Gladiator Models G5 in 7mm

A couple of years ago I built a G5 for a gent and delivered it to Warren Haywood for painting. Unfortunately he didn't take any photos before delivering it to the customer. By good fortune he needed something to display on his stand at Leigh show last weekend and so he borrowed it. After seeing the painted and weathered G5 on Warren's stand I arranged to borrow it for a photo session this evening myself.

I do have build photos so if there is interest I will post them up.

Warren has done his usual top job of it and I hope the photos do it justice.

 

Hi Toto,
In terms of learning to solder whitemetal you can't go far wrong with the DJH kit. The whitemetal is thick enough not to have too many worries about melting it.

 

Hi All,

The only other thing to add to Keith's description is make sure that the castings are clean - wire brush them before attempting to solder.

 

To save me writing the posts out again, I am copying them across from Western Thunder where I originally documented the build. My apologies if the tense appears to be current when it is in fact from a couple of years ago

Something a little different on the workbench for me at the moment a Gladiator G5 which is to be finished in BR livery as one of the last G5's to be extant in Leeds. I am building this for a friend who is too busy with other things to build it himself. The kit originates with George Norton and came to Gladiator via John Shelly of Fourtrack Models - according to the instructions.

A bit of research using the relevant copy of Yeadons and RCTS Green book show that the last two G5's in Leeds were 67262 or 67325 they were at Neville Hill until 1658. Sadly photos are thin on the ground, I haven't found one of either loco so far.

The kit is to be pretty much an out of the box build but it was supplied with Hobby Holidays Hornblocks for the drivers and Finney hornguides for the bogie. I say hornguides because when I check the hornblocks themselves are those that come with the kit and are significantly bigger than the Finney ones (I have some that I was able to check against. This has meant quite a bits of filing to get the horn blocks to fit but I got there.

I also blackened the wheels and replaced the standard 12ba nuts and bolts with 10ba and tapped the crank pin bushes. Also included in the kit are a pair of Premier rods that look to be approx. half the depth of the etched ones which I made up just incase. More research needed me thinks.




Next I started to prepare the frames and then encountered a bit of a challenge - The frames have compensation built in in the form of fold up guides and compensation beams.



The challenge that I can foresee is getting the HH hornblocks in square because there is no fixed axle to use as a datum with my chassis jig - that and the frame spacers are loose in their slots.......

The plan at the moment is to fold up the built in rear guides and temporarily fit some hornblocks. Use this as the datum to fit the front pair of HH hornblocks and then use those to set the rear pair - having assembled the frames before starting on this. But I am open to alternatives

 

One step forward, etc..... a proper Doh! moment

I hit the next snag this afternoon, the Finney hornguides that I spent the time filing to fit the horn blocks yesterday were miles too big for the bogie frames. So big that to have attempted to reduce wouldn't have left anything.

So plan B was build the bogie straight out of the the box with the built in compensation which I did and it runs as sweet as a nut.





There are plenty of etched washers in the kit to take out some of the sideplay.

 

I really must apologise, I must have got diverted away and completely forgot to copy this thread across.

Further work on the G5 saw the chassis well on it's way. Sadly I had to resort to plan B on the frames too. The fitting of the HH hornblocks/guides would have meant quite a lot of work both on the frames and the front spacer. The remit I have is keep it simple so I opted for doing it as the kit intended as with the bogie.



The etches show their age when it comes to the slots for the frame spacers, on those where there were slots as opposed to recesses I had to add a layer of scrap etc to fill the hole and make it a bit more robust.







I also filed and fitted an additional spacer across the bottom underneath the rocking beams because the frames were a little flimsy and seemed to flex quite a bit - I have made it easy to remove should it prove a problem down the line. I push up and down a length of track with the drivers in seemed fairly smooth but I need to get the bogie on and even it up before I can be happy with it.



I even managed to start adding a few of the details before starting the tedious job of filing the various etched washers for taking out the side play and balancing the bogie etc.

 

Two and a half hours passed swiftly by last night without too much to show for it.



The buffer beams for the wood sandwich type buffer beams are a fold up box. The downside is that the box is hollow at the bottom and once folded up there were many gaps that needed filling with solder/scrap etch. While I was at it I used scrap etch to put a bottom on so once the buffers and draw hook are in place it should look solid.

The next fun packed task is going to be adding the valances because there doesn't seem to be much indication of where to locate them. Photos that I have seem to indicate that they are set in from the sides of the footplate/buffer beams by about an inch.

 

The G5 is making slow progress but it's still progress.

Progress has been slowed down partly because I initially put the brakes in upside down and secondly because I am battling holes that have been over etched or badly drawn - I do appreciate that this kit will have been hand drawn and was probably state of the art at the time.

The kit and instructions provide for 0.9mm wire for the brake hangers and associated rods even though I have increased the rod size to 1mm the holes in the etches are still so big that I am having to bush them with some Markits crankpin washers that I had in the spares box from my 4mm days.



You can probably get an idea of the size of the etched holes in the photo below



The brake hangers are still free to rotate around the cross shaft, I won't solder them solid until I have lined everything up with the wheels in place.

 

Thanks Paul,

Sorry it's taken so long to post them.

 

I am still beavering away with the chassis and brakes but they are slow going..

Inspired by Mick's J25 build, I decided to make a start on the body work too.

Here's where I got last night.








This was put together with the microflame and still needs cleaning up - although it looks far worse in the photos than it does in reality.

And then the replacement rear spectacle plate.

 

Going to Leigh show meant a weekend in Wakefield and more time at the soldering work bench.

This allowed me to crack on with various sub assemblies for the superstructure.



The cab entrance beading fit perfectly.



A new design on me, the tank inners carry through into the cab - I wondered what they were when they were flat on the etch.. My previous encounters have had inside and outside the cab firmly separated by the front spectacle plate.







I had to cut the hopper top off for this one as neither of the potential subjects had one fitted.





Lastly a couple of shots with most bits in place - I noticed that I hadn't put the lockers that fit on the rear bulkhead either side of the coal door in place until after I had taken the photos.