Woodcock's Workbench

[Atlantic 3279]

That would appear to be quite close to becoming a very nice B8.

[Woodcock29]

Thanks Graeme

[Chas Levin]

Both are very good looking locos Andrew, glad you decided to post them

[Hatfield Shed]

That would appear to be quite close to becoming a very nice B8.

It's a lovely subject, which the model will well represent, and I anticipate enjoying the end result. I should have liked to have seen Robinson's 4-6-0 classes working, but gone too early for me, and for my selected modelling period. This is the dangerous stuff that leads to the mangling of fact, and having one anyway.

[Woodcock29]

I haven't got back onto the D3 and the B8 as I've been distracted with RTR models. You can see my almost complete modifications to the Bachmann V2 here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13867&start=75

I should be able to get back onto the D3 shortly as I've now got some S scale Archer rivets to do the bolt heads holding the cylinders to the front frames.

Andrew

[Woodcock29]

I haven't progressed the B8 or D3 much since my last post as I've been distracted doing scenic work on my layout. I will post some photos of progress on the layout in a few weeks time and plan to complete the B8 and D3 by the end of the year. I have sprayed the D3 black but unfortunately the paint has dried with a very rough finish yet the spraying conditions were almost perfect, so I need to decide whether I'll need to strip it or whether I can get away with rubbing it down?

However, I have worked on a couple of wagons that I obtained via an auction on the deceased estate opf one of our BRMA members in NSW.

I was able to purchase a bulk lot of 50 wagons - mostly pre-grouping liviered NER and LNWR kit built wagons which turned out to be to EM gauge - all of which are too early for my period. One of our other local members purchased a 75 wagon lot which included a range of wagons that didn't suit his modelling location - somewhere west - I won't say any more! However, he was keen to obtain some of the early liveried wagons I had for a pre-grouping period train on his layout so we traded a range of items. So by trading I was fortunate to get D&S LNER Dia 87 Milk Van, LNER Dia 5 Horsebox, NER Road Van, L&Y CCT, 2 GN 2 plank ballast wagons (one of which I have been looking for for some time so two was a real bonus!), a Jidenco LMS Cement hopper plus a few others.

All require work on them - some substantial but I'm very happy to have obtained them. So far I have finished the two ballast wagons which were built but not painted . They needed a bit of tidying up of the soldering and refitting of brake levers and brake gear. The remaining wagons I have put away for another day.

Andrew

[Atlantic 3279]

Nice - the very things that I need to build some time too.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Like the look of those wagons, have to keep my eyes open.

manna

[Woodcock29]

I have to say not much progress on either the D3 or B8 over the last 12 months or more but a bit in recent times. I've been distracted elsewhere! Mostly with sorting out and selling a collection of models for someone who contacted me out of the blue - must have got my details off the web as the State Rep for South Australia for BRMA.

Firstly with the D3 I wasn't happy with the surface of the paint finish - it was rough and not smooth so I parked if for a long time whilst I contemplated what to do. In the end I stripped the tender using caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) - I was nervous about this because the front was all plastic - in the end it came out quite clean with the only issues being that super glue - where used for metal/plastic and resin/metal joints didn't like the caustic soda and bits came apart but that was easily fixed. So in the end I resprayed it with a satin (supposedly matt!) car touch up spray can - came out ok.

With the body, although mostly metal - it did have tape boiler bands and Archer rivets so I gave the larger surfaces a rub down with wet and dry and then resprayed it with the car touch up paint and it looks ok now.

Next task was lining - I haven't done any bow pen/lining pen work for 3 years or so and still considered myself very much a novice so needed to re-acquaint myself with the technique. I've been practising on my old Craftsman A5 built back in the mid-80s with variable results - still need some more practice and settle on what paint I'm going to use!

The B8 has seen some recent progress with work on the Bachmann tender I'm using, a month or so ago. I've removed the rear coal plate and extended the side coping plates forward using parts cut off a Bachmann J11 tender which I modified some years ago. I've fitted water pickup box/water filler and operating 'ships' wheel. I've replaced the front vertical handrails and widened the footplate at the front to match the width of the cab.

Early in 2022 I bought a Bachmann V2 and spent some time revamping that - slimming down the smokebox front, removing bolt heads from footplate, revamping the engine-tender coupling, fitting Comet valve gear, plating the space between the safety valves.

I've been distracted with building more wagons, firstly because I wanted to have an express goods on the high level LMS part of my layout to run behind my Claughton 6004 and also similarly I wanted to put together a perishables train for my Bachmann V2 - not that I really needed more wagons for that train but it did see me commissioning a 3D printed LNER refrigerator van from a lady in Tasmania who had been producing unusual pieces of UK goods rolling stock via 3D printing. The refrigerator van was produced in a kit form and so far I've only built 1 of the 6 I have. This is the same diagram van that I scratch-built an example of way back in 1979! But I don't have time to be building more wagons from scratch. I ended up removing some of the detail off the 3D printed sides and ends as they were too course - the corner plates and door hinges. I used brass ladders, Lanarkshire Models buffers and vacuum pipes and made up some brake levers form brass and using nickel silver vertical parts (never known what these are called!).

Andrew

[Atlantic 3279]

Nice attention to details on that GC tender Andrew.

[9E]

If you want to go the whole hog with the GC tender for the B8 Andrew, It may be worth looking at the position of the brake standard. The GA for the later tenders shows the standard closer to the bunker/tank front rather than in line with the front vertical handrails as it is for the earlier J11,B4 etc tenders. If you have them compare the drawings in EM Johnson's GC Locomotives Pt2 and Geoff Holt's Locomotive Modelling from Scratch and Etched Kits Pt2.

Regards,

Simon

[Atlantic 3279]

That's interesting, because the original Parker/Kitson 3000 gallon tenders (for the class 2 4-4-0s) that initiated the style used to the end of the GCR era appear to have had the brake standard close to the tank front. In that position it must have passed through, or behind, one of the sand boxes. I wonder what motivated the change in the design, and then the further change back to something like the original arrangement?

[Woodcock29]

Thanks for that info Simon. I hadn't picked up on the different positions of the brake standard. Will look into it. I also have to do another tender shortly as part of a conversion of a Bachmann D11/1 to a D10 (despite the fact I still have a Little Engines kit to build) which might actually use a Bachmann J11 tender.
Andrew

[john coffin]

In my collection I am lucky enough to have 3 officials for GC tenders locos
Nos 1095-1104 which shows the brake standard inside the side sheet extensions at the front, but overall outside the frames.
nos 1067-72, 1052-1054 showing again the brake standard outside the frames but inside the side sheet extensions
but about 13 inches from the front coal plate sheet. The sand box is slightly inset.
same applies to those built for the D11's
Nos 1073-1077 also inside the side sheet extensions, but at the front, and also outside the frames. No sand box in sight on that side.

I think what people have to look at is the positioning of the brake operating gear, which hangs off the left had side outside the
frames.
HTH
Paul

[Atlantic 3279]

I wondered whether the position of the column had to change in consequence of a primary decision to alter the layout of the brake linkages, or whether some other perceived need to move the column had caused the re-design of the linkages. It may be that no surviving document of person can now tell us the true answer...