7mm The Derby Line - Rolling Stock

[Rob Pulham]

Hi Tony,

That's something I still need to sort for mine. Can you point me at which castings you used?

I agree with you and Heather on the Character of the loco. The GNR locos had very pleasing lines.

 

[dibateg]

I modified these castings, but I can't remember where they came from...


The brakes were a fiddle as the spacers are clearly more suited to the 'OO' frames. I missed out the turnbuckle adjusters as they cannot realistically be seen and I wanted the arrangement to be more robust. Just the sandpipes and outriggers to put on..


The scruffy valve gear unit. Front mounting hole in the middle at the front there. Side mountings at the top of the motion plate flange. The crossheads and con rods go in after this unit is fitted to the frames.

 

[dibateg]

The J6 is pretty well complete now - although there is quite a lot of work on the frames to do once it comes to pieces again. The track test went well, although she was a little tight on a 6' curve, so I had to take some washers out from the leading axle.


I wonder if the cab had seats? The K2 I have does.. I'll get to painting it in the new year when the weather warms up.
All the best for 2021 folks!

 

[dibateg]

It's been a little cold in the railway room, so I've been tinkering with a few projects and dug out this Connoisseur Macaw H. It is a little basic - so I've added the lashing eyes and tarpaulin hooks. There are some long folds to do on this etch. I replaced some of the trussing with drawn brass angle. Just the stantions to sort out.


34091 Weymouth the boomerang loco is back for some light repairs and modifications. The cab doors are a one piece etch that stiffly catch on every thing in the closed position, so I've cut them up and folded them back. It's like trying to take a photo in a cave with the low light levels at the moment, so my handheld light has made the green of the doors look very light, in fact it's the same colour as the body.. The insides of the doors are painted black... Next to give her a test run and packed away... will she return..?

 

[dibateg]

I've started tinkering around with this kit as a background task and have made a start on the frames. This kit has been sitting in the cupboard for a good few years and is the DJH rework of the Piercy kit that comes in a huge box. There is a lot more white metal in the kit than I'd like and although they are nicely cast, I'd be a bit disappointed if I'd spent £656 on a new kit. I've already had a bag of lost wax castings arrive from Ragstone. I've made up the bogie and cut out the frames for Slaters hornblocks. With some careful cutting I was able to make the coupling rods forked.

 

[dibateg]

I spent a day scratching my head wondering why the expansion link brackets were sitting way below the running plate and that the running plate would not sit down fully on to the frames. So I dug out my November 1976 Model Railway magazine:-


And on close examination of the drawing found that the bottom of the running plate sits about 1.5mm above the top of the frames leaving a gap, which is then hidden by the splash shields. So after some appropriate cursing, I patched the frames on the inside and re drilled the holes for the brackets 1.5mm higher.


Then put the splash shields in:-


And then everything sits right, its a pity the instructions are not more informative on this... I've re drilled the plunger pick up holes higher to allow for fitting the spring hangers. The cab won't sit down properly on those tabs, that's a scrappy bit of design work.

 

[Dave Holt]

Tony,
I can't spot the difference between the two upper photos. You haven't inserted the same one twice have you?
The problem with locating valve gear brackets, or misplaced ones in kits, can be very frustrating. One solution is to drill holes in the frames at the expansion link and reverser shaft locations and use rods through them to positively locate the support brackets whilst their attachment arrangements are sorted out. I've done this myself and Dave Bradwell uses it in his rather wonderful 4 mm chassis kits.
Best wishes with the B1 construction.
Dave.

 

[dibateg]

I'd already repositioned it Dave...
But you are right about the rods, I'm not sure the hole in the frame was in quite the right position and I made the schoolboy error of drilling the castings with a blunt drill....
Must do better next time!
Tony

 

[dibateg]

I decided to take off those annoying brackets and I replaced them with some drawn brass angle tapped 12BA. The sharp eyed readers will spot I have the wrong inner side position with cocktail sticks. After neatly soldering it on I had to blast it off with the gas torch and start again.


A lot of kits come with etched window surrounds which of course are somewhat flat. They should represent half round beading and I thought of making them up with soft wire, but it would be a challenge for me to get them neat. So taking great care with various grades of emery stick they can be gently rounded on the front face.


