Old Buffer
Western Thunderer
I second that, and it's causing a want in this quarter as well.Lovely work AdrianYour work and this kit are introducing a bit of 'want' over here
Is it as much fun to build as it looks?
Alan
Alan
Phill Dyson
Western Thunderer
Very nice indeed Adrian
Dikitriki
Flying Squad
Is there any doubt
You would need to test the chassis at an early stage as the curved 31.5 points with relatively long check rails do require some sideplay. My 9F with Alan Harris wheels won't go through them at the mo. I'm going to have to have them reprofiled.My camera is still waiting for the first appearance of a Wessie
Richard
adrian
Flying Squad
Lovely work Adrian
Thanks for the feedback, yes it is fun to build because everything just fits as it should (well almost!) and it's right. Although it does seem to consume an awful lot of modelling time, fortunately the diabolical weather and the better half being away at the moment means that I can devote a bit more time to the project.
I really wanted to finish off the bunker area, this involves fitting and blending in another etched plate behind the cab. The half-etched rebates are designed to provide a positive location on the rear bunker plate and a recess just behind the cab.
The plate needed a gentle curve forming in it to match the cab, this was done with gentle finger pressure round a 2 1/2" cardboard tube, nothing too sophisticated. Again I deviated from the instructions slightly as it suggested cutting a slight notch in the top cab corner of the plate to move it up a little, but I tack soldered it in place and it seemed about right to me as it was, so I tack soldered in the top casting as well. This is one case where it just didn't quite fit, you might notice a small gap between the brass casting and the rear of the cab, unfortunately the casting is slightly too short, this is acknowledged in the instructions and it says that the gap should be at the cab end and not at the rear of the bunker.
Once I was happy that it looked right, it all got soldered up and I turned my attention to the bottom bunker casting. Again a little bit of fettling was required to get it to fit and once again it had a few gaps which needed filling. Up to this point I'm fairly sure a beginner would have sailed through the kit, but this bunker area needed a little bit of extra care. The bottom bunker castings were slightly bowed which due to their shape is not unexpected, so I straightened these and took care that the bottom edge aligned with the front tanks. Nothing complicated but it just absorbed time .
Once that was in place and soldered up out came the scrapers, files, wet and dry etc. Here's the other side which I prepared earlier! The top of the cab roof has taken a bit of abuse with the handling, it's only a thin half etch so I'll need to straighten that out in a bit. A bit more detailing to go but overall I'm pleased with the result, I didn't expect the side of the bunker to blend in with the cab as well as it has done.
Old Buffer
Western Thunderer
That is superb modelling, the workmanship is without question.
Alan
Alan
adrian
Flying Squad
ahh shucks! thanks for that you're too generous. I'm a typical Scale7 modeller plenty of projects on the go but nothing finished to show for it, unlike many other on this group.
Rob Pulham
Western Thunderer
I can only echo Alan's comments Adrian. top stuff!!!
adrian
Flying Squad
A little more progress to report, although too many other distractions and things to do has got in the way at times. A switch to fibre broadband and purchase of a network storage disk has meant many an hour with new network cables and a multitude of setup screens. Still much happier now that my data and photo's are on a robust storage area. This time of year there is an annual census of Scout members so spent a fair bit of time updating records and making sure everyone is accounted for.
Still back to the modelling, following on from the last instalment, I continued on the rear bunker area. This time around the cab doors. Before you can fit the large cast balance pipe between the side tanks and the rear tank the cab steps need a bit more detailing. There is a cast plate to go under the cab floor and provides a backing plate to the cab doorway. Once this is soldered in place then it can be filed flat to fit the balance pipe, also in this shot are the round inspection plates on the bottom of the bunker tank, yet more castings.
The etched plate over the doorway can then be cut away and the balance pipe fitted, making sure they are fitted the right way round, the curved bit at the front. The step in bunker and the cab step has some etched diamond plate to be fitted. The one in the cab doorway was slightly wider than the step, a careful inspection of the photo's showed that this edge is rolled over. So the plate was put in the hold and fold and the edge folded as required.
So this is the current state of play. The breather pipes have been fitted in the bunker space and some half round beading fitted around the top bunker edge. For the curved rear strip the beading was heated to a "cherry" red and left to cool, this left it soft enough to curve into the radius whilst leaving it flat as well.
Still back to the modelling, following on from the last instalment, I continued on the rear bunker area. This time around the cab doors. Before you can fit the large cast balance pipe between the side tanks and the rear tank the cab steps need a bit more detailing. There is a cast plate to go under the cab floor and provides a backing plate to the cab doorway. Once this is soldered in place then it can be filed flat to fit the balance pipe, also in this shot are the round inspection plates on the bottom of the bunker tank, yet more castings.
