Wright writes.....

[Blandford1969]

Hi Tony,

 

The discussion on coaches is really interesting especially about how you mount them onto the frames.

 

How do you attach the body and roof of say an etched brass coach to the frame is it a couple of very long screws? , sorry that is probably a very daft question. 

 

Duncan

[jwealleans]

This is how I do mine - some designers (D& S, RDEB) make provision for screws, others don't.  Here I made my own fixing in a Bill Bedford vehicle.  I use captive 10BA nuts quite close to the corners (leave room for sprung buffers if you're fitting them) and a very short (1/8" or 3/16") cheesehead bolt.  I had to add the plate which the nuts are secured to, but many manufacturers give you a folded etched piece here anyway.

 

 

I like the bolts in the corners, but others make them part of the bogie mounting.  It works just as well.

[Dr Al]

10 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

I guess the question is why should we have to do this to a brand new loco to prevent what may happen at some time in the future?  I could certainly do it.

 

We've been asking the same in N Gauge for 30 years! It's much better now, but still not fully solved - even the occasional new tooling Farish model can suffer it on occasion.

Cheers,
Alan

[cctransuk]

7 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks John,

 

Would that a thin blade (or two) were all that was needed to separate RTR steam-outline loco bodies from their chassis. 

 

You're a braver man than I am. Recently at shows, folk have asked my advice in getting into some RTR coaches, including some Maunsells. Any ideas, because I couldn't get them apart?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

I can't claim to have accessed the interior of RTR Maunsells; (I follow your philosophy and build my own from Kirk kits !); but all of the recent RTR ones that I have encountered utilise clips moulded to the chassis that engage with slots moulded into the glazing unit.

 

They can be a very precise fit, but nothing that a little teasing with a thin blade and some temporary plastic wedges won't defeat.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, Blandford1969 said:

Hi Tony,

 

The discussion on coaches is really interesting especially about how you mount them onto the frames.

 

How do you attach the body and roof of say an etched brass coach to the frame is it a couple of very long screws? , sorry that is probably a very daft question. 

 

Duncan

 

I treat my kit-built coaches as Tri-ang did their original scale length Mk.1 coaches - long screws through the floor, up into captive nuts in the ceiling.

 

To space the sides apart, I fit a false ceiling to the roof and the captive nuts are attached to the upper side of that ceiling by encasing them in rectangles of plasic card.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[jamie92208]

27 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

I treat my kit-built coaches as Tri-ang did their original scale length Mk.1 coaches - long screws through the floor, up into captive nuts in the ceiling.

 

To space the sides apart, I fit a false ceiling to the roof and the captive nuts are attached to the upper side of that ceiling by encasing them in rectangles of plasic card.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

I do something similar in 7mm, pieces of threaded rod into captive nuts in the wooden roof, then through holes in the underframe and secure with nuts under the floor this ties the underframe, roof and body together. Depending on the interior layout of the coach I use 3 or 4. Often through lavatory compartments so 5hey aren't seen.

 

Jamie

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Blandford1969 said:

Hi Tony,

 

The discussion on coaches is really interesting especially about how you mount them onto the frames.

 

How do you attach the body and roof of say an etched brass coach to the frame is it a couple of very long screws? , sorry that is probably a very daft question. 

 

Duncan

Good evening Duncan,

 

I've illustrated how in my pictures further up the page............

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Clearwater]

Tony

 

On a related question, if the coach roof is an extruded aluminium product, how do you attach that to brass sides?  

 

Many thanks

 

David

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Clearwater said:

Tony

 

On a related question, if the coach roof is an extruded aluminium product, how do you attach that to brass sides?  

 

Many thanks

 

David

Epoxy, usually.

[Jesse Sim]

10 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Not to worry, tis a mere scratch. Your increasingly ability at making things is becoming quite impressive, certainly one of a few people on the forum worth checking out,

Hopefully I can remove them and clean them up and put them on properly..... 

 

Thanks for pointing that out, I wouldn’t have known. Here I am thinking I was on a role, but no, ahh well, better to the learn the hard way, I won’t be doing that again!!!! 

[Jesse Sim]

Fixing mistakes, brought to you by the Australian institute of C**kups! 

[DougN]

Jesse, I will let you in on one of my badly held secrets.... use a jeweller's wire wheels (Ok the metal fibres in bed them selves in skin happily and are hard to see)

(https://koodak.com.au/products/oro-mounted-brush-wheel-2-35mm-shaft-use-dropdown-list-to-select-material-type)

 

This is the type of brush I have been using to take excess solder off.I go through about a dozen every 2 years or so. This is usually when the  wheels start disintegrating. 

[Jesse Sim]

17 minutes ago, DougN said:

Jesse, I will let you in on one of my badly held secrets.... use a jeweller's wire wheels (Ok the metal fibres in bed them selves in skin happily and are hard to see)

(https://koodak.com.au/products/oro-mounted-brush-wheel-2-35mm-shaft-use-dropdown-list-to-select-material-type)

 

This is the type of brush I have been using to take excess solder off.I go through about a dozen every 2 years or so. This is usually when the  wheels start disintegrating. 

I’ve got one here actually, part of the Bunnings mini drill special! 
 

Does a fibreglass pencil get rid of solder as well? 

[St Enodoc]

3 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

Does a fibreglass pencil get rid of solder as well? 

Not in my experience. Fibreglass pencils are good for burnishing and polishing but not for removal of material.

 

The classic way to remove solder is with a scraper, often made from an old file.

