Alan's Workbench

[Galteemore]

56 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Another masterpiece in the making Alan!  Hopefully she will make a visit to Brookhall Mill in the near future!

If she does, only one piece of music will do ….

 

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, Patrick Davey said:

 Hopefully she will make a visit to Brookhall Mill in the near future!

Thanks Patrick. Something to look forward to. 

[Tullygrainey]

A smokebox for No.6. I don't think I've managed to make a smokebox the same way twice. 

The smokebox and saddle for this one were built as a single piece made from two matching formers, a front plate which is wider at the bottom than the saddle, a baseplate and a wrapper.

In order to make as much room as possible for the DCC gubbins, the centres of the formers were cut away to keep an open space through the boiler and into the smokebox. The downside is that the smokebox can’t then be easily bolted to the front of the boiler.

The wrapper is 10 thou brass, all the rest is 15 thou nickel silver.

 

A captive nut inside the baseplate of the saddle will allow it all to be bolted down to the running plate, with peg into a hole in the cab front locating the firebox end.

 

As is becoming standard with this build, it took a couple of goes, the first pass generating the mistakes to inform the learning process. Getting the wrapper on neatly was the hardest bit.

 

!**!*!!?

 

If at first you don't succeed, have a cup of tea before trying again. It keeps the big hammer at bay.

 

The finished item was seam soldered to the front of the boiler. A few other details added and some holes drilled, mostly in the right places.

 

We're getting towards the small bits and pieces now. Cab steps 

Alan

 

[Galteemore]

Well done Alan. The Beyer smokebox is a thing of beauty but not easy to replicate, with those subtle curve reversals. Looks great. 

[Horsetan]

33 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Well done Alan. The Beyer smokebox is a thing of beauty but not easy to replicate, with those subtle curve reversals. Looks great. 

No built-up smokebox (or round-top firebox) is easy to roll, as you're doing a standard roll and then having to change direction. Pain in the neck, even with a rolling mill.

[Galteemore]

14 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

No built-up smokebox (or round-top firebox) is easy to roll, as you're doing a standard roll and then having to change direction. Pain in the neck, even with a rolling mill.

Yep. Been there done that got the burnt fingers…..

[Tullygrainey]

20 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Yep. Been there done that got the burnt fingers…..

Some pretty sharp curves there David! Nice bit of riveting.

[Galteemore]

3 minutes ago, Tullygrainey said:

Some pretty sharp curves there David! Nice bit of riveting.

Thanks Alan. Beyer tanks are like that as you know. Simple squares at the back - horrendous curves at the front!! 

[David Holman]

Neat.

VERY neat!

 As another member of the 'Smokeboxes are a real bummer Club' can only concur with the challenges involved, so hopefully a couple of glasses of falling down water have been awarded. Plus it is nearly Christmas after all.

[Tullygrainey]

 

Some small stuff for No.6.  Step this way…

 

A nice little hand wheel etch from Wizard Models (51L CWSHB)...

 

Smokebox door casting also from Wizard (MT329)... Slight flaw in this one. Never mind.

 

Scrap etch for a reverser lever...

 

Some cut down wagon springs from Dart Castings (MJT 2284) plus 0.45mm brass rod

 

Over time I have gathered a small collection of chimney and dome castings, none of which were right for No.6 of course so it was back to cobbling together bits of brass tube, washers and dowel.  The old Black and Decker earned its keep yet again.

 

Trial fitting of some of the bits. Fussy little blighter isn't it.

 

Back to the tender now, I think.

Alan

[GSR 800]

stunning work, gorgeous. 

[Galteemore]

Beautiful Alan. That represents many hours of thought, care, effort - and in all likelihood some choice combinations of words….really captures the likeness of the original. 

[Killian Keane]

You really do put the rest of us to shame Alan! Not only the breathtaking quality of the builds but the pace you're able to turn them out at

Edited December 27, 2024 by Killian Keane

[Broithe]

I've been warned that cataract operations will be happening in the future, if I last as far as them being bad enough to justify it.

I'm not looking forward to someone fiddling with such delicate bits...

I'm inclined to wait until you have some spare time coming up.

[David Holman]

Coming to life!

[Tullygrainey]

Back to No.6's tender.

Taking a leaf from @Mayner's book (thank you John), I attacked the tender chassis again and fitted patches inside the frames to give it two sprung axles riding in slots. Bit of a dog's dinner by the time I'd finished hacking it around but it works and it won't be seen. 

 

Tender frames cut and shaped as a pair before being separated...

 

...then a role for my new toy, a GW Models Universal Rivet Tool. A lovely bit of kit and quite addictive.

 

Tender body sides cut and shaped as a pair then separated for another riveting performance.

 

I made a mess of the second one -  that diagonal line of rivets strayed off line and trying to fix it only made things worse. I had to cut another side and start again.

