Just William (3.5 gauge 2-6-2)

[runner42]

Oct 3, 2020 21:48:02 GMT andyhigham said:

This is our club sec's loco all paint, no real rust or grime.

Not rusty by Sigma Projects, on Flickr

I like the weathering on locomotives, but the application would be more challenging that a pristine homogeneous paint job that most of us strive to achieve.

Brian 

[barlowworks]

The problem of weathering a 5 inch gauge loco is it is so big. Not only would you have the paint effects to represent the rust and staining but there is the texture to take into account. Also the build up of general gunge round the brake blocks and motion. The military modelling guys have this covered with their various pigments and weathering powders but it would require a lot of work in 5 inch gauge. Then you have to make it all waterproof so you can run outside. Not impossible but a lot of work to do well. I think the pictured loco is one of the best I've seen so far, the motion looks increadably realistic.

Mike

[JonL]

Mine looks weathered anyway! I'm going to find a happy medium between the loco shown and Bongo. 😂

[don9f]

Run on a steel track that hasn’t been used much during lockdown.....you’ll get plenty of real gunge on the running gear!

Don

[JonL]

I've now primed the locomotive where required, and applied half the paint. Tomorrow we spin the spit for the other side.

[andyhigham]

Oct 4, 2020 12:16:46 GMT don9f said:

Run on a steel track that hasn’t been used much during lockdown.....you’ll get plenty of real gunge on the running gear!

Don

Even better if it's wet, then the rust gets everywhere

[JonL]

All paint has now been applied. Two coats in total, so four batches. I have been cleaning the gun out every time but attempt three was definitely less well flowing than the others. Attempt four went beautifully, the gun flowed well, the paint went on just right. It was only when I went to clean the spray gun I realised I hadn't refitted the paint filter... Obviously it had been impeding the flow on the third attempt.

Everything is hardening off in the garage with a bit of background heat and fans maintaining air flow, hopefully I should be reassembling Friday.

[JonL]

I've been rebuilding now, the cleading was a swine to get installed. The company I bought my stainless cable ties from for the boiler banding supplied the wrong length. I contacted them and asked them to send replacements on the right size, they arrived yesterday. They have sent the wrong ones yet again. I've binned them off and been refunded. I haven't got the patience for companies like that. Until then aircraft locking wire is holding the cleading in place in the positions that will be taken by the straps. It's narrower than the straps so allowed me to paint them in situ.

The paint seems to be serviceable, however I have found it chips quite easily (I painted another piece of brass sheet at the same time that I could touch instead of touching the main locomotive to check if the paint was dry! This I then tested the hardness on). I've run the fan heater under it and let it cool, maybe that will harden it off. Either way its a good prep for tomorrows steaming and hopefully will mean its a little less soft the first time it feels the heat of a fire.

[mbrown]

The heat of steaming will help harden the paint off. I have found out the hard way that paint can be horribly soft and easily damaged when new and first warmed up, but then seems to harden very well.

I don't know the science for this but it seems to be the case.

It's not easy to do a steam up while minimising contact with the paint, but it is worth trying.

Good luck

Malcolm

[ilvaporista]

Oct 9, 2020 15:36:10 GMT JonL said:

I've been rebuilding now, the cleading was a swine to get installed. The company I bought my stainless cable ties from for the boiler banding supplied the wrong length. I contacted them and asked them to send replacements on the right size, they arrived yesterday. They have sent the wrong ones yet again. I've binned them off and been refunded. I haven't got the patience for companies like that. Until then aircraft locking wire is holding the cleading in place in the positions that will be taken by the straps. It's narrower than the straps so allowed me to paint them in situ.

The paint seems to be serviceable, however I have found it chips quite easily (I painted another piece of brass sheet at the same time that I could touch instead of touching the main locomotive to check if the paint was dry! This I then tested the hardness on). I've run the fan heater under it and let it cool, maybe that will harden it off. Either way its a good prep for tomorrows steaming and hopefully will mean its a little less soft the first time it feels the heat of a fire.

For quick and easy boiler bands to any length I use spring steel strip from the drain cleaners you find at the DIY store. Don't forget to anneal the end before drilling and bending through 90 degrees. Annealing done in the flame of the gas cooker.

[JonL]

Fantastic day. My locomotive runs superbly on the new piston rings. Wheelspin with a hint of regulator, pulls very well, runs nicely notched back.

THE AXLE PUMP WORKS! I think a combination of new ram seals and new clack balls has sorted it finally. Thanks to all who came up with excellent suggestions to get me thinking.

New issues; the regulator is now badly leaking when shut, which when combined with the huge jump in efficiency from the piston seals means it creeps away in gear. More work required. My electric blower also misbehaved today, wasn't running right at all. Will strip and check commutator and bearings. 





Now the paint has gone through a heat cycle I will have a go at finishing off the cosmetics, although I suspect this is something that will evolve over the years. 

[Cro]

Looks great! And glad you finally have the pump sorted and it’s running well.

Do you know what sort of regulator you have in there?

Adam

[JonL]

Just a coarse whitworth thread screwing down into a tapered seat I believe.

[JonL]

I found out the issue with the regulator, and its quite embarrasing, but I did promise to be honest, for better or worse! The steam collection pipe which pokes up into the dome from the regulator tube had been screwed tighter into its thread than previously, projecting into the thread of the regulator, preventing it from being completely shut down.... It's all learning I guess.

[coniston]

Great to hear your honesty Nobby, we all learn from our mistakes and if it helps someone else all the better. Glad you got it sorted, it had to be something relatively simple as a screw down regulator cannot have many faults.

Chris D

[andyhigham]

The person that never made a mistake never did anything

[jon38r80]

Don't know why but I couldn't see the pictures before of the painted beast. Very nice,

[JonL]

Thank you all. I feel with every bump like this I learn a bit more about this locomotive.

[JonL]

Well the regulator is now the smoothest I've ever felt it work, it always had a hint of notchiness before. I made a small wooden handle to go over the metal handle which hopefully will reduce the burns! As I'm looking over the locomotive I'm making small tweaks and improvements, It looks very smart with the silver boiler bands in place. It would be more accurate to paint them black, but they really look quite nice... ah well, its not even got the right number of cylinders to be a V3, let alone rivet counting.

[JonL]

More little bits today, cut out the Roof (which luckily had been pre-rolled), and have etch primed it ready for paint. Be interesting to see how well I can drive with the roof in place!