Mike G's Workspace.

[Mike Garwood]

Back to the job in hand...



Steps and lamp brackets have been completed at the back, very fiddly to get them in the right place.



Cab steps have also been added, so naturally I photoed the wrong side! Also handrails and shutters. Cab front has also gone in. This means that the firebox, boiler and smokebox can all be lined up ready for soldering as a unit. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do?
Final picture...showing the chimney at an angle - good job I haven't soldered it all up. Next step will be to put the tank tops on. The challenge continues...



And in some more good news - the wife has not gone on holiday, the silly billies booked the wrong dates for the caravan, no that;s not the good news. The good news is shes going next weekend! So my weekend will be a trip to Saundersfoot next Friday and then on Saturday off to Scaleforum in High Wycombe. Really looking forward to that.

So some good progress over the last two days.

Stay safe

Mike

 

[PeteT]

I look forward to seeing it at S4um Mike

 

[Mike Garwood]

My wife eventually made her way to Amroth late this morning, after shopping for some essentials to get me through the next few days (Twix, Mars bars and Southern Comfort), I was sat at the bench by 13:00 hrs. And that's where I've been till typing this. I took these photos some hours ago and there's been even more progress since.



Yes, I know it needs a good clean. But I'm really happy with the way this is starting to look. I just wish I could set the depth of field on the iPhone to give better pictures. All pretty straight forward to here, even though it's been massively time consuming (what else was I going to do with my time anyway). The biggest problem now is the castings that go on the tank tops. The etched holes are tiny in comparison to the stem of the castings. As the TT are double etches I'm not inclined to use drills, you just don't know if it'll catch and tear up the top layer.

I still haven't worked out the roof and how that sits. Expect more bodging to get that to sit properly!



My next chance to get anymore done will be tomorrow afternoon.

I'm hoping to get some painting done - the 16t min is waiting for it's chassis and I need to paint up some more security guarding for the GWR full brake windows. I also want to do the County bogie and time permitting blast that with a coat of satin. It's too good to be in a completely matt finish.

All in all a good days work. I'm at Scale4 this weekend - Saturday. Looking forward to that.

Stay safe

Mike

 

[simond]

5-sided broaches your open out the holes? They won’t catch, at least, but it’s a slow process.

 

[Edwardian Fred]

Hi Mike,

John Hayes' build of the large prairie in MRJ 76 does mention how he fitted the cab roof. Hope that helps, see you at Scaleforum.

John.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Many thanks John, I'd forgotten that. What a huge talent Mr Hayes was.

After a round trip to Saundersfoot this morning - to pick my Mum up from her holiday week - I finally got round to the tank tops. And I don't mean those awful 70's sleeveless jumpers...



The lifting rings and eyelets were good fun...The rim around the cab, less so. The reason the lifting rings were fun was because I'd discovered that I'd used them for the boiler cleats! . Then finding that the correct parts for the boiler cleats were minute, even the Hubble telescope would have problems finding them!



Next job is the dreaded handle bars at the front of the smokebox. I for see having to take shares in Alan Gibson's business for brass wire. The last couple of GWR engines that have required this I've cheated and bought replacements from Peters Spares. Common sense really.
Doubtful that anything will get done tomorrow - Scale4 - but I do have a full day of nothing to do on Sunday.

Stay safe and have a great weekend - common Wales!!

Mike

 

[Dave Holt]

Coming along slowly, but nicely, Mike.
I'm going to S4um on Sunday, so will probably miss you. Pity.
Dave.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Life has a way of pulling the carpet from under your feet...

Post 427, GWR County. I was so excited at getting this engine up and running. Today, after even more attention, I took it for a canter a round Barrow Road. It misbehaved so badly! Shorting, coupling rods binding. Unbelievable!

I found the shorting problem on the engine, but Morgan found the problem with the tender. This isn't the first time that a tender has thrown a curve ball. The wheels were rubbing on the inside of the sub-chassis causing the short. Solution is to either higher the chassis (which will ruin the flow of the footplate to the tender) of cut some holes in the sub-chassis with a slitting disk. The short inside the body was given away with some paint being rubbed off the rear of the large splasher - on both sides - another mini disk job.

The coupling rod problem is a little more serious. This is going to mean a chassis rebuild with new coupling rods. Nothing unusual there, the problem is that the wheels have been pinned to the axles. I'm sure that I can think of a way around this which may include new bearings to be able to solder the hornblocks back in - and hopefully square this time. In my defense, this was the last chassis to be built before the 'red box' was released and saved a lot of problems.

