Jon Fitness Posted March 24, 2014 Author Share Posted March 24, 2014 Hello Jon, for the beading, I think that I'd have tinned the wire with a lot of 145 deg. solder and used a damp (just a bit of solder on it, you get better heat transfer [but you know that]) iron. A bit of solder past wouldn't go amiss as well. Then lots of liquid flux. Then run the iron at about 430 deg. Interesting looking build. OzzyO. Thanks OzzyO, you are of course dead right about the "damp" iron. I'm probably holding back on the solder just to reduce the amount of cleaning up afterwards. I've done a bit more beading since and added a lot more flux along with a more generous amount of paste. Getting better as I practice!Cheers JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 26, 2014 Author Share Posted March 26, 2014 (edited) A determined effort with the solder paste and lots of flux has got about 90% of the beading on;(there will be more once the cabfront goes on). The hardest part was soldering the wire into er..half a half etch at the back on what will be the joint between the resin upper back panel and the brasswork. There is also an area above the lowerdeck windows for a rainstrip to be soldered. This is only fitted if the bus has half drop windows, which it won't so I'll have to find a bit of narrower strip to replace it. I think the kit may be a little more biased towards the pre-war TD7 than Wistow are letting on! That back window size is bugging me too but it could be a "job too far". I'm not sure I could match the pattern of the half etch around the windows and if I got it wrong it would look worse than leaving it well alone! After a scrub with Cillit bang and Cif as well. I've also created a new numberplate recess at the back and run a piece of scrap etch around the edge of the back platform. Now to start the tedious process of cleaning up the excess solder . More soon JF Edited March 26, 2014 by Jon Fitness 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Not much to report at the moment bus-wise except the addition of replacement "rain strips" over the lower deck windows and the gluing in with epoxy, of the rear upper deck panel. The strips were tinned with 145 solder and sweated on with my 60w iron. Lots of scraping/scrubbing with various tools has cleaned up the beading job a bit. Unfortunately it has also shown up a few bits that are less than straight! I'm also holding off with the filler until I'm sure as much of the soldering as possible has been done. Its quite a heat sink and gets quite warm when soldering even small bits on. I do have a resistance soldering iron to use but I need more practise with it before I commit to it on a kit! Tonight's work will hopefully be forming the lower deck floor and the cab structure. More soon JF 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 The lowerdeck floor is a fold up item. It's another one of those jobs which would probably be a lot easier with a "hold&fold" but I just used a "fingers&pliers" (a bit cheaper but not as accurate!) The etch removed from the fret The sides are bent down at 90deg followed by the sides of the central sunken gangway The seatboxes at the sides are folded up but obviously are a bit limited by the geometry of what can be made from a flat etch. A patch will be added later. The gangway floor and fitted to the main floor Next is the clutch housing cover. This is curved over a felt tip marker for shape and soldered at the front of the floor The floor then locates roughly between the front and rear bulkheads. It's a little bit short but it looks like some thought has been applied to it's location to make it possible to install/remove it for painting/glazing/adding little people. There are holes in the step at the back that would align to have maybe a bolt or pin fitted to retain it. Cabfront. The cabfront and inner side-wall fold at 90deg and fit rather well in the space provided. The top edge slides underneath the canopy and after shaping the windscreen to match the body profile and aligning the beading lines, can be soldered in. The option to represent a PD2 rather than the slightly earlier PD1 is simply done by taking 2.5mm off the bottom of the cabfront panel. folded up and the front panel altered The cab floor is next. This can also be made up and fitted after painting. It has a tab at the back which slots into a hole at the back of the cab but this seems a little high so I'll be looking at that later.. The cab seat (and all the others...and theres a lot!) are a fold up etch That's all for now, more soon... JF 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 5, 2014 Author Share Posted April 5, 2014 (edited) Seats. These, again, are folded up from etch, and intended to be painted and glued in on the top deck. I can solder them to the lower deck and paint the whole thing as a unit ready to fit. The side seats that go over the rear wheel arches downstairs. Cut from the fret The edges of the seat back are folded back against the back The ends of the squabs are bent round to form the curved corners and bent down to form a deep-ish looking cushion The seat back is bent up to be 90deg to the squab which will then sit at the appropriate angle when fitted to the seat box The main seats... These are folded up in the same way except there are only sides to fold back on the seat back These seats have legs which locate in slots in the floors so check the alignment on these And repeat another 26 times! Here's the lower deck floor complete. Please note, no solder was harmed during the making of these seats! I may fill the corners of the cushions and strengthen the fold between backs and squabs with a bit later. Sorry about the gazillion pictures! More in a week or so Jon F. Edited April 5, 2014 by Jon Fitness 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Spoons Posted April 21, 2014 Share Posted April 21, 2014 A superb build of an interesting kit, I'm following this with interest! Cheers David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 A superb build of an interesting kit, I'm following this with interest! Cheers David Thanks for the comment! I'm looking forward to getting back to this once I've built a few more signals (shouldn't be long!!) Having seen your lovely scratchbuild, I think I'll be going down that route for my next bus as the number of alterations I have done (and still have to do!) on the kit are making it almost a scratchbuild. It's not really an adverse comment about the kit, it's just there's no such thing as a "standard" version of any bus! Cheers Jon F. