A West Midlands Works

[P A D]

Hi Roger,
Purely by chance this morning, I had a look at your thread for the first time, and on and off have spent the rest of the day enthralled, as I have been working my way through it. The number and variety of builds coupled with the excellent workmanship is incredible.

I look forward to your next post with anticipation.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Scanlon]

A huge hole was required for the chimney to fit into, unlike other chimneys that sit on the smokebox this casting sits in the smokebox. Creating the hole took some time and I found it easy to wander off the centre line and found myself out by about 1.5m. Fortunately there is a half etch chimney base to solder over the hole masking any errors.

apologies for the contrast, and now with the chimney in place.


With this job finished my attention turned to the deflectors and outside steampipes. What looked like an easy job has in fact turned out to be quite fiddly and time consuming. The large whitemetal castings had to be ruthlessly filed down to get the deflectors to stand vertical. In addition the smokebox door has been detailed and fitted.

While steampipes and smokebox door were curing a start was made on the tender. The inner frame was constructed on the chassis jig and the brake gear assembled. The opportunity was also taken at this stage to put in tender pick-ups. Construction of the tender is quite straightforward and although I have built two other 4000 gallon tenders of this type there are some subtle differences principally concerning the location of the tool and crew cupboards.

There is a lot of cleaning up yet to be done and this will be left until most of the construction has been completed.

So tonight the locomotive is beginning to take shape. The deflectors have not been finally fitted as each has three ties onto the handrail and they still have to be made. Hopefully by the end of the week the reverser rod and injectors will also be in place.



Lastly thanks to Peter for your very kind words.

 

[P A D]

A huge hole was required for the chimney to fit into, unlike other chimneys that sit on the smokebox this casting sits in the smokebox. Creating the hole took some time and I found it easy to wander off the centre line and found myself out by about 1.5m. Fortunately there is a half etch chimney base to solder over the hole masking any errors.
View attachment 81360
apologies for the contrast, and now with the chimney in place.
View attachment 81359

With this job finished my attention turned to the deflectors and outside steampipes. What looked like an easy job has in fact turned out to be quite fiddly and time consuming. The large whitemetal castings had to be ruthlessly filed down to get the deflectors to stand vertical. In addition the smokebox door has been detailed and fitted.

While steampipes and smokebox door were curing a start was made on the tender. The inner frame was constructed on the chassis jig and the brake gear assembled. The opportunity was also taken at this stage to put in tender pick-ups. Construction of the tender is quite straightforward and although I have built two other 4000 gallon tenders of this type there are some subtle differences principally concerning the location of the tool and crew cupboards.
View attachment 81363
There is a lot of cleaning up yet to be done and this will be left until most of the construction has been completed.

So tonight the locomotive is beginning to take shape. The deflectors have not been finally fitted as each has three ties onto the handrail and they still have to be made. Hopefully by the end of the week the reverser rod and injectors will also be in place.
View attachment 81361

View attachment 81362
Lastly thanks to Peter for your very kind words.

Hi Roger,
I guess the latter images were taken in tungsten lighting, or is it already painted in some obscure Southern livery? I told you I know nothing about the SR!

Most electronic devices give you the option to play with image. I downloaded one of yours and messed with the options.


Now it looks like brass, but either way the quality of the build is evident.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[dibateg]

I reckon it's made of gold!

 

[Scanlon]

I wish it were made of gold!

Detailing and more detailing but getting there

but more to do including sorting out the slidebars, bogie, splashers etc. Need I say more?

 

[Scanlon]

The last few days have been spent detailing the engine and tender bodies. The latter is almost complete just requiring uprights for fire iron stowage on the back of the cupboards and the coupling. Building the tender presented no problems although the castings for the spring and hangers required very careful handling. The excellent castings are fragile and separating them from their casting sprue was challenging.

Etched lamp irons were used for the middle positions to ensure the half etched pockets were correctly covered, the remaining four irons were castings from the Laurie Griffin range.

On the engine the exhaust injectors posed a number of problems. A whitemetal casting is provided in the kit but I had huge problems fitting copper pipework (wire) to it. Eventually after a couple of hours I promptly scrapped it and dipped into my spares box for a lost wax casting to replace the whitemetal. Fortunately the exhaust injectors on the S15 and Schools are very similar and having recovered the pipework I set to installing everything. Working with brass fittings took me only an hour! In contrast building the live steam injector and its pipework was relatively straightforward.

The engine body is now almost complete with just the front bufferbeam area and deflectors to detail then the boiler backhead to build up. The reverser casting in the cab is much too long, on the real machine it goes into the deep pocket on the left hand side of the cab. The etches do not allow for this hence the need to carve the casting to get it to its correct position.

and

So now work will return to the frames. With the Reading show coming up I'll purchase an appropriate motor and gearbox and then get the machine running. More next week.

 

[Scanlon]

The Reading show was as good as ever and 30915 has acquired an MSC Helical two stage gearbox and Canon motor. This is my favourite mode of propulsion and most of my locos now sport this combination.

