W1 as rebuilt

[mickoo]

Didn't quite make today's work quota, wanted to have a rolling chassis by midnight.....still got pretty close all in all.

It's only loosely all held in place and some of the stays are not in place, those with a recessed location fixing as opposed to tabs through the inner frame plate.



Tomorrow, later today, I'll add the top hat bearings and set it up on the jig and solder all it all it. To be fair the cruciform stay and inside cylinder assembly keep the frames pretty much bang on square.

It's all looking a bit bland at the moment but will start to come alive once the main frame overlays go on and I add the rest of the missing stays and cast horn guides, after that the details will begin to make it more interesting.

 

[mickoo]

Hi Mick,
Nah, you're too modest.

Or if not, I can't wait to see one that you are satisfied with. That will certainly be the whole nine ten yards!

Peter,

Personally, lofty accolades should be reserved for people like Attilio Mafi, Google him, it brings a whole new level of reality to good and makes my work look like kindergarten stuff.

If I get to this level I'll be truly satisfied everything else is merely a prelude

 

[mickoo]

Bob, try insert as full image when you're writing your message.

Upload your image and you should have two options, insert as thumbnail or insert as full image.



You'll know when it has as the image will appear full size in the editing space.

 

[Nick Dunhill]

How many hours has it taken so far to assemble?

 

[simond]

Struggling with googling your reference, Mick.

Lots about the Cosa Nostra, and a rather curious article about marbling of meat, and Airport tractors, but not much on modelling

Cheers
Simon

 

[daifly]

Try Attilio Mari!
Dave

 

[Richard Spoors]

Ther's a free download of his book 'All My Models' here - Associazione DSC Documentazione Storia Cultura

Cheers

Richard

 

[Dikitriki]

Thank you for posting that link Richard.

I have long admired the work of Attilio Mari, but that book shows just how far beyond awesome it is. I'd like to say it's something to aspire to, but just occasionally, something comes along that you know is personally unattainable, perhaps not from a skill level, but from a motivational or desire aspect.

Brilliant.

Richard

 

[Tim Watson]

Slight thread drift, but the equivalent to Attilio Mari in the road loco / model engineering world would be Cherry Hinds /Hill.

Model Engineers—Cherry Hill

Tim

 

[mickoo]

Try Attilio Mari!
Dave

That's the guy

Ther's a free download of his book 'All My Models' here - Associazione DSC Documentazione Storia Cultura

Cheers

Richard

Cheers, best collection of images I've seen yet.

 

[mickoo]

How many hours has it taken so far to assemble?

Bearing in mind a lot is cleaning for the photos and instruction writing as well as tweaking the master art work for final production; for example, the brake cylinder stay end plates sit in a recess, for an accurate fit you need to trim off about 0.25 mm.

So it's file, test fit, file test fit, etc; it's not hard work and pretty much part of any kit building, but by altering the recess slot on the master art work and enlarging by 0.3 mm then the part will just fit right in.

Taking all that into account, the total so far is about 20 hours, and yes, I am keeping a running total as well

If you take the cleaning off and the back and forth working out the best build process and instruction writing then you could do it in about 15 hours.

 

[Nick Dunhill]

Very good.

 

[mickoo]

Right, it's all soldered up nice and square, it is a rolling chassis but I've popped the top hats out as they're only needed later on for the axle alignment when I change over to the cast horn guides.

I've not added the cast horn guides yet as the rear section is only snapped into place and the rear horn guide goes on the strengthening plate which forms the rear end and not the main frames like the others.

I'm not sure how this worked on the real engine, the drawings do not make it clear how the axle box is retained and in line with the others, I suspect there's some skulduggery with extended cheeks or enlarged axle boxes (width) going on, or the GA is incorrect and the cut out in the strengthening plate goes over the horn guides as opposed to behind it.

The primary reason the rear inner section isn't attached is because it's easier to solder back here and clean up without it in place, namely the inside of the Cartazzi castings, Cartazzi spring plates, Cartazzi safety loops and other brackets. Soldering from the inside leaves a nicer finish outside.





