Brian Madge Alice class Hunslet part 3 - flycranks, coupling rods and bufferbeam overlays.

On the brass body detailing etch there are half etched overlays for the buffer planks, used to provide rivet detail. The rear overlay has a row of rivets along one edge, the instructions do not say which way up it goes but studying photographs of the prototype shows that the line of rivets goes along the bottom. These were soldered in place using my usual 25w Antex and 188 degree solder. Here's the front overlay in place;

Flycranks are machined in brass and are supplied with crankpins (16BA screws) already soldered in place. They are designed to be Loctited in place, both axles are gear driven so the coupling rods are cosmetic and quartering doesn't need to be precise.

I started by fitting the cranks to one side, checking for smooth running with a coupling rod fitted, then fitting the cranks to the other side, again checking with both rods fitted. I took my time and spent ages test running at every stage. Once I was happy the front crankpin could be shortened and the crankpin bush carefully secured with Loctite as below;

Clearences between the wheels, cranks and the frames are very tight;

 

I do wonder if the frames would be better etched in thinner (.015"?) material to provide extra clearence. However, once set up its a super smooth runner.
I had to offset the motor block slightly, to hold the block in place I've glued small plasticard pads onto the sides of the block where it meets the footplate (not seen in these photos).

I did have problems with the cranks, for some reason I had trouble getting the Loctite to 'grab' despite cleaning everything with a glassfibre scratch brush followed by lighter fluid. In fact one crank came loose as I was unscewing one of the crankpin nuts so I could cut down that particular crankpin. I refitted the crank with Rapid Araldite, if I build another one of these (highly probable, Brian does a cabbed version as well) I'll probably use Araldite rather than Loctite on all of the cranks.

Here's how the loco looks at the moment;

I'd get on with this kit a lot faster if I didn't keep spending time test running it, there's something about outside frames and flycranks that fascinates me.

Paul.