garethashenden's Workbench

A blog by garethashenden in RMweb Blogs

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About this blog

A mostly EM blog, combination of rolling stock and layout building with a few diversions to 2mm FS and whatnot.

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Jenny Lind Part 1

This post covers the the building of a 5&9 models "Jenny Lind" kit in EM gauge. Jenny Lind is a 2-2-2 with a six wheel tender. Singles often provide problems when it comes to powering them and this is no exception. Others have powered this kit using a modified High Level LongRider bogie and this is how I have done it as well. The only real modification is to add a central axle. The tender went together without a problem other than having to fabricate a footplate out of brass as the

garethashenden

September 22, 2014

Manning Wardle

I haven't made much progress with stock for Empire Mills recently but I have finished a RT Models kit for a Manning Wardle, the Selsey Tramway's 'Ringing Rock'. I've posted it off to it's owner today so time to share the pictures.

garethashenden

August 19, 2014

850 Part 4

More progress has been made. The rods are fitted and the quartering adjusted. It runs!!! I think it needs a little adjustment, it's not as smooth as it could be a very slow speeds. But still, the split chassis works as do the CSBs. I've fitted the springs, sandboxes and buffers. I've also fitted the brakes and primed the whole chassis. Since the picture was taken everything has been painted black. I still need to fit something to represent the bottom of the boiler, otherwise the motor

garethashenden

July 5, 2014

Odds and ends

No real progress on the 850 recently, but I have a few part finished (as always) projects. First up is an Iron Mink. This is the ABS whitemetal kit. There are a few things I've changed though. I wanted to model one of the earlier built ones with grease axleboxes rather than the oil ones fitted to the kit. This presented a slight problem in that the w-irons and axleboxes were integral to each other. In the end I removed all of it and fitted Comet etched w-irons and MJT axleboxes. Everythin

garethashenden

June 14, 2014

Finescale American N

I have made a point using FS 160 standards. These are basically 2mmFS standards regauged to 9.0mm instead of 9.42mm. I've been wanting to try this for a while, now I have. I'm quite please with how it came out and will be continuing with these standards. Lots of pictures:

garethashenden

June 7, 2014

850 Part 3: Bodywork

Now that the chassis is mostly done it's time to do the body. This is all pretty standard etched kit building, so how about more pictures than words? Forming the curved splashers was a bit fiddly, but not too hard. The option front steps were added as they are present on my prototype (1907). The half cab was folded up and soldered in position followed by the cab floor and cab wheel covers. One issue with building the locomotive with a split chassis is that the footplate will cause a sh

garethashenden

June 5, 2014

850 Part 2

If part 1 was about springing, part 2 is about pickups. I hate pickups. They're fiddly and unreliable and a pain in the backside. There must be a better way. About 9 months ago I built a replacement 2mm FS chassis for a Farish Jinty. That went together very easily and without the need for pickups as the 2mm Association recommends split chassis. Why isn't this more common in 4mm, it's so simple. The Jinty: There are three things that need to be done differently with a spit chassis. The

garethashenden

June 3, 2014

850 Part 1

One can never have too many projects on the go at once. So lets start a third locomotive, before finishing the other two. This may sound like the worst idea ever, but there is actually some logic behind it. The second locomotive is Duncan's Buffalo. This should be a straightforward job of reassembling the chassis, I'm just not in the mood today. The first locomotive is my 517. The next thing to do on that is to build the chassis. This is starting to sound like a familiar stopping point, but ther

garethashenden

May 30, 2014

Duncan's Buffalo

Now this really is Duncan's fault. I was handed a part built Alan Gibson Buffalo pannier tank kit and told to get on with it. I looked it over briefly and it looked ok in most respects at a quick glance. This kit had been set aside do to life getting in the way rather than encountering a major problem, so it should be straight forward to finish it, or so I thought. I started with the brakes. They were already assembled, so I put them in position, fitted the pull rods and soldered everything

garethashenden

May 26, 2014

More dumb buffers

Continuing from this post, I've made lots of progress on these wagons, they're almost done. I received some quite helpful advice from the original designer of the kits. The etched floor is a newer addition to the kit and explains why I have been having so much trouble with it. A suggestion of single brakes was met with enthusiasm by me and promptly fitted to the three wagons without brakes. I decided to invent a coal merchant and name it after a friend so I hand lettered all the wagons for C. S

garethashenden

May 25, 2014

517 the First; Part 1

Being a student, funds are tight. Small bits can be acquired here and there but complete locomotive kits are out of the question. So when Empire Mills received a donation of a Hornby GWR 1400 I took the opportunity to do something with it. After letting it mature for about 18 months I decided the best thing to do was cut it up and make a 517 instead. This fits well with the Edwardian era china clay layout that will be Empire Mills' next incarnation. After studying a number of pictures and dr

garethashenden

May 8, 2014