7mm A Pair of Piercy’s Finest

7mmMick

Western Thunderer
So whilst Hogwarts Castle is away for painting the next thing onto the bench is a prototype I have a huge love for. In addition I’ve always wanted to build this kit as for years I’ve heard good things about them. The kit is the original Piercy B1, with brass boiler and lucky old me gets to build two at the same time. Well one really as one has already been well built by the owner and just requires a rejig of the chassis. It was originally built with rocking beams and has not been as successful has hoped so a rebuild to sprung hornblocks are the order of the day. I have a number of pictures to work from and can post one here to whet appetites;
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Here’s 61167 working an express on the Woodhead. The other loco (which is already mostly finished) is 61166.

So to the builds. 1166 was stripped right back down to access the hornblocks and set up the new ones. Unfortunately lots more parts than planned dropped off. No surprises really as a lot of the parts are white metal and the heat needed on the hornblocks just did away with the epoxy used, not to worry though, easily cleaned up and fitted again later. Here’s the two frames stripped right back. 1166 is nickel silver and 1167 is brass, not sure why, a different batch/production year maybe?
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Hornblocks are from Finney7 and 12 were prepared, the coupling rods are premier and I’ve used the lovely Ragstone axle box springs, which are a great improvement on what the kit supplies A124A7F0-C78F-4A9A-8B20-5ED9CCF6F2F0.jpeg

Both sets were fitted and all ran well with no binding. So onto brake gear. The kit cross beams and hanger brackets are lost wax cast and very nice indeed but the brake blocks are white metal. Not ideal so I’ve opted for Finney7 plastic brake blocks. The hangers are etched from David Andrews with the blocks removed and the plastic ones added. Much better, they can be fitted close to the tyre and no worries about shorting.
99BB01FC-5ACB-4BCA-8C4D-8DD1E377BA74.jpeg The brake gear is made removable as both models have the superb Harris wheels. The lost wax hanger brackets were tapped 10Ba and a bolt had its head removed and a slot cut to assist removal when required. Very discreet and will not be noticed when painted
And a close up of one fitted;4D3ADA58-64AC-415C-B7B2-670B083BB389.jpeg
And some final shots of progress. 1166 is coming along nicely with 1167 not far behind;
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AJC

Western Thunderer
I recall the ads for these from copies of the Gauge O Gazette (and later, one that Bob Alderman built), and being quite impressed at the apparent quality - though I do rather like B1s. So there’s an element of vicarious enjoyment to this. The extra effort to get the brakes close to the wheels is well worth it, most impressive.

Adam
 

michael080

Western Thunderer
Mick,

the Harris wheels are impressive. Do the counter balance castings belong to the wheels or are they part of the kit? Never saw something like that. It looks much better than the typical etched dummies.

Michael
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
Mick,

the Harris wheels are impressive. Do the counter balance castings belong to the wheels or are they part of the kit? Never saw something like that. It looks much better than the typical etched dummies.

Michael

Michael,
At first I thought Mick had filled in the gaps with filler, but I see what you mean. Let's see what Mick comes back with. Maybe an etched weight with fold over segments at the top to slot between the spokes.
Cheers,
Peter
 

7mmMick

Western Thunderer
:))
Hi Mick

Now I'm jealous - 2 Mexborough B1's!
My late dad & Uncle Fred drove both occasionally.
Here's 61166 at Mexborogh with an RCTS South Yorkshire Tour on 11th May 1952. (Copyright unknown)


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I want one.
Are they both for a client?

Cheers

Tim

TheSnapper, A moment ago Edit Report
Reply

I can’t see the image Tim, I’m afraid. I do know what you mean though, I’d love one! Especially 61166 as I’ve seen a lovely picture of her at Botanic Gardens in the early fifties, which is right up my street. Unfortunately they are both models of a client. I’m confident that the Finney7 kit will better these superb Piercy ones so I’m happy to wait for it’s release, although there’s that many B1’s I’d like to build that worked around Doncaster and the East Riding I’ll end up with a hand full:))

Mick,

the Harris wheels are impressive. Do the counter balance castings belong to the wheels or are they part of the kit? Never saw something like that. It looks much better than the typical etched dummies.

