54A diesel workbench

DougT

Western Thunderer
That would explain it, I'd not seen it before and with a quick google I only found one other photo and that was of D5000. I think BR made a wise choice going for the lower body side stripe.
 

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
Steph - post away mate. The choice of motoring the loco will be made in a few weeks and ALL input is useful so thanks.

And to all you out there putting photos and stuff on, thanks. Its just that the penguin's comment had me scratting around looking at the cabs. Fitting lights in will be a problem, as will the windows and I reckon assembly will need that extra hand we all could do with every now and again. We'll see.

Peter
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
Peter - I did an article on building these kits in BRM Vol 17 No3 June 2009, that might come in useful for you if you can find it. If not I can send you the text and a few photos..

Regards
Tony
 

40126

Western Thunderer
Peter - I did an article on building these kits in BRM Vol 17 No3 June 2009, that might come in useful for you if you can find it. If not I can send you the text and a few photos..

Regards
Tony
Hi Tony :thumbs:

Can you publish on this thread ?.

Steve :cool:
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
The text is quite long, if Peter is willing I'll post it. I don't want to take over your thread Peter!
Regards
Tony
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
Sorry - been away in France. The article will be in the spring Gazette, so I don't want to pre-empt that too much, so I've attached the original BRM text as a PDF.

Regards
 

Attachments

  • JLTRT Derbys (2).pdf
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FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
Tony,
got the article, thank you. Hope you enjoyed France and had no problems re-Brexit :rant:

Requests for assistance:-
1. I want to fit sound to this baby (I do like the sound of a Sulzer) but there seems very little space between the cab front and the control desk for working LEDs - has anyone any experience of this (I note from Tony's atricle that he fitted non-working 2mm ones)?
2. The pictures in the instructions on the driver controls are a bit small for my old eyes, does anyone have any piccies of the drivers console?

Peter
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
1. I want to fit sound to this baby (I do like the sound of a Sulzer) but there seems very little space between the cab front and the control desk for working LEDs - has anyone any experience of this (I note from Tony's atricle that he fitted non-working 2mm ones)?

Have a look at surface mounted LEDs. Being small I have used these in HO locos and intend using them when I fit the headlights to my P48 GP9.

In my HO GP9 I mounted them directly behind the lens.
 

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
Thanks for that Dave, I'll start looking in that direction.

I have clagged the Drivers control stand to the floor (love that word clagged, so emotive) and added a couple of the levers the driver uses for something or other ...
100_0920.JPG

... but until I get some more info about the various levers on the control desk I will leave the seats etc so there is less for me to break when I do the painting.

In the meantime I thought it would be a good idea to have a look at the stuff that 'goes' - working on the same principle as steam locos that you should get the chassis going before the top bits.

100_0915.JPG

I have had to put a perspex block for the fuel tank retainer bolt because somebody (no names) opened out the original hole too much.

I cleaned up the non-powered bogie, soldered up the stretcher and had a dry run. I prefer being able to insert the bogie retaining bolt from below rather than trying to put a nut on from below (old age you know!) so cut a slot into the bolt head and cut a piece of plastic to recess the nut then clagged it in with superglue. Next step is to mix some 24 hour epoxy and spread it around to form a nice bead for both - it's the old belt and braces approach.

There will now be a short intermission while I save up for Mr ABC's motor bogie.

Peter
 

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
Driver mate of mine says the lower (the one pointing to the right of the photo) is the master handle (forward/reverse etc) while the top one (pointing to the left) is the power handle. As it is a first generation BR diesel I wouldn't be suprised if they copied main line US practise as they had nothing much else to go on.

Peter
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Correct, speed controller and direction lever on the right and brakes on the left (not fitted and expect they will be castings in the kit) which I think is pretty much standard on all uk engines of this period. There should be two brake fittings, loco which is air and train which on the 24 was vacuum, can't recall off the top of my head if any were dual or converted to air braked before scrapping.

MD
 

Stoke5D

Western Thunderer
Here's a link to a webpage showing you what the real thing should look like: BR Diesel Web - Class 24 Pictures, D5054-4

The Class 24 shows its Pilot Scheme origins and is quite different cab control wise to the later Baby Sulzers of my acquaintance (although the controls are all generally in the same place).

That Secondman's horn control casting from (N)JLTRT is positively Gauge 1...

Don't forget the ash tray - no cab of the era should be without one.


Andrew
 

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
A Happy New Year to all WTers,

After lying dormant for a long time the class 24 is back on the workbench. The hiatus was financial (couldn't afford the motor/gearbox) and constructional (couldn't figure a way of getting the LEDs in with the full depth of the JLTRT cab desk/bulkhead) but at least the first one is now resolved. I bought an ABC Delrin drive setup from Telford and a few weeks ago got around to fitting it ... well I would have if there wasn't a problem with the final drive when I tested it before installation.

Rang Mr Clapperton, no quibbles, no argument, no receipt (binned it months ago), just send it back and we'll fix it. Returned, fixed in 4 days (2 of them taken up by Royal Mail). Now THAT'S what customer service is all about. It's not just what you do, its about how you do it. Gold star to Mr C and more trade coming his way from me in the future.

Anyway, back to the Class 24. Fitting the system was not simple in one of Mr Waterman's locos, much 'fettling' to get enough space and the first couple of tries with the Delrin ended up with the chain too long, but eventually I got it. And don't tell me to read the instructions. I am a bloke and not supposed to do that kind of thing.:rolleyes:

I decided to fix all the body together and leave the cab interior till later, proably make a new, thinner, cab bulkhead to accomodate the LEDs. A waft of Halfords plastic primer showed up some gaps which were duly filled and smoothed and then some coats of ayclric BR green brushed on and flattened with toothpaste (can't get away with airbrushes after many courses and years of trying). The yellow ends were an after-thought so are a bit messy at the moment.

100_1159.JPG

No, that's not seasonal snow, it's a painting job that I should done a while ago. Saying that though, it does look effective at this level ... :cool:

Anyway, before I started on the bogies and the final coat of paint I thought I should give it a good test so last Saturday I took it along to Carlisle for a run on our layout (I will be posting a video on YouTube when I finish editing later today) and it ran beautifully, and very quiet, so the chassis will be sprayed Halford's black this week and the bogies and buffer beams finished, then it's back to the cab and LEDs.

I think I may have caught a bug as well, once this is finished (and the Heljan 25 and 55 have been sound fitted) I fancy one of Mr W's Claytons. Is it curable? :))

Peter
 
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