Colonel

Looking at recent comments on Alan's workbench, am finding there are issues with the Battle of Britain loco - though some [all?] of them may be down to build faults, rather than the Acme kit. No idea how old it is, or who the original builder was, but when it came to fitting the valve gear, quickly found that things were wrong, not least the bracket holding the expansion link had been soldered too far back. This led to the radius rod being unable to reach valve rod from the top half of the cylinders. The solution was to move the bracket forward and suddenly, everything started to fit. The Premier Components valve gear parts, being profile milled nickel silver, are nice and chunky, but don't come with with aforementioned valve rods, so I had to make them, using nickel silver wire for the rod itself, to which a short pieces of brass tube was soldered. Then filed a flat on this to which I soldered a link from an old fret of steel inside motion parts, which was then bent twice at 90 degrees to align it with the radius rod. I've used 12 and 14ba nuts and bolts to assemble the valve gear parts, although I've now run out after doing one side, so am awaiting an order from Squires to complete the other side. However, have at least been able to test what I've built so far, though wasn't surprised to find some more fettling was needed. The loco was built as a static model and while the coupling rods roll well enough, one of the connecting rods was fouling the centre crank pin, so this needed filing back to clear. The valve gear has been about 90% ok, but there is a clunk which I think I've traced to the valve rod and combination lever - see below: The combination lever is the part that 'hangs' vertically from the valve rod [the cranked piece sticking out of the top cylinder]. I've fitted a short link from the top of the combination lever to the U shaped bracket running across the frames, but the valve rod is still flapping around. Now, I've only ever fitted outside Walschaert's twice, both more than ten years ago, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. For example, one option might be fix the valve rod in the cylinder, to stop it moving at all, letting the rest of the motion take up the slack, but not sure if this will work. More pictures below may [or may not] help. You'll see the tapered reamer now has a better [temporary] replacement in the form of the cut down cocktail stick. This will eventually be replaced with some nickel silver wire when I make up the other side. Meanwhile, things are progressing on Sidhe, aka the Fairy/Sprite pay train. First, I added some weight, both to the front end of the boiler and in the side tanks, both nicely over the driving wheels. With that done I could then put the outer skin on the tanks. With hind sight, I should probably have used some thin brass for this, as the 20thou plasticard split on the curve on one side, needing some epoxy to fill the gaps. Other work has included front buffer housings [nice brass ones I had in store], cab steps and the two boxes, one each side, below the footplate. No idea what they were for though... The smokebox door came next, along with some beading around the splashers. I tried making a chimney this morning and not having any suitable brass rod, though I'd try turning one from dowel. However, as you can see, it didn't work out, because the wood I used is not dense enough. Oh well, now need to put in an order for some more brass rod. You might just notice that the frames have been primed and painted, but there are still plenty of jobs left, including cab interior detail, boiler fittings, various hand rails & so on, so a while to go before painting.

Great photos - it could have been such a good preservation project...

Fine work! All sorts of interesting ideas and techniques here that are well worth considering for future projects. Just need to remember to check this thread first when the time comes...

When you look at the photo of the footplate on the chassis, it is easy to see why rtr Irish steam outline locos are so rare. The extra width required for 21mm gauge makes accommodating splashers a compromise too far. Had to smile at the coupling hook - done the same (or similar), so many times...

Peco do Gauge 1, as do Tenmille and Cliff Barker. Marcway of Sheffield might be worth a look, as they certainly do custom work in 0 gauge. I've been happy to use Code 100 FB rail and copperclad sleepers for light weight broad gauge on Northport Quay, Belmullet and Arigna Town, but can't help thinking that the larger scale will benefit from proper chairs and fixings. Last time I costed buying rail and sleepers to make my own track, using C&L parts, it wasn't much cheaper that buying ready made!

That looks splendid - well done. As Alan says, shame it won't be running, but will definitely pose nicely! Great addition to the 7mm scale SLNCR list.

Valencia Harbour, Courtmacsherry and several narrow gauge, including several Donegal, plus Arigna and Victoria Bridge. He also has done North British, Vale of Rheidol and Welshpool with his latest project being GWR broad gauge! He could actually mount a small exhibition on his own, though would need a fair bit of help!

They've got more than enough stock to fill the storage sidings, but (like all of us, I guess) always want more to ring the changes. Mick is a prolific builder and works to a very high standard, with all his steam outline locos having working inside valve gear (3mmfs, remember). Last time I spoke with him, he was busy making bogie coaches. Forget which type, but scratch built bodies, in nickel silver with all the window openings fretted out by hand...

Truth can be as strange as fiction. Several classes of British locos at work across Europe, including 66s and, recently 91s in Bulgaria.

Elegant solution to the problem, Alan.

Great to follow the progress John. Lovely models of lovely engines.

