MSE S7/KS2 Manual

Complete kit to build a working
(un-motorised) home or distant
signal in any height up to 27ft.
Some marking out, cutting and
shaping of parts is required.
The typical London & South Western or
London, Chatham & Dover Railway signal
consisted of a lower quadrant arm on a lattice
post, with a cruciform finial and round-case
lamp, supplied by Stevens & Co. Post-
Grouping, the Southern Railway modernised
many of these signals by replacing the arm
with the upper quadrant Westinghouse type. A
square-case lamp was fitted at the same time.
This type of post was also used for new
installations and renewals until the advent of
rail-built posts in the 1930s. Some examples
remain in use today.
Parts supplied:
S012/1 arm etc. fret
S7/02/2 lattice post & detail fret
S09/5 ladder fret
SC02 & SC017 finial castings
SC06 lamp casting
30mm x 2mm brass tube (arm bearing)
30 x 1.0mm brass rod (arm spindle)
30 x 0.9mm brass rod (balance weight axle)
30mm x 22swg nickel silver wire (crank axle)
100 and 4 off 50 x 0.45mm brass wire
(operating wire, arm stop/corrugations,
stanchions)
Red, yellow and blue-green glazing
Baseplate
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
The test kit was built using 50W and 25W
(low temperature) soldering irons, 188°, 145°
and 70° solders and liquid fluxes, minidrill and
slitting disc, various files, pliers, drills etc.,
and tinsnips and small scissors for cutting out
the frets. In these instructions left- and right-
hand mean as viewed from the front of the
signal. A selection of prototype photographs
will help assembly, and these should be easy
to find, as this type of signal was very
common.
Burnish the frets before removing parts, and
tin small parts before removal. Parts 4-6, 11,
12 & 14 on the S012/1 fret are not required
and may be discarded. Grip the etched parts in
smooth pliers when removing tags to avoid
bending them.
The Signal Arm:
Use 188° solder for this section.
Open out the spindle hole in the spectacle plate
(3) to no.61 (1.0mm). Using the half-etched
lines as a guide, scribe painting lines on both
sides of the chosen arm – home (1) or distant
(2):
To do the rear side, punch guide pips through
from the front marks.
To model the earlier (prior to 1936) corrugated
pattern of arm, deeply scribe the corrugations
on to the front of the arm, using the horizontal
half-etched marks as a guide, and solder two
pieces of 0.45mm brass wire onto the rear face
at the same distances from the top and bottom
edges. Unless your prototype demands it,
avoid modelling a corrugated distant arm - the
rear is very difficult to paint!
Punch out the five bolt heads in the chosen
arm, then solder it to the half-etched side of
(3), ensuring the arm's half-etched bolt heads
are on its front face. Remove some of the
corrugation wires so the arm will fit to the
plate. Solder the arm assembly to the 30 x
1.0mm brass rod spindle. To keep things
square, drill a 1.0mm hole in a wood block,
insert the spindle then drop the arm on to it
face down. When soldering, avoid tilting the
arm. Remove the excess front spindle and file
it almost flush with the spectacle plate. Leave
the excess rear material for now as a painting
handle. Joggle the operating wire arm back
1mm so the operating wire will clear the
spectacle plate.
The Post:
Use 188° solder, for this section, except where
stated.
The post as supplied will build into a signal
27ft high. For a shorter post, build it to the full
height first, and cut to size afterwards.
Lightly tin the lattice edges on all four post
sides, on both sides of the fret. Cut out the two
post halves, but don't bother filing off the
remains of the tags - being staggered, they
help in locating the post halves when
soldering. Use flat-nosed pliers to correct any
distortion caused by cutting out. Accurately
fold each half-post to 90°, with the half etch
being on the inside. Use bending bars if you
have access to them. Solder along the inside of
the bend to fill the gap as much as possible,
although complete coverage is not vital at this
stage.
Bring the two half-posts together, and slip on
the jig to hold them in place, ensuring the two
halves are level. Solder the two long joints
along the post, applying light pressure from
pliers to help close the gap. When done,
remove the locating jig and discard. Tidy up
the joints, and file the top and bottom of the
post level. Don't worry about any remaining
small gaps along the post corners - these can
be filled in before painting with 145° or 70°
solders, which have better gap-filling
properties than 188° solder.
Now is the time to cut the post to length if
required, removing material from the bottom
of the post, not the top.
If you intend to use the large rectangular
baseplate to mount the signal on the layout,
first scribe a longitudinal centre line along it.
Solder the post around 25mm from one end of
the baseplate, ensuring squareness in all
planes.
Attach the 2mm arm bearing tube to the left-
hand side of the post at right angles to the
vertical post axis. The bearing's position below
the post top seems to vary between 2.5-9mm,
so check with photographs of your chosen
prototype. Leave the bearing tube overlong at
the rear, but use the minidrill and slitting disc
to trim the front so it projects 1mm in front of
the post.
Temporarily fit
the arm spindle
into its bearing,
and solder a
0.45mm wire
stop in the crook
of the
bearing/post
joint, as shown.
This will prevent
the arm falling below the horizontal. (Omit the
stop if using servo operation). Use 145° solder
for this, to stop the bearing tube unsoldering.
Test for free operation of the arm - you may
need to file down the top of the spectacle plate
or the underside of the wire to achieve this.
Cut off the bottom right-hand corner of the
S012/1 fret to form a 6x5mm rectangle. Solder
it to the front face of the post, so it completely
covers the area behind the right-hand
spectacle.