After an hour or two of further running trials, I decided that I would fill the chain drive transmission box full of weight as that might help with making sure that the loco adheres to the track a bit better across its entire length. You could argue with the weight of the bogies that this isn’t needed, but as it does slip a little while pulling my weighted coal trucks, I thought it might be a good idea.
I took the loco apart for hopefully a final time to see why I was having the stuttering reversing issues, fully prepared to fit some additional pickups, but then it became quite apparent that most of the pickups I’d fitted were not making contact with the tyres, particularly on the trailing bogie (which explains a lot). After a bit of gentle jigging around, re-soldering one pickup that seemed to have gone a bit ‘rogue’ and glueing down a section that had broken free, I gave 36001 its final track test and it ran great in all directions. I designed the pickups a long time ago to collect power across both bogies, so now all is making contact it is unlikely the loco will face many challenges from here on in.
I have ‘approved Leader for operational service’. For now, I plan to keep Leader in my display cabinet, as I’m hesitant to put it back in my foam-protected case after what happened the first time.
I doubt this is the last you will see of Leader on this blog, the next task will be identifying some of the coach stock it hauled during trials, so I can create some accurate trains to run on my garden railway next year.
I hope you have enjoyed this series of articles about making my kit of Leader and I hope someone somewhere finds it all useful.
As this is now complete, I’ll attempt to link all the previous entries below.
The kit fairly fresh out of the box back in 2008Driver Bob poses with LeaderAttempt no.1 (probably around 2009)Attempt no.1 (probably around 2009)Completed (2023)Completed (2023)
As continuing work on the garden railway through the winter months is challenging, I have moved back into the house and back to my model desk. I am nearing the very final stages of working on my Green Arrow Kit of 36001 Leader, which is really exciting. I am actually conducting running trials and I have got myself a carpet railway!! I ordered some of this Kato HO track that has a plastic ballast frame and easily clips together. I did consider it as a possible option in the garden, but I’m not sure it will work.
Anyway, I now have a full loop of the above, which allows me for the first time to test some of my model’s hauling and long-term running abilities, particularly how they cope with curves. Brewery Pit is very much a back-and-forth trial and also an excellent test of how stock copes with complicated point work, so much of my stuff stock has had those tests, but not curves and with the garden railway likely being operational next summer, I thought it might be sensible to conduct some of these tests in the safety of the house (on my horrid peach carpet to see if any bits fly off and the like).
The ride height of Leader’s frame on its massive chain-driven bogies was always going to be an issue as the body shape risks clashing with the rear of each bogie on sharper turns, the obvious solution being to lift the body further off the bogies, but the gap between the body and bogies soon looks pretty ridiculous. Perhaps lost to time now, but the plates that fix the bogies to the body include ribs that allow the bogies to swing at angles as they turn, but, for some reason, one of my two plates is formed in the wrong aspect and won’t fit unless upside down (thus no ribs). In some ways, this isn’t too much of an issue as this did take the ride height of Leader a bit too high anyway (but I could have filed them down). Past Tom had been quite inventive in a DIY way with making small squares of plasticard to adjust the height and making washers from white metal. 2023 Tom ordered some 0.5mm thick washers and fitted them around the bogie pivot. I also noticed that my pickup system was running foul of the casting of the cab interior, which I have sorted by fitting them deeper into the cab and at a slight angle (you can’t really tell, but needs must).
I also found the fitting of the transmission box (between the two bogies) a bit unnerving as I had previously fitted this with little screws into the resin case. It also didn’t quite sit equidistant between the bogies, so I decided to do a quick upgrade of this and installed it using a small high-powered magnet instead. I did this by fitting the magnet to the end of a brass tube fixed inside the transmission box. This should make it a little easier to make chassis adjustments for maintainence in the future.
After these changes it ran wonderfully, the best I have seen it run actually. It still suffered from the occasional short, which was cancelling out my DCC controller, and for some reason, it does not care for travelling in reverse around a clockwise curve as it stutters and shorts out.
I suspected the reason for the electrical short was my floating middle axle in each bogie. I know many don’t like this arrangement in Heljan locos, but honestly, it was the easiest thing to do (it is quite a long wheelbase to not allow that type of movement). I imagine it is probably the rim of the axles touching the white metal bogie inner frame on corners causing the sparks and pops. Again, DIY Tom of the past had attempted a fix by putting some black insulation tape on the frame of one of the bogies. 2023 DIY Tom decided to mask off the inner face of the tyres using some dark brown masking film and used a scalpel to cut away the excess.
And Horrah!!! No more shorting!! Not a spark and not a single decoder or DCC controller wobble, so I think we class that as sorted. I do still have the stuttery reverse clockwise issue to face, but I note it is now slightly different and one of the twin motors does often attempt to run. Weird how it will do the same manoeuvre in reverse on an anti-clockwise curve just fine, hmmm… having wiggled the bogies I’m pretty sure it is just to do with pick-up contact on the tightest section of curves.
