Atlantic's works: Portable layout - Scenic details next

[Tony.]

Atlantic, i have just spent the last good part of an hour reading every page / looking at every possible photo to do with your conversions/builds/projects.

Some of this is amazing I would take my hat off to you if i was wearing one, keep up the good work.

[Atlantic 3279]

Ta Tony, kind of you to say so.

At last, here are some pictures of the cab moulds opened up. Inspection suggested that the rubber had picked up all of the vital detail of the masters without flaws. The core piece for the W1 can will only come out after detaching the rear "sacrificial" wall of the cab, as shown here by the state of the master. It won't matter if this has to be done to each resin casting. You can see the way that the rear part of the core piece flexes backwards to remove it from the cab, the cross-gap in the core piece being necessary to create the backhead and front part of the cab floor. The first half of the A4 apron mould is also pictured - I've poured the second part of that small mould today, along with the mould for the rear half cab floor plus drag beam of the W1.

The plan to pour the resin into the depths of the closed moulds via the conical inlet and feed tube has worked well. It does seem to drive out the air without leaving trapped bubbles in a much more effective way than simply pushing the core piece down into a sea of resin. Even the first shot of the basic V fronted cab seemed absolutely perfect. I had trouble however with the W1 at the first attempt. The resin was thickening up too much in the inlet before it had spread the greater distance through the narrow gaps in the mould structure, hence I was unable to fill the mould fully, hence the incomplete casting shown here:


After chewing some more rubber out of the W1 core piece with side-cutters to open up a better flow through the inlet, and chilling my two liquid resin components in the fridge for a while to try to retard the reaction a bit (bearing in mind the VERY warm September afternoon we've just had), I had a far better result.

The only minor flaw for those with an eagle eye, although you'll struggle to pick it out in these images, is that the square centre nuts in the washout plugs haven't consistently reproduced. All else is lovely. I may try wiping the washout plug areas witha mini-mix of resin before the main pour next time. Alternatively, it isn't hard for fanatics of ultra detail to drill the middle of each plug and insert a stub of wire or plastic - of square section if you must.....

[2002EarlMarischal]

Congratulations Graeme, you have "raised the bar" yet again! Meticulous preparation and skillful modelling as we have come to expect.

[mick b]

Well done , looks very good.

[60800]

I've always hated resin (small brittle bits in aircraft kits that never fit or stick), but I'm quite tempted by this

[Atlantic 3279]

On the subject of getting the stuff to stick, whilst I have always relied on Evostick, epoxy or cyano on cleaned, abraded surfaces, Tim Easter tells me that on cleaned and well roughened surfaces he has been able to stick this resin to loco body plastic using butanone only, which is more convenient in some situations. I understand it only (or largely) acts on the plastic, the temporarily dissolved material producing the bond by finding its way into all of the little scratches on the face of the resin, so I imagine it only works well when there's a good contact area or in a mechanically supported joint, but it's a point worth remembering if access for gluing isn't quite what you'd like.

I'll clean that W1 chunk up later, and bond it temporarily to the remains of the A4 body from which it was spawned, we can then see how it fits and how it looks on my original W1 chassis from 3 years ago. I know this isn't happening as quickly as some of my past projects, but the diversions and delays (on tasks such as making a lighting rig for Leeds Central, John having mentioned that he hadn't made any plans for one and was going on holiday to Canada.....) are proving useful as I've had more time to think about the rear undergubbins. It may turn out that I can suggest a very simple way to deal with the rear carrying axles for those who don't want to cut the chassis block and / or who want their main-line-only W1 to go around colliery yard stub points.

[Atlantic 3279]

Front edges trimmed back with file, razor saw and carefully-thought-out snapping away of material with pliers / side cutters, including (inset) the making of clearances for wheel tops and the fitting of the lubricators. Cab edges and windows cleaned up. Five sopts of superglue and Bob's your uncle.

[Saint Johnstoun]

What I've done for my W1 resin body upgrade (the chassis will also fit the rebuild) is to extend the rear of the chassis by shuttering with plasticard and then 'casting' an extension in body filler. The extension is then filed to shape.

I will then cut slots for two axles held in place with a keeper plate and I intend to try two of the flangeless wheelsets as fitted to the Hornby Gresleys to see if that will work. I will also try it with a flanged set nearest to the driving wheels with some side play as the wheelbase distance is shorter between the first trailing set and the driving wheels, being a scale 34mm on the A4 and a scale 30mm on the W1. The undergubbins for the resin W1 I am building up using a scrap Hornby Cartazzi frame extended using plasticard.

[60800]

That sir, is absoloutely brilliant

[Tony.]

