Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[Atlantic 3279]

I thought of DJH J10 parts too, which I think I mentioned earlier, but on realising that the DJH tender (bar the wheelbase) was the larger 4000 gallon Pollitt type I decided that even if the boiler with all of its fittings, most of the cab (with alterations to sides) plus maybe the steps and buffers were nominally suitable, then a DJH kit would make an expensive starting point at current official prices. I hope I've finished up with a good representation of the correct 3000 gallon Parker tender, a slightly better boiler, and finer representation of a fuller number of rivets and bolt heads throughout.

[Atlantic 3279]

After a prolonged series of diversions to outdoor activities, I have put Paul_sterling's printed J21 bodies onto the chassis units from the recommended Bachmann SECR C class this evening.

I did notice one or two things before I began: The "as received" splayed lower sides of the tender body, which appeared to have stayed straight for a couple of days after release from a week or more in my vice, had reverted to splayed form, although it has to be said that now fitted to the tender frames they don't look bad. It was also apparent that the loco running plate had not remained flat between the leading and middle splashers. I found that I could correct that in the short term by dribbling hot water over that part of the structure to soften the material, moulding it to the desired form and then quenching with cold water to "set" the shape. What I don't know is whether it will retain shape. The drag beam of the loco and the front beam of the tender were also out of true, "inboard" around the cut-outs for the drawbar, but that will be impossible to see when the completed items are coupled together.
I suspect Paul mentioned that various things have to be done in order to get the bodies to fit the underframes, but here's what I found:
1. About 3mm has to be trimmed from the front of the loco chassis.
2. The "mouse entrails" (capacitors?) on top of the motor have to be either very carefully re-arranged to sit down as snug as possible, or removed entirely, in order to clear the underside of the firebox top. The short stiff wires attaching these components don't allow a lot of manipulation. I trimmed a little bit from the plastic rear motor bracket to allow things to sit where I wanted them, although an alternative would have been to de-solder the wires and re-solder them in a very slightly revised position.
3. The bore in the chassis for the rear fixing screw needs to be cleaned out to a true 2mm or slightly more, if using Paul's supplied new screws, otherwise it can prove difficult of impossible to get the rear of the body to "nip down" onto the chassis as the screw is turned.
4. For the tender, the moulded plastic boss for the original rear fixing screw in the chassis needs to be trimmed off fully flush with the top of the plastic chassis plate in that area. Even with that done, I found the new rear mounting lug arrangement an uncomfortable tight fit, at risk I thought of distorting the rear of the tender body. I therefore trimmed away the central portion of the chassis plate that should fit above the new lug, leaving only the thin metal stretched for the guard irons, which flexes enough to fit comfortably above the new mounting lug.
5. The fixing screw for the circuit board in the tender needed to be removed, so that the circuit board could move back a little, otherwise it fouled the inside of the tender front bulkhead.

Frankly, compared to scratch building or a major conversion, not a lot of work to do! Of course, I've done nothing to prepare, decorate and detail the bodies yet...

I've posted the same information in Paul's own topic covering the J21, at https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic. ... 23#p142023 and if others have comments to make on the matter that's probably the place to do so. I've duplicated the notes here simply to keep my own work notes "complete".

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all
I was lucky and picked up two DJH J10s for a good price.
There is one point about how the D7 tender differs from the larger variant. There is only two webs on each axlebox instead of three.
When I get time I will rake out a list of D7 allocations in Lincolnshire during the 1930s.

Malcolm (Earlswood Nob, a pre 1900 signal box near where I grew up)

[Atlantic 3279]

I noticed that there were only two webs each side, not three - and they are not in the same position as any two of the three on the later type of axlebox. I confess that I cheated when altering my "later" axleboxes to the earlier type, removing just the middle web, but I did slightly re-shape the backplates, made new spring hangers and put the prominent locking handles onto the faces of the boxes.

[Atlantic 3279]

There's nothing further to report regarding the D7 at present, not that it is forsaken by any means. I've been busy outdoors again, as well as quite deliberately waiting to take the next steps with that model "with a clear mind" - and I also wanted to hear from an arch-student of GC engines who had the chance to see the model and who might have spotted things that I had missed. As it turns out, he has not pointed out any faults, so I'm quite relieved.

I have however managed some un-demanding (if slightly tedious) tinkering with the J21, beyond mounting the printed bodies on the RTR underpinnings. Whilst the raw printed surface finish was certainly good, in truth miles better than some items I've seen, I decided to attempt to refine it further before applying any primer and colour coats. I know that some primers can do a very effective job of smoothing out surface texture, but I wanted to eliminate as far as possible any scope for re-appearance of fine print ridges when the paint coats had fully cured / shrunk / sunk. I have therefore been physically removing the fine ridges using repeated light strokes of a very keen, straight-edged scraper about 3.5mm wide (enough to straddle several ridges), drawn along the "grain" direction, followed by light use of a glass fibre pencil or, where readily possible, fine abrasive paper. I've only done the loco body so far, hence its paler, dustier appearance in the images compared to the untouched tender body. I haven't ignored the tender completely though - I've made a template for the pieces that will be needed to fill in the cut-away lower corners of the frames and to carry the steps.

