A West Midlands Works

[Scanlon]

The MOK Merchant Navy has absolved itself and passed running trials with flying colours and is on its way for painting.

Meanwhile work is progressing on the Crosti 9F with the smokebox, boiler, firebox and running plate all in production. These photos show the etches for the smokebox

and the firebox

The smokebox is an awkward thing to build especially the "wings" but generally this was a straightforward item to construct despite the many parts. The firebox was another story, there are a number of overlays to be inserted inside the main etches. These make forming up the firebox sides and top quite difficult as all are located on the curved sections. The most difficult area is at the mudhole door location at the lower front of the firebox. A lot of metal had to be ground out before the "lump" could be accommodated.

The boiler also has a number of overlays to go inside. To make matters more difficult there are four lower recesses made up of up to four pieces each and they become very difficult to roll to the inside radius of the boiler. This is the current state of the boiler, the slight "dent" in the firebox top will shortly be attended to!


The running plate etch requires modification to accommodate the firebox. Quite a lot of metal has to be removed from what is a vulnerable area, fortunately a template is provided to guide the builder.

Having built another of these locos I knew to allow just a little more space for wiggle room plus the upturn plates that run along the inner edges of the running plates, although these have yet to be fitted. Finally everything just placed in their relevant positions.

More next week

 

[Scanlon]

Work has proceeded steadily on the Crosti build and has now reached the detailing stage. This is a complicated locomotive and does not follow the standard 9F layout in many places. Unfortunately the castings for the smokebox were far too big as this photo shows

Quite drastic grinding down of the castings was required followed by polishing with various grades of wet and dry. There is still work to be done in this area.

The floppy fireman's side running plate is now a solid structure with the addition of the "titanic funnel"! Again the castings were not up to standard and required extensive fettling before they could be assembled. Eventually it will be hidden behind a smoke deflector. Work on the firebox detail has reached the stage shown in the photos but there is much more to be done in this area.

and

The tender is from the MMP stable marketed by Ragstone Models. Normally I find building tenders to be straightforward but this one has been a challenge. The sides and floor are a one piece etch to which the rear of the tender is soldered onto the end of the etch while the front is soldered inside the etch. First assembly was unsatisfactory, I was following the instructions, so it was entirely dismantled, all surfaces cleaned up and successfully rebuilt.

and

The rear axle of the tender as shown above was found to be sitting incorrectly on the rails. Upon investigation I found the axle was riding on the water pick-up castings, a little work with a file and the axle fell back into place.

So the loco has reached this stage, fireman's side

driver's side

Much more still to be done, not least cleaning!

 

[Scanlon]

Progress on the Crosti 9F has enabled me to reach this stage, drivers side

and fireman's side
The injectors have taken a couple of days to erect using the Ragstone castings. Fortunately the major pipework is accurately cast and the only issue that must be addressed is to avoid the rear crankpin. This requires the pipework to be constructed at a slight angle to give the necessary clearance, however they is little room for manoeuvre as all the pipes must disappear under the running plate. There is still a lot of detailing work to be completed on the engine body before attention can turn to the frames and the remaining bits to complete on the tender.

To alleviate the demands of detailing I have started another commission alongside the 9F. There is no likelihood of mixing up any parts as this build is of an ex LBSCR E4 0-6-2t. Ten years ago my very first 0 gauge build was of one of these locos.

Initially it was built from the Roxey whitemetal kit and looked fine but the thickness of the metal was a huge disappointment. Subsequently I purchased an MSC etched kit of the same loco which supposedly would build the original machine as well as the rebuilt version. During construction the boiler was found to be inappropriate for the variant I wanted. I therefore took the boiler out of the Roxey and put it in the MSC frames resulting in the above loco. I suggested to my client that he might wish to go down the same route for his locomotive and he was lucky enough to find an MSC kit albeit partially built to which the Roxey boiler and its fittings will be grafted.

The MSC kit had been started many years ago and was resident in the Far East and many of the etches had become heavily tarnished. At the recommendation of Dikitriki Cillit Bang was used to clean them and they came up almost like new although the tank sides have a delicate pinkish tinge to them! The frames had been started as well as the running plate but I had to make sure the frames were square. With the chassis jig set up they required minimal alteration to ensure centre lines for axles and rods were spot on

A start was then made on detailing the frames. The material they are made from is very heavy duty brass and trying to solder the springs and ashpan to the frames got nowhere. Out came the gas flame and this overcame the problem. The brake gear was then set up, unfortunately the brake stretchers were missing but a rummage through my spares box located a full set appropriate for this loco. The kit has hugely over scale etched brake blocks and these have been replaced with plastic ones

and


This is a seemingly simple loco to construct but it is in fact quite a challenge in its own way. The former MSC kit relies upon etches to build up much of the detail, whereas the Roxey castings are of good quality and easier to use so they will be fitted wherever possible. In addition a number of whitemetal parts will be replaced with fittings from the Laurie Griffin range.

