54A's workbench

[FiftyFourA]

Ever since I joined WT I have wanted to start my own workshop thread but, due to my accident in December 2014 while working at Beamish that broke bones and damaged ligaments in my right wrist (and yes, I am right handed) I have been unable to do any metal-type loco modelling. Sure I have, with help, completed a couple of already started layouts, but it is not the same for me.

My hand/wrist will never be 100% (not at my age anyway!) but, after 2 years of physio and hard work, I got to the stage last week where thought I was able to have a go. I had two kits I had started before my accident, one of Jim McGowan's N10s and a Piercy/DJH J27 ... and I GOT THEM BOTH WORKING!

Sorry about the shouting.

First up was the N10.

I had completed the chassis and started the body but never got around to motorising it. Last week I managed to get the chassis running sweetly, put the motor in, fixed up some temporary pickups (need to find the ones I made 3 years ago in the bomb site that has become my workshop).







OK, the soldering is a bit messey but that will clean up. When I gave her some juice she worked - both ways!

Flushed with sucess I got out the J27. I had finished the tender and started on the loco at the same time as the N10 but again, did not get to the working stage.



Same thing, fettled until the chassis ran sweet, adjusted the clearances so the wheels didn't short on the body, put in motor and pickups and switched on.

All of this took 3 days as I can only work for short periods as a time and by Friday the pain was too much. I didn't care much, I felt like a modeller again.

I took them both to Carlisle yesterday to run on the Kinchley Lane layout there (also known as the loco breaker - Carlisle and District '0' Gauge Group) and they still worked! By now I was somewhere just above cloud nine.

I would put a link to my YouTube video but I can't remember how to (waits for WT experts to bombard him with tutorials), but the link is

I have decided to concentrate on the N10 - one thing at a time - so today I have folded up and opened the tabs for the inside of the tanks. This took all afternoon but at least it is progress. I think I will solder them in tomorrow and sort out some weights before I fix the cab front.

I can't go much further yet because, over the past 3 years some pillock has lost the instructions, so I will have to contact Jim tomorrow.

As for tonight, I am just going to have a glass (or 2) of wine and reflect on what it's like being a 'proper' modeller again.

When I have the cab area complete I will post a few piccies - then its cleaning and painting.

 

[Heather Kay]

Jim lets you download PDFs of instructions. You'll find the N10 on this clicky-linky thing, near the bottom of the page.

It's good to know you're back at the bench again. Keep it up!

 

[FiftyFourA]

Thanks Heather - printed it off ready for tomorrow.

Peter

 

[FiftyFourA]

Well, if Heather is still looking for her mojo I think I have found it. Straight after breakfast this morning I was at my workbench (bombsite) getting on with the N10, keen as mustard .

Soldered the inside plate of the tanks in place, cut the front cab for the motor/gearbox and fettled the coal rails ready to fit in place.



Sorry for the fuzzy edges to the piccie, naughty Molly kitten was charging around my legs at the time .

All this work comes at a price - my wrist started to hurt so that's it for today .

Well sort of. I am going through the kit and sorting out replacements/add ons, sprung buffers to replace the cast ones, Ross safety valves (for mid 50s era), smokebox door handles (replacing NER wheel) etc., etc. I already have the injectors so its back to Mr Griffin for those bits and pieces when the list is complete.

Peter

 

[FiftyFourA]

No work on the N10 yesterday, busy helping fellow NELPG members on the J72 winter maintenance.

Bet not many of you seen a loco like this before ...



No wheels! And if you wanted to see what's underneath ....




When I say helping I really mean making the tea and cleaning the crud off the bits the engineers take off.

Anyway, back to the N10. After breakfast it was down to work. Soldered up the boiler, including some soft wire to fill in the etched grooves for boiler bands (which I think are normally too thick) and which were then filed back, then the cab roof and I started on the cab front before the pain got a bit much.



The soldering on the cab roof is a bit messey but will clean up,



but I am not showing the underside yet!
The 2 holes will be filled as they were for the NER boiler; in the period I model the bolier was a LNER one and the whistle was moved to the top of the boiler between the Ross safety valves and the cab front. The boiler will have to be drilled for these fittings.

The boiler, with the wire soldered in and filed back.


The semi circular disc is from the kit but I am using 2 of them to form a 'box' for some weight over the two leading axles. The black stuff is some 2 pack filler to fill in the hole for the original safety valve trumpet which is not required (see earlier comment). I have soldered in the 'long' handrail stand-offs now as if I don't I will loose them ... believe me .

The spectical rims are in place but before I can drill the hole for the blower I need to offer up the front with the boiler in place. There are several other holes to drill/rivets to punch out as well, so best doing it 'in the flat'.

And that was that, for today.

Peter

 

[FiftyFourA]

Progress on the N10.

