Transport Age (Scorpio) 7mm BR Standard 3MT tank

[P A D]

More progress on the backhead. The water level gauges are now on as are the handles to the water valves and the steam manifold.


I made some overlays for the shelf over the fire door and added the upper part of the fire door operating lever fettled up from NS rod. The brake column has also had overlays added to the front and side (heat shield) along with some of the operating handles. The brake lever has still to be made and added to the top.




In the cab I've added the cushions to the seats and the seat back to draft screen made from plasticard.


The reversing mechanism has been temporarily added to check clearance.


And it looks OK with the backhead in.


The fireman was not afforded the luxury of a seat back, as there was no draught screen on his side, at least not one that was large enough to mount a cushion on.

And I finally got around to adding the plinth for the safety valves. I found some better valves in my spares so I replaced the kit ones which were poor castings. I also reduced the size of the whistle, which was overly large and did not allow fitting the plinth without fouling the rear valve.


Only a few small parts to add now and then I'll get the motor in and add the pick ups. After an issue with one of the centre drivers lifting slightly, I discovered that the return crank was touching the pipework at the top of the stroke, which I have now corrected and all is running sweetly again.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

It's been way too cold today to go out to my workbench in the garage, so the only progress since the last post was the addition of the steam heat and brake pipes, the regulator lever made from waste fret and an overlay added to the cab ventilator cover. The etched part supplied represents a 2 piece split cover, whereas the prototype only had a single cover. I'd already filled the gap with Isopon a while back, but I'm sure it would have shown throught the paint. I'd had enough after that and came back indoors and today I decided to pass.

In the meantime I made a note of the replacement castings I used which I list below. It may be of interest to others contemplating this kit, but I suspect there won't be too many more sold or built when the Lionheart RTR model is released. At the price paid of £230 it's a relatively cheap kit to buy. However when you add on the cost of a Slaters' wheels set and a decent motor/gearbox, plus the cost of replacement castings, the outlay is not far off what the analogue version of the Lionheart model is being offered at. Anyway, here's the list of replacement castings, some of which were from the spares box and no longer available.

Dome - DJH.
Buffers - Invertrain.
Lamp irons - Laurie Griffin Miniatures (LGM).
Chimney - Warren Shephard. Modified large prairie.
Tank fillers - Warren Shephard. Modified sloping tank prairie.
Tank lifting brackets - LGM.
Mudhole clamps - Ragstone.
Safety valves - spares box, possibly Ragstone.
Return crank bearing cover - DJB.
Sandpipes - LGM.
Water valves - spares box, unknown.
Injectors - Ragstone.
Water level gauges - Ragstone.
Lubricators - Ragstone. )
Lubricator ratchets - spares, possible Finney 7 or MOK. ) NOT FITTED YET
Atomisers - LGM. )
Damper controls - DJB
Rocking grate lever - Ragstone.

Quite a list really when you look at it. Most are still available apart from the dome and chimney, and I believe Ragstone supply the return crank bearing cover and damper controls from their range for which I used parts from the now defunct DJB. Ragstone also do castings for the truck springs and the side control spring, but I'm not aware if anybody does parts for the rear swing link truck.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[oldravendale]

I guess we've had this discussion previously, Peter, but there's a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that the model on your railway has been built by hand rather than the immediate but short lived satisfaction of buying RTR. I've done both and gain so much more satisfaction and over a longer period with any items I've actually built.

Brian

 

[P A D]

I guess we've had this discussion previously, Peter, but there's a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that the model on your railway has been built by hand rather than the immediate but short lived satisfaction of buying RTR. I've done both and gain so much more satisfaction and over a longer period with any items I've actually built.

Brian

My sentiments entirely Brian. If it's a choice between a poor kit and a ready to run model, I would choose the kit every time and do my best to make it better than it was designed to be. Unfortunately as more and more prototypes become available as RTR models, many kits especially the older "low tech" items will disappear through lack of demand.

I'm still not doing much due to the low temperatures in my garage but I have made a little more progress. Here's how I jigged up the lubricators on a dummy footplate to add the oil pipes. The black dots represent the position of the the steam pipes. Before fitting to the model the pipes were trimmed to finish half way behind the steam pipes.


I drilled holes in the base of the castings and glued a couple of short lengths of NS rod into them and then pushed the lubricators into the soft wood. This kept them from moving while I added and routed the pipe work.


After completion, the the castings were prised off the jig and the pins removed. Here's a dry run to check the fit before trimming the pipes and gluing in place.




Apologies for the poor image.


After glueing in place and adding the atomiser, ratchet and bash plate. I've still to make and add the dummy operating levers from the motion.


And with the bash plates and ratchets added.






On this side I have yet to add the atomiser.


I spotted the inverted U shaped lifting brackets on the tank tops just ahead of the firebox were missing, so I've added these as well.





And finally the steam heating and brake pipes on the buffer beams.





