Jon Fitness Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 Hopefully get an order in for this one in the new year and finallise the Aberpandy signalsIMG_0421.PNG Hope all goes OK for you with the room; sounds an exciting development! Going back to the signal, that finial looks like the type with a pulley wheel fitted to winch the lamp up and down....Or am I just seeing things? JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Spot on Jon, Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted October 28, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted October 28, 2016 Hope all goes OK for you with the room; sounds an exciting development! Going back to the signal, that finial looks like the type with a pulley wheel fitted to winch the lamp up and down....Or am I just seeing things? JF It also has 5 foot arms by the look of it Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted October 29, 2016 Author Share Posted October 29, 2016 It also has 5 foot arms by the look of it Jon Agreed. As a matter of interest, would the winch system lower both lamps or just the highest one? Hang on , if it lowered the highest one how would it get past the lower one? Or is the finial just a spare pulley fitted one dropped on to a normal post without the windlass thingy connected? I really must stop thinking out loud! JF On 12 hour nights again.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Agreed. As a matter of interest, would the winch system lower both lamps or just the highest one? Hang on , if it lowered the highest one how would it get past the lower one? Or is the finial just a spare pulley fitted one dropped on to a normal post without the windlass thingy connected? I really must stop thinking out loud! JF On 12 hour nights again.. That's why your building it and not me !!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 (edited) Right. This is a rear view of the signal I'm attempting to re-create. Cropped from a Gavin Morrison picture, purely for illustrative purposes. The doll and post have been slotted to accept wires for the LED lamps so it's time to start judging sizes and setting out how it will all come together. Here the doll has it's arm pivot fitted and the brackets pinned and superglued on. This allows me to approximate the distance between doll and post which I can't do until the arms are trial fitted. Using 14ba bolts as arm axles allows me to easily lock them in position by fitting a nut on the back and tightening it slightly. Once correct spacing and alignments were established the brackets and main post were then drilled and pinned together, soldering the pins in position. The pins holding the arm pivots in position will be trimmed once I work out what else will be attached to them! It looks to me like the R/H fixed distant arm is fastened under the doll on a length of L section hanging down from the doll and further supported with a thin bracing strip from the main post. In the absence of really clear front views of the signal (anyone got a front view of it hidden away in their collections please?!) I've used a best guess on it's appearance. To get a good fixing of the L section I pared away part of the doll and will glue and pin the brass bit to the remaining stub. More Soon JF Edited October 31, 2016 by Jon Fitness 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted October 31, 2016 Author Share Posted October 31, 2016 On night shift I occasionally get a few minutes modelling done on my break during shift. As an antidote to all the Great Westernry happening on my bench I decided to start an LMS signal for our layout. This will be a 3 doll balanced bracket with a parallel lattice main stem, using some etches I commissioned from a customer I built signals for. . The etches for the lattice are finely detailed and have tiny witness marks on the back just big enough to allow the point of my riveter to locate in them. The brackets work quite well as a fold up item but have a couple of geometric problems that mean the overlay bracing plates need snipping off and soldering on separately due to a slight miscalculation. No biggy though! Here's some of the bits as snipped from the fret... The main post halves folded... and rivetted.... The brackets need partly folding before riveting One of the folded plates that fasten the post to the trimmers being rivetted.. More on this one later! JF 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jintyman Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 Right. This is a rear view of the signal I'm attempting to re-create. Cropped from a Gavin Morrison picture, purely for illustrative purposes. TJ001 - Copy.jpg The doll and post have been slotted to accept wires for the LED lamps so it's time to start judging sizes and setting out how it will all come together. Here the doll has it's arm pivot fitted and the brackets pinned and superglued on. IMG_4968.JPG This allows me to approximate the distance between doll and post which I can't do until the arms are trial fitted. Using 14ba bolts as arm axles allows me to easily lock them in position by fitting a nut on the back and tightening it slightly. IMG_4971.JPG IMG_4972.JPG Once correct spacing and alignments were established the brackets and main post were then drilled and pinned together, soldering the pins in position. The pins holding the arm pivots in position will be trimmed once I work out what else will be attached to them! IMG_4975.JPG IMG_4976.JPG It looks to me like the R/H fixed distant arm is fastened under the doll on a length of L section hanging down from the doll and further supported with a thin bracing strip from the main post. In the absence of really clear front views of the signal (anyone got a front view of it hidden away in their collections please?!) I've used a best guess on it's appearance. To get a good fixing of the L section I pared away part of the doll and will glue and pin the brass bit to the remaining stub. IMG_4977.JPG IMG_4978.JPG IMG_4979.JPG IMG_4980.JPG IMG_4983.JPG IMG_4984.JPG IMG_4986.JPG More Soon JF Obviously looking like a difficult one to build Jon. But I must say, looking excellent already!!! Jinty Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 3, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 3, 2016 (edited) Right Jon I have at last run to earth a couple of pics of the front of the Talyllyn Jcn Home Signal (after going through just about every relevant book I possess - finally found them this evening!). One picture is rather distant taken from almost the other end of the opposite platform while the other is right into the binding of a paperback book so might not scan too well but I'll see what I can do although I've got a couple of busy days coming up. But various features to note - 1. The lamp cases for the fixed distants are arranged so that the bulls-eye is level with the bottom of the signal arm and are not linked to the arms in anyway, 2. The balance weight arrangement is fascinating - both are fixed on the inboard side of the main post (=left hand doll when viewed from the front) immediately above the gallery footboards. The one nearest the post s drives the arm above while the other one appears to drive the other arm from underneath the lever via two cranks to the down rod of the other arm (I've sussed this out from several photos as it is not all clear on the front views but can be partly seen from the photo at the head of post 1256). 