Wright writes.....

[cctransuk]

Just now, Clearwater said:

sort of thing that an enterprising tools company like Eileens good buy in bulk and sell.

 

david

 

Well, they're a 3M product, but the Chinese seem to be able to sell them much cheaper than anyone else.

 

https://www.eternaltools.com/3m-radial-bristle-polishing-discs

 

3M is mentioned in the spec., but even if they're knock-offs, they work bl**dy well !

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[robertcwp]

On 25/02/2020 at 21:20, The Johnster said:

 

Another modern feature is the difficulty of getting inside coaches to detail and put passengers in.  Getting inside any recent Hornby coach without damaging it is a real challenge!  The problem is the one-piece bodyshell moulding with the roof integral;why can’t the roofs come off like they used to!

Not sure which recent Hornby coaches you are referring to but Hawksworth, Stanier and Maunsell stock are all pretty easy to get into. There are lugs at each corner that hold the glazing to the underframe. You very carefully prise these off. There will also be a lug half way along holding body to chassis. The bogies spring off easily with a screwdriver too.

 

Bachmann Mark 1s are a challenge until you 'crack the code', and threads appear frequently on this forum on the subject of how to get into them. With over 200, I have had a fair bit of practice.

[Woodcock29]

22 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

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

Hi jesse

Given the amount of excess solder and the fact the panels are very thin I'd only be using solder wick (available from Jaycar), followed by a  final cleanup with the fibreglass brush - this should work a treat. A good phosphoric acid liquid flux is all you need to soak the solder wick with. I've not looked back since I found out about solder wick only a few years ago. Any significant use of scrapers are likely to put dents/kinks in the surface of the panels.

 

Andrew

Edited February 27, 2020 by Woodcock29
added comment

[Jesse Sim]

9 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

 

Afternoon Jesse,

 

ditch the layout coach philosophy, it never accounts for much help in these situations, if any. Your ECJS BG is a nice kit, if you want to write it off, I'll have it! I can guarantee I will make more of it than a 'layout coach' (does that mean a c**p coach).

 

The cock up is not really that bad, it looks to be mostly superficial gunk. Many have suggested methods of removing the solder, drawing the solder off and then cleaning up would be my chosen method, but the adding of white metal solder as an option works as well. I suggest removing all of it, not just the excess and from the body of the carriage were the panels are to be attached. Then tin and reapply the panels. If you take your time and do the job properly, you should have something far better than a 'layout coach'and the misstep will not even be noticed in the finished model.

When I say ‘layout coach’, it’s not horrible, it’s not my worst job, I think with a bit more cleaning up it will be fine. I won’t write it off, as it’s still a learning curve, it’s no where near a write off, as it looks the part and it runs sweetly. 

[Barry O]

Solder braid is fine..but don't use Powerflow as a flux. It is a so and so to clean up after applying. I have recently had to do some repairs on a brass loco. I had to remove a small piece of brass which had been "resoldered" ..not by the builder. I was faced with a technocolour yawn once i got the two parts apart.

 

Tony, i have fixed a couple of the Lawrence/Goddard coaches . The roof is glued on withevil stick..which seems to haven used everywhere.

 

Gluing aluminium bodyshells to cast white metal ends? A la MTK and Westdale.

Use evostick on boththe ends and the bodu. Once really ready, fasten items together. Then araldite over the evostick.  The evostick isn't strong.it does stick to Aliminium and Whitemetal araldite loves to stick to evostick but not to aluminium.

 

Baz

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, robertcwp said:

Not sure which recent Hornby coaches you are referring to but Hawksworth, Stanier and Maunsell stock are all pretty easy to get into. There are lugs at each corner that hold the glazing to the underframe. You very carefully prise these off. There will also be a lug half way along holding body to chassis. The bogies spring off easily with a screwdriver too.

 

Bachmann Mark 1s are a challenge until you 'crack the code', and threads appear frequently on this forum on the subject of how to get into them. With over 200, I have had a fair bit of practice.

Good morning Robert,

 

The carriages I found impossible to get inside were Bachmann SR ones - ex-L&SWR types I believe, but I could be wrong.

 

They look beautiful models, but as for getting inside them, I have no idea.

