Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Mon Mar 28, 2022 5:22 pm

NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER N10

Prompted by David Bradwell's N10 and by a comparison with the cab roof of the N8, then the cab roof for the N10 was clearly wrong and a new one has been made. I still have to add the ventilation hatch cover and the rain strips but I took this photograph to check the relative sizes and fits of the two cab roofs. I hadn't realised that the superstructures of the N8 and N10 were so similar, except for the profile of the front splashers as the N10 had slightly smaller driving wheels than the N8.

The N8 has now been 'motorised' and the chassis checked for free running, so the final detailing can now be completed.

I did wonder whether (or not) the driving wheels on the N8's were fitted with balance weights as almost all of the photos that I have of this type fail to show any. However, this photo of an N8 in its final 'death throws' seems to answer the question, both on the driven axle and on the other two axles.

Cheers

Mike
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mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Wed Mar 30, 2022 10:35 am

Chas Levin wrote:Oh wow - I'd never have spotted that one's brass and one's plasticard; very nice building, Mike! I just took another careful look at the pictures and I still can't see anything to distinguish them materially.
Out of interest, why did you decide to build the body from plastic?


Chas,

I've just re-read this posting and realised that I haven't answered it. So here goes, though it might develop into a 'shaggy dog' story.

I came back into this hobby some time in the late 1990's after a thirty year lay off; this by building wagons and coaches using kits for the wagons and etched components for the coaches which were mainly Gresley bow ended. Having effectively started from scratch I opted to build to P4 gauge, as I had no rtr models to accommodate. There then came the time to launch into loco building and, for some reason, I opted to build a kit of the LNER T1 4-8-0 tank, for which I had detailed and dimensioned drawings. The kit was a Little Engines white metal product. Anyway as I examined each part and checked them against the dimensions on the drawing, I became increasingly disillusioned with this kit and with white metal kits. So disillusioned that I threw the whole thing away except for the brass and white metal castings and the nickel silver chassis components.

Now years ago, when I was around seventeen, I did build an LMS parallel boilered Patriot using plasticard as the principal building medium, which was moderately successful, though that was actually built to EM standards. So, for the T1, I then set about designing an approach which would, again, use plasticard but which would produce a structure which was sturdy enough to withstand handling and would embody reasonable adhesive weight. This was done using .010" plasticard as the principal visible material thickness with invisible lamination onto thicker plasticard and using various resin and lead shot fillers to strengthen the boiler, bunker and side tanks. Anyway, after about six months of work, much trial and error and two or three revisions of the chassis, the model was finished and worked quite well.

Even the three link couplings were scratch built on this model; I had no idea (then) that these were available commercially!

This T1 scales up at 16 ounces, has a Mashima 1630 with flywheel and has pulled over seventy wagons on a test track at a scale 3 mph. During this build I had also acquired a Little Engines A6 kit and, guess what? I followed the same set of processes and the same assembly pattern on that one. Later, when I had started to test build etched brass/nickel silver kits for Arthur Kimber, I fitted this A6 with a much improved etched and compensated chassis.

So, in a nutshell, that's how these two plasticard locos came about and they are still running and still working, after nearly twenty years. The T1 does need a replacement top lamp iron which, I think, is the only damage sustained in its twenty year existence.

The photos, below, are that original LNER T1 4-8-0 tank and the A6.

Cheers

Mike
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Chas Levin
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby Chas Levin » Wed Mar 30, 2022 8:26 pm

Mike, thank you very much for the reply, what a nice story - not sure if it qualifies for Shaggy Dog status but a very enojoyable read in any case! I too returned to modelling after about 30 years: I suspect that's a very common thing.
The T1 is as impressive looking as the A6 and the running characteristics clearly show it's not just a good looker :)
Chas

mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:30 pm

NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER N10

Before I paint the new cab roof on this N10, just a quick photo to check the front and rear overhang. Probably needs to come back by around .5 mm. The coupling rods could also do with a wash of 'oily steel'.

So, on a glorious, sunny, high summer's day, N10 69104 slides serenely along the down slow at Hessle Haven. The light on this photo isn't natural sunlight but is produced by my daylight lamp.

Cheers

Mike
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Chas Levin
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby Chas Levin » Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:34 pm

Lovely looking loco, Mike, even before the overhang fettling!

