Scalefour Forum

+1 for Gibson buffer bushes. Much easier than drilling 0.5mm through whitemetal buffers, at least. It helps to use a 2mm drill to lightly countersink the forward face of the bush. This helps the buffer tail to find the hole. Do you think that the 0.5mm hole in your printed buffers fills up because i...

Miscellany Models do a nice underframe and detailing etch that allows you to ring the changes a bit with these wagons. https://miscellanymodels.com/wagons/ner-lner-br-dia-p7-detailing-pack/ I haven't got round to building any yet, but they look the part. I do notice that instructions are still to be...

Whilst sorting through some stuff, I found this brochure from Thomas W Ward. I think it's from 1964, so I assume that there are no copyright issues. However, If anyone objects then please let me know and I'll remove it. Whilst it's aimed at companies wanting to lay in private sidings, rather than ma...

I use one of these and find it excellent for drills and taps. I got mine from Squires a good few years ago, but they don't seem to do them anymore.

Another use for 1-2-3 blocks that I found today is using anpair of them to hold components to file an accurate right angle. FF4A31B4-9627-4346-9A29-215927903B4A.jpeg Here you can just see the excess part of a stanchion sticking out above the blocks ready to be filed. More details can be found in my ...

The next job is to clean up the end or corner stanchions. These are simple bars bent to an angle so that they rest on the top plate. The instructions suggest that they need to be lightly filed to achieve the correct angle that enbles them to sit on the top plate. ABC6E5F0-BCAD-4678-8F79-7CDF2542ABB9...

It's no secret that I'm a tool junkie. I know that some people can make wonderful models with just a craft knife and a straightedge, but I'm not as talented as them, so finding ways to get things done more quickly and easily is fine with me. RP Toolz Punch & Die Sets Some time ago I found these ...

Some decent progress has been made this weekend, with all the central stanchions attached to the wagons. A3CBC829-6D46-43F3-B866-FE8BA58C5B12.jpeg Now, looking at photos of the real thing shows that there's a pretty substantial skirt that goes along the hopper sides. I've replicated this with length...

Looks very nice. Is the underframe made like other Oxford wagons, where the axleguards and brakegear are on a separate moulding between the solebars?

Thanks, Craig! I must admit, getting on with live-steam Gauge 1 projects was much more fun for a while. However, I set out with the mindset that I was going to build a rake of D1/163 wagons from the supplied components rather than assemble some kits. Now that the etched components are out of the way...

With the hoppers now fixed to the underframes, then the stanchions can start going on. They're beginning to look like hopper wagons now. CD49564E-6D1F-4664-AE64-10697C5EC0F1.jpeg In this picture, it's possible to see where some of the whitemetal castings have been affected by the ultrasonic cleaning...

Those are really great tutorials. Thanks for sharing them! I especially like the effects on the wooden bodied wagons. The only comment I have is that polished steel buffer shanks are only found on hydraulic or pneumatic buffers, such as those made by Dowty or Oleo. Many steel mineral wagons did have...

The second time around I wasn't going to be satisfied with the scrap fret and wire approach for those hopper levers. A bit of a think and a rummage in my stock of bits brought up some 3mm square tube, 3 mm I girder and some 18 thou by 10 thou brass bar. Slices of the tube were parted off in the lath...

Well, it's been a while and Jim has made a great job of his kit. Carrying on from the last instalment, the next task was constructing the hopper operating levers and their supports. The instructions state that these would be too difficult to etch and so they should be cobbled up from bits of wire an...

They are very good for use as temporary fixtures. You can bolt them together to form a right angle and then use that for aligning parts when resistance soldering (or glueing, or whatever). They can also be used to bolt a piece of work to, either on its own or mounted on a sub-base. The 1-2-3 block c...

Very nice video, Steve. There's been lots of progress since my last visit. The chap standing on the footbridge looks pretty pleased with it all

Reading instructions? What will they think of next?!

I'm back again on the Society stand for the next half hour. Just need to find somewhere to park my mug of Earl Grey...

Just saying Hello, as I'll be hanging about on the stand for the next 30 mins or so, then back again at 16.00.

Hope everyone's enjoying the day so far

. If you're hesitating buying a mill there's another use for one. Of course, when you've bought a milling machine then, if you're anything like me, you are likely to stall the cutter, leading to a large current in the motor windings and the discovery that the power transistors on the motor control ...

Square socket screws were the original 'timesaving' fasters for industry. One of the big US car companies used them on their assembly lines and the US military also took them up. However, the guy who patented the idea charged a royalty for their use. That's why the rest of the world uses hexagon dri...

Having dealt with all the hopper door control castings, I decided it would be a good idea to work out how the hopper bodies should be attached to the underframes. There is no provision in the kit for getting the two aligned. Geoff Kent describes how he used a rectangle of 20 thou platic card glued o...

I see that there have been 1883 views of this thread, so time for another update. Andrew from Wizard Models has been very helpful (as always!) in helping me understand the castings for the hopper door control gear. You may remember this picture, where I highlighted the two different casting shapes t...

It's probably an ER11 collet set, rather than ER10. Something like this might do if you can find or make a suitable adapter.

https://www.arceurotrade.co.uk/Catalogu ... kJT1-Taper

James

Having got the handwheels polished to my satisfaction/limit of attention span, they were added to the hopper door cross-shafts and then fixed to the underframes. 7EB4F585-2190-41BE-8BFE-D0864CCBCC90.jpeg This shot highlights the ends of the outer vee hangers sitting in mid-air, rather than being jus...