Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[S.A.C. Martin]

Looks every effective to me Graeme. I do think there's something to be said sometimes for simpler, more robust valve gear though in terms of reliable running. Have found the valve gear components from Bachmann's A1 and A2 stand up to punishment, but Hornby's A3 and A4 valve gear always seems to be first thing to fail on any model. Several second hand Hornby Pacifics I have purchased have all had parts of their valve gear twisted or bent out of shape. This doesn't seem to happen with Bachmann's more robust parts.

[Atlantic 3279]

The Bachmann A1/A2 gear is certainly the more robust, probably by virtue of certain elements of it being chunky cast items rather than thin metal strip for almost every part of the Hornby super-detail Gresley Pacific gear. I suppose the quirk then is that Bachmann's "exotic" 3D expansion links are more robust than Hornby's "pragmatic" flat items, the slidebars look better too, as do the convincingly heavy con-rods, although the cast construction makes those impossible to "cut and shut".

Benefits of the tediously assembled five layers of laminated expansion link plus forked radius rod in the etched valve gear do however include good strength of the finshed assembly, and no tendancy of the link to roll laterally on the pivot pin rather than simply pitch back and forth as it should. The single-layer version of the link has to be constrained buy other means to keep it in the correct plane of operation, otherwise its lower end can foul the con-rod!

[Atlantic 3279]

By the way, if anybody reading this has had a set of A1/1 valve gear from me, an e-mail should already have reached you regarding the following point, but I'll repeat it here for certainty:

Whilst it didn't show up as a problem when I test built the first valve gear etch for the A1/1, I've discovered in building another yesterday that it is alarmingly easy to file too much off the lowest part of the motion bracket's basic structure, when cleaning up the parts, and then find that the half-etched overlay turns under a bit more tightly than it ought when you add that. Net result is that the finished "foot" of the motion bracket is a bit too high up so that the slidebars cannot be posed at the correct angle. I'd definitely advise filing NOTHING from the bottom edge of the basic structure, not even the etching cusp, and don't get too fanatical when turning the half-etch overlay under, just roll it round gently, and don't solder the bottom part of the overlay in place until you've tried bracket, cylinders and slide bars in place on the loco, underneath the properly fitted and finally adjusted running plate.



There's a couple of handy little moves you can make to ensure that the cylinders fit really snugly under the running plate too. I'll post a picture in a while.

[Atlantic 3279]

When fitting the perforated plates that join the parts of the running plate together I set the plates as far inboard as possible, leaving a strip of the underside of the running plate clear of any additions along the outboard edge. This allows the tops of the cylinders to be given a broad rebate with a flat file, ensuring that the visible top edges of the cylinders can sit tight up against the running plate. This helps to ensure that the cylinders both look right and sit high enough to allow the slidebars to be fitted at the correct angle.

AS A1/1 CONVERSION IS COVERED EARLIER IN THIS THREAD (SEE PAGE 1 FOR INDEX) AND AS A FULL SET OF ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS HAS BECOME AVAILABLE FROM ME BY E-MAIL SINCE THIS MATERIAL WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN, MANY OF THE IMAGES ARE NO LONGER DISPLAYED HERE ON ACCOUNT OF THE NEED TO LIMIT THE "IMAGE LOAD" ON THIS FORUM.

[auldreekie]

The heads-up on Hornby v Bachmann valve gear is of decided general interest to those who (like me) have not yet worked it out.

Good Lord: the dodge with the narrowed strengthening pieces is one I've used myself! Was there a reason that the strengthening pieces were perforated, or were they just what happened to be around?


auldreekie

[Atlantic 3279]

The perforations are intentional, the plates featuring on the custom etch for valve gear, brakes etc. The idea, right or wrong, was that the holes would either allow runny glue to be introduced to all areas after applying the plate, rather than trusting capillary spread from the egdes, OR they would allow thicker pre-applied glue to squeeze through as the plates were applied, the dried glue hopefully forming a sort of mushroom head in each hole, helping to keep the metal plate in place, possibly reducing reliance on the glue bonding to the (abraded) flat face of the metal.

[Saint Johnstoun]

Having used Graeme's perforated plates to join two halves of an otherwise impossible to join running plate for my WD 2-10-0 fashioned out of two WD 2-10-0 running plates I can advise that they are an excellent tool.

[auldreekie]

Thanks to both for explanation and recommendation.

Worth asking! I guessed there'd be a reason, and I am suitably impressed.

O4/8 now awaits cheapo O/4 as donor for chassis (so far it shares turn and about with a Bill Bedford O4/5 job), and I'm contemplating hatchetwork directed towards "Graeme's" K1. By about Easter, I may be seriously contemplating the A2/3. This is becoming addictive.....


auldreekie

[Manxman1831]

It gets very addictive watching Atlantic's handiwork - one of the reasons for my own 4-8-2's was on the back of reading his thread and thinking I could do something similar - and with some of the deals available on internet auction sites these days, even the basic modeller can scrape together a fair stud of locos and rolling stock.

