B1 - 61161

[Dave Holt]

There was a slight binding when pushing the chassis up and down some track. The culprit appeared to be the tail of the expansion link in the fork of the eccentric rod, Some judicious filing has created the necessary clearance and the chassis now rolls very freely.
The other side awaits.
Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

Apart from the missing anchor links, both side of the valve gear have been assembled and fixed into the cylinder/valve gear bracket unit. All now feels very free and smooth when the chassis is pushed along, although it hasn't been tried under power yet.
I made life more difficult by dropping the cylinder/valve gear on the floor whilst trying to locate one of the reversing lifting arms. The impact bent one of the eccentric rods to about 30 degrees, near the expansion ling joint. Trying to straighten it in situ made things worse and eventually broke off the back of the forked joint. Much further work, including temporarily losing the broken off part, didn't do my equanimity much good. All fixed now.
Here are both sides.
The comparison between the B1 and the L&Y Class 27, in terms of cab height, is quite dramatic.

Better get back the Lancky tender next.
Dave.

 

[James Spooner]

Apart from the missing anchor links, both side of the valve gear have been assembled and fixed into the cylinder/valve gear bracket unit. All now feels very free and smooth when the chassis is pushed along, although it hasn't been tried under power yet.
I made life more difficult by dropping the cylinder/valve gear on the floor whilst trying to locate one of the reversing lifting arms. The impact bent one of the eccentric rods to about 30 degrees, near the expansion ling joint. Trying to straighten it in situ made things worse and eventually broke off the back of the forked joint. Much further work, including temporarily losing the broken off part, didn't do my equanimity much good. All fixed now.
Here are both sides.
View attachment 250782View attachment 250783 The comparison between the B1 and the L&Y Class 27, in terms of cab height, is quite dramatic.
View attachment 250784
Better get back the Lancky tender next.
Dave.

Dave,

Despite the trials and tribulations you seem to have won through with flying colours! Looking very good.

Nigel

 

[Dave Holt]

Thanks, Nigel.
I now realise I haven't quite finished the valve gear because I had forgotten the brass covers over the return crank/eccentric rod bearing. The lost wax castings have been cleaned up, ready to fit.
Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

Missing covers and drain cock operating bracket (just above the valve guides) now fitted. I'm awaiting some etched parts to make up the operating linkage.
Had to remove some material from the underside of the footplate to clear the expansion links. Initially, there was enough interference to cause the return crank to unscrew from the crank pin. OK now.

Dave.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Lovely work Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

Very kind, thanks, Mike.

I've made a start on the pipework, fittings and hoses under the cab. So far, I've tried to represent the exhaust steam injector and its associated pipes and hose connection (still got the overflow to fit once the rear steps are in place), the vacuum brake train pipe and hose and the steam heat hose, all as shown on these not very good photos.

The exhaust steam supply pipe is split, with the injector being fixed to the chassis and the forward part of the large pipe fixed to the keeper plate - so as to be able to get the rear wheel set out.
Still to go is the live steam injector and pipework, which is mounted inside the rear foot steps on the LHS of the loco. The injector is being 3D printed by Rumney Models. Also required is the tender steam brake hose and, I think, tender coal spray hose? Anyway, two small diameter hoses mounted near the brake trunnion brackets.
Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

From that to this.
I really hate stripping down to the base components as it seems so negative. Anyway, it has to be done to make further progress, such as fitting the brake hanger support brackets and front step bracing struts.
Here are the major components after the additions to the frames.

The wheel rims have been marked to show where the ends of the balance weights go. The little blobs of red visible on the underside of the frames are spots of nail varnish to hold the suspension adjustment grub screws in place. They have a tendency to screw in or out with vibration from wheeling the chassis back and forth.
Unfortunately, I've found a problem I've created for myself. I've had a scale sized print made for the Monitor type injector shown on the Pipe & Rod drawing, which is attached to the inside of the rear steps, as shown.

Due to the overly thick rear drag beam on the moulded plastic body, the kit frames have been shortened and the steps moved forward, so now the injector clashes with the rear driving wheels and vacuum pipe.
My solution is to extend the frames and fit a new, scale thickness, drag beam, allowing the steps to be in the correct place and, hopefully, eliminating the clash. This is all going to set back the project whilst I await the new etched parts.
Next job will be to fit the balance weights and try to sort out a slight issue with the front bogie.
Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

Oops. The body seems to have met with an accident.

But, fortunately, rescue is at hand.

Loosely placed at the moment.
Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

A start has been made on the tender for 61159. This is the Bradwell kit for ex-LNER 4200 gallon Group Standard tenders, my loco requiring one of the welded variety.
The main frame unit has been folded to shape and soldered in key places. Not as neat as some other current posts on here, but nothing too visible on the finished chassis.
Dave's design is fully sprung, each axlebox having its own phosphor bronze wire spring and pinpoint bearing.
Still a long way, and many fiddly details to go.

