After having a good look a it and a bit of photo research a plan of action was worked out. The model has been prematurely painted as it's lacking a number of critical parts;- cylinders, valve gear, coupling rods, brake gear, cab opening details, cab roof rain strips, electrical pickup system, footplate frame details and buffers. Although it looks fine with paint on, there are a number of locations on the body that solder could be removed to improve the detail- so it was decided to remove the paint and start there.

Sand blasted

Bits were acquired and the electrical pickup parts are prepared.

Solder clean-up almost complete.

This is a screen capture of the CAD drawing, the drawing was done to work out how to make the cylinders, crosshead, rods, brakes, and a few other bits, the drawings of parts are extracted out to the right, for CNCing from metal sheet.

These bits are the tools for making up a new steam dome, there are tools for both Gauge O & OO. The long round bars are the boring bars for turning the base of the dome to fit on the boiler. The short round bars and screws are for mounting the dome in the lathe chuck to form the top curves. The square bars are for holding the carbide tools while sharpening them on the grindstone. There is another square bar yet to be made for holding the work piece in the lathe tool post while the base curve of the dome is being cut.

More later......

Eoin.

The bits- the chip is a ESU Micro V0.5 with the standard sugar cube speaker, also being installed are front lantern lights using nano LEDs from JS Miniatures and white metal lanterns. The sound file is from Wheeltappers.

The loco bits.

The only place for the chip and speaker is in the boiler, a standard ESU sound chip will not fit, it's too wide, so that's why I'm using a Micro. The speaker will have it's cover installed with no risers, this should allow for all the parts n wiring to be crammed in!

The tender is a solid block of cast plastic!

The chassis- I like the way they built this model, all the major components are in sub assembles, then screw fixed together to make the model. After hearing about the gearbox messing up on these models I took a good look at it- the meshing of the gears on this one is too loose! not doing anything about it now, we'll see how it runs in the future. Smooth throttling will be required!

Lights being epoxied on.

Route of the wires to get into the boiler.

The chip is hard wired to the pickups and motor, the lights will connect with mini connectors so the body can be removed completely, the resistors for the lights are on the LED leads- that's the max I can get into the boiler.

Done.

Eoin

I couldn't resist posting up some photos- it's a beast

You'll have to wait until after Christmas to see more..........

Eoin

I started restoring it a few years ago! but recently finished it;-

This is the new face made by scanning the old one into Autocad, drawing it up anew, printing it out on heavy paper card and spray lacquering it to seal the paper. It is mounted on top of the old face when reassembling.

Sand blasted the outer body and the exposed pipe fitting.

Body spray painted, the new pointer was cut from thin brass sheet and chemically blackened.

Polishing setup for the brass rim, my polisher is a pistol drill mounted on the bench. I used Luster polish first and finished with Rouge n paraffin.

Polished

A new brass ferrule was turned up on the lathe.

Stuck together with Loctite 603, the ferrule is a press fit onto the pin of the pressure mech, the pin is tapered so the ferrule locks on.

Reassembled, the new glass was made from 3mm perspex sheet.

I now need to pressure test it against a known accurate gauge to see if it needs adjustment, but I will hang it on the wall for the moment......

Eoin

It includes a full set of castings in gunmetal & cast iron, full set of 11 drawings, frame steel plates, steel angle buffer beams, and LBSC's book on building the loco.

The loco was designed by LBSC ( Curly Lawrence ) based on a contractor's shunting tank locomotive. This is his 3.5'' gauge version, running on coal with a boiler pressure of 70 to 80 lb. The loco is heavy enough to pull one person relatively easy.

Boiler, body and general stock materials are not included.

This project will be stashed away until current projects are complete.........

Eoin.

I was offered this lathe at a extremely reasonable price as it was damaged in a workshop fire, fortunately the shed did not burn down completely as the timbers where the fire started charred and protected the remainder. The main damage to the lathe was from smoke and fire acid from plastics and other items that burned!

The fire happened a few years ago and the owner was so disappointed with all the destruction he locked the door and rarely went back in. Poor chap, the last thing anyone wants to happen to their workshop!

I jumped at it when he offered it to me, I have always had an interest in owning a ML7 or Super7 but they now come at a high price for a good one, especially the Super7. I had bought a mini lathe as that option was far more economical at the time, but now knowing the limits of the mini lathe something bigger was always in the back of the mind.

Myford still make parts for these lathes, there is a huge amount of accessories and tooling available for them on engineering sites, Ebay, Banggood, and more.

Photos taken when first seen a few months ago.....

At that inspection I doused the whole machine with diesel and brushed it in and left it sit for a couple of days. When I returned and gave it a wipe down, then I could get a good look at the damage and decide on doing the deal..... I did!

