Nick Dunhill's workbench CR 0-4-4T Wrexham Tanks

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
.....I fitted up all the splashers and pre prepared the body parts.


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Then there's the hour when the model comes together in leaps and bounds. It mainly involves lots of measuring and so on.


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If you look carefully you can see that I solder short strips of waste etch to the footplate to position the body before soldering, and yes it's a bit blobby on the inside.


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I rounded the week off with some wobbly vacuum stanchions and lamp irons. The Cambrian wasn't big on lamp irons!


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Next week bunker and cab interior........
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
....so this week I have done a fair bit of fabrication work. It began with coal rails. These look very simple but were a bugger to get straight and square and parallel etc. The corner supports are made from brass angle and the rest from waste strip. When I say waste I mean the original Redcraft etchings that were recycled to make them look better.

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I then turned my attention to the cab floor. It was a simple sheet with some upstands. Next I made the rear of the cab. The bunker part is stepped into the cab and meets the cab door openings.

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I thought it would be easier to make the structure outside the model. It was certainly easier to make the shovel plate door remotely.

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The rest of the week was taken up cutting out dozens of carefully shaped rectangles of nickel silver to form the water tanks, firstly the portions inside the cab and later the portions alongside the boiler. This is where the etching process comes into it's own! But I had no etchings so they were cut by hand and checked for size and squareness. It takes ages to cut them but accuracy helps greatly in the fitting up process. I form them round some machined aluminium blocks that one of the Brummies gave me (thanks Nigel or John, can't remember which one of you it was!)

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And more.

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Then a final fit up to make sure all was well.

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Finally this week I made up some lubricators for the horn blocks. I'll instal them when the painting is done.

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Next week I'll hopefully finish the cab interior and roof.....
 

simond

Western Thunderer
Hi Nick,

it’s coming on! Very nice!

you made tank tops as separate parts inside and outside the cab front sheet. Any thoughts about making the tanks going right through, with the cab front fitting on top of them? I’ve never done it but it seems it might have been easier as they could perhaps have been built before assembling to the footplate?

Have you filled the bunker with epoxy? Lead?

Cheers
Simon
 

SLNCR57

Active Member
Hi Nick,

it’s coming on! Very nice!

you made tank tops as separate parts inside and outside the cab front sheet. Any thoughts about making the tanks going right through, with the cab front fitting on top of them? I’ve never done it but it seems it might have been easier as they could perhaps have been built before assembling to the footplate?

Have you filled the bunker with epoxy? Lead?

Cheers
Simon

Excellent question Simon, as I am facing the same issue. May seem a bone question, but how did you cut the parts out,please,Nick?

thanks

David
 

Richard Spoors

Western Thunderer
"I form them round some machined aluminium blocks that one of the Brummies gave me (thanks Nigel or John, can't remember which one of you it was!)"
Hi Nick, many years ago I bought a set of parallel blocks. I rarely use them as intended, but they get used in lots of other ways on my workbench.Parallel blocks.jpg
Fascinating build once again!

Cheers

Richard
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
I too have lumps of metal used for forming, I find throwing them on the law less expensive than the model when things go wrong.......

I've not used them to form 90° butt joints though, bleedin obvious on reflection :rolleyes:
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Excellent question Simon, as I am facing the same issue. May seem a bone question, but how did you cut the parts out,please,Nick?

thanks

David
At a guess he'll be using a fret saw, hard work for straight lines, needs a level of skill to prevent hours of filling straight afterward.

I cheat and use a skrawker to make a straight line groove in the material and then bend the metal so it snaps off, works great for large regular square shaped items like bunkers, you just need to dress the edge back once it's parted.

I personally prefer etching, as Nick intimates, soooo much easier, but it is a longer process due to processing/deliveries etc, typically 3-4 weeks.

However, once you get the parts it's minutes to form, clean up and fit.
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
Yes as Mick says you carefully mark the parts out on the NS sheet and cut them out with a piercing saw (006 blades.) It does take a lot of practise to be brave enough to cut near the line. I have a sanding disc attachment for my mini drill and I cut out circles of Wet or Dry abrasives for it with double sided sticky tape on the back for adhesion. I use this to grind the metal up to the line I have marked. A lot of time is spent measuring the parts to about 0.1 mm, and making sure they're completely square. It does make you want etchings when you're up to tour 48th rectangle but hey ho.

