Jon Fitness Posted February 13, 2013 Author Share Posted February 13, 2013 The railbuilt signal with a bit of paint on. Before anyone asks, I know my paint jobs are a bit er..variable but these SR 3ft shunt signals had reduced size spectacle lenses made by extending the areas of grey paint a bit! A couple of not very good pics. I was using the light reflected off the blizzard that was occurring outside my front window! Lattice brackets next.. Jon F 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 The base posts for these bracket signals are the "heavy lattice" type from MSE. The usual method of construction is two sides folded up and strengthened with solder, then the other two sides, join two halves together. The instructions suggest folding the etch with the half tabs on the inside. Well I bent them both ways and I still thought either way, the resulting gap was a bit big to be filled with solder. I decided to seperate all 4 sides and join them a little closer together. All tabs were trimmed back with my trusty diamond disc in the minidrill. The sides were then a lot easier to re-join than the filling process required originally. Just tack them first, check for squareness and run solder into the joint along the full length. The two assembled halves should then join a little squarer too! Once the posts were assembled they were soldered to baseplates ready for use. As these signals will be handled regularly I have used 2mm square tube for the main trimmers for strength, braced together with 1.5mm x 0.5mm strip for the handrail stanchions and treads to fasten to. The pic which seems to have accidently got in the background is what I'm loosely basing the construction on. (It will be wider and have 2 equal sized dolls carrying stop signals!) More soon.. JF 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Well, I was happily battering away with the brass, solder and iron when I realised I hadn't taken any pics .... Sometimes I just like to get on with stuff! So this is where I'm up to with the first bracket signal. Dolls constructed with all fittings apart from finials (whitemetal so they go on last!) and remaining jobs are brackets, handrails, working linkages, and planks for the staging. My scabby soldering will need a good clean up too! More soon JF.. 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N15class Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Looks very good, and there was me hoping to see more of these Southern builds. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Doesn't get more southern than this one.....! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Thats the last of the bits attached to the first bracket signal. I think a Southern flavour has been achieved even if the base post's a little basic in detail. Now it's time for a final tweek and a good cleaning ready for a lick of paint. More soon. JF 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) One bracket signal painted and re-assembled..... Not keen on all those grey fittings, much prefer black but thats how the SR seemed to like it. 3 doll bracket next.. More soon JF Edited March 1, 2013 by Jon Fitness 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve fay Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) Lovely work Jon. I will get one off you one day when I can settle on some thing. Edited March 1, 2013 by steve fay 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scot6p Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Hi Jon they look great, do they work? Len 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 2, 2013 Author Share Posted March 2, 2013 Hi Jon they look great, do they work? Len Well they can be moved up and down with the weight bars, but these ones have no operating mechanism. The chap I'm building them for just wants them placed on his layout and to work them manually, then take them off at the end of each operating session! I would have loved to get them servo'd up but he didn't want any more wiring on his layout and he covers the layout with a sheet between running days!.They have magnets underneath and will drop on to a steel baseplate. I found out during testing that the signals make interesting fridge magnets...... Cheers JF 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 3, 2013 Author Share Posted March 3, 2013 (edited) Well, this time I think I've made a bit of a blx of this so far! Not having a suitable etched bracket for this particular signal I decided to do my usual trick of cutting and altering a similar one to fit. I banged a few rivets into it and put a flange round the edge with a bit of strip and it looked OK until I actually soldered the first one on. It's a bit too deep at the thin end so I think it'll be removed and I'll have to either make a better job of altering the rest of the brackets I have or scout round for a better bracket etch. I think the signal I'm loosely basing this one on is ex LSWR but the book text doesn't quite make it clear. It could actually be that the MSE GNR etch is a nearer match but as there's no pics of it on MSE's website and Scale Signal supply doesn't have a website it's a bit difficult to find out! Serves me right for being a lazy sod! JF Edited March 3, 2013 by Jon Fitness 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) Found some cast brackets in the bits box which although not perfect, are better than the ones I started with..(I think!) Anyway, here's the latest progress on the 3 doll bracket. and some more scratchbuilt weight bar bearing brackets..these will be trimmed to size once fitted to the dolls. More soon... JF Edited March 8, 2013 by Jon Fitness 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 8, 2013 Author Share Posted March 8, 2013 Got back home from early turn today and decided to get stuck in and finish the 3 doll bracket. It's now all done bar the magnets on the base and is ready to be cleaned up tonight and painted tomorrow. The handrail couldn't be done from one length of 0.6mm wire so I split it at the ends, made it in 2 halves and joined them together with microbore tube. I think it all has a Southern flavour but I'm not sure what pre-group company spawned it!! More after the paint! JF 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold beast66606 Posted March 8, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2013 Nice job - you missed the 73s last night then 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 9, 2013 Author Share Posted March 9, 2013 Nice job - you missed the 73s last night then Yep! Way past my bedtime... although I did hear of a couple of hardy spotters souls awaiting their somewhat tardy passing time.. JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 Whats this bright yellow light source in the sky then? Better go and use it quick before it runs out...... SR signals all