oldravendale
Western Thunderer
Hmm! Yes indeed. I've been working on and off (mostly off) on a JLTRT Rebuilt Royal Scot. Same situation as reported by Mick. Very little room for a motor let alone DCC and speaker.
Brian
7mm Mickoo's Commercial Workbench
- Thread starter mickoo
- Start date
Brian
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Cheers, 3D would be too fragile for those fittings, I'll fit some brass ones if I can find some suitable ones with a securing pin.
Having said that, the home for this loco is very much operationally biased with a heavy workload schedule; details like that are not top of the agenda. A more representative, simplistic and rugged model is the name of the game here, so long as it's heavy enough to pull scale length trains.
This is no shelf queen or depot layout ballroom dancer, it's going to get a healthy pounding day in and out.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
This blue lump has virtually no room for a decoder, any space in the boiler is needed for weight and the speaker would have to go in the tender, chip too probably. The power demand for this engine is high so the limited space would require a smaller motor gearbox and that probably wouldn't last a week on the clients layout.
adrian
Flying Squad
With your standards I'm not sure what you deem "suitable" - however I did note 88D models offer some brass castings. 88D Model Shop Brass Castings Page
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Something robust, rugged and with a good strong pin as a fixing point.There are some in the kit that might suffice as they're also designed to be pinned to the blue lump; what would not work are the ones with no bridging strap across the base, simply having two small tabs either side with just the thin tie rod between the two cleats.
The latter are much more detailed and accurate but too much fidelity for this model.
King John
Active Member
No blue lump in next years Star build, Mick.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Well that's something to look forward to
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Finally calling this one done, whistles, safety valves, fall plate and backhead after paint.
For those sharp of eye, yes the bonnet is back to front, normally I'd go back and retake the shots but it's already all stripped down and being washed ready for delivery to paint; it's not secured so easy to flip around when fitted back from paint.
For those sharp of eye, yes the bonnet is back to front, normally I'd go back and retake the shots but it's already all stripped down and being washed ready for delivery to paint; it's not secured so easy to flip around when fitted back from paint.
daifly
Western Thunderer
mickoo
Western Thunderer
No there should be three but the ledge they sit on is only 2mm wide and they need to sit back from the front edge by 1mm to allow room for the name plate to fit on the front and align with the beading correctly.
There are no tabs supplied in the kit or slots in the splasher top to poke any tabs through, so you're left with the option of making your own and trying to solder a 6 x 1 angled tab in a confined space. I tried on the King, two Castles and another Hall with varying degrees of success, most just broke off in the end.
This time I decided my life was too short and left it off, there's more than enough meat on the other two to hold the nameplate in place.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Little details; having squared away and transported the S15 and Modified Hall for paint, plus collecting the MOK 80000 and delivering the K1, it was time to sort the pile of little fill in jobs before getting back to the B12 on the bench.
They're only little half day/few hour jobs, but if you're not careful they can stack up, most are all now done and on there way but these two are still here, a bundle of GWR signal box chimney cowls and some GWR ATC brackets for pony trucks.
A swish of paint on the bracket and blacken the axle and that one will be done, it's only a small detail but it bulks out that area under the front buffer beam, it also hides the top hat bearings with pseudo square bearings. I've another to sort but that'll take a bit more work as the bogie design is not conducive to just dropping it in like this one.
They're only little half day/few hour jobs, but if you're not careful they can stack up, most are all now done and on there way but these two are still here, a bundle of GWR signal box chimney cowls and some GWR ATC brackets for pony trucks.
A swish of paint on the bracket and blacken the axle and that one will be done, it's only a small detail but it bulks out that area under the front buffer beam, it also hides the top hat bearings with pseudo square bearings. I've another to sort but that'll take a bit more work as the bogie design is not conducive to just dropping it in like this one.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
This week has all been about spinning the plates a little faster and stepping up a few gears; that'll continue to increase over the next few weeks to try and claw back a lot of the time lost earlier in the year on other protracted builds.
The Connoisseur B12 was first on the slab, the tender was completed and a good start made on the engine. On the tender I replaced all the etched flat beading with D section of appropriate sizes, it's a small thing but a nice detail to have and I can't remember the last time I built a kit and didn't have to replace anything.
I deviated a little bit on the engine, it's designed as fixed axles so I dropped the leading and intermediates out and swapped in some etched fold up sprung units, that's fine until you try to add the big stay over the leading axle; slitting discs, fret saw and files to the fore and notches cut to clear solved all that.
The only other deviation was some 3D brake hanger castings to bulk up the kit piece of wire poking out of the frames.
The bogie is a simple affair and the leading top hat bearings are visible from low angles so I'll draw up some faux axle boxes and slip them over the top hate bearing stub to dress it up.
