albergman

Just a small update for a fun little article I had to make. Needed the coupler (buckeye?) for the aft end of the tender and it needs to have a certain "heft" to it. Aluminium is my choice so into the scrap bin we go. My preferred "heavy" aluminium comes from computer hard drive chassis ... as they are cast in a relatively soft alloy which is nice to work with hand tools. Unfortunately they aren't quite thick enough to give the thickness I want so I cut 2 separate pieces and glued them together with CA. Now it's just a matter of lots of hacksawing/filing/polishing to shape a coupler. You can see the seam where the two pieces were joined. I sliced out the gap for the moving piece with an abrasive disk on my Dremel. Drilled a hole through the pieces and mounted my swivelling piece ... sorry, don't know the proper names. Finally it gets bolted into the tender. That's all for today. The tender just needs a couple of safety doors fabricated for the cab end and it'll be ready for paint. Cheers

Here we go again. The engine is pretty much completed and I've moved on to the tender. Should be getting paint onto it in a couple of days ... if the weather warms up here in Ontario. Not a lot of pictures to show as I've just been plowing ahead with it. Started off by making a "master" for the 8 spring/axlebox sets I need for the tender. I used it to make a silicon mold and then pour eight urethane castings in that. Put as many pieces into this master as I can so that each cast has less pieces to make manually. The master ... keep in mind the brass spring is less than an inch wide. Here's the 3 components ... master/mold/casting These castings are amazingly detailed and this is a great way to save time and effort instead of making 8 duplicates by hand. I thought I was going to use the same sized wheels on the tender that I cast for the engine's front bogie and cab wheels but soon realized that they are way too small! So I cast a long "cylinder" of urethane that was big enough to machine the right sized tender wheels ... for the record the cardboard tube in the centre of a roll of toilet paper is just fine!! So, this tube of urethane is put in the lathe and I turned 8 wheels ... sorry, no pictures. Next I made a lower "chassis" frame from Renshape that I can glue the wheels into. Next is the tender itself and it's already well on the way at this point. So here's where I'm at. Just about ready to get some paint on it and make it look better. Took a couple of pictures of some handrails I was fabricating today. Turned some brass rod on the lathe to make the ball ends I need. That's about it for now. Thanks for looking in. Back soon.

Well done you two!! An impressive setting there for a fine locomotive. Just noticed the clear plastic tacks standing in for buffers and doing a very fine job! Frank

Hi CF4U Yes ,that's my Flying Scotsman that I started in 2006 and slowly assembled over 10 years ... still not entirely finished. There's a build log here if you're interested. This one is a display model too and to no known scale but both engines are identical scales. Thanks Steve. Been able to get a fair bit of time on it these days and I'm really keen about this engine. Now that the motion is fabricated and fitted I feel like everything else will be a breeze. I don't think you saw my last reply to you but I asked how much of the motion you plan to make and what materials will you use? Frank

Some more progress. Finalized all the pieces of motion for both sides and have them all bolted together. Quite a fiddly, challenging task to get it all sorted. Did some fairing of the topsides and got a coat of flat black primer airbrushed on just to check for scratches and dents. Wish the camera wouldn't be so unkind! I always think it looks better in the flesh than what a digital camera sees. So, for better or worse, here's where we are today. No pictures yet but I did cut the plastic for all windows and made the fine wooden framework that the side windows are set into. Forward-looking ones done too. All thesee will wait for the Brunswick green to be applied before installing. Lastly, steps shaped and installed under cab ... both sides. Cheers

I'd say you've got a winner there Jinxy. What better thing can one say of a partner than "She likes A4's"? Lucky you "Retired Bob" to live so near to the Gathering. Must say I never warmed to that LMS streamliner as a lad but back then I only had eyes for the LNER. Thanks for looking in chaps.

HA!! Static for sure. Since everything is hand made I just don't have the precision needed to make things move. Actually thought about it though ... briefly when I started but realized I don't have the skills to make it happen. The reversing lever works and several parts attached to it move too but that's it. Thanks for stopping by CF.

