oldravendale
Western Thunderer
Just out of interest, Dave, when you come back to the UK do you hire an air freighter?....
Brian
Brian
No, but I’ve got to the stage when I think it worthwhile forking out for business class. With the frequent flier card it gives me 80kg baggage allowance, which is usually enough!Just out of interest, Dave, when you come back to the UK do you hire an air freighter?....
Brian
Mind you fares have rocketed so this luxury is becoming unaffordable.
Dave
Like Mick, I had hoped to have had a model boxed off for Kempton, but no chance!
Here is the current state of the Standard 5.
Most of the valve gear is assembled, waiting on positioning.
Now looking forward to the weekend. Not looking forward to tonight's 19 hour flights to get back home.
Here is the current state of the Standard 5.
Most of the valve gear is assembled, waiting on positioning.
Now looking forward to the weekend. Not looking forward to tonight's 19 hour flights to get back home.
Not much from me for a while! Work has been getting in the way but to get me back in the swing of things I've done a Gladiator bogie brake van.
No issues with this, except that Mr Stupid destroyed a brake shoe, so that will get fitted when this gets home.
I need to add a rider to the instructions to say make the solebar and roof tab bends before adding the duckets and side handrails as these get in the way of the bending bars.
Now back to the class 5.
No issues with this, except that Mr Stupid destroyed a brake shoe, so that will get fitted when this gets home.
I need to add a rider to the instructions to say make the solebar and roof tab bends before adding the duckets and side handrails as these get in the way of the bending bars.
Now back to the class 5.
My thoughts that I would get on with the standard 5 were interrupted by Plan B, which was to finish another wagon kit first a Gladiator (ex Peter Dobson) LSWR/SR/BR 16' OCT.
This is designed with a rocking axle. Unfortunately, I discovered when I built it that one end of the wagon was 5mm higher than the other as the pivot for the axle carrier is in the wrong place. I need to add a note to the instructions. It can also be built as a rigid base. Mr Stupid managed to ruin one buffer by not drilling it out correctly and then destroying another with the soldering iron. So a couple of small jobs left to do.
So having run out of excuses for not getting on with it, I have returned to the class 5. The trial fit of the valve gear worked out OK so now I need to strip it all down, paint the frames and fit pickups and the motor-gearbox. With that done there will definitely be an influx of mojo. DJH has even managed to supply a replacement brake handle to replace the defective casting.
This is designed with a rocking axle. Unfortunately, I discovered when I built it that one end of the wagon was 5mm higher than the other as the pivot for the axle carrier is in the wrong place. I need to add a note to the instructions. It can also be built as a rigid base. Mr Stupid managed to ruin one buffer by not drilling it out correctly and then destroying another with the soldering iron. So a couple of small jobs left to do.
So having run out of excuses for not getting on with it, I have returned to the class 5. The trial fit of the valve gear worked out OK so now I need to strip it all down, paint the frames and fit pickups and the motor-gearbox. With that done there will definitely be an influx of mojo. DJH has even managed to supply a replacement brake handle to replace the defective casting.
I think that the time between posts is a good contrary mojo indicator. This kit has certainly being doing its best to drain mine.
I stripped the chassis, painted the frames, fitted pick ups and motor gearbox and reassembled the valve gear. It ran nicely, so definitely a plus on the mojo-ometer.
Then I realised that I had forgotten to fit the overlays on the return cranks. OK, sweat them on. Test run: crunch!. Now the return cranks interfered with the eccentric rod. Like an idiot I had applied too much oomph from my ancient Hornby controller and I ended up with rods all over the place.
Next trick: how to dismantle and make clearances. I had made far too good a job of securely locating the shouldered steel pin and its brass cover. I managed to get it apart OK on one side, but on the other I ended up making the pin unusable. I made a replacement using a short 12BA screw and a standard Slaters crankpin bush to bush out the overlarge hole in the eccentric rod boss. So the sides now look different but as you cannot see both at the same time I'm going to call it OK. Various minor adjustments were made and everything reassembled.
The test run caused another lock up, so now the mojo-ometer is firmly in the red. Reason: I hadn't realised that the previous lock up had broken the bond between the large (2mm thread) crankpin and the wheel, which was now free to rotate. Answer: strip it all down again and lock the crankpin in place.
The latest test runs have been positive but I am not going to secure the joint between the union link and the crosshead drop link until I am sure that I have this right.
So on with the body for a bit of light relief (I hope).
I stripped the chassis, painted the frames, fitted pick ups and motor gearbox and reassembled the valve gear. It ran nicely, so definitely a plus on the mojo-ometer.
Then I realised that I had forgotten to fit the overlays on the return cranks. OK, sweat them on. Test run: crunch!. Now the return cranks interfered with the eccentric rod. Like an idiot I had applied too much oomph from my ancient Hornby controller and I ended up with rods all over the place.
Next trick: how to dismantle and make clearances. I had made far too good a job of securely locating the shouldered steel pin and its brass cover. I managed to get it apart OK on one side, but on the other I ended up making the pin unusable. I made a replacement using a short 12BA screw and a standard Slaters crankpin bush to bush out the overlarge hole in the eccentric rod boss. So the sides now look different but as you cannot see both at the same time I'm going to call it OK. Various minor adjustments were made and everything reassembled.
