7mm Finney7 - Drummond-boiler Adams Radial

[Steph Dale]

Afternoon all,

Well, I guess it's time for me to break cover. Having seen Mickoo's Bulleid Light Pacific, 7mmMick's M7 and Dikitriki's Princess Coronation it was time for me to see what I made of one of Martin Finney's kits.

I built an M7 and T9 many moons ago in P4, so time for something different. I'm going to be working through an Adams 'Radial' tank, this one including a detail variant; a Drummond boiler.

There were a couple of these boilers built for the Radials in 1907 to provide spares for the class. They must have worked well as they both made it through to Nationalisation and both were carried at various times by all three of the survivors on the Lyme Regis branch, as well as a fourth loco. This variant has not been available from Martin Finney before and so I started work on a fret and backhead pattern to cut down the amount of work required for a builder to attempt the conversion.

The distinguishing features of these boilers are the dome-mounted safety valves, which is a typical feature of all Drummond boilers. These can be seen clearly in this picture of my intended loco, 30582.

I'll drop in pictures of the other parts as I go, but here's some views of the frets. First up the chassis, 28thou nickel-silver, exactly as Martin designed it. This is most of the chassis and also includes boiler formers:


All the following frets are in 16thou brass (to allow for polished brass bits on the finished model where required), most parts are bodywork related, but there are also a number of chassis details.

And below are the new fret(s). At the top of the image, the small fret will allow us to offer the 'Drummond boiler for Adams locos' backhead as a separate item which I hope will be useful if you're doing such a loco. To the best of my knowledge it's not available elsewhere in the trade.

Below that the main fret contains (from right hand end, clockwise):
Boiler wrapper to save patching around the firebox and fitting of new boiler band cleats.
The circles are parts to allow a loco missing it's cover plate behind the smokebox to be modelled - as 30582 was when withdrawn. Surrounding them are various small Drummond cab fittings.
Upper left is the boiler joining piece including various cleat positions depending upon which loco you're modelling.
Next to it are the semi-circular cab-front beading, a set of Drummond handwheels and two (unfortunately miss-etched - this will be solved!) firehole doors.
There's also a new cab front, with the positions of the different cab front fittings. Again, this saves having to patch and drill the original part:

There'll be more shortly, at the moment the important thing is to check that the new boiler forms correctly, that the backhead etches and castings fit each other and that the cab front is dimensionally the same as those provided to Martin's artwork, plus of course I need to check that there aren't any other errors I need to catch! Once I'm certain it all works as it should this variant will be made available - hopefully very soon.

I'll also be taking a good few pictures as I go. Some will appear here and others are to help with providing photos for new instructions.

Steph

 

[Dikitriki]

You're lucky with that photo of your chosen engine. It's not often the lighting in period photos is such that you can clearly see the chassis.

Richard

 

[Steph Dale]

Hehe, yes, that weathering will be fun. I also managed to find a very clear photo showing the back of the smokebox, so doing the uncovered boiler/smokebox ring was fairly simple. Once I'd got over the novelty of genuinely counting rivets!

Steph

 

[Dog Star]

The circles are parts to allow a loco missing it's cover plate behind the smokebox to be modelled - as 30582 was when withdrawn.

I also managed to find a very clear photo showing the back of the smokebox, so doing the uncovered boiler/smokebox ring was fairly simple.

Well I shall ask.

If I do not know what I am looking for, then looking for something that is not there is going to be difficult... .

So what and where?

 

[Steph Dale]

Graham,
In that photo you can see rivets around the back of the smokebox. In reality this is a flange on the front of the boiler barrel that joins the tube plate to the smokebox.
As built, Adams and Drummond locos have a cover over this flange which was not fitted to some locos in later life.
Steph

 

[Ressaldar]

Am watching this with interest as one of these might be coming over the horizon some time soon

cheers

Mike

 

[makhis]

Not in the same class as the Finney7 but here's my scratch built 045 built over 40 years ago.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Well, I guess it's time for me to break cover.

Blimey! you mean you're actually going to finish a loco ? You've nailed your colours firmly to the mast now. I'll be watching with interest.

as well as a fourth loco

I thought there were only three locos. Two from the SR and the third bought back by the SR from the EKR. Or was there an unofficial fourth loco retained as a spares pool?

(unfortunately miss-etched...)

Is that mis-etched as in etched incorrectly or missing all together? Or the well known daughter of Mr & Mrs Etched......

 

[warren haywood]

Steph, is this coming for painting, if so which decade should I book it in for

 

[Steph Dale]

Mike, Ah yes, I'd forgotten you were back on the steamers.

Mr Makhis, very nice too! Mine won't be quite so pretty, just lined black for me.

Dave, Warren, you couple of charmers yes I'm expecting to finish this one. It'll be a staged build as I work round various jobs to get the original kits back in production.

Dave, you're right about the three Lyme Regis survivors, but there was also a fourth loco that carried one of the Drummond boilers from new through to the late 1920s, IIRC.

The etching problem was just a fill that crept out of its box. Miss Etched I'm sure is still as lovely as she ever was...

Steph

 

[Steph Dale]

Couple of bits of test fiddling this evening.

