Hobbyhorse Three Green Boxes, Chip and Sound fitting.

[michael mott]

Just finished going through your build wonderful stuff. Humbling to see all the fine details that you have made. I especially appreciate the motion work between the frames. The valve links look like they are steel, is that the case?
Michael

 

[Hobbyhorse]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your kind words.
All the motion work is an optional kit in Nickel Silver, I did consider machining up the valve gear but with the enormity of building 3 kits together I took the easy path.

Simon

 

[King Crab]

Quite a bit of progress this week.
First job was getting all the driving wheels mounted on their axles, and checking all was square and the quartering was OK.
Next the outside frames for the Flower, Duke and Bulldog was assembled onto the main frames, it's a little bit fiddly getting the buffer beams square to the frame being slightly higher.
The last two bogie frames again fairly straightforward in assembling, other than modifying them to accept the new sub frames.
One problem I did encounter was the Duke and Bulldog was riding a bit high, the instructions are a little bit ambiguous about the compensation beams, so after working out the correct height I milled off the top of the bearings to lower the frames.

Simon

I'm playing catch up on this thread.
It's a pleasure to see it all coming together,
but a special treat is spotting all the little jigs and helpers you have,
to make it all accurate and true.
Wonderful to watch!

Peter

 

[Hobbyhorse]

I'm playing catch up on this thread.
It's a pleasure to see it all coming together,
but a special treat is spotting all the little jigs and helpers you have,
to make it all accurate and true.
Wonderful to watch!

Peter

Thanks Peter,

Glad your enjoying the thread.
We’re blessed on WT with some really good modellers, that share the builds with us all.
I think I’ve said it before that my main hobby is the workshop, producing bits to help make building the models easier. If you need any more info I’m happy to help.

Simon

 

[Mike Garwood]

Superb workmanship.

Mike

 

[WM183]

I can see I have been hangin' out with the wrong crowd. My lord that is some amazing machining.

 

[Hobbyhorse]

After sometime managed to get back to the build, starting with the firebox on the bulldog.
As with these kits no problems encountered other that take your time, hopefully should have the boiler assembled later this week.

Simon

 

[Hobbyhorse]

That’s the basic boiler/firebox assembled. One thing I miscounted was the amount of replacement washout plugs required, so spent most of yesterday producing another 2 so that’s the next job fitting them to the firebox.

Simon

 

[Lyndhurstman]

Lovely work, Simon

Cheers

Jan

 

[Hobbyhorse]

Managed to grab a few hours on the Bulldog this week.
Firstly was the firebox to running plate fixings, on the firebox some 1mm plate was cut and formed to fit and spaced out the sides to the correct width. 4 fixings hold this in position with 12ba countersunk screws.



Next was the driving wheel splashers, the sides locate easily but the tops can be tricky, keeping all square was a little time consuming. The fit to these with the firebox is important and a small amount of adjustment was necessary, as having this removable we don’t have the benefit of filling any gaps with solder.


The smokebox saddle was next which is straightforward, it will have some additional fixings added the the running plate, the small gap to the running plate will disappear once fitted.


Lastly the safety valve was adapted to make it removable, same fixing as the previous 2 locos.


Simon

 

[Hobbyhorse]

The Bulldog build is progressing after starting the new layout and some other projects. The plan is to get her to the same state as the other two locos before starting on the tenders.
The cab went together well and was screwed to the boiler, a little bit of adjustment was needed settling the boiler, cab and smokebox to the running plate, its alway needs a bit of extra work to achieve this.
With most of the loco body details on, next is the cab and chassis bits and bobs.

Simon





I've added some fixings to the smokebox as it wasn't sitting well.

 

[Hobbyhorse]

With the body progressing well I've fully assembled the inside motion and fitted it, and it's been test running for a couple of hours to bed everything in.
Short video below.
Running in Bulldog motion

Simon

 

[gateman 49]

This may be a bit late in the day but, as I have also been building three Finney green boxes can I add my ha'porth. Firstly mine aren't a patch on yours and the build has stumbled along over a period of years but that's not the point of this post.

I've only recently come across your thread (I wish I'd seen it earlier as it's most helpful to state the obvious!). Anyway, back in post 50 in December 2023 you stated between two pics that "The smokebox saddle was next which is straightforward, it will have some additional fixings added the the running plate, the small gap to the running plate will disappear once fitted".

I've highlighted the end of your sentence as it set me thinking about an area that I had questioned as I couldn't find any prototype pics. This is immediately in front of the saddle and i wasn't sure what filled the space until I finally got a photo of City of Truro which cleared up my question. There is a large open area which exposes the front of the cylinder block so I don't know if that is also your 'small gap'. If it is, then it should be there as in the attached pic.

