Tyteford Halte

[MAP66]

Turns out I was able to fix this without too much trouble. The final tool of choice was a Dremel type rotary drill fitted with a slitting disc. I was able to cut away at each sandbox until clearance was achieved. At the rear the solution was to drill a hole in the rear frame spacer in line with each buffer and the buffer rod simply passes through the hole when depressed, which quickly cheered it up, me too 🙂

 

Not the prettiest of jobs so far, but it's unseen and solves the problem.

 

Chassis fitted to body shell with buffers out.

 

May I introduce my fat thumb to demonstrate that the front buffers now also go in.

 

For the rear, drilling holes was the answer. The white marks denote the centre line of the buffers when fitted to the body shell.

 

Buffers out at the rear.

 

You met my left thumb earlier, here's the right one testing the rear buffer.

[MAP66]

I seem to have adorned the 48XX with more lamp irons than you could shake a stick at. In total there will be 11 and 9 have been fitted so far. That works out at 3 on the front footplate, 1 above the smoke box door, 3 along the left hand foot plate for lamp storage, 3 at the rear fitted to the lower bunker wall and lastly, 1 centrally mounted on top of the bunker wall. Then there’s the 4 fire iron brackets which I have just fitted. I have also filled in the aperture on the cab steps and the whole on top of the boiler where the whistle shield went.

 

I am basing my observations from a photo of 4851, said to have been taken at Exeter but year not given. I will need to make up the number plates soon, so was wondering if any one out there can provide further info on any class 48’s which may have been based or operating around the Somerset and Devon regions in the late 1930’s and what their numbers were. It would be good to have a few different number options to choose from. Thanks in advance.

 

The added brassware is almost completed, 2 more lamp irons to go. I have also added the 4 lifting rings on top of the tanks. The aperture on the cab steps is filled in and later both front and rear steps will be filed thinner as the plastic is way too thick.

 

Just jumping ahead to see how a Modelu lamp would look, should look pretty good once painted white with a red lens fitted.

Edited May 21 by MAP66
I can't add up.

[MAP66]

Today, I was working on detailing the front buffer beam and have now added some cast fittings, namely the steam heating hose which also has within its moulded detail a representation of the auto coupling linkage and the brake hose which also has as part of the moulded detail, a representation of the electrical connection box.

 

Being me, I tried to enhance them a bit. The steam hose hangs quite low to the track so I snipped off the retaining chain and carefully bent the hose (very hard to do) until there was a bit more clearance above the track sleepers. I replaced the retaining chain using MSE signal wire. For the additional detail for the brake hose, I added a couple of tiny bits of plastic to represent the electrical connector ends and then two lengths of black EZ-line for the cables.

 

The final cast item was the regulator bracket which fitted to the inside of the buffer beam. The linkage from the regulator bracket when fitted is in line with the brake rigging front stretcher. I wanted to add a representation of the rodding attached to the linkage and I just need to do a bit of studying to identify if It should pass over the top or beneath the stretcher.

 

I finished off with some cruel close pics to check where more work is required. It has highlighted that some of the lamp irons are not sitting as flat or straight as they could be, so that needs sorting. Also, the brake shoe arms show a gap between the laminations, I will feed some filler into the gap. The buffer beam and fittings have had some initial paint work completed and a more detailed paint job will follow.

 

Head on view, on the right is the steam heating hose and the auto coupler. The brake hose is on the left with the electrical box directly behind.

 

Three quarter side view  showing some wonky looking lamp irons. You can just make out my representation of the chain link holding the steam heating hose.

 

View from the other side. You can see that gap on the side of the brake shoe arm. 

 

[MAP66]

I have been doing some practising on the air brush, early results were a bit hit and miss. Eventually though, I plucked up the courage to give it a go on the loco. For covering a larger area, I found that 20 psi was about right with a watered down paint mix of about 50/50. I know some people thin down acrylic type paints with proprietary paint thinner products, but I chose to use plain water as I had heard that some of these paint thinning products can cause the paint to dry too quickly. This gave me a premonition of a gummed up air brush and I didn’t want to risk that.

