The Heybridge Railway, 1889 to 1913

[RichardG]

A gross , really ????

It really is a gross, honest

 

[paulc]

View attachment 246123
It really is a gross, honest

Crickey !!!!

 

[Simon H]

This looks like a useful pack, I especially like the storage wallet, which (in my case) would save the blades ending up in the bottom of a toolbox or whatever and possibly getting broken!

 

[RichardG]

I am making new frame spacers, to put the frames further apart and improve the appearance of the finished model. These are the first two.


I bought a sheet of 0.4 mm brass and prepared a strip by scoring, snapping and dressing.



Size chart

I picked a 2/0 blade to cut the spacers. This is technically for thicker material, but I seem to be getting away with it by holding it at a shallow angle. So far I have made seven cuts and I'm still on the first blade. The 2/0 is a middling size from the pack.

 

[Phil O]

Hi Richard,

You've obviously started a trend, as I have just checked the website and they're sold out.

 

[spikey faz]

Seem to be available here: eBay

Mike

 

[RichardG]

Yes I bought mine from RedRoosteruk, the same link posted by Mike
144 pieces Saw Piercing Blades ALL GRADES hand saws set watchmakers | eBay UK

 

[RichardG]

To recap slightly, the frames are intended to be a fold-up item. I want the frames to be farther apart so their top edges don’t show between the running boards in the space behind the smokebox.


Putting the drive to the rear axle leaves no space for plunger pickups. The unwanted holes are blanked off inside and filled with low melt solder. This seemed a good idea at the time but the solder melted when I soldered up the frames so it had to be re-done.


I am happy with the new frame spacers but they are not quite symmetrical so each has a centre punch mark and a red dot. The rebate in the top of the third spacer is my invention to make it less intrusive on the finished model.


I found the frames rather difficult to put together. A fold-up arrangement is easier. However, the result is pretty square.


I suppose, this is a dress rehearsal for building a first ScaleSeven loco from a finescale kit.


The standard Slater's axle bush (right) has a flange 1mm thick.


I have reduced the flanges to around 0.33 mm, so the wheels will be able to turn.


For now, the important thing is the frames are under the running boards.

I am still on my first piercing saw blade but the teeth are losing their edge.

 

[spikey faz]

View attachment 246250
I suppose, this is a dress rehearsal for building a first ScaleSeven loco from a finescale kit.

Have you joined The Scaleseven Group ?

Mike

 

[RichardG]

Have you joined The Scaleseven Group ?

Yes. I want to try S7 one day for a new project. The loco will be a small diesel
https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/threads/csbs-on-a-0-4-0-diesel-mechanical-loco.13771/

So the period will be completely different to the Heybridge Railway, with no overlaps to cause a duplication of stock. I've decided to defer this and build the H2 first. Now I have the Old Class I from John Baker to build too, so I can see the Drewry dropping farther down the list. Next year, perhaps

 

[RichardG]

We have just had two days in Norfolk . . .


We found ourselves having a picnic breakfast yesterday because the so-called B&B didn't serve breakfast. Happily the Morrisons in Dereham was open for "meal deals" and so we headed up to County School station to eat them, this really is a lovely spot.


The field beside the access road is full of sunflowers.


Punctuality on the Mid Norfolk Railway took a hit because of a movement from Network Rail, but the sun was still shining for the first steam working of the day. I have stopped carrying a pocket camera on holidays because the phone camera (Pixel 6a) is so good.


We went to the Whitwell and Reepham Railway the day before. This was so relaxing and calming I fell asleep in their conservatory, so not many pictures to share. I noticed the raised Esso emblem - the plastic backing panel on the Airfix kit is more appropriate than I thought

If we had had a third day then Holt was around twenty minute's drive from County School and we could have visited the North Norfolk Railway too. The three railways are very different and all have something to enjoy.

 

[RichardG]

Have you joined The Scaleseven Group ?

Mike

In fact, I seem to have found my way into the August 'Newsletter' in two places. I took along some of my FS wagons to show to Nick @magmouse and these ended up being displayed and then photographed alongside his S7 models. Well, it can be difficult to see the difference And a member of the Committee asked for a piece on using the face flannel to hold small parts, so this is here too.

This could all become embarrassing if I don't actually do something in S7 fairly soon. So far, as Tony @Osgood pointed out somewhere or other, I have made some S7 track spikes. And I ran 'Lady Marion' on his layout at Albury, but thankfully this exercise didn't make it into the Newsletter

 

[RichardG]

. . . the result is pretty square.

Yeah, sort of . . .

I am trying to build this loco one subassembly at a time. Logically I would now set the frames aside and assemble the smokebox and perhaps the cab beading. But having got the frames together I really want to see a rolling chassis.


