Class 24 build... oh no not another Stoke engine.

That looks mightily impressive Rob, I really appreciate your kind offer thank you so much.

 

Yes I kind of guessed it was around that size in reality, the turning knob on the side gives a good perspective.

 

Thanks Steve much appreciated.

 

Thanks Paul for the nice comment , gently does it as they say, there is a lot of component building to be done before anything significant can go together... so it's a case of just waiting for a finished result which I suspect will happen all at once. Currently I've just completed shaping, bending and soldering front bogie sides to tops now its the turn of the back plates. Very different from a steam build where it doesn't take long to see a chassis or tender body come together. Anyway onwards and upwards.

 

Its a great kit Steve I am having absolutely no problems with it at all and as viewers may see from my pictures showing the sub assemblies there is always a sealed poly bag to hand, a sort of subliminal messaging if you like. Today I have soldered all the bolster saddle assemblies to back plates and am now on with preping the internal bulkheads for the bogie sides. The bottom pieces are also soldered to the fronts and the white metal axle boxes have been honed to profile. I'll put pictures up tonight for you to see progress. I should be able to dry dress the outer bogie frames before soldering square. I need to order two 1833 motors and worm gearing, presumably 26:1 is a suitable ratio? Delrins are here and I've got the wheelsets in hand for drilling out the holes on the disc walls. As I say a thoroughly enjoyable build and I'll wait for your additional Class 24 bogie brake bits in the post before proceeding too far.

 

Earlier today kit designer Steve Beattie reiterated the importance of bagging tiny items for safe storage when cut from the fret and the need to exercise care in the build of one of his kits to avoid disappointment and frustration. So this is where I'm at currently with my build of the Class 24 bogie, the picture is of the bogie back plate which has the two bulkhead spacers fitted in place and also the central bolster saddle, this item is made up of three etches one of which is folded outwards, I used my new Hold and Fold from Eileens for this task. Altogether the back plate has five items added to it and a minimal application of 145 degree solder holds everything fast, the knack of only using as much solder as you need and not flooding the site out is a technique taught to me by Rob Pulham. Now as Steve says frustration can reign and a builder may feel tempted to abandon such a build because tiny pieces have a mind of their own, this will happen if either too much solder has been applied and the piece has become "fast or lost" in a sea of molten tin or, the iron is used too slowly, in other words you need a quick in out as the Actress said to the Bishop , very often under those conditions a tiny etch can become stuck to the iron tip which will be frustrating, it's easy to blame the kit but the fault lies with the builder, as they say a good tradesman never blames his tools. Anyway here are my pictures so please judge for yourselves the first one is the bogie back plate with bolster saddle attached and the second shows the backplate dry fitted to the bogie side frame. The next job will be to add the bottom underside end pieces and the white metal axlebox journals.

 

This isn't designed to give you the jitters Toto, the kit is a work of art and like all good things care and patience are key. I build these things because I enjoy the making process best, to me when its finished yes its nice to look at and run but I'm on with the next one... which will be 25 058 available as a kit somewhere mid to late August. Now is Luib Bridge planned to be DCC and if so would a DCC ready loco be able to run on a DCC layout?

 

I was just thinking if my engines were DCC fitted then they could make guest appearances on Luib Bridge if you thought that was all right. My layout Elton Crossing isn't DCCright noiw but could be in the future.

 

Then that is something we can work towards and of course the photo opportunities for the forum.

 

Well the bar height I was at this evening was a touch above waste line... he had some exquisitely good English beers on three pumps.

 

So there we have it, four bogie side frames now ready for the final assembly, the end undersides, whitemetal journals and bolster locators are all that is outstanding on the side frames for this part of the build. There is still a lot of work to do yet but it won't be too long before the four outer frame units can be put together to make two bogies using all those pre-made sub assemblies.