I rolled the boiler to an approximation of the correct diameter and folded up, then formed the join piece. The latter part was only formed in that way because I needed to check fit; it explains the 'lumpy' appearance and for anyone looking at building the kit I'd suggest rolling it then folding up the cleats:


The good news is that it does all fit quite nicely and can be held in place with just a couple of dinky clips:


There are a couple of things to note, 1. the extra cleats can come off after the boiler has been soldered and formers fitted, and 2. you may notice some of the holes in the boiler look a little large. These will have tube fitted so that the boiler fittings can easily be glued in place after painting. If you go back to the photo of the fret in my first post you can see the pilot holes for the fittings, so you can drill them to suit your construction methods.

I also had a fiddle with one of the firedoors to check it fitted the new backhead casting. Which it does, pleasingly, even though it's just been folded up and dropped in place. This is a very raw whitemetal casting straight out of the mould, so it looks a little 'flat'. You may notice that the backhead is set up in mirror to that fitted to Mick's M7, here; the Adams locos are right hand drive, Drummond locos left hand drive:


That's it for the moment, next job will be to check over the new cab front with those originally provided. Hopefully then I can think about actually soldering some parts together!

Steph

 

[Steph Dale]

This evening's progress didn't turn out to be the cab, I thought I'd finish the boiler first.

Doesn't look too bad from this angle although I've plainly not been using the Finney7 quantum solder; that splodge over the front of the firebox is flat and smooth, but covers a wrinkle where I lent on the spacer as I was soldering it in. Apparently that part of my workbench ( I work on a sheet of plywood) was a bit lumpy and marked the wrapper. A dollop of solder and a rub down with a 10" file wrapped in 600grit wet and dry (used wet) solved the problem, but it'll irritate me until the model is painted:


This angle shows the view from the inside with all three supplied spacers visible. Good news is that they fitted without hassle so the new wrapper works as it should with the existing parts. You can also see where I've added the lengths of tube for the whistle and injector steam valves to pop into after painting. You'll also note that some of the cleats have gone and those remaining have been finished with short lengths of 0.45 brass wire:


And here's a view from the other direction showing, in addition to the supplied spacers, an extra one; this is home-brewed and will mount the speaker for the DCC sound. An ESU 28mm speaker will fit here in due course. The tube mounting for the clacks goes the whole way through the boiler from one side to the other, although it can't be seen here so you'll have to trust me it's in there. Like the splodge and the other tube lengths it's been finished back to the boiler surface using 600 grit wet and dry, wrapped around a 10" file:


I'm happy with that so that's it for this evening, more in a day or three. Maybe even the cab front.

Steph

 

[mickoo]

Steph,

Clever idea about the tubes for fixing smaller parts, an idea I'll plagiarise freely

MD

 

[Steph Dale]

Mick,

I don't think it's original, but a trick I started when building HO German stuff; as you know, that has a lot of vulnerable plumbing. In this case it's also allowed the speaker chamber to be completely sealed which is very desirable.

I may use the same trick elsewhere in the model if I spot somewhere convenient to put some liquid lead for ballast. Smokebox perhaps? Cylinders?

Steph

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Steph

Are you building this with split axles?

 

[adrian]

You'll also note that some of the cleats have gone and those remaining have been finished with short lengths of 0.45 brass wire:

Just curious - why were the extra cleats included in the first place? The instructions seem to indicate that the boiler bands are in the same position for all 4 types so I'm wondering why the extra cleats and holes in the boiler were required. Also are the boiler bands just going to be transfers rather than thin strip soldered on?

 

[Steph Dale]

Dave,
Yep, I tend to use split axles for any locos I build these days. I had a good look at what's required yesterday and doing the bogie and driving wheels seems straightforward. I'll have a look at the radial truck in more detail when I get to that stage; the design is different to that used in your E4, and I can't remember how Dad did his Radial so I can't immediately borrow either solution. Four axle pick up may be enough in any case.

Adrian,
It appears that some of the locos with this boiler had boiler bands in different positions, by selecting which cleats are retained the options can be covered.
The bands themselves can be reproduced in a number of ways, although I'm no fan of soldering on thin strip myself so tend to use tape of some form or another. Copper tape I find is particularly effective for unlined boiler bands.

On 30582 the bands are lined so one way or another they'll go on at the painting stage.

Steph

 

[dibateg]

There is one of these in my build queue, so I shall be watching with interest Steph!

 

[Steph Dale]

There is one of these in my build queue, so I shall be watching with interest Steph!

Tony,

Are you waiting for a Drummond boiler version, or are you going to be doing the original kit version(s) ?

Steph

 

[oldravendale]

Dave,
Yep, I tend to use split axles for any locos I build these days. I had a good look at what's required yesterday and doing the bogie and driving wheels seems straightforward. I'll have a look at the radial truck in more detail when I get to that stage; the design is different to that used in your E4, and I can't remember how Dad did his Radial so I can't immediately borrow either solution.

I used split axle pick up on the bogie but not on the driving wheels. The thought of the complications of a split axle on the driven axle and another in the vicinity of the inside valve gear did not fill me with delight, so pick up from the driving wheels is from wipers on the backs of the wheels. I'm not sure whether I did the radial truck. I'll try to find my notes and/or take a photo.

B