Mike Trice
Western Thunderer
I spent the last couple of days repairing 2 Pokemon balls (don't ask) for my Grandsons who think I am Mr Fixit.
Today I was able to start thinking about the hardware needed for the very visible streamlined end.
For want of any better method I folded up some 1mm N/S strip to form two lamp irons and soldered them. The double fold is used to fit them into pre-drilled holes then a cosmetic lower bar addd. Will show what I mean when they have been fitted.
I am not aware of any make of vacuum and steam heat pipes that look anything like the ones used by the LNER so I have had to improvise.
A basic shape was bent up from 0.7mm copper wire:
5amp fuse wire was wrapped around the core:
A loop was made from 15amp fuse wire and the whole thing soldered and trimmed:
A strip of thin brass cut off from a sheet was folded and twisted to form the blanking plate bracket:
The vacumm pipe was then pushed into a 0.7mm hole in a spare piece of wood and the bracket trimmed and held in place with blutack for soldering:
Crude but I think I will get away with it:
Using similar techniques I put together a steam heat pipe complete with restraining link:
Still need to tidy it up a bit.
Today I was able to start thinking about the hardware needed for the very visible streamlined end.
For want of any better method I folded up some 1mm N/S strip to form two lamp irons and soldered them. The double fold is used to fit them into pre-drilled holes then a cosmetic lower bar addd. Will show what I mean when they have been fitted.
![IMG_4202.JPG IMG_4202.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145091-85ee59b6c66914944897305b4c96d7fd.jpg)
I am not aware of any make of vacuum and steam heat pipes that look anything like the ones used by the LNER so I have had to improvise.
A basic shape was bent up from 0.7mm copper wire:
![IMG_4206.JPG IMG_4206.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145092-9ff32caa34d2c01a0f51a63d7ad7908c.jpg)
5amp fuse wire was wrapped around the core:
![IMG_4208.JPG IMG_4208.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145093-5286934f8ee7a111e61fc5d70ae0fbcd.jpg)
A loop was made from 15amp fuse wire and the whole thing soldered and trimmed:
![IMG_4213.JPG IMG_4213.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145095-2d586c5410b68bea068104a9fa2f92fd.jpg)
A strip of thin brass cut off from a sheet was folded and twisted to form the blanking plate bracket:
![IMG_4209.JPG IMG_4209.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145094-3628422584374d11f0167a281561fc5b.jpg)
The vacumm pipe was then pushed into a 0.7mm hole in a spare piece of wood and the bracket trimmed and held in place with blutack for soldering:
![IMG_4217.JPG IMG_4217.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145096-585664ac629ab1716c49ed78725fd1f9.jpg)
Crude but I think I will get away with it:
![IMG_4221.JPG IMG_4221.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145098-d34a9931b525ce5249ef860e16f7f7b9.jpg)
Using similar techniques I put together a steam heat pipe complete with restraining link:
![IMG_4219.JPG IMG_4219.JPG](https://www.westernthunder.co.uk/data/attachments/145/145097-e7ce80919406c867bf22a2edf162d749.jpg)
Still need to tidy it up a bit.