7mm The Derby Line - Rolling Stock Gladiator Crab

[P A D]

Great work on the L1 Tony!

I've not been reading much of the threads for a while but spotted the last L1 post so have been binge reading. It's not the easiest of kits to build and some of the etched parts are way too thick, but it does make a nice L1 if you put the work in.

Your work on the valve gear support is excellent and much better than I achieved. You managed to get a better handle on what the bracket looked like from images than I did and off course the drawing provided by Mick Davies was icing on the cake, as was the cab drawing showing the extra locker.

The next step is to tackle the bunker - the etching is 4'9" in width, it should actually be 5'6"!

To my eternal shame, even with the Isinglass drawing I missed the narrow bunker. Another modeller pointed that out to me a while ago, so I'm glad you spotted it as it's easy to rectify and makes a big difference. For a while ( about 10 seconds) I briefly thought about correcting it, but then though naaah! I sold it a while ago so silly notions like that won't arise.

Looking forward to your build of the Stanier class 4 tank and finding out what errors I made on that.

I'll have to delve deeper into your thread and see what other goodies I've missed.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[dibateg]

Thanks Peter -

I hadn't realised you'd sold your L1..

I did the Stanier build back in 2019-

7mm - The Derby Line - Rolling Stock

Starting to look like an 01 :thumbs: Mick

westernthunder.co.uk

I rarely sell loco's I build for myself, but the Stanier tank was sold last year. I t wasn't really suitable for the Derby line, so i financed the A5 and L1 to replace it..

If you need any pictures let me know and I can send them to you.

Regards
Tony

 

[Genghis]

The cross head has nothing at the back to prevent it from flopping outwards. I'm still to work out a solution.

I had the same issue with the K1 (same parts) but found that the piston rod and con rod kept it aligned.

 

[P A D]

I did the Stanier build back in 2019-

Whoops! Of course you did Tony. Senior moment.

 

[dibateg]

Thanks Simon -
the trouble is... it's not! It's an option worth considering....

Regards

 

[dibateg]

Back to 4mm scale:- I had a day working on Brookmans's Park, sorting out minor electrical and track issues. There were also a few loco problems to resolve.

One of the pins at the top of the combination lever had dropped out. They seemed to be just a push fit. I soldered in brass pins.


A couple of Hornby N2's were clicking as they went along. It turns out the final drive gear had split. I'm hoping to fit replacements from Ultrascale.


The splash guards were shorting on the bogie wheels on curves. I took them off, ground out the arcs and resoldered them in place.


The motor on 61639 was jammed, I got a replacement from Peters Spares - arrived the day after I ordered it! Easy fix...

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Cannot see one of these is the loco fleet . One of my dad's photos of an EE type 4 (class 40) at Brookmans Park in the early 1960s before the yellow warning panels appeared.

 

[dibateg]

Thanks Dave - oh I'm sure there is a 40 somewhere, there are something like 160 locos, and there are more trains behind the camera....

 

[dibateg]

I had a spare couple of hours, so I thought I'd get some of the pipes and handrails in place. Gibson medium or long handrail knobs were not the right length for the tank top, but I found just enough of indeterminate origin in the handrail knob drawer to do the job. All went well 'till I got to the ejector pipe, which tested my patience to the limit... but it's in..

 

[Dave Holt]

The hand rail along the tank top is an unusual feature. Was it a Thompson idea or more generally an LNER one?
It might just be the angle of the photo, but the rail on the smokebox side looks to be at an angle relative to the pipes running along the boiler.
Dave.

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

The hand rail along the tank top is an unusual feature. Was it a Thompson idea or more generally an LNER one?
It might just be the angle of the photo, but the rail on the smokebox side looks to be at an angle relative to the pipes running along the boiler.
Dave.

The Drummond pugs on the G&SWR had handrails on the tank tops. David L Smith tells of the crew filling the firebox and getting out on the side to polish the engine as it went up the Dalmellington branch with a load of empty coal wagons. The handrail would have been useful!
Ian.

