Seven Models Britannia build.

By way of an update and for the benefit of our more recent new members I turned attention to my Scorpio Britannia loco build with a view to installing tender pick ups, if this works then I shall do the same on the other Scorpio tender which runs with 75030; this loco is very nearly complete now. But back to Britannia Pacific 70010 Owen Glendower and the BR1 tender build... this is where I'm at currently.



Next stage is to refit the wheels and fit scratch made plastic wiper brackets which will sit under the portion of frame which the brake hangers are fixed to as can be seen in the picture. Wiper strips will be phosphor bronze contacting the leading and rear tender wheels, the centre wheels are fitted with sprung hornblocks and won't have pick ups fitted as they need an element of lateral travel to allow for curves in the track.



Once everything electrical is fitted I'll prove the circuits work and then fix the plug in connector in place. I fitted the white metal water scoop and brake hangers yesterday, the method I used with brake hangers which had a cast in foot was to tin the etch face with 145 solder then flux the surface and with the hanger casting correctly positioned I fed local heat to the etch until the brake hanger fused in place then just ran the iron tip around the edge of the white metal hanger for added strength. A speedy job and not one to linger with a hot iron as the idea is to only just get the cast to fix and not allow it to melt too much as that would be disastrous.

 

So burning the midnight oil yesterday I managed to complete the fabrication of the tender which involved scratching a slacking rail from bits of left over, this Scorpio kit doesn't come with this feature so you have to make this yourself. The tender tank was soldered to the frames and the forward floor assembly below the bulkhead made up along with the rear ladder fixed in place. I've started to dress the frames with whitemetal castings... some more to add on yet and I've got to prep the lost wax tender buffing equipment which will have to take a back seat as from now because an urgent job has just come in... more on that later as we proceed forward in that department.

 

Here is the slacking sprayer bar located just above the tender coal space access door, this item isn't included in this Scorpio kit and it wasn't in the Standard 4 loco kit either, I made it from thin strips of off-cut etch and some 0.7 mm rod, photographic research came in very handy as evidence for sizes. there are a few other items which don't come with these kits presumably so as to keep the price keen I guess but not an issue to me as a scratch builder.

 

Yesterday I pretty much completed the build of the BR1 tender destined to go on 70010, the whole item was thoroughly down in hot water using Bar keepers Friend to remove any remaining flux residue and gunk. The draw hook and buffers will be fitted later but for now this is where we are at. A silight reduction in height of the tender access laddder which stood too tall and a modification to the vacuum pipe was necessary, the vacuum pipe elbow now looks the same as a BR standard type. I'm not massively happy with the tank top foot rest castings but they will have to do... some green putty filler will square them up a bit more evenly.

 

And today's job amongst some other bench jobs was to give the tender a light dusting of etch primer and leave it to cook on the radiator for an hour then apply an even coat of Halfords grey primer.






I've already brought in the Railmatch Loco Green acrylic paint and the lining transfers should be with me next week.

 

I've got to be honest here Toto the brass looks good but tarnishes quickly loosing that nice shiny prepped up surface but the primer paint is the next move forward, I guess once the top coat and transfers are applied I'll look at it and think what a shame to weather it.

 

Hi Mark thanks for the kind comments, the Britannia loco I'm making is 70010 Owen Glendower which is one I saw from the road bridge at Prestatyn station in 1966 as a young 'un, it was on a Down passenger train to Holyhead and on the Up line were two Black Fives on a van train, one of which was a Caprotti five 44759 from Crewe South shed... I suppose much of my loco modeling are loco's I remember from childhood. This Britannia kit is made by Dave Ennis from the Scorpio Severn Models range, good quality kits which go together nicely and at a fair middle of the road price, I tend to add in super details where I can and some kits I build because I just like the loco.

 

I certainly agree that the prime motive is the challenge of building kits every time, operating to me is a bit of a sideline to me but I wouldn't say motivation dwindles once a loco is built because it is something else to look at the completed loco in a display or operating on a layout. I just move forward to the next build and the process starts all over.

 

Ah I see what you mean Toto, yes you are correct of course the paint seems to bring closure to the job in a strange way... well it will once the valve gear and motion is put together.

 

Just to show you what I mean Mark about adding detail which doesn't come with the kit, here is 82003 which is a basic ex Jim Harris Transport Age kit. I added the coal iron dart, shovel and the two brackets to hold them in place on top of the tanks... all scratch made from bits of left over etch. I post these pics up to share and help encourage other members here into building stuff which isn't at all scary.