A High Level gearbox, Mashima motor and Ultrascale wheels round out the technical details.
The kit is not hard to build, but what I would term "fiddly" in parts. This is not due to the quality of parts but rather more due to the size of the 517 which means that clearances are tight in some areas so care is needed.
The model is based on number 832 as shown on page 10 of "Locomotives Illustrated". I am modelling the loco as she was in 1924, reference to the approriate RCTS volume suggests that she retained this appearance until rebuilt with wide side tanks in 1925.
The mechanism is up and running, and the firebox has been fitted. Now comes the fettling of the boiler to ensure a good fit and to ensure everything is straight.
I recently purchased a Nikon D90 and have been having a lot of fun taking photographs so you can expect a few more to appear in due course.
In the meantime, why not get the stool out and climb up to grab a Finney or Mitchell kit from your own stash?

They may take a while to build, but the fun is in the journey isnt it?

Sunday, October 25, 2009

A Northern Visitor







The majority of our group are Great Western modellers, but occasionally we have a visitor from other areas. The visitor in this case is a NER B class 0-6-2, built from a London Road Models kit by John James.
As can be seen from the photos this model is something special, the split axle chassis construction ensuring that running is as good as the loco looks.
There are probably many more things to say about this model, but I think that a few photographs can show things so much better.

Monday, June 15, 2009

B Set in detail






It's been a while since I did any work on the B Set but a recent spurt has seen me detailing the ends and roof and getting some primer on the whole lot - all the easier to pick problems not readily apparent to the eye when everything is brass. The end-steps are from Slaters and the lamp irons are from Frogmore but the roof vents are the whitemetal jobbies that came with the original kit. The roof seams are picked out in HO 1" x 2" Evergreen Plastic sweated on with lots of MEK. The roof corners on the ends are Milliput putty filed to shape and most of the rest of the detail is brass wire and bits of plastic. I did rebuild the gutters with HO 2" x 4" Evergreen Plastic which I think look better for being a bit beerier than what the kit provides and are able to over hang at the ends just a little bit - just like the real thing.

As you can see from the video posted elsewhere - they ran nicely on their maiden voyage but I want to tweak the running a bit before proceeding with the paint job.

The B-Set running

Not sure if I can post videos or how it will work out but here is a short clip I generated on my phone yesterday of the inaugral running of the B-set behind Sean's 87xx. If you run it backwards, it looks much better! I'll try to get some good close-up stills tonight to post here.


video

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Wagon ho!


Nothing out of the ordinary here, in fact it is a common Gloucester 6 plank side and end door wagon. Having said that, I have a soft spot for PO wagons and have several on the go with this being the closest to completion.
The body is by Slaters with a little detail inside - mostly following the advice offered by John Hayes in his wonderful book on coal wagons. Brake gear is by Bill Bedford with Masokits V hangers. The w - irons are the 1907 RCH type supplied by Bill Bedford as these give some chance of springing the buffers and actually fit the shorter wagons.
Bearings have been a source of amusement of late and I have used Markits ones. The nice looking Exactoscale ones will splay the irons outwards, which is hardly suprising when the waisted version measure at about an average of 1.23mm deep (on the batch I purchased several years ago). Use the Markits bearings but double check things to minimise sideplay.
Wheels are by Ultrascale. They may cost more but it is money well spent.
I still need to fit bolts to the V hanger and a nut on the end of the rod.
Painting... this wagon is going to be lettered for A Early, a coal merchant based in Winchester (DN & S). I have only seen one photo of their wagons and dont know if they had a 6 planker or indeed the numbers of their wagons, so I have to take a guess here. The alternative is not having any of their wagons... and I need some so it isnt really a choice.

Thats it for me for a little while as tomorrow I head down the South Coast for 10 days of camping. The beach..... sand.. waves... a Coopers Ale. What could be better?

Craig W

Monday, December 29, 2008

Another Toad




This is an initial item from the stores of Craig, transferred at mate's rates - a Connoisseur Models Pocket Money Toad  brake van dia AA3 kit, suitable for a beginner, or more correctly a re-starter after 57 years. 

