Atlantic's works: Portable layout update

[Atlantic 3279]

After spending some time yesterday shaping additional small pieces of plastic I was able to add those so as to build up the width and profile of the A5 frames at the rear, without fouling the waggly trailing wheels. I also fitted (dry) a set of my resin J6 brake shoes to the supporting 0.7mm wires that I had previously pushed through the upper parts of the frames, leaving the lower ends of the brakes free at that stage. The J6 brakes are possibly a bit large for the A5, but under the circumstances they satisfy the "near enough" criterion. I then had to ponder the question of how to attach a reasonably strong set of rear guard irons, firmly, and looking reasonably convincing, with the added complication of the rear chassis-to-body fixing screw being partly in the way, its position being dictated by a a captive nut soldered inaccessibly within the bunker and not therefore amenable to being re-positioned. I eventually came up with a combination of strip of nickel silver bent in several ways and filed to shape, and a couple of small screws (M 1.4 I think, about 9mm long) attaching the strip to the thick plastic frames.

Since taking these pictures earlier I've added a basic representation of the brake yokes and pull rods in order to support the lower ends of the brakes, the pull rods being firmly fixed to the frames in a couple of places hidden behind the coupled wheels.
Just sandboxes and pipes to add now and I shall regard the underpinnings as sufficiently complete. Hooray!

[Atlantic 3279]

In the process of fitting some front sandboxes I was forced to wonder whether either the Craftsman kit, or the C.Reddy drawing I've been using, has something that is not absolutely correct in respect of the relative positions of the rear bogie wheels, the leading coupled wheels, the s-curve in the frame tops above that area, the grab-rails with the steps below them, and the tank fronts. I had fitted my grab rails and steps according to holes already present in the running plate, presumably a feature of the kit, but having shaped a sandbox to agree with as much (or as little) as I could see in the drawing and in just one photograph with decent light in the necessary area, I found that I simply could not make it look as if it was in precisely the right place compared to the drawing. Mercifully, that whole area of the model looks okay to me compared to the little that can be seen in photographs. The whole question of the shapes and sizes of the sandboxes being largely unanswered by the drawing and by my available photographs, plus the boxes when fitted being painted black, hidden in shadow beneath the running plate and behind steps etc, I had decided not to worry too much about the sandboxes anyway. I simply found some hopper-shaped resin castings I had, actually meant as rear sandboxes for a rebuilt O4, which I could trim down and use "tipped up on end" to make it look as if I might have known what I was doing...
Pictures in a while.

[Woodcock29]

Graeme

I've sent you an email

Andrew

[Atlantic 3279]

Thanks Andrew. Whilst the further information from Mr Emmett may serve to reveal the error of my ways, I'm brave enough anyway to show pictures of what I've done regarding sandboxes and basic brake linkages...

I've now noticed that one of the strips on the cab roof isn't fully seated down at the rear. Adjusting that may help to make the roof look more nearly level. Some bracing behind the rear bunker steps might not be bad idea too. There's still rivet / bolt detail to add, some sort of basic cab interior, and a suitable amount of weight as well. The job never ends...

[Atlantic 3279]

I doubt that you will see any evidence in the following pictures, but I've made preparations for rivet / bolt detail on the totally plain frames below the smokebox sides and above the bogie. I made tracing paper templates with the aid of drawings of the loco then placed those on the relevant areas and used a scriber and firm pressure to mark indented dots on the metal where each head should go. Once I'm satisfied with the primer, and providing I can still see the dots, I'll build them up with spots of PVA before a further final coat of primer. The PVA spots have worked quite satisfactorily for me on past models.
Because of the way the body and chassis fit together I could not add a forward extension to the existing whitemetal cab floor unless unless I either put a slot in it to clear the currently unused shaft on the rear of one of the motors, or trimmed that shaft - which I don't want to do at this stage. I therefore built a piece of basic cab floor and splasher extension (to hide the wheel backs) onto the chassis so that it more or less matches up when the body is in place.
I also made use of a resin casting that I had deemed "not good enough" for use in the more open cab of a B3 or B7 to serve as the backhead in this loco. I had to trim the edges to reduce the size a bit of course, and cut a chunk out where the firing hole ought to be because the very rear of the rear motor just protrudes through into the cab space. As you can probably see, I initially over estimated the amount to cut out and then stuck some plasticard on to restore depth. The backhead will ultimately be glued inside the body, on the rear part of the brass box-structure under the Belpaire (part of the metalwork that stood in the way of use of a larger single motor).
The tanks are now almost full of lead thanks to some additional pieces I cut from a flattened scrap water pipe. The trimmings from the shaping of the necessary pieces, when added to the bunker space, just nicely balanced the loco about the middle coupled wheels.