[Horsetan]

I suddenly feel the need to go and eat a Milky Bar.

[S.A.C. Martin]

Looks terrific Graeme. I can imagine it's a very easy job to cut the valance too if you want one post-war too.

Very impressive all round.

[mick b]

What I've done for my W1 resin body upgrade (the chassis will also fit the rebuild) is to extend the rear of the chassis by shuttering with plasticard and then 'casting' an extension in body filler. The extension is then filed to shape.

I will then cut slots for two axles held in place with a keeper plate and I intend to try two of the flangeless wheelsets as fitted to the Hornby Gresleys to see if that will work. I will also try it with a flanged set nearest to the driving wheels with some side play as the wheelbase distance is shorter between the first trailing set and the driving wheels, being a scale 34mm on the A4 and a scale 30mm on the W1. The undergubbins for the resin W1 I am building up using a scrap Hornby Cartazzi frame extended using plasticard.

On my Finecast rebuilt version (picture a couple of pages in from page 1) I never got the rear truck to go around bends. I gave up and removed the flanges on the wheels and simply glued the bogie casting with the wheels clear of the rails onto the body. End of problem and unless you stare at it hardly noticeable as per the Hornby versions. It will be interesting to see how Graeme deals with the truck. I was amazed how far the rear is thrown out even of 30inch + bends !!

[Manxman1831]

What I've done for my W1 resin body upgrade (the chassis will also fit the rebuild) is to extend the rear of the chassis by shuttering with plasticard and then 'casting' an extension in body filler. The extension is then filed to shape.

I will then cut slots for two axles held in place with a keeper plate and I intend to try two of the flangeless wheelsets as fitted to the Hornby Gresleys to see if that will work. I will also try it with a flanged set nearest to the driving wheels with some side play as the wheelbase distance is shorter between the first trailing set and the driving wheels, being a scale 34mm on the A4 and a scale 30mm on the W1. The undergubbins for the resin W1 I am building up using a scrap Hornby Cartazzi frame extended using plasticard.

This approach should work even better than the Hornby Cartazzi, as I feel that on our 4468 at Ruddington, and my own 10003 (both having stock metal chassis), that the flanged wheelset seems to skid around the bends, but it does provide extra stability on the straights - giving less of a racehorse feel to the motion of the loco.

Looking good as ever, Graeme.

[Atlantic 3279]

In essence I think I agree with most of what has been said by St. J and in places by others regarding the rear carrying truck(s):

My own W1, and the three others I built to the same standard with a rear bogie trapped between realistically shaped and spaced rear frames will in extremis just about sneak cautiously around a smooth and dead level 2 foot radius OO curve with no bad rail ends or point blades along the way to upset the journey. The flanges are tight against the rails so if you have track of tighter radius, or have uneven or notchy track, or you want to run at speed, then forget any idea of having four flanged rear wheels. Unless you want the loco to later be convertible, with ease, to give truer appearance and behaviour of the rear truck(s) for use on a layout with easier curves, then for running on tight curves etc there is no point in constructing a rear bogie or other fancy trucks. The pacific chassis as it comes has the Cartazzi wheelset in a block-like downward extension of the main chassis, and the axles comes out easily via removal of a small keeper plate. The new, forward carrying axle of the rear pair could be accommodated in a thin-walled brass tube glued to the front face of the original Cartazzi axle's block. It wouldn't be absolutely in line with the new Cartazzi boxes, but you'd struggle to tell. There's some scope for sideplay so as others suggest, it may be feasible down to certain limits of cuvature to put flanged wheels in. The rearward axle of the new pair would certainly have to be flangeless, non-weight-carrying, and be given freedom to lift if necessary when the rear end of the loco dips on uneven track, so it would have to be retained in a U-shaped brass channel or similar, with a bottom keeper.

With the complications of chassis cutting and bogie installation removed, then rather than screw the new rear frame unit(s) to the chassis, they can simply be glued to the lower edges of the cab / firebox. A small rearward extension or two on the chassis needs to be provided to carry a body mounting lug 7mm further back than the original, and to provide a new screw hole for the current-carrying drawbar.

I'll probably still make the resin rear frame unit so that it can be screwed to the frames and contain a bogie if desired, but I'll make sure that it is equally easy to fit the frames to the body.

Now on two W1s I built a couple of years ago I did provide for running on tight radii by means of un-weighted flangeless rear wheels, AND I put them in a tethered bogie that could be freed off for "proper" running later, with flanged wheels, if desired, AND I provided a cord + pulleys arrangement to ensure that the loadless rear wheels would always be seen to turn when the loco was on the move. I won't be going to those lengths this time!