A West Midlands Works

OzzyO

Western Thunderer
I use the black for loco and tender wheels and frames. It dries to quite a matt finish so you may want to put a top coat on it IIRC the frames are just in the etch primer and the wheels have had a coat of satin black. I quit like to have the two finishes.
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OzzyO.

PS I have edited my first post to add the colours.
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
I use the black for loco and tender wheels and frames. It dries to quite a matt finish so you may want to put a top coat on it IIRC the frames are just in the etch primer and the wheels have had a coat of satin black. I quit like to have the two finishes.
View attachment 41884
OzzyO.

PS I have edited my first post to add the colours.
Ta for the extra info. The finish on the tender frames looks very good and I might be tempted to follow your lead.
Cheers
Roger
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
Decorating and other stuff have taken me away from the 76XXX build but I'm now back on the case. I knew the pipework on the driver's side down from the manifold was slightly incorrect and with help from Andy Beaton and Dave Sharp providing prototype photos it has been put right. I avoid using photos of preserved locos because often detail has been compromised. With this corrected I went to work on the fireman's side and then the pipework down from the clacks. Some other detailing has been added before starting the build of the cylinders.
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To say the cylinders have been a challenge is an understatement. The detail on them is exquisite but takes ages to do. Each cylinder is made up from 33 parts, a mix of castings and etches. To get to the stage shown below has taken about 21 hours. Almost everything is pinned together and the fit was near perfect. The slidebars and crossheads required the absolute minimum of fettling and the entire structure is bolted to the frames, four points on the cylinders, two on the motion bracket and two on the support for the lifting links from the reverser.
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At this point I have diverted from the suggested build and will leave building the valve gear until the very last. The lubricators are now being installed and will be followed by the pipework.
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I will then return to the frames adding the sanding pipes and building the coupling rods and installing the wheels and motor. Slowly does it!
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
As usual my plans have not exactly followed the intended course but at least real progress is being made on this build. In the last few days the brake gear has been prepared and the upper fixing points for the brake hangers soldered on to the frames, at the same time the brackets for the sanding gear have been installed. Sand guns and pipework are to follow.

Today has been spent working on the frames and the sandboxes have been installed, the small lubricators on the front of the frames fitted and piped up and then work started on the injectors. As I've hinted before I like BR Standards for the challenge of getting the pipework correct. Using prototype photos I have built up the major pipework. I was not exactly certain of the route of the water delivery pipe from the driver's side so copied the route from a 9F.
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All the pipework from the injectors under the running plate have been soldered together to give some stability as they would otherwise be "free in the wind" and vulnerable to bending out of shape. The bends for the water delivery to each injector proved tricky as they must allow the fireman's side rear driving wheel crankpin to rotate freely, they just do!
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Still to be installed are the rods for the water valves and the pep pipe connections on the delivery pipes plus lots more on the engine.
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
This week is proving to be fairly productive with three locos on the workbench at various times. The excellent weather over the Easter holidays has enabled me to spray two locos built over the last eight months and get the 76XXX into top coat to enable completion of the build to start. All were given time to bake in the conservatory between coats.

The Crosti 9F is now waiting delivery to its owner.Final 7a 080415.jpg
Exhaustive testing on Heyside identified a major short on the fireman's side between the intermediate and fourth axles. This occurred regularly at just one location on the layout and foxed me and others especially as there did not seem to be any obvious metal to metal contact. Eventually the problem was identified as being the drawbar, it was too broad under the cab, was restricting side to side movement and the entire loco went rigid when passing through a point. Some quick work with a scalpel and it ran perfectly albeit requiring more running in. This build was started in September 2014 and has taken about 5 months overall to complete.

The Chowbent Stanier 2-6-2t had to take a back seat while replacement split axles were sourced. The original ones fitted to the loco collapsed causing quite some consternation for Clive who produced them for me! The problem was tracked down to old/stale epoxy resin.
Loco 16 090415.JPG
With the new axles fitted the valve gear was installed and tested on a rolling road. Minor adjustment was required to give a little more clearance for the return cranks but otherwise it ran smoothly or so I thought. Further testing on Heyside has shown a lack of side play on the middle and leading axles. This has necessitated stripping down all of the valve gear, connecting and coupling rods to release the wheels. On the leading axle the very thin spacers have been reduced even more to give additional clearance. On the middle axle the axleboxes have required filing down to give more side to side play, 0.5mm on each. This axle was held almost rigidly in place by the gearbox which just fitted between the insulated axleboxes supplied by Slaters. I thought there was sufficient movement but was proved wrong. Another test run is now in the offing and providing this work has given sufficient additional flexibility then the finer paint details can be tackled. Hopefully it will be off for lining and weathering in the next 14 days.

