While I wait for static grass to dry, I have started the artwork for etches for the suspension bridge. These are getting close, but I wonder if the detail is too fine to be picked up by the etching? I don't want to go to really thin metal, but I think I might need to in order to preserve the chain link and other details.
The suspension bridge will be composed of a laminated set of side panels that connect underneath the walkway. The walkway will be composed of individual styrene "boards". There will be a contiguous metal web underneath the boards so I can solder the sides to something and give it more strength....
...These should be done soon and ordered. I am considering stainless steel for strength, but can I solder this with normal solder?
@Scottl , for soldering structures in N-scale, you need a solder that is much stronger than the typical lead/tin combination you get for electronics. The best for the models I build (track, locomotives, trackside structures, rolling stock, etc.) is available from H&N Electronics and is their 96/4 Tin/Silver solid core solder. I use this for all the metals I use, which are copper, nickel silver, stainless, brass, and bronze. This silver-bearing solder is 5 times stronger than 60/40 Tin/Lead solder.
The flux I use for nickel silver, copper, brass and bronze is also available from H&N Electronics and is Superior Supersafe No. 30 gel and liquid. This flux is self-neutralizing, so doesn't "require" rinsing with hot water, but on anything I can put under a tap over a sink, I still rinse. On my in-place track repairs, I can't rinse, and I've never had an oxidation problem with it in over 25 years, so I guess that means it REALLY IS "self-neutralizing".
I use the gel for localized applications such as the horizontal PCB tie locations where I'm soldering both stock rail and adjacent closure points, strictly limiting the flow of solder by drawing a line on the PCB tie's copper surface with a #2 pencil (solder won't flow over a pencil mark), and using the gel so that it doesn't flow over the pencil line, which negates the barrier qualities of pencil graphite.
For stainless, I use the same H&N 96/4 Tin/Silver solder, but switch to Superior No. 78 Soldering Flux gel, which also works with the other metals I use, but requires washing with hot water because it isn't "self-neutralizing".
For the vast majority of my metal model making projects, I stick with the Superior Supersafe No. 30 flux, and have used it (with difficulty) for soldering thin stainless running boards on a couple of models before I ordered the Superior No 78 flux, which makes soldering SS a cinch, both to itself and to brass, bronze, copper and nickel silver.
Let me emphasize that I have been employed as a commercial and industrial model maker for several research and aerospace industries (Battelle Laboratories, Thiokol, ATK) and for myself, and have experimented with different types of soldering techniques as well as many different types of both solders and fluxes.
The two most significant things that I did to VASTLY improve my soldering on models was the purchase of a 250W American Beauty Resistance Soldering Station, and using Superior Supersafe No. 30 gel/liquid flux for soldering brass/bronze/nickel silver/copper. Of these two significant things, the discovery and use of Superior Supersafe No. 30 flux was more important.
For years in the past, I hand-made my N-scale turnouts as well as my Code-40 trackage, and used Superior Supersafe No. 30 gel/liquid and an old Realistic 40W soldering iron, with 96/4 Tin/Silver solder, and those joints have remained strong and unoxidized under paint and ballast for over 25 years.
For my locomotives and rolling stock, I started out using different melting point solders and traditional fluxes, and used both a couple of irons and a jeweler's oxy-acetylene micro torch to progressively solder parts to each other and not melt the previous solder joints. I can't tell you how many brass and nickel-silver parts I melted or lost using this traditional soldering process.
Along came Superior Supersafe No. 30 flux and my resistance soldering station at around the same time, and suddenly I could clamp and solder simultaneously, apply heat in an exponentially more localized and controlled manner on both fragile parts and big brass boiler castings.
The last brass project I did involving soldering stainless parts to brass was modifying an old Hallmark "Welded U.P. Caboose" to properly represent a U.P. CA-8. I used both Superior Supersafe No. 30 and No. 78 (for soldering the Plano SS running boards to brass supports) along with my resistance soldering station to solder small diameter parts to the thick body etchings and castings of the stock caboose model.
These products are available here:
https://www.hnflux.com/index.htmlI can't recommend the Superior flux products strongly enough.
Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore
