Reassembling my DJH A3 after a strip and repaint

Discussion in 'Loco Builds' started by Rob Pulham, Oct 27, 2021.

  1. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    As mentioned elsewhere I recently received my DJH A3 back from Warren Haywood after he stripped and repainted it and this thread is to detail what I am doing to getting it back together.

    As you might imagine much of the detail that I had added was done after the original paint was put n so it ended up coming adrift/being removed to allow the repaint. This has resulted understandably with a few casualties.

    The casualties that I have noted so far are the cinder guards that I have drawn up and am having them printed and cast in brass.

    The tender guard irons were still attached, but bent and so weakened at the half etched bend lines that they broke off when I attempted to straighten them.

    Similarly, one of the bogie guard irons and one of the bottom steps on the tender didn’t make it either. I shall attend too making these in due course.

    The only other item that is missing that I am aware of, is the atomiser casting that sits on the side of the smoke box. Now I could have bought a casting from Ragstone or Finney7 but where’s the fun in that.
    And so, I set out to make one using the mill and lathe.

    In the absence of having any collet blocks (subsequently ordered and received)
    ) I used a pin vice with a hex head to index milling the flats on the bar to create accurate hex nuts. I used a toolmakers clamp fastened to the rear jaw of the vice as a stop so that I got the pin vice back in exactly the same position as I rotated it after each cut.

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    I had a first attempt which came out alright but I felt it was a bit small. I dug out a casting from my Finney A3 kit and it was certainly longer than the one that I had created.


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    Learning all the while I thought that I would have another go.

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    Still a little cleaning up of the solder needed, albeit it it's not that visible at normal viewing distances.
    Setting the Unimat on its fastest speed, I found that I could not only successfully turn down the spigot for the handwheel, I could also grip that spigot in a 1mm collet and turn the head down to size with light cuts and a sharp tool.

    I was concerned that the spigot being turned down to 0.8mm wouldn’t have enough strength and that the turning forces would cause the head to shear off. I proved it wasn’t a fluke by doing a second aft inadvertently crushing my first attempt when I didn’t get it sat square in the collet.
     
  2. Mark4mm

    Mark4mm Guest

    Small, fiddly but nicely engineered Paul. :thumbs:
     
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  3. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Impressive as usual Rob

    Paul
     
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  4. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Thanks Mark, but I think that you may have the wrong person, I am Rob, not Paul;)
     
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  5. Mark4mm

    Mark4mm Guest

    My mistake Rob. :avatar:
     
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  6. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Like?? Like?? Where’s the flipping WOW button. ??

    now that still knocks spots off our modelling medium! Can’t wait to see the rest of the loco!

    Andy
     
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  7. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Thanks Andy.
     
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  8. Walkingthedog

    Walkingthedog Full Member

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    Very intricate work. I agree with Andy's WOW.
     
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  9. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    A couple more jobs knocked off today and apart from one more guard iron for the front bogie that should be it for the scratch building.

    Ironically earlier this year I gave away to a friend in need a spare pair of A3 guard irons. I dropped his an email and asked him to measure them.

    I already had a photo of the piece of etch so when he replied with the key dimension which was the length I imported the image into Fusion and rescaled it.

    Tender Guard Iron dimensions+etch.png

    I quickly sketched over it and added dimensions.
    The spare guard irons were those that were fitted to the front frames and before cutting metal a quick check of what's left of the tender guard iron revealed that the sketch didn't have the rear ones wide enough so I added the difference (2mm) to the width and cut some strips on the guillotine which I soldered together and scribed on the outline. Some patient sawing later and I have these ready for fitting

    Replacement Tender Guard Irons.jpg

    Earlier in the day I cut out a replacement step tread too

    Replacement tender step tread.jpg

    Hopefully I should get them fitted tomorrow.
     
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  10. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Earlier in the thread Andy said he wanted to see the completed loco, I can't do that yet as it's still in bits but I cab share what it looked like before it was stripped and repainted.

    The photos below are from when it was substantially complete with a few more details to add.

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    My apologies for the quality of some of the photos, I wasn't as set up as I am now for such things.
     
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  11. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Here are a few more with just the buffer to refit I think.

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    It came with a really flimsy etc for the ash pan damp mechanism so I scratched my own up that's a bit more 3D

    Ashpan Damper.JPG

    If anyone wants to see some of the build photos I am happy to dig them out and add them to this thread.
     
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  12. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    What I should have mentioned is that I had done all of the painting and lining at this point apart from the right hand side of the tender side which as you can see from the photos is streets ahead of what I had achieved on the other side. I had also wrongly painted the tender wheels green and lined them....
     
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  13. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    yea please..

    looks like an early A1 from the cab ?
    (Also no banjo dome and super heaters when they became A3 for those who don’t know some of the obvious differences. Sure Rob can elaborate more! )

    andy
     
  14. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    Should it have the super heater plates on the smoke box? My old geography teacher who briefly educated me on these locos would probably say not??
     
  15. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    Hi Andy,

    It is an A3 rather than an A1, so it does need the the superheater covers.

    What may be throwing you is that it's modelled as running around 1930 and the cab cut out's weren't reduced a few years later. Banjo domes weren't fitted until 1934. It's also left hand drive which most but not all A3's were as built (A1's were right hand drive until their subsequent conversion to A3) .

    Less relevant from an A1 vs A3 perspective, is that it's attached to a corridor tender. Which of course they all lost to the A4's once they came on the scene in the mid 30's. In fact I chose Papyrus because it was the last A3 to pull a corridor tender, until losing it in 1937

    I have a couple of Finney kit's for Gresley Pacific's waiting in the wings. One is to be an A1 "Doncaster" in 1925 condition and more challenging, the second is to be a right hand drive North British built A3 "Shotover" as it was in 1928 after pulling the first non stop Up Flying Scotsman train (4472 Flying Scotsman pulled the more famous first non stop down Flying Scotsman Train to Edinburgh at the same time) both chosen because Chris has done paintings of them.
     
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  16. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    I'm aspiring to get to your original standard never mind what the repainted standard is going to be.

    It looked a superb loco before the upgrades :thumbs:


    Paul
     
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  17. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    ah, my apologies.. it’s nearly 30
    Years since I last saw my old school teacher… the grey cells put the banjo and super heaters at the same time.

    i had totally forgot about the change of side for driving.

    thanks for putting me straight..
     
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  18. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    No problem Andy, they are like most locos that had long lives, a bit of a minefield with the details depending on your chosen period.
     
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  19. Rob Pulham

    Rob Pulham Happily making models Staff Member Administrator Feature Contributor

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    That becomes the next bit of the puzzle, another reason why it ended up getting repainted was a few months after completion while running the rear two horn guides/blocks came adrift. The horn guides/block were the hobby holidays roller bearing type and at the time I had neither to confidence or the experience to refit them so I took the easier way out of buying a replacement chassis etch from DJH - they will sell such things if you bought the kit from them originally. The etch at the time was the princely sum of £23 inc. postage.

    Once rebuilt, this time with top hat bearings front and rear and a sprung centre axle it again needed painting. It was at this point, after I had done some work for Warren that he offered to strip and repaint the whole loco for me. Which brings us full circle.
     
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  20. ianvolvo46

    ianvolvo46 Staff Member Moderator

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    :tophat::tophat::tophat:
     
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