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S7 scratch building


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5 hours ago, airnimal said:

Getting close to finishing this Midland wagon with just a bit rust and grime to do. It has been a long job but I think it has come out alright brilliantly in the end. 

   

Just a small amendment Mike.

 

Dave

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Thanks to everybody for the kind endorsements, I got there in the end despite a few false starts. 

 

This has been a cheap build really because I had most things in stock but of course I had to buy the parts at some time in the past. But it does help knowing friends whom I have swooped bits and pieces over the years like small etches for other bits that I have made. I estimate the total cost at under £25.00 which I don't think is to bad looking at the price of kits today. 

 

The load was made from a discarded empty solder reel with a wooden dowel for the shaft. I cut both ends of the reel off with a hack saw before glueing them together and the wooden dowel was a perfect fit for the shaft. No high tech stuff here ! 

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Among the many outstanding features of your modelling, Mike, the way you get pieces of plastic to look so convincingly like wood is for me a source of wonder. Overall, I think that this build has been one of the finest I've yet seen, not just because of the rarity of the subject but also the amazing quality of all aspects of the construction and detail. I take my hat off to you  and look forward to the next chapter.

 

Dave

Edited by Dave Hunt
Dam*ed predictive text
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I still get embarrassed by kind comments from fellow members of RM web, thank you all. 

 

This next wagon ( Furniture Van Wagon )  might not get very far for a start the wheels are wrong because I don't think there are any split spoke S7 2' 8" on the market. I have found some 4mm wheels of an unknown origin that come close in diameter that I have made some S7 axles for ( they are not spilt spoke ) and mounted using my back to back gauge that I made when I was still working. I am hoping the spoke issue will not be to noticeable.

 

I hope to to use the etch w-irons that I originally was go to use on the Midland well wagon. I am trying to work out get the dimensions correct for both width and height and allow the wheels to revolve with the floor in place. I don't mind a small error but I don't want the build to be wildly inaccurate.

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Mike,

 

How about a model of this wagon to keep company with Haydock Colliery?

 

IMG_2836.jpg.914ca3cdc82f5ba5b17c6bfddb55ccc5.jpg

 

Name / number plates ought not to be a problem this time....

 

regards, Graham

 

[this is a photo of a "still" from a recent documentary program used here under "fair use" limitations to aid research and interpretation, one might think that Wigan library ought to be able to help with a better image]

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That got me rummaging! Fuller version of the same photo here while for gender balance, No. 252 here. Conseciutive numbers but the cast iron plate is differently placed - making the door even heavier! If that photo is genuinely c. 1865 I'm the proverbial native of The Netherlands. I can believe the 1890 date for the photo of No. 251. Three plank wagons with two plank door - that's a new one on me. Must be 12" planks at least.

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Graham, I have already made models of John C Morris numbers 251 and 121. They were both made quite early in my postings. I have also photos of several more including number 2 and a couple where the numbers cannot be made out.

All the John C Morris wagons  I have seen are 3 or 4 plank with dumb buffers complete with a painted flag pole and the cast plates in different positions.

 

Returning to the Furniture wagon I have cut the floor out and marked where the plates go over the wheels.  I have made both headstocks but I had to laminate these together become I didn't have the correct thickness available. 

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4 hours ago, Furness Wagon said:

The lack of a lowmac wheel is a bit of a problem with the current Slater's S7 wheel range. I could also do with some 3 and 4ft driving wheels so to start looking at doing some industrial locos and suchlike.

 

Marc

 

The S7 Newsletter contains adverts for wheel re-profiling services if that would help.

 

Dave

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I was thinking from a commercial point of view. The majority of small tanks ran on 4ft or smaller. For myself I have a lathe and the skills to us it but people get put off with the extra faff. If there was a better selection of wheels more people would be turning their backs on "Narrow Gauge" and joining S7. 

People are quite happy to by a RTR wagon from Dapol as there are replacement wheels available. But if the wheels were not available they wouldn't buy them. It why my first S7 loco is a GER tram as all you need to do is swap out the axles. You can't see the wheels so no need to put them on the lathe.

