West End Workbench

[rob]

Lovely job on the flares Jonathan...nerve wracking but a great feeling when it all lines up and looks right,its my favourite tricky job!
I'm getting flashbacks looking at that A2...were any built properly at the time?...my guess is you will be taking the boiler off the footplate to get things better aligned....and cab roof issues possibly too...will be worth it though,the more I look at mine the more handsome she becomes....I never fully appreciated these until I saw it in "3D" so to speak...even in 4mm these are majestic beasties,cold noses or not!
This DJH kit reminds me of Mark Twains advice re investing money..."buy land,they don't make it anymore"...no matter how bad they can be salvaged...though perhaps a certain Arthur K might eventually be tempted to apply his magic to these?

[jwealleans]

Cheers, Rob. I do love it when a plan comes together. As you know, though, all Arthur's kits just show how easily an etched kit should assemble if properly thought through and accurately drawn.

Soldering now complete and ready for castings and primer. Note that as I will be lining this I have deliberately omitted handrails and lamp irons which will be added after painting.

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all after a late drunken night
I am finding your thread on building an etched tender interesting. When I pluck up the courage I might try one of Arthur's kits, something like a J24 or J73. However there is a pile of white metals kits to finish.
Earlswood Nob

[jwealleans]

In the absence of Jim McGeown's 4mm kits, I can't think of a better place to start. Arthur's aren't as simple as Jim's, but you can be confident that it will all fit and if something's not right it's almost certainly you, not the kit.

We're now done; a bit of excess Araldite to remove and a couple of slipped axleboxes to straighten, but this will probably see primer today. Buffers have been left off to aid painting.





I don't quite know why such a large locomotive should look so much better with a smaller tender, but it does.

[ten ten]

Looks good.Agree with your comments on Arthurs kits.Its almost a shame to paint them,they look so good in shining brass.Have reached the same stage on my 3950g tender,any advice on preparation for priming.and primer to use will be very helpful.

[Atlantic 3279]

why such a large locomotive should look so much better with a smaller tender

I imagine that it simply looks "right" with the correct NE style of tender, as intended oriiginally for these locos. Do you need to deepen the angle iron (valance) under the tender solepalte to match the loco? I understand they went to thge trouble to make such alterations to the real things, even when existing tenders were swapped between some of the 0-8-0s and the larger passenger locos.

How much are those tender kits by the way?

[ten ten]

I paid £35 and £3 p and p for mine ,sent off the cheque and it came about five days later.Wheels,bearings and hand rail knobs are not included. Its my first experience of an etched kit- and it wont be the last,totally enjoyed assembling it !Look forward to having a go at one of the loco kits soon.

[jwealleans]

I think I'll be reserving judgement on valances until I have the relevant Yeadon to hand and have the loco stripped for repaint, which isn't due up any time soon. The brake and water scoop upstands aren't available as yet anyway so the tender can't be completely finished for a while. I'll let Arthur comment on price as this is a preproduction model. I think he did post a pdf price list which should cover the other sizes.

In terms of preparation, I don't have any etching primer left so this will get a waft of the Halfords filler primer (it seems to make a difference) then grey Halfords primer until I decide to paint the whole lot. It's been washed after each soldering session and excess solder has now been cleaned off; I don't do anything much more special than that.

Edit - I should mention that as those valances are attached to small tabs along the side, it would/will be very easy to remove them and substitute a deeper brass strip if required. Good design.

[jwealleans]

Tender's hardening off in primer, so back to the previous project, an F4. I might yet get this done for Nottingham as I don't intend to rebuild the chassis until after the show. Part of Tuesday evening was spent adding detail using mainly Gibson parts and quite a bit of wire.



I think to fit into the right era and area it may actually be an F5, but hey, who can tell (apart from BJ)?

[mick b]

Very nice, I have a Nu Cast F4 which will become a F8 in the pending pile. I wont be telling anyone either !!

[jwealleans]

Turned out to be an F4 in the end, the only one allocated to Ipswich after the war. A little touching up and this will run at the weekend. New underpinnings will be in order after that, I think. The motor has a tendency to run dry after a short time and screech alarmingly and I can't seem to keep oil in the places it needs to be.





I was trying to find the 'before' photo of it which Autocar Publicity took but I seem to have filed it too effectively - do you still have it, AP?

[ArthurK]

why such a large locomotive should look so much better with a smaller tender

I imagine that it simply looks "right" with the correct NE style of tender, as intended oriiginally for these locos. Do you need to deepen the angle iron (valance) under the tender solepalte to match the loco? I understand they went to thge trouble to make such alterations to the real things, even when existing tenders were swapped between some of the 0-8-0s and the larger passenger locos.

How much are those tender kits by the way?

Looking at Ken Hoole's book it would appear to have the larger of the two standard angle irons used by the NER (they used 3" aad 6"). When the larger of the two was used the tender usually had the same even when it was a standard type. The 4-6-2s in the aforementioned book show the tenders with the larger angle. This also applied to the Z Atlantics. When these latter got tenders from the Q6s, which had trhe smaller angle, they were usually altered to come into line with the engine. Similarly the tenders which passed to the Q6s usually received the snaller angle. Sorry Jonathan it looks like you should have the 6" angle on your tender. Perhaps I should put both in the kit.

I reply to the inquiry on cost, Jonathans build was partially to check out the kit on my behalf. I haven't finalised the cost as yet but it will be in the region of £40 incuding all castings. I have no plans to issue a separate 4125 gallon tender kit in the near future unless there is a demand for it. It will of course be available when the Q7 is released. I still need the brake and scoop standards to complete the castings.

ArthurK

[jwealleans]

Perhaps I should put both in the kit.

Only if there's room on the sheet, Arthur - if you're primarily supplying it as part of a kit, you should put in what's appropriate for the kit. After that it's optional. Anyone who can build this can easily substitute a wider strip to suit the application, as I will when I get round to finishing the whole thing off.

[Atlantic 3279]

Thanks to Arthur for the reply about valances and cost.

Your F4 comment tends to confirm that you will be at Nottingham this weekend JW, so I can see that nice little loco in the flesh. Is there anything I was meant to bring for you? I know you mentioned that you had something.

[jwealleans]

I most certainly will be at Nottingham, probably behind Thurston unless I've gone walkabout.

I have a container for you to look at; I don't think there was anything else off the top of my head?