Comet LMS Suburban bk third

[Michael Delamar]

Ive been asked to build this coach by one of the members of the Liverpool model railway society, to run on the layout Dollgelly.

 

he has had it for about 20 years, someone sometime made a start on it. curving the tumblehome and one or 2 soldering pieces on the chassis and steps on one end then its put back in the box and left.

 

Ive been asked if I can build and paint it in plain BR carmine red. ive never built a complete brass coach kit so we'll see how we get on.

 

a couple of pics as it come in the box,

 

 

It had a film on the ends of each coach side so ive cleaned it off with a fibreglass brush, it was stubborn and took some time but it is now gone.

 

thankfully all the holes are marked and so I went about drilling them out. I use a piece of polystyrene when doing this.

 

then I made the handrails, with a spacer made from an old saw blade I put it between the handrail and coach side then turn it upside down and solder the handrail from the back.

 

for this bit im just using ordinary solder with powerflow flux and a basic iron which works for me,i like the paste as i find it easy to put right where I want it with a cocktail stick. then i grind the excess wire off with the dremel.

 

 

next the door bump stops, again sodered behind then roughly cut off

 

then ground down with the dremel smooth on the back, close on the front and finished off with a file.

 

 

 

only done one side so far and there is still a fair bit to do, door handles, not quite sure how to keep them straight, then door hinges and also door windows for which I will use my RSU but is in the clubrooms at the moment.

 

Edited June 28, 2012 by michael delamar

[Mallard60022]

What a grand job lad and I'm very impressed with the bumps . I will also, with permission, pinch your polystyrene idea.

The hinges, or at least the lower hinge ah la Larry G; do fit them? They do make such a difference.

Having done a few Comets it is sometimes easier to fit the drops then the hinges before the handles and stuff; only a thought for your next one. Comet also recommend leaving the handles until later for ease of painting, but not everyone does that.

Had you considered fitting some Comet bogie spring units too if this is for a club layout where it may well travel long distances?

There's life in those old Comet boxes still

I await the completed article that will no doubt look stunning.

P @ 36E

Edited June 28, 2012 by Mallard60022

[Michael Delamar]

cheers Mallard.

 

wont be fitting any springing but will put brass bearings in, the wheels are plastic which I will get him to change, but it was a "go away and build it with whats in the box and see how you get on" sort of build.

 

its practice for me too as Id like a few myself.

 

the polystyrene works a treat, stops it from bending, just dont solder on it as it gives off nasty poisonous fumes.

 

to be honest Ive had a quick skim of the instructions but just got went head first into it.

 

im just working on the other side as I type.

[Mallard60022]

Once you have sorted the first Comet you just won't be able to stop....................

Good luck.

P

[brossard]

Michael, I started a couple of these but ran afoul of getting the door hinges on straight. Are you planning on doing the hinges? - if so I will be interested to see how you get on.

 

John

[Michael Delamar]

I want to do the hinges, my first thought with the them (and this is open to changes and suggestions) is to use some flat brass strip which is the right height of the hinge, tin it, put some flux down, warm it with the rsu then grind them down like the bump stops.

 

 

shot of the blade used as a spacer while soldering. put a piece of wood on top then flip it over and solder from behind.

 

 

Mike

[brossard]

There is a separate pack from Comet (C26) that includes hinges - these are, as you may imagine very tiny. The design requires that holes be drilled and, to be fair, the pack includes a guide. Still after all that my holes and thus my hinges were not in a straight line.

 

John

[Mallard60022]

I think the Comet Hinges are very good. You can also use Frogmore available from MJT.

Marking the hinge positions according (more or less) to the pics/diagrams I do with black marker pen down the door line and then scribe horizontally with dividers from the roof edge/ side base. Use a punch to press & create a 'lead' then drill 0.45mm (thanks Artisan ). The hinges are a fiddle to insert/ solder from the back but can be 'straightened' with pliers if they have twisted.

Can you see the result on this pic? OK so it's a GWR Collett but hinges be hinges IMHO.

P

Edited June 29, 2012 by Mallard60022

[Michael Delamar]

I dont fancy drilling any more holes to be honest.

 

dont mind gluing any bits on but would sooner solder them, chance some bits will drop off when soldering but that does happen,it did happen with a few bits when grinding from behind but just solder them back on.

 

both sides have the bump stops and handrails done and a bonus in one of my scrap boxes Ive found the interior from a Bachmann mk1 suburban, he did give me a pack of comet seats but ill use this, saves a lot of time and fits perfect, cutting and fitting seats and partitions is a long boring job.

 

[Mallard60022]

Like the seats idea. Wonder if they are available as 'units' from other manufacturers?

P

[Michael Delamar]

if i had loads of resin could have cast them,

 

just thinking out loud, I could have used these comet sides as templates for drilling holes for the bumpstops in the sides of the dc kits 501 im also building, left them off that, will do that for the next one.

 

and if id have had nickel wire i would have used that for the handrails.

