Steve Beattie kit NBL Class 21 build

Indeed they do and must be handled gently as designed, right now they are doing a second very important job in the next stage of build, the first was that when they dropped into place the fit was perfect and this told me I had fabricated the bogie stretcher correctly and that it was holding the side etches at the correct distance. Now their second role is to keep the ends of the side etches aligned so as I can glue on the white metal side pieces. Right now these castings are pinned to the etch frame as the Araldite bonding cures, I cleaned away the pips and casting flash checking for a good and tight fit beforehand, when cured in about 14 hours time I'll drill out the holes for the brake hangers and start to dress the bogie.

 

So now the white metal side frames having been prepared and cleaned are now trussed up in position with mini clips and rubber bands waiting for the Araldite to set. Tomorrow evening I shall start installing the brake gear and to this end I have already drilled the holes for the inner brake hangers, the white metal headstocks and axleboxes will also be glued in tomorrow.

 

Scary stuff starts tomorrow Toto with the power brake rigging and all the other fine detailing.

 

Just another quick look at the bogie this time the cast headstocks now fitted and Aradite epoxy setting nicely... should be somewhere near by 10pm tonight with overnight hard setting tomorrow. I've worked out where the swing link assembly goes in relation to the leaf springs... so that'll be tomorrows job, in the mean time I shall start the other bogie pre assembly with pictures and that should bring us up to date with where I showed this first assembly. Late night coffee and refreshments will be served around 10.30pm this evening for those falling asleep through boredom...

 

Thanks Steve I appreciate that kind compliment coming from the designer, I'm really excited how these kits are starting to look once you get past a certain point in the build. I'm hoping to get this first bogie finished in unpainted format so I can take it up to the Dundee exhibition for Toto and Dundee Paul to take a gander at.

 

No problems Andy... there's plenty of bedtime reading

 

The Class 21 bogie is a lot easier that the Class 24 one which took me over a week or so to just build up the sub assemblies. The hardest part in fabricating the Class 21 bogie is making sure the stretcher saddle is wrapped correctly from a marked centre line datum otherwise it is possible to wrap the upper and lower portions incorrectly and thus put the bogie pivot point out of centre. The other area to watch is make sure the etch sides are parallel and positioned perfectly upright otherwise the axle stubs will become jarred and won't have free rotation to turn. I'm cleaning up the ancillary castings such as springs and coils right now, I'll set them in position with Araldite and when cured start on the power brake rigging.

 

Well its a learning curve for me to Toto, gently does it as they say with a little bit of progress everyday. No probs I'll get a few pictures posted up in the next couple of days to show progress.

 

Yes Steve that's the one

 

Thanks Steve muchly appreciated.. the first Class 21 bogie is starting to look rather good now with brake pistons, rams and drop links fitted and the headstock hanger brackets and hangers now made up ready for fitting.

 

Well as we approach silly o clock and Steve is going blind and I'm not far behind either I thought it best to put up another pose shot so here we go Toto just for you good Sir.

 

Firstly allow me to offer apologies for an absence of posting on this thread however I am delighted to say there is good news with a product development in this kit. The front end blunt noses of the Class 21 loco have been remade in different material, not that the original white metal ones were faulty in any way but because it was felt a better surface end finish could be attained using printed resin. So under the administrative umbrella headed by Toto and with Steve's full blessing from feedback consultation a mini sub project went ahead, Dundee Paul with a redrawn STL file provided by Steve; set to work last week printing the new blunt noses which arrived through the letterbox this morning. My first impressions of these test prints is that they are an excellent quality and will do Steve's Class 21 design complete justice, everything fits perfectly and with a minimum of stoppering over the top nose arc a seamless finish can be achieved in painting, so from my kit makers point of view I shall be using these new items in the build. No doubt Paul and Steve will pass by at some point with commentary but in the mean time a massive thank you to Paul_L and Toto and of course Steve Beattie as kit designer for granting permission in the first place. So here are a few first pictures of the resin prints hurriedly taken this afternoon which I shall adapt for marker light installation and to prevent light bleed through.

Once these new items are fixed in place to increase the strength I shall then be able to attend to straightening out of the very delicate cab side window frames.