7mm On Heather's Workbench - the only one left

Loco Paint and Pipework

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Progress has sort of stalled a little. I blame watching paint dry - on the inside motion and inside frames.

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I got a base coat of matt red on most things last week, and to ensure it dried nice and hard for a couple of gloss top coats I attended the ScaleSeven Group AGM up in the Midlands over the weekend. Happily, paint didn't gum up the works, so I've started applying the top coat in stages. The inside of the frames is in a similar state. The odd castings are from rummaging in the Bits Box for suitable sandboxes to go under the cab. Thereby hangs a tale, which I'll cover in a moment. The other bits are the injectors, the layout of which I am trying to divine from the photos.

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I don't believe - and I stand to be corrected - the 2251 class was built with sandboxes for the rear wheelset. The drawing I have doesn't show sandboxes or associated gear under the cab. However, the remit here is to build 3205 as she is preserved, and it's fairly obvious there are sandboxes. The Bits Box gave up some castings, and I added filler necks from brass tube and odd bits. The fly in the ointment is the preserved loco exhibits access holes in the lower step back that align with the injectors as fitted today. The kit has holes where the injectors ought to be. I fear I missed this detail earlier, so I am lumbered, as it were. My assumption is sanding gear was fitted at some point in the loco's service career, or possibly once it entered preservation. While in GWR and BR service, working mostly chimney first on trains, front sandpipes would probably be sufficient in most circumstances. Working in preservation, where the likelihood of being able to turn the loco and tender is rare, rear sanding would be a useful modification.

I wonder if anyone can fill in the history for this mod.

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With the sandboxes installed, I could make up and fit the lagged steam pipe along the driver's hanging bar.

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Another job done. More paint next, then to consider the injectors and representation of the plumbing.
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
From a quick review of all my photos, Heather, circumstantially it looks as though the 22XX series had no rear sand box but the 32XX series did. However, there's always the exception to prove the rule and a photo of 2222 at Honeybourne on 1 Mam 1964 seems to show a sand box, although the photo is from a distance so it's easy to mis-read.

I'll forward the pics if needed.

B
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I'll forward the pics if needed.

That's very kind, Brian, and thank you for taking the time to look. As I'm working on the basis the build is as preserved, but retrofitted with the ATC equipment and tender scoop removed when it went into preservation, I will continue to base things on the photos Brian Daniels kindly shared of 3205.
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Always a pleasure, Heather.

I have a photo of the loco which I took at Taplow on 16 Sept 1967, so recently in to preservation, and it has the rear sandbox, so I suspect it was running with it when in service.

B
 

daifly

Western Thunderer
Just to confirm Brian's observation about 2222, here it is at Croes Newydd on 16Oct60 with the rear sandpipe etc. clearly visible.
Dave
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Edited to add that 2206, 2231 and 2251 were also fitted by the early 60s.
 
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Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
That's interesting. Thanks all!

Today, while attempting to remain cool while slaving over a hot soldering iron, I shall arrange the reversing rod fittings. Those pesky injectors will also need some more thinks.
 

daifly

Western Thunderer
Heather
Having inspected dozens of photos of 2251 class locos, all of the post war 32xx series have the rear sandbox/sandpipes. From photographs, the entire 2251 class seems to have a circular hole in the step below the cab. There is a slight variation in position which corresponds to the fitting (or not) of the rear sanding equipment. On locos without sanding equipment, the hole was well forward but on all 32xx series and retro-fitted 22xx series locos it was in a more central location - which I think is the crux of your enquiry.
The photo above shows also that the 4 rivet heads flanking the hole were not in line. The forward pair were slightly higher. If you want to correct things, would it be possible to file down the existing rivet heads, drill an oversize hole in the correct place and sweat or glue on a thin, riveted overlay with the correct size hole in the correct place?
Dave
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Dave, I think that would be possible. I'll consider actions during the day, preferably before I attempt to install the injectors!

:thumbs:
 
Loco, Mods and Injectors

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
With the help of Pink Floyd turned up to eleven, I made some decent progress on the details today.

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The sandboxes came off (low temp solder anyway) and I plugged the step holes. I found some thick-walled brass tube of just a shade larger than the original etched hole. I soldered some 0.9mm brass wire into the end of the tube, managed to clean up the end so it was flat and square, chopped a short bit off and bunged it in the hole. Plenty of solder from behind, and a little filing later and you wouldn't know… save for the lack of rivets, of course. I'll replace them with Archer transfers or blobs of PVA before I get to the paint stage. New holes were drilled to better match 3205.

Before refitting the sandboxes it seemed sensible to consider the injectors.

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For once, the kit castings actually looked like the ones on the real thing! I drilled them out to take some 1.2mm brass rod, which I annealed so it could be formed. Previously, I've used copper wire, but I felt brass would be a little stronger in this situation. The feed water pipes will probably be trimmed off a little shorter in due course. The injectors are soldered into slots Dremeled into the main frames, and supported by the pipe that disappears up into the cab. The drain pipes are attached to the injectors, but not to the bottoms of the steps. This allows the chassis to be taken out without major bending and stretching. I find myself quite pleased with the finished result.

