The Derby Line, Gladiator LNER O4/3

[Guest Isambarduk]

Great work, dibateg.  I am very pleased to meet somebody else who delights in making up these small details – like the core plugs!  I am currently making up three pairs of cylinder pressure relief valves; yes, yes, I know, I could probably buy castings but then they would still need to be fettled and fitted so I am ‘twiddling’ the handles on my lathe and miller instead.  David

[dibateg]

Thanks Peter and David -

 

the conduit is actually soldered on, I used the pins to pull it against the boiler from the inside.

 

I must get my lathe working, but the railway room is full of lounge furniture at the moment, whilst that room is undergoing renovation - where is that pesky builder! Nicely turned components do have the edge over cast ones, I must admit..

 

I'm told by a good friend that the plugs are for inserting feeler gauges to set the valves...

 

Horsetan - here is a shot of the injectors:-

 

 

Regards

 

Tony

 

[Horsetan]

^
Wonderful, thanks. As nobody sells 4mm castings of these, it looks like I'll have to make my own.....

[dibateg]

I've been a little busy with work and real railway visits, but progress has been chugging away in the odd spare hour.

All my loco's have Slaters wheels, and they do appear a little chunky when compared with Harris ones. Part of this is due to the way the spokes flare out to the rear of the wheel. Something I picked up from Steph Dale is to profile the spokes into the correct oval shape. I've not quite gone that far, but I have scraped away the flare at the back of the wheel and tidied up - there is still a little more to do here. I should have kept an untouched one for comparison, but here they are and they are noticeably more open, especially the 3 footers. And no, I'm not going to retro treat all my finished locos!

 

Some time was spent fitting out the cylinders and slidebars, making sure the crosshead moves freely, as it is trapped once the drop link is on.

 

 Now all four cylinders are mounted, they are really starting to look like Ivatts.

[PAD]

Superb workmanship and a nice touch on the wheels. Will have to remember that for future builds.

[dibateg]

Ivatt 4 wheels, and plenty of them. Quite an investment if you think about it - over £200 worth...

 

 

[3 link]

Ivatt 4 wheels, and plenty of them. Quite an investment if you think about it - over £200 worth...

P1010690b.jpg

 

Hi Tony,

 

Luckily they are not Alan Harris wheels or you would be putting another zero on the end , and I see you have mastered the invisible soldered joint,  the same as was used on Richards stunning 8F.

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

[CUTLER2579]

What a superb  buid young man. Looks a lovely kit.I wonder if a certain gent from Dewsbury whose house number is 7 would fancy building one of these for an old friend.

Regards,Del.

 

PS. what motor do you intend to use please  Tony.

Edited October 19, 2013 by CUTLER2579

[dibateg]

I like the young man bit! keep talking!

 

Dave Sharp recommends the ABC Mini, which I have gone for, as the kit is designed for it, with Canon motors.

 

Best Regards

 

Tony

[CUTLER2579]

Thanks for that Tony, The young man is relative to Myself and the rest of your  Hollowbeck crew (Yourself excluded).

I know that their website suggested Portescap but I have retired even from robbing banks and so wondered if there was an economically more viable  alternative.  [ Heaven forbid  -  I sound like a Politician ]  :no:     :nono:

This kit is clearly a longer build than say a DJH or DRM one. AS I know you are a keen kit builder how much longer proportionally do you estimate the 2-6-0 will take you to build.

 

Kindest Regards,Derek.

[PAD]

Hi Tony, great shot of the loco wheels. Looks like a scene from the erecting shop in one of the big loco works. I have looked through the thread, and apologies if I have missed it, but are the cylinders and slide bars demountable to allow easy fitting of the fron drivers? Cheers, Peter

[CUTLER2579]

Peter,

Jumping in on Tony's thread the MOK website refering to the Standard 4MT 2-6-0 say's

 

Quote :-

 

BR Standard Class 4MT 2-6-0 76000

 

The loco kit is built from nickel silver etchings and ALL cast parts are in either brass or nickel silver with the exception of the firebox. The firebox is a one piece, seamless white metal casting.

This is a very high quality kit with full compensation throughout the loco and tender. Most of the motion is cast with the exception of the Mains which are etched.
The cylinders, slide bars and valve gear are demountable; being of modular construction secured to the chassis with screws.

The compensation is demountable for maintenance and painting and is contained totally within the base of the firebox.

The loco is available separately with a tender choice of 3500 gallon 2 or 2A. The 4750 gallon 1B tender will be available later.  Qoute.

