7mm 7mm Mick's Workbench - LNER A2/3 60514 Chamossaire

[Len Cattley]

Great to see you back, we have been watching the floods and feel very sorry for everybody who have been flooded out. Looks like you need another Noah

 

[7mmMick]

My time after Christmas has been spent moving on the things I packed up a year ago and trying to pick up where I left off. My first port of call was the inside motion for the J72 as the body is almost finished. Nothing new hear, I knocked up a motion plate and set about cleaning up all the parts supplied by Laurie Griffin. Although time consuming I'm happy with progress;
All rus smooth and I've now moved onto the weight shaft assembly, which is going to take some scratch building as I have to get from this

To this........

I have some square bar and other bits so I should be able to make something up. So with lots of time used up on the inside motion I wanted to start something else and see quicker results. If you look back I was intending to build a J71 as well as a J72 and I had made a start. I decided to pick this back up again and really wasn't happy about the way the tanks had gone together so I started by making it back into a kit with the blow lamp!! It wasn't pretty but I'm well on the way now.......

 

[7mmMick]

My J71 will be 68242 and will have 'BRITISH RAILWAYS' on the tank sides, I have several pictures of her in LNER days so instead I'm working from here, classmate 68245 (copyright David Dunn)


This is where I'm up to at the moment, I have cut some 18mm MDF to size so I can work on a square and level platform;

The chimney is not fixed yet as needs some detail work, nor are the sandbox lids (oh and i've just realised I've knocked the front lamp iron forward. I've made a conscious decision not to make any more smoke box doors opening at the minute as it just eats into too much time, so smoke box door fixed, it just needs a lace pin head for handle on this side.


The boiler is made removable as per the J72, to aid panning and in that vein the handrails are not fixed yet either. You can see better here that I have cut away the bottom of the smokebox front again as per the J72, to allow the cylinder front to be retained within the frames in one piece. A lot more work and unlike the inside of the smokebox can be seen always and a real feature of the front end of these locos. You can also see here there is a lot of footplate to remove between the splashers, but this will wait until the frames are together. Next i'll move onto the cab area. The kit doesn't cater for the locker to the rear or the tank/rear sandbox protrusion into the cab space so i'll get these scratch built and fitted;


Cheers Mick

 

[Scale7JB]

Very nice mate..!

JB.

 

[7mmMick]

I thought I'd have a little diversion away from the J71 and spend a couple of days on my J25. As perviously stated it's a very old George Norton kit (then Fourtrack and finally Gladiator) which brings with it some issues, but I won't go over old ground again. The tender is almost finished so I decided to move the body on a little. The loco itself will require new frames and boiler/smokebox to get it where I want it to be.

Before starting the kit I spoke with Adrian Marks as he has a well documented commission build. He explained that had it been a build for himself it would have gone very differently, but because of the commission side of things he built the kit as was. If you have a look here you will see the firebox is brass section soldered to brass tube;

Blog- Buckjumper's Blog - LNER J25 in 0 gauge: The abridged build. - Layout & Workbench Content

Not ideal, so I set about rolling a boiler and firebox from 10thou N/s. The kit supplies the riveted smoke box wrapper and front, so I also made up the back of the smoke and internal wrapper from N/S.

The tube in the kit is too long and protrudes through the spectacle plate as per the prototype, here you can see this and the kit option for firebox sides;

For the rear of the tube is a former which looks to have a fire hole door, I'm assuming this is a very early option and not used as there is a white metal backhead in the kit. I used this former for the rear and copied it for what would be the cladding around the throat plate;


A few hours work went into this but I'm really happy with the result and I think it's a lot better than the brass tube option. I chose to end the firebox against the spectacle plate and like my other models this assembly will be removable. Offered to the footplate and cab there is an obvious gap around the spectacle plate, no issue here as there is beading to fit which will cover it nicely. At the moment the dome and cab roof are just sat in place and the chimney is only tacked on, this allows any final slight adjustment later. I do like to view a model over a few days from different angles to make sure the chimney and dome look right;


I'll push a bit further on with the body now but I can't do anything on the frames until I get a GA from the NRM and get my wheels turned up. I was lucky enough to drop on some Alan Harris wheels at Telford the year before last and once I have the cash they'll be off to Col Dowling for turning, I daren't touch them myself!!

