7mm Gladiator NER/LNER/BR G5

Rambler

Active Member
I see you are fitting Group Standard buffers - IMHO this is a good thing for you - I haven't found any good castings or turning for the standard NER buffers (except those in DJH or Connoisseur kits).
For my build (it is on rmweb but a bit dormant) I'm also replacing the chimney and dome with Shedmaster bits as the Fourtrack (now Gladiator) parts don't look quite right to me. The safety valve cover, on the other hand, looks all wrong as provided but can be filed into a pretty good shape.
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
After a break while I went on my jollies then waiting patiently to get a bit of head space after a paricularly intense period at work I have in the last week managed to pick up work on the G5.


I started by sorting the small lockers that go on the rear cab bulkhead. These I soldered to the cab rear before I soldered it in - I didn't fancy trying to get them in neatly within the confines of the assembled cab.
Next I test fitted the cab floor haveing bent up the basic shape some time ago. It needed a little trimming to get it to fit around the lockers but other than that there were no issues.

I decided to score some plank lines on it before fitting and I also added some small pieces of strip across the undersides in the cab door ways so that there wasn't an open gap - there are cab doors but for the life of me I haven't worked out how I am going to fit them and may leave them off.

Before fitting the cab rear and the floor I fitted the coal rails to the rear of the bunker which allowed me not only to get better access to get the iron in but it also allowed me to get a nice smooth joint between the coal rails and the cab rear. Onwards and upwards!

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It still needs a good clean up of course.
The eagle eyed will of course pick up the fact that with also the test fitting of the cab floor I managed to dislodge the brake lever..........:headbang:
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
I made a mental promise to get on with this and get it finished post Telford and over the weekend I have made progress.

Although the agreement was an out of the box build, there are certain details visible in the photos that are not included in the kit but really need to be modelled (at least in my eyes).

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I hasten to add that the bottom pipe coming from the Westinghouse pump will ultimately go down through the footplate but I need to attach the valance before doing that.

Just in case you are wondering why I haven't attached the valances and buffer beams yet is that the valances also have an etched support included for the front steps and I didn't want it to get damaged while detailing the upper works.

Note the tiny nuts that are on the ends of the pipes, these are scale hardware items that I had forgotten that I had and really add something to it.

They are actually threaded and I have some 0.5mm threaded bolts that screw into them too. - I bought them on a whim when I last ordered from SH.
 

FiftyFourA

Western Thunderer
Nice work mate Are the various connectors and valves on the Westinghouse pipework included in the kit or did you have to make them yourself. Either way they seem much more detailed than the DJH 'lump'.

Looking forward to seeming it at our next meeting - coming shortly!

Peter
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
Nice work mate Are the various connectors and valves on the Westinghouse pipework included in the kit or did you have to make them yourself. Either way they seem much more detailed than the DJH 'lump'.

Looking forward to seeming it at our next meeting - coming shortly!

Peter
Thanks Peter,

No they are all cobbled together from tube and wire etc. and a few castings from the spares box (the vacuum ejector elbow is a modified Connoisseur casting) - except the nuts which are Scale Hardware.
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
More progress on the G5, I was expecting to have a challenging time of fitting the valences due to the integral step support but in the end it proved very painless. I started by adding all the steps which fit into half etched locations. This was followed by the balance pipes.

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Then I carefully bent the step supports to shape, clipped them to the steps using some self locking tweezers and the rest was plain sailing. Finally I added the buffer beams and then made a start on the vacuum/westin house pipes that run down the bottom of either valence

One down, one to go and then I am on to adding details like lamp irons etc before fitting it all together.
Having tried the chassis against the foot plate I now need to move the sand boxes down a bit.....

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In the solder free camp I am not:)) nor am I in Mick's league when it comes to cleaning but it will be cleaned up thoroughly before delivery.
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
The G5 has been progressing steadily to the point that the body is almost complete. It just needs lamp irons, a method of attaching the cab roof that's removable and a bit of tidying up underneath to allow the chassis to sit down properly. Then on with completing the chassis ready for final cleaning, testing and delivery.

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Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
An unusual Saturday in Wakefield has allowed more progress and the body is now virtually complete. I would have said it was but while removing some surplus solder one of the lamp irons dropped off.

I hade to use my Dremel to grind of the rear of the buffer housings where they protrude thorough the buffer beam to allow the chassis to sit down properly - or rather to allow it to sit down properly when I lower the sand boxes slightly which is the next task after refitting the errant lamp iron.
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
is now virtually complete.

Famous last words... :headbang::(while refitting the errant lamp iron I managed to dislodge the Westinghouse Pump.

Refitting it was going to be a major pain if I were not to inflict more damage. In the end I came up with the idea of fitting a couple of pins to the back which now go through holes in the tank front to allow it to be soldered in from the inside. I soldered the pins in with 295 degree solder which I use when soldering bit's together that are at risk of coming apart when soldering other items in close proximity. I have to use the microflame to do this because my iron hasn't enough grunt to heat a casting up enough to get such high melting point solder to flow.

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Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
That's an interesting point. When the G5's were on the GE section they were air and vacuum braked, but not sure about in early years on the NER?

JB.
 

Rob Pulham

Western Thunderer
Hi Rob

I don't know much about NER locomotives but did the NER use air as opposed to vacuum brakes?

That's an interesting point. When the G5's were on the GE section they were air and vacuum braked, but not sure about in early years on the NER?

JB.

There are certainly photos in the Yeadon volume of G5's in NER livery that are fitted with Westinghouse Pumps. Most of the things that I have read (mostly re rolling stock to be fair) quote the LNER as removing Westinghouse gear during the 1930's but the photos that I am using of 67262 in the 1950's still have the pump fitted.
 
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