O10800WB - a little holiday modelling

 

by 10800

 

original page on Old RMweb

 

 

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??? posted on Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:08 pm

 

Blimey, is it so long ago I last looked at these?

 

Yesterday I decided to try out the operating system concept described earlier in this thread on the nearly-finished Eridge up starters. Remember that the idea is to have the signals unpluggable, so no connections or hook ups with gubbins underneath. Real engineers should look away now please ...

 

Firstly, the main bits - signal, various diameters of brass bar and telescopic tubing, razor saw, mitre box etc

 

 

I slid some tube over the ends of the control wire. They are different lengths so that the 'clock weights' finish at different levels for convenience (Eridge has plenty of room under the boards for this). The tube was soldered in position (at the end away from the signal baseplate) with the other end hard up against the baseplate guide tube with the signal in the stop position, thus making a limit of movement when returning the signal to on. The wire was snipped off at the end leaving about 1 mm proud.

 

 

I don't have a pillar drill or a lathe so out came the minidrill stand. Having cut lengths of 3/16" brass bar in the mitre box with the razor saw I wanted to drill a 1mm hole in the centre that would fit over the protruding wire left over from the previous stage.

 

 

 

I probably didn't drill quite deep enough because soldering the bar onto the wire and butting it up against the tube whilst keeping everything in line was a bu**er. At least I found a use for the two pairs of reverse tweezers, one with the offset points! Next time of course I will drill a 3/16 hole in a block of wood for the bar to stand up in while doing this, but it worked anyway.

 

 

 

The original idea was to slide 7/32" brass tube over the bar and solder it to the underside of the baseplate to act as a support and guide, but the resulting additional friction prevented the easy movement of the bar, even after lubrication with graphite. Probably because of the alignment issue referred to above (I could have said I put the slight dog-leg in deliberately to give more clearance between the two weights! ). But it seems fairly robust anyway, and the 5/8 tube which will go over the lot (and plug into 21/32 tube mounted in the baseboard) will provide additional protection.

 

Main thing is it works. The brass bar is heavy enough to pull off the signal arms under gravity when support from below is removed.

 

 

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Comment posted by pinkmouse on Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:47 pm

 

Hmmm. Fail safe? I think not. The Ministry of Transport inspecting officer might have something to say about that!

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??? posted on Sun Feb 22, 2009 12:53 pm

 

Damn you Carruthers, you've spotted the flaw in my design!

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Comment posted by beast66606 on Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:57 pm

 

I made a signal with working mechanical slotting using similar techniques - but mine did fail safe - although the balance weights were at the bottom of the post so a lot easier

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??? posted on Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:21 am

 

Mounting tube now fitted, also lamps, finials, balance weights, the main ladder and a phone/electric cabinet. Apart from sorting out the SOUs underneath, which will have to wait until that bit of the layout is finished, all that's left to do on this one is some plasticard support plates at the top of the main lattice post and then paint it. Then it's on to finish the other two Eridge brackets.

 

 

 

 

 

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Comment posted by timlewis on Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:34 pm

 

Looks excellent Rod: well done. I'm a long way off building signals yet, but looking forward to it in a masochistic kind of way

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??? posted on Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:55 pm

 

Cheers Tim - for a first one it's taken a while, so long that I look back at some of the initial work on it and cringe in a way that only the builder can about his own creation! The next two will be a bit troublesome because of having to add more landing at the front, but it's all experience ... oh yeah, and fun as well

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Comment posted by pinkmouse on Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:18 am

 

Look forward to seeing them next time you're up, very impressed with pics.

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??? posted on Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:58 pm

 

While on holiday last week I took along a small toolkit and a pile of plastic wagon kits with the intention of putting a few of the basic body shells together and giving some impetus to finishing them in the forseeable future

 

As an aside, we stayed in the village at Portmeirion, and the views from our carefully-selected double aspect apartment were like this

 

 

 

Anyway, here is the basic set up - piece of plate glass, cutting mat, small try-square, some MEK and a few files and knives

 

 

By the end of the week I had put the bodies of these together (most of one rainy day and a few other odd hours while Mrs 10800 was reading):

 

Three Parkside BR standard 12 ton vans and a Ratio LMS van. None of the roofs are fixed yet (the floor in the case of the Ratio van) pending addition of lead weight. The Parkside vans were quite old (labels with 'W&H Models, ??????‚??1.95'!) and the floors needed trimming to fit so there was quite a bit of draw-filing going on. Fortunately I glued together the two side/end pairs and then joined them together rather than building around the floor as per the instructions.

 

 

Chivers SR 20 ton mineral, Ling, Tunney and two Parkside Grampus. The Chivers kits are a joy to put together, showing how a bit of thought and design can aid the modeller (just like the old Chivers brass kits) and the moulding quality is superb. Because of the tabs and guide ridges you have to put these together in the stated order! The newer Parkside Grampus were pretty good too.

