Droplights

John Lewis
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:10 pm

Droplights

Postby John Lewis » Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:47 pm

I have an etched brass body kit of a GWR 4-wheeled Family Carriage to Diagram G41.

This is rather basic and consists of the body sides and ends and the clerestory sides and ends only.

What is a (preferably) simple way of producing droplights for the body, please? There seems to be a total of 10 required, two each side are in a pair of double doors. I seem to remember David Jenkinson recommending "good quality writing paper". but any ideas would be welcome.

John Lewis.

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David B
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Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 5:30 pm

Re: Droplights

Postby David B » Sun Oct 30, 2016 11:37 pm

Masokits do frets of 8 droplights for £2.50. Item 10.07, page 6 of the catalogue. These are fiddly and require some delicate soldering. If you are unfamiliar with Masokits, you can only pay by cheque through the post and orders can take up to 4 weeks to be delivered.

I think David Geen also does frets for droplights. I don't have a current list to hand or his contact details.

Mark Tatlow
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Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:24 pm

Re: Droplights

Postby Mark Tatlow » Mon Oct 31, 2016 5:32 pm

Solder a sheet of brass to the rear of the etch with a rough (and too small) cut for the glazed section of the drop light and then open it up with files to the right size. It is a lot easier to do this in situ after the brass has been soldered in place than it is to do it before hand.

Remember not all drop lights would have been up though; unless it is as cold and damp as it is where I am now!
Mark Tatlow

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Andy W
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Re: Droplights

Postby Andy W » Mon Oct 31, 2016 5:50 pm

"Remember not all drop lights would have been up though" with that in mind, a strip of etch scrap soldered at the bottom of some of the windows would do the job.
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Guy Rixon
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Re: Droplights

Postby Guy Rixon » Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:28 am

Photocopy the etched sides while they are flat, and verify that the copier has copied to exact scale. If it's off a little, adjust the copy scale to suit. Alternatively, scan the images of the sides to memory and store them; but then you have to coerce a printer into printing to exact scale which may be harder than setting up the copier.

On the copy, draw the inner edges of the drop-light frames inside the images of the drop-light apertures. Paint (water colour or acrylic) the frames. Spray or brush on varnish to seal the paper.

Cut out the droplight frames and glue them either to the glazing or to the coach side, or both, depending on how you're planning to retain the galzing. It may help to trim the frames to clear the tails of the door furniture.

For extra points, photocopy and cut an extra layer (or 2, or 3, depending on the thickness of paper and the depth of the full-size coach side), cutting around the etched edge of the windows. Put this layer between the brass and the droplight such that the droplight is set back a little from the brass, thus better representing the depth of the real coach.

John Lewis
Posts: 44
Joined: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:10 pm

Re: Droplights

Postby John Lewis » Mon Nov 07, 2016 4:53 pm

Thank you for all your ideas.

Unfortunately Masokits droplight frames sound too tall - this is a coach built in 1884 and has short droplights (and deep eaves panels).Guy's idea does sound promising, and I have some kits for other coaches that may have suitable droplights that can be photocopied. .

There are three windows at one end, the centre one has a droplight .Paper here might might make sticking the window "glass" material easier as the frames between these windows are narrow.

Thanks again

John

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Paul Townsend
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Re: Droplights

Postby Paul Townsend » Wed Nov 09, 2016 9:51 am

John Lewis wrote:I have an etched brass body kit of a GWR 4-wheeled Family Carriage to Diagram G41.

This is rather basic and consists of the body sides and ends and the clerestory sides and ends only.

What is a (preferably) simple way of producing droplights for the body, please? There seems to be a total of 10 required, two each side are in a pair of double doors. I seem to remember David Jenkinson recommending "good quality writing paper". but any ideas would be welcome.

John Lewis.


Tell us the exact size of droplights you want and how many.
It is possible that the BGS spares box can help.


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