2mm Modbury
- Thread starter Ian Smith
- Start date
daifly
Western Thunderer
That was my rationale for using that photo!
Dave
daifly
Western Thunderer
I presume that you've seen these photos of 539.
Henley in Arden - New Station: GWR 0-4-2T 517 class No 539 is seen buffered up to the stops on the track adjacent to the locomotive shed with its coal supply stacked behind the buffers
Henley in Arden - Original Station: Wolverhampton built GWR 0-4-2T 517 class No 539 is seen at the head of the branch passenger train at the beginning of the 20th century
and this one that I have no idea of where I got it:
That's a very odd rivet pattern! Dated c1903.
Dave
Henley in Arden - New Station: GWR 0-4-2T 517 class No 539 is seen buffered up to the stops on the track adjacent to the locomotive shed with its coal supply stacked behind the buffers
Henley in Arden - Original Station: Wolverhampton built GWR 0-4-2T 517 class No 539 is seen at the head of the branch passenger train at the beginning of the 20th century
and this one that I have no idea of where I got it:
That's a very odd rivet pattern! Dated c1903.
Dave
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Thanks Dave. I had seen the Henley in Arden photos before but hadn’t remembered that they were of 539!
I think I may have to rethink the number of my model - as in c.1903 she looked a very different engine to the 1910 photo (by 1910 she’d been Swindonised with different chimney, bunker, tanks and smokebox door!)
Ian
I think I may have to rethink the number of my model - as in c.1903 she looked a very different engine to the 1910 photo (by 1910 she’d been Swindonised with different chimney, bunker, tanks and smokebox door!)
Ian
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Not a lot of time for modelling towards the end of the week, so progress on the 517 has slowed a bit. However, I did manage to fit the buffer housings to the buffer beams and sort out the chimney.
The turned buffer housings were soldered onto a piece of 0.006" nickel silver sheet to represent the back plate of the housing. The 0.8mm hole in each housing was run through to pierce the sheet before each housing was separated and the back plate squared up and filed down to size. It was then a simple job to solder each housing in place on the buffer beam, holding it in the correct place with the aid of the shank of the 0.8mm drill running down the housing and into the corresponding hole in the beam.
The Smokebox/Boiler/Firebox assembly has also been soldered in place.
Rather than make a new chimney, I decided to put a piercing saw through the mark 2 version, to remove a little height. A bit of filing and a short length of 1.5mm brass rod up the hole in the bottom of the chimney to ensure the two parts were held in registration allowed the top and bottom to be reunited with a flash of solder. Now happy with the size of the reduced chimney I've soldered it in place on the smokebox.
Finally, I've made and fitted the 3 lamp sockets that were bolted to the footplate above the buffer beam.
The photo below shows the current state of play :
I'm starting to get to a place where I need to make a list of all the sundry items that need to be made and fitted to finish her off, but before I do I will turn up the Safety Valve cover and finish the smokebox door!
Thanks for looking
Ian
The turned buffer housings were soldered onto a piece of 0.006" nickel silver sheet to represent the back plate of the housing. The 0.8mm hole in each housing was run through to pierce the sheet before each housing was separated and the back plate squared up and filed down to size. It was then a simple job to solder each housing in place on the buffer beam, holding it in the correct place with the aid of the shank of the 0.8mm drill running down the housing and into the corresponding hole in the beam.
The Smokebox/Boiler/Firebox assembly has also been soldered in place.
Rather than make a new chimney, I decided to put a piercing saw through the mark 2 version, to remove a little height. A bit of filing and a short length of 1.5mm brass rod up the hole in the bottom of the chimney to ensure the two parts were held in registration allowed the top and bottom to be reunited with a flash of solder. Now happy with the size of the reduced chimney I've soldered it in place on the smokebox.
Finally, I've made and fitted the 3 lamp sockets that were bolted to the footplate above the buffer beam.
