Gunners Side Platforms

by John

These daily posts might be becoming a bit tedious but you need to realise that I write them for my own diarising purposes as well as entertaining yous.

First today, I deepened the countersinks on the carriage stops which I had installed yesterday, and filed the bracket surfaces until the carriage showed no signs of catching on high spots. Then reassembled all of the bits in the vicinity.

I had machined some hardwood (Australian Mountain Ash, a close grained, hard, stable, pale hardwood) for the side steps, and today I made the brackets to support the side steps.

There are side steps on both sides. The one not visible is smaller. R1 R2 and R3 are the steel supports.

But, when I examined the steps today, I decided to remake the side steps, using the dark red hardwood Jarrah, the same as the rear platform.

The Jarrah side steps. They will age to a dark red colour, like the rear platform. The grey desk mat is A2, to give you an idea of the scale.

The steel brackets were cut from 50mmx25mmx1.5mm rectangular section tube.

Cutting the RSS.
Bolted to the side steps. They look a bit rough at this magnification. The lip at the top is cold bent.
The U bolts are bent brass rod. I intended to Loctite them into the drilled holes, but they needed to be hammered home, so I think that glue will be unnecessary. (I made 2 extra)

So, I think that those are the final parts to be made for this model. Now I need to decide about finishing the wooden surfaces. At this stage I am thinking of a dark wood stain, then a satin finish with a wood oil.