Next step was to move it to my place which entailed lightening the load. The motor, top slide, cross slide, tailstock and a few other items were removed and the machine was then ready for lifting.

Looking a bit better now.

All the bits were cleaned again with diesel, wire brush, a lot of elbow grease, and then left to soak in citric acid for a few hours. Most parts cleaned up well, but the chrome finished parts had lost their shine and the more one treated them the more shine was lost- so I cut my loses and left the cleaning at a point that with use the parts will shine- I hope.

Casings will need a sandblast and a bit of paint.

The photos below show the progress on cleaning the bed, it's about 50% done. Items can now be moved without rust tearing the bearing surfaces and to my amazement it's all in fairly good condition.

And the first bits with new paint going on. Lower left is the Dixon tool post after cleaning up- slightly pitted from the rust but does work fine!

Handles painted.

I'm going to upgrade the motor to a 1HP 3 phase motor, controlled by an inverter which will give variable speed control. The original motor is single phase and speed control was by stopping the lathe and changing the drive belt to a different speed pulley- not great, it is doable but the upgrade is a far better option for speed control and it's a far better motor.........

Eoin

All 1st

All 3rd

Brake 3rd

1st & 2nd Compo - Lav

All parts come in the kits except for decals.

Bogies are first, it's a link type system to allow the middle axle to float. The bogie parts cut, folded and soldering up with 180deg solder.

The little hook on bogie 'A' was given some solder into the folds for a bit of strength.

Break gear going on, the cylinders had to be modified to allow for the bogie pivot bolt head.

These parts were soldered with 70deg WM solder, first thinning the brass with 180deg solder.

Bogie system done.

Chassis next, the solebar overlays were thinned with 180deg solder while in the sprue and then cut out. There are two overlays to be soldered on each side.

I left the chassis flat for soldering these on, reckoned it was easier this way.

Then folded the chassis up with folding bars in the bench vice.

Done.

After folding up the buffer beams, which there is also a detail overlay for but will go on later, I set to soldering the folds with a hefty fillet, and soldered the fold edge of the axle guards to give support.

Little fiddly caps soldered on top of the outer ends of the buffer beams, and the upper step was folded out with a pliers.

The lower step was folded up again with the bars and a fillet of solder run along the back of the fold. These will be soldered to the chassis later, also the axle guard tie bars, just to avoid damage as the bodywork progresses!

Next the white metal spring castings, again thinning the brass with 180deg, clamping the casting on and soldering with 70deg solder.

Done.

When checking the gas tank location I found they fouled the break shoes on the middle axle, could not get them to fit- the instructions tells one to cut the shoes off!! I opted for an ECM solution!

I decided to make new tanks 2mm shorter, brass tube and aluminium turnings on the lathe made up two masters for moulding.

Testing the masters to see if it will work!

I cut new shorter 2mm axles from piano wire to replace the pin point ones.

The gas tank moulding worked out OK and now its time to fit them, the brass straps were thinned while held in the sprue and the tank mounts were thinned all with 180deg.

The straps were removed and a 90 bend was put on one end to solder them to the underside of the chassis.

The tanks were then soldered onto their supports with 70deg WM solder and the straps folded down over and soldered to the tanks on the inside, these ends are terminated on the tank inside so that the bogie will fit in.

Done, break shoes just about miss and one tank did not sit down correctly!

So then if you go back and read all the above again 3 times! it will get you to here;-

Bodies next....

Eoin

An ESU 5XL DCC sound board was chosen as it has the power for 4 motors, two in each bogie, and a bunch of aux outputs for this upgrade and anything added later. An 8ohm speaker, LED directional lights and LED cab light.

A look at the analogue system, the main board is mounted on the chassis with a number of switches underneath to set the functions, with two analogue smoke generator boards- one mounted beside the main board and the other under the hood.

So after some consideration on how to tackle this I came up with a plan.....

Cutting out a PCB mounting board for the DCC chip and one of the smoke generators, the small board is for mounting a wiring socket.

Riser blocks being cut from 10mm Tufnol sheet for mounting the PCB board to the chassis and risers for mounting the new control boards.

Boards mounted.

And the lot screwed onto the chassis, I used the old mounting lugs on the chassis to screw it down.

Replacement LED code and side light boards.

Directional LED head lights being setup.

The LEDs are hot glued into the original front light housings.

A LED cab light was also installed but no photos as to how that was done!

The speaker enclosure being setup, made from some PVC waste pipe and PCB parts CNC cut to mount and close the back after the speaker is installed. when the speaker is wired up the whole will be epoxied together.

The enclosure will be screw mounted onto the 3 lugs around the fan.

To make this part a paper impression was taken from the screw lugs on the fan, this was scanned into cad, a drawing setup and then the part was cut out on the cnc machine.