The etched plate over the doorway can then be cut away and the balance pipe fitted, making sure they are fitted the right way round, the curved bit at the front. The step in bunker and the cab step has some etched diamond plate to be fitted. The one in the cab doorway was slightly wider than the step, a careful inspection of the photo's showed that this edge is rolled over. So the plate was put in the hold and fold and the edge folded as required.
So this is the current state of play. The breather pipes have been fitted in the bunker space and some half round beading fitted around the top bunker edge. For the curved rear strip the beading was heated to a "cherry" red and left to cool, this left it soft enough to curve into the radius whilst leaving it flat as well.
lancer1027
Western Thunderer
Hi Adrian, some excellent soldering going on there
. I dont know much about kettles but it looks superb
Rob
. I dont know much about kettles but it looks superbRob
Scale7JB
Western Thunderer
Oi..... I've only got 5 engines on the go at the moment...
Engine is looking very nice indeed !!!
JB.
adrian
Flying Squad
So for the next little instalment. Although I'd been plodding along nicely with the body work I usually prefer to get the chassis done first. I'd get that all working properly then all the cosmetic body work can fit round it. However in this case there were a couple of issues with the chassis which I needed to resolve. Rather than tackle it I carried merrily on with the bodywork instead.
One problem I had was the rear bogie, I'd gone to all the trouble to sort out suspension for the main drivers and yet as supplied the rear bogie in the kit makes up as a rigid unit, the pivot has some springing but the bogie itself was rigid. The nice brass axlebox castings were a solid fitting to fit to the bogie.
I wasn't particularly happy with this arrangement and I could out it off no longer and decided to sort out some compensation arrangement. I did consider trying to get some springing in as well but in the end decided on keeping it simple and use plain beam compensation as the main pivot was sprung anyway. So the first part was to butcher the axleboxes so that I could fit sliding axleboxes. The cast spring in the beam was drilled and tapped 12BA in the middle to act as a pivot point and a small brass bush was turned up and fitted to the bogie etching.
So after a dozen lost-wax brass castings and numerous etchings I ended up with this.
and with the wheels fitted it starts to look the part, although there are still a few more details to fit and the main bogie pivot as well.
Finally in the usual tradition, with some careless ganger leaving a sleeper discarded across the track, illustrating the beam compensation!
One problem I had was the rear bogie, I'd gone to all the trouble to sort out suspension for the main drivers and yet as supplied the rear bogie in the kit makes up as a rigid unit, the pivot has some springing but the bogie itself was rigid. The nice brass axlebox castings were a solid fitting to fit to the bogie.
I wasn't particularly happy with this arrangement and I could out it off no longer and decided to sort out some compensation arrangement. I did consider trying to get some springing in as well but in the end decided on keeping it simple and use plain beam compensation as the main pivot was sprung anyway. So the first part was to butcher the axleboxes so that I could fit sliding axleboxes. The cast spring in the beam was drilled and tapped 12BA in the middle to act as a pivot point and a small brass bush was turned up and fitted to the bogie etching.
So after a dozen lost-wax brass castings and numerous etchings I ended up with this.
and with the wheels fitted it starts to look the part, although there are still a few more details to fit and the main bogie pivot as well.
Finally in the usual tradition, with some careless ganger leaving a sleeper discarded across the track, illustrating the beam compensation!
Phill Dyson
Western Thunderer
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Adrian,
I'm interested to know why you think the rear bogie has to be compensated? A necessary tweak for S7? I've built both Fairburn and 4MT tanks in P4 and found they ran very well in either direction with a rigid bogie. My P4 Finney M7 also has a rigid bogie and runs superbly. The result is that these days I take good care to build bogies on a flat surface but don't worry about fiddling compensation - to be honest I'd rather use a PCB frame spacer and get a set of split axle pick-ups in there.
After all, the wheelbase is very short...
Steph (not critical, just interested)
I'm interested to know why you think the rear bogie has to be compensated? A necessary tweak for S7? I've built both Fairburn and 4MT tanks in P4 and found they ran very well in either direction with a rigid bogie. My P4 Finney M7 also has a rigid bogie and runs superbly. The result is that these days I take good care to build bogies on a flat surface but don't worry about fiddling compensation - to be honest I'd rather use a PCB frame spacer and get a set of split axle pick-ups in there.
After all, the wheelbase is very short...
