A Beyer Peacock 2-4-0 (But Not From That Island)

dunnyrail

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musket the dog

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Is that a ragdoll? :h:

Gorgeous cat Henri, I see they like to 'help out' too.

We're not too sure about Maggie, we got her as a rescue so we don't know a lot about her history. Definitely just a moggy we think, but maybe with some Norwegian/Siberian Forest Cat in her somewhere?

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musket the dog

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Back to the build :)

I was in work at the end of last week and managed to get a few spare minutes to cut down the CO2 tank for the dome and a tubular spacer bar from my scrap bin for the funnel. I couldn't take the boiler in with me but fortunately the OD of the 30mm socket in my toolbox is the same diameter.

Both were cut roughly to length and filed to sit neatly on top of the boiler. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the CO2 tank would take solder once the coating was sanded back and that my soldering iron had enough umph to get it hot. The dome was glued to the boiler, the holes for the control rods drilled and the two parts soldered together on top of the model.

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I am fortunate that in my testing area at work we keep all of our scrap fixings and metal parts to make up test weights. It didn't take too long routing through our collection bin before I found a hollow bit of round bar the right size. The red plastic piece is a dust cap used to seal a brake caliper before they are fitted to bikes. Enough of the end was cut off to allow it to slide over the bar. The top was packed with filler which will be sanded back to a more pleasing shape.

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I'm trying not to spend any more money on this build until I add the RC gear. Once everything has settled down a bit I may investigate printing off a more Beyer-esk funnel.

There is a very good casting of a brake stand included in the kit of cab detailing parts from GRS. However the cab is very tight and I couldn't find any space to fit it sensibly inside. The only suitable place I could find, looking at locos of similar vintage, was to build it into the coal bunker. The stand is the top of one of those screw off caps on those triple circulating, plug-in air fresheners. Two more bits of 13A wire made up the handle.

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musket the dog

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My next little project to save buying more castings or prints was the tank fillers. These are a couple of thick M6 washers with a plasticard top. By drawing around them with a blunt pencil I managed to get a diameter for the top that would give a nice even overhang. Some more earth wire made up the hinge and some bare electronics wire was bent to make a handle.

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There are large open footplates on the loco and on the front I think they look a little bare. I wanted something to try and distract from the large empty space under the boiler between the tanks. One side will have a re-railing jack and the other will have a large toolbox. The tool box is a plasticard frame with thin wooden veneer glued over the top. More plasticard was used for the lid, the hinge plates and the latch. Wire hoops were bent up to represent the hinges.

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musket the dog

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As well as the toolbox and jack sitting on the front I added some leaf spring castings from GRS where they would sit above the front pilot wheels. I used my riveting tool (sharped screwdriver) to score the relief between the springs a little more. I've seen a few members of the forum using nail-art half round 'gems' to represent rivets and other objects. A 3mm gem was glued to the hanger pivots front and back. An additional piece of plasticard was added to the back of each and the top edge filed into a round to represent the rest of the spring strap. This isn't moulded in as part of the casting and as the springs can be seen from both sides I thought it was an easy fix to add some additional detail.

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To fit the springs above the pilot wheels required slotting the back of the smoke box as the spring hanger protrudes slightly into it. The inside was boxed back in ready to add the floor. I wanted to make sure this area stays nice and strong as the floor will be used to screw the smoke box to the footplate.

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The rear frame and buffer beams were much simpler than their counter parts from the front end. Once fitted around the motor block there is a good amount of stiffness through the footplate. This will be improved even more once the boiler and bodywork is screwed into the footplate. My previous build uses a 2.5mm piece of acrylic as its base and has full length dummy frames so I had been worried about the structural integrity of only using a single piece of plasticard.

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And the build as it stands so far. A few of the 2mm nail-art gems have started to find their way around the body as additional rivets. Jobs still to do include: making the roof; mounting the front wheels; making vacuum pipes; hand rails; making buffers and couplings; adding additional detail to the frame and attaching the cylinders. I'm sure I will think of more as I progress. The final printed parts are on their way. These are the buffer components and the crank pins for the driving rods. There's a way to go yet but it is beginning to feel like I'm getting somewhere near a point where I can put a coat of primer on.