When I finish my coffee I’ll have a look, but this is really final tweaking business and I am very happy to finally see Leader running so well. It does make me wonder about the £300-odd I have paid for this RTR model, to be honest. Hopefully, they will show some pictures of the lined grey version soon (as I couldn’t really be bothered to do that lining*).
* -he says in full knowledge that he spent 6+ hours adding rivets to the the thing using the same technique as lining.
The update of my Bulleid Leader kit is nearly complete now. It pains me somewhat to think how long this project has been on my workbench. All of the shots of my original attempt are staged on Brewery Pit back in its first iteration with a retaining wall, probably from around 2009.
Here is a brief recap, but you can read about what has taken so long in my previous blogs. Basically, the cellulose acrylic paint I previously used never really set properly and it started to react badly to being placed in a foam protective box, and then I wrapped it in one of those soft plastic sheets (that models come in these days) and the paint stuck to that too.
So the need for an overhaul was needed and it was stripped back and I started again (as I say, see previous posts).
I decided to add some rivet transfers this time, which are little embossed rivets on transfer paper. It took a fair amount of patience to apply over the existing panel lines I had tried to scribe onto the model based on its actual panel layout. I used, I think Archer’s transfers, and I cut them into the strip lengths required and tried to fit them. The rivet strips had a tendency to rip on the transfer paper, particularly for longer lengths which was quite annoying. I think I started by submerging the transfers in water first, but soon started laying the strip of transfer paper, on its backing paper beside where it was to be placed so I could gently move the transfer a minimal distance onto the model’s surface (after applying some water). If I recall correctly I also had to work on distinct sections each time, to allow the previous line of rivets sufficient time to dry and adhere. Not the most fun job in the world, but it does give the model a rather nice finished effect.
Once all the rivets were laid over my former panel lines, I then took Leader to my airbrush booth and applied a new primer coating and attempted some shading on the panel lines before applying a new ‘white aluminium’ coating. I then added some burnishing to the casing where I assume it would have occurred if the prototype was indeed run in service with an aluminium-like finish. This is a fantasy at this point really, as my model depicts the only known colour photo of Leader, when it was literally being painted for a photoshoot at the time.
In real life, it was finished in all-over photographic grey with one large BR symbol on one side for a works photoshoot. Not long after that the BR insignia was removed and panel lining was added to the grey and it went out on its trials in this state. Photographic records seem to show it never got cleaned or at least repainted again, as you can clearly see the ‘shiny’ panel where the BR insignia was once applied.
There is a RTR model of Leader coming out soon from KR Models and they seem to have made the odd decision to go with one livery option that is very similar to my model but with the BR insignia. Pretty basic research would show this to be inaccurate to be honest, as the loco was clearly matt or satin grey based on B&W photos, but perhaps they have been looking at the photos of my model too long and got confused.
Anyway, back to my Green Arrow kit build: I finished off the bodywork with some coats of satin varnish to protect the bodywork and hope I don’t have some of the previous troubles I’ve had with it. There is no tackiness this time and I also left it for a long time to cure to prevent such issues.
I then refitted all of the glazing and door handles and remade a few in the process and I think it is really looking great now. It’s been almost a year since I did the bodywork and I’d actually forgotten I’d done the undershading to the panels, but it really shows up well in photos, like some slight darkening near the panel lines, so I’m really happy about that. I am tempted to finish it with a wash of black, but I’m fighting that urge as it looks pretty good as is.
Now onto the final aspects, which involve its running abilities. I fitted two Lenz decoders to the bogies (each bogie is powered) and the last time I tried to run it (at the 2018 Peterborough Model Railway Show) it kind of just stuck its finger up at me and refused to go across most of Brewery Pit’s track work, so it ended up being a static display with Santa, his reindeer at the head of the Coca Cola Train.
I saw a few connections had dislodged from my pickup arrangement and some of the pickups were in odd places so I sorted all that out and gave it a test run and to my surprise, it ran incredibly well. Hoorah!!
It doesn’t run so well with the body on, though, but granted still better than my 2018 effort. I must admit the chassis support mounts are a bit odd, and I suspect I mounted them differently to prevent the ride height from being REALLY high!
I think I need to adjust the leading bogie height by a few mm just to make sure the pickups clear the cab interior mould as I suspect the pickups are colliding with it and messing up the running a little.
After staring at it for an evening, I suspect that an M5 washer will resolve this issue most simply, but we shall find out later today.
Oh!!! And because I am so close to the endpoint, I even fitted coupling this time around. In a show of how time has moved on in my modelling world, I have fitted two types of coupling: An NEM pocket for normal coupling hidden on the bogies; and a wire bar to allow it to couple up to my ‘sprat and winkle’ equipped stock. The reason for this being that Leader will likely be a regular runner on Brewery Pit (which uses Sprat and Winkle couplings) and on my large garden railway too, where I might want it to haul some stock that isn’t modified.
