Jump to content
 
  • entries
    15
  • comments
    93
  • views
    14,852

About this blog

First Steps in 2mmFS

Entries in this blog

Under the lid

6 months to go to the DJLC. I’m not at all confident of ‘finishing,’ the aim now is to get it in a presentable state now stock is reliably running through all the pointwork. In fact if you compare the how much has changed since June from the top, it doesn’t look like a lot has changed at all – though at least an angle poise isn’t providing the layout lighting now.     The layout lighting is provided by three 60LED/m RGBWWW strips which seem at the moment to be more than adeq

MinerChris

MinerChris

The first train to Callington Road (well almost...)

Firstly I should mention that it was great to meet and catch up with many familiar names at the supermeet in Tutbury last weekend. Sadly, I didn’t spend as much time as I should’ve speaking to folks, as I was busy screwing up D869’s shunting tractor while he wasn’t looking. Still I’m told that one of the objectives of the day was to test the reliability so that in itself can be looked at in a vaguely positive light.   So back to Callington Road, when I arrived back at the beginning of

MinerChris

MinerChris

Tracking Progress

Evening all, Three months later, whittling away the long winter evenings, pressing the soldering iron, files and brass gauges into action has meant that the pointwork needed for Callington has emerged on my workbench. Admittedly this has been a heck of a lot slower than it should of have been, as I have opted to use Laurie's 'fiddly,' chairplate system, rather than soldering the rails directly to the sleepers. It's a shame that the piece of hardboard wasn't wide enough to build the yard

MinerChris

MinerChris

Throwing the Curve Ball(bearings)

The first job off my ever increasing list for this roster break was to finish off making the backscene pieces. This is to both block off the scenic area to 239x600mm as per the DJLC criteria, and to try to limit the amount of background light coming onto the layout. I’d spent a little while over the last four weeks pondering how to neatly curve the dark corners away and tie this onto the layout. In the end I opted for a piece of 1/32” birch ply (the thinnest sheet, singular, in the model shop,)

MinerChris

MinerChris

DJLC Callington - Woodcutter

On the first day of my last roster break, a trip to Wickes resulted in a car load of hardwood strip, a couple of packets of brass woodscrews and a generous smattering of enthusiasm. I didn’t buy the plywood from a DIY Shed, I thought it would be more prudent to use 1/8” hardwood ply from an online model boat shop in Cornwall. My logic was that using ply destined to be partially submerged, even occasionally, may have a better chance of resisting warping than normal birch ply. Admittedly I would h

MinerChris

MinerChris

A feeling of Déjà vu - DJLC – Callington, not to be confused with Callaton.

With another international move under my belt, this time back to the UK (at least for a third of the time, Outer Mongolia for the remainder) I’ve been left with much less space than I had available in Utah, with very little chance of this materially increasing in the near future. This coupled to the fact that I’d not progressed my plans of Lydford Junction in the last two years have led me over the last couple of months; OK Years again, to evaluate the different plans that I’d had.   Lydford

MinerChris

MinerChris

Fixing the "Vomit Comet," Part 2.

The second instalment in this ongoing saga has been three years and two international moves in the making; thankfully the end is nigh, with no casualties as a result of a chassis catapulted in anger across the room. An update for those who didn't read part 1, I am slowly working through an 14xx conversion kit from the 2mm association for the Dapol model, designed by Chris Higgs in order to produce my first steam loco for use as an branch passenger train on the groups layout St Ruth and my own la

MinerChris

MinerChris

Re-Tracking

I had thought that the return of the winter weather would have resulted in slightly more activity on the bench, the new low score being -27oC, but as per usual life managed to get in the way of the things I would have liked to have done.   First up some housekeeping on Hingston Down Halt. After much deliberation, including considering picking somewhere that was a double to single track junction, I have installed a missing catch point on the siding for the quarry. Apparently it’s very much best

MinerChris

MinerChris

Lydford, The Layout of a Lifetime?

Lydford Station has always stricken me as being an almost ideal location for layout, with plenty of prototypical interest; the combination of Southern and Western region lines running parallel to each other, the great views onto open moorland in a old mining area, to name but a few reasons. For me it is also ideal as it only requires a handful of buildings in this sparsely occupied corner of the country. Along with Lydford, I can only think of Exeter St David’s and Plymouth North Road as the oth

MinerChris

MinerChris

The Good’s, the Coaches and the Ugly.

Circumstance is a funny thing. Everything that you see in this post has travelled westwards across the Atlantic to my residence for the year in Canada. Whilst this makes some things easier, like not wanting to venture outside during winter, it makes the logistics of most things much harder. I’m afraid that I’m not going to give a blow by blow account of the kits that have been put together, as instructions for the things worth repeating are mostly available elsewhere.   The Ugly (the Scenics)

MinerChris

MinerChris

Novel Fine-scaling

One of the reasons that is most off-putting for people to move to finescale is the additional job of replacing the wheels of RTR stock in order to get things running. Inevitably this leads to a back-log of items in the gloat box of things waiting for wheels, alongside all of the additional kits. So far I have used the conventional methods of replacing coach wheels with replacements, sending wheels off to Gordon for re-profiling and attempting to build a replacement chassis (with only partial suc

MinerChris

MinerChris

The Permanent-Way Forward

My last promise to update within 6 months may have been broken quite resoundingly…   I have been slowly plugging away at some of the projects, the main one to finish off the 14xx “Vomit Comet,” project in order to run it at St Ruth’s various outings, more on this to follow soon.   I have also been making a start on the trackwork that will be eventually laid on my dual-boxfile layout “Congdon’s Shop.” As the layout is small, I decided that “easi-track,” points were the way to go, sacrificing

MinerChris

MinerChris

Fixing the "Vomit Comet," Part 1.

This blog entry starts with the entirely predictable “Has it really been six month since I last wrote something,” comment. Well yes it has. Real life it seems has a way of getting in the way of modelling time, that and commuting into London on Mr Branson's 1:1 train set every day.   In that awkward time between graduating and starting the first proper job, I did manage to get some modelling done. This was in the form of one of Mr Higg's excellent replacement chassis for commercial bodies. The

MinerChris

MinerChris

Baseboards and Planning

As suggested in the last entry, Congdon's Shop's home will be in boxfiles that were picked up cheaply from a supermarket. I am still not entirely sure what the future holds with my job, but conceivably I could be flying once a week to a mine site in the middle of nowhere. I'm not saying that the layout would be taken, but it would be nice to have the option.   The baseboards themselves have been constructed from plywood and fit into the boxfiles. This gives the baseboards the slightly unusual

MinerChris

MinerChris

Greetings and Introductions.

First I would like to extend greetings to all reading this first blog of which I hope there will be many. I have been reading various topics and blogs over the past couple of years and very impressed by the quality of the modelling undertaken on here. I would certainly be glad if my modelling was a fraction of that shown on here.   I have just finished my Mining Engineering Degree in Falmouth and have also worked for the last two summers underground at Daw Mill Colliery. It seems an appropriat

MinerChris

MinerChris

×
×
  • Create New...