That's a great looking body Jeff but it seems to require quite a bit of alteration to the donor chassis. :roll::roll:  Is there nothing more suitable ?

I'm not sure if it's a typo but you say this is a 4-8-0 heavy shunter …………being fitted to a 2-8-0 chassis. :???:  Does that mean you also have to replace the bogie ?

Spot on, Peter! A resin bogie is provided in the kit bits and pieces. I need to source a matching pair of wheels for the bogie though.

The Hornby Stanier chassis is the recommended one and this is what the extra bits provided in the kit are designed to fit. I don't relish having to shift the valve gear cranks from the third to the second axle though - the geared axle has to remain where Hornby decided it should go!

These were impressive looking machines and, apparently, were dead reliable in real life even during the war when maintenance was minimal to non-existent.

I primed the G16 body shortly after taking those previous photos. This showed up a few imperfections so I have cleaned those up. Next stage is to spray another coat of primer.




I  also got brave and tackled the preliminary work on the Hornby chassis mods. I removed the works and cut the wring (it will be a complete rewire job anyway!). Swapped the crankpins between the third (geared) and second axles as per the GAP instructions then chopped off the rear 6mm from the chassis. The resin piece at the rear is a good push fit but needs to be glued on properly.



Tip: Where possible, I put the screws back into their respective holes after removing components as this allows me to keep better track of which screw goes where.

And yet more progress. This is going much quicker than I anticipated!




I need to get hold of another, matching pair of wheels for the front bogie.

And now with cylinders and valve gear fitted.

Might be easier to look for 4 wheels than two matching, Jeff.

A good thought and one that was also at the back of my mind, particularly as photos appear to show slightly larger bogie wheels. I must check the specifications of the real G16s.

How do they comnpare with spoked wagon wheels Jeff ?  There's a whole raft of suppliers for those ………:roll:

These are 10-spoke 14mm diameter wheels with no pinpoint axle ends (for internal bearings) whereas most wagon wheels are 12mm with pinpoints.

I was looking on line and Rails of Sheffield now list Romford/Jackson products (they seem to be expanding their ranges to include these smaller items lately) and have exactly what I need for a reasonable price … so reasonable I was looking for something else to order to take advantage of the postage cost!  

There's a shop in Wakefield, Yorkshire, that had an impressive stock of wheels when I was last in there Jeff.

If you only want a couple of axles, they shouldn't cost too much to post.   I'll find their website and get back to you.

'Ere 'tis:

http://www.modelandcraftcentre.co.uk

They have a great range of model railway items in all scales although I doubt they'll be as cheap as the box shifters. :cheers

Having looked at their website, it's tiny compared with their stock.  An e-mail would reap rewards I feel. :thumbs

Thanks for that link, Peter. Rails didn't quite match the spec after all - the ones they list are 12 spoke. I can get away with this but would prefer the correct type if I can get it.
Following your link now!
Cheers.
:cheers

After three days of ice packs on my face and pain killers I have had to have a root canal job on a tooth. Now that I'm recovering and feeling human again, I have pushed the G16 project a little further.

I have put a temporary wheelset on the bogie and given the body a preliminary coat of black.

On reading the potted history of the class in the instructions, I have realised that I need to remove the capuchon from the chimney - a few strokes of a file will fix this. I am almost ready to fit some of the small parts like the steps at the front of the footplate and te cab roof ventilator. Also before the final coats of paint go on, I need to add the wires/pipes that go diagonally from the fronts of the tanks to a position just behind those bulges over the cylinders, and add some lamp irons. The sprung LSWR buffers I have for it will go on after spray painting has been completed.

At this point it seems to be moving freely so I can consider putting the motor and intermediate gear back in.

Coming on nicely.

It looks much better in black Jeff. :thumbs

I wasn't at all sure when it was in grey - it looked a little "out of balance" …………rear end "heavy" :roll:

Thanks guys.

