Gladiator J6 Final Chassis details

A couple of weekends ago I was demonstrating Loco building at the Stainmore Railway Model Railway show. I took along the chassis for the J6 and had it running on the rolling road all weekend. Besides giving the motion a really good bed in it attracted a lot of attention.

So much so that I plan to make up another chassis with inside motion for my demo stand.

On the back of a great weekend out I decided to see if I could crack the construction elements of the J6 last week.
The remaining jobs were.

Fit glazing
Add Milliput to the back of the balance weights to make them solid rather than just an etched front.
Fit the sand pipes
Fit the remaining linkages between the brake pull rods and the brake cylinders
Fit some Frame extensions under the boiler between the front pairs of wheels to hide the rear of the wheels – following Tony Geary’s lead.

Gladiator J6 Balance Weights


Balance weights, I added a coat of primer to bled it all in before final paint and weathering.

Brake cylinder cranks


The first bit of the brake linkages

Gladiator J6 Sandpipes and false frame tops


Front sandpipes and Frame extensions. Before fully soldering them in I tested the frame extensions at one side by tacking them in and the seemed perfect. But the chassis mustn’t have sat down properly because I noted while testing for clearance on the rear sandpipes that they need trimming down a bit.

Gladiator J6 Rear Sand Pipes fitted


Rear sandpipes. I had to fit the tops of them very close to the frames to avoid the injector pipework but I got there after two or three adjustments.

Gladiator J6 Rear Sandpipes and brakes linkages
Gladiator J6 Rear Sandpipes and brakes linkages


Last but not least a couple of shot of the remaining brake linkages. Although soldered at the rear the ends of the rods are a loose fit in the turnbuckles so allowing removal of the brakes.