Made a bit more progress lately as I finalized and fitted all the motion components on the driver side of the locomotive. Got everything installed on the frames today and bolted down with appropriate sized tiny bolts. I hope I don't have to remove any of this as I progress. The other side has most of the parts shaped and is now awaiting assembly. Took a few shots of the engine under an overhead lamp so the lighting isn't great. The Flying Scotsman has been shunted off its little bit of track for the photo shoot and his tender is standing in with the A4. As you can see I've stripped the paint off 60009 as it was getting scratched up with all the handling. Just for fun I blackened in the nose with a big felt pen. On to the other side! Should be a breeze. Frank

Thanks Steve. You two have set the bar high for me. It's still looking pretty rough and I have to rein myself in to keep from getting the paint on too soon. Can't believe how fast this one is proceeding after the anguish and confusion of doing FS. The starboard side (old sailor here) metals are 100% done and fitted now and the port side about 80% so that's a major hurdle cleared. Have you thought yet about how much of the motion/metalwork you'll try to make and what you'll make it from? Frank Thanks for these BW. I have collected quite a few pictures and video captures already but there's always a need for that special shot that shows me something I need.

Hi BW DoC is in Montreal so about 400 miles. Guess you're thinking I might go there with a tape measure and make my own specs? Possible I suppose but I'm not that much of a perfectionist. The plans I've found are pretty accurate but they're in low quality and when blown up to my scale they kind of break down. Still, it would be nice to see DoC someday especially since she got a makeover while in the UK recently. Frank

Well that's as good a reason as any to like it. Thanks for chipping in. Looks like it's not going to be crowded guys! Glad to have some company. CF4U ... I see you're in Illinois (I'm in Ontario) and I'm wondering if you're a fan of British steam ... or you just like empty theatres?

Here I go again .... another bl**dy locomotive. I promised myself after spending many years (off and on) with my Flying Scotsman that I'd never make that mistake again. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions they say. Growing up as a wee lad in Fife Scotland in the 40's through to 1951 when we emigrated to Canada I was enamoured with steam engines ... the bigger the better. I saw and travelled behind many an A3 and A4 and on my trainspotting days my favourite place to be was on an embankment across from the local station. Frequently engines would arrive, detach from their train and shunt down a siding right below me to take on water from the stand. I've never forgotten the feeling of being there marvelling at these wonderful, machines, feeling the radiant heat, hearing the panting of the air pump and smelling the smoke and steam. Ah, the glory days. Of the LNER big Gresleys most I saw were of the A1 through A3 classes but then one day I saw the most wonderful looking machine imaginable to a young lad. Union of South Africa passed our home where we lived on the 3rd floor and I heard that unique chime whistle as she arrived in Dunfermline fresh from Edinburgh and the Forth Bridge. 60009 always had a special place in my memories no matter how many other A4's I saw and, as an Edinburgh (Haymarket) engine, I saw her often. Fast forward 70 years and here I am, still enthralled with 60009 and watching every YouTube video of her. Only recently I've read that she is about to be retired and that she will be coming home to Fife to reside in a purpose built museum ... I hope I can see her one more time. So, after waxing all poetic about A4's, there's only one logical step I can take and that's to have a go at scratch building one ... Makes sense don't you think? Should be a piece of cake. I've selected a set of A4 drawings off the web, scanned them, enlarged them to my scale*, printed them off then glued them to various cardboard and plastic backings. I'm using my usual Renshape composite material to shape the body. The tender, when I get to it, will mostly be made up from Arborite or Formica sample panels and the motion will be aluminium salvaged from various electronics, computers, cameras and whatever. Off we go .... * It's just going to be an ornament on a shelf. 22" buffer to buffer, same as my Flying Scotsman. Get over it! Here's my rough bandsawed block of Renshape. It's a start. Lots of power tools gets it soon down to a recognizable shape ... and that iconic swoopy footplate is cut out and attached. Body filler applied and sanded out ... Kylchap double exhaust roughed out, shaped and filler applied. I mounted the model on a board so that it's at the correct height so I can check the shape with a plastic cutout template. It really helps to have the model sitting at the correct height and attitude. Next I rough out the cab. The sides are fabricated from Arborite/Formica sample panels which I like as they are so flat and strong. The roof is cut from a sheet of steel salvaged from stereo equipment. Bent it slowly to shape over a block that I shaped into a template. Lots of cutouts and small sliders, vents etc added to it. Gradually I make more external fittings, pipework, handrails, and give it a rough coat of paint to see how she looks. OK, now onto the wheels. As with the Scotsman I made a master driving wheel and one bogie/cab/tender wheel from Renshape. Using my Dremel in a drill stand I ream out the spaces between the spokes. Once the master is finished and sanded I fastened it into a container and poured silicon over it to make a mold. I want to use machined aluminium as the wheel rim so I set that into the mold first then pour a 2 part urethane casting material into the mold. This bonds and hardens to the metal rim to make a usable wheel after some filing and sanding . Here's the small set of wheel rims and one with spokes. They will be cast in a similar method. Next I want to fabricate the fairly large spring sets that are under the cab. Since there's only one on each side I decide to fabricate both (rather than cast a pair). I made them both from scrap aluminium. There are ribbed gussets (?) on either side of the axle boxes and I found a perfect sized heat sink from a computer that let me cut out suitable gussets. Lots of hacking and hewing later I have a decent pair of springs. Mounted on a temporary backing here. So here's an "in progress" shot with her older brother the Flying Scotsman whose tender she's pinched. They don't look like it here but they ARE in the same scale. Next comes the fun part. ... fabricating all the metalwork/motion that goes with the wheels. I didn't take many pictures of making each piece as that gets boring. I have an aluminium strap that is 1" wide by 1/8th thick and almost every piece is hacksawed, filed and polished from that. The driving and connecting rods have a recess cut into their faces (a "U" shape) and I hog them out using cutting wheels on a Dremel. Lots of filing follows. It all gets bolted together using tiny bolts that I recently purchased. If I drill the hole in the aluminium slightly smaller than the bolt then I can slowly screw the bolt in such that it cuts threads and can be removed and replaced easily after that. Here's a work-in-progress shot. The Phillips bolt heads will eventually be filed flat and six-sided to look appropriate. The "body" has had the paint stripped and some fairing has been applied. Thanks for looking in. More to come. Frank