 

 

Parkside LNER extra long CCT, rain strips filed off because they're in the wrong place (will glue some plastic strip on in the right places later)

 

 

Parkside Mink G (a dedicated Masokits chassis will be going under this)

 

 

Chivers pigeon van, again a lesson in how to make a good plastic kit

 

 

And finally a Cambrian Salmon. This was a bit of a pig compared to the others - soapy plastic (all black so it was hard to see what was going on half the time), lack of crispness, poor mating surfaces etc. In this particular kit the floor is in two halves which you have to just butt-join together, and the sole bars and internal bracing have nothing in particular to attach to. Here is the recommended use of a square to line them all up:

 

 

Despite all that, when it's painted and weathered it will hopefully turn out to be acceptable, especially with 2 or 3 track panels as a load

 

 

I'm away again next week (work this time) so I'll see what I can do with a few Bedford springing units in the hotel in the evening and get some of these rolling.

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Comment posted by Adam on Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:54 pm

 

Hi Rod

 

Impressive productivity there, more so if you get them finished! If you think the Salmon was a fiddle, wait 'til you get to the track panels, and more particularly, the chains... One tip you may find of use based on dad's experience. Weighting and keeping these wagons from warping can be a problem which dad resolved by gluing (I think he used some form of reasonably heavy duty epoxy - not Araldite) a pair of bicycle spokes to the underside of the wagon. A useful 2 in 1 approach.

 

Adam

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Comment posted by timlewis on Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:22 pm

 

Well, you have been busy! Pretty impressive. Now all you need are the W-irons, and the wheels, and the brakegear, and the weight, and the sprung buffers (you did think ahead and drill for them before joining ends to sides didn't you ), and the vac pipes, and the painting, and the transfers and the weathering. So, nearly finished then .

Seriously though, that's a damn fine effort for a couple of days work. Amazing what can be done with a bit of forward planning and some uninterrupted modelling time. (And a nice view from the window too).

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Comment posted by Captain Kernow on Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:33 pm

 

But he won't have been able to enjoy the view if he's been enjoying the view of the underside of a Cambrian Salmon instead!!

 

Good start to the wagon fleet, Rod, and as Tim says, the hard work (but fun! ) is still to come!....

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??? posted on Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:18 pm

 

Hi Adam

 

What's the problem with the track panels - I was just going to make some 60 ft lengths using Exacto thick ply sleepers and chairs, am I missing something?

 

Now that doesn't surprise me at all - I was thinking in terms of thin strips of lead sheeting in between the trusses and around the bogie pivots, but the bicycle spokes idea is quite good

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??? posted on Sun Mar 15, 2009 10:20 pm

 

Might have done ...

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Comment posted by Tony W on Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:42 pm

 

Hi Rod

 

Since you've been so busy modelling I'm guessing you weren't on Porthmadog High Street the other day at 5:30 in the morning to see the first train to travel between the Festiniog and Welsh Highland Railways.

 

Hope you had a good holiday

 

Tony

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??? posted on Sun Mar 15, 2009 11:54 pm

 

Unfortunately not Tony - I only learned about it afterwards, and I doubt if Mrs 10800 would have been impressed if I'd gone out to see it anyway!

 

We did travel on the Ffestiniog on that day though (see separate thread), will be back in September for the full Monty most probably!

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Comment posted by nevardmedia on Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:06 pm

 

Nice looking job them there signals!

How did you 'chunky up' the etched laddering? Solder?

You're a lucky man - If I took all my modelling stuff when we go on holiday, the Mrs would be seriously upset "this is a supposed to be a break from everything so you can spend quality time with me"

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Comment posted by Grimleygrid on Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:25 pm

 

Wow, the semaphore signal looks fantastic. Absolutely stunning modelling.

 

I am impressed that you can take modelling on holiday with you. Mrs. Grimley would not be for that!!

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Comment posted by Adam on Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:56 pm

 

The tedium of doing it?

 

No, seriously, it's the chains to hold them on that are the real fiddle factor (unless you get into drilling holes in the end of the rail for the fishplates of course...). Stick them on firmly enough of course and there's a bit of rigidty from the rail too, which is handy.

 

Adam

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??? posted on Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:46 pm

 

Cheers Chris

 

The ladder was just strengthened by tinning all over (still illegal in some counties I believe ) before removing from the fret. I think it still needs a support bracket half way up but I don't remember seeing one on photos of the signal concerned.

 

As for taking modelling stuff on hoilday, it was Mrs 10800's suggestion - on rainy days she relaxes by reading and I model!

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??? posted on Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:48 pm

 

I'll have to check out some photos as to how it was done and see what the options are

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