Jon Fitness

Right, now I have the shutters working, it’s time to get the arm linked up as well. As the arm is worked from the shutters, there is no direct link from the operating mechanism to the signal arm. Each shutter will be worked by a separate servo and will push the arm to the off position as it does. Here’s where the mechanics go a bit awry. GW signals (along with other lower quadrants) are designed so that if any part of the linkage fails the arm will automatically return to danger. This works on the real thing because the spectacle plate is heavier than the blade and naturally lifts the arm back to horizontal. On the model version, the reverse happens as the spec plate is half etched thin brass! To counteract this I started by considering a weight bar added to the mechanism (too complicated and not enough weight could be added and still look ok) or add a tubular weight to the down rod from the signal (again, too bulky) Time to cheat then. Within the support bracket for the shutter casing (where I routed the down rod for the arm) I slotted in a small spring over the rod. A small peg was soldered to the wire beneath the spring so that when the wire was pushed up, the spring was compressed. This made sure the signal returned to danger. A small piece of wire was then soldered to the down rod across the top of the shutter actuating arms so that when an arm lifted, so did the down rod. A bit of “adjustment” was required to get the stroke right to work both arm and shutter in harmony, and a small notch in each operating arm proved necessary to stop the wire slipping along the arm as it worked against the spring. Another addition was a “sleeve” over one side of the cross wire on the down rod to equalise the lift on each shutter Not quite prototypical but fairly effective. Once I had the arm and shutters working together, final drive rods were fitted down through the base plate to meet up with the micro servos I’m using. I shortened the actuating arms as I thought the stroke required was a little excessive and the rods would stand too far from the post, possibly. I like to fit the servos to the base of the signal rather than a separate under baseboard fitting; that way I can set everything up on the bench and just “plant and plug in” on the layout. A length of scrap etch was used to fabricate a simple mounting for the servos on the base plate and the support at just one end of the servo seems sufficient for the small effort required to move a signal arm. Once I knew where everything was going to fit (good old trial and error!) I could get on with finishing off the rest of the signal bits like ladders and staging. I also found a place to fit the 1k Ωresistor on a small piece of PCB tucked under the baseplate. Time to strip it back down, clean up and paint it.

Mike, Many thanks for that! I always thought "silver" just looked a bit too bright though. It seems to weather almost to grey but never seems to look tatty. Off to Halfords now... JF

Here's a quick question! What colour did BR(W) paint their signal posts? was it silver or silver-grey or battleship grey? I've tried several shades on past signals but they've never looked quite right to me and I've always had to weather them quite heavily before they looked ok. I'd be looking for a suitable Halfords spray can for covenience!! JF

Hmmm... this is where modelling accuracy, the design of the kit and the bits supplied and the practicalities of operation will all disagree...theres a spring involved . More soon as I'm at work (nites) and can't upload pics from here... JF

