Contractors Loco Project

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by ge_rik » Sun Jan 16, 2022 5:43 pm

philipy wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:05 am I've been playing again, just to se what I could do, although it is relevant.

I said earlier that printing the backhead pipework didn't work, but I wondered if I could print the individual components, and this is the result ( obviously some cleaning up required).

The LH one is a 4mm diam handwheel, the centre one is 5mm and the lever one is the same basic body.
All have a 1mm diam hole both sides for pipe entry.
DSC_0003.JPG

Given how exposed the backhead is on this loco, I'm not sure these will be robust enough to actually use. I suspect that with a few mins the hand wheels would get knocked off.
Really very impressive so far.
There's always Cambrian for valve wheels etc. if your printed ones don't work out .....

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:24 am

Another slightly off-topic, but I was looking for pipework pictures aand came across this:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/8327380 ... jsQAvD_BwE

Pity it's 7/8th, but that isn't a huge amount larger than 16mm, and an amazing piece of resin printing.
Philip

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by ge_rik » Sun Jan 23, 2022 1:25 pm

That is nice!

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by Lonsdaler » Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:15 pm

philipy wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:24 am Another slightly off-topic, but I was looking for pipework pictures aand came across this:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/8327380 ... jsQAvD_BwE

Pity it's 7/8th, but that isn't a huge amount larger than 16mm, and an amazing piece of resin printing.
His online catalogue includes some g scale/1:20.3 stuff. Maybe he could be persuaded to make it in 1:19?
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:05 am

GTB wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 10:44 am
The boiler has a Salter spring safety valve on top of the dome, mostly under that polished brass trumpet cover, but the spring column is just visible beside the cover. Presumably there's a hole in the roof for steam to escape, unless the loco doubled as a mobile sauna.
I'm afraid that I'm getting myself bogged down with detail on this project, instead of getting on with actually building it ( although it is getting there and does actually run). My excuse is that the weather is too cold and damp to be able to go out into the garage and paint it!

Anyway, I'm after advice/suggestions re the safety valve. As Graeme says, the spring column is fairly visible to the right of the polished dome cover, and by enlarging the pic, it is just possible to make out the horizontal arm linking the spring to the valve on the dome. However the arm looks as though it goes behind the dome cover, which seems very unlikely, so would there be a slit or hole in the polished cover?
Screenshot 2022-01-25 06.56.58.png
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The other two points about the SV arrangements are
(1) the vertical pipe out of the top of the cover ends in an upward facing bell-mouth a short distance from the roof and a plain piece of pipe has been joined to it to extend it up to a presumed hole in the roof This again tends to suggest that the complete assembly came from a steam launch originally.
(2) the photo colourisation suggests that the cover is polished steel, whereas to my limited knowledge they were normally brass. Any thoughts anyone?
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by GTB » Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:02 pm

philipy wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:05 am
I'm afraid that I'm getting myself bogged down with detail on this project, instead of getting on with actually building it ( although it is getting there and does actually run). My excuse is that the weather is too cold and damp to be able to go out into the garage and paint it!

<snip>

(2) the photo colourisation suggests that the cover is polished steel, whereas to my limited knowledge they were normally brass. Any thoughts anyone?
I've got the opposite problem, The workshop temperature was 35 degC this afternoon, if I tried painting, the paint would dry solid in the airbrush between filling the cup and pressing the trigger...... :shock:

There would be a slot of some sort in the dome shade, as the operating arm of a Salter type safety valve moves up and down.

The dome shade/safety valve cover could be made of anything, as most of the colour of a colorised b/w photo is just a guess by the operator, or the AI software. It's not to difficult to figure that a european face is pink and that trees are green, but that's as far as it goes.

An experienced sheet metal worker could form that shape out of either mild steel or brass. I'd lean toward brass, as it is common in marine use and on locos as it looks more decorative when polished. Polished steel would rust while you watched it on a steam launch with hot steam wafting around.

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:48 pm

GTB wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:02 pm There would be a slot of some sort in the dome shade, as the operating arm of a Salter type safety valve moves up and down.

An experienced sheet metal worker could form that shape out of either mild steel or brass. I'd lean toward brass, as it is common in marine use and on locos as it looks more decorative when polished. Polished steel would rust while you watched it on a steam launch with hot steam wafting around.
Thanks Graeme, those were my thoughts on both counts, but confirmation is good. Anyway, brass will add a bit of colour to the "any colour you like as long as it's black", of this beastie.
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by GTB » Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:24 am

philipy wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 2:48 pm Thanks Graeme, those were my thoughts on both counts, but confirmation is good. Anyway, brass will add a bit of colour to the "any colour you like as long as it's black", of this beastie.
Great minds think alike......... ;)

Given the vagaries of colour in old b/w photos, the loco may not have been black. Dark green and dark red would render the same as black on the ortho film used when the loco was photographed. Dark green was a popular loco colour in the days before the accountants decreed black was cheaper.

