Simon's workbench

D816Foxhound

Western Thunderer
Simon,

As always, your creations in plastikard are an inspiration.

The detail looks superb and perhaps it will be a shame to paint it!!

Roger Fry
 

Simon

Flying Squad
D816Foxhound said:
Simon,

As always, your creations in plastikard are an inspiration.

The detail looks superb and perhaps it will be a shame to paint it!!

Roger Fry

Hi Roger

You are very kind!

I quite like painting at this next stage as it "pulls together" all the different materials and masks glue stains etc.

It's the weathering that takes the bottle :eek:

Speaking of inspiration, I'm sure the chaps here would like to see your scratchbuilt ballast wagon - dare I ask whether you have painted it yet!?

On another subject I'm shocked to see that it is now just over a year since you, Steve and I met up in Bath.

I haven't arranged another date this year because I'm not happy with the progress trhat has been made in the garden. Maybe we can aim to get together in the spring by which time there will hopefully be more track...

Great to hear from you :thumbs:

Simon
 

28ten

Guv'nor
Simon said:
I haven't arranged another date this year because I'm not happy with the progress trhat has been made in the garden. Maybe we can aim to get together in the spring by which time there will hopefully be more track...

Great to hear from you :thumbs:

Simon

And coaches.....
Thats very neat work Simon, I see you have chamfered the edges as well  :thumbs:
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Thanks for the comments. I feel a bit of a fraud as I think building up this sort of detail in G1 with bits of Plastikard and brass etc is easier than working in the smaller scales, although it takes patience in the sense that everything takes so long, well it does for me anyway ::)

Anyway, in best Grandmothers eggs fashion here are the latest steps towards another wagon out on the line:

Here are the two ends and sides assembled around the floor. This is straightforward and a good fit, although I had very slight gaps at top and bottom of each corner which I have filled with Squadron filler and filed back. You have to fit the coplings at this stage as it is impossible to do the nut up along the threaded coupling shank once the end is fitted owing to the scale underframe mouldings under the floor - the instructions don't tell you this!

[attachimg=2]

As Simon D mentioned on another thread, the Slaters' etches do seem to have a more pronounced cusp on them than others, all easily enough to clean up with a file though and the resulting W iron is really good. What I think is a failing with his wagon kit (in common with the RCH PO wagon) is that the backing pieces of the axleboxes which will slide up and down the W iron are too small for the etchings:

[attachimg=1]

I have a plan though...
 

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Simon

Flying Squad
Also, I like to have the wheelsets removeable, so after temporarily soldering the "bottom keep" iron in place I drill through the half etch that Slaters provide (to push out to form a "rivet"), separate the keep and then solder in place suitably sized brass wire to the new holes in the W iron "legs".

[attachimg=1]

I then cut off the horizontal projections that would otherwise retain the axleboxes. The keeps will be retained on the brass wire "bolts" by small pieces of black wire insulation, dabbed with superglue for added security. Sort of permanent but easily removeable, all my wagons are done this way and it seems to work very well.
 

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S

Simon Dunkley

Guest
Nice work Simon.
Simon said:
As Simon D mentioned on another thread, the Slaters' etches do seem to have a more pronounced cusp on them than others...  ...the backing pieces of the axleboxes which will slide up and down the W iron are too small for the etchings:
[That is my elision between the sentences, but it matches my experience and I think the two facts are connected!]
Not just on another thread, but in an MRJ review: Slater's got a bit sniffy about it, too, and questioned my knowledge on these things. The answer is, of course, that if other manufacturer's can produce etchings with less cusping, then why not Slater's - it will be down to the acid strength and the length of time
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Returning to the axlebox backs, what I do is Mekpak some extra plastikard strips to widen the back, as pictured here;

Awag4.jpg

and then add some very thin plastikard to the raised section that fits between the W iron legs so that they are a nice running fit.

No more pictures, but I have now done this, added the brass turned buffer shanks to the body and bent the tabs at the tops of the W irons so that they can now be glued to the body.

