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My coming out of Lockdown workbench


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  • 3 weeks later...

@richbrummitt The T51/T52 (LE7N varient) design was one of the more common designs of GWR 4 wheel brake third.  50 were built in 1887/8.  It was the final design of 4 compartment brake third with central combined guard & luggage compartment.  T20 & T38 were both LA9N designs, first varient of T51/T52 was LA7TN.

 

Yet it has not been produced in RTR or kit form.  Instead the kit manufactures had chosen to produce kits of the uncommnon designs.  Ratio T47, 27 built, Shirescenes T36, 10 built, Shirescenes T49, 25 built.  Add to that to cut'n'shut in 4 or 7mm one side has to be made from 3 sections and the other side is 5 sections, that's if you do it properly.  Of course it all depends upon how you define your own Holy Grail.

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So nearly 3 weeks haave passed since my last post and I was intending to post weekly.  I've not been idle.  Most days have seen a good few hours in the railway room beavering away on coaches.

 

I decided that I ought to check how many ratio 4 wheel chassis's I needed for the Shirescenes sides I have, so that spare solebars can be used for the bogie coaches.  Once I opened my coach kit draw I got a bit diverted.  As well as 4 Shirescenes kits I found a Hayes Dev chassis kit.  So out came the soldering iron and this is the result of 2 weeks soldering:

 

IMG_1191.JPG.526495c5505b3fdffdd50fecf2c020b3.JPG

 

In the front are sides for a Penbroke & Tenby set of D22, E56 & D23.  These were 8'6 wide coaches (wider than the Ratio kits) so I've started drawing new ends for them to get 3D printed.  Next row are a V5 passenger brake van from Shirescene sides and a S11 all third from the spare Ratio U4 with an extra compartment in the middle.  Behind them on the left is the T52 which is on a Brassmaters Cleminson chassis as it's a 6 wheeler.  Also a T36 from Shirescene sides in the middle.  Then on the right is a U25 which is a cut'n'shut of some Shirescenes brass sides for a T49 and behind it in the corner is a T49 sitting in a Hayes Dev chassis.  The two long coaches are D27 & E58, part of a Tondu & Bridgend set which should have another D27 to complete it. 

 

In the front middle are the captive nuts and bolts that I use to hold the roofs in place.  A captive nut box is glued to the roof and the captive bolt bar usually goes across the top of a compartment, door to door, with a hole in the floor for the screwdriver.

 

I'm not going to finish filing and sanding the Penbroke & Tenby set side until I've got the ends and built the bodies with the compartment dividers and seats.  I've found they are too fragile to sand without the internals.

 

The brass sides were all primed with upol acid#8 before being glued into body boxes.  I also tried to paint the roofs but had a problem with my air-brush.  Whilst it would spray nicely when I used the side cup, when I tried to use a bottle it wouldn't suck up the paint or even neat thinners.  So I gave up as it takes a long time to keep refilling the side cup.  Any ideas what's wrong? 

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So disaster struck.  I knocked a bottle of MEK over and it has washed my S11 and a couple of roofs.  The roofs will polish up with a bit of wet and dry, but I don't think I'm capable of rescuing the S11 with all of the fiddly panels.  On the plus side I've fixed my airbrush.  I was thinking about how it sucks up paint from the jar utilising the Venturi Effect.  If the pressure at the top of the paint bottle is lower than atmospheric pressure, paint will rise out of it.  But if the nozzle pressure drop is too big that isn't possible. Therefore the nozzle must be too dirty.  Over time paint has built up in the nozzles and started to block them.  The solution was a little jar of IPA and Xylene (cellulose thinners).  Drop a dismantled nozzle in the solution, drop the jar into the ultrasonic bath for 15 minutes and hey presto a clean nozzle.

IMG_1315.JPG.b0b0377bb55503bdb99f9f267ac7ae5b.JPG

There's a disassembled nozzle in there.

 

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A cleaned nozzle, as new.

 

I've not managed much else in the last 2 weeks as I've been listed a load of stuff on eBay.  A friend on the Origami team has just bought 10 PTA tipplers for the layout.  So I've pulled together all those odd items I'm never going to build or run and raised the money to buy 10 more.  In fact it's going so well I'll be able to by a couple of 37s to pull them!  I just need to find the right 37 in the Bachmann offerings for 1978 South Wales.

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Mark 1 daughter has thrown a spanner in the works with repercussions that threaten to last a year or more.  She has announced that she wants to move out of her bedroom and into My RAILWAY ROOM.  The railway room is bigger than her room so we all see where she is coming from.  It has a nice view of the garden, rather than the road.  It has a double bed rather than her single bed (which I think is the main attraction), but she hasn’t slept on it and doesn’t know how uncomfortable it is!

 

Anyway it’s been agreed.  I’ve spent the afternoon working out how I can fit into the smaller space and everything fits except the 6’ x 5’6 test track that used to be my son’s layout.  So the plan is to cut it into 2 L shaped pieces and put them on opposite walls.  Then join across the window with a 6” wide piece and across the door with a lifting piece.  Because it will now be above a short bookcase and filing cabinet the track will be at 56” above the floor.  I think that’s ok as the board is only 18” wide at most.