It fitted!!

The wiring socket was then made up (sorry no photos) from mini connector soldered onto a PCB board which was screw mounted under the board featured above, a cad drawing print was stuck onto the top to indicate which connection was for what. The bogies, lights, smoke generators and cab light were all wired up and in this photo its all under test and being programmed.

The system complete and the hood about to be bolted down and then off for a test run on it's home layout.

The only problems encountered with the DCC chip, was with the analogue smoke generator boards, eventually the boards were take out of the loop and the generators were connected straight to the chip and controlled from there.

Unfortunately I lost the video of it running and making it's sounds, when the memory chip on the phone bit the dust. Next time when on a visit I will take some video of it.........

Eoin.

The bits as delivered.

The motor mounting bracket was drilled for the motor and bolt mounted on that block of brass between the frames.

Axles being setup with spacers to keep the gears on centre.

After setting up the drive gears the motor was installed to find the motor gear wheel had been drilled out off centre, this causing a massive wobble! The photo shows the gear wheel held in a collet chuck on the lathe and the centred hole being bored out oversize to take a brass sleeve to fit the motor shaft.

Drive gear finished with brass sleeve pushed in with a bit of Loctite.

The sleeve has a hole drilled in it to allow the grub screw to pass and lock on the motor shaft flat.

Runs smoothly now.

Setting up the front bogie for electrical pickups- first a slot was machined in the top of the bogie, with a screw installed in the chassis to stop the bogie rotating to much when mounted and damaging the wiring!

Soldering in two cross frames to hold the pickup board.

Cleaned up and mounting holes drilled and tapped.

.6mm NS wire was used for the pickup wires.

Pickups complete.

Wiring complete, with a DCC 8 pin socket installed.

Chassis under test on completion.

I forgot to take a photo with the body on!

Eoin.

Main chassis components & coupling rods removed from the fret, edge cusp removed and ready all for soldering.

Soldering the frame spacers to alternate frames, the ash pan sides and the coupling rods.

The frames are then bolted together with screws supplied in the kit and then all soldered.

Note;- **** The Motion Plate frame spacer, Part No. 108 - is in upside down in this sequence of photos. I will show it in the correct orientation in later photos when the error is fixed*****

Captive screws and nuts are also fixed into the frame spaces to hold the front bogie and body onto the chassis.

Crosshead parts ready for soldering, the long bits are a jig when soldering the parts together with a bit leftover as the sliders! see below.

Jigged up and parts being soldered in.

Soldering complete.

Then the jig ends are cut off to complete the crossheads, a pit of filing and clean up is required.

Motion brackets, cylinder wrappers and ends removed from the fret, cusps removed and ready for soldering.

Motion brackets jigged up on a piece of MDF for soldering.

Bracket folded n soldered.

Preparing the relief valves for the cylinder front covers- these small bit of wire have a tendency to float out while soldering the covers on so I put a burr on one end with a hammer, thread the wire through the hole from the inside and solder on the inside, this stops the wire popping out later.

Embossing the bolts on the covers.

Inner cylinder wrapper bent to shape around a 6mm brass bar and ready to be soldered.

Solder applied to inside of the wrapper, then the top is soldered onto the bracket first, then the wrapper is forced around the bracket, held with a strip of wood to save the fingers and the bottom soldered.

Soldered.

Front cylinder ends soldered on.

Bogie front splashers were bent up and soldered to the chassis, gusset plates also done at front and at the firebox.

Crosshead slide bars being folded up and soldered.

Installing the slide bars into the back of cylinders and the motion bracket. A bit of fettling was required to the crossheads to ensure they could move freely in the slide bars, this was done before soldering the bars in!

Outer cylinder wrappers bent up and ready to be soldered as per the inner wrapper method.

Wrappers on and whole assembly cleaned up.

Eoin.

After chopping the rail into 3 pieces on the site, a bit of heavy lifting got them into my back garden.

Out with the big grinder to chop some into manageable bits.

This photo shows a bit of ware n tear on the top edge- so this rail was used.

Onto the band saw to cut down to even more manageable size.

The large bits will be fashioned into anvils and the small ones which are cut 15mm thick will be mounted on plaques for hanging on the wall.

More to follow when I get a bit more processing done.........

Eoin

The coach body is held on by the floor side dents which slot into the glazing- 4 to each side, use cocktail sticks to disengage the dents and the body lifts off. The bogies pop off by rotating them 90 deg and levering one end up.

Setting up the electrical pickup boards which are epoxied to the underside of the bogies, the jig is for soldering the .3mm NS wire to the boards.

Holes are drilled in the bogies, the chassis and the floor between the toilets for the wiring.

Bogies wired up.