In preparation I sourced from Dick Smiths an own brand variable temperature soldering iron with a few bits. These were prepared according to the C & L advice, for long life. Then came the tedious business of impressing the many rivets using a sort of scribe in a handle fashioned from a cut-off section of a hexagonal split cane rod. The main body parts were then detached using an Exacto-style knife and snips, trimmed/filed in a small rubber jawed vice, folded with the aid of an Etch Mate 3C and prepared for soldering in the Carr product. Initial soldering was with Carrs 145 solder and green flux. After labouring mightily, the first end was splendidly attached to the sides. The problem was that this was the balcony end, but on the other end of the cabin - so unsoldering was added to the skill base. After two sessions the main body, balcony side doors were all in place, and amazingly, all sat square. What became evident was that if the cabin side opening onto the balcony were to be fitted sitting all the way down, there would be about a 1 mm gap below the roof line. But who will notice that? Next things get a bit more fiddly such as fitting the side and end stanchions, switching now to Carr's paste solder and working on the inside. For good stiction some flux was added, but with the outcome that some solder spread to the outside. Craig said remove it with the fibre glass brush that has largely worked, but this van will end up heavily weathered to deceive the viewer. Attaching the coupling plates required the use of fly tying magnifiers and seeing them (plates) jump in the air as the flux crackled. Eventually with paste alone they are on, but with somewhat shiny surrounds. The lamp irons made me acquire a new set of magnifiers with an LED for perfect illumination. Now I think they are not genuine GWR type irons as they have no crank, or is that only on locos? .Anyway set aside for later. 

Next came folding up the solebars and small and long steps and trying them for fit, particularly as I plan to Use Bill Bedford sprung W-irons. All good. So then fitted and of course now that all is in place, there is need for a little heavy hand work as the BB items no longer fit, despite there being no gaps solebars/end of side stanchions. This also requires the ends of the long steps' attaching wires to be filed flat to the back of the solebars, resulting in two coming loose. Ah well. 

By now the outside handrails were supposed to be attached but this is proposed as wire in body holes, quite unlike the prominent handrail knobs seen in various illustrations. I await some small knobs in the coming mail.

Cosmetically this is not as complete as Craig's kit, so I have added a cabin door handle, and a rough imitation of the gear linking the handle to the visible sandboxes. I don't have the dinky (dog bowl?) item on Craig's floor.

There is a looming issue of the competition for space between the W-irons, solebars, setting of the brass bearings, hopefully no spreading of the W-irons using Ultrascale 12 mm wheels and pinpoint axles, fiddling with the original possibly 4 foot springs for glue-on and the brake frets. Going to be interesting.

Sorry about the crude composition. I really found the adding of pictures like going to the Kimberly and back. Maybe I will find out how to place the pix sometime. But enough for today!




Sunday, December 7, 2008

Making tracks...take two







I have been contemplating making some pointwork for a considerable period of time. But with so many things on the go (sound familiar anyone?) I have shied away from making an attempt. For the past few weeks I have been in a situation where I have not been able to seriously concentrate on something and decided that now was as good a time as any to start.




A while ago I brought a copy of Templot, a truly wonderful program that has all the makings of a hobby in itself. The end result was that I printed out a copy of the drawing of a GWR 12' heel number 10 LH regular V crossing (what a mouthful).

The accepted wisdom seems to be to start with something like an A5 or a B6 size but I am rather enthralled by the rather larger points. This one is a little over 350mm long. In the context of an actual layout, this is a serious space hog but I think that with my scatter gun approach to things less is more is a very good concept!

The timbers are all from ply and were stained with a heavily diluted mix of Japan oil. The result is a mid brown with just a hint of grey. It isnt intended to be the final finish, more of a starting point. The rail is nickle silver. There is no doubt that steel looks nicer. Unfortunately, in my part of Sydney it also rusts and I am not prepared to run the risk of building trackwork that winds up being damaged. If my track having a yellow tint is the worse thing I can be picked up for I will be pleased!
The crossing was filed up using a Portsdown models jig and assembled in situ. Still not sure which approach is better, I might try a different approach next time. Chairs are 2 bolt C & L, threaded onto the rail and then glued in place. Sometimes this needs a few attempts, but once they are fixed there will be no moving in a hurry.

Several wagons have been tried through the crossing and I had problems with one. After checking the wagon, I went back to the crossing and found a slight alignment problem. Adjusted that and all was well.

The photographs are a second attempt, taken outdoors on a lovely Sunday morning. One of them shows my partly completed Mitchell 517 and gives an idea of the size of close to scale crossings. Once I get this done I need to get back to the 517 and the Finney 3232.

But they are stories for another day.
Finally, for anyone contemplating building a point from scratch rather than buying a kit of one...give it a go it really isnt that bad.

Craig W