7mm Dikitriki's Dark side: A WD 2-8-0

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
wishful thinking on my part - Arthur or Nelson or B1 /B17 going by the stepped buffers.

Also to show that I'm still watching:thumbs: and to keep up the posts

cheers

Mike
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Hi

No flies on you lot.

It is the Sans Pareil Lord Nelson. I really enjoyed the build of this, and put as much into it as I could at the time. It has now come to the end of its 10 year running in period, so it's going off to Warren for painting in the next couple of weeks.

It was very heavily tarnished having languished in a box for so long, but I started the big clean up in earnest yesterday. I used my heated ultrasound bath for the first time - and was hugely impressed with it. With repeated dunks in the bath and a couple of goes with Bar Keeper's friend, it came up pretty well - enough for me to give it a really good going over in the next couple of days in case I missed something when I built it.

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It's a big and impressive loco - getting it through even a 6 foot radius curve took some work, and there is a segment of sticky black plastic behind one of the front steps, which I moved out further than they should be.

P1010348a.JPG

The detail in the kit is exemplary, though not without errors, as you would expect from a Dave Sharp design.

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You can see from this shot how tarnished the model is/was. I still have a lot of cleaning up to do.

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And the backhead...

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I was pleased with the way the underframe worked out - mostly in the kit - but it was a nightmare working out how to make the leading drivers drop out. I shall have to write a reassembly manual as I dismantle it. I also managed to squeeze in a Crailcrest motor, but had great difficulty in fitting a chip due to space constraints.

It will be Lord Nelson himself, and the plates should arrive from Severn Mill nameplates this week. I'd previously bought a set from Guilplates, but they are markedly inferior, so are now going spare.

Thanks are due to Steph for advice on livery details, which I shall pass to Warren with the model.

Next on the finishing off list is Diamond Jubilee. Exciting times.

Cheers

Richard
 

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
A great model Richard, I'm looking forward to see the result of Warren's handiwork soon.

cheers

Mike
 

Compton castle

Western Thunderer
Now that is nice, Lord Nelson was turned on Ranelagh Bridge when she arrived Paddington for a rail tour smoke box first.
I shall look forward to seeing it with paint on, on Warrens thread.
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Hi

The tender is now dismantled and cleaned up.

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I'd forgotten how I'd built it, so it was a pleasant surprise - when I worked it out - that it came apart so far.

Now starting on the engine, so while I had the lid off, I took some photos of the innards.

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The chip is probably a temporary one - a digitrax 4 amp chip - that I put in to test the loco. Steph, given that it's Crailcrest powered and pretty heavy, what chip would you recommend? I'm looking for control only, not sound.

Cheers

Richard
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Richard,
I can imagine that motor can pull an awful lot of current if it stalls, but suspect that the actual current rating isn't all that high when the loco is in service. So a 4A decoder seems pragmatic. I'm bound to recommend the ESU LokPilotv4 XL, but it's also worth checking with Tim if there's a suitable Zimo.

Len,
The kit is a beauty and includes inside working motion; most of which can't be seen! Richard's photo unfortunately draws out all the deficiencies in the kit; the frame outline is only suitable for 'Lord Nelson' as the production locos were different in their lightening cut outs; the inside cranks are the as-built pattern, again only for 850, all locos receiving a much chunkier crank axle. The front truck is the late pattern with the cut out in the front stretcher for AWS gear, but with the early side-plates. I can't see from the pictures whether the correct crank settings have been applied either; the inside and outside cylinders should be 135degrees out of synch.
Interestingly, the loco therefore closely aligns with the drawings of the class that are in the OPC list, and not with the prototype photos included in the instructions!

Steph
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Len,

Yes, it's all working, though as Steph says, it's difficult to see much when the body is on. Since all the inside motion rods were in the kit, it seemed silly not to put it in. Not much room though, and I'm still trying to remember what comes off as part of the dismantling process. For some reason, Warren wants it stripped for painting:)

I'll take a video later, I'm recharging the battery at the moment.

Steph,

Thanks for the advice. I have very little space available, so anything XL is out. The Digitrax chip is pretty compact for a 4A rating.

Good job I decided to do Lord Nelson then. I'd like to say it was the result of painstaking research......

Richard
 

TheSnapper

Western Thunderer
Hi Richard

The Digitrax chip will be OK I think - I installed a similar one in "Heyside Brian's" Heljan 33 recently.

If you're not happy with that, there's the ZimoMX695KN with a 6 Amp rating, but I think it would need to be installed in the tender

Tim
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Thanks Tim,

I shall stick with the Digitrax chip then. Brian has one in his DJH Brit, and that runs superbly. I might ask you to tinker with the CV settings though when I get it back.

Richard
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Hi

I have uploaded a video of the valve gear to YouTube.


It was more difficult to set up than I expected. The leading 2 axles are sprung, and without the weight of the body on the chassis, it was bouncing all over the place, and the trailing driven axle was not in contact with the rollers!

Cheers

Richard
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Hi

Still cleaning up the Nelson. It's been quite hard work as what I found acceptable 10 years ago, I do not find passes muster now; so there has been much muttering, as there's a lot of bits in the way, but I'm nearly there.

The chassis has been stripped as far as I can, and there are lots of labelled poly bags with bits in.

I thought a few photos might be in order, as I shall probably never see these bits as clearly again, and it is a tribute to the quality of the kit, as most of the bits were included.

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Exhaust steam injector, damper controls, spring and brake gear.

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The cylinder and mechansim - it works in both directions, front driver and 2 rear drivers separately. Also the grease separator. The front part of the exhaust steam pipe, the springs for the 2 leading drivers and the front driver's brake spreader and pull rod all screw on.

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The trailing bogie wheel splashers are a nightmare in clearance terms. Inside cylinder details and drain cock operating levers.

And the front bogie - just for Steph....

P1010379a.jpg

Cheers

Richard
 
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