The MOK 76XXX is progressing steadily and all the major components are in top coat black.
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Work is now concentrated on the engine frames with all springs installed. It was my intention to fit plunger pick-ups in line with the instructions but found it impossible to install the etches for the rear drivers. The fitting details are at the very end of the chassis build instructions and frankly these parts need to be put in place during the build up of the frames. The components in question were to be fitted under a crossbeam next to the steam brake cylinder, just under and either side of the bolt on the right shown above. There is next to no room to manoeuvre the parts let alone hold them in position. Four wheel pick-up is out of the question so I have fitted wiper collectors to two of the tender axles. This has slightly compromised the compensation but on test everything seems to be fine. The two wires when painted black will double up as the vacuum and steam heat pipes.

Once the pick-ups have been installed I can refit the wheels, motor and connecting rods and start to build up the valve gear. Unfortunately the paint on one cylinder is not acceptable so this has been be stripped and resprayed. Slow but steady progress might see the loco finished by the end of the month. Then it's back to the Standard 2-6-2t; yes Iain Young has found the missing etches for me!
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
A completely unexpected free day on the weekend has allowed me to make some great strides with 76026. Four Slaters plungers have been fitted on the engine and wired up to the chip. Next the brake gear was tackled and problem one arose, the leading brake stretcher interferes with the leading sand pipes but I persevered. This was followed by fitting the coupling rods and then the cylinders along with crossheads and connecting rods. At each stage everything was tested.

Erecting the valve gear was straightforward but it quickly became clear my normal order of fitting was not going to work. Having built the drivers side expansion link including the radius rod I then realised nothing would fit and it was all dismantled, it was just too big a lump to manoeuvre in a very restricted space. The order became inner half of the expansion link first followed by the radius rod put in from the cab side through the motion bracket, then the combination lever etc. was put in place and the radius rod fitted to it. This was followed by the outer half of the expansion link and its support. Everything is pinned together and worked first time. Having got the drivers side fitted the front sandpipes fell off, problem two! The etches for the sandpipe supports are very small and frail so I must find another way of fixing them; a dollop of solder comes to mind, at least it can't be seen!
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Building the firemans side valve gear has been much easier and this afternoon trial running could begin but unfortunately it is not as good as I would like. The plungers on the engine appear to be completely ineffectual despite their moving in and out when on test. I may have to find a way to put wipers on the leading axle of the tender and just hope those on the loco eventually kick in! Still lots to do but hope the loco can have a run on Wednesday.
 
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Scanlon

Western Thunderer
The Stanier 2-6-2t is now away for lining and weathering and 76026 will shortly be off to Warren Haywood for him to line etc., he's promised it will be ready for working on Heyside in September.

76026 has been an excellent project but in part it has fought me all the way. Earlier this week everything looked good to finally assemble the loco for testing. What I expected to be an hour's work took the entire day principally due to the sandpipes plus a completely unexpected problem. Initial assembly and testing registered a dead short which was tracked down to three sandpipes which had to be taken off and then each one refitted and tested independently. Gradually all shorts were eradicated and then a click developed in the valve gear which was tracked down to a pin coming out of the valve crosshead and combination lever.

This kind of failure has never happened to me before and presented quite a few problems. At first I thought the entire valve gear on the one side would need removing but fortunately by taking out the pin on the radius rod I could drop the combination lever down and manoeuvre the valve crosshead out. Reassembly was quite speedy and I'm happy to report yesterday the loco pulled its first train quite successfully. All these issues also enabled me to revisit the plunger pick-ups and the loco now has all 4 working plus 6 wipers on the tender.

So from the sophistication of the MOK 76XXX I'm back to the battle with the DJB 82XXX. Iain Young managed to find replacement etches for the missing side tanks and cab and work on them will start in the next few days. Meanwhile the frames have been revisited and the front fallplate, buffers and brake hangers and stretchers installed. Although this loco will be analogue I have chamfered the back of each brake block to give added clearance.

Today a start has been made on the boiler and smokebox.
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The assembly has three large whitemetal castings to ensure "roundness" in the appropriate places. The smokebox and first ring of the boiler is a superb half etch which just needed rolling and soldering. The coned boiler was a thicker etch but quickly formed up very nicely. The three whitemetal castings required minimal filing to get them to fit accurately and I have soldered them in place using 75° solder. The join between the cone and forward boiler ring will be covered by a boiler band. Construction of the firebox is going to be interesting as there is no cab end etch to work with. I'm going to have to make one before progressing any further. Well that's for tomorrow.
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
Firebox construction has been temporarily put aside as the tank sides, cab and bunker side etches have been returned by Mr. Beaton. This had been a one piece etch and I asked Andy if he would cut out the roof leaving the sides independent for ease of building. I should mention when received from Iain Young this huge etch had been partly riveted and formed up but the roof section was completely mis-formed and still needs a lot of TLC to get it looking good.

