Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[Atlantic 3279]

PayPal is easy, but I haven't forgotten how to process cheques. I haven't had a postal order for a long time but they're no more difficult for the payee to handle than is a cheque.

[Atlantic 3279]

That B5 tender:

A reminder of its condition as received.

The original coping plates, which I've retained at this stage (conservatism and simplicity) are now sitting further forward, thus.

In handling the tender I had noticed that the paint chipped off the beadings atop the copings had revealed that thin copper wire had been used to make, or to re-make the beadings. That provided another reason, apart from the consequences for the paintwork, both to avoid trying to shorten the copings and to avoid applying too much heat to them. I assumed the copings had been soldered to the tops of the cornices around the tank sides, and if that's right then it had been done very neatly. I wanted to be able to solder them back in place for strength, and that raised the problem of access to the inside face of the joint. My first move had to be the removal of the probably incorrect water filler casting and associated rear coal plate. The former turned out to be hollow and the latter fitted into the tank top via two cast pegs, and seemed to be soldered at the edges to the cornices. I destroyed both the water filler and the rear plate in the process of removing them - they were scrap anyway and their sacrifice allowed me to avoid damage elsewhere. Clearing space for the fitting of the longer, and probably correct, combined water filler and covers for the water chute / pick up gear, revealed that the coal load was a very resistant unified mass. Something exceedingly tough and highly tenacious had been used to stick it in place! Having removed just enough of the coal at the rear I then turned to trying to saw, scrape, chisel, dig and snip the stuff away from at least a narrow channel behind each coping plate. I was thankful when that job was done and the copings were still undamaged. I then bit the bullet and started trying to sever the copings from the main structure. The most nearly harmless method I could devise was to run the tip of a razor saw carefully and repeatedly along the bottom edge of each coping, using the lip of the cornice as a guide. Once the saw had gone down to about half the depth of the metal the coping began to visibly lean inwards and it was then possible to snap it free. After smoothing the cut edges with a file and very carefully re-positioning the copings I applied just a single holding spot of supeglue at the half-way point, checked again that all was where it should be, and then using a specially filed slim bit in the soldering iron I applied 70C lowmelt to the inside face of each joint. The solder hasn't entirely filled the joint to bring the outer face flush with flat face of the coping, but a little PVA (resin W) run into the residual groove should hide it, especially when painted black again.

The current top view of the tender, in the rough, is like this.

There's a bit more smoothing to do on the inside faces of the cornices where the original rear coal plate had been soldered, but the new filler/ scoop casting and restored coal load should hide the other scars. Plenty of well glued coal will also help to support the coping plates if necessary.

Repairs to the steps on the right side of the tender were also necessary, these having been damaged some time in the model's past life. Just the lower tread of the rear step was partly missing, but the front set was broken off above the line of the upper tread. In both cases the upper parts of the steps were very firmly soldered to the tender, so repair rather than an attempt at removal and replacement seemed viable. The parts broken off were not in evidence, so I re-made the missing bits, For the rear step it was simply a matter of filing off the whole of the damaged lower tread and soldering a rectangle of nickel silver to the flat base of the remainder of the casting.

A strong repair to the front steps was little trickier. I drilled and scraped out some of the solder that virtually filled the space between the back plate of the remainder of the steps and the side frame of the tender. That gave me space to solder in an off-cut of nickel silver behind the back plate, so as to brace the joint between the surviving upper portion of the steps and a new lower portion, simultaneously providing a foundation on which to build the new lower portion. The necessary features of the lower steps were then built up from simple little rectangles of plastic, using adequate amounts of superglue and overlapping or rebated joints wherever possible.

[Woodcock29]

That tender's looking much better now Graeme.
I've just come in from the shed having spent a lot od today making and fitting brakes (using one of Dave Cleal's Mainly Trains sets as a basis but needed to combine modified hangers with shoes from another set on that etch) to the old DJH J10 I'm building - also got the chassis running today.
Time to go to bed now over here!

Andrew

[Atlantic 3279]

The care I took in working in such a way as to do no damage to the fine red pen lining on those tender coping plates was undone this evening when I protected them with masking tape while filling the new joints on their lower edges - removal of the tape peeled off most of the lining and (by the look of it) part of a thin layer of sating varnish. In the end though, this is no real loss, as much scrutiny of as many clear photographs as I can find shows not a hint of lining on the coping plates of Gorton-painted GC tenders in lined LNER livery, whether green or black. Even the more elaborate GC livery left the coping plates un-lined.
I therefore have much more freedom to smooth down the filled joints and to paint the coping plates plain black as a "correction" to the original builder's finish rather than reduction in standards!