I reckon it looks rear-end heavy regardless, Peter … but then, so does the prototype!! The H16 4-6-2 tanks were similar but looked better balanced. But I do have a weakness for multi-driving wheeled locomotives; they look much more impressive for a given size. Just look at Gresley's P2 2-8-2s (which are to come in OO this year from Hornby).

  

hmm

A brief update (no pics at this point): I reinstalled the motor and idler gear and hooked up the wires from the brushes temporarily to the pick up wires and tested it on DC test leads. It ran fine so I switched the outer circuit to DC and ran it around for a bit, minus the front bogie. There was a very slight tight spot and there is an annoying ticking noise with each revolution of the drivers but I traced that to the articulated joints on the couplng rods hitting the spacer washer on the valve gear on the second axle so it is harmless. 

Once I was happy with it I pulled it off the track again and installed a TCS M1 decoder, hard-wired to keep it simple. The chassis was again tested after checking on the programming track that nothing was amiss. I left it running for a while then tackled the front bogie, which is still sporting a wheel set from the original 8F donor and another wheel set from an old Triang-Hornby King Arhur.

I needed a spring of some sort to keep the bogie on the track so tried making a coil spring myself but this proved too thick. I thought about it for a while then remembered I had all the springy axle retainers from the EFE tube cars (I took them all out because they act as 'handbrakes' on each axle!). This took a bit of trial and error but I eventually got it so it acted on the bogie without trying to lift the front drivers off the track but still had sufficient pressure to keep the leading bogie wheels on the track.

I filed the capuchon off the chimney and added a couple of spots of filler to the odd blemish here and there. I will add the front steps, toolbox, lubricator pipe runs, cab roof ventilator, lamp irons and clack valves (I haven't figured out what to use for these last yet!), then give it a final coat of paint before adding transfers, varnish and weathering, in that order.

Finally, I added an older style Bachmann short tension lock coupler, screwed into the old tender coupling mount using the original screw. Just for effect it has been towing around one of the new Bachmann ex-Southern 'pill box' brake vans around.

So, to sum up, this has been another successful session in getting it to run and nearer to being completed. I would esrimate that I will have t completed in the next couple of weeks at the rate I'm going, and allowing for the fact I'll have to wait for paint coats to dry and transfers to set.

Once it is done I'll take a short video of it in action just to complete the picture.

My 14mm 10-spoke bogie wheels arrived today from Mainly Trains in England, so I wasted no time in fitting them and testing again. Before I show the pic of it with the new wheels, though, I took a photo the other day before decoder fitting but after adding the motor and works back in and temporarily hooking up the wires for testing on analogue (12V DC). This also shows the various mods and add-on bits.



And now, with the body on, decoder fitted and the new bogie wheels. The capuchon has now been filed off the chimney and a small amount of filler added to the ridge on the cab roof where there was a slight gap in the casting.



I did intend taking a pic of the bogie springing arrangement but forgot to do that before screwing the bogie back on. Haulage power is good but I reckon it'll be even better when I add some lead sheet to the insides of the side tanks!

Only a little more progress to report on both the ex-LSWR G16 tank and on the Ayjay Models 'Tin' 2 HAL kit. I have painted the bogie wheels to better match the rest (i.e. got rid of those shiny silver tyre rims!) and given the whole locomotive a second coat of black. It is now too black as this really hides any detail (an also any inaccuracies!!). The chassis needs a small adjustment as the mounting gives the body a very slight lean to one side.



I have finally got around to glazing the Ayjay Models 'Tin' HAL Which features in some earlier entries in this topic. I use Micro Krystal Klear glazing liquid as a glue to stick clear plastic/acetate in. If any gets on the glazing itself, it can be washed off with water while wet and dries clear so any that does get missed on the glazing barely shows anyway. The first photo shows the unit in service with its newly added windscreens - the glue is still wet on the left-hand one. The other photos are more general views. I have not yet painted the seats, so that's the next job on the agenda.