bundeena2230

Cheers Dave, grew up near Tyseley moved to Oz in 67, and miss it all... Tyseley has changed, went back and . . .

John, I hear you But I would counter you on 'how to' posts here - I leave that to the acknowledged experts and to published authors. I would have hoped this was a forum for anyone to show Not those that have made exhibition standards. Perhaps there is a sandpit for both of us, those not "experts and to published authors" but like the hobby and want to progress, but want some real hands on help ? Maybe there is an alternative to RmWeb for people that want to roll their sleeves up and have a go for the first time. Perhaps RmWebForBegginers.com or HaveAGo_itsNotAsHardAsYouThink.com Not being nasty, but where do people that are wanting to put their toes in the water for the first time go ? It cant be for where published authors go surely ? This is where I turn to All the best K

Thank you for your input John, would appreciate any helpful ideas on how to make this better for new kit builders and other kitchen bench modellers to improve their skills through illustration here on RmWeb - rather than works. I myself am a very pictorial learner. show me and like a monkey I will copy. Tell me, and my mind makes several versions of what you said, possible . Sad, but thats how it is for me.

To John Isherwood. thank you for your comments. I am in no way negative to you, this is for comments. Sure I could stop this and let you fine gentlemen either instruct or not instruct readers on how best to do it. And after some negative comments I have seen on this site, and then some towards me. I had a lot of thinking to do. Call you all &***** whatevers - or have an opinion myself. NO - You are all in the most part correct in your comments. This is not perfect, this has faults, and you all pick it. I figure, there will be some people that will find this interesting and hopefully informative. SURE - Im not the best, I dont have a work shop, you see I build in the one foot of space in front of my keyboard. ITS KITCHEN SINK BUILDING Im not disguising it. But the only way I am going to do better is to make a kit, get it wrong, make another, get better, and so on. But at least I have the strength to show that I go wrong, heres what to look out for, what not to do ...... Where was that for me ? And maybe, just maybe, some people will get it, that we all make mistakes, and seeing this will make them more comfortable having a go, and SEEING where someone else went wrong, and MAYBE they can learn from those mistakes too. Im getting better. Took a while, I had no one to teach me. And the person that sees this and has a go will not make a model that they can show off, but maybe after a few that improves. Heck - some people might actually take up kit or scratch building and keep the hobby alive. Or not. Im not being negative guys. Is it better to show this or for you all that can make better models to instruct others. because Im not seeing a lot of you all showing how - or how not to. Im trying to have fun, thats what the hobby is to me, after a day or a week of work, put the keyboard down and do something, even if it does turn out to be a pigs ear that I never show?

Coachman, what a nice thought. I thought that friendly looking chap in front of me was to a better kit, not the slaughterhouse... <grin> I get your drift, but heck, its better than being in the pub all night. what have you to show for that, but for a nasty stain somewhere. Jindenco - bite me again....

Penrith Beacon - it is, if you want, I will do another with a web cam that I will up load onto youtube and show how to do it step by step. I have lots of kits to make. k

Gnash, the site has done it to me again, the attached image is below the post, a silver thing with black knob, and the images are then one step out. Sorry.

