This posting is a little bit of a surprise because I wasn't expecting to do much with it. I have been using this kit when I demo loco building at shows, I would rather take one of my kits along than one that I am building for someone else just in case anything happens to it. Up to Saturday I had only managed to cut out the frames, remove the cusps and bend up the frame spacers (at Newton Aycliffe Show in March) due to being far too busy talking to people. Although I did have lots of interest I seemed to really crack on with it after showing one gent how to solder up the boiler. This build will get updated intermittently because I will be only working on it at shows until it's well on its way. I think that this amount of progress in between talking to people really is a testament to Jim McGeown and the quality of the kit/fit of the parts. I didn't take my rolling bars along nor did I have anything thicker than a scriber. So to roll the smokebox wrapper I had to sit and bend the etch between fingers and thumbs. Working steadily away until it reached the right shape.
Wow quite some time since I updated this thread. My N10 has been out to numerous shows since then the last one being the recent Wensleydale Model Railway show at Leeming Bar. The loco build has moved on quite a way since then. First as often happens when talking to people at shows - a step in the wrong direction. In my last post I had fitted the smokebox wrapper and I had done a lovely job of it even if I say so myself. However do pop back and have a look you will notice a half etched recess low down on the side. This is meant to be on the inside... Sadly I made a bit of a mess taking it off so had to make a new one from nickel sheet. The body work has progressed a bit too.
I have also got a number of other bits near to being finally assembled. Frame spacers, I found another two or three in the box afterwards but you get the drift. Inner cab rear with locker and coal chute door. Inner tanks Rear cab lockers and horn guides Inner cab roof. I didn't attempt to roll the outer roof without rolling bars I managed to do the inner with just manipulation between my fingers and the edge of the cutting mat. Cab floor and front lockers/rear splashers Frames. I had marked and cut out roughly for the horn guides and was painstakingly filing them when I thought it would be much easier to mill them slightly but accurately over size so that I can use my chassis jig to fit them. I also invested in a set of Premier joined rods.
I have the Gladiator LNER N8/N9 predecessor to and essentially pretty much identical to the N10, mostly built but with a sticky chassis that needs to be sorted out. It's going to be back-dated to an NER Class B1 as built but with WW Worsdell livery, I chicken out of TW Worsdell livery on the ground of lacking moral fibre and being a crap painter. Just someday, don't know when.
I too have an N8/N9 in the stash. Mine is the original 07 Models version which I believe then went to George Norton, then Fourtrack, then Gladiator so I hope that yours has benefited from a few upgrades along the way. At the minute I am thinking of building it as an N9 but may revise that once I start looking at it in earnest.
now you're making me want a little (wheeled) sister for nellie I read a construction article dated about 2005 on the N8/9 kit, The chassis has been upgraded from what we have on the O7 kit, but still recognisably the same kit. Pity I found that article well after I finished Nellie, but she works reasonably well and as a first build I'm pretty pleased with her.
Rob/Stan I don't know if the Gladiator N9 has any upgraded goodies, what I do know is the smokebox front had a small locating whole, the white metal door a very large locating boss, guess what they didn't fit. I emailed Gladiator and got the impression since they had bought it they hadn't done much with it so I offered to list any problems I had found for them to investigation which they were happy to accept. There were a few Mr G suggested he was thinking of a new etch to try clear up any confusion between and N9 parts as well as apologising over the smokebox front and suggesting various solutions. The problem got fixed. Gladiator still describe it as an N8/N9 - NER B/B1/N, they really need to drop the B/B1 as there are a lot of replacement parts needs and fiddling about to reverse it to a B. I can't comment on reverse engineering it to a class N as I haven't really looked in any detail.
Thanks for the head's up. Opening out the hole for the smokebox door should be reasonably easy for me as I have a boring head for the mill which should take care of it. I have just had a peek in the box and mine is just the opposite. The mounting boss on the back of the smokebox door casting is as you describe quite big but the hole in the smokebox front plate is even bigger and will probably need me to machine a spacer of some sort to centre it. Did yours have an etched boiler and etched coupling rods? That's the sort of thing that I was thinking of by upgrades. Mine has rigid milled coupling rods similar to those I let you have from my 07 J21 kit.
Since posting this, I'd had a brief thought that I might get a set of jointed rods to replace the rigid set. However having noted the milled chassis in the box, I think that I will build this one rigid... That may change depending on how well I get on milling out the horn guides for the N10. I spent a little time this evening in Fusion working out the distances between the horn guides for milling them out accurately.
Having found some issues running rigid chassis's on my less than perfect track, I ended up milling out the chassis for horn blocks, it may have been beginners luck but they seem to work ok.. albeit a little stiffly - I didn't put enough effort into ensuring the hornblocks slid freely in the guides as I should have, but as she wears these are slowly freeing up ( a mistake I didnt reprise on the Gibson 3F!). To articulate the rods, I made a dummy set from brass strip, and used these as backing for the milled rods. Crude maybe, but effective.. and very cheap!. I'll do something similiar when I get around to the O7 J25 that's in the stash - It needs a good review to find out what parts are missing, and I'll have to dissemble the chassis (yes its another 40 year build! ) to give it some form of suspension I dont recall any issues with the smokebox door, so mayhap the older version was etched to fit the casting at the time . I think I may simply have eyeballed the door into position
Thanks Stan, I spent one weekend at a show making sure that the hornblocks slid freely in the guides so assuming that I get them in squarely then I shouldn't have a problem with them being stiff.
