96RAF Posted February 5, 2018 Share Posted February 5, 2018 I thought it was going far too well Ken.What an awful series of calamities for you to fix.The only difference with the boiler heating is you have gone direct 'element to water' rather than using the Hornby 'air tube' transfer.Keep us posted.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted February 5, 2018 Author Share Posted February 5, 2018 hi Robyes i did that in the hope that things would work better but time will tell i have completed the mods and run the engine and thing are not right but look a bit better as the engine runs for a short time before running out of steam pressure, but left for a minute it is soon off again. will do further testing to see how its going think there might be a steam leak somewhere need to look over the boiler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 It doesnt take much of a leak at this scale to loose pressure. I recall chasing a leak on an aircraft that we had modified with a cargo door. It was bad enough to fail the leak rate test and one of our big sums guys worked out it only had to be a 1 square inch hole to leak away enough at proof pressure and that is taking account of the volume of a Gulfstream business jet sized fuselage. Needless to say it is easy to cumulate that area across plugs, control rod exit and wire loom sealing points. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted February 7, 2018 Author Share Posted February 7, 2018 Robleaks and the like are always a problem i can remeber a RADAR cabin that had 2 pipe connectors one for compressed air and one for water someone got it round the wrong way the wave guid was full of water the the cooling system was full of air could not switch on power luckly as flow switches were all wrong all lights and bells. stil this jobs not going well read on........../media/tinymce_upload/7493cc9a86524a75e96ed92294cef37a.jpgChanges were made to correct the earlier problems and then some retesting could be carried out. As you can see in this picture the tender boiler in now lagged with some heat proof marital in the hope that heat will not be lost through the brass boiler casing./media/tinymce_upload/86763c5ee2b70338b338dd9bb9f2081e.jpgOnce more the water and steam oil was added and the engine left to make some steam pressure once the safety valves were lifting it was time to see what would happen. Off round my track it went and this time looked good I run the engine for a good 20 minutes and all was working well no steam leaks or water leaks and no short circuits.The new red flicker light was working ok so things were looking good so a longer run was under taken to see just how long this engine was going to run for with this larger tender boiler?Every thing was checked out for this world record attempt. The engine set off at a good speed and was left to run the time was logged and when it stopped due to lack of water the time would be taken once more and this total time was 30 minutes about the same time as the Hornby engines so no improvement on running time. /media/tinymce_upload/524914b59f4a7d0a4961aea3a49c043c.jpgThen it was noticed that the red light PCB was burning out again and this was due to a steam leak on the main tender heater O ring seal it was clear that this idea was not going to work and that a change should be made to revert to the Hornby copper tube silver soldered in the boiler and the heater fitted in this sleeve.The tender boiler will need to be striped down and the copper tube added then try again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Very smart with its overcoat on Ken. I hope it doesn’t make fitting the tender body difficult. If so you may be able to line the tender walls instead.A shame the direct boiler heating doesn’t seem to work as well as expected. You have to try these things to find out though.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted February 8, 2018 Author Share Posted February 8, 2018 Rob what a great idea to lag the body not the boiler why didn't I think of that or if space do both just this minute finished making and soldering in the new heater tube but need a new heater as the old one has had it. Once that's fitted I can see what happens this time as I think the less than good long run might be down to very small steam leaks around the heater? ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 Pity you cant get silly foam in model sized tins, but you would have to be sure the job was AOK before filling the gaps.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 Rob is that the foam filler in a tin for buildings ? Did some steam tests yeaster not bad but not good will try some video this after noon and post the out come all being well.ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 Thats the stuff Ken, goes everywhere but where you want itI’ve been using some expensive (€16 for 1litre) foaming PVA wood glue to relay some loose patio tiles. It sets waterproof by reaction with moisture in the air, etc including sea-waterproof and bonds just about anything to anything not just wood, which is good as I’m sticking marble tiles to concrete. Acid ran out here eats soft grout and cheap cement so everything falls apart after a decade.Look forward to the test runs later.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 I need to get some of that foam as I have a upvc back door to fit next week the old one falling to bits. Still have up loaded some video of the latest runs still think the tender boiler might need a new one as the coal area was larger then I thought could use this extra space and make it shorter so reducing the surface area and also bring the heater nearer to the centre of the boiler, still here's the link to the video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted February 11, 2018 Share Posted February 11, 2018 Very impressive Ken, especially those drag race starts in slo-mo.There is also just a quick flash at one point of the red light on the back of the tender.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted February 11, 2018 Author Share Posted February 11, 2018 Yes Rob for there size engines generate a lot of power for there size and I should have included slow starts and runs plus the most important stops at a station as that's the skill for any steam train driver is stopping at the right place in the platform did I tell of the story of the train that stopped short at Romford station in the blackout in the war, the last carriage was not in the platform but on the road dredge a soldier got out of the compartment and in the dark thought he was on the platform but was standing on the bridge wall he took a step back and fell down into the road sustained a broken leg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 /media/tinymce_upload/2ae3fe2b7df0fd66076631d815d89e9c.JPGThe tender boiler was taken into the work shop and the old heater gland parts removed then the boiler was rebuilt with the copper tube silver soldered in place of the gland assembly and the heater refitted and assembled back on the tender Chassis./media/tinymce_upload/15f92085d74f1ce65747a752824d670f.jpgTest runs carried out and after much testing the engine ran wonderful it now had no leaks and steamed well the running time still at 30 minutes but at least things were now going well.Having said that I still felt that not to use the full coal space in the tender would be a mistake and that I would not be happy until this available space was used to prove if or not a better boiler could be built after all these larger tenders of 5000 gallons were built to increase the range of these engines before they needed to stop and refill.The New BoilerA start was made and some measurements were taken for this new boiler so that it would fit using the space spoken about./media/tinymce_upload/351e33b1f83063030e94fac0031ebd38.jpgBecause the round tube section will be longer on this new boiler it would increase the water capacity therefore might give a longer running time.It was also feared that the heat radiating from the back end of the old boiler was having an affect on the red rear oil lamp LED circuit so by making this area some 10 mm shorter would correct this problem and at the same time will also give more room for the wiring./media/tinymce_upload/9c85901ea3217943bbb2519e5a3182b0.jpgYou can see from this picture the work has started. New fittings and the fixing points are to be made along with the copper tube to hold the heater which I will require a new one as the old heater is falling apart with all the mod’s and changes to the boiler fittings. /media/tinymce_upload/4d4e4f6bddc93727761d1e57e54ff86c.jpg In this picture you can see that the tube section is quite a bit longer than the old boiler but overall its also a bit shorter.Once the boiler is finished the tender body needs the top section cut away to accommodate the larger tube section.It is hoped that this will then draw a line under the tender build and the complete engine and tender can under go the paint process.PaintingSo as work on the new tender boiler is waiting for parts I thought it was time to make a start on the paint work.The crew and the details in the cab needs attention first.One part of the painting here was a ticklish jobs this was to remove the drivers right arm and reposition it with his hand on the regular lever all with out any pain relief./media/tinymce_upload/b0d1b5ccdf344ba4b2a880976c15928f.jpgAlong with this I needed to make some gauges this is a straight forward job if a bit fiddly first turn up some brass gauges then using the PC draw up the dials and print on photo glossy paper./media/tinymce_upload/456b5118ac3919b7ab6937b1f3d63b1d.jpgyou can see some in the back ground in this picture. /media/tinymce_upload/345741d6338c956d2ac1c7485e952e06.jpgSpay the printed paper with high