Ffestiniog "Prince"

Clifton009 · Post by **Clifton009** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:06 pm

Langley Ffestiniog Prince kit arrived today

Modifications done on the Fleischmann 7000 Chassis to be used:

Started on the body:

Assembled the tender:

I have started some of the modifications to the body to allow the Fleischmann chassis to fit.

More to follow.....

santene · Post by **santene** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:36 pm

ooo lookin good

Curious Orange · Post by **Curious Orange** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:23 am

I shall watch this thread with interest. I found that kit quite "challenging" to construct as I wanted it to appear, mainly due to the quality of the casting and the big gaps that it left!! I can see that you haven't cleared the flash out of the spectacles yet, I used a broach to do that.

I'll be interested to see how well the body sits on the Flieschmann chassis, as I used an Ibertren Cuckoo chassis and that needed a lot of hacking about to allow the body to sit low enough for my liking.

Good luck with the build.

Curious Orange · Post by **Curious Orange** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:26 am

... forgot to mention, I think the wheels supplied for the tender are rubbish, and I'd highly recommend replacing them with some curly spoke ones from Parkside Dundas.

b308 · Post by **b308** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:41 am

Now you be careful with that chassis!!

Blaqkaudio009 · Post by **Blaqkaudio009** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:38 pm

looking nice mate! keep it goin

Clifton009 · Post by **Clifton009** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:21 pm

Thanks for the tips.

The chassis does not fit too well at all!! Hacked some bits off it (Sorry Blair!!) and some more and some more and hacked a fair bit out of the body and some more and some more!!

The main problem is that the rear over hang of the chassis is too near the back of the loco so there is not enough room for all the floor with the tender coupling bit on

If I pull the chassis further foward it doesn't run right - making a grating noise. I think this is caused by an imbalance in weight if the chassis is too far forward as a lot of the body and chassis weight is at the back - so the front wheels don't have enough weight over them. Spent hours on this today

I'm happy now that it runs ok with the body on and I don't think I am going to get it to sit any lower! I can do a bit of work on the bit of floor that remains to enable the tender coupling to fit.

I have also filed the flashing out of the spectacles now. Fortunately I had a fine round file. It still wasn't easy to get them clear. I have also got some miliput to do some filling between the 2 halves, but not used it yet.

Tender wheels changed! They were cr*p, wouldn't go over points! Took some off an old N wagon for now. They are metal and run much better.

Will post some photos soon!

Blaqkaudio009 · Post by **Blaqkaudio009** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:38 pm

mm, thats the same problems i had when trying to fit sir haydn onto that chassis

i blame the chassis!

Clifton009 · Post by **Clifton009** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 9:43 pm

Here are some photos:

I think it looks fairly level & balanced. Might drop the body another 1mm? Don't want to make a mess of it though as it looks ok now, just the loco body is a touch too high vs the tender. Any suggestions??

zarniwhoop · Post by **zarniwhoop** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:26 pm

Man, you've really got your skates on - I'm still at the stage of thinking about how to build the kits I've got, but within a day of the kit arriving you've got it looking like a loco. I take my hat off to you!

ĸen

Clifton009 · Post by **Clifton009** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:16 pm

zarniwhoop wrote:Man, you've really got your skates on - I'm still at the stage of thinking about how to build the kits I've got, but within a day of the kit arriving you've got it looking like a loco. I take my hat off to you!

ĸen

Thanks Ken.

I've been wanting this kit for a while, so just had to start it as soon as it arrived!!

Curious Orange · Post by **Curious Orange** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:44 pm

Clifton009 wrote:Here are some photos:

I think it looks fairly level & balanced. Might drop the body another 1mm? Don't want to make a mess of it though as it looks ok now, just the loco body is a touch too high vs the tender. Any suggestions??

The footplate of the cab should be level with the footplate of the tender. On my Ibertren chassis I had to spend a long time filing down the tops of the cylinders and the rear corners of the chassis. I'll post a photo later if I remember (football is about to start!).

Curious Orange · Post by **Curious Orange** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:51 pm

My model of Princess ended up looking like this:

The chassis was filed down about 1.5mm at the cylinder tops (basically so that they were level with the upper slide bar), and the two corner lugs that jut out at the rear.

Clifton009 · Post by **Clifton009** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:45 pm

Thanks for the info Curious. Your loco looks great. Neat paint job. Mine will also be green and black, the green will be a bit lighter than on yours.

I have tinkered with the body a bit tonight and got it as low as it will go on this chassis - touching the top of the grey vertical on the side of the chassis. This has dropped the height by probably just over 1mm.

I have also filled the join down the centre of the 2 body halves with milliput.

I'm not happy with the couplings you get with the loco as they stick out a long way and the vertical peg on them is not very big, so I think I will fit Greenwich couplings without the loops attached.

2 questions: Where do you get hand rail knobs????? (I also need some for Harlech Castle) and where can you get small brass numbers either self adhesive or glue on?????

Will post more photos when I get chance.

Curious Orange · Post by **Curious Orange** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:16 pm

Clifton009 wrote:...touching the top of the grey vertical on the side of the chassis.

I filed those down slightly too on my chassis.

I got my handrail knobs from Alan Gibson http://www.scalefour.org/ag/index.htm