4mm Brassmasters Black 5, 45232

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
A bit more progress today. Some extra weight has been added inside the firebox, behind the motor. This, rather provocatively, included the further use of small lead shot - you'd think I'd learn! This time, I set it in superglue, so no solvent risks.
The ejector steam pipes have been added - 0.31 mm for the inner/lower one and 0.33 mm for the outer/upper. Scale diameters, but I'm not sure the difference is visible.
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I've also cut away the rear drag beam below the opening for the tender drawbar, to allow the latter to pass through when assembling the body to the chassis.
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Just the side wind screen mounts and cab roof left as far as I can see.
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Some pleasing progress and a minor set-back since the previous posting. The cab roof casting needed an awful lot of scraping away in the rebate to allow the front end to fit over the spectacle plate with the gutters sitting down along the cab sides. Extensive use of my triangular engineers scraper and many, many trial fits. Outside steam pipe covers also fitted, together with re-fitting the steam heat cock which I managed to knock off the front buffer beam a little while ago.
The set-back was with the cab side draft screen frames. They fit into very small holes in the cab side and require quite a bit of dressing to the locating tabs. I'd just finished the first one for final fitting when it pinged out of the tweezers to the great kit store in the carpet. Oh well, most of my locos don't have them, so I decided to live without after a futile search. Then, when I came back to try the front bogie, there was the errant slither of brass in an area I hadn't searched previously.
I have re-fitted the front bogie, complete with springs and plungers, to check the ride attitude for level and height, thinking some packers might be required. But no, to my pleasant surprise, the loco is sitting dead level and with the buffers at the correct height above rail. The gods must be smiling!
The temporary chimney and cab roof are just placed, loose, for effect.
BM_Blk5_45284_114.JPG
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Pete.
One thing I noticed from the photo is the need to adjust the centre driver sand pipes. Now the loco is fully weighted and balanced level, it's squatted down on the springs so that the pipes are a bit too near the rail head. That's one of the drawbacks with fully sprung locos that doesn't occur with my normal, fully compensated, arrangements.
Dave.
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
It captures the Black 5 perfectly Dave, and it has that solidity around the front end. Very nice. I used to make my 4mm scale cinder guards from a thin strip of brass with 0.3 wire pins butt soldered to the ends. Painted silver - I got away with it!

Cheers
Tony
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Tony. Yes, I like to provide proper support between the mainframes and bogies or trucks, as per the prototype. Fills in an otherwise gaping gap.

Sand pipes tweaked to give an acceptable rail clearance and coupling rods re-fitted, just for appearances sake. Those pesky cinder guards still to face. Then on to the tender?
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Black 5 faces its nemesis?
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Dave.
 

bogusman

Western Thunderer
Hope it's being pulled to the paint shop not the scrap line:eek::eek::eek:. Joking aside a cracking black 5 Dave

Pete
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
As someone has already said, a good solid look to the front end, and indeed the whole loco. Everyone may have been bored with the real things in their day, but they sure make very attractive models.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Well, no excuse now not to get on with the tender.
I have finally motivated myself to fit the cab-side cinder screen frames that I've been putting off for a day or two (in the vain hope they might fit themselves?). Of course, it proved far easier to do than I had worried it would be.
The chimneys I commissioned from Tom Mallard came today and rather nice they are, too. One has duly been attached to the smokebox using 5 minute epoxy.
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Cab glazing, buffer heads, number and shed plates and cab roof to be fixed after painting.
So, to the tender......
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Some progress has been made with the tender, despite a slight setback caused by my clumsiness.
I had read through the instructions, studied the diagrams and several drawings in the Wild Swan profile series before starting. My gut feeling is that the chassis is more complicated than the loco!
Anyway, I started with the functional outer frames. These provide for CSB suspension, although it's a slightly odd arrangement with two support points between the wheel-sets rather than the more conventions single support. Still, I trust someone has worked it such that it works OK. The design intends the use of pinpoint axles and bearings but I wanted some side-play on the centre axle so decided to use Exactoscale parallel type. This requires the 1 mm axle ends to be sleeved to take the 2 mm bore Gibson wheels. By pure chance, I quickly found some 2 mm x 1 mm brass tube - just the job.
The set-back occurred whilst I was filing off the etch cusp on the frames. I'd run a scrawker(?) along the etched fold line to make it easier to form the 90 degree bends and must have overdone it, because the etch separated at the front and, eventually, with further handling, the whole drag box area broke away completely. Subsequently, the drag box was folded up and then soldered into the frames, after bending the rear end, with the aid of bluetak and some blocks of wood. Phew, that was close.
Here is the frame assembly, with the CSB wires and bearing carriers, ready to receive the wheel-sets.
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Dave.
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Anyway, I started with the functional outer frames. These provide for CSB suspension, although it's a slightly odd arrangement with two support points between the wheel-sets rather than the more conventions single support. Still, I trust someone has worked it such that it works OK.
That looks a really neat installation with it being built in to the design from the start. Like yourself I was a little puzzled by the twin fulcrum points, my suspicion is that it would remove some of the compensation of the design so they'd be more like 6 individually sprung hornblocks so I''ll be interested to see how it works when finished.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Best laid plans.....
Following a timely warning posted on the Scalefour Society forum about the risk of the bearing carriers disengaging from their guides and a rather unsatisfactory trial fit of the rear wheel-set, I've fitted retaining clips to all the axle bearing carriers to hold them in their guides. I utilised the ends of the spare brake pull rods, which have half etched strip so that it gives a bit of clearance to the bearing carrier but still restrains it. Not the neatest work, but it won't be visible on the finished model.
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The sleeved Exactoscale axle/Gibson wheel combination hasn't worked out, so plan B is in progress - new wheels and custom machined axles from 2 mm rod with 1 mm reduced ends. I think the problem arose because the brass tube I used for the sleeves was very slightly over 2 mm diameter and was such a tight press fit in the wheels that problems with assembly and resulting wheel wobble, and adjustment of the back-to-back, resulted.
Dave.
 

