Re-working an old Lady Anne

[Giles]

I recently bought an old Lady Anne from John Sutton, and found it was actually the older type (My fault - I'm new to 16mm!). Indeed it appears to have notches in the frames to accommodate slip eccentric valve gear.
I can't quite do with the complete lack of detail, so I therefore thought I should replace the cab. Like everything else, this turns into a rabbit hole, and the job gets bigger and bigger....

Loco as bought



First cab side sheet offered up



On its way - new cab grafted on to existing tanks, inside corners filled, new foot plate made. Inner tank plates added.



Body primed ready for top coat of black enamel



New cab is from 36 thou Nickel Silver CNCed out on my little Stepcraft. Rivets are shirt pins silver-soldered in 0.8mm holes.



The boiler is the old style, without the filler, so it may get replaced at some point if it gets enough use.

[philipy]

That is a very nice job, so far. Please keep us up to speed as it progresses.

[Giles]

I've spent the day painting the separate components. Body assembly, cab roof, foot plate having already painted the boiler. I bought a couple of Halfords rattle cans of black enamel, which go on surprisingly well. Like all such tins, they lack finesse, and I always rub the result down with 2000 grit wet and dry (wet), till I get a truly flat surface, and then buff the surface up to whatever sheen I want.

I have just started rubbing some of the surfaces down.



I'm pleased with how she is going to look, overall. She will get weathered down as well. The motion will get darkened down with gun-blue which will also help.

[GTB]

The motion will get darkened down with gun-blue which will also help.

Current Roundhouse locos have stainless steel motion, which won't blacken with normal gun blue formulations. If R/H were using stainless when that model was built, you may have to resort to paint to weather the rods.

Blackening the brass on the cylinders would be worth doing though......

Graeme

[Giles]

Hi Graeme,
In the top photo of her in original condition, I have already darkened the eccentric rod, so it does work - I use Casey's Gun Blue, which I find works on most things to a greater or lesser extent.

Giles

[Giles]

Well, the new boiler has arrived, and it's slightly different and needs a mounting bracket, so slight delay....



However, new buffer beams are made and fitted together with front footplate. I have also removed a number of cheese-head screws and replaced them with counter-sunk or hex.

[Old Man Aaron]

Always nice to see older engines receiving some love. Beautiful detailing and weathering, too.

[Giles]

Thank you Aaron - it's been a fun one, and very interesting to find out how it's done in this size.





The specs are now glazed in 1mm acrylic - although being clean you can't really see! My Stepcraft CNC is really good for little jobs like this. Also, I drew and printed some chopped couplings in PLA, trying to make them as compact as possible. They seem to function well and cleanly.