S7 scratch building

[airnimal]

I had a good day today with the second end made and fixed in place. Just the small doors to do and fit. 

I feel more confident that this one will succeed and I have corrected the faults on the first one, 

There is still a long way to go but the basic shell looks right to me. 

[airnimal]

Will the added slow down and concentration being improved I have put the angles on the frames for the water to run off and not rot the timbers. 

[Dave Hunt]

Mike,

 

You wrote, "Unfortunately for me I have managed to get a slight bow in the framing on one side by  a few thou. 

Will anyone notice or care,  but I am mad with myself after trying  hard to not make mistakes."

 

Are you sure that the real ones didn't develop the odd bow, warp or twist in service?

 

Dave 

[airnimal]

Thanks Dave, I'm sure I will have forgotten about this small fault when its finished.  

I was woken up at 1 ' o'clock this morning  an unable to get back to sleep I got up and had a small beer and looked at doing a bit to the brake  van.  

I have put the end stanchion on and the wooden packing pieces behind the buffers. 

I also found a plastic roof of the right  profile in my bits box. I had to cut it down to length but it's a bonus finding one that fits nearly perfect. I find roofs one of the hardest parts to get right. 

[Dave Hunt]

Mike, how exactly do you do the chamfering on the timbers so neatly?

 

Dave

[rocor]

43 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Mike, how exactly do you do the chamfering on the timbers so neatly?

 

Dave

 

It is how Mike obtains such crisp, sharp, parallel and perpendicular edges that fascinates me.

[Schooner]

Simply wonderful to see come together, Mike. Really, it's a treat. Thanks for sharing  

[airnimal]

I think the reason people  perceive my work as " crisp, sharp, parallel  and perpendicular edges " is down to the material and less to my workmanship.  

Evergreen plastic is so brilliant with its square edges almost guaranteed that when building up to a known size like the top of the headstock I can pick up a piece of 60 thou strip and it fits in place perfectly. 

Evergreen don't do any triangle sizes so I had to modify a strip of quarter round and file the the curved part off. This was achieved by placing it in an upturned brass 2mm x 2mm angle and drawing a scalpel blade along the protruding top edge to leave a triangle strip which when gone over which microfine or ultrafine polishing clothes gives a smooth finish. This then fits perfectly the top edge of the headstock leaving the results you see here.  

Before Evergreen came out I was spending so much time trying  to achieve straight edges on plastic sheets by filing and sanding and the results were never as good. 

Edited January 24, 2021 by airnimal

[Compound2632]

For a long while I was using a stock of Slaters microstrip I bought as a teenager forty years ago (still am for 0.010" x 0.020", 0.030", and 0.040") then I discovered Evergreen and sound like a washing powder commercial!

Edited January 24, 2021 by Compound2632

[airnimal]

A couple of new doors have been made along with another floor because the doors are thinner leaving a gap behind them. All the frames have there chamfer applied and the start of new ironwork. 

The corner ironwork at the bottom of the body is wider than are the others. There is still a heck of a way to go but I am glad I started again.

 

[Western Star]

21 minutes ago, airnimal said:

There is still a heck of a way to go but I am glad I started again.

And so am I - and maybe others too - for you have shown us all the benefits of patience, observation and careful working.

 

If you fancy a slightly more challenging subject in the same vein - how about a GWR brakevan from the late 1800s?  I am referring to the outside frame, single verandah, version.

 

regards, Graham

[airnimal]

Graham,  I don't need anything challenging in my life at present,  there is more than enough going on in the world as it is.  As for patience,  having a wife and 3 daughters in the household with only one bathroom patience comes as second nature. 

 

Wasn't there a resin kit for the early GWR brake van from Meteor models ?  As for making stuff for other people,  I have built lots of models over the years for other people but when I retired I said I would only build for myself. 

 

Carrying on with the ironwork, most has been applied but the top brackets at the non verandah end have left off until I work out how to make the lamp irons. I think I know how to make them but I don't have the right brass T section in stock. A bit more forward thinking would have foreseen this discrepancy because I have sent a big order to Eilleen's for material that could have included the necessary items. 

 

I am pleased with the fit of the plastic roof which just clips in . 

I think I also need a new brush for my liquid  glue. My old one must be over 30 years old and I always thought that the Slaters mex brush was expensive, but at £3.85 at the present price I think it has been good value. If I buy a new one and it last as long I will be 99 !

[Mol_PMB]

This is exceptionally neat, and I admire your patience and attention to detail.

I look forward to seeing the finished model.

[airnimal]

I have spent several  hours applying nuts to most of the ironwork.  There are large washers with coach bolts on the lower body side which I am going to do next before I get on on to the underframe and running  gear. 

