P A D
Western Thunderer
Having recently completed the building of my Gladiator Duchess and with my L1 from the same stable going through the paint shop, my thoughts turned to what to get next. I was leaning towards the Scorpio Std 3 2-6-2 when purely by chance, I came across this unbuilt Martin Finney 7mm A3 plus non corridor tender and a full set of Slaters wheels for a very good price on ebay. Long story short, the Std 3 will have to wait.
Having said the price was very good, it was still a considerable outlay and therefore a bit of a gamble, although the seller stated that as far as was know it was complete. I have checked all the etchings , castings and other bits and bobs and all is there. There is a slight problem with the Slaters wheels which I was aware of before purchasing, but I'll come to that.
There was some minor damage to a few of the smaller more delicate parts which I have easily straightened and which will cause no issues in construction. In the main the frets were clean and free of any tarnishing, but a couple of the sheets were badly stained on one side. I'm guessing this was due to an inadequate final rinse after the etching process. I cleaned them up with hob brute and an old tooth brush and then rines well and dried.
Here are the loco etchings.
And the bits and bobs plus the wheels.
No problem with the driving wheels, but the leading and trailing wheels are the standard type with 3/16 axles instead of the special Finney variety with 5/32 axles. I was confidant I could use the leading wheels without problem by opening out the holes in the bogie frame to accept larger bushes, but was not sure if that was the case with the trailing wheels. I sent a mail to Richard Lambert who kindly checked his A3 model and confirmed that it would not be possible to use the larger axles and bushes as I s uspected . There was the option of Slaters exchanging them for a small handling charge, but I came up with another solution , which I will come to later.
Here are the tender etcings .
There is an extra loose part in this photo which is a duplicate of the coal hole and front panel. This was taped over the corresponding part on the fret but is slightly different in terms of having some extra tabs. I believe this may have been added to correct an error in the original artwork but as yet my scanning of the instructions has not spotted any reference to it.
As with the leading and trailing wheels, the tender wheels are the 3/16 axle standard Slaters type. They are also spoked wheels not disc. However, I believe I can use these also by widening the slots in the inner tender frame to except the larger diameter axles, and converting them to discs should just be a matter of making some disc inserts.
My impression from reading other builds on forums and reviews in magazines, is that despite the complexity of Finney kits, if the instructions are followed closely, no problems will be encountered. So bearing that in mind, I went off on a tangent!
I wanted to settle how I was going to resolve the issue of the axle for the cartazzi slider. Having given it some thought and checked the diameter of the holes for the bushes for the Finney type axles, I decided it was possible to use the wheels that came with the kit. Here's what I settled on.
There are three sets of frame spacers sizes provided in the kit, large for scale 7, medium for finescale, and a third narrower set. I'm using the middle size ones and the bogie and cartazzi set up have corresponding size spacers.
First the axle bush holes in the slider were "reamed" slightly to accept the 3/16 axles without brass bushes. Then the slider sides from the scale 7 size were separated from the base and filed to fit inside the sides of the medium one I'm using. These were soldered in place to give more of a bearing surface for the axle, and the the top of the slider solder to the slots in the top of the unit to complete. Here is the medium slider base, top and the large base with the sides separated.
And lined up in the frame with a spare axle for soldering .
And the top piece added
The double thickness sides should provide enough bearing surface for the axle
Here it is with the wheels in.
I still have the remaining narrow frame and I will solder them to the outside later to create a larger bearing surface and negate the need for washers. Thanks to Dave Holt for suggesting that.
With that matter settled, I can get back to following the instructions, starting with the tender inner frames.
Cheers,
Peter
Having said the price was very good, it was still a considerable outlay and therefore a bit of a gamble, although the seller stated that as far as was know it was complete. I have checked all the etchings , castings and other bits and bobs and all is there. There is a slight problem with the Slaters wheels which I was aware of before purchasing, but I'll come to that.
There was some minor damage to a few of the smaller more delicate parts which I have easily straightened and which will cause no issues in construction. In the main the frets were clean and free of any tarnishing, but a couple of the sheets were badly stained on one side. I'm guessing this was due to an inadequate final rinse after the etching process. I cleaned them up with hob brute and an old tooth brush and then rines well and dried.
Here are the loco etchings.
And the bits and bobs plus the wheels.
No problem with the driving wheels, but the leading and trailing wheels are the standard type with 3/16 axles instead of the special Finney variety with 5/32 axles. I was confidant I could use the leading wheels without problem by opening out the holes in the bogie frame to accept larger bushes, but was not sure if that was the case with the trailing wheels. I sent a mail to Richard Lambert who kindly checked his A3 model and confirmed that it would not be possible to use the larger axles and bushes as I s uspected . There was the option of Slaters exchanging them for a small handling charge, but I came up with another solution , which I will come to later.
Here are the tender etcings .
There is an extra loose part in this photo which is a duplicate of the coal hole and front panel. This was taped over the corresponding part on the fret but is slightly different in terms of having some extra tabs. I believe this may have been added to correct an error in the original artwork but as yet my scanning of the instructions has not spotted any reference to it.
As with the leading and trailing wheels, the tender wheels are the 3/16 axle standard Slaters type. They are also spoked wheels not disc. However, I believe I can use these also by widening the slots in the inner tender frame to except the larger diameter axles, and converting them to discs should just be a matter of making some disc inserts.
My impression from reading other builds on forums and reviews in magazines, is that despite the complexity of Finney kits, if the instructions are followed closely, no problems will be encountered. So bearing that in mind, I went off on a tangent!
I wanted to settle how I was going to resolve the issue of the axle for the cartazzi slider. Having given it some thought and checked the diameter of the holes for the bushes for the Finney type axles, I decided it was possible to use the wheels that came with the kit. Here's what I settled on.
There are three sets of frame spacers sizes provided in the kit, large for scale 7, medium for finescale, and a third narrower set. I'm using the middle size ones and the bogie and cartazzi set up have corresponding size spacers.
First the axle bush holes in the slider were "reamed" slightly to accept the 3/16 axles without brass bushes. Then the slider sides from the scale 7 size were separated from the base and filed to fit inside the sides of the medium one I'm using. These were soldered in place to give more of a bearing surface for the axle, and the the top of the slider solder to the slots in the top of the unit to complete. Here is the medium slider base, top and the large base with the sides separated.
And lined up in the frame with a spare axle for soldering .
And the top piece added
The double thickness sides should provide enough bearing surface for the axle
Here it is with the wheels in.
I still have the remaining narrow frame and I will solder them to the outside later to create a larger bearing surface and negate the need for washers. Thanks to Dave Holt for suggesting that.
With that matter settled, I can get back to following the instructions, starting with the tender inner frames.
Cheers,
Peter
Last edited: