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Jon Fitness' Average 7mm Rolling Stock Workbench.


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Hi Jon, if Laurie doesn't Peter Dobson at Newbould models does some - I am not sure that they would be specific to the LBSCR as I got some for and NER coach but they are very nice castings.

Thanks Rob. I think a suitably sized generic turnbuckle will be ok so I'll look into that

cheers

Jf.

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With all the solebar flanges bent down it was time to tackle a job I definately wasn't looking forward to; the sweating on of the solebar overlays.

I decided to do it by generously tinning the bent down solebars with 145deg solder, so that was the first job.

 

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I rested the solebar face down on the half etched overlay and after applying plenty of flux and turning the adjustable soldering iron up to 11, heated the back surface of the solebar until the solder ran.

 

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I think it all worked as the overlays seemed to have stuck (mostly) flat along the length and cursory picking tests shows them to have adhered well.

Once they were all on, the buffer beams were added, again with 145deg and the whole chassis checked for squareness/flatness.

 

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Bogie pivots next...

 

More soon

JF

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Looks like you will soon have rolling chassis.

 

Funny you should mention that....

 

The bogie pivots are whitemetal castings through which a long bolt is passed. The holes in them needed clearing out and I used a drill that looked about the right size. As luck had it, it provided a tapping size hole for the bolt so I could use it like a large nut to fasten it on.

 

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To make sure it doesn't come undone, it was also locked up with 145deg solder.

 

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The bogies are fitted with whitemetal rubbing plates that have raised bits that allow the bogies to rock either forward and backwards or side to side depending on which way round you fit them. The instructions advise fitting one each way to allow both axis of movement. My preference is to avoid any sideways rock so they both went on to allow only forward/backward rock!

 

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As the holes in all the castings and the bogies need clearing out to allow the bolts to pass through, I made sure the holes were only just big enough so that lateral play is kept to a minimum. Both bogies were then slid onto the bolts, a spring placed over the bolts and the nuts fitted.

Amazingly enough, after trimming the bolts to length, the bogie/underframe sat foursquare on the bench and should after a bit of oil on the bearings, run nicely on the test track.

 

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I'm now off to assemble the other 3 chassis and should have a bit of a test run round the layout with all 4 on Sunday.

 

More soon

 

JF

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Just a quick update until I can process the rest of my photos (card reader has gone U/S) <_< .

 

The 4 chassis had a quick blast round the layout being pulled/pushed through most of the tightest curves and pointwork and seem to be OK.

 

Appropriate motive power was provided...

 

02 class No 22 "Brading" blasting up the bank with all 4 on. Hope it'll still do that with all the castings and bodywork attached........

 

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JF

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Now I have a new card reader I can resume boring you with illustrating my progress.

Buffers.

These are nice lost wax brass castings that need fettling and assembling.

The raw components.

 

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The shanks need the sprue cutting off and drilling through 1.6mm and a steel bush supergluing in. The thickness of the bush reduces the diameter of the hole at the back, allowing a spring to sit against it.

 

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The buffer heads need the sprue removing and smoothing off with a file/fine sandpaper. A fine spring then fits over the spindle and and slid through the shank. The instructions tell you to simply bend over the tail of the buffer at the back. Needless to say this snapped off leaving me with about 1mm of tail remaining so I crimped that with a pair of pliers and yes, I had my first working buffer. Yay.

 

 

At this point I took a step back and had a think about these buffers. On the plus side they look good but on the minus side several things struck me. I realised that without a lot of modification there was no way of stopping the oval buffer rotating, the spring was fairly weak and didn't reliably push the buffer out and if the buffers are allowed to be compressed regularly it wouldn't be long before one or more bushes came out of the back rendering them useless.

Once these coaches are built they will be formed into a semi permanent rake and the buffers will probably never meet so making them work will probably be pointless anyway, so...the other 15 castings were drilled out only to 1.5mm so that the buffer spindles were a tight push fit and the soldering iron took care of the rest of the job.

The holes in the buffer beams were a little small and were carefully widened with a tapered broach. The buffer assemblies were then soldered in with a touch of 145.

 

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My search for some nice brass turnbuckles for the truss rods took me to Laurie at JLTRT who supplied me with some as supplied with their Gresley coach kits. They look a close likeness and as they are on show at the side of the underframe rather than hidden away underneath I thought they were a worthwhile puchase.

As supplied...

 

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Trimmed and drilled 1mm at each end

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I mounted each one in a little wooden peg and soldered a suitable length of 1mm N/S wire in each end

 

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These were then bent up to approximately the right shape and soldered to the queen posts which fold down from the coach floor, adjusting the wire bends to match each side of the queen posts. ('scuse the usual tatty soldering...)

