Tullygrainey

Probably a sensible precaution. May save heartache later

Quick question. Can I join this one as a non-member on Zoom and if so, how do I do so or where can I find a link? Alan

Fab! The layout looks really well, especially the station building and I love that shot of A3r from below on the beach.

Good point. Luckily, I only ever hung coupling rods on mine. Possibly even earlier. This on the E Class/J26 etch...

That's an inspired technique for making window bars. Probably unwise to show you this now you've done the job but for future reference... an old Mainly Trains etch, available from Wizard Models It wouldn't cover the type of bars on the J26 anyway

Might be wise

That's an immaculate job Paul. Really neat and tidy and obviously built with invisible solder . I haven't done any of this yet so I'm studying form here. Good luck with the build. You've made a flying start. Kieran and I have settled on 562. Alan

Storm Dave has been banging its coat tails against the windows all afternoon here so there was time for more J26. The instructions suggest soldering the splasher tops to their respective sides on the running plate before bending them up which is definitely the easier way to do a tricky job. Two done, two more to bend up here... OO 16.5mm gauge meets the Irish Locomotive... Maybe we'll just view it from the side. These steps were another fiddly soldering job. Contrary to the instructions this time, it's easier to solder them on before the valances are fitted to the running plate. Coupling hooks and strengthening plates are also easier to add before the buffer beams go on. All the best jigs are made from lollipop sticks and masking tape but spot the deliberate mistake. I didn't. That'll teach me to be blasé. Running plate is a bit less floppy now. Time to knock off. Alan

Thanks for this John. Most useful. That's a lovely model. Such a shame that Mike Sharman's wheels aren't available any more. They were beautifully made and the moulded-in crankpins made life so much easier. I have a couple of locos fitted with them. The wheel visibility issue on the J26 will be even more pronounced in 16.5 OO.

You may be right about the wheels being taller than the splashers. I had the same thought after I fitted the running plate. The instructions recommend 18 mm diameter Markits. The ScaleLinks are 18.5 mm, compounding the problem. Only the front axle is likely to be a problem. Middle axle will be inside the tanks. The splashers inside the cab can probably be enlarged without it being too noticeable. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Soon probably! I tend never to get round to cab detail anyway and most of my County Down locos have the crew placed strategically in the doorways to hide the fact.

Nice one Patrick. The nighttime shots suggest a slightly damp autumn/winter evening to me. Platform wet underfoot. A bit of a chill in the air. I can nearly feel the change of temperature walking out of the waiting room onto the platform.

E Class/J26: Making the chassis work... The wheels that came with Kieran's E Class/J26 kit, presumably bought in by whoever originally purchased the kit but never built it, are from ScaleLink. They are similar to Markit wheels, having a square hole to fit onto square ended axles, but unlike Markits they have plastic centres not metal ones. They're consequently more fragile and I struggled to fit them square on the axles, conscious that I could be distorting the square hole as I forced them on. It's recommended that the square axle ends be lightly dressed with a fine file to remove any burrs. I did that and also tried to chamfer the edges of the hole in the wheels. First attempt resembled a clown car with wheels wobbling in all directions. Took them off again, tidied up the holes with a fine needle file and managed to get them on a bit straighter. It just needs care and patience. The wheeling up of the chassis and fitting of the coupling rods was the usual pantomime; two afternoons of fiddling and fettling, chasing tight spots round the chassis. At one point it ran smoothly forward but locked up in reverse. Eh? Eventually got it running reasonably smoothly in both directions. The cobbled up rod seems to have blended with its companions ok so that's a relief. IMG_4703.MOV Paul, Here's the running plate fitted to the chassis. Alan

I've been pouring over your photos for ages now David. You've made a lovely job of that. Shame it won't be stretching its legs but it'll be a worthy addition to the display cabinet.

Lovely, lovely stuff. Thanks for the nitty gritty photos John. Really useful.

Yep, it's a solid bit of pipe left over from plumbing the Titanic. O.D. 16mm I.D. 13.5mm Length: 61mm Weight: 29 gms Tools required to fit it: An angle grinder and a very large blow lamp I reckon

Mick Rawlings' Build of a U Class: MRJ 279, p.141 Ballyconnell Road: MRJ 249, p.215

Thanks for this John. A wealth of changes over the lifetime of this particular loco class so plenty to consider before deciding on which one to model. Not surprised to discover I wasn't the first to wreck one of the n/s rods! They really are flimsy. My first instinct was to try using the original brass ones but like you, discovered they had different centres. So much for that plan. I haven't even looked at the body etches yet. I'll try getting the chassis working first. It's had a coat of paint now so wheeling up is next - the moment of truth for the remade rod.

