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Hi Alasdair, If I recall correctly it is 0.010" sheet - Eileen's Emporium has a range of very thin brass sheet. Kind regards, Richard B

At last the brass sheet footplate is complete, four sections each side. I can now start final assembly of the body. Kind regards, Richard B

So, today I have returned to the body construction since the chassis is noe complete. As I mentioned earlier, the running plate casting required a great deal of fettling and as a result the footplate plate overlap of the running plate was removed. So back to my thin brass sheet! I have made a footplate section in brass, added the rivet detail and stuck this to the top of the running plate. Chassis is now a 4-6-2. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi Dave, Many thanks - I don't mind some of the old kits one can always smarten them up as I like to think I did with the MN. Yes a good suggestion I will see what scraps I have and give your cradle idea some thought. My regard for the HL Coreless motor increases with each running in run! Kind regards, Richard Richard

I didn't know you wore stockings Jack! The chassis looks to be a fine piece of work very neat and "clean". I have a DJH "L" class to build too. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi David, Very kind of you. The valve gear was partually assembled by DJH which is a first for me! I usually build it all. I will give you a shout re boiler bands, thanks. The Grenn Stuff is a liquid filler! I was soldering the firebox to the running plate and left the iron on the solder too long and melted the firebox slightly! It won't show! Kind regards, Richard B

Hi David, 60043 looks very good, it is a loco on shed awaiting its next turn of duty although obviously after the handrail knob has been located and fitted! As I work on my loco's I have noted that I need the magnifying glasses more often! A picture of 60523 to show progress. Green stuff on firebox due to soldering iron linger! Kind regards, Richard B

I am now satisfied with the chassis - it runs very well and is almoust silent. I have now united the body with the chassis and added the bogie and the extended front section of the mainframe. First picture shows the scratch built bogie side pad assembly, the DJH version lacked a bit of detail and besides I lost one in the quigmire that is the carpet that covers the office floor. Another bit for the vacuum cleaner! A bit more detail to add to the frames yet. Drivers side - motion bracket needs a little adjustment on this side and I should add that boiler has not been fixed in position yet. Starting to look like an A2/3 though! Firemans side. Take care and kind regards, Richard B

Laugh! I nearly cried....

I should Clive, its nice there and comes recommended at the highest levels. Lets hope all is well with GN. Kind regards, Richard B

Check out the vacuum cleaner bag, always assuming you clean the workshop! Tweezers are really good at launching small parts ! Kind regards, Richard B

Our vacuum cleaner is full of handrail knobs and similar! I When searching for a dropped part I always find that 16BA nut I lost 2 months ago but never what I was looking for. Sods Law I guess! Kind regards, Richard B

Its all such a long time ago now, but I think some (perhaps all?) classes of Diesel Electric loco's had traction motor cooling fans and ducting to keep the motor windings/commutator cool. I seem to remember that the 08 shunters had something similar but it is over 50 years since I got my hands dirty maintaining locos so I may well be wrong. Kind regards, Richard B PS Mr Edge, any sign of the Maunsell 350 HP shunter etches? Many thanks.

Main part of chassis almost complete now apart from painting which I will do after posting this. Under side of chassis, brake gear soldered together and apart from tight clearance between brake hanger and wheel flanges already mentioned there are one or two fouls between coupling rod and brake blocks. I see from this picture that I need to straiten the centre driver springs and like wise the firemans side eccentric rod! Reverser operating rod now attached now ready for painting. Kind regards, Richard B

Continueing with the chassis build. The motion runs well during running in sessions. So far I can only be impressed with such a well designed kit. DJH instructions are very good and, for exmple, the valve gear is robust and assembly is very straitforward. Not too clear but the brake hanger part of the brake hanger brackets (only one fitted) need careful filing to clear the wheel flanges. If you are using the later, finer (RP25??) Markit wheels then this will be less of a problem. Footplate support brackets added as ae additional rivet detail (my thin brass sheet again) added to brackets and to Motion plate/frame mounting. Kind regards, Richard B

Thanks John.

