S7 scratch building

[Western Star]

I don't know what to do about the coach bolts on the corner plates because they were only 3/8'' That works out to 8.61 thou in 7mm scale. 

That is small... about 0.2mm diameter.

 

I have a set of punches to produce round disks in styrene, smallest that I can make is 0.5mm diameter and 5 thou / 10 thou - other sizes are 0.6mm, 0.8mm and 1.0mm.  I use these for bolt heads on the side / door knees of Gloucester wagons.  If I tried to make a punch set for 0.2mm I suspect that I may spend 50% of the time repairing the punch and 50% of the time looking for the punched disks!

[Brassey]

I need to build a whole fleet of loco coal wagons in 4mm to represent the loco coal trains that ran from Abergavenny up to Crewe.  On the basis that they did not stop at my station but passed straight through, a large amount of detail will never be visible on a moving train.  Your thread has inspired me to get on and scratch build a few though to supplement the Ratio kits I have managed to collect thus far.

[airnimal]

Graham, I to have some punches but the smallest that I have is 23 thou. I seem to remember someone putting tiny blobs of resin-w on with a pin head to mimic coach bolts on the inside of wagons. Perhaps I need to experiment a bit more.

Brassey, I am pleased I have inspired you to build some loco coal wagons. I enjoy building them but get bored if I have to build the same wagon in multiple amounts. That was the reason I made patterns for all the resin kits that I have been involved with.

I have just received samples of the axle boxes for all my L.N.W.R wagons. The are 2 types with different springs and they look very good. I am very pleased they have come out so good.

[wagonman]

Graham, I to have some punches but the smallest that I have is 23 thou. I seem to remember someone putting tiny blobs of resin-w on with a pin head to mimic coach bolts on the inside of wagons. Perhaps I need to experiment a bit more.

Brassey, I am pleased I have inspired you to build some loco coal wagons. I enjoy building them but get bored if I have to build the same wagon in multiple amounts. That was the reason I made patterns for all the resin kits that I have been involved with.

I have just received samples of the axle boxes for all my L.N.W.R wagons. The are 2 types with different springs and they look very good. I am very pleased they have come out so good.

 

 

Will these wonderful No.2 axleboxes be available commercially? Please!

 

By the way, the early LNWR diagrams (D1 to D5) were unusual in that the corner plates were fastened with rivets rather than coach bolts. The rivets were 3/8in diameter – heads larger obviously – and are probably best represented by punching the crner plate material before fixing. Failing that there is probably an Archer rivet decal that might do the job.

 

Lovely stuff.

 

 

Richard

[airnimal]

Richard, the rivets you mention as being 3/8'' I took this to be the head size. They look very small on photographs ?

I have only just received these samples from Modelu and at present I do not know if they are going to be cast in white metal or they are going to be 3D printed. I will have to discuss with them but I have no objection for them to be made available for general sale. I have paid for the development so far and no doubt if we go down the white metal route l will be paying for the mould cost.

Edited September 14, 2017 by airnimal

[Compound2632]

Will these wonderful No.2 axleboxes be available commercially? Please!

 

By the way, the early LNWR diagrams (D1 to D5) were unusual in that the corner plates were fastened with rivets rather than coach bolts. The rivets were 3/8in diameter – heads larger obviously – and are probably best represented by punching the crner plate material before fixing. Failing that there is probably an Archer rivet decal that might do the job.

 

Lovely stuff.

 

 

Richard

 

Richard's beaten me to the corner plate rivets. In my crude 4 mm scale way, I've embossed them on plasticard corner plates with my trust compass needle point before adding them to the wagon. Sorry, not helpful I know!

 

Those axleboxes are exquisite - so much so that there's no point in wishing they were available in 4 mm scale because the detail simply wouldn't survive scaling down.

 

I have to keep pinching myself to remind myself that your models are S7 and not Gauge 3!

[ian@stenochs]

I have this little punch to make washers. There are two hole sizes one for the centre and one for the outer. The hole is 0.5 and the punch is the end of a broken drill set into the mild steel spindle. I confine my use to 10thou plastkard. I have used the punched 'holes' for bolt heads but don't really make many wagons!

 

 

Ian.

[wagonman]

Richard, the rivets you mention as being 3/8'' I took this to be the head size. They look very small on photographs ?

I have only just received these samples from Modelu and at present I do not know if they are going to be cast in white metal or they are going to be 3D printed. I will have to discuss with them but I have no objection for them to be made available for general sale. I have paid for the development so far and no doubt if we go down the white metal route l will be paying for the mould cost.

 

 

To state the blindingly obvious, sales to other interested parties – the queue starts here – would help to defray the costs of mould-making if that is the route you and Alan choose. Also, this is just the sort of production that I've been banging on about in the S7 Newsletter!

 

I'll follow this saga with great interest...

 

 

Richard

[airnimal]

Ian, I love home made jigs like yours.