May I please ask, how do you do your 'oily steel' wash?
Chas

mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Wed Apr 06, 2022 7:15 am

Chas Levin wrote:Lovely looking loco, Mike, even before the overhang fettling!

May I please ask, how do you do your 'oily steel' wash?


Chas,

The Railmatch range of paints, obtainable from Howes Models of Oxford (actually located in Kidlington). No 415 in this range is 'Oily Steel'.

Howes have a very extensive website and the full range of Railmatch paints is catalogued and illustrated on that website. These paints can be brush painted or can be thinned for use in airbrushes. As well as most of the post-Nationalisation, pre-Nationalisation and pre-Grouping livery colours, there are numerous weathering colours and shades within this range.

I use the 'Weathered Black' from this range as the basic colour for almost all of my 'black' locos, with the odd 'ex-works' exceptions.

Usual disclaimer; no connection to Railmatch just a highly satisfied customer.


Regards

MIke
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Chas Levin
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby Chas Levin » Wed Apr 06, 2022 8:55 am

Thanks Mike - I know their range and the colours are excellent, plus the coverage and finish are superb. I did some LNER oxide wagons and two coats applied without excessive fussiness produced really superb finishes, but their formula seems to contain some kind of additive, perhaps designed to aid flow or plasticity - possibly something like silicone - which caused problems applying anything water-based on top and I often use water-based varnish to protect transfers, so I moved back to Phoenix Precision and Humbrol.

The problems were in the nature of pooling, where the varnish - which usually spreads and forms a fully intact layer, before drying - formed into small pools, as the paint beneath appeared to 'reject' it, the size of each little pool, or bubble, being dependent on the varnishes surface tension.

Do you apply your transfers direct to the Railmatch surface? And do you add anything else after that - in the way of protective varnish for example - without running into problems?

In the case of coupling rods however, nothing else would need to go on top, so I could give it a go. The rods on my current build certainly need improving: at the moment they're just plain NSand look far too clean...
Chas

mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:26 am

Chas Levin wrote:Thanks Mike - I know their range and the colours are excellent, plus the coverage and finish are superb. I did some LNER oxide wagons and two coats applied without excessive fussiness produced really superb finishes, but their formula seems to contain some kind of additive, perhaps designed to aid flow or plasticity - possibly something like silicone - which caused problems applying anything water-based on top and I often use water-based varnish to protect transfers, so I moved back to Phoenix Precision and Humbrol.

Do you apply your transfers direct to the Railmatch surface? And do you add anything else after that - in the way of protective varnish for example - without running into problems?

In the case of coupling rods however, nothing else would need to go on top, so I could give it a go. The rods on my current build certainly need improving: at the moment they're just plain NSand look far too clean...


Chas,

Firstly, the N10 was actually sprayed with an aerosol blackberry black satin finish; part of one of Halford's car paint ranges. I wanted a finish not quite ex-works but before weeks and months of soot and grime pervaded the loco. I applied the transfers directly to this finish on the N10, as I do on the Railmatch paints. I never varnish the transfers, though as part of the weathering process, I do wash over them with very diluted washes of 'coloured' enamel thinners i.e. ordinary clear enamel thinners with a tiny amount of colour added; most often the Railmatch weathered black but also shades such as leather, wood, etc.

I also use some of the MIG weathering powders in exactly the same way; by dissolving a tiny amount in enamel thinners and then painting the liquid on, allowing gravity to 'find its own way' and to 'let it run' and 'let it streak'.

I have never had any problems with transfers coming off the models and some of the models were built and transfers applied, twenty years ago.

On the same day as the N10 passed through, another one - T1 69915 - seldom seen on the main line, drifts along the down slow with an ex LNER guards van. Happy days!!

Regards

Mike
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Chas Levin
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby Chas Levin » Wed Apr 06, 2022 9:42 am

Interesting - thanks Mike. I do have a tendency to be over-cautious when it comes to any kind of fixing (my DIY bookshelves can usually be used as exercise bars by even well-proportioned adults) and fixing transfers is no exception.

Mind you, I don't do any kind of weathering, so I don't have the opportunity to make use of whatever extra fixing capability those washes introduce.