Now onto the oncoming KR Models version. I have ordered one and mine will hopefully be Leader in its final livery of lined grey. The profile of the KR one seems slightly straighter and the cab windows look to be more correct in overall form. It looks like a slight improvement, but they’ve recently added massive rivets to the prototype model (much like I have done, but I think there’s are bigger). If we really want to get into rivet counting, they should be countersunk and not so prominent, but I don’t know, it has looked a bit odd in pictures, but might be better in real life. I was paying the money for fidelity and accuracy, so I feel a bit mixed about it.
My biggest gripe with the incoming KR Model from photos is how they have modelled it with all vents and doors closed. As Leader was well known as a heat trap of death, it seems pretty unlikely you would have ever seen it running with all the roof vents and doors closed. This was why I modelled mine with all vents opened and doors slightly opened. The under chassis detail looks good and no doubt it will run smoothly, but I have been watching its development thinking ‘does it really look that different to mine?’ Probably not helped by all the prototype photos of the model being in my model’s silver colour scheme too.
I have seen some discussion on the internet about the KR model ride height, but I don’t know, it seems an unfair criticism as the original was clearly tall and pretty ridiculous. My model is the tallest thing I have on any layout and I had to modify all the tunnels on Brewery Pit to allow it to get through. You only have to find that great picture of the water-filling rig created by the engine crew who couldn’t get it to fit under watertowers at stations or other pictures of it running on coaches to see, in comparison what a monster this thing was.
Greetings everyone, I hope you are all doing well? It’s been a while since I last posted on my model blog (whoops, sorry). To be completely honest with you all: I set myself a rule a while ago that I wouldn’t do exactly what I’m doing right now (i.e. post about how long it’s been since I last posted). I think a lot of us that write blogs and stuff get caught in this loop of constantly apologising for how long it has been between postings, which then brings some guilt about it and a feeling that you need to explain why you haven’t been sat at a computer typing away. So, dear reader: please take this as a one-time, holistic apology for any past or future absence or significant gap between postings (I wonder if that chap is still waiting to hear about how I plan to finish off my static boiler on Brewery pit, sorry!!). The blog will continue and always will as far as I’m concerned (perhaps changing format and location based on the whims of social media barons from time to time). To make matters more challenging as I write this, my blog text is gently jumping backwards and forwards on the screen due to some random glitch in the WordPress site. Oh the fun.
2022’s projects:
Although there haven’t been any updates since my last entry in Feb 22 (for the ace Model Rail Scotland show), I can assure you that a lot of modelling has indeed taken place. Here is a brief selection from the past 12 months:
Hawthorn Leslie Shunter
My most recent work has focussed on my Hawthorn Leslie Diesel Electric Shunter, which was the kit trailing behind all the others in my Five (coming on eight) Shunter Challenge series of articles. It now looks quite likely to be the next model to be completed (see below). Just before Christmas I got the kit back out and finished off the final works on the chassis and gearbox, including fixing some past mistakes. I’m now at the stage of putting together the main bonnet and it is now looking like the real prototype.
In one of my previous blogs, I also discussed my plans to recreate my garden potting shed into a paint shop. This project progressed quite far last year with the majority of internal wiring complete and insulation in place. I was planning to have this all completed last summer, but various life emergencies took priority, but I plan to get back to this project this year.
Steam Crane Dock Tank
My tiny Backwoods Miniatures Dock Tank also progressed surprisingly far and I’d just got to the point of fitting the mind-bogglingly complicated motion and quickly decided perhaps I should build something else.
Car for Gaslands
I made my first custom car for the game ‘Gaslands’ which looks particularly awesome. I talk a bit more about this game over on this gaming blog. I spent a lot of time deciding on a colour scheme for it too (perhaps an indication of my growing model pedantic-ness).
Warlord Titan
I 3D printed a big old Warlord Titan mech for my game of Adeptus Mechanicus and painted it in the theme of another giant robot I’m a fan of.
Necromunda Gang
I started painting a group of lowlife sci-fi gangsters for the Necromunda game system and even started printing a massive land-train for a heist mission.
The Fell
After being messed around with my order and payment for the KR Models Fell, I decided to make one myself from the excellent Judith Edge Kit, which has progressed to the chassis stage.
Corris Tattoo
I started work on converting a ‘Thomas & Friends’ Peter Sam toy loco from Bachmann into a more prototypical Corris Tattoo.
Painting Bulleid’s Leader
Leader’s repaint and upgrade are almost complete too with a new lovely white aluminium shell and weathering, varnishing and extra rivets all progressed.
Shed Lamp for Brewery Pit
Me and my Mum fitted a lamp over the top of the engine shed on Brewery Pit too.
Most of my ‘instant gratification’ updates on model projects tend to be added to my Instagram account, which should be viewable to the right of this blog, so if you are missing some of my updates on particular locos and want to be kept more up to date on things, then perhaps give me a follow on there. I generally use Instagram as a way of noting my progress on various projects, so you’ll find lots on there.
