David Andrews Castle Build

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I bet Decathlon might stock glass fibre rod, the only chance I can think of around these parts. But you never know, I got a gun black kit a few years ago in Perpignan once I found an "armoury" in the yellow pages.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I have been working on the right hand cylinder and motion today and can call it a success, though there were a couple of steep learning curves to be overcome along the way.

I have been considering coupling the piston movement to the valve movement, basically having the connecting rod drive the valve spindle to and fro, But I have decided against it as this project is not supposed to get in the way of the big picture!

With the three driving axles moving smoothly, the next task was to build up the cylinder, fit the slide bars and the valve linkage and add the crosshead/connecting rod to see if it all works.

First photo:

Ignore the lack of one slide bar, it will be added later! The various components relevant to moving rods, etc. come first, forget the cylinder wrap and the draincocks, they come later. The valve linkage is already installed and it moves freely, but the actual installation needed quite a lot of thought and also nimble fingers (which I don't have) so took all morning to figure out. Next the crosshead and slide bars. I fitted the lower one and then placed the crosshead on top, checking for interference, knowing there would be! Two problems arose, both sorted now. The first was the front driver crankpin, it needed filing back. The second was the sandbox. That was simply removed so that white metal could be sliced and filed away. It has yet to be fitted back but that won't be a problem.

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Before moving on, take a look at the piston and valve rods. It would be easy to install a connection between the two that would use the wheel motion/connecting rod to flick the valve linkage to and fro.

Second Photo:

This shows the valve linkage from above. The pivot uses a brass screw and two* nuts, the one at the top resembling the real thing on Drysllwyn Castle, see post 20. The interior will hardly be visible so a blob of solder was left as insurance. (* I just checked, two, not three nuts, so edited!)

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Photos 3 and 4:

Back to the slide bars. This proved to be easier than anticipated though it is not yet complete - additional fillets are required on the motion bracket to add strength. The front axle crankpin nut clears the crosshead, having been filed down and a dab of solder applied to the retaining nut.

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I am hoping to complete the left hand side more quickly and then it will be adding the cylinder wraps and draincocks. I might then take a break because I have a DCC chip to install in another locomotive and I keep talking about scenery for Penmaenpool.
 
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adrian

Flying Squad
It's looking good.

However w.r.t.
You're having problems with shorting in part because of the brake blocks. Have you considered the use of plastic ones?

It has crossed my mind but I see all these young(er) maestros working with metal near metal and getting away with it, so I will try too!

Not all are working metal on metal. I'm now laser etching plastic blocks so that I can run them as close as I want without worrying about any short circuiting anything - I wouldn't do it any other way now. In fact I never made them from metal - when I was helping my Dad scratch build loco's all the brake blocks were cut from paxolin sheet to ensure electrical insulation.

Here's an example I made for Nick

Nick Dunhill's workshop NGG16 Garratt

The offer stands for yourself as well (and anyone else building for that matter) - if you can supply me with a suitable drawing of the brake blocks then I'm more than happy to laser cut some plastic brake blocks for you.

Regards

Adrian
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Adrian, that is a very kind offer, thank you. Plastic blocks would work for the centre and rear drving wheels but not for the front driver. If you look at the first photo in the post above, the motion bracket and brake block are actually supporting each other and I have been able to solder one to the other, making a much more rigid structure.

It’s certainly possible for the rear four, though. Let me give the kit as designed another go after finishing the motion. Now that everything is much tighter with the rear axle rigid and the front axle having extra washers I may have solved the problem on this build.

The next kit on my workbench is most probably Warren Shephard’s 43xx mogul and I see that it uses plastic brake blocks.

Again, thank you for the offer. Paul
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Lunchtime and the valve rockers are in:

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Be warned, fitting them is tricky, if the three pieces are joined together they cannot be fitted, and in fact it's better to fit the rocker first and then add the two valve rods once that is in place. I just noticed I need to put a dab of solder on the brass nut to the right (left hand on the locomotive) to stop it coming off.

Next the coupling rod and slide bars, the cylinder is ready to receive them.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
I have done the connecting rod/slide bars for the left hand side and started on a general clean up. The slide bars are a little too tight so some minor fettling is going to be necessary. But I have had enough of modelling for a day or two, so no further reports until I have something interesting to show.

I will now go down to the railway room and play with the trains! The Heljan Large Prairie is going to get a run with 4 B Set coaches.

Thank you for all your interest and "likes", they keep me going!

Paul
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
As you may know from "too many posts", I have changed tack from mid-Wales (Penmaenpool) to Midlands urban (Moor Street Station), This decision has been coming for several months but the last post above kinda cinched it. I grew up with Large Prairies, and, as I once remarked, they always seemed to run bunker first. Well, they did, but only half of the time.

The Castle project also swayed my decision as I only found out recently that tender engines were fairly common at Moor Street and research showed that they could also use the famed traversers that I grew up watching.

If I was ever labelled a schizophrenic (never, but follow me for a moment) then it would be because there are two railway "zones" I loved when a teenager. One was Birmingham, the other Oswestry. At the outset, Oswestry seemed the simpler but that was the inherent problem. Simpler can also mean boring. I mean moguls are one thing but 4 cylinder Castles, well, they have panache!

I have at least one Castle on record to have visited Moor Street, but many many more would have passed by on the way to or from Snow Hill, including this prototype, 5070. Put another way, Castles could not go near Penmaenpool.

So there it is. All change!

