Building my first loco kit ( Craftsman A5 4-6-2T )

[Jonathan Wells]

I've always liked the looks of Robinson's A5 4-6-2 tank locos that were used on the Marylebone commuter trains and displaced to Lincolnshire. So I decided to build one in P4 gauge using the Craftsman kit.

The prototype I decided to model is 69808 in BR mixed traffic livery and early crest as it was in the late 1950s when it was allocated to Boston shed.

I propose to use Bill Bedford's sprung chassis ( which I have got ) and the wheelset ( which I have paid the deposit on ) together with the Craftsman etch brass kit ( which I have got )

I thought I would chronicle this construction here and explain how I overcome problems ( and ask for some advice from more experienced modellers! )

I decided to build the superstructure of the locomotive first as in the absence of wheels, there is no point in starting the chassis construction then halting. Also having the superstructure ready will help with choosing the motor/gear set and setting up the springing of the chassis.

Here is the whole kit - it even comes with a scale drawing which is a nice touch! But I still bought the Isinglass drawings as well.

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There is a minor problem - the brass appears mottled, is that etchant residue that had not been washed off throughly enough? If so what should I use to clean all that off?

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The assembly instructions came on two sides of close typing which is extremely difficult to read! However my father scanned the instructions using OCR ( Optical character recognition ) and exported the resulting text file into a wordprocessor application and paragraphed, titled, highlighted etc and came up with a much more readable instruction sheet which takes up slightly less paper than the original!

Anyway I made a start by cutting out the footplate, valances, buffer beams and smokebox saddle sides using the Xuron photo etch cutter. I was a bit disappointed that the tabs were not half etched through and cutting close to the component caused local distortion. I used flat faced pliers to straighten the distortion.

I used a plastic handled drawing pin whose tip was blunted to press out the rivets through from the half etched side guided by the half etched positions. I had the parts on the cutting mat while I pressed out the rivet.

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I believe that all the A5s gained rivetted smokeboxes by the 1950s, at least 69808 had a rivetted smokebox. The smokebox wrapper has been pre-formed which is convenient except that it leaves little headroom to press out the rivets from inside!!! The drawing pin I used earlier barely fits inside, which will make pressing quite hard to do. Any suggestion what I should do about pressing rivets out? Make up a long lever to reach inside the box and press the pin with it?

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Summing up the questions:

1) Should I be concerned about the mottling of the brass and what's the best way to remove it?

2) Suggestions on pressing out the rivets from inside the smokebox wrapper?

I will keep you posted on my progress.

[DougN]

Jonathan, in answer to your questions:-
1 I have never found it to be a problem the mottled nature of the brass. Once you have finished sloshing Flux and solder around it can look just as bad!... I have solved it using a local product to me that it Esteel powder cleaner which is for esteel sausepans. Though in the UK people was poetic about shiny sinks as the cleaning product to remove all the marks and stains. So if it offends try that now... but you will still have to do it again when it comes to painting.
2. The smoke box former is in the shape now so it will go back into that shape with a bit of manipulation again if you need to flaten it out a bit now to do the rivets. No doubt if it all goes pear shaped you may be able to get another former from craftsman. The other option is to cut a new one from brass, emboss the rivets and then form. AS it is the first one you have had a go at. Making another former might sound daunting but it is actually quite straightforward as you have one to measure/ copy. This you may fid will give you other skills when you hit a hard bit.

Good luck with it all and ask as many questions as you can we all started at the beginning.

[Will L]

Welcome to the game Jonathan. You sprite and attitude seem about right to me. You will always need to use a certain amount of initiative when building any kit.

1) Should I be concerned about the mottling of the brass and what's the best way to remove it?

If it cleans off Ok, which it probably will, no. A quick polish with a fibre glass eraser will do the job

2) Suggestions on pressing out the rivets from inside the smokebox wrapper?

I wouldn't be afraid of distorting the wrapper enough to get your tool in. Just don't over do it. You will need to adjust the curvature when you fit it to the smoke box wrapper formers anyway.

Will

[Strandline]

Will be watching this thread with interest, though think it will be a while before I get to do this myself!

[David Bigcheeseplant]

I started to build a couple of these using the Bill Bedford chassis a year or so ago I got quite a way into the build process, but found the B B chassis quite a fiddle as it had fold lines on the wrong side of the folds and a few other issues, I got the impression Bill did not construct a test etch.

I have since got a 52F kit that is much better designed

David