A Variation on a Theme

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Having been impressed by Arty's questionable heritage brake van build, I thought that I would have a go myself. Mine is losely based on a combination of the Henson version and another that I have a shown in a drawing aquired from the HMRS. The Henson is shown below but I forgot to take a picture of the other one, hopefully it will appear later.

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This shows a simple jig that I made to form the curved top rails. After several trials taking it cautiously, I ended by baked the styrene at 150 C for 20mins in the jig, of course.

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Another simple jig to hold all square while the Mek-Pak was being applied. In the lower part of the picture sits the underfame. It doesn't have any, what I would call, horns and the rear body stanchion runs over the end of the buffer beam as in the picture above. There is a plan view of the Henson frame and this idea is shown there. The stanchion brackets seem to be fixed to some thick pads that are behind the buffers.

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The frame of one side completed. A cross section through the side of the body shows these 'fillets' which, I presume, hold the ends and edges of the boards in place. My fillets are simply strips whereas the Henson's are those curvy pieces shown above. The lower edge of the bottom board board is finished off with a moulding on the outside. Mine will be a simple quarter quadrant.

Jon
 

michael mott

Western Thunderer
I like the idea of using the MDF for the gluing jig. I have always used glass to avoid anything sticking to the jig, But setting up the stops on the glass required gluing them to the glass with a drop of crazy glue.

Michael
 

Arty

Western Thunderer
Cling film over the MDF and fixture parts, or clear adhesive tape where the glue joints are works for me.
 

Arty

Western Thunderer
There’s a crisp version of the Henson drawing in “Early Railways, a guide for the modeller” by Peter Chatham & Stephen Weston.
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Richard
I've seen that drawing but I'm only after the general look of the Henson brake with it's curved top rail.

Jon
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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A side frame drilled and clamped to the underframe so that I can spot through onto the solebar. These holes will eventually have rivets pass ing through them and into the solebar to simulate the heads of coach bolts.

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Brass rivets temporarily in place holding the sides in place. The planking is finished for the sides and is simply propped in place here. Later, all will be fixed Mek-Pak but this shows me how it all will look. I'm off to machine up some wheels and then, I'll then move onto sorting out the brakes before the body is fixed in place.

Jon
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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This is how the brakes are going together. The block itself is machined from Box, my favourite wood for these little items, and drilled and taped 14BA for fixing the hanger to the block. I've silver soldered some tube spacers onto the end of the hanger. I didn't have long enough screws to go through the tube and the sole bar so, I cut off the head and silver soldered it into the tube at the same time as soldering the tube onto the hanger. One of the drawings that I have shows bolts holding the block to the hanger and so, when the time comes, I will change these screws for bolts.

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Here is the frame complete with most of it's running gear. I've now to sort out the brake cross shaft etc., probably give it some thought tomorrow.

Jon
 

AJC

Western Thunderer
The open end is interesting. Definitely the product of pre-health&safety days.

Or the National Union of Railwaymen (who had 'Views' on such things and more power than legislation - but perhaps less than coroners and the railway inspectorate...).

Superb modelling, Jon.

Adam
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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All finished except that I haven't fixed down the roof and there is a link missing that will take the braking into the cab that needs fitting.

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There was mention about H&S issues here but, there are two bars that can be hooked up make it all a tad safer.

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With the last two pictures, I was attempting to put a train together incorporating the new brake van. Probably could do with a few more wagons.

Jon
 

Spitfire2865

Western Thunderer
"Ya damn whiners. Its perfectly safe. See? We added some locking bars. Now stop complaining and get back on the road."
The train is looking good. What other stock were you thinking of?
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Superb Jon, as always. Your picture of the train shows the difference those wheels make. For early stock the Slaters are just too thick and heavy. I can hardly believe they are the same diameter.

Mike
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Thanks, chaps, for your kind comments.

Trevor
I was just thinking that some of the early wagons that I've built could be incorporated into this train. Not sure how many Enigma would pull but, worth a try at a GTG when this mess clears up.

Jon
 
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