David Andrews Fowler 2-6-4 Tank & LMS suburban set for Leek

was that eco printing or economical printing

 

Chassis running very smoothly by hand... motor is not wired up yet, the front crankpin bush has been tapped 10BA and filed back so I know we have a good amount of clearance between the bush and back of crosshead. The Cannon EN motor has to be fitted this way otherwise turned about axis the motor cradle fowls the back of the cab footplate. The is also clearance between the coupling rods and the motion bracket, talking of motion the remaining set of motion parts have been assembled in readyness of fitting. As standard I cut away the cast piston arm and replace with 1.5mm nickel rod which is soldered into a pre drilled hole in the crosshead, this gives an arrow straight motion and does away with binding due to any possible variations in the casting... it also saves a lot of time cleaning up the arm with files.



Today's time has been spent making up and fitting parts to the cylinder assembly, the cylinder saddle is now totally dressed and drilled for valve guides, the next job will be to trim the ends of the slidebars to accept a good fit with the motion bracket... all this will ultimately form a complete removable assembly and permanently lock the crosshead into position so I need to get everything fitting correctly beforehand.



As we can see in the model and from the black and white picture of 42418 I posted previously this loco had the shortened drain pipes and also the square access cover on the cylinder wrapper.

So tomorrow I'll hopefully solder the motion brackets to the slidebars and test the assembly prior to fitting once I know all is good.

 

Postman brought me a nice parcel today, it was the three LMS non corridor coaches I ordered from Malcolm Binns at Sideline Kits last Thursday... now that is good service. I haven't opened them yet but will do now and post a few pics of contents later this evening. These three coaches along with the Fowler tank loco will form the local train on the Leek layout.

 

Not done any work on the Fowler tank today as I've been checking the parts and contents of these three Sidelines suburban coach kits which came yesterday and this morning was spent mixing cement and laying a brick foundation for a flat slab entrance in front of the new greenhouse. Anyway the Sideline coach kits consist of a Brake Third, 9 compartment all Third Period 3 and a First Third Composite Period 2, wheels are not included and if superdetailing is required such as to fit drab handles and door banging stops then these have to be sourced separately. The castings are very crisp and do include Tee handles on doors but no guards long tail door handles in the brake, roof is an aluminium formed item and the etches are rather nice but do require drilling out for fittings. The instructions are a tad basic but once I worked my way around to familiarize with the parts it shouldn't be that much of an issue. Seats are plastic formed and require cutting to shape and the kit contains glazing and styrene sheet strips to form the compartments.




I need to order a few more wheel packs.




These are the etches which include the bogie packs for the Period 3 Brake Third.



These are the side panel etches for all three of the kits, tumblehomes have to be formed using a broom handle so the instructions say. I think the 1st 3rd Composite kit has been hanging around a while judging by the look of the etch staining... won't bother me though as I'm just glad these kits are available for what I need to make.

 

First side on the brake Third nearly complete now... waiting for door grab hand and luggage door furniture then sides and ends can be fixed together.

 

No the thread title says it all.

 

So this tank engine is pretty much finished and will be once the backhead is dressed. Today I spent time finishing all the little outstanding jobs like fitting the second cab door which opens, final forming the cab roof so it spring fits for removal and some tiny oil pipe ways from the front lubricator boxes, even added a motor anchor plate and smokebox numberplate which now only needs a Severn Mill etch overlay to complete along with builders plates and then once motor tested 42418 will be ready for paint.

 

Thank you for that nice comment Paul... its much appreciated indeed.

 

Thank you Vinylpea you are very kind to say... I just enjoy making these kits and never even question the processes involved. It's all nice to know folk here can enjoy the end results. Thank you again and thank you for your interest.