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Ian H C

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Blog Entries posted by Ian H C

  1. Ian H C
    Saturday 12th March

    When the top doors are trial fitted over the door catch pegs in the body the top of the side door is slightly higher than the top of the body. Not much, but enough to be noticeable. It doesn't look right, and it isn't. Side elevation drawings of LMS D2134 (Official Drawings of LMS Wagons Vol 2 - Wild Swan) shows the top edges in line, and that's how it looks in photos. The brass tube supplied is true to prototype in that the prototype also had tube welded along the top edge of the door. I can't imagine why, but it did. The prototype tube looks to be a smaller diameter than the tube in the kit. I can't confirm it with dimensions but that's how it looks to me. I have the tube as tight in to the top of the door etching as it can go, so I've not goofed on assembly. I think the answer is to unsolder the tube and replace it with a length of wire of a suitable diameter. A trial with 1.0mm diameter brass wire looks much better.

    Parts 15, and the hinges for the top door. Tin the parts X14, X15 and clear the holes through to match the wires or pins while they're still on the fret. Bend the hoops to match (Bill Bedford handrail tool again). Pin the lot into a block of balsa for soldering. Photo.


    Parts X11 to top doors. Getting a bit bonkers, these parts are so small I can hardly pick them up with tweezers. Drill them through 0.5mm before cutting them off the fret. The fine chain is a bit over scale again, but it's probably better than fitting nothing. 4 links each this time. The link is cut with a sharp Stanley blade on a steel plate and teased back together with the point of a scalpel and the point of the triangular scraper. Very difficult, but gets easier with practice. Eventually there are 4 chain and ring assemblies fixed to the top doors. I guess that's how that guy felt after he'd arranged 35 Xenon atoms to spell out IBM, although he probably had smaller tweezers than mine. One top door and chains in place and soldered. And what a struggle that was. There's a photo and it's ugly this close up, but I just want somebody to congratulate me on getting that tiny chain in place. You have no idea...

    You can also see that the top of the top door is slightly lower than the body side. So the 1mm wire on the top of the door didn't work out quite right. Sorry. All I can say is that I didn't notice until I posted the photo. It really doesn't show in real life, certainly less obtrusive than standing above the top edge of the body. 1.2mm wire?


    5 hours today. Total 75 hours.
    ------------
    Sunday 13th March

    The other top door. New idea for keeping the chains and rings together on the model. The etched rings, X12 for example, are so soft that there's a risk of them opening up when installed, during cleaning or handling. They're also nigh impossible to solder without clogging up the fine detail and the chain. I'm manoeuvred them into position how I wanted them to look on the model, carefully apply a little solder paint to the rings and chain, then cook the area indirectly by applying the RSU nearby. The solder paint melts and fuses the whole chain and ring assembly solid in position with a thin film of solder. You need to take care not to unsolder anything else of course. It leaves an amount of flux and solder paint residue, but the ultrasonic cleaner will remove that without mechanically disturbing the components.

    Parts 26 didn't get a mention while we were building the main body, but it looks like they can go on now. Tin the back of 26 and sweat or RSU into position.

    End door next. I think the best order is sides 17, 18 first followed by 23 across the top. Then centre vertical rib 24 and then the diagonals 25 last. The door has a tendency to curl up as you heat it so make sure you keep it flat when you solder the ribs. I soldered it flat on the steel RSU base plate with the 40W iron and used magnets around the edge of the door to hold it flat. The temptation is to add ribs 20, 21 to the door at this point, and then the plate 22. It is difficult to get 20, 21 vertical and the right distance apart to accurately correspond with the half etched grooves in the back of 22. Better to fit 20, 21 to 22 first, then add that sub assembly to the door. Handles on, chain lugs X19 on. End door nearly finished. Clean up and tidy up for end of shift.

    5 hours. Total 80 hours.
  2. Ian H C
    I eventually got around to modifying the CAD model to increase the size of the rubbers. Output the STL file, and back from Modelu came the first 'production' batch of springs and axle boxes.
     

     
    There was a tiny bit of fettling to fit them to the brake van model. The axle box and springs were modelled to exact prototype dimensions. Well, as exact as the original LMS drawings - who knows what adjustments or liberties were taken in the real world of 1920' - 1930's manufacturing? I wouldn't be surprised if there were some compromises in the design of the brake van etch either. Anyway, they fitted easily enough and, to me, they look the part. They'll look less startling when painted.
     

     
    Overall a most interesting and productive exercise. Very happy with the end result. And thanks to Alan at Modelu for making the technology accessible to all of us.
     
