snitzl

Managed to make a start using 'Evapo-Rust', the main slide's were stripped, degreased in 'Gunk', and then emmersed for 24 hours in the solution. The slide I did a pre test on in an earlier post using the 'Gel' product look's a touch lighter grey, so perhap's 48 hour's might have been better. I have some phosphate acid on order so that I can do test's on the slide handles and old clamp component's, but I'm still reading in engineering forum's that metal is edged by a prolonged dip ( just have to try this out for myself). Overall, quite pleased with the result. ................... Just for comparison, a part not yet treated. Pete

OK, After reading through 'Best Method for Removing Rust from Lathe Ways' on this link, I'm a Phostphate Acid convert. Pete

Hi Michael, If that's the case, then I will trust your word and try Phosphoric Acid out on a test piece some time in the near future ( But not on the BCA ). Pete

Hi Michael, The review's I checked out on youtube showed that product's with phosphoric acid were the quickest at removing rust, but they also etched into the metal . I didn't want to do a trial and error study on the BCA so I chose a product tested by many in the engineering forum's to be reasonable safe on the bedway's, don't want to have the bedway's reground afterward's. . I probably use phosphoric acid on rusty garden tools and some hand tool's, but I wouldn't risk it on the slide's of BCA. Pete

Hi All, My BCA suffered badly from a prolonged damp enviroment caused by a leaking workshop roof during the winter month's many year's ago, the machine is still perfectly usable, but visually, all the cast iron surface's have a brown stain. I've now moved the machine into a spare bedroom workshop so that I can continue modeling during the winter month's without freezing my butt off. Now, I'd like to get rid of that brown staining and so decided to search online for product's that might acheive this. Watched and read quite a few review's and decided to give a product called 'Evapo-Rust' a try. Evapo-Rust is a water based rust treatment were the rusted part is emmersed in the solution for 3 - 4 hours for light rust. A guy in one forum said that it was perfectly safe to leave the rusted part emmersed for 24 - 48 hour's, while another member had left a set of collet's emmersed for two week's and found the solution had etched into the metal and the collet's were scrapped. 'Evapo-Rust' also comes in Gel form, the idea being that you can apply this solution with a brush, I purchased a small 236mL ( 8 oz ) bottle for £15.99 ( expensive ) in the hope of doing the whole BCA without dismantling, A test was done with the gel on a small section of the slide, my purchase looked congeiled and may have gone off. Purchased 5 litre's of the standard 'Evapo-Rust' and decided to strip the machine down and do the job properly, the 5 Litres cost £33.0, so a bit expensive. I hope to get the machine stripped, treated and reassembled over the next couple of month's. I'll post an update on how things turn out..

Here's a few images following the construction of a 'Replenish Wagon' for 'Fun Town', this wagon will supply good's to the market stall wagon's parked outside both 'The Mart' and by the 'Cattle Dock' area. The wagon carries it's goods in tray's that match those used on the market stall wagon's. Construction of the model is very similar to the market stall wagon's which have a split frame live chassis for DCC led lighting. Unlike the 'Market Stall Wagon's', care was taken to make sure that short circuits from the buffer beam's were checked during the construction stage, rather than later when the model was nearly finished. This is the first and least rediculous of a four wagon project. What is Fun Town ? : Fun Town is a small table top module that can be used alone or form part of a larger unit, it fit's like a jigsaw piece to the Walls Traverser Cover to create a small 36" x 18" layout over the top of Snitzl Town's traverser. Done so far : Overhead Tram, Jules Verne's Flying Ship, Steam Operated Traverser, De Snitzlton, Market Stall Wagons and a Replenish Wagon. Still to do : Steam Tram, Animated Wagon's, Animated Figue's, Hot Air Balloon, Interior racking & goods for the Warehouse and anything else that may be appropriate, in other words, a bit of fun. Thanks for Looking.

Hi All, Here's a couple of images of the now finished 'Replenish Wagon' for 'Fun Town'. Decided on a partial load so that the racking is visible. Thanks for Looking.

Made some progress on the 'Replenish Wagon', this makes quite a change after the labour's of 'De Snitzlton'. The main chassis and racking are now complete and the model is now ready for the led lighting, tray's of good's, the paint shop and a few other minor details. The racking is made from 10thou brass sheet, folded and machined on a small milling machine, tufnol jig's and spacer's are used to align the angle iron's while soldering. Only needed four wheel's, but extra's were made for the three animated wagons that will follow this project. Here's a look on the underside - The live frames and insulated axles are built in to allow for led lighting via the DCC track rails. That's all for now, Thank's for Looking.

Been doing a little work on my BCA jig borer, I've had this machine since the early 1980's when I purchased it for just £1.0 scrap, the machine suffered damage during transportation from Britains - London ( which manufactured farm animals / soldiers ) to Byron International - Notts ( toy typewriters / play centres ). I worked for Byron International as a model maker, the company then renamed itself as Britains Petite. The X / Y axis DRO was fitted a couple of years ago and it must be one of the best addition's made. Fitting a DRO to the Herbert 0V miller in the workshop was quite straight forward, but the BCA required the additional steel stud and extruded aluminium. Here's the original T-Nuts and clamps.. Spent a couple of days in the workshop making new T-bolts and clamps. The new clamps set ready for a new job. Thanks for Looking.

