Jon Fitness

Here are 2 out of a batch of 4 SR ground signals recently completed. They are all from the MSE kit but with my own etched nickel silver disc faces. They are all LED lit and servo operated. More soon JF

Here's the first four signals for 2020. All are LMS upper quadrants and use Scale Signal Supply arms and post caps, Modelu lamp cases and some of my own etches and castings. (Ladders, bolting plates, weight bars, smoke deflector and No5 bracket). The lattice post is an extended MSE super7 etch. All are LED lit and servo operated. A rare burst of sunshine provided some nice natural lighting (it was raining 5 minutes later) More soon JF

Looks like the railway is holding the fence up Rod!

I eventually got round to finishing the coach JF

Didn't some of the kits end up being sold by Welcome Wagons or EMKDE or something like that? JF

Proper engineering job that Steve! JF

Excellent, thanks for that Steve. I'll certainly take your advice on that and badger peco for some of them. To also enter the contentious weight bar colour debate, I thought the BR(S) fittings, including weight bars, back blinds, spec plates etc were all mid grey..(runs for cover) Cheers JF

Hi Steve, any luck in finding out what's happening with the supply of "gaslight" LEDS that used to be available from Helmsman? JF

Lovely stuff Steve. Love the idea of a turned bezel too. JF

TBH, I can't see me doing that Steve. It would need to be changed completely as it would be way too fine and fiddly reduced to 4mm! JF

This chap is an LMS "running line to loop" signal. Once common over the LM network (and on others but less so). Most parts visible are from my etches, including the arms and will be available as a partial kit early next year. It will include etched parts for the bracket, staging, linkages and a shunt arm. Cheers JF

I was on duty as well! That was my reliant parked opposite the box

That looks superb, the view through the end window looks just wonderful. JF

Like this one!

A lovely job there especially the LNW style levers in the frame. . Little suggestion, as the station is at the end of a single line, a token or staff instrument may be appropriate in the box, probably near the door. Other than that. superb!

Or the lack of slotting on the home signal!

The etches for the Radstock bracket signal came out quite well although I'm not entirely sure of their dimensional accuracy! Its a huge structure (by my standards anyway!) but the geometry of the main lattice post worked ok. I had to fold it in the usual 2 halves but insert all the separate bracing plates within the structure. These hung uot of the sides and the 1.5mm brass angle was soldered to them, all the way up one side and as far as the bracket on the other. The bracket was a fold up job and had rivets to punch out as well. It's not represented exactly as the real thing as there is no vertical strip on the actual signal but I had to have something to solder to the main post! Here is the end result... The main post, associated bracing, the bracket, ladders, staging, weightbars, bellcranks are all my etches. The arms are MSE and the finial and lampcases are Modelu. This will be my last customer signal until my vintage bus is completed although there may be the odd random test build of a signal for my planned range of 7mm etches that will be on sale from 2020. Cheers JF

I'm surprised you didn't get them etched Jamie! Those overheads and parts for the greyhound bridge turned out superb! Jon F

I shall look forward to the results JF

I think the best genuine tapered wooden posts are available from Scale Signal Supply. If you are good with folding brass up, Borg Rail do some nice fold up brass posts which I can recommend. I also used to use the sticks off firework rockets and planed them up but it is a bit of a imprecise science.

Yep, I'll be wandering around both days..

There's more.. For those of you out there who wish to add a bit of variety to your GW signal bracketry, I'm sorting out a "1942" pattern bracket for tubular post construction. There will be two sizes, of which this is the smaller one for 2 dolls. The first folded and rivet punched test example is being built up in 0.4mm nickel silver..

That's the lever frame painted...

A little side project is slowly coming to fruition now. For those who like modelling their signalbox interiors and aren't satisfied with the usual generic GW style lever frames that seem to be the only option, here's a 7mm scale BR or REC/MR lever frame. Levers and plates are etched nickel silver with laser cut MDF frame sections. It still needs a bit of development but I think it looks the part. Assembly is ummm, fun but as the levers run on a 1mm rod, each lever can be moved to your chosen position even when assembled! JF

Always did and always will! I gave in eventually and changed LEDs to better ones. Job done. JF