 

Bachmann Mk.1s? Ah, the (literal) Chinese puzzle. When I 'made' the morning Talisman, writing it up in BRM, it was a 'voyage of discovery'. Once I found out that the conduits/handrails on the ends had to be detached to get the bodies off, I was well away, and could add curtains to the 1st Class cars, and also fit some passengers. I was also able to fix back some of the glazing - which continues to fall-in from time to time on the over-150 Bachmann Mk.1s which run on LB. In fairness, the glazing can be pushed-in by accident when removing those awful, over-prominent roof ribs. I still see hundreds of Bachmann Mk.1 cars on layouts where this essential modification has not been done. Why not? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

7 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

When I say ‘layout coach’, it’s not horrible, it’s not my worst job, I think with a bit more cleaning up it will be fine. I won’t write it off, as it’s still a learning curve, it’s no where near a write off, as it looks the part and it runs sweetly. 

It's nowhere near a write-off Jesse, and it has real value as a 'leaning curve'. 

 

Where you might still have a build-up of solder, try adding low-melt (not to the whole panel) and brush/flick excess solder away when it's still molten. I use my finger at times!!!!!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Solder braid is fine..but don't use Powerflow as a flux. It is a so and so to clean up after applying. I have recently had to do some repairs on a brass loco. I had to remove a small piece of brass which had been "resoldered" ..not by the builder. I was faced with a technocolour yawn once i got the two parts apart.

 

Tony, i have fixed a couple of the Lawrence/Goddard coaches . The roof is glued on withevil stick..which seems to haven used everywhere.

 

Gluing aluminium bodyshells to cast white metal ends? A la MTK and Westdale.

Use evostick on boththe ends and the bodu. Once really ready, fasten items together. Then araldite over the evostick.  The evostick isn't strong.it does stick to Aliminium and Whitemetal araldite loves to stick to evostick but not to aluminium.

 

Baz

Thanks Baz,

 

I've managed to do some repairs to the Lawrence/Goddard LMS carriages, but, as you know, some were a bit dented and a bit beyond help.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Clive Mortimore]

8 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

When I say ‘layout coach’, it’s not horrible, it’s not my worst job, I think with a bit more cleaning up it will be fine. I won’t write it off, as it’s still a learning curve, it’s no where near a write off, as it looks the part and it runs sweetly. 

All my coaches are "layout coaches", I wouldn't have them if I wasn't going to use them on my layout.

[31A]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

In fairness, the glazing can be pushed-in by accident when removing those awful, over-prominent roof ribs. I still see hundreds of Bachmann Mk.1 cars on layouts where this essential modification has not been done. Why not? 

 

 

 

Unclip the roofs from the sides, then you can remove the ribs without risk of damaging the rest of the coach, and re-paint the roof very quickly with an aerosol before clipping it back on!

[Headstock]

11 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

When I say ‘layout coach’, it’s not horrible, it’s not my worst job, I think with a bit more cleaning up it will be fine. I won’t write it off, as it’s still a learning curve, it’s no where near a write off, as it looks the part and it runs sweetly. 

 

Afternoon Jesse,

 

I've sorted out a number of cheap purchases over the years, were the owner has written off some cock-up or other. All stuff that looks bad but not detrimental to the basic components. Unlike plastic, brass is a very forgiving material. As long as it isn't severely kinked or bent it is usually quite salvageable. I've stripped badly soldered brass kits down to their component parts and reassembled them from scratch. Quite often, writing stuff off is more to do with the mindset of the individual rather than the state of the kit. Making mistakes is pretty crucial to learning anything, I have made sure that I benefited from my modelling mistakes. Learning how to correcting cock-ups is hugely important. It gives you the confidence that you can overcome problems of the type that often puts people of modelling in the first place.

[Jol Wilkinson]

19 hours ago, Michael Edge said:

Don't forget that the flat scraper needs to be slightly curved, otherwise the corners will dig in when scraping solder off a flat surface.

Thanks Mike, a very valid point.

 

The actual scrapers that John made are like that (as the photo illustrates) but I didn't show it sufficiently in my drawing.

[Iain.d]

On 26/02/2020 at 10:58, Jack P said:

 

 

In the same vein, I was wondering if the collective mind of this thread can offer some tips on kit-built coaches and removable roofs. 