It is safe to say that my plans for 2023 are pretty ambitious. I celebrated my 40th Birthday back in September, so I feel this should mark a bit of an evolution in my modelling projects, so I’ll give you a quick overview of my big plans:
New Layout Project – Narrow Gauge OO9
I’ve been working on Brewery Pit as my main layout for over a decade now (as detailed here) and I am keen to move on to a new model project. I want to do the complete opposite of Brewery Pit’s heavy industrial, midland aesthetics and go for lush woodlands, rivers, cliffs and beaches this time. For my 40th birthday I asked Tim Horn to design me some lovely new baseboards for this new countryside model railway, which will be a Narrow Gauge OO9 affair. The premise being a ‘what if’ alternate history of North Devon’s Narrow Gauge systems around the 1900s to the 1920s where commercial logging of the woodlands was attempted. Can I anglicise those great North American Narrow Gauge logging operations? Will I give in and do something simpler? Stay tuned, I guess.
For those that are not in the know, I’m talking about making a UK version of this kind of thing…
… by way of this kind of thing:
Garden Railway
Not content with starting a new model railway project in narrow gauge, I’ve decided to try my hand at constructing a garden railway, primarily in OO Gauge. Something, I’d like to add I always said I’d never do, always considering OO Gauge not being a sensible gauge to risk taking out into the garden. As time has gone by, I’ve started to consider ways I think this could work and I’m at the early stages of planning out a raised platform based on the ‘ladder frame’ system of garden railway design. If space and design allow, I might also include some larger gauge track too. Ideally, this railway will lead into my garage and shed, but the garage terminus will have to wait until further work is done in the garage, but I hope to start work on this soon.
Complete the Shed Upgrade
I also plan to finish off my shed upgrade from last year. The next steps are linking up the newly wired shed to the mains in the house and cladding the interior walls. Hopefully it won’t take too long and fingers crossed that the winter months haven’t caused any issues inside the shed.
So there you have it, a rather comprehensive update! Please do keep an eye on my Instagram feed if you want some more immediate updates, but I’ll be back with some progress updates soon. I also have a few older blogs that are currently part written to add too.
Brewery Pit out at the shows
I’d also quite like to get Brewery Pit back out on the model railway exhibition circuit now it is near completion and hadn’t really had a proper outing since late 2018. If anyone heads of any shows interested, just get in touch with me.
And if you want to see what I’ve been getting up to in the more wildlife and music-leaning side of my life, I have a new e-newsletter about all that stuff here.
After a stint working on my 88DS and a bit of a segway into updating Bulleid’s Leader, I decided to return to another little industrial shunter that I’ve been working on.
The 100 HP Sentinel is a really attractive little shunter, powered by a vertical boiler sitting in the cab, they saw a varied industrial life including the Bass Brewer and various Steelworks and were painted in lots of interesting liveries.
Some examples of the real thing from the National Railway Museum (2009) and Chasewater Railway (2015)
This model is made by RT Models and is a really great model to build. I have previously covered much of the chassis and gearbox construction in my various ‘x5 shunter challenge’ posts, but now we move into the bodywork, it seems logical to give the shunter its own series of posts.
I started work on the under-frame and main bonnet back in November 2020 and spend 3 evenings folding up the underframe, punching out little rivets using my little rivet punch tool and a more complicated task of drilling out some handrail holes in the cab, using a paper template and my Dremel drill stand. I dry fitted the cab and bonnet but got a bit nervous about soldering down the underframe laminates and drifted onto other projects.
Completed underframe including brakes and and other underframe detailsLoose fit of the cab and bonnet after I had drilled out the handrail holes in the cab
Turn the clock forward to January 2022 and I’m back working on the sentinel as an excuse to avoid continuing work on the 88DS.
I started with soldering down the bonnet, underframe supports and cab, which weren’t particularly challenging. Well.. slightly more challenging that I forgot to add those fine little frame laminates, so I had to take it apart and fit them again. I then took on the back of the cab, which has two options (and internal or external bunker), and I chose the more attractive looking external bunker. This, I think was probably the most challenging bit, as I couldn’t really understand how to fold it up properly, but I managed fine in the end.
The external bunker and rear cab installed
Next, I installed the doors and vents onto the bonnet. It is particularly cool that these are separate fittings, as it does allow some opportunity for installing inner detail of the gear workings and the like.
I did this by using my Carrs solder paste and putting a very small amount around the rims of the doors and then soldering them into place. I did tape a few of the doors down before soldering them in place (top stop them drifting around).
Next, I moved onto some particularly fiddly bits of the build including making a tiny step or bracket on the side of the bonnet and very fine little half-etches of rivets that run along the sides of the cab and bonnet. I thought these would have been more complicated than they actually were, and below is a few videos of how I went about soldering them into place using small amounts of solder paste and gently pressing the longer rivet strips down, portion by portion until they were soldered down.
