7 Plank Waggons help and advise needed 5" gauge

[jma1009]

it is possible to make the leaf springs quite flexible by various dodges. in my case the spring steel strip was only 1/4" wide, plus i cut up black plastic bleach bottles into strips between each strip of spring steel (this is actually unnecessary but the LBSCR wagon i copied had lots of spring leaves whereas most wagons in fullsize have far fewer spring leaves).

the shape of the ends of the top leaf takes a bit of time to get right.

a friend managed to get me the 1/4" wide spring steel strip at the Sandown exhibition - apparently it was the last in stock and quite expensive and i havent found another supply (yet! can anyone help please?)

it is quite common in miniature to use coil springs where in fullsize proper leaf springs were used. like Ed i prefer leaf springs, but if i was aiming for a quick easy build i would use coil springs.

cheers,
julian

[GeorgeRay]

Julian
Doug Hewson sells spring steel in several different widths from 5/16 up to 1/2. Its in the softened state so you could cut the 1/2 in half.

George Ray

[61962]

Look up Folkstone Engineering Supplies

No connection - satisfied customer. Make your springs and send them back to be tempered if you can't do it yourself

Eddie

[jma1009]

hi eddie,
thanks for that contact which is very reasonably priced. i will still have to grind down the 3/8" wide stuff for what i want for STEPNEY's springs. for previous locos ive ground down old hacksaw blades which are more flexible than spring steel strip. messy and time consuming and quite fun to see if anyone spots 'Eclipse' on the springs of my outside framed locos with springs above the running boards!
cheers,
julian