Website back up and running!

Our website is live again!  Our website provider has changed our hosting arrangements, so our website doresn't look quite the same as it did, but I am hoping to make some changes to it anyway.

We are going to try hosting a blog directly on our website.  There are options there for you to subscribe to our blog...hopefully you can let us know if you are getting our signal loud and clear,

I will be discontinuing the "blogger" platform in favour of using our website.  So you won't be seeing any more updates from this blog until you go onto our website and see what's happening or subscribe to the blog there.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

6/7 - 28/8/18 - Pansy

In between the other booked-in jobs (as previous written on the blog) work continued on the Pansy

Some of Pansy's parts were ordered from Polly Model Engineering UK and arrived in the mail, I was pleased with how friendly and helpful the staff were.  Included with the order was some of Doug Hewson's brake hoses and also the lost wax cast marker lights.

The running boards had proved to be a pest, as there were several holes and countersinks that misaligned with the other bits, or no longer were required.  And more work to replace them than patch the holes and re-drill.  So the holes were tapped and plugs made and silver soldered in.

The running borads were shy of the buffer beam at the back of the loco (no overhang) so the back end was cut off and some strips silver soldered on (won't be seen other than what protrudes from under the back of the tank).

The running board tapped holes in the buffer beams were found to be stripped and at an angle so they were also removed, tapped oversize, and plugged.  At this time the riveted angles on the backside of the buffer beams had been causing stress from over riveting and the heat on the silver soldeirng and the cold rolled angle on the buffer beans became bent concave from all the stresses being relived from the rivets and cold rolling process.  So they were carefully straightened in the press.

On furuther investigations I decuded to take a 1mm skim off the face of the front and rear buffer beams to get the running boards hanging over some more and have some material to trim them up square.

With all the regression and discoveries of the above it was also decided while the buffer beams were off to make up the vacuum brake hoses and the plumbing for those.  A few tools were needed, a jig for silver soldering the plumbing at right angles and another press tool for making the saddles.

More photos to come in the next few days

Happy steaming!

Nigel

29/8/18 - V499

For those that are unaware I have been involved over the last couple of years drafting up the new build V499 replica steam locomotive for the Victorian Steam Locomotive Company.

Here are some photos of the smokebox construction that have come through recently courtesy of Paul at Amped Up Welding (Castlemaine) and the VSLC.

The drawings have been redone off a General Arrangement of the V class (only real drawing left) and other Baldwin reference drawings.

To check out the website and leave a donation for progress (or become a sponsor) checkout www.vicsteam.com

Happy steaming!

Nigel

 

11/8 - 14/8/18 - SMR

For South Maitland's 100 year celebrations in December they commissioned me to make a pattern for some commemorative plates to be cast in Polyurethane, to be done by the Maitland Rail Museum.  The pattern was designed off a coal wagon registration plate and adapted for use.  Subtle flavour being the numbers and SMR are in the same font as seen on the locomotives.  The pattern was CNC routed in MDF and finished with high build primer and etch primer and mounted on a board.  A lid was made to prevent any damage to the pattern.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

20/7 - 6/8/18 - SMR

Over a period of days SMR 10 and 18 were removed from their storage shed at East Greta Junction and boilers were washed out for a boiler inspection.

SMR 18 boiler inspection was done at the historic Red Shed which is now leased by GEMCO Rail.  The inspector recorded some video from tbe boiler internals, and 18 has passed it's visual inspection.

SMR 32 is an Orenstein and Koppel shunting diesel used for yard working, restored onsite and painted in the same colour green as used on previous locos at the SMR.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

14/7 - 21/7/18 - SMR

As many of my readers may be aware I have been assisting the local South Maitland Railways recouping some equipment for their 10 class locomotives.

After a fair bit of searching the cylinder boring machine was recovered from Eveleigh workhsops and returned to East Greta Junction. Also some ex SMR 18 cylinder covers were collected at that time. 


The boring machine was designed and built by SMR, and has an indexing pick wheel to advance the boring head.  You can see the photo of it installed on a cylinder.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

 

Pansy

Been a little while since I have put a Blog up but certainly have been busy. I have been filling in the unused holes on the running boards and lengthening them over the back buffer beam. They were shy by 1mm so I have made some strips to extend them. Also some brass insert plugs have been silver soldered into the running boards. A tedious job...not quite as much work as making some new ones.

Also some brass is on order for the tanks and cab and boiler cleading top plates. Looking forward to getting that in.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

26/6 - 2/7/18 - Pansy

For about the last week I have stopped "putting off" researching the overseas (UK) suppliers and their price lists.  Been a big job to get in the headspace, but I think I'm there now.  It all started when looking for some GWR style globe valves for the cab of Pansy, and also looking for the water gauges that are actually available.  I had drawn up the globe valves for the cab and managed to find them in a price list when I was looking up something else!

Some of these price lists are not that easy to decipher, and there's products hidden all over the place.  Particularly difficult sometimes to understand UK prototype locos and what stuff was on what loco, can't go down to the local tourist railway for a squiz!

Quite a good range in what Doug Hewson has, and have managed to find some stuff in the Polly "practical scale" catalogue.  Adam Cro of Cro Fittings is taking it to a new level...check out his website.

All the hashing and rehashing of pice lists has shown me that if I want a nice gauge glass that will look right in the cab I'm probably going to have to make it (unless I come across something I haven't yet seen!).  Not  that others don't sell the fittings, but the Boiler code compliance is one thing, and that you don't know how big these things are until you get them!  I've got a design up my sleeve for a nice gauge glass now...