It's all her fault!! I promised myself I'd never make the mistake of building another engine after finishing (nearly) my Flying Scotsman. I was doing really well keeping that promise till a certain little lady scratch builder in Oz infected me with the bug. She's doing an impressive job Steve and what a wonderful thing for you to spend such prime time with your daughter ... she'll always remember this. I'm actually well along on another Gresley A4 "streamliner" ... Union of South Africa and might start a build log some day but it's not going to be as cool as Baby Bandsaw's! Tell her I'm learning by watching so keep going!! Frank

You're right Coop. He's well aware of problems with the I7 (which he has) but other Iphone's are OK it seems. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks to all who took the time to visit and reply. Been very helpful. Surprising that in the first 5 hours I got 5 replies and then approx. 130 more visited but not one replied!! Oh well, the results were unanimous and I guess we'll have to conclude there's no issues. Frank

Hi all and Happy New Year. I have a friend who scratch-builds high-end car models for sale and has just released his new website. He's in Ohio, USA and I'm in Canada and he's finding that US users get excellent response times browsing his site while myself and 3 other Canadian users virtually stagnate on certain pages. I'd like to invite any Britmodeller who is willing to check it out to post their findings when accessing one particular page. The site is markmaholm.com. What I need is ... click on "Galleries" in the top right Click on "Commissions" Wait for that page to load all its images (about 40) then click on any image you like which will load a new page with thumbnails. Let me know how long it takes to fill in all the thumbnails. In the USA this seems to be instantaneous while my own response is about a minute. Just give me an answer such as "under five seconds" or "much longer than 5" give me your best guess of the time if it's lengthy and please tell me where you are in the world. Enjoy the site while you are there as it's pretty spectacular modelling. We'd really appreciate any help you can give. Frank

Thanks RS. Glad you liked my Testa Rossa. I really enjoy bringing a favourite shape from a block of wood and have done quite a few over the years, I invested in a hobby lathe a couple of years ago with the only intention being to make a set of wires for my very old GTO. I've been pleasantly surprised to find how much I use it and it's great fun. I hadn't used one since high school days back in the 50's but it's a simple tool and one can quickly learn how to use it. Let me know if I can be of any help if/when you want to try some wheels. I think there's a limit to how small my technique can be taken ... i.e. maybe 1/18th scale. Bigger is even better. Frank

