Belly tank bracket/Cladding

Hi All,

I have a question, I am fitting the cladding under the cylinder - it is slightly short and the obvious problem is the bracket underneath. I have enlarged the slot a little but the bolts are still under the cladding. I have also trimmed the bolts a little on the lathe and still am a little short.

Two ideas come to mind, the first is really extend the slot so the cladding slips completely over the bracket and bolt. The second is put a "socket" into the bracket into which the bolts go down -say a mil or two. This will reduce the bracket strength a little.

What have others done?

Cheers
Simon

First check with Steve as there was a batch of cleading that is too short. I had to open the slot for the belly tank bracket by quite a lot to get the snug fit round the spacers but did not need to shorten the bolts or recess. Check you bolts with one of the spacers next to it.

Good point about checking the bracket and bolt to the ring. I think I will take the bracket off and see if the gap closes up. I am only fractionally short. I have out of interest drilled and tapped the rings so I can put some 5ba screws and as a result the cladding holds itself up without the brass rings. It has taken some time though and in places I have brazen so extension pieces on so their is something to tap into.

Cheers
Simon

Out of interest Lynn, what did you do on the two sections of cladding which meet up on the top of the boiler i.e. the section in front of the cylinder and behind the cylinder. Did you overlap or but up?

All the best
Simon

Hi

The front ones are butt joint as this is their natural unaltered position. The ones under the weighshaft. I altered the one under the block to allow the others to butt joint instead of overlap as this saves 3mm or so and allows the bellytank to be installed easier with a bit of a gap between it and the straps.

Thanks Lynn, both of my ones that join on the top overlap by about 5mm hence the question.

Simon

The front parts I also removed the tabs on the showman as there is an infill between the exciter platform. This caused a 3 thickness stack and made the brass band stand above the smokebox and looked odd. I trimmed the tabs down to the thickness of the exciter platform so there is a uniform 1 thickness the whole way round.

Simon

On the road loco my front cleading pieces overlap each other on top of the boiler which is fine and is common on full size engines too. With regard to the rear cleading that is between the cylinder and weigh shaft bracket I suggest you follow Lynn's advice and trim so that there is no overlap underneath to gain clearance for the belly tank as it was an issue on mine and I ended up elongated the belly tank bracket fixing holes to move the tank down and get the clearance. These cleading pieces also overlap the cleading that your having issues with so any gains you can make will help the belly tank clearances.

Cheers

Brian