James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

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Mercator II
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by Mercator II »

I see them!!!!

Looks good too!!
oOo

Brian

Garage Hobbit!!
Modelling in 00 on my heritage line, very GCR inspired
James Harrison
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

Result! (Must have been something going on with Imgur then).

Thank you!- building the remainder of the rake forms part of the to-do list for 2018.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

Over Christmas, amongst other things, I've been looking at the last of the cardboard kits for Metropolitan Ashbury stock. Once completed, this kit will complete my rake of those carriages (and, incidentally, consume more than a few bits and pieces that have been cluttering up the workbench for the last six months- bogie kits, buffer castings and the like)...

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Carriage underframes; having started with the simple open box structure from the kit (a floor and four sides to fold up), I added a sheet of 0.5mm plastic sheet on top to brace the floor and provide the carriage footboards. I've also added the couplings (knuckle couplings from the Kadee range, same as now most of my coaching stock) and the buffers (I think these are from the Dart Castings stable- I could be wrong!- but they are intended for British Railways Mk.1 carriages, but don't look out of place for that).

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Now from below; firstly you can see the original cardboard element of the floor and solebars. Left to its own devices that's not really a very strong structure, so you can see I braced it up with some 2mm square plastic strip running the full length of the carriage down both sides. At the ends, where the buffers and couplings are fitted, I put two of these in (making a 4mm by 2mm block) and then cut the middle out of that to allow a gap for the coupling. I also drilled 2.4mm holes through the blocks to provide a form footing for the buffers. The bogies are plastic kits by Parkside Dundas intended for one of their long bogie wagon kits; the reason I have used these particular bogies is that the original carriages had very short wheelbases on the bogies (of the order of 5'), which are pretty much impossible to source either as ready-to-run items or as kits. It is a case of using wagon bogies (which are shorter than carriage bogies), or using carriage bogies with a wheelbase of 8' or so. Which on a carriage of about 40' length looks pretty ridiculous. Finally, in the middle of the carriage, are two iron weights of 10 grams each. These are some of those self-adhesive balancing weights you can buy for balancing car or motorbike wheels.

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Coming up to the bodywork now, you can see how I've used two kits to create the panelling. I've also used 10mm lengths of 0.5mm square plastic strip to create the louvred vents. The sides and the roof are drawn as one piece and to create a nice even curve I scored the roof at approximately 2mm centresto induce a curve. I also know from previous experience that the roof is a little too wide, so I cut a 2mm strip out of it down the centre of the carriage.

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The carriage ends are separate components and fit inside the carriage sides.

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For the interior of the carriage, I am using spare ends from the main kit and otherwise useless parts from the second kit (bought for the panelling) to create the bulkheads between the compartments. These will be then be painted, and some seats built out of plastic sheet.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

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I've added the roof, the seats and the glazing. I've introduced the body to the underframes; with the exception of the transfers and varnish it's about finished.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

I made the finishing touches on the last of those carriages today. Footboards were added and painted, doors were drawn in and a few suspect areas of paint on the roof were attended to.

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I'm rather pleased with it, all told.

I've also started on a new locomotive, a GCR class 18 Converted, or LNER class J58 in post-1923 parlance.

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These are quite interesting machines. They started life in the 1880s as 0-6-0 goods tender engines but by 1900 were being superceded by newer designs. Rather than scrap them outright it was observed that there was still a lot of life left in their boilers and frames, so almost the entire class were taken in hand and converted into tank engines. Their tenders would have been reconditioned to go on and run behind newer locomotives, whilst the engines themselves had their frames lengthened in the rear, they were given a saddle tank and a bunker, and then they went on to spend another twenty years or so being employed as shunters in yards. Being fitted with vacuum brakes meant that they were rather more useful than an almost identical class of tank engines- class 18T- so they could also be seen on short goods workings out on the running lines.

My model takes as a starting point a Triang dock shunter from the 1960s.

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Now the prototype for this toy (and it really is a toy!) is coincidentally also an 0-6-0 tender engine that was converted to a tank loco- in that case a South Eastern & Chatham machine rebuilt for dock working in about 1917. Such is the curious way of things.

There are of course many differences between the two that will need attention, not least of which is that the Triang engine has a bulk about it singularly lacking from my chosen prototype.

So; first things first, I cut the model down into separate components. The running plate, the cab, bunker and saddle tank, and the smokebox. There was a fourth part too- a deep band of material below the saddle tank that I have discarded. The whole body needs lowering toward the running plate by around 2 or 3mm you see, and it's going to be easier to just do that from scratch than to mess about trying to take a nice perfect 3mm slot out of the body.

