P A D
Western Thunderer
Ivo Peters, eat your heart out
Dodgy camera work aside Tony, it does look superb.
Cheers,
Peter
dibateg
Western Thunderer
There has been a gap in the market for a long time, so this is the first O1 kit to be produced. Like it's O4/8 sister they are unglamorous freight engines and I never thought a kit would be available for either. Well, it's still not for the O4/8, but Allen Hammett built me one a couple of years ago combining an O4/7 kit and parts from a DMR B1 kit. Considering that they were rebuilds, I think that the O1 is a pretty good looking loco. We are in a lucky position of having a kit for one.
Allen's O4/8, I need to play with that weathering a little more.
Just for completeness here is the O4/7 that Allen also built for me. 63770 was one of the last survivors around the Nottingham area and was well photographed and was considerably more shabby than my weathering portrays. I've not plucked up courage to weather the rather too clean cab!
So this will join my fleet of 2-8-0s...
Frames etches:-
Initial frame assembly, I'm using Slaters hornblocks. Laminated springs, they are a bit of a pain, but not so bad with some careful work.
It's nice to get the laminated rods out of the way at an early stage, and they are used to set the axle spacings on the Hobby Horse chassis jig. I've lost one of my strong springs to hold the hornblocks in place so I have to do them in stages! I must save up for another spring...
Allen's O4/8, I need to play with that weathering a little more.
Just for completeness here is the O4/7 that Allen also built for me. 63770 was one of the last survivors around the Nottingham area and was well photographed and was considerably more shabby than my weathering portrays. I've not plucked up courage to weather the rather too clean cab!
So this will join my fleet of 2-8-0s...
Frames etches:-
Initial frame assembly, I'm using Slaters hornblocks. Laminated springs, they are a bit of a pain, but not so bad with some careful work.
It's nice to get the laminated rods out of the way at an early stage, and they are used to set the axle spacings on the Hobby Horse chassis jig. I've lost one of my strong springs to hold the hornblocks in place so I have to do them in stages! I must save up for another spring...
LarryG
Western Thunderer
The 04 spawned some interesting variants and I saw a good few of them passing Newton as well as Godley Junction before DC. Some looked more impressive than others. I was only in my early teens at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight, I suspect the impressive ones were the 04/7's. The two weathered models look great.
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
Definitely
dibateg
Western Thunderer
The etched brake adjuster was a bit two dimensional, so I cut the ends off and grafted them on to some brass bar with slots cut in the ends.
You only see it in silhouette, but it looks better to me.
Everything else is coming along nicely, as usual, some tidying up to do.
You only see it in silhouette, but it looks better to me.
Everything else is coming along nicely, as usual, some tidying up to do.
dibateg
Western Thunderer
Thanks Mick - Dave Wellington and I can muster between us pairs of O4/7, O4/8 and O1 as well as 5 WDs between us - now that would be a shed scene!
There are some tidy castings that make up the cylinders. The covers come over wide and the instructions advise to trim afterwards. I prefer to cut them as close to the right size as possible. That ensures that the cylinders are actually the right size. Getting the slide bars in the right position took a little patience. I put in the glands first, then used the piston rod to ensure the made up assembly put the slidebars in the right position. - the hole to locate them is... generous. I'll put on the drain cock linkage once I see how the assembly fits to the running plate.
There are some tidy castings that make up the cylinders. The covers come over wide and the instructions advise to trim afterwards. I prefer to cut them as close to the right size as possible. That ensures that the cylinders are actually the right size. Getting the slide bars in the right position took a little patience. I put in the glands first, then used the piston rod to ensure the made up assembly put the slidebars in the right position. - the hole to locate them is... generous. I'll put on the drain cock linkage once I see how the assembly fits to the running plate.
Attachments
P A D
Western Thunderer
Lovely piece of work Tony.
With cylinders, I sometimes use this simple "jig" to line them up and hold them square for soldering. A screw of suitable gauge for the holes in the front and rear plates, longer than the depth of the cylinders. Washers and nuts are then added and adjusted until it's all square, then tightened up. Bob's your uncle. It is particularly useful where the front and rear plates are separate and you are meant to add a wrapper to each side, and get it square. No chance! I think I first used it on the Scorpio large Prairie. Not a bad kit and it makes a nice model if you put the effort in, but the design is "so last century".
