murrayec

Thanks guys, the best I can do is show it running on the rolling road very soon. The crew were by yesterday on inspection and set about preparing the coal.... Eoin

Parts being epoxy glued on the loco body, the name/number plates are stuck on with Glue n Glaze. Decided to install the card base for the coal now so that it will get a good lacquering against the Mod Podge glue sticking the coal in. The coal chute has it's baffle epoxied in and the mdf spacer stuck in with Sticksall adhesive. And the card is stuck in and sealed around the edges with Sticksall so the glue hopefully wont leak down through the model- best to keep it in the coal! And then with nearly all bits stuck on a test assembly of the loco & tender to check for adjustments n jiggery-poke- to be done before lacquering just in case finishes need touching up, the tender footplate height also been checked for a few mdf spacers to bring it up level with the cab footplate, and setting up the tender drawbar fittings........ .....and maybe a few more;- Still have to tone down that valance & the cab front line, a tad bit heavy also and thinking about what could be done! The gear n wheels to drive the oil pumps also needs fitting... and a few other bits. I think were pretty close now- to the end!! Eoin

Marking Dart handles for the smokebox door. Making the handles out of 2mm brass tube, 1mm brass wire and a 12BA washer. The brass tube will form the main body and is held in a collet chuck with a hexagonal body for indexing in the mill vice while drilling .6mm holes to take the handles. One can just about see the two holes in the end of the tube, this end is then cut off in the lathe using a fretting saw while the tube is rotated. Two pieces 20mm long of the 1mm brass wire is cut off and mounted in the mini drill for filing the taper of the handles down to 6mm dia, the brass is rotated against the hardwood block while the filing is done. When the filing is complete the handles are trimmed to 8mm and 5mm. All the bits ready for soldering, a 1mm brass rod will go through the tube body and washer, it will protrude out the back for gluing to the smokebox door. Jigged up for soldering with a small spot of 180deg solder, the 1mm wire protrudes out the front and into the timber base to hold all in place- this is cut off after soldering. Flux is liberally applied to the parts and the soldering iron is only touched off the wire above the washer, after a second or two the solder wicks down through the assembly..... ......and done with protruding wire cut off. After a wash and clean up with the fibre pen the unit is acidip cleaned and acid blackened. Finished part. Eoin

Thanks guys for the comments and likes. Lining proceeds, the loco body lining is coming to completion except that I am running out of decal lines, there is no decals for the valance curves and for the cab front at roof level! I have just enough lines to complete the tender which involves trimming boiler bands (which a few extra were on the sheet) of one of the yellow lines. Valance lining with the bow pen- black line done. Setting up a cab front line on clear decal paper- black line done. Tender lining complete and getting ready to epoxy on the axle boxes, buffer shanks and vac pipe. The inside of the frames were abraded with a fibre pen back to the metal for best glue fixing. Tender chassis with breaks fitted. The tender is now ready for a few coats of lacquer. And these are the parts for coaling the tender- a folded styrene cover for the coal chute, a bit of MDF to fill the gap under the coal, and a card base for holding the coal, these will go in after lacquering. Yellow lines going on the loco valance, I got this paint mix a bit light but was chuffed with the neat line so decided to leave it there and dull it down later. After making an adjustment to the paint mix I did the yellow line for the cab front. Eoin

One of Ken's photos posted earlier in this thread;-

Excellent Ken, it looks amazing. Eoin

There is a note in Mr Murphy's 121 instructions 'use of a non MM chip voids the loco warranty' one should keep that under consideration when using non MM chips..... Eoin

Hi ken Hard parts to come by! Best way to make them is with electrical copper wire and a few washers soldered on after one cuts the bend out, brass can work but would have to be annealed first- heat up to dull red and leave it to air cool. Eoin

Very nice Ken, looking forward to seeing it at Sundays Fair Eoin

JHB's grandfather's Loco;-

I have been told that Des is taking a bit of a 'Holiday', I cannot confirm this for definite, but do hope he will return..... Eoin

Des seems to have shut down the SSM website??

Boiler bands and splasher lining going on the loco, a bit of a nightmare with the decals falling apart! I did lacquer them before use as they are old and scuffed and I hoped the lacquer would reinforce them, it did to a point but a few of the bands split up into small bits anyway. Once on and lined up one will never notice.... Eoin

The Class 800 chassis work continues;- With the cylinders lined and lacquered it's time to assemble the whole thing to a running chassis. First I added small PB anchor wires to the crankpins on the return crank ones only- just in case! This is a Guy William's technique- PB wire bent over the screw head and down into drilled holes in the wheel, once the pins are in a dab of 180 deg solder to hold them in place. Pick-ups, breaks and wheels installed. Then the connecting rods are fitted, preparing the valve gear, and crosshead slide bars epoxied on. The valve gear is riveted together with little .8mm steel rivets, a few of the fixings are 14BA screws so that the system comes apart! Left side done. And right side done, I will leave the Loctite to set proper overnight before I give it a run!! I started the lining on the tender, this is the set-up for lining around the axle-boxes- marked up with white pencil using one of the boxes as a template. With the boxes on. And more lining. A few paint touch-ups are require on the lines, but will wait until all the lines are on before doing that........ Eoin