In the last several years of learning curves I have become aware how difficult it has been to find readily-accessible information to give me a quick solution, or find an equivalent UK design.  I can search for hours and come up with a few things, but there's always that one time when you see someting you weren't looking for which would have been helpful last week!

Fortunately I have some Model Engineer resources which can be easily searched.  One of the typical things is remembering that I saw some technique or product somewhere, but I can't seem to remember exactly where it was!

Long overdue, but I have realised that I need a system to quickly recall and save information...a second "brain" where I can put all the loose ends.  I've had books and paper copies but they aren't easily edited.

I tend to avoid getting a program until I outgrow Excel or other Microsoft systems, as it's easy to be sold a product but the hard thing is customising it to do just what you want, once you know what it is you want!  So Excel with some hotlinks seems to work well for the time being.

I've managed to develop a quick lookup system in Excel to find me things like all the gauge glasses available, common sizes of tubes and fittings and threads, commnly available valves and what they look like (significant variations) and a host of other things like what size hex can you get off the shelf and where from if not in Australia.

I've got a filing system which lists

• Loco parts (cylinders, wheels, etc) and drawings I have of each
• Special tools and techniques.  Always handy to take photos and file away for later.
• Suppliers and who's got what, and what sizes are out there
• A Master spreadsheet of the commonly available sizes and combinations of things (say 3/16" pipe steam fitting has 5/16" x 32 threads, and the union nut for those will be 3/8" AF).  Makes a real easy job of making your own stuff if you can't get what you want.
• The Model Engineer designs (Who drew what and when - great resource to have). 
• Photos of models that I like (good inspiration)

Here are some common themes I've seen on different designs of 5" gauge engines.

• 3-5mm frames at about 4-1/8 to 4-1/4" apart (inside spacing).
• 3/4" silver steel or 4140 axle for the drivers, 5/8" for the other bogie wheels
• Pommy/fine scale wheels are usually 9/16" or 5/8" wide
• Plain bearing axle boxes are usually 1-1/4" wide and running height is with the axlebox 1/8" off the horn stay, and 3/16" from the top of the horn
• 16g (1.6mm) running boards with 18g (1.2mm) cab and tender platework
• Probably 1/16" rivets for platework, in some close spacing the exact number of rivets can look odd. Reduce the rivet size or less rivets for better effect.
• Mostly 3/16" plumbing for the steam stuff, and thereby having mostly 5/16" x 32 steam fittings
• Balls in check valves are usually the same diameter as the pipe.
• Minimum 5mm gauge glass (at least) which will be on 1/4" or 5/16" threads.  The dimension from the bottom nut to the centreline of the bush is a critical one for the 10% cover of the crownseet, I am yet to see a drawing with this dimension, but I believe it to be 1/2"
• Boiler tubes and flues for an average 5" barrel boiler I'd make is 1" flues, and 1/2" tube.  It is common to see the flues double the tube diameter.
• 3/8" radiant superheaters fit nicely up the 1" flues, 5/16" up 3/4" flues, and 1/4" in 5/8" flues.
• Non-stocked or expensive tube sizes in Australia of 5/16" or 7/16" means that the tube nests of some designs will have to be completely reworked.
• 3mm copper throughout the boiler to reduce the number of stays, stays being 1/4" solid copper rod
• 1/2" x 26" safety valves in most 5" gauge boilers.  If conventional valves don't relieve enough steam, go to pop valves.
• All the papers on blast pipes and chimey chokes for the sizes we deal with can be summed up in the steam has to get out without foofing around in the smokebox and back pressuring the cylinders!

 Happy steaming!

Nigel

Pansy

Finally have been able to get a blog app that seems to work on my new phone!

For the Pansy I have fitted some boiler securing grubscrews to the smokebox. And also made a short series blowdown valve which has a grubscrew in the valve. Makes much more clearance behind the side rod so that the valve can't unscrew and foul the
rod.

In looking at all the fittings and different suppliers I have come to find it is8 very difficult to cross reference across suppliers and find the standards and dimensions that the parts may be made to. So I have fortunately been able to find some old Model Engineer articles and LBSCs and Martin Evan's write ups. Plus all the goodies that come up on various forums.

My intention is to make some close scale fittings for the cab where we have that luxury.

Happy steaming!

Nigel

8/6/18 - Britannia

Some time was spent in the shed today looking at the cab and it's structure and where it is going to sit.  The Norman Spink drawings I have don't have a lot of dimensions so there are some approximations to do.

I've been making a "setting out" drawing of the heights of the buffer beam, and cab and some of the other things like the running boards made from the drawings I do have.  Thankfully there were some dimensions I could add up from the parts to work out where things will need to sit, and the brackets to support things.

Happy steamin!

Nigel

6/6-7/6/18 - Britannia

After the front buffer beam was fitted up, the rear drag beam was checked and it wasn't sitting level.
It was dsimantled and found to have some bolt holes that had been elongated and were preventing it sitting properly.  The paint was peeling.  So it was sand blasted and cleaned up and undercoated with etch primer and reassembled.  The slotted holes were driled out to clean them up and that has made it sit just fine.

The cab has some potential to look quite nicely detailed.  There's a bit of work in the platework to make it look right, fitting fasteners and doing some of the finish off jobs. The plate underneath that attaches to the drag beam will be checked out to see if we can use it.  The cab will be set up on the loco to see what has to be done to fix it up and establish where it sits.

Happy steaming!

Nigel