I have been trying to make the distinctive brake gear from individual parts when I found some 10' or 11' fold up ones in my spares box.

I folded the etch up then cut it in half and removed a small amount from the centre. I was able to bend up the push rod arms and trim the brake shoes. I then put a joining piece in and adjust the spacing to match the wheelbase.

[airnimal]

And now fitted in place to see how it looks.

[Coal Tank]

Hi Mike I'm liking the axle boxes and springs hey look really good

John

[airnimal]

Thanks Coal Tank, I am rather pleased with them myself.

I have done a little bit this morning making the bracket for the brake handle. It is just a small piece of plastic tube cut in half and stuck to a flat piece of 20 thou evergreen strip.I then added the bolts from MasterClub pack number MC435057.

[airnimal]

The brake handle and rack have now been fitted. Only the matter of the rivets on the corner plates to do. I will try doing a test piece with the various methods to see which I think it best before committing myself.

I was looking at a photograph of the Preston accident in 1896 because someone mentioned about the private owner wagons in the foreground when I noticed in the top corner a brake van that looks like a L.N.W.R one but with a open veranda like a N.L.R ones. Could this be a early L.N.W.R brake van. Does anybody know anything about these or will I have to wait for Vol 3 of L.N.W.R wagons from Wild Swan.

[Western Star]

I have just spent a couple of hours putting coach bolts and nuts on thr ironwork. 

This simple statement went way under the radar...   so the ironwork is Evergreen strip?  probably 20thou by 60thou?  How have you achieved the bolt heads on this model?

 

thanks, Graham

[airnimal]

The side ironwork or side knee's are made from 30 thou by 60 thou evergreen but are then filed down to a taper before the square nuts are put on cut from 15 X 30 thou evergreen strip. The interior ones are coach bolts from MasterClub.

Some of the Wigan private owner coal wagons have the bolts reversed which I have not come across anywhere else.

I have just done a test sample using resin-w put on with a pin head. I am not sure yet if I will go these as rivets.

[airnimal]

I have decided to drill holes for the very small rivets but I have put them in from the inside and glued them in. I have then trimmed them back with a pair of side cutters and then lightly sanded them down. In this way the ones on the outside don't look to over scale. Sorry if the second view is out of focus.

[airnimal]

I finally finished the loco coal wagon build. Still not sure about the small rivets on the corner plates, I still think they are to big.

Took advantage of the dry weather this morning to paint most of the bits and assembled it after to check that it all fitted correctly.

[airnimal]

Meth-fix lettering applied and a bit of weathing put on. It's looking more like a loco coal wagon now.

[airnimal]

I am still waiting for the axle box castings and a source of 3mm and 4mm lettering to finish my hoard of wagons. The number is up to 17 now so while I wait for the parts to complete them I am looking at some more wagons to give me a fairly balance stud for my hopped for small proposed layout.

I found this drawing in a copy of the L.N.W.R society journal of a early of cattle wagon. I have not made many cattle wagons in the past so this will make a change for me.

I started a couple of N.S.R. Cattle wagons about 10 years ago but didn't get further than the the pair shown here.

[airnimal]

A start has been made on the cattle wagon. I find this type of wagon very difficult to build with construction very obviously open and in full view. I have already rejected the first end and made another. I have a feeling there will be many more.

[Western Star]

I have a feeling there will be many more.

True, one can never have enough cattle wagons, (or break vans, or low side opens, or covered wagons, or timber bolster twins).

 

And there is the old adage "if in doubt add a Pannier".

[airnimal]

Would that be a L.N.W.R pannier ?

A bit more progress.

[airnimal]

As usual I forgot to drill the holes in the upright pillars. So on with the thinking cap to devise a way of drilling the hole for the tie rod bars. I first drilled the outside pillars and then marked where the rod would pass the middle pillar. Taking a the length of .6mm nickel rod which I had sharpened to a point I push the rod through the first pillar and up to the middle one where I had made a mark. I then placed my soldering iron in the middle of the rod. As the rod got warm I was then able to push it through the second pillar with success. It does push up a burr which was easy to rub down and remove.

[airnimal]

No matter how many times I look at a drawing I sometime mis something.

Last night while my wife was watching television I sat looking at what I had done that day and something was not right.

Looking again at drawing in one hand and the model in the other the penny dropped.

The diagonal timbers didn't go into the corners exactly the same. See my little drawing. So these will have to come out and be replaced.

I am glad I noticed now rather than when it's finished and painted.

Edited September 22, 2017 by airnimal

[Compound2632]

Yes, in fact looking closely at the drawing you can see that the bottom end of the diagonal timber doesn't go into the corner at all - there's maybe a 3" gap between it and the adjacent vertical. The key thing is the diagonal ironwork, which finishes (or maybe makes a 45 degree bend) in line with the bottom of the vertical ironwork - or nearly so. Your incomplete NSR cattle van is nearer the mark, assuming it has similar ironwork. (I can't just now lay my hands on my NSR wagon book.)