Jon Fitness' average 7mm signals workbench.

[Jon Fitness]

Busy busy busy culminating with an excellent Kaiser Chiefs gig at Llandudno yesterday! Ears are still ringing...  

The welded stem bracket signal is coming together with a few experimental mods. The main issue I have with the kit stems from the fact that the original artwork was for 4mm scale and was "shot up" to 7mm. To represent the welded plates on the channels, the edges are half etched and very thin. There is also a gap on the corners, presumably to assist with bending them and the gaps are accentuated with the enlargement of the etch. Trouble is, this leaves the half etch areas with no support on the edges. When attempting to solder these, the half etch bits distort away from the sides and are very difficult to get to look right..

My answer was to remove these half etched bits between the plates and replace them with something a bit more substantial (scrap etch!)

It's still not brilliant but at least the front face looks acceptable (to me anyway!)

Here are 3 more prepared dolls for the WSB..

Time to build up the main structure

and here are the three signals all "dolled up!"

 

Time for a bracket fest now. The tubular dolls used modified etched brackets from stuff I had etched a while ago and the WSB has brackets made up from 1.5 brass angle and scrap etch.

 

They are all off for a good scrub in Cif stainless steel cleaner before a bit of general tidying up.

 

Next up will be the staging and ladders....

 

More soon

 

JF

 

[Steve Hewitt]

Nice one Jon,

They have real "presence".

 

Steve

[Jon Fitness]

Slow but steady progress on the LMS bracket signals. Here is one mostly fitted out and ready for cleaning and tidying up (in that order!). Still a lot of trimming and scraping to do but the job is easier without all the sticky flux on it! The front handrail will go on after painting and assembly of the linkages.

More soon

JF

[Jon Fitness]

More steady progress. I have 3 built structures now, all now have the LED wiring done and with a bit of scraping and cleaning were ready to paint...

 

 

The welded stem bracket has SMD leds fitted and after taking advice (thanks SimonD!!) each LED has a seperate 10k resistor. All the LEDs now light with equal brightness on 12v DC. Only time will tell whether the little SMD resistors will cope with the current without overheating and going fzzt!

 

 

Some very nice weather allowed some basic painting to be done so...nearly there!

 

 

The linkages are all designed and built and will be fitted once they too have been painted or chemically blackened as necessary.

 

More soon

 

JF

[Simond]

Nice job Jon. Glad the resistor advice was helpful.

 

Now, without measuring your smd resistors, there's a bit if guesswork, but they're either 2mm long or 3.2mm long. Assuming the smaller footprint, they're probably rated at 0.1W, and I'm guessing you're running them on 6V. P=VxV/R or 36/10000 = 0.0036W, so it seems unlikely that they're going to get even slightly warm. Even if you doubled the voltage, they'd only be giving 0.0144W.

 

Best

Simon

Edited March 15, 2017 by Simond

[Steve Hewitt]

Delightful structures Jon, looking JLTRT.

That sky's quite good too.

 

Steve.

[Jon Fitness]

Nice job Jon. Glad the resistor advice was helpful.

Now, without measuring your smd resistors, there's a bit if guesswork, but they're either 2mm long or 3.2mm long. Assuming the smaller footprint, they're probably rated at 0.1W, and I'm guessing you're running them on 6V. P=VxV/R or 36/10000 = 0.0036W, so it seems unlikely that they're going to get even slightly warm. Even if you doubled the voltage, they'd only be giving 0.0144W.

Best

Simon

Er....glad one of us understands that! Where electronics are concerned, I'm living proof that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

What I will do is leave it on test for an hour or so before I hand it over to my victim sorry, customer...

Cheers

JF

Edited March 16, 2017 by Jon Fitness

[Jon Fitness]

Delightful structures Jon, looking JLTRT.

That sky's quite good too.

 

Steve.

Thanks Steve, I'm particularly pleased with the back scene....! Must get round to painting out the telephone wire!

JF

Edited March 16, 2017 by Jon Fitness

[beast66606]

Thanks Steve, I'm particularly pleased with the back scene....! Must get round to painting out the telephone wire!

