S7 scratch building

[airnimal]

I am struggling with my work at present, I cannot get the quality I seek to achieve. I have remade the coupling chains on the LSWR wagon and tried to make the saftey chains from 4mm scale links. I bought some mail order but they were poor quality and I didn't use them. I was given some more at the Macclesfield's show on Saturday by a very kind gentleman from Wigan who was  demonstrating 4mm wagon building. 

I came home and attempted to make them up with a Ambis hook on the end with only limited success.  This is all down to me with Arthritic fingers and poor eyesight. I have made some in the past but I have made these using larger hooks and thicker links. I may leave them off altogether and use rule 1.  My mojo is sadly lacking at present possibly due to the lack of movement with the house and other stresses. 

 

 

[Coal Tank]

Excellent work as usual Mike.

 Where you see mistakes we see perfection. 

John 

[Coal Tank]

I assure you that most of us wish that we could such stunning results.

John 

[TJ52]

I've told you Mike, I can't even make a kit to anything like that standard. Just wish I had your ability. 

 

Terry

[Schooner]

Okay, so it's not perfect - I can see that, and sympathise with the rough journey and your feeling on reaching a different destination than originally planned (welcome to life at sea!).

 

The images and your write up are still chock full of absolutely brilliant lessons and tips to a newbie like me (and I imagine a fair few others). It can be a big deal to share things that aren't so good as well as those that are the very best they can be. Thank you.

 

Leaving the 4mm link saga aside (and, again, even this is valuable to me as I had wondered about doing just that), what did you use for the safety chains at the other end? They're rather good :)

[airnimal]

I was about to start making a small diorama so I can photograph some of my output, when things around here may be changing. I had intended to make a small LNWR signal box that sits over the track joined to a warehouse wall. I have had a etch of the windows for about 20 years and never got around to using 

 

The change hopefully will be that we have accepted an offer on our house and we have put a offer on another house that we like. We have not heard back if our offer has been accepted yet but at least we are moving in the right direction.  The house we like isn't 100% perfect but it does fit most of our needs. There will be some work to do if we do go ahead with the purchase but it is pretty close. There is a small boarded loft as well as a garage for big boys toys. My good lady has given permission for the small bedroom to become a workshop for myself.  We just have to keep our fingers crossed for a good outcome.  

 

So with this future looking a little brighter I am going to the S7 meeting on Saturday. 

[Poggy1165]

There was a similar signal box arrangement at New Mills (Newtown).

 

Some photos here: http://sutherland.davenportstation.org.uk/aaprint/nmn.html

[Schooner]

All the best Mike, fingers x'd for you and your respective offers.

[hayfield]

The change hopefully will be that we have accepted an offer on our house and we have put a offer on another house that we like. We have not heard back if our offer has been accepted yet but at least we are moving in the right direction.  The house we like isn't 100% perfect but it does fit most of our needs. There will be some work to do if we do go ahead with the purchase but it is pretty close. There is a small boarded loft as well as a garage for big boys toys. My good lady has given permission for the small bedroom to become a workshop for myself.  We just have to keep our fingers crossed for a good outcome.  

 

So with this future looking a little brighter I am going to the S7 meeting on Saturday. 

 

Were you at Albury ? I think we may have had a brief chat, did you bring your wagons ?

 

Good luck with the house hunting, we moved/downsized 8 years ago, I guess its almost impossible to find exactly what you want, somethings almost always wrong.

 

We found a house that fitted almost all we wanted in a lovely Essex village close and surrounded by National Trust woodlands and common land, but it was too small and had no shed for a workshop/layout room. As most houses had extensions, we wrongly assumed a small extension would cost 30k. In the end we settled for a complete redevelopment of downstairs 3m wide wrap-around  extension costing an awful lot more, but having something so much better than we expected with an internal (small) railway den 

 

Good luck with your move and I hope you find what you both are looking for

[airnimal]

Thank you to everyone for all the kind wishes. It is both an exciting time and a slightly worrying time. Not long after posting the last update we received a offer on our house which was a good compromise on what we required and what we could afford to let it go for. 

We had viewed several house that very same morning and we put in a offer that was originally refused,  but with a bit of bartering was also accepted.  This house is in our preferred location and is suitable for both our needs. So now comes all the hassle of sorting everything out in  regarding solicitors and other necessary bodies. 

I have already been tasked with clearing our lots of cupboards and draws as well as ferrying my good lady about to places including Hospital.  She still have a couple of weeks to go with her broken leg still encased in a large plastic boot. There is so much going on at present including trying to find some tyres for my fold up touring bike because I have been booked to go cycling in Hungary in mid June and helping out at my grandsons school because my wife still can't walk any  distance.  The wheels  on my fold up bike are 24" and tyres are very hard to find that are suitable.  I have tried at least 6 bike dealers without success on to be told to go to the internet.  Even that is fraught with difficulty because of my lack of knowledge of buying things from the net.

