Gladiator 0-4-0 LMS Ramsbotton Industrial Loco in 7mm

Thanks yorkie,

its an easy part to add really. Drill out the pre made aperture pop in a bit rod, solder from behind and smooth off on completion.

next up is the hand rail to the LHS of the loco. funny as there is no access here but I am presuming it was to allow somebody to ride standing on the step that is there.

grab rail bent to shape and size then ends inserted through the pre drilled holes. A bit card inserted to maintain an equal distance all the way then again ......

solder from behind .....

carry out the second hole .........

remove the card and job done ....

now .... onward .....

cheers

toto

 

Now ..... the right hand side step .... this goes just beside where the hand rail was installed. But first .....

we have to make the step up ....

Now I always think that these parts are always first to become victims due to their fragility ..... so .....

lets add some strengthening to it .....

My tea has just been shouted so ..... you'll have to wait for the installation of the above.......

more later

toto

 

OK .... I'm back and I've copied the routine with the LHS set of steps as well although there is a difference in that it has an additional step.

The RHS must be as I said purley as a ride on.

anyway .... he we are .....

the RHS ( ride on ) step.

and another from a different angle.

Now ... the LHS step with the extra tread giving the ability to step up into the cab .......

and again .....

and from the rear .....

more as it happens

cheers

toto

 

Next up were the front and rear Guard irons ...... didn't like doing these. Don't know why as they are really simple looking to do .... but I managed to make it difficult.

got them done in the end.

the front as above .....

the rear .......

and another general shot .....

now ..... I think the coal bunker extension and the associated beading that goes around the bunker.

A couple of hand rails as well.

cheers for now.

toto

 

The secret is making sure you are 100% happy that the bends match before jumping in with the soldering iron. I done a half way house with them ...... but not again. Lesson learnt.

Moving on to the coal bunker extension piece .......

reasonably happy with that.

and another ....

and one last one for tonight ..... I've had enough .....

I'll carry on with the beading to dress it off tomorrow. I will be sort of stuffed after that until my motor and gearbox arrives as I dont want to fit the breake rigging etc until the motor has been set up and tested.

The brake pull rods cant go on until last as once they are on ...... they are on. You can take the wheels out again so you have to be sure that you are happy with the set up.

The other task is the epoxy resin but again, I dont want to start that until I have the loco running right.

Hopefully Slaters have my motors and gearboxes en-route otherwise ....... its another kit that will need started.

hope its been worth looking in.

cheers

toto

 

Dont get too impressed, still plenty of scope to balls it up.

 

I'll need to check the bags of fittings again as I'm sure there are suspension springs and lamp irons that could go on as well.

One thing I have noticed when placing the boiler in position is that there are unsightly gaps between the boiler and where the return on the cab sides are meant to meet.
They have been placed correctly as the align approximately 0.5mm from the edge of the footplate as instructed.

It may mean some filler and sanding to beaten up once the boiler is finally fitted. Not sure if that was intended but cant see any other solution.

Cheers

Toto

 

No progress today .... lazy day. However, I received notification from Slaters that my motor and gearbox items will be being delivered tomorrow ...... no rest for the wicked.

Cheers

Toto

 

Motor / gearbox combination arrived from Slaters this afternoon. Have not offered it up to the model yet but even by eye I am confident this will fit fine.

I'll probably have avrack at fitting this tonight and give it a whirl on my rolling road.

Pictures later.

Toto

 

Motor / gearbox combination arrived from Slaters this afternoon. Have not offered it up to the model yet but even by eye I am confident this will fit fine.

I'll probably have avrack at fitting this tonight and give it a whirl on my rolling road.

Pictures later.

Toto

 

And here it is ready to be fitted ......

next to the other much larger Mashima 1833 motor and gearbox .....

So .... lets do it and get it onto the rolling road for a test run.

All going well I can get it permanently fitted and get this build towards completion.

cheers for now

toto

 

OK ..... time to size things up a bit ......

hey ..... you could loose the little beggar up there ehhhh ......

things are looking up what ......

Lets stripp the chassis and footplate away and get the wheels off for a test fit .....

and its on .........

But wait ..... you didnt think it would be as easy as that ..... did you .....

Well ..... it ain't ..... as the motor support you can see fitted underneath where the motor rests on ( fitted correctly I might add ) elevates the motor body upwards and fowls the boiler when you try to marry them up. Not just that but a part of the boilers underbelly requires to be cut away as the motor sits quite low.

so ..... Dremmel at the ready .....

in a vice with some cardboard packers to protect the boiler sides from vice marks .....

ouch ....... but .... still not enough ..... so .....

there wed are .... and wont be noticeable once the footplate is back in place.

So ...... next step is to check it with the footplate back in position ..... then ..... I need a bit of insulated wire strapped above and below the motor and connecxted to the chassis to prevent the motor from moving too much when power is added ..... you'll see what I mean in the next post .......

cheers for now.

toto

 

Well

i finally got ot powered up and on to the rolling road.

I have an issue, I have installed a support strap to the underside of the motor which secures the motor in place in one direction.

thats fine. But ...... when I power up, the driving axle wheels go round fully as they should but the front wheels only seem to go back and forth ( changing direction ) in other words the connection rods do not do a full rotation on the front wheels. Obviously something is incorrect with the way I have set up the wheels and rods.

I have the crank thingy pointing in the same direction on every wheelset.

MMMMMM

 

Problem solved, apparently you should have the crank thingies off set by 90 degrees on either side. Changed that over and all is fine.

test fitted the motor ......

soldered the strap in place to stop the motor lurching down in the forward position .....

wired it up to the rolling road ....

and away it went .....

works fine in both directions and as smooth as you like.

I also have installed card into the inside of the boiler to stop the motor lurching upwards when put in reverse.

seems fine.

next up for tomorrow is the remaining soldering of hand rails and suspension springs. Then tackle the epoxy work on the boiler hand rail knobs and sticking the boiler frontage on.

its finally getting there albeit the build has slowed down a bit. never mind .... as long as it runs ok on completion.

more tomorrow

toto

 

On today's reflection, I don't mind admitting it has been a rollercoaster of a day.

Motor arrives .... great. It dissnae fit ....... boo ....... I've got a solution .... wayyyyyy .......I've buggered the motor ( loss of small spring ) ........ boohoo.

The wheels, axles, motor and gearbox has been on and off more times than I care to remember but ..... in the end ....... it's now running well.

Still more parts to fit which will be tomorrows job but they can be fitted with a view to the build coming to completion now ..... yayyyyyyyy.

I'll be dabbling with 2 part epoxy resin for the first time so another first. It's time for the last of the detail parts and trim items to go on and think about taking the main sections apart again ...... wheels and motor, chassis from boiler and footplate ........ cleaning it down and preparing for a primer coat.

Then .....,.. consider a finish coat prior to reassembly, hopefully in a reasonable finished state.

Never seems to end ........

Certainly not a process to be rushed that's for sure.

Cheers

Toto

 

Is it really another day ...... .... one seems to merge into another lately. Nevermind ..... coming out of a slumber. shed time shortly. Hopefully today will see some of the remaining fiddly soldering jobs out the way. Suspension springs, lamp brackets and bunker beading to name a few.

Also, the epoxy resin that I have been putting off. In fairness to myself, the epoxy is more of a timing thing rather than avoidance as it's difficult to make up small amounts and I wanted to try and catch all in one go to save wasting any.

I'm not sure what the life span is of this stuff once the tube has been opened. It could be long enough before I need any more.

Anyway, I'll post up any progress as I go as usual. ..... now ..... coffee ..... shower ..... lights ...... camera ...... action.

Have a nice day folks

Toto