7mmMick
Western Thunderer
Right back to the bench after an age away. I've just made a start on a DJH A2/3
( K313 - LNER/BR Thompson A2/3 4-6-2: Buy Model Trains and Train Kits from DJH Model Loco. ) which to be fair is a little old school but still good quality.
My chosen loco with be 60514 'Chamossaire' seen here on flicker
c.1958 - New England (35A) MPD, Peterborough.
Before starting the build I asked some advice from friends and was told the upper works were good but everything below the footplate lacked detail. I found this to be an accurate description of the kit. With that in mind I'll take a shopping list to Bristol in the new year and visit the various casting suppliers and obtain what I need to bring the frames up to a more acceptable standard, axle box springs, sprung horn blocks, new brake blocks, pull rods, injectors, brake cross beams etc
So leaving the frames until I have what I need I made a start elsewhere. Firstly I set about removing those horrible cast on boiler bands, I hate those things. This is a fairly lengthy process and you will see here not yet fully complete. I've also lost a couple of rivets during the process but these will be replaced with scale hardware in due course. 600,800 and 1000 grit wet and dry have been used to get rid of file marks and smooth off the casing thus far;
You can see that there is still work to do at the rear of the firebox but i'm getting there. The pitting above the rear two wash out plugs is how it came to me so this may have to be filled with milliput or the like later?
Chamosairre was the only A2/3 to keep it's cast chimney until withdrawal so I had to use the DJH offering. This is where the kit shows it's age a little, the chimney not being cast through. Again I really don't want that as for me it screams model if you can't look down the chimney into darkness. Heres a picture as I was setting about it from my phone;
I also drilled through the top of the smoke box to continue the effect;
Here you can see the front rivets to reinstate and I shall also use scale hardware for the boiler top, where the cladding meets. Working on the white metal body and footplate is very time consuming so to break it up I've made a start on the tender as well. This is mostly etched brass. The sides and rear are one fold up etch with the sides pre rolled. I'm not a massive fan of pre rolling as it is often done in haste and not always accurately. The tender sides were over rolled and this had to be rectified straight away. I added all the rear detail and front handrails whilst in the flat for ease and here they are complete and just sat on the footplate. Suplied with the kit are cast lamp irons, which is a nice touch for an old kit;
The tender top supports are WM, which is nice for added weight but just over complicates the soldering process. However it is what it is and i'll sort that no issue;
So hopefully here you will see the build completed in a few months as the idea is that this loco is built to F/S and sold on afterwards to fund my other building projects. To whom yet I don't know but i'm hoping someone will be interested?
Mick.R
( K313 - LNER/BR Thompson A2/3 4-6-2: Buy Model Trains and Train Kits from DJH Model Loco. ) which to be fair is a little old school but still good quality.
My chosen loco with be 60514 'Chamossaire' seen here on flicker
c.1958 - New England (35A) MPD, Peterborough.
Before starting the build I asked some advice from friends and was told the upper works were good but everything below the footplate lacked detail. I found this to be an accurate description of the kit. With that in mind I'll take a shopping list to Bristol in the new year and visit the various casting suppliers and obtain what I need to bring the frames up to a more acceptable standard, axle box springs, sprung horn blocks, new brake blocks, pull rods, injectors, brake cross beams etc
So leaving the frames until I have what I need I made a start elsewhere. Firstly I set about removing those horrible cast on boiler bands, I hate those things. This is a fairly lengthy process and you will see here not yet fully complete. I've also lost a couple of rivets during the process but these will be replaced with scale hardware in due course. 600,800 and 1000 grit wet and dry have been used to get rid of file marks and smooth off the casing thus far;
You can see that there is still work to do at the rear of the firebox but i'm getting there. The pitting above the rear two wash out plugs is how it came to me so this may have to be filled with milliput or the like later?
Chamosairre was the only A2/3 to keep it's cast chimney until withdrawal so I had to use the DJH offering. This is where the kit shows it's age a little, the chimney not being cast through. Again I really don't want that as for me it screams model if you can't look down the chimney into darkness. Heres a picture as I was setting about it from my phone;
I also drilled through the top of the smoke box to continue the effect;
Here you can see the front rivets to reinstate and I shall also use scale hardware for the boiler top, where the cladding meets. Working on the white metal body and footplate is very time consuming so to break it up I've made a start on the tender as well. This is mostly etched brass. The sides and rear are one fold up etch with the sides pre rolled. I'm not a massive fan of pre rolling as it is often done in haste and not always accurately. The tender sides were over rolled and this had to be rectified straight away. I added all the rear detail and front handrails whilst in the flat for ease and here they are complete and just sat on the footplate. Suplied with the kit are cast lamp irons, which is a nice touch for an old kit;
The tender top supports are WM, which is nice for added weight but just over complicates the soldering process. However it is what it is and i'll sort that no issue;
So hopefully here you will see the build completed in a few months as the idea is that this loco is built to F/S and sold on afterwards to fund my other building projects. To whom yet I don't know but i'm hoping someone will be interested?
Mick.R
Thinking back across that time a lot has happened for me, a couple of house moves, some forced, some chosen. The day job has been all consuming at times and time has just got away from me. Still, lots going on in the hobby and plenty of building, so there's no better place to catch up than with the test build of the Finney7 B1. To be fair it's been well over due hasn't it but I'll stay away from that and focus on the build. A series of crap phone grabs to follow to get you all up to speed.