 

Anyway, I went for it and sprayed just the boiler section with about 6 coats of very sparingly applied paint. The final result is not perfect but a vast improvement from the rattle can attempt, things can only get better, as they say, with further practice. The most boring and tedious part is all the masking off. Results below…

 

Boiler section now spray painted. Next, will be the rest of the body work and the longest part of that task will be to mask off all the areas which I don't want painted GWR green. Unfortunately, there was a casualty, in that the tap on the side of the smoke box was somehow lost. I will need to make another.

 

New territory for me, this air brushing lark. One of the other delights I discovered is that no matter how much time I dedicated to ensuring the surfaces to be painted were free from dust and debris, Immediately after and in fact during spray painting, all manner of tiny bits of detritus would appear out of nowhere, their soul purpose to fling themselves into the lovely painted surface and embed themselves.

Edited May 26 by MAP66
Typos

[Neal Ball]

12 hours ago, MAP66 said:

I have been doing some practising on the air brush, early results were a bit hit and miss. Eventually though, I plucked up the courage to give it a go on the loco. For covering a larger area, I found that 20 psi was about right with a watered down paint mix of about 50/50. I know some people thin down acrylic type paints with proprietary paint thinner products, but I chose to use plain water as I had heard that some of these paint thinning products can cause the paint to dry too quickly. This gave me a premonition of a gummed up air brush and I didn’t want to risk that.

 

Anyway, I went for it and sprayed just the boiler section with about 6 coats of very sparingly applied paint. The final result is not perfect but a vast improvement from the rattle can attempt, things can only get better, as they say, with further practice. The most boring and tedious part is all the masking off. Results below…

 

Boiler section now spray painted. Next, will be the rest of the body work and the longest part of that task will be to mask off all the areas which I don't want painted GWR green. Unfortunately, there was a casualty, in that the tap on the side of the smoke box was somehow lost. I will need to make another.

 

New territory for me, this air brushing lark. One of the other delights I discovered is that no matter how much time I dedicated to ensuring the surfaces to be painted were free from dust and debris, Immediately after and in fact during spray painting, all manner of tiny bits of detritus would appear out of nowhere, their soul purpose to fling themselves into the lovely painted surface and embed themselves.

 

Keep going Keith, once you master using an airbrush it is a great tool to use.

 

I use Railmatch acrylic paints together with Vallejo thinners and the combination works really well. "They say" that the mix should be something like the consistency of milk - which can be quite hard to get the balance right, but again practice makes perfect.

 

Masking up, can also be a pain - but like anything in this hobby, once you have done it a few times it will be fine.

 

Good luck.

 

The loco is looking great after all the work you have done on it.

 

Regards, Neal.

[MAP66]

Thanks Neal for your words of encouragement and advice, much appreciated.

 

If I end up with as good as finish as you have achieved on your splendid County Tank, then that’ll do me. I suppose there’s no excuse for me not to give the auto coach the same treatment now. Then I can finally glaze it, as passengers have been complaining of a terrible draught. Mind you, having the roof off, doesn’t help either. 😄

 

Best,

Mark

[TT100 Diesels]

On 26/05/2024 at 17:54, MAP66 said:

 

New territory for me, this air brushing lark. One of the other delights I discovered is that no matter how much time I dedicated to ensuring the surfaces to be painted were free from dust and debris, Immediately after and in fact during spray painting, all manner of tiny bits of detritus would appear out of nowhere, their soul purpose to fling themselves into the lovely painted surface and embed themselves.

 

Yeah, don't worry, I brush paint and get the exact same inclusions from nowhere....

 

I paint multiple thin wash layers to build up the colour and keep the detail, but gave up trying to 1000 grit out inclusions layer by layer. I did it at the end, and when patch paint touch in, dammit, they come again, and its ever decreasing circles ...😟.

 

Nice work on the engine by the way.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[MAP66]

10 hours ago, TT100 Diesels said:

 

Yeah, don't worry, I brush paint and get the exact same inclusions from nowhere....

 

I paint multiple thin wash layers to build up the colour and keep the detail, but gave up trying to 1000 grit out inclusions layer by layer. I did it at the end, and when patch paint touch in, dammit, they come again, and its ever decreasing circles ...😟.

