Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[Atlantic 3279]

Hi Mick, that sounds like a sensible suggestion regarding the glazing. I had given some thought to the side glazing, deciding to add an extra retaining lug each side made from scrap etch, but I hadn't thought about seizing the opportunity to cut the birdcage curves from a handy template...

[Chas Levin]

... I need firstly to think further about the sequence of jobs as there are various whitemetal castings to add too, such as axleboxes, buffers and end stanchions. Ideally, I almost feel as if I should add "everything before everything else", but that's not possible! Some of it may have to be glued rather than soldered, so long as it isn't likely to get knocked off again, but the kind of glue and the right time to use it depends upon when I might need to do any soaking or scrubbing to get rid of flux residues...
Maybe I'm thinking about it too much?

Impossible to do IMHO! You can never think too much about how to solve a problem, or what order to add things in to give the best results - plus I find that process of considering how to solve things one of the most enjoyable parts... I'm not alone in enjoying that am I?

[Atlantic 3279]

Working out the best sequence can be quite satisfying, if you get it right. If I get it wrong, and if I am tired at the same time, I find somewhat frustrating - sometimes spectacularly frustrating...

I've scored an own goal with the fittings that go on the solebars, and it is not simply due to my disregard of Dan Pinnock's instructions which tell you to add the steboards and individual steps to the solebar overlays, off the van, and then apply the overlays to the blank structural solebars. I don't know whether that addition of the completed units could be accomplished neatly and securely with an ordinary soldering iron, whether a mess of solder and various bits fallen off or moved out of register might be the result, and whether application of the step and overlay unit to the main structure by means of a thin smear of epoxy might give a safer but still secure result, but that's beside the point in my particular case. The reason? Well, realising that the long lower stepboards would prevent good access for later addition of the whitemetal axlebox castings, I added the latter to the W-irons first. I used epoxy, but could equally have switched to lowmelt solder for that job. I then added the stepboards, sweating their pre-tinned supports onto pre-tinned location points on the solebar overlay which was already in place on the vehicle. My plan was then to add the individual upper steps by the same method, which would still work, BUT, I've now decided that the individual upper steps, each suspended by no more than a strip of half-etched metal folded to a right angle will probably be hopelessly flimsy . I think what I will do is to add just the half etched strip with its rivet detail to the cosmetic solebar face, but produce a substitute set of steps, each one made from a longer strip of metal rather than just a little square. The extra length of metal will be folded up behind the solebar and soldered (if possible, or epoxied) firmly in place. The appearance will still be one of just a little square step at the bottom edge of the solebar, but the strength will be far greater. It would have been vastly easier to fit the replacement upper steps before both the axleboxes and lower boards were in place .

[Atlantic 3279]

Here's where play finished last night, reduced height V-hangers, "sketch" brake linkages, axleboxes, lower stepboards, birdcage inner end and cantrail strips fitted, and me praying that the "quick set" epoxy remaining stubbornly soft after hours behind the axleboxes would go off properly overnight. It did, thank goodness, and I'd remembered to cut the glazing for the birdcage ends to a good internal fit too:

This shows the comparison between the etched upper steps that are provided, for attachment to the raised lands on the solebar via only that upright half-etched strip, and the more substantial alternative I propose to secure behind the solebar, bent up from some very handy spare edging strip on the fret.

There's good access for attachment of the upper steps between the wheel sets.

There's not so much free access for the outer steps, for which I shall have to thread the strip through the gap above the leaf spring and make sure I don't melt the latter with the soldering iron if I use solder rather than glue. I'm sorry about the horribly blurred picture which was a desperate attempt to use no more than the household lighting, for which I had to use the camera one-handed, wrong handed, while steadying things with the other hand!

The same apology applies to this picture, which attempts to show that once the steps have been sorted out, I also have space, and plans, to fit some 0.7mm wire stiffeners behind the end supports for the lower stepboards, just as I have done on my various Howlden six-wheeled coaches.

[Atlantic 3279]

By contrast with the usual rule, things went quite well with the ballast brake yesterday and the latest battle of the rebellious soldering iron is now over. I was extremely pleased to find that I was able to solder all of my substitute top-steps into position behind the solebar without melting the axleboxes, without attaching them in the wrong place or at the wrong angle, and without having other bits shift or fall off. Dry-run trials, proper preparation of tools / materials /access, and calm resting of parts against suitable spacers where necessary (instead of alignment only by eye and support by a trembling hand) paid dividends. The stiffeners for the lower stepboard end supports soldered on without tears or profanity too. I was also able to attach the end posts firmly, top and bottom, after switching to 70 degree solder (carefully avoiding the central parts of these due to the risk of flooding the grooves in the etched planking, and I was especially glad that I had been able to solder rather than glue so much when I managed to prod one of the epoxy "glued" axleboxes loose while cleaning off nearby excess solder! I've had to re-secure that, in situ, with cyano acrylate glue. The buffers, fairly vitally I think, also agreed to be attached by low-melt solder. More about those end posts in a while by the way...