[Michael Delamar]

Can you see the result on this pic? OK so it's a GWR Collett but hinges be hinges IMHO.

P

 

yes it looks really nice, door hinges also describe some people like those we build kits for who dont want to spend any money on hinges

[Michael Delamar]

It was puzzling me as I couldnt work out how the sides fitted the chassis, and how the chassis sides and footboards went together,

 

it turned out the angled truss and floor sides had been bent up the same way when they should have been apposing, I bent the sides back the other way as this was bent round wrong, the seperate strips are to be bent and fitted in the tabs under the chassis, it then says to fashion the footboards from the scrap of the etch, however thats long been thrown away so will have to have a rummage for some scrap brass.

 

wrong way,

 

 

correct way, with seats placed in, chassis needs to be cleaned up and will be soldered together tommorrow.

[brossard]

I ran into the stepboard thing when I made a Mk1 Suburban U/F. The instructions say to drill for 0.45mm holes and then run wire through the hole and mount the steps (that piece of waste fret) on the wire. My advice is to run the wire through the holes on both solebars. This way, when you solder the stepboard, the wire doesn't go ahoo. How do I know you ask?

 

Here's a picture of the Mk1, for what it's worth:

 

 

The comet U/F is at the bottom. I was figuring out how best to upgrade some Bachmann Mk1s. You can see more of my adventures with coaches and other things at the blogspot link below.

 

John

Edited June 29, 2012 by brossard

[artisan100]

>drill 4.5mm.

 

Bloody big hinges, Phil. ;-)

[coachmann]

LOWER HINGES : A method I do not use but which would work is to drill holes to accept 0.70mm brass wire. Solder the wire in the hole from the back, nip off the surplus and squeeze flat (vertically) with smooth-face pliers. Leave the solder blob on the back for strength.......... It is well below glazing level anyway.

Edited June 29, 2012 by coachmann

[Mallard60022]

Doh! Good job Artisan is checking this thread!!!!!

P

[Mike G]

Michael

 

It might be the photo (post 13, first photo) but, I think you've bent the queens post to the wrong side. The furthest long fold ups are for the sides to rest against, so should be other side of the floor. The sole bar needs to be folded over at ninety degrees (can be done with 2 rulers but a hold and fold type tool gives a neater job) and then soldered on from the bottom of the chassis. I always screw my coach chassis to a piece of scrap wood (2*1) as a fair bit of heat will go into this and you don't want a banana for a chassis on a coach.

 

Hope I'm not teaching Granny...

 

Good looking coach.

 

Mike

[artisan100]

>Good job Artisan is checking

 

No, not checking. Just happened to mosey on by. :-)

 

G.

[Mallard60022]

Posted Today, 11:35

Michael

 

It might be the photo (post 13, first photo) but, I think you've bent the queens post to the wrong side. The furthest long fold ups are for the sides to rest against, so should be other side of the floor.

 

Mike, I think it is shown corrected in the pic following that one.

P

Edited June 30, 2012 by Mallard60022

[Michael Delamar]

yeah it was bent up the wrong way, I did mention that in the paragraph above the photo

also in the second photo in the very first post which was taken last week, the underframes arnt bent up, but when I put it down and walked away in the club I come back to it and someone (mr Hewitt) had bent them out and said "here ya go this is how you bend the trusses" which when I come to look at them later on I couldnt work out how it went together

 

anyways..

tonight i didnt get to the club till late, I managed to solder in the door window frames, for this I used my RSU and solder paste, a few Ive done in the half down position (although looking at it on the photo a couple are the wrong way, which is it? thick or thin end when the window is dropped?) then I soldered up the folded up trusses and sides, then soldered on one end, soldered one side to this and tacked the side to the far end before we had to go to the pub for a few (3 pints of Wainright if you must know)so pic may be a bit blurry,anyway I brought my RSU home so I can work on it at home.

 

Edited June 30, 2012 by michael delamar

[Mallard60022]

It's gonna look good, even after three of the best.

P

[Michael Delamar]

for the hinges, ive tried the way I mentioned above, a thin strip of brass,tinned with a normal iron and normal solder rather than solderpaste for strength as they get a bit of punishment cutting them and filing them down, then held in position, put the RSU tip next to it, heat it up and let the solder flow, snip it off with a pair of scissors, get them down closer with the dremel, then file down with the big file and use smaller ones either side of the hinge to thin them back as filing them down can square them a bit..

 

still need to do some filing and cleaning up in the pic below but one side has its hinges done now.

 

 

 

strip soldered on..

 

then after a bit of cleaning but still needs more..

[Mallard60022]

That looks good mate. I've never tried this method, always relying on either the aforementioned Comet or Frogmore hinges.

I did experiment once with brass pins with ground heads on a Bulleid coach. They looked OK but maybe a bit too 'chunky'. However the hinges on Bulleids did seem rather chunky, especially the lower one but that might just be/have been an optical illusion?

P

[Michael Delamar]

thanks, some are a bit wonky looking at the pic, will have a go at them next time, but now its time for more beer