Hi all,
Superpig number ten (73010) is now complete.
In the month or so since the last blog (actually a bit longer than that as I take a few days to write up this nonsense) I have managed to find a few quiet hours to complete number ten.
Lets have a look a look around the loco and I will describe what has been done.
Pipework, made out of various gauges of copper wire has been applied using a copy of a BR drawing obtained from NRM at York. (See previous blog entries). Basically it shows w
If you recall at the last missive, I was looking forward to the Chris Kedgley Skills Day, held at West Byfleet. I thought that it went very well and seemed to be enjoyed by all who attended. If there is another, and I hope that there will be, then it will be held possibly further north. However I do hope that another skills day is held at this location again, as an often heard comment at the end of the day was that visitors didn’t get around to seeing everyone as there so much to see and take in
Hello gentle reader,
I had a very pleasurable day showing off 76010 along with 76009 and 76114 at the Southampton show in January where I was helping to man the EM Gauge Society stand. Hopefully a few people went away inspired to have a go at chassis building, making Airfix/Dapol models work and perhaps even dabble in EM or P4.
But first let’s say hello to the newcomer to the stable. 76114.
Not a southern engine you may note. I wanted to take with me to demonstrations a model of an Airfi
Dear Reader,
Happy New Year. I do hope that it is not too late?
Here is a short update on Super-Pig 76010. She now sits on the correct number of wheels and pick-ups have been fitted. Brakes and wheel weights have been added to the loco. The tender has still to get its brakes.
The only area that I had trouble with was the front pony truck. The instructions in the Branchline kit show a spring wire going from the front of the pony truck to a point on the chassis above the pivot screw. Th
I was hoping by now to have had a working chassis ready for testing on the EMGS test track at ExpoEM south.
However I have not achieved that goal because;
1. The chassis is almost ready but not quite there yet.
2. The EMGS Test track is, I believe not going to be at Portsmouth.
3. It is not ExpoEM South anymore, it is the South Hants Model Railway Club Exhibition
However I will be there on the EMGS stand with the 76010 and 76009 and 76011!
Yes another one! At the Tolworth Show I acqu
Fitting Walshaerts valve gear has in the past filled me with dread. It was one of the reasons why I started with pre-group Midland where things like this are nicely hidden away. However here lies the tale of my attack (with help from Branchlines) on the Walschaerts valve gear.
Going back to 76009, this was my first attempt at this tricky valve gear but the Comet kit did give me the confidence to continue. That kit has some nice castings for the cylinders but I get the feeling that there is some
It has been well over a year since my last blog entry. Life in the interim has been rather hectic. And way back in January 2012 before a rush of other projects I started on a build of a standard class 4 2-6-0 that is going to be numbered 76010.
To recap the model is a Branchlines chassis that will live under a Dapol (ex Airfix & Kitmaster) body. The last entry (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/795/entry-8497-76010-the-start/) found the basic frames of the chassis put togethe
Well it was my birthday today.
I got home from a hard day at work to a nicely made up table and a train cake!
I also got a lovely new handmade wash bag with trains on it.
SWMBO makes up various bags (see previous entry for the train handbag). If you wish one for yourself or someone you know then PM me.
I just realised that my last blog entry was in September. Hmmm must post something soon.
So here they are the six dummies for Swaynton.
Did I really get the etches for these way back in April? It is not that these are hard to make up that caused the delay. I think that it is life got in the way. Plus of course the modelling mo-jo isn’t firing every day, which perhaps is a good thing I think as you don’t want to get stale with the same old, same old.
The only problem I had towards the end was getting the signal mechanism to be free-flowing enough for the weight to work. Careful s
Well...it seems not very much. The fine weather and the Olympics kind of distracted me.
Plus hearing the news that I "shall soon have the oppurtunity to be working somewhere else" (another way of saying you are being made redundant) has rather surprisingly improved my health! My work colleagues and i have been given some training on job hunting and dealing with the closure of the site. One of the charts showed the various stages of depression that you go through. You know denial, rebellion all
Just a quick update on progress of the Westinghouse ground signals.
This is a follow up from my last entry.
The six signals are now mounted onto their bases.
These are a piece of 8x12mm brass sheet that is then mounted onto a bit of square tube.
Now to start the detail work
Each signal post has a 'blind' fitted. There is proplem here in that the etch was supposed to have some bolt head detail. But it didn't come out on the etch. So I bent the tab the wrong way so that I have a bi
Hello again. This follows on from my blog entry 'what I did in June'. (edit: which seems to have dissapered from the dashboard when I posted this so here is a link)
Last time I was here I demonstrated a working disc signal for Swaynton. (as well as a charming handbag. Go on buy a handbag...go on go on...) Anyway having built one it is now time to think about building the rest.
It has been decided that we shall need six of these. The original plan was to have seven (or eight) but if you stud
Is it really the end of June? At least the heating has gone off now.
At the last report I was just about to head off to Chatham (pictured) with Swanton. Thanks to the Chatham MRC for organising a great show. A few people stopped to say hello. There was interest in the disc signal and I will post another blog entry showing progress. A couple of people expressed interest in the handbag but no one has bought one yet.
