Starlight Express

You can if you add a pint of ale Rob.

Mike;) 

Thanks Guys.Your feed back and humour always welcome. Next kit the tender and fittings. Not looking forward to the pin striping though. Being glass the surface of my roof canopy will be easy to wipe the swill off!

Hi Fellow constructors both past and present and others interested. As promised some photos and general comments of my construction of kits 6 and 7.As for belly tank I used hi-tensile cap head screws to pull everything together. Came together beautifully apart from top plate where the side holes on the top plate seemed to be a couple of mm out in lining up with the corresponding holes in the side panels. No problem to elongate but STW might want to check their calculations as it appears no allowance has been made in the top plate for the width of the rear filler strip and curved end of the side panel

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Couldn't resist in attaching unpainted tender to engine to ascertain that everything fitted. No problems except scratched the hornplates with the 1st roundhead screw on each side panel holding the beading on as very little clearance. I glued the beading with epoxy as well as screwing. Didn't want cracks occurring in my paintwork.
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Then the messy part waterproofing with Por 15.The large rubber bungs were invaluable. The small ones a waste of money. A good quality tape seemed to work ok on the smaller holes.
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Now for setting up the tender on an engine stand. The original 6mm threaded rod was to light and bent. Ended up with 12mm.Worked a treat. Notched the threaded rod at tender end to prevent any up and down movement. Well worth the effort in setting up as could turn easily for painting, fitting components etc. Have to be extremely careful that stand does not tip as only on 3 wheels. Also was easy to remove from stand to prepare for pin striping.

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Painting-Over it but spend the time and satisfactory results can be achieved. Lost lots of beach time over my summer vacation to complete this aspect of the tender.I decided early on in the build that I would paint most parts individually. Worth the effort but does create issues with paint thickness on some aspects of the build. This was particularly evident when attaching the straps. With some persuasion from a nylon hammer managed to fit. A testament to the hardness and durability of the paint I am using was that their was no damage too the paint from whacking the bend of the strap as hard as I could.

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Between undercoats I used a good quality panel beaters filler to tidy up minor bits and pieces including around curve at bottom back join on each side and beading.

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Masked up for inside red.Had difficulty with the touch up gun I was using to get into the bottom of the coal bunker part of the tender

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Then the blue

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Now the fun and games-getting ready for pin striping with "the system"

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Pleased with finished result. Still some fish eyeing.To eliminate I think I will need to throw some money at a new compressor and upgrade the various filters. Not for this build though.

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Another first class progress report, looks great as ever.

Now for all the tender bits.I had under estimated the amount of time it would take to prepare and paint.my better half got to spend more quality time with the cat at the beach house.Also managed to slip in the crank for its painting

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Finished result!


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Was a bit worried about painting the steps yellow but wanted them to stand out as such great castings and seemed to be to much black and red.

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Now for some close ups.Some of the pin striping bled but if you apply the 10;10 test should pass ie viewing at 10 miles an hour from 10 feet away.

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Thanks Rob for your reply. Do you ever sleep? I thought I might have been able to complete my update while you were all snoozing in the northern hemisphere. Looking forward to the next part of my build but might have to take some time off the build first to earn some brownie points with my better half and the cat!

Cracking job Shane if a little bright for my taste. Your making great progress over there in the summer months. What's next in line on your build once you have increased your points score?

Thanks Brian,Yes quite bright - I even notice lights circling our house at night-wonder if they are planets! Next stage is trying to sort everything out on the man stand (apologies to Lynn) including water pump then hook up tender to the engine. Plan to then concentrate on the motion gear with a view to running on air before we leave for England and Europe late August .Have booked accommodation in Salisbury and will definitely be at Dorsett on the Friday and Saturday. Will you be attending? Would be great to meet you and some of the other builders whilist enjoying some of Steve and Deans hospitality . Cheers Shane.

Shane
 
I HAVE to be at Dorset or this does not run!!!!! This is still the best white knuckle ride on the fair, ask Steve and Dean. Look forward to meeting you then and if you are here long enough there is another bg event two weeks after Dorset, the Bedford club rally at Old Warden, one of the best in the country.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWeDRnxOzH8
 

Yes Brian

I very much enjoyed my rides last year.

Agree that it's the best ride , especially when (no-ones looking!) they do an engine man's special.  

Gee I can't wait. I hope the engine mans special is not the full 360 degrees circle.

not quite but you get 0g and unless you hold on tight free fall

The one at Hollycombe is bad enough,   One day I'll give these yatchs ago.

Hi Fellow builders and others interested.I thought an update of my build was long over due. I have somewhat of an excuse as have been using most of my Saturdays over the last couple of months in helping my engineering club build a viaduct. Quite a big job as the photos below indicate.

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To complete installation of the crankshaft I had to fly cut the bearing housing to allow the collar of the bearing to fit

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Some stuff back from the chrome platers.I now know what the profession of metal polishing involves having polished all the bits before hand.

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Started the process of preparing the fly wheel and gear guard for painting and pin striping with "the system"

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Pleased with the result

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Water pump and drive componentry now all installed. Decided to leave the casting in its natural but polished state. Would have been far quicker to paint as it took me hours to prepare. Something else to keep polished in the future.

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Reversing lever also installed

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Warning - road loco boys dig out your sunnies as some photos of the bright bits. Hope you like them.

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Well that's it from me. Lots of metal polishing to do on the motion works.

Hi Shane

Simply stunning!

Glad your not on the competition circuit in the UK. No one else would get a chance   

While I remember. If you can make a bigger drain pipe and fitting for the motion drip tray as the one supplied blocks up with steam oil and dribbles down the sides all over the belly tank and cleading.

Are you getting a head start on the supply of polishing cloths and do you get Brasso in NZ?