As Tim mentioned in his post, and from the video in my previous post, you can see that they’re Canadian manufactured and although I’ve not looked, not sure whether they’re available in U.K.
I seem to recall that there was a UK supplier, but whether or not the business is still going is anyone’s guess but might be worth a search?
As you can see from the video, they’re quite simple mechanically, so during my American HO modelling period, I had a go at making something similar ( I should stress that I cannot take credit for the design which was solely that of a fellow modeller from Germany who urged me to have a go, despite me not being in the least bit handy).
It was quite some time ago, I’m afraid, so my recollection of what was required is sketchy, but hopefully the attached photos should give you an idea of the parts and assemblage.
Photo 1
The plate to the left of the picture is just one of those aluminium door plates available from the likes of B&Q.
The body is a plain and simple steel ‘L’ bracket which you can get anywhere (this one, I recall, was just recovered from the bottom of my toolbox and was rescued from a job long since forgotten around the home, thinking it might one day come in handy).
The two small holes in the vertical part were drilled to take the screws intended to secure it to the baseboard below the turnout.
The steel wire was purchased from a local model R/V which is bent to slot into one of two small drilled holes at its base, the top slotted into another small drill hole the vertical part of the bracket (dimensions aren’t critical but if you look, you can see that the hole is in line with those in the horizontal part of bracket and rotating plate/lever cut from the aforementioned aluminium door protector/plate). The top of the wire would eventually be slotted through a hole in the tie bar to switch it.
The pilot hole at the bottom of the lever was there to take the operating arm (probably was going to connect it to a wooden knob of some sort protruding from the baseboard edge via a steel wire/wooden rod etc perhaps attached via the brass inserts of a choc-bloc connector).
Photo 2
Another view.
The nut and bolt/washers available in packs from any hardware shop (mine again were lying around my tool box which is more or less redundant).
Photo 3
The drilled hole seen to the rear of the bracket just below the nut and bolt, was the location for a ballbearing (I think I bought these from a well known online auction site for a nominal fee ( can’t find them at the minute, sorry) but they came in a round plastic container with a clear lid, as per lace pins - I’m sure you know what I mean. Can’t recall the size, but they don’t need to be very large, and the idea was that it sits in this hole to the front of the bracket, wedged twixt surface of bracket and swivelling aluminium lever.
I didn’t finish the job, I seldom do, but the next point in construction was to locate the bracket below the turnout and mark the end positions of the switch rails on the aluminium lever. The whole shebang could then be removed and the marked holes drilled out, so that when the point was thrown, the travel of the lever would be restrained by the ballbearing locating in one of the adjacent slots in the lever. And of course, vice versa.
Perhaps the accuracy of the drilled holes which receive the ballbearing is not too essential for RTR sprung tiebars, but these were intended for some homemade points I’d assembled, so more care would have been called for here.
A drop of lubricant and I’m sure it would all work swimmingly, and I suppose the addition of a suitably sized spring between the ball bearing and the bracket surface would be a belt and braces approach, but as I recall, Kurt didn’t feel it necessary.
I suppose if you build it as per the photos, you could just make a list of the aeronautical bits n bobs used on the Bullfrogs to operate them as per the video, and purchase them online.
My local model shop has them in stock, but unfortunately, the Pandemic has put paid to that.
Jonte.