Next job is the signal lamp. I’ve drilled out the lamp case (MSE late pattern GW lamp case) to accept a warm white 3mm LED and the small hole below is to accept the negative tag of the LED. The negative tag (the shorter one) is bent round, fed through the small hole while the LED is fitted loose in the larger hole. A small blob of low-melt solder is then used to secure the tag in the hole. Should the LED ever need changing it is then easy to remove by releasing the tag with a touch on the soldering iron. This means the whole metal structure of the signal is now the LED’s negative tag! A mounting bracket was then fabricated from some scrap etch and soldered to the post. The lamp case was then carefully soldered to the bracket with a little bit of 145deg and checked for alignment. This is where using a bolt and nut to pivot the signal arm becomes useful as the arm can be fixed in whatever position you need for setting up. A small hole (about 0.8mm) was then drilled in the back of the post and a length of fine insulated wire fed down leaving about 2” at the bottom of the post and a short length at the top. This was then soldered to the positive tag on the LED and 3v DC applied to test the LED. All OK at the moment. So, basic signal built, time for the route indicator gubbins. This is included on the MSE etch for the later pattern GW arms suitable for tubular post signals and is provided with 2 “shutters” although I thing the real thing can have up to 4. (Scale Signal Supply do a kit for the wooden post version, one of which I have in store for another job!) This is the etch as snipped from the fret, ready to fold up. I decided to add a divider from brass section up each inner side of the case. This is to stop the shutters from rubbing and scratching the faces together as they operate. The case folds up easily, forming its own mounting bracket as it does. Once soldered up, it was fitted to the post below the signal arm. I’m not sure about the exact distance it should be from the arm as most pictures I’ve seen seem to vary. The shutters are moved up and down by operating arms pivoted on the post below the casing. These in turn are linked to the signal arm so which ever shutter is moved, the arm moves with it. The total movement or sweep of each shutter is about 12-13mm so the operating arm pivot (made from brass tube with an internal diameter suitable for a 14BA bolt to slide through) needs to be soldered on about 15mm below the bottom of the case. I decided to twist the tags on the shutters through 90deg. so that the joint holes matched those in the operating arms. Not strictly as prototype but simpler to link up! The holes in the etched operating arms and shutters were then opened up to accept the 14BA bolts and fastened (very ) roughly together to check operation. It was then found necessary to crank one of the tags on the shutters to get smooth operation. This of course had the effect of shortening it so the operating arms now sit at slightly different angles. Hmph!. At this stage everything waggled loosely as it operated. This wouldn’t help when the linkages were required to work the signal arm later on so.. The BA bolts are steel and the nuts are brass so (hoping that the solder wouldn’t migrate through the nuts to the steel bolts) I carefully soldered the brass nuts where they were, on one of the operating arms where it pivots on the post and to the ends of the operating arms where the shutter tags fasten on. Gentle tightening of the bolts removed a lot of the looseness and the shutters then operated smoothly. Phew! That's enough for now. Hope it's not too boring.... Next will be the link to the signal arm…

One for the GW fans now. I must confess to being more of an upper quadrant fan, but one corner of the layout seems to have a GW flavour signalwise. Some alterations have taken place to the layout and we now have a bi-directional line that needs a signal for movements from it into a platform and on to the shed. A bit of a quandary then arose. It’s a passenger line, there’s little room for a bracket and I was looking for a slightly different signal anyway. I’m not too sure what the GW or BR(W) might have used but I considered 1. RH offset bracket with 1x 4ft arm and 1x 3ft arm 2. RH offset with short bracket and elevated disc 3. Straight post with offset elevated disc. On the MSE etch for later GW signal arms there is an etch for a “cash register” style route indicator so (not sure if it would be technically right but..) just for variety I’m doing one of those under a standard 4ft arm on a straight post. First pics show the built up post with finial. The spec plate and blade have been soldered together with a brass 14BA bolt as a pivot. I like to use nuts and bolts so that I can set everything up and then dismantle it for painting. I like to make sure any lower quadrant signal I build will return to a horizontal danger position so I always fit some sort of arm stop. In this case it’s a short plate on the post and a pin on the signal arm (pardon the scruffy soldering it will be tidied up!) A long length was soldered on then trimmed down so that it just caught the stop. (yes I know the finial's not central to the post. It’s wider than the tube and getting it central is a pain! ). More soon JF