 

Eventually got a matching pair. The beading along the top edge is 0.33mm brass rod.

 

I thought this tender would be fairly straightforward to assemble but the more I look at it the more complicated it becomes. More soon.

Alan

[Mol_PMB]

Great persistence and a lovely result with that rivetting tool. Looks much better than the NWSL version I bought 20 years ago and struggled with.

[David Holman]

Gets a wow from me because know how difficult it can be to produce a line of straight rivets. Have you tried scoring a fine line on the reverse? You can then use it to help alignment - though the clamps and wheels take most of the strain out of things. Rivet transfers are ok, but the GW press is very addictive!

[Tullygrainey]

Thanks David. Yes, I did use scribed lines to guide the work. The screw up came from not paying proper attention while merrily punching rivets! As you say, very addictive.

[Tullygrainey]

Riveting done, the tender is now largely assembled. A lot of edge to edge soldering at the corners which is always fun .

 

Keeping the solder away from all my lovingly embossed rivets was a challenge.

 

Complicated little beast. Still a few details to add. I've built it almost entirely in nickel silver. 

 

The springs were cobbled together using white metal wagon spring castings from MJT (Dart Castings), cut down and soldered to brass rod with low melt solder. I vaporised one and broke another before I got 6 usable ones. 

 

They'll go on like this but won't be finally attached until the paint and lining is done. Axle boxes are also MJT castings. Undoubtedly not accurate but they'll do until something better turns up. If ever.

 

The coupling between tender and loco involved a bit of faffing around. I'm using a simple hook on the loco locating into a hole in the tender and that seems to work ok but it might not be the final arrangement. 

 

Alan

[Galteemore]

Simply splendid. I do like a nice clean nickel silver engine. Some lovely work on that tender - I do like the elegant brackets holding up the coal space just adjacent to the tank filler. 

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, Galteemore said:

Simply splendid. I do like a nice clean nickel silver engine. Some lovely work on that tender - I do like the elegant brackets holding up the coal space just adjacent to the tank filler. 

Thanks David. I agree, nickel silver does look good. Also, less heat transfer when soldering- less likely that adjacent bits will fall apart. Doesn’t tarnish as badly as brass either. 

[Patrick Davey]

Model of the year, and it's only January 6th........

I say this every time Alan but this definitely is your best yet, without question!

The distinctive lines of the prototype have been captured to absolute perfection!

[Tullygrainey]

12 minutes ago, Patrick Davey said:

Model of the year, and it's only January 6th........

I say this every time Alan but this definitely is your best yet, without question!

The distinctive lines of the prototype have been captured to absolute perfection!

You're making me blush Patrick. Thank you. This one's been quite a challenge but the crises along the way haven't been too severe (he said with hindsight). Mind you, it was threatened with the big hammer last night when the pivot wire for the compensation beam came adrift and the loco developed a limp. Another example of that fitter in charge of the soldering iron doing substandard work. He's been warned before.

This was the first loco I've built where the wheels went on for the first time and didn't have to come off again. Until last night. The front drivers had to come off in order to get at the beam and re-solder it. So, an aspiration still to be achieved. When refitting them using a GW Models quartering jig, the magnet in the motor kept attracting the wheels and making them jump out of the jig. I seemed not to have enough hands for the job. Hence the stirring of the big hammer. Got there eventually and thankfully, it still ran ok after all the messing about.

On this loco, more than any of the others I've done, it's very apparent how out of scale OO 16.5mm gauge is. It may be because No.6's splashers are so prominent. The driving wheels are quite clearly a long way inside them. It would be good to model in 21mm gauge but I'm not sure I'm up for making track. A long finger project, that one.

Alan

[David Holman]

A classic case of it only being half a dozen pieces for the structure, but add in all the details and it becomes more than a bit complicated! The dinky size of the prototype can't have helped  - overall, looks a lot shorter than a G2 and these aren't exactly giants.

 As ever, very neat, very tidy and very, very good.

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, David Holman said:

A classic case of it only being half a dozen pieces for the structure, but add in all the details and it becomes more than a bit complicated! The dinky size of the prototype can't have helped  - overall, looks a lot shorter than a G2 and these aren't exactly giants.

 As ever, very neat, very tidy and very, very good.

Thanks David and you’re right. It needed a fair bit of thinking through to avoid having inaccessible joints that needed soldered. As it was, I’d intended to bolt the bodywork to the frames bur realised too late that I’d missed the opportunity to put in captive nuts. They ended up soldered together. 

[Tullygrainey]

It's that time again... Paint!  

There were a few hiccups and in keeping with tradition, the cellulose thinners was deployed at least once thanks to some ham-fisted work with the airbrush. However, I'm confident that before the decade is out, I will have figured out how to work it.

