airnimal

The bracket holding the brake shaft to the body has been made from a bit of tube and nickel strip. I cut the tube to size after soldering it to the strip and drilling for the Masterclub bolts.

The sidetfames have been made and soldered to the brake shaft. Onwards to the L shaped operating bottom brackets before I make the handle and mounting plates.

I have started on the brake handle and linkages. The handle is a length of .95mm brass tube with a 14 BA screw soldered in. The part that it screws into was made from 1.5mm square brass bar. I drilled and tapped it 14 BA before cutting a small section with a piecing saw.

Noel Coates states in Vol 2 that the LMS inherited 3500 Dia 3 but very few remained after the 1930,s although some lingered on as service vehicles.

I am pleased that this method has worked well and I have a free running underframe that all comes apart for easy painting. I am going to make a bracket that also will be mounted on one of the W-irons to support the crank arm from the brake standard. I think this is a job for tomorrow because we have had 2 of our young grandsons here today. They are 18 months and 3 years old with enough energy to run rings around me and my wife, they never stop. Both mum and dad are teachers so we have them every Wednesday as they are in our bubble.

Try Severn Models. They do some nice etched kits in most scales.

Here is a photograph of them seperated. This will make them so much easier to spray paint them. One of my pet hates is trying to paint in tiny crevices and behind wheels.

Guy, I think there is enough clearance even with the amount of up and down movement for me not to worry about shorts. I have used this method before and I havn't had any trouble. I have decided to solder up all one side of the brakegear and cut the brake shaft in half because trying to wiggle this in with the tumblers both side was beginning to get a little tricky. I will put a bit of tube over the brake shaft to join them together later.

First side done. I have soldered the brake shoes to the W-irons so that it all comes apart for painting but I haven't soldered the cross shaft in yet. The brake push rods are just folded over at the tumbler end and will be glue up solid after painting. Just the other side to do now before I start on interesting bit making the outside guards handle and connecting brackets. Now it is in you will not be able to see much of it with the footboards on.

I have put the cross shaft for the brakgear in but I have not soldered them in yet. But I have soldered the tumblers and brake activaters in readiness for the brake shoes. Still to make are the brake push rods which will be next.

I have made some plates to represent the sliding sledge brake but I think they are over scale. I have also being modifying some of my own castings for the wooden brake shoes but I'm not over happy with the progress on these. I may cut some out of double sided copper clad strip.

Guy, many thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I have had a look in Southern wagons vol 3 and plate No 144 has a photograph of such a van with the sliding " sledge " brake. The photograph in NSR wagons doesn't show the bottom part of the sliding bit or is very clear if it had wooden or steel brake shoes. The drawing that goes with the photograph has been drawn with steel shoes but I am of the opinion that they are in fact wooden. To me I think it makes sense that the early 10 ton vans had wooden shoes and the later 20 ton vans had steel shoes. Throwing caution to the wind I am going to go with the wooden variety. If anyone wishes to prove me wrong I will gladly eat humble pie.

I woke up early so decided to make the unusual tie bar between the W-irons. This has been soldered to the back of the W-irons. I am mounting all the underframe on a sub base to ease construction. The photograph of van No 459 in the NSR wagon book shows this tie bar but I am not sure what the blocks with bolts are for ? I have seen something similar on an earlier LNWR passenger brake van. There might have to be an educated guess at this unless anyone has any thoughts on the subject.

Angus, many thanks for your kind words, I wouldn't be posting on here without yourself help and inspiration in the first place. John, I don't have one of my brake van's in the two tone livery but I do have a spare body that is planned to be in two tone. Andy, we went and had a tour around the area which we would like to live yesterday. We have seen quite a few house's but will any meet my wife's strict needs. Discussions about how many bedrooms we will require to house various grandchildren have led to strong feelings on her behalf. We will not be downsizing that's for sure. I have put the last of the 4 small foot steps on but the 2 rear ones had to be soldered to the footboard hangers because they are on the same line. The front 2 are separate and were attached under the solebars.