With the motor and gearbox fitted testing could take place on my reverse curve test track. For the moment pick-up are only present on the tender, when the engine frames are painted additional plunger pick-ups will also be installed. As expected a few issues arose with the bogie shorting out on the leading steps and the splashers behind the slidebars. Friends from the Coventry Club had suggested I move the pivot to be over the trailing axle to overcome the shorting out issues. This has proven to be impossible due to the middle "engine" obstructing any method to get a pivot in place. However I chose to use a Dikitriki method which saw two stays made from 0.8mm nickel silver wire soldered to the inside rear of the bogie sides projecting towards the cab and rubbing on the inside of the main frames. This modification seemed to be of use but I knew trials on Heyside would soon prove its worth one way or the other.

Suffice to say the twin stays method did not work. It was 80% successful but that is of no use so three heads got together to come up with another method of restricting the bogie movement. Eventually Clive Neal suggested a U type stay from the middle of the rear stretcher of the bogie passing under the middle engine and then upwards to pivot from the dummy lifting link.

and in place

Initial trials were promising although the slot around the lifting link was marginally too tight with the bogie wheels lifting on right hand curves . A few deft strokes with a needle file followed by reassembly and voila 100% running achieved. To be sure the loco was run in both directions on each circuit without incident and then went on to pull its first train which revealed a lot more weight has to be added. The new U stay is hardly noticeable in profile and will vanish when painted.


Buoyed on by this success I have carried on with final detailing. All remaining work now centres on the frames and most can only be done when they have been painted. So for now 30915 will go on display in semi WR condition as this photo shows.

So what is next? Currently I am fitting MOK Merchant Navy brake gear to a Meteor models original Bulleid pacific. This model of 34072 was my first commission build way back in 2009.

I know the Meteor kit builds only one of the first 70 locos but the client is always right.

The kit had bulky whitemetal brake gear which proved exceptionally vulnerable to distortion and breakages. The owner has never been able to run the loco with confidence and asked if the whitemetal could be replaced. As usual Dave Sharp came up trumps with the MN parts which have needed slight modifications to fit the slightly shorter wheelbase. Fortunately I had "in stock" a full set of spare West Country pull rods to ensure the positioning of hangers etc. would be correct. The rear brake casting and hanger are not correct for a WC/BoB but they are 100% better than the old whitemetal ones. Once everything is in place I'll post a photo.

As soon as these modifications are out of the way work will start on building a Northstar S15 engine body and an MOK ex King Arthur Urie tender!

 

[John K]

Hi Roger
Is the ex-Northstar S15 the one that now lives with Gladiator?
John

 

[Scanlon]

Hi John,
Yes, it is the kit Gladiator now sells. I have built two and they look the part.
Cheers
Roger

 

[Scanlon]

A photo of 34072's frames with new brake gear fitted

The brake blocks have yet to be added and the outside pull rods are just put in place. Looking down on the wheels there is adequate space between the wheels and the rods on either side. However to make really sure I shall solder everything in place to eliminate any wiggle room. Once pick-ups have been fitted on the main driving wheels trial running can take place. Only then will a final coat of black be applied.

 

[Scanlon]

First view of 46240 in glorious LMR Maroon livery - courtesy of Ian Rathbone

 

[Scanlon]

As Christmas approaches I wish every Western Thunderer, their wives, partners, concubines etc. a wonderful Christmas and an even better New Year. Thank you all for your constructive criticism, I hope it is making me a better builder.
May Father Christmas bring you that kit you desire and I'm looking forward to 2018 and hope you are too.
Very best wishes to all,
Roger

 

[Ressaldar]

And to you and yours Roger and let us all hope that whatever piece of kit etc. that is accidentally dropped on the floor is always found!

kind regards

Mike

 

[P A D]

First view of 46240 in glorious LMR Maroon livery - courtesy of Ian Rathbone
View attachment 82237

Hi Roger,
It looks fantastic. After how it looked before you and Ian went to work on it, you should have named it Phoenix!

Mine will be in BR green with the early logo.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Scanlon]

A belated Happy New Year to all Thunderers.

During the festivities the opportunity was taken to visit various model shops in Utrecht (2), Arnhem, Rotterdam, Köln, Bonn and Koblenz. This really is not the thing to do as there are numerous temptations and it could be oh so easy to give in to the delights of HO modelling, especially the products of Artitec and Brawa. Fortunately only two shops had any Gauge 1 stock but I did not weaken although in one of them it was a very very close run thing!

Now back at home after an interesting crossing to Harwich work resumed on completing 30915 and the locomotive is now awaiting final testing and then it is away for painting.

oops just noticed a tender door needs some tlc!


With Brighton almost finished work started on the mongrel S15 I am building as a commission. The tender is from the MOK stable and has been relatively straightforward to construct. This photo shows the basic assembly

All parts fitted perfectly although the odd internal spacer was left out as the instructions made no reference to them! Trying to fit them afterwards was impossible and with the clients agreement they have been discarded. With the body assembled detailing started with the brake cylinder and its associated operating fittings

This was followed by assembling the bogies and a start has been made on fitting the brake gear. This photo shows them partly detailed with the rear brake hangers and stretchers in place. The leading hangers etc. are for another day.

