1/32 New Northern Finescale Brake Van

Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
Rob, thank you so very much for that reference to a hugely useful thread that I had completely overlooked.

I have moved it to "Gallery" and made it "sticky" so that we never lose it again. I have also made the thumbnails appear as full images, so the thread is image heavy but all the more wonderful for it.

Thanks again for the reminder and also your pictures of the "Bodmin pair" on the original thread - hugely informative:)

Simon
 
unklian

unklian

Western Thunderer
Yes Thank you Rob and Simon, I am off to delve in the magazines cupboard, might have the Constructer article .
 
Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
unklian said:
Yes Thank you Rob and Simon, I am off to delve in the magazines cupboard, might have the Constructer article .
Click to expand...

With Neil's permission I'd very happily send you the articles once I've finished with them - which will be very soon now!

A gauge three version would be a sight to behold - bit big for your boxfile layout though:p

Simon
 
Neil

Neil

Western Thunderer
Simon, most happy for you to pass on the articles to Ian. I rather like the idea that one set of info has helped with 4mm, 1/32 and potentially Gauge 3 models.
 
Rob R

Rob R

Western Thunderer
Simon said:
Rob, thank you so very much for that reference to a hugely useful thread that I had completely overlooked.

I have moved it to "Gallery" and made it "sticky" so that we never lose it again. I have also made the thumbnails appear as full images, so the thread is image heavy but all the more wonderful for it.

Thanks again for the reminder and also your pictures of the "Bodmin pair" on the original thread - hugely informative:)

Simon
Click to expand...

Shouldn't it have a pretty blue box saying "prototype" in the thread header?

Just saying........

Rob
 
unklian

unklian

Western Thunderer
I will be very grateful of the article Neil has so kindly lent out. Unfortunately my collection of Constructers does not go more recent than 1979 !
As a taster the crew dug some of the bits of the GRS G3 kit out of stores. It is a bit bigger than anything I have built so far, the chassis is a bit over a foot long so it wont fit on the turntable . Not sure about that ducket now I look at it more closely.........
Anyway that is all for another thread another time.

RIMG0076lr.jpg
 
Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
New roof made, plastikard epoxied over rolled nickel silver sheet, last of an old fine woven shirt stretched across and glued, torpedo vents and chimney from kit attached.

Vanroofed.jpg

I have also epoxied a planked "ceiling" over the veranda openings to represent the prototype but also in order to locate the roof with correct overhang fore, aft and sideways. The ducket is also now glazed - not that it really notices. I think I'm ready to stick the roof on next, this one isn't intended to be removable, I'll put the rainstrips on once the roof is glued in place.
 
Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
After thinking about it a lot, trial fitting, trimming of ceiling panels, fitting a strengthener across the middle of the roof, a quick splash of matt grey around the interior this morning and finally fetching the masking tape from the shed, I have just bitten the bullet and stuck the roof on to the van body.

DSCN8913.jpg

I hope I've got it in the right position, I really do…..
 
Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
More snail like progress, the roof went on OK. I've since put the battens on either end below the roof, formed and attached the bracing under the solebar (that on the side pictured not in same plane as bodyside, since fixed) and put the "forged" ends on to the handrails, Cambrian rivet heads with their points filed off and slightly chopped were perfect for this.

Forged.jpg
 
Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
I've been adding the odd rivety thing, the rainstrips and tonight I have been working on the footboard supports, bending up 16 of them out of brass strip - and they are all more or less all the same size.

My cunning bodging plan is that the upper sections of each bracket on the solebar will be plastikard "dummies" with the bracket itself going through a hole in the solebar, this avoids a tricky double bend in the brass support - the sort of thing that Steve or Jim would make a proper jig for no doubt:p

Here's a snap that shows one loosely laid in to a hole, the pencil crosses mark where the other supports go.

Vanbodge1.jpg

The problem is though, that the running boards when put in position will obstruct the removal of the axle boxes. I think I can possibly overcome this problem by cutting out greater than prototype "notches" in the lower running board, or maybe fitting a less bulky "split" axlebox, which I will have to source or make. I quite fancy modelling the roller bearings, but this variation would require Oleo buffers which are not to be had in G1.

So I got the brass van out to see how that copes with this situation. It has larger cut outs but more significantly the supports are a bit further out from the axle guards than on the plastic one, I think this is fundamentally because the plastic van is a bit too narrow, 70mm versus 72mm - rats!

