7mm On Heather's Workbench - North Eastern interlude

[Dog Star]

Heather (@Heather Kay), Mike (@Mike Trice),

Seeing as there are several WTers who are interested in 7mm models of Gresley's teaks then please consider posting such detail delights on this forum.

thank you, Graham

 

[Mike Trice]

@Heather Kay specifically asked about the passenger alarm gear. I have the following which I am curious as to how it will upload.

 

[Mike Trice]

Some of the info needs a fair bit of image editing before I would consider uploading it here. Try these:

 

[Mike Trice]

Is this the best place to put these or should I create an LNER Carriage Details thread?

 

[Heather Kay]

I think a separate thread would be ideal. There’s a Resources sub forum under the Talk section for that sort of thing.

Can I just say I love those technical drawings. The line work is top quality. I have a soft spot for that sort of thing because one of my earliest jobs was in a drawing office working on road schemes. You never really forget the techniques you pick up to let the film produce clean dyeline prints.

 

[Mike Trice]

Would people prefer the pdfs uploaded as jpgs?

 

[Heather Kay]

Armed with more reference material than I ever dreamed possible, time to take a look at the battlefield and make plans.



Here’s a closeup of the Sparmac underframe. You can see it is intended the builder fits full length footboard along the solebars. I don’t intend doing that. I will need to plug the holes and decide whether to make new brackets after the ones in the wrong places have been removed.



The previous owner had actually made the vac pipes that run along the corridor side of the chassis. It is supposed to sit aligned with the top of the bottom edge - yes, that does make sense. I must refer to more photos, because it must sit proud of the bottom edge to let the footboard fit. I rather think a container-load of split pins might be in order!



I've been so fixated on the bogies I have never really done the guided tour of the actual coaches in this game. Here are the truss-rod underframes of the D.113 full brake (front) and D.114 brake third. I’m going to get confused by naming conventions. Having become used to the shorthand codes used by BR, the full LNER format is awkward to use. I hope, therefore, you don’t mind if I use the BR conventions in future, so the brake third becomes a BTK, rather than Four-compartment Vestibule Brake Third!



The kits were designed to accept Kadee couplers without modification. This is the BTK. Both passenger vehicles are already equipped, while the full brake will get Kadee one end and the dropped cosmetic coupler at the other so it can be coupled to a loco. Lost wax brass clipped buffers are provided. I’m not sure they have the collars, so that might need looking into.



This is the full brake showing how the slot of the Kadee box is moulded into the frame. A cursory glance at these models would have you think they were ex-JLTRT. The design, materials and fixings are very similar, but I don’t believe they are related in any way - save one perhaps giving inspiration to the other. The Sparmac kits date from the early 1990s.



A wider view of the BTK and full brake. It looks like the FB is longer, but that’s an accident of setting up and photography!



The kits came with nice long and thin strips of copper clad with which to form the step boards. As I have to make up numerous short boards, I plundered my Bits Box to see whether I had anything suitable. A selection of JLTRT etched boards may well be very handy.

Thanks to Mike's generosity I have been giving much thought to underframe and headstock detailing. To be honest, not a lot is required on the underframes, though both passenger vehicles need the brake rigging to be completed. While it would be nice to fit the steam heat pipe run and drain valve, it wouldn’t be visible behind the battery boxes. Some wiring around the dynamos might be worth adding. The headstocks need the various brackets for pipe and emergency coupling stowage. One end of the BG will get the full Monty, while the rest will get cosmetic work and some representation of the connected pipework between vehicles. After putting together the Slater's Pullman gangways for those Maunsells, I have been quite impressed with them. I need to check they will actually fit the Gresleys - why wouldn’t they? - and get some ordered up. I do have the original floppy rubber mouldings, but they’re not exactly nice, and definitely need a rigid plate to hold them to shape.

So, although the basic construction is done, I still have my work cut out on these. I need to stop faffing about and get on with it!

 

[Heather Kay]

Dealing with the moulded brackets was easier than expected. The holes are filled and will be tidied when the filler sets. Then I’ll measure up and sort out new holes for wire pegs to support the brass steps.

 

[Dog Star]

... Here are the truss-rod underframes of the D.113 full brake (front) and D.114 brake third. ...

Mike (@Mike Trice), given that Heather is working on two carriages with hand brakes can you provide information on the brake linkage between the lower end of the hand brake column and the brake cross-shafts (which are adjacent to the vacuum cylinders)?

Heather (@Heather Kay), I have tried and failed to make such linkages, there is no pressure on you to include such details.

regards, Graham

 

[Mike Trice]

Probably ;-)

 

[Heather Kay]

All this wonderful reference material is a bit overwhelming. I think I need to take a step back, spend a bit of time assimilating what I need to know, and then pile back in.

There is a short break in proceedings, due to hot weather and domestic duties.

 

[Heather Kay]

Enough procrastination!



This selection seems right for the BTK corridor side and van end.

I keep dithering over the steps. There seems to be so much variation over the years. The compartment side still eludes me. I was going to replicate the individual steps under the parcels and guard doors as on the corridor side, with a single long step under the compartment doors. Further photo picking seems to indicate some coaches retained the full length step. Now I don’t know where to turn.

