4mm Dave's SR Loco Workbench - Adams A12 Jubilee

[dltaylor]

Well that nearly drove me round the bend! The power classification codes are so small you can't read them without a magnifier. Getting them on striaght was another matter, in which I appear to have failed.
The cruel enlargement shows up every blemish, every speck of dust and every fugure thats out of alignment....
It does look a lot better from normal distances, and remeber that lining panel is only 12mm high.



Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

The lining is done, on this side anyway. Easier than I expected, but worth taking the time to get everything aligned correctly. The blown up photographs show all the discrepencies in alignment, but its not so obvious on the real thing.

The cabside panel was given a coat from a brand new tin of Humbrol satin varnish, and its come out completely matt! I guess it wont show when theres a bit of dirt and muck around it.

I've always had problems with varnishing, particularly satin, and theres been long discussions on the subject recently on the narrow gauge forum.
Suffice to say, "the jury is still out."





Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

Finished the lining at last.
With the new satin varnish drying completely matt, I rapidly recovered the old tin from the bin and diluted the slightly jelly-fied contents until they were useable again. Its now giving me an almost matching finish.
Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

U-Class 31610 is finished at last, although I will always be spotting things that need doing. For instance, a bit of lining has come of the cab on the drivers side. Thats a job for tomorrow, in the meantime heres a selection of photos. Please say so if you spot anything amiss.















Thanks for following this build, and for all the "likes".
Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

The next project is an upgrading job on an elderly S15 that is decidedly looking its age. Its a DJH kit thats built pretty much as the kit was designed, and very well soldered together.
Main jobs are a new motor and gearbox (Mashima & Highlevel) to replace the (Anchorage?) open frame & Romford worm & wheel.
All to be finished off with a repaint job of BR unlined black, as number 30845.





Cheers, Dave.

 

[Railwaymaniac]

Dave;

I've been loving this thread all along

Reason is that I have a 7mm 'N'-class loco as a shelf-queen and the 'U' is a close cousin.
And now I'm totally captivated. Why? Because if I ever decide to build yet another southern kettle, it will be the S15.

Lovin' it LARGE!

Ian

 

[dltaylor]

Dave;
I've been loving this thread all along
Reason is that I have a 7mm 'N'-class loco as a shelf-queen and the 'U' is a close cousin.
And now I'm totally captivated. Why? Because if I ever decide to build yet another southern kettle, it will be the S15.
Lovin' it LARGE! Ian

Thanks very much for that Ian, glad you are liking it.

I'm still fairly new to this Forum, theres a lot more of my SR loco builds over on RMweb at: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/2359-dlts-southern-locos-u-class-finished-at-last/ Including, among other things, more S15s!

All the best,
Dave.

 

[adrian]

Despite it's age it does look the part. The loco body seems straight and all in proportion, it must have been a good kit for it's time. I do like them with the bogie tenders, which adds to the stance of the loco. Southern isn't really my scene but a good loco build will always pique my interest.

 

[Bob]

Dave,
The U is lovely and you've made an excellent job of it. Might get around to making one in 3mm scale one day as they were frequent visitors to Gloucestershire via the old MSWJ line.

 

[dltaylor]

Thanks very much Guys. Dimensionally the DJH S15 has two problems; its about 2mm short in the body, which can lead to problems getting clearance for the bogie to swing in relation to the cylinders, and the boiler is pitched too high. There should be no daylight underneath, the bottom of the boiler should be level with the footplate. Thats easy to resolve on a new build, simply file down the base of the smokebox until it fits. No so straightforward on a completed model!

On this model, mods to the chassis have consisted of filling in the triangular cutouts where the open-frame motor fitted, and adding extra frame spacers for a pickup plate to be screwed to. The photo shows the new motor & boxfitted, and the filled in cutouts are visible.

