Steve Cook
Flying Squad
Smart A**eObvious, obvious ? it's upside down Dear Boy, cheers Rob
Cookie's G3 Workbench
- Thread starter Steve Cook
- Start date
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
The retaining straps are held in with 14BA nuts and bolts Steph - I probably should have mentioned that tooLike the fact that you haven't fitted the axleboxes or wheels yet?
How do you get them in/out with the retaining straps fitted?
Steph
Bolt on and off-able...for the moment anyway, just as well as the wheels and axleboxes are back in the W irons whilst I confront the brake gear...Perhaps I will leave the rhetorical questions to one side from now on
Steve
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
I've been looking at my reference photographs, drawings, the kit instructions / parts and the photograph of a reference model...and I've decided that I have a different interpretation of the actuation part of the brake system to the kit. Its not a major change, in fact I'm using most of the supplied bits, they just happen to be in a different order - I'll try and make more sense about that tomorrow
I've spent most of the afternoon practicing my new piercing saw skills
)) its alright, you're allowed to laugh) to thicken up some of the etched components in the kit. Top left we have the brake actuating arm that is attached between the cross shaft and the pull rod (driven by the brake wheels) whilst top right is the double ended yoke that connects the cross shaft to both brake pullrods (other end connected to the yokes/brake shoes). The original parts were soldered to some 0.9mm thick brass, then cut out with the saw before being filed to shape - I have yet to drill the holes through.
So far, the only piercing saw blade breakages have been cutting out tight radii where I'm finding out what the limits are - a big thanks again to those who answered my questions last week
At the bottom of the photo we have both brake yokes, again they were soldered to a thicker sheet and then cut out and filed. The top yoke is resting on a shim of 0.5mm thick brass to bring its centreline up to match the 12BA bolts that are going to be soldered on each end for mounting the brake shoes, mocked up on the yoke below.
Soldered and cleaned up
Some more fabrication to do, then another think as to how to make it all removeable, I spy more brackets and more holes being drilled in the body...
Steve
I've spent most of the afternoon practicing my new piercing saw skills
)) its alright, you're allowed to laugh) to thicken up some of the etched components in the kit. Top left we have the brake actuating arm that is attached between the cross shaft and the pull rod (driven by the brake wheels) whilst top right is the double ended yoke that connects the cross shaft to both brake pullrods (other end connected to the yokes/brake shoes). The original parts were soldered to some 0.9mm thick brass, then cut out with the saw before being filed to shape - I have yet to drill the holes through.So far, the only piercing saw blade breakages have been cutting out tight radii where I'm finding out what the limits are - a big thanks again to those who answered my questions last week
At the bottom of the photo we have both brake yokes, again they were soldered to a thicker sheet and then cut out and filed. The top yoke is resting on a shim of 0.5mm thick brass to bring its centreline up to match the 12BA bolts that are going to be soldered on each end for mounting the brake shoes, mocked up on the yoke below.
Soldered and cleaned up
Some more fabrication to do, then another think as to how to make it all removeable, I spy more brackets and more holes being drilled in the body...
Steve
Mike W
Western Thunderer
OMG tierods! Loved reading your post Steve and all the mods and improvements, but when I read about tierods my heart sank. I completely forgot about them in the kit and customers have been too kind to mention it. I used photos of both short and long wheelbase vans and I think the short wheelbase, as in the kit, should have tierods, and the long wheelbase didn't.
They could easily have been included on the laser cut W irons and the fact that they would have been square section a small price to pay for ease and strength, but I completely forgot about them. Sorry!
Mike
They could easily have been included on the laser cut W irons and the fact that they would have been square section a small price to pay for ease and strength, but I completely forgot about them. Sorry!
Mike
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
No worries Mike, knowing me I would probably have cut them off to replace with round ones anyway Looking through various photos, I came to the same conclusion - short wheelbase had tie bars, long wheelbase didn't. They are easy enough to fabricate though so I wouldn't worry, I guess you could just put a comment in the instructions.
Steve
Looking through various photos, I came to the same conclusion - short wheelbase had tie bars, long wheelbase didn't. They are easy enough to fabricate though so I wouldn't worry, I guess you could just put a comment in the instructions.Steve
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
After thinking about the brake gear some more, I decided the sensible thing to do would be to make the chassis and brake assembly one unit, rather than trying to keep them separate. The only downside of that decision would be that the body would require amendment, it being the both the reference and mounting points for all of the brake parts.
Whilst mulling over that choice and deciding the best way to do that, the primed footboards were tried back in position. I ended up running a 1.1mm drill through the existing holes to get a nice fit, tight, but loose enough so as not damage anything during removal / assembly.
Decision made, all brake mounting points to come off the body.
I measured everything up, wrote the relevant positions all over the instructions and broke out the dremel and a die grinding bit. Working on one corner at a time, and cleaning up straight afterwards, kept the mess down to something acceptable.
