Rebuilt Crosti 9f

[spikey faz]

Multiple spring laminations! One of those tasks that looked tedious but once again I found quite relaxing. There is a bit of cleaning up to do on the springs but they are satisfyingly chunky.

The dark staining is where I 'blued' the metal. Just in case I can't get to these areas for painting later on.




Just bluetacked the frames together to get an idea of how it all looks. A bit bigger than a Simplex!




Mike

 

[spikey faz]

I suppose I should try and clean up the springs a bit more, but once it's all painted and covered in weathering products I wonder if anyone will notice. I'm guessing the correct way is to add more solder and file it back until smooth?




Mike

 

[spikey faz]

This shot shows the spring laminations more clearly. I think more solder is definitely called for.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

Low melt solder as used for white metal is ideal as a filler, and cleans up easily.

Col.

 

[spikey faz]

Low melt solder as used for white metal is ideal as a filler, and cleans up easily.

Col.

Now, why hadn't I thought of that? Duh!

Thanks Col. I have since gone over the springs again with normal solder, but if I have an idle moment I may get the low melt out.

Mike

 

[spikey faz]

We have a chassis! Or the beginnings of one.








Apologies for some of the pics being a bit out of focus but the chassis is so long my mobile phone camera is struggling with depth of field!

I have to say that so far construction has been relatively straightforward. When I do find myself muttering a bit about the instructions I take a step back and remind myself that someone has gone to the trouble of: researching the prototype; drawing up artwork; re-drawing the artwork when it's apparent a bit is missing; test assembling it; marketing it; hoping for sales. Its not something I could do, so I'm grateful that other folk are prepared to do so along with the associated financial risks. Cheers!

Mike

 

[spikey faz]

Trial fit of driving wheels.














Mike

 

[spikey faz]

Fitting the rear dragbeam should have been straightforward, but instead turned into a right faff! Basically the little etched plates that represent the support brackets were stopping me from obtaining a nice snug fit. Instead I had big gaps, and we don't do gaps!

So, stripped it all out, removed the little brackets and everything went back together.....with no gaps! Yay!! Just got to clean up excess solder. I'll probably reinstate the brackets later but using some scalelink etchings.




Mike

 

[spikey faz]

When I'm soldering large-ish bits of metal together back-to-back I worry that the joint will be less than perfect. I know that one is supposed to tin both surfaces and then sweat the two pieces together, but I've had stuff come apart in the past when doing this. So, I try and make some holes to gain access from behind and hopefully aid the transfer of solder to both surfaces.












I've also made up the slidebar supports. I've added a 10BA nut and bolt to hold each assembly in place as I am anticipating some adjustments may be needed further down the line. Whether I'll eventually remove them and solder each assembly in place remains to be seen.









Mike

 

[spikey faz]

I eventually got round to attaching the tender side frames. I moved them out a tad to accommodate the S7 wheels. Hopefully the pictures will show how limited the clearance still is.







The instructions refer to 'part 90' which should be the fall-plate. I have so far failed to find this amongst the parts. I suspect it is a separate etching that was missed out. No worries, I shall make one. Does anyone have suggestions for suitable etched chequerplate that I can use? I have some, but it's razor thin and will possibly end up doing a razor impression by slashing me!



Mike

 

[spikey faz]

Wafer thin chequerplate. Not ideal really.


Mike

 

[spikey faz]

I've decided to order some parts to upgrade some of the castings provided in the kit. Still plenty to do while I await the arrival of said parts so I thought I'd have a look at the footplate. It's huge! The instructions advocate soldering in some temporary strengthening strips and it definitely needs them.



As per the instructions I've cut a few mil out of the footplate where the firebox sits. The manufacturer admits they made a small error here, hence the guidance to amend the footplate. Fair play.

I used my bending bars to fold up the footplate and all of a sudden its starting to look like a locomotive, rather than a load of 2 dimensional etchings. Well, it does to me anyway!






Of course I couldn't resist plonking it on the chassis. Some adjustments needed, but I'm pleased so far.



Mike

 

[spikey faz]

Another reason for building the the footplate in tandem with building the chassis is to check the interface between the two. Easier to correct any dimensional drift at this stage. One thing I've spotted is that the slidebar supports don't seem to properly align with the cut-outs in the footplate. The photos below will hopefully show this. Either the footplate needs moving forward, or the slidebar supports need moving back a bit (just as well I've made them removable!).





I've started to add some parts to the front footplate. There seems to be some variation on when or whether the central step under the smokebox was added. I will be modelling 92021 and as far as I can ascertain it never acquired the step after being rebuilt. My model will accordingly also omit the step.





Mike

 

[spikey faz]

Mike

 

[spikey faz]

A little bag of bits has arrived from Ragstone Models.



Mike

 

[spikey faz]

I previously mentioned that there appeared to be an alignment issue with the the slidebar supports and the footplate. I've taken a couple more pictures which, even allowing for parallax error still show there is definitely something amiss. The simplest remedy is to move the footplate forward by a few mm, but I'm worried this may introduce alignment issues elsewhere.





Mike

 

[spikey faz]

Further investigation confirms I must move the frames back by 2mm. I suppose the simplest way to do this is to make up some filler pieces to cover the gaps.


I'm not entirely happy about this, but I don't see what option I have.

Mike

 

[richard carr]

Mike

Unfortunately, that's the kind thing I feared you might face. Looking at your photos it is out on the cylinders too.
Does it impact anything at the rear of the loco ?

Richard

 

[spikey faz]

Mike

Unfortunately, that's the kind thing I feared you might face. Looking at your photos it is out on the cylinders too.
Does it impact anything at the rear of the loco ?

Richard

Hi Richard.

It does also affect the cylinders.

I've made the decision to move the footplate forward by 2mm. I've soldered in some filler strip (pictures to follow). It was also affecting the alignment on other key parts of the chassis, so I think this is the right decision. Time will tell.

It means the circular hole in the chassis just forward of the cylinders is now a bit too far back (2mm). Does it matter? Not sure!

I do however enjoy a challenge!

Mike

 

[spikey faz]

Mike