The photo below shows the current state of play :
I'm starting to get to a place where I need to make a list of all the sundry items that need to be made and fitted to finish her off, but before I do I will turn up the Safety Valve cover and finish the smokebox door!
Thanks for looking
Ian
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
Lovely
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
517 progress...
Yesterday I started adding some weight to the model - principally so that I could move onto the next elements of construction! The reason being that I wanted to fill the smokebox with lead before I fitted the smokebox door, as without the door on I could ensure that the movement of the worm would not be interfered with by any weight added.
A view into the smokebox to show how much room there is above the worm within the smokebox and front part of the boiler.
A more top down view showing the amount of room for weight in front of the worm (about 2.5mm between end of worm and back of door).
A piece of 2mm thick lead sheet was rolled around a 4mm drill shank and cut to size so that it filled the top part of the boiler/smokebox above the worm and motor shaft in the form of a bit more than a U profile, further pieces of lead were then cut to fill the space between the legs of the U but still clear the worm. Using a spare bit of boiler tube, I then cast a lead plug to fit in the end of the smokebox. All of this was fixed in place with superglue.
The smokebox door was completed with small strips of 0.006" for the hinges (the ends wrapped around a bit of guitar string for the hinge bar), and soldered in place on the face of the door. A piece of 0.3mm nickel silver wire was soldered into the hole in the door face before a pair of 2mm Association etched handrail knobs were soldered on to represent the door dart handles. The wire was cut and filed back to the handles to leave a reasonable representation of the dished smokebox door with the handles.
The completed smokebox door assembly with the etched handrail knob door handles.
With the weight secure, the smokebox door was then also secured in place with glue, I actually used Loctite thread retainer rather than superglue as I needed the freedom to allow the door to be rotated to ensure that the hinges were horizontal!
The current state of play - it may be noticed that I have also added the small steps on the smokebox sides, and the handrail knobs on the smokebox and boiler and finally fitted the handrails by the cab entrance.
Next on the list is to make the combined smokebox front handrail knob-come-lamp socket, then the smokebox/boiler handrail can be bent up and fitted. Then it's that final list of small bits and pieces that need making and fitting to complete her.
Finally, a short video of her "running" using a home-made PP3 battery controller - the controller doesn't quite go down to zero volts, so with her wheels in the air she never actually stops, but hopefully it shows that she runs quite nicely!
Thanks for looking,
Ian
Yesterday I started adding some weight to the model - principally so that I could move onto the next elements of construction! The reason being that I wanted to fill the smokebox with lead before I fitted the smokebox door, as without the door on I could ensure that the movement of the worm would not be interfered with by any weight added.
A view into the smokebox to show how much room there is above the worm within the smokebox and front part of the boiler.
A more top down view showing the amount of room for weight in front of the worm (about 2.5mm between end of worm and back of door).
A piece of 2mm thick lead sheet was rolled around a 4mm drill shank and cut to size so that it filled the top part of the boiler/smokebox above the worm and motor shaft in the form of a bit more than a U profile, further pieces of lead were then cut to fill the space between the legs of the U but still clear the worm. Using a spare bit of boiler tube, I then cast a lead plug to fit in the end of the smokebox. All of this was fixed in place with superglue.
The smokebox door was completed with small strips of 0.006" for the hinges (the ends wrapped around a bit of guitar string for the hinge bar), and soldered in place on the face of the door. A piece of 0.3mm nickel silver wire was soldered into the hole in the door face before a pair of 2mm Association etched handrail knobs were soldered on to represent the door dart handles. The wire was cut and filed back to the handles to leave a reasonable representation of the dished smokebox door with the handles.
The completed smokebox door assembly with the etched handrail knob door handles.
With the weight secure, the smokebox door was then also secured in place with glue, I actually used Loctite thread retainer rather than superglue as I needed the freedom to allow the door to be rotated to ensure that the hinges were horizontal!
