Semaphore Signals - 4mm Scale (Mainly)

[Steve Hewitt]

I often find some details on models are particularly difficult to fabricate convincingly.

If etches or castings are commercially available, then I use those of course.

 

However, some are not readily available, or only so as part of an expensive etch.

 

The ones Les has made for me address this issue.

They are shown here in 4mm scale, but 7mm scale versions have also been produced.

 

For this current project:

These etches are for the Calling On arms, Ladder Hoops and GWR Lamp Brackets.

 

For LNWR signals:

This etch is for both 4mm and 7mm scales.

They are the curved tops for Ladder stiles.

 

For GWR square post signals:

These are the various components for the lampman's staging.

 

All these items have been produced from published prototype drawings, and I hope will allow me to consistantly "get it right" in the models I build.

 

Steve.

[Jon Fitness]

Wouldn't mind a few of those in 7mm Steve! Oh and if he's thinking of doing some GW balance weight arms.....and an LMS mechanical route indicator and and and...


Looking forward to seeing the signals too

Jon F.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Jon Fitness

[Steve Hewitt]

Continuing with the model....

 

The main structure of the bracket is based on an MSE etch for a four-post signal.

By removing the top and bottom surfaces, and cutting the diagonal bracing to the correct length, I had the bits I needed from the etch.

I soldered together two lengths of brass strip which were then drilled for the three dolls and the main post.

Two holes accurately drilled in a piece of MDF made a simple jig to hold two drills around which the new bracket assembly was made up.

With the main post in place, and the "T" section struts added, the result is:

You can see the two 1/32in tubes I've fitted in the structure where the operating cranks will eventually be pivotted.

 

Each 2mm dia. doll was made up with 1/32in brass tube for the arm pivots and the new etched lamp brackets soldered in place:

 

The balance arms and their pivots are from an MSE etch except where two balance arms are adjacent:

 

In this shot you can see the lamp bracket for a Calling On arm is on the same side of the post as the arm bearing:

In this case the lamp bracket is fitted into a drilled hole in the post, with a short length of N/S wire soldered underneath to keep it rigid. Without this, the half etched fold line left the lamp bracket a bit wobbly.

 

The tallest doll, which has both Home and Distant arms with two working balance arms, needed a bracket cut from square tube to accomodate both:

 

A cap for the main post was turned and drilled from brass bar.

Mounted on a dummy post, the top profile was carefully formed with a fine file:

 

Transferred to the main post, and the support for the wooden staging added:

 

 

More soon...

Steve.

[Steve Hewitt]

The three dolls were located by the pre-drilled holes in the bracket.

The lower holes were covered temporarily with masking tape to get the doll height correct, and prevent rotation during soldering:

 

At this stage I couldn't resist trying out the arms etc:

 

Loose bits safely back in their box and the ladders were added:

 

 

The smoke shield has been made to locate in the bottom of the doll:

 

 

Here it is in position, temporarily:

 

More soon...

Steve.

[Steve Hewitt]

Final ladder is from the ground up to the staging:

 

 

Just the lamps, finials and handrails to fit before a good clean and polish and trip to the spray booth....

 

Steve.

[Steve Hewitt]

Before going any further I had to change the foundation tube.

The model will be located on a baseboard which is 36mm thick, as a cross member passes immediately below the signal.

The 1/2 in. dia foundation tube therefore has to accomodate this plus the thickness of the little board which will carry the servos and leave a bit extra to allow easy removal at any future time. Its about 45mm long:

 

In anticipation of the final assembly, and eventual transport, I've made the signal's "storage & transport" frame. This represents a small piece of baseboard, with side supports to leave a space below the signal for the servos etc. Its made from off-cuts of ply, MDF etc from the local merchant, trimmed to size on the bandsaw and glued together to give the required thickness.

 

Side view:

Top view:

 

Side view with the signal in place:

 

Whilst messing about with the plywood etc, I also made the mounting for the four servos.