Soldering down some rivet beading
I then did some further beading work around the bunker and cab, having accidentally cut the bunker beading too short, not realising it also wrapped around the cab, but I managed to put the missing part back in place.
The roof was the next task, which required some annealing before the roof was curved. The instructions suggested a gas hob (I think), but I went for my gas soldering iron, converted into a mini blow torch. I then added the cab vents in an open position using brass wire. I soldered the vent down at the angle I wanted them at first and then added the wire.
Annealing the roof and installing the vents
It was about this point when the need for brass work started to ease off and the white metal castings started to be added, including buffers, the chimney and making up the boiler. The chimney confused me a bit as it doesn’t quite fit over the triangle-shaped hole, but I think this is also prototypical.
At this stage, the model was starting to look really good and the wealth of detail really comes across. I have an issue that I have x3 left side axle boxes and only x1 right side, so I have contacted RT Models about that. For now, I have used the one from another RT Models sentinel which uses the same axle boxes.
I then started to add the handrails using very tiny handrail pegs (having lost about 20 minutes trying to find one on the floor), but I am now very close to finishing the main build.
Nearly finished
I am really pleased with my progress on this and makes me feel a bit more confident that I can get through one of these models fairly quickly if I don’t drift off into differing things.
I think two of the big differences in my approach has been, kind of forcing myself to keep working on this model until it is finished (I really want to make some Gaslands cars and build some Warhammer for a change), but also only really working on it for about 2 hours at a time, as it seems to mean that I don’t get too impatient or overwhelmed with working on it (something that probably helps me put models away in a box for a few years).
Next up is to finish the handrails and add some doorknobs and then get the chassis running again.
Over a busy weekend, I managed to find time to have a few hours break and worked on one of the shunters from my x5 shunter challenge: the 88DS.
This little loco has taken a back seat to the others in recent years, mainly because I progressed the inner chassis quite far and turned to the other locos to get them up to the same state.
An interesting example taken from an 88DS booklet
Since I last worked on it, Hornby has announced their own version. Their new version was supposed to have been released last year but is now delayed until some point at the back end of 2022, so there is a chance that mine will be completed before it comes out. I’m not too concerned though, to be honest, as the Judith Edge kit is far superior to the model that Hornby is planning on releasing. My main annoyance with the Hornby version is the inner chassis frame that runs the entire length of the model and blocks any open areas and extra detail, which really changes the overall look of the prototype, which is rather simplistic and has a very open lower frame. I also found their choice of initial liveries a bit weird.
I was egged on somewhat by someone who posted an update of their own Judith Edge version’s progress on a Facebook group (who I now know to be Andy Cooper who has this great model blog), and he was only a few hours ahead of me, so seeing how he had built the frame really helped.
I firstly soldered together the frame and axle covers, which was a little fiddly to keep them all square, but I was practising with a new type of solder and liquid flux (both from DCC concepts), but they didn’t do a very good job of soldering the frame up, so I went back to my old method and it started to go together smoothly. At this stage, I needed to decide whether I was building a 17-ton or 20-ton version (the difference being a selection of weights bolted around the sides of the frame). I think the kit implies that they often included the weights, but having looked through the list of 88DS’s in service, it is actually a fairly even number of 17 and 20-ton versions. I think I prefer it without the weights, which is a little annoying as I missed the opportunity to stamp some rivets out, but I can also add them with styrene or something. Speaking of rivets, be careful of punching out the tiny rivets on the axle supports as these are quite fragile pieces and they distort easily.
I thought that I would soon be installing the previously built-up inner frame, so I decided it was best I paint this up now, to save any complications later and give it an overall prime of etch grey and then a few sprays of glass and satin black.
I then started work on the buffer beams, which had the option of including weights or not (thinking about it now, I reckon the instructions were referring to these when it said that ‘most locos had them’ which is true). These are made up from laminating together 4 pieces of brass. I did this by holding them together with blutack at the edges and sliding some thin wire, acting as a peg, through the coupling hook and then holding the lot in my ‘helping hands’ vice. I then carefully applied solder to the surrounding edges.
Next, I fitted the buffer bushes, which were easy to fit into the buffer beams and I was given ample warning about this in the instructions. Perhaps, a similar warning about buffer bushes was given in my kit for the Hawthorn and Leslie (that caused me some issues in a yet to be published instalment), but I missed it.
Next, I lined up the buffer stocks and soldered them down. I then attached the buffer beams to the frame. They are not as square as I’d like, but it would be quite a headache to sort that out now, so I think it will do. Already I can tell that the underframe detail will be far superior to the Hornby version.
I haven’t decided on what colour this loco will be yet, but I note that the West Midlands had many of these locos in service from 1947 onwards, mostly on private industrial lines. There was also one at Bass in Burton on Trent, which would make sense to base it on, but I also quite like the idea of painting as one of the first ones I ever saw, which was at Washford Station on the West Somerset Railway, painted in a strange orangey yellow.
