'Concertina' type carriage connections

[gregh]

While waiting for glue to dry as I was building my Buffet dining car, I started experimenting with making the concertina  corridor connections.  I remember seeing an article 50 years ago in Model Railways  about how to do it and managed to find a description on the internet.  So thanks to the Barchester 00 gauge club I had a go.
(  http://barchester.webs.com/corridorconnections.htm )

I made one from printer paper (80 gsm=grams/sq metre) and one from thicker cardboard to compare. The cardboard did have enough ‘spring’. So I made another from glossy paper from a magazine (about 130 gsm) which is a bit thicker. It and the printer paper seem OK, although after painting them black, they became a bit stiffer. 
Here’s the ‘plan’  of how to cut them out….


The first ones I made used 10 ‘folds’  but they weren’t longer enough to provide enough ‘spring’  So I made these two from 15 folds.

This pic is before I painted them black:


It’s harder to see them when black!


I used double sided sticky tape to temporarily attach them for testing.


These are 3 pics of white ones as they move around curves.




And amazingly enough, they work!!  I’ve run them through double ‘S’ bends of two crossovers and around my sharpest curves of 5’6” diameter, pulling and pushing!
Here’s a video of the tests. It’s a bit hard to see the dark concertinas, and I’ve lightened the video a lot.

http://youtu.be/200qgCS3cp8

 

[tramcar trev]

I saw those earlier and thought they must have been of commercial manufacture..... Brilliant work Greg!

 

[KeithT]

V clever. V effective.

 

[dunnyrail]

Gregh, not sure how much flexibility there is in these. Have you thought that Small Rare Earth Magnets could be used to centre the Connections on each other. A friend of mine was using just such a system for the ones that he made in 00.

Here is a link to what I am thinking of.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/75-of-D2-x-1mm-Tiny-Disc-Magnets-Powerful-NdFeB-Neodymium-NIB-Rare-Earth-/380811440938?pt=UK_Collectables_WeirdStuff_RL&hash=item58aa21732a

JonD

 

[Mij]

Trying out some washing sponges on my TEE set. Nice rounded edges and gone for one that has a cut out on the sides so it looks better and more realistic.
Have them sitting on the desk in the room just not got around to putting them on.
I was looking for a sponge that had zig zag edges but only found small ones this one is larger and realistic!

 

[gregh]

Gregh, not sure how much flexibility there is in these. Have you thought that Small Rare Earth Magnets could be used to centre the Connections on each other. A friend of mine was using just such a system for the ones that he made in 00.
JonD

I hadn't thought of 'connecting' them together - I assumed too much movement. But I might try a bit of blue tack to see if it works.

Trying out some washing sponges on my TEE set. Nice rounded edges and gone for one that has a cut out on the sides so it looks better and more realistic.
Have them sitting on the desk in the room just not got around to putting them on.
I was looking for a sponge that had zig zag edges but only found small ones this one is larger and realistic!

Sponges sound a good idea- keep us informed of your results.