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MGR Hooper!'s Blog
 

OO gauge British Railways Class 89 - Part IV

Hey!   It's another hour or so put into the Class 89. Some finer details added. The body is almost done. Just looking out for detailed images of the roof and pantograph well. If anyone can help with those, I'd really appreciate it.       I've received quite a few PMs about it both online and offline. Thanks for all your kind words and support.   Cheers
TS's lockdown diary
Day 44: compound gears = slower?

Day 44: compound gears = slower?

Following on from yesterday, I've assembled the mount and motor unit, with the new compound gear. The previous version had a 3:1 gear ratio, multiplied by whatever the original Hornby gear ratio is. The revised version is 4.6:1, so it should make a noticable difference. This motor also has a rear shaft for a flywheel! Now I need to find a loco to put it in...  
The Sayersbridge and Penmouth Railway
 

Close, but not quite a cigar

The first full assembly. With the living room floor cleared, I have been able to do a test assembly of the left and right throat boards, to check their overall alignment in combination with the old curves from a previous test layout build. It was very nearly spot on. Unfortunately the natural variability of a less skilled hand made build has meant that there's a slight gap between the two fill-out boards added to the curves. I'd already added 9mm ply ends to them as I knew they'd come out short,
Ian J.

Ian J.

2
Sudrian Histories
Making Art Deco-Style Sudrian Posters

Making Art Deco-Style Sudrian Posters

Hello, I have been entertaining myself with trying to make posters for the North Western Railway in a sort of Art Deco style to try and root my version of the NWR in the world and give it more than just some models. Here's how I did it!       If you are interested in buying one, my shop is here:   https://www.railwaymania.net/shop
Corbs

Corbs

3
rockershovel's Blog
 

Aid to the imagination

Having for all practical purposes, at least semi-retired, I’ve been slowing down a bit... oh, quite a lot.    Had a slightly tedious evening actually using the office/study for that purpose, it was dark when I finished so I just turned off the lights and switched on the train presently laid out on the floor and watched it amble round, headlight on, lighted caboose in... very relaxing...
Strive for progress, not perfection.
 

Dunwich Ales

It’s not quite there yet but it’s close. The sign came out okay, but getting it to look right took a bit. Water tower and canopy were attached today along with the finished roof but there’s still one to do. I repainted the gantry to tone in a bit more. The goods platform will be an L shape going around the left end. I’m aiming for the weekend to finish this, so add another week!   Thanks for looking.
Fen End Pit's Blog
Blast from the past - Video of 'The Works'

Blast from the past - Video of 'The Works'

I was contacted last week by Keith Barker of the Ely MRC, he had been occupying himself during lock-down sorting out old media files on his PC. He had located some video of a model narrow gauge cement works railway taken at the Stowmarket in 2001 and thought it might be my layout. He was happy for me to post it up on Youtube, so I added a bit of a commentary and it is now there for all to see.   I built 'The Works' in the 1990's and exhibited it for a few years prior to selling it some
TS's lockdown diary
Day 43: Hornby 0-4-0 regearing test

Day 43: Hornby 0-4-0 regearing test

So a few days ago, I mentioned how the original version of this mod wasn't working properly... well, now it is! Having tightened everything up, and given it a bit of oil, it's working. It's not hugely slower than the original, but it will get tamed when the heavier bodywork is put back on, the plastic chassis is very light on its own. But you can see from the old motor mount just how much smaller this motor is, which will allow me to build some less chunky locos on it. Now the question is, do I
MGR Hooper!'s Blog
 

OO gauge British Railways Class 89 - Part II

Done for the day...happy with the progress. I'll get on with the pantograph well tomorrow.     Any feedback is much appreciated. I'm looking to make it better and as close as possible to the level of detail achieved by RTR models. If the CAD images interest you and if you want it in kit form, drop me a PM and I'll selling this as a kit.   Cheers Hayley.
MGR Hooper!'s Blog
 

OO gauge British Railways Class 89

A Monday and Tuesday well spent. Not accurate, but all we've had access to is a very bad quality scale drawing that has errors in it. But hopefully it will be better than the kit currently available. And maybe, just maybe...this might result in one of the mainstream manufacturers doing it once we've finished the CAD.     Cheers!
Modelling the 1840s in HO
"... lessons have been learned." *

"... lessons have been learned." *

I always said that my micro-terminus was an experiment - and the whole point of an experiment is to learn lessons. I quickly realised that my layout had two major faults: (a) the foamcore baseboard was so light (250 grams including rails and fittings) that I had to put a finger on top of it every time I changed a point to prevent it moving about on the tabletop, and (b) the traverser, driven by a rod under the baseboard, suffered a bit from friction and it often needed some finger-poki
Kingston Bridge
4. Doin' the Run Around

