Just to let you know that currently my webpage is down for maintenace. I'm told this may be due to a BIOS update that's gone bad. All data is safe, it's the server motherboard that is causing the problem. Hopefully, normal service will resume soon.
Evening all... just a heads up that my site is now back up, I won't be adding to it until next week, my son still has some work to do on it to make it fully stable and backup everything that he's done.
Evening all, tonight I have the second instalment for the valve connecting links, I had hoped to conclude these parts in this update but there's still some work left to do. I must say thank you to Doug for his timely tips on the fulcrum pin, you'll see what I mean in the blog entry. Hope you find it of interest.
You've got a beautiful finish on those pieces Pete - lovely stuff!
Malcolm
2.5"g narrow gauge modeller - Bagnall 0-4-2T, L&B 2-4-2T "Lyn" and just completed Burma Mines Rly 0-6-0 - all to 1.25": 1'. Now working on the next 2.5"g model - ex-Mecklenburg Pommersche Schmalspurbahn No.99 3462, until recently on the Waldeisenbahn Muskau near the Polish border....
You've got a beautiful finish on those pieces Pete - lovely stuff!
Malcolm
Thank's Malcolm, not finished yet though, a few hours filing/polishing still to do. I hope to have the 3M medium sanding sponges that I've ordered for the job arrive tomorrow, they are my weapon of choice for such jobs..
Good day all... I have now assembled the 2:1 gear, there are a few small bits left to do. I need to plot and drill the holes for the retaining split-pins, Don states to use 3/64, I think that I'll go smaller with 1/32. I also need to finish drilling the oilways, these are very small at No.60 and I should have waited for a new drill bit to do these. The first one went without incident but alas I broke the drill on the second pin and I seem to have mislaid a pin too? No big deal, I'll wait until I have a new drill bit and tackle the job properly then. A big thank you to Eddie for describing how the middle cylinder link pin is secured on the prototype, I have done something similar for the model, details in the blog. There is also a new time-lapsed video showing the gear being assembled onto the model, well it is except for my big arm getting in the way, I must try harder next time, now that has a familiar tone to it, from perhaps 50 years ago...
Shades of London to Brighton in 4 minutes! (Ok, wrong railway, but both had wide firebox Atlantics!)
This work is very impressive - and especially the care you are taking with parts that won't be seen by anyone until it all comes to bits again....
Best wishes
Malcolm
2.5"g narrow gauge modeller - Bagnall 0-4-2T, L&B 2-4-2T "Lyn" and just completed Burma Mines Rly 0-6-0 - all to 1.25": 1'. Now working on the next 2.5"g model - ex-Mecklenburg Pommersche Schmalspurbahn No.99 3462, until recently on the Waldeisenbahn Muskau near the Polish border....
Hi guys... this isn't a new entry as such, just me adding to the last blog entry as it's too short to warrant an entry of its own and I think that these details need to be included. I guess the next job on the list is the cylinder valve spindles, bobbins and valve crossheads, that should keep me busy for a while..
Please check the previous link posted for details.
On to the piston valves etc, I made a small error in this one, an error that I didn't actually notice until writing up this entry, lol.. the annoying thing is that I had made a mental note and laid everything out in order to reduce such an occurrence... must have been a senior moment... Exciting times ahead though, I can see light at the end of the tunnel for when the cylinders can be properly fitted to the frames. once that happens there are lots of little bits to do...
Alas, I can't post a picture tonight as it seems that Imgur is playing up, once it's working I'll show the picture.
confession time but in a good way, scrub all that crap I wrote yesterday about drilling the wrong size holes in two of the crossheads, I have clearly lost my mind...lol This had been bugging me so I decided today to pop in the workshop and correct my error, only to discover that I hadn't made an error in the first place? I can only assume that when roughing out the slots in all 3 crossheads last night my head was engaged on the 3/16 hole that I had used for beginning my plunge milling (after first chain drilling ) and when I wrote up the blog entry 3/16 was stuck in my mind as to that being the size that i had drilled in all 3 crossheads? Put it down to a senior moment... So all's good then, I took the opportunity while in the workshop to finish off the slot in the middle cylinder crosshead, the one with the 3/16 hole. A picture to show the middle crosshead slot machined to size and one of the outside cylinder crossheads still in the roughing out stage. I guess that I best edit my blog entry as adding these notes makes no sense, more so when it comes to the blog being published. onward and upward..
Well, that's the cross-heads all but the taper and some final polishing, next will be the spindles and if the material arrives in time the valve bobbins too.
