Member postings for Nick Smartt

Thanks for the welcome messages. I’ve only just joined and I’m already getting useful info!

My version of the Tich drawings and book both specify 3/32” frame thickness. LBSC recommended using soft blue steel plate and avoiding either hard rolled bright steel or “rustless steel”. Even Google didn’t know what soft blue steel plate is. I used some 3 mm sheet with no information about what grade of steel it was, and this worked out fine. I had to calculate the width of the frame spacers so the outsides of the frames are the right distance apart. The dimensions aren’t round numbers, but that’s OK. I converted all the dimensions to metric anyway (without rounding) as I’m not used to working in fractional inch sizes.

As a first time locomotive builder, I find LBSC’s words and music entertaining and helpful, even though some of the methods he describes are a bit obsolete if you're lucky enough to have access to a milling machine with DROs.

I decided it was time to sign up. Last time I was in England I came back with an old set of drawings for a Tich live steam loco + a biscuit tin of second hand castings. I’m currently teaching myself how to machine these up with the help of YouTube videos and a slightly eccentric book of instructions from “LBSC”. Luckily it’s still possible to order new castings if things go too badly wrong. It’s slow going, but I’m learning a lot and it’s coming along gradually.

I have a small home workshop with a 1970 Myford lathe and an even older German milling machine fitted with stepper motors to make a basic but usable CNC setup.