7mm Scale 7 MOK 9F in Spain

[AJC]

@daifly - I'd agree with @simond - starting with one of the best kits, where the parts fit properly, with decent instructions, is far easier than coming through the cheaper, perhaps less good kits. Partly that's because the number of variables is reduced: if you are confident that the parts fit then you can concentrate on doing your best by them. My first standard gauge loco was a High Level saddletank (in 4mm). Without this good experience, I doubt that I'd have made as good a job of the second, a Gibson LSWR O2 (which was poor, in lots of ways). The other thing about the really good kits is that they encourage you to take your time.

Adam

 

[daifly]

Adam and Simon

Sound advice methinks. I'm ashamed to admit that I have more than one MOK kit in the stash - 6 different ones if you want to know - so the 54xx has moved to the top of the pile.

Apologies for the thread drift, Len.

Dave

 

[simond]

Len

you can follow SimonT’s advice and thin the tabs on the mating part, or use a very fine tapered rectangular section file and ease the hole slightly. The first is easier, the second helps if you need to ease a hole “across a bit”, probably not with an MOK kit.

the thing you bought on eBay looks like a wire gauge. Is that what you bought?

Atb
Simon

 

[Dan Randall]

Adam and Simon

Sound advice methinks. I'm ashamed to admit that I have more than one MOK kit in the stash - 6 different ones if you want to know - so the 54xx has moved to the top of the pile.

Apologies for the thread drift, Len.

Dave

I fancy doing one of those myself Dave (well, the 64xx version) and would be interested to know what the other four (besides the 9F), are in your stash!

I’m currently building an MOK Ivatt 2-6-0, which is a bit of a contrast the the Connoisseur O2 that preceded it! I was planning to get the tender finished before starting the loco, but a friend at work unexpectedly bought his rolling bars in for me to borrow, so I rolled the smokebox and boiler a few days later (the smokebox overlay and door are still to be attached). I then realised that the top of the smokebox saddle has a part that needs rolling (not yet done), so had to crack on with the saddle too, which was started yesterday evening....

As it stands, there are around 11 separate parts to the saddle in the picture, but only 2 are actually soldered together so far (which is why some tabs or unmade folds are still in evidence). The remainder are just slotted or clipped into place, such is the astounding accuracy of the fit of the parts.

The tender frames, complete with axleboxes, springs etc., were heavily tarnished, but being too long to fit in my ultrasonic cleaner, I lobbed them in a plastic ice cream tube filled with white vinegar, then forgot about them for about 3 months. When I eventually, dug them out and started to scrub them with an old toothbrush, I discovered the vinegar (acetic acid?), had made them a little cleaner, but had also dissolved the Araldite that I’d stuck the castings on with! It had also attacked the solder between the overlays and main frames - what went into the ice cream tub as 2 parts, came out as something like 52 parts again!

I can see the funny side of it though and to be honest, one of the frames went a bit banana shaped once the overlay was attached, so I can now have a go at getting both of them flat, 2nd time around.

Apologies for the hijack Len, but at least it’s MOK related....


Regards

Dan

 

[daifly]

Hi Dan
I have a 14xx, 54xx, 64xx, BR 4MT, Stanier 8F and the BR 9F +1G tender.
The recently purchased 8F will probably be a Swindon-built example but here's an inspirational photo of one in Swansea on the high level lines that are part of my layout plan.

I intend living to about 150 to get built half of the kits I have in the stash!
Dave

 

[Len Cattley]

No problem with the hijack it all helps,
[QUOTE="simond, post: 208718, member:
the thing you bought on eBay looks like a wire gauge. Is that what you bought?
Atb
Simon[/QUOTE]
something like that Simon, it came with some small taps as well.
The other thing I was going to ask was about using some gun blue to make it black instead of paint.

Len

Len

 

[simond]

Gun blue is good stuff. Toxic & nasty, and requires excellent pre-cleaning, but good stuff... there are blues for steel, and a different formulations for brasses. Pays to use the appropriate one. Also, it possibly works better when not too concentrated.

For Slaters wheels, I clean with acetone, apply the blue with a cotton bud, wait a few minutes, wash off in very hot water, dry thoroughly and then oil. The blued surface seems to hold the oil and prevents surface rusting.

Do read the safety advice, rubber gloves are probably a consideration.

atb
Simon

 

[Max M]

Also I have bought these from the bay of E does anybody now how to use them?
View attachment 126812
I think they were from jeweller's but I am not sure how to use it? Thanks.