This little assembly is designed to locate on the bottom of the foundation tube and be secured to the underside of the baseboard.

The servos are arranged to align with the operating wires which will eventaully pass down the foundation tube.

 

Front view:

 

Side view:

 

In place:

 

The signal will eventually be transported like this, in a plastic box, padded with dense foam.

It can the be dis-assembled and the assembly copied in the correct location on the layout.

 

More soon,

Steve.

 

 

 

[Steve Hewitt]

Happy New Year!

 

Some more progress to report.

First the main signal with the white metal details added:

 

Then with the Handrails:

 

Clean, scrub, polish, de-grease etc., then off to the paint booth.

 

A day or two later we have some of the bits:

 

And the main signal:

 

Now waiting for the interesting bit - assembly and making it all work!

 

More soon.

Steve.

 

[Steve Hewitt]

I think I find the assembly the most enjoyable part of building signals.

 

I already know the various components fit together, as they have been tried out earlier in the build.

With the arms in their bearings, and the balance levers in theirs, it's time to connect them all together.

I'm using 0.4mm N/S wire to connect the various components. Its fairly fine, but rigid enough to not buckle too easily when having to "push" rather than "pull".

Several lengths were first blackened using "Beechwood Casey Gun Blue".

 

The left hand arm is operated by a pull wire next to the main post, a crank to turn the pull to the horizontal where it then connects to the lower end of the balance arm. As the wire pulls, the arm rotates and pushes upwards on the Push Rod to move the signal arm:

 

The middle arm is operated more directly. With the balance arm in direct line with the first pull wire, there is no need for a crank and the wire is connected to the outer end of the balance arm. The Push Rod again moves the signal arm:

I hope you can make out the various components in this shot.

 

The right hand doll carries two working arms - the upper Stop arm and the lower Distant.

These require the use of two cranks mounted on a common pivot and two balance arms carried in a single bearing:

The various components are of necessity over scale and the balance arm for the Stop signal operates outside the handrails!

The balance arm for the Distant carries a second weight to represent the "drop off slot".

The actual slotting is performed electrically, by wiring the switches for the servo motors so that the Distant can only be cleared simultaneously with or subsequent to the Stop arm being cleared:

 

With all the connections made, the signal looks like this:

The non-working calling on signals are fixed of course.

 

Last bits for now are the stained wooden staging timbers:

 

The lower ends of the opeating wires are terminated in 1/32in brass tube, running in the vertical guide tubes mentioned previously:

 

More soon, when it'll be time to connect up the servos and test everything out.

 

Steve.

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Looking very nice Steve - a couple of points though -

1. The bottom rim of the finials was normally painted black, and

 

2. A completely different pattern of lamp case was used for subsidiary (Calling On etc) arms with a large rectangular section to reveal the appropriate letter when the arm was off.

[Steve Hewitt]

Looking very nice Steve - a couple of points though -

1. The bottom rim of the finials was normally painted black, and

 

2. A completely different pattern of lamp case was used for subsidiary (Calling On etc) arms with a large rectangular section to reveal the appropriate letter when the arm was off.

 

Oh Dear!

You can tell I'm not a GWR man can't you.

 

Do you have any drawings or photos which show the lamp casing.

How the letters are mounted isn't clear in Vaughn's book, and as the arms are fixed, they won't be seen clearly anyway.

I'd still rather get them right if possible.

 

Hoping you, or someone else can help.

 

Thanks,

Steve.

[The Stationmaster]

Oh Dear!

You can tell I'm not a GWR man can't you.

 

Do you have any drawings or photos which show the lamp casing.

How the letters are mounted isn't clear in Vaughn's book, and as the arms are fixed, they won't be seen clearly anyway.

I'd still rather get them right if possible.

 

Hoping you, or someone else can help.

 

Thanks,

Steve.

 

I'll go through my photos and see if I've got anything Steve - I know I've got some with the arms at danger but they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot in this instance.  I'll have a delve tomorrow if time allows as I might have the backs of some signals at Salop from my mouch around there 20 years ago.