 

I have a roxey kit (part built) that i'm looking to resurrect and 3 further kits to tackle, and I haven't the foggiest idea how to approach the roof. these coaches will have interiors, and i'd like to be able to disassemble them for painting and interior assembly. 

 

What successful methods have people had for making coaches - with particular mind to the roofs - able to be easily dismantled?   

A bit late to the party on this ... sorry ...

 

My methods for attaching roofs of coaches are pretty simple. For aluminium roofs, such as Comet, I use the same method as described in Stephen Williams’ The 4mm Coach Part 2 (Page 41). Sorry, I can’t find an example of that at the moment to photograph.

 

For plastic roofs, such as those by Ian Kirk, I’ve usually fixed a piece of brass tube into a small plastic block which in turn is glued to the roof. The hole in the plastic is ‘coned’ and the end of the tube is scored so that when epoxied in the tube it can’t be pulled out by overtightening the nut/bolt that comes through a hole in the floor. 

 

For some reason on this one I’ve soldered the bolt shank into the tube rather than a nut onto the end of the tube. Maybe at the time I was having problems stopping the solder going into the threads of the nut and this was a variation of a theme.

 

 

The coach was a Kirk SR Maunsell corridor third that has been adapted to an early LMS corridor third using MJT bogies, scratch built underframe, new ends and homemade scissor corridor connectors and a modified roof. Built in 1993, its passable in a train and doesn't look 8mm too long. I have more than a dozen Kirks: 10 x SR Maunsell’s, 1 x LNER third and 3 conversions to LMS corridor thirds and only one roof has bowed such that a gap exists between the coach side and the roof.  It’ll be replaced with a aluminium one at some point.

 

For modifications to old Airfix coaches where I have replaced the sides with brass overlays, I only use one fixing in the centre of the coach roof (or as near to the centre as possible) utilising a nut soldered to the end of a piece of tube, again fitted to a plastic block glued to the roof.  Using only one fixing in the centre means that the roof can’t bow up, I have yet to see one that bends up at the ends.  But what I have found is that if you don’t retain some, or all, of the old Airfix sides (which have a lip that fits under the cantrail) the sides can spread if the bolt is screwed too tight. So on coaches where you can’t keep all the uprights between the windows (because they’d be visible) I solder a small loop of bent brass on each side of the coach and just before fitting the roof, I fit a piece brass wire with bends at each end to stop the sides spreading. So far I’ve modified about 30 this way without issue. This coach will sit within a rake of coaches - the stickyup corridor connectors will then be vertical.

 

Apologies for the tattiness of the roof insides and the underside of the Kirk coach – mind you I never envisaged taking photographs of my efforts!

 

Iain

Edited February 28, 2020 by Iain.d
Typo

[westerner]

As a complete break from things brass which some of you know I don't really do, But Tony does say that this thread is about making things for yourself. and I thought some nice soft verdant pix would make a change from all that hard brass.

As Tony knows I have switched from 00 to O gauge and the new layout Blakeney (Glos) is based in the Forest of Dean therefore lots of Trees. That is what I have been making. So here are some photos. At the moment neither the hedge or trees are palnted permanently as I may move them about to get the best effect. As we are at the end of stem in the Forest the hedge has grown over the railway fence if any one is wondering where it is. By the way there are many more trees to make.

 

 

[grahame]

Back to a little fiddling and progress on a scratch-built N/2mm scale mainly cardboard building, Fielden House, and the side that will face the front of the layout although it will mostly be hidden behind other buildings. Fielden House was (it's now demolished) on two levels. The upper level was at the station forecourt level with to the right Southwark Towers (not in view below but also demolished as the tallest building in the UK torn down to make way for the Shard). IIRC there were public stairs (at the end of Fielden House) that led down to the lower level of St Thomas Street and Guys Hospital. A bridge from the upper level was added that went over St Thomas Street to a McDonnalds.

Although I'd modelled most of the other side, the front of the building was very much unfinished. It features a wall of windows (lattice style like the other side) made from styrene strip. There's still some tidying up and detailing required but it's a little recent progress.

 

 

[bbishop]

Grahame,  Will you replicate the smell of those stairs?

Bill

[grahame]

1 hour ago, bbishop said:

Grahame,  Will you replicate the smell of those stairs?

