Dave's 4mm scale Industrial Loco Workshop.

[Dave]

The hand rails were a real test of my soldering skills and patience. The horizontals and verticals are all flush with one another on the prototype, which meant having to solder the horizontals as butt joints to the verticals on the side rails. To do this on the ends would have been next to impossible, so I overlaid the horizontals on the outside of the verticals. It's a bit of a cheat and not exactly how they ought to be but you wouldn't notice riding by on a galloping horse. I built them all up in situ but if I do something similar in future I will make a jig and build them on the bench.

It's all had a coat of etch primer.

At least the livery will be simple. Blue all over, except for black hand rails and running plate. Aluminium window frames and wasp stripes on the buffer beams.

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Lovely work on the handrails, Dave. They are the devils work, but your look the part. I've been experimenting with thinning the ends by compressing them in a vice, and making a 'cup' that effectively sits behind to make the joint. It's a 'technique in progress'

Cheers

Jan

 

[Dave]

Almost there now.

The air cleaner top needs to go on the engine casing. I had to leave it off so that I could paint the window frame on the LH side.
I need to make some sandbox fillers and fit them as the kit ones were left off because I'm an idiot.
Other than that it needs glazing and weathering. Add a decoder and who knows - maybe it will run?

 

[Dave]

It doesn't look greatly different from last time, but it's had some weathering, the cab is now glazed and it has gained air brake hoses on the buffer beams. Cosmetically there's not much to do now. Door handles, sand pipes and more weathering. I have ordered a decoder for it, so shall soon find out if it runs or not.

I have just noticed that near buffer is a bit wonky. I'll get the proper camera out for the finished photo.

Going back to the Barclay conversion plan, I'm now thinking that starting with a Hattons RTR isn't the best idea. The chassis block is pretty much a block when it comes to the boiler. There's about 2mm of curve and the rest is a flat-sided slab. I may get the hacksaw out and see how much I can lop off before cutting into the gear train. If it's not workable I'll build it all from scratch.

I built this Grant Ritchie 0-4-2ST from a mix of Hattons and scratch-built parts and regret using the Hattons chassis block.

 

[Dave]

It runs, but not as well as it should. I will add a set of pickups for the centre wheelset, which should improve things.

 

[Dave]

I have put the Barclay conversion on the back burner. There's no point in starting a new project whilst unfinished ones are stashed away in drawers.

One such project has been resting for a couple of years. A friend bought a second hand kit-built BR Class 02 that was built from a DJH whitemetal kit. It was a really poor runner and the paint job wasn't much better, so he gave it to me to sort it out for him. Around the same time I bought an unbuilt but incomplete whitemetal DJH 02 kit from ebay. It was very cheap, with no other bidders. I suppose not many people are interested in something that they can't finish with what's in the box.

I had the idea of converting the kits into Yorkshire Engine Co. 220HP diesel-electrics. The first stage was to buy an Oxford RTR Janus and rob the engine casings from it. I took the entire body off and managed to resell the chassis for exactly what we paid for the entire model, which was an unexpected bonus!

The built model had been glued together, so it went for a soak in paint stripper for a few days. I made a start in filing the cab and the running plate to get the engine casing to fit, but that's as far as it got. A couple of days ago I took everything out of the drawer and continued where I left off.


The replacement engine casings and the Class 02 casing for comparison, along with the running plate/valances. The previously painted one has had notches filed in it to line up with clips on the edge of the new casing.


Trial fit of the casings an the reprofiling of the buffer beams.


The filing off of the running plate lip that overhangs the valances (top) with unaltered part (bottom).

Apart from the engine casing being shorter in length and width than the Class 02 casing, the other most obvious difference between the 02 and the 220HP DE is the fuel tanks that run the length of each side of the casing and the deeper valances. These will be made as new parts and overlaid on the existing valances and lower cab sides..

The wheel diameter and base are identical on both types. My kit came with a fold-up etched chassis, whilst the other was cast whitemetal. It isn't fixable, so will be replaced by one made from scratch and as I'm building one I may as well build one for my own model.

 

[Dave]

The wheels provided with the kit are old Romfords and are oversized. I presume this was taken into account by the kit designers because when the fold-up chassis is fitted to the body, but with the correctly-sized wheels, the buffer height is too low. Unfortunately, the buffer bodies are cast as part of the buffer beam, so will have to be filed off and entirely new buffers fitted in their place.

On the correct wheels the distance from rail head to top of the cab is correct for the tallest 220DE

Despite the drawing showing the connecting rods as having ordinary bearings, as on the 02, I don't think I've ever seen a 220HP with them. They have chunky roller bearings, so the kit rods are destined for the bin.

02


220DE


Here's one I made earlier.

Not quite. It's a 220HP Diesel-Hydraulic. I used the Craftsman etched brass kit as the basis for the conversion.

 

[Dave]

This was the main reason for stopping work on the project last time around. It isn't possible to see the extent of these flat areas in front of the fuel tanks on the drawing. I had arranged to climb all over a 12" to the foot one, with a tape measure, but that fell through. I now have a photo, taken looking down on a loco, that shows this clearly so have made the cuts in one casting. The LH side has only the cut whilst the RH has the beginnings of the recess being built up. It will need filler and sanding back to fill the gaps.