3. The painting of the outer doll varied between c.1960 and 1962. 4. There is a strengthening timber in front of the main upright at the bottom - unpainted timber 'sleeper colour'. On an associated matter - which might not suit Jinty - a number of photos show very clearly that the channel rodding at Talyllyn Jcn was no different from that at other places in the vicinity where it was renewed - standard Reading pattern roller assemblies and Reading size rodding. Edited November 3, 2016 by The Stationmaster Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Right Jon I have at last run to earth a couple of pics of the front of the Talyllyn Jcn Home Signal (after going through just about every relevant book I possess - finally found them this evening!). One picture is rather distant taken from almost the other end of the opposite platform while the other is right into the binding of a paperback book so might not scan too well but I'll see what I can do although I've got a couple of busy days coming up. But various features to note - 1. The lamp cases for the fixed distants are arranged so that the bulls-eye is level with the bottom of the signal arm and are not linked to the arms in anyway, 2. The balance weight arrangement is fascinating - both are fixed on the inboard side of the main post (=left hand doll when viewed from the front) immediately above the gallery footboards. The one nearest the post s drives the arm above while the other one appears to drive the other arm from underneath the lever via two cranks to the down rod of the other arm (I've sussed this out from several photos as it is not all clear on the front views but can be partly seen from the photo at the head of post 1256). 3. The painting of the outer doll varied between c.1960 and 1962. 4. There is a strengthening timber in front of the main upright at the bottom - unpainted timber 'sleeper colour'. On an associated matter - which might not suit Jinty - a number of photos show very clearly that the channel rodding at Talyllyn Jcn was no different from that at other places in the vicinity where it was renewed - standard Reading pattern roller assemblies and Reading size rodding. That is indeed excellent news Mike! Many thanks for your efforts in tracking down the pictures. I've been through quite a few books of my own and watched several B&R videos that may have had footage of Talyllyn Jc all to no avail. 1. Lamp cases I have already fitted and I did note that the fixed distant ones seemed a bit lower than I'd have expected 2. I noted where the balance weights are situated and I surmised that the links to the rocker arm must end up with the arm on the r/h doll being pulled down rather than pushed down as per normal. I will be interesting to finally see how this is done! 3. I'll have a look at that before committing paint to signal! 4. It is quite a substantial godfathering timber! Cheers Jon F. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Right, a bit more progress with the bracket signal. A few things I noted from the pictures I have. The lower doll extension for the R/H fixed distant has a cross brace. This was made and fitted from 1.5mm angle. The lamp cases for the fixed distants are a little lower than I would normally expect. All 4 lamps are hollow brass ones from Scale signal supply and are fitted with 3mm warm white LEDs. I also fitted the distant arms. The LEDs in place With this done it was time to fit the structure to its base. A piece of 8mm square brass tube was fitted to the base plate to fix the base of the post in. The base of the post filed to fit tightly into the tube. The positive wires for the LEDs were then soldered on and crammed into the machined slot and fed down through the base. The black line you can see in the slot is the wires superglued in. I used black as the main places where the wires may be visible will be black painted areas I think I've hidden them reasonably well! I usually use the metal structure of a signal to provide the earth for the LEDs but this is always a bit awkward with a wooden structure so there are a few discreet bits of 5amp fuse wire joining the various metal parts together which will use the ladder as a feed back down to the baseplate. All the LEDs tested ok so where I have finished tonight is with the slot back filled with white squadron putty and the the structure left on the warm stove to harden it off! More soon JF 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jintyman Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Awesome Jon, it's looking superb. You are a craftsman at building and making these signals work, and they will look fantastic at Talyllyn. I will have to pick your brains as to how to set up the system to operate the servos. Mike, I don't mind that they are Reading stools, the cross shafts just looked in line and not alternate (hence my question), giving the impression of the standard type. Modelau stools and channel will be the order of the day then, I'm glad as the rodding is to be done as soon as the platform faces go in, so question answered just in time. Jinty 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 16, 2016 Author Share Posted November 16, 2016 (edited) A recent stint of 12 hour shifts at work has kept me (and my motivation!) from the model bench.... Anyway, a little progress is being made. The weight bar assembly ..... and I've found a few random castings of forked links in the bits box so I'm going to try and make use of them The filler has been sanded down. There may yet be more filler used on the front