Rob's 7mm Scale Coach Workbench

[Robpulham]

Although I have only one photo, the All 3rd is nearing completion. The transfers are on, it's glazed and the roo vents have been re-fitted - right number in the right place....

I left it on Sunday night with the glue in the glazing drying so unless I discover anything that I have missed I should have it all put together next weekend.

[Robpulham]

A concerted effort this weekend has seen the All 3rd nearing completion. Still to do are fitting the roof and having seen the photos sticking part of one of the rain strips down.

Having chosen to ultimately glue the roof on last I had, had some debate about how windows that became dislodged through handling would be replaced. After a bit of head scratching I cam up with a cunning plan.

Each window is an individual pane which is glued into the rebate inside the coach but I have also added a strip of secondary glazing which rests on the strip that strengthens the sides and runs the full length of the coach. It's is held in place by the edges of the compartments which I filed down to allow the glazing strip to fit. This will prevent the individual panes from being dislodged.









To fit the no smoking transfers I made up a little jig from a piece of 20thou styrene which was the width of the window from the outside. I measured half way up the window and marked the styrene. I then added 1mm and marked it again. After measuring the with of the transfer I subtracted this from the total width and divided the remainder by two. I measured the result from each edge and marked a vertical line from the high line to the middle line at each side and then cut the styrene out leaving me with a rectangle of styrene with a notch cut out that centres the transfer in the middle of the window both vertically and horizontally

[Dave]

Very nice Rob.

Just a small point, in one of your pics the rain strip seems to have lifted.
I would sack your works foreman .

[Robpulham]

Very nice Rob.

Just a small point, in one of your pics the rain strip seems to have lifted.
I would sack your works foreman .

Thanks Dave,

Photos don't let you get away with anything do they? I had noted it when posting the pictures. At least it's an easy fix.

[Robpulham]

I am back on the trail of Kirk coach builds, this time it's an all 3rd/brake 3rd twin set (Diags 105/125).

It's for the gent that I built the last two for and this time he has gone for using the supplied Kirk bogies so I thought that I might upgrade them a little.

First I added some of my Silhouette cut leaf springs and then looked to make some springs for the bolsters.

I am aware that others have used 2ba screws to do represent the bolsters springs but to my mind the coils are a little too sharp in profile so I wound some 3mm styrene rod with 0.8/mm styrene rod to make the springs.

I also added the spring carriers and in hindsight I should have added the springs before sticking the carriers to the bogies because it's going to be interesting getting the springs in position now.







I have also assembled the sides but didn't take photos of them.

[Robpulham]

When fellow modellers came along to see me when I was demoing at Pontefract show, the parts that I was cutting were some brakes for my Kirk coach bogies

Once glued together (5 layers) they came out looking like this.
Apologies for the poor photo, white on white isn't the best combination



The demo must have been well received because I have also been asked to demo at Telford as well as Doncaster this year.

Not much modelling got done last week due to having a busy week compounded by minor surgery, but over the weekend the Mojo returned and I made progress on the twinset.



The first bogie now has it's bolster springs an I have the parts prepared to fit to the other two. I did end up having to remove the bolster frame to fit the springs so a lesson learned.

I also managed to get three of the ends attached to their respective sides. The fourth one needs cutting down for the narrower brake end.

[Robpulham]

This weekend saw much progress on the Twin set.

Timely posting of a photo of the brake end allowed me to cut the windows while the end was in the flat and then both coach bodies were assembled.









I also blanked of the inner ends by filling the holes for the buffers and coupling hooks and then overlaid a piece of 20 thou to form a solid foundation for the shared bogie pivot.



Lastly I made a start of building up/detailing the battery boxes (although there are five I only need four for this job). Next I need to cut out the end straps with the silhouette because I have run out.

[Robpulham]

More done on the bogies over the weekend.

The brakes and yokes are now fitted to all three bogies. not exactly like the real thing but will pass muster hidden away underneath the coach.

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If you are wondering why the rod between the two yokes? It's to hold the brakes away from the tyres to prevent friction.

They just need guard irons over the yokes and they are well on their way.

[Dave]

Nice bogies Rob

[Atso]

Lovely work Rob, well worth the additional effort!

[Robpulham]

Although I haven't posted on this for a while things have progressed but there hasn't been much to take photos of.

We had decided to try the Sparmac queen posts from Invertrain while all the other fittings (vac tanks, roof vents, grab handles etc.) came from JLRT late last year before they closed although they look similar the key different in the Sparmac queen posts is the fact that they don't have holes for the truss rods to go through. I popped them with a punch, deepend the mark with a pin vice and then used my Proxxon Pillar drill to finish them off. Sadly taking the photos has just highlighted to me that I have missed drilling through one the holes so I will need to do that one by hand since they are now stuck firmly on.

I also added the vacuum tanks.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

Thanks for the pics, the underside of a coach is not something we normally see, the Queen posts, are bolted to a girder, first time I've seen that. Thank you.

manna

[Robpulham]

My recent lathe purchase has started me thinking about making the most of some of my other tools. I used to do quite a bit of woodworking until we converted our garage and I no longer had the room for many of the woodworking tools so I sold them.

What I kept were, chop saw, Router/router table and a linisher. The Router/router table, until a couple of weeks ago was in my loft so not accessible for regular use and my linisher while slightly more accessible by being under my workbench had only seen the light of day once in the last 5 years.

Prompted by getting something out of the loft I decided to get the Router/router table and the linisher out and take them to the other house where I have a dry brick built garage that's alarmed. Fast forward to this weekend and I decided to start making use of them so used the linisher to prepare all the partitions for the twin set. Each one needed to be profiles to fit the vacuum formed Kirk roof and it certainly made a much easier job of the 17 or so partitions plus the coach ends.





I reckon what I achieved today would have taken at least a couple of weekend's work to achieve filing by hand.

[notascoobie]

Good stuff Rob. I too have been using woodworking tools. I found that chisels are just the job for shaping thicker pieces of plasticard as used in 7mm modelling. My square is also of a more suitable size for 7mm projects and my gent saw is great for cutting sheet. I reckon that plastic is akin to softwood in its resistance to working so good sharp joinery tools work well. See you at the Donny show? Vernon

[Atlantic 3279]

I remember reading an article in RM magazine at least a decade ago, advocating the use of a small sharp wood chisel and mallet for chopping out window apertures in the thick basic plasticard base layers of 4mm scale buildings - much quicker, easier and less risky to fingers than struggling with a craft knife, even a heavy one, let alone the scalpel that some insist is vital when cutting model parts.

I use all sorts of tools for modelling - they don't have to be confined to their "labelled" purpose. I also find that tools with a good sized handle, like a basic heavy Stanley knife, are far easier to control accurately than is any tool whose small handle has to be gripped tightly by trembling tired fingers. I've never felt the need of a scalpel.