An Adler, nice. This'll be watched.

Nice start Tony

Good to see you up and running with this one.

Kit looks good and those frets waste next to nothing.

Good luck with this one.

Regards
delboy271155
(Derek)

Great to see this underway, good luck with the build

SUNDAY 15th January 2017 – The Adler Locomotive Build

I hope that everyone has had a very good week. I still have the remnants of the cough left over from my “Christmas disease” but improving by the day and have been able to press on with some more updates to my build.
In the same vain as my earlier posting I have numbered up this week’s pictures and added some text below to explain what I have been doing.

PICTURE 1.

From the MDF fret we now cut out the parts that will make up the firebox end of the locomotive. This piece of the build is one of the more complex and uses a total 9 parts from the MDF fret (7 in this picture and the remaining 2 in Picture 4)

PICTURE 2.

“CALLOUT - PROCEED WITH CARE”

I did say that as and when known issues come along I would make a special note for anyone else that might be tempted with this kit.
Part 21 forms the back plate of the fire box and while it looks symmetrical it’s not. Occre do not mention this in the instructions so it would be easy to either try and force the part in and cause later fit issues or start sanding it down with similar results.
As you can see from the picture one side is 32mm long and the other 33mm. And this does match the slots this parts fit into so important to get it the right way around.

PICTURE 3.

Dry fitted at this stage but this is the end Part 21 mentioned above will be fitted.

PICTURE 4.

“CALLOUT - PROCEED WITH CARE”

While a number of the side parts are identical you need to be careful with these 2 parts numbered as 24 and 24A. While the overall dimensions are exactly the same the holes pre-drilled into these parts differ so really important to ensure you fit these to the correct sides of the fire box component.

PICTURE 5.

Once glued in place we are asked to glue in a small fillet of wood that will act as a support for the brass overlay which covers this part of the build.

PICTURE 6.

The front end of the loco is now fully dry and the next stage is to fill in the gaps highlighted by the arrow using 4 pieces of 2x2 mm wood strip.

PICTURE 7.

To cut this 2x2mm wood strip I used my Amati cutter which was the first unit that came to hand. It’s not one of the better cutters I use and find that the blade tends to “bend” on its way through the cut leaving an angled cut end rather that a nice straight cut.

PICTURE 8.

While the instructions call for just 4 pieces of 2x2mm per side and then the use of filler I decided the gap left a little large for filler alone. The area will not be brass coated so on that basis I want to minimise filler as wood being what it is will expand and contract over time and that could affect this area of the build.
So in that basis I used a further piece of 2x2mm cut in half to give me a 1x2mm piece to fit this area.

PICTURE 9.

One of the very “best” and “cheapest” clamps being used here – the good old trusted elastic band.

PICTURE 10 & 11.

Having rubbed down these infills this is the end result. In the pictures the remaining gaps (that the instructions tell you to fill) are very minor indeed. At this stage they are still to be filled

PICTURE 12.

The next stage is the boiler cladding and this is where the Version 2 kit from Occre differs from the earlier release. I did mention at the outset of this project that I had started the earlier version of the kit last year but due to major fit issues it was consigned to the “scrap Bin”.

This picture though shows more or less how far I got (it was when I started the chassis the fit issues came about and the build was scrapped).

In the earlier build the boiler is clad with 2x5mm wood strips but in the revised version we are given and told to use 2x3mm wood strips.

PICTURE 13.

“RECOMMENDATION”

Because we are dealing with very similar wood strips in terms of size (2mm & 3mm for instance) you may find an ordinary ruler does not always provide the measuring accuracy required.

What I can highly recommend for your tool box is a Vernier Caliper as you can see in this picture. It’s a really useful measuring instrument for internal and external as well as depth. Once you have something like this it will last a lifetime if well looked after.

PICTURE 14.

NOT ADDED

PICTURE 15.

To get the planking on even I have loose fitted the axle supports to allow the first couple of planks to be fitted nice and symmetrical. Because these need to be removed and fully painted in the next instalment or so it does mean at this stage I cannot fully clad the boiler.

Again elastic bands act as a suitable clamp while the glue on these planks is left to fully dry.

PICTURE 16.

Overhangs on the plank ends need to be very carefully rubbed down. I have gone as far as I can with the “heavy duty” paper on this end and will switch to a much finer paper to finish off in my next build session.
It’s really important here that we do not deform the MDF end plate or you will end up with gaps when it comes to gluing on the firebox and smoke stack ends.

You are also instructed to rub down the boiler sides to knock of the sharp edges of the planks. This needs to be very carefully down to ensure you do not put any flat spots on what should be a rounded boiler.

PICTURE 17.

And just to give an overview once the boiler is fully clad and rubbed down this is how the smoke stack and firebox components will be glued on.
Looks a bit of a “strange beasty” at this point I must say.

PICTURE 18.

The cladding of the boiler parts to provide the multitude of bolt heads on this version of the kit will be done with brass etch. In the earlier kit this feature was added by using rounded headed nails glued into pre-drilled holes on the ply parts in that particular kit.
This brass is extremely hard and a pronounced curve on both sheet supplied.

PICTURE 19.

To cut through the etch tabs you could at a press use a sharp craft knife but as the etch is thick and hard my preference is a pair of photo etch scissors which in this case are made by Xuron of the USA.

Well that is as far as I have progressed this week. Lots more to do and I hope to be able to post a further update next Sunday.

Andy

Many thanks .

Really nice work Tony, making good progress.

I'll have to have a look at those PE scissors, I've got a pair of the Xuron Pro side cutters, they aren't cheap but have to be the best pair of cutters I've owned

Looking great Tony,
these kits look deceptively simple on paper, but once you start building them they are quite tricky.You are doing an excellent job.


Carl

Carl/Derek

Many thanks for looking in.

Kev

Many thanks for the kind comments.

At first i held off buying xuron as they are slightly expensive but in the end other things i was using either packed up on me or were useless. I purchased a set if these and they perform really well. The blades get into some of the odd sngles you find on etch frets as well. The only thing to watch out for is that you cut were you need to cut because these things will slice through very easily.

Been so impressed with the range i added in the xuron side cutters great for plastic model kits, the needle nose pliers and a set that holds model ship pins.

Been a while collecting these as i have to save my pennies but will say they out perform many of the cheaper cutters so will pay for themselves in the long run.

I will try and remember to post some pictures in my next update.