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Paul M

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Wonderful, great use of the bits box
 

dunnyrail

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Loving this, be interesting to see how you manage to stuff the battery control gear in. Hiding charge plug and on/off switch will certainly be a challenge. Was eying up the tool box as a possible, but the wires commingbout below may have been an issue though via the back into the smokebox would have been possible. Of couurse the top would have needed to be removable.
 

musket the dog

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Loving this, be interesting to see how you manage to stuff the battery control gear in. Hiding charge plug and on/off switch will certainly be a challenge. Was eying up the tool box as a possible, but the wires commingbout below may have been an issue though via the back into the smokebox would have been possible. Of couurse the top would have needed to be removable.

I wish I had thought of making the toolbox lid removable! Truth be told I'm pretty happy with the bulk of the RC gear. I've got all the basics (batteries, Deltang receiver, charge board) modeled in CAD. The space in the bunkers and the tanks can each fit a battery, with the charge board and the receiver each hiding in a tank. My main concern at the moment is how I'm going to get enough mass into it. I don't want to go too mad to try and prolong the life of my gearbox until I better understand how it will last doing some work. However being all plasticard it is a little on the light side. There should be lots of little spaces for lead flashing but I'm going to have to arrange it carefully.

My initial thoughts for the the charging plug and switch were the cab floor. It should be accessible by removing the roof with enough space between the frames to have the components hang down without being seen. The other option would be to have the socket face down under the base plate, with the body projecting into a water tank or the bunker. This is how I managed it on my Manning Wardle.

More progress made over the previous week, further update tonight :)
 

musket the dog

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Evening all,

Thank you for making it through to the latest update of my continuing Beyer build saga :) I've had to go into work more than I would have liked this week but I've been making some progress through the evenings. My long bank holiday was used in part to tackle the brake gear. I was struggling to put my finger on why the chassis was looking so bare until I realised I had forgotten to put the brakes on. All the Beyers of this type seem to have the same outside linkage over the wheels. Very interesting to look at but I feared very hard to make practical.

First of all I needed four brake shoes. I borrowed some basic measurements from an LGB wagon and bulked it up a little. Some of the older engines had huge wooden blocks. I was temped but I didn't think I would have the room. Additionally I could already tell I was going to make it difficult to get the wheels out as it was.

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The first hanger was spaced off of the wheels and the cylinder mount using some scraps of plasticard. The wheels were forced out to the furthest they could slide away from the motor block. The first shoe was glued on and the hanger removed from the chassis. This would then be my template for mounting the rest of the brake shoes.

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With the four hangers made up I attached them all to the footplate. I needed to add some fillets to strengthen the joints at the top. I am hoping that when everything is painted up these disappear a little more into the blackness.

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The first of the lower linkage was added to the hangers. This needed a lot of checking throughout to make sure the crank pins on the wheels would clear the strapping.

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The pull rod assembly at the back was spaced off of the frame and boxed in. This was to add some strength and to also hide the fact that I've got no idea what mechanisms are hidden back there to pull the brakes on. The second linkage strap was added between the rear hanger and the pull rod.

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The finishing touch was to pepper the joints with more nail art beads. The strapping is all cut from 0.5mm card and gives enough flex to be able to squeeze the wheels out of the motor block. Time will tell if the whole assembly is tough enough to withstand the abuse from operating outdoors. All the joints seem very solid but there's a good amount of bounce to everything. I'm hoping that it pings off whatever twig or stone it might encounter in it's future.
 

musket the dog

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Something that had been troubling me since the start of my planning was how I was going to mount the pilot wheels. There's not a lot of room for the length of a conventional pivot that would be used in most models. In reality this wouldn't swing and I'm not planning on R1s on my line but I wanted a good amount of flex in there so that nothing was holding the drivers off of the track.

Kent Garden Rail delivered my Lilliput spoked wheels and I found a pair of flanged sleeves to suit the diameter of the axle. The axle stubs were sawn off as this will be an inside bearing job.

the first step was to make up the bearing block. The width of the block means it can swing 5mm in either direction within the frame. The wheels then have 4mm to slide in either direction before the inside face touches the frame. A box was made up from plasticard. A 5mm hole was drilled into each side and used to align the box while it was was assembled. Once it was a solid piece, the final 7.5mm hole was drilled through the entire part to ensure the alignment of the bearings.