 

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The various castings for the underframe (battery boxes,air tank,air brake actuator and dynamo) were fitted referring to my photos and the drawings supplied. A representation of the dynamo belt was also fitted using small bits of the not inconsiderable amount of scrap etch in the kit. I would have liked to use 145 solder but the heat was drawn out of my soldering iron so quickly I had to resort to 70 degree low melt solder to prevent the castings melting before the brass had heated up sufficiently!

 

 

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Next job will be the footboards but I'll leave that for the next entry.

More soon

JF

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The foot boards are fitted along the whole length of the solebar on these coaches. The etches have little half etch tabs to represent the many fixing brackets and these are bent up 90 degrees and are, as per real thing, used to fix the boards to the solebar.

 

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The tabs were bent up simply by resting each footboard on the bench and tipping them up 90 degrees whilst pressing gently against the bench

 

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Using photos and the kits supplied scale drawings, they looked to be fitted about 2/3 down the solebar so using the good old eyeball alignment method, a clean hot iron, plenty of flux and a little(?) 188 solder, each tab was fastened on from underneath the footboard. As long as you don't look too closely under the boards, the result was a surprisingly neat, strong and not too wonky fixing method.

 

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So a good few days soldering sessions has left me with (along with a few burnt fingers) 4 near enough complete chassis all ready for a good tidy up and cleaning and possibly an appointment with the paint cans too..

 

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More soon

Jon F.

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All 4 chassis are now painted and ready to have the bodies fitted. All I have to do is build them :O .

 

The flat etched sides need a slight tumblehome rolling into them and the flanges top and bottom folding over.

 

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Here is where I tried a method that I heard of on RMWeb.

The sides were laid on a couple of upturned mouse mats and a sweeping brush handle used to roll a slight curve into them. (No pics of the process...forgot sorry but I'll do it for the next coach if anyones interested)

 

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Checking to see that the tumble is the same all along (it wasn't quite and a bit of tweeking was required!)

 

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The flange bending in my home made benders didn't quite go to plan (my first go...) As the tumble was already rolled I put the flange in the benders and just as I bent it I realised I hadn't scored the half etch for the bend. As the sides are half etched for the beading detail, the weakest bit wasn't the fold line but just above the lowest beading. An extra and unwanted bit of tumblehome was produced :blush: (Doh!) So that side was re straightend, scored along the fold line, folded and re tumbled. I think I saved it!!

 

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Each side was then soldered to an end and the 2 halves soldered together with 188 solder for strength. So far so good(ish).

 

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The roof resisted all attempts with the mouse mat trick even though it is half etched down to 8thou' thickness. I resorted to placing it over an inch gap between two bits of carpet and rolling with the broom handle! .

 

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Hey whatever works!...and it did

 

In the instructions it says to fold the side flanges at right angles to the body sides. I did this with the lower flange but the top one was bent (roughly) to match the roof profile so I could solder the roof to it. I had to brace the sides with a few little bits of wood to keep them parallell.

I started by tacking the roof on at each end, adjusting it until it was equally aligned at each end (or as close as I could get it!)

I then worked outwards from the middle for a few inches on each side, finish soldered the ends then filled the gaps in. Amazingly it came out almost square!. A quick twist was all that was required to straighten it as it was still quite a flimsy stucture and once it sat properly I added a brace across the base of each end to match the side flanges and it became a very strong open box.

 

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Don't think my soldering and construction methods would win any prizes but quite a pleasing start. :imsohappy:

 

More soon

Jon F

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Hi Jon,

 

Congratulations on a most enjoyable topic to read through. Your step-by-step photography is really sharp and the pictures well composed, making it quite clear how you are going about building these coaches. It is going to be a very handsome rake when finished.

 

Colin

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They are coming on nicely.. Progress is quicker than I am doing with mine.. This will be an impressive rake when completed. I hope the little 02 is sure footed enough for them.

 

 

Hi Jon,

 

Congratulations on a most enjoyable topic to read through. Your step-by-step photography is really sharp and the pictures well composed, making it quite clear how you are going about building these coaches. It is going to be a very handsome rake when finished.

 

Colin

 

Thanks Peter, Colin.

Very steep learning curve going on here! I'm trying out a few things I've read about here on RMWeb and having gained the confidence to attempt different types of kit I think that writing about it and illustrating it (c++k ups and all) might help others to do the same. I also think that if it's the only way to get the models you want then just have a go and see what happens!

As for the 02 Peter, your suspicions may well be right as the coaches are getting quite heavy as I build them. There are no partitions supplied but I did have an offer of some profile milled brass ones from Billy at Premier Components but I think the total weight will be too much with them in. Across from where our layout is, a lazer cutting firm have set up shop so I'm going to see if they'll cut me the 30 or so from 1mm ply which should be lighter. I also have an idea to print up some interiors from thin card including fold up pre-coloured seats/floors.

The loco is an extended and detailed Roxey one so is fairly heavy being mostly whitemetal and it does have a fairly powerful Ron Chaplin motor gearbox combo in it. It'll be fine on the level bits but there a couple of ferocious gradients on our layout so I'll have to make sure I keep those bogies free running!

 

There's quite a lot of "furniture" to add to the bodies among which is the door bangers. These are made from the supplied 0.9mm N/S wire. Each hole in the side was drilled out to what was meant to be 0.9mm but I think my drill was about 0.88 as the wire was too tight to fit through. This did me a bit of a favour in a way as I checked the end of the first bit of wire and concluded it must have a bit of a burr on the end. In trimming the end I put a slight taper on it using a disc in my minidrill as a small grinding wheel. This meant the wire only just poked through the hole in the coach, held itself steady, and I could apply a clumsy blob of little solder inside to secure it. This was then nipped off with the wire cutter, the end re-tapered and the process repeated for the other 35 holes! Thankfully, only a little solder came through the hole so no cleaning up was necessary (phew!) .

 

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I also added a droplight and a ventilator to get a rough idea what a finished door area was going to look like! I think before I get stuck in to too many more of them I'll build all four basic shells to get the hard work out of the way

 

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More soon

JF

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Hi Jon,

 

Just to say I'm enjoying the build and they are starting to look the biz, a tip I learnt off an old boy years ago regarding bending sheet brass or nickel which has always worked well for me, is to borrow the wife's rolling pin :O and use an old Yellow pages or phone directory ( if you still have any ! ) to roll the piece of sheet on. You will find the phone book has just enough flex in it to help mould the sheet, works every time.

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

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Hi Jon,

 

Just to say I'm enjoying the build and they are starting to look the biz, a tip I learnt off an old boy years ago regarding bending sheet brass or nickel which has always worked well for me, is to borrow the wife's rolling pin :O and use an old Yellow pages or phone directory ( if you still have any ! ) to roll the piece of sheet on. You will find the phone book has just enough flex in it to help mould the sheet, works every time.

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

Sounds like a similar process but I'll give it a go on the next one! Tips like that are always good to know and as always, in my book whatever works will do. Not sure if the newer yellow pages are as big nowadays though!

I do have some GW models rollers but they are only big enough for wagon roofs and boiler sections etc.

Thanks

JF

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Started on one of the 6 compartment brakes last night. I took a bit more care with the scoring/bending process this time although a few odd little dents have appeared. The roof on this one appears to have a smoother arc than the first one too!.

Should get the other 2 basic shells assembled over the next couple of days.

Here's a few pix of the bending process.

 

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And the assembled basic shell sat on one of the completed chassis.

 

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JF

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Thats the major bending/folding/assembling out of the way. The hard work of fitting out with all the twiddly bits begins now.

 

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I carried out a bit of a nailbiting test last night as I've been a bit worried that the 02 may not be able to handle the rake up to the layouts terminii. Took the bodyshells and chassis down to the layout, strapped the shells to the chassis with rubber bands and placed them on the steepest incline against the 02. I crossed my fingers, turned the controller and with a little bit of light slippage and a little binding of brake shoes on one of the coaches, "Brading" shoved them up to the top with power to spare (phew!). I dont think they'll get much heavier now as the interiors will be made from 1mm ply and thin card. The only other castings to fit now are the roof vents and door handles. Towards the end of their lives most of the vents were removed from the coaches so I don't think any of them will have a full set anyway.

More soon

JF

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I carried out a bit of a nailbiting test last night as I've been a bit worried that the 02 may not be able to handle the rake up to the layouts terminii. Took the bodyshells and chassis down to the layout, strapped the shells to the chassis with rubber bands and placed them on the steepest incline against the 02. I crossed my fingers, turned the controller and with a little bit of light slippage and a little binding of brake shoes on one of the coaches, "Brading" shoved them up to the top with power to spare (phew!).

 

Hi Jon,

 

That's another thing I like about 7mm is that the loco's actually have to work under power, I personally add weight to all my stock even the coaches as this gives you that added perspective of mass which in my opinion is missing in the smaller scales.

