Connoisseur Models '02' tank loco build.

Discussion in 'Kits, Kit bashes & Scratch builds' started by Keith M, Sep 4, 2020.

  1. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Great work Keith, moving along nicely.
     
  2. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Nice one Keith :tophat::tophat: If I had known you needed an Allen key you could have had one of mine mate, I seem to be getting a few on stock, a bit like coat hangers :avatar:.
    When fitting the wheels I like to give the square axle ends a stroke or two with a fine file to get rid of any burrs etc, makes for easy fit and removal without damaging brake rigging or paint.

    Cheers, Pete.
     
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  3. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    My Allen keys (I bought 4) arrived today so no problem now. At some point I'm going to have to make a decision on what couplings to use on this loco and whatever other stock I end up with. I use Kadee's for my 00 gauge stock and wonder if they are available for 0 gauge and possibly NEM pocket type (Like Kadee No.17/18/19/20) also, anyone know? Also I made a modification to the motor mount on this loco, soldering in a pair of bearings then filing down the inner sides of the driven axle bearings between the frames. This meant I had to find another pair of bearings to complete the drive setup, and these I 'borrowed' from the "Merchant Navy" kit so I need to replace them......who best to buy from with good/speedy service, likewise I anticipate replacing the very nice white metal buffers supplied with the kit with cast or turned brass sprung ones, again, where best to buy from as I'm still learning in 0 gauge!
    Keith.
     
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  4. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Couplings are a personal choice, I only use couplings which the real thing would have had... so the likes of Kadee are out for me I'm afraid, Jim seems to have his own spec of brass axle bearing which is very good but please take note replacement bushes are far from standard... they all have the same 3/16 bore but have different O.D thicknesses and the flange thickness varies too, mix different types on the same frame and there is a potential to have to use varying thickness axle shim washers to take up side play... something you won't want with leading driving wheels and tight clearances behind slidebar, crosshead and con rod revolutions. I used to use Nairnshire until he went AWOL then changed to Markits for my axle bearings although you could use Slaters as they are just down the lane from you. For buffers you can try Laurie Griffin or Ragstone or even NMRS but his stuff is white metal casts, Markits are beautifully made turned brass but are off scale in length and a pile of work as you have to drill out to fit dummy buffer plank bolts in.
     
  5. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    I had a 'spray-day' yesterday with the cleaned up chassis (a big 'thumbs up for "Barkeepers Friend!), clear etch primer first, followed after several hours baking the chassis in the warm sunshine, by the first of 2 satin black coats from a rattle can. It came up nicely so I set to today and built it back up again, fitting the plunger pickups and also a set of wiper pickups on the bogie as suggested by Jim in the instructions. The loco will be DCC and as I only expect to have about 5 loco's in total (well, that's the plan, but who knows!) I shall fit sound to them all. Anyway, this is how things look with all the bits fitted, the 2 wires to the motor are from the power supply as the chassis has had it's half hour in each direction 'Running In' up on blocks as yet I don't have an 0 gauge rolling road.

    IMG_1988.JPG
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2020
  6. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Here is the underside view showing the pickups and wiring. Unsurprisingly, as Jim is an Electrical Engineer by profession, the etches are provided with suitable holes to pass wiring through making getting all the pickup wires to one central point easy.

    IMG_1989.JPG
     
  7. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    So once the 'running-in' period was dispensed with, I test fitted the body for clearances, and ran the chassis once again to be sure......all ok. The flanges at each end of the chassis just behind the buffers will have to be modified as despite Jim supplying some beautiful white metal cast buffers, I had a trip to Slaters at Darley Dale (only a few miles from my home, so handy) to buy a set of sprung cast brass ones, together with some spare axle bushes to replace those I 'borrowed' from the Scorpio 'Merchant Navy' kit, and also a set of crankpins and bushes, since I succeeded in losing one bush in the carpet whilst removing them from the blackening solution with a set of tweezers!

    IMG_1990.JPG
     
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  8. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    It all sits nicely together, chassis to body as can be seen from underneath. Now the chassis itself is pretty much complete and body clearances are fine, I can resume body construction, which is why , as yet, I've not bothered cleaning the body. That will come immediately before etch primer is applied so it won't have time to tarnish.

    IMG_1991.JPG
     
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  9. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Very nice Keith. I’m going to try out the barkeepers friend, found some in the loco supermarket yesterday.
     
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  10. Peter Cross

    Peter Cross Full Member

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    Looks good, you want to be careful etching primer really neads a good 24 hours to work regardless of temperature.
    7 mm Kadee couplings I think are 805. But to me look silly on British outline, except maybe SR/ LNER and BR coaching stock.
    What motor did you use¿
     