Continuing my retrospective of updates on building far too many little brass shunting locos. This update about updates is from the 7th and 8th June 2020:
Procrastination really is an impressive skill. It certainly keeps me away from my modelling bench on a regular basis. I also think that I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with x5 shunter challenge (which has now become x8 challenges if you factor in other hunters that have arrived since).
Here is recent my progress:
11001
In my previous session on Bulleid’s super shunter, I had fixed down the box pox wheel fascia and constructed the gearbox and rebuilt the compensation/balance beam system. Sadly, upon returning to the model after 12 months, the steel axles had started to gunk and rust up and barely any of the motion was turning. After a stressful 30 minutes forcing the motion back into life, I managed to relax.
I remember coating the axles with Vaseline before I soldered the bushes into place and I wonder if this is what is causing part of the problem, but I have already started to store axles and wheels in a little sealable plastic bag which I lubricate with model lube. This I hope keeps the parts fairly clear of rust, but time will tell.
Hawthorn and Leslie
I finished building the first parts of the gearbox today but noticed that once the bushes were in place that there would be insufficient room to fit the gearbox between the chassis bushes. I came across this problem with 11001 too, and I guess if you are modelling in 4mm or EM Gauge, then maybe the additional width means these things don’t happen.
After 30 minutes of filing, I managed to get the gearbox to fit.
I then degreased and bathed all the chassis’ that I’m currently working on in an ultrasonic cleaner (using a little ultrasonic cleaner fluid) and then I left them to dry out in the sunshine.
I took apart the axles and wheels of 11001 too and bundled the wheels and axles into a little lubed-up bag.
This whole axle/wheel rusting up thing is the most demoralising aspect of my current builds. I’d be happy to hear how others deal with these types of things, I guess the Markit wheels don’t do it as they are not made from steel.
Tomorrow I start work on the final two gearboxes and I also want to try and get some of the break rigging and other details onto the chassis’, as I’m dying to do some bodywork.
So here we are, at the end of the line. After a long time, many delays and life events, I can finally say that I have finished work on Bass Loco No.9.
A before and after shot of Bass No. 9. The top photo is the original Pug chassis and the bottom is thr upgraded High Level Kits version.
My last few days of work on the loco focussed on the mechanism and smooth running. This is a rather stressful period, where all the previous work on a model like this is put through its paces, as you discover whether it will all run smoothly when it is all put together. I used to worry much more about this stage, but for this little Bass loco I’m making for my friend Joe Stamper, I was pretty confident it would work well. The chassis is square, the axles are parallel, the gear box is free moving, as are the wheels.
Comparison between the old and new chassis’. old Hornby one to the right and new kit built brass one to the left.
I started by wiring up the motor permanently to the chassis, which would allow me to double check if my pick-up system still works. All worked fine and the motor shaft span. I then fitted the worm onto the motor shaft and into the gearbox. This is another stress inducing job as the worm gear tends to be a very tight friction fit, and I have never really worked out if I’m supposed to ream it out or apply lots of pressure to the worm. I very, very gently pushed the worm down the shaft with my hobby vice and dabbed some thread lock liquid to the shaft to keep it in place (even though there is really very little chance of it coming off). I also bought some cigarette paper and placed a sheet between the worm and the first gear of the gear box to allow them to mesh. Next, I fitted the main gear on the driving axle and carefully slid it up to the gearbox and tightened up the ever-so-tiny grub screw. I struggled a bit with this stage, but after some further movements and sliding bits of cigarette paper between gears, I started to get the entire gear chain to move under power. Success!
Next, I fitted the main driving rods, which included soldering washers to the surface of the crankpins and fixed them on the crankpins with bluetack to see if it would move under its own power. And sure enough, as the video below shows, after a few false starts, it started to move. I noticed that the front wheels were running a fowl of the front brake shoes, which was causing a short circuit, so I filed these down with my Dremel sanding tool and super glued the brake shoe rigging a fraction further away. This modification significantly improved the running quality and I got my first taste of how slow and smooth the new chassis could actually run.
tophat washers soldered to the connecting rods
1st test run under own power, but with block-tacked on rods
Once I finished the first test run, I plucked up the courage to fit some axle washers behind the front axle to limit side play and locked all the wheels into place with thread lock and called it a day.
In my final evening’s work, I soldered together the second set of coupling rods, which fit to the valve gear slide bars. I super glued the pistons and slide bars from the old Hornby/Dapol pug, so they were a little more structurally sound and tested the fit of the second pair of coupling rods through the slide bars.
Fitting the crank pin washers in place
I marked off how much I could reduce the crank pins on the front wheels down to (once the coupling rod and washer were in place). This is quite a delicate operation as they sit quite close to the slide bars, pistons and the overlapping second pair of coupling rods. To limit the risk of soldering the entire coupling rod motion together, I separated the final crankpin washer from the rest of the coupling rods with cigarette paper (to prevent solder creeping down the coupling rod). I then sanded down the washer as it still sat a bit proud to allow the second pair of coupling rods to ride over them. Realising how little pressure was being applied to this second pair of rods, I decided to bend the slide bars outwards a little, to keep some extra distance from the main running motion. Finally, I added some thread lock to the crankpins on the front wheels and fixed them in place.
