Much doodling at Earlswood

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jwealleans
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by jwealleans »

I was going to suggest using a Bachmann one, if you knwo anyone who's done the O4/3 conversion.
earlswood nob
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

Good morning all

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

I don't have any suitable plastic rod to try, but I have found some fine copper, which should be easy to drill. I could file a slight flat on the side of the copper that will be against the boiler. Then it should be possible to drill suitable holes.

I have kept the small split pins that used to be supplied with kits. It should be possible to use those clamped to the handrail and pass them through the copper.

Thanks, I will post some pics if it works. The O4/6 is progressing slowly with a new chassis to replace the Kays bomb proof original.

Earlswood nob
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

G’day all

Thanks to the suggestions from members of this forum, I have solved the problem of a vacuum pipe behind a handrail.

The pic shows a copper vacuum pipe secured to an O4 boiler with split pins.
I have plenty of time to decide whether to use the split pins as handrail knobs or cut the heads off brass handrail knobs and solder them to the split pins, which would have the vacuum pipe threaded through them.
The boiler has to be finished and boiler bands etc fitted before I finally fit the vacuum pipe.
LNER_O4_6crop4.jpg
Now back to making the brake gear for the O4 chassis

Earlswood nob
Woodcock29
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by Woodcock29 »

It is possible to use the split pins to hold both the vacuum ejector pipe and the handrails but they need careful bending. I did this on my O2/2 over 30 years ago. By this I mean bend the spilt pins around the pipe and also use them as handrail knobs for the handrail. I also did it later on for a B5.

Woodcock29
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

Good morning all from the sunny Surrey Hills,

Thanks Woodcock for the additional information. It must have been a difficult exercise bending the split pins into a figure eight pattern.

I shall probably cut the flange off handrail knobs and solder them to the pipe.

The copper pipe looks large in the pic, probably parallax (I hope).

A posting here and good replies have led to an improvement in my modelling skill.

Earlswood nob
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Atlantic 3279
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by Atlantic 3279 »

Two additional methods to consider:

1. Make the ejector pipe from plastic or something else soft enough to drill through without too much difficulty, then use shoulderless long handrail knobs for the handrail wire, arranging for these to pierce the ejector pipe and then enter the boiler. The Gibson range includes suitable knobs.

2. A more laborious method (courtesy of Morgan Gilbert if I remember details and origin correctly) that might with great care successfully represent both "knobs" on the double stanchions involves making up each stanchion from two or three strands of fine wire twisted together and coated in solder. Initially the strands are wrapped parallel and un-twisted over the handrail wire, then given a twist or two behind it, keeping two separate tails of wires going rather than merging them all into one mass. The two tails can then be wrapped around the ejector pipe too before twisting them together into a single stem behind that pipe. If soldering is left until the handrail,stanchions and ejector pipe have been positioned on the boiler with the stems fed into their holes, everything can be adjusted until "just so".
Most subjects, models and techniques covered in this thread are now listed in various categories on page1

Dec. 2018: Almost all images that disappeared from my own thread following loss of free remote hosting are now restored.
earlswood nob
LNER A4 4-6-2 'Streak'
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

Good morning all

Thanks Atlantic 3279, I had just found a reference to Gibson shoulderless handrail knobs on your thread about building K2's. They are exactly what I need. They would replace the split pins in my pic.

I shall order some from AGW today, with their brilliant service, I shall have them early next week.

The Morgan GIlbert method will be filed, and kept incase other methods do not work.

Earlswood nob
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

Good morning all

The package arrived promptly from AGW.

The Gibson shoulderless handrail knobs are ideal for fitting handrails on the outside of vacuum ejector pipes.

There was also a reference in Atlantic's post for using them as smokebox door handles.

I tried using them over the weekend to make a smokebox wheel/handle fitting using the small wheels available from Mainly Trains.