 

So models have taken a back seat here at the moment although I did try and make a new wagon. Because my mind is not really on the subject I have made a complete mess of this new wagon because it should have curved ends. I was concentrating on getting the plank lines lined up and didn't notice the obvious error until it was to late. Must try harder.  

 

hayfield,  I am sorry if I didn't acknowledge you at Albury on Saturday but I had a bit of a nightmare getting there as well as the change of plans at the last minute. I did take some  stock down there to run but the opportunity didn't arise.  Perhaps I will be in a better frame of mind the next time we meet up. 

[Nickey Line]

2 hours ago, airnimal said:

The wheels  on my fold up bike are 24" and tyres are very hard to find that are suitable.

 

Try SJS Cycles, phone 01278 441500 

or CycleCentric, phone 01954 782020

[hayfield]

 

Mike

 

It should have been me who should be apologizing for not recognising your models. And you did explain about your plans being altered at short notice

 

Moving house is very emotive and perhaps often we are led by our hearts rather than our heads, however our last 2 moves (34 years between the two) we both straight away knew the properties were the correct ones. As far as buying and selling properties, for it to work well it must be a good deal for both/all 3 parties. Good luck with the buying and selling process, we were very lucky as the whole process from listing our property to moving took 2 months (a whirlwind)

 

Having a box with a project in it, which can be both picked up and put away during the moving process is a good thing for your own sanity

 

Great to meet you, and it will make my enjoyment of this thread even more enjoyable

[richard i]

6 minutes ago, hayfield said:

Having a box with a project in it, which can be both picked up and put away during the moving process is a good thing for your own sanity

Having moved 38 times I can agree. Plus a suitcase which you can survive out of for a week or two and pack the kettle and toaster last and unbox first. 
Richard 

[Worsdell forever]

I know you might not want to hear this, but will there be any D********* to do when you move in? 

Anyway, good luck with the move.

[airnimal]

Nicky line, thanks for that information, I did try them but they only have tyres in 24" X 1.75" size which are to wide for my rims. I have tried a few more places without success so I will probably take my Spa tourer instead.  I am going to invest in a large canvas bike bag which will cost about the same as a pare of tyres for my Airnimal. 

 

It is getting hectic at present with a lot of pressure from certain quarters to clear out anything that is surplus to requirements when / if this house move comes off. At present it is all going smoothly but we are in a chain and the paper work is getting organised. Now my wife has removed her boot from her broken leg she has trying to make up for lost time and I am feeling the heat. But today I have been in the workshop to try and get my mojo back. 

 

When I went to a S7 meeting last year I took my PO tank wagon with, me but I managed to break one of the filler cap locking bolts off when unpacking it. When I made this wagon years ago I made the filler cap from plastic with just the butterflies clamps from steel wire. This was a weak point so I thought I better make the replacement from   metal for strength.  

So with my heart in my mouth I took my Dremel with a sanding drum and ground in back to the basic base plate. I found a lenght of brass tube and marked it with a series of saw cuts to take the clamps. The base was shaped to the curve of the tank and the clamps were cut from old etched strip. There is still a bit to go including all the bolts on the base plate as well as repainting all the new parts to blend in with the old. 

 

I have been informed that because I had the day off today, tomorrow will be back to clearing out. The problem is nearly everything in the rest of the house has been done that just leaves the workshop and then the loft. Oh dear ! 

[Nickey Line]

4 hours ago, airnimal said:

Nicky line, thanks for that information, I did try them but they only have tyres in 24" X 1.75" size which are to wide for my rims.

 

Having just checked on SJS's website, it would appear they have 23mm tyres for the Airnimal in stock...

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tyres-24-520/

 

CycleCentric don't have an online shop so I can't check.

 

[airnimal]

Nicky line, yes I did see that tyre on SJS web but I think I have discounted it as being a bit skinny as well as not having much tread.  My  brother has a Airnimal as well as myself and he is about 3 stone heavy than me as well as being very hard on equipment so we would prefer at least 1.25" wide. We both have other bike to use so there isn't any hurry to find the perfect size.

 

I have completed the refurbishment of the filler cap on my tank wagon. I have reduced the height of the cap slightly and replaced all the bolts on the base. I also added the bolts on the locking clamps which were not put on the time I made this tank. The butterfly handles were made slightly thicker and are now unlikely to get damaged through rough handling. A quick repaint completes the makeover.  