The chassis builder box from Poppy’s Woodtech holds the axles parallel to each other in both planes, but it leaves the modeller to make sure the axles are orthogonal to the frames. For my first attempt I got three axles arranged like

/ / /

and not

I I I

I took out the bushes along one side, elongated their locating holes in the frame, and put them back in again. To get things reasonably orthogonal. The photo shows my second attempt. Some of the error still apparent here is due to the angle of the camera.


The wonderful thing is, the wheels now sit nicely close to the frames. The chassis does not rock on a diagonal either, though I want to arrange for the front axle to rock. The middle wheels are a shade than the outer ones, so the model cannot rock fore/aft.

I think the broader frame spacers (+ 3 mm) really do give the model a lift.

 

[RichardG]

Here are the side rods on a set of horn block alignment axles from Premier Components.

If I hold this assembly up to the light and sight an axle along a set square, I can see mildly tapering daylight . . . the axles are still not at true right angles to the frames. The error is around a third of a degree. I don’t know how “bad” this will turn out to be (I've not looked for it before), but I doubt I can make things much better now. I will stop and accept what I have done.

 

[RichardG]

Use a decent frame assembly jig. I use a Hobby Holidays one but other makes are available.

Or build on a big sheet of squared or graph paper taped on top of a piece of float glass. Line up the axles and the frames with the lines in the paper. Support the axles on extruded ally angle laid “corner up”, and you’re guaranteed that they’re in the same plane, and by looking at it from all angles, you’ll get the frames straight and perpendicular to the axles. And of course, use the coupling rods to set the spacings.

My "high-tech" chassis alignment jig is simply a couple of 12" lengths of silver steel. I thread them through the axle bushes when soldering the chassis together.

I've brought this back to my own workbench to save cluttering Adrian's Precursor tank project.

When I have built a fold-up chassis I have soldered up the chassis first before reaching for the builder box and adding the wheel bushes.

When a chassis does not fold up, I guess I might to be attaching the frame spacers to one frame, and then adding the bushes to both frames. And then reaching for the builder box to attach the second frame to the spacers.

My next loco kit has tabs and slots to hold the spacers into the frames and this is going to be a whole lot easier to align everything.

 

[simond]

When a chassis does not fold up, I guess I might to be attaching the frame spacers to one frame, and then adding the bushes to both frames. And then reaching for the builder box to attach the second frame to the spacers.

There is a risk of creating a banana here. If you put all the spacers on one side and then attach the other, the second side will be hotter, and therefore longer, than the first.

And then when it cools, it’ll be shorter and the assembly is no longer straight, which helps going round corners but only one way…

I’d be inclined to hold it all together (easier if it’s tabbed) and tack solder both sides of each spacer at a time.

Once it’s tacked you can let it cool, verify it’s straight and that one set of axle bushes are aligned perpendicularly and assuming so, proceed to add solder as required for a solid job.

 

[Ian@StEnochs]

I've brought this back to my own workbench to save cluttering Adrian's Precursor tank project.

When I have built a fold-up chassis I have soldered up the chassis first before reaching for the builder box and adding the wheel bushes.

When a chassis does not fold up, I guess I might to be attaching the frame spacers to one frame, and then adding the bushes to both frames. And then reaching for the builder box to attach the second frame to the spacers.

My next loco kit has tabs and slots to hold the spacers into the frames and this is going to be a whole lot easier to align everything.

I replied on Adrians thread before I read this but I will repeat what I said here.

I don't want to teach folk to suck eggs but building a working chassis from scratch is not a simple task especially if it is your first. There is only ONE position where the frames are straight, free of twist, with the wheels spaced exactly the correct distance apart and the axles square to the frames. Springing, or compensation, can eliminate the effects of twist but a good chassis jig will make achieving the other conditions much simpler.

If your first effort isn't succesful you may never try again.

Ian.

 

[alastairq]

Isn't that what a lump hammer is for?

 

[simond]

If your first effort isn't succesful you may never try again.

Ian.

Same is true for badly designed or badly drawn kits.

I wonder how many first-time kit builders simply left the hobby as a result of buying a cheap kit to “have a go”.

Simon

 

[alastairq]

I once bought, very cheaply, a whitemetal 'Atlantic'.....kit....
When I got it home, I discovered that there was only half a boiler casting....but there was an almost complete set of etchings for one of those Italian FS 106 sogliola shunters [ the cab on dolly wheels type]...without wheels, or running gear....
Took me less than 5 minutes to figure out that nothing was related to anything else in the box....and it got put away.
I didn't give up, as such.....