N Brass Locos Glyn Valley Tramway Horse Drawn Coach - part 3.

I've now fitted the seats and couplings;

The seats are simple one piece etches, the centre pair is just two seats back to back. The couplings are a little too low, not a problem for me as I rarely run anything anyway. The coupling itself is made from three pieces, main body, curved end and the loop which I'll blacken and fit after painting.

The drivers seats/footboards are made up from a single etched piece;

As can be seen these are rather delicate. The angled footboard is attached to the main assembly by 2 small tabs and is designed to be folded up at a 30 degree angle. I decided to strengthen them by soldering brass wire underneath as seen in the photo above. I used .45mm wire filed half round and bent to suit. More .45mm wire was used for the seat side rails, these aren't mentioned in the instructions so the shape and height is just guesswork.

Here's a couple of pics. of the coach as it is at the moment, I still need to add the footboards and vents;

 

 

Of course the drivers seats were removed after steam traction was introduced to the GVT, but I think that they add character. The seats might prove troublesome if I ran the coach in a rake however...

All soldering done with a 25w iron and 188 degree solder.

Paul.

N Brass Locos Glyn Valley Tramway Horse Drawn Coach - part 2.

More work on this one today with a start on the chassis;

In the photo above the solebars have been folded up and soldered in place. There's tabs on the top of the solebars which fit into slots on the floor. Rather than use seperate bearings the axle ends run in etched holes in the w-irons, these might need gently broaching out if the wheels run tight. Mine needed opening out very slightly.

I fitted the bases for the couplings next followed by the axleboxes. These need to be folded back on themselves which gives extra depth and allows for a little relief. A degree of care is needed when soldering these in place, otherwise the axle hole can become filled with solder. Of course a smear of epoxy or cyano would do just as well for fixing these in place. A pic;

I've also fitted the handrails and tiny door handles to the body, here's a pic. of body and chassis temporarily united;

 

Again all soldering done with my trusty 25w Antex and 188 degree solder.

Paul.

N Brass Locos Glyn Valley Tramway Horse Drawn Coach - part 1.

With my magpie eye for etched brass, a love of the unusual and a liking for small narrow gauge coaches its not suprising that I walked away from N Brass Locos stand at the recent Nottingham exhibition with a kit for an early Glyn Valley Tramway horse drawn coach.
I know little about the prototype, and judging by the scant information in the instructions neither does anyone else!

The kit comprises of the main etch, a second etch of door handles, some wire, wheels and well written and nicely illustrated instructions covering 3 sides of A4.

Here's the etch;

 

The first job is to bend up the bufferbeams and sides of the floor (left seperate from the body until later), then fold up and solder the one piece body;

The join is down the middle of one end of the body, unusual but the joint is actually hardly noticable. I soldered it from the inside, before re-inforcing the corners with a fillet of solder.
The next step is to solder the window inners in place inside the body, alignment is made easy by lining up the top of the inner etch with the body top. Then the roof can the rolled to shape, this uses tabs and slots to locate in place;

 

In the photo above one of the end panel overlays can be seen awaiting fitting, it can be seen soldered in place below;

The slots in the ends are to locate the drivers seat (remember that this is horse drawn) and the lower one is used to locate the end panel whilst tacking it in place.

So far so good.

All soldering done with a 25W Antex and 188 degree solder.

Paul.