Brackets in position, the cab can then be soldered to them.

 

[dibateg]

I had been in two minds about the cast cab roof, and although there are some signs of mould wear here and there, it is not too bad and decided the time could be better spent watching Wales scrape through the rugby again. The window rails were tidy enough, but they look to chunky to me, I might replace them with brass channel. Cinder guards are from the lamented Hobby Horse. I stocked up on them at the right time. I have a whole tin of my late mothers brass lacemaking pins, and they came in handy for the door hinges.


As David found, the front frame extensions are too short, so I made up new ones from 0.9mm brass sheet. Predictably they interfered with the cylinder mounting plates so a bite had to be taken out of those to allow them to fit. Now how to attach those brass overlays to the pewter running plate? In the end I used 70 degree solder with phosphoric acid flux ( which is more aggressive that the citrus flux I normally use, but it works better on white metal ) along the outer edge and normal 145 on the unseen areas. I had to file rebates to allow them to fit to the smokebox saddle.


So its starting to look like a B1. I couldn't get the reach rod tunnel to fold up at all to look neat and ended up scratching up a replacement out of thinner material. I don't like the white metal valve guides, but I couldn't think of any tidy way of grafting on a brass pair to the cylinder castings.

 

[OzzyO]

I modified these castings, but I can't remember where they came from...
View attachment 134346

Hello Tony,

Looks like a J.L.T.R.T. live steam injector.
B1 coming along nicely.

ATB
OzzyO.

 

[dibateg]

I think you are right Paul.

It took me ages to decipher the atomiser pipe work, I finally got around to making that up on a rainy afternoon. The kit came with one lost wax brass lubricator and two white metal ones. It's taken rather a back seat at the moment.

 

[dibateg]

I've been side tracked by a Signature B16/3 I bought from a mate. It was originally built by Allen Hammett and he built it as came from the box. The front end didn't look quite right to me, so I decided to re-work the valve gear. I rarely buy kit built locos, but I haven't the time to build absolutely everything and I have a couple of locos built by Allen.


So new:-
lifting links - Sans Pareil BR Standard - heavily modified
Reach arms - DJH Ivatt2!
Expansion link - Modified Griffin LNER, just using the centre part with a bracket pinned and soldered to it.
Eccentric rods - DJH Ivatt
Radius rod - unknown spare
Return crank - Griffin

The radius rod now had that characteristic steep angle to it. Just some tidying to do, get some Ragstone brass caps for the eccentric bearing and weathering. I know its not 100% correct, but looks a lot better... and I keep looking at that combination lever!

 

[AJC]

That's a significant improvement (and sacrilege, I know, but I thin the /3s wee the most attractive of the B16s).

Adam

 

[Dave Holt]

A vast improvement but it does rather leave both the combination lever and anchor link looking like the weakest links.
I'm impressed by the cocktail of different make components you've melded together to create the new gear. Looks like you've also made a new expansion link support bracket, too.
Dave.

 

[mickoo]

Atomisers....I think that's what they are.

Drivers side





Firemans side (bottom left of image), not the best picture but the only one I have.

 

[Dave Holt]

Atomisers, indeed.
In the two upper photos (drivers side), the pipe coming up past the saddle is the steam supply, which has a tee to the shut-off cock to supply heating steam to the cylinder mechanical lubricator.
The oil feeds from the lubricator enter the atomiser block from the rear and the pipes exiting from the front of the block carry the atomised oil/condensate emulsion to the steam pipe and (probably) the valve chest.
The one on the firemans side doesn't have the heating steam connection.
Dave.

 

[dibateg]

Thanks chaps - very useful.

Is that 1264 Mick? I think in BR days, the feed pipes ran behind the sand filler baffles plate rather than looping around the front. I've just added them to the B16 as well...

Regards
Tony

 

[mickoo]

Tony,

That would be correct....on both counts

 

[OzzyO]

Just to fill out Dave's reply, I think that the steam and oil supply come from the drivers side via the larger pipe that comes out of the bottom of the atomiser and runs under the boiler to the top of the F/S atomiser.

OzzyO.