I suspect the reason you've had no pooling issues on the Railmatch painted surface is because your washes are spirit-based, rather than water. I might read up a bit on solvents, surface tension and similar things...
Chas

mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Mon May 16, 2022 1:39 pm

LONDON ROAD MODELS LNER N8

This build has been very much a background project while test builds were done for North Eastern Kits LNER F8 and J21. The original LRM chassis, on this model, was heavily modified to avoid using the articulated rear section of the mainframes, which included the rear radial axle. However, various parts of the supplied chassis - driving wheel springs, coupling rods, brake hangars, etc. - were not as accurate as later etches, especially those from Arthur Kimber's North Eastern Kits range. So as the wheel spacing of the N8 is identical to that of the J21 and the mainframe profiles are similar, notwithstanding the extra section on the N8 to accommodate the trailing axle, I have modified one of Arthur's J21 chassis to fit the N8.

So this model is now approaching completion leaving only the brake linkage, lamp irons, cab backhead, sanding gear, driving wheel balance weights and a few other details still to do.

This one will be 69382 which was based at Hull Dairycoates shed in mid 1950.

Cheers

Mike
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mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Thu May 19, 2022 5:38 am

NORTH EASTERN KITS LNER J77

Another bright, sunny, early summer's day at Hessle Haven as a couple of J77's coast along the down slow. These two are almost identical, except for the cab windows, which are square on one model and round on the other. I did two because two test builds were done for this kit These locos were actually rebuilds of BTP 0-4-4 tanks and at least one of these rebuilds had square windows one end of the cab and round windows at the other.

A separate test build was also done for the later Worsdell rebuilds of these BTP 0-4-4's. These rebuilds had a new cab which had the more normal North Eastern cab profile.

The full complement of 0-6-0 tanks, on the layout, now numbers ten with 4 J72's, 3 J77's, 2 J71's and a J73. In 1950, which is the period of the model, Hull's four locomotive sheds could muster over forty 0-6-0 tanks as well as over twenty 0-6-2 tanks.

Cheers

Mike
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Dave Holt
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby Dave Holt » Thu May 19, 2022 8:00 pm

Very nice, as usual, Mike.
You've amassed quite a stud of these locos to grace your layout. By contrast, I've never built an 0-6-0, let alone ten. I do have one tender loco to do, eventually.
Dave.

mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Fri May 20, 2022 6:20 am

Thanks Dave. Apart from the J73, which was built from a production kit, the rest are all various test builds. Two of the J72's were tests of the High Level J72 chassis kit using Bachmann bodies; the other two J72's are tests of the two North Eastern Kits for the two variants of this type, hence having four of them. Similarly I have three J21's, as the kit has been revised during its development.

Somehow, on these test builds, I'm always very reluctant to abandon them, part completed. The exception to this was the F8, where we did do a couple of aborted test builds.

Most North Eastern sheds had a number of 0-6-0's both of the tank and the tender variety, so my collection is reasonably representative of a typical allocation.

Regards

Mike

mikemeg
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Re: Some North Eastern & LNER Locomotive Builds

Postby mikemeg » Sat Apr 01, 2023 2:24 pm

LNER B4

Quite a while since last I posted to this thread, though I haven't been entirely inactive.

Some years ago I bought one of John Bateson's Great Central Models kits - GCR Class 8F / LNER B4 - and that kit has languished in the 'to do cupboard' for the intervening years. I bought the kit because the B4 and particularly 1482 'Immingham' was the last ex GC 4-6-0 to survive, lasting until November of 1950. Around ten weeks ago, I took the kit out of 'hiding' and made a start on its construction. As supplied, this kit provides for the assembly of working inside valve gear; a challenge too good to miss, so I've proceeded quite slowly on this, trying not to compromise this internal valve gear.

Anyway, I'm now about ready to put together the various sub-assemblies to produce a chassis with working internal valve gear. The attached photo shows the completed sub-assemblies - mainframes, connecting rods and crossheads, valve rods and eccentrics, front bogie. The loco will, eventually, be powered by a Mashima (1424 or 1426) using a High Level Highflier 60 : 1 gearbox.

The second photo shows 1482 on the 9.38 Bradford - Bridlington, photographed at Driffield in the summer of 1950.

More as this build progresses.

Cheers

Mike
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