7mm On Heather's Workbench - North Eastern interlude

LarryG

Western Thunderer
It looks to me like the two halves of the mould were not clamped tight enough before spinning, hence the flash around the perimeter of the castings. The actual surfaces look fine with no pitting or shrinkage.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
It was going well.

I noticed the holes in the rear of the axleboxes for the Slater's top hat bearings to fit in are moulded off-centre. I’ve had this before. I thought I’d see if the offset was actually a problem, though I knew it would be, all the holes being offset in the same direction.

Anyway, I managed to get a pair of bogie sides attached to the bolster. That was after all locating pegs had been removed as they no longer fitted any of the locating holes they were intended to fit.

Of course, the wheelsets don’t fit. Of course. Silly me.

It didn’t take much to disassemble what I’d done so far. A simple smack in the bench (I’d only tacked joints), and it’s now all back in the tub while I have lunch and shout at the universe for a bit.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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Only one thing to do. All the errant holes are filled with low melt solder. I’ve now got to concoct a sensible method of holding each block firmly enough to drill out the holes in the right place. I’ll have to be careful drilling the new holes, in case of breakthrough out of the front of the box. Then again, I could cannibalise the Kemilway etch for replacement covers.

I say "one thing to do". I’d attempted to "move" the hole by using a burr in the Dremel. That just ended up with the bearing sitting askew. Whitemetal clogs burrs like nobody's business, too.

Sadly, that’s the limit of my efforts today. All of the fail.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
With a slightly better mood today, I am attempting to minimise the fail.

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A jiggery-pokery thingummy. Every word I just typed has been autocorrected to something else! The idea is I can slot an axlebox in and it’s held fairly rigid, if not square, while further operations are undertaken.

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I think this shows how it works. Obviously my example is crooked!

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The bottom has been made with a recess to accommodate the detail casting on the front of the box.

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The first operation has been to mark off a centre spot for pilot drilling. The next operation is, um, pilot drilling. Then final drilling for the top hat bearings.

Wish me luck. I only have one spare axlebox!
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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Nothing like the fidelity of the brass kits, but hey! It’s on wheels in less than four hours!

You won’t be surprised to learn that some degree of fettling - removing material from the rear of the hornguides, widening the axlebox slots, countersinking the top hat bearings - has been needed. Slow, boring and messy, but once done the bogie rolls sweetly. There are further details to fit, but I want to bring its mate up to the same point before I get too carried away.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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At last, the BG is on proper wheels.

I made a decision not to add further bogie detailing. While they ostensibly look the part, and run nicely, I would like to believe the remaining Kemilway fret will eventually appear. The MM1 bogies allow me to finish and deliver the coaches, with the "proper" bogies to follow when they can.
 
The state of play

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Nothing much to show, but I’m working on bodies. My aim is to bring things up to a point where painting might begin.
  • Holes are marked/part-cast for the various grab handles and door handles. I’ve been reviewing drawings and photos to work out the variations on guard door handrails.
  • Handling over the past few years has had the tendency to knock off the long lower door hinges, so I’m working on replacing those.
  • The moulded slots on the ends, intended for the original gangways, need to be filled flush to the bodywork.
  • Late in their life, as these models will represent, many coaches had been converted to rail-level WC tank fillers. I wonder if the various grab handles associated with filling from the roof remained in situ. I do like a bit of clutter on roofs.
  • I am considering how to modify the cast passcom detail to more accurately represent the real thing, or whether to scrap the valve boxes and replace with better versions.
That ought to keep me busy for a while.
 
Hinges and handrails

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
First job today was chopping short lengths of NS strip, as the nearest thing to the right size for the replacement hinges.

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As is prudent under such circumstances, I made far more than I needed. Lucky, really, because my chopping wasn’t consistent and some were too long.

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Here are two bottom hinges in place on the BTK. Running a straight edge along the upper hinges, the bottom ones appeared too long. However, comparison with the original undamaged cast hinges showed them to be not far off. Under a coat of paint…

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Still trying to work out the luggage door arrangements. My confusion is demonstrated quite well here. You can just see small arrows I’ve pencilled in to show holes. At the top, the full brake, with the brake third below. Note a single hole in the right hand door on the BG. Photos - and a works drawing - show a large lever lock handle in this location. On the brake third, however, I have two holes. This implies - borne out by drawings - a grab handle but no lever lock handle. In both cases, the left hand door has a standard tee-handle.

As for the standard passenger doors, just a relatively simple commode handle is required. I can cope with that. In fact, they were supplied with the models already formed up. I shall need to check the wire used isn’t too thin. My usual recourse is 0.7mm wire, but something thinner seems more appropriate for the Gresley style. I’ve found a couple of lengths of 0.6mm wire which seems ideal.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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To save me going even more insane, this baggy was in the box of parts. It’s all the commode handles, preformed and ready to drop in, plus some spares. That means I only need to make up the guard grab arrangements, the simple grabs on the BTK luggage doors, plus the rather funky guard's door handles - for which I have a cunning plan.

More later, because I’ve presently misplaced my mojo.
 

richard carr

Western Thunderer
Heather

Did you get the original instructions with the kits, as I recall there were details of how to form all the required handles from wire.

I have mine somewhere if you need them.

Richard
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Thanks Richard. Yes, I have the instructions. I expect the handrails were formed by the original builder. I’m not complaining. ;)
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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I managed to catch the mojo long enough to plug the slots in the ends. Various species of styrene strip were found that filled the bulk, followed up by filler. As almost all is eventually covered by the gangways themselves, I’ve not been overly fussy with the final finish.

It took almost all day because, for some reason beyond my immediate control, the world was having one of its fits of insanity. I was getting a sore throat from screaming pointlessly into the void, and needed to take regular breaks to surface for air and calm.

Does anyone have dimensions to hand for wagon label clips? I note brake vans seem to have been fitted with the contraptions, so I need to make four - two for each van. My next job is working on the roof detailing again. It’s one of those jobs that I keep postponing, hoping inspiration might strike.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
I think Phil at Hobby Holidays used to do etched label clips.

Ooh, I’ll have a varda. Thanks Tony!

Bench activity might be slightly curtailed for the next day or two. I had my seasonal flu jab yesterday. While I’m not noticing any adverse reaction as yet, you never know.
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
Ooh, I’ll have a varda. Thanks Tony!

Bench activity might be slightly curtailed for the next day or two. I had my seasonal flu jab yesterday. While I’m not noticing any adverse reaction as yet, you never know.
Booster jab can be bad enough if you'd been queuing outside in the cold for 40 minutes. We were all oldies and once we got inside, I tell you the busiest place in that building was the toilet.!
 
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