7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer
Mick,

Vac pipes would normally be on the RHS looking at the rear of the tender. The Midland did seem to try to keep them close to the centre-line though too.

Ian
 

Crimson Rambler

Western Thunderer
The tender drawing that appears in Midland Record No.10 is technically for the first batch whereas No. 2633 was from the second batch, which could explain the different position for the vacuum standard. The Midland was notorious for introducing differences between nominally similar classes, which makes it such an interesting company to follow!

In respect of this I submit as evidence, albeit not conclusive because the camera angle is perhaps a little too flat, the photo on page 46 of MR No. 10. This shews the rear of its tender and I suggest that if the vacuum pipe had been on the right looking for'ad, we might have seen a hint of it.


Crimson Rambler
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
The tender drawing that appears in Midland Record No.10 is technically for the first batch whereas No. 2633 was from the second batch, which could explain the different position for the vacuum standard. The Midland was notorious for introducing differences between nominally similar classes, which makes it such an interesting company to follow!

In respect of this I submit as evidence, albeit not conclusive because the camera angle is perhaps a little too flat, the photo on page 46 of MR No. 10. This shews the rear of its tender and I suggest that if the vacuum pipe had been on the right looking for'ad, we might have seen a hint of it.


Crimson Rambler
I'm also guessing that the first batch had the curved plate work under the tool boxes at the front, other tender views I've seen seem to indicate that was changed to a 90° angle. There also appears to be some views with one large'r' tool box in the middle and others with the same tool box but behind the front coal plate and with curved tops at each side.

I've looked at that image in MR #10 and I think I can see a faint hint of a vertical stand, above the footplate it may be the lamp iron but it appears to travel below, having said that it's so circumspect I wouldn't put more than a ½ pint of beer on that bet :p

There's a drawing/sketch in Midland Locomotives Vol 2 credited to B D Hunt which shows the stand on the right, but it is only a sketch.

I am intrigued by the two additional pipes that run from front to rear and poke up through rear curved section of the footplate, one appears to come from the engine, the other from a stand pipe on the RH side at the front of the tender.

I like the attention to the little details, the rivets along the side of the tender on the footplate and recessed tank tops ahead of the cab :thumbs:
 
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Crimson Rambler

Western Thunderer
You may have guessed but David Hunt is aka B D Hunt!

The small pipes you refer to are for the hot water carriage warming apparatus as it was termed. The modern steam based system (Johnson & Bain) was developed on the Midland not long after the introduction of the Compounds and officially adopted mid-1903. It quickly replaced the previous design - the first two Johnson Compounds were built with hot water heating and then converted, whereas the final three had steam heating from new.

Midland engines are fun!


Crimson Rambler
 

Crimson Rambler

Western Thunderer
I have had another look at the photo in MR No. 10 and I think you are correct - there is a hint of a fitting where one would expect the bend at the top of the stand pipe to be.

Even Homer nods!


Crimson Rambler
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
You may have guessed but David Hunt is aka B D Hunt!

The small pipes you refer to are for the hot water carriage warming apparatus as it was termed. The modern steam based system (Johnson & Bain) was developed on the Midland not long after the introduction of the Compounds and officially adopted mid-1903. It quickly replaced the previous design - the first two Johnson Compounds were built with hot water heating and then converted, whereas the final three had steam heating from new.

Midland engines are fun!


Crimson Rambler
I hadn't made the connection :cool:

Regarding the pipes, that makes sense, the one going to the stand pipe obviously being the return run. I think the client requires as built for 2632 so I'll leave the holes in there, or maybe half etch indents on the bottom for drilling out if required, that'll make that piece dual purpose.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Here we go again, another new project, this time a MOK Urie King Arthur dated 1926.

As with any MOK kit, assembly is simplified by slot and tab and etches that, well just fit.

As is usual I've deviated from the normal build process, not much, more to suit my style than needs must. The tabs are long enough to be pulled through and twisted, soldered and then made flush. Occasionally that'll be on a visible surface, in which case I pre cut them short. It makes it a little harder to hold parts in place, but there is no tab clean up required afterward or marking of the visible surface.

The bogie sides have an inner and an outer overlay, the inner is fitted to the substantial inner frame, tabs trimmed and the overlay fitted last; I then find it hard to dress the two back to give a clean edge. Instead I've pre trimmed the tabs, laminated the two outer frames and then dressed the edge whilst still flat in the vice. Nothing wrong with the kit advice or build method just my ham fisted way of doing things.

The leading bogie still requires the outer frames and brake hangers, once those are done then the rest of the brakes will be added to both; I'll also substitute the cast brake blocks with printed resin ones.

