I’m going to share some of my techniques with you to build up one of these great etched brass kits. They’ve been doing this sort of thing in the UK for years. The first slide showing two of these motors are both “D” class which are slightly larger than the “B” class I’ll be working on in the step by step.

OK, you got my attention 100%. I love brass kits and am looking forward to seeing you build this.


Where do you find these?

Construction continued

Here are the two frame pieces with attached details.

Next bend the side steps over and solder the corners for strength.

I was wondering how you took the photos with both your hands in the shot?

Lets just say I don't have to take my pants off like the one armed paper hanger!

My camera comes with a little timer button.

The kits are available at mrrwarehouse.com Look at their LTD and Electrics lines. They have released them in HO, S and O scales so far. The B and D classes and the smaller B1s now in HO. The B1 doen't have the end hoods.

Got to run, now. Working night shift. I'll post lots more tomorrow.

VERY VERY INTERESTING .

Thanks Roger.

Looks Great Roger!

Can you make your photos larger, 640X480?

A cliffhanger! Awesome!

13.The roof, hoods and hood sides. These require bending before construction. I've already drilled holes for parts I want to install. I used light layout scratches to position my holes before making a light center punch to guide the drill. We don't want to punch too hard or we'll distort the metal. All the tabs have etched grooves on the back to facilitate bending. This brass is very thin, so you want to bend it once the right way or itll break.

14.The two hood ends, one outside and one inside. You'll notice that the inside one has numerous small grooves etched in. This is where you'll make the curve.

15. I use a small piece of brass tubing to form the curve. Match this curve up with the sides to get it exact. Since this is a gentle curve, not a sharp bend, you have some leeway in getting it just right. The metal is more forgiving since you aren't working it as hard.

16. Bending the tabs. Here we want to do our 90-degree bends, once only. The tabs bend in towards the heavy etched lines. There are also tabs at the top and bottom of the hoods to engage the cab interior and under the floor.

17. Wooden clothes pegs, large and small hold the pieces while we tin the tabs with solder before assembly. Notice the inside of the hood top where I've tinned where the tabs meet. Keep your soldering iron on the backside to avoid getting blobs of solder where you don’t want it. The solder will follow the heat and liquid flux.

18. Here are my other hands. The wood clothes peg is held in the small vise. I wrap the small gauge solder around my flux bottle, so I don’t have to fumble for it. I’m tinning the inside of the tab that will go against the cab interior. The iron is on the outside of the tab, while flux and tiny solder are on the inside. This keeps the iron away from fine detail like rivet lines we don’t want to obscure.

19. This pine block I call Jig No. 1. Ive carefully chopped out the square hole the exact width of the hood. I can jam the parts in there and push out with the soldering iron to get the sides to fit exactly. Ten or twenty attempts later, everything lines up.

20. Adding grabs to the hoods. The hook on the end of the wire goes inside the first hole, then the other end is bent flat against the inside of the other hole. I maintain the correct distance above the hood with a scrap bit of stripwood. Then we solder the bent over bits on the inside of the hood.

21.Bending and tinning the cab walls. I tin around the door outside and the doorframe inside. There is a small hole drilled where I'm pointing. This will be where the handrail connects to the cab. The bottoms of the doorframe posts are critical. This is the most delicate part of the whole kit. They must be trimmed exactly to the right length. Use an exacto knife. If there is a tiny extra bit of metal here it will throw off the height of the corner and your roof wont fit square. Ask me how I know!

22.Jig No. 2. This helps me keep the cab square as I solder it together. It’s a block of pine drilled to accept two rods. Then I cut the block in two lengthwise. I use paper shim in the gap to get the right width, so I can clamp the cab without crushing it. Notice that I've tinned along the inside of the cab wall where it fits the frame. There is a notch in the frame sides where the cab fits. This kit is very well engineered!

23. Jig 2 installed with paper shims. Elastic bands hold the cab sides to the block. See how the cab doors mate with the cab ends of the opposite side. The clothes peg pushes the end against the door while I activate the solder at the corner. Try to keep as little solder on the iron as possible at this stage.

24. Now we can take out Jig 2 by removing the paper shims and collapsing it on itself. Now we can finish soldering the cab corners on the inside around the doors. We end up with four major assemblies before putting them all together. Notice the bell is at the front hood on the centerline of the loco, not the center of the hood. The hood will be offset to the left. See how the tabs on the hoods will engage the interior of the other pieces.

25. Plastic clamps hold the cab down while I solder the cab to the frame. They give you little brass tabs for this so you can make the cab fit with screws. I prefer the good tight joint that soldering provides.

26. This is how to remove any unsightly solder blobs. A steel wheel in a Dremel at low speed burnishes away the softer metal leaving your brass rivet detail. Wear safety glasses. I don’t want to hear of anyone getting a wire removed from his or her eye. Yuck.

27. Nice footboard detail with the turned up inside corner. Unfortunately, I have to trim these off to match my prototype. The cut-off disc in the Dremel comes in handy here, then I file the ends smooth. This is a better shot of the grab iron detail of the hoods.