All but one of the parts (the one piece saddle tank, smoke box, and firebox casting) are from the etched nickel silver fret and such is the quality of the kit that they required almost no tidying up before assembly. The majority of the time was taken up with cutting slots in the front and rear buffer beams to allow me to fit couplings. These had to be carefully measured and then I drilled the slots out by hand using a 0.55mm drill bit in a pin vice. Given the thickness of the nickel silver this took me well over an hour, but it was time well spent as I will want to couple the loco to wagons and carriages and there is no way I could have accurately cut the slots after assembly.
For me at least, one of the selling points of this kit is that it can be assembled using super glue rather than having to be soldered together. I'm sure that soldering would produce a stronger frame, but while I'm happy to solder wires together the idea of soldering metal at right angles scares me, possibly more than the thought of assembling the valve gear. So for this build at least, I'm going to stick to super glue and concentrate on getting a free running model. I can't be bothered with doing a video for today's post, but the added weight of the frames and the whitemetal casting have definitely improved the running of the motor unit, and it really is starting to look like a steam locomotive now.
According to the instructions next up is assembling the motion, and in comparison to the four steps in the instructions I completed today, there are 11 stages to assembling the motion so it might take a while before I have anything new to blog about.
Mark, have a very carefull look at your frames. There are 5 little 'tabs' sticking down, the outer two larger tabs are for re-railing bars and the inner 3 represent the bottom of the brake hangers. These 3 are (or should be) half-etched. The half-etched side should be the outer side to give the impression of the brakes being behind the frames. It looks like you've got the half-etched side on the inside. Easy to miss and not mentioned in the instructions that came with my kit.
ReplyDeleteYeah I saw you mentioned the half-etched frames in the description you gave when building the cabless version. I did spend about five minutes looking at the parts very carefully (because you'd mentioned it) and there doesn't appear to be any half-etching on the frames at all. There are a number of differences/oddities between the two kits (for example, this one doesn't have etched overlays for the buffer beams) and I'm guessing this is another difference.
DeleteNo half etching on the chassis and, worse, no buffer plank overlays, not too impressive although that would help keep the cost of the kit down.
Delete(Mine's been dropped, repaired and then broken again, hence lack of recent progress. All down to an untidy workbench.)
I did check with Brian about the buffer overlays as they were mentioned in the instructions but I couldn't find them on the etch. Apparently the chassis is the basis for quite a few different models of Quarry Hunslet and so it didn't make sense to include an overlay for just Dorothea. Personally as this is a kit for Dorothea that doesn't really make much sense to me, but looking at photos of the real thing there is actually very little detail on the front beam, so I might just leave it blank. I suppose I could try adding a few rivets but probably more hassle than it's worth.
DeleteIf you think your workbench is untidy, you should see mine. I don't have a specific work area, so I just move stuff around on my desk to put down the cutting mat. It does mean that there is piles of stuff always ready to fall onto things. Fingers crossed though, so far I haven't managed to damage anything, although I did manage to accidentally let the Baguley-Drewry run off the end of the test track and fall to the floor; soft carpet fortunately and no obvious signs of damage.
Over an hour for that one hole. That's more patience than I possess for such things.
ReplyDeleteWell, an hour for the two holes, one on the front and one on the rear buffer beam. Still it did require quite a bit of patience!
DeleteIt's looking great, Mark. Not too impressed at the lack of half-etch...why the difference, I wonder? But this is all going together very nicely. I am looking forward to your exploits with the motion...I have a 7mm kit of a quarry Hunslet and I can't even bring myself to assemble the motion, so I am hoping to gain some inspiration...no pressure :-)
ReplyDeleteNow I'm panicking! Not only do I have to put mine together but I have to provide inspiration, aaarrrrgggghh! At least in 7mm the parts are all bigger, which should make some things a little easier.
DeleteWhatever you do, and I am sure it will be top notch, I will be inspired, so don't worry. You mentioned rivets...they are no bother now, thanks to Archer transfers. I have just built a girder bridge and used their sheet...I (honestly!) can't find it on the workbench just now :-) their stuff is excellent for surface detail. If you are interested I will let you have the sheet no and web site...when I find the packet...
Deleteif you could let me know which Archer sheet you would suggest that would be great; I did have a look at their website yesterday but was struggling to decide which sheet would be the most sensible.
DeleteI have sheet AR88025 on the workbench unopened, which looked to be the most usefull at the time. I'll be using it on my Hunslet for the saddletank as the cast rivets on Brian's kit are wrong for Velinheli according to the photos that I've seen.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure this got through the first time, so I'll just say that I used sheet AR88052 which looks fine for 4mm/ft, but the rivets are spaced at 2mm which may be a bit wide for a loco...and since they are soooo expensive I think Paul's recommendation would be best.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul and Iain, it sounds like AR88025 is the sheet to go for. Looks as if DCC Supplies is the main UK stockist, but they are currently out of stock, although it sounds as if ordering direct is relatively quick and painless.
ReplyDelete