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 (edited) Thought I'd take a look at the "chassis" for the PD1. There is a representation of the chassis frames/springs provided on the etch.. These were snipped off, the flanges formed where provided and the resulting rather flimsy frames strengthened where the gaps in the flanges were. The spacers were soldered in and the assembly squared up as necessary. The cast whitemetal wheels look like the castings available from Blackberry Way (are they still about?) They look to be the right size but don't really look very "Leyland-y". They could do with a few holes drilling around the wheel dish and some nut rings for the front ones. This is a PD front wheel. The rear wheels had the nuts filed off and were paired "face to face" and soldered to the brass axle. These were then spaced to suit the body width and soldered to the chassis frames. Now this lot should be fun...it goes together to form the front axle/Ackerman steering assembly More soon! JF Edited April 28, 2014 by Jon Fitness 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzyo Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Have you made the rear wheels look flat at the bottom, or is that how the casting came? I think that really looks good. It gives the impression on weight on the back axle. OzzyO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 28, 2014 Author Share Posted April 28, 2014 Have you made the rear wheels look flat at the bottom, or is that how the casting came? I think that really looks good. It gives the impression on weight on the back axle. OzzyO. A trick of the light I think OzzyO, but I'll check the pressures in the tyres anyway It does sit reasonably well but there will be some packing where the chassis fits underneath due to my somewhat "average" body assembly skills! Cheers JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobster Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Just read through your thread Jon (At Last ) - First class work that is very Inspiring to all. Cheers, Bob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Just read through your thread Jon (At Last ) - First class work that is very Inspiring to all. Cheers, Bob. Thanks! . Anyway..that front axle... The hubs are folded up (with the half etch on the outside) and 12BA screws soldered in as stub axles. The instructions say that the whitemetal front axle/springs casting was a little difficult to form properly and I should supplement it with the etched top and bottom flanges. After quite a lot of filing and fitting the hubs are secured to the axle with 1mm brass rod as kingpins. and a track rod fitted also with 1mm brass rod. The axle assembly was then trial fitted against the chassis frame. I won't fit the axle until I've positioned the chassis under the bus and fitted the front mudguards to the bodywork. More soon JF 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Are you not fitting track rod adjusters to save tyre wear? This is coming on nicely, looks like there is more involved than there is with a loco. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Are you not fitting track rod adjusters to save tyre wear? This is coming on nicely, looks like there is more involved than there is with a loco. It's turning into quite a complicated job. It's a joint effort between me being a bit of a bus nerd and wanting it to represent a specific class of bus (The Bolton Transport PD2/4s) and the rather low tech and vague fit of some of the parts. The majority of it is OK and at least the design will allow me to paint the thing before I do the final assembly.. The chassis fit will be fun as it has to fasten to the floor which will be removable. I'll have to design a method of bolting it in position rather than soldering it so I can align it but keep it removable. All good fun! JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymw Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hi Jon, Maybe some locating pegs, some tinplate soldered to the brass chassis, and those little strong magnets araldited inside the body. Best wishes, Ray Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hi Jon, Maybe some locating pegs, some tinplate soldered to the brass chassis, and those little strong magnets araldited inside the body. Best wishes, Ray Sounds good. All ideas welcome! JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopard1299 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Hi jon, just wanted to say your bus build is looking rather smart! you are doing a top job. are these kits still around if so have you got any contact details & price for them? im looking forward to seeing more on this build. cheers ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Hi jon, just wanted to say your bus build is looking rather smart! you are doing a top job. are these kits still around if so have you got any contact details & price for them? im looking forward to seeing more on this build. cheers ian Many thanks! The bus is on hold at the moment while I finish another project but will be "fired up" again once I work out the best way of making the required mods to it. The kit is available from Wistow Model Engineering and comes out around £100. No website that I know of but the email is wellysplace@btinternet.com Jon F. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leopard1299 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Many thanks! The bus is on hold at the moment while I finish another project but will be "fired up" again once I work out the best way of making the required mods to it. The kit is available from Wistow Model Engineering and comes out around £100. No website that I know of but the email is wellysplace@btinternet.com Jon F. many thanks for the info jon will send an email. cheers ian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 (edited) With a JLTRT 24 nearly finished it's time to start up the bus again In an attempt to make the front wheels look a bit more Leyland-ish, I've drilled 10 holes around the wheel dish and made a rough go at a nut ring. Ironically I may have to file off the wheel nuts to get the ring to sit right The holes (on the real bus) are for cooling the brake drums. The JLTRT class 24 is one I've wanted to do for a while and is a replacement for the Steve Beattie one I had a few years ago. It sits on Roxey wheels and is powered on one bogie only by an old RJH can motor and gears. Plenty of power but requires a fair poundage of lead to get any grip on the track. There's still a lot of little jobs to do on it before it has a meeting with the weathering kit! More soon JF Edited August 9, 2014 by Jon Fitness 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 9, 2014 Author Share Posted August 9, 2014 On a lighter note these 2 rocked up to relieve the crew on my super D. The incoming crew took one look at them, didn't know where to put themselves and did a runner! Miss Driver waves them off with a giggle before mounting her steed and blasting off with a heavy mixed freight for Astley Bridge. They later sneaked up on the crew of an Ex L&Y A class 0-6-0 before engaging in a bit of light shunting.. These 2 lovely ladies are not my work I hasten to add but from a very talented person via ebay! Couldn't resist them More soon JF 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 I've had a fiddle with the radiator for the PD2 and it sort of resembles a later PD rad now. The radiator cap was central on the original pre-war style casting but I've made a new on from a 12BA nut and offset it slightly. The original side fixing lugs have come off and been replaced with the through type and a number plate patch was also soldered on. Tonight, if work is quiet enough, I might get an hour on the front mudguards. I think the idea is to solder the edge onto the formed guard and add enough solder to make a fillet. This can then be filed down to form a rounded edge profile. Probably would have been better as a whitemetal casting but here we go.. More soon JF 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 link Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Where's the top and bottom hose on the rad then, . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 Where's the top and bottom hose on the rad then, . On the other side of course....not got round to photting the back yet! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 link Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 (edited) On the other side of course....not got round to photting the back yet! I should of guessed, I asked for that didn't I ! Edited August 17, 2014 by 3 link Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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