RMweb Premium Popular Post steverabone Posted September 15, 2019 RMweb Premium Popular Post Share Posted September 15, 2019 (edited) For my Pendle Midland layou,t which is a small town terminus in an imaginary town called Pendle (somewhere near Burnley or Colne) I needed various LMS suburban and Stanier corridor coaches. I already have a couple of etched brass panelled suburban coaches but as many of my models are built from card I decided to build what I needed using this material almost exclusively. The first step was to scan some plans from various books i have of LMS coaches and resize to the correct dimensions for S scale. The windows were cut out using a fine scalpel blade and the edges flooded with Loctite superglue. Even for the Stanier coaches with sliding top windows it's possible to get them almost as thin as would be the case if in etched brass. The superglue turns the thin strips of card almost as hard and secure as brass. The sides and ends were glued to a substructure with a ceiling and strips along the lower sides and above the windows. The various compartment walls were added to produce a rigid structure. Using a brass carriage roof as a former the roof structure was made up entirely out of paper and card. The first step is to cut a piece of A4 printer paper to the correct length and about 20 mm wider than the curved distance around the roof. It is then wrapped round the brass roof with flaps overlapping the edge of the brass roof. They are temporarily secured to the underneath of the brass with sellotape. These flaps will be used to secure the roof in place later. The paper is then coated with a thin layer of epoxy resin adhesive and a second layer attached and left until the epoxy has hardened. The paper will require gentle pressure to ensure it is fully attached to the first layer of paper. It's also important to make certain that there is a sharp fold at the edge of the roof. Once dry the brass roof can be carefully slid out from under the paper. The epoxy resin will ensure that the paper retains its correct shape. A 265mm length of thick (1mm) card was cut to the correct width of 42mm for the base of the roof. This is slightly shorter than the actual roof itself to allow for the ends of the carriage body. The paper roof can then be stuck to the card using the flaps. However, to strengthen it further more strips of card were glued in place under the roof. The outer edges were filed to an angle of about 30 degrees and adhesive applied along this edge and the strips slid into place. The photo shows the stepped layers with a final layer running along the centre line of the roof to give a firm support for the roof ventilators. The underframe is assembled from thick grey card. The bogies are quite crude being made up out of strips of brass, brass wires and white metal axleboxes and springs. For wheels I use Jackson 16mm discs in Gibson S Scale axles. The bogies are mounted on the chassis using press studs and Kadee couplings are used within the rakes with Hornby plug in couplings at the outer ends of the rakes. With 36 inch radius curves these are really the only option! The underframe details are built up using Peco code 100 rail (I have yards of the stuff ) and nickel silver strip. The rake of three suburbans in undercoat - the two brass coaches with "proper" cast bogies are on the left whilst the card suburban with fabricated bogies is on the right. The three Stanier corridor coaches. Period 3 suburban composite. 57 foot Brake 1st (ideally I would have preferred a composite but these were 60 feet long and would have made the train too long for the platforms at Pendle. Corridor 2nd Brake 2nd Corridor connections out of black paper concertinas. Completed train with Fairburn 2-6-4T running on Halifax Midland. The total items I needed to buy for these models was 12 coach axles, a couple of Kadee couplings, some buffers, roof vents, transfers and a couple of tubes of epoxy resin. Edited September 27, 2019 by steverabone 13 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Fox 34F Posted September 26, 2019 Share Posted September 26, 2019 Steve, Love the construction techniques. I've also been looking at your website. Where did you get your coach buffers from? Are they a 4mm product? regards Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium steverabone Posted September 26, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 26, 2019 They are 4mm scale and are from Lanarkshire Model and Supplies (LMS!) and are really good. Excellent return of post service. http://www.lanarkshiremodels.com/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Fox 34F Posted September 27, 2019 Share Posted September 27, 2019 Thank you for the prompt reply. I'll better look at their site. Will you be adding anymore updates to your website? Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium steverabone Posted September 27, 2019 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted September 27, 2019 (edited) If you want to see what else I've been up to in my S Scale modelling - Midland Railway, BR LMR and Deutsche Bundesbahn you could always look at my website. I use it as an aid to my memory when I build something and then forget a year later how I did it! http://www.steverabone.com/sscalewebsite/indexpage.htm Edited September 27, 2019 by steverabone 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now