Which OHLE should I use?

oldpostie · October 09, 2021, 02:03:05 PM

Now having a look at restarting my planning after the recent saga of having my car stolen along with other bits and pieces in it. I see that the era I was thinking of going for 70s/80s Coventry had plenty of OHLE. From recollection the line to Leamington Spa didn't. So can run a variety of diesels coming from that way. I've seen the Dapol stuff and also that which is produced by Nbrass. However my soldering skills are absolute rubbish. So trying to solder something that small is a big NO NO. So I am putting it out there for any ideas. Thanks.

oldpostie · October 09, 2021, 02:07:05 PM

Title of previous post should have read "Which OHLE and not OGLE. Flaming auto correcting predictive text. Pain in the proverbial.

crewearpley40 · October 09, 2021, 02:10:09 PM

Sommerfeldt from modelmasters. Make sure its not ho as website is confusing.

jpendle · October 09, 2021, 02:32:31 PM

Unfortunately Sommerfeldt don't do any British OHLE.

Dapol stuff is out of stock almost everywhere.

I think that N-Brass is the only game in town for OHLE portals, there is some 3D printed stuff but N-Brass have the widest range.

You can use superglue to put the N-Brass stuff together, when I get round to it I'll be trying the N-Brass kits with glue and solder.

Regards,

John P

oldpostie · October 09, 2021, 02:44:30 PM

Right. I'll see how much I'll need. Might buy just a few bits and have a go with the old super glue to see how I get on with it. If no good then it might be back to the drawing board to rethink about to OHLE or not to.
Thanks again

Roy

crewearpley40 · October 09, 2021, 02:46:47 PM

I have used sommerfeldtvin a siding due to stock shortages . I have resorted to using nbrass plus it does take time to construct. Maybe simon @87023velocity can give us his thoughts please.

oldpostie · October 09, 2021, 02:55:42 PM

Have you got any photos of your OHLE to see how it looks made up?

oldpostie · October 09, 2021, 03:01:00 PM

Is there any major differences between the UK type and that produced by Sommerfeld? I'm a bit confused. But I'm told that's not hard to do by my family.

crewearpley40 · October 09, 2021, 03:13:38 PM

Roy.see please https://www.nbrasslocos.co.uk/ncat.html Nick Tilston , owner best person to ask. Ad for sommerfeldt ive used https://modelmasters.co.uk/collections/sommerfeldt as only no dapol https://modelmasters.co.uk/collections/sommerfeldt - sorry no photos

AndyRA · October 09, 2021, 03:35:19 PM

Unfortunately I would say that the N Brass structures are the best for your preferred location and era. My soldering skills were not that brilliant. Folding the brass round the supplied 'former' brass bars is relatively straight forward. The trick is to then use a small vice to hold the folded structure together, leaving a minute gap at the edge to be joined, then using cored solder run the soldering iron gently along the edge and let the solder fill the gap. Any rough edges can be smoothed off with a small file afterwards.
I did make some custom 'add ons' by using two sections of Plastruct Open Web girder glued together.

A couple of scans of the track layout as it was at Coventry in the 1970s.

crewearpley40 · October 09, 2021, 03:40:42 PM

Andy thats helped. Apologies roy, im at work so question @AndyRA to help roy, guess you drilled holes for the masts or glued in please ? Nscenics manufacture laser cut but the best are nbrass at around £40 for 8 masts ..and a good range..as andy says the former is a useful tool just watch for sharp edges

AndyRA · October 09, 2021, 03:45:02 PM

Quote from: crewearpley40 on October 09, 2021, 03:40:42 PM
Andy thats helped. Apologies roynim at work so question @AndyRA to help roy, guess you drilled holes for the masts or glued in please ?

I used the provided square pieces of brass sheet soldered to the bottom of the masts, which I glued to the baseboard, and then ballasted round the bottom to hide the base plates.

crewearpley40 · October 09, 2021, 03:46:31 PM

Andy. Thanks thats what i was thinking when i took the idea on. Brains not in gear

njee20 · October 09, 2021, 03:51:32 PM

The big problem with OHLE is it varies massively even within a single Location. I echo everyone else's thoughts that N Brass are the best source of portals. They're not too bad to build - get the formers, then you just bend the etch around them.

otherwise you really need to scratchbuild it, which is obviously rather more onerous. The Sommerfeldt 'h-profile' masts aren't a million miles off a UK design, they're quite generic, but they're very expensive, and wouldn't be my choice at all.

oldpostie · October 09, 2021, 06:19:54 PM

Well thanks to all. It's given me lots of food for thought. Thanks to Andy RA for the track plans for Coventry. Much better than the ones I've got. I'll have to get my daughter to show me how to print them off. As my family keep telling me I need to get upto date as I am useless with modern technology. I would still have the wind up candlestick phone if I could.
Anyway once again thanks to you all.

Roy