Black Duncan in BR Days. PDF version
Introduction.
The kit arrives in a sturdy box that will probably hold the model but models of this quality deserve a proper wooden carrying case.
The instructions arrive separately and included is a letter with replacement parts that had been discovered to be incorrect. That alone indicates to me that we are dealing with a quality manufacturer. However, the drawing that accompanies it is to an odd scale of about 5.1mm to the foot. Fortunately I was able to use my scanner and printer to get one, eventually, near enough to 7mm to the foot.
What comes "in the box"? A great
many
sheets of nickel silver etch, five of brass and a
number of wrapped bundles of white metal castings
that appear to be very well made. I transferred the
contents of each package to small plastic bags so
that I can find them easily.
A bag, containing many lost wax castings, a quantity of copper and brass wire, plus, brass rod and tube and a bag containing some finely etched works plates. I have added the set of Harris castings, already partially turned up and the ABC gearbox/motor.
The instructions are in a bound A4 booklet containing some prototype information, instructions, exploded diagrams, parts lists, numbered maps of the etch sheets and clear, graphic illustrations of the castings. Finally there are two sheets of livery details. It is an impressive document.
Nevertheless, it could be improved. The isometric diagrams would benefit from having the part numbers added. This would save the time of constantly referring between instructions, drawings, the etch maps and parts lists.
The Frames & Chassis.
I usually start with the tender. This time I
started with the connecting rods so that I could set
up the frames in the
Master Chassis jig.
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There are two main laminates per rod with extra laminates for the bosses on both sides. They differ from others I have experienced in that the bosses have a pair of "ears". Extensions of the etching that line up with the top and bottom of the fluting. Once filed to shape with a fine round file they blend in nicely, though removing excess solder from between them is not easy.
I still have a little cleaning up and polishing to do but they are useable now for the chassis jig. The rods were used to set the jig. It is important that both sets of rods are identical so both were used to check one another and set the jig.
The frames come in (for me) an usual format
in that they have two integral spacers designed so
that the frames
fold up. It is important I think
that bending bars of some description are used to
ensure the bends are exactly parallel. I also
opened out the bearing holes by clearing the cusp.
This allowed just enough play to ensure that the bearings would not be a problem to line-up properly when soldered in the jig. Once folded up, an engineer's square was used to make absolutely sure the folds were at 90o before running a fillet of solder into the fold to strengthen it. I think that separate side frames and conventional spacers would the better option.
I feel that unless the builder has good bending bars, there is danger that the chassis will be twisted out of true. I fitted two of the frame spacers temporarily and soldered in the bearings. Now the whole frame can be taken off the jig for the internal fittings to be assembled.
This starts with the slide bars
and cranks on the motion plate. These parts must be
fitted while their mounting plates are separate from
the frames. Some care is needed and the mounting
holes for the slide bars in the motion plate need
considerable fettling to get a good fit.
Likewise
the pistons will need careful filing to ensure a
good fit. The parts are both well designed and well
fitting (in that they err on the side of being
overlarge rather than too thin) and, I think, the
inside valve gear could probably be made to
operate. However, this job does not call for it or
the attendant cranked axle. (Phew!)
This sub-unit fits easily into its four slots in the frames. Speaking of slots, I found it necessary to cut an L shaped slot in the frames to accept the part of the motion bracket that is fitted to the footplate (see later). Back to Top
The Body.
This is a complex set of
etches and a good deal of fettling is required to
ensure that the tabs go into the slots. All parts need the cusps
filling off or they will not fit. The standard of
draughtsmanship and etching is very high. I have
spent more time getting parts ready for assembly
that actually assembling them but it pays off.
The parts for the footplate made ready for assembly. On reflection, it would have been easier to have fitted the nuts after assembly. A mixture of nickel silver and brass the parts fit well but need care to ensure a square basis upon which to build the rest of the body.
The footplate from top and bottom. The rear steps
are inherently weak and were later strengthened with
some scrap nickel silver. Later I will add some
brass angle to the buffer beam and drag beam to
strengthen them further.
Some of the parts for the
body ready for assembly. As usual, I did as much
work "in the flat" as possible but this is made
harder because of the way the instructions are
written. The exploded diagrams do not have any part
numbers so one has constantly to refer to the
written narrative and the etch sheet maps.
Frustrating if, like me, one likes to build the kit
my way and not necessarily the designer's way.
The floor, centre left in the picture, has slots
in which to fix the damper levers. Unfortunately
they have been etched on the wrong side of the cab.
