Hello My Friends
Here is a bit more concerning the cab floor. It's probably not entirely prototypical with diamond tread around the perimeter and planking in the center but I like it. One thing to remember is that if you do really neat and tidy work, you can get away with murder. Now you still have to follow prototype practice. A scale model does not have hose clamps out in plain view! I remember an otherwise beautifully built caboose model in Modeltec. Someone did a very nice job of it. Except...there was a giant roundhead screw on the side. It scaled out to about four inches across. It just ruined the whole effect. A model is only as good as it's weakest part. Also remember proportion is very important. I'll get down of my soap box now So our first snappy here is of the planks in the floor opening with card stock between them to space them evenly. Always leave room for expansion. The Egyptians split stone by putting wood pegs in holes and then dripping water on them. These spacers were just a about .015". This also kept the planks in place when the tap drill was spotted through. #00-90 flathead brass screws were used. Having fun here and trying to create a good representation of a J1e. Next up, the running boards down the side of the boiler. After that I'm thinking about making the domes as they will fairly finalize the lines of the engine. These will be made of steel, sheetmetal formed and hammered to shape. Both the steam and sand dome will be made of two pieces formed and TIG welded together. The steam dome is the easy one as it's mostly round. But the sand dome will be bit more of a puzzle as it's kidney shaped. Each will require some sort of former. Wood or aluminum. Wood forms are easier to make, but aluminum forms are easier to use as you can be brutal when forming on them, not so with wood. I'll have to see what's laying around.
See you later alligator.
Jack
Jack, I am so glad you take the time to explain in detail how you do an operation. I will be bookmarking these pages because I hope to be at this stage soon on my locomotive. The diamond safety plate, did you have this made for 3/4" scale? It looks really nice. I have been looking for 000-120 brass hex head screws but haven't found any available. Do you know if there's such a bird out there? Believe it or not 00-90 looks too big for what I need. I am sure you run into that problem a lot. The wood floor will look great with a little distressing and weathering. Many cabs had wood floors, they were less slippery and added some insulating value. Keep up the great work on the J1e, can't wait to see it running on your highline.
Jeff
Hello My friends
JI Morris, or now Swiss Turn only has hex head machine screws as small as #00-90. They have nuts for #000-120 and I was thinking of using them to make hex bolts by soldering them to #000-120 machine screws. The catch is that the #000-120 nuts have the same size heads as the #00-90 nut. So why bother, #00-90 is just fine. Now I do use #000-120 machine screws here and there where you need something really tiny. They really are tiny
Jack
Hello My Friends
I just noticed that Jeff asked a question about the 3/4" scale diamond tread. Yes, I had it made and had a few extra sheets produced, so I have some for sale if anyone is interested. As far as I know there are a couple people making very nice diamond tread in 1-1/2" scale. Also a big thank you to Jeff for his compliment. Jeff does incredible work himself! I am trying something sort of new, well, new to me anyway. I recently figured out how to put text, and circles and arrows and such on photos. Probably something any seven year old can do nowadays but you have to realize what a luddite I am. Now there's a reason I build steam locomotives . So let me know what you think about this, if you like it I will continue. Here is a bit about sticking the T section brass to the edge of the running boards. Here we are using .034" diameter escutcheon pins. These are pretty hard as Howard mentioned. If you want to form a proper head on the backside they must be annealed. Here they only need a bit of flattening out to hold things together. When they are nipped off the length must be just right. Too long and they will just lay over. Too short and they won't work either. One important part is to set them on a rod with a hole drilled in it a bit larger that the rivet. Then they get a shot with the automatic center punch. This draws everything together. Then the rivet is nipped off and set. This automatic center punch has a pocket the size of the rivet head ground into the end. Anything bigger than these .034" rivets and I use an air riveter. I think there are around 300 rivets in these running boards so it took a while to zoom them all.
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Last edited by JBodenmann on Mon Aug 31, 2020 4:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Here is some more. The T section brass is left a bit long and trimmed using the disc sander. The last photo here shows a handy little trinket. A small buffer. Metal finishing is important for our models and this gadget is very helpful. Here the T section brass is getting some attention with a 3M radial bristle disc. The yellow ones are #80 grit, but isn't as aggressive as #80 sand paper. I get them from a really cool outfit called Rio Grande. They are a supplier to the jewelry making trade and they have a lot of high quality tools. Give them a look at riogrande.com . Good metal finishing will add a lot to you models and I will usually give small parts a zoom with this tool.
Hello My Friends
Thank you Frank and Partime for your compliments. A start has been made on the sand dome former. A lump of aluminum was cut out and squared up. This will be much better than a wood form. A card stock pattern was made and will be used to mark out the shape of the dome. Other card stock patterns will be made for the top contours. Both side to side and front to back. The form die will be carefully shaped using the band saw, disc sander, and angle grinder with a flap wheel. The dome will only be as good as the die. #20 gauge steel will be used and will be formed on the die using heat and a wooden mallet. The dome will be made in two pieces, one for the top, and one for the sides. It will be welded on the die and then fitted to the boiler jacket by trial and trimming to shape. One cool thing about steel, is that if you trim too much off you can usually weld more back on.
Too much fun!
Jack
So our first snappy here is of the planks in the floor opening with card stock between them to space them evenly. Always leave room for expansion. The Egyptians split stone by putting wood pegs in holes and then dripping water on them. These spacers were just a about .015". This also kept the planks in place when the tap drill was spotted through. #00-90 flathead brass screws were used. Having fun here and trying to create a good representation of a J1e. Next up, the running boards down the side of the boiler. After that I'm thinking about making the domes as they will fairly finalize the lines of the engine. These will be made of steel, sheetmetal formed and hammered to shape. Both the steam and sand dome will be made of two pieces formed and TIG welded together. The steam dome is the easy one as it's mostly round. But the sand dome will be bit more of a puzzle as it's kidney shaped. Each will require some sort of former. Wood or aluminum. Wood forms are easier to make, but aluminum forms are easier to use as you can be brutal when forming on them, not so with wood. I'll have to see what's laying around.