Nick Dunhill's Workshop. Victorian Models GWR no 34

[Nick Dunhill]

As one job draws to an end, another begins. This time we are returning to the neolithic period to make a GWR no 34 in S7.



On first inspection the etches seem to be ok, but you can never tell until we begin nailing them together. The client had been very thorough in sourcing all the other parts required, and also supplied drawings.



As always I began with the rods. They were supplied by Premier Components, but the client requested that I beef up the bosses with an overlay of thin nickel silver sheet, filed to shape and with an added a brass oil pot bung.

The chassis frames and associated components were dressed up, but new stays had to be cut to convert the chassis to S7.





The rear driving axle would run in a fixed top-hat bearing and the front axle in a Slater's cast brass axlebox to add some compensation. It is worth reporting that the centres of the coupling rod and the centres of the etched bearing holes in the frame were a mile out....well around 0.75 mm. This would result in a jammy mechanism if not altered. It didn't matter in this case as we could easily locate the axlebox in the correct location using the rods and some jury axles.



This resulted in a nice free running chassis, which I levelled on a sheet of plate glass, and made the bogie. All runs very nicely, and traverses a 5' 6'' curve with some to spare.



More next week.

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

Hi Nick,

Were the rods or the frames the correct measurement ?

Tim

 

[Nick Dunhill]

The rods were the correct length. 6ft 8 ins 46.6666mm

 

[john lewsey]

Hi Nick , who is the manufacturer the kit.
John

 

[Nick Dunhill]

Hi John, it's Victorian Models.

 

[ianlbsc]

It is showing on Roxey Mouldings pages. After a google search. Not yet available. Cheers, Ian

 

[Nick Dunhill]

We have bashed on with the model this week. I added the ashpan etches to the chassis to stiffen it all up a bit more. Of course because the chassis had been widened to S7, the ashpan rear needed to be widened too. There were a number of additions to the chassis that would be easier if the footplate was added first, so I made that. The etches were all good, and fitted well.





I added the splasher tops and also made some splasher rears so the spokes will not be on view under the boiler. There are splasher top etches in the kit, but it is advised that they fit behind the sides and not on top of them as they should be. I made replacement splasher tops, and this turned out to be essential. The instructions advise the use of smaller 4ft diameter Slater's wheels, whereas the loco had 4ft 1in wheels. The instructions did go on to say that 4ft 1in wheels would fit if the wheels were reprofiled to S7 standards. They did not....they touch the splasher tops, but only by a tiny amount, which would have been much worse if the splasher tops in the kit had been used mounted behind the fold up sides. The wheels have gone away to have 0.8mm skimmed off the diameter, so will fit when they return.

I batted on with the brake rigging (before the wheels were sent away for modification) and the hanger and brake shoe etches, although awkward to assemble, made nice parts. The pull rods supplied had a joggle in them around the wheel centres to match the locos in their full cab state. Mine will have a half cab so the pull rods had to be replaced with straight ones.



There's a whole rear section of the brake system not in the kit. Also the trunnions for the rear brake shaft seem to be in a section of the chassis side frames that are not represented in the chassis etch either. There wasn't the budget in the kit for a radical redesign of both chassis and bogie, so I mounted all the rear section of the brake system on a tube that slots over the bogie pivot. It is all a bit Heath Robinson-esque, but serves the purpose.





After adding the pick ups and sand pipes I went upstairs, back to the footplate. GWR bunkers and tenders are a difficult to make. The kit had a panel for the bunker. It has 'fingers' for the corners, and it is etched in 0.45 mm brass. There is no way that it is possible to form the flares in such thick material without a hammer. That's not my MO, so I cut a new panel out of thinner nickel silver. There is no information in the instructions about the radius of the curved back corners, and hence what the flared top should be. The instructions say 'bend round a drill' without saying whether that is an 0.4 or 20 mm drill. I guessed and got it wrong, so had to cut out another panel.



Radius too big!



Much better!



Fingers flodded with electrical solder and filed to shape before fitting the bunker to the footplate.



Next week I'll finish the coal rails and move on to other fabrications, probably the boiler, as there are no guide lines about where to mount the cab front. I'll build the boiler and work my way back. BTW the coal rails were one single etch with the upstands. I cut them apart, and reprofiled the rail etches so that they looked like half-round.