The current state of play - it may be noticed that I have also added the small steps on the smokebox sides, and the handrail knobs on the smokebox and boiler and finally fitted the handrails by the cab entrance.
Next on the list is to make the combined smokebox front handrail knob-come-lamp socket, then the smokebox/boiler handrail can be bent up and fitted. Then it's that final list of small bits and pieces that need making and fitting to complete her.
Finally, a short video of her "running" using a home-made PP3 battery controller - the controller doesn't quite go down to zero volts, so with her wheels in the air she never actually stops, but hopefully it shows that she runs quite nicely!
Thanks for looking,
Ian
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
Very, very nice Ian
Grahame Hedges
Western Thunderer
Top craftsmanship.
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
A little more progress on the 517 over the last few days ...
The boiler handrail has been fitted, but before it could be secured in place there was the small matter of fabricating the handrail knob-cum-lamp socket. A piece of 1mm square brass bar was filed down to be 0.75mm square, then a 0.3mm hole was drilled through near the end for the lamp spigot, then a bit further back a further 0.3mm hole was drilled perpendicular to the first for the handrail to pass through. The bit of bar was then transferred to the mini drill, and various escapement files were brought to bear to whittle the thing into the form required - a cube with a hole though it for the lamp socket, a ball with a hole through it for the handrail knob, and a 0.3mm diameter mounting spigot :
The finished smokebox front handrail knob--lamp socket (not overly large is it??
)
The next objects of my attention were the outside frames for the trailing wheels. A couple of pieces of 0.006" nickel silver were sweated together, blackened with a sharpie and the required shape scribed on. Piercing saw and fine files were brought to bear before the parts were separated and soldered in place beneath the footplate (I decided that they would be better off as part of the body than part of the chassis). I had already decided to use a couple of the (relatively) new 3D printed GWR Tender Axlebox/Springs now available from the 2mm Association, but because the spring cups are quite vulnerable (as they extend below the frames), I elected to replace these with some small nickel silver turnings soldered in place on the frames (in the event one of the 3D printed spring cups broke away as I removed the part from the base plate that the parts are attached to).
I've also added the Vacuum pipe along the footplate valance, and representations of the pipe fittings on the front and rear buffer beams, and the voids in the back ends of the side tanks have been plugged with milliput (I had purposely left the voids there until I soldered the handrail knobs in place as it gave me a way to get a fine pointed soldering bit in there to attach the knobs from inside the tanks). Rainstrips on the cab roof are simply bits fine copper wire added over long then trimmed back once secure.
Today's project has been to fabricate the front sandboxes. These are basically a cuboid of solid brass, with extra bits soldered on. The lids are small simple turnings that I left a mounting spigot on to facilitate fitting in the correct place (via a hole) in the sandbox. The slightly trickier bit was the operating lever on the top of the sandbox, I decided to file up a representation of the mount and operating arm as a single piece from 0.018" brass, again with a mounting spigot that allowed it to sit correctly (in another hole) on the top of the sandbox. The holes were filled with solder cream, the parts inserted in their respective holes and a bit of 0.5mm wire was additionally poked into the bottom of the lid hole to provide a mounting spigot for the whole sandbox. Once a hot iron was applied the whole lot soldered up nicely (but rather messily). A piece of 36SWG phosphor bronze wire had an end bent over at 90 degrees, and once that end had been filed back so that it met the operating arm, it too was soldered in place on the side of the sandbox. The excess was snipped off and filed flush with the bottom of the box and there completed sandboxes were cleaned up with a scraper and fibreglass brush.
One of the sandbox operating levers-cum-mounting plate
The pair of completed sandboxes after a degree of cleaning up.
Finally, a couple of shots of the current state of play (the dome, safety valve cover, front sandboxes and buffer heads are attached merely for effect - they are all removable and won't be fixed until after painting) :
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I'm not happy with the profile of the safety valve cover so that will be remade if I can't correct it.
Thanks for looking.
