7mm Gladiator Horwich Mogul

[P A D]

The loco chassis is slowly coming back together. I've already given it a good run in and it now runs nicely back and forth on a length of flexitrack on the bench.


The tender is now done reassembly wise, bar the buffer heads, but they will only be fitted after the buffer beam and hoses are painted.


Unlike the "traditional" Gladiator kits, the cylinders and motion cannot be removed as a complete sub assembly. The valve gear needs quite a lot of disassembly before the cylinders/slidbars are removed independently, one at a time from each side. Reassembly is therefore more complex. This is the state of play so far.


Cheers,
Peter

 

[dibateg]

Nice work Peter, I'm looking forward to catching up!

 

[john lewsey]

That looks really good.

 

[P A D]

Thanks Tony and John.

I was able to get the valve gear back on this afternoon, which was a bit of a fiddle as it has to be taken down so much for painting.


I had to make some adjustments to the return cranks as they were snagging in places, but that was down to me not getting it right in the first place.


Still a lot to do until it's finished, but it's substantially complete now.


As well as the various detail painting and lining etc., I've still to assemble and paint the backhead, which is a very nice little kit from Laurie Griffin.


Here's a closer view of the valve gear.


The boiler bands are on the narrow side so I may resort to 4mm scale lining when I get to it. With hindsight I should have sanded them off while to boiler was in the flat.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Genghis]

Yummy! Well done. I have to decide if my next build is an MOK 9F (next in queue) or one of these (what the heart says).

 

[P A D]

Thanks David.
You'll enjoy the Mogul. However, if it was my choice I'd go for the MOK 9F, but only because the kit design concept is so different from anything else, as is the prototype. There aren't many with 10 driving wheels. Also, I've built four Fowler tenders, the most recent (before the Crab) being on the Gladiator Stanier Mogul, so familiarity breeds contemp I suppose.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

I finished off the brush work this afternoon and fitted the buffer heads and couplings. That just leaves the lubricators and pipework to add to complete the exterior before moving on to the lining.


I still need to do the cab interior brushwork and assemble and paint the backhead, but it's now ready for lining out.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Genghis]

We need a new box label: I hope we can use this when finished.

 

[P A D]

No problem David.

 

[P A D]

As usual, I mounted the lubricators on a block of wood for forming the pipe runs to the inner edge of the running plate. Here's the right hand one ready for painting. The lines on the wood represent the outer edge of the running plate (bottom), the outer edge of the lubricator (middle) and the position of the mounting hole on the running plate (top).


After forming the runs, soldering and cleaning up, the pipes are folded over the edge of the wood and trimmed to prevent fouling the top edge of the frames.


This is the left hand one during forming the pipe runs. I use a suitable size drill shank to form the vertical bend down to the running plate, by pressing down with a straight edge.


I then make the horizontal bends at 90 degrees towards the edge of the wood, one at a time using 2 sets of tweezers.


Then solder all 4 pipes together. There's only 3 on the other side with one outlet blanked off.




I removed the priming wheel on the back of the left hand one so as to clear the reversing rod.


These are the Wakefield lubricators as fitted to the first 100 examples of the class, with Silvertown variants being fitted to the rest, so you need to check your prototype. Silvertown lubricators are available from FK3D.




Having since checked some images I took of the preserved example at the NRM, I now realise that the lubricators are mounted too far from the outer edge of the running plate, hence the reason the priming wheel was fouling the reversing rod! However, the error is not that noticable and I can live with it, so I won't be taking them off. What threw me was the position of the mounting hole which is too close to the inner edge of the running plate. That said, I should have checked before proceeding.


I see that Fox Transfers do a dedicated lining set for the Crab, so I'll get an order in.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[dibateg]

Nice work on the lubricators Peter!

 

[P A D]

Thanks Tony.

 

[Dave Holt]

Those printed lubricators look very good indeed. I had some printed in 4 mm scale and. although they looked as good, including the small pipe union nuts, it proved impractical to drill them out for the lubrication pipes. Just one of the benefits of 7 mm, I suppose.
Dave.

 

[P A D]

Hi Dave,
Yes, the printed lubricators are excellent. I use 0.3mm copper wire for the pipes and I drill out the union nuts 0.4mm with a pin vice. It's quite straightforward and a lot less stressful than drilling brass or white metal.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[Rob Pulham]

I'm still awaiting mine in deepest North Yorkshire. I had notification that they'd been sent, last Friday, but no sign of them yet.

 

[P A D]

Strange. Last time I ordered they arrived next day.