Rob R
Western Thunderer
Yes, but when you have got it right, it is there for the next one...
Dave Holt
Western Thunderer
Simon.
I think you're right that you need to reduce the diameter of the large end of the conical section of the boiler as GWR locos appear to have a distinct step between boiler cladding and the firebox throat plate cladding, both at the sides and on the top - unlike Stanier & BR Standard taper boilers where the junction is flush in both planes. Just to confirn something mentioned previously, the large end of the cone is truly circular in a vertical plane, not oval as you pondered.
Dave.
I think you're right that you need to reduce the diameter of the large end of the conical section of the boiler as GWR locos appear to have a distinct step between boiler cladding and the firebox throat plate cladding, both at the sides and on the top - unlike Stanier & BR Standard taper boilers where the junction is flush in both planes. Just to confirn something mentioned previously, the large end of the cone is truly circular in a vertical plane, not oval as you pondered.
Dave.
simond
Western Thunderer
You know that thing about measure twice and cut once?
well, I didn’t get that wrong, I misread a dimension from the drawing which is very clearly 5’6” as 5’9”, carefully subtracted the 0.3mm sheet thickness twice and made the ring to suit. The dimension is perfectly clear, it’s just written vertically.
So now I will make a ring of 38.5 - 0.6 = 37.9, and adjust the cone to fit that.
The widest point of the firebox measures 41.1, that will give a step out of 1.3 or just shy of 2.25” both sides, which I think will look rather better.
well, I didn’t get that wrong, I misread a dimension from the drawing which is very clearly 5’6” as 5’9”, carefully subtracted the 0.3mm sheet thickness twice and made the ring to suit. The dimension is perfectly clear, it’s just written vertically.
So now I will make a ring of 38.5 - 0.6 = 37.9, and adjust the cone to fit that.
The widest point of the firebox measures 41.1, that will give a step out of 1.3 or just shy of 2.25” both sides, which I think will look rather better.
jonte
Western Thunderer
simond
Western Thunderer
Subassemblies. It’s the way to go.
the firebox and cab are screwed together with a couple of studs soldered inside the firebox, and nuts which will be hidden inside the backhead. On reflection, doing it the other way about, ie screws into tapped holes inside the firebox, would have been smarter, but we are where we are. In any case, the fit is pretty good between firebox and cab.
At this point I discovered that three of the washout plugs had not been well soldered and had come out during the jiffing session, and were lost in the utility room sink U-bend.
Fortunately I had three spares…. And it was all going so well. I went round all the plugs with the RSU and they ain’t coming out now. Lesson learned, blowlamp soldering inside the firebox is not reliable. The flux fizzes, the solder melts, but it doesn’t necessarily solder the bits together.
The revised cone of the boiler is a tight push fit on the ring I turned earlier, and the assembly is square, and true.
I’m still pondering fitting a nut inside the smokebox (how?!?) so I can solder the cab and firebox to the footplate, and screw the boiler & smokebox on. It’ll help painting, but the loco will not be lined, so maybe it’s making work.
I’ll leave it like this till tomorrow and make a decision then.
must remember to fix the motion plate to the footplate before fixing the boiler…
the firebox and cab are screwed together with a couple of studs soldered inside the firebox, and nuts which will be hidden inside the backhead. On reflection, doing it the other way about, ie screws into tapped holes inside the firebox, would have been smarter, but we are where we are. In any case, the fit is pretty good between firebox and cab.
At this point I discovered that three of the washout plugs had not been well soldered and had come out during the jiffing session, and were lost in the utility room sink U-bend.
Fortunately I had three spares…. And it was all going so well. I went round all the plugs with the RSU and they ain’t coming out now. Lesson learned, blowlamp soldering inside the firebox is not reliable. The flux fizzes, the solder melts, but it doesn’t necessarily solder the bits together.The revised cone of the boiler is a tight push fit on the ring I turned earlier, and the assembly is square, and true.
I’m still pondering fitting a nut inside the smokebox (how?!?) so I can solder the cab and firebox to the footplate, and screw the boiler & smokebox on. It’ll help painting, but the loco will not be lined, so maybe it’s making work.
I’ll leave it like this till tomorrow and make a decision then.
must remember to fix the motion plate to the footplate before fixing the boiler…
Attachments
jonte
Western Thunderer
simond
Western Thunderer
Been a game of two halves getting the splashers done. The front ones were normal, the middle ”paddle box” one is weird, but the one on the other side is normal, and the two that go through the cab front sheet are challenging, particularly the one on this side which has a cutout to clear the reach rod from the reversing pole.
i have done bits and pieces during the week, and then took much of it apart this afternoon and remade it. The motion bracket would not sit down over the front splashers, and the cab front sheet seems to be too high relative to the back ones, hence the annoying gap.
you could put the splashers on before fitting the firebox, but I think it would be challenging, so I did it the other way about, twice. The kit lacks simple “it goes here” datum marks to ensure that everything is in the right place first time. I really don’t want to dismantle the cab again…
apart from the gap in the front sheet, it does seem to be more-or-less there.
I think I might ignore it for a week or two.
The Hymek needs a stripe of pale green along the solebars, and some handrails, and I have a pal’s razor-edge railcar to fix. A buffer stock has gone awol, so I will draw and print a new one.
and the weather’s nice.
i have done bits and pieces during the week, and then took much of it apart this afternoon and remade it. The motion bracket would not sit down over the front splashers, and the cab front sheet seems to be too high relative to the back ones, hence the annoying gap.
you could put the splashers on before fitting the firebox, but I think it would be challenging, so I did it the other way about, twice. The kit lacks simple “it goes here” datum marks to ensure that everything is in the right place first time. I really don’t want to dismantle the cab again…
apart from the gap in the front sheet, it does seem to be more-or-less there.