Sticking with rolling stock construction, here's the initial design for a 'Replenish Wagon', this wagon will supply good's to the market stall's outside both 'The Mart' and by the 'Cattle Dock' area. The wagon carries goods in tray's that match those used on the market stall's and are stored in racks. Construction will be very similar to the market stall wagon's which have split frame live chassis for DCC led lighting. Underside of the chassis, a lenghtened version of the 'Market Stall' chassis. The CAD model is created with Pro Desktop, by PTC, very old software that's perfect for my needs. The 3D model is lacking some items yet to be modelled, but there's enough done to make a start. Time to get some real modellng done. Thanks for Looking.

Thanks Mike, I intend to have a dabble with video's but before I do, I need to get familiar with the software and design a youtube page. LEDS : Set yourself a real challenge, how about miniature mercury discharge lamps.

Thanks Mikkel, When I started 'Fun Town' I saw myself as a model maker taking a short break from traditional historic prototype model making but it's turned into a very long short break. I feel quite flattered that some members have catagorised some of my work as 'Steam Punk' and that's understandable with all those metal gears and pinions. Once the paint's are applied, the model's morph from 'Steam Punk' to 'Steam Fun'.

Thanks Dave, I can't recall if I've ever made a loco without some copperclad, it's a big thankyou to the electronics industry for creating something so useful for us model makers.

First off I must apologize for the long delay in posting a blog, the truth is that for the time being at least, I cannot spend as much time as I'd like on model railway's. Therefore, after what seems like an eternity, here's part three of 'De Snitzlton'. This blog covers the design and construction of a trailing bogie / pony which I considered a last resort 'steam assisted uncoupler' method as I much preferred the original design that featured in Part 1, but this design failed to deliver. This blog also illustrates the construction and wiring of the locomotive to run on DCC. What is Fun Town ? : Fun Town is a small table top module that can be used alone or form part of a larger unit, it fit's like a jigsaw piece to the Walls Traverser Cover to create a small 36" x 18" layout over the top of Snitzl Town's traverser. Done so far : Overhead Tram, Jules Verne's Flying Ship, Steam operated Traverser, Market Stall Wagons and Market Stall Engine without DCC uncoupler. Still to do : Steam Tram, Stall Replenish Wagon, Animated Figues, Hot Air Balloon, Interior racking & goods for the Warehouse, Gantry Crane and anything else that may be appropriate, in other words, a bit of fun. Regards Snitzl Thanks for Looking.

Hi All. With the exclusion of the steam assisted uncoupler system , here's a few images of 'De Snitzlton' in an almost complete state. The loco run's fine when DCC is wired direct to the pickup wires, but otherwise needs a gentle nudge now and again. I think that the problem maybe the thin 0.5mm diameter brass wire fitted, I will have to source some phosphur bronze pickup wire or thin strips and try that. For now, work on 'De Snitzlon' is complete, I feel the need to make progress and intend to battle through a few simpler and hopefully quick turnaround projects. 'De Snitzlton' outside the Mart : Overall, I'm quite pleased with this tiny loco with it's heavy weathering, rust and flaking paint. The coal bunker will get some coal one day when the 'Steam Assisted Uncoupler' design is resolved or scrapped forever. This is the side of the loco that the viewing public will see. Robot man offers his shovel to the fireman but gets ignored. The steam traverser is starting to look a little tarnished and is in need of a good clean and paint /spray. For some as yet unknown reason, there's no DCC power to the loco track. This warehouse will supply fruit, veg and other goods to the travelling market stalls via a replenish wagon, it's this area that I will tackle next, Thanks for Looking..

Hi All, A few images of the mechanism developed for a scratchbuilt Sharman type steam traverser. The traverser is DCC operated and runs just as you would a loco, the drive and motor are part of the traverser. The gearbox housing is machined from brass and will be mounted on the underside of the traverser. Most of the gear's came from the scrap box, some needed a slight modification's. Just checking that the gears mesh OK. The gearbox is now ready for mounting. The rail wheels pictured left are free running. The large gear on the right has it's bore tapped 2BA for a length of stud, this gear provides the drive. Here's the completed mechanism ready for fitting. Thanks for Looking.

With the steam assisted gearbox put aside for the moment, work now continues to get 'De Sniztlton' finished up to the painted stage. I have my little list of jobs to complete to make this happen and these include routing motor wires, footplate retain, secure motor, brakes, steps, pickups, painting, lining and weathering. The loco will run DCC, so where's that PCB going to go ?. The loco was totally stripped down in order to machine a small slot and hole for the motor wires. The fixing plate is also machined to add routing for the motor wires and also two 14BA tapped holes for securing the motor. Two brackets added to secure the footplate. The model is only partially rebuilt as the work contimues. Here's a summary on the 'Steam Assisted Uncoupler' gearbox's. The original gear is my favourite, it's a real shame I've been unable to get this one to work. Here's a design for a second gearbox that mounts in the bunker. This design has two of the 4mm dia motor's mounted vertically and three worms to transfer motion. A start has been made on this second design. The trailing pony / bogie design - This design works, but I'm not happy with it. There is another gearbox solution that should be quite simple, and that is to have a small lever / gear component that is operated by hand (finger), another last resort. - The gearbox's may be long term project's, but the loco will be completed with or without a solution.

