A Festive Brake!

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Serjt-Dave
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A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Sat Dec 18, 2021 10:49 pm

Hi All.
As I'm one who does not like this time of year, I'm normally allowed to stay at home and do my own thing {in other words spend the festive period in my workshop} while my family goes off to the In-Laws etc.

This year I'm under orders to be the designated taxi driver as I'm the only one who don't drink. Bugger. So I've set myself the challenge of constructing a BR Standard Brake Van from a Dapol kit and the Bradwell upgrade etch. I've given myself 13 day in which to build it starting from tomorrow {Sunday}. I'll be working 11 days on early shift just to make things interesting so sleeping, eating and showering will be a bit hit and miss for the next 13 days. LOL.

Here's my workbench ready for a 06:00 kick off. I'll post images of my progress. Happy Holidays.

Keep Safe

Dave
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Julian Roberts
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Julian Roberts » Sun Dec 19, 2021 10:02 pm

Good on you Dave, look forward to this. :)

DougN
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby DougN » Mon Dec 20, 2021 12:21 am

I'm going to watch with interest. I like your idea of Christmas and I am actually going to give part of your thoughts a try. I have been doing so much for other people this year, with paid work and as executor of a estate. It is time for me. I have a heap of time off (well it is a long time for me!) So I have like you a work bench full of things I need to complete! First will be to find the work bench and segregate the various projects and chose one to complete. :thumb
Doug
Still not doing enough modelling

tmcsean
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby tmcsean » Mon Dec 20, 2021 7:34 am

Make sure that the festive season does not draw you inexorably in to something that extends into a Lenten penance. I built an Airfix brake van many Christmases ago and the Ghost of Christmas Eternal put into my head the idea of adding a basic interior. One thing led to another, with the help of my late father-in law (a former LMS goods guard) . . . You can't see any of this, not to mention the grime I added at Alan's insistence.

A happy Christmas, every one.

Tony
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Mon Dec 20, 2021 10:09 pm

Hi All, I forgot that I was off today so made a bit more headway with the brake van. I'm quite enjoying this build so far, a couple of niggling things but overall good.
Tony yes I've been down that road with the Airfix brake van. I do have a ghost in my workshop, I'm not sure if it came free with the shed or I disturbed his final resting place when I put in the foundations. LOL. Also anything Christmassy coming into my workshop would take it's life into it's hands dead or alive.
We all need a bit of me time and during these times even more so. I spent a couple of weeks painting track and then cleaning it, not only did it do my back in but my head as well. LOL. I thought I would do a quick wagon build to destress myself. I made a lovely SR brake van, however it doesn't like running on straight bits of track. I thought I'd destress myself by going back to painting track. Good luck with your next project.

Here's the progress with the BR Brake van.
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Wed Dec 22, 2021 3:11 pm

Here's the next thrilling installment!
I fitted the sole bar overlays after some fettling, then the next job was to form up and bend the centre supports for the axle guards. These were just thin etch which stuck out of the main floor etch. Not matter how careful one was I kept knocking and bashing these things and in the end one did snap off. A similar story with the little tabs that hold the bottom of a handrail. They were very flimsy and had a hole in them to take the handrail. When I folded them down I just soldered them up and will clean and redrill the hole later. Next came the body support brackets. They are meant to sit in a slot in the sole bar that you have to cut into the sole bar. I used a scalpel to try and cut the slot but this was quite hard to do. So I ended up cutting a longer in the bracket itself. Once I've fitted the body supports to the other side it's turn for the truss bracing.

Keep Safe

Dave
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Tony Wilkins
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Tony Wilkins » Wed Dec 22, 2021 4:49 pm

That's coming along very nicely Dave.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Sun Dec 26, 2021 11:06 am

Thanks Tony.

Hi All, moving on with this build. I fitted the vacuum cylinder and for the first time with this kit I found something that I couldn't make fit. The cylinder had two arms that supported the cylinder and attached it to the underframe. I got all set up by slotting the arms into their hole but on the top side of the floor and gluing the the arms onto the body of the cylinder. I then removed the cylinder with the arms attached and tried to insert the whole assembly into it's location on the underside of the underframe. I ended up having to cut the arms a bit short and place the cylinder at a slight angle to shoehorn it into place. Once done I soldered the piston and brake arm into place. Also I attached the cosmetic coupling hooks. Next was to make up the bearings, bearing plates and springs and fit the wheel sets. This all came together very well and I now have a free rolling chassis.

The next task is all the brake gear.

All Best

Dave

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Sat Jan 08, 2022 7:31 am

Hi All and a Happy New year to you all.

Progress continues on my BR Standard Brake Van but not as fast as I would like. The underframe is virtually complete, but I can't fit the steps until I get the axle boxes. I was dreading making the steps as they seem very flimsy but they went together very well thank in part of a little jig supplied with the kit. The only other part I'm reluctant to fit at the moment are the safety loops. If I solder them in now I won't be able to remove the wheel sets and trying to fit them after the model is complete and painted will be quite difficult. What I might do is solder them in place and remove a small section behind the wheels so the wheel can still be removed. As they are only 0.033 wire cutting out a piece will make them very flimsy. So I think I might fit them once the model is completely built and clean up before painting.

I've now started on the body of the vehicle. Other than replacement inner cabin ends, this is all basically the Dapol kit.

Here are a few image of progress.
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Daddyman
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Daddyman » Sat Jan 08, 2022 8:43 am

Thanks for posting this. It's been very informative.

What about making the loops removable? If you solder two loops to a strip you can then bolt that strip to the underframe somewhere. I've used this on a 9-foot wheelbase van before, and you have more space. You could either do the the loops from one end together, with a strip inboard of the wheels and parallel to the axle, or do the loops from one side together, with the strip running inboard of and parallel to the main frames. You could also potentially just glue the strip once all painting was done. There's an aesthetic downside, obviously, especially if you enjoy gazing at the underside of stock...