Chassis wired up. The wires run along the side of the weight.

Floor on and the wiring threaded up through the hole in the floor at the toilets.

Wires from the bogies have a generous loop to allow the bogie free rotation, before running up through the chassis.

The electronics- stay alive capacitor, a resistor to bring down the LED strip brightness a bit, and a rectifier for polarity control.

Electronics assembled.

The tops of the coach dividers are trimmed a bit to allow for the LED strip to pass through.

LED strip installed.

The LED strip has a mini connector to the electronics so that the body can be disconnected.

Testing.

With lights installed one needs a few passengers!

Eoin.

I have set up for building Gauge N 141/181 last year, the drawing work is now complete and a few Cameo paper cuttings have been done to adjust the lines, work out the folds, and prepare for the 3D detail. My options are open to construct the body in etched brass or Xerox Laser Printed sheet (like the DART), the brass will require painting and the Xerox wont- so if I can get the Xerox to work to an acceptable level all liveries will be available!

I'm using a Kato generic chassis for this one, but I'm held up waiting for the order to be delivered- 4 months now!

Here are a few photos of one of the test Cameo paper cuttings assembled up;-

As you can see the front windows & panels required adjustment in the drawing, the next step is to complete the lower section of the body, then cut one out in plastic card and see what I have- not enough hours in the day!

These will be available as RTR or as a kit

There are a few other Gauge N Irish types getting the same treatment- D301, 071, 121, & J15........

Eoin

The model stripped down, parts being cleaned up and the plan of action being worked out.

The new Slaters backhead kit being assessed.

After a bit of research of photos a cad drawing was prepared of the loco & tender chassis to set up the brakes, wheel weights, pcb pickup plate and loco guard irons. When the drawing was complete the parts were cnc'd out in .5mm brass sheet for most bits except for the brake shoes which were cut from Tufnol, and pick-up plate from .5mm pcb copper clad sheet.

Tender brake shoes n hangers going together, brake rods all cleaned up and holes sized for fitting- the J15 had pull rods on inside and the outside of the wheels which is an interesting challenge to get this to work!

The chassis have been drilled .8mm holes to take brass rods to support the brake hangers, the hangers will fit to the wire with .8mm ID brass tubes which will be removable so that the wheels can be accessed.

The loco chassis made a ringing sound as I was working on it and I eventually tracked it down to one of the wheel bearings not fully soldered in- that's the one with the paint removed ready for re-soldering.

And all the other bits have been cleaned up ready for assembly- hangers, rods, wheel weights, loco brake blocks, and guard irons.

I have somehow misplaced two of the loco brake block which will have to be re-made!!

Eoin

On arrival, with brass etched rods and brake shoes- though I'm using my own Tufnol shoes as these insulate the wheels and one can have them right up against the tyres!

After a plan of action was worked out the parts were cut- brake hangers/rods and wheel weights from .35mm brass sheet, pcb board was machined for the pick-ups and the Tufnol shoes.

Milling flats on the frame spacers to provide a seat for the pick-up boards, the frames were also drilled for the mounting pins which hold the brake shoe hangers.

Brake parts almost assembled.

Soldering the laminate coupler rods and cross brake rods.

Wheel weights epoxied on and a flat was milled on the motor axle to seat the gear wheel grub screw.

A 10x6mm dia brass rod downstand was made and bolted to the front frame spacer to provide a seating/fixing for the front axle pick-up board. The pins for the brake hangers were also soldered in. A 4mm long tube is soldered on the pins to hold the hangers in position.

Wheels back on, the brake gear was soldered up and the coupler rods fitted. The brakes are removable to access the wheels.

.45 NS wire pick-ups were bent up and soldered to the pcb plates and all was wired up to the motor.

And finally test running the completed chassis.

A few tweaks are still needed  on broaching out the coupler rod bearings, but it's ready to go off to it's crew for painting and fitting the body.

Eoin

So after building the test plastic-card chassis I made a few adjustments to the drawings and then sat on the project due to the workload back then.

A couple of months ago I started back at it and set up drawings to mill the parts from .5mm & .25mm brass sheet to build a brass test chassis and other components which will be needed to test fit out and to use to make moulds for white metal castings. I have also set-up a brass tube boiler and machined up a firebox former from 30mm dia nylon bar, again when the fitting is done on the firebox the former will be used for moulding the final unit. The boiler will be worked out when the motor and gearbox are installed.

That's the fire hole in the back, the lower section is the ash-pan and the side cut will hopefully allow the chassis by! 

Last week the milling started on the chassis parts, cylinder base & heads, valve gear, bellcranks, and the nameplates in the .5mm brass;-

This chassis has inside and outside frames, with the slot & tab frame stretcher construction I reckon .5mm will be plenty strong?