With my builds I am using the frames at the widest settings so I avoided any conflict between the width of the opening and any narrowness of non prototypical frame widths but this could show up if one is using narrow frames as one of the alternatives in the kits.

I hope that this adds to the discussion rather than taking away!

 

[Hobbyhorse]

This may be a bit late in the day but, as I have also been building three Finney green boxes can I add my ha'porth. Firstly mine aren't a patch on yours and the build has stumbled along over a period of years but that's not the point of this post.

I've only recently come across your thread (I wish I'd seen it earlier as it's most helpful to state the obvious!). Anyway, back in post 50 in December 2023 you stated between two pics that "The smokebox saddle was next which is straightforward, it will have some additional fixings added the the running plate, the small gap to the running plate will disappear once fitted".

I've highlighted the end of your sentence as it set me thinking about an area that I had questioned as I couldn't find any prototype pics. This is immediately in front of the saddle and i wasn't sure what filled the space until I finally got a photo of City of Truro which cleared up my question. There is a large open area which exposes the front of the cylinder block so I don't know if that is also your 'small gap'. If it is, then it should be there as in the attached pic.

With my builds I am using the frames at the widest settings so I avoided any conflict between the width of the opening and any narrowness of non prototypical frame widths but this could show up if one is using narrow frames as one of the alternatives in the kits.

I hope that this adds to the discussion rather than taking away!
View attachment 235438

Thanks for the photo it’s interesting as it shows the small patches on the saddle side sheeting, I not seen any reference to these for the period I’m modelling the loco. Could these be a preservation fitting, any idea.
My reference is to the small gaps either side of the saddle side sheets, which are inevitable with making it as a removable module. All three locos have the open space to the front of the cylinder.
Definitely adding to the discussion.

Simon

 

[Pete_S]

Thanks for the photo it’s interesting as it shows the small patches on the saddle side sheeting, I not seen any reference to these for the period I’m modelling the loco. Could these be a preservation fitting, any idea.
My reference is to the small gaps either side of the saddle side sheets, which are inevitable with making it as a removable module. All three locos have the open space to the front of the cylinder.
Definitely adding to the discussion.

Simon

I suspect they're swivelling covers for lubrication points (although what the target is I have no idea).

They're certainly pre Great War, as in this shot of 3450 'Swansea' c.1910:

http://www.gwr.org.uk/440-pics/3450-c1910.jpg

http://www.gwr.org.uk/440-pics/3386.jpg

A Beginner's Guide to GWR outside-frame 4-4-0s

An illustrated guide to the outside-framed 4-4-0 locos of the Great Western Railway

www.gwr.org.uk

A perusal of the whole page on GWR.org throws up many examples. The Dukes seem to have had them too, but they sit lower down due to the difference in the radius of the saddle/wrapper & don't show up as well. Uncertain if they had them from brand new, maybe they're an early C20th modification.

They're the kind of fitting that are easy to miss entirely until they get pointed out - at which point they crop up almost everywhere.

Pete.

 

[gateman 49]

Having looked at the A Beginner's Guide to GWR outside-frame 4-4-0s web site I now see that the Badmintons appeared to have differently shaped angled front side sheets as they appear to be ogee shaped rather than triangular. In addition, there is also an angled cover over the void in front of the cylinder block!

By the way, as I understand it, there are three relief valves on the front of the block plus two very large bolt heads. The lower two valves are standard ones as seen on outside cylinders and the central one is the same as those fitted to the sides of the saddles on Churchward standard two cylinder locomotives (or recessed into the cylinder sides on some of the 47xx).

 

[Hobbyhorse]

I've been working on the few remaining bits on the Bulldog chassis this week, inside motion bits, brake rigging, motor fixing and all those little bits that take forever to do, well worth the effort in the end.
The back plate has had a test fitting of the castings, these won't be fixed until the loco has been painted and the remaining details added, all fit OK but a bit more research needed for a couple of pipe runs.
With the three loco's basically at the same stage it's time to look at the tenders, I'm probably going to start with the 2000gal for the Duke as it's scratch build.

Simon

 

[Martin Finney]

Simon,

Long time - no see!

So nice to see such fine models made from my kits.

A good feeling after all this time.

Thank you

Martin

 

[SimonT]

Simon,

2000gal for the Duke as it's scratch build

Not necessarily! I have just sent what I hope is the last revision of the etches for the F7 GWR 2000G tender to PPD. The design is based on Martin's GAs.
SimonT

 

[Hobbyhorse]

Simon,

Long time - no see!

So nice to see such fine models made from my kits.

A good feeling after all this time.

Thank you

Martin

Hi Martin,

Yes it is a long time, and finally I got around to building them. Some are 20 + years sitting under the workbench, and retirement is a wonderful thing having time to play in the workshop.
Thank you for designing good kits.

Simon