7mm MOK BR Standard 4MT Tank

[P A D]

The pick ups are now back on and wired up.


And the backhead has had the dials added and thr floor painted. I added some checker plate infront of the fire door but there should also be the mechanism for the rocking grate levers. This unit has to stay out until after the glazing is added.


All the detail painting on the chassis and body are now done and the loco is now ready for lining and weathering.




Cheers,
Pete

 

[P A D]

Continuing with the lining fest, I've made a good start on the 4MT. This is the dedicated set from Fox. The instructions describe a method of applying the panel lining in one piece, by transferring the decal face down onto tracing paper, then from the tracing paper to the model. Sounds like a risky strategy, as if it goes wrong you loose a whole panel decal! Definitely not my cup of tea. I'd made a start cutting out the right side large panel in this image.


These complete panels were used to aid the positioning of the masking tape used to facilitate the application of the decals.


Like this.


And ready to begin. You dont need to have the tape along the diagonals as the horizontal strips of tape line those up.


First I applied the top corner at the front edge, then the bottom one.


Then the forward diagonal, followed by the upper left double right angle and upper left edge corner.


Then the bottom left hand corner, followed by the rear diagonal. Next the long upper horizontal straight at the top of the tank and finally the shorter horizontal straight between the diagonals at the bottom. Simples! Here I'd made a start on adding the masking tape for the bunker lining.


The panel decal as supplied is a little too short in the horizontal plane, which would have left too wide gaps at each end. Therefore I cut it to space it out and added infill strips top and bottom to fill the gaps. Again, each corner was added separately.


Again, application was straight forward and the result is pleasing. Unfortunately the boiler doesn't come off this model so the boiler bands will be a little more difficult than the 3 and 4P. Also the bands are too thin for the lining decals so I'm hoping to use some 4mm lining for those, when I cadge some off my brother. If I was building this model again I'd remove the boiler bands and either replace them with my own making or leave them off. I know some professional painters and other modelers prefer to leave them off and apply the lining direct to the boiler, but I've never tried that.

Handsome beast isn't it. Arguably the best looking British tank loco but I have a soft spot for the smaller LMS 3P myself.






So far so good, but I'm not counting any domestic fowl yet.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Dan Randall]

An excellent tutorial - great work Peter!


Regards

Dan

 

[Keith B]

Looking very nice, you must be proud of your achievements.
A question about the pick ups, what size screw do you use to fix the copper clad to the mounting plate, looks either 10 or 8 BA ??
I am thinking about using your idea instead of fixing the copper clad with epoxy and then having to fix the wires and pickups in situ.
Rgds Keith

 

[P A D]

Thank you Dan and Keith.

The copper clad fixing screws are 10 BA although occasionally I have used 12 BA. Anything bigger than 10 BA would be overkill. I think the main advantage of having the copper clad detachable is in making adjustment to the wiper position and tension. Also if you snag one accidentally when the body is off, it's easier to correct or replace if necessary.
Cheers,
Peter

 

[AdamF]

That is looking superb!

 

[dibateg]

Phew - good work with that lining Peter, I absolutely struggled with the specific lining sets. I leave it to the professionals now...

Regards
Tony

 

[P A D]

Thanks Tony.
I have to say I find it more stressful than the spraying. Here's the 4MT after adding the boiler band lining (4mm press fix). I still need to wipe the glue residues from the bunker and tank sides now that the decals are set.


Not correct of course but it passes muster.


Excuse the dust particles as I overlooked to brush it before taking these images.


It was tricky getting the lining on the front band behind the pipework on this side, but I got there in the end .


Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

This is the chosen prototype for the 4MT, for which I purchased a set of plates from Guilplates back when they were still trading. This was early days for the BR liveries and the power class number was still on the cab side. The image is from Brian Talbot's book on the BR standards (vol. 2).


So far I've competed the left hand side. No taking the "pink"! That's signal red in the buffer beams.