 

I am about to enter the loft under supervision.  Like Oats, I may be gone a long time. 

[Western Star]

On 09/05/2024 at 12:44, airnimal said:

 I may be gone a long time.

Ok Captain, just remember to take a map and tread softly.

[airnimal]

Things were going so well................

 

We got the news on Friday morning that the people buying our house have pulled out of the deal. To say we are disappointed would be a huge understatement as we have got to start again from the beginning as well as lettering the people down that we were buying from. We always knew that this could happen,  but it still came as a shock because the couple were so enthusiastic at the prospect of buying our house. Still life goes on. 

 

After finishing the tank filler on my chemical wagon I keep looking around to take my mind off the house move. I very rarely build from kits because of my inability to build them as intended. 

But I do have a pair of NSR milk vans that I took in part exchange for building a brake van for one of my friends.  The gentleman in question was never going to build them because of age and ability coupled with lots of health problems along with so many other interesting hobbies that fill his time. 

 

Now I keep looking at these kits and my mind is working away at the problems that I am likely to encounter.  My 6 wheel coaches that I rebuilt a couple of years ago to replace the finescale wheels with S7 ones all used Slaters GWR etched underframes and these have proved to be reliable.  So I may take a trip over to Matlock and go and see David White and purchase some underframe parts and wheels and maybe a couple of plastic roofs. 

 

I am not sure I should be stating on a complex buid when my mind may not be focusing on modelling but it at least it saves me from pondering on what could have been. 

[Northroader]

Sorry to hear about you house, things have gone very quiet with us the last three weeks, not a single viewer.

[Caley Jim]

Can't understand why England and Wales persist with this crazy system where one person pulling out, for whatever reason, causes chaos for a whole host of people down the line. 

 

Jim 

[airnimal]

Yes Jim,  I agree the Scottish way is far better than our stupid system.  I will try and plow on and as my wife says,  if it gets to us it is only us who suffer. I should have gone out on the bike today but my heart wasn't in it. 

 

Turning  to this kit which has some fine resin casting but they still need cleaning up. This first one has a small amout of flash between the slats. You can hardly see the flash which is just on the edges. I removed this with a flat bladed scalpel and a fine polishing cloth brushing the swafe out with a toothbrush. After cleaning both sides I cleaned up the white buffer housings and drilled them through in the lathe. The buffer heads are steel turnings of various quantities,  some with flat heads with a couple with a more pronounced domed head. These will go back in the lathe to even them up so they all match. There is a problem because the heads are not long enough to spring them according to the brief instructions.  I may replace the buffer heads altogether which may be a better solution.  Until I go and buy the underframe kits I don't think I can go much further.

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

Sorry to hear about the house business, Mike. If you fancy another awayday, you know you would always be welcome here again.

 

Dave

 

 

Edited May 12 by Dave Hunt

[airnimal]

Thanks Dave, much appreciated for the offer. 

 

I have completed the cleaning up of the body castings which incidental are superb.  The patterns i think were made by Ricard De Camin. This is a old kit made about 2008 by Meteor models which is still available by Gladiator models. I don't know if there has been any upgrades but I can't see any reason to do that because the kit is very good. I have glued the body together with superglue and fitted a perspex floor. I made a mess of one end because I failed to see when I fitted the floor it was a few thou to wide. This pushed one side out by about 10 thou which caused a slight gap. I had to use superglue remover and break the join before cleaning everything up and reattaching. I overcame the buffer problem by using a couple of pieces of brass tube with new larger bufferheads found in my spares box. I was pondering about the underframe and realised I still had most of the parts for a pair of 6 wheel coaches when I converted a pair of LNWR to S7 a couple of years ago I could simply remove the finescale wheels and replace them with S7 wheels and use them instead of buying new ones. That a result  !

 

[airnimal]

My good lady has to to Manchester to renew her tram pass and a bit of retail therapy to drown her sorrows. She still is having problems with her leg but it's not stopping her shopping. 

 

So while she is out I carried on with a bit of origami in brass. The underframe is a etch with 3 different bends along the lenght of the van. The first and largest fold is easy enough but the second and third ones take a bit of planning. I do have a bench folder long enough to fold quite long lengths so the first bend was easy. The second one brought out 2 lengths of milled brass to manipulate it with fingers and flat pliers. The third bend was done the same way with a bit of tweaking. These brass bars I bought over 40 years ago and never used them until today. So when you are told to throw things away i can always point to this and say it will come in useful one day. I had to cut out a notch behind the buffers to allow them to work. 

So the next job after cleaning up the etches is to find my wheel puller and remove the finescale wheels.  

Edited May 14 by airnimal