Leaderboard

Many thanks Dave, that's very useful info. And thanks for making the drawings!

Hi Mikkel. The cantrail ones are 2mm dia x 2mm long, 0.13 kg pull. The floor ones are 1mm dia x 2mm long, 0.03 kg pull. I had a mess about a bit with various sizes on a dummy side. The force increases significantly if it is magnet to magnet ( maybe doubles ? ) I have found that if you want to reduce the pull the simple trick is to separate the magnet and the keeper. For instance if you glue a bit of styrene onto the tinplate surface the force needed to pull the magnet off is reduced. Magnets have a very shiny surface, difficult to glue them directly to things, hence the supporting brass.

Carrying on ... The sides have the floor section removed and the cantrail fold cut back to 2mm. small brass blocks at cantrail height and a 2mm brass bar at floor level to stiffen it up. Note the holes match up with those tabs. A coat of primer on to seal it all. Then the sides. I mentioned those tabs. Well, they are not brass, but tinplate. Cut from this kind of paper fastener, convenient 5 mm strips of 10 thou tinplate. So with magnets in the holes in the side support bar and in the little blocks at cantrail height I can just attach and remove the sides as many times as I like. Now I can well imagine folk thinking that all that is a lot of messing about. Why not just build the coach , then paint it and line it ? Well, therein lies the problem. I am not good at painting and lining. So, for me being able to do that with the sides on the flat makes the chance of success a bit greater. If I make a mess it is just a side to strip, not a whole coach. Ok, the next three……