Monthly Archives: November 2018

Ivatt Self Trimming Tender Finished at last with lot’s of learning along the way

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Yesterday saw the tender completed apart from wiring the pick ups and setting the ride height which will be done towards the end of the build.
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Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Chassis

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Chassis

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Chassis

You will note that I have added an extra frame spacer. I did this because I am using the tender for pick ups and wanted to ensure that there was no flexing which might affect them – The brass spacer was a scaled up P4 spacer from the spares box which I cut down to fit.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Pick ups fitted

Back onto the loco next.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Upperworks Complete

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Because we stayed in Wakefield this weekend it gave me an extra evening at the bench – usually I am worn out by the time we get to Bishop Auckland and rarely do anything once I arrive on Friday evening.
As luck would have it I was able to finish work early too so I had around 5 hours at the bench which saw off the remaining upper works details.
The coal rails were too long and I had to split them at the rear of the tender. I think that this is a result of the cut out in the tender flare for the hand grip which is a feature of this type of tender.
I followed David Hill’s example and soldered half round beading over the coal rails and what an improvement it’s made.
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Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Tender body complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Tender body complete

I also put half round beading in one the inside of the front hand grip sections to make it a round profile. and you can see the additional lamp bracket too which wouldn’t focus on my last photo session.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Tender body complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Tender body complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Tender body complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Tender body complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Tender body complete

I also got around not fitting a nut to secure the front of the tender top by tapping a piece of tube and soldering it in when the nut should be.
This just leaves me with the chassis which I have made a start on.

Gladiator J6 – Tender Lamp Irons

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I didn’t seem to make much visible progress in last night’s session but I got the lamp irons on and hopefully you can see why I prefer to replace etched versions with cast ones where possible.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Lamp Irons and Tank filler fitted

 I have also fitted one inside the side sheet at the front of the tender but alas the camera decided to focus on the nearside so the added lamp iron came out so blurred you couldn’t see it.
I will try again when I next take photos.
I did manage to add the tank filler though so another detail bites the dust.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Lamp Irons and Tank filler fitted

Coal rails next I think.

Gladiator J6 – Detailing the tender top

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Further progress on the tender for the J6. Starting off with a slight backward step.
While struggling with the instructions I hadn’t read the text when fitting the lifting eyes I just followed the drawing which unfortunately showed the wrong type of backing plate. Reading through the text late last week I saw my error and by coincidence David Hill of Gladiator pointed it out the day after on the Guild forum.
My customer had seen the post and said it didn’t matter if they didn’t show too much but it was only a few minutes of a job with the microflame and a scalpel to take them off and swap them for the right ones.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – some details added

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Lifting Eye backing plate

Next I added the vacuum and steam heat pipes to the rear of the tender.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – some details added

Then I started on the front.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – some details added

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – some details added

The brake standard was one that I had in my spares box that was left over from the B16 build. The other levers are bent wire and scrap etch.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – some details added

The bucket is one of Jim McGeown’s castings that I had sat on my desk for a long time after I had made a bit of a mess of trying to hollow it out.
I took it back into the workshop to see if I could do anything with it after being informed that the hole in the left hand side was for a bucket. I then remembered the collets that I had made for drilling the valve guide castings on the Streamlined Duchess and used one of them to tidy up the inside of the bucket top using a dental burr and lastly soldered a handle on from scrap etch.

Bucket for J6 Tender

Slaters Ale Wagons – from LMS Cattle Wagons

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While in the North East on a weekend recently I have been doing a bit of wagon building on the workbench all by coincidence from Slaters are three LMS Cattle wagons, a couple of  BR vans and an NER 20 ton hopper. The cattle wagons are to be finished as Ale wagons and much progress was made on them this weekend.
Gogin from this:
To this.

Slaters LMS Cattle Wagons – to be finished as Ale wagons

Slaters LMS Cattle Wagons – to be finished as Ale wagons

Slaters LMS Cattle Wagons – to be finished as Ale wagons

I also managed to get all the roofs canvassed and a coat of primer
Just before posting this I also got them primed.

Gladiator J6 Tender Fundamentals complete

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More progress last night. Despite starting quite late I managed to get the two coal space sides in place.
I had anticipated that one of them may not fit very well and might leave a gap that would in fairness be hidden by the coal but I was pleasantly surprised when after a little tweaking with pliers and a rub of some abrasive paper it went into place as it should. Just the details and coal rails to add now.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Coal space complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Coal space complete

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender – Coal space complete

I am not sure why but I chose to use shiny sinks to clean it up after I finished instead of my usual Bar Keepers Friend and it turned all the solder black making it look to be worse than it is.

More Tender moments and it’s not even anywhere near Valentines day

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Last Thursday evening I made much progress on the tender for the J6.
The coal plate is now in as is the front section of the tender.

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender coal plate fitted

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender coal plate fitted

Gladiator J6 Ivatt Self Trimming Tender coal plate fitted

There is still a goodly amount of cleaning up to do and the sides of the coal space are still to solder in but I feel that I have broken it’s back now.

Tender and Grilled without a barbie in sight…

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And then there were two, I successfully made the second grill last night so that’s a bit of a relief.
I am still awaiting some of the replacement bits for the chassis – they were ordered later after my customer decided that he would like the chassis improved too.

N7/3 Scratch Built Rear Window Half Coal Bars – and then there were two

Having made the second grill for the N7 I then picked up the tender front for the J6 and made the last small piece to get the main structure of the tender front ready for fitting and final details.

Gladiator J6 Tender Front – last bits before the details

N7 Half Height Coal Bars on the Rear of the Cab

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One of the more difficult aspects of the refurbishment of the N7 in my mind was the half height coal bars on the rear windows of the cab and I had been wracking my brains as to the best method of drilling the rear of the cab in situ to get the holes both in a line and equally spaced while not being able to get the drill bit at 90 degrees to the workpiece.
At the same time I was also struggling from the photos that I had to work out just how many bars there are as luck would have it a bit of web surfing turned up a partial shot of the back of the cab back of the preserved engine  and this a is a further snip of that showing my get out of jail free card
This meant that I could make them off the loco and fit them as a single unit. Some time later making best use of the Proxxon mini drill and coordinate table, had me with two pairs of strips each with 9 x 0.5mm holes 1.2mm apart. The eagle eyed will also note that I have put additional holes in each end for the retaining bolts.
Before packing it in for the night I had the first one soldered up ready for fitting.

N7/3 Scratch Built Rear Window Half Coal Bars

N7/3 Scratch Built Rear Window Half Coal Bars

I just need to do the other and then I think that I have broken the back of the difficult bits so I will return to the J6 until the rest of the parts orders arrive.