York Paul's Britannia loco 2020 Shelf Queen competition entry.

So this is my entry offering for the 2020 Shelf Queen competition, it is a Scorpio Models Gauge O Britannia Pacific loco which I intend to complete in painted form as 70010 Owen Glendower in lined out BR Loco Green with nameplates fitted. Up to press I have completed the tender build with the exception of adding electrical pic ups, the loco frames are complete and effectively it is a free rolling chassis which needs pick ups and motor fitting, the bogie and rear truck are complete and some motion and rod sub assemblies have already been put together. The body requires the cab and footplate building up, the whole of the boiler and footplate dressing with parts, these include lubricators, smokebox door smoke deflectors, sanding gear, boiler / firebox attachments and all the plumbing including injectors and steam pipes plus other stuff which I shall have to look through. Basically in a nutshell there is still quite a lot to do and obviously the cylinder slide bars with piston crossheads need to be built up too.

Now I have also started a new photo album called Yorkie's Britannia 2020 Shelf Queen Album for those who may wish to follow the picture reports when they happen, this also makes matters easier in distinguishing the Shelf Queen build work from the original build work of a couple of years ago.

Finally this loco when finished will form a main exhibiting part of my collection, for now I shall only DC fit but at some other point in the foreseeable future this will go DCC, I really need to think long and hard before choosing the set up and I think this is outside the scope and remit of this competition.

Anyway here is the first official competition picture of 70010 which shows my intent and the state of build currently, once the competition gets underway next week I shall start work with the motion and cylinder slidebar arrangement.

 

It took a while to reacquaint myself with this build which stalled around two years ago due to other things happening, bodyshell the next move in the build instructions was to form and fix into place the cab sides, I partly complete this bit and will take up again from this point now. The next item for assembly is the smokebox door, so this week I'll work on this and put it away until ready to fit, finally I rounded up all the motion pieces and it would seem this is the area to concentrate on once I've eased myself back in making up the cab and smokebox, anyway this build goes live from now on and the aim now is to finish body assembly and get the chassis running with a good motor and gearbox set up.

 

I need to complete the fabrication of one set of slide bars and crosshead firstly, this will be easier now having purchased my Proxxon TDM 220 drop mount drill with combination table... actually thinking about it this kit has probably been stalled a lot longer that I originally thought. next step will be to put all other motion pieces together so a full assembly can be had. Also add plunger pick ups and motor at that point before final motion assembly.

 

The chassis underside detail... I remember now the wheelsets whilst rotating freely with side rods attached still need the crankpin bushes fettling for clearance of the connecting rod rotation. Other than that I have a nicely balanced chassis as the start point to then add in brake rigging and sanding pipes... so its off I go and lets get started with progress pictures posted later in the week. Thanks for following this build and hope folk enjoy the thread.

 

This afternoon I took the cab apart to start again, probably in hindsight this is what I should have done last time round but anyway a good clean up and some gentle spot soldering to the right hand side cab front saw the angle and curve formed correctly, some slight adjustment to the cab front plate which has thin folds against the firebox with long nose pliers and i was much happier with the dry fit. At least I know the left side will come good as well and then once tack soldered I can solder the cab to the front plate, take it off and build up the windows and then the roof. I'd best crack on then... lots to do and that firebox needs more stopper too.

 

Well er hmmm yes... the back of the boiler is hard up against the casting and the bottom back edge next to the firebox is also tight in place... if I filed any more of a rebate on the casting the firebox would then fall out of alignment. In fairness there is quite a bit of excess filler at the bottom edge curve which looks worse that it really is, this is probably about the worst bit about this kit apart from the jim Harris tender which is 2mm too short in its side etches. As i was thinking earlier the next kits are going to be more the up market offerings ... I'm done with the cheapo JH rubbish coming out of the bargain basement... just way too much grief for me to be bothered with.

 

The very same instruction comes with this kit Paul, when I last spoke to Pat Ennis at Scorpio he explained this kit had had a comprehensive rework by his late son David, apparently the original Jim Harris Transport Age range which Pat took over had many issues which needed resolving, particularly the 9F and the Brit. As I said to Rob in fairness these are not bad kits but they still do need a bit more effort than other more up to date kits.

 

Ah this is so ... good find Paul... on the BR1 tender the tank sides are the issue, the inner chassis fits inside the tender frames perfectly... but its not as if the outer frame can be trimmed down because of the shape, so its a case of balance the gap. I pinched 0.5 mm from the buffer beam end and accepted that 1.5 mm at the cab end was short. Its the tender side etches which is in effect 2mm too short.

 

After a lot of thought and a couple of dry runs the cab is now as it should be and sits nicely level, the original problem was that I'd soldered the rear framework which takes the handrails and faring bethind the driver's seat a tad too high and this was throwing the roof line level out. It was a bit of a challenge lining everything correctly but little by little and tack soldering I got it done, so now its time to add in the window frames and side window windshield frame and then solder to the body. The roof will be fitted along with gutter strips and vent... probably now is a good time to cut the glazing to shape as well.

 

The left hand side.

 

... and the other side. Finally there is one thing I shall take out of this competition and that is reworking a previous job has taught me to understand my previous mistakes and that is a great way for me to measure progress on my making process learning curve.

 

Little bit more progress has been achieved over the last few days and also this afternoon which saw the smokebox door made up. I even managed to get the door handles to turn as a feature, the number plate is cut ready but i won't fix that on yet as I need to scratch two tiny brackets (as per the real ones) so that the number plate clears the top door hinge bracket. The deflectors are the next job after they have been dressed.

 

So earlier in the week I took a running battle with the cab which refused to locate as it should, there seemed no earthly visible reason why it wouldn't mate up to the back of the firebox correctly so I concluded the problem lay in the firebox itself and of course it did, the backplate of the firebox had a slight bulge on one side presumably having gone unnoticed from when the inner frame was built up and the back late soldered over it. The remedy was to file down the high spot and remaking the firebox proper was not an option and then to resolder the back edge of the firebox to where it meets with the frames, result and with a little pressure applied I was able to set the cab in place at the correct height. This was probably the worst aspect of this build in terms of getting the positions correct and everything lining up as it should... still a slight gap is apparent between end of footplate valance and cab. I've added in a thin piece of etch on the other side and built up the height with solder on the other side so will do that on this side. A little scribe line in the solder will define the joint.

The outstanding jobs are to fit the rear grab rail, add the roof with gutters and top sliding vent and then the interior lockers, backhead detailing and reverser are in hand.

At least I can now see how thing will look with the tender coupled in place.

 

And here is the state of play so far... this loco is starting to look like a real beast of a machine... I'm really looking forwards to cracking on with the motion.