And in other news...

My Brit has been thru the works for a general overhaul. New jointed coupling rods, new bearings. A new 'stay alive' capacitor has been added to the chip settings. We are still experiencing slowing down, but thanks to the capacitor the engine doesn't completely stop and reset. However, the problem persists. Thank you Morgan for the overhaul, I'm beginning to think you like this engine as much as I do. I really do appreciate all of the help.

The build on the 51xx continues. Just the roof needs attention in terms of the body build. The bogies fore and aft require building to complete the chassis. I really can't wait to finish this one off, I have not enjoyed this as I thought I would.
I've already decided what's next on the build list. Next will be 2 Gunpowder wagons from the Rumney Models stable.

Stay safe

Mike

 

[Mike Garwood]

I had a few hours spare this morning...

The roof has been completed to some extent. The roof has a former that when soldered to the etch forms the correct curve. It's a fiddle to say the least. My roof fits on one side and has a 1mm gap the other. I can't understand that as the former has been marked with centers on both axis and the roof has corresponding marks that line up together, which makes the former central to the etch - as per instructions.

I also had to re-solder the rim around the left hand side as it wasn't attached to the cab - I hate having to do things twice.



Sorry about the photo...I don't know what I was thinking!

I dare not show the other side as it is truly awful. Some sort of bodging is going to have to happen. I have an idea but it's really a 'chancy' thing to do. There is some spare etch of the same thickness left over that could be formed to follow the 'V' curve of the edge of the roof and then soldered to the edge (strengthened from beneath - even more risky, perhaps a glue could be used?). Problem is the roof will look uneven. As I said...a right bodge.



And yes, it still needs another good clean. I had a very weird experience the last time I cleaned, for the first time ever after the model dried it left a white powder on some of the smaller pieces...really annoying and very unexpected.

I watched an Ian Rathbone video on Utube, on it he covers cleaning of the models in prep for painting. Very interesting and informative. If you have not watched this, then you may be in for some surprises.

Stay safe

Mike

 

[Mike Garwood]

Bodge complete...




You can just see the strip I added...so, body complete. Except for the backhead. But that can wait as it'll be fitted after painting. The chassis is now to be completed, including painted and then I'll worry about pick ups

Mike

 

[Phil O]

Mike,

Your not the only one to get that white powder. I have found that a few minutes in the ultrasonic bath tends to shift it.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Mike,

Your not the only one to get that white powder. I have found that a few minutes in the ultrasonic bath tends to shift it.

Phil

Thankfully I have one, so thanks for the info. I shall give it a whirl.

Mike

 

[Dave Holt]

Mike, you look to have made a good recovery with the cab roof. It looks quite a tricky joint line to get both sides just right.
Dave.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Attention has now turned to finishing the chassis. Which means constructing the bogie and the pony.

As you know and have read I'm under whelmed by the instructions and if it weren't for the kind contributions of others, this kit would have ended up back on the shelf.
I could not make sense of the bogie instructions at all, but being so close, it was time to get the gray matter to work. I have no idea if this is what was intended. But it allows the wheels to move without binding or sticking. Whether the ride height is correct - time will tell.



The thing that really gets me, after all the effort that went into this item...the wheels will hide all the detail! This still isn't finished as I need to be able to attach it to the chassis. For some stupid reason I have soldered a screw into the place where this should be attached. No prizes for what tomorrow afternoons job is!

Now to the Radial truck...let me state for the record that I am not in favour of free floating, mechanical wheel carrying, radial rucks. That being the case I came up with this idea. This has involved mutilating a Comet bogie/ pony etch.

I made up the etch in the kit as it should be, then decided where the pivot should go. It's not as far back as I'd like, but putting in another spacer could cause problems. Then I had a bit of a moment and realised that the 2 movement restraints (already etched into the top of the radial truck) could be bent over to act as braces for a proper bogie, but retaining the articulation of a radial truck. If that doesn't sound too grand and complete rubbish.


Installed...





Now I realise that the position may have to change to allow this to sit properly. So there will probably be some bendification in the future to get this right and add some washers as well. Of course this may all fly up in my face once running trials start, I'll overcome that problem if it ever happens.

