7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench

adrian

Flying Squad
A new set of top covers and smoke box front will be etched. I'm also going to make a new tank core, the original is suffice but I want something a bit more Viking...robust.
I must admit I've often been tempted with this kit but I'd seriously consider making replacement tanks from nickel sheet to replace the cast lumps.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Tempting but there's enough metal work going on already I think, besides, you only end up filling them with lead to add weight :cool:
 

adrian

Flying Squad
True - for me though I prefer to solder detail to nickel rather than white metal and my cack handed cleaning I usually end up gouging chunks out of white metal castings.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Good point, itd be easier to fit the top cover plate and smoke box front too, I do have some NS sheet and it's a simple shape to form, certainly worth a test shot to see how it goes.
 

BR Tony

Member
OMG !! I thought this was not going to be another County! No more 'bargain' buys from now on. Maybe should have probed a bit deeper as to its background.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
OMG !! I thought this was not going to be another County! No more 'bargain' buys from now on. Maybe should have probed a bit deeper as to its background.
Relax lol, it's often quicker to cut back to a good core and work back up than to mess around tweaking what you have.

It took 20 minutes to break down and once I have the replacement etches, it'll take a few hours to go back together, but this time it'll all be square and solder free, as well as clean in the nooks and crannies for Warren to paint. I've still got a few more bits to take off but that won't take long.

The difference here is that everything fits, unlike the County which required a lot of parts because those supplied didn't fit.

The replacement etches are going on a sheet with several other customers, so the cost is split % wise on area; thus the cost is spread proportionally across all parties which makes a big saving to all concerned.

It looks worse than it actually is and it'll be much much quicker going this route than fettling what we already had and ending up with something that just wasn't quite right.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Ok, nearly got it all stripped down, I tried not to, but whatever it had been soaked in to strip the paint basically coated the metal in a layer of unsolderable clag.

So, the end result is a near complete breakdown, on the plus side virtually all of the etch work survived intact; I've still got the bunker overlay to tend to, but I'll do that once the footplate is all cleaned up and put back together.

IMG_7387.jpg

IMG_7389.jpg

IMG_7390.jpg

There are huge puddles of what I assume is low melt solder, most can be heated and the metal tapped to knock it off, the rest will come off with a solder sucker and then solder braid. After that it'll get a scrub with a fibre brush.

The cab sides are junk, so will they will go on the etch sheet I'm working on, along with the tank top and smoke box front, the cab front survived pretty well intact, couple of tabs had to be ground off to get it out. I'll give that a good clean and if it's ok will go back on the cab core.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Just about finished the replacement parts on the art work and that will go off on Sunday.

The footplate has all been cleaned up, cusps removed and generally with a good going over to square things up, once I was happy the rebuild can begin, so far only the overlay, splasher walls and frame section above the footplate have been added back.

The two prongs in the middle of the footplate in the cab area are still not cleaned up, I'm pondering their use and possible removal and then working around what ever purpose they served; they're badly damaged (before I even started) and frankly too much work to recover.

Image2.jpg IMG_7391.jpg

IMG_7392.jpg
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
Are those "prongs" for locating the sides of the fire box between the running plate and the panniers tanks?
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Are those "prongs" for locating the sides of the fire box between the running plate and the panniers tanks?
No, they just hold two small tabs on the cab front as far as I can see, which can be attached to the splasher inside wall as far as I can tell.

The firebox sides attach directly to the footplate.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Cheers, I kind of figured they did but I'm wondering if I actually need them, we'll see soon enough as I'm just about up to that area now on the rebuild.

Good progress today adding the bits back on, though made a mistake with the front tank supports, I'd heard they were solid so blanked off the front as seen from photos, closer inspection revealed that were a different shape; they'll come off at some point and be replaced with new scratch built ones.

IMG_7393.jpg

IMG_7394.jpg

IMG_7395.jpg

IMG_7396.jpg

The lamp irons didn't survive the breakdown, two were damaged on arrival and none at the front are the right type anyway, these'll get added to the small list of replacement parts required. I also need some oil pots which appear to be missing off the footplate by the middle splasher and it'll need new wheels. I've just found out what the solder is for on the balance weights, they've tried to solder on the weights to the plastic wheels :eek::rolleyes::p
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
A little more progress, I think the prongs can go but I'll wait until I'm 100% sure ;)

I don't know what material the cast firebox sides are made from, but it doesn't take solder very well at all :oops:. Despite scrubbing, cleaning and roughing up, the casting kept breaking clean away from the solder, it was solved in the end by using some good old 60/40 leaded solder at 400°C

Smoke box core and boiler belly added today, looks like nothing but quite a lot of work, the boiler belly had to come off and it hadn't......well it wasn't rolled on Cuban girls thighs is all I can say :eek:

IMG_7397.jpg

There were a couple of other uglies with the wrappers and formers, fortunately all are hidden once the tanks go on so I didn't have to bully it all into line.

