Modelling the West Highland as I do means I need at least 1 of Gresley’s K4s (I eventually intend to have all 6). Designed specifically for the West Highland line with it’s tight curves, steep climbs & strict weight limits they were mainstays of the line on passenger & freight services from 1937 until scrapping in the early 60s. No. 3442 ‘The Great Marquess’ is preserved & is a regular on chartered heritage trains.
The inspiration for this conversion came from Modelling Guru Graeme King on the LNER forum. He mated a Hornby B17 boiler with the Bachmann K3 chassis & a cut down 4200 gallon tender to produce an excellent result. The undersized Bachmann K3 wheels made the conversion possible & gave a convincing effect. Graeme’s conversion was later written up in one of the major railway modelling magazines (Model Rail #181).
In my wisdom (or lack of), I decided for my version I’d try & produce the boiler in brass as an exercise to improve my soldering & it proved very worthwhile as my soldering has improved greatly since I started my first conversion.
Below is the beginnings of a boiler in the raw:
The main tube is 23mm brass from Eileen’s Emporium. I cut the slot out for the motor & front mounting lump with a cutting disc, then form the firebox sides with smooth pliers before trimming excess brass to ensure the boiler sits nicely on the K3 running plate which is used unmodified.
The smokebox wrapper is 10thou. I trim this to exactly the correct length to go around the boiler before soldering it on, starting at the base where the join can be hidden. I then add solder round the front & rear edges of the wrapper before tidying up with a fibreglass pencil. The upper part of the smokebox saddle are strips of 10thou on the pictured loco, however I’ve used 20thou on my latest K4 to give a heavier appearance.
The steam pipes were formed by wrapping a sheet of 10thou round two pieces of pipe & soldering it all together.
& then trimming to shape
& soldered to the smokebox.
More to follow in part 2.
Cheers,
Will
westhighlandmodelling 