The DJB instructions are really just an aid to building and the entire cab, bunker and side tank build was summed up in four brief lines! I started by detailing the rear of the bunker before soldering it to the main etch. Very quickly it became clear the whole structure was very flimsy especially around the cab door area, so decided to put the cab interior etch in place to give everything some rigidity. This greatly helped construction and pulled everything into square.

I had planned for the front fall plate section to be soldered to the frames but when lining up the tanks I realised this would not be sensible. The basic body is therefore a one piece construction with two fixing points. Aligning the short running plate to the tanks took some time but was worth the work. The boiler/smokebox was used to accurately prepare the front of the tanks so they sit snugly around the boiler as per the prototype. Still lots of cleaning up to do as you can see
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The photo below shows the comparison with my own 82029 which I acquired many years ago. The dimensions of both locos are near identical but I'm not sure of it's parentage but many parts appear to be the same.
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More news next week.
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
Quite some work has taken place on the 82XXX mainly around the cab and bunker but also with the front fall plate.

Having reviewed the look of the front the loco I decided there would always be an unsightly gap between the bufferbeam and fallplate. This simply would not do so had to be changed. I bit the bullet and cut the frames just in front of the cylinders. The bufferbeam assembly is now part of the main body and looks so much better.

The missing bunker side has been manufactured and put in place and final detailing of the rear of the loco is now almost complete. In the cab the various cupboards, handbrake and seats etc. have been installed. Thank goodness the bunker for new build 82045 has been delivered to Bridgnorth so I could see precisely where everything is located without having to rely on Mickoo for another photo! :thumbs:With the screen behind the drivers position and the narrower one behind the fireman's in place I tackled the roof and was able to create the required radius quite easily.:)
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This photo was taken prior to fitting the cab furniture.

I now had no excuse not to build the firebox. :eek:This is the usual DJB bodge being 4mm too wide at the front and overall 2mm short adjoining the cab front! To overcome the width problem I cut out a long V, pulled the etch into line and soldered the new join, strengthened with a nickel silver strip inside. The holes for safety valves and manifold were also re-drilled but before I found the 2mm discrepancy! So now they will have to be moved back, one step forward, two backwards comes to mind!:rant:
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Oh the joy of DJB kits and to think I've just bought a Standard 5 from the same stable.:rolleyes:
 

dibateg

Western Thunderer
Where's that knife and fork? It's getting there Roger. If you didn't want to have tat visible nut behind the buffer, you could fit MOK self contained ones...
Cheers
Tony
 

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Roger,
This is coming along, you're finding the weaknesses of the DJB kits! Lovely to know you're finding the work-arounds too. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
Steph
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
Where's that knife and fork? It's getting there Roger. If you didn't want to have tat visible nut behind the buffer, you could fit MOK self contained ones...
Cheers
Tony
Roger,
This is coming along, you're finding the weaknesses of the DJB kits! Lovely to know you're finding the work-arounds too. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
Steph
Hi Tony and Steph,
Fortunately the huge nuts on the buffers will be hidden by the steps, when I get to fit them.
As this is a commission build I don't think I will have it very long for anyone to see, might be a good idea. But I will take some photos to show you what I made of the loco. By the way my own loco 82029 turns out to be an Acorn product with DJB fittings. It too had firebox problems so this seems to be a common disease! As for finding the weaknesses I never cease to be surprised!
Cheers both,
Roger
 

Len Cattley

Western Thunderer
Oh the joy of DJB kits and to think I've just bought a Standard 5 from the same stable.:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

I bought a Standard 5 and it Two left hand cylinders :rolleyes:

Len
 

Scanlon

Western Thunderer
The battle with the boiler and firebox has been won but it was a hard fight. :rolleyes:Working from scale drawings in the Ted Talbot books the boiler bands were added before the whole assembly was put into the tanks. Getting it level took some time with a number of trials proving to be required. There are very unsightly gaps between the tanks tops and the boiler and looking at my own loco infill strips will have to be fitted.

A start has been made on detailing and the injectors have been built up
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and fitted on the fireman's side.
Injectors 110515.JPG
It is a pity these fine castings will be "lost" behind the cab step but that is how this cookie crumbles. I used 1.2mm copper wire for the delivery and water pipework as the 1.6mm provided in the kit seemed far too big, I'll probably use this for the vacuum pipe. The delivery pipes have been run along the underside of the fireman's tank and soldered into the underside of the respective tank to "appear" close to the clacks.

More progress tomorrow I hope.
 

OzzyO

Western Thunderer
Should you have a water valve on the inner injector water pipe as well?
I tend to use 1.2/3mm copper wire for most of my injector pipe work, but use 1/16" tube for the over flow pipes.

OzzyO.
 
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