    I'll be doing more of this, and probably the next project will be to model up a family of typical BR wagon axleboxes. It is usually assumed that they all look a bit like the split cast steel RCH oil 'box. There are some different types, some very different and some subtly different.
    There are at least two variants of the classic split cast steel box with slightly different casting shapes. There is a split cast steel type with distinctive weight relieving (I guess?) recesses cast into the spring seat. The common and ugly fabricated square box type with flat front cover. A boxy looking cast steel version with a pressed front cover. And just for fun I fancy a front cover 'box with the cover hanging open and exposing the axle end. And that's just for the 'standard' 12, 13, 16 ton stock. There's heavy duty and special axleboxes. And then the varieties of leaf spring to match. Combined with the Rumney underframes and some kit bashed Parkside bodies there's not much BR common wagon stock that can't be accurately represented now.
     
    Then some of the LMS hardware. Some choice Midland springs and axleboxes. There are a few LNER 'boxes that would be nice to have. The GWR seems to be well served by the trade already, and anyway the Swindon design language always seems a bit mean spirited and Edwardian to me, but that's just my engineering neurosis. 4mm and 7mm. You could do some cracking stuff in 7mm this way. Dream on... there's already a huge list of projects to get stuck into.
  3. Ian H C

    Beechinged!

    By Ian H C,

    I'm afraid to report that this line in no longer remunerative, and, following the closure, will be lifted.

    And that's the end of the old 7mm 0F trial section. The rail has been lifted for re-use. the track was made from C&L plastic sleepers and plastic chairs, and interestingly when I simply pulled the rail off with a pair of pliers the chairs remained in place on the rail and the chairs parted company with the sleepers.
     
    Bye bye 0F. Hello S7...of which more anon.
  4. Ian H C
    Thursday 31st March
     
    Fitting body to chassis, as DB says, requires some careful chamfering of the top of the solebars. More chamfering than I'd imagined. Be careful you don't chamfer all the way through the top edge. You need to include the top of the inside V hanger in the chamfering, gets right in the way. Also check the inside slope of the brackets 10, 11 and the tabs that the brake hangers are soldered to. Needed to make tiny adjustments to the length of a couple of the body side ribs. Eventually it all sits neatly on the chassis, touching everywhere it should.
     
    Flanges onto body end supports 18. I'm opting for the scale thickness flanges, and I'll take DB's advice and use a higher temperature solder, Carr's 224. Holding the flange in position while soldering isn't easy. I drilled a 1.6mm hole in a block of wood and stuck the handrail projection into it, trapping the flange square against the wood.


     
    Similarly the two small projections on the other edge can just be pushed into the wood block, trapping the flange. After a bit of a fiddle and some cleaning up they're done.

     
    2.5 hours. Total 26.5 hours.
    --------------
    Friday 1st April
     
    Checking the fit of the body end supports between chassis and hopper reveals a problem. The supports don't seem long enough to bridge the gap. They appear to be about 0.5mm short. The body is sat at the right height and there's no latitude to move it longitudinally to bring it in contact with the supports. What to do? Filling the gap with solder would be messy, and the location would make it difficult to clean up. Extending the supports will be difficult now the flanges are soldered on. The end supports are tabbed to locate in slots etched in the end platforms 16, 17. If the tab is reduced in length it allows the end supports to be moved closer to the body and the gap eliminated. The downside is that the inside end of the support and its flange no longer sits on the end platform, and I'm assuming it should do. I'm afraid it's the only practical solution I can come up with and I hope the inside end of the support won't be noticeable on the finished model. We'll see.
     
    The body is soldered to the chassis underneath, where the lower part of the hopper rests against the chassis cross members. Easy to solder, robust joint and not needing any clean up.
     
    With tabs reduced the supports can be slid along the locating slot until they wedge between hopper and chassis, with no gaps. The support is most easily fixed in position by soldering the end of the tab projecting through the slot in the platform. A good joint here is all you need, and it can't be seen so doesn't need cleaning up. The supports fit so closely to the hopper there's no gap, and I can avoid trying to solder the two together here in an awkward place.

     
    End of shift.
     
    2 hours. Total 28.5 hours.
    ----------
    Saturday 2nd April
     
    Probably time to fit the brake levers. Monkey tail brackets; no I can't figure out how to make the ball ends either.
     
    I'm leaving out parts 29, 30 because the bottom of the hopper is the only place I can put the ballast weight.
     
    Handrails. Bit of a fiddle, but soldering them in position is easier than fitting them to plastic bodies.
     
