Yorky D's Küchentisch - DB V100... eins zwei drei

Big Train James

Western Thunderer
I see that the Aber S12 mesh is a rectangular pattern, something I've often looked for but not yet found. At least not with this fineness. A quick on the web indicates three sizes of oblong mesh. I'm curious if any of them approach a 2" x 4" opening at 1/48 scale.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Or outside rather than on the kitchen table though and not a soldering iron in sight ;).

Today has been about replacing the crank case ventilation (PCV) system and oil separator (black box on left) on my 1997 Volvo.

V2.jpg

Which involves removing the inlet manifold.....
V1.jpg

Now it's in bits I suppose it could join the models on the shelf waiting finishing :rolleyes: ......!

And there's nowt like working on a car to improve one's contortionist skills either.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Errrrr no - it's still in bits. There's another couple of hours work yet putting it back in the right order..... without instructions, naturally.
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Whilst messing about with the SECR 4 plank dropside I've also backdated two vans.

The LBSC van has it's SR decals removed and replaced by LBSC decals.
LBSC 01.jpg

The LSWR gunpowder van was going to be LMS (ex L&Y) gunpowder van which was weathered grey. As it is of a similar diagram to the LSWR gunpowder van I added a brown wash and decals. It still requires the Load 7 Tons and Tare 7 - 3 - 2 lettering which I'll have to source as only the Load 8 Tons lettering are on the decal sheet. It appears I can have any tonnage except 7 ! And yes the 'S' is upside down
LSWR 01.jpg

And the start of a train....
SR 01.jpg
 
Pattern making 7mm

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Bouyed with the satisfaction scratchbuilding the SECR 4 plank dropside wagon my attention was drawn to what other wagons I would like to have from the LCDR and LBSC stables in my collection for fun...............:)

Rather than hunt around for 7mm kits (which probably only exist in another universe) I ordered some parts.... and this lot arrived the other day.
Wagon 04.jpg
As I'm looking to build some LCDR and LBSC prototypes I set about making some patterns for solebars and buffer beams simce my intention is to centrifugally cast these in whitemetal.

The patterns were made up from Evergreen sytrene strip (pictured above) and Ambis etched crowns and strapping applied. The solebars I have made so far are from top to bottom: LCDR 9' 8'' wheelbase, LCDR 9' 3'' wheelbase (this is for a passenger rated van) and LBSC 9' 6'' wheelbase. Buffer beam is bottom left and the central 'H' chassis support is top right.

The LCDR and LBSC solebars are different lengths to suit the prototype vehicle and the wagon and van bodies will be built in the same way as the SECR 4 plank dropside.

Wagon 01.jpg

The idea is to make construction easy so I designed in locators to provide a square chassis with the buffer beam and 'H' support being universal.
Wagon 02.jpg

Wagon 03.jpg

Other solebar patterns yet to be made will be a SECR 9' wheelbase and some more for LBSC wagons.

Next up will be making the silicone master mould from which the castings will be used to make the production mould.
 

Michael D

Western Thunderer
These are looking great, if you make any extra castings for solebars and bufferbeams please let me know on the look out for plenty of pregrouping London wagons
Best
Michael
 

mickoo

Western Thunderer
Dave,

I presume you're going to bulk cast these in resin then, it'll be interesting to see how that goes and materials of choice.

MD
 

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
I presume you're going to bulk cast these in resin then, it'll be interesting to see how that goes and materials of choice.

I intend to centrifugally cast these in whitemetal. The idea is to provide the vehicle with ballast.

Need to make a silicone mould first which provides the masters.
 
Mould making

Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
Mouldy Old Dough - anyone remember Lieutenant Pigeon....:)

Well today it's been less of the old dough and more about mould making.

The patterns I made earlier have been placed onto the silicon in the mould can (made from car brake drum) with the plug, gate template and acorn nuts. The latter are there to lock the two halves when casting. The second silicon mould layer was placed on top, followed by the lid . This was clamped and the whole ensemble placed in the oven for 1 1/2 hours at 100 deg C
Spin 01.jpg

After cooking an cooling down the mould was ready and it is here with the gates cut to the parts.
Spin 02.jpg

And before the gates were cut.
Spin 03.jpg

Close up of one of the solebar ends.
Spin 04.jpg

The spin casting machine (this is the prototype still in use).
Spin 05.jpg

Smelting pot and ladle.
Spin 06.jpg

Mould clamped in position between the two plates.
Spin 07.jpg

Now the magic.
Spin 08.jpg

The end result.
Spin 09.jpg

Close up of the detail.
Spin 10.jpg

I'm pretty pleased with the results and now have a source of LBSC and LCDR solebars and buffer beams.

Next is making up some brake gear to cast with the Metropolitan Railway solebars.
 
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