2750 (Tom's) Workbench-North Eastern Modelling 1938

[Tom F]

Evening/Morning all!

For those that follow Wright Writes on RMWeb, you will have seen the work that has taken place on a Nucast J27 I recently purchased, to make it somewhat more accurate to the prototype. The Nucast J27 isn't particularly bad, but the smokebox is very much undersize, lacking that distinctive look of a J27.

An Alexander Models Saturated Smokebox was transplanted onto the boiler. This was certainly something I didn't feel ready to tackle, with such little experience. Tony cut the smokebox off the loco, however the saddle was part of the running plate casting which required a great deal of work from the dental burr in the mini drill. When I left Tony's on Monday this is how things looked, with Tony also adding the handrail and Alexander Models coal rails, a big improvement (photo courtesy of T. Wright). I should add that as part of our 'horse trading', I've some further locos of Mr Wright's which will be weathered in due course.

Here is what I've done since the above photo was taken. Many areas are rather obvious additions, however it's worth noting the main mechanical lubricator being added by the step, and using some scrap casting, the smaller lubricator in front of the splasher.

Tomorrow she will have a couple of coats of primer added, before being painted satin black. Once numbered up with a touch of weathering, she shall hopefully look like the following:

2392 on York Shed in 1939.

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all
The J27 is very interesting, Tom, as I have a NuCast J27 to build. I hadn't realised that the smokebox was too small, but you don't notice such things though the box. I shall have to check the drawing I have, and investigate fitting a wrapper to the smokebox.
I think most of the superheated J27's, had the later tender with oval frame cut-outs, which is another thing I must check.
Perhaps, if I continue my J39/3 project to include those with D21 tenders, I could swap the tender frames from DJH C7 with those of the NuCast J27 to produce a late J27 tender and a D21 tender with flat 'D' cut-outs. Then replace the C7 tender with a Dave Alexander tender.
I think it is good working practice to keep your building workbench separate from your weathering workbench.
I look forward to your building projects.

Earlswood nob

[Pebbles]

I have commented elsewhere the diameter of a J26/27 smokebox is 25.6mm. The Nucast smokebox depending on where you measure it, and how you assemble it (and this is important), is about 0.3mm under size; that is 13th in real money so taking into account glue etc 5th should do it. I wonder if its worth the fag!

[earlswood nob]

Hello again
I have just looked at my drawing of the J27, and notice that there are differences between the superheated and saturated boilers.
The 57 saturated boilers have four intermediate boiler bands, while the 57A superheated boilers only have three intermediate boiler bands. The dome is also further back on the 57A boilers.
It's never as simple as it appears at first glance, but that is part of the fun of modelling.

Earlswood nob

[Tom F]

I wonder if its worth the fag!

Very much a personal preference, but I felt it was worth it. Tony initially showed me the model at the Pickering Show, and he had it alongside an Alexander Models J27...I realised then I wouldn't be happy living with it how it was.

I could swap the tender frames from DJH C7 with those of the NuCast J27 to produce a late J27 tender and a D21 tender with flat 'D' cut-outs.

Earlswood nob

I was thankfully lucky that my J27 has the D cut outs. I suspect D cut outs were a later design, as 2392 was the last one built, and I've seen plenty of other J27s with the oval cut outs.

[earlswood nob]

Hello Tom et al
The D shaped cut outs were the earlier (Wordsell?) design. The thirty-five tenders built c1923 for the superheated engines had oval frame cut-outs. The tenders built 1906-9 had D shaped cut-outs and three coal rails.
However there were tender swaps.
The pics I've seen of 2392 on NYMR show D shaped cut-outs and three coal rails, so I guess that it's original tender was swapped with an earlier tender at some time. Yeadon reports it was repaired following a collision in 1939, which could be the date of a tender swap. An expert will probably tell you more.
I didn't realise that it was so complicated, and I've got the J25 to sort out as well.