Mick.R

 

[Pencarrow]

Just a quick update as to whats happening on my Workbench. First job was to set about hacking up my BV's so that I could fit sprung W-irons and S7 wheels. What a pain in the backside this was, I went through a job lot of blades and made a right mess

[attachimg=1]


[attachimg=2]


I also had a day out to Shildon and took some pictures of an LNER van there to model the vacum cylinder assembley and underframe details. The BR vans didn't have these fitted,

[attachimg=3]


Not a great picture but it was inside a goods shed Both vans are nearly finished and this one needs the vacum cylinder and another few bits finishing. Couplings and buffers fitted for now for the West Mersea test run

[attachimg=4]


Also nearly there on the Tube wagon, I just need some suitable axleboes, door chains ( from the place Steph recommended ) and a replacement buffer. I bought some JP recommended for Invertrain but managed to damage one housing beyond repair A trip to Halifax in June should source these parts.

[attachimg=5]


ATB Mick

Mick, thanks for posting the picture below, just what I needed for my own backdating of the 7mm Slaters BR brake kit.


Here's my van underway:



I don't suppose anyone knows how the crank and pull rod on the end of the V attach to the handbrake?

 

[7mmMick]

Hi Chris,

Sorry I'm not sure how that works but i'll have a look through my pictures when I get a chance. I'm glad my thread was of help, the pictures are of an LNER van at Shildon. Unfortunately at the time it was inside the goods shed and the pictures aren't great. I keep meaning to take some more the next time i'm up there as it now lives outside. Great job on your van, I do like these kits and I have two to build at some stage.

Cheers Mick.R

 

[7mmMick]

As promised I have continued a little on the J25 body, adding castings brings it to life and all parts here are fixed. Everything you see is LG apart from the whistle which is a kit original and looks the part so not replaced. The front splashers are on, which brings it to life and adds that character NER front end. The only pain being that there is no representation on how they fix to the foot plate. This is how they should look;

Both the front and centre splashers bolt to the foot plate thus. A while ago I saw Nick Dunhill had used some riveted strip from a company called scale link on a build of his and i have used some here to represent this feature;



I know there may be a few too many bolt heads but I think it lifts the model. One down, three to go. It maybe me but it seems that with this kit being about 35 years old the brass seems to tarnish back up really quick?

Cheers Mick.R

 

[AJC]

Superb neat work there Mick and the rivet strip really makes a difference, even in 4mm scale, so it really should be present in 7mm where it's much easier to execute.

Adam

 

[7mmMick]

I've also been back on the J71, jumping between the two at the minute seems to work motivation wise. I've finally found a suitable chimney, which is a very old George Norton one. I've used scale hardware to add the bolt detail and although I damaged the very thin edge a little whilst doing this I think I've managed to repair it. Moving to the cab I've made up the tanks as previously discussed as they're not supplied. These were cut from 10thou N/S. And I've also used some 1.5 mm brass angle behind the handrails as again this is not represented in the kit. Just the cab doors to fit, but not till the end as there's a timber veneer floor to fit. This will hide the unsightly gaps nicely;

Again i've used the riveted strip for the splashers as it's not provided by the kit, the picture shows it needs some tweaking. That'll teach me for not using enough solder! The NER tapered handrails are again LG. I then moved onto the coal rails. All these types of ex-North Eastern tanks had their coal rails plated in for the majority of their lives, certainly in BR days. In the past I've made up sides and end in separate parts and then soldered the rails on, invariably this is a really long job and the slightest bit too much heat sees it all falling to bits. This time round I have opted for a different approach and so far it has served me well. I've cut the whole section from 10thous N/S and scribed the corners to bend it as one piece;

I then fixed it with 188 solder and started fitting the rails, using 1mm half round brass bar, with 145 solder. So far so good, one down two to go.



