Giles' misc. Work bench.

[AJC]

Adam,


I suspect the kit itself didn't help in the first place, and then if you don't tackle the problems head-on, remedial action can become disproportionately difficult when the chassis is entirely soldered construction, trapping everything irrevocably. It takes a little bravery to say "this kit as designed really isn't going to work very well - we need to do better...." - I suppose that's the benefit of all sorts of experience that this forum is very rich in.
One of the reasons I like making these little chassis with working outside frames is that actually it keeps thing simpler.

That’s fair: my assumption would be that the kit as designed was the key problem. And yes, how would a tyro builder know? I’d agree that proper outside frames are helpful too as they offer much more space. Less practical in 4mm!

Adam

 

[Giles]

It IS easier than 4mm, But perhaps not massively - a tad wider, but not the quite freedom of 7mm standard gauge . Saying that, P4 and S7 work to very tight tolerances anyway..... and no one has accused me of that!

 

[Giles]

Just got the motor to fit,plus the radio gear. I've got room for it..... the battery is going in the boiler, the receiver in the firebox, whilst the motor sits within the chassis

2021-02-21_05-10-05 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[Giles]

Fast forward to the end to see it working!

 

[Giles]

I'm in the process of building a 0-14 Manning Wardle 'Jubilee' - a good Aganoria kit which is perhaps not the easiest in the world, but will come out to be very nice, when I've finished re-learning some apparently dormant skills.......

It very nice to have some lost-wax brass castings for various bits that should be, but I thought I'd mention a handy (bug not cheap, if I recall) little device for polishing them.

This is the beastie - very small at 4" square over the base, and the plastic container is filled will minute stainless steel rods and water/brightening fluid. In the base is a motor with rotating magnet at the top. Place your brass or prdcious metal work in the container with the 3/4 full fluid/rod mix and switch on. The bits get gently swished around with the stainless rods and polished with very little damage to detail - if any.

2021-03-31_01-30-20
by giles favell, on Flickr

Parts on the left, half way through polishing

2021-03-31_01-32-27
by giles favell, on Flickr

After about 3/4 hour (Di polished stuff for several hours - It's her machine!)

2021-03-31_01-31-15
by giles favell, on Flickr

Fitted on the loco

20210331_133513
by giles favell, on Flickr

Boiler and tank soldered on to loco

20210331_165807
by giles favell, on Flickr

 

[Giles]

After yesterday's mishap and recovery, in the afternoon managed to both to fit the springs and make up the pipework to the injectors. A very thin copper pipe is supplied, but it is too fine, and really has to be replaced with something a little thicker. I had some 0.6mm n/s wire which gave me the size I wanted and spent a happy time bending up a set.

I also remembered that I could copper-plate them, which was quick and easy, leaving a bright new copper finish. This one pipe in particular needed to fix into the clack off the loco, so I took the risk of silver soldering it, not knowing what that would do to the thin plating. After getting that hot, it was of course completely discoloured, and impossible to see whether I had copper or N/S. A quick polish with Duraglit revealed copper, but bonus - the darker, heated copper that steam pipes so quickly get like!

I will heat and polish all the other pipes before fitting



This photo is from my phone, which has destroyed the colour - but at least you can see it's not bright N/S.

 

[Giles]

I didn't quite darken this side enough - still, it's copper.

 

[Tim Watson]

I use phosphor bronze wire for copper pipes. Bends well and is resilient.

Tim

 

[Giles]

Indeed - the first thing I initially looked for, to find I have some 0.35, but nothing else in stock!

 

[Giles]

Since I am missing a lubricator anyway, I bought a pair from Laurie Griffin, and was very pleasantly surprised as to how good they are (they are really quite small, of course!). I was able to silver solder some 0.35mm phosphor bronze wire to them, so I'm very happy.



The chimney was a bit of a gamble though. It was a good white metal casting, with a very very small off-set at the parting line, but the chimney has a very fine lip between the flare and the stack which got lost as I cleaned up the parting line.
Feeling very brave, I built the area up a bit with low melt solder, and managed to just mount the chimney in the lathe with a dead centre in the tail-stock, and holding the casting sprue in a collar chuck, a oh so carefully turned it back down without destroying it. Risky, but I got away with it.



It's now starting to look like it should. I few more things to do on the body though.

 

[Giles]

All the last bits and bob's are done, including the Firebox and backhead, and the painting process has started.



I chemically blackened a good lot of it with Gun Blue first, and then gave it a coat of U-pol etch primer. All the brasswork and copperwork is masked off with Copydex. In fairness, it now has a coat of black - but that makes a lousy photograph!

 

[simond]

Photographic grey...

 

[Giles]

Body done apart from weathering, spectacles and side chains. Plates are on order from the usual suspects.






Titivating the brass spectacles (After peeling off the copydex) had to be done carefully. My technique for that sort of job is to put a few cocktail sticks into the Duraglit tin over night and let them soak up the polish. I can then rub surfaces down accurately with then end of the cocktail stick (avoiding paintwork) and get a neat controlled job.

 

[Podartist79]

Looks superb Giles!
Cracking write up too as always.
Neil.

 

[Giles]

Spectacles, chains etc added, together with some weathering. Ready for the chassis now.

It does look big next to Gwynedd, which isn't the smallest Hunslet!






This is the last remaining damage from the Great Fall. I had considered making a new back-sheet, which would have been no great thing, but actually I rather liked this bruised and battered panel. It's perhaps not something I would be brave enough to do intentionally, but it being there, I want to keep it. The spectacles are CNCd from 1mm perspex, with a 0.4mm rim on the inside.






She's got a very Victorian look to her.

 

[Giles]

I've made a start on the chassis from 0.036" NS, silver soldered, which goes together nicely. The outside frames are the working frames, which I find is as simple as any other way, and less work than some.

 

[Jack P]

The 'damaged' cab backsheet looks very convincing, you've done a great job with the repair.

 

[Giles]

It's there apart from fitting the motor and the radio gear (the bevel gear is already on the axle). I used the cross-heads from the kit on the chassis, but that was it I think...

 

[Giles]

Finally got round to fitting the receiver. It runs very well, with very nice control. It has a 1000mAh battery in the boiler and tank, so it will run for well over a day of exhibition. The motor is one of my last K20's, and looks extremely small under there.

Please forgive the absolutely dreadful bit of video- it's only intended to prove it runs!

 

[Scale7JB]

Finally got round to fitting the receiver. It runs very well, with very nice control. It has a 1000mAh battery in the boiler and tank, so it will run for well over a day of exhibition. The motor is one of my last K20's, and looks extremely small under there.

Please forgive the absolutely dreadful bit of video- it's only intended to prove it runs!


View attachment 143055

Brilliant !

JB.