So Brian, have you got a Clayton yet ? Jon F

Hook and latches. To match the hook and loop, on the other end of vehicles there is a hook and latch. The latch is to provide a delayed coupling function. When the loop is lifted up by a magnet to uncouple, the latch is also flipped up at the same time but immediately drops again. When the loop drops after uncoupling, it will drop down on the latch rather than the hook so that vehicles can be propelled and left in a siding without having to uncouple again. To re-couple just draw away and return and the vehicles will re-couple. The hook is prepared in almost the same way as before but is then fitted with one of two latch types. They both perform the same function and operate the same way but are assembled differently. Note also, it is possible to vary where the hook sits in relation to the bufferheads on the vehicle by soldering the pocket further down the hook. This is useful if the vehicle you are fitting it to does not have adjustable buffer lengths and your layout has sharp curves. Type 1 is less obtrusive and its operation is slightly more reliable, but type 2 is probably easier to assemble and fit. My personal preference is for type 2 so I’ll start with that one. Type 2 latches. If fitting a type 2 latch, take off the little half etched pip from the top of the hook. This for type 1 latches and can cause false coupling with the loops if left on. Clean up the latch with a scratchbrush and clear out the pivot holes with a 0.8mm drill waggled about (0.9mm leaves to holes a little to big IMHO) The bending up process is similar to the loop except for the dropper which for some reason is on the other side of the etch and is just a simple bend down! Bend the dropper down as close to the pivot tabs as possible (pic28) then bend up the pivot tabs, the side with the dropper at 90Ëš and the other at about 45Ëš.(Pic29) Check the slot hasn’t closed up and offer up the latch to the pivot pin. As in pic 21, use pliers to close up the pivot tabs on the pin and check for alignment. The latch should flip up and down freely. Note that the latch over hangs the end of the hook so that the coupling loop can lift it during coupling. The little tab on the bottom of the hook should now be bent at 90Ëš towards the dropper and the dropper set so that the latch rises to almost vertical. Note that the tab is half etched and is on the other side to the dropper so extra care must be taken when bending to make sure that the tab comes out far enough for the dropper to catch. If the tab simply won’t catch the dropper, solder a short length of brass wire in it’s place. Type 1 latch. For type 1 latches, prepare the hook as previously shown but leave the little half etched pip on the top of the hook. This forms the limiter for the lifting action of the latch. The type 1 latch is a simple loop that does the same job as the type 2 latch. Clean the latch with a scratch brush and clear the holes with a 0.8mm drill. With this type of latch it is even more important not to introduce too much “slop” as the latch can miss the hook when dropping and this will stop the coupling from functioning correctly. The loop has half etched marks on it to aid bending and should be bent over a piece of the etched strip provided in the kit for this purpose. It can then be opened gently and fitted over the pivot pin. At this stage the latch will drop over the hook too far as the end of the latch needs “filling in” so that it stands proud of the hook This can either be done by carefully filling with solder or soldering a short length of the etched strip provided in the kit for this purpose Once you are happy with the coupling, blacken it in the dip of your choice and it’s ready to fit. The final 2 pics show a hook with a type 2 latch fitted to a bogie bolster wagon. This has been towed round a 4ft6inch radius curve (just!) More soon if anyones interested

And I've managed to delete part one by messing about.. what a #### JF

Making the loops There are 2 sizes of hooks and loops, and the shorter ones are for short buffered vehicles so I tend not to use them. Clean up the loop with the scratchbrush and run a 0.8mm drill through all 3 holes. (Pic12) The instructions recommend a 0.9mm drill but the idea is to have a nice free pivot but without too much slop or side play so a 0.8mm waggled about in the holes does the trick. Bend the dropper down at 90Ëšas close to the pivot holes as possible (Pic 13) Try to avoid bending the pivot tags. Grip the dropper in the pliers and carefully bend up the pivot tag 90Ëš on the dropper side. The other tag can then be bent up at about 45Ëš ready for the loop to be fitted to the pivot on the hook. Check the slot between the two pivots hasn’t closed up. (Pics 14-16) The dropper should then be bent about ½ way along its length and a twist put in so that the hole for the soft iron wire dropper is now vertical. The leading edge of the loop should then be bent upwards at 45Ëšand the front edges slightly rounded to aid smooth coupling. Pics 17 and 18 explain it better than words!! The loop is then ready for mounting on the hook. Re-check that during the bending up process that the slot hasn’t closed up between the pivots and gently ease the loop onto the pivot pin as shown in pics19/20. The pivot tab at 90Ëš should slide onto the pin and the other one still at 45Ëš should be ready to be bent up to 90Ëš while locating on the pivot pin. Use thin pliers and gently squeeze the pivot tab up to 90Ëš while locating on the pivot pin (pic21) so that both pivot tabs are parallel. The loop should now lift up and down smoothly and with minimum side movement If not, check the gap as shown in pic 22 and also check that the tabs are at 90Ëš to the pin and still parallel. The gap can be carefully eased open with a scalpel blade if necessary. On the bottom edge of the hook, there is a limiter tab to stop the loop from rising too far. This is tiny and has to be bent at 90Ëšcarefully, and squeezed with the pliers to obtain the maximum projection. There isn’t much of it to bend and the dropper from the loop must be fairly close to the hook to catch it. Ideally it could have been about 0.5mm longer for ease of use. (Pics 23/24) On odd ones where I’ve clumsily broken it I’ve replaced the tab with a short length of wire soldered to the hook. The coupling should now work smoothly up to its limit and drop down without binding. Using the soft iron wire, make a dropper from the loop down towards where your magnet will be in the track and fit it through the loops dropper, checking that it is free to swing. Allow enough length and once fitted to the vehicle, the wire dropper needs to be trimmed so that is about 1mm above rail level. (Pic 25) The whole coupling can now be chemically blackened in your chosen dip. I have used Carrs blackener for nickel silver on this one. (Pics 26/27) Note the clean bit where an air bubble kept the fluid off!! Cured by re-dipping. More soon. JF