Bellcranks are half depth milled to give the cast iron look, and in the footplate stretcher one can see the .5mm dia chain drilled holes to be opened up into slots for construction- the chassis frame tabs will stick up through these.

Again half milled nameplates- can't wait to see these painted and the brass text all shined up.

Next will be .25mm brass splashers, footplates, smokebox, smokebox doors, and more chassis fittings.........

Eoin

Not a level surface, all distorted n burnt, with a bang in the smokebox door.

Chassis front mounting screw sheared.

Burner in.

Burner out.

The burner.

Inspection over the loco was stripped down.

All the bits ready for cleaning up.

After cleaning the dome was tackled first by removing that blob of solder to reveal a ding n crack- the ding in the boiler and the crack in the dome base.

After cleaning off the solder blob I put on new solder, I used a piece of copper wire to fill the gap as the solder will not do that. Ready for a clean up- the remainder of the filling will be done at painting stage.

Then a brass blank nut was turned on the lathe to be soldered into the boiler to replace the missing one.

Jigged up for soldering the nut in, fingers crossed it doesn't fall in!!

Done.

Then a bit of horsing with sticks, bars, small hammer and appropriate shaped things to straighten the body up, once back close to shape all was clamped and soldered up.

Worked out OK, a bit of cleaning up the solder after a blast....

.......blasted.

Cleaned up and set up to start painting.

Etch primed.

A very light coat of etch primer was used so that one can see the metal underneath.

Des in Studio Scale Models printed the decals from my artwork, he can now print gold!

That's all for now.....

Eoin

Anyway this loco had thrown it's steam pipe and needs a bit of attention.

After a bit of research I found that the pipe supplied with the model was for another type, also at first we believed the boiler was silver soldered! Again after research and inspection it was found to be soft/lead soldered which made the job a bit easier.

The boiler was removed and cleaned up around the broken pipe connection and a plan of action was drawn up- to shorten the steam pipe and house it into the brass ferrule on the boiler to give the new solder join a bit of structural support- as looking on youtube this join seems to be problem with the model.

Also the olive on the steam pipe needed to be re-soldered as it was not pushed home on the pipe- I think with someone's attempt to solder at the other end of the pipe they overheated the whole thing and the olive slipped!

With the olive soldered on and the pipe shortened it's now ready to solder into the boiler, to save the paint and to ensure the boiler end doesn't de-solder the whole thing is wrapped in cold wet cloths. The pipe is recessed into the fitting by 2mm.

And done, the cloths did their job.

Then bolted the boiler back on and gave it a test run on air at 20psi.

A bit more motion in this photo.

Ready to go back to its crew for the smokebox saddle to be installed and a bit of paint.

Eoin

I used one of these in my silversmith days back in the 70's, it was driven by a belt off the workshop line shaft but one had to turn the handle at the top to drop the drill bit into the work.

It's going into a bath of diesel for a few weeks to free the rust up and then restoration.

Eoin

As it came;-

So I set about stripping down the chassis and came across a number of issues;- only two of the axle bearings were soldered into the chassis, the others had been super-glued in but all have come free to rotate with the axles- see photo of bogie above, their all loose to. The plunger type electrical pick-up system was very poor, some of the plungers were frozen in their housings and did not make contact all of the time. The chassis required a few more frame spacers- it was a bit bendy!

So with a plan of action the frame spacers were made up from .5mm brass sheet in the 'L' shape for stiffness, a pcb copper clad pick-up board was cnc'd out- as I'm going with wiper pick-ups off this board- no stinking plungers! Holes drilled, M2 nuts soldered to the new spacers and the plate fixed with M2 bolts- this holds the frame spacers in when soldering them in the chassis.

Spacers in, time to solder the axle bearings in. The coupling rods were cleaned up, to be used with the axle jigs to centre the bearings when soldering them in. I do this on a glass sheet with two rulers on edge to support the chassis by the axle jigs.

Done.

The cylinders were cleaned up after removing the old crosshead guide bars, the valve front end was drilled to take the valve rod housing that sticks out the front- done with 1mm dia brass wire locctite'd in. The valve back-end guides were cnc'd from .5mm brass sheet and folded up for soldering on. I came up with a lolly pop stick trick to hold these parts in position for soldering- a cross shape with a spigot that seats into the valve end and the parts clipped on?

Worked a treat!

The remainder of the valve gear was cleaned up and I noticed we're missing some parts- the Valve Rods and the Anchor Links! The link will be cnc cut from NS sheet with other parts later, but the valve rod requires a bit of machining- 2mm square bar was rounded up on the lathe with a file leaving a 3mm long square at the end, then cross drilled for a rivet, then .5mm slotted to create a clevis, after a bit of filing.

