Nickel silver versus brass

[Poggy1165]

For my next loco kit I have a choice between brass and nickel silver, albeit the latter is a higher price.

 

I am inclined to go for nickel silver because I find it easier to solder. But having said that, I have never built a loco in it. Are there any downsides? For example, is the metal significantly harder to form? Any advice would be welcome chaps.

[Mike G]

NS is harder to bend and pretty unforgiving. Half etched bends will tend to tear if you didn't get it right first time. But, I'd still go for NS, the advantages in soldering out way the problems...in my opinion. You just have to be careful with this material and plenty of dry runs before you bend anything - unless it's obvious what you have to do.

 

Mike

[ozzyo]

As Mike has said "NS is harder to bend and pretty unforgiving", for curves that you fined on a cylinder try the metal as it comes, if won't form anneal it (heat to cherry red and let cool). NS work hardens faster than brass so you may have to do it a couple of times. A lot of this will depend on the quality of the metal. For boilers a set of rolling bars will help, but not essential.

 

I also fined that punched out rivets tend to look sharper as well. It's easer to solder and keep clean, cuts and drills well (you will need sharp drills).

 

About the only down side is it's more expensive than brass.

 

OzzyO.

[Kenton]

n/s for chassis and brass for superstructure - wins on all fronts. I really do not like working with n/s and find brass incredibly receptive to solder (but then n/s is as well). As always, it all comes down to having the metal clean as far as soldering is concerned. n/s "hardens" much easier than brass which is why it breaks or is a struggle to bend you may find that annealing it is a much more important step than with brass.

[Adrian]

Nickel-silver for me everytime, chassis and bodywork. Never had any problems with working N/S and never found the need to anneal it either. It is so much easier to solder and work than brass.

 

Although do be aware that there are different grades of N/S, there is half-hard and soft varieties. I use both for different jobs. The soft variety is very easy to work and form, tender flares etc. The half-hard variety is it implies is slightly harder to work but gives a nice straight crisp edge and is less prone to damage, so for fine detail with unsupported edges.

 

Final bonus for N/S over brass, it takes paint much better.

[RichardJones]

Depends what the kit is, if it's a saddle tank for example with lots of curves that need bending then brass will be easier to work with. If it's mostly straight sides and 90 degree bends then the extra rigidity of NS will be more than repaid. My 2mm underframes are made from 10thou NS, even the 0.3mm wide half etched strips are incredibly tough, you have to be really ham fisted to damage the stuff.

[Poggy1165]

Thank you gentlemen! Useful advice and food for thought. I won't rush into a decision.

[N15class]

I would go for nickle silver for all of the reasons above. I also have had no problems forming it. A real big advantage is that it takes paint far better than brass. I try to use all the time for scratchbuilding.

[richbrummitt]

My 2p: I don't like brass kits. The advantages, when compared to nickel silver, are that it is cheaper and you can easily make a fold twice. Nickel silver is so much nicer to work with in many ways (probably all covered above) but some manufacturers still insist on using brass, usually on cost grounds when pressed for a reason.

[richbrummitt]

My 2mm underframes are made from 10thou NS, even the 0.3mm wide half etched strips are incredibly tough, you have to be really ham fisted to damage the stuff.

 

Is it one long half etched fold line? You can make things easier by perforating the fold line, or removing larger portions of it. If you look at the association etches this is how a lot of them are made easier to fold. This is more important if the solid material either side is not a large area because it is difficult to get a hold of to avoid deformation, sometimes even with the use of bending bars.