The test run caused another lock up, so now the mojo-ometer is firmly in the red. Reason: I hadn't realised that the previous lock up had broken the bond between the large (2mm thread) crankpin and the wheel, which was now free to rotate. Answer: strip it all down again and lock the crankpin in place.
The latest test runs have been positive but I am not going to secure the joint between the union link and the crosshead drop link until I am sure that I have this right.
So on with the body for a bit of light relief (I hope).
The mojo-ometer, if not in the green, has certainly moved out of the red zone.
Work has started on the plumbing, of which there is an ample sufficiency!
I had toyed with rejecting the smokebox casting. The jury is still out. Let's hope Paul Moore has some thick paint in his palette!
Fitting the valve in front of the driver was a nightmare. I had already fitted the control handles in the cab and left tails to go into the valve. It would have been much simpler to fit the valve, then feed the wires through from the cab, cut them down inside the cab and then fit the handles.
These close up photos are cruel........
David
Work has started on the plumbing, of which there is an ample sufficiency!
I had toyed with rejecting the smokebox casting. The jury is still out. Let's hope Paul Moore has some thick paint in his palette!
Fitting the valve in front of the driver was a nightmare. I had already fitted the control handles in the cab and left tails to go into the valve. It would have been much simpler to fit the valve, then feed the wires through from the cab, cut them down inside the cab and then fit the handles.
These close up photos are cruel........
David
Peter
I spent ages getting the parting line from the sides of the chimney (and some) but hadn’t spotted the top.
The smokebox may be slightly flared. Cannot do much about that.
David
Overseer
Western Thunderer
Probably not a lot of help now that you have added the details, but I have had success using Milliput to fill porous whitemetal castings. Apply with water and it will fill the cavities without adding thickness to the surface, with no sanding needed afterwards. Usually on low volume car kits and similar rather than DJH.
Thanks to Roger Scanlon for pointing out that the big chime whistle as supplied in the kit isn't suitable for the later engines with a conventional whistle on top of the firebox. Many thanks to for photos! I had wondered about this at the time but couldn't find any photos on the web. Anyway, the bits box produced something closer to what should be there and a bit of scrap etch and wire formed the sophisticated operating mechanism!
So on with the plumbing. I thought it would be a good idea to remove the injector support frame assembly and do the plumbing and ended up with this:
So feeling very happy with myself I fitted it, shaping the driver's side pipework appropriately.
Then I attempted to fit the body: disaster! The rear of the pipework interferes with the drag beam. So with the mojo-ometer firmly in the red I had a diversion while I gain the energy to replumb.
It's missing the brake valve but that is at home as the original casting was not properly formed. Hopefully can be fitted without problems.
So feeling very happy with myself I fitted it, shaping the driver's side pipework appropriately.
Then I attempted to fit the body: disaster! The rear of the pipework interferes with the drag beam. So with the mojo-ometer firmly in the red I had a diversion while I gain the energy to replumb.
It's missing the brake valve but that is at home as the original casting was not properly formed. Hopefully can be fitted without problems.
Dave Holt
Western Thunderer
David.
On my 4 mm scale BR Std 5 (Caprotti version), I fixed all the RH pipework to the chassis, rather than the body, for the reasons you've discovered (although, in this case, there was the added complication of the exhaust steam pipe passing through the lubricator support bracket).
Might that be an option for you?
Dave.
On my 4 mm scale BR Std 5 (Caprotti version), I fixed all the RH pipework to the chassis, rather than the body, for the reasons you've discovered (although, in this case, there was the added complication of the exhaust steam pipe passing through the lubricator support bracket).
Might that be an option for you?
Dave.
Dave,
Fabulous work as always.
The pipework is attached to the frames, but the drag beam is on the body. The pipework is split under the footplate.
I made progress yesterday and am in with a fighting chance of completing today.
Dave
So here we are. Missing buffers (to be replaced by Gladiator lost wax brass castings) and steam and vac pipes. The vac pipe pinged off and despite an extensive search of this quadrant of the galaxy has so far eluded me. There is a bit left over, part L22. Despite reading and rereading the instructions, and even with my best pair of glasses, I cannot see where it should go. Any ideas?
Getting the drawbar in place took about an hour. The locating screw has to be manoeuvred past the brake rigging and live steam injector pipes. In the end I filed the head of the screw to make it smaller.
There is a bag of bits to go into the cab once painted:
But here she is:
DJH supplies some tiny nickel silver castings to form the joints in the lubricator drive but I found them impossible to drill out and use so adopted a simpler method.
Next up is a Gladiator Jersey Lily. I've done one of these before and know it is much easier than this beast!
I may have a glass of wine this evening.
Dave
Getting the drawbar in place took about an hour. The locating screw has to be manoeuvred past the brake rigging and live steam injector pipes. In the end I filed the head of the screw to make it smaller.
