dibateg
Western Thunderer
Ozzyo and mswjr have been most helpful - thank you chaps!
It's not all loco building at the Derby line and there has been a re-shuffle of the '350s with my MMP one taking up the DC role and the Dapol being fitted with the excellent Paul Chetter sound Zimo decoder from Digitrains. It took about 5mins to fit the decoder and speaker, I like that.
So here is MMP D3169 ( built by Allen Hammett ) approaching Curzon Street with a transfer freight on Jonathan Matthews layout :-
It's not all loco building at the Derby line and there has been a re-shuffle of the '350s with my MMP one taking up the DC role and the Dapol being fitted with the excellent Paul Chetter sound Zimo decoder from Digitrains. It took about 5mins to fit the decoder and speaker, I like that.
So here is MMP D3169 ( built by Allen Hammett ) approaching Curzon Street with a transfer freight on Jonathan Matthews layout :-
FiftyFourA
Western Thunderer
Well Tony, you know what they say about "all work and no play"!
Looks a nice place to play as well.
Peter
Looks a nice place to play as well.
Peter
dibateg
Western Thunderer
The County build has been well documented by Ozzyo on the other side:-
Building a G.W.R. Grange + more in 7mm OF from a JLTRT kit starts on P.85 by OzzyO, - Page 62 - Kitbuilding & Scratchbuilding
So there was no point in me doing the same, in fact Paul's excellent build has been a most valuable aid and has got me to this stage:-
Building a G.W.R. Grange + more in 7mm OF from a JLTRT kit starts on P.85 by OzzyO, - Page 62 - Kitbuilding & Scratchbuilding
So there was no point in me doing the same, in fact Paul's excellent build has been a most valuable aid and has got me to this stage:-
dibateg
Western Thunderer
I'm not a fan of whitemetal components, they are not resilient enough for me, so I scratched up a new cross shaft from tube to replace the whitemetal one. There was not much I could do about the brakes and I've already broken one of them. The brass castings are very good though and didn't need too much cleaning up, although some are cast very close in to the sprue and have to be cut off carefully with a piercing saw. Curiously, some parts that one would expect in the kit had to be scratched up - the scoop brackets and linkage. I found some 30 year old 4mm Jamieson valve gear in the spares that was ideal for the job - see, it was worth keeping it all that time! The slotted link for the brake handle is made by bending some 0.8mm wire in a 'U' shape and soldering it to the end of a length of brass wire and then filing it flat. Safety chains are made from something that used to belong to an ex. I knew it would come in useful for something. Its probably gold... or it might not be...
dibateg
Western Thunderer
It took Jim Snowdon on the other side to spot my mistake! So much for the so called experts on WT! ( Joke! ). I managed to get the brake cranks the wrong way round on the cross shaft. The great thing about WT and RM web are the helpful and generous folk that you find.
I didn't see any need for the whole 'brick to be inside the tender, so I cut off the rear portion. It made access for soldering the external parts from the inside easier and there is also an internal stretcher to go under the deck in the kit.
The sides are one piece and it takes a little care to fix them in place. I still ended up with slight dimples, it's best to solder around the edges of the panels. There is that temptation to just tack with the iron.. I drilled out the etches dimples on the periphery of the floor flange and used 0.7mm wire to represent the bolts. It didn't take long actually. The way the deck folds up leaves those little gaps round the edge, to be filled, or there might be a strip to cover them.. Traces of Loctite 480 around the scoop and brake handles.
I didn't see any need for the whole 'brick to be inside the tender, so I cut off the rear portion. It made access for soldering the external parts from the inside easier and there is also an internal stretcher to go under the deck in the kit.
The sides are one piece and it takes a little care to fix them in place. I still ended up with slight dimples, it's best to solder around the edges of the panels. There is that temptation to just tack with the iron.. I drilled out the etches dimples on the periphery of the floor flange and used 0.7mm wire to represent the bolts. It didn't take long actually. The way the deck folds up leaves those little gaps round the edge, to be filled, or there might be a strip to cover them.. Traces of Loctite 480 around the scoop and brake handles.
dibateg
Western Thunderer
The horrible weather has allowed me to press on. Thanks to Ozzyo, photos of County of Chester shows an extra oil pipe cover on the driver's side of the smokebox, so I scratched one up from bar and scrap etch. The upper one should be shorter than it is on this engine, but I couldn't work out a way of changing the moulding in a tidy way. Should there be leading sandbox covers?
I've spent a couple of hours with the test reverse curve whilst fitting out the loco, making sure it can cope with 6 foot curves. It will be stripped and cleaned ready to go off to Warren on Saturday. Nice to see it at last with it's wheels on - but not for long.. It's a handsome machine.
I've spent a couple of hours with the test reverse curve whilst fitting out the loco, making sure it can cope with 6 foot curves. It will be stripped and cleaned ready to go off to Warren on Saturday. Nice to see it at last with it's wheels on - but not for long.. It's a handsome machine.
Dan Randall
Western Thunderer
Hell's teeth Tony, that County took you less than a month to build. 
I must learn to work a bit faster.....
Nice job, by the way.
Regards
Dan
I must learn to work a bit faster.....Nice job, by the way.
Regards
Dan
Heather Kay
Western Thunderer
Hell's teeth Tony, that County took you less than a month to build.
You and me both!
It's looking rather nice. I hope I might catch a glimpse on Saturday before Warren snaffles it away.
Compton castle
Western Thunderer
Fantastic build Tony, what's next?
....a bit before my timeline, but looking forward to this one!
OzzyO
Western Thunderer
Hello all,
the casting that is between the cylinders and looks very nice is in the wrong place, it should be in the bogie as in the photo below.
The one for the loco frames is a very plain one that has two slots and a central hole, hope I'm not to late Tony.
OzzyO.
PS, the front sand box fillers are round with no pimple on the top.
TheSnapper
Western Thunderer
Hi Tony
I thought you were going to say "I was wondering who'd be the first to spot that Wilson" !!!
Great stuff
Tim