Well that was yesterday, today Sunday I built up the basic cab, fitted the smokebox saddle and the tanks. The smokebox saddle is from the Roxey kit. It is an accurate casting and ensures the boiler will be at the correct height. I have yet to decide if the cast splashers will be used in preference to the etched ones.


The cab has built up nicely from a goodly number of etches. I made considerable use of photos from the net of Birch Grove on the Bluebell Railway to check for accuracy. The old MSC instructions suggest to build the cab unit off the running plate but I could not see how the floor would be installed on the level. I therefore built up everything in place on the running plate. The rear of the cab is an elongated S and was tricky to get in place. I worked from the front of the cab to the rear which always gave me access to solder from the inside. Only the rear of the bunker had to be spot soldered on the outside to keep it in place before I could use the gas flame to neatly solder the seams from the inside. I will be using the Roxey castings to detail the inside of the cab, I can't be doing with all those fiddly etches, five alone to build up the regulator gland!

During construction of the cab I decided to check that the tank sides fitted neatly on the front of the cab. As you can see they were way off where they should be

The tanks had been built up by the original owner and unfortunately he overlooked the floors were handed. The tanks were intended to be bolted onto the running plate and should have butted up to the cab front. As they had been well built I decided to solder them in place as this photo shows.

Oops forgot to clean the bunker and rear of the cab.

Tomorrow it is back to the Crosti.

 

[Dikitriki]

Blimey, you're not hanging about.

Would the plastic brake blocks be better the other way up?

Richard

 

[P A D]

Hi Roger,
Nice work on the Crosti. Very impressive. I know you have still to clean it, but what has caused the bluish grey stains on the top of the boiler, and also the dark grey appearance of the white metal parts? I'm sure the model will scrub up with Cillit Bang, Hob Bright or something similar but I'm just curious what has caused the stains.

The E4 looks good also, although I know nothing about locos from the London Brighton and obSCure Railway.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Scanlon]

Hi Peter and Richard,
I think the lighting in my room has caused the bluish tinge. The model has been cleaned with Cillit Bang but it is a devil to polish up, there are just too many nooks and crannies. The whitemetal always turns dark grey until polished with a soft brass wire brush. It will be cleaned up before going to the client.

Richard, you noticed the obvious mistake, thankfully they have not been glued in position yet!
Cheers
Roger

 

[Scanlon]

It has been ages since I last updated these pages so here goes.

The Crosti 9F has been finished, final detailing was completed in early May and then the frames were sprayed and re-assembled and tested

A check on Heyside to ensure there was sufficient side to side movement for 6ft radii and it is now with its owner for painting and weathering. Here is the loco just prior to delivery


The little E4 has progressed nicely and has now reached this stage

and some of the detail, injectors and Westinghouse pump

Almost all the body detailing has been finished, the handrails have been made up and fitted on the fireman's side with the driver's side to do today. A minor problem came with the location of the handrail knobs on the boiler side. The etch had been predrilled but the holes were much too low. On the fireman's side minor adjustment was all that was required but on the driver's side the hole had to be filled and re-drilled. Next will be the cab detail to address. One down side is that I have managed to break the whistle. Heaven knows how but Laurie Griffin has one in the post for me!

The frames have also been trialled through the pointwork on Heyside and there were no issues. Subsequently they have been thoroughly cleaned and sprayed up and run in on the rolling road. The correct profile brake blocks have now been fitted and look so much better. One minor problem discovered during running in was that the driver's side coupling rod was slightly out of true. A trip to the vice soon solved that issue.

Alongside the E4 I have started building another Bulleid pacific from the David Andrews kit. This will be 34048 Crediton with a 5500 gallon tender. This is my weekend job, commissions take priority during the week. So far the basic tender body and frames have been built.



35022 Holland America Line built from the MOK kit has returned from Paul Moore after painting in 1965 condition,

Brilliant; just a bit of weathering required to complete the job. I have another one to build but that will have to wait for a while. The next locos through the works will be an MOK 9F and a Roxey WD 2-10-0.

 

[Silverystreaks]

Well Roger I for one am looking forward to your MOK 9F build
Regards
Bob

 

[Lightman]

Love the Crosti. It looks the business even unpainted. Holland America Line looks great! Well done. Cheers, Earl

 

[MerseyMan]

Looking forward to your MOK 9F build Scanlon

 

[Rob Pulham]

I am looking forward more to the WD as I have one in my stash to build at some point.

 

[Scanlon]

The build of Crediton is progressing nicely. The tender is almost complete, the major items still to build and then install are the rear ladders. Once they have been built the buffer housings, tank filler etc. will be put in place, being whitemetal it is best to fit them after all the major soldering jobs are out of the way.

It is said a locomotive becomes a reality once the frames have been laid, so 34048 is born! Here are the components of the mainframes with the coupling rods.