[auldreekie]

I'm replying in this vein because I think others may need some dutch courage thrown at them before they start hacking holes in their b****y expensive proprietary models. Do please chuck us off your thread, Atlantic, if you find this sort of thing too much of an undirected distraction....

The O4/8 nears completion, the (relatively) cheapo Bachmann chassis having arrived this a.m. courtesy of the GPO. It looks not at all bad, despite my paintwork being achieved by the hair (rather than air) brush method. This is, after all, how they did the real thing, is it not? Am I pleased? Do bears....etc. Now girding loins for move on to the "next grade"....

Looking ahead, a mischevious part of me is beginning to wonder if Atlantic could conjure a North British Atlantic out of a D11, several sheets of plasticard and an empty Steradent tube. Nah: they never(?) got far enough south....


auldreekie

[Atlantic 3279]

Feel free to chat - it's all about LNER things after all. Now there's nothing wrong in my mind with the look of an NB Atlantic, and they had the benefit of retention of green livery right to the end. In an alternative history they no doubt worked down Edward Watkin's extravagant GCR Scottish Extension Railway, the Northern part of which was jointly owned by the NBR, some not coming off their trains until they got to Lincoln. Several LNER 6-coupled RTR chassis types could potentially be adapted to the Atlantic format, the 7' 3" coupled wheelbase being rather convenient - same for a GC Atlantic too - although I wouldn't bother trying to adapt the D11 chassis. The suggestion of using the D11 body is interesting though. I'd never thought about the similarities, so I may have to look at that in a bit more detail. I suspect we're still looking at a scratchbuilt running plate, cab, splashers and complete tender though, so the question has to be "is it viable?"

[earlswood nob]

Morning all
The C11 has dimensions very close to the O5 and B6, but nobody produces those. It is also a shorter B2 & B3, but same problem.
A stretched B17 boiler with Belpair conversion would be suitable, and the B17 front two driving axles are the right distant apart.
GEM did produce a kit many years ago, but I don't know if that is still available.
One can always modify working arrangements for a railway. I try and build locos for a pre-war operation that might have run close to the west side of Woodhead, as I wanted an excuse for a U1. However, as a Gresley fan, I want a P2, D49, V1, J38, K4, V4, and P1 as well. So there has to be specials, I also has a LBSCR Baltic Tank, but Gresley tested the SR River tanks on the LNER, so why can't he test my Baltic. I haven't yet thought of a reason for running my SR Leader experiment as its post-war. but if the war hadn't happened and Gresley lived longer, it may have run north on trial.
Finally, I won't sidetrack much more, I have a LMS Garratt half finished, and I love to re-enact the incident on the Lickey, when a freight hauled by a LMS Garratt was banked by the LNER Garratt and the MR Big Bertha.
Such are dreams
Earlswood Nob

[auldreekie]

Both,
I enjoyed your alternative views of history. Especially I am intrigued by the thought of a 6-coupled chassis as a basis for an NB Atlantic conversion - that had not occurred to me. So I live in hope that the GC option (whose similarities had not escaped me -- how could they) ultimately might prove irresistible to Atlantic. If he were to "crack" the GC version, I cannot believe that even I could not devise the necessary further adaptations to achieve the NB version...

Scratchbuilt cab and tender (and probably running-plate) hold no real terrors, although the "coal cage" on the NB Atlantics would require the exercise of untried ingenuity in jigged brass (rather, I think, than microstrip). One DOES have to be careful about differences between the different loco batches....

The GEM NB 4-4-2 kit sadly is no longer in production and I don't hold out high hopes, also sadly. It is not perfect. I built one, more years ago than I care to remember, and did my then best to rig it out in full NB fig. That was a hell of a job. But, as you can see, I COULD be game for more....


auldreekie

[Atlantic 3279]

For the 5'6" and the length required for a C11, perhaps Mr Bachmann or somebody such as Mr Bedford might one day conveniently offer an O5 boiler to vary the O4 model. The D11 boiler would be shade under-girth. With enough work to un-do the waisting-in of the firebox the even slimmer standard O4 boiler does of course suit an ex GC B1, B4, original B9, C4 or C5 very nicely.

[auldreekie]

Thanks for giving the matter some thought. As you may see, I've started a thread to try to stir up some NBR interest.

I have to say that one of the attractions of NBR prototypes (actual and projected) to fumble-fingered chaps like me is their lack of external (eg Walschaerts' ) valve gear. Since I have actually been to the trouble of preparing rough (but good enough for a 4mm model) scale drawings of the Atlantic, the G9, and a couple of the big projected machines, I may well have a bash at some of them in the not too distant future. We're talking months and years here, not weeks and months. So any insights available about the suitability of proprietary bits and pieces are welcome grist to what may prove to be a somewhat slow-grinding mill....

(I have taken note of St Johnstoun's intention to produce a J38, which could ALMOST qualify as a NBR machine....)

auldreekie