Ian, This looks interesting as each module is quite small. It could be used for controlling semaphore signals as well. I hope you don't mind but for those who are interested, I have included a link to the item you are using in this reply. http://www.mindsetso...ucts_id=1009480 Keep up the good work! Jon F.

The latest re-jigged Ex Talacre signal has now been fitted to the layout after Steve made a little plinth for it to stand on/in. Fortunately the bench work paid off and it worked OK first time without adjustment. Unfortunately one of the LEDs has since failed (a very rare occurrence) so it may have to be removed for attention. I’ll buzz the wires out first just to see if it’s my usual dodgy soldering! More soon.

No bounce on these Dave. The MERG driver boards are progammable to produce bounce if you download a seperate program and use a computer to set them up. I use one of the setting up boxes made from the MERG kits so I can't do it. Bounce would probably be ok on a single post signal with no linkages but theres probably a bit too much play in my mechanisms for it to work properly . JF

Another ex-Talacre signal has been dug out of the cupboard. This will now act as the up&down branch home to either the connecting line (RH) or the main through all the crossings (LH). The top left arm was swapped from a shunt to a full size and the bottom left will be for shunting over the crossings with a view to setting back into the shelf sidings. This signal used to be operated by memory wire but I found I was constantly having to adjust the stuff and the action wasn't really to my liking. This was all stripped off except for a short length of the wood it was mounted to and a (very ) makeshift frame made for 3 servos, these being fastened on with 10 BA nuts/bolts. For the sake of simplicity I have fixed the drive rods directly to the horns this time, something I'll probably regret later! ( lack of adjustment etc, All these have been adjusted for travel and speed on the driver board so in theory, all I have to do is hack a hole in the baseboard and screw the thing down. Once connected they should work without further adjustment. More to follow.. JF

Dinghams; hook and loop on each end of small locos, back end of big 'uns and just hooks on each end of fixed rakes. Hooks on one end of each brake van with rakes of wagons tacked in between. Also about a dozen odd wagons with couplings each end just to knock about in the sidings. Uncoupling by permanent magnet only. They seem ok so far.... JF

Fitted a banner repeater signal and the home signal it repeats. Both are worked by the now standard micro servos. Steve has finished the cottages. Someone's moved in and got the washing out already . Work will now concentrate on building & fitting the rest of the mainline signals and monitoring the working of the Dingham couplings fitted to some of the stock. Someone say Dinghams?... Next time we'll have a look at those.... More Soon.....

As requested, among the pics of the new signals installed on the layout, here's a quick vid of the banner repeater operating. The way it works is a bit wrong as it simply works on the same switch as the signal it repeats. I did consider fixing a microswitch to the servo arm on the home signal to work the banner but well....this was easier! . I'll be reviving another ex-Talacre signal for fitting shortly... More soon JF