Atlantic's works: Portable layout update - first "away" match

[Horsetan]

Surprising how different K1 and B1 cabs are, but I thought this conversion was preferable to those wrong wrong wrong DMR cabsides.

That's an interesting comment. Having recently done a "build to print" DMR K1 I failed to notice or even check the cab sides for dimensional fidelity. What exactly is the problem with them?

Possibly because the cabside windows might be slightly too far apart? It was something I also noticed in Crownline and PDK kits.

[Atlantic 3279]

Ex A3 cylinders for A1/1 with 20 thou additional plastic plates stuck to previously filed sides, and those plates in turn "rounded in" by filing top and bottom. Filling and fine blending to follow:

Further view of straightened sidesheets in possibly better lighting conditions than hitherto:

The running plate details! Some months ago, when Blink Bonny had a go at the A1/1 in model form, there was discussion of the question of just where the splashers were, details of shape, and what surrounds them. Based on photos of Green Arrow and other locos, and the probability of family likeness, I suggested that the inboard edge of the running plate adjacent to the recessed splashers probably featured a raised angle iron or kerb of some sort. Well......erm.....ahem.....having now looked and looked hard at several pictures I cannot convince myself that Great Northern actually had such a raised "kerb". In the hope of avoiding the focus of any of BB's voodoo, I should also say that neither can I see clear evidence that NO raised kerb at all was present, and with that in mind, I've included a shallow representation (filed 0.45mm wire) on my brass master running plate, the idea being that if resin copies carry what later turns out to be a superfluous lip it can easily be filed off. Adding it would involve a bit more work.

[Atlantic 3279]

The other thing about the running plate is that I had entertained the idea of including all, or as much as possible of its top furniture as part of the basic resin moulding, as a way of making life easy when converting other locos in the same way. I now think that few of the fittings can actually be made to look correct at the same time as being simple and convenient to mould integrally, so I've decided to produce the running plate bare, but including dimples on the underside in each of the drilling positions that would be needed for a "well rooted" fitting rather than something just flimsily glued-on. It will then be possible to fit, if desired, in holes/slots/sockets the recovered lubricators and oilboxes from the donor A3. One of the oil-boxes might actually be a bit small for the job, but it is not long since few models actually featured details such as oil-boxes, so it wouldn't worry me too much. Likewise the mechanical lubricators may be a little small, but the details are crisp, the separate hand-wheels are impressive, and they cost nothing. The two "central" sand fillers and shields can be fairly reasonable represented by commercial w/m castings such as the Craftsman items, but the front one needs to be special tall and narrow type which I suppose I shall have to cast in resin. The Dave Alexander item (all I had left in stock) that I've used to check the general look of the fully dressed running plate (below) is nothing like suitable! I've also used a triangle of plastikard stuck to the firebox side to represent the step on the S-curve of the running plate - that won't feature on the running plate moulding either. A little more work has also been done with thick plastikard to start to form the shapes of the steam pipe elbows above the cylinders.

[2002EarlMarischal]

May I say that your ingenuity puts me in mind of the "Great Escape" - all those amazing chaps, bless them, who achieved the impossible - perfectly forged passes, realistic uniforms and maps etc out of nothing, with handmade tools adapted for the purpose!

Great Northern is certainly looking "The Business"!

[Blink Bonny]

[2002EarlMarischal]

Strange connection?

Yesterday, whilst working from home, my better half got me to bring the Christmas card stock down from the loft, so whilst I was at it, all the decoration boxes came down too. All I heard all afternoon was her humming Christmas jingles!

I suppose it was all that Xmas stuff that put me in mind of "The Great Escape". I assume it'll be on again this year!

[Blink Bonny]

Ay up, EM!

Its already been on this year. Twice!

[60800]

The great escape..... from your family on Christmas day. Just dissolve into your model railways chaps, I know i'll be doing, especially with Brown Jack and Silver Link on the way

[S.A.C. Martin]

Looking amazing Graeme.

