Scalefour Forum

Hi all

I’ve got an unfinished brassmasters J94 lurking near my workbench and looking a bit worried. Have the instructions but as they are text and I never saw the flat etches I’m at a bit of a loss where to go.

Does anyone have either, an inbuilt kit they could photograph or a finished one they could take a picture of the underside it might help.

TIA

Jim

Hi Jim,

Scanned copy of my review of the kit in a 1995 issue of MORILL attached. Apologies for the grainy reproduction of the photos. I still have the originals here and could scan them again separately, if that would help.

All the best,

Geraint

Apologies, trying again!



Geraint

Thanks Geraint

That helps. Do you still have the loco?

Jim,

Yes I do. It suffered some minor damage a while back and is in my queue for repair and resurrection for my new Cromford & High Peak layout.

What in particular did you want to check on?

Regards,

Geraint

I'm not sure what bits I don't have for the underside of the chassis. I definitely don't have the springs but is there any brake rigging etc?

Hi Jim,
I do not have a Brassmasters one, but am completing a trio of J94s at the moment using a variety of chassis, there are little variations in each of them, but would happily take some photographs if you are just checking what should be there. I took photographs of the real thing operating at Bo'ness recently in NCB colours and can put them up here with a few comments if they would be any help to you.

Allan

Here we are Jim, hope they are of some use





Allan

The Brassmasters kit came with two sets of frames, one for the J94 and an alternative set for the Hunslet 50550.

Gordon A

Thanks all

I’m specifically after pictures of the underside of a brassmasters one so that I can figure out how it was designed and what bits I need to replicate. Without seeing one or the etched parts it’s very hard to figure out what the designer intended just from the written instructions.

Cheers

Jim

Jim,

I've found a photo of the etches supplied, which confirms that aside from brake hangers and shoes, there are no etched parts for other parts of the brake gear, such as pull rods.

Checking through the instructions, the designer (Allan Sibley) recommended the use of 0.7mm dia brass wire to form the rods between the brake hangers. I used this, but chose not to represent the pull rods as I wanted to be able to remove the wheelsets for maintenance. Of course, the accepted practice these days is to make up a full brake gear assembly and spring it onto pins soldered to the chassis. Back in the 1980s, this practice was unheard of!



Hope the photo helps,

Geraint

Perfect thanks

That’s a huge help. I didn’t realise but can the inside motion be made to work?

Jim

jim s-w wrote:... can the inside motion be made to work?

You'd get some more useful bits for this purpose in the RT Models chassis, but that means having to buy the entire chassis kit.

Horsetan wrote:

jim s-w wrote:... can the inside motion be made to work?

You'd get some more useful bits for this purpose in the RT Models chassis, but that means having to buy the entire chassis kit.

The RT motion doesn’t work, it’s just cosmetic. It looks like the Brassmasters etch is actually better for the purpose.

Very Nice Jim,

If it comes with the full motion, even if it does not operate that's great. I have just been making dummy ones, the main part you notice below the boiler is the large balance weight which moves according to the setting of the gears for forward and reverse motion. In DCC and using a small motor I would think movement of this would be possible nowadays. Nothing like that available in any of the other chassis kits that are available.

Allan

Allan Goodwillie wrote:Very Nice Jim,

If it comes with the full motion, even if it does not operate that's great. I have just been making dummy ones, the main part you notice below the boiler is the large balance weight which moves according to the setting of the gears for forward and reverse motion. In DCC and using a small motor I would think movement of this would be possible nowadays. Nothing like that available in any of the other chassis kits that are available.

Moving that motion bit forwards/reverse would be possible in 4mm scale.
Nick Mitchell has done a second motor operating the forward/mid/reverse valve gear on a 9F in 2mm scale.


- Nigel

Jim,

I recalled seeing an article on this kit some years ago. I thought it was Rail Model Digest, but it turned out to be in the much missed MORILL, September 1995, by Geraint Hughes with a response from Allan Sibley to Geraint's comments. 8 pages. Some illustrations, but Morill was better known for its text.

regards

Thanks but scroll up ^

But as I've asked before, does anyone make an accurate "Austerity" wheel?

Jim,

Apologies, have battled hard to find a way of attaching a photo to a PM and finally give up!

To answer your question, my J94 has two short Ross Pop valves mounted along the centreline of the recess in the top of the saddle tank, with a single whistle offset to the right hand side.



Hopefully the photo helps to explain. Apologies for the quality - taken with my phone through the magnifying lamp. I've just realised how horrible the paint texture is on the cab roof!

Regards,

Geraint

philip-griffiths wrote:Some illustrations, but Morill was better known for its text.

You mean as in transposing complete paragraphs, losing others and thereby making no sense of the articles?

hughesp87 wrote:Jim,
Apologies, have battled hard to find a way of attaching a photo to a PM and finally give up!

You can't Geraint! It would seem to be impossible with PMs on here. Perhaps our Administrators could do something about it for us. It worked in an earlier incarnation of RMweb which was very similar looking to this board.

When we started the forum attachments on PMs was disabled to avoid the server being filled up with pictures etc. when only one person was going to see them. Now we have a lot more space maybe John can be generous and change the setting. But when the picture is relavant to the topic why hide it from the rest of the readers?
Regards

hughesp87 wrote:To answer your question, my J94 has two short Ross Pop valves mounted along the centreline of the recess in the top of the saddle tank, with a single whistle offset to the right hand side.
Geraint

Perfect, thanks

Jim

The cab roof is right for one that is well pitted with rust, but looked after.

Gordon A