Jon Fitness

Anyone remember Beans Foundry? (hope I'm in the right area). It was set back a way from the railway but was always a landmark to me. I used to wind my kids up that it was where Heinz had them stamped out by the million.... JF

BFB signal posts. Balanced bracket, 11ft doll spacing. In an attempt to reduce costs, and before the advent of use of larger diameter tubes, the LMS tried signal posts made from what is effectively a length of girder. These were known as Broad Flanged Beam types. Quite a lot were installed but even though they were cheaper to construct and maintain than lattice posts, their tendency to twist meant they needed guy wires to keep them straight. They were superceded by larger diameter tubes after WW2. As there is no "off the shelf" brass section for this job, I make them from 3 strips of K&S 1/4" x 0.5mm thick strip. It comes out a little overscale but still shows all the twisty characteristics of the real thing! Nothing exciting to show here but here we go... The strip is cut to approximate length and cleaned up with a glassfibre brush. I then tinned 2 strips with (plenty) flux and 188 solder. Not much is required, just enough to coat it. The centre strip was then rested at 90 degrees in the middle of the tinned strip and more flux applied. A nice clean hot 40w soldering iron was then slowly run along the joint until the solder flowed. Occasional checks for straightness showed a quick re-alignment was necessary in one or two places, so the iron was run past again and the strip moved as needed until it looked right. It was then turned over and the job repeated with the other flange. I needed to add just a little solder in the areas where the tinning was a bit too thin! This was then soldered directly to the base plate, checking for straightness with the set square. I couldn't keep the square on while I was soldering as it acted as a heat sink! More soon Jon F.

Well yes, this last case of "Chateau Reading" was quite tasty but I'm happier with a pint of "Ellemar" bitter meself... JF

Cheers! This last GW one has been my favourite of the recent batch. Don't know why, theres just something about the shape of it. Jon F.

A couple of days to re-set the workbench and yes, back to the u-q's! JF.

Right. When it comes to plankage, as much as I like the convenience of brass strip, there's nowt like real wood to get the right look. These planks were going to be coffee stirrers but I hadn't allowed enough space under the angle cranks (like me, they were a bit thick...) so strips of 1mm ply were cut, trimmed and superglued on. Here's a shot out in the sun, still awaiting final painting.. And heres a quick function test. GW bracktest..wmv And it's all finished bar the chevrons on the distant. I usually print them on to waterslide transfer paper and varnish them on. I'm waiting for an experimental batch made from cut black vinyl, but if they take too long I'll print meself off another batch of waterslides... More soon Jon F.

And this shows how much masking off is need before the black's sprayed on! Believe me, it's still easier than trying to hand paint those brackets and ladders and still get a decent finish..... Should have it finished by tuesday. JF

A big push today has seen the signal ready for the paint shop. Angle cranks for the left doll were prepared and mounted on 14BA bolts soldered to the doll and over a gap in the supports. The handrail stanchions were soldered to crossbeams which will eventually have wooden planks on them. The doll ladder has been soldered at the top but left loose at the bottom and will be glued to the planks on completion. The drive rods for the signals will come up between the brackets and will need to be a little thicker than usual as there is a bit of a kink in them. All the servos are now stacked in position but I can't test them yet as once I have bent the drive rods to go through the arms, they won't come out for painting... I'll just have to be confident! After a good blast of Halfords finest... Time for the fiddly painty bits now......... Nearly there. More soon JF.

Finally fired up the soldering iron for the final GW Bracket. Firstly, GW purists look away now as the etches I have aren't really the right ones for this job but are are only an approximation. They are the Scale signal Supply ones for a wooden posted bracket. Once I'd perused pics/drawings I altered the basic brackets with a bit of snipping and bending to get the curve at the bottom edge. I added a bit of rivet detail and a flange along the bottom edge and this is the result so far. The post was then fitted to the base and the brackets set up with some bits of brass to set the brackets out from the post. Fortunately, I just remembered to drill a hole in the main post for the wires to come down before I soldered the top plate on! The dolls were then prepared with near enough all the bits on and the holes drilled for the wires. After fitting the LEDs and wires (and testing them!!) all the wires were carefully fed down the post and the dolls soldered to the brackets. Made quite a neat job of getting the doll spacing wrong so the larger one had to come off again as the distant caught on the left arm! (Dozy p*****k, slow down and concentrate! ) All seems in order so far so it's off to fire up the iron again now... More soon JF

