June Update

Not as much progress as I’d of liked, but still progress afterall! Can’t really call this a March, April or May update, so i’ll bundle it up under the title of June Update…

As far as i’m concerned the cylinder bodies are now complete, apart from the fitting of a few ancilary parts – These have now been stripped to their bare bones ready for a good soaking in paraffin to clean the inner ports. Now that these are out of the way, its time to start on the frames. More to the point, drilling lots and lots of holes!

On the whole, this has been an easy process. Caution is certainly needed when drilling/tapping laser cut plates on their edges, as the cutting does leave a hard suface to drill and tap through. Luckily, this has gone without a hitch and all major holes have now been drilled and tapped as neccesary.

The picture below shows the frames and buffer beams drilled and tapped. The cylinder mountings were all drilled from a jig, manufactured whilst the cylinders were in their infancy. You’ll also notice that the axle box keeps are now in place, drilled and tapped 2BA. The plates are basically finished, but there are plenty of fixings/angles to make to join all the pieces together…

Looking along the frames, you’ll notice the addition of another cylinder in the middle of the frames. This is for the inclusion of a steam brake. Slightly different from the full size design, but there was always going to be design tweaks along the way…

How the frames are looking after drilling and a test fit of all of the pieces…