The small upper steps of course were not cropped off the main strip until they had been soldered in place and checked. Initially left with too much projection, they were filed back to matching lengths once all were in place.

I did consider making a valiant attempt to solder on the rivetted strips that were supplied for the corners of the body, but in the end I decided to rely on cleaned, abraded surfaces and minute amounts of cyano acrylate drawn under the carefully positioned strips by capillary action. I dearly hope that the results will survive all necessary soaking and scrubbing prior to painting. Two spare rivet strips for the top corners were cut into short pieces to provide the cosmetic lower part of each of the side lamp brackets, the real feet of these brackets being soldered inside the body. Whether the very fine brackets are strong enough to survive long term I really don't know. As I had planned, I also cut the rivetted upright flimsy strips from the kits own upper steps and fixed those to the solebars with cyano.

The thing I didn't really bargain for with the whitemetal end posts was that after I had carefully straightened each one from its slightly bent "as cast" state, and had painstakingly smooth-filed until the mould lines vanished, I found that they simply weren't quite tall enough. Initially, I thought it might just be that their lower ends were sitting below the lower edge of the headstock when only plonked in place as supplied, with locating pips in the etched holes in the van end. I therefore reduced the pips with a fine file so that I could push the posts up a bit, but it then became obvious that even if I took the pips off entirely (making the posts even more difficult to locate and align correctly) they still wouldn't reach up to the height that they should. That is why they each have a little block of white plastic superglued in place at the top, and trimmed to match the post!

A couple more pictures for anybody who likes to see the arrangement of the running gear and sketchy brake linkages from funny angles, or for those who like to feel smug because their soldering looks neater than mine even on the inside and underside of a vehicle:

[NZRedBaron]

Have you thought about giving the van a false bottom inside? I kind of feel like it would make it look a bit more tidy and neat with one; not to mention the extra support it could give.

[notascoobie]

Hi Graeme,
Probably a bit late on parade but I tend to treat Dan''s instructions as general guidance. I built up the sole bars, castings and steps on my 7mm one in place. It worked for me.
Cheers,
Vernon

[Atlantic 3279]

Have you thought about giving the van a false bottom inside? I kind of feel like it would make it look a bit more tidy and neat with one; not to mention the extra support it could give.

All in good time...

The structure is soldered up very rigidly so won't need any support from a floor, but an open base would indeed leave it a poor model. I didn't quite intend initially to do as much inside the van as I actually have, but once I sat down with plasticard, knife, solvent and the guide sketches provided in the kit instructions it all went together quite easily. The floor and interior oddments are removal at present for convenience when it comes to painting and glazing. Also, the stiffening flanges at the tops of the sides dictate that a removal interior cannot be to full width, but I doubt that many people will see the compromise once the roof is on. When it goes into the van permanently, I may take the opportunity to add tops and sides to the currently incomplete raised seats for the guard. I've also noticed in these latest photographs that I've missed off the crew seats either side of the stove, so I'll add those in a few minutes. I'll probably paint the whole interior in a fairly light "aged bare wood" sort of colour, and I won't worry whether that is officially correct or not. Maybe a dark grey or black stove and brake column might not stretch the painting effort to breaking point, nor a red brake wheel.

[Atlantic 3279]

Hi Graeme,
Probably a bit late on parade but I tend to treat Dan''s instructions as general guidance. I built up the sole bars, castings and steps on my 7mm one in place. It worked for me.
Cheers,
Vernon

Hello Vern,

I'm glad you've dodged the plague so far. That 7mm model looks lovely in GNR livery. I see you've adopted the suggestion that the ends may have been red, as per one of the picture captions in Super-Tatlow part 1. I'm lucky as I don't have to make that decision for LNER livery, although I'm curious to know why the van ends in the relevant photograph appear pale when the common problem with old photographs is that reds look virtually black. Maybe the photographer made extravagant use of the (more costly?) better grade of photo-emulsion when taking a picture of a lowly engineer's van?

I have the pleasure instead of trying to decide what shade of blue to use, although it will probably end up being exactly the same Humbrol colour, a medium-dark slightly greyish blue (resembling Oxford Blue I believe) that was used on the two ballast wagons I have. I'm happy to imagine that the pale tone seen in some monochromatic images of even the newly painted engineer's vehicles arises from the same quirk of wavelength-selective emulsion sensitivity that leads to the falsely dark rendition of reds in many prints.

