Showmans kit 10

well as i said before Xmas, the castings for kit 10 did arrive on xmas eve (after a rather amusing scene where the fork lift truck struggled to perform in the snow covered car park )

these have kept me busy this week with the left and right hand crank bearing housings, second shaft housing and rear Axel housing all needing a lot of work. the good news is that things seem to be going together well (again)











really just the main Axel tubes, oiler boxes and a few small brackets left to do, but it's still going to take some time.

Those are some seriously impressive castings. I particularly like the dummy canon box on the left hand side for the second and third shaft. Having just finished he horn plates, I can also see how the front spectacle plate is fixed to the main bearing on the offside.

As I was finishing the nearside horn plate I noticed a small hole near the last top bolt fixing for the boiler. It isn't tapped and so will need a bolt and nut from the boiler side if it is to serve any purpose: at least as far as I can see. Any ideas what it is for? ~ once the horn plates are bolted to the boiler, it will be totally inaccessible.

Tim

Tim Watson wrote:
As I was finishing the nearside horn plate I noticed a small hole near the last top bolt fixing for the boiler. It isn't tapped and so will need a bolt and nut from the boiler side if it is to serve any purpose: at least as far as I can see. Any ideas what it is for? ~ once the horn plates are bolted to the boiler, it will be totally inaccessible.
Tim

mmm, i'll have to look that one up when i get back to work, unless someone else has any ideas. we just do as we are told, we dont ask why

Tim Watson wrote:As I was finishing the nearside horn plate I noticed a small hole near the last top bolt fixing for the boiler. It isn't tapped and so will need a bolt and nut from the boiler side if it is to serve any purpose: at least as far as I can see. Any ideas what it is for? ~ once the horn plates are bolted to the boiler, it will be totally inaccessible.
Tim

OK, i had not forgot about this, i just left it with Steve for a couple of days. the answer is yes this 4.5mm hole should have been tapped M5. there is also another hole further down the plate that should have been tapped as well. these are the mounting points for one of the covers in a later kit. it would seem that this was a fault on the production stage, not the design stage so sorry about that

we will be sending a letter out to everyone explaining the mistake. the simple solution is to tap them out M5. if you have any problems with doing this yourself you will be prompted to contact us at STW and we will help in any way we can.

nearly done with kit10. the main Axel tube castings are taking a long time. after being squared up they are now having the ends and bore machined. currently on the second end and then they just need some oil holes

a few more pics for this kit...

axel tube oil holes were drilled at an angle...



oil boxes...



fitted to the axel tube...



and final pics of the control model...

If anyone reads Julia's build on Traction Talk then you will appreciate how much work goes into getting it all to fit and the fact that no-one seems to have made a set of drawings that are completely right. It seems that some 'back street mechanicking' as Fred used to say is required when building from plans. Nice to see it all going together, well done guys!