This is a bit of an embuggeration and will require a bit of thought and some more bodging I expect…

A shame as the discrepancy in width isn't otherwise bothering me, I took the opportunity to take a comparison snap tomorrow morning.

Vanbodge2.jpg
 
Neil

Neil

Western Thunderer
Warning: potentially stupid question, why would you want to remove the axleboxes?
 
Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
Not a stupid question and hopefully not a glib answer, in order to get the wheels out(!)

Why is a good question. There's no absolute necessity although I have taken wheels out of vehicles to clean and re-lubricate the journal bearings. And on this van these wheels haven't yet been turned down to visually finer standards which I will want to do. Also, I have had to fiddle around with the springs in the past to correct ride and ride height issues, although for once I think I have got this vehicle right from the outset. With this vehicle and the way in which the running boards are going to be fixed it's going to be much trickier (if not impossible) to ease the boards outwards as I can on the brass one to remove the wheels.

But you've got me thinking….
 
Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
Brackets now fitted, the "fiddle" was supergluing a small plastikard spacer on the "inside" of the top bend such that when the brackets themselves are glued into the holes in the solebar the top bend is held off the edge of the solebar flange, thus gaining some of the "lost" width. Bracket tops then solvented on to solebar in black plastikard, thereby covering the holes earlier drilled in them.

Bracketed1.jpg
Bracketed2.jpg

The bottom brackets are sufficiently in line both horizontally and vertically that they all make contact with the bottom running board:)
 
AJC

AJC

Western Thunderer
It's all looking very brakevan-esque, rather than the brakevan-ish place you started! I have built 4mm kits that required this sort of level of work - Parkside's pipe wagon (erroneous chassis and loads of brackets) for example - but the opportunity cost was significantly smaller. It strikes me though that the only thing that wouldn't lend itself to a plastic sheet starting point are those duckets...

Adam
 
David Halfpenny

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Simon said:
The wheels are 32mm diameter, which is fine for 10mm scale:rolleyes:
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Yeah, I got the Smiley, but Northern Finescale wheels sometimes look dreadful even in 10mm scale! For example under any bogie wagon that has its solebars roughly 3' above rail.
. . . Having shelled out a not insignificant amount of dosh (given my socio-economic disadvantage*) to replace some NFS wheels with Slaters, I tackled NFS about it. Apparently the 32mm diameter was a mis-interpretation of tread-taper by their toolmaker in Canada. So far, nobody has cared enough for NFS to remake the mould.
. . . If they are serious about 1/32, they really do need a new wheel mould - 32mm wheels scale out at 3/ 4 1/2" which, for an unworn 3' 1" wagon wheel, is a whopping 19% over- scale by area - and it's area that counts visually.

About the tapered axles - The steel axle is notched off-centre. The tapered muff is injection-moulded around the steel, the notch locking it in place. Then the wheels are pressed onto the journals and cemented to the tapered muff.
. . . To dismantle NFS wheelsets, wrap one journal in thin card, and grip it lightly in a stout vice. Then hit the end of the other journal smartly with a hammer, to break the key. The steel slides out, and the three plastic parts then come apart with varying degrees of grace - the cemented joint between wheel and taper being the most fractious.
Then you can either re-purpose the muff or the wheels, depending on your predilection.

By no means all wagon axles are tapered, but anyone who's desperate for them in 1/32 can simply turn them from plastic, either with hand tools or by setting up the top-slide. But if enough non-turners come along, maybe moulded ones could find a market.
. . . Naturally there'll be Battle Royal between those who want them 3mm bore and those who want 1/8" :)

David 1/2d
* disabled working class pensioner on Benefit - until Austerity diverted my benefit to the Wunch of Bankers
 
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Simon

Simon

Flying Squad
I have now cobbled together side lamp irons from etch waste and brass rod, all four made, bent and fitted. I now think the middle one is a bit too "tall" though:rolleyes:

Lampirons.jpg

I have started thinking about the brakes now, the one tedious job left to do….

It also wants some vacuum pipes, I may indulge in some of the rather lovely Ken Martin sets as supplied in Fred Phipp's van kit. I think I'm going to model a piped one, so also time to consult lot numbers etc
 
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