Thanks for digging this out Paul. Lots of useful stuff here. I should've known there'd be info tucked away on this forum! Mayner's comment on page one: The later n/s chassis was designed for compensated assembly using top hat brushes and equalising beams. I found that the axle holes for the rocking axles were etched oversized for the collar of a 1/8" top hat bearing. confirms something I half-suspected. The collar on the bearings are meant to bear on the outside of the frames and thus trap the equalising beams in place against the inside face. Instead they just slip through the holes and the beams stray toward the centre of the chassis. Which is why I ended up with the brass tube collar on the pivot rod.

Ah David, you have my sympathies. A real heart-sink moment. Hope you can get it sorted.

The Case of the Crippled Coupling Rod Each coupling rod assembly for the E Class/J26 is made up from two sections which hinge by overlapping on the centre axle. Each section is a lamination with two layers soldered together. At the overlap, each rod has only a single layer. With some half-etching to create bosses, the bits are pretty flimsy. Once soldered up the holes were reamed lightly to fit onto the jig axles (around 1.5mm diameter). All good so far. The kit came with Markits type threaded crankpins which take threaded crankpin bushes. This requires the holes in the rods to be reamed out to 2mm diameter and this is when disaster struck. A moment's lack of concentration, the reamer grabbed and the end of the rod twisted off. Unseemly language was used. In abundance. No way of soldering this back on! The solution, after I'd calmed down, was to use the equivalent rod from the other side (still with 1.5mm holes) as a jig to drill two 1.5mm holes the right distance apart in a strip of 16 thou nickel silver using the pillar drill. Onto this I soldered salvaged bits from the broken rod - the short rear piece on one side and two bosses on the other thus: Rear face... Front face... After reaming the holes to 2mm, the rough blank was filed to shape using the bit of original rod as a guide. The finished product will do the job, I hope. It's certainly more robust than the original. Rear face with the single thickness overlap at one end... Front face... Two plus hours just to get back where I started. Ah well, all grist to the mill Onward and upward, Alan

16.5mm Paul and I'll need to consult Kieran about the target prototype. The kit is designed to be built in pre-grouping E Class form but Kieran would like a later era J26 so we'll need a different chimney and safety valves as well as a few other modifications.

The Kirtley project (see above) got parked while waiting for gearbox parts. Those have arrived now and I'll get back to it presently but In the meantime, another loco for Kieran Lagan, a Studio Scale Models kit for an E Class/J26 which I think may have been in his to-do drawer for a while Gearbox first, and as usual the device of choice is from HIgh Level, a RoadRunner Compact+. This one is low profile and has an articulated final drive to help fit it into tight spaces. Sewing machine smooth as usual. I think this one is an earlier version because it has a brass final drive gear and the one I got recently for the Kirtley is different. IMG_4677.MOV The chassis as designed has compensation on 2 axles but rather than horn guides it has twin beams each holding 2 fixed axle bearings and each pivoting about its centre point on a rod fixed across the chassis. I convinced myself that this arrangement couldn't work because it wouldn't allow the axles to tilt - essential for keeping both the wheels in contact with the rails at all times - and in theory I think this is true. If one wheel rises, it will take its mate at the other end of the axle with it. However in practice, the 'give' in the system such as running clearance in the bearings and a bit of slack at the pivots permits enough tilt to do the business. The actual job of installing these was fiddly and the instructions are brief(!) I found that the beams, which are meant to sit against the inside of the chassis frames, tended to stray towards the middle so I've added a bit of brass tube over the rod on which they pivot, just wide enough to fit between the beams and keep them in their proper place. The instructions suggest installing the beams and only then making up the coupling rods. To my mind, that's putting enormous faith in the accuracy of the etch AND the accuracy of the build given that by convention, all the holes are etched slightly undersize and need to be reamed out. There's margin for error there! I did it the other way round in order to use the rods as jigs and be sure of getting the axle bearings in exactly the right place. Belt and braces I've since had a bit of a mishap while reaming out the rods for crankpin bushes but that's a story for another day. It's way past my bedtime. More soon, Alan

Many thanks Damien. Good to see you again. Best of luck with the current project!

All three are appealing in their way. I like the sepia one - very 19th century - but it looks older than the loco given that, although No6 was built in 1894, the model represents it after its 1943 rebuild when it emerged looking quite different from its original form.

Fish fans? Is that to keep them cool now the oceans are warming up?