 

When the children heard that the layout would block the door if installed as is you should have heard their blue sky thinking.  There was a plan for steps up and over the layout.  A pulley system on the floor with skateboard to haul oneself and supplies into the room. And many other howlers.

 

The project also involves decorating both rooms, removing sinks and changing a radiator so it’s not going to be a quickie.  I dread to think how many days it will take to box up all of my stuff!  Anyway I’m not doing anything until she has supplied the packing boxes so until then it’s back to bashing coaches.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 24/03/2020 at 14:25, Penrhos1920 said:

I’m close to running out of unsprung buffer heads.  Slaters kits come with them, but Cambrian kits come with plastic heads which aren’t round.  I’ve probably not looked hard enough, does anyone know where I can get them?

 

H & A Models do them, enough for three wagons in a pack.  Vital to anyone building Cambrian or Parkside kits, as well as the occasional Slaters kit that turns up without any.

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Also MJT and 51L/Wizard - one does them blackened, the other bright steel; I can't remember which is which. They come with 0.5 mm dia tails to the shanks for springing but those are easily removed if unwanted.

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On 27/05/2020 at 16:07, Penrhos1920 said:

In the front middle are the captive nuts and bolts that I use to hold the roofs in place.  A captive nut box is glued to the roof and the captive bolt bar usually goes across the top of a compartment, door to door, with a hole in the floor for the screwdriver.

 

 

I'm intrigued by this.  Are they commercial items or do you make them yourself?  If they're commercial, where do you get them from?  I've tried various ways of attaching roofs so that they're detachable, but this one seems  good!

 

JackD

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2 hours ago, JackD48 said:

 

 

I'm intrigued by this.  Are they commercial items or do you make them yourself?  If they're commercial, where do you get them from?  I've tried various ways of attaching roofs so that they're detachable, but this one seems  good!

 

JackD

 

They're homemade.  I make a box around the nut.  60 or 80 thou square polystyrene and 40 thou lid as on this roof.

 

71A32446-B81D-4D7C-BB40-6BBFA1B3039F.jpeg.9613f3670b121d5813c34a790e1bd069.jpeg

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I see.  Presumably there's a plasticard bar across the coach at a suitable level, ... tapped the same as the nut?  Where do you get the captive nuts from or do you turn down a section of the thread  to get the same effect?

Jack D

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15 hours ago, JackD48 said:

I see.  Presumably there's a plasticard bar across the coach at a suitable level, ... tapped the same as the nut?  Where do you get the captive nuts from or do you turn down a section of the thread  to get the same effect?

Jack D

You can see the components in the earlier picture of coaches under construction.

A standard brass nut is built into a plasticard  box which is glued into the roof as shown. There is a stout plastcard beam across the carriage which has a trapped bolt in it (Centre front right of picture). The bolt can be reached by a screwdriver (long shaft jewlers type I presume) via a corresponding hole in the coach floor.

Nuts and bolts readily available eg. Eileen’s Emporium.

 

It’s a very neat solution, wish I’d thought of it. I will be using it in future coach construction.

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Darwinian,  I get the general arrangement; however as I see it the key here is the captive screw.  Googling captive screws, these seem to be fairly specialised and cost around £1 each - and aren't on Eileen's list.  That's why I was asking about a supplier of these screws or whether Penrhos had turned down part of the thread of a standard screw to make one, or used an alternative method such as a springy cup washer to get the same effect.

It's a very elegant solution:  I recently had to try to fix down the roof of  Ratio clerestory that was significantly bowed (even after hot water treatment) and had to resort to a long screw from the underframe to the roof - luckily hidden by the lavatory compartment.  This method looks a good alternative.

JackD

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Jack D48, my apologies I misunderstood your comment. When I looked at the cross piece in Penrhos' image I had assumed that the thinner strip spaced away from the main beam was to hold the bolt in place, perhaps by having a smaller hole than the bolt head. I also assumed that the nut bolt on the right simply had a top hat type bearing on to act as a stronger tube for the bolt to go through,

 

That may be  my interpretation rather than the actual set up used.

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Darwinian,

You may well be right.  Having worked in the past with equipment panels held on with various sorts of captive fasteners, my immediate  thoughts were that actual captive screws/bolts were used.  Blowing up the picture and really looking at it, your description makes sense and wouldn't need any special screw.

Making coach roofs removable is a fascinating subject isn't it!

JackD

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  • 2 weeks later...

Day 124 of self isolation and still with a smile on my face, although this morning the excitement tried to wipe it off.  More of that later.  The past 2 weeks have mostly been spent packing up the railway room and moving out.   It’s amazing what you find and I quickly had another box of stuff to go on eBay, including 2 drawings of Bordersley that I’d forgotten and bought before I decided on Penrhos Junctions.  In the process I’ve also removed a hand basin that my daughter doesn’t want in her new bedroom and fitted a couple of extra sockets.

 

There was one modelling diversion.  I’ve fitted a decoder to my just bought Alexander Dock Railway no.18.  A Hornby B2 Peckett that I just couldn’t resist at only £70.  Sometime I will remove the bunker and shorten the rear footplate to make more like a B1.  I’ve also ordered a real brass dome from RT Models.

