Weekend Update 3/29/20

[Mike Madonna]

Peter,
Thanks for the detailed outline, appreciated! I've got a few of the Pecos River Brass O-50-12 and 13 class SP tank cars. Some are factory painted/decaled, others are undec. MTL just brought out a 4 pack of "Diesel Fuel" tank cars. These "resemble" the SP O-50-7 class. MTL, for some reason, put -11 class road numbers on them. George Hollwedel did a 3 pack of the same, except he put the correct -7 class road numbers on them. Tichy also makes two decal sets for the tank cars, one in black lettering the other in white lettering. Keep us posted if you would, thanks!

[SkipGear]

Ready for paint....

[Maletrain]

OMG! Another guy with a Unimat-SL (DB200) from Austria!

I've had mine for over half a century!  Still kicking myself for not getting the collet set that fits it.   

Anybody know of a collet set that will fit this model?  [need an emoji for "wing and prayer"]

Very little actual modelling recently, but I just set up a permanent workbench, so hopefully that will improve. There’s a bookcase supporting one end that has the vast majority or my railroad books, good to keep them close at hand.

[boring pictur except for Unimat in corner ]


I also acquired one of my two dream cars, a 1987 Jaguar XJ-S in British Racing Green. Which probably means I won’t get much modelling done for a while. Impossible to say no at $100.

With five years of dust:
[boring picture of Jag  ]
And letting the rain wash it all away
[another boring picture of Jag  ]

[narrowminded]

OMG! Another guy with a Unimat-SL (DB200) from Austria!

Anybody know of a collet set that will fit this model?  [need an emoji for "wing and prayer"]

What does the spindle bore have?  Many lathes will have a Morse taper or some other standard taper.  If so, there are many varieties of collet holders for those standard tapers.   ER collets are very popular because of their flexibility of gripping a range of dimensions but they also aren't real good at repeat depth setting if you're running repeat parts set to a stop.  That also depends on your tolerance.  Then there's 5c collets that are better on repeatable depth control but aren't very forgiving on the material size you're gripping.  5c might also be a little big in a small lathe.  BUT... they have available what's called "repair collets" that are machinable to any size you want.  I like 5c for this reason.  Excellent method for machining a special size for gripping wheels as an example.

[Maletrain]

What does the spindle bore have?  Many lathes will have a Morse taper or some other standard taper.  If so, there are many varieties of collet holders for those standard tapers.   ER collets are very popular because of their flexibility of gripping a range of dimensions but they also aren't real good at repeat depth setting if you're running repeat parts set to a stop.  That also depends on your tolerance.  Then there's 5c collets that are better on repeatable depth control but aren't very forgiving on the material size you're gripping.  5c might also be a little big in a small lathe.  BUT... they have available what's called "repair collets" that are machinable to any size you want.  I like 5c for this reason.  Excellent method for machining a special size for gripping wheels as an example.

The spindle seems to be metric, with 12 mm OD, threaded with 1.0 mm pitch.  The bore seems to be straight, not tapered, with 7 mm ID.  There once was a set of collets and a holder for this unit, many decades ago.

[parkrrrr]

The spindle seems to be metric, with 12 mm OD, threaded with 1.0 mm pitch.

Probably not the only one, and probably not the cheapest way to get it, but here's an ER20 collet chuck that should fit that spindle

[Maletrain]

Probably not the only one, and probably not the cheapest way to get it, but here's an ER20 collet chuck that should fit that spindle

Thanks!  That one is heck of a lot cheaper than this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Unimat-DB-SL-Lathe-E16-Collet-Set-16-Collets-A-Collet-Holder-Ref-1020-1021/133284415769?hash=item1f085ec919:g:KUEAAOSwdndeAze8:sc:USPSPriority!21654!US!-1 that came up on eBay!

[robert3985]

Ready for paint....

@SkipGear....very nicely done.  I'm assuming you built this?  What road and class of caboose would this be?  I'm assuming you're the expert on whatever road's caboose you're building and gonna paint next, but the location of the brake wheel housing caught my eye as not being quite logical.  In most cabooses with a newer brakewheel housing, the housing is on the outside of the end platform railing (or part of it), and the connection to the lever that takes the force at right angles to the vertical force that turning the wheel gives, is directly under the brakewheel housing.  What you've got on yours wouldn't allow that. 

Now, I'm just guessing, but I'd guess that the brake wheel housing should be on the outside of the end railing, and the wheel itself should be on the inside of the end railing...allowing for a correct connection to the hinged lever that is connected to the brake gear underneath the caboose body, and giving the train crew more room on the end platform.

BUT, I could be completely wrong since I'm only really familiar with cabooses that ran/run on the Union Pacific...but, the brakewheel housing just doesn't look mechanically "right" positioned where I see it.

If you're not sure, I thought you might want to double check that before applying paint.

So, is this a kit or scratch-built?  In any case, from what I can see, it looks like your soldering is very nicely done.  I love building brass models. 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[peteski]

. . .
So, is this a kit or scratch-built?  In any case, from what I can see, it looks like your soldering is very nicely done.  I love building brass models. 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

He mentioned earlier that it was a TrainCat brass kit.  So he likely just followed building instructions included with the kit.  I really miss Bob (TrainCat) and all his etched brass kits.  Last we've heard from him he was relaxing by flying RC model airplanes.

