Ja 1268

Ja1268 was built in 1950 at the NZR Hillside Railway Workshops sited in Dunedin, she was written off in August 1968, 1268 is seen here Above; in charge of the express on the 01-04-1966 in Oamaru .

Below; 4 pictures of 1268 on her first run, she entered servic on the AFR on the 24th of December 2013.

            Building Ja1268                           

  Ja1268 is the biggest project I have taken on, due to the fact that everything has to be made as in the chassis, valve gear, bogies (both loco & tender). The plan is to start off like I always do 'Back to Front' it worked with the Ab so I'm sticking to tried & tested way. I am going to use bachmann Big Hauler driving wheels, they are a bit small but the Ab wears them well & the Ja's are the same diameter so the decision has already been made for me. I hope all the problems & decisions with this loco are going to be as easy!!!

Tender!

Above Left; The tender is under way, of all the plastic pipe we make at RX Plastics there was not one any where near what I wanted!! So I used a cardboard cylinder lined with 0.5mm styrene to achieve the correct diameter, the curved end is just 2mm styrene layered, machined in a lathe (courtesy of work), bogged to fill in any gaps & sanded in the lathe to finish.  Above Right; Sides on the bunker have been added, all is 2mm styrene to give it a bit of strength.

Above Left; The detail is starting to be added, the back tender braces have to be added as you can see in behind the tool-box when it is in place. The 12 bolts on the head stock & the 24 nuts on the side tender mounts are all hex styrene rod spun off in a drill press. Head stock rivets are flat head so out with a file to flatten off the dress-making pins!  Above Right; Tool-box in place, next job coupler & bogies!!

The tender bogies were next on the to do list, Above Left; I have used the bachmann metal wheel sets, they had to have the flange depth reduced so they would fit in the frame. The entire bogie is built from styrene with a brass bush added in each axle box to take the axle, the 2 bogies from start to finish took 2 weekends work with help from my 2 daughters! Above Right; Top view of the tender with the water hatches in place, plus another tool-box been made. Below Left; I now turn to the front of the tender now with the coal doors been made, once again there are differences in the prototype so had some pictures of Ja1240's tender being restored by Mainline Steam Heritage Trust & went by these. Below Right; The tender is ready for undercoating, this won't happen until I get a picture of the entire loco in its unpainted form!! Most of the detail has been added, side chains near the coupling, ladder, hand-rails, steps etc as can be seen in this rear view of 1268's tender. 

    Above Left & Right; Front view shows more detail, tool cabnets, tap, brake pedestal, steps & jacking points. I haven't worked out the tender coupling as yet as the over swing of the loco itself will have to be considered!

Locomotive!

Above Left; Work has started on the loco, as you can see the smoke-box detail is done, the 4 missing rivets up top are making way for the light bracket. The chassis is on the way, it is made from aluminium door channel (scrap piece), Above Right; 4 of the 8 main bearings are showen these are a press fit into the chassis. For all the cut out sections I have used the drill & file method, time consuming but very rewarding! The screw you can see is holding in a spacer, the head will be filed flat in the near future.

Above; 2 pictures showing the motor & gear box in place, there was alot of drilling & filing to get this correct as the motor is sitting secure on the chassis & will have a band over the top to hold it in place. There will be no forward movement either as the motors front is against the chassis where it fits onto the gearbox. (as seen in the 1st pic) Below Left; The front & back drivers are in place with the centre 2 just resting there for the pic, the weights on the 6 of the wheels have been altered to the correct size, from the motor 1,2,4 are altered with number 3 standard Bachmann. Below Right; On the 21-08-2011 the tender of Ja1268 had a test run, it was hauled by A62 twice around the Railway. All went well with no derailments, I thought the fine wheel flanges could be a problem but was proven wrong (Don't mind being wrong in cases like that!)

Below Left; Steam dome is in place, this was a stroke of luck as there was no shaping involved apart from around the boiler! The dome is a float out of a tank lid, it was the right diameter with the proper radius around the top. I used a whole saw to drill into the boiler glued & pinned the dome at the right correct height, I then troweled in some auto bog at the base then sanded the right radius in. Remember the front & back radius will be smaller then the sides!!  Below Right; The sand dome is a different kettle of fish, being square-ish, curved top & angles. This was all fabricated with 2mm styrene & sanded by eye to look right, it was built in place to get the angels on the side correct. The grab rail is welding wire with the filler lid being a piece of knitting needle spun down.