I have one and from my experience would only use them for re-forming existing threads.
Attempts to use it to cut a new thread was, to put it mildly, slow and frustrating.
The issue was selecting a suitable wire size; it needs to be undersize relative to the thread otherwise a) it is difficult to get the thread started and b) it is easy to twist off the rod and leave some in the tool (and it is a xxx to get the piece out! ). Too small and you end up with an undersize thread.

In the end I gave up and bought the a die which was straightforward and a pleasure to use.

What I though (hoped) would be a cheap method of cutting threads did not prove to be so.

Of course, it is just a likely that I was using the tool incorrectly and that someone in the know could put us right?

 

[Overseer]

Morning people's 30° over here, I have got to the brake shaft brackets and found a problem, the holes for them is a bit narrow does anybody now how to make them bigger?
View attachment 126811
Also I have bought these from the bay of E does anybody now how to use them?
View attachment 126812
I think they were from jeweller's but I am not sure how to use it? Thanks.

Len

It looks like a draw plate used by jewellers to make thinner wire from a too thick wire. Without all the equipment, clamp the plate in a large vice on a heavy bench, file the end of a piece of wire so it fits through the hole of the size you want then with a large pair of pliers pull hard. The lower double holes look like they will produce a fancy wire with a raised section.

I could be completely wrong...

 

[oldravendale]

Morning people's 30° over here, I have got to the brake shaft brackets and found a problem, the holes for them is a bit narrow does anybody now how to make them bigger?
View attachment 126811

Hi Len.

I'm in agreement with the suggestions about dealing with the difficult fit of the brake shaft brackets if the casting really won't fit the slot, so this is just an observation as I've built a couple of MOK kits in the (relatively) recent past. Dave has his etches made to really fine tolerances which is why the kits will go together on a dry run without solder. Sometimes the slots appear to be too small for the tabs but in every case so far I found that what can best be described as wiggling the two parts together opened up the slot enough for the part to be fitted. In fact I suspect that the wiggling simply removed the cusp from inside the slot. The advantage of doing this is that you get a really tight fit without risking filing too much metal away.

You may, of course, be the unlucky chap who has a kit with over-fine tolerances but I've not heard of this with any of Dave's kits - unless others who've built them and are on this channel have advice to the contrary.

Brian

 

[markjj]

I think the problem you had with the brackets Brian could be due to the way they are attached to the sprues.
I'm sure one of the clever people on here who make kits can explain about how castings can distort etc.
The mounting tabs are the part that's attached to the sprue so I guess it's also possible to slightly distort them when you cut them off. I know I tend to snip them off with a big pair of cutters or sometimes a dremel cut of disc if the sprue is really hard. This sometimes leads to burrs or distortion.
There is also a blob of casting right by the tabs which might get wider as the mould wears slightly.
See the attached picture from the instructions.

 

[oldravendale]

I've not had a problem with the brackets, Mark. In fact I've not built the MOK 9F. I had no problem with the castings on my Q1 or King Arthur either as most of them were cut off the sprues with a saw, although I admit that sometimes the ingates left a blob at the point of entry and that had to be filed down to match the profile of the relevant slot.

I was simply trying to suggest that the fitting may just be tight on Len's loco.

Brian

 

[chigley]

hi len. following your build with interest, i have one on order with dave but hes still waiting for castings.hoping to do 92240 &br1g tender as its only 10 mins away on the bluebell. its a case of if you cant swim dont jump off the deep end, but what the hell. picking up lots of dos & donts on western thunder. thanks to every ones input, Ken

 

[Len Cattley]

Hi Chaps & Chapses, we are in the process of moving so won't be posting till after the 1st October, so bear with me.

Len

 

[Deano747]

Hope all goes well with the move and look forward to when you get your new workbench set up and you have a chance to post again.

Regards
Rob (Deano)

 

[Len Cattley]

Thanks Deano.

Len

 

[Len Cattley]

Can't believe it's been over 6 months since I last posted. I am trying to fix the castings for the water troughs, but can't see how to do it.
and this

 

[john lewsey]

Hi Len good to see back at it, when we can cross over to Murcia we can catch up
John

 

[Len Cattley]

Good to hear from you John, I can't wait to.

Len

 

[Dave Holt]

Len.
It's hard to make out the detail in your photo, but I think Part 131 fits in the outside of the slot in the small up-stand with a hole at the front of the frames (nearest point in the photo. The casting 3/017 fits between the two etched parts, with the 0.5 mm wire passing though the hole in the small horizontal bit sticking outboard of the front frame plate.
From the photo, it looks as if you might be trying to fit 3/017 to the brake shaft.
This could all be wrong, so feel free to ignore my ideas if you wish.
Dave.