Nick Dunhill
Western Thunderer
I'm building a big South Wales tank loco from a Taff Vale Models kit with some upgrades, inc inside motion and a fully detailled cab. I'm modelling no.44 which was one of the last batch of the class built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester in 1921. I think it was designated AR class as it had an upgraded boiler. Anyway, the kit has been around for a number of years, it was originally marketed by Dragon Models, but was drawn by my good friend Adrian Rowland, so I'm confident it will go together with little or no problems, other than the ones that I cause! I'm not sure whether this class of loco was used for hauling coal or passengers, perhaps someone reading this will be able to fill me in.
So as usual I will start with the coupling rods. I will need them as a jig for positioning the axleboxes in the chassis so they're always a good place to start. The etches in the kit look good, but according to the drawing I have the rods are thicker at the bosses, and there's no overlays in the kit for these. The rods always look a bit more business-like if they have the oil filler necks and bungs, so I'll add them as well. I think the pictures are pretty self explanatory.
You can see I drew a right angle in pencil on the paper on my bench to aid alignment.
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When I'm making rods I just flood the joins with solder and spend hours filing. The oil pot fillers are thin walled tube and brass rod filed into a hex (although it's questionable whether you can see the hex!)
The next job was to fettle the slide bars and crossheads from these LGM castings. They work very smoothly now.
I think this is my 5th set of LGM Stephenson inside motion in the last 12 months!
So as usual I will start with the coupling rods. I will need them as a jig for positioning the axleboxes in the chassis so they're always a good place to start. The etches in the kit look good, but according to the drawing I have the rods are thicker at the bosses, and there's no overlays in the kit for these. The rods always look a bit more business-like if they have the oil filler necks and bungs, so I'll add them as well. I think the pictures are pretty self explanatory.
You can see I drew a right angle in pencil on the paper on my bench to aid alignment.
When I'm making rods I just flood the joins with solder and spend hours filing. The oil pot fillers are thin walled tube and brass rod filed into a hex (although it's questionable whether you can see the hex!)
The next job was to fettle the slide bars and crossheads from these LGM castings. They work very smoothly now.
I think this is my 5th set of LGM Stephenson inside motion in the last 12 months!