    2 hours. Total 30.5 hours.
    ----------
    Sunday 3rd April
     
    Handrails completed. And that's the brassy part done.


     
    There are some useful photos of handrails on these hoppers; Google 'Bowes Railway'. There's an excellent close up photo of the end of one just about to go over the top of the Bowes incline in the archive section of the Bowes railway website 'bowesrailway.uk'. Shows handrails and buffers in detail. Wish I'd found that photo before fitting the handrails! On the subject of good photos I'd recommend, 'Industrial Railways in Northumberland and County Durham in The Latter Days Of Steam', by Malcolm Castledine, Book Law Publications, 2004, ISBN 1 901945 35 9. Several good photos of this type of wagon including the wooden body variant. For anybody interested in colliery railways and rolling stock, or industrial steam in general it is an excellent source of information.
     
    DB recommends MJT 2242 axle box and Spring castings. I'm using 2241 because I happen to have some. They look the part, and I'm not sure what difference there is. There follows about half an hour of carving off lumps I don't need, straightening the springs and general tidying up and fettling of the castings. Oh, and the compulsory chore of scooping out the back for the bearings. I manage to break one in the process but that's about par for the course! We have injection moulded rail chairs and all sorts of tiny accessories now, so why not springs and axle boxes? It would be so convenient. Must look into the economics of this sometime.
     
    Buffers. DB recommends ABS 723B buffers. Can you even get ABS castings any more? The photos I've been able to find do show some small differences between buffers, and I imagine that they were overhauled or repaired with whatever was to hand. So there's some latitude in buffer choice, but they would always have carried a self contained buffer and not a spindle type. From looking at photos, and my collection of buffers, I reckon MJT 2350 is a good match, a BR 1'8" heavy duty buffer. Not sprung, but that's not really a problem. The castings are good and need little cleaning up, but the base needs to be reduced in size to match the pads on the headstock. They do look big, but that's how the prototype looked with a fat 18" self contained buffer bolted on. Buffers fixed with epoxy.
     
    Couplings. I'll use the hooks in the kit with my own links. I've found it easy to make my own links for 3 link couplings. Doesn't take long to make loads of them, and I can make them to a size that suits me, slightly over scale.
     
    Couplings and suspension units are chemically blackened and left overnight to dry out.
     
    3 hours. Total 33.5 hours.
    ---------
    Monday 4th April
     
    Axle box and spring castings fixed in place with a couple of drops of cyano. Couplings fixed by bending the shank sideways about 45 degrees just after the hook, feeding through the headstock and setting in a blob of epoxy. The bent shank in the epoxy means it won't ever pull out.
     
    Wheels fitted, and it weighs in at 32g. So a further 8 g required to make it up to my standard 40g weight. A rectangle of 1.9mm thick lead flashing 26mm x15mm calculates as 8 g and fits neatly into the bottom of the hopper. Epoxy lead in place. That's the build complete, and here it is with a couple of it's NCB internal user buddies.


     
    1 hour. Total 34.5 hours.
     
    Next episode should cover painting, weathering and a load of coal.
  5. Ian H C
    Monday 28th March

    The body at last. The perilous origami of hopper body folding is illustrated in the photos. A few of the first folds can be made with a Hold & Fold, but mostly it's careful bending with fingers and thumbs.


    Take the time to get each joint sitting exactly in place without having to be pushed together. Easier soldering and no burnt fingers. It's a job for the 40W iron. When the tacks are on and everything is aligned then zip up all the joints with a lot of flux and a hot clean iron.

    Tin the batter plates 28 while still on the fret. Makes them easy to sweat or RSU into place.

    Side ribs 32, now I see why there are so many of them. Tin them on the fret to make them easier to laminate. You'll need to squeeze the laminations tightly together otherwise they'll not fit in the slot in the body side. The easiest and quickest way I found to laminate all those ribs was to stack them up against a steel parallel on the RSU base plate (itself a 6mm steel plate) to get them all aligned and then to zap one end carefully with the RSU. The pre tinned laminations solder together and the pressure from the RSU probe squashes them together when the solder melts. They still need a little fettling to make them fit accurately in the slots on the body side. With the body laid on one side position a rib in its slot, run some flux around it and touch the 40W iron on the body next to it. When you see some solder melt on the rib introduce a little more solder. Just tack one end to start with. Then tack the other end, and then run solder along the whole joint. File them all smooth and clean up any stray solder. Phew, what a difficult (but ingenious) way to make ribs.



    Into the cleaning bath and that's it for today.

    4 hours. Total 21 hours.
    --------
    Tuesday 29th March

    End ribs 33, hopefully easier than side ribs 32!

