W1 as rebuilt

Final lot of stays completed, ready for frame construction tomorrow.

First up is the inside slide bar stay, yes the slide bar is included, more as we go along.


Next the 2:1 lever stay way up front on the engine.




The 2:1 levers slide in from the large opening side, and are secured with a bolt into the 12BA nut.....not 10BA as etched....hhmmph. Many people assume and model both openings in the frames the same size, they are incorrect.

Toward the rear is the boiler support stay.


By good fortune it is in line with the reversing lever support bracket and lubricator support bracket. These were all originally individual brackets, the external ones were very prone to breaking off as the tab was only half thickness, now with them all being one solid part they'll be much stronger.

Finally the cruciform stay.

Okay, picking up the pace a little, LH frame prepped and test fitted at the rear end. The aim of any artwork is repetitive accuracy, especially the double bends at the rear of the outside frames, if bent correctly then they will lock into the rear drag beam with small tabs and align at the front end with the firebox front stay tabs.



All the stays laid out ready for fitting.



There's three stays not shown, these'll be added at a later stage once the main frame overlays are on, namely, bogie pivot stay, front footplate fixing and buffer beam.

The next step no is to add all the cast J hangers and the inside sandbox locating plate, it goes in the relevant recess leaving just enough of a raised edge to locate in the recess inside the white metal casting. The rearmost J hangers have already been fitted to the rear frame sub assembly, just another ten to fit.

Once those are fitted and the other side bent up, then frame erection can be finished and a basic rolling chassis attained, initially with top hat bearings. The idea then will be to replace them one axle at a time with the sprung horn guide castings and then fit the white metal springs and brass snubbing rubbers.

Superb, Mick.

Col

Stunning Mick, what frame width are you using?
Tim

For the W1 and B1 I'm running at just under 28 mm over plates and roughly 28.3 mm over raised etched rivets.

We've found this is the maximum width for O fine and six foot curves on big engines and probably the minimum Scale 7 users might consider.

We could of opted for narrower frames, but given the detail we've adding we decided quite early on to bypass the table top/Xmas tree roundy roundy folks, sorry

Thanks Mick, looking forward to a B1 for Love Lane.
Tim

Mick
Not just superb, but brilliant, fabulous, exquisite and any other superlative you can think of. I want one.

I came late to this thread, but it has been fascinating to see the development of this project. Not only do I marvel at your computer design skills, but your model building skills also, which are absolutely top notch.

I don't know how you find time to do if all and then write it up on here, so many than a for sharing it.

Cheers,
Peter

mickoo said:

decided quite early on to bypass the table top/Xmas tree roundy roundy folks, sorry

Click to expand...

Like American cars then - cannot go around corners ....

Col, cheers

Tim, it'll fit right in

Peter, you're too kind, but those superlatives really belong elsewhere, it's okay is my level of appraisal, there is much to improve. The computer work isn't really very much, they're just lines on the screen, bit like dot to dot really, just that the dots are harder to see Regarding time, that's easy, I've an accommodating family but the truth is, quality etches or kits take no time at all, especially if you've developed it yourself.

Okay last image for tonight, the frame castings.



All the brake hangers now test fitted, there's four distinct J hangers, front brake trunnion, standard, rear brake trunnion and not shown here rear frame J hanger, it's like a standard one but with a stronger back plate and enlarged web.

Also just placed for show is the inner sand box and one of the cast horn guides, these are handed left and right, note tapered wedge section to the rear for adjusting the axle box on the real thing. In reality there is no bridging piece between the two cheeks, it is added on the model simply to allow a fixing for the spring and height adjustment screw.

mickoo said:

...................Britannia............ No idea.....not prepared to comment on other stuff that may or may not be in the pipeline.

MD

Click to expand...

mickoo said:

Peter, you're too kind, but those superlatives really belong elsewhere, it's okay is my level of appraisal, there is much to improve. The computer work isn't really very much, they're just lines on the screen, bit like dot to dot really, just that the dots are harder to see Regarding time, that's easy, I've an accommodating family but the truth is, quality etches or kits take no time at all, especially if you've developed it yourself.

Click to expand...

Hi Mick,
Nah, you're too modest.

Or if not, I can't wait to see one that you are satisfied with. That will certainly be the whole nine ten yards!

P A D said:

Hi Bob,
No the Isinglass drawing does not include a plan view of the revised chimney. I don't have the book you mention so please could you send it to me in a conversation?
Many thanks,
Peter

Click to expand...