4. Doin' the Run Around

Copper vs Steel   One of the point control wires I installed last week has broken where it bends 90º through the point bar, which I think tells me all I need to know about my copper vs steel wire conundrum...  Oh well, no going back now. So I‘ve reinforced it with an L pin made from 1.2mm wire through the point bar and soldered it back onto the existing control wire for now. Meanwhile, new 0.4mm stainless steel wire has arrived, (thank you Wires.co.uk)  which means I can
GWL

GWL

0
TS's lockdown diary
Day 42: controller testing

Day 42: controller testing

PCB now assembled, and it seems to be working! Once I remembered to alter the code (some things are in slightly different places than they were on the breadboard prototype), the PWM control seems to be working ok. The throttle is a little bit unreactive, though I can solve that with more code (fun!) and by using a proper power supply instead of the fairly flat 9v cell I was testing with.    
Kingston Bridge
3. Kadee's Man

3. Kadee's Man

Kadee Couplings! For those that don’t know, they’re a more realistic looking coupling for model railways than the usual bulky tension lock ones we get on most models in the UK. They are made by an American company called Kadee (pronounced Kay-Dee as in K & D). Kadee just look more like something you’d expect to see on a train, and allow coaches and wagons to run closer together.   I ordered a selection of Kadee’s for NEM pockets from Hattons, along with the rod magnets I’d ordered
GWL

GWL

20
Turning the Clock Back
 

Three Feet and Thrupenny bit problem (and a drastic solution)

So my last entry found me trying to debug  the point work in the station throat and the curved approach track.  I had replaced the first 10cm of the approach curve as most stock fell off without fail at the point marked with an arrow:     sadly, all that happened is that the stock ran on the replaced track and then fell off at the next original section -dash it.  Here the obvious occurred to me.  Even though I thought I had laid this curve very carefully, I had not taken suf
pbkloss

pbkloss

0
Notes from the loft
Going round the bend

Going round the bend

Maybe this is not that interesting for everyone, but then I started to lay the track and that is when I realised I wanted to share a couple of things that'll be more useful to others: Lofts can experience a wide range of temperatures and humidity which can deform track and baseboards, particularly in the summer. This did affect me last year even though there is no direct sunlight coming is as the velux windows face due North. Some of my track did move in the hot weather and as my layout
deepfat

deepfat

0
Modeling the Sena Sugar Estates.
A Bellis & Morcom Generator part 3

A Bellis & Morcom Generator part 3

It’s finally finished, even though it didn’t take that long. The side batches have been added, sometimes these have been substituted in museums for heavy duty glass, so that the public can see inside. The generator side is all done and painted, now a small box is needed for the switches. All that is left now is to find a suitable spot in the mill  and plumb it in to the steam lines, I’ll post a picture in the next entry, which will hopefully be when the motive power comes wandering in courtesy o
sigtech's Blog
 

Sproston, some new pictures.

Hello again. very little new here to report-  except for the latest pictures of the new signalling... ( at last lower quadrant inner home bracket signals! ) and the arrival and refurbishment ( via EBAY ) of an ex LMS. 42' bogie CCT, ( LIMA ) finished in BR. maroon, more npccs....!  
sigtech

sigtech

2
TS's lockdown diary
Day 41: controller PCBs

Day 41: controller PCBs

Along with the measuring thing that turned up yesterday were the PCBs for my prototype controller. The quality is pretty good for cheap Chinese-made boards, although I've noticed a few errors already! This was only ever supposed to be a prototype to run my test track though, I'll do an updated version when I get round to needing a controller for the layout.   So now I'll have to find my SMD soldering tip and crack on. And think of some kind of case to put it in...  
Leith Central
Converting a Pipe Wagon to an ODA and Finishing the Roads

Converting a Pipe Wagon to an ODA and Finishing the Roads

So i got the roads finished on Leith Central and the works outshopped 2 more wagons.   First of all the road surfaces.   Equipment: Fine Sandpaper, Wood Glue & Dark Grey Primer.   I simply spray sandpaper dark grey and stick it down not much else to say than that. I then use Metcalfe paving for pavements. Details are slowly being added to the streets using scale model scenery bits and i can really recommend giving their 70s bus stops a go. Great kit that ca
A Sussex countryside model railway
Definitely need to focus..

Definitely need to focus..

..on the modelling.  But, to be honest, this really grabbed my interest as a bit of a technical "can I actually get that to work?" way.  The answer is "Yes", but what is it?   I decided to see if I could make a simple hand held railway controller that be used to operate a DCC layout.  When I say "a" DCC layout, I really ought to be clear and say that I meant "our" DCC layout:  JMRI with a DCC++ interface.   I wanted it to be as simple as possible to operate, and as simple as
jeff_p

jeff_p

2

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