My first attempt at kit building

karlrestall · Post by **karlrestall** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:08 pm

Hi all just a thread to show you all the progress with my kit. A couple of hours work here, I have also done one of the ends. The kit is a Comet, Thompson Brake Composite (BC) and when finished will be painted BR maroon.

Regards

Karl

Atso · Post by **Atso** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:02 pm

Hi Karl,

Looking good so far. I take it this will involve much use of the soldering iron or do you think it will be possible to glue this together? Look forward to seeing how this progress for you?

karlrestall · Post by **karlrestall** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:05 pm

Hi Steve,

I will be using a soldering iron. The soldering iron that I have is a butane fuled one and most of the parts that I have done up to now I have been using a small heat blower rather than the soldering iron, it seems to do a better job.

Regards

Karl

Atso · Post by **Atso** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:06 am

I've got a butane fueled soldering iron and have never got on with it. I've now got a cheap electrical one from Maplins and use plenty of flux. Interesting that you mainly use a heat blower - one that I'll have to try now! Do you find that you can keep the heat localised to the area your working on?

karlrestall · Post by **karlrestall** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:12 am

Yes I personally have no problems. The only time I ran into problems was on a few windows which moved as I tried securing them before I found a method thats pretty fool proof, and when I tried securing the end to the fixing bracket and I un-soldered the nut

. Other than that I have had pretty good results.

Regards

Karl

f4kphantom · Post by **f4kphantom** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:07 am

I have recently been doing a similar project, an NER Clerestory Autocoach in N gauge. Fixing the windows was also a problem but the easiest solution I found was to hold the windows in place with Artery Forceps (or Hemostats as our US cousins like to call them

) They firmly clamp the item in place until the solder has gone off and, hey presto, no burnt fingers. I use a temp adjustable Weller soldering iron as I can change irons and use it on white metal as well. I tried a butane iron but it gave too much heat spread.

karlrestall · Post by **karlrestall** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:16 am

Hi, I found the best way to secure the windows so that they didn't move while I was trying to solder them was a piece of aluminium gently bent and two crocodile clips. Position the window roughly where you want it then lay the piece of aluminium over the window so that it is bent upwards and clamp one end, fine tune your windows from the right side of the coach and clamp the other end and hey presto you can solder the windows without burnt fingers or the worry that they will move. The reason I used aluminium is that it won't solder, the only down side is that it can get bl**dy hot as it takes quite a bit of the heat from the blow torch.

Regards

Karl

f4kphantom · Post by **f4kphantom** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:11 pm

I have the proof of the hot fingers, ther'll be no probs if the law want to fingerprint me

rob · Post by **rob** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:31 pm

Karl,looking good.You probably have these points already but just in case:
188 degree solder can be useful for fixing permanent jobs like captive bolts or basic assemblies early on.
145 degree can then be used in the vicinity,up to a certain point anyway,and the lower temp. needed should leave the previous job undisturbed.
Try Carrs Green label for general assembly,Carrs Yellow for laminating,overlaying-there does seem to be a difference.
There is a very useful tip in Mick Nicholsons invaluable signal construction book -wrap/cover solder joints that might move/come apart with wet tissue paper to keep them cool while soldering nearby.This has worked really well for me,just keep the tissue wet if the jobs a long one!
Good luck,look forward to seeing job done!
Cheers,
Rob

Post by **richard** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:57 pm

Just a note to say that I'm about to join the brass building fraternity. I've just ordered a plethora of Carrs stuff and a Connoisseur Y7. This is for O.

For the flux I was recommended the Yellow by a few people as a general purpose flux. I think it was the Green that was noted as corroding many metals.

With a few of us learning together, we should be able to learn from each others mistakes!

Richard

f4kphantom · Post by **f4kphantom** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 10:37 pm

It's good to pass tips and experiences along. I have been asked to produce a Southern Region N15. Not my choice or liking so please do not kick me off the forum, flagellation accepted though

. The point being is that I had to attach brasss components to white metal. I managed to get it to work ny tininng the brass with regular solder and the attaching it to the white metal with low melt solder and lots of flux. The low melt stuff just would not adhere to brass. Must admit though, now that I am lining out the Maunsell Green in white with black edging it doesn't look too bad. I think I've said too much now, I sense the tumbleweed rolling down the ECML. Alright I am going!

rob · Post by **rob** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:27 am

Richard-don't be put off Green label which is very good for joints as it seems to give a better "welded" type of flow than yellow,but then is not so good for laminating.Most fluxes will corrode,the trick is to wash the job regularly-I give a reasonable scrub,frequently with"Cif" under running water after each step of the process which may mean a good few times in one session.It keeps the metal clean of swarf,debris etc as well as used flux.In fact a build up of left over,heated flux can go sticky and make more trouble.The older generation often kept a dish of what they called "bosh" to hand,cleaning the work in it as they went along.I think it often contained a neutralising agent such as washing soda-I just keep a container of water and dip the work in if needed.The importance of cleaning all flux off after soldering cannot be emphasised enough,as well as keeping it well away from steel axles etc.You could also experiment with the milder Red label-I had good results last night on N/S with this and 145.
F4-you can join nearly any metal with the appropriate tinning,you did the right thing with the "foreign" loco!Brass, N/S or Bronze tinned with 188 or 145 can then be joined to whitemetal with 70.In fact if you need a really low temprature join i.e near plastic components you can tin both pieces of ,say ,brass and join with 70 but it tends not to be as strong as with the other solders.Cheers,
Rob

karlrestall · Post by **karlrestall** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 7:35 pm

Hi all,

My kit is coming along , slowly but surely. I am now ready to join the sides to the ends. Does anyone have a method of doing this? All that I can think of is making a 'jig' but apart from that I can think of no other method.

Regards

Karl

f4kphantom · Post by **f4kphantom** » Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:20 pm

I use a small engineers square to get the angles correct and the hold the items in position with big lumps of blu tak. I have also found one of those third pair of hands, a pair of crocodile clips on a stand with a magnifying glass can be useful.

Blink Bonny · Post by **Blink Bonny** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:24 pm

Well, you picked a more dificult one than I did.

A Dapol (ex-Airfix) 4MT 2-6-0, running on a modified Tri-Ang 2MT chassis. seen here hauling a goods train on Wetherby, a former Shipley MRC layout now sold.