Coach bodging

[uax6]

Oh, and forgot to say that Gary at 247 Developments has got a batch of my etches in stock at the minute....

 

Andy G

[CKPR]

I wonder if an olaf cutter (or a squawker in old money) would follow the scored lines of the Amy cutter free hand to clear it out better?

 

Need to find out where to get one from to try and play with it...

 

BTW I'm in the middle of a different project at the minute which will be loaded here when a bit more complete. I haven't forgotten about the works in progress, just this project has caught my imagination at the minute, and yes it's still coach related!

 

Happy New year BTW

 

Andy G

It should do - I've sometimes used mine free-hand after scribing a line with a normal craft knife [usually a Swan-Morton 10a blade in an old KeilKraft brass handle - lovely !] and it works fine. Squires sell proper Olfa cutters and any general model shop with a HobbyCo account  should be able to get a Tamiya one if they don't have one in stock [item #74091 600 91].

Edited January 2, 2015 by CKPR

[stadman]

I wonder if an olaf cutter (or a squawker in old money) would follow the scored lines of the Amy cutter free hand to clear it out better?

 

Need to find out where to get one from to try and play with it...

 

BTW I'm in the middle of a different project at the minute which will be loaded here when a bit more complete. I haven't forgotten about the works in progress, just this project has caught my imagination at the minute, and yes it's still coach related!

 

Happy New year BTW

 

Andy G

Got  a panel scriber from my LHS, Exeter Model Shop. Has a banner ad on some of these pages.

Edited December 29, 2014 by stadman

[flubrush]

I wonder if an olaf cutter (or a squawker in old money) would follow the scored lines of the Amy cutter free hand to clear it out better?

 

Need to find out where to get one from to try and play with it...

 

BTW I'm in the middle of a different project at the minute which will be loaded here when a bit more complete. I haven't forgotten about the works in progress, just this project has caught my imagination at the minute, and yes it's still coach related!

 

Happy New year BTW

 

Andy G

 

The Olfa cutter has helped me out as well.  I cut some planking on styrene with an engraving cutter on my CNC machine and the finish of the lines was a bit ragged and following the lines with an Olfa did the job.   The planking lines were only a thou or two deep so you take it easy or you can drag the cutter off the lines.  I found that the weight of then cutter on its own was enough to do the job and the blade stayed in the lines.

 

Jim.

Edited December 29, 2014 by flubrush

[uax6]

For a diversion over Christmas I have been building myself a christmas present. Before Christmas I did a bulk buy of items from 247 Developments. I this haul was the etches for a HR TPO body.

 

So this is what I have been doing, putting them together. As they come with no instructions I contacted Mozzer of this parish and he sent over the way he did them.

 

Being me I've made use of this and also done things my own way too.

 

Now I'm not sure if Gary will still have any of these kits available, but give him a bell and he'll tell you!

 

Whats in the pack?

 

 

From top left clockwise: A pair of cast metal ends (Lovely I must say, if only I could get normal HR corridor coach ends like these!), TPO transductor equipment (I might have bough this seperately, I can;t remember now!), My etch (not in the kit. This is a half used one, which will provide most of the bits I need), Small bag of etches for the net recess, The two sides, and finally the roof.

 

Now there are some small points that I need to make now. The ends of the bodysides have been clipped, this means that when they fit to the cast ends, there are gaps that will need filling. The cast ends footsteps are a bit poorly cast, but I am going to use mine anyway. The roof looks like it would be fun to roll to the distinctive HR cove style, so I've chicken out! And there are some plain brass strips supplied for making the solebars, again I'm used plasticard.

 

The first job is to get the ruler out to measure some holes. The three HR tpos had handrails in the recess of the doors, along with a safety bar that was across the door ways so that when the doors were slide back you didn't fall out. The etches come with the holes etched for the safety bars, but not the hadrails, so they were measured and drilled 0.45mm:

 

 

This view also shows the bit that I've drilled is the part that gets folded back to form the door recess. This was done next, and the tumblehome formed. I soldered the rear of the fold with a 25W iron and normal lead electrical solder.

 

 

The doors were then attacked. These needed to have various bits folded. The following photo shows how I did it, which is probably not what the designer envisaged!

