Galteemore Posted March 18 Posted March 18 29 minutes ago, Tullygrainey said: Thanks David. After marking it out, I drill a few strategic holes and roughly cut out the unwanted bits with a piercing saw, a little way inside the lines. Then I file the edges back to the lines. This is where those Valorbe Swiss files earn their keep! That’s great. Many thanks Alan. Always trying to up my game ! Quote
Mol_PMB Posted March 18 Posted March 18 53 minutes ago, Galteemore said: That’s great. Many thanks Alan. Always trying to up my game ! I make my own sanding sticks with abrasive paper, strips of wood and double-sided tape. They can be made to any width, thickness and grit grade and I find them more controllable than files especially for the final finishing to a perfectly straight edge. But then perhaps I’m being a cheapskate without proper Swiss files! 3 Quote
David Holman Posted March 18 Posted March 18 Love it, though am ashamed to say my own solution to cutting rectangular holes in things involves a slotting disc in as Dremel. Crude, but effective. 2 1 Quote
Mol_PMB Posted March 18 Posted March 18 7 minutes ago, David Holman said: Love it, though am ashamed to say my own solution to cutting rectangular holes in things involves a slotting disc in as Dremel. Crude, but effective. A Dremel is a most useful tool, especially with a full set of collets. Though I tend to do most of my fine drilling work with a collection of pin vices. Quote
Galteemore Posted March 18 Posted March 18 Dremel and grinding head is a key weapon in the 5’3” modeller’s arsenal. How many mm of footplate have I ground away.,.. 2 Quote
Mayner Posted March 18 Posted March 18 15 minutes ago, David Holman said: Love it, though am ashamed to say my own solution to cutting rectangular holes in things involves a slotting disc in as Dremel. Crude, but effective. Can't hold a drill steady myself but a slitting disc in a Dremel seems to have been the preferred cutting tool of the guy that scratchbuilt many of the locos on the OO9 County Gate layout. Scratchbuit OO9 locos were watchmaking compared to OO or the so-called finer scales. 1 Quote
Mol_PMB Posted March 18 Posted March 18 The ultimate sort of Dremel-like tool is an air-powered one, much safer because if it jams in the job it just stops, rather than trying to rip your wrist off and/or destroy the work. I don’t have one in my home workshop but I have used them elsewhere. Quote
Tullygrainey Posted March 18 Author Posted March 18 I bottled out of buying a Dremel years ago and bought a cheaper alternative. Bad move. Its minimum speed is still too fast for delicate work and I've done more damage than enough with it. A reminder that it's always best to avoid cheap tools. I knew that but it didn't stop me! 1 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted March 19 Author Posted March 19 In the cold hard light of day this morning, I could see the boiler was too long (still!) More butchery careful fettling dispensed with an unnecessary 6 scale inches of boiler. Still a bit long but then, so's the chassis but it looks better now, to my eye at least. Alan School of 'measure once, cut as many times as necessary' 8 3 Quote
David Holman Posted March 19 Posted March 19 Looks great to me, but then so did the previous picture... and to think I spent a whole day in the company of the real loco! 1 2 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted March 27 Author Posted March 27 The majority of the fiddly bits are now done. Buffers, safety valves and vacuum pipes from Alan Gibson. The footplate steps are a Mainly Trains etch from Wizard Models. I made the chimney in the now traditional manner with brass tube, a washer and lots of solder. The dome is wooden dowel with a plasticard flange and filler to blend the two together. Still a bit of work to do on this before I cut away the surplus plastic and glue it on. Alan 11 4 1 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 A few progress pics of the BCDR bogie tank. Managed to get through the painting process without any major disasters. A first? I think I'm learning, albeit at a glacial pace. Halfords grey etch primer from the rattle can then Tamiya acrylics. X18 semi-gloss black followed by XF70 dark green, both airbrushed. I've started the line dancing now. Fox transfers. This bit always takes a while. Alan 12 1 Quote
Patrick Davey Posted April 16 Posted April 16 Can't wait to see this one finished Alan!! Already the finish looks even more immaculate than before and the rivets look straighter! 1 1 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted April 27 Author Posted April 27 The BCDR bogie tank is almost done. At last. The bit that should’ve been no trouble, the ready-to-run chassis , fought me every inch (25.4mm) of the way. Part of that was my own fault for hacking and filing bits off without protecting the motor and gears from metal filings. It still makes odd noises going backwards. However there was also an intermittent short circuit which took days to track down and fix. The big hammer was close to deployment more than once. Seems ok now. I settled in the end for Number 12. One of the of the first batch of 5 bogies tanks (“Series A”), it was built by Beyer Peacock in 1904. Still needs a coal load and maybe some more weathering. After taking the pics I managed to destroy one of the tank side number plates so a new one is getting made. Body bits bolted together after painting and lining ... ... and chassis fitted. Crew hide the lack of inside cab detail, as usual. Alan 11 4 Quote
