Rushby's Resins Deutz - part 2 getting ready for paint

This has been laid aside for a while, but its high time that I finished it off, which means doing my least favourite job, painting.

I tend to use aerosol primer, usually Hycote acrylic from the local motor factors. It sprays well, dries quickly and is a lot less work than setting up my airbrush. Primer coats are important, not only as a base for the top finish coat but also for showing up imperfections in the finish. So, after the first light coat I could see the areas that need attention, and being resin there were a few tiny holes and blemishes that needed filling, with Squadron Green Putty, then smoothing off with a curved scalpel blade and rubbing sticks. The worst affected area was the footplate top, but that is mentioned in the instructions anyway. There were very few tiny holes, so not much work has been needed.

The main body is in red oxide, and the frames grey at the moment;

My intended colour scheme will be 'bufferbeam' red frames and a darker red body, with the springs picked out in black. So the frames will be receiving a coat of red oxide next.

Note that there's a big hole in the front of the bonnet, I've cut part of the radiator grill panel away as I have a replacement etch to fit;

This is a Narrow Planet item, they made a small number of etched radiator grills for this kit and luckily I managed to get hold of the last one. This will be fitted after painting, and I shall probably just chemically blacken it.

I've also added some lead weight, in the form of aquarium plant weight, to the inside of the bonnet and around the inside of the frames;

Body frames and chassis together weigh a whopping 48 grams.

One thing that I will be changing is the wheels. I turned up a new set of larger (7mm) diameter wheels, but I shall revert back to the original Kato ones. With the new wheels fitted the coupling height is too high, and as the wheels are more noticable under the frames it helps to show up that the Kato wheelbase is different to the axlebox positions on the resin frames, as the axleboxes on the frames are set closer together which suits the loco better.

The next job will be adding another layer of primer, checking the finish yet again, ready to apply the top coat.

Paul.

Grounded van bodies 17

I haven't spotted any van bodies for a while, despite keeping my eyes peeled when out and about, but on a mountain bike ride in White Peak today I came across this example;

As can be seen the field it sits in is quite overgrown. Sometimes its not the van bodies that are interesting, but the setting that they're in.

I had to wade through long grass and nettles to get close, not ideal when wearing shorts. But, I am supposed to be a fairly tough mtber...

The windows are interesting, as is the side vent;

I couldn't see what, if anything, was inside, I'm afraid that the nettles did a good job of keeping me away.

A good find I think, and one that should appeal to someone wanting to put a grounded body with a difference on their layout, those windows would be easy to add to a kit built wagon and would make for a unique model. It can be found southwest of Tideswell, at approximately SK146746.

Paul.

Unimat 3 watchmakers collet adapter

Emco made a few watchmakers accessories for the Unimat 3, which, apart from the hand tool rest, can be hard to track down. Perhaps watchmakers wanted a lathe designed specifically for their line of work rather than adapting a larger machine, which would explain the scarcity of these accessories. Apart from the hand tool rest, there was a turning tool holder of the type most popular with watchmakers, a dividing plate for gear cutting (which fits directly onto the headstock spindle), and, a watchmakers collet adapter. I've only seen two of the latter despite a saved search on that popular internet auction site, and one of those I now own.

Here's the business end, which fits into the lathe spindle and holds the collets;

And fitted to the lathe;

All surfaces are hardened and ground.

There should be a drawbar with it, but mine came without one. So, I bought a generic adjustable drawbar. As supplied it was 150mm long, which was fine but with the drawbar fitted I couldn't open or close the belt cover, so I cut 30mm off the non-threaded end. To hold it central at the pulley end I made up a simple sleeve from brass, the same as the back spindle steadies that I made earlier;

Fitted;

Tightening the drawbar by a fraction of a turn closes the collet by pulling it back into the taper, the drawbar having a threaded hole in one end which mates with the collet thread.