Edited January 27, 2021 by airnimal

[Western Star]

How do you create a slot for the coupling hook which looks so like a regular rectangle?

 

By the way, my Slater's MEK brush looks just like yours, maybe a few less hairs.  I think that I bought the brush in the early 1990s, so probably from the same batch!  Peter has a "new" MEK brush, bought just a couple of years ago, and I find that his brush is so much more usable (than mine) when laminating "large" areas of plsatikard.

 

regards, Graham

[airnimal]

Graham,  I drill a couple of holes in the headstock and join them together to form a slot with a scalpel. 

A quick tickle with a needle file and you have the required slot. The same method is used for the plate but with a bit more care. The corners are then cut on a little jig made from scrap etch.

 

I have put the washers on the lower side frame punched out of 10 thou Black plastic.  Left overnight to harden and then rubbed down to about 5 thou before drilling to except. 6mm rivets or domed coach bolts. With the plastic being this thin there is a danger of them splitting as happened on the fourth one along which will be replaced. 

[Compound2632]

11 minutes ago, airnimal said:

Graham,  I drill a couple of holes in the headstock and join them together to form a slot with a scalpel. 

A quick tickle with a needle file and you have the required slot. The same method is used for the plate but with a bit more care. The corners are then cut on a little jig made from scrap etch.

 

I've yet to see a sufficiently small rectangular needle file to do that in 4 mm scale but that's probably for lack of looking.

 

I do like the plate corner jig. On the same theme, how did you get the ends of the washer plates so neatly round?

[airnimal]

Compound2632, the ends of the washers plates have the corners cut off and rounded with a bit of micro fine cloth. Nothing high tech I'm afraid. This is the needle file I use to open out the hole in the headstocks. 

[Western Star]

2 hours ago, airnimal said:

A quick tickle with a needle file and you have the required slot. The same method is used for the plate but with a bit more care. The corners are then cut on a little jig made from scrap etch.

That jig, so brilliant in design!  Thank you for showing us how you get the clipped corners.

 

regards, Graham

[airnimal]

Graham,  this jig like a lot in life,  the simple things are sometimes the best. 

 

We have wheels on so I can get on and figure out how to do the brake gear. There is still a fair bit to do on the body regarding details. I have used some hexagonal bolts from Masterclub on the solebars which I hope is right because the photograph of No 459 isn't very clear. I know the better photograph of No  60 uses square bolts but I can always  replace these bolts if more information comes to light.

[Regularity]

9 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

I've yet to see a sufficiently small rectangular needle file to do that in 4 mm scale but that's probably for lack of looking.

 

What you are searching for, sir, is a watchmaker’s “escapement file”. And a small loan to pay for a good one!

 

Alternative, you can grind down an old needle file, leaving one or maybe two cutting faces.

[ICH]

 

These are the smallest files I have but they seem to be sadly not made any more.  Lucky I brought 2 some years ago which I treat like egg shells

Square File : VALLORBE  ULP1480-2-4

 

https://www.eternaltools.com/square-seconds-hole-file

Edited January 29, 2021 by ICH

[kitpw]

Walsh still show a 'square seconds' in their list - see https://www.hswalsh.com/product/file-square-seconds-hand-hole-hf132 ....but at a price!  Years ago, I was lucky enough to come across an ancient, scratched and battered tobacco tin in a bric-a-brac shop and opening it up, found inside a collection of tiny files, some carefully ground off for unknown purposes but extremely useful and almost certainly irreplaceable - I think it was £1 the lot.

 

Kit PW

[airnimal]

Thanks to everyone for the information about these ultra small files. A bit pricey but good tools usually are.

 

I had a bit of luck today because I found a length of milled brass for the footboards just the right size and just enough when cut in half, made a perfect pair.

To make the hangers I am using. 8mm brass wire which I have filed with a flat edge where it bends under the footboards.  I place the wire in a hexagonal pin chuck leaving 5mm proud and filed one side before turning it over and filing the other side. It is then bent at right angle taking care not to break the brass at the corner. To be safe I put a small touch of solder on the corner.

I need to make a small jig now to do the second fold so they are all the same.

[airnimal]

So a simple bending jig has been made by filing a piece of brass tube that fitted over the .8mm brass wire. This was reduced by 50% so its basically a D shape and cut to measure 10mm long. This just fits over the hanger and the wire is held with a pair of pliers and bent over in the opposite  direction.  

Minutes to make and again simple to use and all 8 hangers the same length. 

 

I think I have said in the past at my poor schooling and my lack of achievement and my last report which my form master said only one thing about me. He wrote that " Michal was satisfied with less than the best ". I would  like to go back and tell him otherwise.