So, part one is here Firstly, Grandpa's kit that I bought off ebay. Typically your main problems besides missing parts, are tarnished brass (goes a rose or orange colour) and cellotape - used by the kit maker to keep the fret on the cardboard used to hold the kit. The answer, a great Australian invention "BRASSO" I use this libarally, applied with an old paint brush, and when I strike a "deep" problem, such as rose colour, where the etching solution has bitten too deep or is still eating into the brass, I will work this with a cotton bud. Failing that, a Dremel with a soft BRASS circular brush will work that area quite well, and the same for the discolouration of where tape has sat for 30 years. A note for new users If the blemish is light, apply brasso, wait a while, then rub hard with a tissue, or cotton bud, or paper towel. BUT look ahead of where your doing this. IF the fret has small or THIN bits, ease up and work lightly here, or you might snag a part and rip it out of the fret. = uncool ALSO if the damage is bad, ie its really discoloured everywhere and rose bits. Then cote it with Brasso, and go watch a movie. When you get back the fret will be a dull sand colour, and you should to this. Re apply a thin coting of brasso over your work, then use a paper towel, tissue, whatever to rub over it. Your paper will quickly go black, so you rotate your tissue / bud and keep going. You will go through a lot of tissues, and the harder you rub, the shinneyer it will look - BUT - you WILL damage smaller parts. So speed is bad, even though it makes things look good quickly. If people want, I will make a YouTube video and post it to show how I do it. OK so here is Grandpa's fret from ebay And you clean it with Brasso, maybe once, maybe more, its amazing how it looks good after multiple cleans. Then wash it off. I am going to post the instructions so the numbers of the kit will be meaningful. My image here has highlighted the numbers etched in the brass in RED - which are easier to see when its clean. Now early this year I bought a load of brass from a retiring modeller who also sold me this "hold and fold" bending jig. Which looks great, but somehow my bends were not perfect, but looked good. Initially Now here is a tip for new brass users - take photos - lots of them, then zoom in and LOOK.... I missed this step here, I did not look and take notice. When I looked from the top - I thought the sides were so thin it was naturally buckling, but if you stop and think about it. it buckles for a reason. DUH,,,, So, as a macho beast does, I squared up the sides, cus I can, and heck it looked good when I did. BUT I was masking a problem I should have gone back to - to find out why.... Looking here, its not so bad, is it ? IF I had looked a little closer - like I am here, I would have seen the clues in the photos I was taking but not looking at..... another DUH.... Without zooming in, it looked ok, sat flat and was kinda square. Depending on how hard you pushed the set square into the thin thin brass.... Note all the black bits of paper from polishing the brass. wasnt really square, but it WAS clean......

Hi, I would like to thank all the supportive comments I have received. Great I have found the part one of this article, and will post it now, following this, showing where I went wrong with the kit. *** Big news *** I won another of these kits this week on ebay, so I will be repeating this first step to correct the error - hopefully I have also - thanks to the enthusiasm over a couple of messages - to pull out of storage about 20 part built kits that I now have to rummage through boxes to find bits, or make them, so if people are interested, I will post these, OR I can make a web site and take it away from here, if this is what the nice people here want. One of which that I will start to redo with "background enthusiasm" is my wife's stepfather's layout that he sold when he nearly died and went into a retirement home. (Images below) If you want to see how I built this from scratch, please comment on it. It will be DCC controlled with servos, working arms on the dolls ( I was originally an electronics engineer - even built my own DCC decoder using an Arduino) Here is a few images, starting with the almost completed first stage. It had to fit what was already on his layout, at the north end of his station. A detailed look at one of the supports The "X" bits, I made a jig to form them, then sat back with a glass of wine and made, and made, and ,,, Unfortunately, there are two sides to this I wasnt sure if I should put a clock in the centre or make it a brace The base had to be strong, to support the servo motors and electronics, more than solder would cater for, so I went out and bought a new toy, which was surprisingly not so expensive. Especially when you consider the amount of fun this thing unleashes. We still havnt seen the cat since. PS - I since learned - use a neighbours garage instead, saves cleaning up the burn marks. And lots of detaily bits - ie start with a square, cut a slice of tube off repeat check more squares, more tube and the oil lamps and how to make translucent lenses for the LED's to shine through Patience, is buying a hundred lead oil lamps for the layout drilling them vertically to insert a LED drilling them horizontally for the LED to shine through Wiring a LED so small you can hardly see, yet have to attach wires to And shoving in said oil lamp without the wires shorting out to the oil lamp body......... I have patience

