Building a Spaceship

Some of the pieces Andy Sollis has printed for me have been thin but they were only the small items... 0.35mm just sounded like a challenge but then again as I say I always bow to the experts in the field. I always read and follow your print project thread with interest... 3D printing is not an area I easily connect with... I know I should as its the way to go.

 

Your welcome Paul D, unknown to me at the time there has just been another Scorpio Seven Models 9F build over on Western Thunder, that was a Crosti version tho.

 

Just before I crack on with making 23 washout plugs and their associate inner recesses I thought I'd show the arrangement of fixing between the smokebox and boiler as the diameters of each are different at the connecting point. Basically the kit gives five discs of three different diameters, the biggest marked 174 in the picture goes at the firebox end of the boiler set 2mm inside from the end. The two smallest rings are soldered to a middle sixe ring and fit into the smokebox with the middle size ring between the smokebox and boiler. Finally the other middle size ring is soldered flush inside the front of the boiler, this arrangement creates the step so typical of the 9f and also of austerity locos. I won't locate these items until the washout plugs have been made... so its off to the workshop now and to make a start.

 

Just before I disappear for the day into a totally unfinished workshop (the Proxxon TDM drill is in there and yes its cold and snowed in the night up here in the Yorkshire Wolds) to make the plugs here is the inside firebox frame which also need plugs fixing to the wrappers before making the final assembly. Last night I cut the footplate temporary brace off as all work there is complete for now and test fitted the firebox or what exists of it currently into the frames. All is well and I think once the wrappers are in place I shold be able to solder the thin trim pieces along the inner edge of the footplate without the firebox binding or distorting the shape of the footplate.

The very white effect are caused by light reflections from last nights snow, anyway it makes for a nice festive pre Christmas picture.

 

Its been on and off flurries here in East Yorkshire all day... in fact the delivery truck dropped off an oak laminate internal door for here this afternoon and the driver said they had been up to Middlesborough and Hexham earlier this morning and it was manic road conditions with snowfall.

 

So all the best laid plans went to pot today, Royal Mail didn't deliver the Slaters order as expected because the postie said there had been some sort of melt down at the central hub and everything was just bedlam... so we shall see what tomorrow brings. Anyway part of the order included brass wagon axle bushes which I was going to drill out and use as the indents in the boiler cladding for the washout plugs, I had to raid some unstarted ventilateed van kits for brass bushes to get work started.

The boiler requires six bushes in total so I drilled out a few in the Proxxon TDM220 with a 1.4mm drill, the actual plug is made using 1mm x1mm square brass rod inserted into the bush and soldered in. I found the best way was to locate the tophat bush on the inner side of the boiler wrapper and checking location against the embossed rived holes from the inside,,, its not an entirely accurate science but the result comes good with a little care. Once the tophat bush is fixed then its a simple matter of inserting the square rod and giving it a quick solder with a hot iron... all done with 145 degree fast flow solder.

Here are the wagon axle bushes drilled out ready.




I hadn't realised this was such an out of focus close up, apologies for that, I'll try and take a better one tomorrow as its gone dark here now but you get the drift... the bush located inside the wrapper and aligned with the rivet circle showing on the inside. Square rod soldered in to for the plug.





Finally the two pairs of plugs at the top each end of the boiler with a lower pair at the firebox end which is out of view. In the background are the both firebox wrappers awaiting their turn for plug fitting... that is once the Royal Mail nocturnal hub meltdown has been rectified.

I cannot lay claim to this system since that invention belongs to someone else but I can say it works a treat and hopefully will look the better once painted. Again thanks for watching its much appreciated.

 

Yep Andy... my mistake looks like I'm loosing it under pressure

 

There is 24.5 mm between the inner tender frame which carries the wheels and thus pick ups. I could mount these just in front of the brake shaft bracket with spare room and it wouldn't be visible either... the loco side connector would also be hiden and not interfere with the tender to loco drawbar. So will deffo be going with these now.

 

will do... I'll order up in a min and when fitted take pics... thing there is enough room in the tender drag box

 

So here is a better picture taken today showing the washout plug concept ... basically its a Slaters axle bush drilled to 1.5mm and a piece of 1mm square brass rod inserted and all soldered up from behind... looks the biz me thinks... however what doesn't look the biz is the long reach handrail knob on the smokebox because I sucessfully managed to break the "knob" bit off.Good news is I have saved to broken off bit and will solder it to the wire and hope that catches onto the long reach arm.

 

Anyway on a better note the goodies from Slaters arrived today, 9F driving wheels, 7860B9 is the code and 7860B9F is the code for the centre flangeless pair which is the pack on the top right.




And now we have these little suckers so the firebox washout plugs can be made up... this means firebox wrappers can then be fitted along with a few other small items on the wrappers then the complete unit can be tried for clearances in the footplate, the footplate trims can be soldered in and the firebox onto boiler tack mounted. Happy days now but a lot of work to do... I've not even started on the motion apart from laminating the connecting rods.

 

Nice to hear from you Paul... enjoy the build which hasn't been going on that long now and glad you can take something from it for you own 9F