Finney7 K3

[Dikitriki]

Hi,

After a fairly manic time preparing for the Guildex show at Stafford last weekend, I can now take a bit of a breather and consider the K3, which is the subject of a forthcoming kit from Finney7. I'm doing a test build with the production castings.

First of all, a few pictures of the first build which used 3D prints rather than production castings to prove it all worked. The build was by Phil Gomm, the model was painted by Paul Moore and weathered and photographed by Neil Podbury.









A vey fine job by all concerned.

A look at the etches. There are 3 nickel silver etches:







and 3 brass etches, though these can be provided in nickel silver should the builder wish.







Richard

 

[Dikitriki]

I started with the chassis. I decided to make the rear driven axle fixed, and used the Finney7 Gresley hornblock pack to provide working hornblocks on the 2 leading axles. I'm going to spring these two axles, the leading axle in a downwards direction only, with the centre axle having +/- 1mm movement about the centre line. These hornguides are not designed for springing but it is easy enough to drill a hole and tap 12BA, insert a 12BA bolt and slip the spring in, cut down if necessary once it's all set up.

The first step is of course to build both coupling rods. No problems here, but I do chemically blacken the rear rod where it is between the front rod extensions and solder a nickel silver rod both sides to ensure strength. I attach the hornguides to each sideframe before going any further using a Hobby Holidays chassis jig.



There are quite a few spacers, and the chassis is somewhat flexible until all these are soldered together. Some extend through the chassis to ease construction with the excess removed later. All were numbered with a permanent marker so I didn't lose track of what went where. Bear in mind the instructions have not been written yet, so I am working from narrative notes only.







The lower rear spacer is unnecessary and was later removed.

Richard

 

[Sandy Harper]

That looks to be a nice kit Richard Neil has done a superb job, I wish I could get my rods and valve gear to look like that!

Sandy

 

[Rob Pulham]

and used the Finney7 Gresley hornblock pack to provide working hornblocks on the 2 leading axles.

Hi Richard,

Will you be including a set of hornblocks in the kit when it's released?

 

[Dikitriki]

Hi Rob,

No, not everyone wants them, so it's better to sell them separately.

Richard

 

[Dikitriki]

Hi,

I've now added the frame overlays, the ash pan sides, and the rods for the brake hangers, reinforced with a washer on the inside. The rods were used to locate the overlay on the basic chassis to ensure alignment, with that part between the frames then removed.










Richard

 

[john lewsey]

Lovely work as always Richard.

 

[adrian]

There are quite a few spacers, and the chassis is somewhat flexible until all these are soldered together.

Although there only seems to be one set, cylinder frames etc. Does this mean it's a 32mm gauge kit? Will there be a supplementary etch for Scale7 modellers or will we need to make wider spacers?

 

[Dikitriki]

Although there only seems to be one set, cylinder frames etc. Does this mean it's a 32mm gauge kit? Will there be a supplementary etch for Scale7 modellers or will we need to make wider spacers?

Hi Adrian,

We've been kicking this about. The kit as designed is for F/S only. However, it looks likely that we will produce a supplementary etch to provide the parts necessary to build as S7.

Richard

 

[Dikitriki]

Hi,

I'm going to be dotting about a bit as I'm trying to build the body and chassis at the same time as well as going out of order to provide photos for the instructions which are being written at the same time. So, apologies if it seems a bit out of order!

First, an extra etch. As designed, the radius rod and expansion link were not beefy enough. They now are. Also a new front step.



The new white metal castings have already been produced. The first 2 pics show the smokebox saddle, backhead and firebox lower.





2 different smokebox doors.



Steam pipe covers, chimney and dome. The dome has a sacrificial base so you need to rub it down on the boiler to get the sharp edges.


Vacuum cylinders, both F/S and S7.



2 pics of the leading and middle sandboxes.





Bar stool cab seats, cylinder fronts and resin brake shoes.



Richard

 

[3 LINK]

Hi Richard,

The castings look nice and crisp, especially the smoke box saddle. Better than some of the white metal “ ingots “ that we are all use to…

Cheers, Martyn.

 

[Dikitriki]

Hi Martyn,

They're fitting as well, which is nice! In particular the boiler was level without any work on the smokebox saddle!

Richard

 

[Dikitriki]

A bit of valve gear. The radius rod and expansion link have to be built as one unit.

There are 4 parts to the expansion link. The middle 2 are soldered back to back.



The outer 2 have a bearing rod and washer added and are filed flush on the inside



There are 2 main parts to the radius rod, and the inside half etch on each piece is filed back just a bit to give free movement.



The radius rod is built round the 2 inner pieces of the expansion link and a rod soldered to the radius rod only. This is filed flush both sides and there should be free movement along the whole length of the expansion link.



The outer 2 pieces of the expansion link are pinned with wire and soldered top and bottom. The radius rod is trapped for evermore. There should be no tight points along the length, and make sure the outer parts of the expansion length are straight, not pinched inwards through handling.



I was expecting to have to build the motion bracket round this unit, but in fact I could spring it into the bracket without problems at a later stage.


Richard

 

[LarryG]

As seen on this thread, whitemetal casting done properly can be great. Ralph Jackson put me onto a chap who was actually a jeweller and the moulds he made produced top-notch bus radiator castings once I realised I would have to make the brass patterns in a different way.