The fitting is designed to use 8mm watchmakers collets, easily obtainable in a large variety of sizes from 0.2mm(!) to 7mm. Here's a small variety;

And one fitted into the adapter;

Collets are numbered, the number corresponding to the size in tenths of a millimetre. So, a number 8 is 0.8mm and a number 21 is 2.1mm.
Also available are more specialist collets, including step collets which have a series of steps in 2mm increments to hold round flat objects such as gear wheels;

Step collets come in 5 sizes, each collet having steps of a slightly different diameters. They range from 5.4mm to 23.0mm.
Here's one holding a wheel;

You'll note that there's a keyway (slot) in the collets, this locates in a key inside the adapter. The key is not there to drive the collet, friction takes care of that, but to stop the collet rotating when the drawbar is tightened.

Each lathe manufacturer had different ideas about how collets should be made. The body diameters and the taper are constants, but body length and threads varied between manufacturers. There are two thread sizes in use, B8 which is European and has a 40 TPI pitch, and WW which is American and uses a .625mm pitch. Both thread sizes are very close, and B8 collets can be used in WW drawbars, but WW collets can bind when used in B8 drawbars. Luckily my drawbar works with both thread types giving me more options when buying collets.
Here's some collets from different manufacturers side by side showing the difference in body lengths;

Left to right; Lorch, Pultra, Boley-Lienen, Wolf-Jahn.

And the advantages over ER collets? Firstly having a set of step collets will come in very useful for holding wheels for face profiling, much easier to use than a separate step chuck held in a collet or 3 jaw chuck. Also, as you only need to tighten the drawbar by a fraction of a turn rather than manipulate two tommy bars to hold the workpiece steady it will make jobs like facing axles to length quicker. The disadvantages are that each collet is only suitable to hold material of its stated size, unlike an ER collet which has a clamping range of 1mm. However, I won't need a large selection of sizes for the work I intend to do which these, which will mainly be facing axles and turning pin points, and facing to length and profiling wheels. Another reason for wanting one is that I like collecting Unimat accessories! (And I have a fascination with watchmakers lathes).

A very useful reference is 'The Watchmaker's and Model Engineer's Lathe' by Donald de Carle.

Paul.

Ancorton Models horse drawn delivery van

Laser cut kits are very commonplace at the moment, cropping up everywhere apart from on my workbench. I've previously made up a 009 card and plastic van but I haven't built any of the myriad of plywood kits on offer. To rectify this, and because I fancy a change of material I ordered a little 2 wheel horse drawn delivery van from Ancorton Models. It arrived in stout card backed envelope, and looked like this;

The main fret is 1mm ply, and the roof stout card. Basic but perfectly adequate instructions are included, and were followed. Wood glue is recommended, however I've used Rokit Card Glue, because I had some handy.

Here's the main body part assembled;

I've started painting the floor and springs in the above photo.
Ready for the roof;

In the above photo the bench rear is missing, I'd forgotten to fit it until the roof was on...
The roof gave me the only problem, all my own fault of course. There's a bend line at the front, and in my wisdom I bent the roof front with the 'line on the outside of the bend, which is of course contrary to etched brass practice. So, the card de-laminated at the fold as it was being bent. Easily fixed with a spot of glue. I'm not entirely happy with the front of the roof, I haven't got the curve quite right, but a coat of black paint hopefully covers up my shoddy work.

It seems that back in the day wheels were quite brightly painted, so I've gone for red. Hubs are attached to the outer sides, and spare hubs are provided. I used the spares on the inner wheel faces as well, to space the wheels away from the body. This meant that the supplied axle came up too short, so I've used 1mm dia. Plastruct rod instead, my only deviation from the kit instructions...

Painting was done using acrylics. The main body is Citadel 'Altdorf Guard Blue', wheels are Revel Aqua Color 'Fiery Red', shafts cab floor and bench Citadel 'Rhinox Hide', the roof Revel black and any other black bits in Tamiya 'Nato Black'. In hindsight the roof would have looked better in a light grey.

