New 4.5" Foden 'C' Type

Hi everyone.
So late last year I decided to join the STW club and purchase their 4.5" Foden 'C' Type. Now i already have a 3" 'C' Type and a 3" Marshall Traction engine (which actually wrecked the Blue Peter studio back in the 80's) that both belonged to my late father, also have a 3 1/2" 'Juliet" loco, a 5" Simplex and a 5" East African Narrow Gauge loco (and various model boats too).

I have been into steam engines/model engineering since I was a little sprog but I did drift away for several years until recently but now I have a garage full I decided to add something bigger and easier to drive, if not harder to transport around!!!

Being slightly impatient I decided to buy the whole lot in one go with the view to have the engine in steam (if not fully finished) ready for this season.
The hope was, as some parts were painted and drying I still have plenty more to keep me occupied. Since delivery I have kept a personal diary of most of the build stages as well as the hours spent and any problems as I encountered them.
For those interested I'll update bit and bobs here and there along with pictures.

1st some of my existing toys, The East African being driven by my dad



The 3" Foden



3" Marshall being fiddled with by my daughter (now 25)

I took delivery of the full kit on 29th October 2015, and being very lucky I was able to store everything at my work place as well as make use of all the facilities

A lot of stuff in one go!!!!! What have i taken on???


I spent the first few days cleaning up the chassis parts, priming them. I made the decision to assemble the chassis while just primed and then finish painting it while assembled, not totally sure it was the right decision but as I said I'm impatient! Having said that by the end of 1/11/2015 the chassis had been primed and had 2 coats of red undercoat and looks pretty good.


While paint was drying I could prep all the front axle parts ready for priming etc.

That's better now. We can see the pictures.

Wow. A full kit in one go.

Great to see another C type coming together! Please keep the pictures coming.

Another quick update. The advantage of having everything in  one go......while the paint is curing on all the spring parts i can work on something else, so I decided to build up the smokebox and chimney. I did need to borrow a friends little hands to get inside the chimney to get to the nuts and bolts as the diameter got smaller.



And complete with the polished brass parts (on the dining room table)

With the top coats finished on the chassis, front axle parts and rear axle parts, all were left to cure before final assembly.


Next part to be cleaned checked and painted was the boiler.
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The next part to be done was the cylinder block. All the parts in the 2 relevant kits were deburred and cleaned and checked for fit then painted, the oilers cleaned up and polished.




As a gauge of time, all the above has happened in the first month since delivery.

Now into December and it's getting chilly in the garage so I cheated a bit and put some of the painted parts in the large oven we have at work, just warm enough to help speed up the curing process of the front and rear spring assemblies. I had hoped to have the chassis close to being on it's wheels by Christmas but with the weather, being a bit poorly and the Christmas I didn't get very much done other than assemble the front axle and rear axle box's and springs.

Having had a long break from doing anything I decided I really wanted to get into gear and get the chassis completed and on it's wheels before the end of Feb.
My partner has the very thoughtful habit of booking things for us to do at weekends, whilst very enjoyable it does eat into build time so In Feb I have stayed on after work to get as much done as possible. To this end i wish I'd read forward further before painting the boiler cradle, as it needed a lot of machining to make it fit the boiler. With the use of the CNC m/c at work this was accomplished relatively easily and quickly.
Whilst this was happening the horn plates and associated parts were all cleaned up and painted and loosely fitted to the boiler.



Rear axlebox assemblies fitted to chassis along with the machined and repainted boiler cradle.



with some fiddling about with all and careful fitting the cylinder block assembly is taking shape and ready to fit on to the boiler.

So here we are now pretty much up to date, It's the 20th Feb and over the previous week the diff and rear axle assembly has been prepped fitted, taken apart and greased and re-assembled and fitted to the chassis along with the front axle assembly.





And here we are, all together and on the ground this weekend.



The next things to be completed will be the water tanks and associated parts. I have decided to get them powder coated inside and out after a good and proper de-rust and clean. Hopefully they will be ready for fitting in the next week or so.......Partner has booked a theater trip to London next weekend so will have to do as much as I can in the evenings.

Grate and Ashpan all assembled ready to offer up to firebox before the boiler is fitted. This I will do at work with the help of the company forklift.



So there we are, all upto date. My next goal is to get the water tanks and boiler fitted with as many parts as possible in the next 2 to 3 weeks. I will continue to update as construction continues.

Excellent posts, very interesting to see a build happening so quickly!!..Well, for us reading it on the forum that is!!

Very impressive job!
Regards,
Tony

A couple of weeks since the last update and I've been busy. The water tanks have been powder coated, not quite as gloss as everything else but will hardly be noticed underneath the lorry but it is hard wearing. They were fitted along with the brake band and the steering box.