Cheers,
Peter
With cylinders, I sometimes use this simple "jig" to line them up and hold them square for soldering. A screw of suitable gauge for the holes in the front and rear plates, longer than the depth of the cylinders. Washers and nuts are then added and adjusted until it's all square, then tightened up. Bob's your uncle. It is particularly useful where the front and rear plates are separate and you are meant to add a wrapper to each side, and get it square. No chance! I think I first used it on the Scorpio large Prairie. Not a bad kit and it makes a nice model if you put the effort in, but the design is "so last century".
Cheers,
Peter
dibateg
Western Thunderer
I'm on to the body now, and there is something quite therapeutic about pressing out all those rivets, I use the GW model tool. The windows surrounds should be a bit more rounded, but I couldn't think of a way of doing it neatly. There is an etch for the cab edge beading, but I replaced that with half round brass wire.
I made sure I had a stock of these when I heard that HobbyHorse was going to stop trading. Enough for my remaining kits in the cupboard...
Assembling the cab on to the running plate. To start with, I just tacked the cab parts into position, checking for
square in all directions, and I did take them off again a couple of times before committing to seam solder the joints.
My rollers struggled ( well me really ) with the boiler - it was quite springy and I couldn't get the middle to come in. So I had to resort to various bars as well as brute force! The instructions say to anneal the lower edge for the firebox, which I did. I think it would have been impossible otherwise, although I generally prefer to form without annealing if possible. I marked a line at the centre of the reverse curve for the firebox to give an idea where the bending bar should go..
It was a bit of a fight and in the end I resorted to all my bending tools, from top to bottom, skirting board ( to pull out the lower firebox edge for starters- originally made for putting the tumblehome in 4mm coach sides ), aluminium bar, for applying pressure, laser printer roller - used inside the boiler to pull in the bits that weren't round enough, more skirting board - convex curves are pressed in to the convex depression using, the ex printer silver steel bar, and finally the home made folding bars... What didn't help was that it seemed the front firebox former is too narrow by about 4mm. That confused me for a bit!
Putting the reverse curve into the lower firebox.
I made sure I had a stock of these when I heard that HobbyHorse was going to stop trading. Enough for my remaining kits in the cupboard...
Assembling the cab on to the running plate. To start with, I just tacked the cab parts into position, checking for
square in all directions, and I did take them off again a couple of times before committing to seam solder the joints.
My rollers struggled ( well me really ) with the boiler - it was quite springy and I couldn't get the middle to come in. So I had to resort to various bars as well as brute force! The instructions say to anneal the lower edge for the firebox, which I did. I think it would have been impossible otherwise, although I generally prefer to form without annealing if possible. I marked a line at the centre of the reverse curve for the firebox to give an idea where the bending bar should go..
It was a bit of a fight and in the end I resorted to all my bending tools, from top to bottom, skirting board ( to pull out the lower firebox edge for starters- originally made for putting the tumblehome in 4mm coach sides ), aluminium bar, for applying pressure, laser printer roller - used inside the boiler to pull in the bits that weren't round enough, more skirting board - convex curves are pressed in to the convex depression using, the ex printer silver steel bar, and finally the home made folding bars... What didn't help was that it seemed the front firebox former is too narrow by about 4mm. That confused me for a bit!
Putting the reverse curve into the lower firebox.
dibateg
Western Thunderer
It's not perfect, but boiler bands and handrail knobs added. I try and do as much work on the boiler as I can before it goes on to the running plate and cab.
The running plate assembles nicely up on a cradle.
Once the boiler is permanently attached to the running plate, the cradle is cut away with a slitting disk. Plonked on the frames, it starts to look like an O1. I'm enjoying building an LNER engine at last...
The running plate assembles nicely up on a cradle.
Once the boiler is permanently attached to the running plate, the cradle is cut away with a slitting disk. Plonked on the frames, it starts to look like an O1. I'm enjoying building an LNER engine at last...