I think I might ignore it for a week or two.
The Hymek needs a stripe of pale green along the solebars, and some handrails, and I have a pal’s razor-edge railcar to fix. A buffer stock has gone awol, so I will draw and print a new one.
and the weather’s nice.
paulc
Western Thunderer
Is the roof line and window beading parallel with the footplate and the rear edges of the cab vertical Simon ? If the answers yes the its just a bit of gap filling but if the answer is no then #&×% it .
simond
Western Thunderer
Thanks Paul.
The cab sides are vertical in both planes, and fit to the footplate. The front & rear edges are defined by the etch.
The cab front ditto, and the cab front is correctly aligned with the firebox, which appears to be correctly located relative to the footplate as well. The line of the footplate is defined by the hanging bars.
Annoyingly, the cab roof is not horizontal. Over the 150mm or so of the horizontal footplate, a ruler held in the gutter line rises by between 1.5 & 2 mm on the right side. On the left, it’s about a millimetre, so there is a twist in the roof too. 2/150 is around 0.75 degrees which is just about noticable.
The issue is alignment of cab side and cab front right at the start of assembling the cab. It needed a datum on the side and a datum on the front so they can be assembled exactly, there isn’t one, there can’t be, the side sheets are half etched. I mis-estimated the allowance to align the outer upper corner of the side sheet etch with the imaginary line extending the arc of the roof by something less than half a millimetre.
If I did get it wrong, it’s not by much!
So, apart from grumbling / deep depression / throw it in the bin, what to do about it?
As noted, the bottom edge of the cab side sheets is defined by the hanging bars and the footplate, so given the etches, the top edge is similarly fixed. The bottom edge of the front sheet sits on the footplate. There is the tiniest gap on the right, and it’s hard down on the left. So it does not want to go down further. The options for rebuilding the cab seem quite limited.
option 1. Ignore it. Can’t do that, it’ll glare at me for ever.
option 2. Scratchbuild new cab. No.
option 3. Unsolder cab, attempt to re-align, resolder. Not convinced that it would come out better than it is now.
option 4. Unsolder cab roof, attempt to level it by filing down the front sheet, or lifting the rear edge.
I’ll still have to fill the gaps over the splashers.
Maybe later, other stuff to do today.
Simon
The cab sides are vertical in both planes, and fit to the footplate. The front & rear edges are defined by the etch.
The cab front ditto, and the cab front is correctly aligned with the firebox, which appears to be correctly located relative to the footplate as well. The line of the footplate is defined by the hanging bars.
Annoyingly, the cab roof is not horizontal. Over the 150mm or so of the horizontal footplate, a ruler held in the gutter line rises by between 1.5 & 2 mm on the right side. On the left, it’s about a millimetre, so there is a twist in the roof too. 2/150 is around 0.75 degrees which is just about noticable.
The issue is alignment of cab side and cab front right at the start of assembling the cab. It needed a datum on the side and a datum on the front so they can be assembled exactly, there isn’t one, there can’t be, the side sheets are half etched. I mis-estimated the allowance to align the outer upper corner of the side sheet etch with the imaginary line extending the arc of the roof by something less than half a millimetre.
If I did get it wrong, it’s not by much!
So, apart from grumbling / deep depression / throw it in the bin, what to do about it?
As noted, the bottom edge of the cab side sheets is defined by the hanging bars and the footplate, so given the etches, the top edge is similarly fixed. The bottom edge of the front sheet sits on the footplate. There is the tiniest gap on the right, and it’s hard down on the left. So it does not want to go down further. The options for rebuilding the cab seem quite limited.
option 1. Ignore it. Can’t do that, it’ll glare at me for ever.
option 2. Scratchbuild new cab. No.
option 3. Unsolder cab, attempt to re-align, resolder. Not convinced that it would come out better than it is now.
option 4. Unsolder cab roof, attempt to level it by filing down the front sheet, or lifting the rear edge.
I’ll still have to fill the gaps over the splashers.
Maybe later, other stuff to do today.
Simon
Last edited:
simond
Western Thunderer
I think it’s parallel now.
Two things
The rearward extensions of the cab sides were slightly distorted, downwards, and as suspected the front and side were not quite aligned.
After tweaking the cab rear extensions, the top of the front sheet required a gentle dressing with the whizzy disc in the Proxxon, and I refitted the roof. It was still better on the other side, and it appeared that the roof itself just wasn’t sitting nicely on the side sheet despite two tight rubber bands holding it in place whilst I tried to teach it some manners with the hot stick.
I applied a little pressure with the RSU electrode and voila!
That’s cheered me up a bit
I’ve still got to fill the holes above the splashers, but I think I’ll give this a scrub and look at it again later.
Two things
The rearward extensions of the cab sides were slightly distorted, downwards, and as suspected the front and side were not quite aligned.
After tweaking the cab rear extensions, the top of the front sheet required a gentle dressing with the whizzy disc in the Proxxon, and I refitted the roof. It was still better on the other side, and it appeared that the roof itself just wasn’t sitting nicely on the side sheet despite two tight rubber bands holding it in place whilst I tried to teach it some manners with the hot stick.
I applied a little pressure with the RSU electrode and voila!
That’s cheered me up a bit
I’ve still got to fill the holes above the splashers, but I think I’ll give this a scrub and look at it again later.
paulc
Western Thunderer
Tho
Those RSU thingys are real handy for that sort of job . A zap of heat and things pop into place whereas a soldering iron has everything moving at the same time , a bit like spinning plates .