Looks like all bets are off regarding exhibitions until at least the second half of next year. Perhaps I'll see you then?

[Atlantic 3279]

After a good slosh around in de-greasing, flux neutralising sodium carbonate solution, a rinse, a dry, the use of small scrapers plus oddments of abrasive paper and glass-fibre pencil to remove solder pips and key the surface, blowing away of debris and a wipe down with thinners, the metal body of the ballast brake receive an aerosol coat of U-Pol acid etch primer yesterday morning. The result appears neat enough to me.

I'm giving the primer plenty of time to etch (if it is actually doing any etching) and to dry fully. I'm also waiting to see if anybody puts forward any strong and surprising evidence for anything other than Oxford Blue before I put the colour coat on the model...

[Atlantic 3279]

"Watching paint dry" gave me a chance to have a look at something else. Back in May, before I got further distracted, I'd made an assessment of a Craftsman A5 body built by A. N. Other:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2443&start=5100#p136991
Last evening I decided, after some earlier thought about the "best way", to see how easy or difficult it might be to do something about the far-too-lazy S-curves in the edges of the running plate. The real locos clearly did not have running plate overhanging the crew steps at each corner of the tanks, to such an extent that the crew would have to lean out backwards to a perilous degree in order to climb up, and "fish around" for the recessed steps in an act of pure faith when wishing to descend. Close inspection also showed that the representation of the angle iron on the model wasn't tucked correctly under the edge of the running plate in a number of places, but was instead sticking out slightly. Photographs suggest that the real thing wasn't tucked very far under, but it certainly wasn't sticking out! Removal of most of the angle iron seemed to be the way forward, but I didn't want to take too much apart.
I haven't yet had a soldering iron anywhere near the thing. I instead used careful strokes of a heavy craft knife along the inside of the joints between the strip representing the angle iron, and the running plate, plus some gentle tweaking with flat nosed pliers in the stubborn areas to split the joints without hideously distorting the narrow strip. I didn't take off quite the whole strip, leaving what seemed to be the good bits in place and just easing the rest of it aside far enough to allow the contact areas to be cleaned up with a suitable file, ready for later re-soldering.

Here are the original running plate overhangs, with the areas I wanted to remove marked in green.

Even with some of the crew steps and the tank balance pipes still soldered in place, apparently quite heavily, I was able to get in with fine files to trim away the unwanted metal neatly. The next picture, not crystal clear I'm afraid, shows from below one half of the running plate as it was (upper) and the lower part trimmed back as close as I could get to the tank corners without spoiling the handrails.

Seen from above, the crew now have more chance of getting on and off the loco in reasonable safety.

I still have the strip to re-attach of course - fingers crossed. Then there's the dome to change, the smokebox door fastening to change back to a wheel, guard irons and missing steps to sort out, and a chassis to build...

For proper adherence to my chosen modelling theme the excuses for having an A5 are fairly thin. Even in the late thirties, almost all of the Southern area A5s were still on Marylebone suburban duties, with just a very few at Kings Cross and Hitchin, or in the West Riding. Colwick had none until the forties. A couple of the few on the GN section are however mentioned in the green RCTS book as having been transferred back and forth between the London area and the West Riding in the right period, so there's a little justification for having one "working its passage" through Lincolnshire. 5007 may be the favourite.

[Atlantic 3279]

Strips representing the angle irons have been re-shaped and re-attached successfully in improved positions, free as far as I can tell from any horrible kinks or ripples. I've also removed the smokebox door twin-handles, and with some difficulty the dome too. The latter wouldn't budge at all when the meagre power of my 25 watt iron was applied, no sign of melting of the previously applied solder being evident. all I was managing to do was to add blobs of solder from the bit of the iron. The deployment of my chunky 80 watt iron had the thing off in moments!
I'm not planning to reinstate crew steps or fine details until I've fitted and tested a working mechanism under the body. Rather more lead than the modest block fitted by the original builder in the middle of each side tank will probably be required for decent haulage ability.

[Atlantic 3279]

I usually find that Humbrol enamel paint has decent covering power, so after two coats of Humbrol 104 Oxford Blue it is a little surprising to find the colour still rather patchy on the Ballast Brake body. I can't ladle a thick coat on because the paint applied heavily fills the gaps behind the handrails by capillary action. Never mind, I shall carry on, another coat looms, and there's plenty else to keep me busy. More home renovation broke out yesterday, and it was simply too bright and calm this morning not to go out cycling, even if not very warm!

The interior has gone woody-colour anyway...

[exile]

Not sure why you are worried. That has the look of light weathering to me.

[Chas Levin]

That's a very nice interior - I must admit I didn't make one for mine as I thought it wouldn't be too visible... rather regretting it now though