30368

Making some progress so long as I remember which H15 variant I am building! Have all the parts I need to finish 30333 chassis and have fitted the cylinders to the chassis. Will now focus on 30491. Main body now mated with tapered boiler. Bit of a struggle because the old Wills white metal boiler needed a huge amount of fettling to get it to look respectable. Then, fitting it to the body assembly was equally tricky. I'm not suggesting that I am an expert but I would not recommend this particular conversion to a starter. PDK built chassis still runs superbly but has also needed some filing to fit and the brake hanger for the trailing axle will have to be removed and fitted to the leading position. 30333 has its trailing wheel hanger trailing the wheel. 30491 boiler, as you can see, needed a lot of filler because the smokebox on this boiler is about a foot or so longer than the Uris parallel boiler smokbox. This may help to explain why drivers reported that 491 was a bit more powerful than its the parallel boilered sisters. 491 looks a bit of a mess but it will be much better I promise! Kind regards, Richard B

Now that we have settled into the new house its time to return to 70D. Have just measured up for a new garage based layout and a good friend will build the frame/baseboards for me (at a consideration.) so time to dust down my model of 70D and get cracking ASAP. Will be about 4.5 m x 1.5m and an "L" shaped return of 3m x 1.5m which will be the fiddle yard. Will firstly finish my H15 project and then build a J36 kit for a local club. Kind regards, Richard B

Just in case you don't have an ebay account you can also try Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/600pcs-Assortment-Stainless-Watches-Glassess/dp/B075SCV69H/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1553009513&sr=8-5&keywords=m1+screws Not truly slotted but very close and very cheap! I should add that I have not tried these but will order some and report back. Kind regards, Richard B

I wouldn't pretend to be an expert in this field. My only real experience of building (4mm) structures are those contructed for 70D Basingstoke engine shed. I wanted to avoid spending huge amounts of time starting everything from scratch although this was unavoidable in some cases, for example, the corrugated structure that served a a coal stage. The shed itself although unique in many respects was very close to "off the shelf" models of other sheds. I wanted a embossed brick moulding of some sort and not brick paper although I know some of these are embossed as well. In the end I contacted "Townstreet" to discuss the project and supplied them with the prototype's overall dimensions and images of 70D. Townstreet make Plaster of Paris wall sections that are suitable, and after some further dialog they supplied me with enough sections to build the shed walls and ends very quickly. The advice on painting and weathering the completed structure was very helpful. A not very good 'photo of my version of 70D which, sadly, remains unfinished but moves are afoot to remedy that! Roof structures scratchbult from various brass sections. Hope this is of some help, Kind regards and good luck, Richard B

I see that we have a delay to indexing the activity streams due to a software update so I assume that those modellers that were following are/will be else you are all bored. I understand! Anyway, I have started building 30491 PDK bodykit whilst I wait for some parts to arrive. The picture shows the chassis from 30333 united with the footplate for 30491. In front is an ex Wills King Arthur taper boiler which has had the first of two brass boiler sections added, the original kit was for fitting to a Triang chassis. Lastly is the very hybrid cylinder assembly for 30335's new chassis. The cylinder castings and stretcher are PDK (plus a few scratchbuilt bits and pieces) the crosshead and piston rods are from Markits and of very high quality. Lastly the cylinder piston gland casting and slidebars are from SE Finecast. I like a challenge! Bye for now! Richard B

Back from the sunshine and fantastic "Carnaval" week in Las Palmas, Grand Canaria ! Quick update - valve gear ready for final assembly and gearbox/motor assembly ready for fitment. Now waiting for some items from Finecast to final assembly of valvegear etc. Kind regards, Richard B

Hi Chris, You have received lots of good advice and as always there is always many ways to resolve a model railway problem. Thanks for your kind comments regarding the U. All I would add is that it was relatively easy to adapt the N/U/N1/U1 Wills kit (very old kit I would add and yes designed to fit a very old Triang chassis) to the very recently developed Finecast chassis kit. Fortunately the Wills body kit was very adaptable and the wheelbase assumptions were fairly accurate to the prototype. I should add that I have no experience of the K3 kit however I agree with those comments regarding the prototype, handsome and powerful machines I recall seeing the last few at Peterborough shed many years ago. Good luck with the RSB chassis - I would have adopted the same approach. Kind regards, Richard B

Some really great images and something to aim for when I do complete my layout! A couple of pictures from my now stored 70D layout. Owe much to one of my son-in-law's pictures. The second one is a bit tricky. Mr Drummond was a very demanding engineer but his specially gold plated D15 spoils the effect somewhat (yes I know he died before his last creation was constructed). Kind regards, Richard B

PS Regarding information on the prototypes, apart from Peter Swift's excellent book already referred to I should also mention David Maidment's equally good "Urie and Maunsell 2 Cylinder 4-6-0's". Has has good pictures of 330 series and of 491.

