Ok, buffers next. Giotto was said to be able to draw a perfect circle freehand. I’ll bet ye he couldn’t file a whitemetal buffer perfectly round. They just never are for me.

I like my buffers to work. Opinions differ, but I do feel that wagons shunted with sprung buffers seem to move better, and are less prone to derailments. The method I use has been documented elsewhere over the years, but I can’t remember where I picked the idea up from. It is however simple and inexpensive, and seems to work for me.

CR 3 bolt self contained buffers are available, but the prototype had long buffer shanks going to a lateral leaf spring about where the door hinges are. Also MJT heads and simple whitemetal buffers are a bit of a stock item for me. Sad but true.

So first job, drill a 0.5 mm hole through the buffer casting. Sharp drill and take your time. Then open out about 5 mm from the face to 1mm. The buffer head and shank should now go through nicely.



Next, I oil a drill bit and glue the buffer in place with the drill though it to aid alignment.



So, the spring itself. I bend a bit of 0.3 mm phosphor bronze wire to have loops at the ends at the buffer spacing. Clean the paint off the buffer shanks and offer them through the castings. Loop the spring over them 1 mm or so from the headstock.

The pretinned tab on the end of the subchassis makes it easy to solder the centre of the spring to. A bit of scrap etch bent in U holds the buffer head the right distance from the face of the buffer casting, and a fast spot of soldering attaches the spring to the shank.



Repeat the other side, clean the flux off and thats it. Buffers that buff, I rarely get jamming on any I have made this way over the years

Paint shop next.