Keyser "Lord Nelson" build. (An antique in the making maybe?)

Discussion in 'Kits, Kit bashes & Scratch builds' started by Keith M, Oct 12, 2019.

  1. ianvolvo46

    ianvolvo46 Staff Member Moderator

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    up there with your interesting threads Keith thanks :thumbup::thumbup:

    Ian vt
     
  2. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    I'm following this build with interest Keith. If it go's the same as your previous builds it will turn out well!
    Would you recommend the Poppies chassis jig? I've been fancying something like that for a while now.

    Cheer's, Pete.
     
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  3. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Keith definitely pulled a rabbit out of the hat with his Fell diesel build... that one was certainly a build not for the faint hearted. :tophat::cheers: If there was ever an award for the most adventurous kit build on Platform 1 then that would get it.:thumbup:
     
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  4. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Yes Paul, it is indeed a "Poppy" jig. It might not be quite as good as some of the proprietary metal ones but it's perfectly adequate for my very 'Amateur' use, and certainly vastly cheaper. If I were to be building loco's for others, I'd go for a pricier option, but that's not likely to happen.:giggle:
     
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  5. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    The "Poppy" jig is fine for 'Amateur' use Pete, "does exactly what it says on the tin"!
    Keith.
     
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  6. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Thanks Keith for that advice, I may get a jig as some point if only to speed the builds up a little, the way i put a chassis together is using a flat stone, a mirror and a piece of graph paper... the old fashioned way. I've got four steamers built this way ranging from a simple 0-4-4 to a 4-6-2 Pacific and they are all free rolling and perfectly level. Same goes for the diesel bogies, there are two on the workbench right now to be finalised over the weekend and they are as straight as a die.
     
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  7. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Mmmmmmm, not sure about 'adventurous' Paul. It certainly wasn't a simple straightforward kit in the form I built it, but that didn't put me off, just slowed me down somewhat whilst I devised a "work-around' to cover the lack of instructions for the 'late' version. I usually rise to a challenge, and I get a lot of satisfaction from completion of what can be termed a more awkward/difficult kit, after all, if you don't attempt these more challenging kits, you'll never know the limit of your capabilities, sort of "nothing ventured, nothing gained"!
    I've not done with the Fell yet, as I'm determined to make it capable of taking reasonable curves, otherwise there'd be no point in my building it, as I build them to use, not sit in a cabinet, but it's a model I'm glad to leave for a while to maybe get my sanity back somewhat.........the "Lord Nelson", despite it being an old style kit has at least gone some way to restore my interest, mojo and sanity!:avatar:

    Keith.
     
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  8. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Back on thread, here's the (now painted) chassis with wheels, motor and gearbox(!) in place. The worm drive is brass but unfortunately the drive gear is plastic (Aaaaghhh!). Not sure if that will be up to the job long term, so replacement with a 'proper' motor/gearbox might not be too far away!

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    Wheels are plastic centres with what seems to be aluminium tyres. They look clean enough (straight out of sealed shrink wrapping) but not sure if they may tarnish in the long term. The wires are just a 'lash-up' for testing purposes. At least as the axles are 'D' shaped, 3 wheels 90 degrees out of phase with the other 3, then there's no hassle involved in quartering, and at this point, it ran nicely without problems.......wether the same will be true when the valve gear is fitted remains to be seen!:giggle:
     
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  9. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    I've been spending some time on the loco body recently, and have just primer coated the pretty much completed body. As usual, the first primer coat shows up a few bits that need a touch more fettling, but it's getting there. I used brass handrail knobs rather than the supplied plastic ones, again something I'm personally not keen on, and I may as well do it right.

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    Last edited: Oct 20, 2019
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  10. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Made a start on the dreaded valve gear today! Instructional detail isn't that great (but then again, nor is my valve gear knowledge!) but I'll keep plugging on anyway. The various rods are supposed to be riveted together, but if you've ever seen the size of these rivets you'll know that fixing them is fraught with difficulty, not to mention being able to actually see them! That being so, I decided my usual method would make things much easier so some time ago, I obtained a small plastic box of 1000 brass Lacemaking pins, 0.5mm in diameter and 10mm long. First step is to decide which way around the various parts are to be fixed, then the rivet hole in the rearmost part is 'countersunk' with a small drill, probably around 2mm diameter will be about right. the brass pin is then inserted through the various parts, with a thin piece of paper which the pin passes through between each part, thus forming a sandwich. Next step is to solder the pin to the rearmost rod using as little solder as possible to fill up the 'countersunk' area. Finally, snip off the excess pin length, file flat to the back of the rod, tear off the interleaving bits of paper and if you've done it properly, all rods should move easily......at least, that's the theory of it! I've now got the first 4 joints done, and all is good so far.