 

ATB,

 

Martyn.

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I prefer heavier stock myself too, as it sounds good rattling over some of our strategically placed noisy rail joints! Its just that I think the 02 will be the only motive power used for these coaches.

Having said that, my Co-Bo was proof that weight alone will not provide traction either. Even though the thing has almost Heljanic weight over the the one power bogie the Delrin chain acting on the beam type compensation was causing was causing the front axle to lift. Wouldn't pull a roller bearinged skin off a rice pud until I took the beams out and made the bogie rigid.

JF

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I've now picked on one of the 9 compartment all thirds with the intention of finishing this one first. This is because there are a couple of signal orders that need attending to and I don't want to get bogged down with doing all 4 coaches (as much as I'd like to!)

This one coach now has all its droplights, vents over the doors and door bangers fitted.

 

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The vents are a mix of original and modified ones (both supplied on the etch. The original louvred ones were replaced piecemeal with simple metal channel ones in the workshops at Ryde as they wore out and I've fitted a mixture to reflect this.

The etched replacement ones need the edges folding down to represent them but were (strangely) easier to solder on than the flat original ones. I must confess the flat ones seemed harder to solder on neatly than the later ones and were eventually superglued on (sorry!).

 

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Having done all these vents I started on the ends. The steps end was first.

 

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The end with the brake butterflies and the light switch followed. I wasn't happy with the etch for the butterfly rod and made my own from scratch apart from the actual butterflies which I retained.

 

Too flat...

 

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Replacement bits...

 

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And assembled & soldered on.....

 

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The lamp brackets fold up from flat. I bent them 90degrees and tinned the end, sweated them in position them re-bent them against a piece of scrap etch to get the "kink" required.

 

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Finally, a pair of the supplied etched grab rails were added to the end.

 

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On a slightly off topic, but sort of still do do with coachbuilding, I managed to fit the first of my replacement new panels to my bus yesterday so some good progress all round!

 

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More soon

Jon F.

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Thanks George! Hopefully, when I see Colin Seymour on Saturday the 02 will be joined by a Gibson one to keep it company!

 

 

One side of one coach is now as complete as I can get it with a soldering iron.

 

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I have used the etched grab rails supplied as my attempts at making wire ones were a bit pants.

 

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The edge of the roof looked a bit thin so I made a gutter from 1.5 x 1.5 brass angle and soldered it directly to the roof edge.

The lower hinges were applied from a length of tinned N/S strip soldered onto the door line and snipped off. The middle hinges were made from tiny lengths of 0.7 N/S wire soldered in the door groove but my rubbish soldering means that quite a lot of tidying up is now necessary! I think the top hinges will have to be taken care of by Mr. superglue!

 

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The roof vents are whitemetal. I marked where they should go, applied a little lowmelt solder, placed the vents on the cold solder with some flux and heated the roof next to them with a clean iron until the solder flowed.

I have only done one side of them for now as I feel all "coached out" and will be taking a day away from the model bench to help my daughter mend up her motorbike exhaust (Honda CBR600 trackbike!) It'll be welding instead of soldering...Nice change....

 

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JF

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Hi Jon,

 

Really nice work on the coaches. It will be a pity to paint those lovely polished brass bodies!

 

All the best,

 

Colin

Thanks Colin! TBH I'll be glad to paint them. My fingers are full of fibreglass and I've lost count of the number of times I've washed the coach so far.

Cheers

JF

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This the coach just before I got stuck in with various scratch brushes scrapers and knife blades to clean up the solderwork. Once I had finished that "little" job, the top row of hinges were fitted. Giving my poor soldering iron a rest, these were cut from plastic rod and superglued on. They all withstood a good scrub with a cleaning agent and warm water so superglue can't be that bad a thing!

 

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After drying on a warm radiator it was first given a light but even coat of Acid8 etch primer then a further couple of thin coats of ordinary Halfords grey primer to finish off. Seems to look ok so it will be matt black for the ends, coach roof grey and finally the BR (S) green in that order.

 

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Hopefully I should be picking up some lazer cut 1mm ply partitions tomorrow so I can then work out how to print up some card interiors.

 

Previous to all this a trip to the Warley Show saw me treating myself to a little present...

 

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A lovely little thing in my opinion, but it ran a little rough out of the box. I spotted the problem (one centre wheel slightly out of quarter) gave it a quick tweak and it now runs like a particularly quiet swiss watch.

 

A set of Dingham couplings, a bit of weathering and I'll soon be shunting the yard at Astley Bridge...

More soon

JF

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