Marc, if it is any consolation, I can't do technology without a great deal of help. Even then I struggle with the most basic things. Mobile phones, computers, cameras etc etc. I am also rubbish at building kits. That is my main reason I scratch build. If i scrap something there is not usually a great cost only my time but if I scrap a kit which I have done many times the cost can be expensive. I have a tub full of scrap castings from kits I failed to build correctly . I ask myself sometimes why do we post our efforts on here ? Is it ego or boasting or do we want a pat on the back from fellow modellers ? My reason I think is I like to read other people's post to get ideas and tips and generally pick other people's brains and admire there work. I have been fortunate it the past to see and admire some fantastic models and layouts which has spurred me on to try and do better myself. I have fitted the second footboard with just the small steps to complete. Then I can get on an start the brakegear.

When things get a bit grey in the world I try to keep cheerful by going and looking at the models I had made / acquired over the last 4 years. I keep the dream alive that one day I will build that layout that will show these models to there best advantage. I keep most of them in a glass cabinet in my workshop but I would love to see them displayed in a layout setting. The photographs here show some of them, sorry if the glass reflection do not making for good photographs.

I have mounted the first lamp bracket on the side of pillar. They need a bit of refinement but it is showing promise. I have also found how to do the close ups on this camera. Yippee!

I got up early because I was thinking how to do the lamp brackets on the pillars. Plastic would not be strong enough so it had to be brass. I found some unequal brass T section that was of the size that was perfect. I cut a slot in one side and soldered a brass lace pin into the said slot. I then cut this piece off with a piecing saw. Another section of brass but L shaped was soldered underneath this first part taking care it didn't fall apart when soldering this bit on. It is easier to do than explain. All I have to do now is make 3 more.

Sorry for the rant earlier, obviously I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about my school days. I have soldered up the footboards and tried my castings to see if they fit. I am pleased with the footboards because they are very strong so will be able to withstand a fair amount of handling.

So a simple bending jig has been made by filing a piece of brass tube that fitted over the .8mm brass wire. This was reduced by 50% so its basically a D shape and cut to measure 10mm long. This just fits over the hanger and the wire is held with a pair of pliers and bent over in the opposite direction. Minutes to make and again simple to use and all 8 hangers the same length. I think I have said in the past at my poor schooling and my lack of achievement and my last report which my form master said only one thing about me. He wrote that " Michal was satisfied with less than the best ". I would like to go back and tell him otherwise.

Thanks to everyone for the information about these ultra small files. A bit pricey but good tools usually are. I had a bit of luck today because I found a length of milled brass for the footboards just the right size and just enough when cut in half, made a perfect pair. To make the hangers I am using. 8mm brass wire which I have filed with a flat edge where it bends under the footboards. I place the wire in a hexagonal pin chuck leaving 5mm proud and filed one side before turning it over and filing the other side. It is then bent at right angle taking care not to break the brass at the corner. To be safe I put a small touch of solder on the corner. I need to make a small jig now to do the second fold so they are all the same.

Graham, this jig like a lot in life, the simple things are sometimes the best. We have wheels on so I can get on and figure out how to do the brake gear. There is still a fair bit to do on the body regarding details. I have used some hexagonal bolts from Masterclub on the solebars which I hope is right because the photograph of No 459 isn't very clear. I know the better photograph of No 60 uses square bolts but I can always replace these bolts if more information comes to light.

Compound2632, the ends of the washers plates have the corners cut off and rounded with a bit of micro fine cloth. Nothing high tech I'm afraid. This is the needle file I use to open out the hole in the headstocks.

Graham, I drill a couple of holes in the headstock and join them together to form a slot with a scalpel. A quick tickle with a needle file and you have the required slot. The same method is used for the plate but with a bit more care. The corners are then cut on a little jig made from scrap etch. I have put the washers on the lower side frame punched out of 10 thou Black plastic. Left overnight to harden and then rubbed down to about 5 thou before drilling to except. 6mm rivets or domed coach bolts. With the plastic being this thin there is a danger of them splitting as happened on the fourth one along which will be replaced.

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