7mm JF's assorted stuff.

Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
All finished; nice and dirty now. I didn't bother masking off the LEDs as even with 1k resistors they are a little bright. Sorry there's no pics of them lit up, I'd just finished packing them up for posting when I realised I'd forgot to take any with power to them.
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More soon...
JF
 

Simon

Flying Squad
A magnificent piece of work, as ever:thumbs:

I'm getting closer to having a go myself in silly size:)

Thank you for sharing the pictures, now about those Southern ones you were doing earlier.......

Simon
 

Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
A magnificent piece of work, as ever:thumbs:

I'm getting closer to having a go myself in silly size:)

Thank you for sharing the pictures, now about those Southern ones you were doing earlier.......

Simon
Well, those southern ones you mentioned...might be your excuse to have a go at silly size!
JF
 

Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
More LMS stylie upper quadrants. These are all for permanent outdoor use in France and above board manual operation from a mechanical lever frame so have been built somewhat heavier to cope with that and Mrs Nature in a bad mood. The ladders are double thickness, the crossbeams are deeper section and the linkages made of thicker tube and rod than I usually use. Also the treads are brass instead of my usual 0.8mm ply. Should be able to cope with birds landing on them and cats rubbing against them!
LMS balanced bracket finished and one of 5 straight post signals.
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All looking spick and span and I'd love to weather them but I would imagine nature will do it for me once they are installed!
An SR lattice bracket is also in build.
I thought corrugated arms were in order and I remembered an old Sprat and Winkle etch for U/Q signals I had lurking in the bits box. Good news, there were a few corrugated arms on it, bad news, it's the old etch and they look like this.
IMG_1030 (1000x750) - Copy.jpg

One of the main reasons the MSE U/Q etches have been superseded with a ones that look more like the real thing. Sadly the corrugated version is (I think) no longer available, so.... a few minutes with snips, files, a bit of scrap etch and a rivet punch produced this which I think a little more closely resembles the real thing
IMG_1030 (1000x750).jpg
More in a while
JF
Edit.. I stand corrected! The ex D&S etch for upper quadrant arms available from MSE has a couple of slightly better corrugated arms on the fret.fret_photo.jpg
 
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Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
I've never really been one to fuss over the finer details and finishing touches on rolling stock but once I saw these for sale on ebay, my class 24 suddenly had to have them. A nice etched N/S Derby works plate. They came unpainted so rather than fill the fine detail up with paint, I chemically blackened them and stuck them on with double sided tape.
24047wp.jpg
When originally built the class 24s generally had them under the drivers side window. Once they were re-numbered and data panels added, the works plates were (usually) moved to the cab doors.
Another ebay purchase was an Ex LNW coal tank, ready built for a nat's under £200. Quite a bargain as it's a runner but a little rough around the edges. It's also the first and hopefully the only etched brass loco I've ever come across that has been almost completely assembled with glue rather than solder. It looks to have a Premier components milled chassis, possibly cast iron wheels and a rear pony truck rather than a radial arrangement.
After sorting the pick ups and adding a piece of stiff wire to the trailing truck to help spring and "steer" it through curves and turnouts a bit, it trundles along quite nicely.
CT2.jpg
It'll end up being "BR"- ised, pushpull fitted and re-numbered either as 58926 or 58887 which I think was the last coal tank at Bolton (Plodder Lane) shed.


I have a list of things to do to it as time allows including:-
Better fixing method for cab roof.
Replace smokebox wheel with a dart.
Better safety valves.
Representation of firebox sides behind the frames.
New brake gear (current ones are whitemetal, glued on and very flimsy).
Add push-pull gear and associated pipework/hoses.
Possibly re-jig the rear cab spectacle protectors as I think they should be 45degrees rather than vertical.
As the loco was fairly cheap I'll probably scratchbuild all the extra bits to keep it as a bargain (who said cheapskate?!)
More soon, signals and workbench re-fit permitting
JF
 

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Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
I think that looks a little better!
Cobbled some new brake gear together and some ashpan sides from scrap etch, re-positioned the vac bags, added a set of push-pull castings, fitted some washout plugs, cab roof now screwed down to a soldered in beam, new smokebox dart and re-shaped door hinge, made up some Ross pop safety valves from brass tube and a quick blow over with Halfords satin black.
Fox transfers for the numbers and cycling lion, HMRS for the 2F and a home printed 10D shed plate.
Still to do, couplings, coal and a coat of filth...
Back to the signals bench now!
JF
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oldravendale

Western Thunderer
Lovely looking loco.

The absence of a smokebox number plate is, of course, prototypical. Does anyone know why ex-LNWR locos (The G2 and G2a 0-8-0's come to mind too) never carried smokebox plates when in BR ownership? I've never been able to find out.

Brian
 

Jinty

Western Thunderer
Now that's a nice little coal tank, and the signals are pretty awesome too.
I think nicely made signals add so much dimension to a layout, and working ones even more.
 

Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
Lovely looking loco.

The absence of a smokebox number plate is, of course, prototypical. Does anyone know why ex-LNWR locos (The G2 and G2a 0-8-0's come to mind too) never carried smokebox plates when in BR ownership? I've never been able to find out.

Brian
There's been a few reasons put forward about the lack of numberplates over the years although the LMS did fit them for a short while. I can only presume it was something to do with the door itself. Were they single skinned and fastening of the numbers maybe led to warpage for some reason? I've noticed looking at pictures, quite a few ex LNW locos gained additional fastening dogs around the edge of the door later in life.
JF
Edit! further cursory investigation on the smokebox number conundrum has revealed a lot of very heated discussions on various forums without any clear answer coming to light so although I've expressed an opinion here, I'd prefer to go no further with it;)!
 
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Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
Now that's a nice little coal tank, and the signals are pretty awesome too.
I think nicely made signals add so much dimension to a layout, and working ones even more.
Thanks Dave, It's a strange model; a basic kit (not sure which manufacturer, there's quite a few who've done a coal tank over the years) whoever built it made a reasonably square job of it but the vast majority of the main construction was glued together with epoxy! Never come across an etched kit built like that before and I hope I don't ever again. Having said that, the only joints that I needed to replace with solder were the front corners of the cab sheets.
Glad you like the signals, I really must stop messing with locos and try and get back on top of the backlog of signal orders!!
Cheers
JF
 

Jon Fitness

Western Thunderer
I decided not to go too heavy with the weathering on the coal tank. After having a Kadee fitted to the rear (not keen on them but as it's main work will be push-pull it's probably the best option round our sharp curves) it was taken to the layout to check all was OK.
I didn't need to have worried as it happily takes 3 coaches and slogs steadily up and down the various steep inclines and sharp curves without a trace of a slip. It can even be left to it's own devices on the steep bits without speeding or slowing excessively.
On Shed
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Taking coal
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Ready for it's first trip from Astley Bridge to Uppermill.
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I'll do a video of it doing its stuff if anyone's interested...
JF
Edit, just noticed I've knocked one of the lubricators off the smokebox.. :rant:
 
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