 

[James]

The hand rail along the tank top is an unusual feature. Was it a Thompson idea or more generally an LNER one?

V1s and V3s also had similar tank top handrails.

 

[dibateg]

A showery Sunday has brought me back to the workbench... and I plucked up courage to tackle the cab roof. I could think of no other way of securing it than the traditional 4 tubes in the cab corners and projecting wires from the roof itself. On went the ventilators, and the rainstrip was formed from fine 'L' section brass - discarding the etched flat strip in the kit.

 

[Dave Holt]

Looks good from that angle. Are the four tubes really necessary? On my 4 mm C13, I just had the four roof mounted spring wires sit in the corners between cab side and spectacle plates.
Dave.

 

[dibateg]

Good point Dave I put a slight kink in the wire so it held in the tube, probably engineering overkill...

More grinding progress, there is a lot of detail to add on these engines. I made the junction box for the conduit by filing up a section of a 0.9mm etch in to a triangle. Drilled it with 0.5mm holes to feed the wire into - all the way through for the curved section. The conduit should pass behind the first handrail knob, but that's just a little too far back.. The lamp boxes are a bit plain and there should be a horizontal section of lamp iron above them. There should be conduit feed in to the bottoms of them too. I'm thinking about that one...

 

[P A D]

Looking good Tony.

On my L1 I drilled out the lamp "lenses" and added small glass beads after paining. It makes a big improvement. I have lots of spares and would be happy to send you some.






Cheers,
Peter

 

[Dave Holt]

Mmm. The electric lights do involve quite a bit of extra work. That's also true for the full sized as well as models.
The glass bead idea looks good, but even more work. Interestingly, the Modelu 3D printed loco and tail lamps are supplied with self adhesive hemispherical lenses to fit (aided by a dab of cyno) after painting, and look most effective.
Dave.

 

[dibateg]

Thanks for your kind offer Peter - I did consider that, but I decided to use the brass lamps that I had in stock - albeit lacking a little surface detail. I could solder everything in place. I can't face reworking them again.
Yes Dave - and every single detail added seems to take at least an hour....!
I added the conduits in to the bottoms of the lamps - I had to take the buffers off to do that. I also added the horizontal parts of the lamp irons - I cheated as I've put them directly on top of the lamps.
One of the modifications made to the L1's was to move the lubricator outboard on the running plate. this meant that the drive was moved to the outside of the valance. I knocked the drive rods up with some left over castings I had for the couplings. I guess with some real pre-planning I could have made it work!
There is still a feed pipe to add to the generator, that seems to take different routes - on some loco's it went along the top of the tank and in to the cab. On 67741/2 it seems to disappear between the frames behind the generator..

 

[P A D]

Superb Tony.

Thanks for your kind offer Peter - I did consider that, but I decided to use the brass lamps that I had in stock - albeit lacking a little surface detail. I could solder everything in place. I can't face reworking them again.

I agree, being brass you'd have to take them off to drill them out.

You've surpassed me again with the inclusion of the conduit to the bottom of the lamps and the lubricator linkage. I've just realised I overlooked that on the Stanier Mogul!

 

[paulc]

Thanks for your kind offer Peter - I did consider that, but I decided to use the brass lamps that I had in stock - albeit lacking a little surface detail. I could solder everything in place. I can't face reworking them again.
Yes Dave - and every single detail added seems to take at least an hour....!
I added the conduits in to the bottoms of the lamps - I had to take the buffers off to do that. I also added the horizontal parts of the lamp irons - I cheated as I've put them directly on top of the lamps.
One of the modifications made to the L1's was to move the lubricator outboard on the running plate. this meant that the drive was moved to the outside of the valance. I knocked the drive rods up with some left over castings I had for the couplings. I guess with some real pre-planning I could have made it work!
There is still a feed pipe to add to the generator, that seems to take different routes - on some loco's it went along the top of the tank and in to the cab. On 67741/2 it seems to disappear between the frames behind the generator..
View attachment 243087

That is detailing to the the enth degree .