Best Of New Brass EP-2 assembly & Mod clinic

[u18b]

  Why not a micro torch for soldering to something like the underframe ? Or am I missing something ?

Good question.

A torch is going to spread a lot of heat.  I would almost certainly expect there might be a danger the supports for the drawbar might come off (unsoldered).

I guess you could try to have heat sinks everywhere, but these pieces are pretty tiny.

And I already burnt my fingers just holding the parts with a touch of the soldering iron.
The parts are so little and delicate that forceps would not hold them in precise enough a position.
I felt I needed to actually hold them in place to get them where I wanted them-  and even that was challenging.

So I could not even imagine using a torch (and I do have one).

[peteski]

The parts are so little and delicate that forceps would not hold them in precise enough a position.
I felt I needed to actually hold them in place to get them where I wanted them-  and even that was challenging.

Ron,
get yourself some self-closing (cross-locking) tweezers.  IMO, forceps are way too rough for any sort of N scale work.  I have 4 pairs of those tweezers (various sizes and straight or right angle jaws) and they are perfect for delicate work like this.

Several are available at http://www.micromark.com/tweezers-and-grabbers.html

[u18b]

Did some adjusting to the drawbar support heights.

I think this is a lot better now.

Right side



Left side

[robert3985]

Ron,
get yourself some self-closing (cross-locking) tweezers.  IMO, forceps are way too rough for any sort of N scale work.  I have 4 pairs of those tweezers (various sizes and straight or right angle jaws) and they are perfect for delicate work like this.

Several are available at http://www.micromark.com/tweezers-and-grabbers.html

Actually, what is "perfect" for this kind of holding, soldering and holding-while-the-solder-cools is a quality resistance soldering station.  I recommend the American Beauty 250W unit with the "tweezer" handpiece and the "probe".

I've done several projects with irons of various wattages and sizes, an oxyacetylene jeweler's "Little Torch" with its miniature ruby tips, and my American Beauty Resistance Soldering Station.  The results for small parts, or parts that need positioning and holding are much much easier, quicker and cleaner with the resistance soldering station.

Yup, they're expensive, but I've done projects I simply would not attempt with any other soldering instrument, such as attach grabs on brass cars without drilling holes.  I flatten the .007" brass wire ends, shape the grab, flux and tin the flattened portion of the grab, apply a little flux to it again, position and hold with my sharpened carbon probe...press on the foot pedal...pssst!!..smoke...back off the foot pedal...hold with the carbon probe for a second or two while the solder cools...then on to the next solder joint.  Very quick, very simple, and very efficient.  As a plus, the grabs look more realistic.

As another plus, the heat is extremely localized.  I've never had adjacent soldered parts fall off or desolder.

I only recommend this expensive tool to dedicated modelers who work in brass.

[peteski]

I recommend the American Beauty 250W unit with the "tweezer" handpiece and the "probe".
...
I only recommend this expensive tool to dedicated modelers who work in brass.

LOL!  You are funny Bob!  Recommending a resistance soldering equipment to Ron of all the people.

[robert3985]

LOL!  You are funny Bob!  Recommending a resistance soldering equipment to Ron of all the people.

I don't get the joke.  What's so funny???  Why is Ron different than any other modeler who works in brass, other than he's an uber modeler?

[reinhardtjh]

LOL!  You are funny Bob!  Recommending a resistance soldering equipment to Ron of all the people.

I don't get the joke.  What's so funny???  Why is Ron different than any other modeler who works in brass, other than he's an uber modeler?

Bob,
  I can't say 100% positively, but I'm pretty sure Peteski is referring to this thread of Ron's from earlier this year:
Kitbashed Resistance Soldering- Ideal for N scale

[peteski]

Bob,
  I can't say 100% positively, but I'm pretty sure Peteski is referring to this thread of Ron's from earlier this year:
Kitbashed Resistance Soldering- Ideal for N scale

Yes, Ron is "Mr. home-brew resistance soldering, because the real thing is way too expensive".   Not that there is anything wrong with that.  As that thread shows I have the exact unit Robert recommends (but it seems that Ron could put it to a better use, as I haven't been repairing any brass locos lately). 

[robert3985]

Bob,
  I can't say 100% positively, but I'm pretty sure Peteski is referring to this thread of Ron's from earlier this year:
Kitbashed Resistance Soldering- Ideal for N scale

I DO remember that thread now that you've pointed it out to me.  I didn't read it since I bought my American Beauty 250W Resistance Soldering Station over 15 years ago.

I remember the flames in particular!  I thought..."Hmmmm...mine never does that..."  then I moved on!

