DougT

Western Thunderer
Hi Doug, hopefully Heather won't mind me jumping in. I built a pair of these brass bogies in 2013. There were the third brass thingy I'd ever done and followed a Connoisseur NE Toad brake van (skill builder) and a WEP clay wagon.

From that novice level....

Thanks Chris - much appreciate the depth of the advice, really useful.

I think Chris covered it pretty well. My first pair took me nearly a week on and off! They do look the part, but quite what advantage they have compared to the plastic versions I couldn't really comment on.

If you wind back to the first page of this thread, you’ll see my progress on them. :thumbs:

Thanks Heather. It’s from reading through the whole thread that I thought to ask the question, they do look fiddly and time consuming, but they also look very nice when built and as you say much better than the plastic variant.

I guess it’s a case of take it slowly, use brain and enthusiasm in equal measure and stop when not sure. As you can see, compared to my one and only exploration of the world of brass kits they are somewhat of a step up.

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As I think you may have mentioned, it’s the journey...:thumbs:

...and diversion over (thanks for the indulgence), back to build.
 
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Yorkshire Dave

Western Thunderer
First, I have a set number and coach numbers for the four vehicles currently on the bench. Set 245, Brake 3rd 3785 + Composite 5658 + Brake 3rd 3789, loose Brake Composite 6672.

What struck me were the brake thirds not being consecutively numbered as was the norm with SR sets.

So out of curiosity I've just checked the history of set 245 and when first formed it consisted of Brake third 3785, Third 1197, First 7211, Brake third 3796. The set was reformed into a 3 coach set in 1951 by replacing the first and thirds with a composite.

Carrying on with set 245 - a bit of useless history :)....
Brake third 3785 - set 245 until withdrawn 11/62.
Third 1197 - set 245 until 1951; replaced by Composite 5658 in 1951 until withdrawn 1/62.
First 7211 - set 245 until 1951; then loose until 6/58; then set 431 until withdrawn 8/61.
Brake third 3796 - set 245 until damaged 11/47 then withdrawn. Replaced by 3789 in 1948 until withdrawn in 11/62.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Right, I think I’ll call that a win. I almost literally beat things into submission.

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Finally ready for the plastic leaf springs and axleboxes to go in. Yes, I know I haven't fitted the little coil springs. I leave those until I’ve finished cursing at it!

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Here are two specimens that gave me much angst. The brake shoes are two-part affairs, designed to swing off little etched links, with the cross beams stuck through the main pivot hole. One shoe had been mangled early on, but I thought I’d got away with it - until it decided to part company with the swing link. The moulding broke through where the 0.5mm wire passed through for the swing link. I uttered a swear word or two, and tried to repair it.

Ensuing failure, more curse words, no spare parts. Well, Slater's mould the plastic bogie shoes on the same sprue as the etched bogie shoes. I figured I might be able to impress one of the single part shoes as a replacement. It only went and worked. Some careful drilling, and some careful sawing, and I was able to make a replacement.

Then the second broke off. Rinse and repeat.

Finally, a third decided to break. This time, I was at the point of the final wheelset in and pull rods being fixed in place. No way was I going to take it all apart to fit a fresh shoe. I resolved to fix the rods and whatnot, then attempt to fix the shoe back in place supported by the cross beam. I think it worked. I might deploy some epoxy later to reinforce things, and stick the shoe swing links on their rods.

At least my car passed its MOT and now has new wipers to play with. So, how was your Monday?
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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Plastic leaf springs attached, coil springs in, out, in and shaken all about until I dabbed a drop of cyano on one peg to stop the little beggars randomly dropping out, and axleboxes glued on. Aside from the safety loops and joining all the brake levers up, these are done bar the painting.

Sheesh.
 
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Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
A brief break, during which I did some finishing jobs on the small prairie. That’s now with Warren H to be painted, so back to these coaches for bit.