Brake mounting blocks on the left hand side gone and some of the sand pipe mount removed
Another half an hour and its all gone back to basics.
With the body mods done it was time to fabricate the replacement brake cross shaft mounts. The original Vee hangers were reused, just soldered together to make a thicker unit. Working off some drawings Mike sent me, I made a new hanger for the other end of the cross shaft - its just a single mount that hangs down from one of the cross members, although I copied the fact that it is made in two parts to aid removing the shaft.
The other bits for the shaft were fabricated up next, including the pull rods that actuate the whole assembly. From left to right we have:
Shaft end mount, spacer, double ended yoke for brake pullrods (it sits on the centre line of the van), another spacer, actuating lever (above that the pull rod assembly) and a final spacer to sit up against the vee hanger. Underneath is the basic cross shaft - this has been counterbored at one end to take a 1mm piece of rod to go through the vee hanger, I think I will probably drill and tap the other end when it has been cut to length.
Mocking it all up in the modified chassis
And the last shot showing the brass bar additions to the basic chassis frame.
The brass bars finish in a position that allows me to hang a bracket off them for the brake shoes whilst still clearing the backs of the buffer rams. The brass cross brace shows the fixing methods for the actuating pullrods and the new shaft mount, just a dab of solder on each one will keep them in place.
Brackets (and no doubt more rust removal) tomorrow.
Steve
Whilst mulling over that choice and deciding the best way to do that, the primed footboards were tried back in position. I ended up running a 1.1mm drill through the existing holes to get a nice fit, tight, but loose enough so as not damage anything during removal / assembly.
Decision made, all brake mounting points to come off the body.
I measured everything up, wrote the relevant positions all over the instructions and broke out the dremel and a die grinding bit. Working on one corner at a time, and cleaning up straight afterwards, kept the mess down to something acceptable.
Brake mounting blocks on the left hand side gone and some of the sand pipe mount removed
Another half an hour and its all gone back to basics.
With the body mods done it was time to fabricate the replacement brake cross shaft mounts. The original Vee hangers were reused, just soldered together to make a thicker unit. Working off some drawings Mike sent me, I made a new hanger for the other end of the cross shaft - its just a single mount that hangs down from one of the cross members, although I copied the fact that it is made in two parts to aid removing the shaft.
The other bits for the shaft were fabricated up next, including the pull rods that actuate the whole assembly. From left to right we have:
Shaft end mount, spacer, double ended yoke for brake pullrods (it sits on the centre line of the van), another spacer, actuating lever (above that the pull rod assembly) and a final spacer to sit up against the vee hanger. Underneath is the basic cross shaft - this has been counterbored at one end to take a 1mm piece of rod to go through the vee hanger, I think I will probably drill and tap the other end when it has been cut to length.
Mocking it all up in the modified chassis
And the last shot showing the brass bar additions to the basic chassis frame.
The brass bars finish in a position that allows me to hang a bracket off them for the brake shoes whilst still clearing the backs of the buffer rams. The brass cross brace shows the fixing methods for the actuating pullrods and the new shaft mount, just a dab of solder on each one will keep them in place.
Brackets (and no doubt more rust removal) tomorrow.
Steve
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
One of those days today...
At least the van survived with just part of a spring hanger missing, the result of a brief dalliance with a soldering iron at 400deg C. Fortunately the missing bit hides behind an upper footboard so I've got away with it Many other parts have been bent, knocked, damaged, sworn at and fixed again, all compounded by my inability to take any photos, perhaps I'll take some when it all comes apart again. It is more or less together chassis wise now, there is still some minor tweeking and alignments to sort, but nothing major. A summary set of photos:
Steve
At least the van survived with just part of a spring hanger missing, the result of a brief dalliance with a soldering iron at 400deg C. Fortunately the missing bit hides behind an upper footboard so I've got away with it
Many other parts have been bent, knocked, damaged, sworn at and fixed again, all compounded by my inability to take any photos, perhaps I'll take some when it all comes apart again. It is more or less together chassis wise now, there is still some minor tweeking and alignments to sort, but nothing major. A summary set of photos:Steve
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
No posts today then Cookie, i wonder why that is
Some toy shopping followed by a few days in Wales (t)rain chasing has resulted in more than a bit of narrow gauge fever and a head exploding with ideas and inspiration
Whilst dreaming I am at least getting on with some more mundane tasks, cleaning and priming the basic chassis and working my way through blackening the brake parts...not hugely exciting, but in the spirit of sticking up photos of progressNo longer rusty
Steve
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
The moulded in brackets at the top of the corner posts have been removed now as my reference van has those brackets on the inside of the framing instead.
Before
After
There is some making good still to do and I'm remembering that I don't really get on with Milliput
The supporting rings for the wheels have been glued in place too, firstly with superglue to get them central within the wheel, then fillets of epoxy pushed around the brass pins. When it has all dried properly I shall cut off the excess and make sure everything is flat and level with the rear face of the wheel.