Thanks all for your feedback Re : Steamport Southport With respect, rather than criticises - perhaps you can view this from new users perspective - a 16 year old that might do this - research ? Get over it, this is post X box - instant fulfilment - if the details are not there, where is the link to find it ? And as you and I know its not there, so we have to help new modeller to give them tools that will help them find the information that you and I know where to go... OR - this art is lost. Perhaps the answer is IF we want this model making hobby to endure, Do we make the skills more obvious to find ???????? Research - WHY is there NOT a RnWeb index on kits So i can Find more relative information... NOT why dd you not look - Cus they Wont or cant... I know, I live with 2 of them............... Unfortunately

Re schools, up untill 4th form I was in Gt Yarmouth Styles School - then to Oz, and once in Sydney, the attitude of "with a length of fencing wire and some pliers, you can" influenced me and through electronics, I have been to Antarctica 3 times to fix all the machines on the base - and did 100% as in - wheres the problem? let me at it.... so I dont do the best models, but I will take on anything. AND I believe I would say an hour teaching a young person what I know, is worth a day in paradise.... Who would I be If no one could be bothered to teach ME ???????? Isnt this what THIS whole web site is all about ?????? I get so much MAKING these models - WHY wouldnt I pass this on, EVEN if my rivet count is wrong..... BENT .... Didnt go right.... Its HAVE FUN - if that dont happen the kids wont do it Lets make a good one - thats part 2 Wow - this is good, Lets get serious = We have a new modeller.... SCORE

Jol, French, which one did I ?

Wise words cleanliness is GOOD

My images of part one have been lost, I will buy another of these kits and redo the start, meanwhile I will show part two. What to look for, where it went wrong, how do I fix it. After folding the sides (part one) and ensuring its all square, the sides were soldered in the corners, and along the floor the right angle of the sides to the floor were soldered to keep them in shape. Well square is not a suggestion here, and although I thought I took care there was a small error that i had not picked. Also the soldering of the floor caused some unevenness in the corner, causing the doors not to sit flush with the floor. This is what I am showing here. I am not saying this was a good model, but I am brave enough to show it warts and all so others can learn from my mistakes. IMAGES The images show that the sides perhaps moved and then I squared them, making a 1mm error at one end, and thus a gap (Img 00) The doors sat slightly up and not square when I soldered them. My asbestos fingers only so capable. 01a b c But the beauty of the gas flame thrower is that it heats up a small area VERY quickly (5 seconds) and allows you to re seat it with a gentle tap from a screw driver to get it to sit on the floor properly It was not much work to do a door, wait till it cooled down, and repeat for all 6 doors. Now they look straight from the outside THIS is why I dont use glue 2a - If you can, get a small square, its invaluable, if you can get a small and a larger one. You will learn to love them. The Sides of this kit are SO thin, the bend and warp in the wind. So keeping them square when you do something is so important. If you have a big lump of metal thats square, thats good too. Here is a piece of brass that I found in a scrap bin. 2b c The sold bars worried me, as thin as a cigarette paper, they came naturally warped and bent. So here I have a length of brass right angle (plug for Eileens Emporium) (love that place) Using the dremel with a cutting disk two lengths were cut and used to firm up the solebars. 3a b c d The end on shot shows it looks good 3e Flux and Solder can bleed onto parts that you dont want it to, use a dremel steel brush, or a large flat file, my aldi special is good, it takes these off in moments, and as an additional bonus, leaves a wood grain pattern behind. Img 4a & 6a PS - I spend half an hour naming these files and putting them up in order Then this site randomly organises them. Any clues how to make them display as you want them ?

I am not saying its good, but if kids are trying to get started, its an option rather than moms kitchen table. And I take your point - people dont breath in the smoke that comes off your soldering iron. Its not good. If you dont have a small fan, then slowly breath out as you solder, blowing the fumes away.

