7mm Gladiator Horwich Mogul

[P A D]

Hi Ian,
Thanks for the kind words and helpful suggestions.

I think sometimes I use too much solder, but I spend a lot of time removing the excess (steel wire brush in the proxxon). Not always necessary to go as far as I do, as a thin grayish solder residue won't affect the paint. Its just my preference and there are others on here who do the same and are better at it. I could have left some of the excess on the underside, inside the frames, but it would have niggled me.

I did the same on the white metal coal door cover on the Stanier Mogul tender, but decided a different approach this time. We'll see how it turns out.

Good point on the assembly order of the tender tank. Doing it as you say would be much better. Not sure I'll be doing any more of these tenders, but you never know.

I'll definitely be following your advice on leaving off the axleboxes and springs until after painting. I had a devil of a job spraying the paint above the springs on the Stanier Mogul tender.

Cheers,
 Peter

 

[P A D]

I am very envious of the invisible solder you use - very neat work.

Ian R

There you go Ian, 145 transparent solder!

Not really invisible, as then you wouldn't be able to find it.

I've made further progress on the Crab's tender. The steps are on all round



The front the bulkhead and footplate are assembled and fitted.


I added the footstep, coal shoot and water gauge before fitting the bulkhead to ease assembly and cleaning up.


At the rear the lamp irons are now on, along with the steam, brake pipes and the buffers.






And lastly, the bunker rear bulkhead has been added. You can just make out the body filler filling the gap produced by widening the coal door top casting. A slightly wider casting or preferably an etched part would be better, but it's not critical.


Cheers,
Peter

 

[simond]

Not really invisible, as then you wouldn't be able to find it

Bit like the 0-1” inside micrometer then?

 

[dibateg]

You've done such a great job Peter, I've had to roll over and get one these kits!

Regards
Tony

 

[P A D]

Many thanks Tony.

It's a good kit and I'm sure you will enjoy building it.

I've got the Gladiator Fowler 2-6-4 tank with the limousine cab from the same designer to do next. If it goes together as well as the Crab did it will be a very enjoyable build.

Lots of small fiddly bits fitted today, the beading, support brackets and the fire iron stowage. Does Doesn't look like much but that's over 20 parts!





I'm using the taller fire iron bracket as my example will be finished as running in the 1950s with coal rails. I've got the rails all fettled up ready to fit later.



Cheers,
Peter

 

[Genghis]

Probably be stronger if you used solder rather than spit to hold the bits together.................

 

[P A D]

Probably be stronger if you used solder rather than spit to hold the bits together.................

Thanks Dave, but Yorshire spit is pretty strong!

Got the coal rails on yesterday. I always find these a bit of a fiddle, especially cleaning the excess spit off afterwards!
I could have done better on the fire iron stowage, but it's a bit fragile for scraping and zapping with the wire brush.











These footsteps with half etch recesses on the backing plate for the upper step are a bit weak at that point and tend to bend easily when knocked. I've added a strip of nickel silver strip behind the rear ones but have still to do the ones at the front. Should have done that before fitting them.


Looking good methinks.


Cheers,
Peter

 

[dibateg]

Are the coal rails a separate item from the kit Peter?

 

[P A D]

Hi Tony, no they are included in the kit. There are two sets of beading for the top edges of the bunker, one with cut outs for the coal rail stanchions and one plain for locos without rails.

 

[Dave Holt]

Yes, very nice indeed, Peter.
I know you explained about using a rotary wire brush, but that is all unreasonably free from visible solder. Putting most of us to shame.
Dave.

 

[P A D]

Many thanks Dave.

Today I completed the tender, adding the water pick up, brake gear, footplate doors and the remaining castings.






This shows the simple springing on the centre floating axle bushes.


Here's the hinged footplate doors.


The axle guards and springs are just tacked in place with a little drop of cyano, as I'll be removing them for painting and permanently fixing afterwards, as suggested be Ian Rathbone.


That just leaves the lubricators on the loco and the backhead, both of which will be painted separately and added after the loco is painted. I'll fit the motor and pick ups after I've painted the chassis.




I won't be painting it until the new year when the weather warms up, unless I can get over to my brother's, where I can paint indoors. I'll be putting this aside for now with the Ivatt class 2 and making a start on the Fowler 4P.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Genghis]

It certainly looks the part. I have one in the build list about 3-4 months away from starting.
Dave

 

[P A D]

It certainly looks the part. I have one in the build list about 3-4 months away from starting.
Dave

Did you build the one on the website/box image or was it built by John. If yes, you will know how well it goes together, but either way, you will enjoy it.

 

[Genghis]

The box image was built by Mark Earnshaw. He did most test builds for John.

 

[Dave Holt]

It might well be a well designed and produced kit, but it still has to be built well, and yours is, Peter. The finished loco looks absolutely super.
Crabs were rather ungainly looking locos but quite purposeful and, very effective according to all accounts.
Lovely model.
Dave.

 

[P A D]

It might well be a well designed and produced kit, but it still has to be built well, and yours is, Peter. The finished loco looks absolutely super.
Crabs were rather ungainly looking locos but quite purposeful and, very effective according to all accounts.
Lovely model.
Dave.

Many thanks Dave.

True, the quality of the kit doesn't guarantee a quality model. I've seen many good kits over the years turned into mediocre models due to poor building.

Ungainly yes, but impressive beasts. The crabs were very good mixed traffic locos despite Fowlers best efforts, only moved down the pecking order when Stanier Black 5s arrived in numbers.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

Ungainly yes, but impressive beasts. The crabs were very good mixed traffic locos despite Fowlers best efforts, only moved down the pecking order when Stanier Black 5s arrived in numbers.
Cheers,
Peter

The ’Moguls’. never ‘crabs’ in South West Scotland, were preferred over the black fives. They worked right to the end of steam on jobs they started on in the 30s. Smashing locos.

 

[P A D]

As mentioned in my Fowler 4P thread, I'm pressing on with painting the Horwich Mogul. So far, I've got the loco and tender bodies painted. I still need to strip down the chassis but that's more time consuming, so I left that for later.

Here are the tender axle boxes which (at Ian Rathbone's suggestion) I've painted off the frames as it's easier to paint the tops of the springs and the underside of the running plate above them. Thanks to Ian for the heads up on that. As you can see I mount them onto a piece of wood with a screw in one edge to hold them while I spray.


And the bodies.


Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

More progress on the Mogul. Today I dismantled both chassis, gave the parts a good clean and applied the primer. Here's the pony truck. The paint looks a little thin in places, but that's just the lighting in the image.

The tender chassis.


And loco chassis. All the other bits and pieces are in the trays in the background. The wheels are cleaned ready for masking the treads, but the cylinder assembly still needs a good scrub up. Quite a bit of the valve gear needs taking down to get ththe linders off, so that has to be taken into consideration during the build.


Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

Here are the tender and loco chassis parts after priming. The wheels treads are masked with a vinyl type flexible masking tape, which is better than normal masking tape as it "moulds" to the shape of the flange and tyre. I overlooked to mask off the crank pins with silicone tube, so after the black was dry I made a mask from NS sheet that covered the wheels leaving the crank pins protruding. I was then able to zap them with a wire brush in the mini drill to bring them up bright again.


And after top coating, Halfords satin black for the wheels and chassis parts, gloss black for the cylinders. I've got the pony and tender wheels refitted, but I need to assemble and fit the plunger pick up before I can add the driving wheels.


Here's the tender body after fitting the axle boxes with epoxy.


Cheers,
Peter