 

Yesterday Kat moved into her bedroom, thus vacating my new Railway Room.  It had been agreed that I could leave 4 large drawers of railway stuff in my old room until I’d decorated my room.  But even before she’d fully moved in I was asked to empty one!  So approximately 100 PO wagon kits were decanted into shoe boxes.  That leaves my railway stuff currently spread around at least 4 rooms in our house.  I just hope I can find it all later.

 

Today I started preparing the new room.  The plan is to remove a hand basin, fit 5 new double sockets, a new radiator and paint the whole room.  Step 1 is remove that basin.  I’ve never liked plumbing.  It all stems from several small disasters in our previous houses where joints leaked and one time when I nearly got splashed with molten lead.  So this morning I turned the water off, disconnected the pipes from the taps.  Easy, but couldn’t get a spanner on the waste, or even see anywhere that I could cut it as it was all hidden in the pedestal.  Got the wife to hold the basin whilst I pulled the pedestal out and undid the waste.  Then I looked down through the floorboards at the lead waste and thought “What’s that fluffy white powder around the pipes?”  Lifted off the loose floorboards, which have never been held down since the sink was fitted, and thought “Sh1t, that’s asbestos.”

 

Promptly we got on masks and gloves.  I now have a bag within a bag of asbestos, removing just enough to get to the pipes I needed to cut and blank off.  The room has been hoovered twice and our clothes washed.

 

 

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On 05/07/2020 at 21:15, Darwinian said:

Jack D48, my apologies I misunderstood your comment. When I looked at the cross piece in Penrhos' image I had assumed that the thinner strip spaced away from the main beam was to hold the bolt in place, perhaps by having a smaller hole than the bolt head. I also assumed that the nut bolt on the right simply had a top hat type bearing on to act as a stronger tube for the bolt to go through,

 

That may be  my interpretation rather than the actual set up used.

 

@Darwinian I think you’re mostly right, although I don’t understand your sentence about a nut bolt and top heat bearing.  For plastic coaches I use a H shape cross piece with a clearance hole for the screw.  I then glue a 10thou piece over the screw with a hole just big enough for a jewellers screwdriver. The cross piece usually spans across a compartment above the doors and there is another hole in the floor for the screwdriver.  

 

@JackD48 the only thing I do to screws or nuts is cut the screw to length.  Everything is bog standard 8BA and plastic or brass to make things captive.

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Guest Jack Benson

Hi,

 

Is it possible to buy Ratio GWR coach sides, spurred on by old RM articles I intend to create an exLSWR three coach set and the original source was Triang clerestory coaches , now collectible.

 

Thanks and Stay Safe

 

 

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On 04/07/2020 at 17:20, JackD48 said:

 

 

I'm intrigued by this.  Are they commercial items or do you make them yourself?  If they're commercial, where do you get them from?  I've tried various ways of attaching roofs so that they're detachable, but this one seems  good!

 

JackD

 

The method that I use is to drill a hole slightly smaller that the size of the nut in a piece of plastic card the same thickness as the nut.

 

I press the nut into the hole in the plastic card with a vice, and glue a 'lid', with a clearance hole for the screw, over the nut to prevent it pulling out.

 

John Isherwood.

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11 hours ago, Jack Benson said:

Hi,

 

Is it possible to buy Ratio GWR coach sides, spurred on by old RM articles I intend to create an exLSWR three coach set and the original source was Triang clerestory coaches , now collectible.

 

Thanks and Stay Safe

 

 

 

You could at one time and I have found the Peco empire very obliging in the past, write or email them

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On 17/07/2020 at 21:46, Jack Benson said:

Hi,

 

Is it possible to buy Ratio GWR coach sides, spurred on by old RM articles I intend to create an exLSWR three coach set and the original source was Triang clerestory coaches , now collectible.

 

 

You should be able to, I mailed them a while back about getting roofs to put on my brass coach bodies and they were able to supply them.

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  • 1 month later...

I hope the move has gone well.  I had to let my daughter have a larger bedroom when the shoe collection was encroaching the landing!

 

I've managed to shoehorn the layout into the new railway room (along with everything else) but there is only space now for a small fiddleyard at one end only.  Currently that isn't such a problem as I don't have that much finished stock to run having focused on loco building.

 

The challenge now I face with panelled coaches is the painting and lining which I am now only just coming to terms with.

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1 hour ago, Brassey said:

I hope the move has gone well.  I had to let my daughter have a larger bedroom when the shoe collection was encroaching the landing!

 

If the shoe collection can encroach on the landing, why not the railway? (Daft question, I know.)

 

1 hour ago, Brassey said:

I've managed to shoehorn the layout 

 

There, you see, the shoe collection does have its uses!

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1 hour ago, Compound2632 said:

If the shoe collection can encroach on the landing, why not the railway? (Daft question, I know.)

 

 

I have considered hacking a hole through the wall to get the other fiddleyard in but I'm not sure that will enhance the value of the property.  So it will just have to wait for the time to come when I can get a loft conversion/shed etc.

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