There is a bag of bits to go into the cab once painted:
But here she is:
DJH supplies some tiny nickel silver castings to form the joints in the lubricator drive but I found them impossible to drill out and use so adopted a simpler method.
Next up is a Gladiator Jersey Lily. I've done one of these before and know it is much easier than this beast!
I may have a glass of wine this evening.
Dave
oldravendale
Western Thunderer
Brian,
Don't worry: it turned up. It had pinged into the dish with spare parts in and I hadn't thought to look there!
So on with the Jersey Lily. I decided not to follow the instructions which tell you to fit the valences before folding up the splasher sides. I remembered that getting a good fold was almost impossible, so having first scored the fold line several times, out came the trusty hold and fold and the bends made. At this point a couple of pieces of 2 by 1 became indispensable aids to support the footplate while the valences were added. Then the front and rear footplate sections were annealed, shaped and fitted. Definitely worth taking time with this to ensure that the footplate is still 'square'.
Then I added the drag beam and buffer beam followed by the splasher tops. These also take time to fit.
I had already constructed the frames at home on my jig, so it was time to check fit.
I am pleased with that as an afternoon's work. I am definitely looking forward to that glass of wine now.
The glass of wine went down nicely......
Next job was to build the cab. I added the spectacle surrounds and side handrails at this point. Then I checked the fit of the sides to the footplate. As always some minor filing was required to get a good fit. Then I assembled the front to the sides. This is complicated by the need to form the cab splasher tops.
Next on to the firebox. This surprised me by folding up well. Having the correct diameter piece of aluminium tube to act as a former helped.
Originally the kit was supplied with a brass tube for the boiler, but this was superseded by an etch a long time ago. The formers are both solid discs, but this wasn't good for me as I will need to get weight, DCC chip, speaker and stay-alive in the boiler. So I got the gas axe out and cut a ring inside the former, leaving a small bridge so that the alignment could be done using the holes in the former and the firebox front. Once everything was soldered up I was able to use a slitting saw to cut the firebox front and I pushed in the rear boiler former. Haven't worked out yet how to get it out (if I need to).
The firebox front shoulders were shaped and the boiler soldered in place.
Finally - and not a quick job - the smokebox inner wrapper was added, followed by the front and then the outer wrapper and filling piece.
At present it is all just resting on the footplate. I am going to make the boiler removeable so will use the screws in the corner of the firebox method at the back and a larger screw and nut at the front. There is space in front of the body/chassis fixing screw to do this and the lot will be hidden by the frame extensions. There will be some minor filing required to make sure everything sits square on the footplate, but it's not far off already.
I have half a bottle of wine left over from last night, so that is my reward for this afternoon's work. I have to say that the mojo-ometer is firmly in the green. I fly back home next Sunday and am just wondering how much of this I might get done. Once the boiler fitting is done I will revert to the frames and check the motor location.
Next job was to build the cab. I added the spectacle surrounds and side handrails at this point. Then I checked the fit of the sides to the footplate. As always some minor filing was required to get a good fit. Then I assembled the front to the sides. This is complicated by the need to form the cab splasher tops.
Next on to the firebox. This surprised me by folding up well. Having the correct diameter piece of aluminium tube to act as a former helped.
Originally the kit was supplied with a brass tube for the boiler, but this was superseded by an etch a long time ago. The formers are both solid discs, but this wasn't good for me as I will need to get weight, DCC chip, speaker and stay-alive in the boiler. So I got the gas axe out and cut a ring inside the former, leaving a small bridge so that the alignment could be done using the holes in the former and the firebox front. Once everything was soldered up I was able to use a slitting saw to cut the firebox front and I pushed in the rear boiler former. Haven't worked out yet how to get it out (if I need to).
The firebox front shoulders were shaped and the boiler soldered in place.
Finally - and not a quick job - the smokebox inner wrapper was added, followed by the front and then the outer wrapper and filling piece.
At present it is all just resting on the footplate. I am going to make the boiler removeable so will use the screws in the corner of the firebox method at the back and a larger screw and nut at the front. There is space in front of the body/chassis fixing screw to do this and the lot will be hidden by the frame extensions. There will be some minor filing required to make sure everything sits square on the footplate, but it's not far off already.
I have half a bottle of wine left over from last night, so that is my reward for this afternoon's work. I have to say that the mojo-ometer is firmly in the green. I fly back home next Sunday and am just wondering how much of this I might get done. Once the boiler fitting is done I will revert to the frames and check the motor location.
At the beginning of the day I had dreams of making the body fit properly and be detachable, to be followed by a couple of hours on the frames. Unfortunately, I had forgotten just how time consuming it is to get the boiler assembly to fit nicely to the footplate when you have these big splashers to negotiate. I think the only solution is take off small amounts where required, check again, rinse and repeat. At every stage you also need to make sure that marrying top and bottom doesn't result in a twist. Got there in the end. The rear is fixed by three 12BA screws and the front by a singe 12BA screw. I would have preferred something a bit more meaty at the front but the location is immediately behind the smokebox front with no room for larger. So here we are:
I think that once painted the fixings can be made more permanent.
I think that once painted the fixings can be made more permanent.