done now and sat happily with their magnetic bases on a sheet of steel. A couple of MR signals next. Were the posts really that yellowy hue? (Huey yellow.. ?) More soon.. JF 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 (edited) It's a signal of sorts I suppose...Steve has created a little "P Way" work scene on one of the lines on our layout and asked me if I would do some suitable signs for it. This is a warning board, made from brass and a bit of copperclad for the arrow with a whitemetal lamp on the top. All 3 lamps are lit, the 2 on the board with SMD LEDs and the lamp on the top with a 3mm warm white LED. Just need to do C and T boards now. Now I've finished the SR signals it's time to have a tidy up...things have got a little out of control here! Then I can start on dismantling these for component re-use. Hopefully some signals will ensue! These hopefully will re-build into 2 of about six I'll be building for Jamie92208's "Lancaster Green Ayre" layout. More soon JF Edited March 15, 2013 by Jon Fitness 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingsignalman Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 For total realism, the warning board should be modelled lying flat and/or with no lights lit. (said a spokesman who has cautioned Drivers for an awful lot warning boards) 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debs. Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Lovely work, Jon.........I`m always inspired when visiting this thread; and you`re too hard on your painting......`looks very-good to me! By the way: when may we expect the return of the incredible "Servomatic"? ........."Crackin` signal, Gromit!" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 For total realism, the warning board should be modelled lying flat and/or with no lights lit. (said a spokesman who has cautioned Drivers for an awful lot warning boards) Lol..that'll probably happen at the first track cleaning session after it's fitted.... JF 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 Lovely work, Jon.........I`m always inspired when visiting this thread; and you`re too hard on your painting......`looks very-good to me! By the way: when may we expect the return of the incredible "Servomatic"? ........."Crackin` signal, Gromit!" Thanks Debs! The servomatic has had a bit of an upgrade battery and switch wired in so it's fully portable now! It'll get regular airings as the next 2 orders have servos specified . Cheers JF 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 (edited) Started work on the MR signals today. Dismantling showed that one of the signals has a cast brass or bronze post. Had to fire up the gas torch to ping off some of the bits! After a bit of cleaning and straightening I was left with this lot. The ladders are built up from etched stiles and wire rungs. Never had any trace of luck building those but looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and have another go.... I have a kit for a jig somewhere.... As I intend to fit lamps to these signals, I machined hacked a slot up the side of the metal post to take the +wire. The post itself will form the -ve side. It was actually easier to do than on a wooden post and sorted in about 2 minutes. My trusty diamond disc didn't let me down!. Next job was soldering the post to the base plate. There was a threaded bar remaining in the post base so a hole was drilled in the baseplate for this and for the wire run too. The threaded bit was used to secure the post to the base and then the whole lot soldered together. The post leeches so much heat that I had to break out the "beast" (my Weller 75 Watt iron) just to get enough heat into it all for the solder to flow! I'll be sorting out some of the arms tonight and working out how best to pivot them as they operate differently from others I have seen. More soon JF Edited March 20, 2013 by Jon Fitness 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted March 19, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 19, 2013 Nice to see them coming on Jon. I better get a move on with the etches. Jamie 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 (edited) Nice to see them coming on Jon. I better get a move on with the etches. Jamie Well, you're cracking on with the layout so I thought I'd better try and keep up a bit!... The first arm has now been assembled to represent a wooden bladed example. If it looks ok when it's painted, all others will be of this method. The blade is a piece of K&S strip with an extra piece with a few rivets punched in overlaid to represent the casting that holds the blade. Most arms have an axle fitted to them and this moves in a bearing casting attached to the post. The axle also carries a "back blind" to cover the white tell-tale lens at the back of the lamp. These arms work a little differently to most others in that the axle seems to be fitted to the post and the arm has the bearing. This is represented with a bit of microbore tube suitable for a 14BA bolt to act as an axle.The back blind is bracketed off the back of the spectacle plate but still does the same job. There is also a thin bracket that reaches over the arm to support the front bearing. This will be added once the rest of the signal has been assembled. More soon JF Edited March 20, 2013 by Jon Fitness 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted March 22, 2013 Author Share Posted March 22, 2013 The post is now firmly attached to the base so it's time to start adding the mechanical gubbins. The axles (14BA brass bolts) were soldered into the post and the bearing support plates soldered on the front. There is a strip on the etch which folds over to act as a front bearing support (as per previously posted pic) but I snipped this off and replaced it with some 0.7 wire. This will be bent over once final assembly is done. Meanwhile it makes a good arm stop! Lamps were next. I was going to use cast lamps but the correct ones are a bit small for mounting an LED in..so, starting with a 3mm LED I bent the negative leg to form a bracket and soldered the LED directly to the brass post. A lamp case then can be made from 3mm ID brass tube and drilled to allow the LED to shine through. A 1mm hole was drilled right through first then the front was drilled 2.5mm. This was then slid over the LED and checked for alignment. Once it was OK it was sawn off the tube the top sawn off the top of the cast lamp case and superglued on to it. It was then ready to drop back on to the LED. This was done for both signals, the LEDs wired and the wire superglued into the slot on the post I think I may have to do something about the "comedy" backblinders. They are a bit big and sit too far back...... More soon JF 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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