Marc

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Marc, I also like small odd loco' but with the numbers modelling S7 I don't think it is ever going to be feasible for any manufacturers to produce wheels for any of them. 

 

A little bit of progress with this Furniture wagon but I am making it up as I go along whether it is going to be a runner is still open to debate. I have been on Grandad duties for the past 3 days which is harder than going to work full time. Plus I did 50 miles on the bike on Sunday which was hard work at my age but I have to keep going. Use it or lose it !

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I read the drawing wrong and miss the width of the floor of the dimension of the headstocks. So I have glued a 60 thou strip of plastikard on top of each one which i will trim to size once the glue goes hard. The drawing shows the rail to the bottom of the floor at 2' and mine is spot on. But the height to the centre line of the buffers is only 3'2.5 which is 3" shorter than all other LNWR wagons. Again after I have put this extra strip on the dimensions are spot on to the drawing but I wonder if there will be a problem with buffers at different heights ?

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15 hours ago, airnimal said:

Marc, I also like small odd loco' but with the numbers modelling S7 I don't think it is ever going to be feasible for any manufacturers to produce wheels for any of them. 

 

A little bit of progress with this Furniture wagon but I am making it up as I go along whether it is going to be a runner is still open to debate. I have been on Grandad duties for the past 3 days which is harder than going to work full time. Plus I did 50 miles on the bike on Sunday which was hard work at my age but I have to keep going. Use it or lose it !

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You are correct Mike.  There are so many different patterns and sizes of Industrial locomotive wheels that it would be impossible to cater for all.  
 

I have made wheels, it’s not that difficult if you have the equipment, but would prefer not to have to do everything. If a range of wheel tyres in different sizes could be produced that would make wheel making a lot easier.
 

I have no experience of 3D printing but would that be a suitable material for making the centres?  Industrial wheels are small and usually quite chunky, would the spokes be robust enough?  Some of my bigger locos have whitemetal wheel centres home cast from plastikard patterns and they have stood up to quite a bit of running without any problems.

 

Ian.

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That would be away round getting them manufactured as, as long as the correct materials were used in the printer you could definitely print the centers and you could put a quarter hole in the print so they fitted a standard axle.

My printer should be with me by the start of next week so I could add a wheel center to the list of job.

 

Marc

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After I glued the headstocks on and left it to dry I came back to see they had pulled out of true. So I removed them and cleaned them up and glued them back on again. I took the opportunity to to put the headstocks back on with the added piece on the bottom. Making the slope blocks is a tiresome exercise. I tried several ways but it came down in the end to filing from solid plastkard. I glued 3 lengths of 100 thou plastic together before cutting into 4 blocks and filing to shape. 

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Progress is very slow as with all my scratch builds but adding little bits of details makes a difference and helps me to keep going especially when doing boring jobs like making those blocks. I think I am going to make the buffers like the last build from Peco GWR parallel ones. These come in useful for all sorts of wagons and I have used them in quite a few of my builds.

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The buffer bases have been made. The drawing shows them shaped with curved between the bolt heads but the photos of later ones show them plain. I tried one with the curved parts but decieded the plain ones were easier to make and would look better. I was concerned with the buffer height being 3" lower there may be a problem but placing it next to another wagon this doesn't look to be the case unless I have done something wrong. 

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Malcolm 0-6-0, yes the wheels are slightly undersize but I have checked all the body dimensions and they are spot on. I took my datum point from the height above the rails. This according to the drawing is 8" which is what my model measures. If I increase the wheel size it will bring the buffers in line with other wagons but it will be to high above the rails.

 

I have made the coupling pockets and the tie rods that go under the floor. I have yet to cover the ramps with a thin sheet of plastic to represent the steel put there to prevent wear.

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On 15/09/2020 at 17:21, Furness Wagon said:

The lack of a lowmac wheel is a bit of a problem with the current Slater's S7 wheel range. I could also do with some 3 and 4ft driving wheels so to start looking at doing some industrial locos and suchlike.

 

Marc

 

Gibson does a 2' 7.5" wheel but only in disc and 10 (solid) spoke varieties. Available in FS and S7.

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