Dave.

 

[dibateg]

Interesting to see the Bradwell tender coming together and to compare it with the 7mm versions I have built.

Regards
Tony

 

[45609]

A good start Dave. The Bradwell GS tender kits are lovely but there is a lot of work in them. Here are a few pictures of a 3500 gallon version behind a J39 that I must get finished.



One thing to be aware of is that you won’t be able to get the wheels out if you follow Dave’s instructions to the letter. I deviated quite a bit on this tender by making a fully removable brake gear subframe. This was also necessary because mine is an early 3500g GS tender with the NER style double pull rods.







Cheers…Morgan

 

[Dave Holt]

Thanks for that Morgan.
The brake gear for the version of the 4200 gallon tender that I'm doing has somewhat simpler brake rigging and I'll be making the pull rod assembly removable by unclipping from the bottom of the brake hangers.
Here are the inner frames/brake hangers and the partly detailed pull rods.

The front section of the pull rods has a yoke round the brake shaft, rather than a hole, so allowing the whole pull rod assembly to be removable.
Dave's instructions suggest possibly attaching the inner frame/brake hanger parts to the chassis using small screws, to aid fitting the wheel sets. I can't see how that helps, compared with permanent attachment with solder, as they have to go in before the wheels and once located, there's virtually no wiggle room that might help get the wheels in.
I see that on your model, the whole assembly is one piece and separate from the chassis, Morgan. How does it help?
I presume you have to prise the frames apart to get the axles into the bearings?
Dave.

 

[45609]

Hi Dave,

It helps on my 3500g tender because I can't get the pins in to the pull rod pairs if the brake assemblies were permanently attached. That's a problem you won't have with the later style of internal equalised pull rods. The later 3500g tenders also had these but my chosen model, 64747 definitely had the earlier style of brake gear but not, thankfully, the flared tank. To get the wheels in and out isn't that easy and, yes, I do have to pry the frames a little. However, this is minimised by filing some vertical 'V' slots into the bearing flange at the bottom after soldering them it to the spring carriers.

One other good thing about Dave's tender kits is that you also end up with enough parts to make another tender by adding the sides etc... to a Bachmann body. Here is one I did that is waiting for me to build a K3 or V2 to haul it. It was destined for the J39 until I realised that I made a school boy error by building it with water scoop gear. All J39s had it removed in the late 1940s. My original loco was going to be 64955.



Cheers...Morgan

 

[dibateg]

Interesting choice of J39 numbers Morgan - I modelled 64747 and 64955 in 7mm scale. Someone sent me a picture - which I can't find, 64747 did not have a vac tank or water dome on the tender rear deck:-


Apologies for the thread hijack Dave

Tony

 

[45609]

Interesting choice of J39 numbers Morgan - I modelled 64747 and 64955 in 7mm scale. Someone sent me a picture - which I can't find, 64747 did not have a vac tank or water dome on the tender rear deck:-
View attachment 253225

Apologies for the thread hijack Dave

Tony

Hi Tony, yes, that was me. Here is the picture that clearly shows what we have both modelled for the rear of 64747's tender. It had a non-standard water filler too.

64747 at Beighton 1959

As Tony has said, apologies for wandering off topic Dave.

Cheers...Morgan

 

[Dave Holt]

Absolutely no problem. I just love all the extra information and to admire other models. Please feel free to carry on.
Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

Not much progress with tender as I've been otherwise occupied recently. However, the foot steps and guard irons have been added to the frames.
I deviated from the kit instructions by fitting the upper steps with the rivetted mounting strip below the tread as this arrangement is shown on the Isinglass drawing and is how they are on the tender of preserved B1, 1264. Hope it's right.

Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and will have a prosperous New Year. Happy modelling in 2026.

Various etched and printed detailing parts arrived just before X-mas and so some work has progressed on the loco chassis rear end. I had found that the over thick moulded rear drag beam had caused Dave B to shorten the frames slightly and move the cab steps forward accordingly. When i came to mount the live steam injector inside the step hanger plate, it clashed with the vacuum pipe and rear wheels.
To overcome this, I designed parts to extend the frames back to scale length and to replace the moulded plastic drag beam with a scale thickness etched N/S version. This has now been completed and the representation of the various water, steam, overflow and delivery pipes have been added.
All as shown below.

Dave.

 

[Dave Holt]

The brake gear is now fitted. It is removable by partially drawing out the hanger pivot wires. These have yet to be trimmed to length and will be retained by a dab of paint on final assembly. A minor adjustment of the back end pull rod is required to better align with the brake crank.
This part of the pull rods should have a screw adjuster in it but, unfortunately, I don't have any details of this on the various drawings I have.
Does anyone out there have some information or part of a drawing?

Can I just wish everyone a Happy New Year.
Dave.