 Below Left; A shot of the 2 domes! 3mm X 0.5mm styrene boiler bands have also been added, this was a tricky job to keep them all straight! Below Right; Funnel ic now in place, this was made from auto-bog & spun in the lathe with final finishing done in place.

Below; 2 pictures of the front head-stock & cow-catcher! The main costruction is styrene with dress making pins for the rivets, Alloy Tig wire with the ends flattened are the main bars for the cow-catcher, the U-bolts holding the backing plate on are staples out of a office stapler. You can use anything!!! 

Below; 2 pictures of the construction process of the main side rods, I frabricated these out of 2mm styrene so are 4mm thick where the crank-pin goes through. The fluting was achieved by placing 1mm styrene 2mm wide on its edge between main bushes, not showen in the pics is a brass bush which was machined to a slight press fit. I must also note that all the rods where filed free-hand!

Below Left; A temporary fitting of the side rods, it has been run but up on blocks & seems to run ok only, time will tell!! Below Right; 1268's front pony truck in its finished state, this was constructed with 2mm styrene with the axles revolving in brass bushes. The axle box covers were machined from plastic knitting needles to fit over the brass bush, all the rivets are the trusty dress pins. Fixing the side frames to the centre pivot block was done with a screw/rivet combination. I was surprised the time it took to make this, hense the saying "time flies when you're having fun". 

Below Left; A closer shot, there is a lot more detail that could have gone on this truck but I am using my 3 foot rule once again, if it looks good from 3 feet then that will do! Below Right; It is the start of the trailing pony truck, I have run the axle in brass bearings. I have used a bachmann large scale metal wheel set as it is a larger diameter than the USA trains wheel set.

Below Left; Here is a view of the finished truck, all the spring hangers are all pinned & glued in place. Along the main frame there sits a lubricator with its pipe work disappearing under the frame. Below Right; Close up of the detail that has been added the the trailing truck!

Below Left& Right; The chassis has its first run out on the main-line, with a bit of filing I managed to get it around a 8ft diameter curve. Was more then happy with the result!

Below Left; A side on shot of the front cowling that covers the air reservoirs. The hand rails are tig welding wire held there with small split pins crimped tightly. Below Right; front shot with shunters steps to the sides, the ladder rungs up the side are from standard stationary staples bent to shape, & what a job to get them all the same!! The whole front is constructed out of styrene with it being built up in the corners to get the nice curved edges when sanded, a time consuming job with a very rewarding result. 

Below Left; Work has started on the cylinders, with the end caps being made & machined to the correct diameter. I can say now that there will be alot of work in these!  Below Right; Head-Light & Bracket in place, the light is constructed from electrical conduit with the number boards & bracket from styrene. Things are starting to take shape at long last!!!

Below Left & Right; Work on the cylinders are well under way, the smokebox saddle is complete with the weight & the mounting point will be sitting on this, there is only detailing to be done on this with riveting to be done & a few nuts/bolts etc. Valve gear will be mounted at a later date, I am still doing alot of thinking about that one!   

Below Left & Right; Cylinders in place, had to build up to the right height with the front cowlings. This took more time then I thought, but everything is sitting pretty good. The smoke-box front is sitting on top of the front weight between the cowlings & the under-side of the smoke-box is sitting on the saddle between the cylinders, I just have the ash collector/wash-out below the front of the smoke-box to do!! The right hand running board is on with brackets in place, more detailing is needed to finish then on to the other side.

Below Left; Adding ribs to the cab sides to attach the roof to, these were filed by hand 3mm wide out of 2mm styrene so there is a bit of strength to surport the 1/2mm styrene. I tried to put the roof on in one piece but gave up after the 2nd attempt, just to much to try & get right! So out with the knife & split it into 2 pieces, when dried I bogged the cente joint & sanded flat, problem solved! Below Right; ready for riveting, the tools I use are to the left. everything is done by hand as I find electric or battery drills are a bit awkward for the fine work.

Below Left; All the rivets are in place, the space left is for the roof vent.  Below Right; A view under the cab of the surport bracket made to set the height of the cab floor.

Below Left; The roof vent has been added & more rivets!!! Some of the rain deflectors on the cab roof were glued in place, as you can see I seem to be restarting at the top & working down, truth be-known I am avoiding the Valve-Gear!!! Below Right; Back view of the cab with the floor been added & the start of the rivet detail, still have the draw-bar detail to do! 