JF

 

The vehicle is overscale too

[Jon Fitness]

Here's the WS bracket re-assembled and ready for testing. It got a bit battered in the process and a couple of repairs to the handrails as well as fitting the missing bits became necessary. Trying to re-fit 3 weight bars (the middle arm has a direct  rod down to the servo and no weight bar!  )and coupling them up to both the servos and drive wires proved to be a bit too much for my sausage fingers as the bearing is a box shape. I admit I rather lost it trying to thread the axle pin back through and ended up cutting the end off the bearing and re-soldering the end after threading the pin through the weightbars and the end plate!    .

I've got the wooden treads on and the doll ladders fitted so it's just a lot of tidying up and hand painting over the repairs etc. and we'll be done. (And yes I know the stop arm still needs a black band on it!)

 

 

Details of the cross shafting

 

 

More soon

JF

Edited March 24, 2017 by Jon Fitness

[Highlandman]

Do you mean like this??

 

Again more great work we can only aspire to. You and Steve seem to have the semaphore signal market cornered. :-)

 

[Jon Fitness]

Do you mean like this??

 

john fitness no wires.jpg

 

Again more great work we can only aspire to. You and Steve seem to have the semaphore signal market cornered. :-)

Much better... Hey the electric has gone off now!

 

LOL

JF

[Jon Fitness]

It's been a bit of a slog and trying to fit in bench time with 12 hour shifts was a bit of a struggle (although that won't be a problem for much longer    ). The weather hasn't been great for taking decent pictures either so when the sun finally shone whilst I was at home in the daylight hours, out came the camera for a session.

Anyway here are the 3 bracket signals done and ready for their new owner to install...

Planks from 0.8mm ply, stained with a thinned mix of Humbrols 33&29

All 3 have been lightly weathered with nothing more complex than a quick wash of very dilute matt black. This is simply to take the harsh edge off the white and bring out the detail on the lumpy bits.

The rocker shafts on the 2 doll 2 arm bracket as both arms required a link!. From brass tube on a 0.6mm axle and odd bits of scrap brass strip.

More planks!

The 2 doll 3 arm bracket. A bit easier as only the offset shunt arm required a rocker shaft.

The 3 doll 4 arm Welded stem chap.

2 different diameter tubes and the 0.6mm axle all used to operate the arms. The middle main arm has a direct link and (cough) no weight bar !.

Some moody "looking up from ground level" shots!

There's a video on the way later today when I get home and finish editing it!

More soon

JF

Edited April 2, 2017 by Jon Fitness

[Steve Hewitt]

Fitness should be spelt Finesse.

 

They're great models.

 

Steve.

[Jon Fitness]

Fitness should be spelt Finesse.

 

They're great models.

 

Steve.

Cheers Steve, trying to raise my game a little on these LMS U/Qs as they tend to be a bit ummm, ordinary without a few extra lumpy bits! I should have added a few of my contact box castings  but to be honest I forgot until after I'd painted them. .  Not keen on glueing anything metal on to them and I didn't want to spoil the paintwork by trying to solder anything extra.

Next time!

There's a few ground signals on the cards next but I might just slip something L&Y in before I start them...!

ATB

JF

[Signaller69]

Jon you have made model semaphore signals into a fine artform my friend!

 

Martyn.

[Jon Fitness]

Jon you have made model semaphore signals into a fine artform my friend!

 

Martyn.

Got me blushing here!

 

I'm still learning from the master...

 

JF

[Buckingham]

Jon

 

I've learnt lots about building model signals from following this and Steve's threads, both of you build some cracking signals and it's interesting to see you deal with the various issues that arise. I've just understood this morning how slotted signals work. I've only got 4 simple LQ LNWR signals to build, but I'm going to make it more difficult by modelling 2 different periods, as they were replaced by LMS UQ tubular steel posts in the mid 1950s, so the signals will be interchangeable. I'm presently fitting all the wiring, switches and GF Controls boards before I build the signals so that I can make them work immediately and not have to wait for months doing the wiring. Then there are two ground signals to follow, as long as I can make the simple home and starter signals successfully! This is for a 4mm model of Buckingham LNWR. Please keep doing what you do as it helps me feel that I should be able to make my simple signals work, following the principles you and Steve have established.