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The plan is to complete these two sub assemblies, sans springs and droppers, I've an alternative set up to evolve, not because I necessarily need to, but because I can and I think it'll save me a heap of time.

The springs and dropper castings are okay, if you want to spend a lot of time cleaning and straightening them out and, I'll be candid, the droppers will still look like cast rods, I'm not a big fan of cast droppers. I'll keep the cast anchor points, axle boxes and covers but substitute 1.0 mm wire for the droppers and 3D springs, I hate cleaning mould marks off springs.

Once these two bogies are done then it'll be a quick change of region and tackle the Ivatt 4MT tender for a couple of days to drag that back into the game.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
End of year update, a little more work on the MoK Urie King Arthur tender bogies, both now at the same stage, the axle box covers are an easy fit, the springs and droppers less so, still haven't decided where to go with them as yet....next years problem ;)

A quick change of tack and a resurrection from earlier in the year, the MoK Ivatt 4MT, it has sat patiently in the wings for most of the year but it was time to progress it a little further.

The comparison between the two is interesting, the quality and thought process in the 4MT castings is far advanced from the King Arthur, as is the method of attachment, a vast improvement.

As with all MoK kits, the etches drop together and I made some modifications to the inner chassis and equalising beam retention brackets, it enables the beams to be removed a little easier for paint and gives them a little more flex, it also eases construction and a reduction in time. I also changed the fixing of the equalising beam bearings. My choice, not a necessity, just suits my build process.

The plan is to get pretty much all of the bulk of the 4MT tender done these next few days before reverting back to the King Arthur chassis/footplate and tank.

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I'll not wish a happy new year, instead I'll wish for everyone to have good health and get through the next few months safely.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Mick, there’s some ‘next level’ stuff going on with those King Arthur bogies! The look fantastic.

JB.
Cheers, the King Arthur bogies are neat little packages, the articulation units are....cleverly engineered....maybe a touch too much so, there's little room for error and I found them a little tight and had to start 'easing' bits here and there. The axle bearings are supposed to be soldered to some washers with 90° flanges, these flanges float in the compensation beam slots, except they don't.

Possibly under etched sheets left a cusp in the slot that was hard to clear and the tabs then hit the other tabs on the inner chassis that limit side play on the compensation beams. Once fully assembled the wheels were so tight against the bearings that they did not rotate freely. The hubs pushed the bearings inward which then jammed the compensation beams against the chassis lateral play tabs.

The upshot was to solder the bearings to the beams after thinning the top hat section in the lathe by 0.8 mm, I should have left the flanged washers off (I did on the 4MT and it was a breeze) in hindsight. Once reassembled it all fitted fine, a slight tweak to the chassis lateral tabs helped and opening out the bearings with a reamer allowed everything to float nicely.

I'm not being critical, maybe I did something wrong.

For my MR 3 Cyl compound bogies I've simplified the bogie rocking, maybe too much, but it'll be interesting to see how that compares to the cleverly engineered units in the MOK kits.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
A little more progress on the MOK 4MT tender.

Virtually of the chassis is complete, guard irons and buffer shanks and trim the small 14BA screws that hold the rear transverse stretcher in place. The steps will go on last as they tend to be prone to damage this early in the build.

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David Boorman

Active Member
A little more progress on the MOK 4MT tender.

Virtually of the chassis is complete, guard irons and buffer shanks and trim the small 14BA screws that hold the rear transverse stretcher in place. The steps will go on last as they tend to be prone to damage this early in the build.

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In my opinion the tender for the Ivatt 4MT is the finest 'out of the box' tender kit I have ever built. I'll be interested to see how you rank it when complete.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
No, JB, it's still held together by the tabs!

Paul
Indeed not, the tabs help....most of the time, but be assured it is definitely soldered. The MOK tab system is a huge aid to making clean models and hiding solder joints.

There's a few that I personally (and it is my own personal opinion based on my build methods) think are not so helpful. These are the ones that pass through the drawbar and buffer beam base plates.

Each of these is made up of two lamination's, a full thickness rear (base) and a half etched detailed overlay. You apply the base over the tabs, twist, solder and clean up, simples, then you add the overlay. The problem now is that it's almost impossible to dress the edge between the two and make it look like one piece; you end up with a visible joint between the two in some awkward and difficult areas to clean nicely.

For these areas, I trim the tabs back to material thickness, thus they are simply tabs, not twist tabs. Then I laminate the buffer beam and drawbar plate separate from the model, clean all the edges to make it look like one piece, offer to the model and then dab solder where the tabs are, job done.

It's a little more complicated but overall actually faster and it's a whole lot easier dressing laminated edges when the parts are flat or in the vice.
 
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