Nick Dunhill
Western Thunderer
...well louvred panel in cab has arrived and is installed. Locos test built and test run for a final time, stripped, washed and packed off to Ian Rathbone for paint. I'm sure it'll be ready by next week!
Nick Dunhill's workbench CR 0-4-4T Wrexham Tanks
- Thread starter Nick Dunhill
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Nick Dunhill
Western Thunderer
Nick Dunhill
Western Thunderer
Before I went on my hols I had collected the painted models from Ian Rathbone. So now begins the terrifying and painstaking process of putting it all together. Ian has made a fab job of the paint so I am determined not to scratch it anywhere.
I began by assembling the chassis. these have to run perfectly so a lot of care was taken to remove all the paint from the bearing surfaces.
As you can see from this YouTube clip I did manage to get it running nicely. I had some problems with pick ups. The springs in the plungers introduced too much resistance in the wheel rotation. This caused the axleboxes to try and climb out of the guides, whilst being bench tested upside down, in one direction. I stripped the 4 mm Alan Gibson plungers and fitted softer springs. This of course caused the wires to limit the movement of the plunger. I tried wipers, but there wasn't enough space to get a long run of phosphour bronze wire so they were too stiff too. I eventually got the plungers to work nicely by anchoring a length of wire on a bit of PCB glued to the chassis side.
As you can see the motor is mounted on a layshaft in the ashpan and drives the crank axle via a set of watch makers gears. DLOS helped me design the system and got one of his horologist mates to make the gears. They have a clock style tooth pattern that is very forgiving of movement in the application. David then built crank assemblies for me substituting one of the webs for a gear, genius! I wish David was still alive to see the fruits of his efforts, I'm sure he would have enjoyed seeing it in action.
Then the body assembly. The crew are Andy Stadden figures expertly painted by Evan Davies.
More pics here; nick dunhill
I'll hopefully finish assembly early next week and crack on with the Z.
I began by assembling the chassis. these have to run perfectly so a lot of care was taken to remove all the paint from the bearing surfaces.
As you can see from this YouTube clip I did manage to get it running nicely. I had some problems with pick ups. The springs in the plungers introduced too much resistance in the wheel rotation. This caused the axleboxes to try and climb out of the guides, whilst being bench tested upside down, in one direction. I stripped the 4 mm Alan Gibson plungers and fitted softer springs. This of course caused the wires to limit the movement of the plunger. I tried wipers, but there wasn't enough space to get a long run of phosphour bronze wire so they were too stiff too. I eventually got the plungers to work nicely by anchoring a length of wire on a bit of PCB glued to the chassis side.
As you can see the motor is mounted on a layshaft in the ashpan and drives the crank axle via a set of watch makers gears. DLOS helped me design the system and got one of his horologist mates to make the gears. They have a clock style tooth pattern that is very forgiving of movement in the application. David then built crank assemblies for me substituting one of the webs for a gear, genius! I wish David was still alive to see the fruits of his efforts, I'm sure he would have enjoyed seeing it in action.
Then the body assembly. The crew are Andy Stadden figures expertly painted by Evan Davies.
More pics here; nick dunhill
I'll hopefully finish assembly early next week and crack on with the Z.
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Nick Dunhill
Western Thunderer
And here they are finished, plunger pick up issues resolved (hopefully, they really are my Kryptonite!) The DCC stuff needs tuning up when the De Boer (Modelyard of Leeds) household is free of Coronavirus, then they can go off to their new home.
There's more of my awful pictures here; nick dunhill
Why does every particle of dust appear like a pebble in photography? Anyway hopefully I'll be able to post some of Ian Rathbone's studio shots when he gets the locos back.
There's more of my awful pictures here; nick dunhill
Why does every particle of dust appear like a pebble in photography? Anyway hopefully I'll be able to post some of Ian Rathbone's studio shots when he gets the locos back.
Nick Dunhill
Western Thunderer
Here's a few pics of the finished models taken by Ian Rathbone.
There are more pics here; nick dunhill
Thanks to Richard Abbey, Mick Davies, Ian Rathbone, Frazer Brown and Laurie Griffin.
There are more pics here; nick dunhill
Thanks to Richard Abbey, Mick Davies, Ian Rathbone, Frazer Brown and Laurie Griffin.