A shaky picture of the backhead location in the body:

[Atlantic 3279]

Because the bogie is mounted directly onto the body rather than the chassis unit, every time I separated the modules the bogie was left flopping around without mechanical support on the end of the thin flexible wire that I'd used to connect the live bogie to the motor. It wasn't long before the wire broke off just short of the solder joint to the bogie, leaving insufficient length to re-solder it. The wire I'd first used, by the way, was a commercial offering from a trader in our hobby but it had proven to be extremely difficult to remove its plastic casing mechanically, and impossible to melt the casing off with a soldering iron or even the flame of a match. It wasn't very easy to solder it either, despite its apparently pre-tinned core! I therefore fitted a replacement wire using one of the cores from an old computer mouse lead. That proved MUCH easier to strip and to solder than the original, as well as being beautifully flexible, but in due course I managed to break that off too. Like the King of Swamp Castle I then did the job yet again, but this time I arranged the wire to be held onto the bogie by more that just its soldered metal cores. As you'll see, the wire is now looped over the rear axle, under the rear of the bolster, back through a hole I've drilled in the rear edge of the bolster, is then gently knotted and finally has its end soldered to one corner of the top of the bolster.

It hasn't broken off yet.

[Atlantic 3279]

I'd imagined that there must be a sandbox filler lurking behind the grab rail at the top of each set of steps in front of the tanks, but hadn't spotted any confirmation until I got a look at an Isinglass drawing and then studied figure 12 in Pt 7 of the RCTS volumes. A couple more resin castings pinched from my stock set aside for B3s and B7s were soon stuck in place:

With daylight from the right direction that backhead can be seen inside the cab.

The human eye can see the floor and the inner sides of the cab too, but I cannot contrive a way to get my camera (that does far too much automatically) to take a picture of those parts.

[Atlantic 3279]

Today I've been preparing the body for primer and applying same. After scraping off any large carbuncles that I could see I then went round everywhere that I could with a fibreglass pencil, while wearing disposable gloves and working over a tray to catch the broken glass fibres and keep them out of my fingers etc.
I then washed the whole body "thoroughly" under running water with the aid of a toothbrush. Some inaccessible areas of the brass still looked dull and grimy, so I then dunked the body into a pre-heated solution of citric acid in the hope that it might dissolve away the oxidation. On agitating the body I was surprised at just how many extra particles of black grot were released to settle on the bottom of the container. I went round with the toothbrush again to try to ensure that as much as possible was cleaned off. After a while soaking, I then rinsed off the weak acid and put the body into a solution of sodium carbonate (washing soda) to neutralise the citric acid plus any acidic flux residue, and to degrease the brass. Rinsed again and thoroughly dried off with the aid of a hair dryer I then sprayed on Halfords aerosol red primer, because I couldn't be bothered go to the shop again and to pay a premium price for etching primer. I reckoned the surface was pretty well prepared for paint adhesion anyway!
Naturally, the first coat of primer has revealed a number of small defects that were impossible to see when the metal was bare. Further work to rectify those may have to wait until the "festivities" this year are over, but my main concern was to get primer onto the metal as soon as possible to deter more and more tarnishing as the body was stored.

[Atlantic 3279]

Best wishes to all for the limited festive season and for 2021 which I hope will hold fewer worries, risks and hardships for those who have had a difficult time this year.

[Horsetan]

....and a Merry Chriswhittymas and a Happy New Tier to you.

[Danby Wiske]

....and a Merry Chriswhittymas and a Happy New Tier to you.

Spot the Private Eye reader...

[jwealleans]

He's a lawyer. A friend of mine was contractually obliged to read it, they had so much work from it.

[Atlantic 3279]

My lawyer has instructed me not to comment.

[Chas Levin]

The "light bulb" came on when I thought about the possibility of cutting a slot in the projecting front edge of one of the relatively thin frame plates, pushing a pre-cut step into the slot, adjusting the position to get it just-so, then soldering from the outside of the frame plate and cleaning that plate back to a smooth finish. I do have plans to add some bolt / rivet detail later by the way.
Voila! One lower step added:
DSCN0220step close up.jpg

Frame smooth again:
DSCN0221.JPG

Nice
I love those moments...

[Danby Wiske]

My lawyer has instructed me not to comment.

Probably so that they can then charge you an astronomical hourly rate to comment on your behalf...