Having successfully built two C&L 7mm finescale points (regular B6 and complex three way) I decided to try a 4mm scale regular B6 point. This is almost complete but along the way I have made some observations, worth documenting.
The principle of construction is identical, but the 4mm kits are that much smaller and therefore fiddly. Pushing the chairs onto the rails was a lot more difficult for me to accomplish.
Gluing the chairs on to the sleepers was also somewhat more fiddly and
I am sorry that there has been no entry on this blog for several weeks. I have been traveling a lot and all my Shipston stuff was left behind.
But I have been trying out a new angle - 7mm track building. This has come about because I fear for my ability to fiddle with small parts required to detail 4mm scale models. Lamp irons were the first casualty and I suppose that, despite all the finger exercises and lens cleaning of my bifocals, things are not likely to improve.
I have always a
I seem to be spending a lot of time getting nowhere slowly these days. But at least I have made some more progress on the Comet chassis.
I have drilled holes for the Gibson plunger pickups and fitted six of them, including two against the trailing axle wheels. Fitting the nylon housing was difficult on the trailing wheels because of the outer frame, but at least I drilled the holes before soldering the outer frame in place.
It seems the difficult part of fitting Gibson plungers is when
Just so the entire world knows that something is happening, I can report that the Comet chassis for the Airfix 48XX (14XX) is moving along nicely.
The only problem is the entire world in this case is not exactly heavily populated!
Shipston and I are about to part company for about three weeks and I have already promised some photos of the progress so far. But first, the report.
The baseboard modules have gone together well and appear to be stable.
Track building is 90% complete and about 70% laid. About 50% of the track is live. No point motors have been installed, however.
Tests of the module connections appear to be good, see the previous post with video. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1
Two important elements of the scenery were addressed today, following further track laying on Modules 1 and 2 (photos are forthcoming, I promise!)
The end loading dock was a simple ramp with fencing and a gate:
http://warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/gwrss536.htm
I have started on the platform and ramp, using a timber frame with card and covered by Scalescene's blue brick. The surface of the loading dock appears to have been dirt, so this will be added later. A couple of interim photos:
Well, this is Turtle Green, BS 10B25!
It is not exactly what I thought it would be, but I can see that it would complement nature and not "get in the way".
Each module needs a facia board as well as a back "scenic canvas".
If I was in England I would ask for hardboard, while in the States it is known by its brand name Masonite. It is also sometimes called HDF. Wandering round several bricolages in France I could not find any on display, which is usually the quickest way to source something. In this case, however, I simply didn't see any hardboard at all.
And how do you ask for something if you don't know what it is called?
Well, of c
Now that all four modules are joined together and in position, I decided to check the running between two modules. This join was made after the track was laid on each side, so is a real test of the alignment accuracy.
I used the new Bachmann Earl 3027 which will be part of the GWR roster. This is out of the box, run in and with scale couplers and brass number plates added. I rigged up enough wiring to cross the module join and set the Dynamis DCC controller to 3027.
I then tested everyth
The venue of Shipston-on-Stour Branch is a relatively small apartment in France. And after nearly 70 years of life we have managed to accumulate a lot of stuff. Downsizing has been going on for years, but I think we are finally there and the space allocated for the layout doubles up as additional storage space below.
The carpentry is basically complete, except for backdrop and a facia board. The following photos illustrate the design and construction methods used. The layout is portable,
With everything now in one place (France) it was time to start to build a layout. The first few days saw me refurbishing two old IKEA bookshelves so that the space they were occupying could now be put to a new use (the old use was important as one of the bookcases holds my railway library).
The apartment has textured walls and tiled floors and, being new, has corners that are close to 90º and floors that are close to level. This does help a lot. My first of two modules already built are ligh
The link goes to a thread which I started with the purpose of gathering ideas for a painting protocol.
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/98315-paint-for-copper-clad-sleepers/?p=1862224
I arrived back at our apartment in France before noon (interesting journey, but this morning's drive from Issoire was quite magical across a cloudless Massif Centrale).
I vowed to just unload the car but in the end capitulated and gapped and filled some track in my French workshop, a loggia facing the setting sun. How very pleasant it is to work outdoors. I understand from the most unbelievable Met office that the UK is in for 3 months of good weather and I hope that is true. However, hav
A quick update to say that my brief stay in England has allowed me to progress the track building and most of its is at least soldered if not gapped and primed. This coming week I return to France and will start on module 3 so that track laying can begin on the scenic part of the layout.
