Scalefour Forum

Thanks, Howard. Not having a lathe, I'd be relying on various diameters of brass tube. A further complication, with this tender, is that the drag beam is a closed box with a depth of about 4 mm to contain the buffer mechanism. My first thoughts of drilling through the back to take a tail-rod have be...

Vacuum and steam heat bits have been added to the rear. The kit provides W/M castings which I thought might be rather vulnerable, especially the vacuum stand pipe, seeing as it stands up above the top of the chassis. Home made versions have been made from brass wire and various other bits of brass a...

Four small steps for a man, a giant leap forward for Holtkind. The tender has now acquired four sets of steps and all the springs and axleboxes and is beginning to look the part. Intermediate buffers and hoses still to do. Buffer heads will be fitted after painting. BM_Blk5_45284_156.JPG BM_Blk5_452...

Not much progress, but the loco and tender are now connected. The loco and tender kits are from different periods of design and manufacture and the adjustable draw bar supplied with the loco is far too long for the later tender. The fault really lies with the tender because the draw bar pivot is far...

Thanks, Robin. Very modest progress since the last entry. The front and rear buffer beam overlays have been fitted, along with the front rubbing block and buffer housings (w/m buffers still to do), rear buffer housings and coupling hook. There will be no shackle as I use Alex Jackson couplings. Buff...

Thanks, John, I certainly hope so.
Just looking at the rather larger than life photos, I've just spotted blobs of excess solder on top of the two lower LH steps which I hadn't seen on the model. Now suitably dealt with.
Dave.

The tender body is now finished except, perhaps, for filling in the half etched bend lines at the turn-ins inside the upper sides. I'll use filler if that happens. Finishing touches include brake and scoop handles, bulkhead coping strips, vents, scoop dome, filler and lifting lugs on the rear tank t...

David. A fine looking model you have created. However, I would reinforce Dave B's comments about the valve gear cut off and eccentric throw. I'm not sure of the precise figure for a B1, but typically an offset of about 2 mm ahead of the axle centre would be in order. Thanks for posting Dave's pipe &...

This is a Brassmasters kit and it, together with a fully rivetted version I have yet to build, are both entirely etched in nickel silver. I think my previous Black 5 came with an earlier, brass version. Not sure about current production, but an LMS 4F inside valvegear etch, shown as N/S on the web s...

Some further progress, mainly on the front bulkhead. Fire iron tunnel, coal space tank vents and front hand rails also attached.
Just the hand brake and scoop handles to do at the front end.



Dave.

Thanks for the kind comment and soldering info, Ralph.
I had my iron set to about 270, so it probably just wasn't hot enough to make the solder flow properly.
Dave.

Right. Just used the 179 degree solder to attach the coal space doors and their locking bars. I found it OK, but not as wonderful as Howard has suggested.
Obviously, I must be doing something wrong. What temperature setting should one use for this solder? Is my Phosflux 12 a suitable flux?
Dave.

Philip. I'm not privy to the Brassmasters design concepts, but the tender kit can make up the fully rivetted, all welded (as mine) or the later part rivetted types. Only the overlays (plus a few other bits and bobs) vary, with the basic carcass remaining common to all. So I suppose the relatively pl...

Phew. My second attempt at attaching the tender side overlays has gone much better and they are now fixed in place to my satisfaction. Despite dallying with thoughts of using adhesives, and thanks for the various suggestions, in the end I persevered with solder but using the approach suggested by Ho...

Coming along nicely, Mike. Some time ago, I built a High Level 57XX pannier chassis (in EM for Pendon) and found it a pleasure to work on. You 2251 experience confirms the quality of design and production of their chassis. There appears to be a set of Comet LMS/BR cylinders lurking in the background...

Philip,
Thanks very much for your thoughts. The "runny" epoxy sounds like the best solution. I've got some 12 minute type that I might use.
On this tender, there's no access inside, now, so the holes for solder/glue isn't an option.
Dave.

Just had a fairly disastrous morning's modelling. Spurred on by recent progress, I decided to fit the half-etched overlays to the tank sides. I started by soldering the front turned in edge and then along the top, working from one end. I noticed that the bottom of the etch was not hard against the i...

Peter, Yes, the half etched lines would help guide the bending of the sides. However, it might be a case of who you know, but my kit came with the sides pre-bent. Some further progress has been made and the coal space chute and the front bulkhead have been formed, fitted and fixed. I decided to add ...

Peter, I'm not an expert on the 1 P's and the photo is rather grainy, but to me it looks like the cable is clipped to the buffer beam blow and level with the RH end of the upper connector block bracket. It then bulges out from the beam and snakes right-left to the plug which I think is just visible ...

I have run into a small problem with the cosmetic frame overlays and the spring and axlebox castings. Whilst I decide what to do, I thought I'd make a start on the body. To this end, I've assembled the base plate and inner sides/back. The fixing arrangements were altered by use of smaller nuts and s...

On the Gibson round nuts, I file two flats on the smaller diameter portion, trying to keep them opposite and parallel. The flats help pliers grip without slipping round whilst not squeezing too hard. I also pick up these and hex nuts in a suitable sized pin chuck. Recently, for hex nuts, I've been u...

Thanks Doug. Not a great rate of progress, partially due to the marvellous weather leading to quite a lot of time out in the back garden. Reading and meals, you understand - gardening isn't my thing. Anyway, the brake rigging has now been made and fitted, although there's a bit of tidying up still t...

Doug, Please don't alter your usual approach to the brake blocks because of my attempted humour. The key thing is to avoid shorts, allowing for any over-scale suspension movement and side play. I suppose the solution to this dilemma is plastic or resin blocks. Or, does split frame eliminate this iss...

[quote="DougN"]As you can see the brake blocks are too hard against the wheels so I will need to file them back a fair bit to get some running clearance. I was just about to commend you on getting the brake blocks prototypically close to the wheels! On the subject of pick-ups, I'm sure you...

The new axles arrived yesterday, so the replacement wheel-sets were assembled and, after a bit of dressing of the bearing inner faces, fitted into the frames. The cross beams have been fixed and the scoop mechanism completed. BM_Blk5_45284_130.JPG BM_Blk5_45284_131.JPG BM_Blk5_45284_132.JPG On to th...