    Top flange 34, more laminating. Solder paint and RSU to get these tacked together, followed by a run round with iron and solder. They need straightening a bit after soldering. Clean them up and straighten them. I clipped them to the body with hair grips.

    Tack in place, making sure the flange is pressed down into the rebate etched into the top of the body. When all is in place zip round the flange with a hot iron to complete the soldering. If there are any gaps at the top of the body side and end ribs then fill them with a blob of solder. Clean it all up and pop it in the cleaning bath.
    Couldn't resist just placing the body on the chassis for a photo.

    3.5 hours. Total 24.5 hours.
  6. Ian H C
    Tuesday 29th March
     
    Time for the rust base coat. I’ll use Humbrol enamels for this. It will sit on top of the etch primer and hopefully adhere well enough not to come off when the top coat is scrubbed to remove the weathering salt. The real test, as always with brass, is whether the primer sticks to the brass - it’s going to be a mess if it doesn’t. I’ll start with a dark brown, old rust, pretty much all over, but with some density variation. A lighter red brown on top of that in patches. And finish with a few areas of pale yellowy new rust. I have to say the pale colour is probably too pale and yellow, a bit more orange would be better. It does look a bit like panzer ambush camouflage with the pale spots! Actually it is starting to look like a real 1/108, but the thing to remember is that this is just a base coat that shows through gaps in the top coat
     
    This is built up on the inside too as a base for the interior weathering. One thing I’ve noticed on good colour photos of steel coal wagons is that there is often a noticeable ‘tide mark’ around the inside corresponding to the top of the coal load. I assume this is because coal, being mildly acidic when wet, corrodes the parts of the body in contact with it differently from the parts not usually covered by the load. I’ve attempted to create a basis for this; it’ll be more defined by the proper weathering later.
     

     
    24 hours drying - or probably until next weekend, and another round of airbrush cleaning.
     
    Looking ahead to the top coat, I’ve made up a small test panel for salt weathering. Base coated with a rusty Humbrol enamel, then water applied where I want the rust patches, sprinkled with rock salt (Himalayan Rock Salt - 'a naturally pink and tasty alternative to normal salt’ apparently) and left to dry.
     

  7. Ian H C
    Monday 28th March

    And so to painting.

    I'm using Railmatch 1 pack etch primer onto the brass, black for the underframe and inside of the body and grey for the outside of the body. I buy the etch primer in the 125ml tins, and I drop a couple of M8 nuts into the tins to mix the pigment when I shake the cans. I'm using an Iwata Revolution airbrush between 20 and 30 psi. The instructions for the primer suggest adding 20% of the specific etch primer thinners for airbrushing. That's not nearly enough, I ended up about 50/50 paint and thinners. Thin coats applied from different directions. The solvent flashes off quickly and you can build decent coverage without waiting. Underframe first in black, inside of body in black then outside of body in grey. No need to mask since the Iwata is able to spray the black/grey interface accurately enough for the primer coat.

    The grey primer is the easier to handle and apply and I'd be tempted to prime the whole thing in grey next time. The advantage of black primer on the underframe is that you can weather straight on top of it.

    There's another 7mm learning, it takes more paint than 4mm (3 times more in theory). Obvious I guess, but the 4mm habits of a modelling lifetime mean that I mix too little paint first time. And another thing, I have a shonky old compressor that looks like it is made from a fridge compressor. Works well enough but it has a limited duty cycle. Amazingly I got all the primer on without having to stop and let the compressor cool down. My tarot reading shows a decent sized oil free compressor in my future.

    That's the primer on, so the model is off to a warm place to dry. I'll give it 24 hours before the next paint. There follows the ritual dismantling and cleaning of the airbrush. The preparation and cleaning that goes with airbrushing seems like a big faff, but overall it is still much faster and tidier then brush painting something like this.


     
    ​Having seen the cruel photo I noticed a few paint defects that need fixing before I move on. Also a curious cobwebby effect around some of the detail. It was clinically clean before paint - curious. I'm guessing that the properties of one of the paints, maybe the paint and the atmospheric conditions, have created what look like tiny clumps of candy floss. Never seen that before. It brushes away easily enough with a soft brush. Even at 50/50 paint to thinners I wonder if it was still too thick, forming little filaments in the air? The wheels still spin freely, so no paint found its way into the bearings, and the springs still work.
  8. Ian H C
    Wednesday 16th March
     
    Coming back this evening and looking with fresh(er) eyes, the X21 rings don't look right. Too flat, where the prototype is a thin wire ring. I'll replace them with some rings made by winding 0.3mm wire round a 1.5mm drill bit. Here we go again, but it gets easier every time. A career in jewellery beckons. Yes, that looks much better.