Steve
Before
After
There is some making good still to do and I'm remembering that I don't really get on with Milliput
The supporting rings for the wheels have been glued in place too, firstly with superglue to get them central within the wheel, then fillets of epoxy pushed around the brass pins. When it has all dried properly I shall cut off the excess and make sure everything is flat and level with the rear face of the wheel.
Steve
Neil
Western Thunderer
.... There is some making good still to do and I'm remembering that I don't really get on with Milliput
Have you tried talc and superglue as a filler? It seemed to work well on the holes (many, many holes) caused by air bubbles in my 009 resin casts. I mixed the talc into a puddle of glue with an old craft knife blade and applied it to the resin with the same. Using pound shop glue there was a reasonable working time before it set solid.
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
I haven't Neil if I'm honest but I shall give it a bash should I find any bubbles. The making good generally involves hiding the odd slip with a file and a bit of reshaping - not sure the talc method is ideally suited to those tasks to be truthful.
[small rant]
I've spent the rest of the afternoon going through all my G3 kits identifying missing parts It started out with just checking the next kit I want to build, that turned out to be missing one of the cast brass sprues. Thought I might as well check the other kit of theirs I have just in case, oh, that kit is missing a plastic sprue this time. Missing parts slips filled in and sent off, might as well check the remaining kits in the stash as it started raining and blowing a gale outside. Well, lets just say its a good job I consider it to a bit of a 'first world' problem Of the six kits waiting for my finger to be extracted attention, five are missing bits (one of which I knew about). I have no doubt that it will all be sorted out pretty quickly and efficiently as it has done so the past, but even I have to consider that to be a pretty bad record. I'm almost wondering if its personal
[/small rant]
Slightly frustrated of Northampton and surrounding areas
[small rant]
I've spent the rest of the afternoon going through all my G3 kits identifying missing parts
It started out with just checking the next kit I want to build, that turned out to be missing one of the cast brass sprues. Thought I might as well check the other kit of theirs I have just in case, oh, that kit is missing a plastic sprue this time. Missing parts slips filled in and sent off, might as well check the remaining kits in the stash as it started raining and blowing a gale outside. Well, lets just say its a good job I consider it to a bit of a 'first world' problem Of the six kits waiting for my [/small rant]
Slightly frustrated of Northampton and surrounding areas
Last edited:
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
An hours pottering about this morning has resulted in a wheel holder for painting. Not very exciting, but it should beat 'gloving up' and holding the axle ends whilst trying to get paint in the right places
Two screws, two bits of Gauge 1 rail, 4 wheel bearings and a lump of wood.
If the wind speed drops today I'll give it a trial run.
Received email last night, missing bits for three out of five kits already being sorted
Sun is shining, sky is blue
Cheery of Northampton and surrounding areas
Two screws, two bits of Gauge 1 rail, 4 wheel bearings and a lump of wood.
If the wind speed drops today I'll give it a trial run.
Received email last night, missing bits for three out of five kits already being sorted
Sun is shining, sky is blue
Cheery of Northampton and surrounding areas
Ressaldar
Western Thunderer
Dog Star
Western Thunderer
I like that and I shall copy your idea, good thinking and thank you for sharing.
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
I might have rolled it around the desk bit, just to check that everything was inline of courseor the basis of a track cleaning device
No problem Graham
[suck eggs] Two points to make - use a half round file to create a recess in the head and foot of rail to create maximum support for the bearing / rail joint and put the rails far enough apart so that you can spring them open to release the axle (don't go full depth for the axle end in each bearing and use only one screw in each piece of rail). [/suck eggs]Steve
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
The wind died down enough to give the new tool a try out this afternoon, works alright Much less messy than previous attempts...
And to round off the modelling jobs the brake van body has had the new brackets glued into place, I'm halfway through the nutting up.
Steve
Much less messy than previous attempts...And to round off the modelling jobs the brake van body has had the new brackets glued into place, I'm halfway through the nutting up.
Steve
Last edited:
D816Foxhound
Western Thunderer
Cracking idea for painting wheel sets Steve, I'll have to remember that one.
Roger
Roger
Steve Cook
Flying Squad
The 'nutting up' is complete now, I reckon I averaged around 15 minutes for each corner in the end. The 'nuts' are probably supposed to be hexagonal, but in some photos they look like coach bolt heads, in others square nuts. As I don't actually know, I went for whatever was supported by the materials I had at hand, hence they are 0.5mm thick slivers of 1.5 x 1.5mm strip.
One side has had some extra washer plates and coach bolts added too, I need to give my eyes a rest so I'll crack on with the other side tomorrow.
Steve
One side has had some extra washer plates and coach bolts added too, I need to give my eyes a rest so I'll crack on with the other side tomorrow.
Steve