Once I get the other side done I'll fetle up the plates and get them on. Then I can varnish and lightly weather it as it looks a bit garish at the minute.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

Peter,

How have you got on with getting the backhead into the cab, I assume you've soldered the roof on. I had quite an issue with this when all the fittings were in their correct positions.

Tim

 

[P A D]

Hi Tim,
Yes the roof is soldered on. It didn't lend itself to being removable as on the Stanier 3 and 4P.

The backhead is soldered to the cab floor. It fits in from below and is a tight squeeze to get in. Once in place the floor is held with a pivoting strip of NS that is the locked with a screw. If you look back in the thread you can see how I did it, but I'll show it again after I've added the glazing when I'll put it back in.


Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

So after the tiresome task of marking out the perimeter of the lining on the left hand tank and bunker, the 4MT has caught up with the 3 and 4P.



I had one or two issues on this side, due entirely to my own stupidity and carelessness. The most notable of which was was applying the lining to the front footplate edge upside down! Fortunately, I realised straight after I had slid the transfer off the paper and was able to get it back on without damaging it. Needless to say some profanity ensued before I gathered my wits and rescued the decal.











Apart from some minor touching up that's all three tanks ready for varnishing and weathering. It was pretty daunting at the start having to paint and line three locos together, but in the end it was quite straight forward. I've got the plates for this one so I'll fettle them up and get them on.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[chigley]

cracking job Peter

 

[P A D]

Thank you chigley.

Got the plates fettled up and installed yesterday. Here it is on the Garden Wall branch.


This image is just gratuitous as you can't see any of the plates.


Now you can. I must paint the clamps on the cylinder drain pipes,


The bar on the coupling turnbuckle is the wrong way around and has been corrected.


I'm still waiting for replies from Railtec and Diane Carney for the 3 and 4P plates. Depending on the cost I may buy a set from both suppliers to see what they are like and compare for future reference. From images on the websites, they've got to be better than Guilplates which are a pain in the ass to fettle up.

Cheers,
Peter.

 

[Dave Holt]

Yet another cracking looking model, Peter. Truly an inspiration.
Dave.

 

[Paul Tomlinson]

I'm still waiting for replies from Railtec and Diane Carney for the 3 and 4P plates. Depending on the cost I may buy a set from both suppliers to see what they are like and compare for future reference. From images on the websites, they've got to be better than Guilplates which are a pain in the ass to fettle up.

Cheers,
Peter.

Peter, three super builds which are a treat to look at. Those plates from Guilplates might've been a faff to prepare, but the typeface is spot-on. There was a debate on the Gauge 0 Guild forum about the various offerings, which was very informative. If your chosen nos. were available from Severnmill, I'd have suggested them - but unfortunately they're not (40157 & 42558) . A company called Narrow Planet do bespoke etched plates at a reasonable cost, I've some from Railtec whose typeface IMO is a little "thin", like the temporary plates you've affixed to 40157. I think they deserve plates from Diane Carney, despite the cost. Cheers.

 

[Allen M]

Absolutely superb model of, I my opinion the best looking large tank loco ever, made better by the simple but elegant LNWR livery.
Upwards of 70 years ago I lusted after the Hornby Dublo model but never got one .

 

[P A D]

Paul,
Many thanks for the kind words and comments on the plate suppliers. I'll probably use Carney for one loco and Railtec for the other, just to see for myself.

Thanks to you Allen as well.
70 years ago was a year before I existed, so you must be a bit longer in the tooth than me. In my teens I used to lust after the Wren branded version in Carter's in Bradford, but like you I never got one. In my twenties I bought a second hand 3 rail Dublo 4MT long after they were out of print and converted it to 2 rail. Based on the drawing in Ian Beattie's book (which is incorrect) I cut the body about half way along the side tanks and extended it by 4mm. I was really chuffed with the result but a good while later I found out that Beattie's drawing was a scale foot too long!

Cheers,
Peter

 

[P A D]

Now the 4MT is varnished and all the wheels are on the track, saving a call to the breakdown gang.











Cheers,
Peter

 

[AdamF]

Lovely!