West End Workbench

[john coffin]

HI Jonathan,
whilst the J6 was one of Malcolm Crawley's kits, I do not remember anyone previously mentioning the rods not being
the correct wheelbase. I don't think John has changed the rods in the kit, so I am intrigued to find this out.
Maybe when playing about with the bearings, you changed things???
As for frame width, I would guess the spacers are too wide, maybe easier to narrow those than massage the bearings.

The carriages look nice and hope the body on the J6 works well.

Paul

[Pebbles]

It has been mentioned that there is a fractional mismatch between the K2 rods and chassis. Malcolm was apparently aware of this.

[jwealleans]

Morning Paul (and Pebbles).

I was unsure whether the mismatch was down to my jig (turned out I'd assembled it with the bent axle peg it landed on when I dropped it instead of the replacement) or the kit. However Tony Wright emailed to say that he'd made new rods for his because they didn't match the chassis. His review glossed over that, just stating that he replaced the rods. I still had a mismatch even after sorting out the jig, so I had to extend one pair of bearing holes very slightly to get everything to fit correctly.

Nothing was done this weekend, I spent more time back on the NuCast J6. More on that to follow.

[john coffin]

Hi Jonathan, certainly as I have said not heard of it before, but I agree the K2 is a bit off.

Th J5 kit of course has the same length and spacing rods, and so far no complaints about that kit of mine.

I will see if I have any spares around to see if there really is any difference on the J6 kit I have.

Take care
Paul

[john coffin]

Jonathan,
Have found a set of J6 frames, but so far not the coupling rods that should be attached.
Using my most accurate measuring system, I am pretty sure that the frame holes are
accurate, but until I find the correct rods cannot comment on them.

Malcolm is not here to defend himself, but it is as a result of my experience with other
kits designed by people on drawing boards, not computers, I always put my rods directly
under the frame so it is immediately apparent if there is any discrepancy, before it goes
into production. Remember this kit is over 30 years old.

It is worth pointing out that the J6 like many kits has the hornblocks marked for cutting out
and replacing with moveable ones, which means that any minor errors could be adjusted out in the
assembly stage, hence the need for coupling rod jigs. However, I do know that Tony Wright is not a fan
of suspension, nor jointed rods, so often changes them for solid ones, I did not believe it was due
to a discernible difference in lengths as is so apparent on the K2.

Be interesting to see the rest of the build though.

Paul

[LNER4479]

Nice to bring something almost to the stage of completion. If I'd got my finger out it could have been done a month ago, but what is there to rush for at the moment? Final interior completed at the weekend and fitted yesterday, so with glue now dry it was all on to assembly. Still some minor height and alignment tweaks to make but it's essentially there. Posed with a part-weathered Great Northern for effect.

I see your Quad and raise you a Quint (minus door class numbers)

Great work from the workbench, as always

[Dave S]

Just to make a comment on the J6. Having seen a couple of comments here and on RMweb about a possible issue I checked the LRM kit I have. Checking with my digi calipers there isn't an issue with misaligned rods/frames, but I did note that the rods are jointed which Tony Wright isn't keen on, so my guess is that he changed them for his prefered solid rods and rigid frames.
This kit is coming up to the top of the pile so I have started to assemble wheels etc for it, I also have the J3 so might build them side by side, although when doing this in the past I have regretted it.

[jwealleans]

Here's a teaser for you. Do you see anything different about this compared to photos upthread?



Readers living in Grimsburg need not reply as it's all their fault.

[manna]

G'day Gents

Wind up Key Hole, in the firebox !!!!!

manna

[Atlantic 3279]

I protest!

[jwealleans]

protest.jpg (11.49 KiB) Viewed 4923 times

[Dave]

Well the photo is at a slightly different angle, you have painted the splashers and I haven't a clue.
Do I win anything.

[billbedford]

6 wheelers are now complete. The XCL very much as described above.
The XBT was a different story and a great deal more work. The sides were a heroically bad fit over the underframe - I had to file almost 1mm off the seats before it would fit at all and then more off the rebate round the top of the floor to get it to sit down properly. I managed to snap a corner off one side, but it went back without being too obvious.

The glazing needed trimming but all the slots were blocked with resin and none of them would slide in as intended - most of them were cut to just oversize and then popped into their slots from the back, with some simply being glued in. The underframe was also a different width to the CL - both run freely, but the centre axle on the CL simply slotted into the moulding, while on the BT I had to put bearings in to narrow the gap slightly before the supplied centre axle system would fit.

I've just seen this sub-thread, so haven't commented before.

First of all, if anyone receives a kit that has major problems, please let me know so that I can correct the drawing and print a replacement.

The resin these models are made from will soften in hot water, so bent roofs and frames can be restored to there proper shape. The problem seems to be that if the parts are put under tension the plastic will take on a set and bend. Just leaving the part on a flat surface will eventually straighten it, but it may take some time.

The 'stickiness' comes from a thin layer of uncured resin that hadn't been cleared off by the cleaning processes. It can be removed by washing the part with alcohol, either IPA or meths.

I've started printing wagons with the brake gear in place:

I'm hoping that this will make it a lot more robust. However, it means that the kits will be sold specifically for OO or P4/EM with the brake set to match the rail gauge. I am thinking of taking this further and removing the suspension from the OO models, but I need some feedback on this before I go ahead with it.

[jwealleans]

Although it's not essential in OO, I like the suspension system - it makes for a very free running model.

I've put myself down for a couple of wagons recently so I'll be interested to see if they turn up with the integral brakes. I've not had a problem with applying the separately supplied parts up to now.

[Atlantic 3279]

It seems I'd better have a closer look soon at the fit of parts in my still un-touched D.154 XC, D.303 XB and D.245 XT kits.