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Etched Brass kit building in Gauge 1 by Pat Honey.
Stock and other items built for DENBURY.
INTRODUCTION.
A friend has taken the trouble to introduce me to an 'Antex' controllable temperature ''solder station'' with its choice of either 15 watt and 50 watt irons, both with interchangeable tips.
As the solder station is a new fangled idea for me, I did have to start with the basics and learn through trial and error - I took the time and trouble to seek advice from Peter Dobson, one of the demonstrators at the NEC 'National Model and Railway Exhibition' and he kindly showed me the practical way stage by stage - to use such an item - advised me as to the correct flux and solder to use for the different tasks and where to buy same and now after some experiment with a brass etched wagon kit - after selecting the correct flux - 1 now set the temperature control to 125 degrees to use 70 solder (white metal) and increase to 250 degrees minimum for 140 solder (the heat determined by the thickness of the metal being soldered).
As the 2 irons are so quickly interchangeable and with the various shaped tips having only to be slid on and off to change them and also that the unit is so quick to come to the selected working temperature I have very quickly become adept at soldering the finest white metal pieces together and also white metal onto brass and feel I have mastered all aspects of soldering needed for etched brass kit work available in this scale.
I now consider soldering as a pleasure - and not - as in the past, a hit or miss affair with the wrong iron and solder and where most times the end results were generally a blobby mess and I strongly recommend that everyone who does not have one in their workshop should invest the necessary �100 and acquire one - but a warning, once started and found so easy and enjoyable to use its hard to switch off, after all these years I have lost my fear of etched brass items and I do wonder now, as I am hooked, if, in time, I will find enough gauge 1 kits out there to build ?.
However as the above units limitation is 50 watts, for heavier work I have kept the old mains 125 watt iron and also acquired a pencil gas torch (re-chargeable from lighter gas pressurised refill cans) to solder any long seams on Gauge 1 kits: i.e. floors to sides etc, with this combination of items I can undertake any soldering task I may meet.
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KIT BUILDING.
Etched brass kits, can be found for Locomotives, Passenger and goods stock, bridges etc in Gauge 1 and I think this is the place to acquaint the reader with my thoughts on them, as like myself, many will be absolute beginners and probably have been put off tackling one because of some of the mystique surrounding this subject.
Be not afraid ! Have a go , choose a simple kit , one with everything supplied including wheels and follow the simple procedure I adopted :-
a ) Lay out the frets and the picture supplied with them .
b) Read and re read the instructions carefully - until you are absolutely sure you understand how the model goes together - some are best tackled in separate parts , body , chassis and under gear , then all the other trim etc to finish.
Most kits carry a drawing of the etch and identify each piece for you.
c) Only cut out the piece or pieces you actually need to work on - use the disc cutter on the mini drill for this but be careful as some edges can be sharp - finally file all edges of the pieces clean of burs etc as required.
d) Regarding the soldering :-
choose the correct flux and solder: 140 solder for brass to brass and 75 solder for white metal to white metal and also white metal to brass: NOTE if a piece of white metal is to be soldered to brass (say a toolbox) then tin the brass first with 140 and THEN re tin on top of that with 70 and the white metal item will then be easy to solder on and will stay there.) .
working with the correctly selected temperature tip of the iron for the chosen metal - brass or white metal - and take into account the thickness of the brass etc - tin
both parts to be joined. to do this :- clean the areas to be soldered thoroughly with a nylon pen , apply the correct liquid flux, carry the solder to the work on the end of the iron , apply to the metal and the solder will f low to wherever you take the iron on the work.
bring both parts together, align correctly with clamping, blue tack etc as required, apply more liquid flux (to conduct the heat), run iron along the seam to be joined and that's it - a perfect joint - with practice you should get to the stage where no excess solder is left at the joint at all.
if you do make a mistake, unsolder, clean off work and try again.
if any of the smaller parts need tinning - lamp brackets and brake shoes etc (and by thoroughly reading and understanding the plan and instructions these should be easily picked out !) - tin them while still in the fret and cut out only when needed.
With any soldering job, the tip of the iron (constant use of the wet sponge) and the work to be joined should always be kept as clean as possible.
e) As you progress you will gain confidence but if you get a mental block on any part of the construction, rather than make an expensive mistaken pick up the phone and seek advice from the kit maker - make notes on the instruction leaflet if you have found them none too helpful or too complicated but have overcome the problem by some means and then send this information to the kit maker so that these instructions can be updated for the benefit of others. (my experience in Gauge 1 is that the kit makers welcome this approach, as they do not have a great turn over of kits and wish to do all they can to encourage the sales and simplicity in understanding any instructions is a good way of doing this).
f) Many articles on the subject of soldering advocate removal of excess flux as you work, in my case as the model under construction does not lie around for long before completion, 1 do not bother but deal with a total clean prior to painting.
g) In the past I have had trouble getting paint to stick to brass, even when I thought it was properly primed it often let me down, so I sought advice from Mr Cousens of Mercian Models as they have a fair turnover of finished kits for customers and as these are mostly supplied painted they must have overcome this cleaning problem and he advised cleaning of the whole kit in a CAUSTIC SODA bath.
Caustic Soda is available in powder form from any good hardware shop.
Using an old plastic bowl and rubber gloves I experimented - and find that if I attach wire to the model, or other bits to be dipped, it allow me to handle them without having to actually touch it from the cleaning stage to the painting stage - and then totally immerse it in the solution of caustic soda and cold water and scrub it with an old 1 inch paintbrush while immersed and leave it to soak for about 2 hours, it cuts through all the metal coatings, flux etc leaving it totally cleaned.
As I use Slaters wheel sets with the plastic inserts, I did initially test these out separately in case the caustic soda affected them in any way, but found it did not, so now I complete the model and wheels and all get the same immersion treatment.
Remove the model from the solution, rinse well and hang it up to dry thoroughly - when ready spray with grey, white or red oxide car primer all over, including the wheels.
Once this done and all is dry I mask up the body part and spray the underside and wheels in a satin or matt black - finishing off the rest of the model by hand as required.
The superb end results of many of these kits can be seen in the Gallery.
In etch kit form, the passenger bridge and the water tower are available from John Barrett Engineering.
4 wheeled GWR Coaches are available from Mercian Models.
Goods wagons from Mercian Models, John Barrett Engineering, Walsall Model Engineering and Tenmille Products.
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Gallery:
The Gallery clearly shows all the stages of work involved and if an enquiry is made to me I have CD discs of photographs taken on every step of building most of the kits I have mentioned and I can supply these discs to any interested party subject to the condition that they are not used for any commercial purpose whatsoever, without my written permission.
Most basic information is on each photograph but for any queries then contact me. Pat Honey.
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