bogusman

Western Thunderer
Thanks for the update on the issues you're finding on this build. I will use your experience when I start mine.

Pete
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Not that much modelling due to domestic duties, but some progress on the tender chassis.
Whilst waiting for the replacement wheels and axle material, I have done some work on the water scoop arrangements. The instructions have this done after the inner frames are fixed to the outer and the wheel-sets in place. However, I felt it would give much easier access to the linkage if it were done before joining the inner and outer frames. I've had to leave the vertical link to the actual scoop as a temporary joint to allow the rear cross member to be slide/wiggled into place on final assembly. Apart from this, I can't see that my sequence has created any problems.
I must say, it's been a war of attrition so far and I've had to make several modifications to the kit parts to get it all to fit and be in the right positions. The biggest issue was with the cast scoop pipe which sticks down too far, has a locating pip which is about half the diameter on the hole in the spacer and it's too far forward. As a result, it's been on and off at least three times to allow modification and re-positioning. In the end, I cut 1.5 mm off the height and moved it back the same amount, in order to get the "pivot" ears in the right position relative to the back edge of the rear cross member.
This latter would not seat down properly because the front edge was catching on part of the operating linkage. Close examination of the GA drawing revealed that the prototype had a pocket cut out of the front edge to clear the mechanism, so a similar arrangement was added to the kit item.
Here is the modified scoop pipe. In the end, I didn't fit the sleeve to the mounting peg as it prevented the pipe moving back far enough.
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Here is the rear cross member with the clearance notch in the front edge.
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The elongated locating hole for the scoop pipe. In the end, the pipe mounting pip is hard up to the back of the modified hole in order to get the bottom of the pipe in the right place.
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The scoop pipe fixed in its new position, showing the relationship to the cross member.
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A shot with the lower end of the scoop attached to the pipe and the linkage temporarily connected up. The final attachment has to be done after the cross member is fixed in place.
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Next job is to make and fit the bracing struts to the scoop pipe. Although there are two locating slots etched in the frame spacer, oddly, there is no mention of there rather visible items in the kit instructions or assembly diagrams.
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Scoop bracing struts fitted, along with the scoop operating rod/cranks and representations of the train vacuum pipe and steam heat pipe, both of which are visible through the tender frame cut-outs.
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After taking the photos, I noticed that one of the bearing carriers had become slightly displaced due to handling. These carriers will be better held in place once the axles are in and will be protected from handling issues by the axlebox castings.
Dave.
 

bogusman

Western Thunderer
Must admit Dave looking good. Thanks again for the blow by blow account of some of the pifalls you are finding.

Pete
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
A trial fit of the rear frame cross beam has been undertaken. My original plan to slide it in under the scoop didn't go to plan as I had inadvertently soldered the top joint of the vertical scoop link so that it couldn't be swung out of the way. The only recourse was to cut a slot in the centre of the rear edge of the cross member. As the missing bit is right in the centre and very close to the scoop, hopefully, it won't be too obvious on the finished model.
BM_Blk5_45284_129.JPG
Dave,
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Well, the gap in the cross beam was rather more visible than I'd hoped, so thoughts turned as to how to plug it. First, I soldered a length of wire across the gap and then wiggled the cut out section back in place and fixed it. Not a perfect solution, but a couple of 0.2 mm gaps are much less obvious than a 2.5 mm one.
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
The new axles arrived yesterday, so the replacement wheel-sets were assembled and, after a bit of dressing of the bearing inner faces, fitted into the frames. The cross beams have been fixed and the scoop mechanism completed.
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On to the brake gear next, I suppose, then frame and buffer beam overlays and steps.
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Not a great rate of progress, partially due to the marvellous weather leading to quite a lot of time out in the back garden. Reading and meals, you understand - gardening isn't my thing.
Anyway, the brake rigging has now been made and fitted, although there's a bit of tidying up still to do to remove excess solder. Assembly was rather fiddly but I'm quite pleased with the outcome.
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Dave.
 
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