Full steam ahead!

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Well done there Tom!

You are getting way ahead of me now on the fun with fireboxes and fittings front!!!

Thank you Dad,
I think I seem to be doing more of the fancy little bits over the big bits at the moment. you've got a lot more of the running gear and pipework done than me :p It's slowly getting to a place I'm starting to feel happy with it. at some point I'm still going to have to work out how the motor will fit once I've even planned out how to connect that up to the driving wheels and worked out if I do have enough space inside a very narrow boiler for batteries and the likes. for now at least I can light up a warming fire and watch that glow away.
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Just a small update today on the LED firebox detail. I decided that I wanted to retain as much of the cab looking like the real thing seeing as I don't really need to use any of the cab controls for the route I plan to take. I was sat thinking about how I could neatly tuck the switch and batteries for the flickering LED's and had thought about hiding the switch in one of the cab boxes when it suddenly dawned upon me I have a lever readily available to operate a switch with a little bit of thinking. I set about making a test setup once I'd fashioned a lever (similar to the Hugh Sanders plans reverser stand and lever). Chopped down as it sat way too high for my liking and designed a simple connecting rod to loop over a toggle switch beyond the cab front wall hidden away.
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holding things tight in place it seemed to work but the connecting rod was far to long so I set to making the mk2 version and flipped the switch upside down to suit how it would fit inside the loco using the space I had available.

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The bracket yet to be attached inside firmly and some more thinking how I attach the reverser lever to the side of the cab. but the design looks okay to me and I can think about making the rest to suit and look a little more detailed with a locking teeth and mechanism and slightly thinner retaining bar.

Sat inside the cab it doesn't look miles out of place!
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I'll worry about spending some time to re-wire and hide everything in a more permanent fashion at a later date when I start to assemble things properly. for now it can remain a bodged together with masking tape ;)
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Today I decided to define the reverser lever (fire switch assembly) a little more after coming back to it this morning and feeling the lever was far to thick and the bracketing far to clumpy. With a quick re-draw in Solidworks and a Jig made up to align all the new fittings directly on the cab box I set to printing them and taking a file and some brass to the lever.
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A small piece of brass sheet was cut, bent filed and tapped until I'd got something not too bad (excusing the rather poor photo above).

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Not only is the mounting a lot more to the specs of the real thing but also a lot more sturdy. some washers put between the connecting rod and switch lever to aid throw of the switch and it works fantastic. I just need to get the wires all plumbed in so I can switch the flickering bulbs on and off using this little switch!
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All in place Looks fantastic!!

One other small detail was on the other side of the cab seen bellow. It just needs it's bracket drawing up

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Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Filing steel and bending brass??? Ah, you're on the slippery slope now Tom..!

Great stuff!

I'm still thinking about how on earth to tackle my peculiarly slotted reversing lever. I might be quite a while on that?!

I can’t remember what your one looks like.. if you’ve measurements for the right throw you could find yourself doing something a little like mine. Probably find a rocker switch would be easier to throw.. I was just working with what I had to hand that’s double pole single throw (dpst- six pins on the back instead of 3) this way I can run both basic circuits (one button cell per bulb So they have their 3v flickering circuit board) thrown on and off with one switch.

I’m yet to wire it all up. And hide all the wires. I’ll tackle that one next week. Whilst I think of it... do you by chance have a copy of this book...
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I’m told it had some particularly good stuff on No. 4
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Well, It's been a while since I've given any updates, Progress has been a bit slow of recent as I've been rather swamped with work bits and home stuff to get time to tinker too much. Some time was spent on wiring and setting up some internal parts to ensure it all works properly. I've now made the circuitry to make the two independent flickering lights work on one switch and put it place the LED's inside the box. Nothing sealed in at the moment for ease of removal if an upgrade or alteration is needed.
I'll start by showing the underneath
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There's a lot of tidying up of wires to be done to get the wires hidden out of sight.

The coals for the moment were made from a piece of stretched out PET-G that was translucent heated with a hot air gun and pressed into with a few blunt objects such as screw drivers and bolts
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a little grey and black paint touched on top in places to give the effect of coals that haven't burnt yet. Underneath a strip of the aluminium foil tape to reflect the light from the LED's a little more and the LED's facing inward to stop circles of light forming on the coals.
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This is still subject to possible change if something else myself and another party are working on...
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all in all I was quite pleased with the glow of how it all looks... and to finish off here's a little video of switching on and off...


