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S7 scratch building


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Many thanks for the kind comments. All the low sided wagons are L.N.W.R. made from photographs in my own collection. I will try and put some more pictures with more details on later in the week.

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Just a few more snaps of wagons with some simple jigs to ease construction. I think they are self explanatory. The jig for scribing plank line for wagon floors is set for a scale 7 inch that the L.N.W.R use. This jig gives consistency without marking out with a pencil and ruler on any other method.

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Thank you for all the interest. Most of the brake racks are from Ambis etches. I think they are available from Hobby Holidays. They also do brake handles, but most of mine are cut from nickel sheet. I was lucky to buy a small industrial guillotine about 30 years which has paid for it's self many times over.

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I love the delicacy you have achieved with these models. So easy to get the "chunky" effect exaggerated in this scale. Especially with certain kits that had better not be named, but produce wagons that look as if they were fabricated from armour plate. You have "sold" me on trying scratch-building.

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A little more progress on a couple of wagons. The first is a private owner wagon belonging to Richard Evans & co from Haydock Colliery. This is from a photo in National Library of Wales collection taken in Ysgol Glan-y-pwll Ffestiniog which shows 3 dumb buffer wagons outside a newly build school. The second wagon is based on a wagon belonging to John G Morris from Wigan. Both these wagons have cast plates on the sides which will require some custom etched plates making. Has anybody had any experience with custom etches, recommendations etc.

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Just a bit more progress on this wagon which will be for John G Morris from Wigan. I have cut the bracket for the brake handle from a small piece of nickel. The first attempt was rejected as not being good enough. The position for the cast plate has been drawn on the side.

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All the L.N.W.R wagons are scribed with a Olfa P-Cutter 450 but with twin blades. This gives the twin groves that are so characteristic of the L.N.W.R wagons. It will be over scale but it looks right to my eyes. The blades if put together will give a to wide a gap to look right so I removed a small amount from both. The blades were laid out on small piece brass and stuck down with double sided sellotape. They were then sanded on a belt sander to reduce there thickness. I spot welded them together when I was still at work, but I am sure superglue would work just as well. I retired a year ago and don't miss work at all, but I do miss all the wonderful equipment I then had at my disposal.

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Many thanks Ian for your kind comments. That is such a complement coming from a multi award winning scratch builder. A couple more shots of the different brake gear on these early wagons. One benefit of scratch building is if you make a mistake it doesn't cost a great deal of money, only time. I think these wagons cost me about £11 or £12 each plus my time and I have plenty of that.

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I should add to why I quoted £11or £12 per wagon is because I have had the wheels and etched w-irons in stock for over 20 years or bought items from the Trustees and Executive stand at Telford. But you do not need to spend a lot of money to scratch build. I do have a good workshop at home but these wagons were made with the basic set of tools I have had for many years. The Moore and Wright square and dividers were bought way back in 1969 or 1970.

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I should add to why I quoted £11or £12 per wagon is because I have had the wheels and etched w-irons in stock for over 20 years or bought items from the Trustees and Executive stand at Telford. But you do not need to spend a lot of money to scratch build. I do have a good workshop at home but these wagons were made with the basic set of tools I have had for many years. The Moore and Wright square and dividers were bought way back in 1969 or 1970.

Quite correct, decent tools last a lifetime and even the raw materials cost very little compared to the cost of kits or rtr. However the biggest plus of building from scratch is the satisfaction of having something unique and personal to oneself. More power to your elbow!

 

One question, in your photo two above, how do the brakes work? I assume some sort of lever device behind the solebars but I have never seen that type before.

 

Ian.

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Ian

 

In the answer to your question about the brake gear, there would be a parallel bar running behind the brake handle pushing down on the centre of the push rods. If you have not seen this before then the are a couple of very good books to get hold of. They were not expensive and well worth seeking out. They were written and published by L.Tavender and contain many fine 7mm drawings.

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One aspect not mentioned is the weight of the wagons for the best performance for good running. Plastic wagons tend to be very light and need additional weight adding. As I intend to run some of these wagons empty I need some sort of weight underneath. Lead is the obvious answer but how do you fix this in place. I don't have any lead shot handy, so I settled on a large piece of brass 3mm thick. I sank a 12 BA brass nut into a length of Evergreen 125 X 125 with my soldering iron after first drilling a hole just a few thou smaller than the nut. This was then glued to the wagon floor so that I can place the weight inside and screw a cover to hold it in place. I just need to finish the detail inside these wagons and get some paint on them.

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