7mm An exercise in bodging from Lincolnshire

[Dikitriki]

While this conversation has been very good natured, I think Dave probably has enough information to make his decision now.

Incidentally, Mick, the 'Heyside' standard, much as I would like to claim credit for it, is a recognised but relatively little known or used standard known as 0-MF (that's medium fine). I'm just (probably) the most vocal exponent.

Richard

 

[SteadyRed]

I am more than happy to have a discussion about the pros & cons of FS vs S7, I will read & ingest each & every message. I have no preconceived ideas, what I don't want is a bun fight over to two standards.

If I implied that S7 is better than FS then I apologise, that was not my intention.

Received my Optimiser today, so some work can start.

My tiny 24" x 18" work bench needs completely clearing, before I take a kit out of it packaging. That is my Friday evening sorted.

For tomorrow we start modelling.

Dave

 

[Scale7JB]

Here's FS flanges on S7 pway..

JB.

 

[mickoo]

My tiny 24" x 18" work bench needs completely clearing, before I take a kit out of it packaging. That is my Friday evening sorted.

For tomorrow we start modelling.

Dave

No that's not going to work , you may as well start where you'll inevitably end up, your bench may be 24 x 18" but your 'useable' workspace will probably end up about 10 x 8"

 

[Dog Star]

... your bench may be 24 x 18" but your 'useable' workspace will probably end up about 10 x 8"

I think that what Mick is saying is "you may have an A2 cutting mat... your usable area is just A4 in size" .

 

[Heather Kay]

How do you guys manage to keep a usable A4 space? Mine usually shrinks to about A5, right at the edge so everything that will fall on the floor does!

 

[SteadyRed]

Well as promised here are my first efforts.

Before I started I had to clear up my "work bench", pot of Yorkshire Tea to make the task easier.



Then we got to this:



And some goodies on their to start work on.

I have decided to give the fish van a go first, seemed the simplest & being a van my first attempts at soldering brass can be concealed inside.

Quick read through the instructions & start removing parts from the etch, parts cleaned up really easily, this will get easier as I cleaned up etch tabs which will be concealed after the build. (Every day is a school day).

Sides & ends folded really well, after I realised that I put a slight bend in the recess for the slighting door, quckly flattened that back out. Second side was folded with only the part to be folded proud of the Hold & Fold, this kept everything flat, apart from the bend I needed.

Ends folded up as intended after I carefully looked at the drawing, and realised the ends have a double bend



Offer ends & sides to each other and to my amazement, they slotted together & were square!



So without further a do, I heated up the soldering iron & tacked the ends on. Checked everything was square I went inside and ran solder down the inside of each corner. Initially I had the iron set at 300 (I am using 145º solder) but for the seams I whacked the heat up to 400 and got in and out with nice flowing solder.

After that my feeling of actually achieving something kicked in and as I was on cooking duty, I cleanup up the body in hot water, with a little Bar Keepers friend & an old toothbrush.



Tomorrow we move onto sole bars etc.

What would I do different I would clean up the flat brass with very fine emery paper around where the solder joins are going to be made. Trying to get inside once I had tacked top & bottom just wasted time.
Not be afraid of using the power of the soldering iron, pussyfooting around with little heat doesn't work.

I am going to go with sprung W irons, that should add a bit of interest to a first wagon build!

More as I crack on

Dave

PS Jelly Beans aid concentraition.

 

[Scale7JB]

Looking good Dave, have you got an Olfa cutter for clearing the solder from the half etched lines?

Also did you decide at all on FS or S7?

JB.

 

[SteadyRed]

I am awaiting some Bill Bedford RCH 1923 sprung W irons which I hope I will be able to use on this kit, was hoping they would arrive this week, sadly they will not be here until Monday. At least Eileens told me my order would be delayed due to processing order from Warley.

 

[SteadyRed]

Looking good Dave, have you got an Olfa cutter for clearing the solder from the half etched lines?

Also did you decide at all on FS or S7?

JB.

No I haven't, I thought the blade was quite heavy on those, too heavy for clearing out those lines. Will add one to the shopping list.

Not decided on FS or S7, this is all very new, despite me procrastinating about getting back into model railways since 2009.

Dave

 

[Scale7JB]

Looks like you've go loads of space on your workbench...!



JB.

 

[SteadyRed]

Looking good Dave, have you got an Olfa cutter for clearing the solder from the half etched lines?