The tanks fit to the boiler core on knife edge joints, there is/was an inner skeleton to support the rear end and it fits into the cab front, obviously I have no cab front yet to secure it too and the skeleton didn't survive the strip down. Never the less, all fixings are thin knife edge solder joints, I'm not overly comfortable with that so will work up a replacement set up that better suits my Viking style of skill base :cool:

IMG_7401.jpg

IMG_7400.jpg

The gap twixt tanks and smoke box core is intentional, it will be covered by the smokebox front overlay. Currently the tanks are just sat on the footplate supports, the front ones still need modifying, which couldn't be done until the smoke box saddle was in place.

Despite carefully cleaning the mass of pigeon :shit: solder at the end of the right hand tank it's still too short, it may have been cast like this and the builder tried to fill the gap, or the builder just filled too much off and made the gap too big.

I think the real engines have a small gap here, I'll need to find some photos to be sire and once the cab front is on, judge how much the gap needs reducing. The original builder covered it with the injector pipe cover casting by soldering it hard up against the cab front.

Odd the firebox side castings are also different lengths, the one on the right being shorter by just over 0.6 mm, this is not the previous builders fault as he hasn't touched the casting front or rear edges, it is genuinely shorter on one side. This of course means it does not touch the cab front or fit the rear splasher arch very well at all; a suitable plug and filler will be fabricated to close the gap off and make good.

IMG_7403.jpg

Underneath, thankfully not seen, unfortunately the original builder used a chainsaw to trim off tabs etc, it's quite a chore smoothing them all out :D
 
Last edited:

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Pushing along now :thumbs:

Everything so far up until this evening has been relatively simple monkey see monkey do work, but now it was time to tackle the elephant, nay woolly mammoth in the room :eek:.....the cab.

It's fair to say this is/was by far the worst part of the whole model, poor lamination attachment, shocking gaps in parts and an all over layer of filth, most of it in the bunker when persons previous had filled it with kitchen roll, then poured white glue in there and stuck the coal in.

The MOK kit uses very clever tabs which hold everything together for soldering, not so clever if you have to take it apart later :p, none the less with a little patience and skulduggery the cab was slowly reduced to almost all of it's core components. Part way through I took some (before) reference photos.

IMG_7411.jpg

IMG_7412.jpg

Yes it really is as bad as it looks, probably worse in reality.

Once stripped down the clean up could begin, fortunately the nickel silver is quite robust and I've found that with care you can undo bends and make the part flat again and then fold it up once cleaned. Most of the time you'll get one chance at this, sometimes two, but after that it's going to split along the joint.

Anyway the Norse modeling gods smiled good fortune and the perceived plan worked flawlessly.

IMG_7420.jpg

IMG_7421.jpg

There are several overlays to go back on and the cab inner rear wall lower section (around the coal hole) is just placed in place for the photos. The floor structure is secured but the whole cab rear wall is just clipped into place at the moment.

So far all was looking good so next up a quick test on the chassis.

IMG_7418.jpg

IMG_7419.jpg

Being as it's a bit flimsy it doesn't sit level in the tab slots without assistance, but enough of the tabs hold it in place for a quick test.

Finally adding the bunker sides.

IMG_7416.jpg

IMG_7417.jpg

It's clear already that the different tank lengths are going to be a problem, the right hand is too short and the gap will need a small plug section, the left hand is too long and protrudes ahead of the smoke box face, it may pull back a bit once the cab is firmly in place though.

I have to say that given the mess the cab was in before the strip down, I'm rather pleased with the [smug mode on] clean up and rebuild thus far [smug mode off] (Red Dwarf fans will get that ;)) but it's not over yet and there's still more than enough opportunities for CCU and his crew to pay a visit :cool:
 

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick,

Just a thought, is there any chance that you might be able to swap the tanks around and fill in the existing holes and re-drill - it would be easier than putting plugs in the cab/tank gap on one side and reducing the length of the other tank.

Watching from the back of the class as usual:oops:

regards

Mike
 
Top