mickoo

Western Thunderer
It seems a bit hit and miss, some tenders have hooks on the front face to store the irons across the front, others have nothing. Either way they are small irons with a maximum length just shorter than the width of the tender.

MD
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Okay,

It's been over a year since I picked at the W1 but we are now on the final step. All of the new castings have been worked up and manufactured, both white metal and brass, the etches have been cleaned up and organised into production sheets and the final item to complete the build has arrived today.

All that's left to do is send off the final etches for printing, complete one test build from essentially what's in the box and write the instructions as I go, it'll also ratify our stock lists and cross check all the sundries.

Once the instructions have been proof read and checked then they'll go to the printers and thence into the boxes which are already getting stocked up.

So we are now very nearly there, I'd like to give a deadline but a complete build isn't something completed over a lunch time, let alone photography, drawings and detailed text. The etches will take two to three weeks once I pull the trigger which I hope will be this week.

I will show progress here as we go along, that'll probably be your best guide to when it's getting close to being available.

I have cleared a space in the corner of the workshop to set up a little photo table, so that'll speed things along a bit, rather than having to keep clearing the work bench after each stage to take photos before carrying on.

So first off a little taster of the new casing :thumbs:

This is hot off the press and only days old, so it hasn't had any work done to it to clean up the edges, it is exactly as it will be in the box.

IMG_9908.jpg

And just to show it's not an A4

IMG_9909.jpg

So keep tuned folks, there'll be more updates later in the month once the etches return ready for building :cool:

Mick D
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick,
That's timely. I have just started the A4 build in a new thread and this popped up when I refreshed the screen. We can bore the crap out of every body with an overdose of LNER streamliners! :)

The resin casting looks very nice and in this case you have been able to incorporate the chimney. Nice!
I note that on the A4, Martin's original design provided the chimneys as etchings.
Cheers,
Peter
 

maximus

Member
Okay,

It's been over a year since I picked at the W1 but we are now on the final step. All of the new castings have been worked up and manufactured, both white metal and brass, the etches have been cleaned up and organised into production sheets and the final item to complete the build has arrived today.

All that's left to do is send off the final etches for printing, complete one test build from essentially what's in the box and write the instructions as I go, it'll also ratify our stock lists and cross check all the sundries.

Once the instructions have been proof read and checked then they'll go to the printers and thence into the boxes which are already getting stocked up.

So we are now very nearly there, I'd like to give a deadline but a complete build isn't something completed over a lunch time, let alone photography, drawings and detailed text. The etches will take two to three weeks once I pull the trigger which I hope will be this week.

I will show progress here as we go along, that'll probably be your best guide to when it's getting close to being available.

I have cleared a space in the corner of the workshop to set up a little photo table, so that'll speed things along a bit, rather than having to keep clearing the work bench after each stage to take photos before carrying on.

So first off a little taster of the new casing :thumbs:

This is hot off the press and only days old, so it hasn't had any work done to it to clean up the edges, it is exactly as it will be in the box.

View attachment 93037

And just to show it's not an A4

View attachment 93038

So keep tuned folks, there'll be more updates later in the month once the etches return ready for building :cool:

Mick D
Okay,

It's been over a year since I picked at the W1 but we are now on the final step. All of the new castings have been worked up and manufactured, both white metal and brass, the etches have been cleaned up and organised into production sheets and the final item to complete the build has arrived today.

All that's left to do is send off the final etches for printing, complete one test build from essentially what's in the box and write the instructions as I go, it'll also ratify our stock lists and cross check all the sundries.

Once the instructions have been proof read and checked then they'll go to the printers and thence into the boxes which are already getting stocked up.

So we are now very nearly there, I'd like to give a deadline but a complete build isn't something completed over a lunch time, let alone photography, drawings and detailed text. The etches will take two to three weeks once I pull the trigger which I hope will be this week.

I will show progress here as we go along, that'll probably be your best guide to when it's getting close to being available.

I have cleared a space in the corner of the workshop to set up a little photo table, so that'll speed things along a bit, rather than having to keep clearing the work bench after each stage to take photos before carrying on.

So first off a little taster of the new casing :thumbs:

This is hot off the press and only days old, so it hasn't had any work done to it to clean up the edges, it is exactly as it will be in the box.

View attachment 93037

And just to show it's not an A4

View attachment 93038

So keep tuned folks, there'll be more updates later in the month once the etches return ready for building :cool:

Mick D
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
The etches are complete and off to the printers.

