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What's on my workbench and other musings

Entries in this blog

Postman Football, and why it's important to pack accordingly

This week I have been looking at a NRM Limited Edition Schools class 925 Cheltenham. It was sent to me along with several other DCC locos as a non-runner and the body fixing screw was loose. Problem being it had been packed inside its box without the inner tray, wrapped in a small amount of bubble wrap. Clearly it had moved around in the box quite a bit during postman's playtime (sent Special Delivery) and this is what I found when I unwrapped it ...         After a

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George's Train Set - The Rebuild Part 2

So another damp cold Saturday allowed me to get all the track laid on the centre board. The adjustment the screws allowed for at the baseboard joints worked really well - allowing for the differences in alignment that somehow crept in between mine and Santa's workshops 😉     Just need to wire up the centre board and then we at least have a layout for the Mansfield Show 🙂 Didn't take long for George to move in though ...     The lack of power does not deter

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GWR 4 wheel brake 3rd - underframe done and body started

Made some more progress with this coach this week. Underframe has been painted and the final details added. I still need to hand paint the brake pull rods black but it's about done.     I've also made a start on the body, going pretty well, all is square and fitting together quite easily     Should have painted those seats before gluing them in though ...... Oh well, I'll know better with the all 3rd S9, more seats in that one too   So once those seats are painted and maybe some sig

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Slater's All Third Part 2

After another couple of sessions we have a rolling chassis (well it would roll if I free off the bearings - a job for when they are removed for chassis painting)       I'm deviating from the order of things now as I will be making as start on the springs, axleboxes and footboards next. Save the delicate underpinnings until all the heaver engineering is done   The job is much easier with the brake third handy as a reference

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Slater's All Third - Detail no-one will ever see #2

Luggage racks now have their netting - strips of carefully cut up mozzy netting bought off eBay. I have enough netting to do the racks from the entire Slater's production until the end of time       AND FINALLY - the door ventilators are fixed and I've also cemented the top plastikard strip in place. I hope to start drilling and tapping said strip tonight to take the roof lamps which will hold the roof in place.   I'll be getting that paint out before you know it

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Deltic Prototypes - Craftsman Kit Applied

Been busy adding some of the Craftsman kit to the prepped Lima bodyshell, the main constituents are in place, grilles, nose lights etc. The "whiskers" and body stripes will be applied after painting the body.     As you can see I've started on the sandbox fillers which are very time consuming to do. First a 2x4mm hole needs making in the body then the etched part folding in a off-centre V shape. This is then inserted in the hole and glued in place. Any etch left sticking proud is filed off

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Golden Arrow Crosti - Loco in Photographic Grey

Had time for a quick dusting with grey primer, sorry Chris, they really show up the porosity in places. It really does not look this bad to the naked eye         looks like more fettling is needed before the black goes on but that's why we do the grey primer thing, it not only keys the top coat but it's great for showing those minor little imperfections.

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7mm Sentinel Brakes Fitted

Well, I've finally managed to get Pete Harvey's excellent etches soldered together and fitted to the Sentinel, and mighty fine they look too!       Just need to do some final fettling with a glass fibre pencil and then it's primer time. Should have it in satin black for the Member's Day.

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O Gauge Sentinel #2

Rapid (for me) progress today.   The bends went really well, after much agonizing and worry over getting these right they just fell into place using a 3.5mm rod held in the vice and the brass bent over it using my fingers.   Soldered to the soleplate using 145 deg solder it's starting to look like a Sentinel now     Now, here's where I have had to "modify" the kit as there seems to be two variants of the Lima 0-4-0 drive unit, one a central ringfield and another with the ringfield over

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Slater's All Third Part 3

Just a quick update, the truss rod, axleboxes, springs and footboard hangers fitted to one side     I have hit a bit of a stop now as the truss rod support for the other side was broken - I've contacted Slaters and David is sending me a new casting in exchange for a couple of stamps   I'll find something else to do on it I'm sure while I am waiting for Postman Pat

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Model Rail Sentinel - Ready for duty

Santa brought me a MR Sentinel, bless her and after clearing the deask recently I thought I'd get it ready for duty on Summat Colliery. I initially chipped it with a Hornby R8215 just to test it out and was pleased with how nicely it ran. However, in an exhibition environment I don't want a slow moving shunter to be prodded by the hand of god too often, so a StayAlive capacitor was in order.   Space being an issue I investigated the TCS DP2X-UK - no wires to worry about for a start. Looking a

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Slater's All Third - Primer!