Galteemore Posted April 27 Posted April 27 Looks great Alan. Well worth the effort ! Any chance of posing it with version 1? 1 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted April 27 Author Posted April 27 1 hour ago, Galteemore said: Looks great Alan. Well worth the effort ! Any chance of posing it with version 1? Thanks David. Yes, I took these pics a couple days ago. Version 1 with adapted Adams Radial bodywork and unmodified chassis on the left 7 1 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted April 27 Author Posted April 27 The differences are fairly subtle but I think scratch building the body on version 2 got it a bit closer to the look of the prototype. I wish now I'd just scratch built a chassis while I was at it. Wouldn't have been that much more work in the end! 1 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted April 28 Author Posted April 28 (edited) Thanks everyone. Number 12 brings the County Down roster to 7 locomotives. The fitters are saying they've lined out enough locos to do them for a while. Me too. Back in September 2024 I started out to build a small exhibition layout for this lot to run on but got distracted. I probably should get back to that. In the meantime, new arrival No.12 is stretching its legs. Alan BCDR No12.mov Edited April 28 by Tullygrainey 7 4 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted July 5 Author Posted July 5 Some of my BCDR fleet got an outing today, not on a layout but on the real thing! I had an opportunity to visit the privately owned and wonderfully restored and preserved BCDR station at Saintfield, County Down. With the warmest of thanks to the owners Jane and Mark for their hospitality and the opportunity to roam at will, immerse myself in the atmosphere of a very special place and take these pictures. 8 5 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted 17 hours ago Author Posted 17 hours ago Something not BCDR related for a change. Patrick @Patrick Davey's current project is a return to the narrow gauge Ballycastle Railway for a model of the halt at Capecastle. This time he’s modelling in 5.5mm/foot, allowing the 3 foot narrow gauge to be represented using Peco O-16.5 track. Working in 5.5m means the motive power and rolling stock will have to be scratch built or adapted from something else. My contribution to the project is a chassis for a proposed model of 0-6-0ST ’Countess of Antrim’, one of three saddle tanks built by Black Hawthorne for the opening of the line in 1879. We have a drawing which we were able to scale using a few known dimensions - wheelbase and wheel diameter principally. We also have some useful photos of the Countess in action and since no-one alive has seen the original, we have a degree of artistic licence to hide behind I'm building the chassis using 4mm/ft methods because it's what I know but the techniques should work well enough in the larger scale. The Countess was a fairly small engine. Likewise, 4mm parts fit the bill ok (as long as you're not a spoke counter). As usual, I started with the connecting rods and made these up from an Alan Gibson universal rods etch on a simple jig. The rods themselves then do duty as jigs to mark and drill 1mm pilot holes for axles on a pair of chassis frame blanks (16 thou nickel silver) This chassis will be compensated so a compensation beam was next (2 thicknesses of 16 thou nickel silver), with the axle pilot holes opened up to accept a pair of axles so the beam could be positioned touching the axles and the pivot hole drilled through the frames in the right place. A bit more cutting and filing to accept hornblocks (High Level SpaceSavers) and the frames are almost ready to be separated. Alan 8 1 1 Quote
Mol_PMB Posted 15 hours ago Posted 15 hours ago Wow, quick and quality work! I look forward to seeing this develop and hopefully it will inspire me to get on with some of my own projects. I've got a set of those universal rods in my stash but haven't tried using them yet, so it's good to see your approach to it. 1 Quote
David Holman Posted 1 hour ago Posted 1 hour ago (edited) While you are at this stage, Alan, am interested to know about the square cut out in the chassis to take the hornblocks. Can't remember seeing the rationale behind these, but am assuming they don't have to be majorly accurate in terms of their width, because they only get soldered in place once wheels and rods are fitted? Height a different matter, because the top of the cut out is the limit of vertical movement of the compensation? While I'm here, apologies to Patrick, as I saw you were using 0n16.5 track and immediately thought 7mm scale. A quick check on the calculator shows me that 5.5mm/ft is 1:54.45, as opposed to 1:43 - so gradually moving up the sizes... Edited 1 hour ago by David Holman 1 Quote
Patrick Davey Posted 59 minutes ago Posted 59 minutes ago 55 minutes ago, David Holman said: While you are at this stage, Alan, am interested to know about the square cut out in the chassis to take the hornblocks. Can't remember seeing the rationale behind these, but am assuming they don't have to be majorly accurate in terms of their width, because they only get soldered in place once wheels and rods are fitted? Height a different matter, because the top of the cut out is the limit of vertical movement of the compensation? While I'm here, apologies to Patrick, as I saw you were using 0n16.5 track and immediately thought 7mm scale. A quick check on the calculator shows me that 5.5mm/ft is 1:54.45, as opposed to 1:43 - so gradually moving up the sizes... It’s interesting that 5.5mm scale is almost exactly 1:55 Quote
Tullygrainey Posted 54 minutes ago Author Posted 54 minutes ago (edited) 1 hour ago, David Holman said: While you are at this stage, Alan, am interested to know about the square cut out in the chassis to take the hornblocks. Can't remember seeing the rationale behind these, but am assuming they don't have to be majorly accurate in terms of their width, because they only get soldered in place once wheels and rods are fitted? Height a different matter, because the top of the cut out is the limit of vertical movement of the compensation? While I'm here, apologies to Patrick, as I saw you were using 0n16.5 track and immediately thought 7mm scale. A quick check on the calculator shows me that 5.5mm/ft is 1:54.45, as opposed to 1:43 - so gradually moving up the sizes... You're absolutely right David. The top of the hornblock cutout in the frame is the more critical one. The received wisdom is that it needs to be 4mm above the horizontal axle centre line. The width of the cutout is less critical. The High Level hornblocks I use are 5.5mm wide across the fences which guide the square bearing. I usually aim to make the cutout not less than 6mm wide, 3mm each side of the nominal centre point of the axle, to give me some wriggle room when setting up the chassis For setup, the connecting rods act as jigs to get the wheelbases right and the extra width in the cutouts allows each hornblock to be adjusted sideways as required. In this respect, it's a more forgiving process than building a rigid chassis. If you've drilled your axle bearing holes in the wrong place for a rigid chassis, it's difficult to correct it. Latterly I've used a Poppy's Wood Tech jig for setting up but the London Road Models jig axles work just as well. Edited 49 minutes ago by Tullygrainey 2 Quote
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