1848 Stage Coach Wood Model Kit by Latina (Roof Rail Assembly)

The roof rail and coachman's grab handles became a jewelry project.

Having all the CAD data for the roof that I milled i decided to layout the railings in CAD too.

The railing parts that came with the kit were not to my liking so I made it all from scratch.

The uprights were the bigest unknown so I tackled them 1st. I tryed a couple of different methods for making a drill fixture and settled on the steel hex section.

The goal was to drill 0.031 dia hole thru a 0.062 brass rod.

After several broken drills I did the research and determined that even 2000 rpm was substantially too low and that the drill press did not provide the level of sensitivity or feel required for using a 0.031 drill.

My high speed Dremel came closer at full speed around 25,000 rpm.

I made a bunch extra.

Next was the dilemma of holding the assembly for soldering.

With the hole pattern in CAD I made a fixture on a piece of mild steel.

First I made each side railing over long.

Then did the corners.

Next were the coachman grab handles.

Made this bending pattern.
The roof is designed to be a drop in piece so I will ahve to make small adjustments so it remains a discrete module.
 After doing the patina and finishing I tryied them out on the roof panel and, well, didn't like the posts without a base or flare at the bottom. So I decided to add them.

The 1/16th brass fits into the 1/8th tube and so I needed to cut a bunch of rings. I decided to make them a 1/16th tall.

I set up the lathe so that I could push the tube into the depth stop. and the use the cut-off.
Because the tiny rings will just fly across the room I used a small wire to collect the cut-offs.

When ever you use brass in the lathe the cut-off ends up with the burr. The best way to remove it is with the exact-o.

I have modularized the the roof, cockpit & trunk assemblies so that until the final attachment where there will be a few cross connections.