At this stage the bearings are merely fitted in the frames and soldered in place once everything is checked on the chassis jig. Fortunately construction proceeded very quickly and with four basic frame stretchers in place everything was soldered up. The build was checked on the jig to ensure everything was square and then all the remaining stretchers were solder in position and some detailing also added.



Over the weekend the plan is to put the driving wheels into the frames and then build up the brake gear.

 

[jonte]

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

Hi Scanlon.

Only just discovered your reply.

Sincerest apologies and thank you.

Great work btw

Jonte

 

[Scanlon]

34048 is my weekend job, commissions taking priority during the week. That said major progress has been made with the frames now almost complete and work started on the cylinders, slidebars and motion bracket. Fettling the slidebars was a very long job, the castings being made of a very tough metal but eventually they were satisfactory and then set up on the locomotive. The connecting rods have also been built up and trial fitted. In addition the brake gear has also been installed. The inner pull rods behind the wheels have been thinned down to 0.5mm and are now 0.3mm narrower than the bearings so I hope there will be no interference on the back of the wheels. To make additionally sure the pull rod has been tack soldered to each spring.

The outer brake rods are only temporarily in place to allow the wheels to be removed for painting.

The latest commission build is a Roxey WD 2-10-0. The model will eventually be 90750 which was based at Motherwell for all of its BR career.

The kit is the standard format of nickel silver etched frames for the engine and tender and brass etches for the bodywork of the tender and engine. The brass etches are of a very heavy gauge and my soldering iron has not been of much use so the micro flame has been used for the majority of the build so far. Construction of the tender frames follows normal practice. They can be built with horn blocks or rigid and my client has plumped for the latter.


A start has been made on the tender body. Very quickly a sturdy inner framework was built up to support the coal space and later the tank sides.

Following the build instructions the coal space floor was installed first to be followed by the inclined sides. This process may have worked for the original constructor but not for me, the sides could not be located anywhere near where they should have been. The floor was removed and cleaned up then I reversed the suggested build process by fitting the inclined sides first and then the floor. Hey presto it worked with everything fitting in place with the minimum of stress. The main bodywork has now been completed and a start made on the outside frames and detailing.

As you can see there is a lot of cleaning up to do but I now have just the handrails and minor detailing to finish before tackling the axleboxes and springs. The castings for the latter are beautiful but the hornguides have to be built up for each box so I will make a small jig to ensure each box is in the same plane/height within the guides.

A start has been made on building the loco frames. My client had supplied side rods from the Premier range and these were built up before proceeding any further with the build. With the chassis jig set up one side of the frames was tried in place and this was the result.

The Premier rods are a scale 5ft 3" at the centres but the loco frames have been "adjusted" to give more space for the brake rigging!!!! I learned the latter from Mr. Beaton at Ragstone. After a conversation with my client it was agreed to ditch the scale rods and build the etched side rods up. with these in place on the jig the frames were quickly built up and have reached this stage.

Work in progress. Anyone looking for a set of scale side rods, going cheapish!

 

[Rob Pulham]

I have one of these in the Pile Roger so I appreciate all the pointers for when I get to mine. - I was aware of the chassis adjustment when I bought it though.

 

[Scanlon]

More progress today. The main frame extensions and all their associated spacers etc. have been installed and soldered up. The extensions are mounted outside of the main frames and there are two spacers to be inserted as well as some minor detailing. The whole assembly is held in place with 10ba screws but I decided to put nuts inside the frames to ensure everything was tight. With the frames upside down they were tried on glass to ensure everything was level. Once satisfied I soldered everything up to the main frames. The instructions say to leave the screws in place albeit shortened but I chose to remove them. Some of the holes will be visible and I intend to fill them with brass rod.

Following the instructions the brake hangers and blocks have been installed. A relatively easy exercise. The brake stretchers have been tried in place but for the moment I have left them off the loco.

There won't be much progress after today as a show in Telford looms.

 

[Steph Dale]

Roger,
Any chance of a shot down through the frames, please? I'd be interested to see how much stretcher/spacer detail there is...

Many thanks,

Steph

 

[Scanlon]

Steph,
Hope these photos are of some use. I have not yet fitted the steam brake cylinder etches etc. nor the brake stretchers and rods. There are plenty of running plate supports yet to fit. This photo is from above

and from the underside

Springs etc. yet to be fitted.
Roger

 

[Steph Dale]

Very many thanks Roger,

I have an interest in the 2-8-0 version as a few ended up on the Southern in '48; most notably at Brighton. There was also briefly an appearance by a 2-10-0, assumed to be there for overhaul.

Steph

 

[Scanlon]

At the weekend I took delivery of the E4 after being beautifully painted by Ian Rathbone, here are the before and after weathering photos, all Ian's work
and after

Off shortly to Tim Ingman for the sound chip and speaker to be installed. Lastly it is not often you see 3 radials together nowadays.