Carriage Blinds
These components are 3D-printed in UV resin, and are available in two basic types, each in several sizes, and in a variety of scales. These blinds are intended to be fitted inside the windows of your model railway carriage. They are modelled on the roller blinds fitted to BR Mk1 carriages (second/third class compartments/sections), but may be equally suitable for other prototypes - you can configure the window size for your blinds. The basic types are:
- Wide, supplied singly for use with wider carriage windows, or
- Narrow, supllied in pairs for use with the smaller windows either side of a door.
Note: the small windows either side of the door of a Mk1 corridor partition appear to be about half the width of the large outside window, but I don't have accurate dimensions. Therefore, when configuring the window size below, narrow blinds will be supplied at half the width of the wide type, for the same configuration. Non-corridor coaches, corridor outside windows, and doors, do not appear to have been fitted with blinds.
Each type is available in 9 sizes, shaped to represent blinds that have been pulled down to different degrees. It appears that BR Mk1 coaches were provided with blind stops in only 4 positions (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full), but I have at least one photo that shows a blind dangling at an intermediate position, so I'm providing a greater range of positions (at 1/8 intervals). The illustration below shows the range of sizes for the wide type (for 4mm scale components). The narrow types are available in the same range of sizes.
Blind Sizes
Note: Clicking on any of the images on this page, such as that above, will cause a larger version of the image to appear in a new tab or window of your browser (depending on how your browser is set up).
The zero-size blinds are intended to represent blinds that are fully up, but may be difficult to see from the outside of your coach, being largely hidden by the top of the window frame. They are offered to provide a consistent internal appearance where the inside of the blinds can be seen through the windows on the opposite side of the carriage.
In all cases, the reverse (inside) of the blinds is flat, and the blinds are edged on 3 sides with a rib that is intended to be attached to the carriage side while keeping the blind representation off the window glazing. The fourth side should face the bottom of the window, and is chamfered to minimise the apparent thickness of the "blinds". The bottom edge is also provided with small tabs to repesent those of the real blinds – 3 for the wide type, 1 for the narrow –. A thickened bar is also provided on the outside face along the bottom edge, to represent the rod of the real blinds.
There are two ways to fit these blinds to your model carriage:
- Take the glazing material well beyond the edges of the actual window aperture, then stick the blinds to the glazing. This runs the risk of excess glue intruding into the window aperture, where it will be visible from outside, and very difficult to remove. Use a minimum amount of glue and avoid moving the blinds over the glazing. Making some sort of jig may help to get the blinds in a consistent position over the window, and get them in the correct place first time, with minimal subsequent adjustment.
- Only take the glazing a limited distance beyond the edges of the window aperture, so that the ribs on the blinds fit around the glazing and are glued to the actual carriage side. This minimises the risk of excess glue intruding into the window aperture, but requires that the glazing is fitted to the carriage side squarely and with equal overlap on each side, and at the top. Again, creating an appropriate jig may help get the glazing in a consistent position.
The blind components can be configured with a border between the ribs and the intended window aperture that can accommodate either of the above methods of fitting.
The blinds can be supplied printed in opaque or transparent resin, and matching decals are also available here in a range of colours. Although the decals are printed on opaque backing film, they are thin enough to still let some light through. So using the decals with transparent blinds gives a slightly translucent appearance, for use where you've fitted your carriage with internal lighting. The opaque type of resin is probably best if you're intending to paint your blinds rather than use decals.
Configure Your Blinds
To keep the range of configurable values down across the range of scales, certain dimensions of the blind components are specified as scale (prototype) inches, rather than model (mm) dimensions. A calculator and look-up table to help convert scale inches into model dimensions (or vice versa) is available here (opens in new browser tab/window).
Note: If you want a blind component that is not covered by the standard options below, I will be happy to quote you for a customised set of components. Please contact me with full details.
To order some of my blind components, you can select one or more basic packs from the following (£8.50 each):
Pack WV, Wide Blinds, 1 blind in each of the 9 sizes. |
|
Pack NV, Narrow Blinds, 1 pair in each of the 9 sizes. |
|
Nine blinds should be sufficient for one side of a single Mk1 carriage, with a couple of spare blinds.
And/or, select one or more individual blinds as required (£0.95 per pair):