Here is the water pump and the front and rear wheel covers all finished, I intend to ask Steve for the Foden logo file so I can engrave the front caps at work.


Next it's time to fit the boiler. 1st trip out in the open to ,y work so I can use the fork lift for fitting the boiler.

Here we are fitting the boiler, went a lot easier than I expected but like many of you I had to remove the steering arm and grind a bit off of it so it misses the corner of the firebox.


And with the Smokebox, chimney and crank fitted and I turned my own front towing pin too.


Next job was to fit the cylinder block, loads of Foliac and an hr or so later all the studs have been fitted and tightened down.


This brings us up to today. I have all ready cleaned grained and partially polished all the parts of the motion and valve linkage.
I decided that i want an engine that looks as realistic as possible so it's not going to be 'concours', I don't want nickel plated motion but something that looks like it's been machined well and then lightly polished which hopefully will help resist rust, along with a bit of waxing.
I am hoping to have the engine running on air in the next week or so.

Outstanding

Since the last update I've been busy, trying to stick to my goals, so here's what I've been up to.
The cylinder block was bolted down and gradually tightened over a couple of days along with fitting regulator and slide valves.


Next job was to fit all the lightly polished motion and the valve/steam chest covers after checking the timing of course.

As of today Friday, I've polished the check valves, steam turret and globe valves. Fitted the check valves and gauge glass, pretty much all holes filled!!!
I plugged the steam turret hole and 1 of the whistle holes, fitted the new steam siren to the other .
So now is the time.....airline onto the blowdown valve and start the compressor, it's quite small so I know it's going to struggle but as i've mentioned before i'm impatient! Very slow building pressure and the check valves leak a bit (must check the seats), open the regulator gently.....AND....oh my word....she self starts the very first time.....grin the size of....well you can guess. She sounds amazing even on air.... and ticks over on only 30psi.

https://vid1053.photobucket.com/albums/s467/pegleg65/20160311_163922_zpssacmoby4.mp4

Shame about the compressor running but.....sounds lovely.

This weekend will be spent getting as much done as possible......want to get steam up now!

nice tick over let it run for a hour or so with lots of oil on the bearings and the required psi will drop quite a lot
I got mine down to 7psi after 4 hours or so before I steamed it

wow thats some fast progress there, im so jealous of you being able to do air trials so fast, keep up the good work spurring us that arn't quite at that stage yet

Russ

Thanks guys.....The speed of the build is that advantage of having the full set of kits. Once I've got both lubricators assembled and fitted I'll run on air for a bit longer.

Hi there
It looks like you are coming along at a great speed and making a superb job, best of luck on your first steaming.  Takes me back 5 years to when I was doing my SWB version.  
One question - front axle - what are the flanges on the stub axles for?  Have STW decided to go back and fit front brakes?  When I bought mine STW said that my version had "improved" front brakes.  This improvement was done by removing them altogether!!  After a few hundred hours steaming and a good few road miles I must admit I have never needed the additional stopping power of the front brakes, the engine braking and the rear band brake have always been adequate.
Regards
Tom

Hi Tom
I have no idea about the flanges on the stub axles. They don't do anything and I haven't asked the question.
Not had a great day today.....assembled all the water pump drive and fitted it but it doesn't line up with the pump (by about 2mm) and the chain fouls the flywheel! Will need to face a bit off the sprocket or eccentric pin shoulder......job for work in the morning while the other half goes to the cinema with her daughter.
Simon

I've spent the last couple of weeks doing bits and pieces to enable a steam test. All pipework fitted along with both lubricators. Slowly but surely all the necessary bits and bobs have been fitted.....A final air test on Thursday this week and fingers crossed for some nice weather today.....and here we are......first steam test.
And amazingly everything went to plan. Spent a good 3 hrs in steam and running. Had a couple of minor issues but nothing that needed an emergency fire drop.
Here's a short video....☺
https://s1053.photobucket.com/user/pegleg65/media/20160325_133618_zpsg0kypljz.mp4.html

very nice

Since the first steam test I've fitted all the gearing and guards, brake parts fitted and working....all leading up to this weekends 2nd steam test and a trundle round my estate all ready for the official boiler steam test 😊.

Pleased to report all went very well and she pulls really well up hill in 2nd gear.
Here's a little video.
https://s1053.photobucket.com/user/pegleg65/media/20160410_125447_zpsddq6l555.mp4.html

Next is to get on with the cab which I'll probably assemble unpainted first so I can get the position for the flat bed.

Looks fantastic really fast progress wish we could have got our kit in one go definitely the way to go were 50 months into a 30 month build and still waiting on last bits recon you could beat us, keep up the good work