WOW ... very nice Red!! A quantum leap forward in your carving I'd say ... you've been secretly practising. I've done this very car many times so I'm qualified to say you've nailed the lines. I think you'll agree that this is a better selection of wood too as the grain has filled in better than the XK-E. So what's next? Frank

I was asked recently on another forum to share my technique for making wire wheels and I'm happy to do that but I would prefer to have it here on Britmodeller where there are probably more people who might use it. I don't have a collection of pictures taken for this express purpose so I'm using pictures I've saved over many different wheel projects and there may not always be clear continuity ... sorry about that. The wheels are a bit tricky to shape and the main pieces are best produced on a metal lathe but creative users might find alternate ways and I actually made quite a few before I bought a proper lathe. DISCLAIMER I have stated my position re: scratch building that it is the "finding of a way" to do things that interests me and my measurements may not be as precise as others may want and, more to the point, I don't care much if a wheel ends up with more or less spokes than the correct 72 or whatever. The technique I use here can produce a wheel of absolute correctness if that is your desire ... "Have at it Hoss" as someone used to say. There are 3 parts to the wheel: an outer rim, an inner wiring "loom" and a central hub. They all fit together precisely and, when laced with wire, I think they produce a passable wheel and certainly good enough for my level of builds. First up is the diagram I use to pencil in all the dimensions needed for any sized wheel. I start with the outer rim dimension "A" as that is the easiest one to determine and then try and measure "D" from scaled photos or plans. From there I can work out the various others and fill in my chart. The red represents the outer rim, blue is the wiring "loom" and green is the hub. The outer rim is machined, polished and parted (cut off) from a solid aluminum rod ... The inner wiring loom is basically a shallow dish ... Once parted off from the main rod I measure off a number of marks, 36 for a 72 spoke wheel, as 2 spokes will project from each slot. Revise your number accordingly ... Ignore the hub that's on this loom for now. and cut a shallow slot at each one using a fine stone disk or a toothed cutting disk in a Dremel. Note that there is a tiny "lip" on the end of each upright piece. This is needed to keep the wire from sliding off. The loom on the right was an experiment and has way too many slots ... ignore. Suggestions: Cut the slots to be as shallow as possible to hold 2 wraps of your wire. This will give the tidiest look when the loom is fitted into the rim. Also when setting dimensions on the chart leave enough metal so that the upright prongs are strong enough to take the pull exerted when lacing. You don't want them snapping off. Next I turn a piece which becomes the central hub around which the wire will be laced. I usually include the "knock off" spinner as part of it but it could be something that is affixed at the end. Note: the knock off is turned as a disk on the lathe (like one of the pictures above) then material removed to leave only the two or 3 lugs. The hub has a tiny cylinder at its lower end (under the dirty fingernails) which fits snugly into the hole in the wiring loom ... Note: next picture the slots haven't been cut yet and the outer disk of the hub hasn't been shaped for lugs. The hub gets sealed in with a drop af Crazy glue. It's not immediately apparent here but the hub has 2 recessed sections where the wire will traverse and give the appearance of 2 levels of spokes ... Inner and outer. Now I choose an appropriate size wire to replicate a spoke in the scale needed and this is a matter of personal preference. I've collected quite a variety of wires over the years as I learned what made the best spokes. If it's too stiff it won't bend around the prongs and won't give you a very straight spoke and may even bend the prong as you pull it tight. So you want something fairly flexible and has a diameter close to the spoke you want to make. My best source for wires has become one of the specialty stores that supply the beading hobby ... that's where people string beads on wire to make bracelets and necklaces. My local store has an amazing array of wires ... check them out. LACING THE SPOKES: Suggestions: I start by maybe glueing the back of the loom to a scrap block of wood which I fasten into my vise and that leaves both hands free to work the wire. I like to use a dental pick to move the wire into the slot and generally handle the wire with it. I tie a tight knot in the end of the wire and slide it into any slot (knot outside) then begin to lace it around the lower recess of the hub and out of a slot in the opposite side. Move to the next slot and bring it back across to the starting side. Repeat till the lower level slots each have a wire in them then, start the process over but using the upper recess. This next picture shows the lower level (inside) row of spokes in place. I next use the same slots and wire the outer spokes around the upper recess. This is a wheel for a rather small model and I've reduced the number of slots to avoid having an over-crowded look when it's all done. Your mileage may vary. When finished wiring I run the wire along the outside of the loom and secure it with a drop of glue. The loom should look like this when both layers are done ... The whole wiring process takes 5 minutes once you have the knack. The loom is now ready to be capped by the outer rim. This is where my recommendations for cutting shallow slots in the loom come into effect. The deeper the slot the more obvious the hole. That just about completes the wired wheel and we are now ready to fit a tire. Tires: I turn my tires on the lathe using a composite material made for the pattern making industry. Mine is called Renshape which is also known as Ureol. I suspect that a decent tire could be made from various materials ... even wood. There is a product available in building supply stores that is very similar to Renshape etc. It is also a composite, man-made board/plank designed for outdoor decks and boat docks. Totally impervious to weather. The great thing about these products is that the manufacturers of almost all of them will send you a free sample of all their products ... just ask for it and you'll have enough to make loads of tires. Google " Free sample composite decking". There is nothing tricky about shaping a tire other than getting the dimensions correct and making sure your rim is a snug fit into the middle. If you look back at my dimension diagram there is a slightly wider outer ring (defined by "A" and "G") which is what your tire should fit snugly against. TIRE TREADS: Recently I purchased a cheap "knurling tool" for my lathe which is designed to emboss a pattern into a tool handle for better grip. It has been very effective for impressing a diamond pattern onto the tread area. My device came with several pairs of serrated wheel patterns which, between them, can produce a variety of "treads". And Finally ... I wanted to be able to emboss those little radial lines around the outer sidewall of a tire ... As in the following picture. To do this I removed an adjustment wheel from my knurling device which has parallel grooves on its' perimeter. This one ... I jury rigged it on a bolt, locked it into the tool holder and ran it along the outer rim of my tire and got the above pattern. OK, that's about it. There's a lot of steps and some are finicky but once you've tried it (if you bother to) you might like the results. Feel free to modify my design and suggest improvements. Frank As seen on ... and others!!

