NWNG Railways No.1

[ge_rik]

Beautifully done

Rik

[River Lin]

Hi all.
As said previously i need to sort out the lighting in the roof so that i can then get the compartment partitions to an acceptable height. So this is what i have been up to over the last few days.
Firstly get the items together for this part of the project.

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3 battery tealights (3 for 1 pound from local pound shop) to give me 3 flickering orange leds, a button battery with 2 spare and a small sliding switch with 2 spare.
A small amount of wire for connecting the leds etc.
Small pieces of wood to make a thin battery box.
Thin brass (or copper) wire for making the connections in the battery box.
3 lamp globes (plastic tops from fruit shoot bottles).
Piece of thin ply cut to size for the internal roof panel.

The battery box is made of a small piece of balsa the thickness of the battery (3mm) and two larger pieces of thin ply for the sides. There is a small hole in each of the sides through which the thin brass wire is threaded to make contact with the sides of the battery. The three pieces of wood are then glued together allowing the battery to be slid in. I also wrapped a piece of masking tape around the box to help hold the battery in place. The battery can be replaced using a pair of pliers. A photo may help to explain all this.

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[River Lin]

Hi all
I have now glued the leds into the roof using a hot glue gun and wired them in parallel. The battery box is now in place and held in place with a sticky pad. I have soldered the switch into the circuit on longer wires coiled round as it is to be glued to the internal roof panel which may have to be removed occasionally to replace the battery.

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I have also marked and drilled holes in the internal roof panel to take the lamp globes. This panel has now to be scribed and screwed with an upwards curve onto the frame of the roof.
This is the roof of my buffet coach and shows the effect i am aiming for. You can see the switch on the left hand side.

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[River Lin]

Hi all.
Spent the last couple of days finishing the roof. I have scribed boards onto the ceiling panel and cut a small slot for the switch to be operated through. I then coloured the panel with mahogany stain and marked and drilled for 8 6mm brass woodscrews. I then had to glue 8 wooden pads onto the underside of the roof for these screws to screw into. The switch was then epoxyed to the roof panel before screwing the panel to the roof frame. I used epoxy resin glue (araldite rapid) because it doesn't creep into the switch and jam the mechanism like a liquid glue would. You can just see the switch on the right hand side.

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I couldn't resist this shot through one of the guards compartment windows.

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I can now concentrate again on the compartment partitions.

David.

[Peter Butler]

Speechless..... there's a first!

[LNR]

Looks very comfortable already, even without seats!
Grant.

[SimonWood]

That internal shot is just astonishing.

[markoteal]

I had to look a few times to check it wasn't a real 1:1 shot - the other coach in the background does make it very realistic as well as the quality of the fit out.

[bazzer42]

Have to agree with everyone else, that internal shot is as close as it gets.

[River Lin]

Hi all. Latest update.
Partitions now cut to size, scribed boarding and stained with teak stain. The two centre partitions for the 1st class compartment are full height while the two outer ones that are positioned under the two outer lights are cut to allow the two compartments either side of the 1st class to each share a light.

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Now is time to make a start on the beading. I may do a few trial pieces because although i have put beading on some of my coaches before, never with curved corners (and almost every corner is an internal curve).
I'll keep you updated.
David.

[Peter Butler]

Nothing short of a masterclass in modelmaking and I'm enjoying every post on this build. Please excuse my ignorance on the detailing of the original you are re-creating, but I don't understand what 'internal corners' are which you are going to replicate.

[JMORG]

Just read on a supporting page that the replica Ashbury brake will be NWNGR maroon and numbered 22.
Just in case you were interested

[River Lin]

Peter.
Maybe i am not explaining very well. In previous builds the beading has all been in straight lines with right angle corners. If you look at the photos i put on page 1 of this thread you can see that even though the beading is quite narrow every corner is a curve which will involve a lot of filing with a round file etc.
JMORG.
I was already thinking of maroon to match some of my other stock.
David

[JMORG]

Can't wait to see the finished result! You using the 7mm association drawings?
Awesome your stock is definitely enviable! Might have to re-do my Gladstone to compliment the other carriages properly.
What maroon do you use?

[Peter Butler]

David, thank you for the explanation of 'internal corners' and reference to the earlier pictures to illustrate what you mean. I hadn't thought it through sufficiently to appreciate where they were to be sited.... now I understand. Looking forward to your solution to this problem but have every confidence it will be more than satisfactory.

[LNR]

David just wondering, do you have any idea how the real beading with internal corners was done ie where the joins were. I'm trying to imagine a way of working the grain of the timber in the real case. It would have been fairly fragile until on the job. Be interested to see your approach, but rather you than me! I think your proven knife skills will come into play.
Grant.

[River Lin]

Hi all.
Not getting on so good this evening but i am sure i can work round it. The main problem is cutting rectangular holes with round corners in thin plastikard. I have tried punching a hole in each corner with a leather punch and with a hammer and punch and then cutting between these corner holes with a knife. The problem comes when i try to clean up the round hole with a small fine needle file. The p.card is too thin to allow the file to cut neatly and it vibrates a lot. The punch also stretches the p.card slightly downwards resulting in the piece not being perfectly flat.
So- I have now also tried using the thin ply i use for my coach building (0.8mm) and i seem to be getting on much better. The photo shows my trial results with the p.card and plywood before i stopped for the evening and made a coffee. Using the leather punch works better in the plywood and it is much easer to hold when filing the holes and gives a much neater hole. I will try cutting the straight lines tomorrow with a sharp knife but i think this will be the way to go.

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Hopefully more tomorrow. I might try drilling the holes with a fast running Dremel tool to achieve the neatest hole.
David

[River Lin]

By the way thanks to you all for the kind words of encouragement as the project progresses. Although i don't acknowledge everyone it is much appreciated.
David

[LNR]

David, a suggestion but it's really off the wall. Have you tried chucking a wad punch in your drill stand setting it to a slow speed and keeping the plastic wet with water. I did use this once, but my material was probably thicker than you are using. It has to be a wad punch as they cut to the inside (leather punches cut to the outside, hence the stretch). Might be worth a try!
Grant.

[River Lin]

Hi Grant.
I'll have a look into that. Thanks.
David.