Hi JB They go by the printed sheets;- 32 Sheet = 4.06 x 3.05 m 160 x 120 in 48 Sheet = 6.10 x 3.05 m 240 x 120 in 64 Sheet = 8.13 x 3.05 m 320 x 120 in 96 Sheet = 12.19 x 3.05 m 480 x 120 in Eoin

Martello Tower is now complete. After a trial painting a granite type thing and some weathering!- it did not look right so I about faced and painted it grey again, allowing some of the weathering to shine through - it looks better. A sharp HB pencil was used on the stone coursing for a bit of variation. This project has now been added to- the Seapoint plinth, the Railway Ordinance Bridge, bathing shelter, steps and promenade are on the way....... Eoin

Some more work done on the Aussie Garrett. Moulds set up to make the missing sand box and 3 buffer steps. Existing bits were removed from the model to be the patterns for the missing bits, this is one side of the mould set up and ready for pouring the silicone. Both sides of the mould complete, this is what I call a 'flop mould', one puts the plastic mix into the parts recess while the mould is open, then they are put together with a small weight on top to squeeze the excess plastic out. The parts plastic cast and one set cleaned up. Eoin

800 lining!! After an attempt to line part of the loco with black & yellow lines by hand I had to give up. The model just wasn't built with lining in mind- rivets and wavy parts just lead to a complete mess. After a clean up I have gone back to the decals that came with the model, unfortunately the decals are black and cream which, is the main reason I went at it by hand. I did set up a hand painted yellow line on one of the decals lines but this would not soften and settle down around the rivets, due to the paint I reckon which doesn't work like decal print? To add to the woes the decals are quite old, cracked and scuffed from handling- they started to fall apart, so I sprayed the sheets with a couple coats of varnish. I cant keep going around in circles on this so crunch time- Black & Cream it is. Here are a few photos of the cylinder lining, there is a line of rivets on the lining edge where there shouldn't be, lots of decal softener and careful dabbing with cotton buds eventually got it to sit down, I'm not looking forward to the tender- rivets everywhere..... Eoin

Next Train & Model Fair date;- Sun 13 Sep.

New life for a Lima BR Inter-City 125 missing the front bogie;- This came to the workshop missing the entire front bogie, ''If the motor works can you fit a front bogie'', the motor works so this is the way I did the repair. The rear motor bogie was dissembled so that I could make moulds from the bogie sides, this photo shows the bogie sides being set-up to take a mould from the first side, the new bogie frame in the middle is one of my brass etched DART bogies which will suit the purpose. Two .5mm styrene cards are slotted and fitted to the back of the frame/side, stuck on with 'Sticksall' which seals the join and can be easily removed with white spirit. I have a support stand made from ply n mdf for this kind of job, plasticine is also used to seal the join on the back of the card- just in case! This is how the stand works, with the mould box almost ready to pour the silicone mould, just needs some plasticine around the box frame to seal with the base. Mould poured and set aside to harden, 'Supersil 20' was used. First side done, bits cleaned up and other side to go the same way. Both moulds done and a few plastic casts done 'Fast Cast' chemicals were used with a bit of black dye. The lower castings were the first test and you can see they are more grey than black- not enough dye in the mix! The bogie frame is held on with a snap button so a brass bolster was made, sized to get the loco level which turned out to be 1.5mm thick, which allowed for the bolster to be drilled and threaded M2 to screw fix through the plastic chassis. The outriggers on the bogie frame above was pushing the sides out beyond the loading gauge, so I used one that had no outriggers and epoxied the new sides on. And complete. Electrical pickups were installed on the new bogie and the loco was rewired but this posting is to do with moulding and plastic casting..... Eoin

Brazil Locomotiva nº 1 - Baronesa This may help with some proportions for the drawing, it's a William Fairbairn design which I suspect 'Victoria' may be based on, also the Grendon works had a connection in supplying a 2-2-2 loco to the London company working in Brazil?? There is a few dimensions here;- http://vfco.brazilia.jor.br/locomotivas/vapor-EFCB-Estrada-de-Ferro-Central-do-Brasil/pagina-01-locomotiva-Fairbairn-Sons-2-2-2-Baronesa-01-Maua.shtml Eoin

@burnthebox WMRC = Wexford Model Railway Club.

@KMCE looking great, I hope you bring it along to the Fair on Sunday so we can get a good look? Eoin

Dublin & Kingstown Railway operated a slip train system into Kingstown Station! Due to the time taken in turning a loco first and then it's tender on the original 10' table at the end of the line in the station, and with the later construction of the Carlisle Pier, the directors decided to pay for a larger table to be constructed at the foot of the pier, one that would turn the loco & tender in the one go, so the engine then would disconnect from the train just before the station and go off to turn around, the train would coast into the station with the tracks inclined aiding the breaking of the train at the platform..... Eoin