The sandboxes have since been reinstated behind the steps, at which point I felt I'd done enough for the day - and it's been a bit of a warm one, too. Tomorrow, I shall make the list of things still to do, and think about reassembling the chassis with the motor and gearbox so I can see if it still runs!
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
With the help of Pink Floyd turned up to eleven, I made some decent progress on the details today.
'Animals' on vinyl, one assumes...

I recall that Ozzyo cut the injectors through to allow the frames off the model. I've had a look at your pictures and that doesn't appear to be how you've tackled the issue; so can you show how and where the injectors part from the frames/body, please?

Steph
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Having studied the photos, which show how the injectors and step bracing works, I realised it would be quite hard to reproduce and still allow the body/running plate and frames to split. Since it's mostly behind the steps and sandboxes and not really visible under normal circumstances, I decided to simplify things a little.

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I hope that clarifies the injector mounting I've gone for a little. You can see most pipework is lost under the floor of the cab, and I've left it hanging - choosing brass over copper means it's more robust and less likely to be badly deformed by mishandling while taking the frames out.

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From above, you can make out the shallow U-shaped slot. I made it just large enough for the injector body to fit nicely. The frames at this point are quite thick, so there's enough meat for the solder to work.

I hope that makes things a bit clearer. Now I have a slightly clearer notion of how and when rear sanding gear was fitted to these locos, I expect OzzyO wasn't fitting rear boxes, meaning the injector and step brackets would be more obvious.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
'Animals' on vinyl, one assumes...

My parents had Atom Heart Mother and Ummagumma on vinyl. That made for an interesting childhood when I started exploring their record collection! Today's activities were accompanied by Meddle, Obscured By Clouds, Dark Side of The Moon and Wish You Were Here - which is where my collection stops at present. My inner completist needs to acquire the remaining albums, but in chronological order. My reasoning is it allows me to understand how the band and their music evolved over time.

I'm afraid, all my Floyd stuff is on CD. My current setup doesn't have room for a turntable, so my vinyl stuff remains on the shelf unplayed - for now.
 

adrian

Flying Squad
My inner completist needs to acquire the remaining albums, but in chronological order. My reasoning is it allows me to understand how the band and their music evolved over time.
If you like the Roger Waters stuff then his latest album, Is This the Life We Really Want?, although a little meloncholic it is worth a listen to. IMHO.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
If you like the Roger Waters stuff then his latest album, Is This the Life We Really Want?, although a little meloncholic it is worth a listen to. IMHO.

I will add that to my List of Things I Should Try. I have to admit I tend to prefer the stuff from the early and mid-70s. Pink Floyd's first two albums were definitely psychedelic in nature!
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
Your parents? I've got them on vinyl and now digital obs. Introduced the Present Mrs T to Atom Heart Mother the other night. Stuff like that would never get played at the Dragon's Lair!
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
For some reason I knew we are kindred spirits. We were at The Wall when David Gilmour rocked up for Comfortably Numb. So lucky! We saw all the surviving members of the band on one stage. Later we went to see ostensibly the same performance at Wembley (without Gilmour and Mason of course) which was frankly crap. Daughter chose not to go as she said that the 02 performance couldn't be beaten. She was so right!

Daughter bought me tickets to the PF retrospective at the V & A for my 70th. That was a great afternoon, particularly after lunch at the Wright Brothers restaurant in South Ken.

I'm concerting on Thursday with daughter, it'll be loud, but certainly not The Floyd.

:bowdown:

Brian
 

simond

Western Thunderer
MrsD disposed of my/our vinyl some years ago, for not much folding stuff at all. Whilst I regret the loss of potential profit, I don't miss 12" scratchables at all. I replaced my entire collection with CDs (they were affordably cheap in India) and since have everything ripped to iPod/pad/media player. There are some rather obscure Austrian / German rock tracks which appeared courtesy of a pal, I have no idea what it's about, but along with a load of cheapo classical albums, and other nonsense, shuffle makes for an interesting drive time.

Thanks for the Roger Waters heads-up, I'll try that.

Obscured by Clouds is wonderful. Underrated imo. And if you need waking up, "the Nile Song" from More is the best heavy metal track of all time - not at all normal PF, perhaps all the more fun as a result.

Parents? My parents were not fans of Pink Floyd, or indeed, anything else I listened to whilst still in the family home. My father particularly disliked Rush. Farewell to Kings caused a spectacular row, some 40 years ago!

Loco's looking very nice. I like the injector arrangement, I'm still pondering & may copy your approach to valve gear for my Dukedog which is currently rather stalled on the workbench - well, I fitted buffer stocks last weekend, that was it :(

Best
Simon
 
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