In my first scratchbuild all these years ago I did my turnings at the local school and did a short course of lathe working. Being an art teacher also meant that I had access to the technical department in my own school and for a while I did that as an alternative to buying my own lathe. Eventually I was left a small lathe by my friend Jim Pugh when he died which has lasted all these years.
Now I intended showing how to make these parts as part of the build, but unfortunately my lathe packed in just as I started. The power unit had gone caput
It left me with a problem as I was wanting to get on with the locos - so I found myself in the same position as a beginner in not having a key piece of equipment, so I first looked around for alternatives amongst my collection of whitemetal chimneys, domes, safety valves that could be altered, there were several candidates, then I had a look to see if there was anything available in various parts lists on the internet - Alan Gibson had a nice set of safety alves as a casting which culd be cut down and used, the dome could be cut and filed from a length of brass rod - easy enough as the dome is of a very simple type. Chimney's may be available from Chris Gibbons as he does a version of the smaller version of the Barclay - there was the alternative of turning three up using a drill and files - which I have had to do on a couple of occasions.
It was while pondering what to do that my good friend Bob Hetherington phoned me for a chat. I mentioned what had happened and bemoaned the demise of my motor and Bob said to send him a drawing and he would turn them up as he was about to run off a number of pieces for another loco he was building. So I have to thank Bob for the making of the chimneys, domes and bases for the safety valves. I bought 3 safety valves from Alan Gibson and cut them down and soldered them to the safety valve mounts which Bob kindly made.
I would like to thank Bob publicly
and not pretend I did them myself and hope I may find time to do a demo of how to go about making these parts without a lathe. It was only within days that the parts arrived from Bob, which allowed me to get all the main metal parts cut out and the loco assembled up to this stage. Since then I have managed to get a replacement motor and will show how I went about making some of the other items required. Bob also followed up by sending me some pressure dials for the cab as he was making a batch for himself - all of which were of course were gratefully received.
This is as much time as I have this week as I am trying to get Dubbieside ready for Glasgow next weekend. It is going there as one of the two layouts which were around in the early 1970's. The other layout which is going is my old friend Richard Chown's Rackrent - the first section. (Irish Broad Gauge -7mm) If you are a Scalefour Soc member introduce yourself and we will have a chat at the layout. I will be very pleased to see you.
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