Richard's Workbench - Adams' Radial Tank

Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Adams's locomotive designs were some of the most elegant ever. I long to build a live steam Radial Tank and a T3 in 1/32. They are both on my "before I go" list.
 

Neill

Active Member
Lovely workmanship. I'm sure the kit is superb, and this is showing just how well it can be built.
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
Thank you folks.

I'm on the inside valve gear now. I like to be able to remove the inside valve gear if possible. The valve chest end (easily) and the support bracket (with difficulty) are removable, but there seemed to be no method in the kit for making the weigh shaft and bearings removable. After some thought, I decided that the whole shebang could be made removable if I made a carrier linking the 3 parts which incorporated the weigh shaft between the bearings. All that was needed was 2 bits of scrap etch cutting to profile and some nifty soldering to keep it all square.

This pic shows the completed unit from above. The lifting links are loose.

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and from the underside

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There is a bit of brilliant design in the method of locating the front end. Two tabs at the top engage in slots in the main chassis, while at the bottom, the covers extend below the bottom front and back and engage with the rear of the cylinder etch. The whole thing just drops in - no screws needed - and is trapped in place when the body is attached.

P1010450a.jpg

Now it's just a straightforward assembly job:)

Richard
 

Paul Cambridge

Western Thunderer
I’m green with envy. Back in 1988 I built an Adams Radial from a Shedmaster kit. It was little more than an aid to scratch building. I’m not sure if Martin Finney had designed and marketed his first kit then, let alone the Radial. The level of detail on the Finney kit is something else. It is not possible to compare what I built with what is being built here. Oh, well such is life.....

The craftsmanship is amazing :D.
 

Paul Cambridge

Western Thunderer
The old Shedmaster kits are blown up jidenco kits I do believe, the frames are almost useless just as the jidenco ones were.
That is my understanding Peter as well. And yes, the frames were useless. They required a lot of work to make a functioning chassis. For my O2 and Beattie Well tank, I scratch built the frames. The Finney Adams Radial came about 10 years too late for me.

What I want to ask is how does Richard achieve such neat soldering?
 

Peter Cross

Western Thunderer
You've must out badly really then. With the radial and the better 02 from Jim. Mind you the best bits of Shedmaster/Griffin kits are the lovely castings. In the cost of their kits I do not think they charge much for the etches. As I spent £100+ each for the 0395 and G6 and I fabricated half of what they supply.
 

Dikitriki

Flying Squad
A few quick pics grabbed today in the gloom!

I have stripped the chassis, and it reduces to this:

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and finished off the backhead. There's quite a lot going on for such a small backhead, especially as there are several pipes going through the spectacle plate which have to align with those on the outside.

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The cab dials and pipework I have attached to the spectacle plate. You'll never see the join :) .

A big tidy and catch up with some paperwork, then on to the next project...it's nice to get one finished.

Richard
 
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