A West Midlands Works

dibateg

Western Thunderer
I will be following with interest as I have one of these on order Roger. I spoke to Dave Sharp at Guildex and he said that it was unlikely that he would go ahead with his kit of this loco. Allen Hammet built one recently, so it might be worth a chat when he gets back from holiday..

Regards
Tony
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
The frames for the Stanier 2-6-4t (42548) are now almost finished and the basic cylinder block has been built up and some of the detail added.
Cylinders 171016.JPG
The castings are of a very good quality and required the minimum of cleaning up.
Frames 5 171016.JPG
With the motion brackets in place the crossheads required a minimal amount of additional work to ensure they were a slip fit in the slidebars. Very slight adjustments also had to be made to the leading crankpins to ensure they did not strike the slidebars. The plan for tomorrow is to build the connecting rods, adjust the piston rod lengths and fit the front covers etc. With this out of the way pick-ups can be built in and the motor installed.
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
As time allows further developments have taken place on the Stanier 2-6-4t. Pick-ups and motor have been installed and trial running has taken place demonstrating a very free running frame. A minor issue has been noted with the downward springing on the bogie, the spring itself is too short so I'll have to make a small collar about 2mm deep to exert just a modicum of pressure.

The frames are now as complete as I wish them to be at this stage so a start has been made on the body. The basic running plate built us very well
Running plate & Bunker 210116.JPG
Very minor issues of my own making arose with installing the very front platework, I'd got the curves slightly wrong and had to reform them but now all is well although the photo shows a little additional soldering is still required.
Bufferbeam 210116.JPG

General construction was simple, the valances are nickel silver and give the whole unit stability. The three sections of the platework have the usual etched grooves to locate the valance which went into them with a satisfying click. Work could then start on the main body.

There is an orgy of riveting to be done on this kit. The build instructions said to start by building the side tanks but the huge number of rivets to be formed was just too daunting for now. I have deviated from the suggested build process by constructing the bunker. This photo shows the three basic parts with the right hand bunker side yet to be riveted.
Bunker parts 210116.JPG
As the leftward bunker side shows, there are two "styles" of rivets, the well spaced lines with generous clearances and then there are the rows of very close rivets. The bunker sides allowed me to gently settle into forming them. The main tanks will probably see me resting in a darkened room once I've finished working on them. This is the bunker with some of the detailing already in place, excuse the marks left over from a quick wash!
Bunker 210116.JPG
The only issue that has arisen with the bunker has been in the coal space. The internal floor had to be reduced in size to get it into position and two fillets are required to cover minor gaps, thank goodness a generous load of coal will cover this "modification" although once the bunker sides are built up the "mods" will be difficult to see. The two "boxes" will eventually be covered up by the rear of the cab. So here is the progress to date
Loco 1 210116.JPG

Now a plea for help, these locomotives as built had water scoops and the kit makes provision for the two domes to be fitted in the cab. Somewhere I think I have read the scoops were removed along with the domes, is anyone able to confirm this?
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Morning Roger,

From Stanier locomotive Classes, A.J.Powell, 'After World War 2 the water pick-up gear, which was blamed for tank bulging, leakage at rivets and cracking at welds, was removed; the domes in the cab remained, however.'

Richard
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
At this time of year I am usually employed on weekends getting property for one Mr. S. Clause ready on a very well knows railway in the West Midlands, however a family visit has given me a few hours on the Stanier tank.

Following remedial work on the bunker floor it was time to fit the etch for the rear of the cab, detail same and then build up the remaining bunker sides. The upper bunker sides are formed of two pieces which locate into the cab and therefore dictate the final position of the rear of the cab. This photo was taken before the remedial work on the bunker floor was soldered in position.
Bunker 2 231016.JPG
The lower panels were tacked in place and the whole assembly tried in place, one of the upper sections was also put in place and it was here that problems started to arise. The loco I have chosen to build, 42548 was a product of the North British Loco Works in Glasgow and the upper bunker sides differed from the remainder of the class. The kit makes provision for this difference but to create an accurate representation the upper panel requires slight "twisting" as the cab end is vertical but the rear end follows the angled upper profile of the bunker. To make matters more complicated the upper edges must remain straight. This is the final result
Bunker 4 231016.JPG
Bunker 5 231016.JPG
Fortunately the various joins will be completely masked by etched beading which is still to fit.

