Building a Spaceship

Thanks Ken for confirming that, when you say the axle gearing is fixed in the firebox so it doesn't fall out... could you explain further please? Much appreciated.

cheers Paul

 

Thanks Rob, inaccurate folding in my view can be overcome with a little bit or pre planning and thought... not to mention careful working. The curve on a BR Standard 1C tender differs from that of a Stanier 4000 gallon tender in as much as the curve point is a much grater radius, the Stanier tenders I built required just a simple fold onto a flat top flare, BR being BR made the curve more pronounced over a greater surface area and this precipitated some additional working of the etch. To make the initial curve I normally look for datum points to mark the centre line of the curve, using the tender end bulkhead piece as a form checker is best ... I did the same on the LMS coach tumblehomes by using the bulkhead end to check accuracy of forming a constant radius. In the case of this tender the rivet line became the datum point and measuring down from the bunker top I scored a feint line at 7mm... this was the mid point of the radius. Next stage is the usual carefull clamping at the correct position in bending bars to just make a start on the fold without going beyond the point of no return, once done and released from the bars I could see where the curve had to be increased along the tender sides, the bulkhead piece has many uses before it is soldered finally into position. It just becomes a matter of gentle coaxing the curve until the correct radius is made, wooden dowl lengths are good as aditional formers for this part of the fold I find. The brass was not annealed and once all the assemblies are tack soldered into place I find the brass has "memory" and the final seam soldering brings the fold into full and correct alignment... or at least that's the way I do things and it works for me.

 

Then moving back to complete the tender tank assembly as far as can be done at this stage I cut the coal partition plate to shape, it was a bit tricky getting the iron into a few awkward corners and the resultant solder "mess" will be polished back, this would have been made easier if the sides haddn't been fitted but then I wouldn't have known exactly where to trim the partition plate. So heyho its going to get a coal load at some stage and won't really be seen.




Forgot to mention that the bunker base and side sloping plates are fitted now, not exactly a spot on arrangement for there is little to go on and no real diagram, the instructions just say "some trimming may be necessary"... well yes we know that but a diagram or mark pips on the etch sections might have been helpful. What is interesting is these etches are not the same frets as the BR1C tender I built on the Caprotti 5, maybe the frets had been redrawn.

Water dome and filler hatch fitted and some lead weight added to the bunker underside.

 

I have spare castings for a coal pusher and had wondered about doing 92166 but then hadn't got drawings for the modified BR1K tender so didn't know what fittings were on the bunker bulkhead.Filling the bunker with coal to hide gaps seems like a lazy designers answer to not being able to accurately calculate angles needed.

 

Thanks Paul, I didn't think using an anglegrinder on thiskit was a very good idea

 

As the evening light was fading I took a couple of pictures of the tender body which is near completed today, still have a bit of outstanding stuff to do underneath such as the brake rigging, water scoop and to scratch make a tender drawbar on the drag box. I dismissed the vacuum pipe castings and couplings provided with this kit as sub standard... so they took a one way ticket to the waste bin, I've ordered correct type BR standard vacuum pipe assemblies from Ragstone and better screw couplings from LG Minatures. The Invertrain buffers fitted are passable, good job I ordered two full sets as two buffers had to discard as they were drilled off centre and made the heads lop sided in the cast collars... won't be going to that trader again any time soon sorry to say.

Anyway tomorrow's job will be to complete the chassis to set the two cross braces on the frames, this will involve some carefull fitting as the body needs to be able to detach from the frames for maintenance. If the cross braces were to be attached dirrectly it would mean the tender inner frame would be locked inside permenantly... I still have wiper pick ups to fit as such. I'll post some better pictures tomorrow once excess solder residue is tidied back but for now this is where work has got to.

 

Those mag pin connectors are an interesting thing Paul, must get some... 4 pin as decoderwill go in the tender for ease of space. thanks for the heads up on this one. The big problem with these Scorpio (Seven Models) kits is the boiler construction uses round formers to make the shapeand this restricts internal access even though some formers have a central opening hole. Inthe past I've worked around this by making internal ring joint collars but that is time consuming and laborious, soits quicker and easier to put decoders in the tender... tank engines don't always escape this issue too, the Fowler tank I built a month or so back has also got a sealed boiler unit and the tanks don't lend themselves to being an easy space either.

My thoughts are if the mag pin connector pack is mounted behind and hidden in the tender drag box then the four wires can be formed to hang down representing the vac pipe(s) and water feed couplings.

Certainly interested in this concept... I'll get a few sets ordered in.

 

Tell me again Paul what gauge is your silicone wire... I have 22 28 AWG but cannot remembeer what you once sadvised me to get.

 

Thank you for your help in confirming that Ken I have 28 AWG silicone wire...somewhere safe in all the mayhem for the building refurb.

 

I'm with you there Paul... this idiocy on Platform1 knows no boundaries... I too have lost a set of bending bars, a spon new Atten digital solder station, several cutting tools and even all the static grass stuff. However on the up side I found an LNER F6 tank engine in BR black, a Dapol Jinty and the creme de la creme a heavily remade Triang Hymek with lots of super detailing components.