Fortunately this is easy to fix by simply drilling holes into the casting in the right place and using a little filler to cover the old dimples (and the first hole I started to drill in the wrong place). Once the saddletank is glued to the boiler fitting the balance pipe (just a bit of 0.8mm wire formed around the handle of my modelling knife) is nice and easy.
Now if you remember I hate fitting handrail knobs to the saddletank. Having eventually got them right, I've had to do them again, as I've discovered that the saddletank casting appears to be slightly twisted. I glued it into position and checked that it looked level from the front (i.e. the bottom of both sides were level) and that the tank filler cap was in line with the chimney etc. It was only once the glue had set solid that I discovered that at the cab end it isn't so level, which of course meant that the handrails weren't level. I did try to break the glue to re-position the tank but it isn't coming off, so I've tweaked the handrail holes slightly to try and get them level back to front and at the same height on each side. They aren't perfect but for normal viewing they will be fine; it will only be a close up inspection from directly in front where you might notice a problem.
Blimey Mark! I go away for a couple of days and look at the progress! Reading through all your latest posts, I am struck by how this is a valuable work of reference for anyone building this locomotive...your trials and how you successfully overcome them, plus the comments from the knowledgeable experts. Perhaps if your blog had been about when I was building Jidenco kits I wouldn't have given up and thrown the last one out of my workshop window...
ReplyDeleteSo far it's been fairly easy to build, even if some of the parts haven't fitted quite as well as I would expect. Having said that I'm running ahead of the blog posts and have just discovered that the gearbox doesn't work at all given a change in the supplied parts, so that will need a little more thought before I get to a working model.
DeleteSo far though I haven't wanted to throw it out the window, or hit it with a mallet!
Now I have access to this blog, if I do build Canopus (which is tempting, I have to say) it will not end up as a shiny disc on the bench! I'll know that others have suffered and won...although you do have the patience of a saint, unlike me :-)
DeleteIf that's what you describe as 'fairly easy' Mark I'd sure hate to see fairly hard.
DeleteWithout a balance pipe water can sit higher on one side of the saddletank than the other if the loco is on uneven track and the tank isn't filled right up. The balance pipe allows water to flow from side to side to keep the level even. When the level is below the boiler top the tank will act as two side tanks.
ReplyDeleteShame about that casting, should I ever build one of these (or any kit with a cast saddletank for that matter) I'll fill the dimples and drill fresh handrail holes once the tank is in place.
Okay I'm officially an idiot. How did I not think about the fact that the tank would divide in two as the water level dropped?
DeleteIn future I will definitely be drilling the sadletank when it is in position rather than any earlier. I thought I was being clever trying to drill the holes when the casting was easy to handle. Clearly a mistake; it's a good job holes in whitemetal ares easy to fill.
Mark water tanks have baffles in them. They stop the water all going to one side on long corners. The balance pipe just speeds up watering up.
ReplyDeleteIt's looking good. Be better if the kit was better.
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ReplyDeleteWhite metal can be a bit unreliable when cast thick like this one. In all the years I have been making brass and nickel silver masters for w/m I have never been given even a hint of shrinkage rates by any caster, even the good ones! The Quarry Hunslet kit I mastered for N-Drive doesn't have these problems because we went for a thinner casting everywhere. 1.2mm nickel silver was what I used on the master.
ReplyDeleteYes the slight crack on the bottom of the casting should have made me check it closer than I did. There was parts for an etched tank which I should probably have gone with, but the cast one is nice and heavy to add the extra weight to the model.
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