davey4270
Western Thunderer
201. Dismantling.
47655 is seen here at Upper Bank “coal stage” in early British Railways days. The shelter was not provided to improve the engine men’s comfort but as a black out precaution during WWII. At first glance it appears that the locomotive has a replacement 3 link coupling but closer scrutiny reveals a lack of vacuum pipes and no holes for them in the buffer plank. Several of these locomotives were built as steam brake only shunting machines similar to the GWR 67xx panniers.
A Collector’s Club Jinty was obtained from said source for the princely sum of £150. This early BR logo was only obtainable from here as a limited edition. Incidentally, the first model purchased ran like a dog with a wooden leg. This was returned and apparently, according to Dapol, the replacement was the last one available. I suspect that they say this to stop you making a further return if it’s faulty. Anyway, I could have repaired the first one but there is a clue in the RTR description so back it went. Even this one could have been better but an hour or so on a local test track improved matters somewhat.
The untouched Jinty is seen here next to my Barry F class. Doesn’t the F look smart in black!
I was advised by a good friend, who will remain nameless, that the easiest way to dismantle the Jinty was to carefully remove it from the packaging and drop it from exactly 6 feet onto a concrete floor! I chose not to heed this advice and instead removed the body/chassis retaining screws as indicated in the instructions. Take some care here as there is a wire from the circuit board to the firebox light. This needs to be unplugged.
Removal of the remaining screws allows the body to come apart. There is some glue but this easily pulls apart. It appears to be a sort of contract glue that hasn’t hardened. Watch out for front cab door handles which are loose and a wire from the brake ejector on the boiler side which will also fall off. I will double check but I presume that the ejector will also have to be removed.
The rather neat fitted screw couplings need to be replaced and are retained by a small coil spring which hooks in the tail of the coupling and also on a cast spigot just behind the buffer plank. This is easily removed and I had a set of Premier Components 3 link couplings which have exactly the same shank dimensions. Rather than remove the spigots, I shortened the new couplings to match the Dapol specimens but drilled a 0.7mm hole through the shank just behind the buffer plank. This is visible above half way along the shank. This will be retained by a small piece of wire Loktited in.
The chimney pulls out from the smoke box and is only attached by some more Chinese glue. It has a brass body on a plastic base and there is a noticeable “groove” where they meet. I Araldited the two together and hopefully the excess Araldite will act as a filler. I also squashed some of the Araldite into the vacuum pipe fixing holes from the back to act as a filler.
47655 is seen here at Upper Bank “coal stage” in early British Railways days. The shelter was not provided to improve the engine men’s comfort but as a black out precaution during WWII. At first glance it appears that the locomotive has a replacement 3 link coupling but closer scrutiny reveals a lack of vacuum pipes and no holes for them in the buffer plank. Several of these locomotives were built as steam brake only shunting machines similar to the GWR 67xx panniers.
A Collector’s Club Jinty was obtained from said source for the princely sum of £150. This early BR logo was only obtainable from here as a limited edition. Incidentally, the first model purchased ran like a dog with a wooden leg. This was returned and apparently, according to Dapol, the replacement was the last one available. I suspect that they say this to stop you making a further return if it’s faulty. Anyway, I could have repaired the first one but there is a clue in the RTR description so back it went. Even this one could have been better but an hour or so on a local test track improved matters somewhat.
The untouched Jinty is seen here next to my Barry F class. Doesn’t the F look smart in black!
I was advised by a good friend, who will remain nameless, that the easiest way to dismantle the Jinty was to carefully remove it from the packaging and drop it from exactly 6 feet onto a concrete floor! I chose not to heed this advice and instead removed the body/chassis retaining screws as indicated in the instructions. Take some care here as there is a wire from the circuit board to the firebox light. This needs to be unplugged.
Removal of the remaining screws allows the body to come apart. There is some glue but this easily pulls apart. It appears to be a sort of contract glue that hasn’t hardened. Watch out for front cab door handles which are loose and a wire from the brake ejector on the boiler side which will also fall off. I will double check but I presume that the ejector will also have to be removed.
The rather neat fitted screw couplings need to be replaced and are retained by a small coil spring which hooks in the tail of the coupling and also on a cast spigot just behind the buffer plank. This is easily removed and I had a set of Premier Components 3 link couplings which have exactly the same shank dimensions. Rather than remove the spigots, I shortened the new couplings to match the Dapol specimens but drilled a 0.7mm hole through the shank just behind the buffer plank. This is visible above half way along the shank. This will be retained by a small piece of wire Loktited in.
The chimney pulls out from the smoke box and is only attached by some more Chinese glue. It has a brass body on a plastic base and there is a noticeable “groove” where they meet. I Araldited the two together and hopefully the excess Araldite will act as a filler. I also squashed some of the Araldite into the vacuum pipe fixing holes from the back to act as a filler.