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  11. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    I've had so much trouble trying to get the valve gear to line up properly, but to no avail and in the end, I gave up, and the project has been in the 'Naughty drawer' (I have one too, Pete!:giggle:) ever since. I then started looking around for a solution, and was fortunate to spot (and win) a Hornby DCC ready "Lord Nelson" chassis on Ebay for a very reasonable sum. Getting this to fit necessitated chopping a fair bit out of the underside of the boiler, but as it's only white metal, it's not exactly hard to do, so after the 'butchery session', this is what I'm left with.

    IMG_1819.JPG
     
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  12. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    As you can see, the Hornby chassis is the latest (Chinese made) model, nice can motor, twin flywheels and best of all, valve gear that actually lines up and works......Result!
    Now the chassis just drops in, though further down the line (no pun intended!) I shall have to work out how/where to fit a decoder, as the Hornby model has the decoder in the tender, and a 4 pin plug links up loco to tender. I doubt I will be able to do this as the kits tender body doesn't detach from the chassis, so not really an option to fit a decoder in there.......Hmmmm, there's always the boiler though, we'll see. Anyway, chassis just drops into place in the body as below.

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  13. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    From the side, all seems to line up, just a little cleaning up and final fettling and all should be ok and ready for more paint.

    IMG_1821.JPG
     
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  14. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    That chassis looks the dogs doodahs mate! Looking forward to seeing how you get on :thumbup:

    Cheer's, Pete.
     
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  15. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Nice one Keith, you did well with the chassis solution... winner, it looks tops. i guess the original kit valve gear had thrown up the same problem with others who had attempted the build, I know on my current bench build I just scrapped all the Acme motion etches and replaced with cast nickel silver ones which were considerably better defined. Sometimes drastic action is the only way.
     
  16. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    This project has been sitting on the 'back burner' for quite a while now as other projects have jumped the queue, but in between waiting for filler/paint to set/dry on my Pullman coach modifications, I took another look at the chassis and realised that I would not be able to incorporate additional pickups on the Keyser tender, nor would there be space to get a DCC decoder into the tender as per Hornby's model, purely due to the design of the tender and how it's put together as it's not possible to make the tender body removable like the Hornby's. That being the case, I decided I'd have to somehow fit the decoder into the loco, and luckily there is enough space in the boiler to accommodate this, as I'd already modified the loco body sufficiently to get the Hornby 'Nelson' chassis to fit the Keyser body. I glued a small piece of 'Plasticard' to the motor base, and glued the decoder, a LaisDCC 6 wire type with unwanted White/Yellow/Blue wires removed, (no lighting required) to this, then unclipped the motor from it's position, unsoldering the 2 motor wires which go to the small 4 pin plug intended (on the Hornby) to plug into the tender. There are 2 tiny solder pads below the flywheel at the firebox end, and I unsoldered these and removed the wiring and unwanted 4 pin plug, connecting Red and Black decoder wires to these solder pads. It's possible (just) to slip these wires under the edge of the plastic motor retaining housing, and the two motor wires will then fit down the gap between motor and housing, wiring being held in place by glue, as it's important to ensure the wiring doesn't get caught by either flywheel as there isn't a lot of clearance. Biggest problem was getting the motor into it's clips without losing the very small plastic 'Cardan shaft' between flywheel and gears! To assemble the chassis to the loco body, the decoder on it's 'platform' is slid into the boiler smokebox end first, then seating the chassis to the body at the cab end. At least now, with the chassis being ready to accept a completed loco body, in due course I can get around to final painting of the body followed by decals etc.
    Keith.

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  17. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    You're not the only chap with unfinished locos stuck on the back burner... but I bet you don't get SWMBO saying "when are you actually going to finish one so that you can sell it to get some money back" swiftly followed up with "I've always wanted an exotic holiday" :facepalm: :avatar:
     
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  18. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    So after quite a few weeks with this project stalled, I had time to 'get my backside in gear' and get on with this project, basically I needed reasonable weather/temperature to allow me to do the spraying and get loco and tender ready for decals/name/number plates etc. Once my "Winston Churchill Funeral Train" project was completed and out of the way, I got stuck in and completed the job, choosing "Sir Walter Raleigh" as the name, since in with the kit was this name/number plates together with same for "Lord Nelson". As I already had Hornby's model of "Lord Nelson" (and also Hornby's "Lord Rodney"), the choice was easy (and cheap!!!) to use what I already had in the kit. Real coal in the tender and a crew completed the job, and here it is, the Keyser "Sir Walter Raleigh" to the left and Hornby's "Lord Nelson" to the right, although the Keyser kit is really what I'd term a "Hybrid" since it's fitted with a Hornby running chassis.

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  19. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Here's a closer view or "Sir Walter Raleigh".

    IMG_1900.JPG
     
  20. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    .....and from t'other end.

    IMG_1901.JPG
     
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