The Castle is going to look the part, it just needs a few chocolate and cream coaches. . . . It also needs to be finished but first a double track oval is going to replace Penmaenpool. Sir Daniel Gooch will be back!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
No progress on the Castle while Moor Street Station is under construction! But one change for the record. The David Andrews Castle is going to be named Goodrich Castle 5014, of 84A Stafford Road. Sir Daniel will be back, do not worry!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Well, I revisited this thread just now and have to admit that the Moor Street layout has taken longer than I expected to get up and running. In an attempt to speed things up I had the opportunity to buy a rake of 7 Bachmann Brassworks Mark 1 coaches and these have been seen on another thread pulled by an imposter from Bushbury:


There will, eventually, be two Castles available to pull this train out of Snow Hill and "up" to Paddington. The kit of this thread will be one but a Lee Marsh Castle will also be on the roster once it arrives. The Lee Marsh Castle order came about because I had a Manor on order for Mid Wales but Lee very kindly allowed me to switch to 5070 Sir Daniel Gooch. As you can't really have two 5070s running at the same time, the David Andrews Castle will be Goodrich Castle and I already have the brass plates for it. If anyone needs a set of Sir Daniel Gooch plates, do let me know. Mine are Severn Mills and are a complete BR set.
 
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- Goodrich Castle 5014

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Today I restarted my affair with the David Andrews Castle kit. First I completed the brake system on the loco chassis, but later this evening I started on the footplate, the first stage for building the loco body. This is fairly straight forward and as usual with any large parts the blow torch has come in useful to "run" solder along joins. As noted above this is now going to be Goodrich Castle. Photos to follow but I have not quite finished before needing to have a good night's sleep. As a tennis fan I have been up at strange hours watching the US Open from New York - just a little different from the staid atmosphere at Wimbledon!

A demain, as they say around these parts!
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
The splashers have been folded and the tops soldered. My best effort yet at doing this particularly awkward stage of construction. I started out by soldering the wrong splasher top but remedial action cannot be detected. At this stage David (Andrews) suggests testing the footplate on the chassis and all fitted perfectly. I am not yet sure about shorts between wheels and splashers but the clearances looked OK.

Moving on, the next stage will be the cab.

Some more photos, some in very bright sunshine.

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Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Progress has slowed down a bit. The three sides of the cab went together easily but fitting it was not so easy. Well, it could have been thrown together but as the instructions note, getting the cab square on the footplate is a critical step in the overall construction of the body. I seem to remember a similar set of notes when building David's LMS Compound kit.

Once satisfied the next components were at the other end of the engine. The front end design varies with lot number and also with later modifications, so I checked on my photos of 5014 and found a number of conflicts with the "truth" depending on when the photo was taken. The best photo I found was of 5014 waiting to take the Cambrian Coast Express on to London from Shrewsbury. This shows the ultimate design of the plating covering the inside cylinders, being a square "box". The early plating versions come as one of two white metal castings so I searched for a white metal casting and could not find one. After a long fruitless search it dawned on me that the square "box" could be made from etched brass and sure enough that's where I found it! The photo below shows the key parts placed on the footplate. There are other parts as well that need to be added, but at least I can now proceed.

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Now David has retired it is too late to suggest improvements to the instructions (which are good anyway) but one would be to have photos of all the etches and castings suitably numbered. Both Finney7 and MOK have this type of reference in their instructions, a big plus in my opinion.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
With the front frames and smokebox support fitted, the next step was to add rivet strips at the base of each splasher. This done, the instructions pass on to the firebox. It is suggested that the flat sheet of brass be annealed, but this is not mandatory. Having done the simpler Belpaire firebox for the Compound without annealing the brass, I thought I could get away with it again. Half way through I had misgivings, but in the end it has worked out OK. There is still a lot of finishing to do, but I think it is worth while describing the construction.

First the thick NS front and rear of the firebox ends of the firebox are bolted to four hexagonal spacers, creating a cage around which the firebox sheet is wrapped. "Wrapped" is not really the correct terminology as this implies it is rather like wrapping a parcel with brown paper. I did some pre-bending of the sheet before tacking the sheet at both ends along the top axis. Soldering the flat top ends was easy and the pre-bends worked well but as an afterthought I should have "over-bent" them which would have made soldering the sides a lot easier. As it is I expended a lot of brute force to clamp the sides in place while flooding the interior seams with solder. The flooding is necessary as the front of the Castle's firebox has to be filed into shape. Once the basic structure has been formed, the four hexagonal rods are removed, this facilitating the creation of a thick soldered seam along the front of the firebox top and sides.

This view is looking at the front of the firebox to which the boiler will be soldered:

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An interior view is not easy to photograph, but here is my attempt, showing the hexagonal rods still in place.

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The instructions point out that the firebox wrapper is intentionally supplied too long so that overhangs can be trimmed (the alternative is not going to work). So now there is going to be a lot of filing and grinding to do. There are also a few small dents to be smoothed out befor the next photo.
 

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Thanks for sharing your work, Dan. It really helps. Along with views of Lee Marsh's current pre-production photos, they help to get things in perspective. The difference between my profiling (it's already been improved, I should add) is that none of the additional features have been added. For example there should be a firebox band just to the rear of the front of the firebox and with the boiler yet to be fitted the flat front of the firebox is accentuated. In fact, as your photo shows, the sides of the rear boiler band should not extend beyond the rounded corner of the firebox.

I am currently soldering up the boiler so that it can be placed against the firebox.

Dan, may I ask, what do you use to polish the brass?
 
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