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The bearings were inserted dry and the axle pushed through to check everything was straight. Once I was happy with that, they were superglued into the block. The wheels were then pushed back onto the axle.

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The pivot will also be made from plasticard. I would have preferred to make the whole thing from aluminium or steel but my engineering supplies are currently all at my parent's house and unobtainable. It might be another candidate for printing in the future.

Owing to the space constraints the pivot will essentially be backwards; the wheels will swing around a point forward of their own axis. The large amount of side play in the wheels is needed to ensure they maintain the correct arc in relation to the driving wheels when on a corner. I found it easier to think of it as the rear half of a radial four-wheeled bogie.

The swinging link was measured out. It looks a bit bulky but this pivots around another top hat. This ensures I can have everything tight and secure without clamping the swinging link.

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The sides were cut and the whole assembly fixed to the bearing block. It all seems quite solid so I imagine it will be a case of improving once this wears out. The pivot is bolted through the base plate, through the top hat and all tied together with a lock nut.

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musket the dog

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My final batch of prints arrived from Shapeways which meant I could finally convert the loco to 4 wheel drive. The crank pins push through the back of the Piko wheels. The Piko wheels have a square hole in their back, I think this is used for assembling the original push-lock Piko crank pins. My version are glued into this square hole which stops the whole assembly from rotating.

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An M2 bolt is then passed through the back of these new crank pins and secured with super glue. At this point the wheels had to be wriggled back into the motor block around the new brake rigging. Fortunately it all fits and nothing was broken getting them in there. Once back in the motor block the wheels were aligned and the side rods fitted. These are then retained by a washer and a nyloc nut. The crank pins are slightly longer than the width of the connecting rods so that they float slightly and the M2 bolt only clamps the crank pin.

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The piston connecting rods will be added once the cylinders are in place. The chassis was raised on blocks and the motor wired to a controller. I'm glad to say everything worked smoothly with no sticking points. I let it run in for 15 minutes in each direction and by the end of it the whole block was running very smoothly indeed.
 

musket the dog

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This evening I have been making up the loco's hand rails. These vary loco to loco so I chose to save myself the trouble of making the all in one type which wraps all the way from the cab to the smoke box, where it curves up over the smoke box door, and back to the cab again.

I made all of the handrails from welding rod. Unfortunately I didn't have enough cast handrail knobs left to complete the whole loco so I had a go at making my own from wire. The wire was bent around the welding rod and the whole thing soldered together. Another wrench socket was used to shape the curved smoke box handle. Two short, straight handles sit on the front of the boiler.

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The cab handrails are of a simpler type and are made from a single piece of bent weld rod. I had on offcut of plasticard of a suitable size and this was used as a guide to keep all the bars the same length. The tanks and bunker were drilled and the weld rod glued into them directly. I marked a point on my pliers so that I could clamp the rod at the same place every time. The width of the pliers remains constant so I know that I was getting the same length 'tail'.

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A final image of where the loco currently stands. It also shows off the buffers that were part of the order from Shapeways. The to-do list is slowly getting shorter. The weld rod will also be used to make up the brake and sanding pipes so I think these (and the associated assemblies) will be the next things I cross off.

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musket the dog

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Another update: The build hasn't been abandoned but I've hit a coronavirus stalemate. I've added all the final details that I can think of, lots of little things that I hope add up to make it something model-like and less like a plasticard box on wheels.


The vacuum pipes are another weld-rod invention but I have used and old wire coat hanger in the past. The method is shamelessly copied from another on this forum although I have forgotten exactly who (Maybe Mel of the Wetton Gooey?). For the hose portion a piece of copper wire is coiled around the weld rod and soldered at one end to hold it in place. A piece of heatshrink is cut to length and shrunk over the coiled wire. I've decided that the N&LLR's passengers will enjoy the luxury of carriage heating so steam heat pipes were also made to hang down from the buffer beam.

