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Life inside the (2mm) Box(file)

Entries in this blog

All the Fives and Three Little Ducks - Part 2 – Body and Chassis Progress plus an interlude in Scotland

The 439 tank has progressed nicely, if slowly, but then a holiday in Fort William did intrude.   Although not in the Killin area the holiday provided plenty of opportunity to sample the C&O, whilst the family lazed on the beach at Benderloch (in glorious sunshine! ) I cycled up the coast toward Ballacullish; some of the route follows the old Ballacullish line. I was pleased to discover the old station building (and water tower) at Creagan was in the process of being refurbished by the Hol
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All the fives and three little ducks - part 1- Body and bogie

Not much modelling has been achieved in the past few months as I’ve been using all my spare time to train for an Ironman distance triathlon on the 1st June. However a bad calf strain has all but put pay to that ambition. The silver lining is that I now have a more time for modelling.   Fearnan is at one of those stages where any advancement is being resisted. The fiddle board has warped, well it would wouldn’t it? It’s the one I skimped on the bracing; I figured the small size meant it woul
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Mr Thompsons Finest brake third - Part I and the first loco

Modelling has been slow of late as work and life intrude into modelling time. In order to get some stock ready for the final track laying (and to have something to play with! ) a start has been made on the etched pixels Thompson brake third kit received for Christmas.   Kit contents:-     As can be seen the kit is a combination of etched sides and 3d printed body which should make for an easy build.   Progress after a couple of hours of modelling:-       Having carefully solder
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Gordon and the Spider

Fearnan is progressing nicely despite the festivities and a seasonal cold brought home from school by my son.   The track laying has begun in earnest and I’ve been connecting up the electrics as I go, which lead to an unfortunate diversion as I forgot to check the gapping on the PCB sleepers prior to connecting everything up! The inevitable short took around three frustrating hours to find (longer than connecting the electrics!) and explains why the gaps in the PCB sleepers are not as neat as
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Stock Pot... and a brief trip into the world of Miniture Railways

Bit of a cheat blog as the build-up to the Christmas festivities have limited modelling time, the first track is laid though, hopefully I can provide photos later in the week.   We are fortunate to be able to get a weekly dose of live steam as a few hundred meters from out house is Rudyard Lake which has a 1.5 mile 10½ inch gauge railway running along it http://www.rlsr.org/ They are currently running there Santa Trains which sounded like a great excuse for a family day out.   The Railw
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Boarded up and Boxed in

This is one of those days where a lot of effort doesn't seem to show much.   The boards are at last finished and ready for track, barring a few adjustments (e.g. the hole through the backscene to the fiddle yard is slightly too small and needs opening up).   Photos of the layout set up:-         I decided to use some small rubber feet as sold by Station Baseboards (http://www.stationro...k/cart_feet.htm) to raise the main boards slightly and align the fiddle yard board on the corr
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Concrete, not quite so Easitrac

One of the Signature elements of the Killin line I want to replicate is the track laid between the Junction and Killin. This had been re-laid in concrete sleepers in the period modelled. Whilst the line beyond Killin was left with wooden sleepers this section of the line was only used to access the loco shed at Loch Tay (although there is plenty of evidence to suggest an unregulated passenger service existing between Loch Tay and Killin). Had the line been extended to Fearnan it’s reasonable to
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Cut and Shut Station

I appreciate I am jumping around a bit in this blog, but then that reflects my modelling. I find the initial stages of any layout build a bit dull; yes, the excitement of the first stages of creation is there but previous layouts have got bogged down in the board building process. If I wanted to shape and join bit of wood as a hobby, I’d have taken up carpentry! To get around this problem I try and mix in bits of modelling, that is after all what the hobby is! The danger is that this creates ma
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Boarding Out

After last week’s disasters it’s great to be making progress again.   The main board sub-frames are now complete. The pic below shows the jigsaw puzzle against the “one I finished earlier” (Blue peter style).   Also Board One is now topped out, The pic below shows the finished article and how the fiddle board fits in. Finally an overall shot of the length of the boards.     And of course to prove the concept, packed away in the box file. A packet of goodies ha
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Progress?....or lack of?

There has been limited time this week for modelling due to a trip abroad with work (didn't get back until 6pm on Saturday). Next week doesn't look good either as I am away all week.   The point construction for board 2 has stalled pending receipt of supplies from shop 1.   I was hoping to post a picture of the first finished board, however, after assembling the laminated sides and leaving to dry (not long enough, I was rushing to get the board finished for this post) I knocked it of the work
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Carts and horses....or an outbreak of modelling

Today I really should have been finishing the carpentry for the boards and starting to laminate the sides together.   That was before I discovered my box of rail components from shop 1 .   I decided to try a combination of the easitrac construction and copperclad sleepers. I figured the copperclad would make the construction more robust.   The layout of the sleepers can be seen below:-         This time around I found the Easitrac chairs much easier to thread, the Slide chairs were
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A Plan so Cunning you could fit it in a box file

After a few frustrated days playing around with Templot I have managed to produce the various outputs below.   fearnan_early.pdf   This was the original plan based on A5.5 as a standard, the entry to the goods yard being slightly sharper at A5. The loop will be trapped in the normal position. However, advice in the last blog entry, from those who know better than me is to go with B6 as a minimum, I just couldn’t get these to fit; even A6 was too much of a squeeze, so another solution is requ
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Boxed In

A trip to Smith's on the high street found a box file on special offer (£2.99, bargain layout storage!) and the plan has been roughed out in pencil (below).     This has been generated using A4 point templates from C&L Finescale:-http://www.finescale.org.uk/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=67#2mmtemplates   I am a little concerned these switches are too sharp for larger locomotives (a standard 4MT tank was in use during the timescale modelled)and will look a little too muc
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Location, Location, Location

Now for a few words now about the location of the layout. This I find one of the most interesting bits as I enjoy the background research.   Whilst at school I discovered in the library some dusty, unloved, old railway books, among them was an early edition of John Thomas’ Callander and Oban Railway. This quickly became a favourite line; the Killin Railway in particular always drew my attention. So for this model I will be turning my back on my turn of the century LNWR fetish for something dif
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Life in 2mm so far...

Having dabbled in 2mm scale on and off for a couple of years I have decide to take the plunge and publish a blog of a layout creation in the hope of providing momentum to a small 2mm project.   My experience in 2mm is limited to re-wheeling a couple of Bachman wagons (purely to test the track built), producing some easitrac plain track and building an A6 point using copper clad sleepers (tried an easitrac point and gave up, couldn’t get it too work, sorry!). At that time my soldering skills w
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