Here's No.6 before the paint flew, scrubbed up and with most of its fussy bits loosely attached.

 

Then a rattlecan coat of Halfords etch primer.

 

Next, an undercoat of Tamiya acrylic black applied with the airbrush. I didn't use the rivet press for the smokebox so these rivets are Railtec 3D resin transfers. 

 

Topcoats of Tamiya acrylic dark green XF70. Airbrush again. I don't bother wearing a mask when airbrushing because mostly I stop breathing.

 

The lining will be a challenge on this one because there are curves that won't be possible using transfers.  Can ordinary mortals master a bow pen? How long does it take? 

Drop me a line,

Alan

 

 

 

[Galteemore]

Lovely. Always a great moment when you start putting the primer on and see the model finally blending into that image you’ve held in your mind for months. I’d be interested in what thinners you used Alan. The SG needs stripped I think - patch painting would not work and there is so much encrusted dust needs shifting; if I strip the paint, the dust will go with it! 

Edited January 16 by Galteemore

[Tullygrainey]

Thanks David. Yes, it is a watershed moment.

This is the stuff I use. Halfords stock it. Strips paint very effectively but will also dissolve some plastics! I clean the airbrush with it too.

[jhb171achill]

Outstanding, simply outstanding.

[David Holman]

Wonderful stuff and great to see the engine and tender together.

Given my personal view of air brushes is that they are the Spawn of Satan, then the bowpen is the creation of even darker forces! Well, not quite, but they take more time to master than I've so far had time for...

 That said, master craftsman Ian Rathbone open a few secrets of the dark arts in his painting and lining book, the key one being the use of enamel thinners and a fine paint brush. Seems even the best don't always get it right, so when inevitable blemishes occur, you wait an hour or two, then dip the brush in thinners, remove most of it and then carefully apply the brush to the offending area. Hey presto, the excess paint lifts off like magic. Still needs care, but definitely works.

 As ever, practice on scrap material beforehand and use transfers wherever you can. You'll either love it or hate it.

David, before you strip the paint off your new loco, might be worth trying T-cut. Shannon was utterly filthy when I acquired it, but it came up really well. If there are paint chips, you can trying filling these in, sand level then over paint and work back after with more T-Cut - though depends how bad the paint is overall.

[Tullygrainey]

Storm Éowyn kept me and most others indoors on Friday so I got on with lining out Number 6. It helped to distract me from the noise of the roof tiles doing Mexican waves.

It seems that with a little perseverance and the judicious application of Decalfix, straight lines can be made to bend quite well. So, dodging the bow pen so far...

Alan

[David Holman]

Lovely work Alan, not least because there's that red line as well. Scary enough in 7mm, but in 4mm, where every minor error is amplified...

 Can't see any flaws though and did enlarge the picture to find the red lines. No wonder you haven't posted for over a week!

[Tullygrainey]

Finally got to the end of lining out No.6 (breathes huge sigh of relief). Some small details have also been added - whistle, safety valves, tender springs - and a bit of light weathering done. 

 

Compared to the BCDR tank locos where the large tanks could be filled with lead, there is a lot less space in this one to stow extra weight. However, putting the DCC gubbins in the tender freed up the boiler for this.

Arranging things this way means having 4 wires running between loco and tender - 2 for the pickups and 2 for the motor. If the wires are too stiff as they were in my first attempts, they tend to interfere with the reliable tracking of the ensemble. Fine wire of the sort usually connected to DCC chips does the job ok. A pair micro sockets,  one connected to the motor and one to the pickups are glued under the loco chassis at the back and flying leads from the tender plug into these.

The lack of backhead detail is very evident in the above view. My excuse is that I wasn't sure what it should look like so as usual, the crew have the extra task of hiding the evidence, or lack of it. Also very evident is how ridiculously out of scale 16.5mm gauge is. I'm going to have to give up on OO one of these days.

Even with extra weight inside the tender, there was still a wealth of free space so I decided to try a sound chip for this one. The chip, speaker and stay-alive capacitor are all secreted in the tender.

 

It still needs some detailing and a coal load in the tender.  That left side number plate needs straightened too but all in all I think it's just about done.

 

A run at Loughan Quay.

 

 

 

 

 

[Galteemore]

Wow x 3. What a treat. Beautiful little engine which runs as nicely as she looks. Well done indeed!! Backheads are interesting, and I think you’ll get away with this one. They are often far more dull and unobtrusive in real life than modellers portray them (inc myself before I took the trouble to look at the real thing). This is one of my pics of 131 last year. Note how dull and non-shiny it is. None of the bright red and brass fittings we often see modelled……and as for out of scale gauge, your craftsmanship distracts away from that. 

Edited Saturday at 09:22 by Galteemore