You know I had exactly the same thought about making the tanks straight through. The longer the rectangle is though the harder it is to get it dead straight and square, and there's a lot more to cut round. More potential for a ***k-up. I suppose this way the backhead and firebox can be made to butt up to the cab front and not each other, and you don't have to shape the cab front round the firebox.
 

Nick Dunhill

Western Thunderer
The Bunker! A bit of an achilies heel of mine. I like to put coal in the bunker, and glue it in. With this in mind I just make a plastic shelf and glue it in with epoxy. I like to stick the coal in with diluted acrylic matt varnish and the epoxy makes the coal space water tight so I don't get matt varnish on the new paint job.
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Yes as Mick says you carefully mark the parts out on the NS sheet and cut them out with a piercing saw (006 blades.) It does take a lot of practise to be brave enough to cut near the line. I have a sanding disc attachment for my mini drill and I cut out circles of Wet or Dry abrasives for it with double sided sticky tape on the back for adhesion. I use this to grind the metal up to the line I have marked. A lot of time is spent measuring the parts to about 0.1 mm, and making sure they're completely square. It does make you want etchings when you're up to tour 48th rectangle but hey ho.

You know I had exactly the same thought about making the tanks straight through. The longer the rectangle is though the harder it is to get it dead straight and square, and there's a lot more to cut round. More potential for a ***k-up. I suppose this way the backhead and firebox can be made to butt up to the cab front and not each other, and you don't have to shape the cab front round the firebox.
You really should try skrawing a line and folding to break it away, it'll save you hours, literally hours.

Skrawk a couple of lines against a steel rule, more if the material is thicker, stick in a vice or use pliers if it's small enough, or if you've skrawked many lines.....your fingers and just bend the metal back and forth at the joint/line until it fractures.

Say 10-15 seconds to cut each joint, it'll be dead straight, or straighter than a fret saw cut I'd say, then just file back to your line as it'll leave an edge like an etch cusp at the break.

7mm - US model dabblings post #311 has some more information and lower down some info on how the blade works and getting the best cuts.

I use a Tamiya one and it has the same blade it had when I bought it 5+ years ago; Google Tamiya 74091.
 

neaston

Western Thunderer
You really should try skrawing a line and folding to break it away, it'll save you hours, literally hours.

Skrawk a couple of lines against a steel rule, more if the material is thicker, stick in a vice or use pliers if it's small enough, or if you've skrawked many lines.....your fingers and just bend the metal back and forth at the joint/line until it fractures.

Say 10-15 seconds to cut each joint, it'll be dead straight, or straighter than a fret saw cut I'd say, then just file back to your line as it'll leave an edge like an etch cusp at the break

7mm - US model dabblings post #311 has some more information and lower down some info on how the blade works and getting the best cuts.

I use a Tamiya one and it has the same blade it had when I bought it 5+ years ago; Google Tamiya 74091.

Some of us in Yorkshire are far too mean to buy one I made one from a piece of HSS hacksaw blade.
If I can find it I'll post a pic but these days I much prefer etching.
Nick
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Some of us in Yorkshire are far too mean to buy one I made one from a piece of HSS hacksaw blade.
If I can find it I'll post a pic but these days I much prefer etching.
Nick
Good cricket :thumbs:

Likewise, I prefer etches :p
 

oldravendale

Western Thunderer
And as a toolmaker I know it as a 'laminate cutter', which is, I think, the generic term.

Steph
....and I've used one a few times for actually cutting laminate! There's a hooked blade which fits a traditional Stanley knife which also works well but I find, for model building, it's a bit cumbersome so normally use the Tamiya one.

Brian
 

SLNCR57

Active Member
You really should try skrawing a line and folding to break it away, it'll save you hours, literally hours.

Skrawk a couple of lines against a steel rule, more if the material is thicker, stick in a vice or use pliers if it's small enough, or if you've skrawked many lines.....your fingers and just bend the metal back and forth at the joint/line until it fractures.

Say 10-15 seconds to cut each joint, it'll be dead straight, or straighter than a fret saw cut I'd say, then just file back to your line as it'll leave an edge like an etch cusp at the break.

7mm - US model dabblings post #311 has some more information and lower down some info on how the blade works and getting the best cuts.

I use a Tamiya one and it has the same blade it had when I bought it 5+ years ago; Google Tamiya 74091.

As ever, the craftsmanship on here is illuminating as well as inspiring! Thanks for such helpful posts.
 
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