 

 

I folded over the top (as designed I think!) and then cut out the bottom corners, so that the bottom could be folded up too. I left the sides unfolded. The tumblehome was them formed (yes the doors had a tumblehome)

 

 

I then soldered them in using the same solder for everything. I filled the bottom corners with solder to act as filler, feeding in from behind.

 

 

Andy G

 

 

[uax6]

The next job is to turn in the net recess ends, to something like 45*:

 

 

This gap is then filled with an arrangement of brass layers to build it up.  They are is the smaller bag:

 

We're using the three at bottom right.

 

I started with the odd L shaped layer. This needed two holes drilling for what looks like a grab handle, or could be some sort of hook (I'm going for a handle!) and then the edges are folded up:

 

I then got the big bit with the large hole in, and soldered that to the coach side:

(poor photo sorry!)

 

Then I offered up the L shaped bit and held it in place with a small bulldog clip:

 

After soldering the final layer, the small door, was soldered in place:

 

The soldering on this side has now finished:

 

This side is really looking the part now.

 

The other side is simple! It needed four holes drilling. Two by the door for my etched handrail:

 

And a pair for a handrail at the other end:

Note the clipped off corner in this shot.

 

Now there is a recessed door to fit. The etching looks like it's supposed to fit flush inside the main etch, but looking at photos that didn't look right, so I have bent the edges over to make it stand further back. I'll need to add a top and bottom at some point to hide the holes!

 

Now the ends. These are nice w/metal ones (the etched ones aren't the correct size). I removed the steps and cleaned the edges up:

 

I then used superglue to join sides to ends, and left to set. this allowed me to do the solebars. Again the kit supplies plain etched solebars, but I like to rivet mine, so I made some. 20 thou styrene was cut to fit, and then the rivet holes worked out:

 

And then the rivet holes drilled to allow 20thou plastic rod to go through:

 

The rods where then cut off about 2mm long and cemented into the hole with lemonene:

 

and turning them over gives this:

 

Two 20thou floors were cut (the top one with cutouts to miss the recesses in the body, and the bottom one a tad thinner to give the solebars something to rest against. The large holes are to vent the solvent (lemonene as always):

 

The floor was them superglued to the body:

 

A 20thou footboard was cemented along the bottom of the solebar:

 

And a spare pair of bogies for effect:

 

Next job the roof.

 

Andy G

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2015 by uax6

[JCL]

That's looking great Andy!

[uax6]

Thats the easy bit done, theres lots of fiddly bits to do next.

 

Time taken to get to this point: approx 12 hours.

Recently I have spent 8 hours on the Lansdown gangways!

 

Good fun this bodging lark!

 

Andy G

[uax6]

The roof. Well the kit comes with a piece of brass that you need to roll to produce the curve. Two issues with this, 1 I don't have any rollers, 2 I can't see how you would produce the HR cove roof shape.

 

The HR cove roof is a shape that is made up from an arc roof which appears to be jacked up by a flat piece at the eves. This photo of Ross's (Ossy 5190) shows it quite well:

 

So I formulated a plan. I have lots of the arc roof shaped 20thou styrene sheet in stock (remember its bent over a bit of 2" steam pipe in the rayburn oven, which reminds me I must bend some more while its lit!) and the cove bit looks like it should be doable from a 'lift' of 20thou at the edges.

 

So I cut a bit of 20thou out to sit on top of the sides:

 

And then had to cut it to fit around the net recess:

 

The arc part I make by wrapping a whole sheet around the pipe and then baking:

 

I guessed at how much I needed and then cut it off:

 

putting it over the end to check:

 

Feeling fairly confident I started to plan some support for the arc when it gets joined. I used some 2mm square-section rod, and placed it so that it would support the arc bit as close to the outer edge as possible. I also put two bits at the very edge of the lower roof so that it would be a push fit roof, rather than screwing it in place:

 

The arc roof was then stuck to the lower roof. I didn't splash the lemonene about too much to minimise distortion.