Cheers,
Peter

 

[Genghis]

Wow!

 

[Scanlon]

Beautiful work Peter but I'm going for the RTR version!!!
Cheers
Roger

 

[chigley]

you never fail to amaze us Peter

Ken

 

[P A D]

After a hiatus of 9 months, a mail from Tony Geary on another matter has spurred me to complete this shelf queen. Been spending most of my modelling time on upgrading diecast model cars mostly in 1:18 scale, but my last project was this 1:12 Ferrari 250 GTO by Revell (yes, the plastic model company made diecast model cars at sime time). I completely dismantled it and rebuilt it to be fully detailed with the doors, bonnet and boot, plus the flaps for fuel, oil and radiator openable. I also stripped and repainted it.


More recently I got into RC model boats and after picking up this 1:11 scale Fairey Huntsman second hand, I stripped and restored it with extra detail plus new motor and propeller. It looks great on the water and sails really well.


Anyway back on track with the 3MT. It's pretty grubby having sat so long but I decided to get the motor and pick ups fitted and test run before breaking down for cleaning and painting. Nickel silver stretchers were made and fitted to the tops of the frames in suitable positions to allow wipers to run on the flanges.


After adding the wipers made from copper clad and PB wire. It ran fine first time.


However, after test fitting the chassis in the body I found that the rear pick up fouled the underside of the footplate, so had to modify the fitting to recess it into the frames.


Here's the chassis raised on blocks for testing with the modified rear pick up.


It was pretty awkward inserting the chassis into the body so to ease things I cut off the curved lower edges of the firebox wrapper.


A strip of NS sheet was fixed inside the frames to replace the lower edges of the firebox wrapper.


It's on hold again for a few days as my son and me are having a few days in Stockholm to watch some football and see the sights. I'm writing this as we wait in Manchester Airport and just been informed our flight is delayed 2 hours! AAAARGH!

Cheers,
Peter

 

[MarkR]

I like the GTO and the Huntsman, I have an Aston Martin Uslter and a Vosper RTTL as long term (very) projects!

 

[simond]

I seriously considered buying an RTTL, yes a real one, but common sense took over before I got too far down that rabbithole.

 

[P A D]

I like the GTO and the Huntsman, I have an Aston Martin Uslter and a Vosper RTTL as long term (very) projects!

For me, the Huntsman is the "E Type Jaguar" of power boats. It looks great from any angle. Is it the Signature version of the Ulster and the Model Slipway RTTL?

 

[MarkR]

Hi Peter,
Yes, it's the Signature version, it's in many pieces at the moment, I want to rebuild the wire wire wheels with thin brass wire, it's my all time favourite car, I wish CMC would do one. A once brought a stack of old "Motor Sport" magazines from a chap, he had three of them in his garage! I was speechless!
The RTTL will be scratch built from a Vic Smeed plan, but scaled up 1.5 times.
Mark

 

[MarkR]

seriously considered buying an RTTL, yes a real one, but common sense took over before I got too far down that rabbithole.

That would have been quite a project!
For many years there was a civilianized
(if that's a word?) one moored at the mouth of the river Itchen, between Portsmouth and Southampton, it could be glimpsed from the motorway bridge travelling towards Southampton.
Mark

 

[P A D]

Hi Mark,
Greetings from Stockholm.
From images I've seen, the Signature offering looks like a good starting point to produce an excellent model. I also replaced the spokes on the 250 GTO (all 288 of them), but as yet I've not done any in 1:18 scale. If you're interested in seeing how I did it on the Ferrari, here's a link to the upgrade on Diecast Exchange.

https://www.diecastxchange.com/threads/revell-1-12-ferrari-250-gto-upgrade.238487/#replies

As yet I haven't built any boats but I'm considering the SLEC 1:8 Fairey Huntress kit. It's a smaller boat than the Huntsman but being a bigger scale, the model will be about the same length (34 inch) albeit a little wider.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[MarkR]

Hi Peter,
Yes, the Signature model looks to be the only option, other than scratch building in 1/18th scale. I have a lovely set of CMC wire wheels, but they are too wide!
Many thanks for the link, it will prove very useful.
The RTTL is scaled so that it will just fit into our car.
When I add in my large Thames Sailing Barge model, my 1/4 scale De Havilland Tiger Moth, 14 foot wing span ASK21 sailplane, 7mm branch line and P4 modelling, plus recently released plastic kits for the Avro Anson C21 and Pervical Prince in 1/72 and the De Havilland Rapide in 1/48, not surprisingly, all projects move slower that a glacier!
Mark

 

[P A D]

When I was younger with less disposable income and more discipline, I would do one project at a time and not start another until it was finished. I could never understand those modellers with multiple builds on the go and a bundle of kits in the drawer, but for several years now I've been one of them. I'm just hoping I can resist getting a boat kit before I finish the 3MT and my part built Gladiator Stanier Mogul.
Cheers,
Peter