[garethashenden]

OMG! Another guy with a Unimat-SL (DB200) from Austria!

I've had mine for over half a century!  Still kicking myself for not getting the collet set that fits it.   

Anybody know of a collet set that will fit this model?  [need an emoji for "wing and prayer"]

The collets that were offered with it are E16. They’re really hard to find. ER16 collets will fit in the collet holder, but I have a hell of a time getting them out. Original sets do show up on eBay, if you’re willing to pay $750 or so...

I got mine a few years ago and haven’t used it much. Hopefully that will change soon!

[Maletrain]

The link that Parkrrrr posted is a better deal, by far.  But, it is in Europe, so not sure how easy it will be to get it with this pandemic.

Still looking for the equivalent in the U.S.

Also trying to decide between ER20, ER16, and ER11.  I am thinking that I want to get down to 0.5 mm with the smallest collet.  Actually, I would like to get to about half that, but so far 0.5 mm is the smallest I have found for any size ER collet.

[parkrrrr]

The link that Parkrrrr posted is a better deal, by far.  But, it is in Europe, so not sure how easy it will be to get it with this pandemic.

Still looking for the equivalent in the U.S.

Also trying to decide between ER20, ER16, and ER11.  I am thinking that I want to get down to 0.5 mm with the smallest collet.  Actually, I would like to get to about half that, but so far 0.5 mm is the smallest I have found for any size ER collet.

Yeah, I did some more looking around, too, and haven't found anything in the US with a female thread. There are some with male threads, but I think they might be M12x1.75, so you'd need to make an adapter to attach them. But, of course, the further you get from the headstock bearings with adapters and whatnot the less stability you're gonna have, and stability is kind of a big deal if you're working with 0.5mm materials.

Another option, if you or your local machine shop can manage the concentricity you need, might be to get an inexpensive ER11 or ER16 adapter made for those cheap 10mm CNC router spindles, drill it out, and tap or single-point thread to M12x1.

Another alternative: get your machine shop to make a collar with a 16mm OD and an M12x1 internal thread, screw the collar onto your spindle, then attach the 16mm version of that CNC router adapter on the outside of the collar. Concentricity should be easy on that since they don't have to recenter the workpiece for any of those operations, though you'll likely get some runout due to the forces on the setscrews.

A final alternative: get some M12x1 nuts, lock a couple of them on your spindle, turn them down to 16mm, and do as above, but be careful not to lock them on the spindle so tightly that you can't remove them once all of their flats are gone. (This assumes that you can get a tool in the proper position to do that turning. I suppose you could probably abuse a boring bar for that purpose, if you can't get the carriage close enough.)

[Kentuckian]

Trim work is done on the station for now. There is supposed to be a cove molding where the roof meets the building but adding that throws off the proportion of the band around the top. I may just get frustrated enough to raise the roof .030" so I can add the molding, then again, I may not. I'm pretty sure you won't be able to see any of the trim under the eaves when it is on the layout anyhow.


Edit - Forgot to add this shot. The roof is removable so I can eventually add interior and lighting. My problem is finding an actual picture or floor plan of the building when it was a station. The station is currently being used as a retail store for Joggers/Runners and has been completely remodeled inside.

Tony, great looking station. What product did you use for the tile roof?

(Attachment Link)

[SkipGear]

@SkipGear....very nicely done.  I'm assuming you built this?  What road and class of caboose would this be?  I'm assuming you're the expert on whatever road's caboose you're building and gonna paint next, but the location of the brake wheel housing caught my eye as not being quite logical.  In most cabooses with a newer brakewheel housing, the housing is on the outside of the end platform railing (or part of it), and the connection to the lever that takes the force at right angles to the vertical force that turning the wheel gives, is directly under the brakewheel housing.  What you've got on yours wouldn't allow that. 

Now, I'm just guessing, but I'd guess that the brake wheel housing should be on the outside of the end railing, and the wheel itself should be on the inside of the end railing...allowing for a correct connection to the hinged lever that is connected to the brake gear underneath the caboose body, and giving the train crew more room on the end platform.

BUT, I could be completely wrong since I'm only really familiar with cabooses that ran/run on the Union Pacific...but, the brakewheel housing just doesn't look mechanically "right" positioned where I see it.

If you're not sure, I thought you might want to double check that before applying paint.

So, is this a kit or scratch-built?  In any case, from what I can see, it looks like your soldering is very nicely done.  I love building brass models. 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Sorry it took so long to reply. got distracted with outside projects the last week or so.

The caboose is a NYC bay window and the brake wheel assembly/end rails in the kit did not match the pictures in the color guide. I did improve on the Traincat design a bit but for the most part, it as the kit was intended. Good catch on the brake stand though, I was so worried about dealing with the incorrectly made handrails that I got them on with the offset in instead of out. Have to get the iron out and fix that. I just picked up the paint over the weekend to shoot it.

[SkipGear]

The roof material is from JTT/MRC. It is technically 1/100 scale but it is the best looking thing I have found to date except the perfect match from Vollmer. The problem with the Vollmer sheets were #1, they were $45 for 5 6x6 sheets, and #2, they were molded which made them look much better but the plastic was at least 2mm thick and very difficult to cut. The thickness also caused problems trying to get tight corners to fit and is the original reason I quit on the model a while ago.