[Jon Fitness]

Jon

 

I've learnt lots about building model signals from following this and Steve's threads, both of you build some cracking signals and it's interesting to see you deal with the various issues that arise. I've just understood this morning how slotted signals work. I've only got 4 simple LQ LNWR signals to build, but I'm going to make it more difficult by modelling 2 different periods, as they were replaced by LMS UQ tubular steel posts in the mid 1950s, so the signals will be interchangeable. I'm presently fitting all the wiring, switches and GF Controls boards before I build the signals so that I can make them work immediately and not have to wait for months doing the wiring. Then there are two ground signals to follow, as long as I can make the simple home and starter signals successfully! This is for a 4mm model of Buckingham LNWR. Please keep doing what you do as it helps me feel that I should be able to make my simple signals work, following the principles you and Steve have established.

Many thanks! I'm always happy when someone can take something from what I do on here as it's the basis for what the forum stands for. I have gleaned so much information from this forum over the years and learnt a great deal from many contributors for which I will be eternally grateful.

This was the first LNW signal I built about 8 years ago and it's still in use on our layout at Saltney having started its life outside on a garden railway!

Looking forward to seeing your signals being built, and if you need any assistance you know where we are!

Cheers

JF

[Jon Fitness]

Here is the video of the testing of all 3 signals. It's a bit long and rambling (probably a bit tedious too!). I must start thinking about making them a bit more interesting.
Fast motion? Black and white? Loud music sound track.....!?
Ideas welcome (sillier the better  !!)
 

 
JF Edited April 3, 2017 by Jon Fitness

[LNERGE]

Here is the video of the testing of all 3 signals. It's a bit long and rambling (probably a bit tedious too!). I must start thinking about making them a bit more interesting.

Fast motion? Black and white? Loud music sound track.....!?

Ideas welcome (sillier the better  !!)

 

 

JF

I have several tubular post signals in the garden. They all bounce differently. If you made one of yours bounce like my ENJ22 signal no one would believe it. You should see what the repeater does.

[SimonME46]

Brilliant as always Jon!

[Jon Fitness]

Well, this may or may not end up as a signal!

 

Lochgorm Kits produced 2 sizes of etched brass fold up signal posts to represent wooden tapered ones. They are currently out of stock and it doesn't look like there will be any more. I think I bought the last one! They fold up in a similar way to the etched lattice posts available from MSE but have a solid fold line instead of small sections of fold area.

They are etched from fairly thick brass and to help with the folding process I ran an OLFA scrawker along the half etched line about 4 times.

 

 

My Hold&Fold still struggled a little and the two "halves" when folded, managed to take on a slight banana shape as if one side was slightly longer than the other.

 

 

There are tabs and recesses down each edge and a half etch along one edge of each section all to help locate and align the 2 sections. Some of the tabs/recesses didnt quite match and need a bit of alteration with a file. The tabs are designed to be filed away once the post is fully assembled.

I managed to overcome the slight bend in the 2 halves and tack solder them together. Already it is quite a strong structure but here is still a slight bend and now also a slight twist!

 

 

I will eventually solder along the entire length of each join and clean up the ensuing mess whilst trying to minimise any twists and bends.

If all is ok at the end I'll be having a look in the L&Y drawer for some bits to populate it with; if not it'll be back to the old planed firework stick!

I'm not yet convinced this brass post has that many advantages over a wooden one other than I can solder everything to it and use it as an electrical earth for lamps. The time taken to get as far as I have is probably the same as a home made wooden one but I want it to be better than the wooden one to take advantage of the 2 plus points mentioned above.

Maybe it's a good idea not very well designed or possibly my clumsy brass bending methods.. we shall see!

 

More soon

 

JF

Edited April 6, 2017 by Jon Fitness

[Buckingham]

Interested to see how you get on with this, the LNWR LQ signals I have to make for Buckingham are also tapered wooden posts and I have Michael Clark's Masokits etched brass tapered post kits which look very similar to do this with in 4mm.

 

David

[Jon Fitness]

Interested to see how you get on with this, the LNWR LQ signals I have to make for Buckingham are also tapered wooden posts and I have Michael Clark's Masokits etched brass tapered post kits which look very similar to do this with in 4mm.

David

Ah, I've used Michaels 4mm scale crank etches for my 7mm signals a few times and they are very finely etched. I would imagine the posts will be superb. I wonder if I could persuade him to do it in 7mm?

JF