    In cleaning up with a glass fibre brush I dislodged one of the grab handles. Better now than during painting. So make another and solder in place.
     
    The end door fits perfectly onto the pegs and in position. It won't be a working door, so it is soldered in position. Apart from the cast white metal hinge posts, which I'll fit later, that most distinctive piece of 1/108 architecture, the end door, is complete and fixed in position. And here's a photo to celebrate.

     
    1 hour. Total 83 hours.
     
    Next episode: I can't postpone fitting body to chassis any longer.
  9. Ian H C
    Monday 14th March

    Doors again. When you think about it a lot of the detail in the body is around the doors. So it's not surprising that they suck up so much time. Still working on the end door tonight. The cast white metal pegs for the end door catches don't appeal to me. Not sure I can solder them effectively and not sure how robust they'll be. So I'll make replacements from 1mm brass wire. It is possible to drill a 0.5mm hole through 1mm brass wire. File a small flat where you want the hole.Make a centre mark with the point of a scriber, that'll be enough to start a 0.5mm drill. Hold the wire in a vice and drill vertically through. The flat can end up underneath when installed, you won't see it.
    Drill the hole first then get the length of the peg correct relative to the hole. They need to be about 1mm shorter than the white metal castings from hole to end, otherwise they stick out too far. Check photos. Taper one end and solder them, without fear of meltdown, into the end stanchions.

    Now, more bloody chain and etched rings, but mercifully the last lot. The cotter pin X22 is too wide to go through the 0.5mm hole in the peg. On the prototype the peg had a slot milled in it. We can't make a tiny slot but we can carefully thin down the cotter until it fits the hole. 6 links of the tiny chain looks about right. That's one side done, and it is possible to fit the cotter and turn the ring X21 over the peg, just. The chain and rings on the other side of the end door, and that's it done. That's it for tonight. One month since getting started!



    2.5 hours. Total 82.5 hours.
    -----------
    Digression - Thomas the Tank Engine. Naturally as a little boy I had my share of Thomas books. Gordon The Big Engine was the first. I still have it, a fifth edition from June 1966. a sixth birthday present. The foreword starts - "Dear Ian, You asked for a book about Gordon. Here it is. Gordon has been naughty, and then Fat Controller was stern with him. Gordon has now learned his lesson and is a Really Useful Engine again." The books were generally true to railway custom and practice of the time they were written, the fifties. Post war society is reflected in them too - Gordon is a bit aristocratic and one of the locomotive upper classes, James and Henry are aspiring middle class, and Thomas and Percy are working class tank engine oiks.

    You have your favourites. I never quite liked Gordon. Even at that age I knew he was supposed to be a Gresley pacific and I knew the rectangular buffers were bogus and he was an axle short on the tender. And he was a bit sniffy and patronising, wouldn't touch trucks, talked down to 'little Thomas'. Besides, I wasn't that keen on blue either. James? What was James supposed to be anyway? Never did work that out. And bright red wasn't the right colour for an engine. Thomas was OK even though he was pale blue, a bit cheeky and subversive. My favourite was Henry. Green was a favourite colour, and Henry seemed to be neat and well proportioned. A Black Five, as I subsequently found out. Henry always seemed to be getting a rough deal, you had to feel sorry for him.

    As kids and parents you had to know your railway lore to appreciate some of the stories. I remember one Percy episode where he runs through a signal and ends up in the water with the Fat Controller standing over him muttering dark oaths. The whole point of the story, the whole joke on Percy, was the difference between upper and lower quadrant semaphore signals and the misunderstanding that arose. Who'd get that today, apart from folk reading this blog? The yoof of today eh?

    Would it be a laugh to write a modern day Thomas? With Network Rail, the Rail Regulator, punctuality stats, RoSCos, franchises. Well, maybe not.
  10. Ian H C

    MMP 1/108 - part 2

    By Ian H C,

    Further work on the chassis of the MMP 1/108 etched kit.
     
    Parts 7, 8, 9, 10 into the chassis. Again, if you remove the etch cusp, fold accurately and don't gum up the half etch locating grooves with solder the fit up of these parts is perfect.

    I found it easier to put 9,10 into the buffer beam before fitting 7, 8.

    Make sure you get 7, 8 located accurately on the inside of solebar 4. They form the basis for the location of the axle guards later on.

