BR/SR "W" Class brass/white metal/resin "Crownline" loco build.

Discussion in 'Workshop Benches' started by Keith M, Mar 14, 2018.

  1. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    I bought this kit a while ago on Ebay, "Crownline" having gone out of existence some years ago, so no use looking for the Motor/Gearbox or Wheelset pack 'add-ons' which were once available. I have to admit that I got somewhat 'carried away' (some might say I should be, by men in white coats!) and built almost the complete upper body without stopping to take photographs, so unfortunately this post isn't really a "How-to" so much as a "this is where the project is at the moment", so sorry about that. The kit is mostly brass fret, resin boiler with a brass smokebox wrapper and chimney, white metal dome and backhead, so I've soldered the entire body with the exception of Aralditing the dome, backhead and smokebox wrapper. As I'm now awaiting delivery of the wheelset, I can go no further with the chassis, which is now painted ready for wheels, and I'm leaving the valve gear until wheels are in place and checked. The body is now painted, decals applied and satin varnished, and chassis has been tried in position, all ok so far! Here's the completed body. IMG_1177.jpg
     
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  2. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    ........and from t'other end! IMG_1178.jpg
     
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  3. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    This is the chassis awaiting it's wheelset. IMG_1179.jpg
     
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  4. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Motor is a Mashima 1020 with 45:1 gearbox from "High Level" kits, who I bought chassis/motor/gearbox etc from for my "GT3" project a while back. Chris Gibbon (High Level Kits proprietor) has a very useful "Gearbox Planner" on his website which you can use to work out what type of gearbox/motor combination will fit in your particular model, rather useful if, as in my case, the originals are no longer available. The angle of the lower part of the gearbox has not yet been fixed (with either solder or Superglue), so I can decide on this when wheels are in place and some kind of motor mount made to suit. My "Loco Builder Box" has been very useful in ensuring the chassis is square, although if I were in Rob Pulham's league as a modeller, I'd likely have gone for one of the all metal (and considerably more expensive) jigs, nonetheless, the "GT3" chassis went together very nicely with no problems, so no reason why the same should not be true of this build, subject to my competence! Here's the other end of the chassis, continued when the wheelset arrives. IMG_1180.jpg
     
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  5. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Well Keith from what little I know I think the Poppy's jig is well able to do the job and give you a nice square frame. An Avonside jig for three axles in 7mm scale is a little shy under three hundred pounds:facepalm: yes I know...:avatar: and one for a four or five couple loco is even more, but then when the "additionals" are factored in an engine kit can often be north of £600, so I guess there is no point having an expensive loco or kit that cannot run properly or have the build stop for lack of the right spanner so to speak.
     
  6. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    very nice build and a great paint job Keith. looking forward to the maiden journey.

    cheers

    toto
     
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  7. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    What a superb build Keith, I love what you are doing and you must a great eyesight to set the transfers of the number in 4mm at an exact line, I think if that was me doing what you have done I'd have to go to Specsavers :avatar: Anyway seriously thanks for sharing the build and I'm following with interest, the paint finish looks superb too.:tophat::tophat::tophat:
    York Paul
     
  8. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Ha ha Keith like wot he said too:thumbs: as I was typing my reply Toto went and beat me to it.:avatar:
     
  9. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    I have the Hobby Holidays masterchassis 5 axle version which is just over £200 now (I have in mind that it was less than £200 when I bought it). It also has parts to make it double up as a rolling road so I class it as good value.
     
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  10. York Paul

    York Paul Staff Member Moderator

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    Yes I've seen the Hobby Holiday Master Chassis and looking on their website to order one for myself it says they are out of stock which means the model has sold well, I'll have to ring them and find out when the next batches are becoming available. With the F5 build I have had access to use a friends jig, the Avonside one is very expensive and investing in one has to be a very considered decision I'd say. But as folk in these parts of the Riding between Pocklington and Beverley say " WHAT HOW MUCH !" :avatar::avatar:
     