Not a blog update, I'm not that fast... No this is one of those jobs that I said I'd get back too at some point in time, in this case, the running board's paintwork. I'm not going to paint them yet but have taken the first step and sandblasted all of the offending paint off. I did this in my son's shot blasting cabinet at his work. When I next feel like a break from machining I'll smooth all of this plate-work down, fill any small dinks and give it a nice glossy topcoat, I'll probably also paint and line the splashers as the running boards can be refitted once the cylinders are mounted for the last time, at least that's the current plan. The smokebox still needs blasting, I'll do that next time I need to pop down to my son for something.
Looking good Pete, they will look superb with a top coat. I do like the way you casually say "give it a nice glossy topcoat". I look at something needing a gloss coat with trepidation and the near certainty that it won't be good enough. It's like a game of Snakes & Ladders. Until you're reached the end, you can still end up back at the start!
yep, it can so easily go wrong... that's painting for you. It was pointed out to me on FB that I best get some primer on it, so that's what I'll be up to over the next couple of days, lots of prep work required first. Onward and upward...
again, not a blog update but just to explain that there will be a temporary change of direction in the next entry. As reported I took the opportunity to sandblast all of the running boards ready for repainting once I got back to them. this, of course, meant that they would need a coat of primer to protect them until that happened. Well, there would be no point in doing that as it would all have to be removed again later, why you ask? Simply because of all of the csk screws which would have dust trapped within them. So I am now in the process of sanding down all of the plate-work, filling any defects that I'm not happy with (the sandblasting removed most of the filler hiding the csk rivets for the splashers) and just to really ramp up the workload removing each and every one of the csk 10 BA screws, countersinking deeper, retaping to clear any burr, filing away the raised ridge left on each from the countersinking, sanding them, blowing them clear of any dust/muck/debris/sand and then putting each screw back where it belongs. Wow, that was a mouthful... anyway, there are many hundreds of these small screws and it's going to take me a while. I'm not hanging around though, the front running boards are now done, this involved removing the lamp irons and grab handles before filling any nicks, sanding down and giving a coat of extreme black chassis undercoat. BTW this paint (Eastwood's) is designed to be extremely tough, chip-resistant and very good against heat, it's enamel based, gloss finish and IIRC can withstand around 650c. I say 'gloss, actually, IIRC the previous formula is approx 85% gloss with the newer 'extreme' being approx 90%. I'm using the newer for the running boards and older for the smokebox, still to be sandblasted.
I even have a picture to show how mad I really am...this is the upper running board on the fireman's side. going left to right, the first hole with no screw is for securing the upper running board to the lower running board, IIRC I chose have approx 5 of these securing points to make it easy for removal. The next two screws have been csk deeper and gone through the process described above, the two on the right haven't been done yet. The good news is that as I type these are now all done and coated in the black primer. I am now tackling the two main 4 foot lengths of running boards, I expect these to take me a while.....once finished I'll add photo's to the blog and tick off another of those many 'to do' items on my list.
ah yes, screws all lined up would not be good, I'm sure that someone mentioned this before..... I've got more done this afternoon, I did get one of the lengths into black primer tonight...I'm very pleased with the result and very happy that I put that little bit more effort into it. As well as re-doing all of the screws I also filled in the small indentations around the rivets which hold the splasher supports under the running boards. The end result is great and looks 10 times better than it did before, a nice flat surface and the primer has gone on very well, that also is nice and flat with no dust or imperfections showing. I better be careful, I have already had it pointed out to me on FB that a perfect paint finish on a model looks wrong, I get what they are saying and it's far from perfect but will look good when finished and after all, it is a prestige express from a time when they were polished to within an inch of the life. None of that dirty BR days stuff......
i'm afraid the photo is poor and doesn't do it justice, I will take more once both sides are done for a blog entry
Remind me, why isn't lining all the screw slots up a good idea? I'm sure I've read that thats how it was done in high class joinery.
Have you ever seen it on a locomotive though? Why would you? Screws and bolts are done up until they're tight. I think it would look very wrong if they were all lined up, it just wouldn't look authentic.
No this is one of those jobs that I said I'd get back too at some point in time, in this case, the running board's paintwork. I'm not going to paint them yet but have taken the first step and sandblasted all of the offending paint off. I did this in my son's shot blasting cabinet at his work. When I next feel like a break from machining I'll smooth all of this plate-work down, fill any small dinks and give it a nice glossy topcoat, I'll probably also paint and line the splashers as the running boards can be refitted once the cylinders are mounted for the last time, at least that's the current plan. The smokebox still needs blasting, I'll do that next time I need to pop down to my son for something.