I mean, it probably doesn’t matter. At the end of their lives, I’m sure these wooden coaches received all kinds of variations as renovation and repair went on. I just like to get things as correct as possible when I can.

I think lunch will let my brain make a decision.

 

[Heather Kay]

A decision was made. Full length step boards on the compartment side. Chopping the brackets off was a mistake, then.





Anyway, pleased with the corridor side steps. Pegs of 0.7mm wire were soldered to each step. I carefully marked out height from the bottom of the solebar angle and distance between pegs, drilling right through the solebar. Each step was carefully pushed into place, and will be held with a drop of cyano glue inside the solebar.





The other side involved drilling out the holes I’d filled the other day. I transferred spacing to the copperclad strip and soldered wire pegs as for the other side. A little bit of tweaking was needed here and there, involved carefully applying the soldering iron to the peg joint to let the strip settle in place to avoid excessive waviness. I think it worked okay.

I don’t think I’ll worry over cosmetic bracket strips that ought to be visible above each step. Perhaps short lengths of styrene strip dropped in will give enough of a hint.

I am waiting on the container load of brass split pins, and then I can tackle the vacuum pipe run.

My overall mood seems to have gone the way of the warm sunshine - clouded over. I think I’ll give the cat a cuddle.

 

[Heather Kay]

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?



Armed with dozens of these, courtesy of Eileen's Emporium, I set about fitting a vacuum pipe along one solebar.



Eight clips per pipe, according to the drawings from Mr T. Yes, they should be bracketed from the flat face of the bar, but there are limits to technology. I was aiming for the appearance of sitting just above and to the outside of the bottom bulb on the solebar U-channel.



I think that works. With plenty of gunge and a bit of weathering it’ll look good enough. The next step is working out and fitting the little pipes that run across the frames to the vac cylinders and reservoirs, and deciding how much extra to fit to the ends to meet with putative hose connectors under the headstocks.

I have to admit, that’s perked my mood up a notch. The weekend was terrible for old Muttley mooching about.

 

[Heather Kay]

And before I know it, the brake gear is fitted.



This is the BTK van end. The pull rods ought to go in for the bogie gear, and some form of link to the handbrake. However, under normal circumstance nothing would be seen, so I’ll leave them out. You can also see the various pipes from the outside vac pipe to the cylinder and reservoir. Good enough for government work, as they say.



This is the passenger compartment end. I was expecting a rod between both weighshaft, but it seems the LNER didn’t go in for that sort of thing. The only link between both ends is the vacuum pipework.

Pleased with that on the whole. I’ll get the all third steps and gear done tomorrow, and then rework the BG gear. It’s not quite aligned properly compared to the drawings.

 

[Heather Kay]

No photos, sorry. They’d be a fair repeat of what you’ve already seen.

Anyway, the all third has brake rigging, footboards and vacuum pipe fitted. The cylinder feed pipes still need to be done.

Sadly, moulded hinges have taken a battering. I’m mulling over options to repair the damage, but nothing currently strikes me as strong enough to withstand accidental damage again. Still thinking on it.

 

[LarryG]

Gresley coaches drove me nuts when I was well into them. A study of diagrams is essential seeing as some designs were built over a long period of years. It looks like the earlier diagrams such as in the mid 1920's had full length stepboards both sides. If short stepboards are fitted under the corridor doors, then this will impact on the running number. Buffers and trussing differed too according to the era they were built.

I seem to remember angle trussing came in around 1931. I can't remember when buffing gear started to change. Mike T. is the man.

 

[Peter Cross]

Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

View attachment 146406

Armed with dozens of these, courtesy of Eileen's Emporium, I set about fitting a vacuum pipe along one solebar.

View attachment 146408

Eight clips per pipe, according to the drawings from Mr T. Yes, they should be bracketed from the flat face of the bar, but there are limits to technology. I was aiming for the appearance of sitting just above and to the outside of the bottom bulb on the solebar U-channel.

View attachment 146407

I think that works. With plenty of gunge and a bit of weathering it’ll look good enough. The next step is working out and fitting the little pipes that run across the frames to the vac cylinders and reservoirs, and deciding how much extra to fit to the ends to meet with putative hose connectors under the headstocks.

I have to admit, that’s perked my mood up a notch. The weekend was terrible for old Muttley mooching about.

LP

Heather
Get yourself some half round wire, 0.7mm is a good start, does beading on locos and tenders, plus ideal for pipe clips.

 

[paulc]

I think a separate thread would be ideal. There’s a Resources sub forum under the Talk section for that sort of thing.

Can I just say I love those technical drawings. The line work is top quality. I have a soft spot for that sort of thing because one of my earliest jobs was in a drawing office working on road schemes. You never really forget the techniques you pick up to let the film produce clean dyeline prints.

Hi Heather , it would seem there are a fair few of us in the model railway fraternity . I worked for Eastern electricity designing sub stations and also got to trudge across muddy fields doing survey work for the power lines .
Cheers Paul

 

[Heather Kay]

Get yourself some half round wire

I have some. I just felt the quantity I needed to produce was too high. One or two I can manage. Any more and my consistency goes out the window.