[Atlantic 3279]

Thanks again Simon. More progress to show later, but for now, THREE CHEERS FOR COMET MODELS AND (on this occasion, as on most others) THE ROYAL MAIL. Less than 24 hours since I spoke to Mr Comet on the phone and I already have the sets of valve gear that I need, in my hand. First class post delivered next day, as it ought to be. Mr Comet's predictions of a possible delay due to catching up on Warley orders, and possibly having to re-stock, were quite unfounded. Delivery also appears to have been accomplished without the use of a Howitzer on this occasion too - not even a hint of evidence to suggest that the packet was given a roughing-up in the sorting office. Excellent!

[S.A.C. Martin]

These latest Hornby Pacific chassis really are quite versatile you know.......

Hi Graeme,

Sorry to dig up such an old post - but looking this over with mullings of making my own (albeit not streamlined and perhaps developed from the Gresley style), I was wondering how exactly the rear driving wheels sit in the brass frames - is it literally just a hole in each side of the frames, or did you fit bearings of some form?

Having dug out the Railroad chassis from which I built my original 60113, but found it needing a lot of work to go back to being a decent standard, I thought it would form a nice basis, with work, for a take on the 4-8-2 formula. I have the spare driving wheels and coupling rods already, and some brass sheet, so I guess I’m halfway there!

I think my next question would be – what if the 4-8-2 had actually been built before Gresley’s death? What would the likelihood of (dare I say it) a Thompson rebuild of the front end been, and in what form is most likely?

Looking at the drawing in Geoffrey Hughes’ book on Gresley, it occurs to me that the draft is not dissimilar to the eventual form of the A2/2s in some respects, bar the single chimney which would be an obvious replacement for a double chimney, and the placement of the cylinders and length of the connecting rod would of course be different if we summise a rebuild along the lines of the P2s or 4470.

Sorry for what must sound like an absolutely monstrous idea for any Gresley fan, but the idea wouldn’t go away over the last few weeks and my interest has been piqued with the spare parts I have.

[Saint Johnstoun]

I'm working on a non streamlined 4-8-2 to replace the tender drive one I made years ago. The chassis is done but I am running into a few problems with the cab as all I have to use at present is one from a Bachmann A4 = the original layout as drawn out shows a vee front cab and corridor tender. I have now but created the rest of the body by amalgamating two A3 bodies.

[S.A.C. Martin]

I'm working on a non streamlined 4-8-2 to replace the tender drive one I made years ago. The chassis is done but I am running into a few problems with the cab as all I have to use at present is one from a Bachmann A4 = the original layout as drawn out shows a vee front cab and corridor tender. I have now but created the rest of the body by amalgamating two A3 bodies.

That sound great St. Johnstoun - perhaps, for fear of cluttering Graeme's thread, I should make a new one for discussion of the proposal?

Here's my musings on the "Thompson" 4-8-2 in any event - you can all have a good laugh at my poor photoshopping skills (and apologies to St. Johnstoun, I believe I used your original 4-8-2 drawing to create it). I know about the driving wheels, I am truly terrible with photoshop...

[60800]

I may be of some assistance;

#2 has smoke deflectors

[Atlantic 3279]

Hi Simon

Re the fourth coupled wheelset: If you trawl back diligently enough through my material, you should find pictures to go with what I'm saying here (if not I'll have to try to dig them out for you), but my method was to leave large horn-gaps in the original piece of brass sheet that I folded into a channel to form the backbone of the chassis extension piece. I soldered top-hat bearings (3mm I suspect) into separate small brass plates (effectively making a set of loose hornblocks) and after fitting these over the axle (one wheel off to do this) with a spring between the pair of hornblocks, I eased the hornblock btween the main faces of the frames. The spring then pushed them out against the frames. With both wheels on, I was then able to get the axle dead level, and perfectly spaced from the third axle to suit the rod dimensions, before I solder the hornblocks to the main frame extension. If you find the pictures you see the axle-spacing jig that I made too, as the slpo between rod and crankpin made me think that using the rods on the pins would not be a precise enough way to space the wheelset, and I don't have any 3mm jig axles, only 1/8th, so I couldn't put the rods directly onto the end of the axles to jig them in the normal way.
Of course, once soldered up, you have to have a wheel off again to recover the spring......

I believe St Johnstoun successfully used a different, solder-free method involving cold-casting the chassis extension in situ, which sounded interesting. Maybe he'll share his secret with you if you ask him nicely?