Brass thickness

[garygfletcher]

I am curious what thickness of brass people "generally use" when modelling locos in 2mm?

[Graham Hughes]

I don't. I use nickle silver. It conducts heat less readily than brass which makes it easier to solder bits together without other bits falling off. I also find it nicer to work with generally. As to thickness I use a whole range from 5thou (and thinner if I can get hold of it) upwards depending on the thickness of the part I am reproducing and whether it has an edge showing or needs to be thicker to give strength.

[Michael Edge]

Our 2mm scale etches are in .010" n/s.

Judith Edge kits

[bécasse]

Our 2mm scale etches are in .010" n/s.

Judith Edge kits

 

i.e. approximately 0,25mm equating to 1½ inches prototype thickness.

 

The only advantage of brass is that it rolls more readily, (n/s has a nasty tendency to kink), so brass might be useful for forming a boiler, smokebox or saddle tank, otherwise I concur that n/s is much easier to work with and solder.

 

Some of the "blues" don't work very well on n/s but I have found that Birchwood Casey's Aluminum Blue is better than most.

[Graham Hughes]

The only advantage of brass is that it rolls more readily, (n/s has a nasty tendency to kink), so brass might be useful for forming a boiler, smokebox or saddle tank, otherwise I concur that n/s is much easier to work with and solder.

 

Nickle silver sheet tends to have a "grain" from the annealing and rolling process so will roll more easily one way than the other, although in 2mm a length of K&S brass tube is probably the easiest of all when it comes to boilers.

[Chris Higgs]

Our 2mm scale etches are in .010" n/s.

Judith Edge kits

 

As are mine and most other peoples. However, there is the temptation for scratch builders to restrict themselves to one thickness in the same way, which is not necessary. Loco frames can certainly benefit from being made out of something thicker, and things like footplates something thinner to give a nice edge. The late and great Guy Williams used to use very thin sheet in his 4mm models for certain key parts with the result they looked very like the real thing.

 

10 thou is a good thickness for the standard body parts though. 

 

Chris

[Caley Jim]

I use both, mainly because i bought a 1lb tin of brass shims, in a variety of thicknesses from 2thou - 30 thou, many years ago and so have enough to last me a lifetime!  Like Chris all my etches are in .25mm n/s and for boilers I use brass tube.

 

Jim

[Donw]

I agree with other on the use of NS generally sold as Half Hard. Metalsmith also offers NS tube. It is not cheap but we dont need much and they will sell it by the inch. Availbale in 10/11/12/12.5 sizes (among others) which seem useful for 2mm. It can also be easier to slit a tube and squeeze it down rather than rolling one (others may feel differently). They also stock NS strip, bar both round and square, wire.  www.Metalsmith.co.uk

 

Don

[Chris Higgs]

I agree with other on the use of NS generally sold as Half Hard. Metalsmith also offers NS tube. It is not cheap but we dont need much and they will sell it by the inch. Availbale in 10/11/12/12.5 sizes (among others) which seem useful for 2mm. It can also be easier to slit a tube and squeeze it down rather than rolling one (others may feel differently). They also stock NS strip, bar both round and square, wire.  www.Metalsmith.co.uk

 

Don

 

I have a rolling mill, that I use to do coach sides such as Bulleids and BR Mk1s. It also works fine on 4mm loco boilers. But even with mods, it is not capable of rolling sheet to as tight a circle as a 2mm boiler requires. So I agree tube is a better alternative in my view.

 

Chris