The damper levers come as a pair; they fold up to
fit in the slots so I
soldered them to the floor in
the correct place. They are now very slightly too
high but who is going to notice? Back to Top
The splashers and basic cab assembled.
The footplate has supports built in to help in soldering the crank splashers, which are easier to fit that looks to be the case when starting. Once these splashers are fitted the support piece is removed. The driving wheel splasher fits perfectly.
The lubricator needs to be fitted long before the
boiler and is made up from etch pieces, a lost wax
casting (but a white metal one is also provided) and
wire. The casting proved relatively easy to drill
for the wires.
The bar across the upper frames is
part of the motion bracket. It is a tight fit with
the lubricator but, once soldered up fits well on
the chassis. The hole in the bracket needs to be
opened out on the slant to take the lever for the
lubricator.
The sand box covers are also lost wax castings.
The smoke box is easily soldered up around its formers and is a tight fit in the upper frames. Again, careful fettling of the base made for a good fit.
The Bogies & Motor Fitting.
The bogie goes together easily, I added as
much lead inside the frame as possible and the whole
thing now weighs about 4oz. A decision was made in
the interest of getting the job finished in time for
a November show to
fit
Slater's
wheels instead.
The extensions on the axles will need to be removed but this can be done before fitting the wheels. Just cut them off and clean up with a file.
In order to get the ABC motor and gearbox to fit
it was necessary to carve
a chunk out of the
footplate under the cab. It is well hidden by the
cab floor and gives plenty of room into which to fit the gear
wheel. It would have been somewhat easier done
before the cab was soldered in place.
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I carved it out with an abrasive disc in the minidrill after carefully measuring it up. However, it was later modified when it became necessary to change the motor/gearbox because the gear wheel was on the other side. The motor fitted easily into this space and consequently stands both vertically and clear of the ash pan so I filled the ash pan with lead.
There are three layers in the pan, the top one has a cut out to accommodate a gear wheel. The two pieces either side still leaves plenty of room for the motor.
Now up on its wheels with the
brakes and connecting rods fitted it needs only
running in before fitting the inside valve gear. 
The boiler is a pretty standard item of an etched
wrapper and spacers. I annealed it first then
rolled it, taped up
the joint with heat resistant
tape and soldered in the front spacer.
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Once happy that it was square the joint can be edge soldered and the other spacers fitted. It turned out to be 0.8mm too long, exactly the thickness of the nickel silver disk fitted to the smoke box. On the basis that no-one is going to be able to see the difference I fitted a piece of nickel silver to match the shape of cylinder head, soldered it to the smoke box and adjusted the holes in the footplate accordingly.
Inside Motion.
Now for the inside motion, which
proved less problematic than I had anticipated.
It
takes time to clean up all the many parts and
partially assemble them as shewn here
but it is time
well spent. Be sure to get the valve gear
eccentrics the right way round.
This picture shews the whole lot mocked up with an axle to make sure everything fitted before fitting it in the frames. All these parts are jointed with wire 'rivets' so that they move. Back to Top
As yet nothing is fixed and it seems to operate
well so I may leave it that way for ease of future
maintenance.
One rule that will have to be made for
this
engine is "not to remove the front driving
axle" unless taking down the motion. It is quite a
fiddle getting it all in place.
The Piping.
There is a great
deal of external pipe work on this engine, some of
it very fine. The picture on the left
shews
lubricators with 0.35mm phosphor bronze wire fitted
in carefully drilled 0.45mm holes.
The other
picture shews some of the piping that goes on top of
the firebox.
The reversing weights
are cast
white metal items but they broke very
easily at the narrowest point. Repair was out of the question as
was waiting for a replacement. Nice casting but an
inappropriate material in my view for the complexity
of the part.
I fabricated a new item from brass and
nickel silver. It made fitting the item between the
body frames easier because I could fit the reversing
lever directly to the brass pivot.
Finally, the body is completed save
for the back
head and fitting the roof.
The splasher steps were a real pain. The lost wax castings are nice but simply completely wrong. Filing the tiny parts to the correct shape was a real trial. Back to Top
The
instructions are silent on the lever protruding from
the left hand splasher in front of the cab so I
simply made up a set of levers to look like the
drawings and pictures I have from some of the many
spare parts among the etches.
All that remains to do now is the back head, roof and the cab side power plate, and then it will be ready for the painter.
The Backhead.
