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Pennine Snow

Dave at Honley Tank

Entry posted by Dave at Honley Tank

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Yes, we've had a fair bit of snow up here!

I set off for Dean Hall (MMRS clubrooms) this a.m. and had to turn back as local roads increasingly were white covered as I climbed. OK at home, we're about 600'ASL, but within less than a mile from home I reach about 800' and by the time I reach the Pennine Way crossing of the Greenfield Road, perhaps three miles, we're at about 1500'. I gave up at about the 850' level, on new, wet, white snow, - with still well over thirty miles to go it seemed most prudent.

I was supposed to be one of the tutors for a soldering course but there were to be two others so i'm sure i'll not be missed (except for Margaret's cakes!).

 

'Honley Tank' - (the workshop) is still not seeing much of me, as the card cutting machine and the related CAD prog is commanding total attention.Margaret's craft room used to be the visitor bedroom and is nicely heated, and as the card cutter is for her use too, its installed in there, with a couple of laptops. Heating 'Honley Tank' is good but being electric it's rather expensive to run at a comfy working temperature. So I'm saving a bit of dosh in this cooler weather.

 

These card cutters will, I'm quite sure, be an increasing part of our hobby in the modern digital world, Computer draws an item very accurately and the cutter cuts laminae material equally accurately, so many of the hand-eye coordinated skills become less important in producing your scratch built whatever.It's a fairly steep learning curve, particularly for the computer illiterate but I'm sure that, for me at least, it will lengthen my modelling life.

 

In the 1970's I started on a project to scratch build a GCR 6-wheel brake van; more or less completed the body in plasticard but then got bogged-down trying to make a Cleminson-type underframe. I decided to restart this model and use it as the subject of my first attempt at a true modelling project based on the card cutting machine. I now have two new bodies, both better than that 1970's version but perhaps not yet quite what I wish to achieve.

 

There's much more info about these machines elsewhere on rmweb - try a search on "Silhouette", - or feed in "topic 79025". i 've put some pics up there if you wish to see my progress.

 

BFN,

Dave

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3 Comments

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MikeOxon

I've found that the 'Brassmasters' Cleminson chassis works well under 6-wheel coaches (the chassis is suitable for 00, EM, or P4)

 

Mike

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buffalo

I've been watching the card cutter topic with interest to see how people get on with cutting out the 'lacework' for coach beading. I have a couple of brass coaches with incomplete beading (they are in a later form when the beading was partly removed, but I want to backdate them). At first I thought about soldering together many layers of thin brass shim and attempting to mill the block into suitable shapes, but I'm beginning to think one of these cutters might do the job with the thinnest plasticard.

 

I've found that the 'Brassmasters' Cleminson chassis works well under 6-wheel coaches (the chassis is suitable for 00, EM, or P4)

 

Mike

 

I agree that the Brassmasters kit is nice to build and quite effective, but I suspect they are overkill for many situations. I have several German H0 six wheel coaches with a sliding central axle which work very well down to two foot radius (I expect they do tighter but I have nothing suitable to try). I've also used a similar approach in P4 which handles 4' curves with ease and have calculated that with 00 wheels they would work down to about 18". I'm not sure whether Dave is intending his coaches for EM or P4, and maybe EM would be a problem given that the outer width of EM wheels is a little wider than P4.

 

Nick

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Dave at Honley Tank

I've found that the 'Brassmasters' Cleminson chassis works well under 6-wheel coaches (the chassis is suitable for 00, EM, or P4)

 

Mike

Thanks for that Mike but the reference to Cleminson is spurious really. It was some 45 years ago when I part-made that model, it's probable that I'd been reading about such devises for the first time and set off to make one with negligable understanding of them. This 6-wheeler certainly don't need one!

It will have front and back sprung-axlebox W-irons with non-working middle W-irons and the middle.

axle will be on internal bearings with about 0.020" side-play.

 

For Nick:

Not coaches but a six-wheeled brake van. I build all my rolling stock to run on S4 track, - greater B-B than P4 - but capable of having the P4tread wheels pushed in for EM track.

 

Incidentally, I've never had problems with differing tyre profiles; most of my scratch-built locos run on my own wheels made as per Sid Stubbs (etal at MMRS). His wheel profile is for a well worn tyre and I've run such wheels happily on OO; EM; P4 & S4.

 

I've also thinned down Hornby & Bachmann RTR wheels, usually for EM, and had no problems.

 

I've read a lot of rubbish about wheel standards!!!!

 

Dave

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