4mm Brassmasters Black 5, 45232

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Lubricators and oil pipes done. I had to shorten the lubricator drive mechanism and elongate the locating holes inboard so that the drive arm, not part of the kit, aligned with the slot in the footplate and the top, rear edge of the lubricator body just cleared the boiler. The oil pipes are represented by 0.122 mm brass wire (about scale diameter), which pass through 0.5 mm o/d tubes set into the cast body to represent the gland nuts. All rather fiddly, to say the least. I'm not too sure exactly where these pipes were routed, apart from two from the axle-box lubricator, which run to the rear and disappear through two holes in the footplate. I gathered all the other pipes together behind the lubricators and bent the ends over the inside of the frames, just in front of the firebox. Thankfully, the RH injector delivery pipe clears the backs of the lubricators.
Cylinder lubricator steam heating pipe, with its shut-off cock and bracket, still to do.
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Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
The cylinder lubricator steam heating pipe has now been made and fitted. This completes the detailing of the footplate unit, although a bit more cleaning up of excess solder might be in order.
I had been struggling to find decent information regarding this arrangement so I am more than grateful to PAD for sending me some really useful photos he had taken of one of the preserved examples. Thank you PAD.
Pipes into and out of the cylinder lubricator, made from 0.2 mm tinned copper wire. Gland nuts represented by 0.5 mm o/d tube.
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The shut-off cock is an Alan Gibson flangeless handrail knob on a short length of 0.5 mm tube mounted to a small bracket made from thin N/S strip. The feed pipe is 0.33 mm brass and the outlet 0.2 mm.
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And an overall view showing the pipe run along the footplate. This is deliberately not dead straight as prototype photos show it to be generally a dog's hind leg.
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Adding weight to the boiler is next, I think.
Dave.
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
Hi Dave,
Glad the photos helped. Considering how small the part is, that's a cracking piece of work.
Cheers,
Peter
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Thanks for the kind comments.
I was wrong about having finished the footplate unit as I had overlooked the lubricator drive rods; still to do.
Not doing anything tonight as my legs have gone a bit numb. Nothing to do with the virus but might be more related to the 2/3 of a bottle of red wine I had with my evening meal!
Should be fine in the morning.
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
The omission of the lubricator drive rods has been rectified with some rather impressionistic representations - as seen in the photo. The real things had forked ends. I did this on my previous Black 5 but, to be honest, they looked a bit over scale so, on this model I simply flattened the ends of the brass wire used yo represent the rods and filed the resulting ends to shape. Better than nothing.
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Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Not too much to show for today's efforts. I'm preparing the boiler/firebox unit for permanent attachment to the footplate/cab assembly. The cut out in the bottom, to clear the gearbox has been slightly enlarged and neatened up. The top of the inside of the firebox, moulded as a semi-circle, has been ground away to flat and some lead sheet attached to provide a bit of weight at the back end.
Weight inside the boiler (me having forgotten to insert the cast weight provided before joining the boiler and firebox) is the very small diameter "liquid lead" shot, set in UHU glue and sealed with superglue. The space for the gearbox has been created by inserting a core made from plastic card and wrapped in cling-film which, I hope to goodness, will facilitate removal once the glue sets.
Here we are, waiting for the setting process. Scallops in the boiler are to clear the sand box filler pipes.
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Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Phew! Yes, the core did come out after an overnight setting period. Some lead shot had adhered to the cling-film and pulled away with it, but not too bad and the surface of the lead fill, which had not fully hardened, was able to be smoothed and is now fully curing. Despite the layer of film, the solvent in the UHU had apparently softened the plastic card and left a bobbly indent in the front face of the core, just about visible in the photo. This shows the resulting lead weight and the lead sheets fixed to the firebox roof. I'll seal the lead balls with paint or superglue to make sure no bits fall off into the gearbox.
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Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Just been out to clap, along with most of the neighbours. The least we can do to show appreciation of all the wonderful key workers.

Anyway, back to the truly inconsequential stuff.

The boiler unit has suffered a major disaster. The UHU glue I used to fix the lead shot has softened the resin it is made from, causing a large bulge and a longitudinal split to develop on the lower RHS, just in front of the top feed covers to beyond the next boiler band. In desperation I have bound a piece of curved brass sheet over the affected area in the hope it might be persuaded back to something like the right shape and allow filing, filling and other rectification work to give an acceptable profile and finish. I've drill a series of ventilation holes to allow solvent fumes to escape and will give it a few days before removing the splint.
If not, I'm faced with preparing the boiler out of another, unbuilt, kit. A lot of work to get to the finished state but, hopefully, I will be able to recover the various pipes and other details for re-use. If I have to go down this route, I'll definitely make sure I fit the cast boiler weight that I omitted last time. It will also leave me with a kit for a further loco with no boiler. I'll enquire if a replacement can be supplied or, possibly, the boiler off a Hornby model could be adapted?
Photo shows the bandaged boiler with the spare visible behind.
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Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Len, thanks for that suggestion. I'll get in touch with Brassmasters.
Sadly, the splint idea has not worked, as hoped, and the boiler remains badly distorted, with a significant bulge round about a third of the circumference, as shown in the photos.
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Consequently, there is no option but to use a replacement boiler. This will involve quite a bit of extra work but I have managed to save all the metallic attachments to re-use. So that's something to be glad about.
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I must admit, this setback has knocked the wind out of my sails a bit, so I decided to do something more positive (besides sitting out in the back garden in the lovely warm sunshine) and have managed to fit pick-ups to the centre driving wheels, which I had previously struggled to figure out how to achieve. This means I no longer have to also use the tender to provide adequate pick-ups.
Dave.
 

bogusman

Western Thunderer
So sorry to see this happen Dave. Hope brassmasters will be able to send you a replacement boiler.