I made these a bit fat as the holes in the valve housing are large.

Wheels have been cleaned up and the wheel weights in .5mm brass being epoxied on.

Eoin

As it came.

After measuring up, researching a few photos and doing the drawings parts were cut out of .5mm nickel silver- wheel weights, coupling rods, break gear....

The chassis was a little fat, the wheels were locking up when assembled and one axle was slightly out of line, only noticed when fitting the coupling rods- one side would go on but not the other! So that set of bearings needed a bit of adjustment and the other set had a .9mm skim taken off the faces.

Some of the chassis screws were cheese head so I replaced them with counter-sunk and holes for the break hanger spigots were drilled in the frames.

Jigged up to solder the bearings back in.

Loco break gear coming together, these locos had double hangers with the shoe sandwiched between. The shoes are cut from Tufnol and brass .7mm pins were used to assemble.

Breaks on.

Breaks off. The assembly can be sprung off for painting and removing the wheels.

After fitting the coupling rods I noticed they fouled the underside of running board!, so a few 1.2mm brass spacers were prepared and soldered onto the top of the frames. I also made a motor strap to lift the motor up at an angle and save space in the cab.

The bogie truck was then tackled- needing a pivot, spring and a bit of side play, also going to get electrical pick-ups installed. A deep hex nut was soldered to the underside to take the pivot bar on top and the pick-up plate on the underside. I also replace the frame spacer screws from cheese-head to counter-sunk and installed a plastic washer behind each wheel.

A pivot bar was turned up on the lathe and tapped 8BA to fit into that hex nut in the bogie frame.

The pick-ups were then installed on the underside.

This is the full pick-up system, diver wheels & bogie.

A sideways slot was milled in the frame spacer to give the bogie side-play and a .5mm brass angle plate was soldered onto the bogie front to stop full rotation. The frames also required some mod at the rear wheel arch to allow clearance.

Up and running.

The tender was next, break hanger holes drilled, and at front- these are parts for the draw bar, the brass to be soldered between the frames and the plastic strip drilled as the draw bar with the little brass bush to allow it pivot on the back of the loco.

Breaks going on and draw bar assembly installed.

Breaks done.

The tender had its mounting bolts broken off, so some repair needed, also spacers are needed to level the tender with the loco- using two blocks of hardwood!

Done.

Draw bar drilled and installed, this is the body mounting screw, the front end is held with a brass tong soldered to the back of the buffer beam.

And its done, going back to its crew for a bit of painting and maybe some coal!

Eoin

14 etched sheets approx A4 size, that instruction book down in the corner is A4 size for scale idea, the book is about 50 pages!

To busy on other projects at the moment so will have to put it away for some rainy 5 years work in the future

This is a drawing of one of the 1000x550mm units which will be constructed in 9mm birch ply, it will have a 40mm expanded styrene deck (not shown) to keep the weight down, there are four M8 bolt fixings through MS dowel pins in each unit, to bolt the four units together.

This is the 20mm MS bar stock that the dowel system is turned from- 1 dowel pin and 2 sleeves for each bolt which goes through the dowel and clamps the units together against the sleeves, the sleeves will be permanently fixed into each unit. The bolt and dowel pin are removed when disassembling so nothing sticks out the side for transporting.

After a bit of turning, though not finished yet.

A dowel pin and the two sleeves, one sleeve still needs a flange and a knurl put on it.

And the 9mm birch ply frame parts kindly & accurately cut by baseboard Dave. Boards this size cannot be worked on in my workshop so I have made a ply worktable that fits to the coffee table in my living room with T Slot clamping system to aid construction of this and other jobs.

Other items like sky boards, support system and scenery are planned and will come along later. The scenery is going to be based around Dun Laoghaire, Salthill and Seapoint- I hope, with keeping the baseboard compact we'll have to see how things pan out!

Now for a bit of gluing.........

Eoin

After taking a good look over it, a plan of action was worked out-  a new bogie truck mounting system was added to the list.

First I tackled the driver wheel pick-ups by removing the old system, these were squidged between the frames and the back of the wheels on a pcb board way thicker than needed and the wire stiff as a builders plank, one can see the mark on the frame between the wheels where these were mounted. The poor motor must have been using up all it's torque to counteract the pressure!

A brass frame spacer was made up with captive nut soldered on and then soldered between the frames just in front of the motor. I used this spacer to try and get the four driver wheels level while soldering it in- it still titters a bit! A pcb board was cut out to fit to this spacer and travel down the sides of the gearbox to take the .45mm NS wire pick-ups.

A few little repairs were done to the missing sander pipe and the back break rods were soldered to their corresponding brackets with little brass dress pins cut to size- Hickeys you know are a great source of modelling components!

