Elmham Market in EM

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James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
A trip to see Paul Godwin today provided the ideal excuse to try out my Coronation train (still minus the beavertail observation car) on his Bowlocks layout. Once we had got our minds around the magnetic couplings and sorted out a rogue wheel set it all worked very well. The Hornby Dublo Mallard was incredibly smooth. A video of the occasion is attached.

Nigel

 
James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
More progress over the last couple of days. On the mucky duck the chassis is now painted and wheeled. On test it seems to work OK in both directions, which is always something of a relief! A couple of short videos of it on the rolling road are attached.



I have also finished lining the tender and posed it with the loco…

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There is a slight mismatch in the roofline of the tender cab and the loco cab, which is puzzling me a little. The rear axle of the tender is fixed in the point provided in the kit casting and the tender is level. The rear driving axle of the loco is also fixed in the point provided in the loco frames, the floor of the cab body sits tightly on the frames and all the castings are a snug fit so I’m not quite sure what I have done wrong. I’m also equally unsure whether the difference is sufficient to try to correct. A couple of photos highlight the point I’m trying to make…

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Whilst waiting for the primer and paint to dry on the chassis I filled in a bit of time by giving the six planks some paint…

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Hopefully more progress tomorrow.

Nigel
 
Dave Holt

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Nigel,
According to the (Roche) drawings, the loco cab roof is 7/8" higher than the tender (12'- 73/8" cab - might be to the top of the ventilator, 12'-61/2" tender, so perhaps the main cab roof and tender should be level?), but the model looks to have a larger difference than that.
Have you checked the buffer height of the loco and tender. Although you've achieved the intended kit dimensions, there may still be a discrepancy built into the design.
Dave.
 
James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
Hi Dave

Good point and thanks for that. I have placed them buffer to buffer this morning and the buffer beams align (photo attached but I’m not sure it is as clear on that as it is in real life). I am tempted to file about 1mm off the top of the backs of the frames just to get it to sit better.

Cheers

Nigel

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Phil O

Phil O

Western Thunderer
James,

I wonder if a bit has been added to the loco frames to allow for oversize flanges, on closer inspection there appears to be a mismatch between the cab and tender floors, not dissimilar to the rooves.
 
Dave Holt

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
You could try to measure the height of the cab roof or compare it (and the tender) to the scale height using a simple jig. Cut a rectangle out of a sheet of card, slightly wider than the cab and of the scale height of the roof plus the height of the track and use as a portal. If the cut-out touches the cab roof before the uncut edge touches the surface the track is on, the cab roof is too high, if not, the tender roof is too low.
I'd do this simple check before cutting metal.
Dave,
 
Paul Tomlinson

Paul Tomlinson

Western Thunderer
A good point made by Dave H. - the tender axleboxes look below the axle centreline? (If so, the tender body could be raised a touch?).
 
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simond

simond

Western Thunderer
The RCH drawing to which I referred says 3’ 5.25” so that’s what I’ve done! That translates to 24.06mm in 7mm, and my gauge is currently in the printer. The quarter inch would be 7/48 or 0.146mm. I guess 24.2 is an easier number to have in one’s head.

Assuming it works, and appears useful, I’ll add the stp file to resources, though anyone who wants to print one could probably draw it in five minutes.
 
James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
Many thanks all for your contributions and help. I am temporarily pausing on the mucky duck whilst I process all the information. I think I will make up one of Dave’s buffer height gauges as they look to be a fine thing and then take it from there.

The loco cab roof height is 53mm above rail height, which is 13’ 3” so it’s definitely too high and I am thinking of going back to trimming the top of the rear part of the frames to reduce the back height. Looking closely at the loco the boiler (bottom, not the tapered top) does also seem to have a downward tilt to the front so maybe something got out of alignment somewhere along the way.

In other news, whilst mentally mulling all this over, I did get some transfers onto the six plank wagons (all subtly different, 9’, 10’ w/b and fitted/unfitted, so they just need weathering now.

Nigel

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simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Nigel,

there’s a 7mm scale 3DP one on the resources page now.

If you can print it, or have a pal who can, I think all the print managers have a scale function, so 4/7…. your track is EM so it’ll fit!

Atb
Simon
 
James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
simond said:
Nigel,

there’s a 7mm scale 3DP one on the resources page now.

If you can print it, or have a pal who can, I think all the print managers have a scale function, so 4/7…. your track is EM so it’ll fit!

Atb
Simon
Click to expand...
Brilliant, thanks Simon. I have such a friend so will need to ply him a ping or two…

Cheers

Nigel
 
James Spooner

James Spooner

Western Thunderer
My friend has printed up a couple of Simon’s buffer gauges so will pick them up over a pint tomorrow. I have filed the rear part of the frames down by the thick end of a millimetre (a bit of a trial and error job - I needed to make sure the motor didn’t jam inside the firebox) and have come to, what I think is, a reasonable compromise. The loco is almost at the same height as the tender and the motor still has some space to spin…. A couple of photos attached.

Nigel

IMG_5352.jpegIMG_5351.jpeg
 
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