The 'orse came with my Festiniog horse dandy, its not the best and won't be used (its just posed to show how the van looks with a horse) but the only other horse that I have is a Slaters one, supplied cut in half down the middle, Damien Hirst style.

I've built this without any extra detailing and only minimal modifications, unusual for me, although I may fit lamps at some stage. It could easily be improved however, I'd start with new curved shafts made from square section brass, and whitemetal wheels. The grain could be filled to allow for a smoother finish, and the hinge and lock detail on the rear improved with overlays made from styrene strip. Better springs could also be added, along with cab detail in the form of a whip, some parcels or boxes, blanket for the driver etc. Not to mention an 'orse! But, sometimes its just nice to build something without thinking about such things. Would I buy another? Yes is the answer, in fact one of these would be perfect for taking on holiday with a small tool kit to build in the evenings.

Paul.

Rushby's Resins Deutz - part 1

I like Neil Rushby's range of resin loco kits, they have character, are nice and simple, and are perfect for those times when I want something quick and easy to build (not that I ever build anything quickly!). Now is one of those times.

Neil's kits use easily available RTR chassis, in this case the Kayo 11-104. This means that compromises need to be made, in this case stretching the loco to suit the chassis, but any loco that sits on a ready to run chassis will have compromises of one sort or another.

Here's the kit as it came, before cleaning up;

Instructions can be found here.

Here's the cut down Kato;

I've fitted 7mm dia. wheels, made as described here, but as an experiment I used a NEM 310 Z gauge profile tool as the N gauge tool that I used last time is quite coarse. Another change that I made is that I pressed out and re-used the stub axles from the old wheels rather than turned up new ones.

All of the parts cleaned up quite nicely, and needed minimal filler. The only minor problem was a bend in the footplate, easily cured by dipping it into boiling water and leaving it to cool down on a flat surface under a weight.

Body and footplate;

I'm keeping them as two separate units for ease of painting, with the cab and bonnet glued together.

And together sitting on the power unit;

The other side;

I've turned up a new fuel tank from brass, just because. The exhaust and air filter are also my turnings, a few years ago I made the casting patterns for the exhaust and 'filter for the SRB Deutz etched kit. I made two of each and sent the best ones off, keeping the others for myself, and until now they've sat in a bag. Coupler blocks are rather fine Narrow Planet prints, and were designed by James Hilton to complement the SRB kit. I've glued them onto a .030" styrene backing (so that coupling loops don't hit the bufferbeam when propelling) and will add a pin in the top for coupling after painting. As an aside, the SRB kit came about after Stuart (Mr SRB) bought one of these resin kits and wanted a better chassis, which he designed as an etch. Which in turn led to a complete etched kit.

Primer next, but that will have to wait until the weather dries out.

Paul.

Unimat 3 watchmakers hand tool rest

In all the years that I've used a lathe I've never done any hand turning, apart from using files for making convex curves (I do concave curves with forming tools), something that I feel should change. I also have a fascination with watchmakers lathes and methods of working. And so it follows that one of my recent acquisitions has been a hand tool rest for my Unimat 3, along with a couple of gravers.

The 'rest;

From underneath, showing the clamp;

Fitted to the bed;

The base swivels and can be moved in and out, and the rest itself can be set to any angle;

So the 'rest can be moved up close to the job;

The whole base is hinged, and can be swung away from the work to allow for close inspection and measuring;

Quite large jobs could be accommodated;

Set to an angle;

I have two gravers ready, 3 and 4mm, both made by Vallorbe and both fitted with file handles with I think would be better for hand turning than the usual mushroom handles that gravers are fitted with (which are designed for hand engraving);

The ends are ground to a diamond shape;

As yet I have yet to use them, but that shall change shortly.

Paul.