Work will shortly commence on the engine body.

 

[Scanlon]

The Schools have been completed and successfully completed running trials on Heyside

and

It is now away for painting in 1958 condition.

It has been months since I last wrote about developments with the MOK Merchant Navy. A huge issue arose with the castings for the motion brackets and reverser bearings which were far too big to fit anywhere on the loco. I discussed the problem with Dave Sharp of MOK who advised later kits had replacement castings and he would send me a set. While talking with Dave I mentioned both Dikitriki and Nigel Smith would have similar issues with their older kits and he kindly agreed to provide them with new castings. Unfortunately none were in stock, not surprising since the last kits were sold in 2008 but he would order new castings which arrived just before Christmas.

Over the weekend I completed all the outstanding pipework on the tender and fettled the new castings. Kevin Wilson of Bucks Hill fame gave me some tips regarding thinning down the inner bearings of the castings. This required removal of a tiny bit of detail plus thinning down the outer "wall" of the bearing. To my delight they fitted perfectly and the missing detail will not be noticeable as it is hidden behind other castings. Well that's what I hope. Today a start was made on building up the valve gear and this photo shows one side generally complete and the parts for the fireman's side.

All the motion is cast although the instructions say to use etches for the radius rods. Unfortunately they have been etched incorrectly so I had to use the castings originally provided. However the rear of the castings for the bearing which lifts/lowers the radius rod was too short and I had to graft the end of the etched rod onto the cast one. I used electrical solder to give a strong joint and fortunately the whole assembly though rugged is hidden by the expansion link and the rear of the motion bracket. This photo shows the valve gear installed less return cranks.

and from above


The rockers for the combination levers and valve rods are only temporarily held in place. The next step is to complete the valve gear and then test the frames prior to stripping down for painting.

 

[Scanlon]

Holland America Line has reached this stage.

The frames were dismantled, excess solder cleaned off and after washing, drying and masking off the various components were sprayed. I had hoped reassembly would have been straightforward but had forgotten that plunger pick-ups had still to be installed and the room between the frame plates made this a challenge. In the end it has taken two days to reach the stage shown above.

There is a long list of things to do not least the brake blocks. Hopefully the remaining jobs will be ticked off during the week.

Alongside the Merchant Navy I have been building the engine body and tender for a Southern S15 4-6-0. This is a commission and the loco is a mongrel, the tender being from MOK and the engine from Gladiator. The frames are being constructed by the client. The tender is almost complete as this photo shows, just final detailing to complete

The engine body is progressing and has reached this stage

The boiler assembly is "resting" in the running plate and will be fitted and detailed later this week.

 

[Scanlon]

The MOK Merchant Navy has undergone running trials on Heyside and this identified a number of issues with the tender. These are being dealt with and hopefully the model will be away for painting soon.

The Gladiator S15 is has been finished and returned to its owner.

and the MOK tender


Now work has started on a Seven Models Crosti 9F for another client. I built one of these locos about three years ago. It was a challenge then and expect it to be again so please excuse me if I repeat myself too much. The build commenced by constructing the side rods which dictates the centres of bearings etc for the frames. The frames were then built up slowly on the chassis jig to ensure everything was square.


At first the frame etches appeared flimsy but with the spring etches added and some of the frame spacers in place they soon firmed up. A problem with this kit is that major components such as the reverser brackets are made up from a myriad of tiny etches which is very time consuming. The fireman's side reverser bracket proved to be the more difficult of the two to build and locate on the frames. It took three hours of work before the final result was satisfactory.

At the clients request most of the lost wax castings will be replaced using Ragstone components. Armed with a large bag of parts I started to detail the cylinders and build up the slidebars and crossheads. Unfortunately I forgot the cylinders are put into the frames from underneath and had to remove the valve crossheads to get them back into place, only then could these items be reinstated. The slidebar and crosshead castings are a joy to work with, simple to clean up and easy to drill. Currently only the inside lower slidebar on each side has been soldered in place, the front ones are a tight fit in their holes but will be left "loose" to aid painting. To ensure the rear cylinder covers were exactly in place they we left loose on the piston rods until the entire slidebar assembly had been soldered in place. The covers were then glued in place. So the frames had reached this stage

Bluetac is temporarily holding the gudgeon pin in place!

The pony tuck as supplied was a weedy affair and has been beefed up using Ragstone whitemetal castings. This photo shows the pony truck as now constructed, the tiny etch in front of the truck was the only etch detail provided.


With connecting rods built up the frames are now basically complete. An MSC 30:1 helical gearbox and Canon motor powers the loco but slight modifications had to be made to the rear frame stretcher to accommodate the main gear wheel. This photo show the frames under power.


Testing has revealed a slight tight spot in the left hand slidebar/crosshead which requires attention. Next on the to do list is installation of the brake hangers, stretchers and brake blocks.

 

[jonte]

Hi Scanlon

Please forgive my ignorance, but is the chassis jig used the Hobby Holidays example?

Many thanks.

 

[Scanlon]

Hi Jonte,
Yes the chassis jig is from the Hobby Holidays, they produce both a 3 axle and 5 axle variant.
Cheers
Roger