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Kylestrome’s 4mm Workbench


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I usually like to keep some sort of photographic record of the things on my workbench to remind me of how I made something, but also to justify the amount of money I have spent on photo gear over the years! I thought it would be mean to keep all this stuff to myself so I’ve started this thread.  :)

 

To kick off, here are some detailing bits for the buffer beams of a Heljan Class 27 that I have on the go at the moment (along with a hundred other things). The parts that come in manufacturer’s plastic bags tend to look a bit strange (to me) and are often not complete. I prefer to make my own pipes and fittings from various bits of wire and tube, and the resulting details, though not perfect, are at least stronger and more consistent across the loco fleet. I also derive a lot of fun by knitting these things myself!

 

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After lots of jolly fun with pliers and a soldering iron

 

 

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Here we have a full house consisting of (1) steam heat pipes, (2) vacuum pipes, (3) Engine control air pipes, (4) air brake pipes and (5) main reservoir air pipes

 

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A quick sketch so that my memory won't let me down when I do the next loco

 

David

Edited by Kylestrome
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What era is the 27 from? I can get away with a 27/0 very early in its career, green without yellow panel, but have so far resisted the temptation.

 

The period I'm modelling is 1969 plus or minus one year. There were still plenty of green locos about but with full yellow ends.

 

I've chosen this period for the variety of liveries and also because there were still plenty of older freight wagons around, prior to being disposed of in favour of BR standard types.

 

David

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Carrying on with the Class 27, here are the completed buffer beams with snow ploughs somewhat more robustly attached than the standard Heljan item. They are fixed in place using two staple-shaped pieces of brass wire glued into strategically positioned holes. The centre ploughs have a piece of black styrene stuck to their backs to provide enough 'meat' for the holes. I went a bit mad with the thick CA glue but fortunately this doesn't show!

 

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David

Edited by Kylestrome
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I know that many people bend loco lamp brackets up from a single piece of metal strip but I've always found this method to be a little hit-or-miss. The main difficulty is in getting the folds consistently the same so I've devised my own method of making them which, although still fiddly, I find is easier to repeat.

 

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Not having any suitable strip I have filed down some 1mm brass T-section to provide the raw material. The mounting pin is 0.45mm brass wire.

 

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The main parts are held with masking tape for soldering and trimmed later.

 

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The finished lamp bracket, this one is for a Class 29.

 

 

David

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Some more fun and games with little bits of wire, 0,3mm nickel silver wire in this case.

 

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There are three pieces which are all over length so that they can be taped down over an accurate drawing. Two of these pieces have right angle bends. One of them (the top piece) has the bent part inserted into a hole drilled in the wooden block. All are held together with three very small solder joints. Four items altogether; two left hand and two right hand.

 

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Here they can be seen in horrible close-up after having been trimmed to size and fitted to my nearly completed Class 25/1.

Edited by Kylestrome
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Hi -  great thread and awesome modelling.

 

I've been reading your Hornby Ex Works 29  and Bachman/Hornby Rat Sandwich threads with interest. 

 

Would you be able/willing to give an overview of how you get such excellent etches in this thread at all ?

 

Thanks.

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Hi -  great thread and awesome modelling.

 

I've been reading your Hornby Ex Works 29  and Bachman/Hornby Rat Sandwich threads with interest. 

 

Would you be able/willing to give an overview of how you get such excellent etches in this thread at all ?

 

Thanks.

 

Many thanks for the kind comments.

 

Regarding etchings, I think the hardest part is finding enough useful things to fill a large sheet! There really is nothing particularly difficult about it if you are able to do drawings using relatively simple 2D computer software. Up to now I have been using an ancient version of FreeHand (on a Mac), but Illustrator, Coral Draw or similar, will do just as well (it certainly doesn’t have to be CAD software). In future I will be using Affinity Designer which, for professional software, is incredibly cheap at just under £50 (Windows or Mac).

 

The rest is down to PPD Ltd. who I use for the actual etching and, as a satisfied customer, I can thoroughly recommend. If you go to their website and download the ‘Artwork Guide'* PDFs you will have all the information necessary for producing problem-free drawings from which they can produce the photo-tools. I usually convert my drawings into PDFs and send them by e-mail. 

 

*http://www.ppdltd.com/artwork-guide.html

 

My last sheet (approx 12” x 6”) of 10 thou. thick nickel silver cost me £52 in January 2016, including postage to Germany. I much prefer nickel silver for a number of reasons; it doesn’t tarnish quickly or to the extent that brass does, it seems to take paint better and it’s obviously a better colour to represent steel or chrome.

 

That’s about all I can think of that might be useful, unless you have any specific questions?

 

 

David

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No Scottish layout should be without at least a couple of “whisky” grain hopper wagons! These wagons from Bachmann are fairly old now and are rather basic compared to their latest products, which leaves plenty of scope for a bit of extra detailing. 

 

The ribs representing the bottom of the hopper and some of the moulded brake gear were carved off, as were the buffers and coupling mounts. The over-thick suspension and brake lever hangers were chamfered on the insides so that only a thin edge shows from most angles.

 

The bottom of the hoppers were built up with black styrene sheet, using various photos for reference. I don’t think there are any drawings available for these wagons, so all the dimensions and details had to be ‘guesstimated’. Extra details have been cobbled up from various bits of wire and tube, t-section brass and etched hand wheels and brake levers. There are even a couple of bits of 2mm scale bullhead rail in there somewhere. Buffers are white metal castings from ABS, brake castings are (I think) from Wizard Models and the vacuum pipes are from Lanarkshire Models.