face of the post as the wood isn't too smooth! Don't worry about the all brass staging, it's only on for structural strength and as something to solder various bits of gubbins to. It will gain a proper wooden topping when everything else is on and painted! Now it's time to start sorting out some of the linkages. The RH arm is operated from a rocker arm and as far as I can work out will pull the arm down rather than push as is normal (although I'd be happy to be corrected on this!. The left end of the rocker arm will will connect to the weight bar via a short link. The arm is centrally pivoted on a soldered in 14BA bolt running in a short length of tube. More soon as time permits.. JF Edited November 16, 2016 by Jon Fitness 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 18, 2016 Author Share Posted November 18, 2016 A day at the bench today! I have been steadily working through the various links from weightbars to arms. This involved using some cast forked links and lots of snipping drilling and careful soldering in my attempts to avoid locking everything up. I think I've managed to keep working tolerances down to a minimum too. The first joint had its cast "rod" removed and replaced with a length of wire. At the other end, a casting with a joint at each end got snipped, shortened, the fork drilled out and prepared to fit the shortened rod into it. The depth of the hole allows some final adjustment before final fixing. I'll keep this joint loose until final build up after painting then a drop of superglue will lock it in position. You can just see where it's been drilled out. A similar sort of job was done for the LH arm only using a short length of tube to splice the drive rod. Again there is an element of adjustment available. Fixing of the ladder to the base/staging/earthing point on the LH lamp meant that all the lamps can now be tested. Finials are from Modelu and these were prepared by drilling and fixing a short length of wire to the base to help the joint strength. With as much of the assembly done as I do before I paint it, it was time to waft a bit of primer on. This is just a first blast to soak into the wood! Many more coats will be applied but the ironwork will be masked off to avoid too much paint build up in the wrong places... and I haven't forgotten the "Godfathering" timber at the base! More soon JF 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Steve Hewitt Posted November 19, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 19, 2016 Superb work Jon. Those forked joints are very nice indeed. My 4mm attempts always look too "chunky". Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tove Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 I`m in awe Jon,very nicley done indeed! Brian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 (edited) As always, many thanks for the positive comments chaps! As I much prefer to spray paint as many of the bits as possible I ended up having to do this.. To arrive at this.... Time to add a little colour and link things up... I have added some yellow lenses to the fixed distant lamps (although it doesn't look like it!) The other platform starter is almost done... There's still quite a bit to do on them (servos for one thing!) and I haven't done the backs of the signals yet but the rest of today should see the last bits done on these chaps! I know the red looks a little "pinky" but that's down to the white balance on the digital camera. They'll look better in natural light, honest! More soon JF Edited November 28, 2016 by Jon Fitness 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted November 28, 2016 Share Posted November 28, 2016 Awesome!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 Here we go.. The 2 Talyllyn Jc signals are now all finished. I've fitted the backblinders and finished the last handrails etc. quite a lot of the black bits needed touching up and once they were done I fitted the wooden staging. Planks were cut from 1mm ply and stained with a mix of paints thinned back to little more than dirty thinners! I've kept the weathering to a minimum as photographs showed the real thing to be fairly shabby but mostly clean. This was probably due to them being in a rural location and not subjected to the usual urban grot in the atmosphere. I managed to phot them in some nice crisp winter sunshine so instead of waffling on I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking.... I'll have a go at a video shoot later on using the Megapoints bouncy board! More soon JF 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Steve Hewitt Posted November 29, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2016 Those are inspirational as ever Jon, Steve. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simond Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Cracking job! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 29, 2016 Author Share Posted November 29, 2016 Those are inspirational as ever Jon, Steve. Cracking job! Thanks both. It's always a bit easier building models of actual signals; they end up looking more convincing! Cheers JF 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Fantastic Jon as always. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jintyman Posted November 29, 2016 Share Posted November 29, 2016 Superb work as the previous posters have said, I'm now very eager to get the platforms in place, to have them mounted properly, where they shall reside doing their relevant jobs, which is to guard both the junction and the tunnel. As I mentioned in my PM, you'll have to educate me in the ways of the servo control for them Jon. One very very happy Jinty 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold MarshLane Posted November 30, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2016 Superb work as the previous posters have said, I'm now very eager to get the platforms in place, to have them mounted properly, where they shall reside doing their relevant jobs, which is to guard both the junction and the tunnel. As I mentioned in my PM, you'll have to educate me in the ways of the servo control for them Jon. One very very happy Jinty Wonderful Jon, looks superb! What was the reason for the fixed distant, any idea? Jinty, you'll get on fine with servos. Grab a Megapoints board and it's as easy as pressing a button! Will be great to see them on Tallyllyn Junction. Rich Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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