With this delightful job out of the way there was no option but to get back to that orgy - of riveting!
Tank tops & sides 231016.JPG
While I have not counted the exact number of rivets I estimate there are well over 250 on each side. I'll admit there are a few on each side which are not exactly where they should be. The very shiny surface of the etch makes it difficult at times for me to always see where the next rivet position is. I'm sure some eagle eyed reader will spot them. So tomorrow the tanks can be installed.

Alongside the tank engine I have been adding final detailing to the Aberdare which now has numberplates in position.
Loco 8 231016.JPG
A new backhead is on order as the original is the pits. Once built this will see the loco ready for delivery to the owner who will add the final transfers etc.

S15 30828 is also complete and awaiting weathering.
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
42548 now has her side tanks. Looking at the amount of clutter on the top of the tanks I decided to fit as much of it as possible before assembling the tanks. I'm glad I did so as it would be near impossible to get at some of the locations at the front of the tanks once the boiler is in place. At the same time the two oil boxes on the front of the tanks we also installed plus pipework.
Loco 2 251016.JPG
The six upright pieces of brass wire will be for the straps holding the tanks to the boiler. Next will be fitting some of the beading and then it is on with the boiler.

Alongside this development I have also been working on the boiler backhead for the Aberdare, the original is shown as a comparison, well it is over 35 years old.
Backplate 251016.JPG
Still a bit to do not least removing excess solder but I don't think there is much doubt which one I will be using.
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
The Stanier looks very clean - I'm looking forward to seeing it tomorrow.

Oh - and I shall be bringing apple crumble!
 

Lancastrian

Western Thunderer

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
Ian,
As I stated earlier, the North British built locos had a different upper bunker platework from the other members of the class built at Derby. As for the inspection covers on the cylinders, well spotted!
Roger
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
Fitting the beading to the tanks and bunker was relatively straightforward but created an issue on the bunker. As can be seen from this photo, the beading is wider than the bunker plates.
Bunker 6 271016.JPG
Filing them down was not an option as they would then be narrower than all the remaining beading. The decision was made to take out the two plates on each side forming the upper coal space and refit them level with the beading. The lower panel could not go into its intended tab location in the rear of the cab but the upper one could. The work was well worth the trouble to revisit this area.
Bunker 7 271016.JPG
The firebox, boiler and smokebox were tackled next and have built up very nicely. A good amount of lead has been put in the boiler. All the etches fitted together very well and only a very slight alteration was necessary between the boiler and smokebox to get the smokebox to sit level in the saddle. All the boiler bands were then installed together with detail on the firebox. Prior to the whole boiler assembly being put in place some of the footplate detailing in front of the tanks has been installed.
Loco 5 281016.JPG
Alterations to reposition the inspection plates on the cylinders are still to be done.

Considerable time has been spent on fitting out the cab. There are large boxes either side of the cab forming the splashers and reverser mount which built up very easily. There is more work still to be done not least to complete fitting out, tidy up the soldering and fit a roof.
Cab 1 281016.JPG
The etch for the floor was a trial to fit and required considerable filing before it would drop into place.

More progress next week.
 

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
Looking very good Roger, you had better start warming up the weathering paints!

cheers

Mike
edited thanks to Mick D
 
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Scanlon

Western Thunderer
A plea for help, despite being lent various books with excellent photos of Stanier 2-6-4t's I cannot find any detailed photo of the injectors and associated pipework. Is anyone able to help with a decent photo? Also were the injectors "handed" or one type fits all?
42548 has reached this stage
Loco 8 011116.JPG
apologies for the dirty condition but this is work in progress. I'm just about to start the lubricators and reposition the inspection cover on the cylinders.
 
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