Martin's 6" Foden LWB

I have just about finished the downstairs toilet and built myself a bigger shed so a couple of weeks ago I finally made a start on my Foden. Six kits had been delivered by then, kit No 7 has now arrived.


Kits 1 to 6


Kit 1 Chassis


Kit 1 Small Items


Kit 2 Springs


Kits 3 and 4 Front wheels


Kits 5 and 6 rear wheels

Started by cleaning up the springs, The heat treatment seemed to have softened the mill scale so that a few passes with the flap wheel turned the black and rusty to shiny. Also cleaned up the tips of each leaf to round off the cut edges. Each leaf was then coated with Owatrol Oil to stop any rust – it dries quite slowly but after a few days it becomes a hard varnish like coating


Spring leaves before and after


Springs ready for painting.

Then started work on the chassis components. Found the mill scale much harder and difficult to shift with a flap wheel. I tried concrete cleaner which worked well with the small components that could be left to soak in a bucket but repeatedly painting it on the larger items appeared to be ineffective. The best way appeared to be a selection of twist knot wire brushes fitted to a variable speed angle grinder. It was a slow process taking about 10 hours to do each of the main rails but I got there in the end.


Chassis rails before and after

Steve’s instructions referred to the channel section being rather industrial. The inside and outside of the top and bottom faces of the channel are covered with deep curved grooves presumably caused by the rolling process. I have given them a coat of Owatrol Oil and will see how they look after primer and the first coat of undercoat is rubbed down. I was considering then using a polyester stopper in the visible areas to create a flatter surface. Most of the top face will be covered by the bodywork and the bottom face only visible if you crawl underneath the beast. The inside of the channel section is the main problem as most of that will be on show.





Well I have made a start, I’m hoping there won’t be so much work required to clean up the machined chassis components then I will be on for a massive painting session. I may leave the wheels for a bit but it would be nice to get the chassis assembled before I start playing with Kit 7 (boiler cradle and front axle).

A few useless statistics for kits 1 to 6
Components: 74
Fastenings: 229
Weight: 210.6 kg

and there's me thinking the chassis rails on my 4.5" took a long time to clean up, mind you a coat of red oxide fills a lot of the small holes.

Mike

I'll be at the same stage next week can't wait!

I'm thinking of black nickelling the springs but not 100% sure yet.

Looking very good.

I had experience of the 6" chassis when I was at the factory for a week back late feb. I was building up once of the control model chassis for Dean and Steve. I found mitered flap disks in the grinder were very effective on removing the scale of the open sides of the rails. You could find out how much for a "lunchtime" sandblast at your local garage or metal fabricators? It may be more cost effective than using a dozen disks and 10 hours of your time?

I used flap discs and wire brush in an angle grinder and with a couple of high build undercoats and 3 top coats it has come up lovely its suprising how much of the imperfections are hinden with a bit of paint

Not much to report by way of progress but have unpacked Kit 7 and it is indeed a beauty to behold. You would certainly need access to some serious workshop machinery and the skills to match to be able to build one of these from scratch.


Kit 7

The scores on the doors are now:
Components 108
Fastenings 286
Weight 249 Kg

Excellent to see another builder start a thread on the build progress. Well done Martin. Keep up the good work especially the information on number of components/weights etc as i'm finding that bit really interesting.

Dean

Cheers Martin like dean said its a brilliant idea keeping a track on the number of bits and weights pics are really good to i had good intentions of keeping a diary of pics but have done rubbish so im really glad you are cheers

Been away for two weeks so no progress again but on Monday a heavy parcel was delivered. Tuesday SWMBO was having her hair done so I smuggled the scales (kitchen and bathroom) out to the shed. Tuesday afternoon got a phone call – got to go away and earn some money. So here is a picture of the kit and by popular demand, the magic numbers so far. Someday I will have some pictures of a few bits painted and even bolted together.


Kit 8 - Axle Boxes, Brake Drums and Radius Arms

Components 144
Fastenings 358
Weight 288 Kg

Embarrassingly I have nothing more to report as regards making any progress with the build. The little short job turned into two jobs and lasted far too long but at least I now won't have to raid the piggy bank to pay for the next couple of kits. Kit 9 has now arrived and was the heaviest since the chassis with the axle alone weighing in at over 20kg and almost 10kg for the sprocket. Anyway here is a picture and the latest scores.



Kit 9 Rear Axle and Differential

Totals so far:

Components 188

Fastenings 457

Weight 340 kg

cheers for keeping score always look forward to the update

It's surprising just how many bits there are on these builds. I'm up to 3448 components and fasteners our showmans build so far. Great to see the progress and yes please keèp the stats coming in.

