Trade SDMP/Finney7 - Driving a Geep?
- Thread starter Steph Dale
- Start date
Eastsidepilot
Western Thunderer
Don't know why I recognised it, just stuck in the old grey matter somewhere, not the normal type panelling.Aah, we have a winner...
Steph
Col.
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
I never did have much patience...
I'm awaiting the next batch of etches so have been investigating the next big thing. As some will know I've been looking at ways to productionise the Jenkinson carriage construction methods as a route to getting affordable accurate styrene carriages; hopefully without the faff that's associated with cutting umpty-ump nominally-identical windows out of a sheet of styrene. Well, we're nearly there.
Cynric was a great advocate for laser cutting, but when discussing it with him it became apparent that it posed some problems when this approach is used for carriage building, for a start the material is much more expensive (you can't use styrene sheet as it doesn't laser cut cleanly) and it's much more rigid (so tumblehomes become tricky). Over the last eighteen months I have therefore been looking at alternative methods and after some extensive, targeted research have just ordered the means to produce these carriages and a lot more besides: I will shortly be taking delivery of a CNC die cutter.
In no particular order this gives me the opportunity to produce low-cost, accurate, repeatable examples of the following sorts of items:
Carriage parts, from a sheet of panelling to a whole coach.
Painting masks, both self adhesive and stencils.
Patterns for pantograph mills/engravers
And goodness knows what else which occurs to me as I grow in to this new capability.
I'll be very happy to take enquiries if you have a ticklish job that would be made easier with pre-cut parts, whether it's one of the above or something completely different. I see no need to stick to model railways either; I'm sure my mum will have producing parts for dolls houses once she realises what we can do.
Over time I will be releasing kits of parts for various SR and constituents carriages, which is where the above panelling diagram came in. First off the blocks will be an SECR corridor brake composite (birdcage) and the experimental ex-SER re-framed coach now preserved on the Bluebell railway.
Without too much deep thought I can see we could get in to new sides for G1 Mk1 carriages, replacement sides for Slater's Maunsell carriages, companion vehicles for the G1 'Dee' project loco, panelling to back-date existing vehicle kits, masks for two-tone grey freight locos and their logos, double arrows, etc, etc.
More will follow in due course, but I suspect we'll be back to gearboxes and hornblocks for the next 'news' post...
JB, Yes, I'd hope so!
Steph
I'm awaiting the next batch of etches so have been investigating the next big thing. As some will know I've been looking at ways to productionise the Jenkinson carriage construction methods as a route to getting affordable accurate styrene carriages; hopefully without the faff that's associated with cutting umpty-ump nominally-identical windows out of a sheet of styrene. Well, we're nearly there.
Cynric was a great advocate for laser cutting, but when discussing it with him it became apparent that it posed some problems when this approach is used for carriage building, for a start the material is much more expensive (you can't use styrene sheet as it doesn't laser cut cleanly) and it's much more rigid (so tumblehomes become tricky). Over the last eighteen months I have therefore been looking at alternative methods and after some extensive, targeted research have just ordered the means to produce these carriages and a lot more besides: I will shortly be taking delivery of a CNC die cutter.
In no particular order this gives me the opportunity to produce low-cost, accurate, repeatable examples of the following sorts of items:
Carriage parts, from a sheet of panelling to a whole coach.
Painting masks, both self adhesive and stencils.
Patterns for pantograph mills/engravers
And goodness knows what else which occurs to me as I grow in to this new capability.
I'll be very happy to take enquiries if you have a ticklish job that would be made easier with pre-cut parts, whether it's one of the above or something completely different. I see no need to stick to model railways either; I'm sure my mum will have producing parts for dolls houses once she realises what we can do.
Over time I will be releasing kits of parts for various SR and constituents carriages, which is where the above panelling diagram came in. First off the blocks will be an SECR corridor brake composite (birdcage) and the experimental ex-SER re-framed coach now preserved on the Bluebell railway.
Without too much deep thought I can see we could get in to new sides for G1 Mk1 carriages, replacement sides for Slater's Maunsell carriages, companion vehicles for the G1 'Dee' project loco, panelling to back-date existing vehicle kits, masks for two-tone grey freight locos and their logos, double arrows, etc, etc.
More will follow in due course, but I suspect we'll be back to gearboxes and hornblocks for the next 'news' post...
JB, Yes, I'd hope so!
Steph
S
SteveO
Guest
Sounds interesting Steph. I have a couple projects I'm working on for my kits, including a drop-out compensated motor subframe to help with painting and maintenance.
As a rough comparison, what is the price difference between etching and CNC milling? This would be for components like loco frames, con rods, etc.
As a rough comparison, what is the price difference between etching and CNC milling? This would be for components like loco frames, con rods, etc.
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Steve,
The new machine is a different ball game than either etching or milling. This uses a blade which follows a prescribed path to cut out the part and generally can't be used on metals. The results are much like a laser cutter, although the running costs are lower and they can do some jobs lasers can't do - such as the painting masks. Wasp stripe masks could be done for example...
If I were you, I'd stick to etching unless you know someone who has a CNC mill sitting idle somewhere. In my experience buying machine time on CNC mills is expensive unless you're producing lots of a particular item or need a level of accuracy that can't be met by other methods.
Steph
The new machine is a different ball game than either etching or milling. This uses a blade which follows a prescribed path to cut out the part and generally can't be used on metals. The results are much like a laser cutter, although the running costs are lower and they can do some jobs lasers can't do - such as the painting masks. Wasp stripe masks could be done for example...
If I were you, I'd stick to etching unless you know someone who has a CNC mill sitting idle somewhere. In my experience buying machine time on CNC mills is expensive unless you're producing lots of a particular item or need a level of accuracy that can't be met by other methods.