Next up is getting the monster weighted properly and balanced, before cleaning can begin.

Stay safe

Mike

 

[simond]

Mike,

if it’s any consolation, the pony looks very like the cast ones I just built.

and to be fair, they don’t look bad compared to the drawing, so you should be ok there.

the radial truck was presumably so built that it didn’t need a centre pivot on the real thing, (probably would be in the firebox or ashpan…)but if there’s room on the model, why not? Of course, the centres do have to match.

Atb
Simon

 

[Phil O]

Mike,

That front pony truck looks very similar to the one I built for a Martin Finney 26xx Aberdare. I mucked up the correct etches, so I bodged it from the 00 and useable bits from the EM/S4, fortunately with outside frames, most of it is not seen. The destructions weren't particularly good for that either.

 

[Bulldog3444]

Mike,

Good to see the progress that you are making.

Here's a picture on the pony truck from my prairie, so it looks like you have done fine (either that or we have both made similar mistakes!)


One thing to watch out for with the rear wheelset is the clearance with the injectors behind the cab steps. I found that I got some shorting there and had to resort to some filing.

I also found the the trailing wheels were from time to time shorting on the underside of the footplate, so I have put some insulating tape there to prevent that.

Good luck with the rest of the build. I agree that this kit seems like quite a long haul, as there are so many detail parts to fit. But it will be very satisfying when it is finished.

I haven't had the time to restart mine yet, but your thread is prompting me to do so once I have got a few other things finished.

Ian

 

[adrian]

Now to the Radial truck...let me state for the record that I am not in favour of free floating, mechanical wheel carrying, radial rucks. That being the case I came up with this idea. This has involved mutilating a Comet bogie/ pony etch.

I would agree with you on the radial truck issue. I'm currently wrestling with the same dilemma for my Precursor tank. I'm currently planning a slightly different solution. I'm hoping it will work for me in Scale7 I'm not sure it'll be feasible in the smaller scales. Still be interested to watch how this works out for you.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Sorry for the lack of updates...health issues which haven't cleared - yet.

As I actually felt like doing something today for the first time in an age, I decided to start the cleaning process of the chassis and body. I should mention first that all the little pieces that were missing are now all on the body - the list is far too long.
Before the chassis was cleaned, I'd had a think about the pick ups and also consulted someone who actually knows what he's doing - thanks Dave. I've said it once - pick ups are the bain of my modelling life! Nearly 30 years of fitting them and still crap at it.

The chassis didn't take much cleaning. Viakal scrub and a good sitting in the ultrasonic bath. The chassis just fits, but there's no way the body would fit. So that took a little longer, another manual scrub. It will need doing again once the lead has been glued in.



Drying on the radiator...

While all this has been going on - drying that is, I've started another Rumney models 16t mineral. This is the progress to date. Hopefully tomorrow pm will see it completed.



I do like building Justin's chassis', it all fits without too much of a fuss. Which is something I've missed over the last few months!

I can't be bothered to wait till next year to use cellulose on this, so does anyone know what the Vallejo equivalent is of Brunswick green?

Stay safe

Mike

 

[Edwardian Fred]

Sorry for the lack of updates...health issues which haven't cleared - yet.

As I actually felt like doing something today for the first time in an age, I decided to start the cleaning process of the chassis and body. I should mention first that all the little pieces that were missing are now all on the body - the list is far too long.
Before the chassis was cleaned, I'd had a think about the pick ups and also consulted someone who actually knows what he's doing - thanks Dave. I've said it once - pick ups are the bain of my modelling life! Nearly 30 years of fitting them and still crap at it.

The chassis didn't take much cleaning. Viakal scrub and a good sitting in the ultrasonic bath. The chassis just fits, but there's no way the body would fit. So that took a little longer, another manual scrub. It will need doing again once the lead has been glued in.

View attachment 200904

Drying on the radiator...

While all this has been going on - drying that is, I've started another Rumney models 16t mineral. This is the progress to date. Hopefully tomorrow pm will see it completed.

View attachment 200903

I do like building Justin's chassis', it all fits without too much of a fuss. Which is something I've missed over the last few months!

I can't be bothered to wait till next year to use cellulose on this, so does anyone know what the Vallejo equivalent is of Brunswick green?

Stay safe

Mike

Hi Mike,

Bronze Green looks close. I have a bottle but haven't used it yet so can't say how it looks.

John.