Chassis for Bass Loco No.9
I then awkwardly fitted the slide bars and decided to cut them back to their bracket support (to better reflect the prototype of Bass Loco No.9). I then soldered up the lead wheels with crankpins and crank washers as I had done for the front axle and then I tested the models running qualities for about 30 minutes in each direction using my rolling road test track.
Chassis for Bass Loco No.9Chassis for Bass Loco No.9
Returning the train to the track, I then could see how slow and smooth the mechanism was and I felt very happy. After all this time, the model was finally running. I got out some Brewery Pit coal wagons and gave them a little push around with the Bass loco, where I then realised how slow it was running in comparison to the original chassis.
Checking ride height with some wagonsThe finished loco with model robot
As part of the loco’s final checks, it visited Brewery Pit, which had come out of garage retirement for the occasion, so I could see how the loco tackles the complicated track work of the layout (just in case there were any electric shorts I wasn’t aware of). I’m pleased to say it ran flawlessly.
Bass Loco No.9 under test on Brewery Pit
The final step was to take its official works photos (which are below) and post it back to Joe. I have already contacted Joe to let him know that his model is ready to be returned.
Bass Loco No.9 at Brewery PitBass Loco No.9 at Brewery PitBass Loco No.9 at Brewery PitBass Loco No.9Bass Loco No.9
…and so my time with this little model comes to an end. I think I have put a fair amount of my heart into this little thing, so I wish it well on its many adventures shunting brewery traffic around little versions of Burton Upon Trent.
Bass Loco No.9 is certainly made a lot of progress in recent months.
In my last blog post I installed that tiny bit of copper cladding to act as the main Left and Right chassis-side power pick-ups. In the past few days I have cut some thin copper strips and soldered them onto this copper cladding so they can act as sprung pickups to the back of the wheels. There is very little space to fit these with such a tiny chassis. I am very curious to see how these types of challenges are overcome with N Gauge, Z gauge and 009 kits, but they will be on my work bench soon enough.
My pickup arrangement using things copper strip soldered to the copper cladding and touching the back of the wheels.
I then installed the feed wires from the pickups onto the copper cladding, which was a very delicate operation as the heat runs the risks of desoldering all my carefully positioned sprung pickups. I’m not sure whether I’ve mentioned before, but I have been testing out this solder paste stuff (I’m use Carr’s 179 No Clean Solder Cream’) and I must admit this has really improved my soldering. You can have much more control over the amount of solder you want and because it is a paste it also helps adhere the parts together, so there is less fiddling with small parts and juggling four hands worth of stuff.
I test fitted the motor and checked that my new power pick-up system would operate and… success!!! It’s alive!!
The motor shaft spins for the first time receiving power from track.
With most of the mechanism done, it was time to turn to the part I’ve been worried about.. the painting.
Firstly I bathed the chassis and parts in various cleaning baths. The first being Phoenix Precision’s ‘Pre painting metal cleaner’. I then dipped them in some IPA. I then went for a scrub with Ajax cleaner (to remove any stubborn greasy bits), washed that all away with warm water and then popped it all in an ultra sonic cleaner and left it to dry off.
I masked off all the vital moving parts, like the axle bearings, and the openings in the gearbox. I also masked wheel rims and the backs of the wheels (as this is where the power will be picked up from). I used a tiny tub of Humbrol Maskol that came with a plastic plane starter set, because I couldn’t find my jar of Maskol. I did have some new Vallejo masking medium to try, but I became too nervous of trying something new at this crucial stage.
All masked, cleaned and ready for paint shop
I then sprayed the chassis parts prime grey using etching primer. I took the opportunity to also respray my Hudswell Clarke DM Shunter (which I’d accidentally sprayed with plastic primer previously).
Bass Loco no. 9 all primed up at last My Hudswell Clarke DM Shunter
Once I was happy with the coverage I left that to dry off, while I investigated the main coat of paint.
The Bass loco’s owner and maker, Joe, gave me a jam jar full of brown paint to finish the chassis in. He told me that the paint is the actual paint they use to paint the real Bass Loco no.9, which is quite amazing really, but also brings some challenges, as I wasn’t completely clear on the chemical make up of the paint. It smells like a kind of enamel, so I wasn’t keen to put that through my main airbrush (which is used with water based acrylics) so I purchased a cheap unbranded airbrush knock-off for £17. (I confess this is actually the second cheap one I’ve bought, as I decided the first was working so well, that I’d prefer to have one for rough acrylic spraying and another for enamel.
I decanted some of the paint into a tiny jar and tested out thinning it down with some enamel thinners and it seemed to do the trick. I thinned it until it was the consistency of milk (which I hear is what you do for airbrushes) and then set up my new temporary spray booth system, which you’ve seen me use for my 40k models recently.