Tom.
 

Peter Insole

Western Thunderer
That looks pretty hot Tom!

The effect is superb, with the overall glow highlighting the tubes and stay heads in just the right way, while the main bright light interrupted by just the right amount of black and grey speckling is the perfect final touch.

You should indeed be glad!

Pete.
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
That looks pretty hot Tom!

The effect is superb, with the overall glow highlighting the tubes and stay heads in just the right way, while the main bright light interrupted by just the right amount of black and grey speckling is the perfect final touch.

You should indeed be glad!

Pete.

Thank you. It's not a bad effort for now. I've got a little bit of two sizes of a certain something on order so we'll see how they look ;) if it doen't work as planned at least I am fairly happy how this one looks. the great thing about it is if I shine a light in there (it's too dark to see without some light shone in) you get a lovely ash pile look
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It seems my camera on my phone did not like the ice white LED I shone in as it converted it to an almost purple tone. in person it looked a lot more grey.

Tom.
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Not a huge update but I decided to try a little black acrylic in the cab. I'm still toying whether to go for a more Matt coat to what I've applied but until I get some this was a step in the right direction.
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IT was all rather liberal and a base coat if anything. so there's a few scruffy or thin patches but I guess an un-restored version would look a little lik this ;)
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a little bit of dry brushing on the fire box whilst the backplate was off for painting. I didn't want to darken this too much as my LED's are not the brightest and you might loose some of the detail visible through a tiny fire hole.
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all back together and a fire was lit again. Perfect way to warm up on a dreary and dull spring day outside.

Tom.
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Today a little something me and dad were discussing turned up. eagerly I opened the packaging and quickly set to trying it out before making a quick call in to show him the results on a video call... Wow and behold the idea worked fantastically and now we have the MK II firebox!
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I'm really chuffed how realistic it looks.. it was great getting water into the gauges....

Just kidding! I rather wish I could get it looking that realistic. Alas. This instead will have to do!
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The first trial was with the larger of the two different sizes I'd ordered. Far to big and the lumps really would of only just fitted through the little fire hole.

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Let's try the smaller stuff I decided. after brushing a few of them with a little black paint I carefully removed the backplate again and shovelled the new pile in!
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Compared to the old version it already sits nicer and looks rather real.
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They let a LOT more light into the box and being glass chippings they throw the light all over the place. Helped by the aluminium foil.
Then with the backplate put firmly back in place I had to get a shot of the fire through the hole....
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And to finish it all off a nice little video of it all together...


Have a lovely weekend folks.
Tom.
 

Tom Insole

Western Thunderer
Due to having far too many projects on the "bench" and a few health blips the poor little loco's not really had much love of late.
When at the garden railway show at Peterborough I came across one stall (the exact same one Dad got his raw materials from) I spotted a few racks of various Phoenix Precision paint pots! I instantly started rummaging but quickly gave up and went about the tour of the show, Just before leaving I went back from a good rummage and dad almost instantly found BS224 Deep Bronze Green. BINGO! So I bought it and walked out feeling happy.

Then when gifted two wagons I took on making those into carriages and the pot got left sat on my bench next to the shed. After getting to a happy point and going off to see the BIG trains up at the NYMR and National Railway Museum I painted just a small tester piece. checked it before going away and was rather happy how it looked. I wanted to see what I needed to use as an undercoat as I had read somewhere that there was different colour undercoats to achieve different results (or the correct one for that matter). One piece of the tank I'd already given a touch of black so I put a coat on that and then a coat on something in grey primer. I totally forgot to photograph the black item but did snap the primed item. Left to dry for a few days as I had to spend some time at home "special orders" so when I returned today it was really hard dry. It was previously given a skim of filler to make each end flush and then given the coat of primer before the paint.
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Once I was happy it was sanded back I decided upon a very thick coat of green which brought us up to the point Just before going away for a few days for the big trains...
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A warning was left for anyone passing by my desk at work when I wasn't there.

Today I gave the cab the same treatment and let that dry for the day whilst I worked and Just before going home a few little touches
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Looking a little like the Volunteers had just been going back and forth to it at the side of the shed I decided lets bring her forward and give the running plates and buffers a quick coat of close colours.
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The final detail I thought was try with a little bluetac on the smoke box holding it on....
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Almost looks ready to pull a train... Ish!
Feels like some kind of progress anyway.

Tom.
 
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