Nice output for the year Clive. I'll have to see if you posted a build log for your foiling projects and how feasible it is. It sure looks effective and I mused about trying the process when building a W196 earlier this year. I particularly like your garden railway and wish I could have fit one into my life at some point. Still think my Flying Scotsman would look just about right sitting on your rails. I'm about 60 - 70% finished on a favourite Gresley A4 "Union of South Africa" which was a favourite of mine back in my youth. Frank

"Locomotive Breath" ... I had a girlfriend once who had that. Ian Anderson comes from my old home town of Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland. His "Thick as a Brick" album is in my top ten of all time. We now resume the previous program. Pardon the digression BB/BS ... won't happen again.

As always ... BB and BS have come up with a never before seen approach to the problem. Well done team!! This project is definitely "on track".

Wonderful scratch build project. Most impressive given that you had to make your own drawings. Frank

At the risk of boring you with details here's an early approach I took. I made a pair of frames from my favourite Formica/Arborite panels and glued my early-version cast wheels onto them such that the entire thing (bogie wheels, drivers and cab wheel) would sit on my jig. It was great to have all the wheels immovable and placed with the precise spacing between them. This really aids in fabricating and fitting the pieces of the motion* that will eventually attach to them. *Motion ... the metal bits that whirl round and round and up and down. In the end I switched from Formica to a soldered-up heavy brass apparatus but used the same approach. The key point here is that the motion and wheels can be assembled independent of the boiler and all that stuff top-sides. In fact, for a long time, all that topside stuff was just mounted on posts in between the wheels and was never connected at all. http:// http:// Frank

Steve and BB. You two are taking me back in time as the task starts to sink in. Truly, it does become tricky to assemble all the gubbins required (railway terminology) and still have the wheels meet the track. My own two "scents" of advice here would be to tackle this most necessary requirement first. To do that I'd suggest you set up a dummy bit of track ... maybe take a board and run it through a table saw to cut two shallow (1/4") slots at the correct width to replicate the rails. Now just tack all the wheels to it with the right lengthwise spacing between them. Now you have a jig with the wheels in their mandatory locations. You might say these positions are non-negotiable. You now of course have to decide how to fit the rest of the loco to this jig but it's an easier dilemma. Hope this is useful to you both. Frank