 

[dltaylor]

Fitted new pickups to the S15 this evening, and after some tweaking, lubrication and wheel cleaning it runs like a dream.
So next job is to re-fit the cylinders and motion. This is all in one piece sub-assembly, and although it worked nicely before I removed it, the motion plate wouldnt sit flat on the top of the frames, and was causing a bend in the whitemetal footplate. This SHOULD be fairly simple to resolve.
Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

Most of the S15 chassis problems now resolved, but it has developed a tight spot that I cant seem to trace. Turns out that the coupling rod centres didnt match the axle centres,so they were filed out and bushed, but its still tight. Re-doing some of the pickups now.
Frustrated,
Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

One of the dimensional problems with this kit is that (as previously stated) the main body of the loco is too short, leading to the cylinders being closer to the driving wheels than they should be.
This in turn creates problems with bogie clearance, and it fouls the bodywork in various places. However having filed a few lumps off the back of the cylinders, scraped some whitemetal off the underside of the front footplate, and bent the motion brackets out of the way (it doesnt show!) its now running very nicely with no shorting..
A thin layer of Araldite smeared on any likely contact points will provide enough insulation to prevent further electrical problems.







I dont yet know whether brake gear is wanted, so for now I can get on twith the bodywork.
Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

I dont know why the photos vanished form the earlier S15 post, but I've reloaded them.
Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

Some cosmetic improvement to the body include a cast brass chimney from Crownline, new clack valves and turned brass/steel buffers from Markits/Romford. Brakegear will be added



Exposed parts will be blackened, and then its on with the painting.
Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

A coat of Halfords matt black and some HMRS Pressfix transfers bring us to this point:





I need to sort out some brakegear, then a bit of gentle weathering and we should be done. The tender is sitting slightly too high, but that is easily rectified.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

As there was no brake gear in the S15 kit, we turned to Mainly Trains to provide the neccessary.
MT182 is an etch of a variety of SR loco brakes, and the set in the middle of the etch (for Maunsell Moguls) is close enough for the S15.

 

[dltaylor]

Just in case you are interested in my method of assembling brakegear, here's a quick rundown. The most important issue is getting everything square and correctly spaced.
I hold the first two parts (hanger and cross-shaft) over the edge of the sawn piece if plywood I use for soldering on, to solder them together.



Next, in order to set the spacing and act as a jig for soldering I cut a small block of plywood to the correct length, in this case 18.2mm, ensuring that all sides are filed flat and at right angles to each-other, and hold the parts against it while soldering.





You should then end up with three of these, with the hangers parallel to each other, equally spaced, and at right angles to the cross-shaft.



I THINK I've described that okay?
Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

Thanks to a timely reminder that I has forgotten to solder in the bolt heads, I passed a length of wire right through both brake-blocks and soldered it in place. For the time being I've left the middle section in place as it adds strength. I will remove it if its visible on the model or fouls the pickups.

The next stage (if it isnt already done) is to drill the chassis for the pivot rods. I got it in approximately the right place by offering up the brake hangers and marking the chassis. They're not exactly right, as they're not quite the correct hangers, and the chassis proportions are a bit out.

Once fitted, the next job is installing the pull-rods. I tried to hold the various bits in place and solder the pull-rods and cross-shafts together. It took a bit of trial and error, but I got there in the end.









The front hanger has no pivot rod, as clearance between the flanges is really tight. So these hangers will float in the breeze and the pull-rods will be provided with a firm anchorage to the frames at the front end. The blocks still need a bit of filing to fit.
I realise that both the pull-rods and cross-shafts should be flat in section and not round, but this method gives some much needed strength to what is usually a very light and flimsy assembly. (other methods are available!)
I take the pragmatic view that when a loco is running on a layout, you can't see the innards of the brakegear anyway.

Cheers, Dave.

 

[dltaylor]

In order to anchor the front end of the brakegear assembly, I soldered a new crossmember in place, (complete with screw hole and 10ba nut) between the mainframes behind the front drivers where it would be out of sight.



A second crossmember was cut, to be soldered to the pull-rods for attaching to the crossmember in the frames. I cranked the pull-rods inwards so that I could solder them in situ on the chassis, without accidently soldering them to the mainframes!



So with everything in place and the pull-rods soldered, I ended up with this.



And that is just about it. All that’s left is cleaning up, chemically blackening, trimming the pull-rods to length and installing on the loco.





A small blob of matt-black paint where the pivot rods pass through the frames and the brakehangers should hold everything in place, but not so hard that you can’t remove the assembly if needed.







I hope this has proved interesting or useful.
Brakegear is the one bit of loco building that I find the most fiddly, often more so than assembling valvegear, especially when the kit makes no provision for it.
As I think I said earlier, this is a pragmatic method for providing a strong assembly on a working loco, rather than an ultra-scale approach, which could be extremely delicate.

All the best,
Dave.