Welcome

Live steam model on 7¼" gauge of the Württembergische T3 no 924

Welcome to this blog. It will inform you about the progress of designing and building live steam model locomotives. The blog contains the description of a model Würrtembergische T3 on 7¼" gauge (built between 2006 and 2017), the wagons for this loco (built between 2018 and 2022)  and a 5" gauge model of a Great Eastern Railway Y14 class loco (started in 2020)

On the left you'll find the index where you can browse through the different articles and on the right you'll find all the extra's. On the top tabs you'll find a brief description of my other locos.

 

 

Click for the direct link to start of construction series below 
T3 7¼" steam locomotive 
 
Enjoy this site. Erik-Jan Stroetinga. The Netherlands. Europe.

 

 

 

Tuesday 8 February 2022

Klappdeckelwagen (lidded wagon) (5)


 The door hinges are made according to photos I've made of a Klappdeckelwagen at 'Le Train 1900' preserved railway in Petange (Luxembourg). They have such a wagon, used as storage for firewood for their steam locos.  

These hinges differ a bit from the ones I've seen in photographs on the internet, but they look very sturdy and that is for a 1:8 scale model, that will be really used on a railway, always a big plus. 


These hinges differ in that way, that the door stops  - that keep the door in the upright position once opened - are made of a plate, instead of a bent strip.


After bending a 1,5 mm steel plate at an angle of 90 degrees, it was clamped on a homemade fixture, and the outside contour was CNC milled. 

The inside was done with a second program and a 4 mm end mill


6 left ones and 6 right ones. 

The 'new' second-hand computer ( i3 processor) is doing the job without any problems.

Bending a small strip (5 mm wide) as support for the end stop. 

Bending is done by hand in the vice. A guide was the hinge itself.

Once I got the hang of it, I was able to make 12 identical strips.  

A corner strip was silver soldered against the hinge. It was kept in position during the soldering by some heavy magnets. 

This method was also applied for soft soldering the support strips. (The magnet is retrieved from a defective hard drive of an old pc)


The complete hinge part for the door. 

A pilot hole and retaining screw are used to set up the hinges on the door. 

The other part of the hinge was also CNC milled from a 1,5 mm plate. 

A small fixture, to keep the bottom plate and hinge in position during soldering.

The two brass blocks ad some weight, to keep it in position when heated. 


Mass production?  Only twelve are needed, and they were made in only two evenings in the workshop. 

A first test fitting on the wagon.

Everything fits and rotates as designed as in Solidworks. 

The outside lids can only be opened after the middle one is opened first. This is as on the real wagon and due to the rain gutters. 


The hinge is riveted to the door with 2 mm brass rivets.




The steel wheel casting has arrived from Brno ( Czech Republic) and looks very nice!



Render of  the Klappdeckelwagen in Solidworks. As you see there is still a lot to do to make for the model.






The total length of the train set will become about 4.15 meters.