Quick update. Off on holiday for warmer location now that usual British weather has returned! Bogie construction complete coupling and connecting roads assembled and all valve gear prepared ready for assembly.

Hi Chris, I don't profess to be an expert in this field but I have built a few locos. I know nothing about the RSB Models frame kit I'm afraid. I have, like you, purchased a very old Wills U/N Maunsell Mogul bodyline kit and I chose to buy the SE Finecast chassis kit which is really first class and includes all the parts required to build a really good prototypical chassis (excludes wheels, motor, gearbox). Does the RSB chassis include valvegear/brake frets etc.? So, for what it is worth, I would purchase the SE Finecast chassis kit for the K3 which is about £30. Good luck and really enjoy building the K3 which were very strong locomotives. Kind regards, Richard B Attached picture of my completed U class.

Hi, Wonder if someone can help me? I am trying to trace details of the Reading to Basingstoke (and beyond) services in 1963. I started my apprenticeship at Eastleigh Loco Works on September 2nd 1963. I recall getting to Basingstoke station at around 07.00 for an Eastleigh train. The 3 or 4 coach train arrived on platform 2 at Basingstoke hauled by a 61XX 2-6-2 tank. It uncoupled and cleared off to Basingstoke shed to be replaced by a Maunsell mogul, can't recall which variety I'm afraid. At the time, most Basingstoke - Reading services were provided by 3 car Hampshire DEMU's so "my" train seemed a bit unusual. I would like to model this service so can any of you timetable/stock experts let me have more details of this working? Was it a normal timetabled service at that time or a replacement? What was the usual formation of the train? Was the loco change normal or was Reading SR short of a loco and asked Reading WR for assistance? Many thanks for any illumination provided, Richard B

Quick update. Lovely sunny day today so the garden takes priority! Have had "permission" to do a bit of soldering though. Cylinders soldered to frame stretcher but not yet soldered to frame. Both front and rear motion brackets fitted. Not that cylinders have a slight slope from horizontal (about 7-8 degrees I think). Previous PDK kits have had fabricated cylinders, this one has cast cylinders which will have a brass etch covering. You need to drill a 2mm hole through the castings for the piston rods. I used a pillar drill at a slowish speed and kept the drill lubricated (spit is ok!) and clear of swarf since white metal can snag and break the drill. Sorry to go on if you already know all this!

I hope you don't mind me chipping in a few comments on our hobby? To criticise or not to criticise seems to be one of the themes running through which I guess is related to Tony Wrights recent article? Please indulge me for a moment or two. Like many of us I am now retired after 50 years as a railway engineer and whilst I have many interests I hankered after something that would occupy both hands and intellect so remembering my railway modelling disasters (now I look back) of my youth I thought I would have a go at building some 00 model loco's. I stick to ex SR types because they are the prototypes that I remember but I appreciate the locomotives of all 4 (and BR stds) railway company's. I have always carried out prototype research to achieve something as close as possible to the modelled loco at a particular time in its life. The first loco built being an original Merchant Navy from a Millholme Kit. I was very proud of my achievement. I went to a few shows and realised I had a lot to learn! I have now built about 15 or so locos including a few scratchbuilt. I was proud of each one until the next one was completed and so on. I'm sure we all try to exceed the quality of our previous efforts? You are probably wondering what is the point of all these words? Well along the way I have met some great modellers that have offered comment and encouragement. I have looked at the achievements of fellow modellers and this has been an inspiration to me. I even spoke to Tony Wright and briefly watched him building what else but an LNER Pacific at a show recently. It seems to me that we should encourage our fellow modellers, particularly those that build locos, rolling stock or anything else for their layout for I agree with Tony, this is the lifeblood of our hobby and the satisfaction obtained is good for the soul. Criticism is also important but please make it constructive! We need to encourage not "punish". With warm regards, Richard B

30333 on its new chassis, fair bit to do yet but coming along.

Many thanks Mike, much appreciated. Richard

Hi, Not so much progress to report, today was our Wedding Anniversary so off to the seaside for a nice lunch with Mrs B. I have now separated 30333's body from the chassis. I think that you can see the 2mm difference in trailing driver wheelbase. Next shot shows new chassis with cylinder stretcher, front motion and main motion brackets fitted and ready to solder.

Hi Mike, Do you have the reference for the drawing mentioned, sounds very useful. Yes all versions of the H15, including 330-334 had a splasher over the driving wheels. You are correct regarding the coupled wheelbase, it is 8'1" or an additional 7", my drawing is very well worn and my eyes are not what they were! Fortunately 1" makes no difference in 4mm! Will keep you all posted on progress, one thing I must remember is that I am building a chassis for 30333 and not 30491, the brake block positions are different! 30333 built by PDK with a few additions by me.