Steph
Dog Star
Western Thunderer
This suggests that you might adopt a silhouette of a railway cameo as a business logo.
Nice idea, let me know when you fancy attempting a 7mm GWR 70' Concertina double slip.
regards, Graham
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Hehe, nice try Graham; this is a much larger, more powerful and more capable machine...
Steph
Steph
Jon Fitness
Western Thunderer
7mm scale SECR coaches that were exported to the IOW would be nice Steph......ooh and parts to make up the modular LNWR wooden station buildings...and L&Y ones too!
Jon F.
Jon F.
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Rob ,Are Bullied coach sides possible in 1/32nd?cheers Rob
Yep, and I have the info to hand. A conversion of the G1 Mk1 stock is perhaps what you have in mind?
Jon,7mm scale SECR coaches that were exported to the IOW would be nice Steph......ooh and parts to make up the modular LNWR wooden station buildings...and L&Y ones too!
Jon F.
The former, certainly. Both Jenkinson's techniques and this machine lend themselves to productions of 1off examples. Recognising that there was a lot of Island stock that was modified from that on the mainland it's a great way to produce these sorts of items. In fact any SECR stock seems natural as most was produced in relatively small batches so has limited appeal; one reason why SECR corridor stock is not currently available. It all depends on what info we can get together.
The buildings I'd need to have a think about as I'm not terribly familiar with either of the types you mention.
Steph
taliesin
Western Thunderer
Hi Steph, I am more looking at scratch building rather than converting MK1's, bogies are available and the chassis can be done in brass. It's more a case of getting what would be the tedious and difficult bits if done by hand produced to a consistent standard so basic ends would be a possibility as well in the interests of uniformity.
Due to the proliferation of Southern engines in 1/32nd and the total lack of matching southern coaching stock i would imagine that there is quite possibly a reasonable demand for these beyond my own desires.
Hopefully we can discuss at Reading, cheers Rob
Due to the proliferation of Southern engines in 1/32nd and the total lack of matching southern coaching stock i would imagine that there is quite possibly a reasonable demand for these beyond my own desires.
Hopefully we can discuss at Reading, cheers Rob
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Rob,
Yep, that sounds good. I'll bring some bits with me that we can talk around.
Steph
Yep, that sounds good. I'll bring some bits with me that we can talk around.
Steph
flexible_coupling
Western Thunderer
You have my full attention with your pending acquisition, Steph. Great potential for the buildings on my layout-in-progress... I'd considered having a few elements lasered (and "put up" with the burr removal around the burnt edges) but golly... a cut/engraved process would be fantastic...
Jon Fitness
Western Thunderer
Ah, I wondered why I couldn't get any SECR coaches for my 02 to pull. I've built 4 of the Gibson LBSCR ones but the IOW rakes always seem to have a mix of both. I'm a regular visitor to the IOW and an occasional volunteer in the C&W dept of the IOW steam railway so I can take some pics of the survivors. Sadly all the SECR bogie stock there is out of traffic at the moment due to massive chassis corrosion...
Regarding the LNW modular station buildings, I know Parkside Dundas do 4mm scale "sections" that you fasten together (rather in the style of a Kirk Coach) to make the size of building you need but they have resisted all requests by me to produce them in 7mm scale. I have seen some drawings in at least one of my LNW books but L&Y ones are a little more difficult to track down. (I know...I should join the L&Y society!)
JF
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
JB,
To be honest I think I'd want to get the machine up and running before quoting (at least in public!) and GNR/LNER stock would require some thinking about; there's an awful lot of layers and sections there and I'm not familiar enough with the stock to be sure I'd get it right off the top of my head.
Input can be pretty much anything; I'll be continuing to use TurboCAD to develop the tooling so a DXF is probably easiest. But dimensioned sketches are fine too. If you've got good scale drawings or works drawings there's the potential for something pretty special. The better the information, the better the finished item...
You can imagine that we've got great plans for the Southern-related stock, purely because I'm so familiar with it.
Steph
Steph Dale
Western Thunderer
Guys,
This afternoon I managed to pick up the latest consignment of etches from the Post Office. The hornguides are now available:
Priced at £7.75 (with the offer of buying 11 and getting one free), they're known as 47961 (because they're 'for 7961' geddit?) the fret includes six guides as shown here, together with both the 12BA (height adjustment) screw and 14BA (retaining strap) screws. A couple of spare screws are provided and the smaller screws are in steel; not only for the potentially better thread form, but also because they're easy to pick out of the carpet with a magnet...
To complete you will need a set of Slater's 7961 hornblocks and springs/CSB/compensation of your choice; Slater's 7164 hornblock springs work well for conventional springing and their pack contains 12 springs.
I'm happy to take orders now (though the website/email, www.stephdale.co.uk please) either for shipping later this week or for collection at Cleckheaton show.
I'll let you know what else was in the pack tomorrow...
Steph
This afternoon I managed to pick up the latest consignment of etches from the Post Office. The hornguides are now available:
Priced at £7.75 (with the offer of buying 11 and getting one free), they're known as 47961 (because they're 'for 7961' geddit?) the fret includes six guides as shown here, together with both the 12BA (height adjustment) screw and 14BA (retaining strap) screws. A couple of spare screws are provided and the smaller screws are in steel; not only for the potentially better thread form, but also because they're easy to pick out of the carpet with a magnet...
To complete you will need a set of Slater's 7961 hornblocks and springs/CSB/compensation of your choice; Slater's 7164 hornblock springs work well for conventional springing and their pack contains 12 springs.
I'm happy to take orders now (though the website/email, www.stephdale.co.uk please) either for shipping later this week or for collection at Cleckheaton show.
I'll let you know what else was in the pack tomorrow...
Steph