 

Nice work on the engine by the way.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

Thanks @TT100 Diesels, I am quickly learning that unless you have a laboratory dust free environment (and who has) then specs of dust in the paintwork are just something we have to accept. My initial approach, as you have said, will be to wait until the paintwork has totally cured and then carefully scrape off any unwanted specs, then touch in. 

[MAP66]

Some time ago, I brought a brass cab side number fret along with all the other detailing bits required for the 14XX to 48XX transformation. I remember thinking at the time after it arrived, this looks tricky, I’ll think I will just get some made up from someone like 247 Developments when the time arrives.

 

That time arrived yesterday and I dug out the fret and thought, why not give it a go. As you can imagine the numerals are tiny and some care is required when releasing them from the fret and then not losing them afterwards, luckily there are multiples of each numeral for fumbling idiots like me.

 

The next problem was the most suitable adhesive to stick the numerals ‘4851’ to the backplate. I needed plenty of time to line my 4 numbers up in a row with equal spacing and I felt that superglue would be ruled out for the task. So, I went back to Araldite and used my very handy chisel tool to spread a thin layer of the araldite onto the backplate. Into the film of stickiness, using tweezers, I placed each number and manipulated it into its correct position.

 

I found this to be a very good method, allowing all the time necessary to get everything lined up without panicking that the glue is setting.

The araldite did the job and after spraying the cabside plate chaos black and allowing to dry overnight. I used some extra fine wet and dry to rub back the paint from the raised areas and everything stayed in place, which was a relief.

 

My attempt of a cabside number. My research tells me that 4851 was on shed at Exeter St.Davids in the late 30's. The chisel's flat edge was the ideal tool for applying a thin film of araldite glue.

 

Dry fitted in place, just to see how it would look.

[MAP66]

I thought it would be a good idea to dry fit all the separate detailing for the cab interior into the body shell. It all went in OK and some final tweaking will be required before it all gets glued in. It also reminded me that the information dials for boiler pressure etc. will need to be mounted directly to the cab front wall with some thin wire going to each one to represent copper pipework.

 

The openable cab doors have now been fitted, one cab door handle still needs to be fitted. My next challenge will be to attempt modelling the cab roof hatch open and then to attach the cab roof section to the inner bunker wall. The last time I tried this the joint broke, so a stronger bond is required. I can then return to painting the body work, adding transfers etc. and final weathering detail.  

 

A glimpse inside the cab with door open, door handle still to be fitted.

 

View looking from the rear. The roof will eventually restrict most of the detail but the roof hatch will be open.

 

Side on view with cab door open, this door has a handle fitted made from bent wire.

 

Aerial view showing how it all fits in, just about!

 

Another side view with cab door open. The wires below the loco are for the firebox glow and will eventually be wired into the sound decoder.

 

Looking up into the cab. 

[MAP66]

After giving number plate 4851 a quick buff with his oily rag, GWR fireman Ernie Stoker, takes opportunity to take a load off, while keeping a close eye on the fire.

 

 

 

[TT100 Diesels]

Hi MAP 66, looks like you managed ok with araldite to stick the number plates on. Another great way for placing and fine adjusting name and number plates is to use a dab a gloss varnish. Gives plenty of time to adjust. Not my idea though, I picked it up from @James Makin's diesel weathering thread.

 

Cheers

 

TT100 Diesels

[chuffinghell]

I use glue n glaze for nameplates, gives plenty of time for adjustment and any excess removed with a wet brush

[MAP66]

Thank you @TT100 Diesels and @chuffinghell for those top tips, both of which would be a lot less hassle than knocking up some araldite. Something to remember for next time. 