Monday was a bit of a washout, plus washing ;), and I assembled the compo floor. Before I could fit the solebars I needed to make up the buffer castings. While I was cleaning a buffer ram up, it decided to go stratospheric. I heard it land, and had a quick unsuccessful search. I decided to leave it until the morning, when it ought to have come back to this dimension.

Tuesday morning, I set to casting hunting. I now have a really tidy workshop and storage area, but no casting. All morning that took, and I definitely looked in all the most unlikely places, too. :(

After a brief dalliance with the notion of scratchbuilding a replacement, I decided instead to raid one of the other kits. Slater's sell the buffer set, so I can replace it in due course. Anyway, would you believe the box I raided was also missing one buffer ram? Whoever packed it didn’t notice the sprue was short of one bit. So, I shall be sending off for a replacement part at the manufacturer's expense!

Anyway, with the buffer beams prepped, they and the solebars could be fitted to the floor. I encountered the same odd gap in the solebars as when I built the earlier coach. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong, if anything.

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Before lunch I was at this point. At Kettering over the weekend I collected some brass angle from Barry at Metalsmith. After lunch I set out to make two replicas of the kit truss bars.

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Well, that went a lot better than I expected. Nothing unusual, just some careful marking out and soldering. The masking tape made a simple angle jig, and blutack held things aligned while soldering took place. The hardest part was probably making two pairs of verticals with the correct handedness.

I’ve also assembled battery boxes, vacuum cylinders and reservoir tanks ahead of needing them. I suppose I should get on with the brake rigging. Ooh, my favourite! :confused: :))
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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While I was in fabrication mode, I made a second set of trusses for the already-completed chassis. The old plastic ones came out without too much pain or damage. I’ll need to consider the flitch plates, as I’m not sure I can resurrect the plastic ones cleanly. They shouldn’t be too hard to recreate. Things are posed here for fitting purposes. When I’m ready to fit things, I’ll apply superglue to tack them in place, followed up with some epoxy for longevity.

A reasonable day's work, I think. Thursday will be all over the place, but I should get a solid afternoon on these builds.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Chris! Once I’m in the swing, it doesn’t take very long to make the trusses. On the plus side, only two more pairs to make - but I’ll leave those until I’m ready for them, and that might not be be for a while to come.

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I got a little more done today than I thought I might. The strip to complete the U-section is done. I figured out why the buffers didn’t work like the other coach: the wrong type of springs were provided, which didn’t let the buffer heads sit at the retracted position as they should. The last thing this evening was to install the vee hangers and cross shafts. Pull rods tomorrow, and the final odds and ends can be fitted.

Remind me to mix up some Araldite and reinforce lots of things, please.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
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With the step boards installed (on both chassis now) I think I’ll call this underframe done. The tape is holding the brake pullrods until I’m ready to fix them at the correct angle, whatever that might be.

I haven’t forgotten about the Araldite. I am currently pondering whether to go with the 24 hour stuff to give me more time for application in all the nooks and crannies.

I suppose I should consider the bodywork next, but I have other plans for next week.
 

Pencarrow

Western Thunderer
Looking good Heather. I used hair grips too to hold the stepboards on the brackets. There's a lot of work in those chassis - I bet most folk leave off the microstrip on the beams though.

Remember to mix up some Araldite and reinforce lots of things.
 

Heather Kay

Western Thunderer
Wow! March! Well, at least I finished a few other builds in the meantime!

Having blown off the dust, rummaged on the shelf and found the various bits I need, I shall get some progress made on these models. Two still need to be started, but I’m definitely not in the mood for the etched bogies right now! I also need to have a think about couplings. The coaches will be used as a rake of three-plus-occasional-one, so I need to make up something to join together three vehicles in a semi-permanent condition. Thoughts are also guardedly approaching the brain cell regarding how to attach the roofs so they can be removed if required.

No piccies as yet, but some epoxy resin has been deployed to make the step board attachment more robust.
 
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