7mm Scale Gladiator J6

Discussion in 'Loco Builds' started by Rob Pulham, Feb 19, 2018.

  1. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    More progress last night. Despite starting quite late I managed to get the two coal space sides in place.

    I had anticipated that one of them may not fit very well and might leave a gap that would in fairness be hidden by the coal but I was pleasantly surprised when after a little tweaking with pliers and a rub of some abrasive paper it went into place as it should. Just the details and coal rails to add now.

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    I am not sure why but I chose to use shiny sinks to clean it up after I finished instead of my usual Bar Keepers Friend and it turned all the solder black making it look to be worse than it is.
     
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  2. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Regardless Rob, it still looks a great build. I'm sure it will clean up on final scrub up.
     
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  3. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Further progress on the tender for the J6. Starting off with a slight backward step.

    While struggling with the instructions I hadn't read the text when fitting the lifting eyes I just followed the drawing which unfortunately showed the wrong type of backing plate. Reading through the text late last week I saw my error and by coincidence David Hill of Gladiator pointed it out the day after on the Guild forum.

    My customer had seen the post and said it didn't matter if they didn't show too much but it was only a few minutes of a job with the microflame and a scalpel to take them off and swap them for the right ones.

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    Next I added the vacuum and steam heat pipes to the rear of the tender.
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    Then I started on the front.

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    The brake standard was one that I had in my spares box that was left over from the B16 build. The other levers are bent wire and scrap etch.

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    The bucket is one of Jim McGeown's castings that I had sat on my desk for a long time after I had made a bit of a mess of trying to hollow it out.

    I took it back into the workshop to see if I could do anything with it after being informed that the hole in the left hand side was for a bucket. I then remembered the collets that I had made for drilling the valve guide castings on the Streamlined Duchess and used one of them to tidy up the inside of the bucket top using a dental burr and lastly soldered a handle on from scrap etch.

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  4. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Nice details Rob. Makes a big difference from the standard.

    Toto
     
  5. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    It does, the kit would have you making the brake standard from some .7mm wire which seems a bit on the slender side to me. David mentioned on his build of a similar tender that he's going to include some 1.6mm diameter tube in the kits in future.
     
  6. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Do you have to prep the brass further before the visit to the paint shop. If so, what do you use and what's the process ?
     
  7. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    I usually give it a final scrub with Bar keepers friend and then rinse and leave to dry. To be honest it's probably a bit of a waste of time because unless Warren primes it very soon after delivery it will have tarnished again.
     
  8. Timbersurf

    Timbersurf

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    Newbie brass question - why farm out the primer - and top coat?
     
  9. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Because the wife and I react badly to spirit based paint fumes and metal really needs spirit based primers to stop them from scratching off.
     
  10. Timbersurf

    Timbersurf

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    Haha, thats a pretty good reason! So will the top coat be acrylic or do you farm that out as well?

    I have always use Humbrol, disaster struck when I recently ventured into airbrushing, as my paint is 30 years old! So I have bought Vallejo air acrylics, but they seem rubbish compared to enamel (but that's just my opinion)
     
  11. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Hi TS,

    No the top coat will be done by the painter too. I am happy to spray acrylics and I mainly use Vallejo but I only use them on plastic based models.

    I must admit though that having bought the Air version initally I now buy the same colours from the other Vallejo ranges (Model colour and Game colour) and mix my own, they go a lot further for the money - Tight Yorkshireman mode....
     
  12. Timbersurf

    Timbersurf

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    Got ya Rob. I only paid peanuts for the Air version (£1ea) to set me up and see how they work. I have since done loads of research (no surprise there) and have all the formula's to make my own thinner/cleaner/improver/retardant, so will buy as you do, non Air versions in the future.
    P.S. it's not tight Yorkshireman, nor tightwad Scotsman even (I have Scottish ancestry), its called modeller thrift! Something we can impart to non york/scots men!
     
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  13. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    A word of caution, experience has taught me that using non Vallejo thinners doesn't always work. For some it works fine but others it curdles - I have tried both IPA and Tamya X20 thinners. Now I just use Vallejo's own when thinning their products.
     
  14. Timbersurf

    Timbersurf

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    Noted, best we start a Airbrush thread else the we will get admonished for not sticking to the build! :(
     
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  15. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    I didn't seem to make much visible progress in last night's session but I got the lamp irons on and hopefully you can see why I prefer to replace etched versions with cast ones where possible.

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    I have also fitted one inside the side sheet at the front of the tender but alas the camera decided to focus on the nearside so the added lamp iron came out so blurred you couldn't see it.

    I will try again when I next take photos.

    I did manage to add the tank filler though so another detail bites the dust.

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    Coal rails next I think.
     
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  16. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    :thumbs:
     
  17. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Lovely craftsmanship there as always Rob :tophat: I reckon forming that corner radius on the tender flair must have taken a few gentle tweaks to get it equal all round.
     
  18. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Oh yes, I am sure that the coal rails will be equally challenging because they go all the way around too.
     
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  19. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Because we stayed in Wakefield this weekend it gave me an extra evening at the bench - usually I am worn out by the time we get to Bishop Auckland and rarely do anything once I arrive on Friday evening.

    As luck would have it I was able to finish work early too so I had around 5 hours at the bench which saw off the remaining upper works details.

    The coal rails were too long and I had to split them at the rear of the tender. I think that this is a result of the cut out in the tender flare for the hand grip which is a feature of this type of tender.

    I followed David Hill's example and soldered half round beading over the coal rails and what an improvement it's made.

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    I also ut half round beading in one the inside of the front hand grip sections to make it a round profile. and you can see the additional lamp bracket too which would focus on my last photo session.
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    I also got around not fitting a nut to secure the front of the tender top by tapping a piece of tube and soldering it in when the nut should be.

    This just leaves me with the chassis which I have made a start on.
     
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  20. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Yesterday saw the tender completed apart from wiring the pick ups and setting the ride height which will be done towards the end of the build.

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    You will note that I have added an extra frame spacer. I did this because I am using the tender for pick ups and wanted to ensure that there was no flexing which might affect them - The brass spacer was a scaled up P4 spacer from the spares box which I cut down to fit.

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    Back onto the loco next.
     

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