Hi, I want to show how I make basic brass kits so that young people and perhaps older modellers who have a fear of a soldering iron might take up the challenge. Its easier than you think. So I will show my extensive work bench, and some of my favourite tools, and how to build some of the kits I make. I hate glue, well not really, but you cant un-glue a model, but you CAN unsolder one Image 2 shows what it looks like at the end of part 2 1 My fav. tools, a dremel is the best.... A vacuum vice from aldi, A slab of Aluminium If you can find a slab of aluminium, great. Solder does not stick to it, and it does not get how. - IF you cant, then use wood, or a lump of steel. If thats a problem, then a mirror is a really good way of getting something flat. 6 - THE workbench - honest THIS IS my workbech By the day I write software Some evenings I solder, paint and everything else. 7 Soldering Irons, I recommend for white metal a temperature controlled iron if you can, Its hard to solder white metal to white metal (they are both solder) (the iron if hot melts EVERYTHING) The small iron is 25W for small stuff, the next is 60W and can heat up a lot of metal and the top one is a gas flame thrower that really knows how to get something hot, very useful on this kit when it went wrong. 4 & 5 Wood - you can find some old furniture some threw out. You can see here its great for drilling parts, and Img 4 has a right angle. Great for things not slipping away. The kit. (img 3) A Jidenco Fish Wagon This is the kit I will be making with detailed images, and notes. One trick I learned is to use your phone to take lots of close up photos, then look at them on the pc. It really shows up problems you dont pick with your eye.

Thanks for your comments. I agree. not too many dads out there that help in this way. But then, its not their fault always, all too often they themselves do not have the skills to pass on England, Australia and Imagine US has its manufacturing in China Its cheaper to buy a new thing than fix it why have tools. Still, the blood of Isambard lies dormant in so many of us, and when it awakens, its up to us old farts to leave behind the seeds to encourage. So while this site exists, I feel I should share my apprenticeship. Keep the flag flying Kevin

Re Hayfield, thanks for the comments. Your right re plastic. I am about to post a build of a fish wagon that almost went wrong, but thanks to soldering - the big gun saved the day. Regards Kevin

Re Ruston A few years ago, I bid on a lot of motors (some like this) the only indication is the printing on the motor shown here. the second image shows the alternate gearbox that does not fit. Same motor. happy to send you more details like dimensions, but perhaps other reads can identify this for us. Regards Kevin

FOR EVERYONE - I have not used this site for a LONG time, can someone tell me how to add this as a new topic in modelling ? I think its important to help younger people. I am amazed that years ago my kids would bring their friends around to see what I do One day a boy asked if he could use my hammer Why? I've never held one, just seen them in movies.... OMG So obviously I spent time with the boy, he hammered, drilled (with eye protection) and soldered He is now a plumber SO - when I put my posts up here now, I like to show HOW it was done, WHAT were the pitfalls, WHY did I do it this way, what was I THINKING... Perhaps younger modellers will exist, and more knowledge will be passed down to them. Thoughts?

two part rant one - thanks retro man, I do have the image of what it looks like, I was looking at the parts on the workbench and thinking.... There should be a frame that goes from port to starboard holding the pistons, making alignment points for the pins to hold the motion at some places.... Well, maybe not. Like its said, find a similar motion (GWR Railmotor) and learn. <GRIN>

<sandhole> Thanks <retro man> Perhaps I have confused you, I have the fret, but its not clear to me how it fits together, nor how it attaches to the frame. I think sandhole' s suggestion of the GWR railmotor might be a good place to find how it should assemble. Thanks all K

Hey, is that the hayfield golfer on ebay ? Kevin in Sydney

Thanks for the heads up on the valve gear. I made a start on it last night trying to figure how it went together, and decided to have a Gin instead. I will do a google and look for the Falcon valve gear, do you know if its still made ? And thanks for the additional photos. If its not too much trouble could you do me a close up of the vale gear. Kevin

Motors are a B***h sometimes, they never seem to fit. This is an attempt to fit a motor / gearbox into the L&Y - and with a small boiler like she has, there aint much room. So after looking at all sorts of combinations available to me, this was the closest. BUT, and help me here, the motor hits the smoke box door, so I have to back the motor out 2mm ish not so much of a problem, but I now think putting the cylinder blocks on will bring them away from the front of the loco, ie they will be (in scale) 6 to 12 inches back Anyone got an idea here ? the last image shows how the motor chasis is too close to the back. Apart from that, it looks like it will work.