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Next on the list was steps. I needed four in total, for the cab and just in front of the water tanks. Looking around at pictures of other 2'6" locos I figured that I probably wanted a single step up. By coincidence the driving wheels are exactly the same size as those on the Welshpool and Llanfair Beyers, so I felt confident as to the rough height of the footplate. I started by marking the scaled height of the footplate on my wall in masking tape (I do have a lot of spare time currently) and figuring out how high I could comfortably step up. I dropped the height a little, assuming that all of the N&LRR's loco staff weren't 6'3".

The steps themselves are more cut and embossed plasticard, strengthened with additional ribbing behind.

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musket the dog

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One of the things I'm struggling to find room for on my narrow gauge interpretation is sandboxes. On the IOW locos the front sandboxes hang down under the footplate but this is where I have moved the cylinders to. There's some space in front of the tanks where I still think a loco crew could squeeze by to oil the valve gear between the frames.

The front pair are made from another recycled scrap tubular spacer. A plasticard lid was cut roughly to shape, glued on and sanded into roundness. When the lids were still a square piece of card, the centre was marked on and drilled. Once the box was glued to the top of the footplate the drill was passed back through the lid to drill the hole through the footplate for the sand pipe. This was enlarged from the other side and another bit of weld rod bent and filed to shape. The handles/toppers are a sewing pin head.

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One the photos of the prototypes I couldn't see any rear sandboxes hanging down under the frame but the pipes appear to come from under the coal bunker. I thought that they must have been incorporated into the sides of the coal bunker as I have seen that the coal space does not extend fully to both sides of the bunker. The are some plasticard shapes with various thicknesses of wire for hinges and handles.

Also in the picture is the coal hatch. I was really struggling to find any photos of what these would look like in any loco so I made an approximation of how I thought it would work.

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musket the dog

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Finally for this update couplings have been added from thick wire. When I can get the materials I might investigate creating some long the lines of Rik's, of the Peckforton railway. The loop in the top will have a chain and hook, for the time being I use these as a back up for the wire loops in case of uncoupling.

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That was the last of the fabrication before I made a start of painting everything. I got about 75% of all the components into primer before I ran out. The wheels are now fully painted into the company livery, as is the half of the motor block and the roof. I have managed to finish all of the printed parts though, ready for the base plate to come out of the paint shops.

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musket the dog

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After a month of being made to stop work due to a lack of materials I've finally been able to go out and pick up some more paint so once again we have progress :)

The motorblock, frame, wheels, roof and cab rear have now all been painted. The main body is in its second coat of primer but is taking a lot of rubbing down and filling to finish. I also had to replace all of the boiler bands. After I washed the model I left it above the radiator to dry overnight. The bands turned brittle, expanded and broke. Then I knocked the funnel off and had to redo the base. I think I've got one last coat of primer and it should be ready for it's top coat.

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The cylinders were permanently attached to the frame and the wheels, connecting rods and crossheads all fastened up. I'm pleased to say that when the motor was attached to a single 3.7v Li-ion cell, everything ran smoothly, with no knocking or pinching and considerably less noise than the first time I bolted everything up.

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The buffer beams still need to be painted red along with some of the cab controls. Then I'll start wiring. I think my plan is to house the batteries and whatever lead I can fit into the water tanks. The coal bunker will then house the charge balance board, reciever, fuse and balance change plug. A normal charging plug will be placed in the coal space for ordinary charges. The on/off switch will be a sliding type at the base of the coal bunker.
 
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Paul M

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:clap::clap::clap::clap:
 

musket the dog

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It was bound to happen really, just as I managed to get all the materials together the weather finally changes and stops play. However there has been enough dry spells in the last couple of days to get the spray booth back outside and finish off the painting.

The main body is out of the paint shop, (I think) looking very smart in satin black. I never quite got the base of the dome as good as I wanted. A mixture of not quite the right type of filler and my lack of patience. In my defence I am 3 years in now and I wanted this project cleared. I'll come back to it one day. The only change I might make paintwise is to go over the smokebox and funnel in matte black.

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The front cab sheet recieved a coat of cream, most N&LLR engines aren't so lucky. A valve and pipework for the whistle was added. The gauges from the GRS kit were added and the details picked out on the back head.

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It's a very small cab, but a driver and fireman do just fit. The fireman might require a special set of short tools though, not much room to swing a shovel around in there.