Just shy of 650 parts, I did toy with adding a few spare washers to make it over 650 ;)

Image2.jpg

Image4.jpg

Image6.jpg

The etches break down in to ten individual sheets to allow it all to fit in the box, that being one of the hardest aspects of the whole exercise.

I couldn't just merge all the original test sheets as it would made the joins or overall sizes either too big for the printers machine or our boxes. I figured on a week or so to do all this, but it's taken nearly five weeks to shuffle it all around. It hasn't been constant, you quickly become shape blind and miss things so it was a case of an hour here and there.

The above crops will be cut down to the relevant sheets and then form the base for the instruction sheets, they'll be block filled in light grey and then part numbers added, same applies to the casting sheets above.

Once all the parts are labeled then the instructions can be worked up as the model goes along, in fact those pages in the instructions can be begun right now and will be all done by the time the etches return, just gets you ahead of the game by a few days.

Some areas will require detailed drawings to be made up, areas where photos might not be the best medium to impart the best information, though the drawings generally won't be the sole medium and will be used to supplement photos where practicable.

Brakes-1.jpg

Brakes-2.jpg

Motion Drawing.jpg

These being from the original draft so the numbering will almost certainly change, but you get the idea I hope.

Best MD
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Okay, returning from my recent off piste jaunt it's time to crack on with the W1. I'll add the build photos here for two reasons, several aspects have changed in design during it's evolution and a great many people are now thanking us for the on line builds as it helps them when they come to build there own models.

So, what do you get in the box, well some lovely castings, shown here on the new display board for shows.

IMG_0204.jpg

One thing to note is the colour of the casing, this does vary with the production batch which have been done in small groups for economy and efficiency. There's basically three colours, all grey and varying from the 'stealth' grey above to the 'haze grey' (battleship) seen below.

Not every sprue is shown, example, there's three horn guide sprues all identical so the above is each distinct sprue in the kit. In addition the nickel silver sprue isn't shown, common to A1/3 and A4, an oversight on my behalf and not spotted until about midday in the middle of the show....one of those classic Homer moments :D

We've also had delivery of the etches.

Motion, a twin set for economy, one per box.
IMG_0206.jpg

Chassis.
IMG_0214.jpg

The monster 'everything else' etch.
IMG_0212.jpg

Don't worry, we break it up into more manageable sub sets which are designed to fit into the box. The layout is such that for each sub section you only need that part of the etch.

For example in the upper/mid left is the bogie, Bissel, brake and Cartazzi etch; in the upper right is the cab core structure whilst at far left upper/lower are the cab detail sheets. The idea is to try and de-clutter the work bench during the build but there are exceptions, cylinder formers and slide bars on the footplate section, these being here to reduce the footprint and make sure all etches do not exceed the box dimensions....a rather important factor ;).

What we should end up with in a few weeks is something like this.
IMG_0219.jpg

Plus glazing, handrails and other sundry fittings :thumbs:

Externally the above will be little different from what we have shown before here, it's the innards that have had the make overs with the new castings for J hangers, springs, grease tramps and injectors for example, as well as a few design changes to make the model easier to build.
 

parky

Western Thunderer
"What we should end up with in a few weeks is something like this"

Lol, not us mere amateurs :rolleyes:

Fabulous kit and outstanding build, I might just see what tenders you have on your stand at Bristol to start with
 
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P A D

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick,
This time you cannot argue. It is superb.

Wish I could have made it to Reading to see it again in the flesh with the new resin casting. Would have been good to compare it to the A4.

Cheers,
Peter
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
I take it that the W1 unlike the A4s in BR post 1956 years did not receive the revised Double chimney ?
We have no evidence to date that it did, but you can be assured that the day after release date, said information will surface, such is the law of sod :cool:
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Indeed not :cool:

Anyway, page 1 is now complete, it took longer to clean all the cusp off than to build and photograph, mind writing the text probably took as long as cusp removal, but we're on our way now.

Rear frame extension with ash pan assembly. First off without ash pan fitted.

IMG_0267.jpg

IMG_0272.jpg

Now with ash pan.

IMG_0277.jpg

IMG_0276.jpg

The firebox front stay (ahead of the ash pan) isn't fixed yet, hence the slight gap between the side plates and frame sides.

Next up is the main frame section, that might take a little longer :cool:.

MD
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
I take it that the W1 unlike the A4s in BR post 1956 years did not receive the revised Double chimney ?

I assume that only the A4s built with single chimneys had the revised double chimney and the ones built new with the original double chimneys, kept them in BR service. Does anybody know the reason for the BR revision?
 
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