Then the wire pick-ups were bent up and soldered onto the pcb board, the wires had to rise up to get over the frames and under the break rodding without shorting, the electrical wires were also soldered on to the board.

Next was to do the same with the bogie truck, but first I sized up a spigot to mount the bogie bolster to, turned on the lathe with a shoulder to pass through the bolster with a screw n washer to hold the bogie on. A bit of trial n error was needed until I got the shoulder depth right so the bogie wheels were just about level with the drivers with some play for the spring around the spigot to give a bit of suspension to the bogie truck! Then the chassis frame cut-outs for the wheels needed some filing to stop the wheels fouling the chassis and causing a short.

Bogie mounted with its pcb board epoxied on and the NS wire pick-ups installed.

Next was to give the bogie a bit of side play, so I milled a flat on both sides of the spigot and filed the truck bolster hole sides into a rectangle - slightly out of focus in the photo but it is rectangular. This arrangement gives ample side play for 1030mm radius curves.

Bogie done, motor wired, and time to test run.

I took six photos of the running chassis and afterwards when selecting from them for this post I noticed that the coupling rods always came out in approximately the same position.

I gave the loco and tender bodies a bit of a clean up- the person that put on the decals was quite liberal with whatever solution they used and I felt it really interfered with the finish of the model- elbow-grease, buds, decal softener and loads of water did the trick.

Done

The crew will have to attend to a few small matters......

Eoin

Motor & Gearbox replacement

Valve gear rebuild

Break gear repair

Pick-up upgrade

Tender draw bar assembly upgrade

This is how the model came to the workshop.

So first up was to start on the new pick-up system, a pcb board and brass angle mountings were prepared. The brackets were soldered in between the frames and M2 nuts soldered in to hold the pcb board.

With the board setup I next repaired the break gear so I could install this assembly and make sure the wire pick-ups do not interfere when soldering them onto the pcb board. The break gear is the 'Sprung' on type, it fits onto the hanger shafts off the frames and is held in position by it's own springy force. The shafts are .9mm brass wire with sleeve over to hold the hangers out from the chassis- one of these was missing so a replacement was made and the break rodding was repaired.

Break gear on and now the .45mm NS wire pick-ups are bent to shape

Then soldered to the pcb board

Wires to the motor were then soldered on. The pick-up wires will be bent and trimmed to the wheels when the motor is installed and running.

The motor and gearbox now installed, a flat was milled on the axle to take the axle gear wheel grub screw and a couple of brass washers were installed between the gearbox and frames to limit side play and centre the wheels.

Just before that I made the tender draw bar assembly- a ex 6mm brass spigot was turned up on the lathe for the loco end which was soldered into the chassis and a large cable tie was chopped n holes drilled for the draw-bar.

Next was to install the valve gear, but first I added a bit of detail to the coupling rod knuckle join by drilling and inserting a 1mm steel rivet. Then the gear was cleaned up and installed.

All on and waiting for the Loctite to set.

Later a test run to see if all runs OK, and it's OK!

Main work done I then installed the bogie truck and fitted the body

Done.

The loco needs a small bit of work to be done by it's crew, but it looks cool as it is.

I really like this class loco, it's very sleek and looks the part for speed! but I believe they weren't very successfully, later they removed two cylinders and made a mess of the footplate lines when changing the valve gear and still they couldn't get it running right.

This may be a sin but I think! I like this one more than the 800.....

Eoin

It's a lovely model by Marklin and has some beautiful detailing-

and working valve gear.

Eoin.

On arrival

After the survey & research was carried out a drawing was prepared to cnc the main parts from .5mm nickel silver and Tufnol for the shoes.

All done and cleaned up

The coupling rods are made up of 3 laminates, a jig was prepared to hold the laminates as they were sweat soldered together. Aluminium rods to appropriate size were inset on the jig board, the parts were covered with 180deg solder, then clamped in the jig, fluxed n heated until all laminations sat flush and soldered throughout.

One done and the other doing

Rods complete and crankpin bearings being fitted

Break gear prepared and ready to go on the chassis

A new NS wiper pickup system was installed to recess the boards and give clearance for the break rod gear- the chassis is a bit deeper than it should be and with the original pickup system would have pushed the break gear down pretty close to track level!

First run- with a bit of tweaking!

Body back on

Running well and now off to the owners paint shop.......

Eoin

Here is my prototype Storage Cassette, I have made this for a chap who has a number of slinky long trains on his layout, every time he goes to remove them from the track another coupler breaks or springs go flying- as for the Tram in the photos!

It is also a manual loader to get the trains off/on the track without lifting them- one drives the train backwards into the cassette until the motor bogie disconnects from the track and then its pushed by hand the rest of the way, going onto the track is the reverse. Each cassette with train in can be stored on shelves to the side......

