Jon Fitness

Here we go... hopefully it's embedded JF

The triple shunt signals is now all done and dusted. Linked up, tested and weathered I took it outside to take advantage of the short lived sunshine! Further work on the bracket signal was adding the bolting plates and TC diamonds to the dolls, fitting and wiring the LEDs and installing the dolls on the structure. Here's a few details of LED fitting. Soldering the wire to the LED held (gently!) in the vice.. Wire fed down the doll and the LED fitted to the lamp case (the castings are a bit ruff as I made the masters with the gap filed way too large) Wires are then fed down the structure to the base and the dolls soldered to the trimmer plates. The lamp cases then have a "lens" dropped in made by a drop of 5 minute epoxy. More soon and maybe a video too! JF

Looks a nice structure, Is it an all tubular one? JF

I'd be keen to see the results!** Don't forget though, a closed loop means threading the wire through but a bendy bit of wire (like on LMS U/Qs) can be looped around the wires once they are on! **especially if swmbo catches you pilfering her best needles! JF

Oooh er.. well I wouldn't go that far but thanks anyway. Don't forget the real signalmeister....his work is exquisite! Quite agree about 7mm scale for the chunkiness of signals though, mainly as I couldn't manage owt smaller!! JF

Thanks, I'll see how things go with the castings! I think the needle idea is possibly a non starter as they are generally quite a brittle steel. Would be fun trying to snip up and solder one of those on! JF

I usually just use an old tail snipped off an LED soldered to the post and bent round once the wires are in place. On GW signals they are more substantial and I'll usually use a thicker piece if brass (1mmX 0.5mm) drilled for however many wires there are, soldered right round the post like a strap then the end with the holes twisted horizontal. If I can get my @rse in gear I will be making some masters for GW style wire restraints and have them cast in brass. HTH JF

Nail 'em down? A couple of small screws maybe...... JF

A little more progress on the bracket signal with all the dolls placed in position. They aren't fixed in yet and won't be until all the various fittings, LEDs etc are on. Got some paint on the triple shunt signal so it's just waiting for the servos and operating wires and a splodge of grime! More soon JF Edit..just realised I haven't provided a wire loop to restrain the drive wires. Bugga! may be able to solder something to one of the ladder support bars.

Looks an interesting little project! Will you be doing it all in plastic or will there be a bit of "brasswork" involved? Anyway, keep up the good work Jon F

Wot, Crossley had a branch in Yorkshire? JF

Non reliable type 2?, Co-Bo would be better then! (runs off and hides behind a pall of 2 stroke diesel fumes!!!!) JF

Wow, all those lovely brass bits! If you keep all the sprues etc you could probably get a bit of money back from the scrappy! Looks seriously good though; if the 1501 class comes to fruition I may have to have one! JF

Back to the LMS U/Qs now ! A triple shunt signal fitted with SMD LEDs and also to be fitted with servos, now ready for the paint shop. All the little bolting plates were fitted with my RSU which is just what the thing is best at! (Any excuse for a play with the RSU! ) Whilst the white paint spray on the shunt signal hardens off, it's time to start another one. This one's for our layout so I'll have to do this one fairly quick between the paid ones! It's an LMS lattice post balanced 3 doll bracket made up from some etches done for me. I'd previously made up the main post but found another piece that I'd chopped a bit from when building another. It was still just about tall enough so I mounted it on a base and covered up the rough bit at the bottom! The trimmers added from 5mm machined brass channel and the brackets folded up and fitted. The old rivet punch works over time on these structures! The etches are quite flimsy and I've had to be careful during handling but I've still managed the odd dinge here and there. Not sure I'd be confident enough to offer this type of signal to a customer yet so These will be a bit of practise I suppose! More soon JF

My Missus said to me today, "Will you please stop singing along to Live For Ever by Oasis!?"... I said, "maybeeee!" JF sorted.

Soooo. which is correct to scale..Dapol or Brassworks? Rapidly runs for the door, shutting it quietly behind him!

Hi Rich, there's a loco builder on here called Jazz and his signature simply reads, "Learning by doing" You're certainly doing that Rich, hats off to you fella! That trackwork's looking better all the while. Jon F.

Cracking job on the brass one Jints, you've really brought out the best in it. I see what you mean about the lighter blue, I'm not sure which looks better though. The long horizontal handrail on the Dapol one would be very difficult to paint white with it being black flexible plastic. Mines already lost most of its blue! I've already painted the coupling rods yellow but I had to do them with a brush in situ. I wanted to take them off, strip the red off and spray them but the crankpins were so tight in the cranks I was in danger of either rounding them off or snapping them. I'll be re-numbering mine without the D and will probably re-spray the cab roof in blue before mucking it all up by weathering it. Jon F.

Looks promising! You've got me starting to wonder what my green version would look like with LNER lettering to compliment the lining now! JF

No probs Rod. As long as it makes sense to you and it feels logical as you work it. You could always "tweak" it as you need to. I'll certainly take you up on your kind offer next time I'm down that way! Cheers JF

That's a nice bit of "heavy engineering"! I'm sure you've checked it all out but, the brush spring looks to me to be missing some insulation on one side, is it shorting straight across? JF

Hi Rod, This version of the diagram is numbered to match your own "lever frame" that's on your control panel. It would match the signalbox if the lever frame was at the back of the box facing away from the traffic. HTH Jon F

Ah Gainsborough It does. to me anyway, embody everything that is wonderful about O gauge. Full signalling, long express trains, plenty of excellent fairly high speed running and generally superb atmosphere. I've been 3 times now and I was once lucky enough to go with a friend who operates there occasionally. He gave me a guided tour of all the control panels whilst it was running and it certainly keeps the operators on their toes as everything seems to happen at 100mph! I was even taken upstairs into the loco maintenance area and seeing all the A4s and V2s etc lined up for servicing was awesome! As Rich said, if you haven't been yet, go when you get an opportunity as it's one of those "must see" layouts. JF