DougN wrote:Flymo you seem to have your mojo at the moment. I looked at the etch for the valves and thought that they looked too close to the cylinder when I put them on the RSH. Any how yours looks just right.
Looking through the RSH, the black hawthorn and now your coffee pot shows how Chris has used some common parts to make the locos... I wondered why I like his kits a little too much.. I feel a larger loco comming on!
Hi Doug,
The mojo was always there for modelling. It was just the Coffee Pot that I couldn't face. Short version:
Spent *ages* getting the slide bars and crossheads assembled. You may recall that I couldn't manage to file the "mushroom" on the crosshead casting correctly, and after that I decided to drill the pivot out and use a brass lace pin instead.
So I set up the pillar drill and very carefully drilled through from the front of the crosshead directly through the cast "bearing". That should have also taken out the remains of the cast pin on the rear of the crosshead.
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Except that it didn't. The pimple on the front of the crosshead was not in line with the pivot pin. I had a hole between the pin and the meat of the crosshead, meaning that the connecting rod didn't fit, and wouldn't have pivoted even if it did. So I then flipped the crosshead over, and drilled again from the back, wiping out (intentionally) the cast pivot on the way.
Then it was in with a lace pin, a spot of solder and the job was done.
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Trim, and repeat for the other side. I then assembled the backing plates for the crossheads and fitted them into the slidebars. A bit of fetting and all moved smoothly. I was finally feeling quite pleased with myself, not least that this task was over. I *hate* the mechanical moving bits of modelling
So I was tidying up the work desk, putting things away, ready for the next session, with my beautifully assembled and highly delicate set of cylinders, slide bars and connecting rods sitting in my jeweller's vice. You can guess what happens next...
One catch from the sleeve of a woolly jumper and the whole lot is on the floor as a tangle knot of nickel silver and brass castings. I'd even managed to "explode" those crossheads that I'd spent so long on into their component parts.
So the whole lot was shoved in a box and left to fester. I contemplated speaking with Chris about an entire new fret, and I'm sure that he would have helped, but I was not going to be defeated. On the other hand, I couldn't face them again _just_ yet.
That was about six months ago, I guess, and it was only when I say Will's completed Coffee Pot on the Society Stand at Scaleforum that I decided that I had left it for too long, and the time was right to fix it. So here we are. The crossheads are rebuilt and seem to run smoothly in the un-knotted slidebars. I'll have to wait until the chassis is fitted with wheels and running properly to see if I've been truly successful.
So now you know... Don't try this at home folks - it's not worth the grief!
Cheers
Flymo