Entry posted by Jon020
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I recently posted an entry on the class 47 P4 conversion and detailing project that I’ve started; this will cover some other tasks tackled in the last month or so.
First of all there was a problem with my Nimbus. I only discovered this when my DCC Concepts rolling road arrived, just before Christmas. Despite attempts at lubricating the gears and bearings that were accessible, I finally came to the conclusion that the problem was with the motor... quite what the problem was, I’m still not sure, but I decided that the best option was probably a swap out.
The video (apologies for quality) illustrates the problem – the motor really growled/rattled when running in the correct orientation, but quieter when it’s turned on its side... not that that’s much use in a loco.
http://www.flickr.co...s20/6801723023/
Fortunately I had some spare motors, ok, they were installed in other locos... but a volunteer was found and it sacrificed its motor. The breakdown of Nimbus was a little fraught, but I managed the complete disassembly by taking it slowly... and keeping all bits in a small box. Once the motors were swapped, and checked both could be reassembled... picture shows donor loco and Nimbus’s chassis on the rolling road running in.
Final loco rebuild resulted in two broken brake chains – reconstructed, and a lost bogie/body shackle which was constructed afresh. I’d had trouble fitting one of these before – it just wouldn’t stay put, so this time I put a dab of glue’n’glaze into the body recess before pushing the shackle home... they can still rotate freely, but they stay in place.
So, Nimbus is finished.
In 11 days time Nimbus will be (would be) 50! “His†(all racehorses were sires... except Meld, which was sired by Alycidon – useless deltic fact of the day) entry into traffic was 12/2/52, almost a year after Royal Scots Grey.... yes, and St Paddy was of course actually the first into traffic – that wretched headlight!!!!
So, what else... Well, as reported, I picked up my first P4TC/Exactoscale turnout kit at scaleforum and I set about construction in the new year; I found that I was missing the check rail components from the kit, but a call through to Len put this right and construction continued.
Whilst quite a daunting prospect looking at all the pieces in the kit for the first time... slightly reassured by the statement in the instructions which acknowledges that it might all look quite daunting, but taken methodologically, it should be seen as a logical sequence (or words to that effect). Slightly reassured, I set about this and found that indeed it was quite a pleasant modelling exercise.
The following pictures show a few stages of assembly, the sprue of some of the myriad of checkrails and a track gauge in use. Assembly completed, I ran my TTA (P4 wheels fitted) through a few times, re-checked the back-to-backs and ran again... all seemed fine.
With some (no, alot) of guidance from Mark Tatlow I set about making the Turnout Operating Unit (TOU).
I used some copperclad fibreglass (C&L) with two short lengths of rail (Hornby did nicely – flat bottomed) soldered with about 14mm between the internal faces. The centre is isolated and a 0.5mm hole drilled for the operating mechanism link later on. At about 16mm separation two holes were drilled into the base into which two 0.6 wire lengths were inserted and their tails bent over and soldered to the underside (later filed nearly flush) The upper lengths were kept close to the rail pieces and bent over the top... cut to length and filed flat. These were then also soldered, and the outer edges filed a little to narrow their gauge. The switch rail will sit on the Hornby rail section, with the wire piece outside sat alongside the switch rail web. A thinned match stick is inserted behind the switch rail and its all soldered up (following the current soldering thread on here – and with mark’s advice using Carrs Green flux and 190 deg solder).
This was the first soldering (track power aside) that I’d done for a long long time... and that was mostly electronics. It went well IMHO.
Similar process for the other side, with a second match inserted to support the position of the TOU. All affixed, worked fine (with wagon as before) and, and, nothing plastic melted! Result!!!!!
Ok, so a few pictures of the result. The TOU sits lower than the timbers, but this will be recessed into the baseboard to allow access for the operating lever. A piece of card above the TOU will hide its appearance.
Still need to work out what form of cosmetic stretcher bars to employ... but I’ll work on that one once I’ve done some research.
Finally a lengthwise shot showing that it's not to professional's standards, but as my first attempt, I'm quite happy.
Here’s Nimbus sat atop the turnout... looking ok IMHO.
Finally, in response to something Pete said a few days ago... yes I really am ballasting my boys train set (not really a layout)... so far, I’ve only done the tunnel entrances, so I could put these in properly and finish the scenic structure – Wickes foam board with overlay of plaster soaked kitchen towel... all a bit white at the moment... but we’ll work on that! Ballast is Carrs light grey – a very dark colour for “light greyâ€, but goes down far easier than the woodland scenics stuff I used before, although its appearance is perhaps not quite so finescale... but more than suitable for the Hornby track layout... I might mix some other colours in later to lighten it – but some paint will help too.
So, that will do for a now. A slightly varied entry... but now I feel I’m up to date.
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