     
    Parts 13. Note that the rectangular hole for the drawbar isn't on the vertical centre line of the part. It should be fitted with the hole towards the upper side of chassis to match the coupling hook and drawbar. Just check then shape of the coupling hook and drawbar and it'll be obvious. If you have tiny solder fillets between the longitudinal chassis members 3 and the inside of the buffer beam you can chamfer the corners of 13 for a snug fit. They're a fiddle to fold and fit.
     
    All those little reinforcing plates in the corner of the etch, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, tin one side of them before you remove them from the etch. Much easier! Cut them from the etch with a sharp knife onto lead sheet as close to the part as you can to save filing off all the etch tabs. Easy to Zap them into position on the chassis with an RSU. You could equally sweat them into place with a hot iron and some flux; don't hang about though, you don't want to get anything else to melting point.
     
    What we now have is a square, flat, strong chassis that's true to the prototype construction. So far I've learned that the design of the kit is very good. There are some clever design features that improve the accuracy of the model. The fit up of the parts has so far been exemplary provided attention is paid to accurate assembly. The soldering so far hasn't been difficult, but the method of locating parts often relies on half etch grooves. Tidy and economical soldering avoids filling in the location grooves and makes life a lot easier.
     
    I guess a lot has been written about the difficulty or otherwise of soldering. For me the key to success is absolute cleanliness of the parts to be joined. I'll usually scrub up parts on the fret with a glass fibre brush before I cut them out. I'll give them a wipe with IPA (iso propyl alcohol in case you were wondering) to remove finger prints and other gak before soldering. Clean parts, enough heat, decent flux and the right amount of solder in then right place and it's then hard to NOT make a good joint. Enough heat is important too. A lot of the problems I used to have with soldering early days were due to not having an iron with enough thermal capacity. It would take ages for the joint to heat up and flux would be driven off, oxidisation of surface and solder would begin and I'd end up with a messy and structurally poor joint. There are loads of tactics for soldering depending on circumstances, maybe I'll cover some of the less orthodox ones I've found useful.
     
    What's also pleasing is that the construction of the prototype is followed so faithfully. That dimensional fidelity brings a few problems that I'll cover later in the build. I've learned a few things about 1/108 already that I'd never have worked out from photos. Mr Parkin either has a complete GA drawing of the underframe or he's spent some time underneath one with a tape measure.
     
    So far I'm really happy with it all.

    4 hours split over two evenings.

    Total so far 8 hours. That's a day's work. I won't be earning a living this way obviously.



    Next entry will have a go at couplings and buffers.
  11. Ian H C
    Thursday 10th March

    Not much time tonight. Cut out and clean up the parts for the side doors.
    30 mins. Total 65.5 hours.
    -----------
    Friday 11th March

    Laminating side doors 13, 14. They end up a bit pringle due to heat distortion. Bend them carefully back flat, or as flat as your chosen prototype.

    I've decided at this point that I'm not going to make the side doors open so I don't need to bother about working parts. I don't fancy my chances of soldering parts 12 in place without melting the white metal door catch. I'll solder 12 in place then cut and insert the door catch from both sides later. Obviously you can't do that if you want the catches and doors to work. If I wanted the catches to work I'd probably make some catches from brass, graphite them up to make them solder proof, cross fingers and solder 12 on top of them. It helps to pre tin the ends of 12 before removing from the fret.

    The wire pegs for the upper side door catch. Solder a long piece of 0.8mm wire into the hole. Long enough for you to be able to hold the other end while soldering. Easy then to adjust the wire to get it perpendicular to the body while soldering. Cut it off and trim to length after soldering.


    The 'structions say to leave the wire 3mm proud. In reality the pegs for the top door projected about as far as the outside face of the vertical stanchions either side of the door. Again, I'm not going for a working top door so I'll stay as close to prototype appearance as possible.

    Top door parts X9, X10 and the brass tube. Tricky little job. Best to leave the tube over long each end for soldering and cut and file it back to length afterwards.

    Dump the body and door assemblies in the ultrasonic tank for a clean.


    4.5 hours. Total 70 hours.
  12. Ian H C
    Saturday 5th March

    The body. Wow! Part 1, the main body, is by far the largest single etched part I've ever had to work with. Folding over the top channels and the body sides and end is quite a challenge for the 5.5" hold & fold. Takes some work with steel parallels and careful thumbs to complete. Didn't need to score the top channel folds.

    There are supposed to be a couple of tiny tabs on the door end of the body to locate part 2. I filed them off thinking they were etch tabs. Duh!

