Horse drawn Galion road grader circa. 1913?

[gbritnell]

I'm looking at about another 3 weeks until completion but I can see the end of the project.

[crueby]

Wow.




Wow.




Wow!

[gbritnell]

Here are some pictures of the actual machine for comparison.

[gbritnell]

And finally a few more of the full size machine.

[Kim]

Yeah... Wow...

Kim

[mikemill]

George

You are the Faberge of model engineering

Mike

[PJPickard]

Truly perfect! Will you be painting it? I wonder if the yellow was original.

[gbritnell]

HI PJ,
Along the way I had thoughts that I was going to paint it but as it progressed and in conversations with my friends I decided to leave it natural brass. The brass has a certain elegance to it.
Thanks for looking in and commenting.
gbritnell

[crueby]

Do you clear coat the brass to keep it shiny?

[gbritnell]

Hi Chris,
Many years ago when I first got into the machining hobby almost everything I made was from brass. I thought that clear coating it would preserve it but what happens is if it starts to tarnish underneath the clear coat then all of it must be removed to clean it up. When I was in the Army our belt buckles were made from brass. The first thing we were told was to remove the clear coat, then polish. Since then I just let it stay natural. I have a can of Copper Clean. It's like Comet cleanser only for brass and copper. I use an old toothbrush and clean the brass with it. It seems to help preserve the finish.
gbritnell

[kvom]

I have been following the construction of the Astro Skeleton clock in Australia for a good number of years.  It has literally thousands of brass parts and gears, and the maker is now in the process of disassembly and polishing all these parts.  He mentions in one of the build thread entries that some of the brass will be lacquered, but there's no detail on what type he uses.  There was discussion much earlier about gold plating as well.

http://www.my-time-machines.net/astro-04-20.htm

[Don1966]

Damn George you got my mouth watering looking at it. Oh yeah leave it brass it will get a patina on it. I put my models in a doll case it keep the air out only thermo expansion move air in an out of it but it holds its patina very well. You can have them made to the size you want. Awesome craftsmanship buddy love it......


 
Don

[gbritnell]

Hi Don,
Thanks for looking in.
gbritnell