murrayec

Today I erected the tender break gear..... The chassis holes for the hangers was worked out very carefully, as the chassis sides were not identical so I used the height gauge to measure and mark the holes from the axles. The chassis has a slight twist in it which also caused some line up problems after the holes were drilled! After some work with a files, a broach and 'gentile persuasion' I set about soldering it together with 180deg solder. I left a good gap on the break shoes and outer lateral break rods so that the wheels can be removed for the painting work. Thats the tender chassis work complete, Eoin

Hi Mayner It's a Stepcraft 420 with a Kress router/spindle- it also takes a Dremel, the 450 has a working area of about A3 size. They have other options for this machine- wire foam cutter, knife cutting and 3D printer, and fourth axis option- rotary table..... http://stoneycnc.co.uk/stepcraft-overview/ There is also a photo at the start of the thread Eoin

So a bit more parts cut and the valve gear kit cleaned up with files and a fixing plan is worked out. This is a new combination lever cut out- on the left, it's shorter than the kit one- on the right, and of thinner material which will help with the clearances, these parts will be .8mm steel revetted together. Crank pin bushes and 12BA screws will fix the expansion link and radius rod to the chassis and the cut circles are the 800 detail parts around these fixings. The lifting arm will have a steel rivet soldered on to run in the radius rod slot. The eccentric rod will be 14BA screw fixed and again the NS cut circle is 800 detail part to be soldered on, the rod is very plain and should have a flute down the middle- so I decided to cut a flute in it- see below. One done, second one to do. Tender break gear cut out, cleaned up, holes sized and delrin shoes assembled on their hangers, .4mm NS was used for these parts Eoin

Thanks popeye, yes detail parts give it scale So adjustments made to the crosshead today to give clearance for the combination lever, it's at the max it can be moved inwards but one can see in the photos the lever can just get by, in final assembly the lever will have a slight bend to give further clearance. It's funny how things work out!- by having to the make changes here has led to a better way of assembling the crosshead, so now it can be dissembled far easier in the future, than first designed! All the other gear for this side cleaned up n ready- a few more parts need to be made before this can go on- I looking at the pivot supports for the expansion link, radius rod and the lifting arm, going to use crank pin bushes here. The 800 has very distinctive fittings on the chassis out rigger here and thats what I'm making next?? Eoin

This evening I set up to check one of the cylinders parts to see how it is going to work! Steam chest rod guides folded up and ready for soldering, on the left is a 1.5mm copper rod which will be fixed into the front of the steam chest. Guides on with 180deg solder Crosshead slide bar hanger folded up and soldered with 180deg solder NS 'H' slide bars being soldered with 180deg solder, this was a fiddly one but the half cut line down the components helped to line it up under the clamps. Crosshead clamps being folded up for soldering Clamp soldered up and onto the crosshead/conrod and a completed slide bar- the rod soldered on the end is the support pin that goes into the cylinder body. Test assembly of one side- the hanger and slide bar are fine but the crosshead clamp is off centre and will foul the combination lever going up to the steam chest rod- some modification to the clamp will be required to move it in towards the chassis a bit. Otherwise quite happy how all is working..... Eoin

Everything removed from the sheet, all the tabs removed by filing, holes broached up to size, and ready to assemble, on the left top is the steam valve rod guides, next to the right is crosshead stuff, next wheelweights, back down left are the crosshead bracket support to the chassis!.... you'll see in a while... Break shoes were .5mm slotted to fit with .5mm pin onto the hangers Break roding bars, the brass cross bars are filed a little on the edges to fit the bottom hole in the hangers, .6mm NS rods will be used for the lateral rods Complete, and will be attached to the chassis next time.... This is the valve gear kit that was supplied with the model, it's very close to the 800 stuff and with a little tweaking should be quite acceptable?? Eoin

Lovely stuff David, Lovely little loco. Eoin

Hi All Next months Fair date;-

I'm doing the valve gear, wheel weights & break gear on a Class 800 Gauge O kit- no. 801 'Macha' for a chap. A lot of parts for this are not supplied with the kit so have to be fabricated and decided to experiment with cutting them out CNC style!! 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

Things have been moving along on the Flying Scot, just haven't had time to post stuff up- well here it is now...... Tender trims being installed with cyano glue Water access hatch and tender top parts being soldered on- 80deg pre soldered to brass parts and the white metal 70deg soldered on Tender top epoxied in White metal crew passage roof going on, using epoxy on this one as to close to the plastic for soldering, brass handrails and other fittings are epoxied to Helping hands while glue sets Tender cab parts- coal shoot, grill & crew door. The grill required a few rivets punched out More fittings going on- all cusps have been removed by filing on these parts in all photos Break handles, brackets and rear tender lamp irons drilled, cleaned up and brass rods prepared All epoxied on Rear lamp irons on and rear steps being prepared Steps folded up and the coal irons will be chemically blackened Steps and handrails epoxied on More tender cab handles, brackets n hooks being prepared Tender cab complete Brass fittings installed in coal area, all were epoxied in Corridor connection n hook next, the connector required some serious filing down on the sides to fit between the steps Gentile persuasion and its on- just with blu-tak for the moment Wheels off again for the last parts-guard irons, I kept this until last as they stick down below the frames and would have made all the above construction more difficult and they may have been damaged in the process- 80deg soldered on Tender is now complete- well except for painting n lining Eoin Now lets have a look at the whole thing Its just about ready for painting, some filling and adjustments required and I'm down to the last 3 packets of parts- the crew, the signs, and a bag of coal..... Eoin

Hi jhb Peters Spares stock a lot of wagons, Hornby, Bachmann and others. I've had no problems with delivery, sometimes within 12hrs! if ordered in the morning. https://www.petersspares.com/ Try ID Models for the vans, they post out for the next day if in stock http://idmodels.ie/ Eoin

Hi jhb What are you trying to order? if you let us know we might have alternative sources..... Eoin

Hi JHB I love that little loco, it's simplicity is its quality Eoin

Have to agree with Glendereg, the engineer/designer that dreamt this one up is most likely in a straight jacket, if not, he/she should be! Eoin

Don't forget This Sunday in Bray guys

Thats them Broithe , my ones have a rectangular head like an axe rather than round Eoin

I've also dug up;- 5 bed ends- one I use as a gate into the garden- can be seen in the second last photo above. 2 plough spades- off an old tractor plough millions of bottles- tonic, HP, perfume, & boveril 4 steel chisels 2 sets of steel log splitters- ones with wire handles wrapped around 1 TV areal a sack of roofing stakes - blacksmith made in the days before them modern nails and still digging stuff up...... Eoin

Hi Broithe Yes, two weirs which still exist, and I was told by a chap that there was a settlement pool in front of my garage but a house stands there now. I had noticed old iron bits and cut granite stones (very like the granite in the kiln) in the garden of the house but the owner could not say where they came from- he sold the property recently and unfortunately the new owner remodelled the garden and discarded them- shes not into old stuff.... Eoin

You saw that decal I did not remove- 'eagle eye Broithe' The totem pole- that has puzzled me for years. I dug it up long ago in my front garden, it weighs a tonne so I reckon it's hardened steel- one idea I have is its part of a lime rock crusher! My house used to be 3 workmen's cottages with a lime kiln in my garage.... any ideas?? Eoin

Here are 6 commandeered BR 7 plank wagons converted & weathered to Irish 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

203 on its way for a bit of a clean- been working hard! Also requires a bit of a engine tune up- it's been belching out a lot of black stuff! Eoin

Sad news RIP Jim