All painted up
I am pleased to say this worked very well, and I can understand why people like working with enamels rather than acrylics, because the output was much more consistent than I have experienced so far with acrylic. Not wanted to tempt fate too much, I stopped as soon as I felt like I had covered the chassis sufficiently and I left it in the sun to dry. I was a bit worried whether it would dry correctly, but after a good 24 hours of being left to firm up, I had a very nice looking brown finish.
I then moved onto the coupling rods. Each piece needed laminating together and I used my one of my favourite tools to do this, my chassis jig. Luckily, this chassis was the last model I worked on with the jig, so it was already spaced correctly to take the coupling rods, so I loaded the etches onto the fake axles, and soldered them together. I masking taped them together to make sure they sat flush against each other. There was a little excess solder, but I cleaned all that off.
The tricky business of soldering coupling rodsThe finished articles My beloved chassis jig
I then started doing some research into the crankpin fitting and utterly confused myself with the instructions showing various crank bushes (rather than washers, which was what I had). I had two options I could use: some markits ‘deluxe’ crankpins which had brushes, but had a screw threat along the crankpin; or standard crankpins and washers. I must admit I really couldn’t understand why the brushes were important for this fairly simple coupling rod set up, and the screw thread cranks seemed too complicated. I am still not sure whether the expectation is that the coupling rod holes are opened up for the brushes, or if they are suppose to be sitting between the brushes. In the case of the deluxe thread cranks, that would mean they would be sitting on a thread, which would cause wear. I’m still confused and haven’t really found any answers to this, so I’ve gone back to what I know, and I decided to test the simple crank and washer version, and if it appeared it would run fine, then I would use that.
I then stripped the Maskol off all of the chassis parts, which was quite painful as the Maskol wasn’t it’s normal ‘filmy’ self and I had to scratch most of it off with a surgical knife and it took about 2 hours. Note to self: Tom, buy a new tub of Maskol.
I’ve just seen a centipede walking across the floor, so let me go and save him before i continue*
Right, where was I? Oh, yes the Maskol. That was all a bit fiddly, so I then took a deep breath and started refitting some of the parts of the chassis and I checked that the first layer of coupling rods would run freely, which they do and I am very very happy with how square everything is.
I did a test fitting of the body and pistons, but length of the crank pins limits my dry testing, as they will run into the motion of the valve gear, but from the little movement I could achieve, then it looks like this will all work fine.
All the parts on place. The chassis so far
Dare I say that I think I have one more evening of work left on this? I need to glue up the valve gear (so the valve motion stays in the same place), test the gearbox runs properly with all cogs and worms in place, and then do the final fixing up of the chassis. I think I’ll add some washers behind the wheels too, just to limit side play. Then that should be my time building Bass Loco No.9 coming to an end.
Last night I tackled a much over-thought aspect of my Bass No.9 commission, which was was setting up the pickups from the motor to its wheels. I guess this is where working on larger models and scales makes things really easy, so tackling this on a tiny chassis like the L&Y Pug etch is a little daunting. I wonder how people do this in N and z gauge? My main concern was that I want to conceal the pickups as much as possible, but there is limited space and width of frame to do so.
I decided I would use copper cladding to create the main conductive strip on each side of the chassis, but copper cladding strips tend to come in pieces too wide for my purposes. The best I could do is split one, long ways, to create thin strips that can fix directly to the inside of the frames.
Tiny copper cladding strip, which is usually used to make railway sleepers.
I used my new Dremel Motosaw to cut the cladding to the right length, but I soon discovered that I would not be able to run the tiny piece through the saw, length-ways, as it would drop into the gap on the saw’s work surface. I could, of course, separate the saw from its workbench surface, but it seemed a lot of hassle for such a tiny job, so I took to using a piercing saw instead. I think these are great, but I feel I need to invest in a better built handle for the blades.
Although it wasn’t the straightest of cuts, it did the job and after a bit of filing, I had the two thin pieces that I needed.
Hooray! Two tiny strips Limited space in the chassis Soldering action!
I then got out the solder paste and fixed the strips to the insides of the chassis frames. I also managed to refit a bit of the brake rigging that had come free too.
I think that is the last remaining complicated job on this chassis, so there is a sense of relief and excitement about moving towards the finishing line and painting it up.
The final cladding arrangement
I need to file down one of the brake shoes to make sure there is a sufficient gap between the front wheels and the brakes, but that is fairly minor.
I think I will solder on the pickup strips and bend them towards the insides of the wheels and fit the linking wires to the motor and then move into ‘chassis clean up’ mode and degrease everything as much as possible, before doing a first run of priming and final paint colour. Joe has actually given me a jar of the paint used to paint the actual locomotive, so at least I know the colour will be accurate!
I might also have a second attempt at painting my long suffering Hudswell Clarke diesel shunter too.
Grasslands Models 