I managed to take a little time out on the Saturday to visit the Dickens Fair i
Now in the past couple of missives issued from Brightspark Towers here in deepest Surrey (It ain’t all gin and jags you know), I alluded to an exciting new development on Swaynton and left a couple of clues that no-one had a go at guessing. What a shame...never mind.
Anyhow here it is.
Yes Westinghouse Dummies in 4mm scale...and they work.
To prove it works here is a
So I have built one...just seven more to go!
Hopefully these will be installed onto the layout for our outing
Hello,
Time to report in on Aprils activities...or lack of them.
In my last entry I was getting rather excited about some new project arriving in kit form. Deliberately unnamed to create a sense of drama. I left the clue that Swaynton would need 8 of them thinking that some of you would come up with what the eight things are. However since then I realise that if you study the photos on steamweb http://www.steamweb.net/ that the prototype(s) only had five.
There that should lead to some
Well at the last update I was getting ready for the Basingstoke show held on 10th & 11th March.
So I was busy wheel cleaning and checking the wheels back to backs as well as fixing the broken buffers from the Southampton show and other repairs.
I want to thank Western Star of this parish and his team for putting a great show. I think that we were in one of the “Hot†rooms. We had the little windows open to get some air in there.
We had quite a few kind comments about the layout. I do g
Well here is the latest news from Brightspark towers.
In January I was part of the team that took Swaynton to the Southampton Model Railway show at Eastleigh. Thanks for all the kind comments posted. I particularly like Adams picture of the funny blue thing.
When the show is over the bit that no-one sees is the repairs ready for the next outing which is going to be at Basingstoke this weekend. I guess at the last outing we had quite a high attrition rate. There seems to be a problem with al
The plan is to build a model of 76010 picking up on the errors made on 76009.
There are some differences. 76009 was based on a Comet Chassis, this is based on a Branchlines chassis.
This blog will record my progress both good and bad. Your comments and suggestions are welcome. Hopefully this will help anyone who wants to see how this chassis goes together or even want to see how to put together an etched chassis /kit. This is how I do it...this time around. It is neither right nor entirely wr
It has been some time since my last entry.
I was going try and do an entry a week. Not for egotistical reasons, but to motivate myself into making models. For too many years I lacked the mojo for modelling. Sadly over the past few months the pressure of work over took me again and I could little more when I got home than to sit in front of a computer screen and admire other peoples work on RMweb.
As it seems the trend on other blogs, I will do a wrap up of 2011 and some thinking out loud about
Today I have been mainly making chains. Well a chain.
One of the many little projects lurking around the workbench is a Parkside Conflat and container.
The turnshackle and hooks are from Ambis. The chain is made from 36SWG soft copper wire as it is the only thing that I had that was both fine and pliable enough.
The shock absorbers are fine tube.
Four of these hold down the container. I have to agree with Goeff Kent in his 3rd book on wagons. Conflats and containers look naked without the
In my last entry I mentioned that we had a few problems with Swaynton at the Tring show.
The desire of the group that we should make an effort to run 100% to period.
So far due to the lack of stock we have run trains of various regions and periods. We have always tried to keep each train within it's own period, i.e. Southern (1930) engine with 1930 Southern stock etc.
However we were aware that this confused the public and really didn't present a good example of a finer scale layout that w
The last entry found me in state of excited antisipation. I had at last manged to finish an engine that happily trundled up and down my little three foot of test track on the straight and on a curve of four foot radius. It had also been around the EMGS test track and seemed to meet all of the criterea needed to say that this was a runner.
With the Tring show coming up, I carefully cleaned the wheels gave it a good oiling and packed it away ready for it's first public outing.
As usual we dis
So 76009 has finally rolled out the paint-shop and had its final fittings applied.
So it is already to be pressed into service.
It's first outing is scheduled to be at The Tring show next weekend.
http://www.tdmrc.co....adRail2011.html
Here are some pictures of the finished engine.
I am quite pleased with the pipe work around the boiler.
I purchased Alan Gibson fittings, mainly because I didn't realise that Comet did these as well and in a pack.
Some of the Gibson parts I c
Finally the tender is ready for the paint shop.
I think it would have been quicker to make a real one!
Attached are photos showing my efforts at modifying the Airfix BR2A tender into a BR2.
Starting at the front.
Windows reduced to the smaller size. Note that the tool hole is unmodified and so is too narrow. This has been left as is for practical reasons and also won't be easily seen when the model is finished.The white plasticard filler is to bring the front plate out to width of the t
It has been over a month since my last entry. So what has happened.
As readers of my missive will know I am concerned that the Airfix Tender seems to be a lot taller than the cab. Approximatly 1mm or a scale 3 inches. In fact the reverse should be true in that the cab should be slightly higher than the leading edge of the tender roof and about the same hieght as the little raised lip on the rear of the tender roof.
So having got myself some copies of the drawings from the NRM and done so
