Dave Holt
Western Thunderer
Thanks for the info. I've arranged to take three of my recent locos for display on Sunday.
Dave.
Mike G's Workspace.
- Thread starter Mike Garwood
- Start date
Dave.
Mike Garwood
Western Thunderer
Dave
Had a really good oggle of your engines. Superb craftsmanship. Really good to see you.
Mike
Mike Garwood
Western Thunderer
I did. Mostyn is totally amazing. Sheer size and volume, not to mention quality of the engines and stock.
Spent too much
Mike
Mike Garwood
Western Thunderer
Life has been busy over the last few weeks, the Grange has been completed and goes for comprehensive running trials on 17/10 when a visit to Barrow Road has been penciled in, well, not so much penciled as carved in stone. So there will be some pictures to come from that meeting.
In the mean time I've started the GWR 16xx- this is destined for my own layout but will be shared with NMRS for their forth coming P4 challenge layout, Cwm Carno.
This has been on my radar for a number of years. It's now an SEF kit - having been with Nu-cast for a numbers of years prior. The up graded chassis was designed by Mr Newitt. There are a number of advantages with a chassis from Justin's stable - you already know the parts will fit without any faffing about. Also, he has in corporated the the marking for CSB's (continuous springy beam), this saves a huge amount of work and it also means that High level hornblocks can be used. The chassis was designed in 2015, it's strange, but I don't think of this as being 10 years old!
Out with the red box...
As is my normal build method, get the coupling rods done first. I chose the jointed pair (you do get a choice in the etch). It's worth noting here that these rods have the coupling rod holes already set at 1.5mm, so very little fettling needs to be done to get a good fit over the crank pins. The wheels are 4'1" (Alan Gibson) for this engine. I think the rest of the pannier family were all 4'7". I stand to be corrected.
What's also impressive about the chassis kit is that there are upgrades for the whitemetal body...sanding gear is provided. The instructions come with a complete exploded diagram - my favorite type of instruction. All the spacers are slot and tab. This all sounds like an advert for Justin's chassis, but he doesn't sell this chassis, you have to get it from SEF. Building something like this where the parts literally fall into their correct places is such a relief.
So, where am I now. The first half of the chassis is complete (see above, there are 2 more spacers to be soldered in plus the strengthening supports at the front and rear buffer) tomorrow I shall get the chassis completed, then it'll be a good clean. Monday will see it got into primer and a top coat. It's going so well I can't wait to see how I cock it up!
Stay safe
Mike.
In the mean time I've started the GWR 16xx- this is destined for my own layout but will be shared with NMRS for their forth coming P4 challenge layout, Cwm Carno.
This has been on my radar for a number of years. It's now an SEF kit - having been with Nu-cast for a numbers of years prior. The up graded chassis was designed by Mr Newitt. There are a number of advantages with a chassis from Justin's stable - you already know the parts will fit without any faffing about. Also, he has in corporated the the marking for CSB's (continuous springy beam), this saves a huge amount of work and it also means that High level hornblocks can be used. The chassis was designed in 2015, it's strange, but I don't think of this as being 10 years old!
Out with the red box...
As is my normal build method, get the coupling rods done first. I chose the jointed pair (you do get a choice in the etch). It's worth noting here that these rods have the coupling rod holes already set at 1.5mm, so very little fettling needs to be done to get a good fit over the crank pins. The wheels are 4'1" (Alan Gibson) for this engine. I think the rest of the pannier family were all 4'7". I stand to be corrected.
What's also impressive about the chassis kit is that there are upgrades for the whitemetal body...sanding gear is provided. The instructions come with a complete exploded diagram - my favorite type of instruction. All the spacers are slot and tab. This all sounds like an advert for Justin's chassis, but he doesn't sell this chassis, you have to get it from SEF. Building something like this where the parts literally fall into their correct places is such a relief.
So, where am I now. The first half of the chassis is complete (see above, there are 2 more spacers to be soldered in plus the strengthening supports at the front and rear buffer) tomorrow I shall get the chassis completed, then it'll be a good clean. Monday will see it got into primer and a top coat. It's going so well I can't wait to see how I cock it up!
Stay safe
Mike.
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Good to see you doing a 16XX, Mike, but isn't the kit marketed by NuCast Partners, rather than SEF/Squires?
Mike Garwood
Western Thunderer
So much for getting the chassis in paint! But I have at least gone as far as I can, before paint can be added.
I've prepared the wheels and then started work on the gearbox. This particular gearbox has been hanging around in my spares box for years. So rather than go to the box with all my gearboxes in, I ploughed in. It's a Road runner plus. Everything went swimmingly, until I soldered in the connection for the extension, which I managed to solder solid! Fortunately I soldered it completely straight. So all is not lost. But the excitement doesn't stop there...the final drive in the axle is the long final drive type and not a short final drive, a spare has been sent for! I just hope the gearbox will fit inside the body! Should have got the g/box box out!!
That's where I am right now. Hopefully paint tomorrow! The chassis has been given a really good scrub with Viacal....twice.
The chassis itself has been a joy to build. Out with the body kit next and back to the world of WM soldering, the last WM kit I put together was the Brit, a long time ago.
Stay safe
Mike.
I've prepared the wheels and then started work on the gearbox. This particular gearbox has been hanging around in my spares box for years. So rather than go to the box with all my gearboxes in, I ploughed in. It's a Road runner plus. Everything went swimmingly, until I soldered in the connection for the extension, which I managed to solder solid! Fortunately I soldered it completely straight. So all is not lost. But the excitement doesn't stop there...the final drive in the axle is the long final drive type and not a short final drive, a spare has been sent for! I just hope the gearbox will fit inside the body! Should have got the g/box box out!!
That's where I am right now. Hopefully paint tomorrow!
The chassis has been given a really good scrub with Viacal....twice.The chassis itself has been a joy to build. Out with the body kit next and back to the world of WM soldering, the last WM kit I put together was the Brit, a long time ago.
Stay safe
Mike.
Nick Rogers
Western Thunderer
Lovely stuff, Mike! I have a 16xx in the maturing box. I must order a chassis kit for it from Brian Osborne thinking about it. I’ve got some 4ft 1 wheels on order from Ultrascale - they aren’t exactly right but are close enough to pass.
Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Mike,
This is the motor/gearbox combination I fitted to my OO example (Justin Newitt chassis), which also has a drive extender:
I then found that I had to be a bit careful with the front casting of the cab and remove a little, to accommodate the gearbox:
I also 'did a High Level' as regards a false boiler bottom, attached to the chassis, with the motor sitting in it (essentially copied my 74XX chassis):
Hope the above helps!
Mike Garwood
Western Thunderer
Cheers Tim - thanks for that. That’ll come in very handy as the WM build commences tomorrow morning.