Experimental 006 wheelsets

For many a year I've pondered building a layout (or at least a test track) in 006, that is 4mm scale 6mm gauge which would represent 18" gauge. I've made a set of roller gauges and a wheelset in the past, but both were based around using N gauge standards with 3mm taken out of the gauge, and using a check rail clearance of 1mm. My recent thoughts have centred around modified 2mm Finescale (2FS) standards, which uses a check rail clearance of .5mm.

A while ago I bought a 'finescale N' wheel profile tool, from Carbide Solutions, a German company who traded on eBay but seem to have disappeared recently. The tool has a flange depth of .5mm and flange width of .35mm, which is close to 2FS standards (.51mm and .30 respectively). So, I've used it to turn up some wheels;

There's two sets of wagon wheels here, one of which is on axles, and the 4 wheels with the profiled faces are destined for a spare Saltford Models Peckett that's lying around.
Here's the 2 completed sets along with a pair of standard 009 wheelsets;

Axles are 15mm long, so that the wheelsets can be dropped into a RTR Peek-Oh van that I have lying around, simply so that I have a rolling 006 chassis with little effort;

The floor of the Peco van needs trimming slightly to clear the wheels.
And another photo, this time comparing them to Busch HOf wheels (6.5mm gauge);

But, there are potential problems. The flanges on my wheels being wider than 2FS standards throws up one. They actually measure about .40mm wide, so the back to back has been adjusted to suit, at around 4.95mm as opposed to 5.09mm. Whether this will cause probems with pointwork remains to be seen, and until I either build a point or borrow one (I'm not the only person with this idea, there are several others looking at working in 6mm gauge and using 2FS standards) I'll not know for sure. But, if necessary I could skim the back of the wheels to reduce the flange width. The other problem is that I have yet to build a working point (apart from one 9mm gauge test piece) and that I need to machine up some more gauges.

A quick note on the wheels. Wagon wheels are 6.2mm dia., and are made to be a direct replacement for 009 wheelsets. All wheels are 1.5mm wide (to allow for potential wonky tracklaying!) rather then the correct 1.3mm. The insulated wheels were made following this method, but using 24 hour Araldite as the insulation. Inner dia. of the tyres is 4.9mm, outer diameter of the boss 4.2mm, giving a gap of .35mm. More care needed as some of the wheels are loose on the axles due to them being reamed out 1.5mm, a drop of cyano helps but I need to invest in a slightly smaller chucking reamer so that I can get a light interference fit.

And finally, why don't I just use the Busch system? To answer that I shall just be lazy and repeat that old chestnut - if you need to ask you'll never understand! Which sums up so much of what I do...

Paul.

Unimat 3 fine feed milling attachment

On its own the milling post has only a simple lever to move the spindle up and down, there being no way of taking a cut or moving the tool by a set and accurate amount. This is where the fine feed attachment comes into play, allowing one to move the spindle up and down with a degree of accuracy. This is what the attachment looks like;

The main body on mine is raw aluminium, they also come in white and black.
Basically the body has a shaft running through it with a worm on one end and a graduated dial on the other, that can be turned using a 5mm Allen key. This worm turns a worm wheel which can be fitted to the spindle pinion assembly;

Fitting the worm gear is simply a matter of undoing a grub screw on the end of the lever assembly, removing the lever itself, and sliding the 'gear over the pinion shaft. Two slots on the end of the 'gear engage with the lever locking it in place.

The attachment itself has a pin running sideways through it which not only holds the shaft in place but also locates in a hole on the side of the milling head. A caphead bolt running through an oversized hole holds the attachment in place, and allows it to be swiveled up or down;

The attachment is shown here with the worm and gear engaged;

(Not the best photo I'm afraid!)
A 5mm Allen key can now be used to move the spindle up or down;

The shaft is graduated, each graduation being 0.1mm. A full turn of the shaft moves the spindle 1mm.

Rotating the attachment disengages the worm leaving the spindle free to be moved by the lever on its own, ready for either drilling or setting the tool close to the job;

A useful accessory.

Which needs a bit of a clean!

Paul.