Mick.R

 

[Scale7JB]

Beautiful work as ever mate..

JB.

 

[Dikitriki]

Hi Mick,

Lovely clean, square and tidy work - very nice.

One thing I noticed about the splasher securing strip is how thick it is. I wonder whether you may be better off using some thicker scrap etch or bar and drilling the holes for scale hardware bolts There aren't that many bolts.

Or make your own riveted strip using the technique shown on the scratchbuilding a wagon thread Steel 13T PO Wagon - the practicals | Western Thunder

Cheers,

Richard

 

[7mmMick]

Hi Mick,

Lovely clean, square and tidy work - very nice.

One thing I noticed about the splasher securing strip is how thick it is. I wonder whether you may be better off using some thicker scrap etch or bar and drilling the holes for scale hardware bolts There aren't that many bolts.

Or make your own riveted strip using the technique shown on the scratchbuilding a wagon thread Steel 13T PO Wagon - the practicals | Western Thunder

Cheers,

Richard

Thanks for the positive comments everyone. I know what you mean Richard, the strip I've used is certainly understated and your approach would be nearer the real thing. I thought about punching some rivets on 10thou N/S maybe but the truth is I'm not that confident of centre punching a long straight run to achieve the result I want. So I guess this is a compromise, not good I know, cringing typing it. I shall mull it over until I return to the bench,

Cheers Mick.R

 

[mickoo]

If your going to punch a thin strip then punch a strip that is at least three times as big as you want and then trim back to size, that way you'll minimise distortion when punching, I'd get a GW rivet punch too, may be an expense you don't want, but for ease and accuracy it's worth every penny.

It's too late now but I would of made the riveted strip a plate that fits under the splasher / sand box, soldered to the frame and then solder the sandbox / splasher on top and finally trimmed the inside to clear the wheels.

Mick D

 

[Pencarrow]

Hi Chris,

Sorry I'm not sure how that works but i'll have a look through my pictures when I get a chance. I'm glad my thread was of help, the pictures are of an LNER van at Shildon. Unfortunately at the time it was inside the goods shed and the pictures aren't great. I keep meaning to take some more the next time i'm up there as it now lives outside. Great job on your van, I do like these kits and I have two to build at some stage.

Cheers Mick.R

Thanks Mick,

The bodge arrangement I went for is in the photo below:


And current state of play is below plus some primer...

 

[7mmMick]

If your going to punch a thin strip then punch a strip that is at least three times as big as you want and then trim back to size, that way you'll minimise distortion when punching, I'd get a GW rivet punch too, may be an expense you don't want, but for ease and accuracy it's worth every penny.

It's too late now but I would of made the riveted strip a plate that fits under the splasher / sand box, soldered to the frame and then solder the sandbox / splasher on top and finally trimmed the inside to clear the wheels.

Mick D

I have a GW rivet tool and if i'm honest I went down the preformed strip route as a time saver and thought it looked ok. I'm still mulling that over though? I like the idea of making the riveted section to fit under the splasher, that would have been much neater. One for the future I think pal

Mick.R

 

[7mmMick]

Thanks Mick,

The bodge arrangement I went for is in the photo below:
View attachment 53549

And current state of play is below plus some primer...
View attachment 53550

Nice job Chris, seems like a good representation and as long as the bits can be seen in shadow then thats ideal,

Mick.R

 

[7mmMick]

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

 

[Silverystreaks]

Mick

Having built a DJH A1, A2 and A3 kits over the last decade I'm pretty familiar with their construction. I've always fancied an A2/3 so will be following this one with great interest

Regards
Bob

 

[dibateg]

Nice to see you back at the bench Mick!

Best wishes to you and your family for Xmas and have a great 2018!

Regards
Tony