Paul had very kindly printed my loco body with representations of the exposed steam chest covers seen on most of the slide-valve equipped J21s. I also decided that I wanted to try to portray the older type of smokebox door, with more of the seating ring exposed around its edges. The presence of an accurately located pre-formed hole for the central handles gave me an idea for modification of the existing door rather than replacement. With the benefit of a compass cutter, planted in that hole and set very carefully to the necessary radius I scribed circles of three very slightly different radii into the outer edges of the original door, then gently scraped away the remaining weakened material. After a further tidy-up with the glass fibre pencil and thoroughly brushing away the dust, I think I may have what I was hoping for:

[Atlantic 3279]

Some more tinkering with the J21...

I've started the re-styling of the tender underframe. The large, un-wanted quadrant cut-outs in the lower corners of the SECR C-class tender frames were firstly filed back to a more convenient straight-edged form, then 1mm thick plastic backing pieces were stuck to the abraded inside faces of the frames, overlapping sufficiently to give a decent area for the glue and covering the whole of each "missing" lower corner. More 1mm plastic pieces were then stuck over the backing pieces to bring the outer frame surfaces level. I shaped the pieces of the outer layer so that each necessary upper step could sit in a slot, and each lower one in a rebate. The basic step treads have only been added so far, using more 1mm plastic with a taper filed onto the outer lower edge. I'll add the up-turned ends of the treads later.
By the way, the tender print seen in the latest picture (which is the original one) may appear to have slightly distorted buffer beams. I should mention that in view of the flaring of the lower sides that I had also previously noted, Paul has kindly sent me a replacement with more internal bracing.
I've also very considerably trimmed the ends of the rather long blocks supporting the bottom of each spring hanger, as well as trimming / filing off the representations of the features of split-axleboxes.
It will already be evident that my step treads don't line up exactly with those on Paul's loco print, in fact their heights don't even match at opposite ends of the tender! I think I can live with that. I couldn't see much scope for putting the rear ones at the ideal height and simultaneously achieving a strong structure. At the front, I put them as nearly as I could in the positions that photographs suggested to me.

For the loco, I've now found a suitable pattern for a Ramsbottom safety valve cover and have cast a resin copy as a trial piece. I also have an alternative chimney, which I sought out when I thought the printed one might be too slim. When measured by digital vernier my alternative is probably closer to scale diameters, although to the naked eye the differences are not obvious when both are roughly the same colour. I may not go to the trouble of replacing the chimney, but I have carefully opened out the hole in the top which was originally rather small.

[Atlantic 3279]

A bit more tinkering with the underframe for the J21 tender today. Using a tiny tracing paper template, copied from a handily to-scale photograph in Hoole's book I was able to prick a series of marks to show the correct positions for the additional small D-shaped cut-outs in the frames Three 1.5mm holes initially drilled in each marked area, followed by careful enlargement of the middle hole to 2.5mm, then a fair bit of careful work with a miniature half-round file gave a tolerable result. I've also added the upturned ends to the step treads using microstrip.

I have yet to decide whether to do anything about the representation of the brakes on the tender, and whether to interfere at all with the coal rails. A hand brake column is certainly required, hand rails, and a water filler, along with the various bits on the rear buffer beam

I've also done my best to interpret side-view photographs in order to detail the cab roof with appropriate shallow strips, and I've found some possible white metal candidates for either style of NER buffers.

[mick b]

Graeme

These may help

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index ... nt-2904370

Dave Bradwell does some excellent Tender/Cab castings, if needed.

cheers

Mick

[Atlantic 3279]

Handy pictures and info Mick, many thanks.

[NZRedBaron]

Just to clear up a thing, since I'm gonna get one of these; if you were someone like me, not overly bothered by rivet-counting and suchlike, can I just plonk the body onto the donor chassis, and vroom, off it goes?

[Atlantic 3279]

I've never heard a slowly plodding steam engine or even an electric motor go "vroom", I think you'll need a high revving internal combustion engine to achieve that.

You can plonk the untouched bodies on if you like, but if you don't trim and prepare the chassis units (as I mentioned earlier) they won't fit, and if you don't trim off any pips or other remnants from the printing process in certain places inside the body then there's every chance that you'll force or at least encourage the bodies to distort as you tighten up the fitting screws.

[Atlantic 3279]

Bit by bit.

Now we have handrails, smokebox door wheel and handle, tender filler (a resin lid I already had on a piece of brass tube) and handbrake column. You won't see the results in these pictures but I've also reduced the numbers of pips on the buffer beams to leave just enough to represent the bolt heads of a sandwich beam rather than the visible rivets of a late period steel-plate-only beam.

Still need to make and add boiler feed pipes and clacks, lamp irons, whistle, safety valve tail, brake rods etc.

[mick b]

Are you opening the front/top of the Tender ?, the area around the top of the Coal Plate/Toolboxes ( the boxes look very deep?) should be open , not one solid piece.

[Atlantic 3279]

I don't yet know Mick. The print has been shaped so as to fit over, and conceal, the circuit board (and chip if fitted) on the front of the underframe unit. The coal space, including the slope at the rear, should in reality of course be a channel between the two arms of the tank. Yes, I suspect the toolboxes are deeper than they ought to be as well, but the more I alter the further still this project moves from the originally intended "instant loco".

The scoundrel's dodge of burying the questionable features in a heap of coal might be the eventual solution...

[mick b]

The joys of DCC !! .
It would have been a lot easier if the Toolboxes were seperate pieces as well . Obviously more work for the designer , but on occasions a one piece body is not the best option. IMHO.

Good luck !