7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench

mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
First of the A&E models out of re-assembly and into fitting out. For the record I didn't build it so can't take credit for all the good bits ;)

It certainly wasn't built to be stripped down, or painted and certainly not rebuilt after paint but it does look like all the corrosion removal has resulted in a good paint finish from Warren Haywood

I'm sure there are things wrong with it but the remit was a simple one, repair any damage, clean up 20+ years of corrosion, fit anything missing where possible within the budget and send to paint.

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Dog Star

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Drool in progress, an attractive model. This class was used for secondary services so ought to have steam heat fittings under the buffer planks front and back.

Regards, Graham
 
timbowales

timbowales

Western Thunderer
Dog Star said:
Drool in progress, an attractive model. This class was used for secondary services so ought to have steam heat fittings under the buffer planks front and back.

Regards, Graham
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No it wouldn't if it were summer!
Steam hoses would be removed and serviced in the "warmer" months
 
daifly

daifly

Western Thunderer
I have 24 Barnum photos in my collection. A steam heating pipe is visible in only one of them and that was in mid-summer!

Since none of the flexible pipes have yet been refitted to the painted model, I suspect they're on the 'to do' list.

Dave
 
mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
The steam pipes fall under the "some things may be wrong" ;) It's also a conflict between the clients expectations and social media expectations and to an extent (sometimes) mine.

I've also noticed some of the engine springs are a bit squiffy so need to straigten them, they're 3D and only held in with sticktion as they need to come out to allow the chassis to be taken out.

The backhead is almost certainly a work of fiction but that's what's going in I'm afraid and to be fair, from the clients perspective, he doesn't care.

He's an elderly gent with recent medical operations; he just wants to play with his toys after having them sit for 20+ years rotting away with the previous builder. To be fair they may even be a couple of builders as most of the work was to a very good standard, but some was just....sigh.....breath and do the best you can. Total turn around time on these was about 7 months.

The alternative in these A&E cases was selling as part built and incomplete kits for a pittance, or the scrap metal bin. Much as I'd like an order book full of museum quality builds at museum prices, the reality is that a fair bit is low budget get it over the line and make the client happy.

He will be happy, dare I say it "emotionally happy" when he see's it this weekend at Guildford, I've not told him it's out of rebuild yet so it'll be a surprise for him when he collects the 850 and BG Buffalo; with luck the Aberdare will be up on it's wheels as well.
 
mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Brief weekly update and a little more time on the 4F this week, it's a bitty week ahead of the Guildford show so decided to pick off smaller jobs.

Ended up with new boiler and firebox on the 4F and a few other nick nacks sorted. Still a few more items to do on the engine and I finally got back to the tender division plates.

Stood on it's own they looked fine, but placed next to the engine it was obvious they were too low, 4 mm at the apex it turns out, rather than strip it all down and make new ones I grafted profiled extensions onto the originals and blended. There will still be a thin witness mark once paint goes on but that'll go with a decent coat of high build primer and smoothing back.

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mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Spining plates; new month, new project on the bench so carry overs get done in the evenings.

This would have been finished over the weekend except for stabbing my hand with a big oily screw driver, which kind of slowed things down somewhat :rolleyes:

Just letting the paint harden a bit more before adding the weathering and there's some monster cracks and dints in the whitemetal dome and splashers, so a trip out tomorrow for some super fine auto scratch filler to make good and blow in.

Coal, glazing and backhead are the last items to add so not long now to complete.

The tender is riveted but the black just sucks up all the light, hopefully the weathering will bring them out a little more.

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mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
I wasn't expecting to update this quick couldn't put it down last night or sleep well so just carried on.

One last thing to do once the main coal load has set is some fines on the rear deck and footplate.

Infuriatingly the LH side footplate light wash is no where near that bright in 1:1, more like and close to the RH side so I'm not sure why the camera has rendered it like that? If it's not raining tomorrow I'll try some natural light photos and see what they look like.

Other than that and cleaning the wheels to check it still runs, it's all done.

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mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Funny old week, a bit of this (76000) and that (Princess Royal) and some new work, in this case a green box Martin Finney curved frame Bulldog in S7.

As usual I start with the tender and being very old school it uses outside bearings which basically become captive during the build. Finney7 do an adapter chassis with inside bearings that you can drop in, but that just didn't feel like the S7 way; I used to model S7 (and still mix with the old team) and I'd not opt for it, but I do acknowledge it's benifits.

Like any good puzzle, it took a while for a plan to formulate on how to get the wheels in and out without compromising the chassis integrity, detail or appearance.

The kit does supply four fixing screws to hold the middle well tank assemble and side farmes during construction, but they are only temporary; it would be good if we could utilize that....and so it came to be.

I modified the middle section by adding a strip (NS in the photos) at the front to hold the brake cylinder and scoop bracket, this is handy as it secures the front end brake rigging. The hanger wires were secured to the inner chassis but poke through the outer after assembly, like the brake weight shaft they're ony secured to the inner section.

Two other tweaks were needed, the rear brake hanger pivot is one piece of wire right across, but I added two small washers so that it remians trapped betwen the frames and centres the hangers on the rims; the last modification was four new holes in the tender base, 5 mm is a good clearance diameter.

Like all good magic tricks, practice makes assembly easier, first place the wheels in between the rigging and secure the bearing pins, next it's just a case of adding one side at a time until the chassis is built up and then adding the body.

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mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Slow week this week, some bits on the tender fiished off and still some to do. plus a start on the engine chassis.

I need the chassis and cab floor done so I can then fit the tender raised floor and make sure they are the same level, there's three options in the kit and that's two too many in my books.

The chassis is okay but you need to take care with the rocking beams and axle boxes, more so if you have inside motion, there's faff all clearance down there.

The bogie pivot is one of the three point suspension nodes and you have to stack washers up to get the right height, I kept the washers for something more useful and turned a brass pillar to get a more accurate height; I also added a spigot on the end where it passes through the bogie stretcher. As designed the 6BA nut and washer design allows the bogie to float fore and after by about 2 mm, very sloppy fit.

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mickoo

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Another slow old week, lots of hours but little to show for it, it's back to the MOK 75000 and I had hoped to be near finished, clearly that's not happened :D

The revised tender front etches arrived mid yesterday, still not 100% but useable for what I need, I'll revise again and send off for new ones next week or so for those that wanted them.

The rest of the week was spent on the big watery bit and adding the smaller details to the footplate here and there, still quite a lot more to add as yet.

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spikey faz

spikey faz

Western Thunderer
mickoo said:
Another slow old week, lots of hours but little to show for it, it's back to the MOK 75000 and I had hoped to be near finished, clearly that's not happened :D

The revised tender front etches arrived mid yesterday, still not 100% but useable for what I need, I'll revise again and send off for new ones next week or so for those that wanted them.

The rest of the week was spent on the big watery bit and adding the smaller details to the footplate here and there, still quite a lot more to add as yet.

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Yummy!

Mike
 
cmax

cmax

Western Thunderer
mickoo said:
Another slow old week, lots of hours but little to show for it, it's back to the MOK 75000 and I had hoped to be near finished, clearly that's not happened :D

The revised tender front etches arrived mid yesterday, still not 100% but useable for what I need, I'll revise again and send off for new ones next week or so for those that wanted them.

The rest of the week was spent on the big watery bit and adding the smaller details to the footplate here and there, still quite a lot more to add as yet.

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Another stunner in the making.
 
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