I should just say that notwithstanding the criticisms above I think this is a really well priced and well designed kit that makes up into a really good looking model.

Talking to David White earlier this year, he was telling me that they have got the pattern for a MR brake van in 1/32 , which wil presumably be in resin.
 

John D

Western Thunderer
The answer is, of course, that if other manufacturer's can produce etchings with less cusping,

  I'd love to know who these 'other manufacturers' are........ like everybody else in the kit business Slaters do not have there own etching facilities and, no doubt, rely on the like  of PhotoEtch etc.. and thus have no control over the etching process itself.Generally speaking the thicker the metal the more cusp you'll get ,fact of life due to the vagaries of the  said etching process.  Just have a look how much you have to file off the average 7mm scale loco sideframe, from any manufacturer, in 28 thou nickel.......makes a Slaters W-iron (22thou brass) look like a walk in the park......

 
 
S

Simon Dunkley

Guest
John D said:
like everybody else in the kit business Slaters do not have there own etching facilities and, no doubt, rely on the like  of PhotoEtch etc.. and thus have no control over the etching process itself.
Ah, I have been misinformed, so I take that bit back.
Generally speaking the thicker the metal the more cusp you'll get ,fact of life due to the vagaries of the  said etching process. 
Yes, but the way to deal with this is to design the artwork such that the etched component is (in this case) slightly wider after the cusp has been removed, so that a few strokes of a file are required to produce the right fit.

So, apologies over assuming it was poor production: it was poor design.
 

John D

Western Thunderer
Looking at Simon's w-iron  it's been drawn wrong in the first place.....have looked at the same component in my 1:32 P.O.wagon kit (still to be done) and the cusp on it really is minimal, when removed it would be nowhere near the gap Simon's got ........unless our man got carried away filing  ;D
 
S

Simon Dunkley

Guest
John D said:
Looking at Simon's w-iron  it's been drawn wrong in the first place...
No comment required.
..have looked at the same component in my 1:32 P.O.wagon kit (still to be done) and the cusp on it really is minimal, when removed it would be nowhere near the gap Simon's got ........unless our man got carried away filing  ;D
I had one of the first batch they produced and the cusping was bad - and I had to build up the faces of the axleguard to get the axlebox rear to ride nicely: it may simply have been a product of that batch.
One major plus point to both Slater's and the correct use of the technology was that there were no capping strips on the first batch of PO wagons, but having raised it with them, they added them to the master and hence subsequent batches of the bodies.
I was well-impressed by that, and to be honest by the whole kit which was as good a multi-media kit as building one of Fred Phipps' kits: I would probably give it 96%: designing the axleguards to allow the wheels to drop out for painting (using lost was brass keepers with bolts cast on) would take the kit close to perfection.
 

Simon

Flying Squad
John D said:
Looking at Simon's w-iron  it's been drawn wrong in the first place.....have looked at the same component in my 1:32 P.O.wagon kit (still to be done) and the cusp on it really is minimal, when removed it would be nowhere near the gap Simon's got ........unless our man got carried away filing  ;D

Oi!

I resemble that remark :))

Not guilty M'lud

I dunno, drop in here as a quick respite from packing up books in the tropical bloody heat and there's a bunfight broken out....

Simon, off to the post office, roll on the snow!
 

John D

Western Thunderer
Aye up me duck!!!!  get back from the post office quick.....second ice age next week :eek:

  Bun fight? .......wasn't me guv 'onest.......... ;D
 

iploffy

OC Blue Brigade
Oh that's what your on about plastic running in thin brass the one will cut into the other. By the way whats a cusp please?,this is all tooo technical

Can I go to the back of the class now
 

28ten

Guv'nor
iploffy said:
Oh that's what your on about plastic running in thin brass the one will cut into the other. By the way whats a cusp please?,this is all tooo technical

Can I go to the back of the class now

The cusp is that bit round the edge of thick etches that needs to be filed back, it is an artefact of the process, although it can be overcome by better design and laminating several thin etches to get the required thickness.
 
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