Pete
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
So sorry to see this happen Dave. Hope brassmasters will be able to send you a replacement boiler.

Pete

Me too Dave. It must be soul destroying.

I wonder what the solvent is in the UHU to have such an effect. On the Finney 7 A4, I found that the resin boiler was resistant to cellulose thinners and the resin parts I'm using on the the Baureihe 86 aren't touched by the plastic weld (Methylene Chloride). Both of these solvents are pretty potent so one assumes that the Brassmasters resin is a different less solvent resistant formula to the Finney resin. If the firebox and smokebox are OK, perhaps you could scratch up the boiler from brass sheet. However you do it, good luck getting out of jail.
Cheers,
Peter
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Peter, I don't know about different resins being used by the two manufacturers, but I think the severity of my problem was just the shear quantity of adhesive used, such that it remained liquid for a much longer period than by just sticking two surfaced together. I attached the lead sheet inside the roof of the firebox with no ill effects whatsoever.
Not a great deal of modelling achieved over the Easter weekend, so far. Lots of time spent out in the back garden, enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. A reasonable amount of wine consumed, meals eaten and papers, magazines and book read (at a squint!).
However, in my re-found spirit of positivity, I have managed some progress with the loco.
Pick-ups have been provided for the previously isolated centre drivers by fixing copperclad strips to the centre horn keeps to attach thin brass wore pick-ups which bear on the back of the wheel tyres, behind the brake shoes. The pick-up wires are connected to the bus-bars by thin insulated wire.
The original front pick-ups kept getting caught during handling of the chassis, bent out of shape and, ultimately, removed altogether. These have now also been replaced by new versions, which bear on the tread of the wheels rather than on the back of them.
The connections to the motor have been modified and neatened and now run at a low level to the junction pads on the gearbox sides to avoid interference with the inside of the firebox and its lead weights.
All these element can be seen in these photos.BM_Blk5_45284_096.JPG
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The replacement boiler resin castings have been marked ready for cutting to clear the gearbox and the previously omitted cast boiler weight has been cut away for the same purpose. What a job that was. I initially used a razor saw but the material kept clogging the teeth. A junior hacksaw completed the task much easier. Should have used the right tool for the job, right from the start.
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On with the replacement boiler next.
Dave.
 

P A D

Western Thunderer
Good to see the jailbreak has begun already.

As to the right tools for the job I couldn't agree more. When it became apparent that the lock down was coming I cobbled together a few hand tools so I could build the plastic kit at home. My work bench is at my brother's house (two desks set at right angles) with a large array of tools accumulated over the years, plus the Unimat 3 lathe and Proxxon vertical drill. I just didn't have the will to pack it all up and bring it home so I could continue etched kit building, as I spent too many years building kits with inadequate tools and making do and couldn't face that again. Still it makes a change working in a different medium.
Cheers,
Peter
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
I don't believe it! No, I haven't turned into Victor Meldrew but my capacity for stupidity and incompetence seems to know no bounds.
Having prepared the boiler components, as previously shown, I glued them together with a thick grade superglue, as recommended in the kit, being careful to align the boiler and firebox. As I admired the nice joint I'd achieved, I realized to my horror that I had once again omitted to insert the cast weight. Aaaargh! Luckily, by quick action, I managed to break the joint and separate the two parts.
After inserting the weight, secured by a mixture of Blutac and superglue, the boiler and firebox were fixed together once more. I have to say, the joint is nowhere as good as the first time and some filling might be required prior to painting.
The inside of the firebox has been ground away using a rotary burr and engineer's scraper, to clear the motor and provide a flat top surface for the sheet lead weights.
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With the re-creation of the shallow scallops to clear the sand box fillers, the new boiler unit sits quite well onto the footplate unit whilst allowing good suspension movement. It's quite front end heavy, so some re-balancing will be required as the loco is completed.
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Now to start re-attaching the metal detailing parts.
Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
Some progress with fitting the metal details to the boiler, so I am nearly back to where I was before the great solvent disaster.
Brassmasters have responded very impressively with the prompt supply of a new replacement boiler for the other kit. Mind you, there's something slightly different about it! Got quite a surprise when I opened the package.
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Dave.
 

Dave Holt

Western Thunderer
The weather's been too nice to do much modelling, but the boiler has now been fixed to the footplate, the dome and top feed and smokebox door all attached with 5 minute epoxy. Still got a few bits to do to finish the loco. Then on with the tender.
The chimney shown is a temporary item, just loose fitted to give an idea. The chimney shape on Black 5's is quite simple but seems hard to catch the essence of it. The casting in the kit is nowhere near (probably the worst aspect of it) and I also sourced three other commercial products. None of them looks right to me, so I've arranged to have a couple custom made by a professional modeller.
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Dave.
 
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