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  11. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    :)After some weeks of "banging my head against the wall" with the valve gear on this loco, try as I might, I just could not get the gear to line up correctly, shades of Ian Rice's "Unbuildable" I guess, so I gave up in despair of being able to actually finish the thing, and it went into the "Pending" tray! A couple of weeks ago while cruising around the 'locomotives' section on Ebay, I noticed a DCC ready Hornby LNER 'L' class 2-6-4 tank engine with a somewhat damaged body (looked like it had been dropped!.......Ooooops!) so I bid and won it fairly cheaply, in the hope that it might become my salvation and enable me to actually finish the "W" Class. When it arrived, it was perfect chassis-wise, body had been reasonably repaired but that was of no concern to me, although getting the chassis to fit into the "W" Class body was certainly going to be a challenge. I didn't unfortunately take any pics of the chassis before surgery began, but suffice to say, motor mount casting was cut off flush with the chassis, the actual clamp being turned through 180 degrees and a new screw hole drilled and tapped into the chassis base to refix the motor, this giving me a bit more room, but still well short of what was required. I removed the 'U' shaped casting over the motor worm and hacksawed off around 6mm from the end furtherest from the motor, thus at least giving me enough room to direct wire in my 'standard-fit' Laisdcc decoder, refitting after cleaning up with a file. I still needed around 18mm long by 12mm wide and 18mm deep removing from the resin boiler casting to give enough clearance to allow the motor to fit, and this was the most unpleasant part of the operation with the resin dust. Using a 3mm bit with a length of heat resist sleeving as a depth gauge, I drilled a series of holes around the edge of the area which needed removing from the boiler casting, then pushed the bit sideways from hole to hole until the area to be removed was gone (VERY dusty and messy!), but now I had (just) enough room to get the chassis into place. A crude and dusty way to utilise a drill as a "milling machine" I admit, but it got the job done. A little cutting of the area under the cab floor of the body (which was double-skinned with a 5mm gap anyway) and slight adjustment to clear oscillating parts of the valve gear, and in the chassis went. I was even able to utilise the original chassis-to-body fixing screw holes, redrilling the body to take 2 small self-tapping screws, which was an unexpected bonus. The only slight 'Fly-in-the-ointment' is the fact that there should be 'daylight' under the "W" Class's boiler, but due to the motor's positioning, there is now only partial 'Daylight' visible......I'm not overly concerned about this as (A) at least the loco is complete and running, and (B) even several recent mainstream manufacturers models have received criticism about models not having 'Daylight' visible under the boiler as per the real thing, so as far as I'm concerned, Rule 1 applies, so there!:p

    Anyway, here's what the completed "W" Class looks like now, although it does still need some of the resin dust cleaning off the body, a set of Kadee's fitting, and of course, some weathering, which might help to camouflage the part lack of 'Daylight' under the boiler. I'm just relieved to get the job up and running and out of what's left of my hair! IMG_1230.jpg
     
  12. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    I do, of course realise that the valve gear might not be exactly as per a genuine "W" Class, but it's near enough for me, the alternative being that it stayed in the "Pending" tray for an indefinite period! Here's a somewhat dustier view of the front end.
    Keith. IMG_1231.jpg
     
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  13. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    As a final comment, whilst 'performing' with this loco, I inadvertently knocked the completed body of the next loco to be finished, my "Schools" Class, off the edge of the layout, breaking off all four steps and a front buffer in the process. Talk about one step forward and two steps back, but I'll get around to sorting it in due course I guess, onward and upwards!:headbanger:

    Keith.
     
  14. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Nice loco at the end of all the trials and tribulations, and a chassis waiting for another body.

    Paul
     
  15. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    That reminds me of decorating my former mother in law's wedding cake (she was remarrying) and my son who was 8 or 9 at the time came into the kitchen and knocked a small amount of icing off. In a hissy fit I chucked teaspoon that I had in my hand down on the work surface and it bounced taking out much more of the icing off than the lad had done by complete accident. That was the last time I let my temper get the better of me.

    Thankfully all was fixed and you couldn't see the joins on the big day. On that note I have my son's wedding cake to do next year which I will approach with a little trepidation because I haven't decorated a cake for about 6 years now....
     
  16. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    I was watching a documentary 'tother night about neanderthals and what happened to them.
    Anyway, "they" said that there were no complete skellingtons of a neanderthal left so a boffin at the Max Planck institute in Munich had assembled one from bones found in different locations. The presenter was waxing lyrical about this and asked, "why is one of the arms separate from the rest?" The boffin/scientist who built it explained that his 11 year old son and one of his mates had been visiting and messing around in his office, and had broken it............

    Cheer's, Pete.
     
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  17. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Hi Pete,

    At least the poor blighter didn't feel it...
     
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