 

This won't be much help but if you look carefully (and if it shows up_ you'll see what looks like a dark shadow extending almost the length of the arm - that is the bottom edge of the lampcase

 

[LNERGE]

About 1/8 of my photo collection of WR signals..

 

Edited January 7, 2013 by LNERGE

[The Stationmaster]

About 1/8 of my photo collection of WR signals..

 

DSC02411a.jpg

 

Poor thing - yet another without a finial and with one of those daft numberplates added for those who don't know which signal they're standing at!  Otherwise a nice pic

[Steve Hewitt]

I'll go through my photos and see if I've got anything Steve - I know I've got some with the arms at danger but they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot in this instance.  I'll have a delve tomorrow if time allows as I might have the backs of some signals at Salop from my mouch around there 20 years ago.

 

This won't be much help but if you look carefully (and if it shows up_ you'll see what looks like a dark shadow extending almost the length of the arm - that is the bottom edge of the lampcase

 

Liskeard Up Starting Signal 1983.jpg

Thanks Mike,

 

That "shadow" looks like it could be from something very shallow "front to back" - sort of a flat extension to the front of the lamp casing, just to carry the "C.O."  "W" etc.?

 

Hopefully a photo from the rear of one of these would help.

 

Steve.

[The Stationmaster]

Steve,

 

This is the best I can do so far (and might be all - I'm still looking through the rest of my pics but thought I get this Shrewsbury one on its way) -

 

 

 

 

[Steve Hewitt]

Steve,

 

This is the best I can do so far (and might be all - I'm still looking through the rest of my pics but thought I get this Shrewsbury one on its way) -

 

img330.jpg

 

img330b.jpg

Thanks very much for your efforts Mike,

 

The close-up seems to show a "thin" extension to the lamp case carrying the letters, as I suspected from the "shadow" on the earlier picture.

 

Steve.

[LNERGE]

I have something similar for an upper quadrant arm. There is an angled mirror (not quite at 45 degrees) behind the legend. I can nip outside and take some photo's if of interest.

[The Stationmaster]

And a bit more - here's one I made earlier; more or less literally as it is a bitza built from pieces of several signals we recovered from the Hallen Marsh area and erected (following alterations to suit our needs) at Tyseley so this one we reconstructed to my spec to produce two equal height dolls; signal modelling on a large scale!

 

I took this pic several years later (in 1993 I believe) and specifically to illustrate what one of these looks like with the arm in the 'off position (pulled off to order as it happens).  The daft thing is that I've only just noticed that the arm which is off is back to front so you can also see the colour scheme for the rear of a sub arm as well as the front on the other sub arm - I've an idea someone must have replaced the arm at sometime as I'm fairly sure it wasn't like that originally and I don't doubt that Major Olver would have noticed it on the Inspection visit knowing his eagle eye for detail (I had enough problems with him over some unusual locking we'd incorporated).

 

Now as far as the lamp cases are concerned there are some things to note - firstly the 'round bit' (i.e. that nearest in design to a normal lamp case) is concerned it lies directly behind the arm and as can be seen from the right hand doll it is bracketed out some way from the doll itself.  The next thing to note is the rectangular portion- as the various pics have shown it is more or less the same depth as the arm and extends almost the full length of it.  What hasn't show up too clearly I'm afraid is the way it tapers towards the end - at the round part of the lamp case it is almost as deep back to front as the diameter of the main lamp case then the back of it tapers in towards the front as can be seen quite clearly on the right hand doll.

 

I don't think I can find a drawing although there is one place I haven't yet looked and I don't think I've any more pics of these which will offer any more detail than that I've been able to uncover so far so I hope these will have helped a bit.

 

 

[Steve Hewitt]

And a bit more - here's one I made earlier; more or less literally as it is a bitza built from pieces of several signals we recovered from the Hallen Marsh area and erected (following alterations to suit our needs) at Tyseley so this one we reconstructed to my spec to produce two equal height dolls; signal modelling on a large scale!