Ian
The boiler handrail has been fitted, but before it could be secured in place there was the small matter of fabricating the handrail knob-cum-lamp socket. A piece of 1mm square brass bar was filed down to be 0.75mm square, then a 0.3mm hole was drilled through near the end for the lamp spigot, then a bit further back a further 0.3mm hole was drilled perpendicular to the first for the handrail to pass through. The bit of bar was then transferred to the mini drill, and various escapement files were brought to bear to whittle the thing into the form required - a cube with a hole though it for the lamp socket, a ball with a hole through it for the handrail knob, and a 0.3mm diameter mounting spigot :
The finished smokebox front handrail knob--lamp socket (not overly large is it??
The next objects of my attention were the outside frames for the trailing wheels. A couple of pieces of 0.006" nickel silver were sweated together, blackened with a sharpie and the required shape scribed on. Piercing saw and fine files were brought to bear before the parts were separated and soldered in place beneath the footplate (I decided that they would be better off as part of the body than part of the chassis). I had already decided to use a couple of the (relatively) new 3D printed GWR Tender Axlebox/Springs now available from the 2mm Association, but because the spring cups are quite vulnerable (as they extend below the frames), I elected to replace these with some small nickel silver turnings soldered in place on the frames (in the event one of the 3D printed spring cups broke away as I removed the part from the base plate that the parts are attached to).
I've also added the Vacuum pipe along the footplate valance, and representations of the pipe fittings on the front and rear buffer beams, and the voids in the back ends of the side tanks have been plugged with milliput (I had purposely left the voids there until I soldered the handrail knobs in place as it gave me a way to get a fine pointed soldering bit in there to attach the knobs from inside the tanks). Rainstrips on the cab roof are simply bits fine copper wire added over long then trimmed back once secure.
Today's project has been to fabricate the front sandboxes. These are basically a cuboid of solid brass, with extra bits soldered on. The lids are small simple turnings that I left a mounting spigot on to facilitate fitting in the correct place (via a hole) in the sandbox. The slightly trickier bit was the operating lever on the top of the sandbox, I decided to file up a representation of the mount and operating arm as a single piece from 0.018" brass, again with a mounting spigot that allowed it to sit correctly (in another hole) on the top of the sandbox. The holes were filled with solder cream, the parts inserted in their respective holes and a bit of 0.5mm wire was additionally poked into the bottom of the lid hole to provide a mounting spigot for the whole sandbox. Once a hot iron was applied the whole lot soldered up nicely (but rather messily). A piece of 36SWG phosphor bronze wire had an end bent over at 90 degrees, and once that end had been filed back so that it met the operating arm, it too was soldered in place on the side of the sandbox. The excess was snipped off and filed flush with the bottom of the box and there completed sandboxes were cleaned up with a scraper and fibreglass brush.
One of the sandbox operating levers-cum-mounting plate
The pair of completed sandboxes after a degree of cleaning up.
Finally, a couple of shots of the current state of play (the dome, safety valve cover, front sandboxes and buffer heads are attached merely for effect - they are all removable and won't be fixed until after painting) :
I'm not happy with the profile of the safety valve cover so that will be remade if I can't correct it.
Thanks for looking.
Ian
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
I see what you mean when comparing it to the photos of the prototype earlier in the thread. Rather than correct it would it be easier to make a new one?
Your modelling is excellent in this scale - I find 7mm scale a challenge at times.
adrian
Flying Squad
Slowly catching up on this thread. From the photos it appears that these tanks sides appear to be additional overlays to the actual tanks hence the odd rivet pattern. In the second photo you can see the "tank sides" extended further forward than the real tank and extend below the footplate level, handrails are also flush - hence my guess they are some form of dummy tank cover.
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
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Adrian,
Like many long-lived classes of engine, the 517 class was very prone to variation, both within different members of the class and also the same engine over time. This was partly because Swindon and Wolverhampton had their own ways of doing things, and depending where they had their last fitting would dictate their look.