[DougN]

The Bunnings versions are too coarse compared to the jewelers version. I always found the fibreglass brushes took too long to move the solder, hence moving to the wire brush in the dremel. I do need a fibreglass brush though as mine died about 5 years ago and has not been replaced. SO at the next exhibition I will search them out again. Some of the kits I have been working on need a bit of burnishing to allow more efficient soldering. 

 

 

[nerron]

Jesse I agree with John. Take off as much as you can with a scraper,then go over it with the burnishing disc and finish with a fibreglass pencil. Thanks Doug for the link-have just ordered ten.

[Jesse Sim]

Cheers all for that, I’ve tried my best, I’m not ashamed to say I’ve buggered up. It most definitely isn’t the best, but it will be a good ‘layout coach’. 
 

Sorry Tony for hijacking your thread! 

[polybear]

Desolder wick (also known as copper desoldering braid) works a treat, with no risk of damage.  Dip the end in a paste flux (e.g. powerflow) and apply it between the excess solder and iron - it literally hoovers up the excess solder.  No scratching and no bits of wire wheel embedded in your eyeballs either

HTH

 

p.s Try Ebay for the braid - 1200 came up on the UK site when I did a search.

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

Cheers all for that, I’ve tried my best, I’m not ashamed to say I’ve buggered up. It most definitely isn’t the best, but it will be a good ‘layout coach’. 
 

Sorry Tony for hijacking your thread! 

This is not hijacking, Jesse,

 

This is all useful information.

 

A possible tip for the future..... If you do bugg*r something up in future, soldering-wise (and I should know!), if it's 'hard'-soldered (not low-melt), don't worry about removing excess solder too much.

 

To remove soldered-in panels and the like, flood the joint with flux and turn the iron up as high as it'll go. Then introduce low-melt solder to the joint. This will form (literally!) a bastard mixture of solders, which will result in the panel easily dropping out. Once it's out, flood it with flux again and reintroduce more low melt-on the cranked-up iron. This will immediately melt all the solder, so, at that point, brush the panel with an old suede brush - this will immediately take off excess solder (and your fingerprints!). Final cleaning up can then be achieved with a fibreglass pencil. 

 

There will be some residual 'contamination', but by using higher melting point to re-attach the pieces, the joint will be sound.

 

It's the fastest way of removing excess solder I know of!

 

You'll then be back on your roll, playing the role of a most-competent modeller.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

[Craigw]

6 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

I’ve got one here actually, part of the Bunnings mini drill special! 
 

Does a fibreglass pencil get rid of solder as well? 

 

Get some solderwick - (about 3mm wide) from RS or element 14. Use a hot iron, apply plenty of flux put the solderwick onto the solder and apply the iron. It will heat up quickly and you can move it around to take up solder. Cut the used section off and repeat. Ideal for large amounts of excess solder.  Obviously the best solution is not to apply so much in the first place!

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, DougN said:

The Bunnings versions are too coarse compared to the jewelers version. I always found the fibreglass brushes took too long to move the solder, hence moving to the wire brush in the dremel. I do need a fibreglass brush though as mine died about 5 years ago and has not been replaced. SO at the next exhibition I will search them out again. Some of the kits I have been working on need a bit of burnishing to allow more efficient soldering. 

 

 

Sandown in a couple of weeks?

[DougN]

How did you guess John? 

 

Just hope there is a a few interesting things at the exhibition... I find it difficult to get inspired at some exhibitions now. 

[micklner]

I have been trying these out, quite good so far , they will remove thin layers of solder and polish at the same time.

 

 

https://www.moleroda.com/product/small-3m-radial-discs-19mm-25mm/?attribute_size=19mm&attribute_grit=80g+-+(Yellow)+Coarse&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsMXnyLuc5gIVV-DtCh0CtwcJEAQYAiABEgIF4PD_BwE

 

The company are actually cheaper than ebay as well !!.

 

 

[Dunsignalling]

On ‎25‎/‎02‎/‎2020 at 08:42, thegreenhowards said:

That looks like a much bigger job! 

As the poor soul who fills the role of CME for my pal's Bournemouth Central layout, I've had several WC/BB models to fix, and all have been the rebuilt type - coincidence?

 

In all but one case, it was the idler that had split, which is relatively easy to replace.

 

The spare shown for the axle gear on the Service Sheet is a complete new set of coupled wheels on axles, which at least sidesteps any issues with quartering!

 

However, I managed to use a gear left over from an idler kit by filing down the boss which the axle gear lacks. The axles are splined so the quartering can be recovered with a little trial and error.

 

John

[Dunsignalling]

13 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

I treat my kit-built coaches as Tri-ang did their original scale length Mk.1 coaches - long screws through the floor, up into captive nuts in the ceiling.

 

To space the sides apart, I fit a false ceiling to the roof and the captive nuts are attached to the upper side of that ceiling by encasing them in rectangles of plasic card.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

On plastic coach kits, I fix the roof to the sides/ends, whatever it says in the instructions. I can never get a decent interface there unless it's permanent and I want to retain access to the interior in case anything later comes adrift.

 

I reverse your method of attachment by mounting a length of stud in a block of plastic which is then bonded to the roof. M2 - 8BA studding is horrendously expensive these days, if you can find it at all.

 

When attaching the body to the underframe, I run-on a nut and washer above the floor, allowing me to "tune-out" any bowing in the chassis. When everything properly lines up, a drop of Loctite or CA stops anything moving and I add the fixing nut/washer to the underside.

 

John 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Dunsignalling