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manna
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by manna »

G'Day Gents

First time I've ever seen someone do anything to one of these. Height, is the biggest problem with these loco's, but I bet you have a 'cunning plan'.......

manna
EDGWARE GN, Steam in the Suburbs.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

I reckon the Triang body needs about 3mm taking out of it in the height. The problem is that the chassis is back to front in this one- the motor is in the smokebox- and the top of the motor is only a millimetre or so below the inside of the moulding. The moulding is quite thick and chunky, but not 3mm thick and chunky. I'm probably going to thin down the smokebox as far as I can, then cut a slit out of the top of it- the chimney has to come off anyway- then create a new smokebox wrapper to cover the hole. It's sure going to be an interesting one.
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52D
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by 52D »

manna wrote: Sun Jan 14, 2018 8:50 pm G'Day Gents

First time I've ever seen someone do anything to one of these. Height, is the biggest problem with these loco's, but I bet you have a 'cunning plan'.......

manna
Looking on with interest at this one manna, i remember a few years ago a chap made some models of real locos LBSCR ISTR out of triang Nellie etc.
Hi interested in the area served by 52D. also researching colliery wagonways from same area.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

Well, for the last fortnight I've been working on rather a nice WWI biplane but now that that is finished there is no reason why the little shunting loco can't make a reappearance on the bench.

So; The prototype.

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The starting point.

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And now, to continue....

Last time I discussed this model I had gotten as far as cutting it up into several pieces with a view to lowering the body. So, to continue that idea, I took some measurements from my drawing (since starting this model I've taken delievery of a model railway magazine dated December 1968 with scale drawings of this engine) and I used a pair compasses to scribe lines onto the loco body to demarcate where I should place my cuts. The saddle tank needs to lose the bottom 6mm or so; the cab and bunker need to lose about 4mm from their bottom. The relationship between cab roof and top of the saddle tank is just about right so the datum point of the model is taken as being about the joint between saddle tank and cab, and the tops of the saddle tank and the cab roof.

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After some fairly major surgery to the cabsheets and the saddle tank. To be able to lower the bodywork I need to turn thebody around on the chassis.... or turn the chassis around under the body.... in any case the motor no longer sits in the smokebox but rather protrudes into the cab. The knock-on effect of this is that in the rear of the bunker two slits now needed to be filed to accommodate a pair of cast-metal 'hooks' in the chassis that hold the body in place.

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The saddle tank and cab then had a lot of wrong or unneccessary detail sanded off. Rain strips on the cab roof, the dome, the safety valves, rivets on the saddle tank.... all removed. Then a new whitemetal dome was fitted. This was I think a spare from a kit. Then it was refitted to the running plate and the wbole body offered up to the chassis to check firstly it all fits and secondly it all looks good. Well, I think it looks a lot better!

The smokebox at this point purely a push-fit so I then took that off again, sawed off the chimney, and went into my sparesbox again, returning with a brass casting for a GCR-pattern tapered chimney. This was then glued into the smokebox, which was then reinstated.

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Yes, there we go.
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52D
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by 52D »

im liking this, very similar to some of the messing around ive done with Smokey Joe locos.
Hi interested in the area served by 52D. also researching colliery wagonways from same area.
earlswood nob
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by earlswood nob »

Good morning all

A very interesting conversion.

I've always like the look of the GCR saddle tanks.

Digressing slightly, I picked up a L&Y saddletank, (which was also a convert from a tender loco) for a good price, and I pleased with it. It will not look out of place with my fleet of West Riding freights, when the layout gets built, as the L&Y had extensive lines in the area.

Earlswood nob
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

Thanks.

The LYR tank, I think it looks so similar to the GCR type that I did consider buying one to convert; the Triang shunter just happened to come up for the right price first though.

I think the plan for this evening (or maybe tomorrow now) will be to start looking at creating the lower half of the smokebox, the smokebox door, and then looking at the splashers.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

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Progress on the little saddletank. This week I have been fabricating some new 'cheeks', I suppose you could call them, running down from the saddle tank to the running plate. I can't model the boiler as such as the motor and chassis get in the way. Speaking of the chassis, the original one I found had pizza-cutter wheels with very deep flanges that couldn't run on my Code 75 track without bumping along the sleepers. Fortunately I had an identical chassis of a slightly more recent vintage (and whose wheels were slightly more suitable)- it's a plug in replacement. A rare easy victory there.

I've also been looking at the splashers, and I've cut the bunker down. I still need to look at the running plate, I still need to create new cab sheets and there are details and heavy work alike aplenty to go before this gets anywhere near completion. But we're getting there.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

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And we're about ready for some paint....

There have been a couple of interesting challenges with this one. Firstly the safety valves, which barely protrude above the saddletank. The way I solved this was to take the original safety valves and cut them right down, then I used some plastic sheet to form the bar above. Secondly the saddletank filler cap. I started this by using a holepunch to produce several 5mm diameter plastic circles. These I then glued together to give me a solid plastic cylinder, 5mm across by about 5mm high. This I then banded up with some cartridge paper. Putting that aside for a while, I took a 5mm drillbit to the saddle tank to give me a 5mm hole, which then needed filing out to about 6mm for a comfortable push fit.

Handrails are simply lengths of 0.64mm diameter plastic rod, as are the coal rails. There are a few extra bits and pieces still to fabricate and fit, but those can wait until after painting.
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Re: James' workbench- ex-GC locos and stock in OO

Post by James Harrison »

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She's finished! Now I think that is quite a respectable result, from what was a toy.
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