    I'm electing to make up the door end beam assembly, parts 2, 3, 4 as a sub assembly before fitting it to the main body. Seems easier. Pre tin parts 4, and once cut off the fret and cleaned up they fit perfectly into the etched location grooves in 2. They stay obediently in position while you run a little solder round them. Accuracy of fit and location like that makes life so much easier. Thank you Mr Parkins.

    Top corners of 1 tacked and then the seams are soldered with a hot 40W iron. Door end beam assembly soldered across the open end taking care to keep it all square and level.

    The basic body shell is together. Can't resist placing it on the chassis for a photo. Starting to look like something now, and progress feels rapid with these big parts.


    2.5 hours. Total 55 hours.
  13. Ian H C
    Brake levers. The wire pivot for the brake side lever isn't 0.5mm, the etched holes are too big. The holes aren't quite 0.8mm either. 0.8mm looks right to me, so drilled them through to take 0.8mm wire. Don't solder parts 53, 54, 55, 56 to the cross shaft yet. Fit the lever in position first, make sure the crank parts 48 is on the cross shaft, then align 56 et.al. with the pawl on the lever, then solder up.
     
    The brake lever on the brake side hinders access for fitting one of the spring retaining pins (previously fitted then removed). It should be possible to fit it from the inside. A right fiddle, but necessary if we want to keep the wheels removable at this stage. You'll need to tweak the bends in the lever a little to get clearance over the spring seat, and put a short bend on the pivot end to bring it back parallel with the face of the V hanger.
     
    On the non brake side it's easier. You may have to fettle the tiny parts 61 on the brake lever pivot end to get an interlocking fit with part 62.
     
    I love the tiny etched split pins. You can't do that in 4mm!
     
    Assemble the whole brake pushrod group with wire pins and adjust it into position before soldering anything. Make sure you have the push rods on the correct side of the crank. Check the sense of rotation or prototype photos. Dropping the lever should push the brakes on. Depending on the clearance you left between brake blocks and wheels you may need to use different holes in the push rods, and they'll need to be opened out with 0.5mm or 0.55mm drill. Don't file the spacer wires between the pushrods flush with the front face of the pushrod. Photos show them protruding a little, like a rivet or bolt head.
     
    The instructions say that the pushrods are angled out towards the V hanger. That doesn't seem to be true on Morton brake gear. At least all the drawings I've been able to check on other similar Morton brake vehicles shows the push rods and crank all in line. I can't say 100% that's the case for a 1/108 with Morton gear but I think it's highly probable.
     
    Safety loop under lower pushrod 49. I made it from a random scrap of copper wire found on the bench. About 0.3mm and easier to bend and coax into shape than 0.5mm brass. I think it's closer to scale too. Little things!
     
    I imagine you could make the whole brake linkage work if you were careful. Then you could pin the lever down to park it in a siding. It's a challenge I didn't rise to this time!
     
    Mustn't forget to put the door bash springs back on again now the brakes are finished. I found that I'd moved the brake blocks slightly during this process. Worth dropping the wheels back in to check, unless you've fixed them in already of course.
     
    That was easier than I'd expected. It's easier to assemble brakes this way in 7mm than in 4mm (Masokits !).

     
    2 hours + 2 hours. Total 52.5 hours.
  14. Ian H C
    Who remembers this? Inherited from my Dad many years ago. Never opened it so I've no idea what state the contents are in. The colour on the lid is brown. Just plain brown.
    The Humber Oil Company - that's why 'Humbrol'.

  15. Ian H C
    When you fit the spring seats 25 to the chassis don't fit the 0.8mm wire spring retaining pins at this point. Spoiler alert - you'll wish you didn't when we get to setting up the springs!

    More solebar detail. Bump stops 26. The location marking and rivet spacing on the underside of the solebar is incorrect for the folded up 26, but not a big deal. Fold them up ignoring the 'dink' in the middle. Bend the 'dink' after they're soldered on.

    Parts 42, 43, make sure they're on the correct sides relative to the end door. Check with detail on parts 2a, 2b from earlier. Again, the instructions show the assembly the right way up and you'll be working on it upside down. Look at photos if unsure which side the brakes are on.
     
    Fine chain and brake pin 65. That's so tiny, it's approaching the limit of what I can do. One pin on the floor, don't think I'll be seeing that again. There's a spare on the fret. Just the one spare! Good photos show 9 links. Split the links with a scalpel. Thread through holes in pin and the brake lever guide. Close up with tweezers and solder. Take a breath. The fine chain supplied for this looks very slightly over scale so the pin hangs down a little further than the prototype. But only just. You could use just 8 links, and that's probably what I'll do next time. There's no way I'm taking these off and removing a link! It's a reflection of the level of detail in this kit that we're counting brake pin chain links.