gloss varnish after the varnish is dry supper glue the outer ring of the brass gauge and press it onto a selected dial face on the paper and wait till the glue sets./media/tinymce_upload/a02c36690bde1484ea90f60e04f004a2.JPGOnce dry cut around the brass disc roughly with a pair of scissors./media/tinymce_upload/35e400273eac9f37dd804ba439215555.jpgNext using a fine needle file, file the back of the gauge with the paper on soon only the outside edge of the paper will be removed leaving the inside disc untouched. /media/tinymce_upload/874396a16f88ca970f3af8b5f3896d7c.jpgHere you see the paper half filed away the filing needs to be carried out until all the paper has gone from the outer edge of the gauge./media/tinymce_upload/36d73cf4f93fb3cccbd69f8595d7fe47.jpgPush the paper disc into about the middle of the gauge and with more supper glue fix this gauge into position on the back of the boiler. You can add a little more gloss varnish to the front of the gauge and that's it time to start the next gauge./media/tinymce_upload/632249d4008c4190510184d11b939c89.JPGThe finished gauge/media/tinymce_upload/1af12d2211c1ba99a6fa8dcc0066674b.jpgWith 4 gauges fitted to the back of the boiler they look ok if a little over size.Still more small parts to do before the painting the main loco body and tender shell./media/tinymce_upload/c6f9f9f43e1f4db3d08789b2fa1bff72.JPGThe wheels were next each wheel was removed from the engine and painted by hand and put to one side to dry as these were Flying Scotsman wheels the shade of green was very close to the Malachite green of the Southern Railway so seemed to cover well./media/tinymce_upload/ea875226285770de23076c3ffb562bed.JPGWhile these wheels were off the front bogies were remove from the chassis and the wheels which were black were repainted green to fit in with the colour of the main drivers but looking at this picture I think they need a second coat of paint.Other parts that needed painting were the cylinders as they were green not black as in the Flying Scotsman./media/tinymce_upload/e6fc51639f8b1e2b452cc3931d868a4c.JPGThe chassis was also repainted black as the original paint had suffered with the chopping about of the Hornby A3 chassis to turn this into a Lord Nelson class engine./media/tinymce_upload/852ea58f24ce0f68a762a7c46960f2d9.JPGAll the body parts were put in an ice cream container and covered with cellulose thinners.The parts were then brushed all over to remove any flux dirt and most of all oil from the metal.This will leave a good clean surfaces for the paint to stick to. I believe that washing up liquid is the wrong stuff to use as it leaves a trace chemical behind to give glass and china a shine and might stop the paint adhering properly./media/tinymce_upload/6c9f7e1ded218e539aa1961589cae393.jpgYou also do not want to handle the parts as oil in your skin may cause a problem later on.The first coat has to be an etch primer on brass and this should be applied very thinly which will give a good key for the top coat of paint. That’s made a start on the paint work.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 Nice to read the progress report Ken.Strange how the tubed heater seems to work better than the direct heater. The modified boiler should give better mileage.I love the way you make those gauges, very realistic.These old drivers were made of stern stuff. The one in my Class 47 didn't even whince when I chopped his legs off below the knees To make him fit.God tips about prep for painting. I painted my Deltic (plastic body) without using a primer and the top coat, whilst its very nice the paint chips off very easily. Lesson learned for next time.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted March 5, 2018 Author Share Posted March 5, 2018 Hi Robyour right about old railway men being of sterner suff my father told me of many years ago with a ganger team working on the track the Forman had a bowler hat as the gang were digging at the track the foreman got too close to one man and as he swung his pick axe over his head he cought the foreman the spike end of the pick axe went straight through his hat and into the top of his head the ganger never realised what he had done till he brought the pick axe down into the ground and was amazed to see a hat on the other end of his pick!dad said the foreman put a handkerchief in the hole in his head and the hat back on and the work carried on dad said the foreman was more worried about his hat than the injury to his head.having said that a seeing the news on how well the railway did in the snow reminds me of the winters years back when dad would be out on night shift de-icering points with a shovel and salt and keeping gas heaters going replacing gas bottles (maybe I'll add gas bottles to my railway no doubt someone will ask "what's that")still picture the scene the temperature is below zero its dark the winds blowing a gale with snow getting in your face