7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Slowly slowly catchy monkey.

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Firebox rear profile now matches the flange plate on the cab front, the firebox is only loosely positioned, but should square up nicely once the fixings are in place.

Head on.

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Boiler rear template in position to check size and position.

Overhead, probably the most important angle besides side on

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Centred on cab and frames so it's square all round.

Side profile.

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Hard to get a real feel without the cab roof on, but much better than the original, overhead spot light makes the top look domed, it's not.....I don't think, if it is it won't be for long ;)

Next step is to work out how to plug the big hole in the cab front and work out some way of fixing the firebox rear to said item, then the dreadful task of rounding off the shoulders whilst trying to keep the radius uniform and mirrored across the centre line. Once I'm happy with that I'll then drill for the fittings and hand rails.

MD
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Looking very good - much better than any plastic/resin replacement. :D

then the dreadful task of rounding off the shoulders whilst trying to keep the radius uniform and mirrored across the centre line.
I think it's one of those jobs that is actually more daunting than it actually is in practice. Having done a couple all I would suggest is to use a nice big* file to start - do not mess around with needle files. This is my usual weapon of choice for these jobs.
IMG_1417.jpg

a good 6" file allows good control and allows an even finish across the radius as you have plenty of travel and control to roll the file around the radius. I then usually finish off with various grades of wet and dry.


* okay I realise that a 6" file isn't a big file per se but for 7mm modelling it's one of the larger ones I'd use.:p
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
Morning mate. Great job. Don't want to be the harbinger of doom but I'm willing to bet that the boiler was designed to fit the wrong firebox, so you're going to have to modify that too......a lot. This sort of thing always happens with these crap kits.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Nick, actually I'm betting it won't, simply on the grounds that the original firebox didn't fit the boiler in the first place. I'm hoping I'm right but expecting to be wrong lol.
 

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
* okay I realise that a 6" file isn't a big file per se but for 7mm modelling it's one of the larger ones I'd use.:p

A 6" file is about as big as you'll ever need for 7mm. When I've formed radii ? around a firebox front I've always started with the top first and then the vertical sides, finding it's easier to form the corners after.

Col.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Little closer. Reality is a lot of work and little to show but it's getting there.

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Firebox and boiler now all fabricated and joined up. The original boiler wasn't up to it, few little issues so I ended up copying the outline onto some spare 10 thou. The main issues were the holes for the pipe brackets, so large that the bracket nearly fell through, they would of required backing pieces and gap filling; the other issue was a set of half etched lines to show where the boiler bands go, they were too big (deep) and too wide and would of required filling. In the end I did roll the kit boiler and make sure it was the right size and shape, it was, give or take the little trim factor often added.

Chimney placed to give an idea of the basic completed engine, very hard visualize if something is right with other parts missing, we're so used to seeing complete engines it's hard to assess shape and placement when key components are missing....for me anyway.

Side view.

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Boiler has a little kick down at the front and chimney looks a little low when compared to the crown. After checking over and measuring up I've found that the saddle is 1 mm too low (I'd just copied the kit parts), I added a 1 mm spacer and the overall effect was much better. The footplate isn't bowed, it's the lens angle....honest guv!

Cab interior.

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To secure the rear end the hole in the cab front was plugged and three screw holes added, to the right the reverser stand and control mechanism is just placed there for visuals.

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With the three screws in place the backhead no longer sits flush with the cab front, this is actually a good thing, as the backhead is very thin, too thin in fact. This will require a profiled plug to be inserted, basically a rear face and a strip all around the perimeter to space the backhead from the cab front by 5 mm and clear the firebox fixing screws.

Looking at the cab floor you can see the outline of where the backhead should go, toward the rear by 5 mm; this will place the backhead in the right plane when looking through the side window.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Nick, yes and no....long yarn...sigh.

Anyway continuing our crawl through treacle.

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I totted up this weekends hours....stupid thing to do! I have to say it wasn't productive, but we do now have splashes, smokebox saddle and a boiler assembly. The washout plugs are to die for tiny turnings, 2 mm hole, drop them in, flash some solder around the rim and they look beautiful.

Funnel also fixed, or is it chimney? Must look that up at some point. Safety valve and bonnet just placed in position, the casting is ok but it'll need a lot of work to get it to sit down and give a nice tight joint.

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The narrow gauge frames really show up here, the footplate has been extended inward to reach them and leaves the splasher all the way out there on it's own in the correct location, fortunately there are some rocker arm covers to go in that void which will reduce the visual effect and hopefully make it all but invisible.

Side view.

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Ouch, still not right in profile, it's taken two days to work it out, the footplate on it's own is fine, the boiler on it's own is fine, but together there's something not quite right. I thought it was the smokebox saddle but that actually was right and the double chimney is actually quite squat on the 1:1 engines, shorter than the single blast pipe.

The problem is the downward kick to the front end of the smokebox which turns out to be the firebox rear, it's too high so needs dropping down a touch.
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
That looks as though it's getting there (though I'm reminded how inelegant the double chimney fitted to the Counties was).

Funnel also fixed, or is it chimney?

I'm not certain about the GW terminology but most railway manufacturers seem to have called them chimneys. The exceptions included Sentinel, who always called them funnels - they started making kit for ships though, so that isn't surprising.

Adam
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
A small update, lots of work but little to show for it.

