Crymlyn A Shop Techniques. GWR 1340 Trojan (Avonside).

[davey4270]

I've made a start on a second hand Agenoria Avonside 0-4-0st kit of GWR 1340 Trojan. The prototype of which is preserved at the Didcot Railway Centre.


This was one of the earlier kits where you have to laminate various etchings to make the crossheads but fortunately I have a spare pair of Agenoria cast brass crossheads supplied as with later kits. The kit also came with a set of Slater's wheels, 40:1 gears and a Mashima 14/24 motor (if my measurements are correct).


Early packaging. I wonder if the previous owner recognises it? I purchased it from the O Gauge Guild online sales site many years ago.


Getting stuck in to "raising rivets". My trusty GW rivet tool was red hot by the end of the day. I prefer to do all the rivet raising in one go rather than unpacking it every time I find an etch that needs treating.


This is where I came across two etches that had been pre formed inside out! The half etch marks were on the outside of the shaped panels and it took some care to flatten them then reform with the half etched holes on the inside. The pre formed lower boiler etch had been formed correctly. I can't imagine Peter Stamper messing up, even on a Friday afternoon!


I made a start by laminating the coupling rods. I leave the excess solder on the bosses as I find these occasionally delaminate when reaming out the crankpin bearing holes and hopefully this will give them more strength. I still need to ream out with the largest of them. I also reamed out the axle bearing holes to be a tight fit on two of the bearings. The two side frames are fitted together with these bearings to align them. I will tack solder the two ends together before cleaning up the frame edges and then cutting the frames to take a set of Slater's sprung horn blocks for the leading axle.

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

I built one of those kits a long time ago when they first appeared. Nice straightforward kits which assemble easily and are good representations of the originals. I have since added to my collection with a few more from the list.

A tip re the laminated rods, although you are past that stage, is to use a piece of brass tube to line up the holes before soldering and then ream out to fit the crankpins.

Ian.

 

[davey4270]

Hi Ian, I use a couple of cocktail sticks through the holes and held in a small vice. I spread some flux between the rods first then apply small pieces of the solder via my iron. Should have mentioned that.

 

[davey4270]

A couple of hours work today saw the coupling rods reamed out to 2.45mm (according to my micrometre) and cleaned up.


The ends of the frames were tack soldered together and the edges cleaned up. The frames were then cut to clear the Slater's horn blocks with the alignment mark aligning with a scratch at the centre of the wheel position. Some adjustment to the frame cut outs will probably be needed to correctly align the horn blocks to the rear axle using my set of alignment axles.

 

[davey4270]

A couple of hours well spent erecting the frames and fettling some components.


The "erected" frames. A pair of axle bearings have been soldered in at the rear which will be the driven axle. The cut outs at the front will take the Slater's sprung horn blocks as seen in an earlier picture. The cut outs will probably have to be extended slightly as the horn block's exact position will be set by a pair of axle jigs using the coupling rods to set this from the fixed rear axle.


Various components constructed and fettled. From the top we have a pair of con rods, a pair of coupling rods, a pair of Slater's horn blocks with sliding bearings and the motor/gearbox mount. I have marked the axle boxes and the horn blocks with small drilled dots (a single dot on one pair and two dots on the other) so that they can be reassembled in their matched position. This is in case of minor dimensional differences.

 

[davey4270]

Good progress with Trojan’s frames. More by luck than judgement, I’ve cut out the slot for the Slater’s horn blocks perfectly.
I’ll still ease the slots sideways slightly anyway before soldering. The picture shows my axle alignment jig set up. I’ve attached a temporary staple to the horn blocks to stop the axle box falling out.