Tender - Rear buffer beam

Cut out the tender buffer beam this evening from a piece of sheet metal. My metal working skills are generally poor so I cut the piece out slightly oversize with the saw, then clamped it in a vice to a piece of square steel bar so that the oversize part protruded. I then filed down against the square bar to give a straight edge and the correct dimension. A bit of a bodge but it gives the right end result, albeit scuffing up a perfectly good bit of steel bar in the process!

Trailing truck - side piece

Finally silver-soldered the last side piece of the trailing truck this evening, as I write this it's currently pickling in the acid bath.



I've made some enquiries about some of the long lead-time items, specifically the boiler and the nameplates (I've been advised the nameplates could take 4 months). Mike at Maccsteam (see links) can make the boiler and I'm hoping also the gas tank as I don't think my ten-quid B&Q torch pictured above will get enough heat into the work to silver solder it.

Axle boxes

Still not fathomed how the vertical slide works. Had a second pair of eyes take a gander at it and equally miffed so it's not just me! Will give Chester a shout. Anyway, sat down this morning with a coffee and a piece of paper and tried to work out how to fabricate the axleboxes using just the toolholder and the 3 and 4-jaw chucks.


All was going well until the endmill bit snapped...

So I set about making the bearings for the tender axles instead. Simple job on the lathe, the sixth one was a lot quicker than the first, however, "practice makes improvement" and all that! Have generated masses of swarf for when I am in a cleaning mood...



The last bit of the pony truck is also ready for soldering. I could solder the tender bearings at the same time but will hold off as I am tempted to make a jig for the tender to ensure the bearings are as square in the frames as possible. I also want to study the drawings to see what detail (rivets, etc.) can be easily added at this stage.

Trailing truck

Been busy fiddling with the trailing truck kit from Model Engineers Laser. Numerous pieces of sheet brass bend and/or slot together to form 4 parts that are then fixed together to form the truck assembly. A little fiddly but the parts are accurately cut and it goes togheter well. The two side parts are positioned and fixed around the wheel bearings which need to be turned from brass rod. This is another straightforward job on the lathe.



I have silver soldered 3 of the parts and have one remaining to do. Hope to post a pic of the completed assembly soon. The holes in the laser cut parts are very small and near to the edge of the parts in some places, the 8BA bolts I have will be too large. I have ordered some 10BA bolts from Maidstone Model Engineering, hopefully these will do the job.

Front bogie

First job with the lathe was to make two spacers for the front bogie, 28mm wide, 4mm diameter and with an 8BA thread inside. Made for a good way to try out a couple of basic lathe operations, such as setting the height of the tool in the toolpost, 'facing-off' the ends of the rod to make them flat and square and then reducing the length of each rod to exactly 28.00mm, followed by centre-drilling each end (with the drill mounted in the tailstock) and then drilling the holes to 1.8mm, ready to be tapped 8BA.

Piccy below shows the bogie after fitting the spacers, I have since silver soldered the frames. Next job is the axleboxes and springs.

Parts and tooling

Another 3 weeks have passed and very little progress on the loco itself although I now have a lathe set up and am gradually accumlating useful-sized bits of metal for turning. The wife was particularly bemused at the arrival of a length of 2 1/4" diameter pipe (the shortest length i could find was two foot long) which is intended to be cut down and used as a smokebox!

Anyway, lots of bits stacking up to be progressed, just waiting for work to calm down a bit to get some free time to get busy with the lathe!

Update - Sourcing more parts

A while since I last posted. Work is still very busy so no time for working on model engines! Insomnia and being miles from home in hotels gives me time however to source more parts... Have got lots of imperial tools from a variety of places over the last week, including drill bits I need and imperial hex keys. Have also got an 8BA tap set and a tap wrench. A new shed which was delivered this morning is awaiting my attention tomorrow and over the weekend for assembly. The old one is slowly falling through the neighbour's fence....

Arrived back from my travels to find lots of parcels, including a very exciting one from Model Engineers Laser containing a tender kit, cab kit and lots more bits for the main chassis including slide bar kit, smokebox supports, motion brackets, connecting and coupling rods, cab kit, rear pony truck kit. Basically - lots to keep me busy and occupy all these rainy sunday afternoons we've been having lately! Will upload some photos soon!

I am very pleased with the laser cut kits so far. The main frames are perfectly square and look superb. They are so accurately-cut that I think it must be impossible to get them wrong, and they offer a superb short-cut for the 'time-poor' which in all honesty is probably most of us!

Have also joined the G1MRA (see link on the right) which processed my application to join in 2 days and sent a nice package of info including the last two journals which contain a wealth of v useful info.

Time for glass of red (Durif) and a read through all the drawings and notes that came with the parts today.

If in doubt... add more blowtorches!

Some significant progress today, I have not yet got a lathe sorted so had ordered some 1/4" brass bearings from the 'Wagon & Carriage Works'. These arrived during the week and look the part.



The main frames have the holes for the axles laser cut already, they just need opening out a little and the bearings then drop in. I silver soldered them in place with the last of the pre-mix solder/flux I had left over from last week.

The main frames then needed cleaning throughly and preparing with flux. I had bought some EF flux for the job which comes as a powder - add some water and a drop of washing up liquid and then it's ready.

The problem I had last week was not being able to get enough heat into the main frames for the solder to flow. This time I had sticks of 842 solder, rather than the pre-mix, but the melting point is the same - 620 degrees centigrade. To try and get more heat onto the work I had bought a brazing hearth (basically 3 fire bricks and a mat) and had been kindly offered a second pair of hands, to work a second blowtorch! Second pair of hands duly arrived with blowtorch, and even better, doughnuts!