on an exposed bit of track and all night you have been keeping the trains running and your frozen to the bone and then when standing on a platform waiting for his train home a couple of gents waiting for there train to London for the morning rush one man turns to the other and said "the 7.05 is running 10 minutes late today" dad nearly pushed them under it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 /media/tinymce_upload/ca9a735cf569b2a17612eb7fd1b65979.jpgThe painting was going well the paint was a gloss finish which comes up very shiny which is a good surface for the transfers to go onto it allows thetransfers to side better and when dry stick better.This gloss is a bit over the top for me but as I prefer a more matt finish once all the detailed work is done then I spray the complete body with a semi matt finish varnish this make it look better than the gloss and also adds a seal to the transfers./media/tinymce_upload/3e85013977653d19eb967cb59257ab63.jpgWhen the paint is dry then the fiddly job of applying the transfers is carried out it was when I was doing this that I noticed a missing part or should I say parts to the engines body.Did any one else spot the missing parts?/media/tinymce_upload/6c5b7b7a9c1b10f652aa5acffb62ccfe.jpgLook closely at the picture here and see if you can see it./media/tinymce_upload/19f2f846c6c1770e44253d73dee12cc8.jpgHere are the missing parts which were the front steps and I only discovery it as I was looking at pictures of the class for painting details that I suddenly noticed that they were missing. so they were quickly made up and soldered in place both sides of the engine and could then be painted along with the valance as the paint had lifted here due to the heat of the soldering.This had come about because the brass kit had no plans in the box with all the parts to build the engine and so it was a guess what goes where type of build but having said that I should have known as there isan't many engines that do not have steps in this position.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Front steps - hiding in plain sight.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 /media/tinymce_upload/fb82b1805f3c3e53be98a4532f4fb552.jpgNow back to the painting these Southern locos had a black thin out line to the tender bodies then working inwards from this black painted area started the lining art work and I found that to paint this would be difficult with out lots of masking out so I opted for this pen idea so drawing around the tender body first with about a 1 millimetre line before applying the transfers was a way to over come this tricky job./media/tinymce_upload/fe9816e30eef46e5bcc4ea371fc9ed52.jpgThe engine body was very straight Forward once the paint had hardened off to fix these transfers in place once all this was completed and dried well I can then over spray the complete model in a satin varnish this will fix the transfers and protect them from the heat and oil./media/tinymce_upload/5d326c82c9ad1643c4876b2e28b0e394.JPGThe crew are now fixed in position and working away even though all the gauges seem to be reading zero. After the varnish has dried then the name plates can be glued onto the wheel splashers and the buffers and springs fitted the number of job are getting less now as the final of this build is getting closer./media/tinymce_upload/3f04390f1e68dfebb18de7fea9526075.jpgThe parts for the new boiler turned up and so the metal work for this new boiler could be silver soldered together and completed/media/tinymce_upload/c500d57e1e567298acae896eea38cbf8.jpgOnce the boiler had been cleaned a small amount of water was put inside the boiler and it fired up, standard practice is to carry out a hydraulic test at twice the working pressure which would be 60 psi held for a couple of hours if no loss in pressure then a steam test done at 30 psi and the fittings checked and safety valve operation checked out. All I wanted to know was the boiler steam tight so that’s why you see it here connected to a second tender and left to boil if I had time I would have made up some fittings and a large pressure gauge so I could see what was going on but left that part out as said I just wanted to see if I had any leaks./media/tinymce_upload/9e7a669b495e5bf568cdbf23919e6edd.jpgThe end of the out let pipe where steam would be taken off for the engine was crimped over and the only place I could see water and steam from was this pipe as you can see from the picture so it looked good, so happy with this stage of the work it was back to the painting and here are some pictures of the finished tender body sorry about the wobbly lines but things look worse in close up photography./media/tinymce_upload/966c93169f84fe46b90ec60150f50cea.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 When you see it in the brass it is hard to think the finished article is the same thing.Job really well done Ken.