Mike G's Workspace.

[Mike Garwood]

It's been my least favourite day on the Grange build...adding the weight to the body. The job is just finished - bit of a jig saw puzzle - and the blue tack is keeping the lead in place while the glue dries (Gorilla contact glue). The engine weighs in at 202 gms - and balances half way down the footplate. So to my thinking it's going to be a bit light at the cab end. There is literally no where else to put lead, even the motor is a squeeze to get in.
I had the chassis running last night and I'm thrilled to say that other than having to adjust the pick ups it ran first time. The High Level motor and gear box combo (40:1) are very quiet, giving a smooth performance.



Next job is to sort the bogie and get it acting in tandem with the chassis, I've had a few ideas, which means more work. The one thing I have learned over the last couple of engines is not to bother putting a lead wire spring on bogies (4 wheeled bogies) - to pull the chassis around and into corners - it's been my experience that the only thing that happens is that unless the wire is really soft it de-rails the bogie, which makes the wire sort of redundant.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to Barrow Road for a group meeting of like minded kettle lovers...I'm hoping that I'll have time to give the Grange some metal time.
My son sent me a short clip of my Grandson Ben watching the new clips I'd put up on uTube, ohh to be 2 years old watching the trains go by! He was so excited, I just hope he keeps the enthusiasm...

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[simond]

Mike,

if you can get some lead foil, of the right thickness (thinness???) you can stick it to the underside of the footplate behind the hanging bar.

I guess sticking whatever lead flashing you can get through the bending rolls would make it thinner…

hth
Simon

 

[Phil O]

Mike ,

White metal loco crew, will add a little bit of weight where needed and possibly a bit of lead under the cab roof, a touch more.

 

[Herb Garden]

Weight the tender and get that to apply it's weight on the drawbar?

That works really well for all my front heavy 4-4-0s, 2-4-0s and 2-2-2s

 

[Mike Garwood]

This morning I used my new mini pillar drill to bore out some brass block in an attempt to bring the chassis and bogie together. I was pleasantly surprised in how easily the drill performed it's duty. Then I soldered in some tube that allowed a 10ba screw to pass through which would be soldered into the chassis. I had to add 2 washers to make up the gap between the top of the load bearing rubbing plate and the chassis, 0.75 mm.

This evening the nuts were soldered in to hold it all in place and another nut went on top of the cylinder etch to make sure that this didn't cause problems with the crosshead clearances later on. Just to make sure that they did wander off centre once the engine has begun running trials.
I didn't get the oppourtunity to run the chassis last night, The evening was taken up with a lot of useful chat and the topics being; the way in which our suppliers are all slowly disappearing (Markits and LMS being prime examples). Having got it altogether this evening, I could not resist taking this photo.



The body is on loosely and will pull into the correct orientation once the screws are in. The really pleasing thing is the footplate is nice and level. I know this'll be the kiss of death... but there doesn't appear to be too much of a problem in getting the crossheads to pass the front wheel coupling rod. Still a few jobs to do, which are more cosmetic than engineering, including the blindingly obvious one. Starting to look like a proper engine now.

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Mike Garwood]

A bit of down time this pm after the morning jobs had been completed. SWMBO had gone out with her girlfriends for coffee (?). I fired up the compressor and airgun. First up was the Barry railway van. Dark grey roof, light grey body and Nato black underframe (all Vallejo acrylics) and then a good dose of weathering that befits a 50 year old van, again acrylics used. Tranfers for this shouldn't be a problem as the van passed into the GWR inventory. As for numbering, that'll take a bit of reading up on.



Then an underframe and slight toning down for the milk van.



The roof is in the process of being printed, but I'm in no rush for that as I'm struggling to find transfers. Found one on Fox Transfers site, but that just says 'Return only to London', now if it had said Cardiff, or if I could find Cardiff in the same font (and colour) I could do a chop shop. It could be time to try making my own transfers...if I had a printer .

In other news the Grange has progressed further, the capture nut for towing the tender has been added to the chassis as have the brakes. Which leaves the dreaded fitting of the coupling rods, the last of the mechanical things to do. The transfers, cabside numbers and name plates for this are stuck in Tewkesbury but are in safe hands.

I have Harry staying for the night tomorrow, so it's highly unlikely that anything else will get done till Monday evening.

Have a great weekend and stay safe.

Mike.

