RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 21, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 21, 2017 I really like this image from Mike Morant of 2 E5X's back to back [neither of which are the one you are doing...] https://mikemorant.smugmug.com/Trains-Railways-British-Isles/Railtours/Railtours-1955/i-qS5zHQB/A Yes indeed; all polished up for the occasion, and proving that there IS lining on the boiler bands..! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
number6 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Opps! More work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 21, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 21, 2017 Opps! More work. Less work actually, as it means I don't have to apply separate bands; the transfers will form them! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 21, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 21, 2017 (edited) Got the main cabsheets finished, bunker rear and cab interior still to do. Cheers, Dave. Edited September 5, 2022 by DLT 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack P Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 What do you do with the W/M parts, or do they remain and the brass is overlayed? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 22, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 22, 2017 What do you do with the W/M parts, or do they remain and the brass is overlayed? Depends how good they are dimensionally. On this one the cab remains and the brass is added as overlays. That way I can use thinner brass as it isn't structural, and the whitemetal gives the loco some much needed weight. Cheers, Dave. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gz3xzf Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 Got the main cabsheets finished, bunker rear and cab interior still to do. IMG_0955 small.jpg Cheers, Dave. Hi Dave I am assuming the two pieces showing in the door aperture are to keep the shape whilst you are handling the parts? Will you solder to the whitemetal or use a glue? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 22, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 22, 2017 Hi Dave I am assuming the two pieces showing in the door aperture are to keep the shape whilst you are handling the parts? Will you solder to the whitemetal or use a glue? Hi Bryan, Correct, I've already bent them once. The sides are a little delicate, being held together by the narrow strip above the opening. In this case I will glue using Araldite. My go-to method is always to solder, but as the cab is already soldered together I don't want to take any risks. Cheers, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 24, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 24, 2017 Ok, confession time. The decision to use the whitemetal cab and add brass overlays has not worked out. I was spending so long adapting the whitemetal parts, and constantly bending the assembly back to shape during handling that I realised I could have scratchbuilt a new cab in a lot less time. And then when the whitemetal fell apart I decided enough was enough. So I'm using the finished overlays to make a new cab, but because I made them from 10thou brass instead of 15thou, they will need some strengthening here and there. Note to self: Do a proper job to start with; as what looks like a short-cut may well turn out to be a long-way-round..... So I'm sure you will understand that there are no progress photos to show. Dave. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack P Posted March 24, 2017 Share Posted March 24, 2017 (edited) Dave, Shite happens to the best of us mate, (I wouldn't actually know, as i'm definitely not the best of us). I'm sure you'll have it sorted in no time! Jack Edited March 24, 2017 by Jack P Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Daddyman Posted March 24, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 24, 2017 I was spending so long adapting the whitemetal parts, and constantly bending the assembly back to shape during handling that I realised I could have scratchbuilt a new cab in a lot less time. And then when the whitemetal fell apart I decided enough was enough. I feel your pain. I swore off whitemetal kits years ago, but then your thread made me think perhaps something could be made of them after all. So I got a DJH J35 a few months back. I spent three evenings trying to file the boiler round and then realised it would have been a lot faster to roll a new one in brass. The w/m footplate has valances of 1mm depth instead of 1.5, so will be binned, after I decide whether it's too much trouble to try to save the splashers; and the w/m flare around the tender doesn't have a representation of the curved corners at the front, so is also heading binwards. Basically, everything that is w/m in the kit has to be replaced with scratchbuilt parts in brass. (To be fair, most of the brass parts in the kit are rubbish too, though I have got a reasonable set of tender frames out of my 95-quid investment.) I am now, needless to say, back in barge-pole mode with w/m kits. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 24, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 24, 2017 I feel your pain too, I've had some kits like that! Some kits are very old now, and were often compromised by being designed around an existing "close enough" Hornby chassis or the need to power it with an enormous open-frame motor. I'm not put off whitemetal though, there are some very good kits out there. Many have been re-designed in more recent years and include an accurate etched chassis. Sorry to hear of your bad experience though. All the best, Dave. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 27, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 27, 2017 So I'm using the finished overlays to make a new cab, but because I made them from 10thou brass instead of 15thou, they will need some strengthening here and there. Dave. The cab is at last in one piece, but very delicate. The next job is internal strengthening, the cab floor will be a hefty chunk of PCB which should give it some much needed solidity. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 30, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 30, 2017 (edited) Right, we have a cab at last. I'm not going to detail its construction as I would not recommend the method. And it would take too long.... Suffice to say that its strong and stable, and I think looks like what its supposed to look like. More to follow. Dave. Edited September 5, 2022 by DLT 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted March 30, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted March 30, 2017 (edited) Here's a couple more with all the bits assembled so far. Starting to look like a loco now. Next jobs are the cab roof and coal rails, then on to some details at last. Cheers, Dave. Edited September 5, 2022 by DLT 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack P Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Looks excellent as usual BLT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
number6 Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Wow look at that. I was going to send you a swear box. But it looks like it won't be necessary now. It is Brighton Works fault not yours - but it is still right up there with some of the worst proportioned locos! Especially so when years before they were turning out those graceful B2 and B4 4.4.0s and sweetly proportioned Terriers, D1 tanks and even the J tanks. There were more abominations to come: the rebuilt E6X is also particularly odd and the Leader the grandaddy. Perhaps Brighton redeemed themselves with the Standard 4 tank? But wasn't the last thing to come out of Brighton works the Invacar? [which I have a soft spot for too]. I have to say that more esoteric locos hold much more appeal to me than any of those well proportioned classics you get on greetings cards and company publicity. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Holliday Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 It is Brighton Works fault not yours - but it is still right up there with some of the worst proportioned locos! Especially so when years before they were turning out those graceful B2 and B4 4.4.0s and sweetly proportioned Terriers, D1 tanks and even the J tanks. There were more abominations to come: the rebuilt E6X is also particularly odd and the Leader the grandaddy. Perhaps Brighton redeemed themselves with the Standard 4 tank? But wasn't the last thing to come out of Brighton works the Invacar? [which I have a soft spot for too]. I've always thought that the E6X was a rather handsome brute, the smaller wheels looking much better than the E5's larger ones. There were some other less attractive rebuilds, the D1X and D3X were desperately ungainly, yet the E1X looked surprisingly modern and a precursor for the E2 tanks, whilst the C2X, which perhaps should have been a visual disaster, was much loved by many, and the original somewhat weedy C2 rather overlooked. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted April 3, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 3, 2017 (edited) The cab-roof in the kit was pretty good for detail, but unfortunately its massive thickness made it a non-starter. I've done a brass replacement, with the detail based on the original plus what I can glean from photos (photos of can roofs are not common!) Anyway, the cast roof was filed down to be a snug fit inside the cab, providing a good base to fix the brass roof to, with positive location. The sheeted-in coal rails are the next job, and I'm doing them by soldering three lengths of .45mm straight brass rod to a thin piece of sheet. Not sure how clear the photo is. In case you are wondering how I did this, I soldered the first length on the edge, with everything pushed up against a non-metallic straight edge. Using a spacer of the right thickness (in this case a length of PCB sleeper-strip) soldered the second and then third lengths in place. it then took ages to scrape & file off the excess solder.... I'm not going to attempt to bend this, so I will cut/file the three sections from it and fit them individually. Cheers, Dave. Edited September 5, 2022 by DLT 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted April 3, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 3, 2017 By the way, my fingers aren't usually that colour, its the result of painting garden fences (12" scale...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkeeboy56 Posted April 3, 2017 Share Posted April 3, 2017 By the way, my fingers aren't usually that colour, its the result of painting garden fences (12" scale...) Painting garden fences as well? A man of many talents! :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted April 3, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 3, 2017 Painting garden fences as well? A man of many talents! :-) Garden railings actually, Hammerite is impossible to clean off.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold mudmagnet Posted April 3, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 3, 2017 Garden railings actually, Hammerite is impossible to clean off.... Wouldn't be so bad if a garden railway! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted April 3, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 3, 2017 Wouldn't be so bad if a garden railway! Don't give me ideas... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium DLT Posted April 3, 2017 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted April 3, 2017 (edited) I've filed two pieces to go in the bunker sides, shaped to fit the flare of the bunker rear. Once they are secured in place, the third bit will be filed to fit in between them. Or that's the plan anyway... Dave. Edited September 5, 2022 by DLT 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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