[chuffinghell]

I believe with glue n glaze you can remove what you’ve glued and remove the left over glue by pealing it off (a bit like silicone sealant) and clean up with water

 

However I’ve not actually tried this so I can’t guarantee it works

[MAP66]

4 minutes ago, chuffinghell said:

I believe with glue n glaze you can remove what you’ve glued and remove the left over glue by pealing it off (a bit like silicone sealant) and clean up with water

 

However I’ve not actually tried this so I can’t guarantee it works

I have had a bit of experience with glue n glaze, I use it for replacing the odd lost rivet by applying it via a sharpened cocktail stick or for filing in cracks. It didn't occur to me to use it for sticking down the numerals for the cab plates. I have found that it can start to cure more quickly dependant on ambient temperature of room. I think you have less time to work with it the warmer the temp. It then starts turning from a liquid consistency to more solid. On a couple of rare occasions, I have actually used it for its designed purpose to make a window and it does a good job on smallish apertures, like on the garage doors below...

 

[MAP66]

I have added a few more detailing bits, including the decals. For the decals I used the two-stage micro set and micro sol products. A few more coats of micro sol is still required on the buffer beams to eliminate the silvering effect.

Then I couldn’t resist plonking the loco onto my old cattle dock diorama to see how it was looking. I took a few shots below…

 

The cattle dock still looks OK, it suffered some damage, with the house move, which I have since repaired.

 

I wonder what farmer Giles and the Stationmaster are nattering about?

 

View from the other side. Shep seems far more interested in something he's spotted on the opposite bank.

 

The drivers joined in. Apparently, they're all still engaged in that conversation about whether farmer Giles will get his prize bullocks to the County show in time.  

 

There's been an awkward moment, driver Jones who is a little hard of hearing on one side (hence the cocking of his head) suggested fetching a wheel barrow for assisting farmer Giles carrying his pair of prize bullocks! Oh dear, that's embarrassing, get back in the cab Jones.

[Kevin Johnson]

A great job the loco is looking great 👍 

[MAP66]

All the cab detailing has now been glued in place and no sooner had this been completed than...

Billy and his 4 mates moved in and have made themselves at home in the cab, can you spot them?

 

I'm also experimenting with the glazing, haven't quite cracked it yet (no pun intended).

 

 

 

[MAP66]

Back at the workbench again today and I managed to fit back the safety bonnet, tank fillers and vents. I also attempted to add a bit of water staining on top of the side tanks by the fillers.

 

I then added a Model U spare lamp and from reference images, I found that most were mounted on the lamp iron with the front of the lamp facing inwards towards the boiler. That suited me as fitting the lens is a bit challenging, so fitting the lamp inwards negates the need for fitting the lens which is out of view.

 

It will soon be time to finally order the sound decoder speaker and stay alive for the 48XX, meaning body shell and chassis will at long last become one and so a couple more things needed sorting before this could happen. First, I needed to just check that the flame flicker still worked and secondly the front headcode lamp needed to be fitted in front of the chimney.

 

This lamp is a working one by DCC Concepts and to fit it, I drilled a 0.5mm hole through the top of the smokebox and passed the lamp wires through it. The lamp was then held in place with a blob of superglue and the wires pass through the inside of the boiler.

 

Flame flicker still working, check!

 

The sort of effect I was after for future cameo shots. 

 

The model U lamp looks pretty good facing inwards as per images I've seen.

 

Testing the DCC Concepts lamp in series with a 30K resistor to show a very dim glow. One thing about these lamps are that the handle is not orientated correctly. You can see that I have removed the handle and I will attempt to drill through the top of the lamp housing to refit the handle in the correct orientation for GWR.

[MAP66]

Another quick burst at the workbench this afternoon involved drilling 6 holes in the upper boiler case to receive 6 washout plugs (3 each side). I think that they are in the right position as I’m relying on reference photos.

 

The other job I tackled was to re-fit the handle on the front lamp. I was able to file a flat on the side of the cylindrical top part and drill a hole through it. So far so good, then it went wrong! I broke the top off when trying to refit the handle. So a new top was made from some plastic rod to resemble the ModelU lamp and some 0.2mm wire was used to make another handle. There is a slight ridge on the ModelU lamp top which I replicated with that good ole glue n glaze, yet another use.

 

 

The modified DCC Concepts working lamp with handle in correct orientation now resembles the ModelU one.

[MAP66]

I was reminded how expensive this hobby can be if you want DCC and all the bells and whistles that go with it. I purchased the sound decoder, speaker and stay alive for the 48XX and all in it came in at £150 ouch!!! No wonder I was putting it off.

