SpamCan now Bullieds!

[spamcanman]

I have just tried to edit pictures on here with some success (my daughter has just shown me).
This is my Gauge 1 Aster 'Battle of Britain'

[spamcanman]

I am building a set of 6 Bullieds to go behind the 'Battle of Britain' here are some pictures.

[spamcanman]

The bogie's are true Southern scale


The base of the coaches will be 6mm MDF I find this more stable than ply which warps with age.
sole bars are made from aluminum

[abby]

Hi spamcan , please post more detail of your coach construction with some bigger pictures too ! are your bogies in white metal ? did you make them yourself or buy them ?

[spamcanman]

Sure no problem,


The sides are made from White Metal and I fit PTFE bearings in to them for the wheel axles to run in.

[spamcanman]

If you look closely I fix the front and rear bars with nuts and bolts then loctite just so they can move, the whole bogie can then twist I can even lay a small screwdriver on a track and drive over it without the coaches de-railing

[havoc]

Is that alu you are using for the coaches?

[abby]

Nice job - simple yet effective , how are you piercing the window apertures ?

[spamcanman]

Here is a shot of one of the coaches with the rain drip rails and water tanks fitted (for the loo).
Also the Southern used torpedo air vents, the overal size is 620mm per coach.

[spamcanman]

Yes, Alu and stamped out.

Would you believe it the hardest parts for me to get are the rain drip rails I was getting them from a model shop in Hertfordshire and he got them from Germany but has now stopped.
So if anybody knows where to buy 1mm square plastic in over 650mm lengths tell me please even better if it was in metal.

[ianmac]

What thickness is the al-body of the coach?

What equipment did you use for the stamping or did you have this professionally done?

If you did this at home would you mind expalining the process in detail

Cheers
Ian

[AndrewP]

For square section metals you could look at a drawplate - jewellery suppliers like this one but it is £46
Not hard to make round ones but accurate to size, tapered, polished, square holes down to 1mm would be a little difficult.
For soft copper wire a cheap Indian version would do.
Fine looking carriages btw.

Cheers, Andy

[spamcanman]

I have these shells made by a chap in the Midlands, he only makes shells to order I tell him what region of coach, how many and if I want Brake/1st/3rd class/ corridor etc.

I have seen him make them though, first he cuts to shape the flat alloy then marks out where the window apertus will be. He uses a punch for the windows with very little distortion he then bends the sheet around a wooden mould.

I pay £38 each which I think for the amount of time and effort it would take me it's worth it

[abby]

They are looking really good , is this guy in Coventry by any chance ? just a thought some aluminium power cable has square section strands, if you could get a piece and unravel it you could pull it through a die to size and straighten it.

[spamcanman]

No he's in Northampton PM me if you want his details.

[NarrowGauge]

Hi Spamcanman

I viewed your pictures with interest and wondered if you have now made any further progress?

For some months now I have had some similar Bulleid shells tucked away and now that the weather has changed somewhat, it's time to make a start.

For me, the big decision appears to be whether the interior can be removed after completion, which is my preferred solution. I see that you have glued the coach ends in place and have removed the bottom flange of the coach shell? I do like the idea of having glued ends to try and get a better finish to the completed model. This would allow easy removal of a 'complete interior', but did you find any loss of rigidity to the shell after removal of this flange? Was it necessary to provide additional fixings along the bottom of the side of the shell, into the edge of the floor to prevent any bowing etc of the side?

The idea of sliding the 'complete interior' in appeals very much and using the bottom flange for fixing, but I can foresee problems with achieving well fitting ends?

I think you may 'run' on the G1 layouts at shows and may know how the interiors fit on the 'Association' Mk1 rake that Peter Alliott built for that purpose?

Any information would be welcome, the workshop is just getting far too cold and a nice table top project would go down well just now!

Thanks

Dave.