No. 539 for example (shown in Daifly’s post at Henley-in-Arden c.1903) had wide tanks extending over width of footplate, inside bearing trailing wheels, Wolverhampton style bunker, smokebox, etc, but by c.1910 (shown in photo above) she had been Swindon-ised with narrower tanks, “chair-back” bunker, outside framed trailing wheels, etc!
Originally, it was my intention to model 539 in this later condition as I had assumed that she probably looked like that around my 1906 period (I had forgotten that the H-in-A photos showed 539 in an earlier guise).
I now suspect that she received her “new look” in 1910 as according to the RCTS volumes she had a boiler re-fit in April (along with other modifications like extended wheelbase).
Consequently, I will have to dream up a different number for my model - I’m a bit of a maverick really as my stock is all “layout stock”, in 2mm scale I’m happy with something that looks about right and paints a picture rather than showcase models. Indeed, the only reason I put some of the detail on is because of photography, when running around on Modbury you don’t really notice the omissions (or indeed the detail that is there!).
Ian
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
With the Risborough and District Railway Club's Virtual Railex now over, I feel that I can now put a link to the video that I filmed of Modbury on my thread here (I will also be putting a link on my website in a few days).
Firstly, I must thank the RailEx team for inviting me to provide a video for their show, I must also thank them for the invite to last years no-show physical exhibition, and also for the invite to take Modbury to their 2022 exhibition (which all being well will go ahead in a normal (or near normal) form!
For those interested, the video was shot over 3 or 4 evenings in March. This ensured that there was no ambient light (it was dark outside), the room lights were off so that the only illumination was from the layout lighting itself - this was to try to maintain a constant light level across the whole film. My brief from the team was fairly loose, but they were keen to have something 15-20 minutes long - So 20 minutes it was!!
The filming was all done on my iPhone 7, the resultant footages were uploaded onto my iMac and were then stitched together and edited using the iMovie software.
I deliberately removed all sound (I live on a main road so there was always the constant hum of traffic noise in the background), and decided to not apply a backing track of any kind (I feel that music is a very personal thing and what I might enjoy would most certainly drive others up the wall!!) I also felt that a background of birds twittering, etc also had the potential to not be appreciated by the viewer. I also considered applying a voice over, but in all honesty I don't like my own recorded voice, and again there was the problem of potential background noise, so have tried to describe the movements with subtitles. Therefore, please feel free to put on your own musical favourites, sit back, and imagine that it is a bucolic summer day in South Devon in 1906!
Ian
Firstly, I must thank the RailEx team for inviting me to provide a video for their show, I must also thank them for the invite to last years no-show physical exhibition, and also for the invite to take Modbury to their 2022 exhibition (which all being well will go ahead in a normal (or near normal) form!
For those interested, the video was shot over 3 or 4 evenings in March. This ensured that there was no ambient light (it was dark outside), the room lights were off so that the only illumination was from the layout lighting itself - this was to try to maintain a constant light level across the whole film. My brief from the team was fairly loose, but they were keen to have something 15-20 minutes long - So 20 minutes it was!!
The filming was all done on my iPhone 7, the resultant footages were uploaded onto my iMac and were then stitched together and edited using the iMovie software.
I deliberately removed all sound (I live on a main road so there was always the constant hum of traffic noise in the background), and decided to not apply a backing track of any kind (I feel that music is a very personal thing and what I might enjoy would most certainly drive others up the wall!!) I also felt that a background of birds twittering, etc also had the potential to not be appreciated by the viewer. I also considered applying a voice over, but in all honesty I don't like my own recorded voice, and again there was the problem of potential background noise, so have tried to describe the movements with subtitles. Therefore, please feel free to put on your own musical favourites, sit back, and imagine that it is a bucolic summer day in South Devon in 1906!
Ian
cbrailways
Western Thunderer
Wonderful stuff, Ian. I liked the B&W segment (OK, brownish then) with the scratches on the film......