I quick word of thanks to Martin Wynne and Templot for providing his software to take the strain out of track planning and building. That it even works on my Mac (with Crossover) makes this all the more sa
A quick update to followers and visitors. A change in plans required me to return to England for a couple of weeks. I left most of Shipston behind and took only the track components and the half finished Dean Goods upgrade with me. The Dean Goods tender is proving to be a good track tester at the moment but I do have plans to struggle with the lamp brackets again, having seen other peoples' excellent efforts.
Living in two small residences does have its limitations - no extensive loft for
Soldered track has its advantages and disadvantages. The latter include the lack of chair detail and the need to gap the copper surface of the sleepers to isolate the rails from each other. Despite these negatives, I prefer soldered track for its durability, relative ease of fabrication and overall look that, with a lot of help from Martin Wynne's Templot design software, is a great improvement on ready made OO gauge track from Peco, etc.
The lack of chair detail I can put up with. The gaps
I am currently gapping the copper clad sleepers so that the two rails are isolated from each other. This leaves a small groove on the upper surface of each sleeper which is non-protoypical.
Or is it?
I remembered seeing termite proof steel sleepers on the Cape Gauge Chemin de Fer Congo Ocean in the mountains between Brazzaville and Pointe Noire. I was doing some geological fieldwork at the time (in 2013) and we had heard of a rock formation that had to be blasted through when the railway
Having completed the first two baseboard structures, it is time for a change. All of the kit and materials for making hand built soldered copperclad sleeper track is now assembled, so a good excuse to get started on the switches (I think switch is the correct term as the point is just one part of a switch; however. . . .)
On a point of semantics, I should also add that when I last made my own track, the sleepers were made of PCB, short for printed circuit board. That acronym is apparently no
The weekend allowed me to get on with Module 2 as it rained all day Sunday and I had nothing else to do except when the Rugby was on TV.
And today I completed the joining of the two modules, forming a lightweight but rigid base:
The structures fit nicely into the spaces cut in the polystyrene and I think the height will be just right once I have added a thin cork track bed. At the moment the layout has a spacious feel about it. No doubt this will start to disappear when track is a
As noted yesterday, the lightweight frame needed more bracing to support the flexible polystyrene sheet. This support was added today, as well as bracing ready for joining Module 1 to Module 2. Two metal alignment dowels will be used as well as nuts and bolts.
The three photos show the progress so far:
1. Completed framework with additional strips to hold pre-existing structures in place:
2. Polystyrene sheet added to frame (it was not cemented when I took the photo):
3
A progress report after two days. Module 1 is the first 3' x 2' baseboard which includes the station platform, goods shed and weigh bridge hut.
I should mention here that the structures you will see on the photos were all made by Steve (steveNCB7754) and purchased last year when I first mentioned that I was looking at starting this project. Steve's models are superb and I hope I can do justice to them with the rest of the layout. (Steve, the station has been slightly disassembled on purpose,
Well, I have been waiting for this moment for quite a few weeks. Now back in France where the layout is/will be located. "is" is a bit of a misnomer because it doesn't yet exist. However the buildings, stock and materials are all here, so a start can be made.
I spent this afternoon at two Bricos in north Perpignan. The first, Brico Depot (could that be take on Home Depot, the granddaddy of DIY stores?) seemed to be a bit chaotic, so I went a few kilometers further to Tridome, a local sto
As Spring seems to be on its way, today was the last chance I had for making a photo reconnaissance of the Shipston Branch with the trees and undergrowth bare. Here is a selection of photos. But be warned, there really isn't very much left to see!
First up, at Shipston Station's site there is very little left, it is now a housing estate. But on one wall a householder has fixed a GWR cast iron plate (which was bought at the reclamation yard at Moreton so it could be originally from Shipston).
Quite a few hours later and the gas works is beginning to take shape. The smaller buildings are now missing, and the larger gas holder is just a cylinder, but the house, retort house and older gas holder have been advanced to include many of the details seen in the various photos and films. Think of this application of SketchUp as being a palette for painting a picture of something that no longer exists. Accurate scaling can come at a later date.
The front view, as might have been seen from
All else has been set aside while I try to reconstruct the gas works, based upon available plans and photos and the excellent descriptions by SteveNCB7754. This is a rough start but the main buildings and gas holders are more or less in position. None of this is accurately scaled (or even estimated) as yet but the basics are provided by the air photo and the old ordnance survey map.
There's a lot more to be done!
Edit: changed view to perspective, now the gas holders look about rig