It took me a while to find it in my files, but the article on the link discusses the problems with working out colours from old b/w photos. The article refers to clothing colours, but the same things happen to paint colours. It is from the US, but still relevant in demonstrating the problems of interpreting period photos.

http://www.raggedsoldier.com/photo_article.pdf

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:34 am

Great, thanks Graeme.
That article is ...errr.. detailed!
I was about losing the will to live, but fortunately managed to hang on long enough to get to the pictures at the end and they are worth the wait. Fascinating.

I take your point about the loco colour, but my standard loco colour is green so I want something different to that and although I do quite fancy a maroon colour I'm thinking that black will do, with a liberal application of muck and rust to relieve the deadness.
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by Lonsdaler » Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:17 am

I can't help with the questions you have re. the valve spring etc. but I would just like to say that the level of detail you are managing to tease out from that photograph is amazing. I'm sure we've all seen on TV the 'police procedurals' where they seem to extract a face from a smudgy CCTV clip, but for the most part that is 'science' fiction. Being able to get the detail you have is thanks to the modern realworld technology available, but also to the skill of the original photographer. Good stuff :thumbleft:
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by GTB » Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:44 pm

philipy wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 5:34 am That article is ...errr.. detailed!
I was about losing the will to live, but fortunately managed to hang on long enough to get to the pictures at the end and they are worth the wait. Fascinating.
Sorry, it didn't occur to me to warn you.......

Early in my career I went on a speed reading course and I still use the techniques without thinking about it. Scanning an article for just the critical items is a survival mechanism when dealing with scientific literature.

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:03 pm

GTB wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:44 pm
Scanning an article for just the critical items is a survival mechanism when dealing with scientific literature.
Indeed. I never went on a course but developed the technique ( well a DIY version) myself, many years ago for much the same reason.
Actually, once I realised how much waffle there is in this article I scannedthe rest of it fairly quickly.
I think it helps that my best area of 'English' at school was precis writing. I could never do long essays and always lost marks for it, but I remember on one occasion an English teacher remarking to my parents that they couldn't work out how I managed to get all the relevant information into so few words. I guess thats kind of speed reading in reverse!
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Thu Jan 27, 2022 6:56 am

I know we talked about brakes some while ago and I keep coming back to it - there must have been brakes somehow, somewhere. This contraption would have been pushing and pulling unbraked skips etc and it would have been the only way of stopping them from running away.
Three things on the photo seem relevant: the shiny handwheel just visible floating in mid-air(!), the angled piece of metal under the chaps left foot and a small piece of what looks like wood apparently touching the top rear quarter of the rear wheel.

My thinking is that the handwheel is a parking brake, akin to a brake van. Then I'm wondering if the piece of wood is a rudimentary 'brake shoe' operated by a foot pedal which is the angled metal strip under his foot. This would be crude but very similar to the foot pedal brakes on the Wickham Trolley.

Any thoughts anyone?

brake.jpg
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Thu Jan 27, 2022 3:52 pm

After all the drama over printing the roof sheets, I thought I should show the result!
Not fixed yet, but I'm happy with it so far.
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by Peter Butler » Thu Jan 27, 2022 3:55 pm

That looks pretty good to me Philip, congrats on perseverance, very well done.
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:39 am

I think, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, I can't believe how long this has taken me so far. Hopefully not too much longer now though. These were taken this morning ( that strange glow is something that I am reliably informed is called "sunlight"?)

Still awaiting fitting of the engine and associated pipework, dome cover, whistle and bits and pieces which are mostly currently in the paint shop, and crew, who are on the printer, and then of course the whole thing needs grottying.
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by SimonWood » Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:34 am

philipy wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 9:39 am I think, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now, I can't believe how long this has taken me so far.
I can’t believe how little time has elapsed since Rik posted the photo and you having produced this superb model, with all the detailed research that has gone into understanding what the photos actually showed! It really does look terrific.

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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by Peter Butler » Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:36 am

It's a weird and wonderful thing you have created, Dr Frankenstein!!! I fear though you might fall out of favour when the reservoir is dug in the lawn.
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by philipy » Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:58 am

Peter Butler wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 10:36 am I fear though you might fall out of favour when the reservoir is dug in the lawn.
Funny you should say that, I was wondering if I could get away with running a circle of track around the pond!
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Re: Contractors Loco Project

Post by BertieB » Sun Jan 30, 2022 11:11 am

Enjoyed all the detective work. The enhanced image is amazing and so’s the model. Clever!

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