I have continued to fiddle around with the valve gear today. Its a bit fiddly because the cylinder stretcher is secured to the frames via a set screw (I reversed the suggested solder the nut to the white metal body simply because it is easier to solder the screw - no risk of filling the nut with a big blob of low melt solder!) soldered to the body. So each adjustment is a bit of a pain. To overcome this I soldered a cross member at the front of the frames with a slotted hole for the body/chassis/cylinder securing set screw. I then used a temporary screw and nut to secure the cylinder stretcher and assembled/adjusted the valve gear with no need to muck around with the body. I'm pleased to say that it all works and all the bits miss each other! Just! Kind regards, Richard B

Hi John, Thanks very much, only my third ex LNER loco (Others are J36 and K2/2 for the Bentley Model Railway Group) so still getting used to the "house style" if you know what I mean. I based my length statement on the outline drawings at the back of Peter Coster's really excellent "The Book Of The A1 and A2 Pacifics" to which I constantly refer to during the build. I like your idea regarding the A1 to A2 conversion, it should work well but I suggest going for the A2/3 rather than the A2/2. Its good that the kit included spare frames, my DJH kit includes all the spare etches for alternative cabs etc but only one set of frames. Good luck, go for it! Kind regards, Richard B

David, Light weathering on Golden Eagle is spot on, really good. It makes the loco look so much more like a working A4 than a model. Just one picture of 60523 under construction. Much more to do and ride height needs adjusting. Kind regards, Richard B

As suggested earlier, you really need to partially assemble the body before you can complete the chassis so I have soldered the firebox to the footplate and mounted the boiler using a set screw through the smokebox saddle so it can be adjusted and or removed if required. The ride hight of the loco is set by a pad/screw under the firebox and the cylinder saddle. The latter needed a thin shim and some filing of the R/H cylinder casting to get things square. Now I can fit the motion bracket and start to connect up the valve gear, but not today! Some adjustment to ride hight required but not too bad. Valve gear should be strait forward apart from the usual need to trim the leading crankpin securing nut to gain clearance for the connecting rod. What a magnificent beasty! Kind regards, Richard B

Hi David, Firstly, thanks very much for the offer, very kind. I agree, its unlikely that 60523 ever made it up to Haymarket but you never know. I bought the DJH kit four years ago intending to build it for my (now) late brother since we both saw this loco many times. I have only just got around to building the kit and since I purchased the nameplates too I shall build it as 60523! I have 60501, 60512 and 60700 on pre-order, yes I know madness for an SR modeller! I also have a Crownline kit for A1/1 "Great Northern" to build at some time. I didn't see many more A2/3s than you managed 60500,12,13,14,20 and 23. The Peppercorn A2's were very rare down south and we only managed 60532 and 33 both caught at Doncaster if I recall. Kind regards, Richard

Cylinders and valve gear today. The DJH kit is interesting in that the mainframes only encompass the driving wheels rather like a DJH 4-4-0 kit. The relationship between the cylinders, motion bracket and loco body are always critical but in this kit DJH suggest that the basic body (footplate and boiler) is built so that the cylinders and motion bracket can be fixed in relation to the body. In many of the kits I have built you can complete the chassis and run it and then move on to the easy and fun bit, building the body. Given that the A2/3 looks so long (in fact it is a little shorter that the Peppercorn A1) I thought I would check the footplate casting with my just completed Merchant Navy which are full grown pacifics! A2/3 is a fair bit longer! Slide bars soldered and ready to assemble the cylinders. The cylinder castings - cylinders and stretcher - require careful fitting - by that I mean filing so you end up with a square and tight fit. I always prefer to solder but could not really see a safe way, given white metal has a low melting point, of achieving this particularly with the slide bar tongue so super glue it was! Use the super glue sparingly else you end up with an attractive sculpture (no I did not!) if you know what I mean. The joint between the slidebar tongue and the casting being critical - apply pressure to the joint for 1 minute to be on the safe side. Sorry about the snapshot! I am sure that master builder Tony Wright would have built one or more of these kits. I bet he soldered the cylinders and slidebars together! Kind regards, Richard B

Hi David, As always lovely evocative pictures. I agree that close ups are tricky, the light plays such cruel tricks in 4mm scale, I prove this every time I take a picture of my loco builds! I am building a DJH A2/3 at the moment (60523 Sun Castle) which was an ER loco and, I think, did not visit Haymarket very often in the 1950s and early 60s. When its finished perhaps it could visit Haymarked for a portrait? Kind regards, Richard B

Just had an email from William Ascough of Ace Products pointing out that all the etches for the N15X were made from Nickel Silver. I did mention that I thought some were "tin plate" and I was wrong about that. I am still learning about loco building and that is one of the reasons it is fun. As I said, I am very pleased that Ace Products had produced an N15X in 4mm and the result of my efforts with the kit are very pleasing to me - it runs well and looks prototypical. Thanks William. Kind regards, Richard B

I'm not familiar with that gearbox but assuming you have assembled the gearbox correctly (is it two stage?) then it sounds like a simple meshing issue so elongate the motor fixing holes to drop the worm gear into the first gear but don't overdo it! Kind regards, Richard B