Below Left;The making of the main steam pipe cowlings, these were constructed out of 2mm styrene with the curved corners being filed & sanded later. Below Right; The finished cowling glued in place! Also you might see holes have been drilled ready for the hand rail stanchions more on this process can be see here at the {From the Workshop}.

Above Left; One of the 2 safety valves which was machined out of the trusty ole knitting needle, the nuts are just the hex styrene with the edges filed off! Above Right; Both safety valves fitted in place, handrails & the boiler washouts can also be seen! Below Left; Handrail detail of the front with that awkward smoke-box curved rail! Below Right; A pic of the ash collecter in its final position under the smoke-box, to the left is an air-reservoir made from electrical conduit (1 of 2 made) capped with 2mm styrene! I could have got away without making these as you only see 4mm of it side on but certain angles the gap without the tank is far, far greater so in the end they had to be done. 

Above; 1 of 2 large air reservoirs made the same way as the smaller ones, this is riveted with 0.5mm styrene strip to the running board, with these added to the loco I realized that there aren't to many more big items to fit only fiddlely stuff to do!

Above Left; More detail has been added to the back of the cab with rivets & wash-down hose, with holder in place. Above Right; Rivets with the foot rail have been added under the cab side, handrails have also been added to the sides of the cab!  

Above Left; The main steam valve which sits just outside the cab, the handle is a trusty dress dome stud which does the job nicely! Above Right; Ash-pan doors sitting ready to go on the loco, the maximum width of these was 3mm so it is getting fiddlely work.

Above Left; Ash-pan in place waiting on the doors to be fitted! Above Right & Below Left; I can't resist a update picture now & then just to get an idea of how things are comming together or the other way of looking at it how much more you have got to go until finished!!! Below Right; Close up of the sand dome with ladder, pipes & another steam out-let in place.

Below Left; R/H cylinders in all its finished state!!! I'm not going to add the drain cocks as the will foul the leading truck on the minimum turning radius, note the snifter valves are in place. Below Right; Pyle National in place with bracket, the bracket is made from industrial staples

Above Left; R/H view of the fire-box, step under running board is the industrial staple again. Doors are fitted to the ash-pan, blow down is fitted plus the reverser arm/linkage is all set up. At this stage all the detail is added to the R/H side, now onto the L/H side!! Above Right; The last big item to be made is the Westinghouse Pump, believe it or not there is 234 pieces to this! (The things we do) The pump took a good 10 hours work with machining the nuts & bolts, then assembling the unit, in all I think it was all worth it!

Above Left & Right; The pump is in place with all its plumbing, what a job it was to get the bends in the correct place but it all turned out not to bad. The piping is tig welding rod which also adds a bit of surport in holding the pump etc.

Above Left; A close up shot of the injector, this was constructed with styrene with the round items being machined out of a plastic kniting needle.  Above Right; A work bench shot with all the added detils in view.

Above Left; A couple of air tanks were made & slung under the cab once again a large sized knitting needle was used! Above Right; Nearly last of the cab detail in place with the tablet exchanger & window pannel bars been added the only item left to be added is the number plates!!!

Above Left; R/H guide bar, cross head & piston rod ready to be fitted!! Above Right; One connecting rod with brass bush & pieces of the expansion link casting/housing!! Modelling diesels are looking more attractive;-)

Above Left; Completed valve gear, this was done in stages to both sides that way if any binding occurs you just have to back track one stage to find the problem. Once again I got carried away building & not picture taking!! I was lucky in this build as no big problems or binding occured. Above Right; Smoke-Box Number plate in place.

Above Left; Makers plate in place, there is one of these on each side. It really adds to the model. Above Right; Cab plate looking good, will look different again with a coat of paint. 

Above Left & Right; A nice front & rear shot of the completed model, so the next big step is the paint shop. We hope to paint her in the warmer months which will alter her appearence for the final time!!

Above Left; The tender is all unassembled & masked ready to paint, but when you are painting you can't stop to take pics!!! Above Right; Problem solved for picture taking I asked my wife to take a few. I used an air brush for the smaller parts & fiddlely parts on the larger items. Here we are painting the left/side drivers. I must also state that this is the 1st time I have used air-brushes & spay guns on my models!! I usually use spray bombs, but I won't be in the Future I'm sticking to the Air-brush & gun.

Above; Loco now being painted with the bigger gun, I used Black PA10 etch primer to paint 1268 as I didn't have to worry about an undercoat it all does the one job.

Above; The finished result!!! I am very, very pleased with the result. So Ja1268 enter service on the 23/12/2013 but still has a bit more running in to be done.