If you have found these pages interesting, please consider contacting the secretary with a photo or two of your latest project with a write up, perhaps of how things are going so far. Your project will be of interest to others.  

Using the subject links above you can follow some on-going projects.

As we all get older our models seem to get heavier! Moving these precious engines about safely is an on going discussion point. Malcolm Phillips writes below of his recent project.

Scissor Jack Engine Stand

The design for this stand was spotted by Peter Dawes in the April 2005 edition of Engineering in Miniature in an article by John Jones of the Guildford MES.

I think it must be the deluxe version judging by the use of ball races where I think plain bearings would work equally well. However we could both see a need for one, so Pete cut the metal and I agreed to clag it together, (I have a City and Guilds in welding but in the real world that does not mean very much!)  Anyway the construction was straight forward; the bits were hard soldered together without too much heat distortion.

I made some design changes, e.g. guides for the rollers on the top and bottom rails rather than the lugs used to hold the scissors in line and I included an axle for the scissors hinge in case the original design was not too rigid.

In use it is stable, light and manoeuvrable. The top rails will take smaller 7¼ locos and I made a separate frame to slide in between the top rails to take smaller gauges. The jack works well, at its lowest point the top rail is eleven inches above the ground, it takes about a minute to wind it up to about thirty inches which is a comfortable working height, though it will go higher. Extended handles fitting into the top frame for pushing it around are worth considering. I am also contemplating fitting a rotating mount to the top rails so that it can be used during loco construction, as well as a rolling road. I made the parts for a buffer stop which I have not got round to fitting, in the meantime  plastic cable ties make an essential and effective loco brake.  It is ideal for storing locos and transferring them to the car boot but I would advise making the length of the stand according to the length of the loco you need to transport, the dimensions given in the article are likely to be too short rather than too long.

The first photo shows the set up for boring the holes in the pull bars.

The second shows the set up for milling the slots in the longitudinal runners.The edge finder is held in the milling chuck with a purpose made collet.

Hot tip--- if I make another I will get it welded together.

John Duncan has used his skills to make a memorial plaque and writes below of his method.

Something Different

Last year it was decided that a memorial plaque was needed to adorn the seat in my Mam’s garden. The general layout and wording was agreed with my Mam and it had to be something a bit special as it was to commemorate my Dad’s life. A search of the internet commenced for a suitable manufacturer but I could not find what I had in mind or of  the appropriate dimensions. Many of the plaques I looked at were all much the same in appearance, cast lettering somewhat roughly finished and lacquered and with the fixing screws visible……… not what I had in mind. I set to wondering what I could make myself ?  If I could make something myself  then surely it would also be a little more special than just buying something anyway ?

I have always quite liked cutting intricate shapes with a piercing saw, so had a go at cutting out a letter in 1/8”  free cutting brass strip. Conclusion, time taking but totally do-able.

The overall dimensions of the back plate were decided as 13” long by 1 ¾ “ wide by ¼”  thick. With the ¼” thickness this would enable a 1/8” deep recess to be milled for the lettering and enough material left to attach threaded bosses from behind to enable the fixing screws to be hidden. Fixing screws which go through the front face of things such as this can be a pain, you get something nicely painted or lacquered and then some paint chips off when you tighten the screws !

My experiments made me decide that a few items of “tooling” were needed to ensure success and to save wear, tear and cuts to my fingers, there being, (gulp), 53 letters/numbers and 2 full stops to  produce as well as the back plate.  Three things were needed, firstly table stops for the cross slide of the mill to enable a neat recess to be machined in the back plate.  Secondly, some means of holding the brass strip easily while piercing the letters and thirdly some sort of mini vice to hold the letters for filing/cleaning up after cutting. All three items were well worth the time and effort and the stops on the mill table have been especially useful for a number of jobs since. See photo of the piercing “pin” (I think that’s the jewellers term), as well as the mini vice sitting on the milling machine, new stop arrangement just visible.

 After a few more experiments the following sequence of operations gave a workable means of  producing, setting out and fixing the lettering.

1              Using PC and laser printer at work, print out the lettering on good quality, thin paper.

2              Stick printed out lettering to brass strip using a thin even coat of Araldite/rapid epoxy.

3              Apply thin coat of clear cellulose/acrylic lacquer to stuck on paper “transfer” for durability.

4              Cut out and file letters to shape. (Sounds easy if you say it quick !!)

5              Remove remains of paper and Araldite from letter faces.

6              Attach laser printed script to recess in back plate exactly where letters are to go using Araldite.

7              Drill 1mm holes through each printed out letter on the back plate, two per letter.

8              Super glue all letters to the paper script that’s on the back plate.

9              Clamp the whole job upside down onto a piece of ply wood and drill through all the 1mm holes     to half the depth of the letters.

10           Remove all letters, not mixing up where they all go and fully clean up everything.

11           Pin all letters into final position and soft solder to back plate.

12           Promise to never do anything as mad as this again !!

After the usual sort of cleaning up following soldering, the job was ready for finishing. Readers may be surprised that after making something from brass I chose not to polish and lacquer the faces of the letters and  decided on a painted finish. I have generally experienced a lack of durability with lacquered brass work that is outside in all weathers. Finishing comprised a light grit blasting, thorough cleaning and degreasing, two light coats of 1 pack etch primer, two light coats of  Honda gold acrylic base coat and two light coats of  clear acrylic lacquer. It incidentally seems vital not to apply more than the minimum thickness of  any cellulose or acrylic clear lacquer to avoid cracking and crazing. Once all this was fully hardened the background was sprayed with two quite heavy coats of black gloss synthetic enamel, sprayed in rapid succession.  After the black had become “tacky” the faces of the lettering and border were wiped clean of the black paint using a lint free cloth moistened with white spirit.

The other photo’s show some partially finished letters sitting on the back plate and the finished job. 

Ron Soulsby used drawings from Engineering in Miniature to build these pop safety valves to a design by Gordon Smith.

 Chris Wakefield's Speedy, presently under construction.

2). 5 inch gauge Class 52 "Western"
Picture of a Class 52 "Western", to be named Western Princess, slowly being overhauled ready for test running.
Purchased as a second hand engine, to Jeavons design, it is a large engine some 68 inches in length.