Bill

 

Perhaps a touch of aroma modelling? But then I only ever went down them once or twice so don't have much memory about the smell, preferring to walk down London Bridge Street past Telephone House to the pubs I used to visit.

 

Here's a great pic, dated 1975, of the London Bridge station forecourt and Southwark towers. It's before the brown station entrance roof and 'modern' travel centre/ticket office was added so is a little early for me. There's plenty of Routemasters and DMS buses which have just about all gone now. The entrance/reception to Southwark Towers is the original version before the green curved glass wall with angled roof was added. Does anyone know when that was changed?

The end of Fielden House can be seen on the right hand edge with the stairs near the blue car. Guys Hospital tower block is just behind Southwark Towers on it's right side.

 

[robertcwp]

11 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Robert,

 

The carriages I found impossible to get inside were Bachmann SR ones - ex-L&SWR types I believe, but I could be wrong.

 

They look beautiful models, but as for getting inside them, I have no idea.

 

Bachmann Mk.1s? Ah, the (literal) Chinese puzzle. When I 'made' the morning Talisman, writing it up in BRM, it was a 'voyage of discovery'. Once I found out that the conduits/handrails on the ends had to be detached to get the bodies off, I was well away, and could add curtains to the 1st Class cars, and also fit some passengers. I was also able to fix back some of the glazing - which continues to fall-in from time to time on the over-150 Bachmann Mk.1s which run on LB. In fairness, the glazing can be pushed-in by accident when removing those awful, over-prominent roof ribs. I still see hundreds of Bachmann Mk.1 cars on layouts where this essential modification has not been done. Why not? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

I have not tried the ex-LSWR types (Hornby - SR rebuilds) or Bachmann SECR ones.

 

The answer on the roof ribs point is time and other priorities. I have de-ribbed five out of nearly 200 that need it. I have higher priorities and other demands on my time. If I were to exhibit my stock, the ribs would have to go.

[Barry Ten]

Possibly of interest to some - some brief clips of Borchester Market and Frank and Mrs Dyer in the course of this BBC Wales retrospective program looking at archival Welsh news clips. The tone of the voiceover is deliberately light-hearted but not maliciously so.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000ftyk/tudurs-tv-flashback-later-life

 

The coverage starts just after 12 minutes. Another model railway (a bit more eccentric) features briefly near the end of the program. I don't think you'll be able to see this if you're not in the UK.

[D-A-T]

Excellent find!

[92220]

On 25/02/2020 at 19:52, Tony Wright said:

As for trying to get their bodies off, don't get me going on that! Trying (carefully) to remove the body off a Hornby Royal Scot at the weekend resulted in a smoke deflector breaking off, a front footstep breaking off, both cylinder drain cocks becoming detached, the reversing lever coming adrift, a sandbox filler disappearing (forever!), not to mention ominous cracking noises, and still I failed! 

Good morning Tony.

 

If it was 46146, I fear that may have been one of mine - it was heavily detailed and modified with Brassmasters and Comet items, and so was probably more fragile than ideal for an exhibition loco.  Apologies for that!

 

It was one that I did before I knew how to build a Comet replacement mechanism and I left it with the original Hornby one.  My locos were never particularly intended to travel but the opportunity to help Graham out, and to get some of my locos and stock onto such a fine and appropriate exhibition layout, was too good to miss.

 

I attach a shot of progress on the fiddle yard of Camden Shed.  
 

 

Best wishes to you and Mo as always.

 

Iain 

[CF MRC]

On 28/02/2020 at 19:42, grahame said:

 

Perhaps a touch of aroma modelling? But then I only ever went down them once or twice so don't have much memory about the smell, preferring to walk down London Bridge Street past Telephone House to the pubs I used to visit.

 

Here's a great pic, dated 1975, of the London Bridge station forecourt and Southwark towers. It's before the brown station entrance roof and 'modern' travel centre/ticket office was added so is a little early for me. There's plenty of Routemasters and DMS buses which have just about all gone now. The entrance/reception to Southwark Towers is the original version before the green curved glass wall with angled roof was added. Does anyone know when that was changed?

The end of Fielden House can be seen on the right hand edge with the stairs near the blue car. Guys Hospital tower block is just behind Southwark Towers on it's right side.

