Rebuilt Patriot

The tender tank assembly is mainly sealed with no access for installing such items... you really must get out of this comparison way of thinking.

 

Basic bodywork construction on the Rebuilt Patriot is now done, its down to forming the smoke deflectors, pipework plumbing and lubricators and the cab interior next on the to do list. The rods are already pre assembled so on the chassis the outstanding work is setting crankpins on wheels, build up the cylinder and motion bracket assembly (this will be a removable item) and all the final below footplate plumbing along with finishing sand pipe brackets. 45531 is being built in its final form where the top lamp bracket has been moved onto the smokebox door and the lower forward footplate grab handle has been moved from the front steps onto the bottom edge of the smoke deflector.

 

Wow this is a nice surprise ... just logged in to find Sir Frederick Harrison gracing the forum front page... thank you very much Admin Dundee I'm totally overwhelmed.

 

Thanks Andy... really appreciate your kind words.

 

Thank so much for this kind comment ... sorry for a late reply I just picked up on your posting.

 

Decided today to visit the smoke deflectors and form them to the correct profile and add the fixtures, this work took a few hours this afternoon and light was starting to fade when I took these pictures, I'll make the other deflector tomorrow and then solder them in position. I'm not going to make them removable. Other jobs done have involved replacing the NMRS plunger pick ups with the more slender Slaters variety, the NMRS ones were acting as a dragging brake which made wheel rotation almost impossible... so that was a complete chassis strip down and now the wheels rotate freely again as they did before the previous spring pick ups were installed.



The back face of the deflectors with tiny brackets added along with the cups and grab handle..

 

Thanks Paul... thing is these tiny deflector brackets are visible from some angles as per some close up photos show.

 

I don't know who to credit this photo to nor who the copyright owner is but whoever you are this picture is doing a brilliant service to modelers like myself because it shows so much otherwise not seen and hidden detail around the loco front end area. Here is the real 45531 Sir Frederick Harrison on shed having been rostered on another special working... there was probably only about another 18 months working life left before this Edge Hill based engine went for scrap.

Anyway this picture helps to clarify Dundee Paul's interest in hidden detail.

 

So today I finally found time to build up and fix the second smoke deflector into place, 45531 is looking like a Rebuilt Patriot in final form now. Lots of fiddly bracket parts but after a few dry fixes it all lined up nicely... just some solder over spill to clean away now.

 

I'm enjoying building this Gladiator kit and will certainly build another from their stable, some modifications have been made by myself and again today was no exception as I decided to scratch make the AWS receiver cover and flexible pipe which is quite visible from behind the protection plate below the draw hook..the timing reservoir and main AWS vacuum reservoir had already been modified or more so had added detailing put on so this bit of the build almost completes the additions for this kit. The final item to make will be the AWS wire conduit route along the footplate valance, this item carries the electrical loom from the main relay box to the drivers audio warning system in the cab... so I'll add the conduit and the cab parts to create a facsimile of what would have been on the real engine.

 

Got the basics of the valve gear / motion on now, free rotation but still a few bits to add on like the reversing arm, relief valves and drain cocks, also boss has to be fitted onto the end of the reversing shaft (where the big blob of solder is currectly) I'm hoping I can just sweat the shaft end piece onto the solder blob and then just clean up excess after... but hey its getting there now. Next job it to test it under current, the motor is ABC with a 30:1 helical gearbox.

 

Bit of play time this afternoon with a low sun giving good light, I tried the nameplates to see what they looked like on the loco ... just for fun of course.

 

Getting nearly ready for paint now except we are not as oh dear this loco has the wrong tender and that just won't do...

 

I often think that too but then once painted they do look just as nice... until I build the next one