Torry’s 2022 Loco Competition Entry

Been slowly putting together the Schools sub chassis parts. No major problems and what there was was down to me.
Firstly the wheels I fitted are wrong. I got them years ago and could'nt remember what part number they were as there's no specific wheels for the Schools class listed with Slaters.
The problems became apparent when it came to fitting the captive slidebars. I found that I needed to file off more of the cast spacers then I wanted to so as to achieve full travel of the crosshead. After checking the Premier connecting rod (which was spot on) to see if there was a difference with the one supplied in the kit I turned to the wheels. I found out that the wheels I fitted are a 22 spoke 6'6" generic patern but the problem was with the crankpin throw. The throw should be 13" the ones fitted are 14". not much I know but enough to cause the crosshead to travel further within the slidebars.
I've managed to achieve smooth running with what I've done but still not happy. To get round the fact the slidebars don't look right I filed off the moulded spacers and replaced them with flat 3mm x 1.5mm bar, and filed that back. This will allow me to remove them later when I change the wheels over without dismantaling the motion assembly.

 

The Bogie was straight forward to assemble and went together well. It has a sprung sliding block for latral movement as well as a spring for vertical movement. There's a choice of laminated side frames for early or late bogies included. Must mention the strecher bars. The ones included in the kit are wrong in so much as they are only suitable for locos in preservation. The normal strecher arrangement was for a straight bar slightly angled at the top on each end. The last 10 School's (930-939) appear to have a different arrangement. Based on photos, the sretcher bars appear to be placed above and exposing the springs. As I'm modelling 933 I made some top strechers out of scrap etch.

 

The cylinders have inserts fitted to ensure that the crossheads run true. I've also replaced the piston rods with 1.6 N/S wire which helps keeps things running smooth.

 

Still a lot to do but this is as far as I've got.