 

[Bulldog3444]

Mike
Good to see your progress with the O13 milk brake van.

I attach a picture of Ted Farmer's O13, which I finished in late GW livery including the Fox transfer "Milk Train to & from London".


To my eye, the Fox transfer is much too small.

There is an alternative, in the Railtec range - their item no. 4mm 4230. I think the Railtec transfer looks to be the correct size, but again it is "Milk Train Only to & from London".

The GW Siphons book lists other brandings as "Faringdon & Cricklewood", "Frome & Cricklewood", Ealing & Cricklewood", "Lavington & Cricklewood" and "Return to Stratford on Avon".

No mention of Cardiff as far as I can see.

Hope that helps,
Ian

 

[Mike Garwood]

Mike
Good to see your progress with the O13 milk brake van.

I attach a picture of Ted Farmer's O13, which I finished in late GW livery including the Fox transfer "Milk Train to & from London".

View attachment 241813
To my eye, the Fox transfer is much too small.

There is an alternative, in the Railtec range - their item no. 4mm 4230. I think the Railtec transfer looks to be the correct size, but again it is "Milk Train Only to & from London".

The GW Siphons book lists other brandings as "Faringdon & Cricklewood", "Frome & Cricklewood", Ealing & Cricklewood", "Lavington & Cricklewood" and "Return to Stratford on Avon".

No mention of Cardiff as far as I can see.

Hope that helps,
Ian

That’s a lovely model Ian! Thank you for the info…very useful.

Mike

 

[paulc]

That’s a lovely model Ian! Thank you for the info…very useful.

Mike

Depends how desperate you are Mike .Faringdon and Cricklewood would give you all the letters including a capital C but not a lower case f . Stratford has the f

 

[Mike Garwood]

Yesterday was a very warm, boiling, melting visit to Barrow Road...

Robin has been busy again and added some superb water towers in the yard. All 3d printed, the detail is quite magnificent.



And Robin is not the only one that has been busy...Mr Gilbert has been exceptionally busy finishing the tender for the Grange, I am so grateful to Morgan, because the finished tender is superb. The next engine (sometime in the future) is a 43xx which also has a flare on the tender...just saying.



Magnificent! No pressure on getting the engine to match this then...the Grange made it's first pass of Barrow Road with no coupling rods on and held the metals without falling in the water.
I also had the Barry Railway van do a couple of laps, without problem, behind 4135 and also my BR standard brake van was included in the rake of vans - which wasn't very long. There's a very short clip on my Utube channel.

Progress is being made, its at a snails pace at the moment, but progress is progress.

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Mike Garwood]

In a few moments quiet (SWMBO had gone out with her 'girl friends' - for that read sisters of the cauldron) I decided to make the best of things.

The Milk van has received some transfers and more are on the way. My 3d guru is now at the stage where the roof can now be printed, I'm looking forward to putting that one to bed. And another find on my shelf of shame, a GWR Mink D V.11, which has forced me into buying a chassis for it...

The Grange has received more attention: The inverted G hangers have been soldered in place and the crossheads move smoothly thru them, which is a major win. The other job completed were the wheel splashers which I lined. First time I've ever used a bow pen, had a couple of them for years but never used them - I always chickened out. Still had a fair bit of tidying up to do, but very pleased with the result.

6810 is certainly looking like a fair maid now. Jobs left to do...engage engine and tender, coupling rods clearances on the front driver, lining and then ruin it all when the varnish goes on.



For me, that's really looking good.

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Phil O]

Mike,

The grange is looking good!

 

[Mike Garwood]

This is all the transfers that I'm going to put on the Milk van...so just the roof to go, and the windows and the varnish...



That's all from me for a while.

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Lining complete, varnished and looking pretty good.






Tomorrow morning will see the masking come off the windows and some colour added to the fall plate. I seem to be missing some posts from this blog. Not the end of the world and only too glad that the forum is back up and in one piece. So well done to all concerned.

You can see that 6810 is on top of the next project - a small but fiendish coach. Off to Barrow Road tomorrow.

Have a great weekend and stay safe.

Mike.

 

[45609]

Looks good mate. See you later.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Friday was another monthly visit to Barrow Road. Robin has been busy adding more detail to the layout, in this case it's the steps to one of the bridges from the yard. Standing at the top of the steps is a young man 'copping' the trains in the yard and those speeding down the main lines. Brilliant addition!