The cab is finished apart from the backhead which has major changes to accomodate the LNER boiler and the fact that drive is to the rear wheel (the kit was deigned for it on the centre wheel) - just alot of cleaning up to do.

The boiler is now 'on' and soldered in place with the weights in the tanks and front of the boiler and the cab front is fitted.

There is alot of cleaning up to do on the area where I had to solder from the outside so that will be done tomorrow, then it's the two tank support brackets to make, various handrails and sander controls to go on and then the steps (already made up).

Various castings are on order from Laurie Griffin so the final finishing off will have to wait until they arrive. The chimney/dome will be glued on so will have to wait until all soldering is finished.

Hopefully it will be finished next week ready for cleaning and painting.

I am resisting the urge to start on the J27 until this one is completely finished.

Peter

 

[7mmMick]

Hi Peter,

I've only just caught up with this thread. Great to see you back at the bench again as I know you're struggled with your wrist injury. Nice to see the N10 coming along, at some point I'll treat myself to one and mine will probably be 69108, which was a Hull engine and rarely a vaccum fitted example. Nice to see the detail shots of the underbelly of the J72 as well. Looking forward to more progress here,

ATB Mick

 

[FiftyFourA]

Well Mick, more progress there is ... well a bit anyway.

Fitted the 'box' at the front of the cab (extension to cover the backhead alterations for LNER boilers), the front handrails, side tank/boiler brackets and sander operating rods.



Now its cleaning up time until the castings arrive from LG. Once they are fitted the chimney & dome and various small items will be glued on with araldite then she will be prep'd and painted. Sorry about the piccie - poor light this afternoon.

In the meantime I am getting on with some of the shed buildings on '54E', you know what they say about 'idle hands'.

Hope to see you at the S7 meeting in March at Locomotion Mick, and anyone else who wants to come along.

Peter

 

[7mmMick]

Looking good Peter, I too favour the LG castings and nice to see the later whistle box modelled as per BR practice. Does Jim's kit supply the tank tie brackets at all? I've only ever seen DJH represent these brackets on their J72 and no where else strangely? I think the tank tops look bare otherwise, I did discuss with LG a few years ago about making up some masters and then adding them to his range as the majority of the brackets were all a standard size. I may re visit this soon.

Here's a bit of inspiration for painting, a slide I bought on eBay a couple of years back. Taken at the back of 'Botanic' in the early 60's. Both the J73 and N10 were probably not far off withdrawl after a long hard life. The negative was damaged but photo shopped by Mick Nicholson to salvage it;


I may be struggling for the meet at Shildon as I'm already committed to kettering at the beginning of the month, I may see you there though?

Mick.R

 

[FiftyFourA]

Hi Mick,

Just got back from Donny and Laurie's castings were in lying on the mat when I opened the door. As for the tank supports - no, I have had to make some myself. They are not super-detailed but a 'representation' of the supports which, all things considered, I am content with. Once the fire iron support bracket has been fitted on the r/h tank top (and the extra curved bracket to stop them falling off - not in the kit) plus the fire irons themselves (replaced kit ones with DJH) then it will not look so bare. Hopefully the l/h tank top will not look so bare also.

Thanks for the piccies; I also got some from my mates at the Armstrong Photograhpic Trust - a 'must go to' source for anyone building NER/LNER locos in my biased opinion.

The big decision is about the mudhole doors. The N10 is a tank version of the J21 with the same boiler, so when both boilers were life-expired the LNER changed both. The J21 at Shildon has two mud hole doors either side of the boiler but, if they were fitted to the N10, AND in the same location, they would be a couple of inches above the level of the tank tops (as they are on the preserved J72 that I am working on at Hopetown with NELPG) which would be next to impossible to see from the level that most pictures were taken, even in BR days. So, do I assume that they were there but did not show on the pictures (not an unreasonable assumption to make in the circumstances) or leave them off?

Answers on a postcard please.

Anyway, tomorrows job is to fit all the soldering bits, including lamp irons, decide about the mudhole doors then I can araldite fit the dome, smokebox door and chimney. After that its cleaning, more cleaning then even more cleaning before primer. I think painting will have to wait for better weather.

And Mick, your presence HAS been missed at our S7 group meetings and it would be great to see you up here again.

Peter

 

[7mmMick]

Mud hole doors..... LG does some suitable ones and I'm sure I've seen on a drawing that they are fitted and are off set to each other and not symmetrical each side? Could be wrong on that though, I will check.

Next stop on Google will be the Armstrong Photographic Trust.

Sorry I haven't got to a meeting in a while, Finney7 is eating up a lot of my time, I'm already committed to a number of shows and importantly I need to try and keep The domestic authorities happy That said I will try and get there at some point pal

Mick.R

 

[FiftyFourA]

Had a look at the LG mudhole doors and they are more like washout plugs so I spoke to Jim McG and got set of the LMS ones off the Jinty that I can 'manipulate' to suit.