There's one very tiny error in the instructions with the intermediate brake beam and pull rods, but it's a five second fix so isn't really a problem, other than that everything just fits
The Connoisseur B12 was first on the slab, the tender was completed and a good start made on the engine. On the tender I replaced all the etched flat beading with D section of appropriate sizes, it's a small thing but a nice detail to have and I can't remember the last time I built a kit and didn't have to replace anything.
I deviated a little bit on the engine, it's designed as fixed axles so I dropped the leading and intermediates out and swapped in some etched fold up sprung units, that's fine until you try to add the big stay over the leading axle; slitting discs, fret saw and files to the fore and notches cut to clear solved all that.
The only other deviation was some 3D brake hanger castings to bulk up the kit piece of wire poking out of the frames.
The bogie is a simple affair and the leading top hat bearings are visible from low angles so I'll draw up some faux axle boxes and slip them over the top hate bearing stub to dress it up.
There's one very tiny error in the instructions with the intermediate brake beam and pull rods, but it's a five second fix so isn't really a problem, other than that everything just fits
mickoo
Western Thunderer
A quick two day break from the B12 to get ahead with the next project, in this case a DA N class.
Nothing too untoward so far on the main visuals, however the brake rigging at the front end is a work of fiction, some a compromise due to having an internal set of frames for the axle bearings, the rest a simplification as a consequence I suspect.
The problem is there should be two massive vacuum brake cylinders under the drag beam, the lack of these will leave a big gaping hole and fail to impart any sense of mass.
I'll finish off the last little bits (sans step treads) tomorrow morning and then park it whilst I formulate a plan to work up a drop in unit with the brake cylinders on and where best to hack the inner frames to make it all fit, reposition the front body fixings and remain robust.
The whole inner section and tool support arch are all unfixed at the moment, that'll allow me to get in with the RSU from the inside when fitting the rear lamp irons to give neat(er) joints. The front end also needs a bleedin good scrub to remove the last of the solder stains.
Nothing too untoward so far on the main visuals, however the brake rigging at the front end is a work of fiction, some a compromise due to having an internal set of frames for the axle bearings, the rest a simplification as a consequence I suspect.
The problem is there should be two massive vacuum brake cylinders under the drag beam, the lack of these will leave a big gaping hole and fail to impart any sense of mass.
I'll finish off the last little bits (sans step treads) tomorrow morning and then park it whilst I formulate a plan to work up a drop in unit with the brake cylinders on and where best to hack the inner frames to make it all fit, reposition the front body fixings and remain robust.
The whole inner section and tool support arch are all unfixed at the moment, that'll allow me to get in with the RSU from the inside when fitting the rear lamp irons to give neat(er) joints. The front end also needs a bleedin good scrub to remove the last of the solder stains.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
A little more progress on the B12/3, not as much as I planned or hoped by the end of the week, but progress nonetheless.
The only niggle was the cab floor and subsequently the splasher/locker/sandboxes being too narrow for the cab side sheets; they and the cab front fit perfectly in the footplate slots but the floor was 1 mm too narrow.
I simply added 0.5 mm strips to each side and filled flush on the visible areas to make good, the depressed section where the cut off mechanism goes still needs to be done and the gaps at the front are hidden by the backhead.
I think my splasher tops may have been over etched as they're a touch too narrow so there's a bit of gap filling to do, plenty of length which is good, many kits are too short leaving gaps where they touch the footplate.
Other than that everything just follows the yellow brick road.
The only niggle was the cab floor and subsequently the splasher/locker/sandboxes being too narrow for the cab side sheets; they and the cab front fit perfectly in the footplate slots but the floor was 1 mm too narrow.
I simply added 0.5 mm strips to each side and filled flush on the visible areas to make good, the depressed section where the cut off mechanism goes still needs to be done and the gaps at the front are hidden by the backhead.
I think my splasher tops may have been over etched as they're a touch too narrow so there's a bit of gap filling to do, plenty of length which is good, many kits are too short leaving gaps where they touch the footplate.
Other than that everything just follows the yellow brick road.
mickoo
Western Thunderer
Picked this painted JLTRT Modified Hall + Finney7 tender up at Guildford from Warren Haywood yesterday. Quick post paint rebuild stage I today, bulk item assembly, wheels, motor, pickups fitted/wired and running chassis.
Stage II next weekend consists of hooks, hoses, glazing, fall plate and backhead, run in then pack and post with letter to Father Xmas for delivery.
Stage II next weekend consists of hooks, hoses, glazing, fall plate and backhead, run in then pack and post with letter to Father Xmas for delivery.
Compton castle
Western Thunderer
Lovely job
Nice to see it painted.
Nice to see it painted.