I don't like working with whitemetal. It's messy and a slip of the saw or file and it's wrecked. I would have preferred to use a Craftsman etched brass kit but I have about as much chance of finding one of those again as I do of winning the Lottery. Such a shame that the entire range is no longer available.

 

[spikey faz]

I don't like working with whitemetal. It's messy and a slip of the saw or file and it's wrecked. I would have preferred to use a Craftsman etched brass kit but I have about as much chance of finding one of those again as I do of winning the Lottery. Such a shame that the entire range is no longer avavailable.

I know what you mean about whitemetal, but it is quite easy to repair with low melt solder. Like you I'd rather work with etched brass, but I guess we've just got to use what's available.

You mentioned earlier about filing the buffer housings off and fitting new ones. Could you not saw them off with a piercing saw and reattach them at the correct height? Saves you sourcing/making new ones.

Mike

 

[Dave]

I know what you mean about whitemetal, but it is quite easy to repair with low melt solder. Like you I'd rather work with etched brass, but I guess we've just got to use what's available.

You mentioned earlier about filing the buffer housings off and fitting new ones. Could you not saw them off with a piercing saw and reattach them at the correct height? Saves you sourcing/making new ones.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I couldn't saw closely and accurately enough to remove them with their square bases on. I'd have to make new bases and as the bodies themselves aren't anything special it's easier to chop them off, file them flat and replace them in their entirety. RT Models do a suitable buffer in cast whitemetal, so that's what I'll use.

 

[Dave]

The area around the rear sand filler will need some work before the brass overlay can be fitted.

 

[Dave]

Progress has been slow. The cab must be glazed before I can fix it and the engine casing in place. With etched kits I cut rectangles of thin clear plastic, such as that used as packaging on Wills building materials. The rectangles don't need to be very precise but with the thick walls and window frames on this whitemetal cast cab that method isn't going to work. It will work but it won't look right. The massively overscale thickness of the frames will be obvious so I'm having to use a 1mm thick clear plastic and each separate window needs its own glazing panel, which has to be cut and filed to an exact fit. I have done some of the windows but became bored with making and fitting windows.

I have soldered on the brass overlays and one buffer beam. The buffer beam has had some chunky Workington steelworks type buffers fitted to it.
I will have to finish the glazing after the rear buffer beam has been altered and fitted. When the cab and engine casing are fixed in place I can begin work on the fuel tanks that go between the overlays and the engine casing. I haven't decided what material to use yet. The photo, below, shows the the fuel tank and filler on one side.

 

[Dave]

The paint job isn't too bad when you take into consideration that I was using an old tinlet of Humbrol Imperial striped paint in a Metric airbrush.

 

[Dave]

My workbench is as chaotic as the insides of my head, but I have made some progress.

I found the scattered bits of a High Level gearbox and it has all the right parts, but not necessarily in the right order. It does work though!
I have also managed to produce some patterns for the chassis.

The second build, what was to have been an identical model for a friend, is on indefinite hold. My head hasn't been in the game of late and feeling the need to build this other model, even if I wasn't enjoying it, was causing me more stress. My friend understands and it's all still there for me to continue with as and when.

 

[Dave]

I went a bit crazy, made some drawings, made patterns from them and built a chassis.


Perfect fit.

Rods and pickups, next.

 

[Dave]

I made the pickup plate on the pantograph but don't have any .5mm NS wire to make the pickups. The plate will be scored along the centre line to insulate one side from the other and the hole will be countersunk so a single screw can fix it to the stretcher beneath. The plate is made from that copper-coated glass fibre stuff and I keep an old cutter specifically for making pickup plates as it seems to take the edge off cutters easily and I don't want to ruin my usual ones.

That chassis isn't likely to twist or bend, unless it's hit with a hammer.

The special tools/jig that I use to assemble these thick-walled brass locomotive chassis.

A pair of old Romford extended axles with hexagonal bar that I tapped 10BA and turned on the lathe. The top one shows the turned spacer that should also be on the lower one. These spacers go in between the frame plates and with the jig screwed together the plates are held parallel for the stretchers to be slotted in and soldered in place.

 

[Dave]

I found some .3mm NS wire. I think it'll serve the purpose.

I have swapped the Markits wheels for some Gibsons that I had in stock. The rims on the Gibsons are deeper and look more like those on the prototype. I made the rods and put them on. To my surprise they were a perfect fit and with power applied to the motor the wheels and rods all turned smoothly without any fettling whatsoever! I must be getting good at this chassis building malarkey. I have used the same method of compensation as on the big MW 0-4-0ST.

 

[Dave]

I have a dumb decoder on order and so will soon be able to test run it. Everything else is now just cosmetic finishing. I filed off the cast half-relief hand rails on the cab rear, so need to make and fit wire ones, plus add some to the cab sides. I am using the etched hand rails from the original Class 02 kit at the ends but these need large headlamps to be made and added. Sand box lids, from the kit, to be added and fuel fillers to be made and fitted. Draw hooks and couplings need to be made and fitted.

 

[Penrhos1920]

Used for turning grinding flares on the bottom of chimneys and domes, to blend upright chimney / dome to boiler barrel diameter.

How does it do that?

 

[Dave]

I fitted the decoder (Zimo MX616) and it runs very well. This may be the only model of a 220HP Yorkshire DE in OO. The only others I know of at all are the lovely scratchbuilt P4 pair on Mostyn.






I said before that I would take a break from building locomotives but that didn't really happen. I will try harder this time.