Building a Spaceship

Finally the tender is now finished bar for the screw coupling which I'll add once painted... well actually that is a bit of a joke as I've got two other tenders and a Patriot loco to paint also. So looking at the inner frames here firstly it can be seen the centre wheelset is riding on sprung hornblocks and the frame stretcher beams have been mounted on a wire support, the stretchers fit nicely inside the main frame / tender body as they should and the wire supports are mainly hidden from view by the brake hangers. Some trimming away at the dragbox end of the inner frame has been necessaryto clear the drag box buffers and make a snug fit. I didn't think the white metal casting of the brake shaft supplied in the kit was up to much really (I have to be honest as say what I feel here, not meant to sound offensive in any way) ... in hindsight I ought to have ordered a replacement from Ragstone but the offending item is tucked away and not seen so much.

 

Sorry about this delay in posting further pics... got diverted to thepub by a kindly neightbour... so here is a picture of the hornblocks and stretcher beams from an oberhead position. The hole in the frame to the right of the centre wheelset is for the electrical feed to the wiper pick ups which will be located after painting. I'm not entirely drawn to the wjite metal brake hangers and blocks but they are somewhat mainly out of view when the tender outerframes are in place... so I'll let this go since lost wax castings would be no different. The brake hangers were sweat soldered into position.




Here we see the two frame stretcher beans from the underside, the forward beam is positioned with the flanges downwards whereas the one by the water scoop is positioned the opposite way up to give a greater clearance for the water scoop when its in the stowed position.

 

These next few pictures deal with detailing on the tender body and location on the frames. This build has generally gone without fault as etches fit well, the only issue I had was that the etch piece provided for the tool vupboard and combined coal tunnel was too short when curved to the radius on the forward and rear bulkhead fabrication, no big deal and nothing a bit of scratch work didn't fix, however I just didn't like the vacuum pipes Scorpio provide... so they had to go and were replaced with the correct type supplied by Ragstone. When I studied research material of 9F locos it became apparent the standard BR vacuum pipe and stop holder were not standard at all and difffered quite abit betwwen say the ones fitted on the 2-6-4 tank and a Class 5, this is because on the 9F the vacuum stopper dummy bracket is away from the actual vac piping.... so a fine pearcing saw was used to seperate the Ragstone casting. It has to look right you know.

The seperation vetween pipe and bracket is no more than 2mm but once painted will be so evident to see... I'll take a picture in the next day or so of the loco buffer neam to explain better.

 

No not that one Andy... its the bloke over the road whose house I was working on back in September... he is on the deluded quest to book me for more work next year.

 

So here is a better side angle view of the tender, I've added lead weight onto the underside of the coal shute... its starting to look a bit of a beast.




And the inside bunker shot... its a tad ropey on the joint angles but as the instrctions sayfull it with coal and you won;t tell the difference, actually that's unfair because Scorpio's Seven Models build instructions doesn't say that at all. In all seriousness these reworked kits are good to build and make into an accurate to scale representation... who knows I might even buy a few of their GWR types and build them to sell... big and green with shiny brass bits and no outside motion to concern with... what's not to like about that eh.





The front view with the parking brake and scoop handles that spin round just for show.




Another shot of the front end... water sieve boxes and feed pipes fitted onto the tank undersides.




The side view.





Finallt from the other side... next stop the paint shop and then pick ups. Than you for watching.

 

yep its dire and I have little interest in them but think of all the dosh made which will fund purchase of nice engine kits of types we all know and love. never mind about solder fumes this is hard business cash talking.

 

With the tender now put into primer paint (pictures of that later) it was time to return to the loco and focus again on the above footplate parts... I revisit the chassis again once the wheelsets arrive from Slaters, they should be here tomorrow so I'm told. Anyway the rolled boiler case was dressed according to the build instructions, this included fitting long handrail knobs, top feeds, washout joints, safety valves and steam collecting dome... all these items have to be added before the boiler case is sealed up into a cone shape and the end rings added.

Now here arrose a potential issue in this part of the work, Chigley (thanks for the pointer Ken) kindly put me onto a 9F Crosti build taking place over on another forum, the issue lay at the top of the boiler mimicing the cladding sheet join, this feature forms as an external face half etch line with rivet marks continuously along the top of the boiler, rivets had to be embossed and this whole part formed an obvious weak point resulting in a visibly obvious crease line. The builder of the Crosti recognised this problem and reinforced the underside of the crease area with scrap etch, what was more of an eye opener was his approach to making fusible plugs... very inspiring and I'll follow suit when mine are fitted onto the boiler which will be the final items to be added before the sealing up process which will happen later in the week.

The picture below shows the top crease line area, the open holes are where the fusible plugs will be fitted... all six of them.




This image is of the back end of the boiler which fits against the firebox, a crease has started to form already but will be corrected .




The front area of the boiler has been reinforced with a thin strip of scrap etch soldered over the crease line, the result is a nice flowing radius which will come together as it should once the boiler is sealed. Yes its messy inside but I'm not interested in that as solder overspill adds strength and support to the assembly, its not visible anyway... belt and braces if you like. The internal lamination layers for the top feed support in this view can be seen also.




I'd already previously made up the smokebox assembly as far as can be done before fitting to the boiler, rivet heads embossed and the long extension long handrail knows fitted, these long handrails are specials provided in the kit as the reach as to be extended because the smokebox diameter is less that the cone boiler where they join.

It all looks a tad strange at the moment but all will come together shortly as intended, hand rails, water feed pipes and regulator linkage along with the plumbing won't be fitted until much later in the build. So thats all for now on the boiler front until those bespoke fusible plugs are made... all 23 of them that is. Thanks for following and commenting.

 

I'm sure you could do a 9F or any cone boiler loco build, with a cone boiler because of differing diameters there is room for slight manipulation of the join before soldering... a parallel boiler demands all work before soldering to be equal measurements... but you have that techy measuring gadget so you'll be fine on that count... unless that infamous hammer is still lurking nearby in a person's bike shed.

Nice Highland engine there Paul... those frames look a bit of a challenge tho

 

That's exactly what I though too Mpssy, do you think there might be clearance issues with the con rods behind the frames when printed? I wonder if an etch brass overlay might work ?

 

So at the risk of flooding the forum with tender pictures and boring everyone here as well this tender is now in Halfords matt black primer to help stop the brass from tarnishing... here are a few more pictures. With luck the order for wheels arrive tomorrow along with some other stuff, if so focus on the loco will shift to full on with the majority of the motion completed before Christmas.

 

Would a thin set of cosmetic outer frames be possible in 3D print? Taking into account that I know very little about 3D printing processes.

 

Go for it Paul, do this project and you will be breaking new ground me thinks... it is certainly a good challenge to do. Will follow your progress with interest when it comes.