7mm On Heather's Workbench - wider and longer

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Have I doubled the order already? I'd better go and check! Be right back…

… oooh, yes. So I have. Carry on. As you were!

:oops::)
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
The first proper use of my new hotting stick saw the E3 and E6 ends and sides mated.

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I need some alternative tips for the iron, so any other Ersa users out there who would like to make some suggestions for useful tips I would be very happy. Next, sorting out the compartment dividers.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I was making good progress.

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I got the dividers/partitions in on the E6. I must not forget these coaches are clerestory…

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There are etched slots in the top edge of the sides coinciding with the partition locations. Once tinned, I used an engineer's square and a magnet to hold the partition vertically while I ran a fillet of 145 degree solder down each side.

I had hoped to do the same trick on the E3, but the construction design is different - and I don't have any instructions. I think I shall have to consult with an expert as to how to fit things together.

Still, fairly good progress for an afternoon.
 

rusty

Active Member
Heather
I have used code 842 2.2mm tips on my ERSA for some years as they seem to 'do the job' . No doubt I should try other tips and will be interested in any further comments from other WT followers on this topic.
Julian
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Hi Julian

The 842 is what the unit shipped with. It's fine, but a little chunky for some of the jobs I expect to use the iron for.
 

HEATHERBANK

New Member
Hello Everyone,
I am very interested in the casting process undertaken by Unklian. I am building several o gauge Gresley Ian Kirk coach kits and require a range of seating to detail the interiors. Suburban seating and corridor seating are needed and I have started producing the masters. Like Heather I have no experience of producing silicon moulds and casting in resin. A look through Unklian's threads show that he has some serious bits of kit (degassing chamber) to produce fabulous results. I am wondering if he undertakes this sort of work professionally.
Regards Raymond.
 

farnetti

Western Thunderer
Sandwiched between a rare earth magnet and engineers square! I wish I could come up with these simple solutions but getting used to burnt fingers now.

Ken
 

adrian

Flying Squad
The 842 is what the unit shipped with. It's fine, but a little chunky for some of the jobs I expect to use the iron for.

The 842 tip supplied with the iron is pretty versatile - this 2mmFS Special Cattle Wagon 2mm - Adrian's 2mm workbench. | Page 3 | Western Thunder was all soldered together with the standard ERSA tip and very little cleaning up required.

When I started with my first 2mmFS kits I thought I needed a finer tip and bought a pencil tip, probably 1mm or 1.5mm (I can't remember the exact size to be honest). I've used it occasionally but more often than not I prefer the standard tip. The main problem I have with the smaller tip is getting enough heat into the job quickly enough. With the pencil tip it just seemed to struggle getting the heat in, hence I use the standard tip even for the 2mmFS kits.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Thanks Adrian. I shall persevere with the 2.2mm tip for while, and consider my options in the light of experience.
 

JimG

Western Thunderer
Thanks Adrian. I shall persevere with the 2.2mm tip for while, and consider my options in the light of experience.

Heather,

Don't forget that, when presented with a chunky bit of metal that soaks up the heat, a big bit is pretty well necessary if you want to solder to that chunk. I've got a 6mm bit in a Weller iron which I wouldn't be without for larger work where thick brass or nickel silver section is quite common. And if I can use it on smaller scale work then it really is a quick in/out job compared with smaller bits.

Jim.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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After what seems far too long, I've added the compartment dividers to the E3. I consulted an expert about how the dividers were meant to fit, and it turned out almost embarrassingly blindly obvious. The half-etched strips with the holes are intended to aid fitting the clerestory extensions. Obviously.

I was making good progress, but inevitably things started to go a bit wrong. The dividers either side of the central luggage compartment accidentally got neatly soldered in a tad low. They had to come out again, but I made such a good job of fitting them I nearly made a mess of the coach sides. Least said, soonest panel beaten. Oh, and one or two of the tiny hinges decided to make a bid for freedom.

Thoughts turned to how the blazes the universal 8-wheeled underframe kit goes together.

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After studying the parts, reading through the instruction sheet - almost ancient enough to be literally a Roneo duplicate! - and eventually remembering the advice of Mr A Garner, it sort of makes sense. Mr G wrote a series of articles in the BGS journal, and having read them again I need to get some supplies in. Essentially, the plan is to throw away the kit's compensated pseudo-bogie and scratch build new torsion bar affairs. As I have four of these underframes to build (!) I need to get some metal supplies in.

So, plans for the underframes to be taking shape this afternoon have somewhat gone by the board.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
It was lovely to meet Ian (@unklian) at RailEx over the weekend, albeit briefly. I relieved him of a large box of books and a box of seat mouldings. In exchange, I was relieved of some folding money!

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And here we are. More broad gauge seats than you can shake a shunter's pole at. A very tidy result, too, saving me a lot of time later on.

I think I have talked about this before, but it doesn't hurt to raise it again. Now I find myself making models for a sort of living, I have come up against several things I am not able to do for myself. This is either due to lack of experience, tools, time, or combinations of all three. As a "professional" it makes perfect sense to me that I should call on those able to do the things I can't do, and I am happy to commission work like this casting job. For me it means the job gets done properly.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Right, now, where was I?

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Oh yes, that's right. Overrun with broad gauge coaches! Two more have been added to the works schedule, so that's four including the part-built ones. I think the plan will be to get the flat parts into body shells, and then I can try and sort out the underframes and running gear.

What have I let myself in for‽
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I must have the knack.

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That's both new coach sides, ends and partitions fettled and turnunders formed.

The decision is whether to spend a couple of days soldering in window frames and hinges, or to press ahead and build the bodies now. I rather think soldering windows will have to be first.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Some swearing and mild panel beating later, the sides had the top and bottom edges folded. Next up, bolections!

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Nope, sorry. Before bolections I had to mark up and drill out door bumpers and missing location holes for commode handles. Most of the holes for the bumper coincided with the moulding, so that was good. Also, yay! Upside down. That's pretty much how I feel, and that's before I begin the 90 hinges…

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Ah, bolections at last! Forty-six to be precise. Thank goodness for podcasts and the RSU? With the latter I don't have a lot of tidying up to do, at least.

Some people do this malarkey for fun, you know!
 
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Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
These kits include CPL etched hinges. I used them on the first two, and drove myself bats. So much so I was really not looking forward to cutting, folding and soldering another massive batch of them.

The issue is the etched location points on the sides need backing plates to prevent the folded etch hinges - assuming they haven't already pinged off into another dimension - from falling straight through the side. I did this on the E3 and E6 that are mostly constructed. It was okay, but not ideal, and a proper fiddling exercise in frustration.

I've decided to chicken out. I've ordered some suitable strip material, and I shall revert to L-shaped hinges fixed on the inside of the coach side.

So, with bodywork on hiatus I am considering the best way to fabricate a set of pseudo bogies for the underframes. The real things were actually rigid eight-wheelers, with sufficient sideplay to allow negotiation of the rare curves Mr Brunel engineered for his 7ft way. The kit underframes allow for a compensated radial truck affair, but I am being guided by Alan Garner's variant on a Trevor Hughes torsion bar bogie design. I have the raw materials, so it's a case of working out how to put it all together.
 
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