 

Anyways, I now have all the components necessary on the work bench and its time to play around to see how it might or might not all fit in. The sound decoder is a Zimo MS500 which is the smallest in the range and I chose a minnow speaker. It was basically a case of choosing components with the smallest physical dimensions to allow me options for locating them.

 

At first glance it looks possible that everything could be crammed into the bunker! This would be a bonus as I had originally planned for the speaker to be located in the luggage compartment of the autocoach.

 

At one point I was hoping to use the inside of the boiler to house the stay alive circuitry but the inside diameter is just not wide enough, even though it is 30mm long. Its not all bad though as this void is ideal for adding weight for the loco. I should add that if I had thought of it at the time, I might have been able to better adapt the underside of the boiler to accept the stay alive when it was separate to the main body shell.

 

The two capacitors and miniature PCB which form the stay alive are the biggest of the items to squeeze into the bunker so I am going to see how I can wire this in series while taking up the least amount space as possible, then go on from there. A few pics of the task ahead…  

 

That's what £150 gets you.

 

Downward shot of the space I have to work with within the bunker. The plan is for the capacitors to be located sideways, on the right, one on top of the other. On top of them the speaker and the sound decoder on the left with the wires all passing through the narrow slot at the bottom of the bunker.

 

Almost forgot, I finally finished the cab interior. New additions are the instrument dials, more plumbing of copper pipes, coal shovel and pep pipe hanging out of the cab side.

 

 

 

[MAP66]

After staring at the sound decoder for far too long, contemplating on how it would all fit in, I eventually arrived at the decision to make a start. The realisation that there were really only two possible outcomes, one of which was to own a really expensive static model, prompted me to work towards the other more attractive outcome of owning a very fine and unique class 48XX before Dapols version is made available in or around Q4 2025.

 

So, I started by snipping off the six pin plug from the wire harness and threading the wires through the slot at the bottom of the bunker. This allowed the sound decoder to be inserted upright and pushed right to the bottom of the bunker cavity.

 

Once in, there would be just enough gap above the decoder to fit a false floor for a coal load. I next inserted the speaker which came pre-wired to the decoder. The speaker was also fitted upright at the opposite end of the bunker.

 

The available space in the bunker was being eaten up rapidly and there was barely enough room left to squeeze in the micro stay alive pcb and the room required for the actual wiring. I had to admit that there was now no room left in the bunker for the two capacitors which formed part of the stay alive circuit!

 

Where to house the capacitors was a new problem to solve and the other problem was to see where all this wiring was going to be routed after it passed out from beneath the floor of the bunker.

 

To say I was daunted by the task ahead was an understatement and part of my brain wanted to put the whole thing in the back of a drawer and leave for another day. However, my determination side took over and I persevered. To what end, I hear you all ask? To be continued…

 

Standing room only! It's a tight squeeze in there. Just enough clearance above to fit a false coal load.

 

A view of all the wiring as it emerges from beneath the bunker floor. Where to run it all? Hopefully, you can see and read the wiring legend from the accompanying sound decoder instructions.  

 

Eventually, I was able to bring chassis and body together with all wiring free and not trapped or pinched  by the edges of the metal chassis. Just need to work out where those two capacitors are going to sit?

[MAP66]

Continuing on from yesterdays instalment, for the two capacitors, I found that I could install them in series using a 90 degree configuration. Where one capacitor sat inside the boiler and the other sat inside the dome on top of the boiler. The positive and negative wires were then soldered to the twisted pair of blue/grey wires from the decoder/stay alive pcb. I found that there was clear passage through the chassis frame and then above the motor for the wiring route.

 

With that problem sorted, I went about the task of routing and soldering up the 4 most important wires which are red for right hand track feed, black for left hand track feed, orange for right hand motor and then grey for left hand motor terminals. To make this possible, first the body and chassis needed to be partially separated to allow adequate access for the soldering iron.

