Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Ground Signals Again

[Atlantic 3279]

After more work with files, scrapers and abrasives:

In order to save having to cut the water dome out of the rear coal plate (the 3500 gallon tenders having always had the dome behind the plate), AND so as to kill two birds with one stone, I did a swap with a J39 tender which had the wrong (1950s onwards) rear coaplate arrangement to suit its pre-war LNER guise. The combined dome and plate fitted the J39 tender nicely:

I cut a new rear coal plate for the smaller tender, again putting a strip on its top edge to create a beading. The water dome and brake reservoir were refitted. Finally (or so I thought at the time), I drilled through the projecting rear soleplate from below, just behind the buffer beam, and glued in some stubs of staples to reinstate the lower lamp irons - the originals were rooted in the base of the tank rear and hence disappeared in the dissection. I later noticed that I hadn't refitted the handrails to the rear of the tank sides, so I drilled more new holes and did that job too. Is it just me, or does everybody else frequently find it frustratingly difficult to drill a hole of just the right size to get handrail knobs to actually go in and yet still be a firm fit?

[Atlantic 3279]

Now for the underframe:

Steel weights firstly unscrewed

The two raised bosses on the rear of the u'frame deck were then removed, and cutting lines scribed on.

Seen from front

[Atlantic 3279]

First cuts at front of chassis (top piece first) each taking off approximately 1.25mm of length.

Second series of cuts at rear of chasis, again top piece first, removing 3.5mm from length

All vertical cuts have to be kept VERTICAL.

Further intermediate cuts to remove two 1mm wide slices to shorten the wheelbase. These are positioned to miss the water scoop moulding beneath the deck, and as far as possible to miss moulded details on the frame faces too.

If disturbing the chassis alignment with these intermediate cuts frightens you too much, you could skip this step, although it might not be possible to take an extra mm off each end of the frames to compensate for the wheelbase length error - you may have real trouble with the crew steps if you try that. Better (perhaps) if you must cheat to leave the tank 2mm over scale length, i.e. to shorten it by only 6.5mm not 8.5mm.

[Atlantic 3279]

Before reconstructing the thoroughly demolished chassis I had to straighten up the two steel weights. The guillotine that cuts these at the factory (or does a press stamp them out?) also appears to bend them slightly, and these must become the new straight backbone of the rebuilt underframe.
Once straight, the bottom of the lower weight, and the decks of the underframe pieces were thoroughly de-greased, abraded, and coated in brown Evo-Stick. The front u/frame section was then stuck to the weight, the remaining raised boss aligning the two items. Middle and rear sections were then pushed into tight alignment and pressed firmly into place to get a good adhesive bond.

Reinforcement from below the deck and on the inner faces of the frames was employed. Patches and strips of 15 thou black plastikard were solvent bonded across all joints. With the latest Bachmann wheels you might JUST get a layer of 20 thou reinforcement across the whole underside without fouling the flanges. With the older style wheels I think the area above each wheel would have to be kept clear of any reinforcing layer.

[Atlantic 3279]

At the front of the underframe, only a little rearward extension of the body-mounting screw hole was necessary in order to align with the moulded boss inside the front of the tank. This even left the coupling pin (immediately behind this hole below-deck) in situ and usable

A trial fitting of underframe to body showed that all was well.

I then tidied up the frame ends, filing these to the correct profile. The lower crew steps in each corner had survived in an acceptably complete conditiion, but the upper steps were largely lost. I therefore formed new upper steps. I made a horizontal saw cut into the framing where each upper step should be, pushed in a 5mm square of 20 thou black plastikard and locked this in place with a dab of solvent.

To re-secure the rear of the tender I drilled a new hole through the deck of the underframe, clearance size for an 8BA half inch screw, aligning this with the rear fixing boss inside the body. The hole in that boss required enlargement of course to take this screw which is much fatter than the Bachmann original. I could have made new brake rigging by soldering up some thin brass rod, and I will do so if my shortened plastic brake gear fails. All I've done is to cut each pull-rod adjacent to a yoke and then lap-joint the two pieces with superglue. It may be okay if not constantly handled or mauled around.

A spot of filler in the visible joints in the sideframes completed the job.

[Atlantic 3279]

This was the "ready for paint" appearance of modified loco and tender this morning. The tender certainly looked more "normal" to me when I had cleaned off the no-longer-central LNER lettering. Tomorrow I'll try to add a shot or two of the (as yet unlined) black paint job, and a comparison with a couple of K3s (with their larger boilers, larger wheels, and larger tenders)

Can I relax and have a beer now please?

[jwealleans]

Looks as if you deserve at least a couple for that, Graeme. I doff my cap.

[Saint Johnstoun]

Good work Graeme.

I wonder if John Cameron would like to see illustrations of the finished job?

[will5210]

Congratulations on a cracking job all round!

I'll definately have a bash at this one.

[S.A.C. Martin]

Beers on us Graeme - superb work. Looking at my own K3 in comparison, the K4 really does look the part. Brilliant work all round, although I suspect this tender mod may have been somewhat easier than a certain W1 conversion!

[Saint Johnstoun]

I heard a while back from a certain gentleman that the K4 has been 'measured up' by one of the manufacturers so as is inevitable we go to all the trouble to do some 'bashing' and then the RTR version arrives sooner or later.

Having said that it's much more fun showing off 'one I made myself'.

[Atlantic 3279]

I heard a while back from a certain gentleman that the K4 has been 'measured up' by one of the manufacturers

If they are un-sporting enough to gatecrash my party by producing the K4 RTR, with full length body and correct coupled wheel sizes, I wonder if the O4 lesson will have been learned, and care taken to produce a period K4 rather than something with post-preservation adaptations? They could start the own-goals by making a green K4 that supposedly isn't Loch Long and isn't the preserved Great Marquess, and giving it a low-front 3500 gallon tender! Or maybe we'll still get only a 4200 gallon tender, of use only to later BR period Thornton modellers, but presented in LNER green.

I'll send a larger image to you in due course if you like, perhaps best when it is lined? I have no objection to you sending it on to Mr Cameron if you wish (not the chap in No 10 of course)

[Atlantic 3279]

Some images as painted, as promised (or should that be as threatened). Not for the first time, good photography of a somewhat shiny pristine black loco is a bit beyond my skills and /or equipment, so I apologize in advance for the defects:

The patched cab front hasn't turned out too badly. The spectacles may not be precise K4 shape, but the real ones didn't match the curve of the boiler either (nor did they match the roof line, whereas mine do......)

If size matters to you, here's how the converted loco, and the tender, compare with K3s and 4200 gallon tenders. I don't own a standard Bachmann K3, so I offer instead my scratchbuilt plastic "late version" K3 body on V1 chassis from 12 year ago, and my RHD ex-GN version from around 3 years ago, based on the new Bachmann body but again on V1 running gear. The Bachmann V1 wheels aren't so fine in appearance as the K3 equivalent, but the ARE the right diameter, which the K3's aren't! Notice that the GN version of the K3 disproves the assertion I've seen in print that you cannot put full size wheels under the Bachmann model. You can, but it does involve grinding and filing out the underside of the hard cast running plate.

[Atlantic 3279]

Other ways of looking at the comparitive sizes and features:

Seen like this the shorter tender is quite obvious, even without the distinctively shorter copings to identify it as in side views.

Final comparisons:

[manna]

G'Day Gents



AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!

manna