West End Workbench

[Atso]

Having seen the quint pictures, I think you have excelled with this Mr Wealleans!

[S.A.C. Martin]

Absolutely agreed - Tony Wright's photograph of the C1 with the Quint in tow is proof of this. Very well done.

[jwealleans]

Thank you for your generous comments. By kind permission of Tony Wright, here is the photograph Simon refers to, a reverse copy of the well known official works picture.

[drmditch]

Magnificent!

[teaky]

Magnificent!

Yep! That's the appropriate word for it.

Great stuff Jonathan.

[notascoobie]

Very nice Jonathan.

vernon

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Think I'll put that one down on the poll, see if Hornby will take it up

Gorgeous, looking set

manna.

PS, your not thinking of a holiday in Oz, by any chance

[jwealleans]

Thank you all for your kind words. Manna, I did get a sniff of a trip out there (my niece is living in Oz at the moment) when some work came up for Qantas, but thanks to Skype and the power of the Interweb I never got further than my own office in four months.

Quint has been put aside for the moment and I've been relaxing with some wagons, which you'll no doubt be able to admire in due course should I finish them. Tonight, though, I went back to something else we need lots of for Grantham and another of my favourite things on the railway - C1s. I haven't signed up for the forthcoming Bachmann one as I already have four and even for me that's quite a lot. So we'll be making do with what I have for the moment.

First across the bench is 4444, which featured in some of the buildup to Barrow Hill earlier this year and then failed on the day. Messrs King and Mears couldn't revive it at the show, so it's been in a box ever since. Last week it saw the light of day again. The captive nuts securing the chassis had both failed, so it couldn't be assembled, the tender drawbar fell off and the whole thing was a bit of a mess. I managed to introduce Araldite round the nuts to resecure them, and then started looking at the front bogie. I've never been happy with it or the underscale wheels K's used. To give you an idea:



On the right the correct size wheels from the DJH kit, on the left the K's ones. Testing with the correct wheels soon showed that they would not fit, there being an overlap with the front driving wheel flanges. Slightly smaller ones will be needed and I see that Alab Gibson do a 10 spoke 12.6mm wheel. As it happens, 12.6mm wheels are fairly easy to find:



So far so good but they'll get a thorough test at Ormesby tomorrow. I think they may be touching the frames through pointwork. I had intended to replace the bogie and a number of other components with Comet bits, but in the light of Geoff Brewin's tragic demise I think a lot of bits will have to be recycled.

I need to remotor (or motor at all) the others so an order has gone to High Level. The WSM version has already had the gubbins stripped out.



I will also start on the twin to 4444, almost 15 years after I bought them both.



3249 still has the K's wheels and mechanism and is still EM gauge. It has run very occasionally in my ownership but will now get the full overhaul and regauging it's always been intended to give it.

For anyone else who has one of these, this thread will tell you most of what you need to know.

[LNER4479]

Wow - a C1 production line. Fantastic

[Atso]

What a lovely collection of C1s, I do hope that you manage to get them all working again.

Interesting to see the different interpretations by the builders regarding the LNER apple green livery. Did any of the C1s actually have the cab roof painted black? Not something I've seen before.

[jwealleans]

Why thank you. The livery on 4444 and 3249 has caused me a great deal of angst - it's the wrong colour, for a start (Humbrol 131?) and a great many of the details have been picked out in the wrong colours. It's very nicely applied, though and the locos have a lot of character. I've essentially left it alone as I couldn't really do better than the original builder, whoever he may have been. As you can see on the part picture of 4444, I have added extra bits and bobs and painted some of the bits the right colours (cylinders black, handrails green, for example).

For the moment they'll be staying the incorrect colour. Once I've built the DJH one, which will be correct, if I really can't put up with the contrast then I may repaint them. For the moment, though, I don't see that as a priority.

[2512silverfox]

All the prototype photos I have seen of both C1 and C2 taken from a high view point show the green and lining continuing over the cab roof with no black patch. This applies to both GN and LNE periods.

3249 is wrong in several other areas which JW probably realises; buffer stocks and cylinder covers for starters.

[jwealleans]

That would have been my approach, Nick. 3249 is still exactly as it came to me, while 4444 has had the more easily rectified livery errors altered:



Were the oil boxes on top of the splashers always polished brass?

[2512silverfox]

Oil boxes on C1s. All ex works photos or recently ex works show polished brass. Older in service photos do not really give any clues probably because the brass has mellowed unpolished to a rather dull ochre colour. If one thinks about it, logically they would have been left in brass since with the number of paint coats and vanish applied, they would have been quite difficult to access with an oil feeder!

[jwealleans]

Thanks, Nick. Dull brass it will be.

Experimenting at Ormesby last night showed that the larger wheels still rubbed the chassis on curves. Some brutality has therefore been applied to the front end of the frames to allow the wheels to clear. I'm banking on the Hornby wheels having coarser flanges than the Gibsons so there should be more clearance when they are fitted.



I've had to file about two thirds of the way through that front spacer. Some of the other components of the chassis detached themselves in protest, so it's gone into the paint stripper before they're soldered back on.

While it was in bits, though, the chance to offer the drivetrain up to the WSM chassis and check it fitted.



I had to cut a section of baseplate away to allow the gearbox to protrude slightly below the driven axle. I also removed the lug at the rear intended for an X04, as that makes refitting the body easier. There's plenty of room in there and I hope to get a flywheel into each of them as well.