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2e0dtoeric Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 If anyone comments on the wobbly lines, tell them the engine was needed on the line, so the artist kept working through an air-raid! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted March 10, 2018 Author Share Posted March 10, 2018 Hi 2e0dtoericfunny you should say that but there have been times when I have sat at our round kitchen table trying to set out these transfers and her who must be obayed sitting opposite reading her magazine learns on the table every 5 minutes the table goes up and down it's like working on a table in the Titanic as it's going down or though she does say sorry did I jog the table? The answer I cannot put here as it would be removed but something like yes dear don't worry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted March 16, 2018 Author Share Posted March 16, 2018 /media/tinymce_upload/4b530814c7b41f03b20593bd2487c162.jpgHere you can see the top of the tender boiler and its white jacket this was a section of silicon sheet rubber1/2 mm thick to help keep the heat in the boiler and away from the tender body and its paint work.I have covered how I make the tender coal cover before on other loco rebuilds but to complete this part of the build will go over it quickly once more and for those that may not have seen it.This idea could be used for coal wagons or sand may be./media/tinymce_upload/a23aa65a8499fa1a448808431bf2ca3f.jpgStarting with the tender body I rolled up some foil to fill the gap between the tender boiler and the end of the coal area./media/tinymce_upload/aeddba5a410690575fc049646c9a7d4a.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/0fa992a8178d1539d0567ee82c9a4131.jpgThen cut some foil to cover the tender boiler pushing it well down all the sides and pressing around the filler screw and safety valve in the top of the boiler./media/tinymce_upload/57a23c246719f1743ab3be255adcc1a4.JPGOnce the foil was in place and covered all the area well I painted some oil around the top section of the tender body inside and out with a strip about 4 mm to prevent the fibre glass from sticking. Next crunch up the coal into very small bits that will look the right scale./media/tinymce_upload/5b0296e3b0a67a65bb05ffa5746a6b16.jpgNow mix up the fibre glass enough to cover the foil and while still wet push the small bits of coal into the fibre glass compound. Leave to set for the required time then remove the tender body from the boiler and chassis and from the inside of the body push the coal out of the body./media/tinymce_upload/88e7db176f2656f1a12c5c8908a01cae.jpgClean up the edges with sand paper or a file to make it an easy fit in the body and remove any unwanted coal.Any of the fibre glass showing can be painted black to make it all blend in it might be that you have some loose bits of coal that keep falling off to over come this drip some superglue over the coal it will run down and make it a much more solid a job. /media/tinymce_upload/f144bb3851db6e277d9eea1c83e79a76.jpgIt looks a good load of coal they have picked up and it fits very snugly./media/tinymce_upload/4ca66eaedc69262ce9161b6865187455.jpg I still have the air tanks to make and fit and then we will be at the end of the job and have one of the most powerful steam engines to run in Great Britain in its day what a shame that only one was saved of the class. /media/tinymce_upload/9e7153f7d0b4b454cbdbc6820e0886e5.jpgI will take some video and post it in time so lets hope it still runs ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Superb KenRob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlanesTV Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 Visitors to the OO Live Steam Roadshow would be overjoyed to see your magnificent models running there Ken. It's just a shame you live so far away from ECML - most Roadshows tend to be in the east of England. Not by design. What's the best big show near you? Maybe we can get an invitation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowest Posted March 22, 2018 Author Share Posted March 22, 2018 /media/tinymce_upload/3abd44aeb43689af4c4206d273f4623d.jpgNow with all tests complete the basic engine runs very well in fact it’s a joy to drive and it can be seen here on youtube steaming round my small track.The new boiler that fitted the coal space better and increased the water capacity on tests gave 40 minutes run time which is 10 minutes longer than the A3 and A4 engines which is great as Mr Maunsell wanted to design an engine that would travel a long way before it would need to stop for water and even with this model he can be proud of his design as I wanted my engine to achieve the same performance in distance and it has so have a look at Sir Frances Drake just click on the link below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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