Thanks for the tip

Earlswood nob
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

G’day all

I have bought another Kays O4 and have been sorting that out for a complete rebuild. The paint had been applied with a shovel, and after soaking overnight in paint stripper, all I had was a pile of bits as it had been assembled with glue (Bostik??). However, it was cheap and with a little work will make a decent model.
There has been a little progress on the O4/6. The pics show the loco with pieces balanced together. The footplate has been made wider. The cab shorter, wider, and higher. The firebox is made longer as more was showing due to the shorter cab.
Presumably as a result of being a rebuild from an O5, it needs a shorter chimney. I think an A5 is suitable, which I have in stock.
LNER_O4_6crop6.jpg
Earlswood nob
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

G’day all

I have raked out the O4/4 that I started a while ago and put to one side as I “borrowed” the motor and wheels for another project. The pieces are balanced on the footplate and not fixed yet. Now that I have found out how to make vacuum pipes with handrails outside, I can restart the O4/4 alongside the O4/6.
The pic shows that the two O4/4’s were longer loco. They were rebuilds of O4/3 ex-ROD locos, but were fitted with vacuum ejectors.
LNER_O4_4crop3.jpg
Earlswood nob
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

G’day all

I built the tender and added a casing for the water pick-up linkage as O4/6’s inherited it from the O5’s.
I also fitted Gibson buffers to the tender as round base were supplied with the kit (ROD type).
I made a water pick up wheel from a small wheel on a Bill Bedford fret, and added short lengths of 0.7mm wire. I made eight spokes, but have a horrible feeling that the original only had six.
I also made a smokebox wheel/handle lock from a small wheel available from Mainly Trains and a shoulderless handrail knob from AGW.
The pieces are still balanced on the footplate, and I will fill the unused part of the boiler with lead to improve adhesion.
LNER_O4_6crop7.jpg
Earlswood nob
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

G’day all

Thing are quiet on here, so how about a bit of light relief.
As often happens, I am waiting for some pieces to arrive for my O4/6, and as a break from my family history research, I have been playing around with my ex-NER shunters.
As you will see one is under construction, this will fill a gap in my collection.
There is also one class missing, the eagle eyed LNER fans will spot the type that is absent.
Most of them also require lettering and numbering, but in many cases, I am leaving that until I build a proper layout, and decide which locos would be suitable for that.
It was dangerous purchasing a stock of Yeadons, as I now find that many of the locos that I built and numbered years ago are not quite correct. However, I hope I’m not as bad as some suppliers. The original Bachmann J39 was quite a good model, except for the tender. Who wants a B1 tender coupled to a pre-war loco? I do own a couple of their J39s and have got them running well, fitted a correct tender and I am much happier with them. They are quite powerful locos and will push (more difficult than pulling) the equivalent of 40 wagons up a 1 in 76 incline.
This forum has caused me to be so critical, particularly about my own work. However, I get so much more satisfaction from building better models than I did before I joined this forum.
LNER_shunters01.jpg
Earlswood nob
Sea Eagle
LNER N2 0-6-2T
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by Sea Eagle »

I'm looking forward to the J39 with the upgraded chassis. The proposed LNER liveried one is 1803 which was one of the Beyer Peacock built locos. The photo on the Bachmann website shows it with a correct contractor built flush sided low front 4200 gal GS tender, but the options for renumbering with this configuration are limited. The BR liveried one - 64792 - is a Darlington built loco, but the website is showing this one with a contractor tender as well - which I'm guessing is incorrect unless there's evidence of a tender swap. Bachmann have produced the correct tender for the most recent models of V2 Green Arrow, but not sure whether they've done one in black. Of course a model of any variety of 3500 gallon GS tender would be very welcome!
earlswood nob
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by earlswood nob »

Good morning all
The upgrade of the Bachmann J39 sounds interesting.
I was quite surprised by the J39 I bought cheaply last year. After learning how to separate the chassis from the body (from this forum), a good clean of the bearings, a small amount of lubricant, and the performance was very good. I have since bought another one which also runs well after cleaning.
There are so many variations of the J39 tenders as even the flush sided examples had different variants.
I am quite surprised that nobody has produced a GS3500 tenders, as there were more J39/1's than any other part. However, I don't think it would have much use on other classes.
I have built a few tenders to produce J39/3's. I had mistakenly numbered the first kit I built (c1970), as 1471, not realising that loco required a different tender.
When Bachmann do produce a new J39, I hope that the old version will go cheaply, as I will require haulers for the GS High Front 4200 tender and the GS 3500 stepped coping tender, when I construct them.

Earlswood nob
UpDistant
NBR J36 0-6-0
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Re: Much doodling at Earlswood

Post by UpDistant »

If you are prepared to go down the kit route, the GS 3500 gal tender is available from SEF (whitemetal body with etched chassis), or from Dave Bradwell (etched).

Without having to rummage through boxes in the round-tuit cupboard, I don't think the flared version can be made from the SEF kit - it can from the Bradwell.

HTH

John
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