LSWR Passenger Luggage and Break Van C1859

Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
I'm setting aside the loco, Jennifer Who, and moving back to making up the carriages for this LSWR train. I've already made the underframe for this Break/Brake van and have made a start on the body. Here is the jig that I used to make the underframe and I've just made a start on the sides. The top strip of wood is slid down into position to keep things in position. This morning, I machined to length on my milling machine the 36 uprights need to make up the two sides, the horizontals will come later. I did try to plane them to length using a shooting board but I didn't find it easy to plane across the ends of the styrene pieces.
I'm dreading making the lantern roof so, if this break van ends up with an uninterrupted roof line, you'll know why.

Jon

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Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
One side almost finished. The 'boarding' fits into a rebate in the corner posts preventing sideways movement. I did make some droplights for the window openings while the two parts were still apart but they failed. I decided to fix the two parts together and have another go, I'm crossing my fingers that all goes according to plan this time.

Jon

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Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Both sides finished now including the drop lights and pieces cut out for the glazing. I've also fixed the leaf springs to the underframe and have made it's four brake blocks. There are also 8 blocks here for Jenifer Who's tender. I was sold the lump of wood used for the blocks as Holly but in actual fact, I think that it's Sycamore. I would have liked to have used Box but the piece that I have is lacking in diameter.
I'm going to carry on now IMG_5206.JPGIMG_5208.JPGIMG_5209.JPGand mount the blocks which just enough of the brake linkage to make some sense.

Jon
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
I've been working on the underframe and it's fittings. Because the frame is slightly wider than normal, the axles that I made were too short and, I had to make new ones. The wheels were already fixed with Loctite and to free them, I had to use the blowtorch. Surprisingly the paint wasn't affected at all which meant that I could refit the wheels without having to clean them off and repaint them.
For the brake hangers, I made up these little brackets which are held with two 14BA screws each. The hanger and block are simply slid onto the bracket and the push rods once fixed will prevent them from sliding off.

Jon

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Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Here is the body sitting on the underframe, nothing fixed as yet. The next job is to cut and fit a floor and then move onto the lantern roof. I'm not feeling very comfortable/confident in making up this part but, I'll give it a go though. It would be good to have the proper lantern roof section but if it doesn't work, it will probably end up as a plain roof. If anyone has any tips on how to make the lantern, I'd be very pleased to hear from them.

Jon

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NickB

NickB

Western Thunderer
Jon,

The lantern window frames, particularly the verticals, are very thin and delicate. Any form of built-up construction would be fraught with difficulty. For strength, I would go for metal and make two side frames and two end frames and solder them together. I'd also make the lantern roof in the same material and solder it to the frames to give the assembly strength and rigidity. Then the glazing can be glued on the inside.

The frames could be made by chemical etching, water jet cutting or laser cutting. The last of these would most likely confine you to steel but the other methods would work for brass or nickel silver. Or you could cut them by hand - you seem to be a person of great patience or I wouldn't even mention that as an option!

The coaches in this and other posts look splendid - keep up the good work.

Nick
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Nick/Simon
Thank you for the pointers. I don't think that even I could attempt to cut the lantern frames by hand. Measuring off the drawing that I have, the main frames are 2 x 2mm with the glazing bars at 1mm on their face. I don't know/can't see what their depth is but maybe 2mm at a guess. From a materials point, I have quite a lot of styrene and my first attempt will be in this material. I may make the glazing bars 1 x 1mm which will give me a 1mm rebate for the glazing. For the time being at least, those are my thoughts but they most probably will change as soon as things start to go awry :).

Jon
 
Arty

Arty

Western Thunderer
I used some 3mm clear styrene for the one in the pics, but I’ll make MK2 in 2mm which is easier to cut and plenty strong enough. Although the rest of the brake is timber, the roof is styrene so it’ll make the whole roof assy simple to construct.
I may leave everything clear and add some internal detail, which may be visible
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Arty
My thinking was to make up the main frames, add the glazing and then stick on the vertical glazing bars. Then, I thought that if I used Mek-Pak it would smear across the clear styrene. I’m very interested to see the final result.

Jon
 
Arty

Arty

Western Thunderer
I think, with care, the solvent should run down the back of the glazing bars if applied from the top.
Maybe pre-painting the front surface of the glazing bars - I shall do some experiments tomorrow.
Or am I being a little too optimistic ?
 
Jon Nazareth

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
I've thought again about the lantern top to my brake van. I'm going to use 2.5 x 2.5mm styrene for the main framing and I'm going to rebate these members 1 x 1.5mm. The glazing bars will sit on the 1mm lip that will be left. That's my plan for the time being but if it doesn't work, I'll try something else.
I was trying to imagine what size timbers would have been used originally and decided that the main frames could have been planed down from 2" or 2.5" sawn timber and the glazing bars from 1" x 2" or 2.5" sawn timber.

Jon
 
Arty

Arty

Western Thunderer
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Very quick test on styrene with Mek-Pak to see if it will wick far enough without affecting the top surface, can be done using just the right amount of solvent - we shall see
 
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