If you're going to cut a section out of the loops, I'd say the order is: (1) get the underframe running (2) remove wheels (3) solder loops on (4) paint model (5) cut out part of loops (6) fit wheels (painted separately).

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BryanJohnson
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby BryanJohnson » Sat Jan 08, 2022 11:30 am

For my brake vans, which were PMK, I fitted the loops from 0.35mm brass wire, then cut in line with the axle and soldered a short length of 0.8mm OD tube over one end. The wire is springy enough to be waggled out of the way of the axle when fitting the wheels and the free end is just pushed into the open end of the tube.
I also added a small piece of wire between the brake hanger and the back of the footboards to give them a bit more support.
Bryan
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:48 pm

Thanks Bryan and Daddyman for your advise. I think I'll cut them so the wheel sets can be removed. But I'll won't fit them till the vehicle is fully tested and ready for painting then solder the safety loops in place and then remove a small bit so the wheels can be removed. In the instructions it says to use 0.33 wire for the loops but I think I might use 0.4 to give a bit more strength to them.

Bodywork is coming along. I had to file off the upper strapping at the corners due to them miss aligning but I decided to remove and replace the lower ones as well. I used some thin brass strips and added the rivets.

Next job is the roof.

All Best

Dave
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Thu Jan 20, 2022 4:45 pm

Hi All. Not much progress to report.
What I have done is made a new roof, which still needs a little more fettling to get a better fit on the body and I'm waiting on some roof vents. Also I've added some bolt head details and fitted the lamp irons. Drilled all the holes for the handrails and have fitted some of them. A bit of a problem I encountered was where the handrail were fitted through the corner strapping at the bottom of the body, great fun drilling those hole. But when I went to fit the handrail I noticed that the floor was slightly wider than the veranda resulting that the handrail would stick out to far or the handrail wouldn't be parallel to the sides. I removed the brass strapping from the corners and filed the floor flush with the sides of the veranda ends. This was only less than 0.5mm but I had to file the floor back as far as the planking on the side of the body. It doesn't look too bad but when I next make one of these I'll make the veranda end slightly wider.

In my haste I've now glued the body to the underframe and forgetting that I haven't fitted all the bit on the chassis that need soldering. If only I had a brain. LOL.

All Best

Dave
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grovenor-2685
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby grovenor-2685 » Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:16 pm

Serjt-Dave wrote:What I have done is made a new roof,

Did you remember that the Airfix roof has the stovepipe in the wrong corner?
From way back.
http://www.norgrove.me.uk/pmkbke.htm
Regards
Keith
Grovenor Sidings

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:39 pm

I would like to say yes Keith but no, However in Mr Bradwell's instruction he did mention this.

Dave

Tony Wilkins
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Tony Wilkins » Fri Jan 21, 2022 2:05 pm

grovenor-2685 wrote:
Serjt-Dave wrote:What I have done is made a new roof,

Did you remember that the Airfix roof has the stovepipe in the wrong corner?
From way back.
http://www.norgrove.me.uk/pmkbke.htm

Oh well, that means all mine are wrong as I used the Airfix roof as is.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Fri Jan 21, 2022 3:38 pm

Don't worry Tony, for twenty quid I won't tell anyone. LOL.
I think the main problem is the Airfix/Dapol roof is too thick. I had ago filing my one down but other the mess it make, it takes for ever. You could get away just thinning down the sides but the over thickness on the ends really shows up.

Dave

Tony Wilkins
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Tony Wilkins » Sat Jan 22, 2022 5:10 pm

Serjt-Dave wrote:You could get away just thinning down the sides but the over thickness on the ends really shows up.

Dave

I decided just to live with it, but the chimneys I will change now I know about it. I must though congratulate you on the results of your efforts thus far.
Regards
Tony.
Inspiration from the past. Dreams for the future.

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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:51 pm

Hi All. Construction continues but the end is in sight. All the casting have now arrived and have been fitted. I did have a bit of an issue with the axle boxes and bearings. Rumney Model axle boxes have a convenient slot to allow the bearing to move up and down, however the bearings I got were waisted ones but the shoulder was quite high and so I had to enlarge the slot in the axle boxes. Handrails fitted though a bit nerve racking soldering so close to the plastic body. The safety bars were fun to make but were the devil to fit.

Next on the list is to fit the steps though I might wait till everything else is on. Then couplings, vac pipes which will be interesting as they might interfere with the S&W coupling. Safety loops and then onto testing.
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Serjt-Dave
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Re: A Festive Brake!

Postby Serjt-Dave » Mon Jan 31, 2022 7:31 am

Hi All. It's done! All together, tested and now waiting it's turn at the paintshop.
I'm very pleased with how this has turned out. Mr Bradwell's underframe kit went together very well and rides excellent. When I tested it on my layout it ran through all the point work without any issues. It's a shame there's not a brass body available for this kit as I do feel the Airfix/Dapol plastic body has had it's day. I know my roof doesn't look right but it does straighten out when fixed to the body. I might still change it for a brass one if I remember to order some brass sheet from EP. Fitting the S&W couplings needed a bit of a rethink. I normally build these up as a sub assembly and fit them once the model is all painted a weathered etc. But as this underframe has frames detail in the way I decided to attach the hook/paddle directly to the underside of the buffer beam. The pins that hold the hook/paddle will be trimmed and filed flush with the washers. I also decided not to add the coupling bar as I felt it wasn't really needed and plus this gave me a bit more room to fit the vac pipe.

All Best

Dave
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