Following on from my last update Bill Bedford posted on the LNER forum that I had got the battery boxes in the wrong place and that the NBR didn’t use threads/nuts on their queen posts – apparently the bottoms of the queen posts are curved and the rod is continuous from turnbuckle to turnbuckle sitting in the curve. The reason that the battery boxes were in the wrong place is that the split box is split to allow a support rod to pass between them across the width of the coach from one queen post to the other.

So I sat it for a couple of days doing other bits and pieces – trying to make my own turnbuckles. Which turned out to be a dismal failure. I made a jig to bend the rod to shape and cutting short lengths of tube was no problem but soldering them together was a complete no no. I made a couple of jigs and even tried using the microflame and tiny bits of solder. Despite blackening the jig all I got for my pain and 4 hours of trying was it all soldered to the jig or stuck to the soldering iron as I tried to go in and out very swiftly.

So back to plan A where I buy them.

After wasting most of yesterday with the turnbuckles I did manage to get the battery rearranged and the queen posts modified to this stage.

Moving slowly forward with this one although I am almost at the point where I can’t go any further until I get some more detailed photos which I have hopefully on the way.

Both upper step boards are now on and soldered in place and the battery boxes are all in place.

I also soldered some pieces of scrap etch into the holes left by the V hangers/battery box ends etc – a pet hate of mine is holes in the floor especially when the vehicle has windows….

The queen posts as provided are half etched at the ends of the posts and are a little two dimensional – albeit they would be very easy to solder a length of rod to for the truss rods. I decided to do it the hard way. The reason for this is that the Kemilway truss rods are flat etches and I want something a bit more 3D so I thought that I would experiment on options on this one.

First I threaded some short lengths of 0.9mm rod 14ba and then soldered them to the back of the queen post etches. I then got some Markits 4mm scale crank pin washers and filed a V slot in opposite sides and file a corresponding V on the ends of some 1mm rod. I had to make a template on some scrap paper to get the lengths right. The first one needed a bit of tweaking but the second was right first go.

You will also notice that I had to beef up the tabs on the queen post etch to fill the holes in the floorpan…….

The problem solving juices were flowing nicely last night!

I have sorted a way to fasten on the upper step boards by folding strips of scrap etch around the half etched tabs (bearing in mind the size of the etched holes these would have been much better if they were full thickness not half etched – I cannot fathom the thinking behind having something that essentially provides support, half etched) and leaving a longer bit underneath as extra support (on all except the three centre ones where the supports for the lower step boards will go).

Hopefully the photos below will illustrate this better than I can describe it.

At the moment the one side that I fitted last night is just a press fit and to be honest I could probably get away without soldering it, it’s that good a fit.

Above are the coach ends as supplied and I was thinking about scratch building some gangway doors when I had a bit of a light bulb moment. In some of the Kemilway kits there are two or three outer ends representing various changes over the life of the vehicle. So I cut a couple of these down to fit.

I plan to get some scissor gangways from CPL (they are GWR but hopefully can adapt them into something that looks NBRish…) so I wont solder these in until I know what I don’t need to do to fit them with the support pieces that are currently inside the openings.

Readers of the whole thread will recall that on the Kemilway’s there are some really nice cast door knobs. I didn’t have any spare and although I am sure that Peter Dawson would sell me some if I asked, I decided to see if I could make some. I got a couple of short handrail knobs fitted a piece of brass wire through to fill the hole and then soldered it in. I then filed it until it was round again and then filed the top flat and it looks pretty good, bearing in mind how small they actually are!

I am still sidelined by the NBR BG. :0)

One of the three battery boxes provided is actually split into two smaller boxes and as such does have any ends supplied. I made some from scrap etch to fill the gap basing them on the out ends which are provided.

next up is a shot of the guard’s ducket which is included but which needs the ends to be rolled very tightly in order to get it to fit nicely – the ends have half etched lines on the back to assist with this.

And the rear view – so far I haven’t soldered it, it’s held by the tabs.

And finally the door handle and hinge detail. I had some nice cast T handles in stock but the longer guards lever handles I made from 0.8mm wire annealed and flattened in a pair of smooth jawed pliers. because as I mentioned earlier all the etched holes are a bit on the big side I had to make and escutcheon plate to cover the hole and for the hinges I used folded scrap etc pinched together in the pliers to fill the hole and give a nice hinge representation.

A recent Ebay buy was a Bill Bedford kit for a NBR/LNER D71 BG, I say “kit” but it’s more sides ends and underframe. One evening I needed a bit of a distraction from rolling the tumblehome for the second Kemilway so I thuoght I would see how well the BB kit went together.

The sides are in two halves that are lap jointed a bit like Comet 4mm LNER coach sides if anyone has ever made them. I have to say that they go together very positively and were a joy to solder up. The sides themselves are nicely etched but the one thing that all the parts suffer from is that where there are holes for slots/tabs or door handles etch they are all etched too big.

In order to support the solebars I made up some brackets shaped like this

There are some etched battery boxes included but the details was a bit 2D so I made up some hinge detail from scrap etch and 0.5mm wire.

Next up I created the tumblehome. back up the thread I offered to detail how I do this so I took the opportunity to take step by step photos while doing it.

First stick a strip of 2″ masking tape to just below the windows.

Place your piece of rod on the remaining strip of masking tape and roll it around until it’s stuck to the rod and up against the bottom of your side.

Then continue to roll gently but firmly and the tape pulls the side into a curve.

And there you have it.

Regards Rob