 

I took this pic several years later (in 1993 I believe) and specifically to illustrate what one of these looks like with the arm in the 'off position (pulled off to order as it happens).  The daft thing is that I've only just noticed that the arm which is off is back to front so you can also see the colour scheme for the rear of a sub arm as well as the front on the other sub arm - I've an idea someone must have replaced the arm at sometime as I'm fairly sure it wasn't like that originally and I don't doubt that Major Olver would have noticed it on the Inspection visit knowing his eagle eye for detail (I had enough problems with him over some unusual locking we'd incorporated).

 

Now as far as the lamp cases are concerned there are some things to note - firstly the 'round bit' (i.e. that nearest in design to a normal lamp case) is concerned it lies directly behind the arm and as can be seen from the right hand doll it is bracketed out some way from the doll itself.  The next thing to note is the rectangular portion- as the various pics have shown it is more or less the same depth as the arm and extends almost the full length of it.  What hasn't show up too clearly I'm afraid is the way it tapers towards the end - at the round part of the lamp case it is almost as deep back to front as the diameter of the main lamp case then the back of it tapers in towards the front as can be seen quite clearly on the right hand doll.

 

I don't think I can find a drawing although there is one place I haven't yet looked and I don't think I've any more pics of these which will offer any more detail than that I've been able to uncover so far so I hope these will have helped a bit.

 

img331a.jpg

 

img331b.jpg

Mike,

 

Thanks once again for your efforts.

I can see the shape exactly as you describe it.

 

What I can't see is the "back to front" arm?

Surely, if the arm had been reversed the spectacle would be below the blade rather than in line with the lamp.

Both look identical to me.

 

Steve.

[The Stationmaster]

Mike,

 

Thanks once again for your efforts.

I can see the shape exactly as you describe it.

 

What I can't see is the "back to front" arm?

Surely, if the arm had been reversed the spectacle would be below the blade rather than in line with the lamp.

Both look identical to me.

 

Steve.

 

 

That is of course correct Steve - what I think has gone on them is that the front of the arm has collected a neat dark stripe in almost exactly the same place as the painted black stripe on the back, definitely looks rather odd (and somewhat misleading as far as my addled brain is concerned  ).  Anyway you picked up my error so all is now well, I hope.

[Highlandman]

The GWR signal looks fantastic. What a great job you've done on it. Is the Beechwood Casey Gun Blue you use the same as the Birchwood Casey Super Blue 90ml available from Eileens Emporium? In 4mm what do you use for the planking on the platform surface.

 

I only hope that my attempts look half as good as yours. Keep up the great work and thread, it's been really educational.

 

All the best

 

Andy

[Steve Hewitt]

The GWR signal looks fantastic. What a great job you've done on it. Is the Beechwood Casey Gun Blue you use the same as the Birchwood Casey Super Blue 90ml available from Eileens Emporium? In 4mm what do you use for the planking on the platform surface.

 

I only hope that my attempts look half as good as yours. Keep up the great work and thread, it's been really educational.

 

All the best

 

Andy

Andy,

Thanks for your kind comments.

 

Yes, of course its the same thing.

My excuse is "its a long walk from my shed to the computer to remember the name correctly at my age"   

 

The wood for the staging is from the "North Eastern Lumber" range. (Just been out to check).

They sell a large range of sizes in H0 scale.

I stain it with one of the "Colron" wood stains.

 

Steve.

[Howard Smith]

Very nice Steve,

    Another masterpiece in the making I'm sure.

Howard

[Steve Hewitt]

Thanks Howard.

Hope you're settling in to the new job?

 

Steve.

[Steve Hewitt]

Just a tiny bit of progress:

I've made replacement lamps for the Calling-on arms:

They were glued to cocktail sticks for painting etc., (one has detatched itself).

Of course this will all be almost invisible when the model is viewed!

 

Steve.