Carriage Building - Steph 'does A Jenkinson'

[Steph Dale]

Hmm, difficult to explain - but it's almost as though the corner tries to become tighter at the point furthest away from the roof line. I suspect it's down to solvent evaporation (i.e. me using too much!)....

Steph

 

[Dog Star]

Hmm, difficult to explain - but it's almost as though the corner tries to become tighter at the point furthest away from the roof line. I suspect it's down to solvent evaporation (i.e. me using too much!)....

Steph

Ahhhhh! That is a well-known effect of applying too much solvent to the inside of a join. Ask David White to explain.... this is one case where applying the solvent to the outside of a joint does better than on the inside. In truth I have my doubts about those articles of old which say something like "apply from a well-charged brush", my experience is that applying solvent sparingly to both side of the joint works best.

You can see a similar effect by spraying just the outer surface of a Slater's coach side with Games Workshop primer... seems ok initially, look again after a couple of weeks - just like a banana. The good news about this scenario is that the side returns to the straight condition if the same spray is applied to the other surface - even if it is after several years!!!!!!!!!!

I do not suggest that you follow this statement... unless you are bored and have time to spare.

regards, Graham

 

[Steph Dale]

Ahhhhh! That is a well-known effect of applying too much solvent to the inside of a join. Ask David White to explain.... this is one case where applying the solvent to the outside of a joint does better than on the inside. In truth I have my doubts about those articles of old which say something like "apply from a well-charged brush", my experience is that applying solvent sparingly to both side of the joint works best.

Yep, that makes sense. The problem is that I don't always have access to both sides of every joint, although in this example I would have had no problem....

Steph

 

[Rob Pulham]

Looking excellent Steph
You probably aren't, but I am glad you had the need for corner fillets or we wouldn't have had the further Q&A on solvent use. All good learning from my point of view.

 

[lancer1027]

Fantastic work Steph

Rob

 

[mickoo]

Very neat and inspirational work with Plasticard.

Kindest

 

[Steph Dale]

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

I thought I'd share this evening's work with you immediately. Another half hour with some scrap 0.020" brass, GW rivet press and Dremel got me one of these:


It's a jig in brass to mark out all the door fittings and furniture in one shot:


And (if you can see the marks) it seems to work. This was a test run using a pencil to check. In future it'll be straight in with the drills...:


And, I suppose could be made for any carriage in order to keep the hinges, door bangers, door handles and commode handles in line...

Steph

 

[Dog Star]

Great thinking there Steph, both in the need for a jig and in the design of same. Please accept this comment in the style of "T-shirt, video, writing the biography".... the jig looks as if the drilling face could be laid on the coach side with either face towards the plastic - only one orientation being correct (unless the coach sides are mirror images, as per the guard's door of a Gresley D113 - NQLTRT has used the same CAD file for each door hence the layout of one door is inverted). How about a fooling pin fitted to either the base leg or to the drilling face such that the jig can be laid on the side in only one orientation? Or may be just write "This way up" on one face?

regards, Graham

 

[Simon]

The coach looks terrific, and the step by step account (complete with diversions/warts etc) is both informative and highly inspiring.

A great choice of coach too from my point of view, a pair of Maunsells is on my "target list" for Onedaysoonbridge

Simon

 

[Steph Dale]

Graham,
Aah, but y'see I may have occasion to turn the jig over - guard's doors for example....

Simon,
Maunsell stock are all lovely characterful vehicles and atwo coach set (of different batches of stock) would be charming. In fact it's the next carriage build project for me, I think.

And so to 'current news'. Or more like 'not very current' news I guess. With the jig having been bought into play 0.020" x 0.060" strip was stuck into the hinge holes. I used Mek for this, as advocated by Jenkinson, but as you'll see later in the current installment it's not without attendant risks:


The other holes are for 0.030" door bangers and 0.6mm for the Slater's door 'T' handles and commode handles:

So, step forward about a week and the fittings are fixed in place in the following order: Hinges (including filler around the holes), Bangers, Door vents. And here's the visible problem - solvent has wicked between the skin and frame along the bottom door hinges. It's not a problem as the styrene is hard once more and filling with Humbrol Modelfiller and rubbing down with one of my home-brewed 400 grit sanding pads has got the surface back, but it's something I could have done without, frankly. Future builds will use Zap for the lower hinges...:


One for the road! I'll have these with me at Kettering and may well be a good place to draw this thread to a close. The underframes will be stock Slater's and so I'll cover that in my build of a Maunsell 2-set 'P' comprised of modified and as-per-the-kit Slater's carriages. It'll be nice to be finally getting to the R4 stock, which will be the mainstay of the layout:


See you at Kettering!

Steph

 

[Phill Dyson]

It's amazing what a bit of filler can do..............well usually is in my case

Nice work Steph

 

[lancer1027]

Steph, they look amazing

 

[Ressaldar]

great builds there Steph, looking forward to seeing the progress on the Slater's kits as well.

cheers

Mike