1/32 TME King Arthur

Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Just finished assembling 25 working reverser stands. Black handle in BR days, red in the SR and LSWR period. The Brassy rivet will be flattened and painted black. Not straightforward in any way and almost every part needed fettling and adjustment to give them free movement. About 1 hour each on average!!

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and here is a close up showing Chris Tolhurst's exquisite pattern making (n0 3D printing here!). You can see the locking wheel and the locking lever all beautifully modelled.

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John Miller

Western Thunderer
Just as a point of interest - I'm not too clear on who is building these locos - is it Chris T. - or the Derek P. on Thitysecond's profile - or is it a joint effort?

It's beautiful work whoever it is .... :thumbs:
 

Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
These are TME locomotives designed and built by Chris Tolhurst. I (Derek P) am merely a TME part-time worker ,one day a week in the TME workshops and home-working when appropriate. The reverser stands for instance were taken home from TME last Thursday in bags of components, assembled by me over the last five days and will be taken back next Thursday as 25 completed stands ready to be added to the models.
 

John Miller

Western Thunderer
Thanks for that Derek - I think I may have seen some of Chris's work a few years ago - it was at some exhibition on a small stand surrounded by people standing 3 deep, so I could only get a glimpse of the models on display. I've never come across such work again untill this thread - truly unique from what I've seen.
 

Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Yesterday, Chris Tolhurst and I finished cutting out and painting all the name, number and other plates for the King Arthurs and S15s. Very pleased with the way they have come out.IMG_2006.JPG The North British builder's plates are about 7mms across but as you see the wording is perfectly legible.

IMG_2008.JPGThe shed code plates are etched Nickel Silver which is the nearest thing you can get to white paint!

Note that builders plates and shed code plates have yet to have their edges cleaned up to remove the excess paint.

Finally the nameplates, some red (S.R. and early B.R.) and some black ( post 1956). In the right hand corner of the last picture you can just see a couple of "On loan from the National Railway Museum" plates which will be on the 4 Sir Lamiels ordered "as preserved."

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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Not too much exciting going on at the moment. I've just finished cutting out 25 sets of insulation and adding fireboxes to the boilers. Chris meantime has been painting the boiler cladding and lining the boiler bands. Its been so busy lately that I have not had time to take as many photos as I would wish. This week the boilers, insulation, cladding and smokeboxes will all come together.

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Below is an unpainted assembly test. In production, the boilers and insulation will be inserted into painted cladding and secured with fully lined boiler bands. The smokeboxes will be fixed to the boilers.

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The smokeboxes are now painted and complete but I have no pictures at the moment. I do have some old shots from last November when when they were unpainted and the doors were not still not added. It does give some idea of the task facing Chris Tolhurst; keeping track of the seemingly endless variations of chimney type, riveting, hinge detail, lamp iron type and smokebox door locking arrangements, and making sure that each variant goes on the right model!

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Lower right is the smokebox door drilling jig.

I will try and get some pics of the finished boilers and smokeboxes later this week.

***
 
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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Boilers all now fully clothed in their insulation jackets......

20170209_142748_resized.jpg .....and mounted in their cladding. All the boiler bands have been lined but only the front two have been added so far. Amazing how the lining shows up so well once the bands are mounted. Here are a few variants:

Southern Railway goods black with emerald green lining for one of the S15s:

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LSWR Sage with black and white lining:

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BR Green with orange, black and green lining (green not really distinguishable in this picture).

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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
OK, I promise that things will get more exciting in a week or two as the locos are finally assembled. In the meantime some boring bits need to be done. As follows!

This week I have been lagging all the backheads internally. This is essential as the backhead detail is delicate and in some cases very heat sensitive. And of course its right next to the boiler!

The rear of a backhead:

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Firstly the fire tube through which the burner is lit is lagged with 1mm ceramic:

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then the backhead itself with 3mm ceramic:

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The backplate is then added:

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Then the process is repeated another 24 times!!

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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Boilers are now all complete and ready for installation with smokeboxes onto chassis. There are 25 (as usual) but only six livery variants. Samples are shown below:

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Reading right to left.

SR Malachite for preserved S15 Greene King (as was)
LSWR Sage
SR Olive
SR Goods black with green lining
BR black
BR green

As taster of what they will look here are a couple temporarily mounted.

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Bogie guard irons yet to be bent to shape on this one!
 
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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Another "little job" but it has to be done. Just completed adding transfers to the buffer beams for the S.R. (yellow) and L.S.W.R. models (gold).

There are 3 of the four rivet variants of buffer beam here.

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Rub down transfers are relatively easy to apply on flush riveted areas (C type above) but a bit of a pig on "rivetty" areas. The secret I find with rub downs is using weak tack tape to hold the carrier so that any rubbing does not move, and damage, the resulting transfer. When the area to be transferred is surrounded by multitude of rivets this becomes quite tricky. Anyway got there in the end and am happy with result.
 
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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Splashers now lined and had their nameplates attached. Here are the BR ones with the SR ones below.

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Top to bottom
SIR LAMORAK
SIR URRE OF THE MOUNT
EXCALIBUR
SIR LAUNCELOT
KING UTHER
LYONNESSE
SIR LAMIEL X 3

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Top to bottom
TINTAGEL
PENDRAGON
SIR BORS DE GANIS
SIR GAWAIN
EXCALIBUR
MERLIN
 
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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
CARRIAGE HEATING GAUGES

The steam and duplex gauges on the backheads were fiddly things to do but I have now finished the carriage heating pressure gauges which are half the size. These go on the cab side just above the fireman's seat not on the backhead. The process is identical to production of the other gauges (described in detail earlier in this thread); I just use a smaller punch and a stronger pair of glasses! There is an added difficulty in having to paint the wooden plinth onto the turning. I use an 00000 brush!

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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
The rims were painted in Trimite stove enamel brown and baked at 140 for 30 mins. Although not a primer as such it provides a very durable base for the Humbrol enamel which provided the second coat.IMG_2087.JPG Pipes now bent up prototypically and the pips on the back of the gauge turnings (so crucial for holding the things while working on them) have been removed.
 

Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
Well the first two production models have now been track tested - one N15 and one S15. Quite a milestone in the production schedule.

Each was stripped down to its minimum running state in order to minimise potential damage to delicate bits and to minimise the amount of degreasing and cleaning required. Hence not even buffer beams on the locos, in case the SR buffer number transfers get damaged.

Here is the Malachite S15 waiting to be steamed up.

CONTROLS
  • regulator
  • reverser

Around the right hand seat front to back:
  • boiler drain,
  • by-pass,
  • lubricator steam boost
Inside the right hand seat:
  • pressure gauge
  • water height leds

Around the left hand seat front to back:
  • cylinder drains
  • blower drain
  • blower
Inside the left hand seat:
  • on/off switch for water height electronics
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Working cylinder drains produced some great effects

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As you'd expect on such complex models, not without a few teething issues , but, all in all, very successful maiden runs.

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Thirtysecond

Western Thunderer
I took some video on a tablet but it is very poor quality. Much of it had a finger obscuring 20% of the frame!! All being well we should be able to film using a video cam before too long. When we do I will post the Youtube link on this site.
 
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