I measured up the ones on the J21 at Shildon and they symmetrical so the N10 should be as well. Famous last words!

I think I have just taked myself into fitting them . Ho-hum, another job for tomorrow.

Peter

 

[Rob Pulham]

Hi Peter,

I have one of these in the pile so I would appreciate you taking some close up's of the mud hole doors and the tank top brackets that you discussed earlier and posting them if you would?

Does this help any with the positioning of the Mud Hole Doors?

LNER.Class N10. Scrap Yard, Darlington. by Mike Hutton, on Flickr

 

[FiftyFourA]

Mick,

Grovelling apologies, after my post last night I had some doubts about the placement of the doors so after the MIC at Shildon today I climbed up on the J21 and measured them again and you are right - the two on the right are closer to the cab than the ones on the left. Glad I had not cut any holes so that is tonights job.

Peter

 

[7mmMick]

Mick,

Grovelling apologies, after my post last night I had some doubts about the placement of the doors so after the MIC at Shildon today I climbed up on the J21 and measured them again and you are right - the two on the right are closer to the cab than the ones on the left. Glad I had not cut any holes so that is tonights job.

Peter

No worries pal, the measurements will be useful if you don't mind posting please? Also do you know if the boilers on the J25's were similar in overall dimensions to the J21? I had in my head it was the driving wheels and motion that was different? J21's piston valves and J25's slide valves?

Looking at Rob's picture I think the LG doors are a good representation IMHO. Sure they're a bit chunky, but can be slimed down a touch? No missing the tank brackets there! Scrap yard photos, although sad are great for modelling purposes,

Mick.R

 

[oldravendale]

Here's my photo of a J21 at Darlington before scrapping. It was very close to 65033 so suspect it was a donor. It shows the boiler accoutrements on one side at least.



B

 

[FiftyFourA]

Mick, from the cab front to the centres of the holes are RH side 9 & 32 inches, LH side 20 & 43 inches - bearing in mind it was starting to snow when I took the measurements!
Do you REALLY want to go into boilers for these ? They were both built as simple with little or no superheating, then a batch of compounds (it seems both with piston valves) but most of the compounds converted to simples but not all ... and that's before the LNER took over .

Then the LNER used up the spare boilers until the first withdrawals in 1929 then built the diag 67 boiler for the J21/24/25/N8/9/10 set of classes ... but there wre type A and type B versions AND I think the J25 was longer than the J21 (it certainly was longer than the J24) as the chassis was lengthened. Are you still awake? In fact throat[plates, flanging plates and many other items were also identical to the boilrrs on other classes such as V1, J39 etc.

If you are considering building one then consult Yeadon for loco/time/date etc. If you don't have Vol 47 pt A & B dont fret kid - I have, all you need to do is ask ... and buy me a couple of beers .

Rob - that picture is invaluable as it shows that the doors are below the level of the tank top (note the nearmost tank bracket in your piccie is a few inches above the top of the door) so they would not be visible from normal viewing angles, lurking away as they are in the dark recesses. Therefore they would not be viewable on a model, so I think I will leave them off.

In practice I would hate to have to take them out every 30 days for a washout as there is not much space to get the various spanners etc. in and then get the door out for cleaning and inspection of the inside of the boiler.

As for piccies, do you want them of the J21 or will you accept one of the J72 (plus doors). The reason I ask is that I will not be back at Shildon for a few weeks and I will be working on the J72 on Tuesday (plus its inside in the warm!)

Peter

 

[FiftyFourA]

Looking at the pic of the J21 at Darlington it shows the covers for the doors, what I was originally going to do is model the doors themselves as below



... but now, thanks to Rob, I don't need to model them.

Thanks to everyone who has helped and posted some lovely pictures of locomotives.

Peter

 

[FiftyFourA]

Nearly there!

Got the body finished ready for cleaning.

And getting rid of the excess gunk from the chimney fitting.


I was going to try using some chemical etch to 'protect' the corners etc. and the black patch is my test piece. Seems OK so will give it a go.
You may notice the lack of smokebox door handles ... the LG ones I bought broke while being fitted so it looks like I will have to scratch build some; that will be interesting .

The LG Ross safety valves are the wrong sort (a bit like snow) but a mate says he has some spare so I should get them on Sunday as we are both going to Manchester for the 'big scale stuff' show.

Last job is the cab. I mentioned earlier that I am driving off the rear coupled wheel and the motor intrudes into the cab, so I am altering the backhead and making a small 'extension piece'. The crew will hide most of this anyway.

Now its lunch, then reading Warren's pearls of wisdom to find out which surface cleaner is best to use before painting.

Peter

 

[Scale7JB]

The 7mm dart handles from Eileen's Emporium are very handy and far better than any casting..

JB.