JB.

JB When you said Olfa Cutter I thought you were referring to one of those tools for scoring lines on Plastic etc. I assume you mean a different tool?

Dave

 

[Scale7JB]

JB.

 

[JimG]

JB When you said Olfa Cutter I thought you were referring to one of those tools for scoring lines on Plastic etc. I assume you mean a different tool?

Dave

Dave,

I use the lighter version of the OLFA cutter, not the one pointed to in Richard's URL, and it works well for scoring metal. Like others, I am still on my original blade and I have used it to score half hard and hard nickel silver, and it's still cutting well. I suspect you can actually sharpen these blades by stoning or grinding the front edge of the blade.

[Edit} I've just found a picture of my cutter which doesn't seem too popular these days - number three on the top item on this web site.

http://www.adam-eshop.com/en/cutters-olfa/1698-cutter-olfa-l1.html

I suspect that it uses the same blade as a lot of the other versions.

Jim.

 

[mickoo]

JB When you said Olfa Cutter I thought you were referring to one of those tools for scoring lines on Plastic etc. I assume you mean a different tool?

Dave

No, he means exactly that, sometimes called a scrawker as well, I've got a Tamiya one, they call it a plastic scriber II, I use it to clean out half etch lines to get a nice sharp bend or to scribe through brass with several passes to make your own bend lines when scratch building or breaking off the sheet for working on, still has it's original blade and still sharp enough for the task at hand.



Ebay between £5-8.00

 

[SteadyRed]

I must admit I have seen people use these to scribe plastic prior to bending or folding, never thought about using one on etch.

Another item on the shopping list.



Dave

 

[SteadyRed]

Been trying to find any high street shop which sell a plastic scriber today, looks like the internet is my only route to getting one.

I also need some 0.75mm pins to align brass parts for laminating.

Looks like I will be ordering on the internet again.

No modelling today, Mrs S has an exam tomorrow & she was cramming prior to sitting it. Me shouting at bits of brass would have been a distraction which she doesn't need

Think I need to get over my dislike hate fibre glass burnishing brushes, these are the best way of cleaning up without causing further dame.

Hopefully Monday my BB sprung W irons will arrive & I can work out how to integrate them into this build.

Dave

 

[Scale7JB]

Other than glass fibre brushes, you can also use fine grit paper too..

JB.

 

[SteadyRed]

Other than glass fibre brushes, you can also use fine grit paper too..

JB.

I need to get a selection of abrasives.

Was hoping to get to Reading next weekend but unfortunately will not now be able to make it.

I really need to go to a trade show to see what is on offer.

Dave

 

[mickoo]

Dave,

Ok fibre brushes, there a re a few tricks to help you on your way, one is to dip the refill in diluted wood glue, though that's a bit hit and miss to the firmness you end up with, it's either not enough or so hard it digs the metal!

However I also have what we call a comm stick, this is used to dress motor commutators to reduce arcing, it's still glass fibre inside but has a hard plastic coat, the idea is that you trim off a few mm of the skin to expose the glass, the less you cut off the firmer it is. Anyway, I got to thinking about refill fibre pencils and messy glue etc and thought about adding a skin to those, to which I now skin my refills with heat shrink tubing, like above you just trim back the skin to reveal the amount of brush to give the required firmness and thus finish.

The last thing I have is a polishing stick, this is very soft and burnishes more than scratches, I've no idea where the comm stick or burnishing brush came from, I acquired them at work over the years and when they're gone I'm gong to be pretty stuck, shortly I'm going to hit the web and try and find some spares for the future.


The picture, top left is a heat shrink refill fibre brush and below a ready treated refill, just trim back the amount skin to give the softness you require.

Top right a standard refill which has been glued, it's starting to soften now and use breaks down the glue bonding and it goes fluffy.

Bottom left is the large burnishing brush I use, again it has a thin plastic skin but that tends to break and rip off on it's own accord.

Bottom right is the much firmer comm stick or comm brush, that's the main one I use to get solder off and then polish.

Of course the best way to avoid using a fibre brush is to use less solder, it really is amazing how little solder you actually need to make a join, and, try to add lots of solder in hidden places. Flux helps too, I now use the safety flux and that lets solder run really well, thus you don't tend to get large blobs that need cleaning off.

The other thing you can use is a 'Garryflex' block, sort of an abrasive eraser, bit like an ink eraser.

Hope that helps.