I know that the first thing I thought of when I saw the blobs of solder in the skirt attachment photo was " This needs to be done with a resistance solderer."....no blobs

I suppose that if the blobs don't show and they hold the skirting on securely, then it's really a moot point.

Once again, this is one of my all-time favorite threads Ron!  Keep keeping us entertained and informed!

[u18b]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I do have a couple of those tweezers, Pete.  Thanks.  Can always use more.

In this case, everything wasn't perfect.  It had to be hand fit all the way.
You would think that the L-supports in the corners would all be at exactly the same height- but they are not.
So the floor is not perfectly level (or square) with the boiler room itself.

This may explain why Spookshow on his wonderful site said a problem he observed with the old NJ model was the boiler room wobbled rediculously.

I assume that this is partially because the floor (with its drawbar supports) is not perfectly even (on the same plane) as the drawbar supports on the Cabs.
The effect is just like one of those wobbly chairs at your house-- not all legs touch the floor at the same time.

Point- each skirt piece is custom fit.  And I did not do a perfect job as it is.  So holding it with my fingers was required to get every angle every point where it needed to be.  For example, on one of the bases, I may have removed too much material.  That meant the skirt did not sit flatly on the floor.
Well, once held in place with my fingers, I could add solder which would create a "bridge" which would hold it in place.

That is a long and hard answer to try to describe what was really happening.


I was thinking, man, I wish I had a modeler's milling machine.
And also a resistance soldering station....

And with a modeler's lathe, I could have shaped those flywheels a bit....

If anyone wants to leave me in his will, it would be greatly appreciated Lol.   

[peteski]

I was thinking, man, I wish I had a modeler's milling machine.
And also a resistance soldering station....

And with a modeler's lathe, I could have shaped those flywheels a bit....

If anyone wants to leave me in his will, it would be greatly appreciated Lol.   

Hmm, if you sell the finished model, that should buy you a nice Sherline lathe. 

On a more serious note, you contribute so much useful info to this forum that I think you deserve a lathe. If every TRW member contributed couple of bucks (cost of a cup of coffee), that would be enough to buy a lathe.  Or for the cost of 2 cups of coffee from each member it could be a lathe and a resistance soldering outfit.  Now to get everybody on-board with this idea...   

[spookshow]

Hmmm, I see that Ron has a "stuff for sale" link at the bottom of each of his posts... Now if every TRW member were to buy something... 

Cheers,
-Mark

[u18b]

Y'all are funny.

The reality is that I almost came close to getting a Micro-Mark lathe.

A widow I know was moving in 6 months and needed her garage cleaned out.
She took me in and said I could have anything I wanted.

I picked up a tool or two.... and THEN i saw a small hobby lathe.
Without my voice cracking (I hoped) I said, I could use this.

She said-- Oh, you can't have that.
My son said he wants it.

Dang!   LOL.

[JanesCustomTrain]

I picked up a tool or two.... and THEN i saw a small hobby lathe.
Without my voice cracking (I hoped) I said, I could use this.

She said-- Oh, you can't have that.
My son said he wants it.

And was then seen on ebay ?

Jane

[u18b]

Hopefully, later today, or in the next couple of days, I hope to make more progress on the boiler room.

But until then, I did some computer measuring.

Side-on shots show how much of a positive effect the skirting made on the bottom.

Right side



And left side



You can clearly see in these two shots that there would be a HUGE problem with extending the gray paint if the boiler room was not raised up with a level roofline.

As it is now, it looks like I'll be able to just use the windows as a guide for masking for gray. (red will be a little trickier).

So, if the boiler room sat ANY lower, the gray dividing line would go THROUGH part of the window.  And that would look just wrong.

So on THIS scheme, without the skirting, you are forced into a no-win situation.
Either the gray is wrong, or you loose the yellow stripe at the bottom.
There is not enough height to have both (hey! Just like on the prototype.).

Thank y'all for helping me catch this.

This will be a better model because of the good input from this board.


And by the way, I have arbitrarily established a "front" and a "back."

In one of the photos above, you can see the big low smoke stack.
Just to one side is a little walkway.
THAT walkway is "front".

So all my lines will match up when the front is in it's proper place.

AFTER all is said and done, it will be fabulous is all the line work in both directions-- but I'm not counting on it.
Gray maybe 

But the red has more variability in it.

The red is EVEN with the handrails on the noses.  But once it gets back to the cab, I was eyeballing it to just try to make the lines straight.

So if the red matches up in both directions, I will be as happy as a seagull with a french fry.   

But for now, walkway goes FRONT.