Earlswood nob
(killing time as the Redhill-Guildford line is closed, which interferes with my proposed trip today)

[earlswood nob]

Afternoon all

I have measured my NuCast J27 smokeboxes and the saturated one measures 24.5mm and the superheated on 24.8mm. This is with the smokebox halves pushed together dry and without cleaning off the mould lines etc. Assembly by soldering might increase this slightly.
I am now thinking that a thin wrapper might improve the look.

Earlswood nob

[Tom F]

Afternoon all

I have measured my NuCast J27 smokeboxes and the saturated one measures 24.5mm and the superheated on 24.8mm. This is with the smokebox halves pushed together dry and without cleaning off the mould lines etc. Assembly by soldering might increase this slightly.
I am now thinking that a thin wrapper might improve the look.

Earlswood nob

My friend James increased the size of his Nucast smokebox using a plasticard wrapper. This was his suggestion below:

They need an inner wrapper of 10 thou, matching the exact size of the smokebox casting and an outer one about 1mm less in width positioned centrally which can be embossed with rivets for locos later in life. This arrangement creates the right stepped look between smokebox and boiler. The inner one bulks out the smokebox, the outer one represents the actual wrapper. It also means the handrail will correctly stand off the boiler cladding.

Obviously in my case we substituted for a Dave Alexander Superheated smokebox.

[Atso]

Looking good Tom, you've got a good tutor there. Looking forward to seeing it painted and weathered!

[earlswood nob]

Afternoon all

Thanks, Tom, for the wrapper method details. I'll make a note of that in my file for when I build the J27.
I've found several of the Superheated J27's were in the West Riding area during the 30's, which is roughly the area I model.

I shall be watching your posting of the J27 treatment to pick up more tips.

Earlswood nob

[Tom F]

With the J27 having a rest, before it goes red oxide tomorrow, I have been re gauging wagons this evening.

This is a small selection of wagons I have purchased and horse traded with a fellow modeller. They are beautifully made and I really can't help but feel that I've fallen on my feet acquiring them. With the plans I have, as a one man band, it would have taken me decades to build up such a fleet of wagons for Thirsk. These are just a small example, with many more boxed up and many more to come my way. They were all EM, but are now OO (yes you did hear that right, and many would call that sacrilege!!!).

The task has been made easy with a lovely device on loan from Mr Wright. Pop the axles in and squeeze..... job done! I am going to be building the majority of my passenger rolling stock, mostly utilising Hornby Gresley Carriages, with a number of etched side replacements to make up ECML diagrams.

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all

I spotted a D21 in the background. Is it the old GEM kit?

It looks better/ more detailed than mine, which was one of the earliest locos that I built over 40 years ago.
The only thing that I've done to it is replace the old Triang L1 chassis with Comet D49 frames.

Earlswood nob

[Tom F]

Good morning all

I spotted a D21 in the background. Is it the old GEM kit?

It looks better/ more detailed than mine, which was one of the earliest locos that I built over 40 years ago.
The only thing that I've done to it is replace the old Triang L1 chassis with Comet D49 frames.

Earlswood nob

I bought this for £20 from a local club, the chassis use to work, however it's now dead. I need to strip it down to bare metal, detail up and repaint mixed traffic black.

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all

That seems a bargain to me, Tom. One thing that I found out when I fitted a new chassis to mine is that the wheelbase of the splashers is 40mm (scale 10') not the 38mm (9'6) of the original.
I made a very nice 38mm scratchbuilt chassis which didn't fit properly, and then someone on here told me that it was designed to fit the Triang L1 chassis at 40mm. If you need a new chassis, rather that repairing the old, Comet sell the D49 frames separately, which fit well if your remove the white metal dummy frames above the bogie.
It's sad that these lovely looking locos (albeit not so good performers) were painted black in the 30's.

Earlswood nob

[52D]

Earl/Tom I was threatened with a lynching if I repainted my green D20 to black, although I do like them in black.