The addition of the second blowtorch worked a treat, each joint was up to temperature in around a minute and glowing red nicely, the solder melted no problem and the flux did its job and carried the solder through the joints. We had the whole main frame soldered in less than 10 mins. Once sufficiently cooled, the frame went in the acid bath, the kettle was boiled - time for a cuppa and doughnuts!



After a good soak and some wire wool the frames cleaned up rather nicely, although some further cleaning will be necessary, perhaps a mini-drill with cleaning/polishing bits is needed. On inspection, the joints overall looked remarkably good overall.



Now, looking to the other side of the room, I remembered I had the wheels and axles sitting in a jiffy bag... well... what would you do!? The temptation to trial-fit the wheels was, of course, far too great!



So... thanks to some useful assistance (thank you to Dad for the hands and doughnuts!) it was pleasing to finish the day with something that now at least is starting to resemble a locomotive! A long way to go yet, however. Look forward to seeing the real thing down our way again soon, I took the image below of 70013 almost exactly a year ago and it's due to venture into Kent again on Wednesday (24th Feb). Hope to get out to see it!

Mixed results today

Spent some time separating, cleaning and preparing the remaining parts for the main frames today. Silver soldered the front 'bogie bolster' which went fine. Prepared the main frames for soldering but found that I couldn't get enough heat into the frames for the solder to melt and flow properly. Probably didn't help that the temperature outside was only a few degrees above zero and it was snowing at the time I was out there! Have ordered a brazing hearth from CuP Alloys today, along with some more solder and flux, to see if that makes a difference.

Playing with fire!

A little more progress today... Having tried out the small butane torch yesterday afternoon I quickly found it was only going to work on small pieces. Off to B&Q to get a bigger propane/butane blowtorch....

Now this was more like it... (once I had got it lit - a lot harder than I anticipated! Cue a quick phone call... "Dad... how do you light a blowtorch?") it made a superb roar when it was at full flow. Having cleaned and prepared the rear frame extensions with a solder/flux pre-mix from CuP (see links) I was ready for my first attempt at silver soldering. Supported by a few bits of wood I heated the joints and before too long the steel was glowing red and the solder was flowing. Flowing everywhere in fact! Not a very clean job!



Once the blackened mess had cooled down (it made a satisfying pinging noise for a bit) I made an acid bath using a citrus-based mix (also from CuP) and half a 2-litre milk carton...



Left this for a couple of hours and then took some wire wool to it. The black stuff came off easily, having had a nice soak. The solder joints looked, well, not pretty, but strong enough. And satisfying enough for a first attempt. Still some finishing to be done though. Will have a crack at the main frames next week.

Wheelsets

Away again this week but returned on Friday to find some packages waiting.



Walsall had turned around the order very quickly for the machined wheels, cylinder castings, chimney casting and buffers. The wheels themselves have been beautifully finished, the pictures don't really do them justice! Very impressive service and handywork.



Hoping to get time this weekend to silver solder the frames, must admit that now i have the wheels I have a new-found impatience to get a rolling chassis together!

Some Progress...

Well, some progress to report today - called Walsall prior to going to work and ordered the wheelsets, and cylinder, chimney castings. Had a minor panic when asked about the crank throw... Malcolm helped me out - 7/16" is the magic number apparently!

I was out yesterday, but on arriving back at the office today I was pleased to find that my blowtorch and silver solder/flux had been delivered whilst I was out. I had picked up some wire wool (for cleaning) and butane from B&Q at the weekend so nothing standing in the way of frame assembly now except finding some free time! The main frames are currently slotted together and held with a couple of 1/4" bolts (see pic).

Sourcing Parts

Spent some time at the weekend separating the various spacers and other parts in the frames kit, a very easy process not needing more than a junior hacksaw, a small vice and a file. The plan is to silver solder these in due course.

Have been in touch with Walsall Model Industries (see link right) who can supply turned and quartered wheels along with other bits such as cylinder castings, chimney and sprung buffers. All sounds good and will be getting theses ordered soon.

Still looking for a decent set of drawings. I have been offered the loan of a Britannia book that has, apparently, only "been half chewed by the dog" (!) which sounds like a start!

Model Engineering Exhibition 2009

Went up to Alexandra Palace again this year for the Model Engineering Exhibition. Some awesome exhibits including the same Gauge 1 layout that I spent some time drooling at last year...

The urge to try modelling something larger than 00 gauge was still there and whilst the impracticalities of attempting a 5" loco in a small 2 bedroom house without a garage were obvious, Gauge 1 looked very much like something that could be done without the need for lots of space and massive lathes, and could perhaps even be done on a ktichen table. I spent some time chatting to Malcolm and his team at Model Engineers Laser http://www.modelengineerslaser.co.uk/ who had some interesting 'Britannia' framesets on display - laser cut and slotted so even a halfwit such as myself couldn't go wrong in putting them together. After some discussion with the long-suffering "Boss" (remarkably good-natured seeing as she had put up with several hours of looking at model planes, tanks and locomotives!) and further discussion with the "Old Man" (not actually that old, and whose experience with BR Standards includes getting a certain Standard class 8 out of Barry and into preservation) I was walking back to the car with a kit to build a Gauge 1 Britannia frameset under my arm, having paid a very reasonable 60 quid for it.

Searching the web seemed to reveal very little in the way of websites documenting G1 live steam builds, so I thought I would start one myself to keep a diary of progress and hopefully create something that would be of use to others on a similar path in the future. I have zero experience with live steam and so the leap from 'model making' to 'model engineering' should be an interesting one!