Midland Railway Class 1P / '1833' Class Locomotive Kit

Firstly many thanks to the 2mm Association for allowing me to attend Expo 2010 and i must say what a great show.

Secondly following the overwhelming interest shown at my stand i would like to thank all of you for your support and suggestions.

As many of you are aware the first kit i intend on producing is the Midland Railway Class 1P shown below.

Can i ask for those who are interested to email me either from the address on this site or visit the 2mm locomotives site at www.twommlocomotives.co.uk or follow the link on the right of this blog.

This will allow me to get an idea of first batch numbers of which i hope to achieve for November.

Again many thanks.

Damien

BR 9F 92220 'EVENING STAR' is Coming to Expo 2010

It has been a long year but now the BR 9F 92220 'EVENING STAR' is almost complete. As this is my first attempt at building a locomotive in 2mm scale i think i can be proud and cant wait to show you all at Expo 2010.
All that is left to do is varnish over the lining and add some buffers. As you can see the loco is sat on my homemade rolling road which will form part of my display plinth.
I must say a big thankyou to all that have advised me along the way, and if you watch this space you will see some of my own locomotive kits once i develop them.

Look forward to EXPO 2010 i will be on the TWOMMLOCOMOTIVES stand.

BR 9F 92220 'Evening Star' Progress Part 2

Here is the second part of my progress report for the Evening Star. As i stated in part 1 the model is nearly complete and will be ready for the Golden Jubilee.

Assembly of the running gear went without any hitches until i introduced the locomotive to my homemade rolling road. I have found out now after many hours of fiddeling with gear alignment, motor alignment even rod clearances that none of this matters if your wheels are not perfectly quartered.

I originally thought my chassis worked well as it rolled without aid down a slope but when connected to the rest of the running gear there were problems. A slight tweek of the quartering has improved much of this and now just needs running in. The Evening Star sat on my homemade rolling road that will eventually become my display stand for the locomotive, surrounded by wood to make it look good.

Here is a close up detail shot of the copper pipework that i have created. Of course i could have used the items supplied in the kit, but to be realistic i have adapted the kit with brass rod of various diameters, this will then be polished and then coated with clear gloss.

The Evening Star standing proud on a short piece of 2mm Flexitrack. Over the next week or two i shall be applting the BR Green and Black body detailing before fixing my custom made buffers. Then i shall add some detailling paintwork on the running gear, followed by the lining, before finally applying a coat of clear gloss to make the model shine.

BR 9F 92220 'Evening Star' Progress Part 1

It has been a while now since i have posted my progress with the Evening Star. It has been a difficult few months with real problems. But now the end is in sight with the final pieces fitting together and painting well under way.

As you can see from this picture my chassis is almost complete just requireing the copper pipework.

Here is a close up of the front parts of the valve gear.

Here was my first major problem, after putting together all of the boiler components i filled it with liquid lead to add weight. When i then cleaned the boiler with thinners the lead reacted and expanded which you can see from the front end which i cut off (now deformed). What i then did was manufacture from sheet brass a new front end of the boiler. This worked very well, however i now have one of Bob Jones cast white metal boilers so all this hard work will now be used for my locomotive scrap heap.

This is an image of the painted tender chassis complete with motor (no drama's here)

Another view of the locomotive chassis. For more please see my second part.

BR 9F Tender - New Year Update

Having virtually completed the tender (including fitting the motor) i though i would take on the small task of creating extra details.

This includes brake detail, coal space, fireiron tool stowage and tools, and water transfer pipes.

This image shows the coal space i have created. The reason for doing this is because i don't believe in showing a tender always full of coal.

It was very difficult to create this around the motor and running gear and still maintain something that resembles the real thing.

I have also added the water tank breather vents and the access rail at the front of the space.

This is the view from the opposite side now showing the detail of the fireiron storage tunnel.

In this picture you can see the Water Transfer pipe from the Tender Sieve Box, also you can see more pipe detail just forward of the front axel spring.

If you look closely you can also see some brakes and brake rods behind the side frames. I am now very happy with what has been achieved on this model, all that is needed now is some paint.

BR 9F Evening Star Locomotive - New Year Update

Its been slow progress over the Christmas period but now n the New Year its time to push on.

As you can see from the pictures a lot of work has been carried out on the locomotive and i am very nearly ready to paint.

If you look closely at some of the pictures you can see extra detail within the model, this is something that i have set out from the start to make the model as detailed as possible.

This picture shows the left side of the locomotive and one detail i have added here is the sand box filler pipes and a detail cap.

When the locomotive is finished there will be a lot more pipes below the footplate which are currently being constructed from scratch.
This picture shows the front bogie with the added detail of real springs, i think this gives a sense of realism.
I have so far constructed the first parts of the running gear from the cylinders to the slide bars.
Side profile picture showing the full locomotive.
Another view of the full locomotive.

Well the next few weeks i will be painting the chassis so i can progress with all the running gear. I will also be adding liquid lead to various areas in order to add much needed weight to the model.

I have also started creating all the pipe work from scratch. This is to make sure all the pipe work resembles the original polished copper on the Evening Star. I will also be adding extra details inside the cab.