Hi John, initially I thought along the same lines as you and thought, what can I disguise the trailing bogie / pony as, but later I thought, why disguise the unit at all, why not make a 'Steam Assisted Uncoupler' bogie. It wouldn't surprise me if trailing bogie's / ponie's existed for all sort's of reason's in the industrial world and 'Fun Town' was created for weird and querky modeling. I've been thinking for quite some time of building a cast iron hot air balloon complete with mechanism, obviously, there's no prototype for that. Hopefully this illustration is public domain - Invicta on the Canterbury & Whitstable.

Hi All, Thought I'd add this topic to illustrate a few of the drive mechanism's I've been working on and also add new one's that are still in the pipeline. To start, here's what I believe to be an original design for a compensated motor bogie, but I'm sure there has to be similar design's out there. Here are the components for a compensated chassis for 'De Snitzlton', a small vertical boilered 0:4:0 locomotive that requires drive to both axle's due to the transverse cylinder arrangement. The drive axle mounted on the left is fixed, while the gearbox mounted on the bevel gear drive shaft is allowed to rotate, the axle holes in the chassis are oversize to allow a small amount of rotation. The bevel gear drive shaft fitted. A retaining plate holds the bevel gear drive shaft in place. Here is an earlier design used on a L.S.W.R. Elec Set Motor Bogie. This bogie has two brass gearbox's, one of which is allowed to rotate a little, the central brass block retains the drive axle. The same system is used for a tram motor bogie. Thanks for Looking.

Here's a few images illustrating the construction of the Bramhope Tunnel entrance, this is quite a nice tunnel with gothic features. The whole structure is constructed from 0.5mm - 1.0mm styrene sheet. Stone positions are marked with a scaper and then stained with acrylic paint. The stones are textured with dental bur's mounted in a mini drill and then scrubbed with a wire brush to remove any bits. The curved ends are made up of multiple layers of 0.5mm styrene sheet. ................. Here's a few images of the now complete tunnel entrance. ... ... ... ... Thanks for Looking.

Started this vertical slide project last year and have now managed to almost complete it. The only area left to do is the attachment, don't know what to attach to it yet, probably a high speed spindle ( do I make one ?, or do I buy ? ), that all depends on what crops up. With the exception of four fixing screws, grubs screws and gib strip, all other parts were machined in the workshop. The 20 x 60 degree dovetail cutter was purcahed quite cheaply from the bay, slides are machined from mild steel on an old Herbert OV milling machine and suds are applied with a brush by hand. The main screw was cut on a Boley Leinen screw cutting lathe, while the screw nut was tapped. Brass knobs and dials are graduated on the lathe, while the numbers are stamped. Thanks for Looking.

Here's a short video of 'De Snitzlton' with the latest steam assisted uncoupler. The transmission is provided through a trailing pony / bogie. I would have preferred a motor hidden in the coal bunker solution but as yet have failed to get those designs to work ( due to lack of space ). I'm also disapointed by the amount of operator monement, due in part to loose linkages and fits. At the moment I feel the need to make progress, so I may start a new much simpler project. Thanks for Looking'

Hi Johnson044, It's nice to know that there's interest in this thread, "Steam Punk" genre has been mentioned a few times in my postings and I think it's a fair classification. The design and building of the uncoupler mechansim for 'De Snitzlton' has been a real headache for me and two further failed attempts made on the uncoupler have not been posted here for fear of boring everyone to death. Time has also been been spent making jigs and index mechanisms for the lathe to improve concentricity of those tiny 0.15 module gear's used in the mechanism. De Snitzlton has been run by connecting wires directly to the motor, the drive mechanism and coupling rod's work fine. I will post an update in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, for those with an appetite for more, check out similar projects in my RMweb blog, there's the Jules Verne Tower for instance. Bye for now.

Hi John, I'm trying to resolve uncoupler design on De Snitzlton and thought maybe I should find a solution before posting, I'll have an update in the next few weeks, just waiting for some milder weather and then I can start work in my workshop.

Here's a little additional information regarding 8mm watchmaker collets (stepped collets). The above, is a list of 8mm collet manufacturers with thread and body details, notice the two variation's in thread diameters, I have both types i my collection and therefore also require two draw bars. The stepped collets are numbered 1 to 5 with a range of approximatley 4.0mm dia to 22.0mm dia in 0.2mm increments. Here's a small bogie wheel mounted in a stepped collet. The one negative learned so far is that the crankpin on driver wheels, get's in the way when mounted as illustrated above. The collet dimensional nformation listed above was obtained from Sherline's site, the PDF can be obtained here : Sherline PDF. Hope this snippet, is of use to someone. Regards Snitzl