    Brake guide stays 47 aren't any easier to fit in 7mm than in 4mm. I'd recommend you fit them later, after you've finished setting up the springs. They do get in the way of fitting and removing the springs.
     
    Bearing carriers, wheels and side play. The bearing carriers are a clever fold up lamination. Virtually no fettling required to get a good fit in the W irons. Be economical with the solder or else you'll spend time digging it out of the slots where the W irons run. The instructions suggest using thin paper as a spacer during assembly to provide clearance in the slot when soldered up. I didn't find the need for that.
     
    Here's where things start to get interesting. With the bearing carriers fitting nicely in the W irons and the Slaters bearing cups soldered in, the first trial of the wheel and bearing assembly in the chassis showed lots of side play, just over 2mm side to side. The supplied etched washers that are intended to fit over the axle ends don't even reach from the bearing flange to the face of the wheel, so no use. We'd need a stack more washers, buts that's not good engineering. We can either space the bearing cups inboard by 1mm each side, or make a sleeve of the correct length to replace the hoards of washers. I decided to unsolder the bearing cups and make spacers to move them inboard. A job to do on the lathe tomorrow after measuring things.
     
    The sometimes dysfunctional relationship between the distance between the inside of W irons and the distance over axles and bearing cups is quite usual in my experience in 4mm. Axle lengths and bearing detail, although similar, don't seem to be standardised. Faffing around with spacers, shims and washers to eliminate axle side play is routine. I'm new to 7mm so I'm wondering if that's the case in 7mm too. Slaters wheels seem to be ubiquitous so I wonder why kits don't accommodate them?

    10 hours today, that's a full shift. Total 25.5 hours.
  16. Ian H C
    The next task is to fit the W irons to the chassis. The W irons themselves are a straightforward lamination job. There are rivets to press out on the inside of the W iron laminations. You'll never see the rivets so you can save a few minutes if you want. Look very carefully at how they are located on the solebars. The area of the W iron that attaches to the solebar is tinned to ease soldering.

    I found that a very little fettling was required to get them fitting perfectly. They're not easy to hold in place while you solder them. I ended up using a small toolmaker's clamp while I tack soldered them, and removed it to complete the job. Check with a square that the W irons are aligned across the chassis - parallel axles would be good! The thing to watch out for here is the position of the rope holes in the W irons. It's all explained in the instructions, but check before you solder.

     
    Add the solebar details. Label clips X1 are tiny and a bit of fun, you might actually be able to clip a label in them. Etch lines are on the outside of the fold on 11 and X1 by the way. I used a little solder paint and the RSU to fit some of the small items to face of the solebar.
     
    Choose a number plate and it has an identity, B560792. Lot 2917, R Y Pickering, 1957. So it's a Scottish 1/108.

    That's it for tonight. 3 hours. Total 15.5 hours.
  17. Ian H C

    MMP 1/108 - part 3

    By Ian H C,

    White metal buffer housing castings are supplied with then kit. They're pretty average and there's a bit of damage to most of them. I think it's been done when the castings were drilled out for then buffer shanks. You get 5 so can choose the best 4. Its a shame because the best white metal castings can be excellent, take for example the 4mm buffer castings from Lanarkshire Model Supplies (LMS). Think I'll leave adding the castings until all the soldering on the chassis is finished.
     
    The coupling hooks are a lamination job. Pre-tin all the coupling hook parts and parts 14 while still on the fret. Easy to get them together with the RSU. Sculpt the resulting hook with a file and emery. Compared with photos and drawings the hooks look slightly chunky but they look much better than a flat etch. You wonder if brass cast draw hooks are available?

     
    Coupling links are supplied and they look OK. The best way to open links for assembly is to twist them slightly, then it's easy to close them up by twisting them back without changing the shape of the link. The compression on the drawbar springs is so high that they're almost solid. They'll certainly have no effect at this scale. Plus soldering the spring keepers 18 to the drawbar while trying to hold the whole thing together looks very difficult. I guess you could shorten the springs. I decided to simply solder the drawbar solid to the chassis.
     
    I've since found the coupling links can be a nuisance when working with the chassis inverted on a flat surface. They keep getting under the chassis. I'd consider fitting them later next time, probably when I fit the buffers.

    Parts 81, 82, the coupling link hook plates. Never seen them fitted to an unfitted wagon. At least I can't see them on any photos, and I have lots of decent photos. I suspect they're for fitted wagons only so I'm missing them off.

    12.5 hours total so far.
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