Apologies Peter only just noticed your added comment.. Image sent as requested

Regards
Bob

Hi Mick, in designing the valve gear for the W1, and in particular the reach rod and reversing crank, have you allowed for the option of building the radius rod and expansion link such that the model can be put in forward gear rather than the usual mid gear stationary position? I ask the question because I went to a lot of trouble to build up my radius rod and expansion link to achieve forward gear on the V2 kit, only to be stumped by the reach rod, which had been designed for mid gear. So when I put my footplate on the chassis the loco has to be in mid gear to align the joint between the reach rod and the reversing crank.
To provide an option to build a model in forward gear a second reach rod would be required in the etch, slightly longer, to place the hole to be aligned with the reversing crank approximately 3mm farther forward of the tab that secures it to the footplate (based on the V2 etch).
I'm really enjoying all the LNER big engine builds at the moment!

Best wishes

Richard

Mick,

You note that you’re going to build the frames into a chassis with top hats and then fit the cast hornways.

I don’t understand why you’re doing it that way.

It seems like more work, and I’d be scared of damaging my chassis whilst fretting out the slots

My approach has always been to use dummy axles, springs and the coupling rods to align the hornguides. If there isn’t an obvious way of ensuring the axles are accurately located, I’d perhaps leave one set of top hats in and gauge the other axles from that one.

Or have you a cunning plan?

Best
Simon

Simon, it's just personal preference, the top hat's are on a section that has half etched cut lines, you only need cut one and then snap them out and clean up the edge. The plan is to use the axle jig but only cut one pair of axle top hat's out at a time, that way you're only fighting one axle alignment instead of three.

Other builders would cut all three and be done, six of one half a dozen of another.

Richard, the valve gear is 100% fully functional but that comes at a cost of extra fidelity and workload I'm afraid, I'll post some photos later.

Richard Spoors said:

Hi Mick, in designing the valve gear for the W1, and in particular the reach rod and reversing crank, have you allowed for the option of building the radius rod and expansion link such that the model can be put in forward gear rather than the usual mid gear stationary position? I ask the question because I went to a lot of trouble to build up my radius rod and expansion link to achieve forward gear on the V2 kit, only to be stumped by the reach rod, which had been designed for mid gear. So when I put my footplate on the chassis the loco has to be in mid gear to align the joint between the reach rod and the reversing crank.
To provide an option to build a model in forward gear a second reach rod would be required in the etch, slightly longer, to place the hole to be aligned with the reversing crank approximately 3mm farther forward of the tab that secures it to the footplate (based on the V2 etch).
I'm really enjoying all the LNER big engine builds at the moment!

Best wishes

Richard

Click to expand...

Richard

Having built a Finney A3, A4 and V2 I can confirm that all three kits allow the builder to construct the valve gear to allow the manual setting of mid forward and reverse gear. Looking at Mikoos frets for the WI its been carried on as per the A4 Having experienced how its done thanks to Martin F some of my DJH pacifics have had he feature added

regards
Bob

Bob,

I don't think the issue is with the valve gear as such, it's the reversing lever (reach rod) length; what Richard is saying is that on the V2 it's a set length that only allows mid gear, for forward gear....even though the kit valve gear allows it....the reach rod isn't long enough.

On the W1 the reach rod can be placed in any position to match the valve gear setting, then, the crank that goes up under the cab floor is pinned to the correct angle. The crank is an individual etch and not part of the reach rod, hope that makes sense.

Hi Bob, the reach rod in the V2 kit was designed to put the reversing crank into mid gear if the tabs are used to position the rod as designed into the holes in the footplate, and the hole at the left end (see below) is lined up with the top of the reversing crank which is built with a 90 degree crank angle. To achieve forward gear, having built an expansion link with a floating radius rod and without changing the design of the reach rod, the reversing crank has to be made up with an incorrect obtuse crank angle. I would have liked to avoid this.

Best wishes,

Richard

View attachment 95521 View attachment 95521

Richard Spoors said:

Hi Bob, the reach rod in the V2 kit was designed to put the reversing crank into mid gear if the tabs are used to position the rod as designed into the holes in the footplate, and the hole at the left end (see below) is lined up with the top of the reversing crank which is built with a 90 degree crank angle. To achieve forward gear, having built an expansion link with a floating radius rod and without changing the design of the reach rod, the reversing crank has to be made up with an incorrect obtuse crank angle. I would have liked to avoid this.
View attachment 95510
Best wishes,

Richard

Click to expand...

Richard, right I see your point. I cant check my V2 as its on the Clubs layout for the coming open weekend. Its not a problem on the A4 as the reach rod has fluid fore and aft movement



Regards
Bob