J Class |
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Building a Steam Era J Class |
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I am currently building a Steam Era J Class loco. The model is a brass kit with many hundreds of components. I am currently building up my soldering skills and every step of the project I learn a little bit more. I've completed the tender (as recommended by the instructions) and have started on the loco.
Progress to this point was quite quick, getting the wheels turning without binding (getting caught on themselves when trying to turn the other wheels was quite an art). The key to this was to follow the instructions. In addition you need to be very careful that you do not over screw the tiny screws that hold the crank in place. The tolerance is tiny so you need to take care. You'll know you have over screwed if when testing the screws work their own way out. If you do over screw send me an email and I'll tell you how I got out of the mess. Getting to this point became a real challenge for several reasons. Firstly I didn't have a piercing saw to do the fine work, quick trip to the shops and I had one. Secondly I am being really fussy about having a loco that will run well at low speed which means a lot of tuning needed to be done at this sage. In addition to the time and effort I have picked up some contract work which has left me very little time to progress to loco. Pleasingly I've just started on the foot plate. The foot plate is progressing however very slowly at this point. |
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Further progress has been made on the foot plate. While this may not appear to be a large amount of progress, and truth be told there is probably only a few hours of work involved, it has taken three months to move from the picture above to the picture below. Finding time has become a challenge now that I'm back to work, but I can't complain, the money helps the modeling as much as time. Now to commence the boiler.
After spending time looking for the right drill bits I finally managed to complete drilling all the holes in the boiler and put together a dry run at final assembly. Note to self, get lots of .3 and .35mm drill bits when I can. I broke at least 3 if not a whole lot more getting the holes right, but its starting to look the part. So how much piping is there to run????
Sometimes its amazing what you can achieve in a day. Having come down with a bit of a cold I decided to stay warm and spend most of the day on the loco. Now its starting to look the part.. Only 2 pages of instuctions to go....
Progressing a bit quicker now with the piping and boiler detail underway.
That was a journey. Finally its completed with DCC and working head light.
Just needs a coat of paint.... hmm I need a dry sunny day.
Painted but still needs number boards
| KQ Container Wagon |
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KQ Wagons |
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Having built one as a starter improving my soldering skills I thought I'd better get a few more under my belt before beginning the J Class above. Still to be painted these three will be a good edition to my layout as I slowly introduce the Steam Era. |
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Completed Projects (mostly)
| AEC Rail Motor |
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AEC Rail Motor |
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A Steam Era kit, I put this together as my first brass kit. Now painted and completed its a good edition to my layout. Advice on building this kit: Take your time, its a bit tricky but a good kit. If you get the opportunity add pickups to the trailer and spend time running in the model.
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| CE Van |
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CE Van |
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This is a Broad Gauge Bodies kit which I wait over six months from ordering. Worth the wait. My attempt was rushed and as a result I'm not happy with the joins around the roof. I have some work to go back and address a few problems with it and repaint and decal.
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| AW and BW |
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AW and BW Carriages |
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More steam era kits, these four were built a long time ago so advice on building them is limited. I did however hand paint them rather than air brush as I did not have the skills or equipment to air brush. The colour was achieved by mixing humbold red and black to my taste and gently brush painting the model.
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| Cattle M Wagon |
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M Wagon |
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Another steam era kit, this again was built a long time ago. Hand painted with a brush and colour achieved by eye. I built many of these so they must have been a quick kit to build.
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