Sometimes you just have to admit defeat. While on initial inspection the Pannier locomotive looked promising, I spend a lot of time fiddling and tweaking to get things right. Eventually I spotted the fundamental problem.
When you build an etched model locomotive it’s important to keep checking that everything is nice and square. The builder of this loco didn’t do this and so the cab front and pannier tank back weren’t at right angles to the sides. Of course I should have spotted this earlier – something I will do next time, if there is a next time.
The wonky bits didn’t cancel each other out as they sometimes do. In fact they compounded the problem. You can’t hide the cab/tank join with filler on this prototype, it has to be right. Up to now I had shoved things around to get the front of the tanks in the right place but this twists the footplate so it wouldn’t sit properly on the chassis.
The only way to solve this problem is to remove the offending parts and put them back in properly. That’s a long job with a model this far advanced. It risks damaging the details that has been applied too.
It didn’t help that the owner wanted the model back this weekend – after only being with me for four weeks. I let him know that as it wasn’t as quick a job as I had been lead to believe he wasn’t going to see the model until December. This wasn’t acceptable so I’ve handed it back so he can find someone else to sort the problem. If I were a professional with nothing else to do I’d have done the job to the deadline – probably, although most pro builders have a waiting list of over a year if they are any good.
So that is the end of this project. A bit unsatisfactory (for me) but I am sure I can find something else to do. The stack of railway kits is calling…
Showing posts with label G1 Pannier Tank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label G1 Pannier Tank. Show all posts
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Pannier window
Some things on a model locomotive have to be neat – in fact if you can’t make them neat you’re better leaving them off as the eye spots them and registers a problem. Lines of rivets for example, get ‘em wonky and everyone will point and laugh. Leave them off and the viewer probably won’t notice them.
Guard bars at the back of tank locos are another. On the Pannier they were all in place but wonky. The trick here is to use a spacer behind them and push each one against this so they are all the same distance from the window.
In gauge 1 I was able to use a handy wooden stirring stick purloined from a coffee-house or McDonalds. In smaller scales a bit of cardboard is best but here I needed depth. I suppose that the GWR didn’t space the guards exactly the same as I have but they look the part and were nice and easy to do.
Guard bars at the back of tank locos are another. On the Pannier they were all in place but wonky. The trick here is to use a spacer behind them and push each one against this so they are all the same distance from the window.
In gauge 1 I was able to use a handy wooden stirring stick purloined from a coffee-house or McDonalds. In smaller scales a bit of cardboard is best but here I needed depth. I suppose that the GWR didn’t space the guards exactly the same as I have but they look the part and were nice and easy to do.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Clean roof
OK, it’s not exciting but I’ve cleaned up the Pannier tank’s roof. All the solder was fluxed and then heated to make it run. Then burnished away with various sizes of fibre pen. Thick bits were scraped down first with me making plenty of effort not to gouge lines in the brass like I normally do.
Those solder spots visible in the photo will disappear under the thin coat of primer. I hope.
Those solder spots visible in the photo will disappear under the thin coat of primer. I hope.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
G1 Pannier Tank
With Tomsk on the water it’s time for a new project – I wouldn’t want to get bored…
Actually Trevor rang me to say that the big box he had sent to me a couple of weeks ago had an owner who’d like to pick it up at a show in a fortnight if possible.
The box contained a nearly finished Gauge 1 Pannier tank. Nearly finished in the sense that there is a working chassis, footplate with cab attached and pannier unit. Most of the detail is in place. Basically all I have to do is solder the big lumps together and clean everything up. Finally a coat of primer is to be applied.
Thanks to Channel 4 showing the last Start Trek film I settled down to a couple of hours tinkering to see how far I could get. As it happens I did quite a bit. The main parts are pretty well built, although the boiler bottom was in the wrong place as the builder had moved it forward to clear the motor. I moved it back and cut a hole in it, which looks better.
Thanks to my little blowtorch I was able to fix the pannier to the footplate. I suspect this might be one reason why I got the job of finishing the project, the builder was running out of heat as the parts got bigger. This is a common problem with newbie modellers. You simply can’t have too big a soldering iron.
Anyway, I assembled the bits and then gave them a good clean in the sink. I have some more work to do and then need to start on the chassis. This bit is more complex and will require some fabricating but should be fun.
Actually Trevor rang me to say that the big box he had sent to me a couple of weeks ago had an owner who’d like to pick it up at a show in a fortnight if possible.
The box contained a nearly finished Gauge 1 Pannier tank. Nearly finished in the sense that there is a working chassis, footplate with cab attached and pannier unit. Most of the detail is in place. Basically all I have to do is solder the big lumps together and clean everything up. Finally a coat of primer is to be applied.
Thanks to Channel 4 showing the last Start Trek film I settled down to a couple of hours tinkering to see how far I could get. As it happens I did quite a bit. The main parts are pretty well built, although the boiler bottom was in the wrong place as the builder had moved it forward to clear the motor. I moved it back and cut a hole in it, which looks better.
Thanks to my little blowtorch I was able to fix the pannier to the footplate. I suspect this might be one reason why I got the job of finishing the project, the builder was running out of heat as the parts got bigger. This is a common problem with newbie modellers. You simply can’t have too big a soldering iron.
Anyway, I assembled the bits and then gave them a good clean in the sink. I have some more work to do and then need to start on the chassis. This bit is more complex and will require some fabricating but should be fun.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)