Looking very good Pete. I like the way the boiler is done soldering on to the flat box. easier than dealing with a full cylindrical affair I think. watching out for the chassis build now Pete. cheers toto
Blimey! I hadn't realised it was over two months since an update. Any way I have had a seshun in the shed this afternoon and have soldered in the axle bearings. I thought I had a full set of six however it turned out I had four of one out side diameter and two smaller, I don't imagine it will make any difference so I cracked on. The frames are quite thick and took some work to open out the holes for the bearings, luckily I have a good selection of reams and broaches. The side bars needed opening out to 2mm for my jig axles, the same diameter as the slaters bearings, a pain as my broach stabbed me a couple of times . Any way some photos of my progress. This shows my method. I have 3 jig axles with the ends turned to match the diameter of the rod bushes, 2mm, after inserting into the axle bushes I then fit the side rods, this holds the axles exactly in line with the rods when fitted to the wheels. The whole shebang is sitting on two knife edge bars which are sitting on mirror tile, so all perfectly flat. I've fitted the wheels and axles with the coupling rods on though not fixed and it rolls really smoothly and free. One thing I have noticed, the holes for the plunger pickups don't line up very well with the back of the wheels. Something to sort out as the next job. Cheer's for now, Pete.
Hi Pete, I must confess that personally I would rather have a little more work on thicker frames than some of the flimsy examples that I have dealt with recently. It's looking great so far and I am a little sorry that I didn't take the plunge and buy one of them now.
True, its a bit more work though I'm sure the end result will be worth all the cussing I've given it! Pete.
looks the game. as far as the sprung power pick ups go, I'm sure it may have been one of jims kits that mentioned having to elongate the hole in a certain manner in order to get the pick up in line with the rim. I maybe mistaken though. there was a method described in order to mark out the way of determining exactly which direction the hole needed filed out to. I'm trying to remember where I saw this. If i do, I'll give you a shout. coming on meanwhile though. cheers toto
I went back to it after tea and had another hour fitting the pick ups. Very fiddly!! but, they do line up with the back of the rims though close to the edge of the flange but not enough to be a problem. One thing I've noticed is they drag quite a lot on the wheel, has anyone used these and have they had any trouble? I had a dry run with fitting the motor, or rather, seeing where it will fit. The only place for it is on the centre axle. If I fit it vertically I will need to remove the shaft at the top, that means I won't be able to use the fly wheel. When I get to fit dcc sound I will have to make sure to fit a stay alive capacitor instead. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I will make it dc first for running in. Pete.
Hi Pete, I found that I had to file the point of Slaters Plungers to get them to run smoother and not drag as much. They will of course get easier as the loco and pick ups get run in. The first time I used them I didn't get on with them but having faffed about with different springs and ultimately put back the originals and done as I said above the loco in question is now one of my most reliable runners.
Thanks Rob, I had thought about filing the ends of the plungers. I really need to get my finger out and give it a whirl- literally -I will stick them in my Dremel and use my honing stone to get a better finish. Cheer's, Pete.
I took Robs advice on making the contact area on the plunger pick ups smaller by turning them to a point in my Dremel. These now match the profile of my one set of Slaters pick ups, to be honest I don't know who manufactured these pick ups, they seem to have a paxolin sleeve that I've not come across before. Anyway it seems to have improved the running. I have also fitted the motor and gears, I used my own method of installing them which is my preferred method. The short bits of wire insulation on the crank pins are there to hold the coupling rods in place while I gave it a run on my rolling road using a couple of lengths of wire to the motor from my old dc controller. She ran a treat. I have also made a start on the brake gear, the brake hangers are really nice lost wax brass castings, very little cleaning up to do, I suspect they may be Laurie Griffen products. However as quite a lot of etched parts are missing, I've had to make the brackets the brakes are attached to from scratch, more photos later. Cheer's, Pete.
4 months later....... More on the chassis build. As mentioned earlier, most of the brake gear was missing, but using the other kit and photos I have cobbled together the brake actuating rods etc. Some of the bracketry was also missing so I started with those first. One thing that struck me was, if I soldered them in place first, (as the Connoisseur kit and instructions show), I wouldn't be able to solder the brake hangers on, so I went my own way and it has worked out ok. The brake actuators also had me scratching my head, if I made and fixed them in place I wouldn't be able to refit the wheels and axles so I have left them loose until after painting and fitting the wheels then super glue them on. Any way a couple of photos for now. Lots of tidying to do next, then make and fit the guard irons, sand boxes and pipework. Cheer's, Pete.
I hadn't realised it was over a year since I last posted an update. So, I decided to have a go at getting the chassis finished after reading Totos builds and feeling guilty I made a fresh start. I fitted the brake pull rods permanently by soldering them as I found that the wheels would go on by wiggleing them in. I also knocked up the bracketry for the hand brake as it was missing completely. As there is no other gubbins for the brake workings and they are not obvious unless you go looking for them I've left them off. Then I decided to attach the sanding boxes and pipes to the frames. I use epoxy resin glue for things like this, its my preferred method, as I've got some in syringe type I used that. Well, that didn't work out, as I mentioned elsewhere, I find the plunger to be pretty stiff to plunge. Even from first opening its been the same, anyway I finished up with a very large blob of glue when it gave up the struggle! There couldn't have been much adhesive to hardener as 14 hours later it still hadn't gone off. So into a jar of acetone the frames went, took Bear for his walkies and when I got back the frames and sand boxes where glue free! While I'd got the acetone available I dunked the cab of my 03 kit in, but thats a digression... Anyway, I've stuck the boxes back on with my tubed 5 minute araldite using a tiny fraction of what squirted out from the syringe. I will post up some photos in a bit as I'm just waiting for the glue to set. Cheers, Pete.
Right, photos. And with wheels and axles, a bit of a faff but only took about 15 minutes. They are going to have to be removed and replaced a few more times before I can say, thats it. Next job is fit the front sand pipes and attach some copper clad inside the frames for the pick ups wiring, then hopefully some paint. Anyway, thats it for now. Fingers crossed I may get back in the shed tomorrow. Cheers, Pete.
Nice job of the brake rigging there Pete, and the sand boxes. I'm on brake rigging next myself. fidgity stuff. Looking solid anyway. Cheers Toto
At last I seem to be making headway, I managed to get the front sand pipes fitted after much faffing about . Then today, I cleaned up the metal work and glued the copper clad for wiring the pickups to. Then after letting the Araldite set I gave the chassis a couple of coats of grey primer. And 'tother side. Then some satin black all from a rattle can. Thats it for now. I have been making up a couple of bus wires for the plunger pickups but I've not soldered them up yet. As soon as I get the pickup wiring done I will post up some more pic's. Cheers, Pete.
Lush Pete its looking great ... I love it when the primer goes on and then the top coat. What a cracking nice engine this will be, looks like we are all building locos here right now. Lovely work Pete.