 

I then had to cut the recess out of the arc roof. This was done slowly a bit at a time so that it fitted snugly:

 

Having tried the roof it looked like it was missing something:

 

 

and it struck me that it needed some sort of representation of the gutter. So I decided to cheat a tad and use some 10thou strips to just stick out slightly below the edge to get the feel. These are about 5 mm wide, but cut at the ends to fit around the cast ends:

 

They were stuck to the underside of the roof, along with another bit of 2mm square to make the push fit better. I've also attached the roof end bead here, just a strip of 10thou microstrip. This is done by holding the roof in place and then wetting the end with solvent and then slowly holding the strip in place, and blowing on the solvent to make it go off. Slow job!

Before sticking the gutter on I had cleaned up the roof edge with a knife, making sure it was vertical and smooth:

 

The end result:

 

I then went off the roof, and moved to the underframe.

 

Andy G

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2015 by uax6

[uax6]

The dressing of the underframe is quite a simple job. The first thing to do is to fit the trussing. This requires a pair of Queen Posts either side of the centre-line. These are made of short lengths of 2mm square styrene rod, with the end drilled and a standard handrail knob inserted:

 

The truss-rod is made of 0.45mm handrail wire, with a 2mm length of PVC telephone wire insulation slipped on to be the turnbuckle. The ends are bent to shape and the whole lot superglued to the insides of the solebars. For some daft reason I didn't take any photos of this stage!

 

The remaining items that will be used are shown here:

 

Clockwise from top left: pair of LNWR cast battery boxes; LNWR cast Dynamo; 4 of my etched solid V hangers (already bent up); my etched brake cranks; pair of cast LNWR brake cylinders. The castings being from 247.

 

On crank and a pair of v-hangers are formed into the brake rigging with the addition of a length of 0.45mm handrail wire:

 

The vacuum cylinders had the centres drilled out to receive the cranks and with a few measurements everything was superglued to the underframe:

 

The dynamo was then added. The first fix wasn't low enough:

So two bits of 2mm square were cemented together and used as a packer:

 

Steps and bogie mounts will be left until near the ends, to help save damage to the steps and so that I can get the ride height correct.

[ossy5190]

Nice work Andy, glad that you are finding the pictures usefull.

 

Ross

[uax6]

Yes Ross they are very useful, thanks.

 

That 6 wheeler is on the hit list to be made after I have finished the bogie ones. Mind you the TPO is doing my block at the minute, it is fighting me back!

 

Andy G

[uax6]

Back to the roof. (I know I'm doing it in funny batches, but it keeps me interested doing it like this).

 

The first job is to find the centre line. The use of a pair of dividers makes life easy. A line was drawn all the way along the roof:

 

Then it was time to make up the roof lights. They come as etches (Oh how I deliberated about making them clear, but I eventually saw sense!), that need folding down the middle to get them to fit on the roof. Now of course the roof lights are flat and the roof is curved. This was solved by supergluing bits of 20thou to the underside of them.

 

This of course doesn't actually solve the curve problem. What it does do is get them about the right distance off the roof. To sort the curve out I folded another bit of 20thou and stuck it in the middle:

 

I then spent some time with a file making a curve to match the roof shape.

 

These were then stuck to the roof. Then it was the turn of the torpedos. These are LNWR large ones.

 

Then it was the turn of the rainstrips. These are 0.45mm handrail wire. The tops of the arc are marked on the roof, as are the bits it drops to at the ends.

 

A stop of superglue is put at the centre and the wire put in place. After the glue has set another spot is put at each end, and the wire held at the ends and put into the correct place. Bingo a nice smooth curve! Run a small bead of superglue all the way down the curve to hold it tight.

 

Then little handrails at the ends of the roof:

 

The overall view of the roof. Not quite finished yet, the tank fillers need to go on, but I still need to buy them!

 

Andy G

[ChrisN]

Looking good Andy, cleverly done.

[uax6]

Onto the Lansdown connectors.

 

These are the offset gangway connectors on the ends of the TPO vehicles. There are a different shape to normal British Standard ones. Having rifled through the bits box I remembered that I had a fair few MAJ kit ones. These are nice mouldings but not the correct size for the british standard ones. Turns out they are pretty good for Lansdowns, being more or less the correct height and width!

 

So I had a starting point:

 

The main parts of the connector were put together to give this:

 

Which is a good representation of the bellows.