 

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Apart from a couple of extra pipes, everything above the solebars is original Bachmann. I would love to replace the advertising boards with other brand names, but decent photographic reference material is hard to come by, especially in colour.

 

One other thing. These wagons prove that one does not necessarily have to have compensation or springing on a long wheelbase P4 wagon. The pinpoints have been very slightly rounded off, which gives a small amount of slop, and they run perfectly well on my 11 foot ’shunting plank’. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they would run well on Mostyn, though!

 

David

Edited by Kylestrome
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Hi all,

 

I have 5 whisky wagons all stripped down, ready to detail and update.

 

The fact that they have sat in a box in exactly the same state for 5 years has me blushing!

 

Anyway - have to keep modelling the stuff that people want to buy off me for the foreseeable future.

 

No doubt will get round to doing the whisky wagons sooner or later!

 

Thanks for the photos and details - very useful to me at some point in the future!

 

Thanks

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Hi there,

I've just remembered that I made a drawing for the hopper parts that I made (two of each shape needed). It might be of use but I don't guarantee its accuracy compared to the prototype.

 

attachicon.gifHopper.pdf

Everything helps - just as long as I can remember which safe place I put it in once I get round to it!

 

Thanks

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Fantastic effort, it's given me a lot of inspiration and direction as I have a box full of 'Whisky Blues' awaiting some chopping and detailing, I'm still getting the additional bits together before I make a start. I've already printed out your PDF and put it with them, I don't know how well it will work for the Hornby version but it's a good starting point.

 

Was there any particular reason you chose a Bachmann version to detail?

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All my 4mm rolling stock is fitted with Dingham couplings which seem to me to be the best compromise between ease of construction and fitting, unobtrusiveness and reliability. So far the only problem that I have had with them is that they can lead to derailments when long bogie vehicles are running through my crossovers using A7 turnouts. This is due to the coupling loops not being quite wide enough. 

 

I’ve found the solution to this is to fit extra wide loops made from 0.45mm wire to replace the etched loops.

 

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This photo shows the basic dimensions (in mm) of the new loop and the various stages of bending it.

 

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Next we see, from left to right: the original etched loop, the wire loop soldered on using the original loop as a guide to positioning and finally, the finished modified loop. The etched part is cut off with side-cutters and finished off with a file.

 

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Here is the finished coupling assembly after having been blackened with Birchwood Casey’s Brass Black.

 

I now fit these loops to all locos, bogie wagons and coaches as standard.

 

David

Edited by Kylestrome
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Hi David,

On the Dinghams do you do anything to prevent the loop being floppy? What diameter wire do you use for the pivot? I note you don't have an upward angle at the outer face of the loop, does the wire substitution alleviate the need for the angle?

 

I like the design of them, but finding them a bit of a pain to set up.

Ta, pmp

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For the loop pivots I followed the instructions (untypical for me) and used 0.5mm nickel silver wire from Eileen's. Result – no loop flop.  :)

 

If I'm making the standard coupling I put in the extra upward bend on the loop. With the wire loops this isn't necessary because they have been soldered on top of the etchings. This automatically gives them a little bit of elevation. There is also less tendency to 'catch' because they are round in cross section.

 

Funny, that you find them difficult to set up. One of the reasons I use them is because I find them easy in that respect. Assuming the wagon has a coupling plate moulded in the right place, it's relatively simple to open up a slot, using a broken piece of fret saw blade in a pin vice, and push them in. They should be an easy push fit so that you can test them and, when satisfied with the position, they are then stuck with a drop of CA.

 

HTH,

David

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post-68-0-81364100-1493931671_thumb.jpg

 

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Thanks David, this is how mine look, there's a fair bit of lateral swing and roll on the pivot using .45 dia wire, yours look more rigid, so I guess increasing the wire diameter might bring it into line for me.

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Thanks David, this is how mine look, there's a fair bit of lateral swing and roll on the pivot using .45 dia wire, yours look more rigid, so I guess increasing the wire diameter might bring it into line for me.

 

The problem there is immediately apparent. The pivot wire is meant to be soldered into the hook, which makes it rigid. I suggest you have another good read of the instructions.   ;)

 

David

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Great tip on expanding the loop to get more room with long wheelbases. I've been using Dinghams for some time now and the only problem I've had is with the Class 17. I'll give your idea a try, it looks very promising.

 

Cheers,

 

David

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Carrying on with the coupling theme, here is my way of close coupling coaches. 

 

I’m not one of your ‘hair shirt’ P4 modellers, so I’m quite happy to leave certain details on RTR rolling stock as they are if I can’t see a way to improve them. So it is with Bachmann Mk 1 corridor connections; the only real problem with them is that they don’t connect! I have got around this problem by mounting opposing magnets between vehicles in a rake. The magnets are ‘normal’ (ferrite?) ones with north and south poles arranged to attract each other (obviously). Even though there is a slight gap between them they still keep the connections in constant contact, even when being pulled through pointwork. 

 

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The couplings themselves are Brassmasters castings with imitation buckeye couplings and brake pipes. They allow the necessary amount of slack between coaches for negotiating curved track. 

 

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Please excuse the naff weathering. I need to re-visit these coaches with something a little more sophisticated than a toothbrush and comb!  ;) 

 

David

Edited by Kylestrome
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