As well as the new J hanger castings, we've also added a new Cartazzi safety bar casting, previously this was a folded up etch plate and two pieces of wire, the new casting has a little more detail and I think it adds something to the overall model.

All this means we've now completed up to page 4 in the instructions

 

[simond]

Try Attilio Mari!
Dave

Thanks Dave, Mick,

Heavens, he’s a bit handy isn’t he? Some seriously good stuff there. I shall download the book for my train journey home tomorrow.

And good taste in road machines too, a Gambalunga I believe (I have a Le Mans) and a Fulvia Zagato (I had a Fulvia 1.3 s3, not the Zagato, but just the loveliest car I ever owned - wish I still had it!)

The W1’s coming along nicely too!

Best
Simon

 

[simond]

Slight thread drift, but the equivalent to Attilio Mari in the road loco / model engineering world would be Cherry Hinds /Hill.

Model Engineers—Cherry Hill

Tim

I haven’t been to Birdcage walk for a couple of years, but many of her models are/were on display at the IMechE HQ.

Quite outstanding
Best
Simon

 

[Tim Watson]

The IMechE is worth a visit for any railway enthusiast: if only for the pictures on the walls.

Tim

 

[P A D]

Peter,

Personally, lofty accolades should be reserved for people like Attilio Mafi, Google him, it brings a whole new level of reality to good and makes my work look like kindergarten stuff.

If I get to this level I'll be truly satisfied everything else is merely a prelude

Hi Mick,
Found him (Attilio Mari that is).
Ok, point taken. Puts these little toy train builds into perspective. I think if he claimed the models were built by the hands of god, nobody would doubt him. Unlike the little Agentinian fellow who claimed divine intervention at the world cup, some years ago.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[mickoo]

Not as much progress as planned, four of the six axles are now sprung, all of the frame is fully soldered up with the rear end added. I had hoped to get the overlays on today and the start of the cylinder shells. Unlike previous kits, there is no option to remove the cylinders or motion bracket, that may well come and bite me later. The reason for the cylinders will become clear later and goes back to Peters recent dialogue about getting the A4 body on and off and the compromises required there in with the cylinder wrapper and cylinder shell. The motion bracket was much simpler, a drive to reduce as much 'toy' from the kit as possible.

Rear end details.


The Cartazzi springs and spring plates differ from the stock Gresley pattern, it would be very difficult to work up a casting that consistently fitted and looked fine enough to pass muster. In the end we took the stock spring, cutting off the pull rods and tabs to leave just the spring, new rods are fitted and passed through the spring plate and ovaloid snubbing rubbers added to the end. It's a bit of extra work for the builder but much more accurate.

Front end details.


Basic view of the front end with the horn guide castings fitted.

As a quick test, all the wheels, Cartazzi, Bissel and bogie assemblies were ported across, these are already built and have no changes from the last build. Those pages were already written and only needed page and figure numbers adjusted to match the rest of the document, all of which saves about three/four days work.





Tomorrow I'll start the overlays and main frame external details along with the cylinder carcasses.

 

[mickoo]

Moving on, the main frame overlays were added and pretty much all of the front end poky out bits added.



Main cylinder carcass, valve guide castings, stuffing gland, pressure relief valve, bogie wheel splashers and buffer spring gaitor bracket.







Next up is the slide bar bracket and slide bars as well as the piston front cover, though that will go on after the wrapper which will be near to the end of the build as it has a quite fragile and particularly nasty sharp fang at the front end. The Cillit Bang is doing it's best to show all the solder as well as turning perfectly good nickel silver into a salmon colour....pahh.

Time now to write the instructions up for this little lot

 

[P A D]

Hi Mick,
Looks nice and tidy as allways. I only see a very small slot in the cylinder rear face, so I take it the slide bars are castings not my laminated etchings as on the A3 and A4?
Has the top edge of the left hand cylinder top frame come adrift, or is meant to be clear of the main frame. I can't tell if the right one is the same or not.
Cheers,
Peter