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. The beginning of the build starts here - http://platform1mrc.com/p1mrc/index...kirk-lner-coach-builds.2161/page-2#post-42617
Looking good Rob - as usual. At the Glasgow show, actually on the Gauge O guild stand, I saw a Kirk coach being built, an LMS period 2, but the detail had been sanded smooth and a 20thou overlay being prepared to form a period 1 coach. Looking on line they appear good value for money as well. One or two may appear on the wish list. Paul
Hi Paul, Yes the basic kit's are around £40-£50 per coach depending on which you choose. How much extra you spend after that is up to you.
I will be following this build, to see what else I will need to do. And maybe after Nellie and the Roxey ex-SECR P class are completed I will try my hand at a Passenger coach, thinking of a Ian Kirk Southern Coach coupled with a Connoisseur 6 wheeler, need to keep the train to under 4ft so a Terrier / P class plus the coaches. Paul
Although not Southern there is a gent on RM web building Kirk LMS coaches which if I can find the link may help you with construction of them. - Ignore that I have found it http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/in...orkbench-ian-kirk-coaches/page-6#entry2946823 Being smooth sided rather than panelled I can imagine they will be a little different to construct but I am not certain.
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. [/url] 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.
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.
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.
This weekend saw the previous weekends efforts all come together. The plan is to make the roofs removable by screwing into the base of the seats that are attached to the roof.
I like it, especially the roof beading being part of the coach side, and the roof just drops in to it - very neat. Paul
Although modelling time has been limited recently I have made a little more progress with the twins. I was a bit remiss in not cutting out for the ducket while I had the sides in the flat but I managed. We now have one of my silhouette cut duckets fitted. This in fact the second attempt because I was a bit heavy handed with polystyrene cement last weekend and the first effort just melted away - this one is stuck more patiently with limonene. I had also prepped some scrap etch for the mounting brackets for the dynamos last weekend and I got those fitted too although from the photo one of them need a minor tweak to it's shape.
Boy have I a long way to go Looking very smart Rob, just out of interest what will the total length of the twin set ? Paul
That is some very nice craft work on display Rob, there is something hugely satisfying about fabricating tiny pieces and seeing it all come together particularly as these detailings are formed from what is essentially waste off-cuts. I know my scrap etch container is an absolute godsend at times.
To be honest Dundee Paul for that sort of work I use one of those big table mount mag lamps to throw down a blanket of white light and an off-cut of resin granite kitchen worktop to ensure etch bits are flat and straight before marking, bending to shape and drilling is a lot easier then and of course if a piece has to "swing" via a short piece of wire you only need to solder one side or as I often do squeeze the wire end with crimps then cut away the excess, you have made quite a convincing bolt head in a very simple way. In the stash I've got a Kirk cut and carve kit Thompson semi corridor lavatory comp to do at some point, I'm more worried about the cut and carve aspect so that the plastic is cut in the correct places.
I have to keep slapping myself when I see these details. Tell myself to stay calm. I don't need to go this far in my initial efforts ..... if ever. It's just such a treat to see someone else with the patience and skill that can. Lovely work Rob. Toto
Hi Paul, I haven't measured it exactly but I reckon it will be approx 29" over the buffers when it's done. I will of course do a proper measuring job when I go north this weekend.