Build so far

That's what I'm thinking. If it's not perpendicular to the block I'm going to be in the hurt locker. I've seen what a misaligned crankshaft can do to the piston conrod on a 4". Don't be there when it happens!/don't be that guy.

Crazy_jim wrote:That's what I'm thinking. If it's not perpendicular to the block I'm going to be in the hurt locker. I've seen what a misaligned crankshaft can do to the piston conrod on a 4". Don't be there when it happens!/don't be that guy.

yeah, its just not worth the hassle, especially after the care you have taken with the rest of it. I used to build car engines, and have seen what happens!😤

A few shots of what's assembled before it all comes apart to fit the cladding.







Thought I could fit with hornplates on........ Negative.

Thats really looking great! Did you have any joy with the bearing cap?
Mike

No reply as yet from STW. I will prob ring them next week if I don't get an answer.
I've had to strip everything back down again in order to fit the cladding. The rear piece wouldn't fit with horn plates in situ.
I will visit b&q or whoever has large jubilee clips tomorrow afternoon to hold them in place before fitting brass bands. Bit of fettling required for a snug fit.

Binned it for the night!

Oh, heĺl i have it all to come!😕

Good to see the most important element sitting in the foreground on the "work" table.

Great pictures!!

Regards,
Tony

Just a curiosity question: are you going to line your wheels or leave them?
Mike

I'm in two minds at the moment. As I've said throughout the thread it's an agricultural wagon as opposed to a showmans etc. most people do line wheels/tender etc but I'm not normally a conformer I usually do opposite. Hence my livery isn't the standard burrell plum etc.

Just as a bit of an update. I recieved an email from Steve at STW this afternoon. After some measuring with calipers etc it turns out my bearing housings for
the crankshaft are a fraction on the small side and will need to be opened out with a file. (Contrary to the instructions saying to not do this)
New alignment tool in post and some fettling with a file to follow!

Thats a good result, excellent!

Hi, just a quick question, I was wondering what you did with the front wheels spoke inner nuts, did you try to make them look like rivet heads or just leave them as plan nuts. I have had some advice about forming false rivet heads but still remain undecided.
Thanks.

Just a mundane question. Did you paint the mating surface of perch to smokebox, or leave it as bare metal?
Mike.

Always paint as mating surface is not perfect so dampness will get in.

Thanks very much. Dilemma solved.

I didn't bother trying to make the nuts on the front wheels look like rivets. By the time I'd painted two coats primer/ two coats base coat and two coats of top coat the nuts look almost round now anyway.
The question regarding mated faces has already been answered but yeah any metal to metal surface needs protecting from good old H2O.

Mmmmmm cladding. What a headache. I guess no matter how good your template each boiler will be subtly different. It took a bit of trimming but I'm there now.

Another picture of the cladding firmly in place. Not the best picture but you can see the rear piece trimmed and firmly attached with the man hole cover fitted.

I boobed my original firedoors and the pins being too heavy handed. Luckily Steve sent me some new pins but I then realised I'd damaged the doors too so I made some new doors.
The whole lot took some filing and fitting and some more filing and more fitting but the end result is some smooth operating doors. A wee lick of paint and I'm all set to refit the hornplates and line them up onto the cylinder block etc.

Thats looking absolutely superb! My next kit is smoke box etc, so i have a long way to go yet. Seeing your build gives me loads of inspiration. Mike

Hi, although i recently ordered same paint for smokebox, chimney and brass door plate. Plastikote no longer make the red satin. I tried autotec matt, its too orange. Can you suggest where i can get red satin? I have trawled the internet with no success. Any ideas would be welcome.
Mike

You could always try red brake calliper paint, it's very high temperature paint & I'm sure will survive on the smoke box, also You could have a look at coloured exhaust manifold paint, such as stuff Frost supply!

Regards,
Tony

Hi Tony,
Thanks for your reply. I have looked at the frost and also caliper paint. The frost is matt and the caliper paint is high gloss. I was really looking for a similar sheen to the plastikote woodstove satin finish. I have thought about powder coating that part. I have also considered using the woodstove paint on that in black, as i have seen that on full sized engines. What do you reckon?
Regards
Mike

I guess on agricultural engines, it was more traditional to have black on the name ring... That's what I have on mine!

Regards,
Tony