This one is 610mm long and will be used for testing the idea, the next ones will be much longer for ICE and Eurostar trains and will incorporate a mod to the loader- which will be recessed in the base so the sides of the cassette will protect it. Perspex covers will be available also so the dust will be kept at bay and the trains can be transported in the cassette-  though adds to the work & cost

Design work still in progress.......

Eoin

Body off and a bit of a survey being carried out.

With drawings done the parts were cut out in .5mm brass- wheel weights, break hangers n bars.

All cleaned up with the Tufnol break shoes ready to go on.

Main pick-ups upgraded with .4mm NS wipers and break stuff being soldered on.

Nice little set of cast brass break shoes soldered on the bogie truck.

.4mm NS wiper pick-ups installed under the bogie truck.

Almost there.

Chassis up and running.

Body back on and its off to the owner and paint shop.

Eoin

Some mods to the crosshead and cylinders is required as the kit seems to be based on LNER valve gear and the 800 was a little different

I took many photos of the model and imported them into cad and worked out the design for the crosshead system, a chassis hanger assembly to hold the H frame crosshead bar that was more applicable to the class. I also worked out the break stuff from 800 drawings and then got machining....

This is the machine now installed in a dust/noise cabinet- it's hard still to stay in the room when the spindle is up at full speed

But it's fascinating to watch the parts appear out of the sheet of metal, this is a shot of the break hangers, wheel weights and crosshead hanger assembly in .5mm brass

and complete

Break shoes in 2mm Drelin being cut out, this is easier on the ears as the spindle is running much slower

and complete

This is the crosshead H bar parts and distinctive 800 crosshead bracket in .4mm nickel silver as these wont be painted

All worked very well, looking forward to sticking it together.........

Eoin

I bought these some time back before I found out about Irish stuff available but decided to use them anyway as a test for weathering, their not fully complete yet but very close- going to do a few replacement planks on some and fit loads of.....something!

Eoin

Also requires a bit of a engine tune up- it's been belching out a lot of black stuff!

Eoin

Directional lights work by using fibre optic wires from the LEDs on the chassis

The model has pretty much the same detail as my Gauge OO DART model- NS handrails, roof vents, screen wipers, horn......

Just a few small touch-ups required and it's ready to go into service

Eoin

We are manufacturing 00 Gauge DART trains, based on the 8100 Class electric two-car multipal unit train for Dublin suburban service. These units were built by Linke-Hofmann-Busch GmbH and GEC Traction Ltd. for CIE now Irish Rail.

Our model is exclusive hand built at 1:76 scale with a laser printed plastic body on a glass fibre chassis. The model has specific DART details with metal pantograph, DART bogie sides, undercarriage compartments, air tanks, control box and mock connection hoses.

Specification.

Laser printed plastic body with foam support.

0.8mm glass fibre (PCB) chassis.

Tenshodo Spud motor.

Keen coupler plates to allow close coupling running.

Kadee couplers.

White metal cast & sprung pantograph.

Directional lights.

Secondary pick-ups.

NS driver handrails.

Etched brass screen wipers.

White metal air horn.

Plastic cast motorless bogies.

10.5mm Romford coach wheels

Plastic cast DART replica bogie sides.

White metal cast under-frame components.

Plastic cast roof vents and roof end trims.

Plastic cast pantograph roof well.

Plastic cast corridor connectors.

Analogue and digital options.

The digital unit has an 8 pin decoder with controllable lighting system, the two coaches are connected electrically with a plug and socket lead.

The Model is manufactured in different options and cost;-

Display Model – Opaque Printed Body with basic detail.

Display Model – Windowed Printed Body with internal detail is now available.

Running Model – Opaque Printed Body with full detail.

Running Model – Windowed Printed Body with internal detail is now available.

You can follow progress on the windows in the ‘8100 DART Model’ thread in ‘Irish Models’ on this forum.

Eoin

Keiran kindly noted you were the master craftsman with A class bogie side frames - are these currently available - in my quest to finish two I have before IRM beat me too it ! 

regards

Robert  

Here are a few photos of a set of Coupling & Connecting Rods for a Gauge 1 GNRi Class VS, fresh off the bench. They were machined from mild steel EN8 flats & sheet,  the coupling rod axle centres is 103mm, I thought I'd photo them up against my trusty Gauge 00 171 for scale comp. The tapered route in the connecting rods was a bit of a task, it required a jig to allow the rod to swing a bit to allow cutting the taper route in the mill. Little lengths of .8mm NS wire are loctite-ed in a drilled hole to imitate the plug on the oil boxes on top of rods- ready now for their owner and I look forward to seeing them run......

Eoin