Winch and Crane

Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
I bought some of the tiny springs and did have go at using them but, the travel of the brake pedal was too great and so, I've opted for this simple rest. The idea came to me while I was thinking about brakes and wagon brakes sprang to mind so, there is a little bit of tension and this holds it against the frame side. The other picture was supposed to be before and after but it's become after and before. I was only able to attach the flanges to one side as I found it a bit of a job holding everything in place. I'm sure you all know the feeling, when one piece is set square one of the others decides to move on it's own!

Jon

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Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Jamie
The wheels came from, 'Modelling Timbers' a site for chaps who build boats but he has some interesting bits if you take the time to go through his lists. You'll have to go through them all as some things aren't filed as one would think.

Jon
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
The next stage in the build is to finally clean up te sides and paint them matt black. The rest of the works will be chemically blackened before final assembly. I bought one of those 'digital angle gauges' and today, I tried it out on the crane itself. Only one piece, as it was close to supper but, I produced spot on angles on a piece of Maple. 'What a result' as the younger generation would say!!! :):)

Jon
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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Here it is finished but I'm not so sure of the scale now that I've built it :(. When the handle is at the top of it's travel, it measures 5' 2" quite a stretch if only one person is working it. Having said that though, the picture on page one does show two men at the winch meaning that when the handle is up for one it will be down for the other. I couldn't help but smile to myself as one of them looks quite short and the other quite tall.
Anyone any ideas on scale?

Jon
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Jamie
Not yet and it would be a case of finding a figure with a near enough pose and them altering it to suit. I don't think the chap in America has anything close but I will have another look. The problem with his figures is that they are all so 'modern'.:)

Jon
 
jamiepage

jamiepage

Western Thunderer
Jon,
Looking at the prototype photo again, I would suggest you probably have it just about right. The handle seems to reach something like neck or eye height (depending on which operative) so your 5ft 2 in seems quite reasonable.
The handle's reach reduces the amount of effort required, as does the significant gearing, so it was probably fairly easy to turn- if slow.
I'm looking forward to watching the jib etc grow now,
Yours
Jamie
 
Mike W

Mike W

Western Thunderer
It will look great Jon and better still when you blacken (i.e. rust) that track in the background to match. And when you do so please tell me how as I have about about 400 ft of it to do!

Mike
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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Some of the components for the crane. The piece of wood that I had for item C, the swivelling upright as I've called it, isn't up to scratch and so another will need machining. When done, it will have two 1/4" locating dowels turned on it's end to locate in a hole drilled in each of the end caps. The pins will, of course, be shortened, they are this long so that the caps could be held in the chuck to have the ends turned square. The piece on the top f the Main Upright was machined from a single piece of brass. I thought it easier for me to do it this way that to fabricate from flat stock. The rear top on the drawing is curved but it's axis doesn't line up with the hole for the pulley and so, I couldn't use this to hold a filing button and so, I machined on a series of flats and will leave it at that. If I tried to join the flats into a curve, I know that I'll just make a mess hence the flats. The two pieces of wood on the left are the supports for the main upright.

Jon
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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I was going to start this with, 'here are all of the component parts' but, I've just realised that I've not made the two cable/rod braces that fit either side of the head, doh! So, here are all of the component parts so far. This was very much a make it up as you go along project and therefore, this is my own interpretation. Thought I'd say that before anyone points out that something or other doesn't look quite right:). Seeing it like this, it looks a bit much short but when offered up to the drawing, it's perfect. I should have placed a model person beside it to give a height comparison before taking this picture, hey ho. At least now, I can give the timbers a final rub down and then glue up the jib before the first coats of rattle can white are applied. My plan is to mount the whole thing on a piece of that copper backed sheet, the name escapes me for the moment, and then cut a square out of the cork covering and set the whole thing in, it should work.

Jon
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
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Now that I've made up the jib, it does look too short to me especially thinking about when the hook is added. This wagon is LBSCR but the SER had very similar ones and it would be very tight for loading/unloading. Another scale foot or two would look much better but that is not achievable at this stage. I could try a scale foot high earth platform but that may look a little daft.
Any comments?

Jon
 
Heather Kay

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Perhaps a brick or stone plinth would help? Many yard cranes seem to have been mounted at a height the equated to a passenger or loading dock platform, bringing the base nearer the floor level of the vehicles being loaded.
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Heather
That sounds a good idea but I think that I would have to extend the plinth so that the winch itself sat on the plinth as well. Thinking about it, that makes sense and will give some credit to the winch being bolted down onto something more solid. Anyone make G3 bricks:)?

Jon
 
Mike W

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Yes Jon, the dolls house people sell real bricks. But, they are 1:24 so ever so slightly small. Bearing in mind that bricks were larger in Victorian times anyway, you may feel that they are just too small. You can also buy brick slips - slivers of brick to be stuck onto a base.

Mike
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Heather
Yes, that's a good idea and I'm giving it some serious thought.

Mike
I've just scaled some bricks and in our size they are quite small, maybe too small to handle with my fingers but, I'll give it some more thought. I've emailed one company to ask what size their bricks are to see how it compares with my scaling.

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Here the side struts have been glued in place and a wrap around strap fitted to the jib. I was going to use wine bottle foil but it was a little too short to be used in one length and then I remembered that I had bought this lead. The yellow is a paper that covers a self adhesive strip so, I simple cut a length of lead along this section and applied it to the jib. Lead being what it is, it wrapped around the timber very easily and I was able to push it right into the corner. I tried using a scalpel but it distorted the edge too much and so I used my guillotine which gave me a perfect edge. Now, did they use coach screws or studding with a nut at each end to attach the strap to the jib? I think that copper/bronze studding was used in ship building so, maybe here to but in steel.

Jon
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
I sent an email to DollshouseEmporium to ask for the size of the bricks that they sell. When the answer came back, I scaled them to a real brick size and they came out at 16"x8"x4 1/2", far, far too big for G3. I may just scribe some plasticard which looks to be the easy way out.

Jon
 
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