7mm broad gauge is pretty niche and have long had to rely on mail order for materials, especially as specialist suppliers are increasingly reluctant to visit shows. Traders have to pay for their stands, so factor in travel costs as well and they might not make much money at all. When I joined the Chatham Club's exhibition team, my bright idea of supporting the Trade by letting them come free was soon shot down. Essentially entrance fees for the public would need to at least double... Traders and manufacturers are the backbone of our hobby, so like everything else, they have to move with the times. Don't always like it, but better than the alternative, I suppose.

Or acquire a set of rolling bars. Mine are on long term loan from the Club. Seems that I'm the only scratchbuilder of rolling stock these days, so they now live in my workshop.

Some fine photos there. As well as the wagons, the one with the J11 shows an interesting piece of trackwork, with two points, very close together with a catch point somehow sandwiched in between.

Accurascale have a stand booked at this year's Chatham Show in July.

Remember that coaches and wagons can always be a different colour on the other side, but excellent models, whatever the livery.

I was thinking more along the Kleenex line. Normally two ply, but a single layer could work for thickness. Colour another matter though.

Excellent progress! Single ply paper tissue for the curtains?

Now that's a very interesting toy! Buoyed up by at last having a rolling chassis, moved on to fitting the pickups this afternoon. Another of those fiddly jobs, especially with a loco as small as this. The usual copper clad strip epoxied to the inside of the frames, with 0.5 mm phosphor bronze wire for the wiper pickups themselves. Took a fair bit of thinking to work out the best positions, both to hide the wipers and wiring, but also to find room to fit them all. Couldn't find a way to fit ones to the trailing wheels, but have put some on the pay coach , so there are eight wheels covered. The model isn't going to have to do much more than shuttle on & off the layout but Initial tests show it is already able to pull itself along, though some lead [or maybe a lump of brass rod] in the the boiler should help matters, especially as it will be right above the drivers.

They certainly built their structures to last. Really good to see how they have survived.

Thanks Paul and Alan. A case of third time lucky - or actually third time marking. I'd done my usual thing of scribing a long centre line, then scribing two verticals for where the crank pin holes go. The first two attempts I'd used a punch to make a starter for the drill, but in both cases it must have moved slightly, so the holes weren't where they were supposed to be... This time, scribed the marks more heavily and started with a 1 mm drill and gradually worked up to the 2.5 required for the crank pin bearings. Then tested the rods on the loco as just blank rectangles and blow me down, they work - first (or third) time. So now all shaped up and on the loco, ready to fit the pick ups. When I take a layout to a show, there is a checklist to ensure I have everything I need. Am thinking I need to make one for chassis building, then laminate it and stick it on the wall above my workbench. While it is nice to have built up a whole range of skills to build everything from locos, rolling stock, signals, buildings and so on, when you don't visit them regularly (as you are flitting between projects), it is all too easy to forget some of the finer points in the enthusiasm of ploughing on with something new. Note to self: working chassis are never something to be rushed!

A lot of work, for not much apparent progress, together with quite a few rude words, sums up recent days. However, credit to both Slater's and Roxey Mouldings for their usual exemplary service - wheels from the former and motor/gearbox the latter. Thought I'd ordered three extended [34mm b2b] axles, but only one arrived and my fault. As it happens, I had a spare for the other driver and found I could use 6 spoke wagon wheels for the trailing axle. The prototype had 12 spokes, so hopefully not too much trouble to fit six more spokes in the spaces. So what I needed now was a chassis... Did the conventional thing and made up a pair of coupling rod blanks first: brass strip, soldered together and then drilled for the scale 5'7" wheel spacing. So far, so good. Then did the same with two wider pieces of strip for the frames and then positioned the rods on top of these, ready to be drilled out and reamed for the rod and axle bearings. Frames and rods were filed to profile, separated and then the former assembled with spacers to form the chassis. Unfortunately, at this point it started to be obvious that something had gone pear shaped with the coupling rods. Somehow, the drill bit must have moved when I was making the holes progressively bigger and when I tried fitting the rods to the wheels, they kept binding and successively reaming them out just led to the holes being too big - so there was no alternative but to make a new pair, because the originals were probably about a millimetre out! The Mark 2 versions are likewise giving me grief, because the chassis seems to roll ok without the motor, but with it, still keeps jamming. On the plus side, the chassis fits nicely into the bodywork and the Roxey 1227 motor gear box [40:1] slots into the underside of the boiler/firebox without too much of the latter needing to be cut away and will be neatly hidden when the model is finished. Am hoping I haven't made a mess of the gearbox - it runs ok without the rods on, but will have explore more in the next day or so. Just hoping I don't have to make a whole new chassis - and 3rd set of rods! The wheels certainly start to bring out the character of this little loco, so fingers crossed...

Always great to see more of this amazing model railway.

Great work and nice to see the 'photo plank' getting good use too.

Excellent! Alphagraphix kits are also a great way into scratchbuilding. Have used them for years, because they are ideal templates for making wagon and coach bodies from plastic sheet and strip. Roger does whitemetal wagon chassis, which can be glued together, rather than soldered (5min epoxy or cyano with accelerator), while he also does an etched brass six wheel coach chassis when you feel able to move into soldering.