Lancastrian
Western Thunderer
Mick,
Stunning.
Ian
Stunning.
Ian
7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench
- Thread starter mickoo
- Start date
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Another one bites the dust, excellent work Mick.
King John
Active Member
Beautiful job Mik, excellent workmanship.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Finally found some time to reassemble the Princess Coronation. It took quite a hefty shunt and more than the cab took a hit, most has been straightened as best possible but to make it factory fresh would have been prohibitively costly.
Warren did marvelous job of blending the colours and matching all the lining.
I've shown it before several times, but have included the original photo showing the damage when it arrived here.
Warren did marvelous job of blending the colours and matching all the lining.
I've shown it before several times, but have included the original photo showing the damage when it arrived here.
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James Spooner
Western Thunderer
Mick,
I think you do yourself a massive disservice there. The final result is absolutely stunning and no one would ever know that was not factory fresh!
Nigel
Big Train James
Western Thunderer
Curious if the difference in "reds" is down to camera settings or background tone, or did the model receive a full repaint?
Beautiful model.
Beautiful model.
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Great rescue job Mick. I can only imagine the heartbreak after the drop and the joy of seeing it whole again. You must have a very pleased customer.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Different studio set ups I suspect, only the cab sides and front were repainted and the colour blended in along the length of the firebox.
LMS Maroon is very hard to match but I think Warren pulled this one out of the bag, I can't see any tonal differences on the finished model myself.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
He hasn't seen it yet
As I said above, there are still a few niggles but solving/repairing those goes beyond economics. You can't see it in the photos but the smoke box has a slight twist in it, it hasn't cracked the paint or split anywhere so the warp may be in the metal of the boiler over it's length, the twist is also at the steam pipe covers and front footplate so they look a bit out of sorts from certain angles.
I've tried to straighten it but it starts to make expensive creaking noises and you know as soon as you push harder then something will give and ripple or fold and then it's game over.
Here's a close up before I did any work, I've managed to straighten it a bit but it's still not perfect.
The RH footplate has moved up a fraction and because that's fixed to the steam pipe cover and smokebox then that has all rotated, consequently the steps have a rake to them. The buffer beam is perfectly horizontal so you can't lift that corner up to compensate and straighten the dropped footplate and thus straighten the steps up.
Looking at the handrail it looks like it may only be the smokebox that's twisted but there's no obvious crack or break in the paint.
Sad to say, straightening this is a major front end rebuild.
Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Obviously after Bulleid's Pacifics of course...
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
If that was mine, Mick, I'd be soooo pleased with the rescue. Wonderful!
Brian
Brian
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Mmmm, I think Mr Ozzy has the right call
......but then I might be a little biased being a LMR at heart, steam, diesel and electric 
Compton castle
Western Thunderer
Yes what he said ☝️☝️That's a Swindon education for you
OzzyO
Western Thunderer
Only after B.R. under Ex L.M.S. men had put them right.
Now to start digging the slit trenches and get the Vickers machine guns out (where I started my engineering life).
ATB
OzzyO.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Here's something a little left field triggered by a discussion today on Facebook about motor & gearbox clearances.
I've been meaning to do this for a long time now and today finally pulled the proverbial digit out. I'm not sure how or when others fit their motor gearboxes or test for clearances; but I frequently find that one orientation that's perfect for the chassis suddenly needs moving when you add the body, ash pan, brake gear.....insert excuse here......
Even when fitted you shouldn't really be soldering and spattering hot flux around drilling or grinding with it fitted, consequently it ends up going in and out during different stages of the build. In the case of the King I had to leave final positioning until the footplate (and at least firebox shell) was completed before I could work out clearances and final position, resulting in some hacking here and there to get the best position.
The upshot of all this was some sort of crash test dummy motor gearbox, one that you could install and work around, check clearances, grind, solder, drill and check side play with ill effect.
The first test one came out just fine, in this case the Slaters SG38 unit, my 1:1 unit has the older slightly longer motor fitted with the flat sides. Slaters latest drawing on their site shows a shorter cylindrical motor, which is what this crash dummy represents.
In time I'll do all the most popular ones I use, building up a stock of units I can just throw in with little care if they get damaged during the build.
I tend to make my driven axle rigid, especially if it's the rear one, so my motor fixings are really simple, two transverse bars that simply stop rotation of the unit under load, hence the solid gear box on the dummy.
Sometimes the motor is designed to float so I make a hook/claw that grabs one of the gearbox tubular spacers. Thus Mk II will have a slightly hollow gearbox with those spacers in the right place so you can fabricate the mounts with the dummy in place.
They also allow you to test several different types/designs before splashing out and buying one.
I've been meaning to do this for a long time now and today finally pulled the proverbial digit out. I'm not sure how or when others fit their motor gearboxes or test for clearances; but I frequently find that one orientation that's perfect for the chassis suddenly needs moving when you add the body, ash pan, brake gear.....insert excuse here......
Even when fitted you shouldn't really be soldering and spattering hot flux around drilling or grinding with it fitted, consequently it ends up going in and out during different stages of the build. In the case of the King I had to leave final positioning until the footplate (and at least firebox shell) was completed before I could work out clearances and final position, resulting in some hacking here and there to get the best position.
The upshot of all this was some sort of crash test dummy motor gearbox, one that you could install and work around, check clearances, grind, solder, drill and check side play with ill effect.
The first test one came out just fine, in this case the Slaters SG38 unit, my 1:1 unit has the older slightly longer motor fitted with the flat sides. Slaters latest drawing on their site shows a shorter cylindrical motor, which is what this crash dummy represents.
In time I'll do all the most popular ones I use, building up a stock of units I can just throw in with little care if they get damaged during the build.
I tend to make my driven axle rigid, especially if it's the rear one, so my motor fixings are really simple, two transverse bars that simply stop rotation of the unit under load, hence the solid gear box on the dummy.
Sometimes the motor is designed to float so I make a hook/claw that grabs one of the gearbox tubular spacers. Thus Mk II will have a slightly hollow gearbox with those spacers in the right place so you can fabricate the mounts with the dummy in place.
They also allow you to test several different types/designs before splashing out and buying one.
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Pencarrow
Western Thunderer
Ideal for static showcase models!