Michael

Herr Flick has beat me to it, but to add when I saw them in the kit it took a moment for the penny to drop what they were. They look like kids sweets! It’s the first time I’ve seen cast balance weights and I have to say I’m impressed, far better than an etched representative. I’ll see if I can convince the F7 lads to use the idea in the new B1??
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P A D

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick,
The weights look nice but I think there are some gaps. Couldn't your design maestro come up with some etchings with fold over segments and a backing piece? It might give an even better result. I know Dikitriki and others have filled the gaps with filler and achieved excellent results, but that seems a bit of a chore.
Cheer,
Peter
 

Dog Star

Western Thunderer
Absolutely Tim, just like this one :) .

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In fact, as the GCR had just two of this type then you can model the entire class :thumbs: .
[GCR class 8C, then LNER class B1 until re-classified as B18... ]
 

7mmMick

Western Thunderer
Hi Mick,
The weights look nice but I think there are some gaps. Couldn't your design maestro come up with some etchings with fold over segments and a backing piece? It might give an even better result. I know Dikitriki and others have filled the gaps with filler and achieved excellent results, but that seems a bit of a chore.
Cheer,
Peter

I think even the small gaps could be filled with some fine milliput and would still give a better look than the etch. I think the cast model version represents the prototype cast version well. Im not sure that a folded etch would look too square ? One for discussion with the team I reckon,

Mick
 

michael080

Western Thunderer
The weights look nice but I think there are some gaps.

It would probably be sufficient to put some milliput into the gaps of the casting before pushing them onto the spokes. The milliput fills all gaps, so that any overflow can be easily removed. That will probably also fix the castings at the same time.
These counter balance weights could be also be manufactured with a 3d-printer. :cool::cool:

Filling the gaps with Milliput only is no fun and the result is not very convincing.

IMG_20190927_173337sml.jpg

Michael
 
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P A D

Western Thunderer
And thinking about it further, the weights are curved so I assume a fold over segment wouldn't work, but maybe Mickoo could offer his thoughts on that.

Mick, Michael, you've convinced me of the benefit of the castings.

Cheers,
Peter
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
The B1 was (and is) a very handsome loco rather over shadowed by the Black 5. Wish there were a few more.

My dad used to travel a lot by train in the 40's, 50's and 60's and always maintained the Thompson B1's were far superior to Black 5's. Living at Stamford he had the opportunity to travel to London either via Essendine on the GN or via Manton Junction/Glendon Junction on the Midland.

He always told me the story when he used to travel from St Pancras - if he saw Black 5 at the head of the train he knew it was going to be late!
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Waaaay ahead of y'all, when Mick told me about these at Kettering it didn't take many pints and doodling on beer mats to realise they'd be perfect for 3D printing.

The beauty of a 3D print is that you can tailor the spoke slots to fit almost perfectly onto the wheels.

I have a Finney7 47xx going across the bench right now, it also has Harris cast wheels and one is expected to use etched balance weights and if you're so inclined, fill the gap with Milliput.

These (47xx) will be the first test wheels with 3D printed weights, this way the outer face of the weight should be perfectly 90° to the ground and not tilted as with etched covers glued onto tapered spokes.
 

adrian

Flying Squad
The beauty of a 3D print is that you can tailor the spoke slots to fit almost perfectly onto the wheels.
Just an idle thought on this. Would it be possible with the right plastic to make it a tight fit on the spokes and then for metal wheels you could heat up the wheels and then push the weights on, with the heat then they would mould to the shape of the spoke?
 

SimonT

Western Thunderer
Mick,
I have printed balance weights on a 52XX but didn't do this bit inside the spokes. I was trying to capture the correct look on the outside where the weights protrude beyond the front face of the rim but have a fillet that makes the edge of the weight flush with the rim.
IMG_0288.JPG
In true Swindon form, the fillet is different on each class! The information doesn't appear on any GA so you will need to do it by eye from some photos. The photo does make me realise how massive and wrong those bosses are.
Simon
 
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