Not wanting to hi-jack Toto's thread, I thought I'd start my own adventure into O gauge Loco kit building. Firstly this is a beginners kit - it needs to be for me, and I'd like to say the instructions are brilliant, very detailed step by step, taking the modeller by the hand and explaining each step. More experienced modellers may find this a bit over kill but then the kit is not aimed at them. All parts are shown in a photograph and given the correct name, again helpful as I wouldn't know a clack valve from an injector. So soldering iron at the ready here we go. 1st step is to cut out and prepare the footplate, buffer beams and valances. Useful to have a container to put other pieces released as you cut out the larger components. (old curry containers are great) The buffer holes are not central, the buffer is level with the bottom of the buffer beam. I inserted the buffer head to determine the top and bottom, then cleaned the top edge with a fibre brush to identify it. The valances were a PITA to clean up, so I only did the top and end faces, and cleaned the bottom edge up once I had assembled the footplate. The difficulty was trying to hold it and file off the pips, as I get more experienced I will probably get better at removing the part from the etch with minimal pip. Now to solder the rear buffer beam to the footplate. Messier than should be, but everything was going fine, then numpty head here ran the soldering iron along the whole joint, and the buffer beam fell down on to the footplate. Several words were uttered, generally opps that was silly or words to that effect. A stanley knife and hot soldering iron released the parts from each other and attempt two is above. Next the two valances were added, and finally the front buffer beam. Then clean up time. Time to read the next bit. Paul
Go start Paul. I don't have the destructions at hand but it could be soldering on the nuts to the footplate. These are used to retain the chassis to the body. Very good so far. Glad to see you are cleaning as you go. Toto
Yup - nuts attached, next bit is the beading around the cab This could be interesting - time for something to eat just in case I'm unable to pick anything up with burnt fingers after attempting this bit Paul
A good Start Paul, For removing parts from the etch I use a combination of a sharp wood chisel and a pair of topiary scissors (to trim the remains of the etched tag of the part once cut from the fret with the chisel). Do you have any self locking tweezers, like these? If you do you can use them to hold the part in position while you solder it. Then if you inadvertently get it too hot it's less likely to fall over.
Do the buffer beams overhang the side valances by about 1 mm either side? Likewise are they rested into the footplate ? Cheers Toto.
Great start Paul it's threads like this that encourage others with no experience to have a go. er... ref the 'old curry container' aren't you taking a risk giving Toto your odd bits? Ian vt
Well nuts as they say And that beading was a ~~~, now I think a lot of my problem is the 60/40 electricians solder - the 145C solder is on order but not here yet. So quite a bit of cleaning up is required Its getting there , and then theres the other side Paul
Now another first - the bender Boy does this make things easy Now to try it in place, and clean up any slots Time to be brave grasshopper And the other side Ive given it a quick clean with acetone (cheap nail varnish remover, as the cat and dog are in bed and i'm not disturbing them. Time to let it and my fingers cool down - boy can a brass etch get hot quick, wasn't sure if the sizzling sound was the flux or my fingers Paul
Coming along nicely. I take it you have reinforced the vertical half etch with solder for a bit strength. Are the sides just tacked in at the moment or have you ran a thin bead of solder full length. It looks tacked. It's coming on a treat anyway. I'm so tempted.
Great start Paul. It been said before but I'll say it again, the hardest part with a brass kit is making a start. I think we will be seeing a lot more shiny brass kits over the next few week been attacked by the soldering iron. Beer and nibbles read for the next instalment Kim
It's a full bead of solder, that will get cleaned up a bit more tomorrow. Just a quick question, what size screws are needed to attach the 1833 motor to the gearbox, as the Canon motor I have doesn't have any screws with it. ? Paul
paul_l wrote: Hi Paul, I have a feeling that the Canon are 1.6mm and are different (bigger) to those needed for the similar sized Mashima motor which are in short supply these days.
Be very careful that you don't get them too long if they protrude into the motor casing you may destroy the windings