Still no significant progress to report, its either been too cold or too damp to do any painting in my shed on the end of Bodmin Moor. Indoors one bedroom is looking a bit smarter so my credit rating has gone up and I will be able to get some hours in when the weather improves.

Kit 10 has arrived, slightly out of sequence as "kit" 11 was a boiler deposit paid before Christmas. Some hefty bits of metal that proved a bit too much for the packaging but everything seems OK. I was a bit concerned that the brake rods may have been bent but having seen them in the images of the control models I have satisfied myself they are as they should be.

We received drawings for both the C Type and SWB so can confirm that the cross members discussed in Bill's (Burrel1) thread are fitted differently on the two versions. Also from earlier in the thread the radius rod brackets also carry the brake shaft on the SWB hence the additional holes spotted by Iain.

Anyway here is the photo of kit 10



And for all the numbers fans, at the third of the way point we have

Components 240
Fastenings 612
Weight 371.6 Kg or 7 cwt 1 qtr 7 lbs

With temperatures in double figures I spent a bit of time in the shed last week.

I started painting the springs figuring that as most of it would be out of sight I could learn from a few my many mistakes before venturing into areas that would be more public. The main issues I had were how to hold/support the various bits to be able to cover all the surfaces without ending up with finger prints and marks where some of the leaves ended up resting against my beam of nails. I had a few runs particularly where the paint got through holes and the dreaded specks of dust.

At least the springs gave me enough confidence to have a go at the chassis components effectively a day behind the springs

I have used Craftmaster paints, two coats of primer, two undercoat and one Alfa Red topcoat (just on the springs) so far. But then the temperatures dropped and everything was covered in a layer of condensation in the morning so no more painting.

I amused myself by starting to clean up the wheels using a selection of wire brushes in a drill and finishing off the corners with wire brushes in a Dremel - life expectancy of Dremel brushes about 10 - 15 minutes.

Now work has stopped play for a while so the paint will have a chance to harden. The high build primer and undercoat has certainly reduced the severity of the gouges in the chassis members (see my first post above) but I will use some stopper and give it all a light rub down before the next coat. With the springs I was thinking I might flatten off the runs etc on the faces of the leaves but probably not make them any thicker with more paint but I will add a final top coat once they are assembled.











Martin

Slightly off thread but that look like a beam from a log cabin supporting them??? And that looks like a new cabin you're in, was it from Dunster House as I built one from them six years ago and was very impressed and had several extra beams which went into the log burner we installed.

Otherwise looking very good so far, lots of painting and heavy bits in these engines!!! Will enjoy seeing these beasts shooting round the rally field.

Yes it is a Dunster House. 90% happy with them and it was very easy to build but had an issue with doors and frames being incompatible in the lock department. Customer Service is hopeless, ended up buying a short length of SS bar and making my own striker plates.

Fitted a few extra windows so with the spare logs supplied and the leftovers I have made a sturdy bench as well having a fair few bits for odds and sods.

Martin

Hi Martin whats the updates on the weight and part numbers so far:D 

Hi Dave

Sorry I am well behind and haven't had a chance to do anything much over the summer. I will try and smuggle the scales out to the shed and catch up with the last three or four kits soon. Some hefty lumps waiting out there.

Martin

Cheers martin:lol: 

As mentioned above it has been a busy summer with too many demands on my time that have kept me out of the shed. I feel more like a kit collector than a kit builder but hopefully the balance will change soon. Anyway I have updated the stats now and as were are round about the half way point here is the full half time score sheet.

It is a table with five columns, I hope it looks OK on a computer screen but appreciate it may not work on a phone. There was an icon to create a table in the post a reply pane but it didn't seem to help me.


Kit                    Supplied     Components   Fastenings   Weight kg
Chassis               Feb 12            24              222          102.9
Springs               Apr 12             36                 1           25.5
1st Front Wheel   Jun 12               6                 3           12.9
2nd Front Wheel   Jun 12              6                 3           12.9
1st Rear Wheel     Jul 12               1                              28.2        
2nd Rear Wheel    Aug 12              1                              28.2
Front Axle           Sep 12             34                57           38.4
Axle Boxes           Oct 12            36                 72           38.7
Back Axle            Nov 12             44                99           52.5
Boiler Payment     Dec 12        
Brakes                Feb 13             52               155          31.3
Steering              Apr 13             32                 40          12.5
Water Tanks        May 13            20                180          75.0
Cylinder Payment  Jul 13          
Smokebox           Aug 13              36               279          30.3
Cylinder              Oct 13               4                  22          43.3


Total                                                  332               1133        532.7

So there we are, 14 kits of hardware and over half a tonne of metal

Martin