 

They also talk about the two kits being designed alongside each other so I think this also applies to the LMS Ivatt 4F although there appears to be no mention of it in this..

 

Qoute.:-

 LMS Ivatt 4F and 3500gal Tender

 

The prototype presents many intriguing aspects and we hope we have produced a very interesting kit to build.

The specification is to our usual high standard with all nickel silver etchings and lost wax brass and nickel silver castings.

Much attention has been paid to the difficult problems the  prototype presents and in dealing with highly visible piping, we have included design methods to assist. A high percentage of pipe fittings are included to reproduce the look and feel of the original.

Fully beam compensated chassis and tender for smooth running and electrical pickup for DCC. Both chimney types are included together with full cab fittings. Qoute

 

Hope this might help.

Regards,

Derek.

[dibateg]

Thanks Derek - I hadn't read the sales pitch!

 

I dont use Portescaps and only have 2 in my fleet, preferring Canon's.

 

Yes Peter - the cylinders are held with 4 screws from inside the chassis and the central part of the motion bracket screws to one of the frame spacers. The whole thing should lift out, although I've not tried that since I soldered the slidebasr in place...

 

and time taken to build - I really should add the hours up, and the problem is I modify most kits I build, so maybe one and half times longer than normal perhaps due to the sheer number of parts...although in this case the quality of the castings means there is little cleaning up required.

 

Best Regards

 

Tony

[dibateg]

I've been setting out the balance weights, they are made up from 2 layers and the curved outside edge needs rounding as per prototype. Now that makes for a fun evening! Not... Now to actually glue them on and add the plastic card copies I made for the inside.

 

[dibateg]

 So after an interlude to operate a certain LNER layout at Eurospoor at Utrecht ( not a great shot from the zoom on my tablet):-

 

 

[dibateg]

I got back on to preparing the wheels and filled the gaps between the balance weights with squadron filler:-

[JeffP]

Tedious job. Don't the Plastikard inner weights catch on anything?

[dibateg]

Hopefully not Jeff, they are made from 0.2mm think plastic

[PAD]

Hi Tony, I discovered your thread very late but have been working my way through all the superb stuff you have posted. Looking at the quality of your work makes me appreciate more the comments you have put on my Class 5 thread. In terms of lack of solder, where do you get that colourless variety used on your builds?

[dibateg]

I was a 60/40 blobber ( 'cos I could get it from work ) , until I had lessons from Tony Wright initially on how to use low melt and flux. They used to tease me to death about my soldering!  Then I spent some time modelling with Richard Lambert ( Dikitriki of this parish ) and he really refined my technique, - which includes fanatical cleaning up. I now use 7 different solders, 7mm online safety flux and have discovered the joy of garriflex blocks too!

 

Best Regards

 

Tony

[RonnieS]

Thanks Peter, I could'nt get that to work for me - fingers to weak I guess!

 

I forgot to post a pic of the 2P after painting. Still with a little finishing of required to the weathering:-

 

P1010285.JPG

I found it. Tony, Super 

[Tonka]

Tony,

 

Following this build with interest as I've one to build but wont be able to start until next year.

 

Can I ask what wheels you used for the tender? On the Slaters website they do not seem to list 'Stanier' type wheels for the size required (3' 6.5").

 

Thanks

 

Brian

[dibateg]

Hello Brian -

 

I used 7836ST for the pony truck and 7839BR for the tender. 3'3" is the closest you'll get and I doubt if any one will be able to tell that once it is built. My chum Clive has already built the tender and he had to pack the body slightly to raise it slightly higher.

 

Regards

 

Tony

[Tonka]

Tony hi,

 

Thanks for the information. In the end, after a bit of umming and ahhing, I went for using a general pattern type wheel at the correct diameter on the basis that Slaters, or someone else, may introduce the correct wheel and I can simply make a swop. Hopefully my kit will enter the 'workshop' in the new year.

 

Thanks

 

Brian

[dibateg]

I've been chugging away in the background cutting out and preparing four lots of valve gear parts, so this is the upper part completed. This include a working lubricator drive, driven off the rear of the expansion link. It is possible to make the reversing link work, I like that, though I'm not sure if I will or not...

 

This afternoon I assembled the lower part of the valve gear and to mount the return cranks I used tapped Slaters top hat bearings. These were screwed on until tight. Top dead centre was marked. After removal the return crank could be soldered on at the correct angle, so that it would be positioned in the right place when tightened up. This leaves the 4 bolt fitting on the outside unblemished. Simples!