Hi Ian, As you will have guessed, my comments were a bit tongue in cheek. My appreciation of the P4 is, I guess, of the time. These cars seemed so exotic and Ferrari was at the apogee much more so then than now. I really admired the fact (I was then training to be an engineer) that Ferrari, like BRM and others, made all the main components of the car themselves. The P4 was just very beautiful and remains so now. The Mk IV was technically more advanced, particularly in relation to its structure, than the P4 although that "small" V12 was rather good and sounded fabulous. I totally agree regarding the Chaparral 2F, it was a wonderful piece of kit which changed so much and subsequent cars continued to do so, the 2J being a good example. Yes the P4 belonged to an earlier era compared to its competition in 1967. You are located in a rather nice part of the world, one imagines that you have have visited Le Mans 24 hours a few times? My only visit was in 1972 which, if I recall, was a Matra win driven by Henri and Graham. My brother and I booked the visit expecting to see a clean sweep of Ferrari 312PB's but naturally enough they decided not to enter their fast but fragile cars. Are you a railway modeller too!? Kind regards, Richard B

Well fancy finding this topic on this website! Ferrari Grand Prix team fan since 1965, the engineering going into these cars is quite extraordinary, indeed only exceeded by Sir Nigel Gresley Sir William Stainer and Mr O V S Bullied. My favourite racing car of all time is the Ferrari 330P4 which I saw finish second at Brands Hatch in the BOAC 500 mile race to take the World Sportscar Championship. Looking forward to 2019 season and the interplay between Vettel and Leclerc. We shall see. Kind regards, Richard B

A wonderful piece of work Dave. Building a BR Standard loco must take a while, all that external pipework etc. I should take a rest first before another build! Kind regards, Richard B

Many thanks John. Yes the wheels are Markits. I have now fitted the wheels, including the leading pair. A few pictures follow. I now realise that perhaps I should have started this story as a Blog but that seemed a bit too grand so I did this! If you look carefully you can see that the leading pair of wheel flanges are touching. Picture also shows cylinder stretcher and cylinder castings. This (poor!) picture shows the wheel mounted on its axle and clamped into my pillar drill chuck. I reduce the flange height using a fine file (sparingly) and emery paper. Frequently checking flange clearance and progressively reducing each pair of wheels. If I recall, drill speed is about 400 rpm. Final picture in this session shows all three wheels fitted and front pair have the necessary clearance. Obviously there is no impact on wheel diameter in relation to track surface and having run four H15's I can detect no impact on running stability due to the slightly reduced flange height. Cheerio for now! Richard B

Hi Chuffinghell, I think your loco's look really good with added coal and the weathering of 5814 look really good. The advice regarding the bucket is really good, I'm sure a 0.5m or smaller drill will do the job and the handle should just snap into place. Regarding fire irons and tools, I think you have used Springside Models castings, or perhaps Craftsman? These are all good but also 247 Developments make a nice etched brass set which is very fine (F16 is the part number I think). Good luck and keep coaling. Kind regards, Richard b

Me again, have done a bit more this afternoon. One thing I should add. I am not suggesting that this topic is in any way "an expert view" - I started building 4mm loco's about 8 years ago and as many will agree, it is a continual learning (and re-learning!) process. The H15 frame frets are very well thought out, they are joined by crossmembers and after the axle bearings have been soldered they need to be bent up as shown below. The bearing holes will need to be enlarged to fit the bearings, I use a broach. Once soldered (from the inside) the bearings will need to be reamed (1/8 "). I have not yet fitted the trailing bearings because I am building the extended wheelbase and will mount the frames in a jig with the coupling rods fitted to ensure alignment. The frames mounted in the jig with the extended wheelbase coupling rods fitted (both types are supplied in the valve gear fret), you can see the small ovality of the trailing bearing hole. The final view for today shows the frame crossmembers fitted and clamped ready for soldering. That's all for today - off to collect a grandson from Salisbury station. Have a good weekend. Kind regards, Richard B

Some initial thoughts and the PDK Kit. I have found the guys at PDK very helpful in my quest for building a version of every H15 variation. For 30491 they supplied me with a standard H15 kit with the brass boiler wrapper replaced with a Maunsell style tapered boiler which is a resin casting. All the kit goodies on display, well almost all. One point that is apparent is the different smokebox wrapper diameters for the taper and parallel boilers, the kit is supplied with a parallel style front so I will have to scratch build one suitable for 30491. By the way, no intended criticism of the kit! Lastly I also want to mention the variations in driving wheel spacing. 30330-30335 were all rebuilds of earlier Dummond classes with fireboxes longer than Urie's new build loco's. So this series have a 6 inch longer wheelbase between the 2nd and 3rd driver. The great team at PDK built me a model of 30333 a few years. This has a standard wheelbase (7ft 6inches) or 2mm shorter than the prototype but correct for all the other variations. It was only after a few years of further research that I realised this oversight. So the chassis supplied for 30491 will be built with the extended wheelbase and fitted to 30333 so 30491 already has a working chassis! The PDK chassis cater's for both variations:- That's all for now! Kind regards, Richard B