The parts for the back head ready assembled to be
fitted to the back head casting, which has been
modified to fit the space. I also cut a piece of
5mm lead sheet to the same shape to fit behind the
back head to increase the weight over the driving
wheels.
These can be seen in this shot of the completed, but roofless, cab.
The roof, which contains at least 11 parts in its
simplest form, is a good example of the complexity
of this model.
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The level of detail is very high and this behooves the modeller to take the time and trouble to build it properly. I also made it removable.
The Tender.
Here are most of the parts
prepared ready for assembly. The tender front needs
several pieces adding to it that are easier to do
'in the flat'. I cut wide slots in the rear of the
frames to ensure there was plenty of room to fit the
buffers, which are steel turnings into which one
solders some 0.9mm rod before fitting with cut down
springs and bending the rod over to hold it in
place.
The really hard part was opening out the lost wax casting for the housing. There is very little to get a purchase on and quite a lot had to be removed to get the buffers to fit and slide properly.
The chassis is simple enough. Like the
engine chassis, it is a fold-up etch. Personally I
would rather use a jig with separate sides and
spacers but it works well enough. There is
provision for compensation on two axles, I opened
out the holes in the beams to take some brass tube
into which the brass rod was fitted and soldered to
the frames. It works well and is easily adjusted.
Here is the view from the underside. The chassis
is a tight fit between the frames, so much so that
it is necessary to ease them out to allow the wheels
to revolve easily. The footplate goes together
very well, the parts being very accurately etched
such that it is essential to file off the cusps.
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The buffer beam and drag beam must be fitted first,
the valances fit between them. All those bits
shewn earlier and now (mostly) fitted together. The
flaring round the sides is a thin etch designed to
be soldered to a depression about a quarter of
millimetre deep. I expected problems but the design
is excellent and, with care, goes together very
well.
Still to be added are the coal rails. Three
lengths of soft brass half round wire are provided
but will need to be
stretched straight before use.
The instructions suggest that either the rails or
plates are fitted. The pictures I have of Black
Duncan have both, consequently, the carefully
impressed bolt heads in the coal plate fixing
brackets needed to be filed off.
This view from the front shews how well the various parts fit together, though there are still some important parts to be fitted like the locker, tool box and handbrake.
I left out the sand boxes
since there is no evidence that Black Duncan had
them in BR days. The axleboxes need their lugs
filing down to allow the chassis to fit.
The
instructions suggest that the cross beam needs to be
cut so that the chassis can be separated from the
body.
This is not necessary, simply solder the
links to the brake rods in position but do not
solder them to the rods. The chassis will slide
under easily.
The through pipes for vacuum and steam once fitted can be bent slightly to line up with their respective fittings on the buffer beam.
Complete and ready for the paint shop. Getting
it to run properly was a real trial. The
clearances are very tight and shorts were legion
until I had shaved lots of bits of different parts
of
the inner body. Also, since the frames are
so wide there was no room for washers so the
electrical paint rubbed off and caused failures;
nevertheless, it was an interesting build but not
for the beginner.
Despite an invitation, the manufacturer has declined to comment but see below:-
UPDATE
I received a message from on the website today (4/1/16) from the manufacturer and append it below.
Comments: I was not aware of this review, of one of my kits, until mentioned by one of my customers. I see that you tried to contact me at the time but I do not remember receiving any e-mail or letter. However here are some thoughts.
1. Good idea about part numbers on the drawings.
2. Bending bars not essential to bend up frames I only have a 3" vice and bent the frames using my fingers.
3. It is mentioned in the instructions that it is essential to remove the cusp from all parts.
4. Personal preference but I would never recommend annealing the boiler as this makes it too easy to dent.
5. The lever from the LH splasher in front of the cab is supplied as a casting with a different cab front supplied with a slot.
6. I don't understand how the boiler assembly was to long as I did not have any problems on the test builds. Possibly not removing the cusps front and rear of the etch 0.45mm and cleaning out the only the inner edges of the locating slot another 0.25mm.
7. You fitted the plates for the coal rails on the tender the wrong way round. The rivet detail should be on the inside giving a flat surface to fit the coal rails to.
8. Tender sand boxes- I have a photo of a tender front from 1946 which still has the boxes fitted (as does Glen Douglas Same tender) difficult to know the correct answer.
9. As for the kit not being for a beginner I have had several customers for which this was their first etched kit. Compared with subsequent kits that the have built, which the parts did not fit and detail parts not supplied, the thought that this was the easier to build.
Thank you for your review and sorry to be about 10 years late with a reply Norman Blackburn NB Models