Garden Railway Forum

So following Aaron's lead, the frames were drilled with the dozens of No. 57 holes which are a fit for
the escutcheon pins I use for small rivets. I also wanted to avoid the two large bolts fixing the front
drag beam to the frames, so two 3mm countersunk brass set screws were turned up and soldered into
the beam then an overlay with the appropriate rivet pattern was soldered over the lot. The frames assembled and with the reverser swapped to the right hand side (haven't removed the left hand arm yet) One of the problems (for me anyway!) with the Fowler is not having any running boards everything
between the frames is fully visible and I knew I wouldn't be able to stand looking at those bright red
insides for long, but more on that later.
Grant.

Beautiful work Grant, a work of art!

Raising the bar, for sure. That steam brake assembly is a work of art.

Thanks Peter and Aaron, of course it's all Aaron's fault
Grant.

Just to cover some of the other detail changes, I made up an ash pan with hopper doors and a couple of washout plugs, Pure luck that the washout plugs ended up central in the frame holes (you gotta have a win sometimes).
The blueprints show two different trailing truck arms, so went with the one that suited best, plus drilling the holes in the wheels. The kit only provides a single operating lever for both sand domes, so by drilling the domes for a 12BA bolt put in from the inside and cranking the operating levers out then fixing two separate levers(from SS windscreen rubber inserts) it looked more prototypical. Unfortunately because of the addition to the boiler they ended up having to stand further away from the position provided hence the extra bends at the cab front. Grant.

What a brilliant use for the 'springs' in wiper-blades!



Phil.P

Thanks Phil,
I have dozens of them, glad to have finally found a use for them.
Grant.

Many of the prototype photos show corrugated iron over the roof. Using the paper crimper I've got is sufficient for aluminium, but I wanted something more substantial, and using it in its present form proved that the rollers would flex so corrugating the edges but not the middle. The rollers were put in the lathe and shortened so I could still roll an 8ft. sheet for buildings. Then I successfully passed 10thou. brass sheet through it after annealing, with a second annealing for the camber. A couple of thin steel strips pinned formed the strapping to hold it down. My biggest problem now is paint. With Humbrol apparently unavailable, and hobby stores out of stocks because of delivery problems, it's getting hard to do whats required to finish things.
Grant.

How do you anneal a largish sheet? Does the whole thing need to reach the required redness at the same time or can you heat it up in sections?

Rik

Rik, I just did it over the big gas ring in the kitchen and as each part came up to heat I moved on to the next. Not ideal but the tray of brass shavings that I have for clock hands was not big enough.
Grant.

Might have to follow suit with my own roller, I have the same issue.
Might even give it a proper crank handle, and replace the vice grips I've used the last 7 years.

Graeme (GTB) has put a crank handle on his, it makes sense. I have to use both hands on the plastic handles provided on mine, when they break I'll go the crank handle way too.
Grant.

I'll have to boil some water in this soon. Coming up the back straight finally. Grant.

Absolutely amazing Grant, what a beauty!

Superb!
Out of curiosity, is the motion weathered to represent red paint under an inch of grime, or is it rusty? Nailed it either way.

Hi Aaron,
There's a coloured photo around of No. 11 sitting in QGR's Innisfail yards in black livery with traces of red lining and in a fairly
dirty state. The motion doesn't show any traces of red so that's what I was trying to emulate. I haven't completed the weathering yet.
The photo is also showing this box arrangement in the front end of the tender coal space that I'm using to hide the gas valve. I just
can't quite get my head around the shape of said box yet.
Grant.

Some more finishing touches. Will have to tone back dirt on the tender. It's by far the cleanest engine in my fleet.
Grant.

Absolutely stunning Grant.

Always nice to see a model with grime in all the right places and without any garish fixtures or wheels poking out anywhere!

Thanks Jake.
Grant.

Lovely Looking Loco Grant!, is there any plans to put a Turbo and Headlight on the Loco for Cosmetics?