Paul's workbench

[nzpaul]

Geez, that looks familiar Mossie, where have I seen one of those before??

I think a "stretched Nellie" pretty much sums up the thing, Hornby seem to have pushed and pulled the shape all over the place to make it fit the chassis, mostly the cab is too long and too high which messes it up quite a bit.

I had to go and get the K3's out after reading your post Graeme, to check the level of sloppiness in them. Turns out that the older one, from a very early run, has far less slop than other which is about four years younger. This results in the older model having lovely smooth running while the newer loco exhibits some uneven running, not bad but definitely a difference between the two. Suggests to me that as the tooling has become used the accuracy and fit of the parts has degraded. My older brother collects 1:18 scale die-cast cars and he has always claimed that he gets in early as the first models off the production line are the best and later runs usually have ill fitting parts. I always thought it was rubbish but maybe there's something to it.

Cheers
Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Getting through the J83 quite quickly. I've added some obvious details like the shunter's steps, hand rails and the compressor. Then into the paint shop for primer followed by Grubby black and transfers. 9826 was an Eastfield engine and had all of the features I've added. My NBR/Scottish LNER loco now include 3 Eastfield, 4 Canal and a couple from Haymarket and I think one is a Thornton loco, I'm going to need a big layout .
Just a crew and one more vacuum pipe and this one's all done.

I'm back to work tomorrow so that'll end the rapid progress, next in line is to finish the P2,then move on to a non-Scottish Atlantic followed by one of those lovely big GC 4-6-0's from the collaboration of Graeme/Graham. Not to mention more coach building if I get bored with Locos.

Cheers
Paul

[manna]

G'Day Gents

So much better.

manna

[mossie]

That looks very nice.

[Dave]

So you can polish a t**d, very nice.

[nzpaul]

So you can polish a t**d, very nice.

That's the nicest thing anyone has said about one of my models .
Seriously though, thanks gents. Very kind of you to say.

Cheers
Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

So you can polish a t**d, very nice.

Providing you wear gloves, mask and apron.

The loco does look vastly better for the trouble taken.

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Having received a parcel of goodies from Mr Leary I thought I'd do some work on the Brake/3rd coach for the East Anglian set. Within said parcel I found many parts that will come in handy for building this set, things like guards duckets ,handrails, roof ventilators and the like.
1st lesson learned is that the MJT guards ducket and the space provided on the Comet sides don't have the same footprint so a little modification of the ducket was required to make it fit.
2nd lesson, etched hand rails are very delicate ,fly very well and are easily lost on a lino floor.
Despite minor troubles, the coach is ready for painting.

Graeme also sent me these two old locos, to see if something could be done with them.
The interesting thing is that they appear to be completely hand made save for the motor, gears and wheels.
The majority of the superstructures are made from Tin with the chassis' cut from extremely thick brass. I'm thinking that the builder was a particularly skilled individual. I'll take a stab and suggest they were probably built in the 1960's.
The 0-8-0 has X04 power while the Single has a rather more up market Pittman DC71, after a clean up and spot of oil they both run disturbingly well, if a little noisy. They both have non insulated wheels and I'd assume from the pick up pads underneath that they were probably built for pick up from an outside rail. While not usable on a conventional layout I think I could adapt them for use on our clubs Marklin circuit, but perhaps best kept in a cabinet as items of interest.

Cheers
Paul

[Graeme Leary]

Now why didn't I think of applying some oil and try to see if they'd run. They'd still be sitting there, that's why.

You're probably right about the vintage - they were from a deceased member of one of my clubs (who I'd never met) who had a great reputation for anything he worked on. To give you a clue to his age, amongst the items his family was clearing out were about 20 hand ruled and written - none of that fancy Ian Allen printed stuff - loco spotting books from the 1940s when he was a youth in Hull, historically fascinating, which I've since passed on to a modeller friend, also originally from Hull. But best of all were the ENTIRE set of RCTS Green books (a good morning's work getting these which other club members totally overlooked!)

GRaeme

[nzpaul]

Hi All

Moving along with the East Anglian, I've made a start on the loco and cheated a little buy using a Hornby Railroad B17 chassis rather than build the Comet kit that came with resin body. Only a couple of minor modifications required to the Hornby chassis to make it fit inside the shell. The cylinders needed to be reduced in width and I chose to replace the motion retaining bracket with a piece of 0.8mm brass rod bent to shape. The body required a bit of thinning above the motion bracket to allow it sit down on the chassis properly, achieved using a burr in a rotary tool.
The Resin kit was incomplete when purchased so I've had to make my own cab floor and sort out a mounting point for the rear end of the loco, all made from plastic sheet and a bit of rod.
Progress so far:

Cheers
Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

I hadn't noticed that Hornby's Railroad B17 now has the motor in the loco. Had you considered fitting a Comet motion set to make it look prettier?

[nzpaul]

I hadn't noticed that Hornby's Railroad B17 now has the motor in the loco. Had you considered fitting a Comet motion set to make it look prettier?

It's not bad chassis as it turns out either, runs nicely and has nice big brass bearings on the axles. It isn't as well thought out as the chassis for the D49 and with the idler gear axle retained by screwed on plates it look a bit agricultural but it works well.
I hadn't though about improving the valve gear to honest, I only purchased the kit for the wheels, motor and gearbox to begin with as in was only fractionally more expensive to buy the whole kit from Hattons than it would have been to get the parts from Wizard. Once the kit was in hand I thought it would be a shame not to do something with it, but I went down the RTR chassis path so speed the project up. The motor and gearbox will most likely end up inside the G-Train B3.
I was thinking that I'd just move the Comet chassis on as I don't have a need for it.

Cheers
Paul

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all from sunny Surrey

Here is a bad pic showing the Comet valve gear under construction for the Streamlined B17.

This was the first loco I built after my return to modelling a little over ten years ago.

My modelling and photography techniques have improved greatly in the last ten years, due a lot to the advice received from this forum.

I hope the pic shows the improvement the Comet gear is over the Hornby version.

Eagle eyed viewers might spot the 14BA screw connecting the crosshead to the valve gear. I started assembling valve gear initially with 14BA screws after building two left hand valve gears for this loco.

Earlswood nob

[nzpaul]

Hi All
While I quite agree that using some of the Comet valve gear would improve the thing, it's a lot of faffing about for little reward when only the combination lever would be significantly improved (visible even), call me lazy I guess. From an economical view point a whole chassis kit robbed for a few bits.....someone else could make good use of a chassis kit like that.
Only a little progress this week, Tender top cleaned up and fitted and then the loco and tender primed.

The Brake/Open 3rd is now awaiting an interior, I wasn't happy with the roof, so some remedial work to the joint needs respraying but nearly done.

Cheers
Paul

[Mercator II]

Looking Good Paul

I think I missed who's kit your constructing, is it the Golden Arrow or a Dean Sidings?
A few years ago I built the later, but I squeezed an old Mainline B1 chassis in (heavily butchered for the front end)