 

They say you get the best view of London from Guy’s Tower - when you are in it you can’t see how ugly it is.  Remember the scene well, with Hastings DEMUs whistling over the viaduct. A one man band used to play in the stairs down towards St Thomas’ street in the late 70s. 
 

The PW building front entrance probably changed in the early - mid 90s, at about the same time as the footbridge was built to link up with the new Guy’s buildings. 
 

Tim

Edited March 1, 2020 by CF MRC

[grahame]

10 hours ago, CF MRC said:

They say you get the best view of London from Guy’s Tower - when you are in it you can’t see how ugly it is.  Remember the scene well, with Hastings DEMUs whistling over the viaduct. A one man band used to play in the stairs down towards St Thomas’ street in the late 70s. 
 

The PW building front entrance probably changed in the early - mid 90s, at about the same time as the footbridge was built to link up with the new Guy’s buildings. 
 

Tim

 

Guy's Tower is rather bland and functional, and unfortunately it rather blends in to Southwark Towers in the pic above.

 

Southwark Towers wasn't a bad building and had some redeeming features (the three wings layout) and interest. The problem was that it dated and was allowed to get very tatty rather quickly. I'm not so sure that it's replacement, the Shard, offers any meritorious improvement (and in N/2mm scale would be over 6ft tall). There's some interesting pics from the top (and of the roof garden) in this website taken shortly before ST was demolished: https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/southwark-towers-london-11-10-07.96384/

 

I do rather remember the bridge over St Thomas Street suddenly appearing and it was, as you say, probably in the mid 90s. I guess the entrance to ST was upgraded at the same time. I'll be able to leave the bridge out (one less thing to make) which will be handy as my model world doesn't include the south side of St Thomas Street and the bridge would look a little odd hanging and finishing mid-air. And I will try and go with the early entrance to ST. 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

On 29/02/2020 at 09:07, 92220 said:

Good morning Tony.

 

If it was 46146, I fear that may have been one of mine - it was heavily detailed and modified with Brassmasters and Comet items, and so was probably more fragile than ideal for an exhibition loco.  Apologies for that!

 

It was one that I did before I knew how to build a Comet replacement mechanism and I left it with the original Hornby one.  My locos were never particularly intended to travel but the opportunity to help Graham out, and to get some of my locos and stock onto such a fine and appropriate exhibition layout, was too good to miss.

 

I attach a shot of progress on the fiddle yard of Camden Shed.  
 

 

Best wishes to you and Mo as always.

 

Iain 

Thanks Iain,

 

I feel, if any apologies were necessary, they should have come from me.

 

46146 appeared to have been running fine on Shap, until it started to slip out of gear - chattering and jerking. Normally, I would never touch the work of anyone else unless they specifically asked me. However, as I'd already sorted out the mangled gear on a 'Duchess' and done something with the weirdest pick-ups I've ever seen on a 'Jubilee', Graham asked me to look at your 'Scot'. I did replace the bits which came adrift (because of my clumsiness!), apart from that long-gone sandbox filler, but I was unable to make it go again. You've made such a lovely job of detailing/weathering 46146 that it deserves a decent chassis (though, when you make one, will you tell me how to get the body off?). 

 

I'm afraid that failing steam-outline modern RTR chassis is no longer a phenomenon. It's much too common to be described thus.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

Having just spent a splendid weekend at the Preston Show, may I take the opportunity of thanking all the Preston members for putting on such a great event, and thank all those with whom  spoke, and donated most-generously to CRUK? 

 

And the greatest thanks to the club chairman who donated to me a K's 'Princess Royal' and a K's Black Five which he'd built many years ago. Fortunately, they have Romford wheels but the motors are prehistoric. I'll fit modern motor/gearboxes to both, tidy them up, and then sell them; all proceeds going to CRUK. They're rather nice. 

 

I managed to get pictures of two layouts.................

 

 

Falahill, in N Gauge, was a delightful rendition of part of the Waverley Route (though I did point out that WILD SWAN was not an appropriate A4 for the line!).........

 

 

And Eaglesham was a splendid essay in OO depicting part of the Caley. I thought this was incredibly-refreshing - with so much (out of necessity) kit-built stock, it wasn't just a kinetic advertisement for the latest Hornbachheldap RTR piece of wonderment (which so much seems to be nowadays). 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Tony Wright
to clarify a point