 

Now I wanted them in the tied back position, and the ends of the TPO have a turn-under, so I had to make a backing piece. Lots of bits of 20 thou were cut to match the shape:

 

And then laminated into pairs:

 

Then a larger piece of 10 thou was cut to form the bit that sticks to the coach end. And a bit of 20 thou was rammed in to get the curve:

 

The MAJ bit was then filed down (what a job, took what seemed like hours!) so that it was just the bellows, and then stuck to the plasticard bits, giving this:

 

The front was filed down as well:

 

And then tested on the end. I used ratio LNWR buffers as a guide:

 

I then made a sqwarker. This was following the CLAG website guide. Using a cheapy dremelesque thing and some grinding wheels, and a number 11 swann-morton blade I got this:

 

Why did I do it? Well I wanted to produce the end boards. It seems that there wasn't a pair similar on them, and they didn't seem to use wood of any particular width either, so I could afford to be a bit sloppy:

 

They squwarker worked well, you can tell that by these:

 

Next it was the end handrails, again bent from 0.45mm brass wire. They are an odd shape at the ends, and have a difficult curve, which I formed by just rubbing them back and forth through my fingers:

 

Holes drilled and tried out:

 

Then the gangway stuck with superglue:

 

And my etched steps, giving the end look of the end:

 

Note the little cut out over the buffer head.

 

Andy G

 

 

[JCL]

Looking good Andy, and glad to see you're busy on this thread again.

[richard i]

This is some superb modeling, I will certainly steel some ideas for building all the GCR coaches that I need.

[uax6]

Steal away!

I promise I will update this thread this week.......

 

Andy G

[uax6]

More handrails were added, this time around the sliding doors. These were a real pain to get in!

 

Then it was time to fit the droplight frames to these doors too. These were marked on a bit of 10thou, and then cut out and filed to fit:

 

The same being done to the door and toilet on the other side:

 

Then it was time to start blanking off some of the holes. The sliding cupboard door on the toilet side had bits of 10thou glued top and bottom to seal it up:

 

And then for the TPO which wasn't having nets, I made up the securing plate, where the nets would have bolted to. This was 10thou with 10thou rods passed through holes to be rivets:

 

When these had dried I used some of my etchings for train alarm gear to stand in for the braket that the nets would have hung from:

 

There is a smaller plate near the top of the net too. This is etched at the wrong angle on the side, so superglue was spread over it to act as a filler, and a new bit of 10thou glued in place, with another train alarm etch acting as the rope holder, seen here as fitted to the side:

 

With them in place the rest of the net gear recess needed filling so that it wasn't flapping in the wind. Various shaped bits of styrene sheet were glued together to fill the hole:

 

The end result:

 

The next job was to drill out the holes for the outside lamps. These again seemed to be in the wrong place so were adjusted upwards slightly. Photo here is pants!

 

 

 

[uax6]

With the outside more or less finished, except for painting and the addition of the transductor gear (which is an after painting job) I needed to do something about the interior. What I'm about to show is a bit make believe, but it is based on the interior shots of a LNWR TPO which these vehicles were based on.

 

The cutter was used to cut out several sets of interlocking comb type bits of 10thou:

 

These were assembled into pigeon holes. They had to be put together with tweezers as my fingers were just too fat!

 

Various different sizes where made, to represent letters, parcels and newspaper sets:

 

Here are the component parts after being cut out on the machine and then fettled:

 

And the set laid out to see what it looked like:

 

At this moment the sand rumbled by, with a rescue loco on front of the failed train one, nice to see the freight companies helping each other out:

 

The shelf was added, along with some legs and a solid back bit that with sit against the inner side:

 

The toilet compartment was then added:

 

The the set tried out:

 

Not perfect, but much better than nothing!

 

 

 

 

 

[jwealleans]

That out of the window shot brings back a lot of cold, wet, wind-blasted memories.  Littleport.... aspiring to one day be the a**e end of the world......

[Londontram]

Very nice Andy, hang on to that program for the letter sets that will come in handy if the WCJS TPO project ever goes ahead. Steve

[uax6]

The design for the letter racks are safely filed away, ready to be used at any time!

 

Andy G

[Big D]

So that's why it takes so long for the gates to open at Littleport.....

You're too busy modelling!

[freebs]

We're sorry about the delay, this is due to our signalman superglueing his fingers to a (Superb) scratch-built model coach...