 

I managed to complete that wiring stage and then refitted the body to chassis to see if it still fitted together. When I did this, I found that the rear driving axle no longer moved freely up and down within the horn blocks. Probably caused by the wiring attached at the motor terminals but unable to confirm as viewing is pretty much impossible. I did some gentle forcing up and down of the rear drivers which eventually gave back enough movement and now it was testing time.

 

The loco was placed on the test track and the NCE Powecab was connected for program track. I went through the programming sequence and immediately could tell that I was in business as the decoder could be read from and written to via the handset. The loco address is now appropriately 4851 and 4851 now has sound, with the added bonus that the wheels seems to go around without issue.

 

So, finally this old Airfix loco body of probably about 40+ years vintage combined with a High Level chassis and motor are now under DCC power. This was a good place to stop as now the small matter of connecting up the directional lighting and firebox glow was next on the list to tackle.

 

I hope you forgive me, as I was so engrossed in wiring and soldering doing the above, that I forgot to stop and take a few progress shots. It was just wiring really, so a bit boring to look at anyway.

 

Normal picture service should resume shortly!

[MAP66]

Well, that was a long modelling pause. Truth is, things weren’t going that well with the loco, it soon started to run erratically and I couldn’t figure out why. I tried many things, including re-doing the wiper pick ups and all 3 axles now have new wipers. That still didn’t fix it though and as this was my first chassis kit build, I was short on answers for how to get it running smoothly. With no experience to draw from, I just put it on the back burner and sulked.

 

A few weeks later, I remembered that a chap called Paul Willis from the ScaleFour forum had taken one of these builds on a few years ago and I looked back through the thread to see if I had done something incorrectly, which might be the cause for the poor running.

 

I was about to give up hope again when I chanced on the part of the thread on page 10, about adding weight!

I hadn’t added any weight as yet, completely escaped my mind. Paul added 30g of lead, which gave his 48XX a total weight of 130g. It was a Eureka moment, followed by a dash to the kitchen to grab the measuring scales and then onto the workbench. This then led to a frantic search for my roll of lead.

 

Eventually found the roll of lead, plonked 4851 back onto the track and balanced the roll of lead on top of it. Turned on the power and low and behold, 4851 ran up and down the track as smooth as you like!

 

So, a smile had returned to my face along with a huge sigh of relief. This was swiftly followed by “You complete idiot, how could you forget about adding weight.” I next weighed 4851 and it came in at 98g, so about 30g of lead needed to be creatively crammed in somewhere, which presented the next challenge.

 

After spending so much time detailing 4851, the discerning modeller would soon spot a lump of lead strapped to the top of it as it trundled along. So, the lead needed to be concealed. Having weighed out a 30g strip of lead, this was going to be easier said than done.

 

Pauls method was to glue it in place to the inside of the tanks on both sides and I did the same, I was able to get about 28g on board, which turned out to be enough.

 

We are now back up to date and all this additional handling of 4851 is beginning to take its toll on the paintwork, a lot of the black paint has been rubbed or chipped off and some of the green has bits of damage. Other casualties of handling include a broken handle to the spare lamp and the loss of the rear lamp bracket.

 

I did manage to fit the ATC batteries and the first attempt of a false coal load to cover the sound decoder and speaker. This isn’t quite right, so a second attempt is required. Next on the list is to form the sand pipes and fit them to the 4 sandboxes. All of the undercarriage detailing will then receive another coat of black.

 

After that, I need to fit the cab doors correctly, install a fireman, fit a couple of whistle chains under the cab roof and then secure the roof in place. Apart from touching up some of the green paintwork and some weathering detail, the final tasks will revolve around the rear buffer beam so that the autocoach can be coupled up permanently.

 

An earlier image of the body shell at the start of the build, the grey areas showing where the lead strips were fitted. The lead went the entire length of the tanks which is cut off in the image. In reality, I managed to slip the lead in place with the chassis still attached to the body shell by gently prizing it apart from the front end until there was sufficient access.

 

Sitting on the track, 4851 doesn't look quite right yet with wires hanging out the back and worn paintwork. However, at least it now runs well. The rear buffer beam will soon be detailed and fire irons added, plus the missing lamp bracket. From the gloom of the cab, the  firebox glow is just visible.