Looks well! Easybuild? I remember seeing 2 car ones in that livery doing the Bolton-Kirkby service. I was a box-lad at Bolton West at the time, 1978-79ish. Turning up for early turn with a hangover, peering blearily out of the window and seeing a white freshly painted unit going past...it hurt my eyes! For a service pattern, you could always do a WK-Birkenhead Nth-Bidston-Wrexham service... JF

The paint was still wet on this one when I took these pics this afternoon. Hopefully all will be dry for me to take this and 3 other signals to the Reading ALSRM "do" for delivery tomorrow. Lots of lovely signal pictures on this site (Adrian the Rock's Roscalen), check it out! I'm quite sure those interested in signalling are familiar with it but if you haven't seen it, have a look. I was kindly given permission to use these photos by Adrian to illustrate the basis for my next and final GW signal (for now!). It'll be similar but with a distant under the main line stop arm (and none of the modern H&S handrail carbuncles!). More soon Jon F.

Love the stone-work; that colour looks bob-on! Jon F.

Fitted this little chap to the layout last night. Worked by one lever and selected by a microswitch on the points. Unfortunately, due to many baseboard joists the pont motors and microswitches on rather than under the board so its all a bit messy round the base of the signal. I think some sort of shunters cabin or similar may be suitable to hide all the gubbins. JF

Cheers! Got a couple more GW sigs to do then its back to upper quadrants! JF

Ta! JF

Paint cans and paint brushes having been waved in the general direction of the signal, it's time to re-assemble. I had left the ladder off until final assembly as the way I have made the rod linkages meant I wouldnt be able to fit it all back together with the ladder fitted. To make re-assembly a bit easier, I masked a few bits off before spraying, ready for easy soldering. A little patch was left on the base-plate and the ends of the ladder left clean. I managed to fit all the operating linkages from the servos to the operating arms and the signal weight bar, but I left off the shutters (for now) These were cleaned and chemically blackened to avoid any paint getting in the slides or any of the moving joints before being once more checked for free movement. Once I was happy with these, I took them out again to put on the wording. These were produced on the computer using MS Word and printed onto sticky label paper, cut out and stuck on. The font (if you think this looks right) is Agency FB set at 18 and 24 points. The signal arm having been painted and glazed was connected up and secured at the back with a home made cast backblinder which provides much need balancing weight to further ensure the arm can return to danger by gravity. The final drive rods from the operating arms to the shutters are 0.5 brass wire. The ends were bent 90deg., pushed through the holes in the shutter arms and tiny etched washers from the kit etch soldered to the wire. The shutters being chemically blackened werent affected by the solder, making the job a lot easier resulting in a nice tight but mobile joint. The ends of the wire were then snipped off and trimmed with a minidisc in the drill. Finally, the ladder was added and some wire ladder stays provided. Final painting was then completed and the signal placed back on the rig for final testing. Here's the usual wobbly video... RI finished test.wmv More Soon! JF

Steam- Stanier 2 cyl 2-6-4T. Best looking passenger tank ever built. Diesel- Ivatt twins. Right first time in 1947...Diesel loco shape went downhill from there...... Bus- 1958 East Lancs bodied Leyland Titan PD3/5..... in Boltons later maroon and cream livery... (cough cough) Jon F.

vac brakes on a summers wagon?

Camera batteries duly re-charged and heres a few more pics and a rather wobbly video clip! Sorry the vid clip finishes before the last movement of the signal; Windows movie maker seems to clip off the last bit when I was reducing the file size for posting here. GW RItest.wmv Now I know it all works I can proceed with the tidying up and final fitment of the ladder before the strip down and paint shop beckons. Oh and the the arm will be getting a "ring" on it too! More soon Jon F.