IMG_0032.jpg

Boiler fittings fitted and started work on the front end of the chassis, kit cylinder wrappers went straight in the scrap box and front sandboxes needed fabricating. The safety valve bonnet isn't fixed yet, the base needs a little tweak here and there to get it to sit down perfectly.

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Side view, much happier with the overall shape now, it's been a trial but it's getting there.

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Hopefully complete the other side cylinder and slide bar area, fabricate the bogie and check clearances before going back up stairs to the footplate for more scratch building.
 

Dan Randall

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick

Cracking work so far, but I'm afraid there may be something amiss with the cylinders. Comparing your picture with one of the prototype, the angle between the sloping and vertical part of the wrapper, seems to start in the wrong place. The vertical part looks too deep and the slope too shallow, or is just my imagination?....

IMG_0032.jpg

1026 (1).jpg

(Copyright unknown - image found on Internet and included to illustrate a point. Admin please delete if necessary).


Regards

Dan
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Dan, you're not wrong and this is where I'm afraid I have to cross the line and perhaps be a touch unprofessional.

The kit cylinders are crap, just about everything is wrong, the turnings, the cover plates, no relief valves, the shape and size; of course you don't find any of this out until you're this far through the build and add the main assemblies together.

The main problem is that the cylinders are not bolt on, they form the main structural assembly point at the front, to change them now means a complete strip down of the whole chassis and new ones making, as well as taking all the castings off and slide bars etc.

This was supposed to be a quick build out of the box, but has turned into 8 weeks of scratch building hell, actually, if I had started as a pure scratch build from the ground up it would probably have been easier.

I will never ever touch another Warren Shepard kit again.

Okay rant over. The crease in the cylinder casing does vary, some are higher than others, but it'd be inches on the real thing, but it is noticeable; your image isn't helped by the fact that the AWS conduit runs across the top, giving a false indication of the bend in relation to the footplate top.

A view from the other side shows it a lot better.

Image1.jpg

It also hasn't helped there being a shadow on the model by a poorly placed lamp. Measuring off the GA the bend should be just over 5 mm from the footplate, but I don't know if that's a high or low bend on the real engine; the model is 6 mm.

The biggest problem is the width, the flat areas are too narrow by a couple of mm so that exaggerates the sloped area, the cover should be in line with the valance, it's not. In addition, to get the valance to fit and match up with other parts, it has to be moved out a bit from the real location, this increases the gap between valance and cylinder wrapper even further.

To be blunt, given the far bigger disaster areas on the kit, I wasn't getting overly excited about the slight cylinder mis shape, especially as I know the amount of effort required to correct it at this stage, and, other larger problem areas still left to tackle.....give me strength!

Full strip down is not happening, so the only way is to adjust the shape in situ, there's two ways to do this. Pull the casing off and bin it (it might survive and reform to the new profile without too much damage) with the original kit ones, then try and make a fillet with a butt joint to the front and rear faces and blend it in, that's going to be almost impossible with the turnings in place, you just can't get a file in to smooth the face.

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Fillets in red, area to be smoothed in green oval, front and rear.

Problem is, once it's all blended and smoothed then you run the risk of the solder bubbling or the fillet moving when you add the turnings back in. They need a hell of a 'lot' of heat to get them to bond, 400°C with a fat tip on the ERSA 80W doesn't even touch them. Even if the fillets are set with 288°C I reckon the heat from the turnings will loosen them and then you're back to square one.

Second, take all of the turnings off, slide bars and bracket, given the thickness of the frames and turnings that'll be a blow torch job and it'll almost as sure as eggs are eggs, un-solder some of the smaller thinner parts. Then, add a new thin overlay front and rear, add the holes to accept the turnings back in, rebuild it all and add a new wrapper.

The second option has the least opportunities for Captain Cock Up and his merry band to make an appearance, but will be the most time consuming. It'll also be an excellent solution to seal that great big gap currently between the cylinder front and rear walls with the frames, caused by the massive slot to allow the frames to drop in. I could also add those three rivets seen in your photo to add a little more detail.

Luckily the other side only has a few turnings attached, see above, so I can experiment on that side without undoing too much of the current work.

Which ever way you look at it, it's layers of crap, stacked up one on top of another. Sorry for all the negativity, it's been a really really bad week, work, home, medically and now bench.
 
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Dan Randall

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick

I'm kind of sorry I mentioned it now, but given how many mods you've had to make to the kit so far and that perhaps your familiarity of GWR/BR(W) stuff is probably waaay less than USA stuff, I thought I should say something, while there was still a chance you could do something about it.

However, should you decide to do nothing at all, I certainly wouldn't blame you - I would have aimed the kit and any deposit received, back at the customer by now and taken up another hobby!


Regards

Dan



 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
Looking at Guy Williams build in More 4mm Engines where there are plenty of model and prototype photos, 1026 seems to be the odd one out and to be closer to the GA cross sections, which show a straught fold in line with the drop plate valace. Maybe the forman allowed some to be built as designed and then went his own way. This build looks similar to Guy’s build; enough said?
Simon
 

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
This was supposed to be a quick build out of the box, but has turned into 8 weeks of scratch building hell, actually, if I had started as a pure scratch build from the ground up it would probably have been easier.

I will never ever touch another Warren Shepard kit again..........

:D

Col.
 
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