  11. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Hi Peter.
    I've used this etch primer before and normally leave it at least overnight but as it was one of our rare very warm days in the UK, on this occasion I did etch and 1st finish coat on the same day, so far with no ill effects. I did make the mistake on buying this etch primer of getting the clear version, only snag with this is that obviously you can't then see where you have sprayed or missed anywhere. It's good stuff, but I won't make that mistake again!
    Regarding couplings, I've used Kadee's on my 00 gauge layout and felt that as my intended 0 gauge layout is 'U' shaped and at the sides/rear of my double garage, at times I will likely be operating it with both cars in the garage so rather than be struggling around the cars to uncouple stock, Kadee's and magnets would be easier. At 73, my eyesight is still fairly good (only need glasses for close work) but I don't fancy faffing about with a hooked wire trying to couple/uncouple stock so thought that Kadee's would be easier although I quite agree they definitely do not look 'right' on British stock, especially as the layout is intended to be a 'Heritage' railway. I am completely open about choice of couplings, though I will soon need to make a decision as I'm approaching the point in construction of the 02 where I have to actually fit them, so any recommendations for easy to couple/uncouple versions will be appreciated........anyone?
    Motor-wise, the one supplied by Jim ( I bought motor/gearbox, wheels/pickups in with the kit) is unbranded, as an alternative to the now unobtainable Mashima 1833, so unfortunately I can't enlighten you as to manufacturer. It seems a fairly powerful motor, and having run the complete chassis for half an hour in each direction it runs cool and when I get around to it I will run (and stall) it with my multimeter in series (switched to the amps range) to see what the maximum current draw is as this may well have a bearing on my choice of DCC decoder. I anticipate that I'll be able to use one suitable for 00 gauge in this loco and subject to current draw I'll likely initially fit one of my usual LaisDCC non-sound ones, but the eventual intention will be to fit sound, my usual choice would be Zimo probably with 'Youchoos' sound files as I'm not keen on ESU having had problems with these in the past.
    Keith.
     
  12. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Keith here are a few suggestions for you re auto un coupling:

    Kaydees

    Dinghams

    Sprat & Winkle

    Alex Jacksons

    Winterly

    Lincups

    B&B

    and there may be more. Every one has their personal preference.


    Ralph tried out a swinging magnetic type which did work ok, but does not look that convincing. I’ll try and find a link for them.
    Kim
     
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  13. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    My own choice for coupling is the Spratt and Winkle, if you fit them at each end of the piece of rolling stock you can get away with a simple loop of wire at each end of your locos. Ordinary magnets in the trackwork rather than electro magnets make installing them simpler.

    Cheers, Pete.
     
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  14. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Not done a lot to this since my last post except to complete the odd bits outstanding, so today I got around to giving the body a good scrubbing in 'hot as my hands can bear' water followed by another scrubbing with 'Barkeepers Friend', another hot rinse and then into a bath of this stuff.

    IMG_2011.JPG

    I must say it's bl@@dy awful stuff to work with, very strong Ammonia, (clears your sinuses!) even when diluted 7:1 with water as per the instructions, so it's now in a lidded 'bath' in the garage out of the way This is a 500Ml bottle so makes up to 4 litres which is easily enough to submerge the loco body into in a suitably sized container. It's suggested to be used in polythene containers apparently and it's what clockmakers use to remove tarnish and other gunk on brass ("Horolene" is similar but a bit pricier), it can be further diluted as 8:1 in ultrasonic cleaners so that'll suit Paul L, around £14 for this size bottle +P&P so I thought I'd give it a go though I've no idea how it might (or might not) affect white metal/solder from a cleaning point of view. I'll report back in due course on what the results are.
    Keith.
     
  15. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Great build thread Keith.

    Horolene - mmmmm, may need to save the pennies and go for the 2.5l can £56.34 (approx £22.50 per litre), against £23.90 for 250ml (almost £96 per litre :eek:), £38.80 for the 1l can.

    Paul
     
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  16. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    After around 14 hours in the cleaning solution, the tarnish has cleaned up quite well though not to a bright finish, more a matt one, white metal and solder don't seem to have been affected, but unfortunately one or two of the white metal parts attached with Araldite Rapid have loosened. I'm not sure if this is down to the cleaning solution as I always scratch crossed grooves into surfaces to be Araldited with a scalpel point to help keying on smoother surfaces. Be that as it may, I decided to low melt solder most of these parts back on with the exception of one of the side tank filler caps, since I can't get to the underside with the iron, so this has now been re-keyed and re-Araldited.......one step forwards and two steps back it seems, but this is after all a "Warts and all" build. I also realised that I'd fitted the 'Early' clack valves instead of the 'Later' ones, so I took the opportunity to change these for the correct ones so when the Araldite has set, I'll need to go through the cleaning process again before I get to etch primer, though since the removable roof is fine, I've started the etch coat on that to at least make some progress. Incidentally, both the Priory and Horolene products were mentioned on the GOG forum which is when I found out about them.
    Keith.
     
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  17. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Ah Keith I can see that you are gearing up practicing for an ACME build... would this be a secret Ivatt Class 2 Tank engine in your stash by any chance ? They had them on the Southern you know. :avatar:
     
  18. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Now that's edging very close to mental cruelty, especially in these Covid times as one to one councilling is difficult to get, and there is talk of a clamp down taking the pub option off the table needed after the box is opened :avatar:

    Paul
     
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  19. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    I think I actually do have a Class 2 Ivatt Paul, mostly white metal in 00 gauge though, but not an Acme kit. It was a 'part-built' Ebay cheap buy and I got as far as reducing it to it's component parts since it had been poorly Araldited (or similar) together, no instructions or anything, just bits in a box. Whether I ever get around to looking at it now the 0 gauge bug has bitten is questionable, presently it's in the 'Naughty drawer' rather than the 'kits to start' drawer.:avatar:

    Keith.
     
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  20. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Never fear Dundee pubs may well be shutting soon but I have Ivatt 2 tank engine build experience which means I've got some measure of immunity against that dreaded all demoralising ACME syndrome.:avatar:
     

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