Steph (not critical, just interested
)
adrian
Flying Squad
It's a good job I posted this thread with the caveat "sporadic" because after a brief(!) sojourn(8 months) I've finally got back to the workbench. The inspiration to get back modelling has been a number of factors but Dikitriki's postings on Patriot motion has been a suitable kick up the proverbial to get the 4MT progressing.
It's not an excuse but I think I've been avoiding the workbench as I've had the slow dawning realisation of advancing years creeping up on me and my arms aren't long enough!! At the end of last year I started to struggle to focus on close up work and I've now got to hold the MRJ at 2ft to be able to focus on the articles. So I've finally relented and booked in for an eye test, meanwhile I've ended up with a magnifying lamp to be able to do any modelling at all.
Anyway on with the 4MT what have I been up to? Basically finished off the rear of the chassis, unfortunately some of the webbing behind the rear buffer frame is still drawn for finescale so it was too wide for S7. This was filed down to suit the wider S7 frames. So rear steps have been built up and attached.
Part of the bogie detailing on the chassis includes brass castings for suspension control, they are very difficult to see but they are included in the kit!
As you can see from this photo the is a small plunger that fits into the brass pocket.
So when the rear bogie is fitted these plungers drop onto the bogie bolster. The photo below also shows an etched tang that fits over the bogie pivot and locks onto a tab on the bogie to keep it level.
Finally an etched plate is fitted over the top which contains a spring tab which provides a bit of pressure on the plungers on the bogie. Hopefully you can see the plunger on top of the bogie bolster.
Finally a before and after shot! Can you tell the difference??
On the end of the bogie bolster there is a plate which has 5 grease nipples. In the kit it just has 5 etched holes, on the last photo I've used some 0.7mm nuts from scale hardware to represent the greasing points and bent the bar at the back to represent the pipework. This and a few other bits of the kit are going to be expensive if I keep having to order from scale hardware!!
Some more updates to post soon about the motion but this has been long enough after such a long delay.
p.s. SBB more than welcome to keep this thread entertaining.
It's not an excuse but I think I've been avoiding the workbench as I've had the slow dawning realisation of advancing years creeping up on me and my arms aren't long enough!! At the end of last year I started to struggle to focus on close up work and I've now got to hold the MRJ at 2ft to be able to focus on the articles. So I've finally relented and booked in for an eye test, meanwhile I've ended up with a magnifying lamp to be able to do any modelling at all.
Anyway on with the 4MT what have I been up to? Basically finished off the rear of the chassis, unfortunately some of the webbing behind the rear buffer frame is still drawn for finescale so it was too wide for S7. This was filed down to suit the wider S7 frames. So rear steps have been built up and attached.
Part of the bogie detailing on the chassis includes brass castings for suspension control, they are very difficult to see but they are included in the kit!
As you can see from this photo the is a small plunger that fits into the brass pocket.
So when the rear bogie is fitted these plungers drop onto the bogie bolster. The photo below also shows an etched tang that fits over the bogie pivot and locks onto a tab on the bogie to keep it level.
Finally an etched plate is fitted over the top which contains a spring tab which provides a bit of pressure on the plungers on the bogie. Hopefully you can see the plunger on top of the bogie bolster.
Finally a before and after shot! Can you tell the difference??
On the end of the bogie bolster there is a plate which has 5 grease nipples. In the kit it just has 5 etched holes, on the last photo I've used some 0.7mm nuts from scale hardware to represent the greasing points and bent the bar at the back to represent the pipework. This and a few other bits of the kit are going to be expensive if I keep having to order from scale hardware!!
Some more updates to post soon about the motion but this has been long enough after such a long delay.
p.s. SBB more than welcome to keep this thread entertaining.
Dikitriki
Flying Squad
The inspiration to get back modelling has been a number of factors but Dikitriki's postings on Patriot motion has been a suitable kick up the proverbial to get the 4MT progressing.
Glad to have been of help
This and a few other bits of the kit are going to be expensive if I keep having to order from scale hardware!!
You're not joking. They're expensive enough to instigate a full-scale search if one hits the floor. I remember wincing at one of Rob's projects. Not because of the quality, but because of the free use of Scale Hardware components.
Some more updates to post soon about the motion but this has been long enough after such a long delay.
Motion is one of the things I look at first in a model, and perhaps the area I get most pleasure out of making. That on the 80000 is excellent and much enhances the model.
p.s. SBB more than welcome to keep this thread entertaining.
The thread is entertaining (and informative) enough in its own right.
Regards
Richard
Dog Star
Western Thunderer
Just in case you had forgotten...