[Woodcock29]

Must admit Graeme I did wonder about the lining on the coping plates. I couldn't recall seeing it in any photos of GC locos in LNER days.
Andrew

[JASd17]

Graeme,

I am with you and Andrew on the LNER black with red lining GC tender livery.

I can find no pictures in my collection which show lining on the coal rails or coping plates.

I have sent you the best illustration I have.

It is interesting that green GC tenders look to have green coping plates with the beading picked out in black, but no white lining.

John

[Atlantic 3279]

B5 tender now with paint tidied up and coal load restored:

I have further things to do to the loco itself, mostly correcting things that aren't quite straight, square and central, but the time for delving into such things is not available at present....

[Atso]

Even though you're not finished with your improvements, it is already looking great!

[S.A.C. Martin]

B5 looking top notch Graeme. Will follow up your email shortly too. Many thanks for the update.

[Atlantic 3279]

Thank you.

Messages to me (PMs or e-mails from any source) over the next 10 to 12 days may not get prompt replies but please bear with me, I will deal with them when I can.

[Atlantic 3279]

In the last few days I've been managing to get a little more done to my Lord President P2 conversion to bring it up from its temporary (of over two and a half years standing) "Hornby Railroad" standard of finish to what might be called super-detailed. Whether it will be genuinely complete by the time the Grantham layout appears at Hartlepool show remains to be seen, as interruptions and other demands on my time still abound, but this evening I decided it was time to "drop in" the replacement set of fully lined coupled wheels from the Hornby spares range.

Why oh why do even the simplest jobs always have to include something unexpectedly awkward?

Con-rods and return cranks off (yet again), brake gear carefully unclipped, ample number of screws out of the keeper plates and double-layer keeper plates put aside, out came the plain green wheels with coupling rods attached. Packet of lined green wheels opened and each set of wheels carefully identified - they're unique sets for the four separate axle positions you know, even the nominally similar leading and trailing set differing in the matter of whether or not there are washers on the axle. Okay so far. At this stage, just for once, I made a correct decision and decided to transfer the coupling rods to the new sets of wheels before installing the wheels in the loco and doing up the screws for the keeper plates. The crankpin screws for the fourth (rear), the third and the second sets of coupled wheels went in as expected, a bit fiddly, but the threads matched. I then reacted with sheer disbelief as the crankpin screws for the leading set of wheels just rattled around in the crankpin bushes without any hope of engaging with the clearly larger drilled and tapped holes!

After a moment of confusion, and the realization that I certainly would not have any spare shouldered screws with shallow hex heads that just happened to be a perfect fit in the rogue bushes, it occurred to me that it might be possible to push the metal crankpin bushes out of the old and new sets of wheels and swap them over. That was indeed a simple job, but the air would have been a lot bluer if I'd already had the wheels in the chassis with no access to the backs of the wheels.

If you find yourself upgrading a Railroad model it may be useful to know what you might encounter. So much for standardized mass production.....

[Atso]

I feel for you Graeme as I've found similar problems myself with 'standard components'. However, luckily both Farish and Dapol have 'standardised' on the same thread (M1) for their crank pins (although obtaining hens teeth is generally easier than spare crank pins!). However, if I'm happy to accept a screw head, evilbay has a good selection of suitable screws than can be used in an emergency.

My current gripe is why the move to using plastic to clip valve gear components together? It will wear out much quicker than a rivet and, due to the design of the part, is close to if not impossible to repair when they break! Ok, the valve gear looks much finer but that isn't much good if it breaks should you ever breathe on it!

However, I'm sure that your model of Lord President will be stunning once upgraded to your usual standards and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the finished model.

[Atlantic 3279]

The agonisingly long-running and intermittent saga of my prototype P2 conversions may at last have reached a grossly overdue conclusion, as Lord President last week received its previously missing final fittings and livery details, plus the vital lamps without which it cannot possibly run in the presence of certain critical observers. Some real coal in the tender and very light touch of whether won't hurt at a later date, but for the moment I'm enjoying the fact that I'm no longer under self-imposed pressure to get the loco ready the Hartlepool show, which took place last weekend.

Here's the loco, sitting on shed on "Grantham" at Hartlepool, before show opening time on Sunday morning.

[mick b]

How did you do the fairing on the top of the Tender, please ?

[Atso]

It may have taken longer than expected to get 'The President' super detailed but the resulting model was certainly worth the wait in my opinion.

Please tell me this locomotive will be making an appearance at 'Ally Pally' next year as I'd love to be able to see it in the flesh.

So.... now that is out of the way.... are we going to see 3279 next? (Ducks for cover!)