I couldn't resist taking 6810 to pose on one of the shunting roads at the top of the layout.



Jobs still to complete: paint the steps black, sort coupling rods and front crank pins, redo the pick ups - which I'm really unhappy with, paint the brakes, get the fall plate to the correct width to allow the tender to swing around corners. And finally, enjoy running it!

Robin has also fixed the turn table, this is now fully operational, there is a video of it in action with 70025 and 45561 "Saskatchewan". The Brit has a few problems with length and control. There will be a video of it in use on my Utube channel, if you're interested.
The new project has gained momentum, the chassis has been started and the sides have received the hinges and drop lights and the ends have been started as well, progressing nicely.

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Having got the Grange to a stage where I can relax a bit, I decided to continue with the new coach - there's a time limit on this one - so I need to get it ready for painting as fast as I dare. The coach in question is a LMS Inspection saloon D2024. Quite a complex underframe and lots of things going on, on the roof. But the real battle will be with the interior. 3 different types of chairs, a cupboard, a kitchen, I can't see a shower room on the plans but it wouldn't surprise me if it were there .

State of play this evening :





2 lots of water pipes to plumb in from the roof to the sides. On the underframe there's a propane bottle store and apparatus to put in, along with the retractable steps. This will be going into BR Maroon with the usual BR lining. On earlier coaches there was a large cowl on the roof (on the side furthest from the camera), this has been neglected, to put into the last batch built.

After this is brought to the painting stage it'll be back to finish the Grange. Things then get a bit weird in the build list - 3 different types of Pannier, including a 16xx. These will cross over for use on Hengoed and Newport's Cwm Carno P4 layout. This will be exhibiting at Scale 4 next September (2026). Lots to be getting on with, so someone has kindly lent me their germs and I now have a stinking cold!

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Mike Garwood]

This cold has certainly had an effect on my productivity! Just about managing to get an hour and a bit done in the evenings, before I get too tired. I have to be honest, I'm done by 23:00 hrs.

Anyway, this is the progress to date. The extra detailing on the body is just about complete, except for the hand rail to the hydraulic steps on both sides. This will be soldered in at the bottom of the steps and clip into the hand rail hole in the body.
Work has commenced on the underframe, battery boxes are in, solebar cross beams are in as are the buffer beams and buffers. Loads more to go in...





If you're wondering what has happened to the milk van..the roof is causing more problems than I anticipated. Hopefully these can be resolved next week and I'll be able to get this finished. Ystrad and Hengoed shops must be out of fresh milk by now!

So the battle with the underframe will continue tomorrow and will be to a finish. Although the way I'm feeling at the moment that's not a promise.

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Mike Garwood]

As expected I didn't finish the underframe on the weekend. Today I built the hydraulic stairs, a really good game played slowly. Mr Newitt would have been proud of 0.4 mm holes and the fact that I persevered with getting the wire to fit them all...without losing my temper! I must be getting old!!



The steps are loosely balancing, but that is how they'll look. Just the large handrail to bend up and fit for the stairs and some other detail at the front of the coach and we are there. The interior will be built out of the body and then glued in once it's all painted. The cosmetic sides need to be drilled to allow the suspension to work (easy to do but does create quite the mess) and once painted they'll be soldered to the Bill Bedford bogies.



A crowded underframe - if you're wondering why the dynamo is so close to the vacuum, it's because if it were in it's right place (3mm to the right) the bogie would only go around a very large radius before giving it a clout. There were some Comet parts I've never seen before - the battery boxes had proper legs and a few other oddities. It's been a really fun build so far.

Stay safe

Mike.

 

[Mike Garwood]

Having struggled with this cold for the last 2 weeks, I've eventually finished the build on the chassis and body. And it looks ok, it'll now need several washes to get rid of the remaining flux and all the other debris associated with building.

Left to do: the cosmetic sides require drilling out so that the springing works.



It has to be said the handrails for the hydraulic steps were a complete pain to get right and are a right fuss to get back into the stirrup at the bottom of the steps side.



So after the cleaning, it'll be the interior to build and this will be built out of the body. That's a first for me.

It's my Mum's 87 birthday this weekend, so I can't see much being done till Monday and my daughter is immanently expecting the birth of her second child and a brother for Harry. If he arrives on Sunday, my Mum is going to be so HAPPY!

So stay safe and have a great weekend.

Mike