Bit of a jump forward, but all the detailing is now done on the body and this morning I masked off the windows and got a few coats of grey primer on       Now baking off in the sun. Should get the bits that will be yellow masked off and the brown on later

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DJH Duke of Gloucester - Feeling Green

So, the rebuild of the DJH Duke of Gloucester is moving forward slowly. It has emerged from the paint shop with it's BR Green (late) paint airbrushed over the base satin black.     Green is Phoenix Precision P101 thinned to approx 50% with cellulose thinners. Three light coats over two days and now it's resting until next week in a drawer.   Some areas of black to touch up where masking failed or was impractical to do. Once the detail painting is done then I'll move on to the lining

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George's Train Set - The Rebuild Part 3 - Dead Short

Well, you'd have thought I'd have spotted that there was a short circuit way before I got to wiring up the turntable - HND Electrical & Electronic Engineering pah!   Of course having the two entries to the turntable and the desk permanently live means a dead short when you align it to one or the other entry roads. Something had to be done, I thought about insulated joints etc but decided to remove the problem altogether by making the longer curved entry into a siding and removing t

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Crosti 9F #2 - Preheater

Unlike the last Golden Arrow Crosti 9F that I built and detailed in Hornby Magazine this one's mine (and so is my time) so the standard plain flat sided preheater sections would not do.   Out came the 11mm Evergreen tube, saw and files. Together with some microstrip and a few other bits and bobs I now have this:       I've added a representation of the access door using a circle of plasticard punched out with a hole punch, decorated with microstrip and the "blower" that of course is no

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Standard Eight - continuing the merge

After getting the body and chassis together the next step was to sort out the tender coupling/drag box area. I filed 1mm off the sides of the chassis at the rear and then cyano'd a 1mm piece of plastikard over the top. A suitable hole drilled in this allowed a shoulder screw to hold the chassis in place and also provide the pivot for the Britannia tender coupling.     frame extensions were then fabricated to fill the gaps and a new plate was cut from 10 'thou brass as the Bachmann one did n

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Buffers (no longer) Wanted

I've started detailing the front end and of course as soon as I started looking at a close-up photo of a Brit it's all too clear the the standard Hornby buffers do not, as they say, cut the mustard.   A pair of Comet ones would be lovely, but they come in a pack of four and are no-where near the minimum order charge.   I've put out a wanted ad in classifieds here so if anyone has a couple to spare please PM me   UPDATE: Geoff at Comet made me an offer I couldn't refuse so watch out for b

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Servoset II - Complete

So I finally got it finished     Pretty pleased with the finish, could be better but having the drill press made the machining of the case loads easier One thing I would do different, and this goes out to anyone else who is contemplating building one of these bits of kit is that the LEDs are mounted on the track side of the pcb. This makes them very prone to being caught during subsequent handling and wiring up which cracks the pcb track!   I should have drilled a couple more holes in th

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Slater's All Third Part 4

Well, a huge thanks to David at Slater's as a package with a replacement sprue was waiting for me when I got home - I only posted off the stamps yesterday, so he must have trusted me   So the truss rod, support, axleboxes, springs and footboard hangers fitted tonight on the other side     also here's a shot of the gas cylinder and vacuum cylinder work from last night     buffer shanks and footboards next, then finish off the delicate bits underneath before (hopefully) a coat of pai

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Standard Eight - Ready for Peterborough

It's finished! All detailing added and I've even risked my own hands with an airbrush to give it a basic weathering ahead of the Peterborough BRM show   Here's a few snaps           Pretty pleased, just got to clean the wheels and sort out the chuff frequency on the sound chip. Note cut down Bachmann coupling to allow for the vac pipe on the front buffer beam.   The original 93000 will be prepared for sale at the show (or after). I will be including a copy of the Hornby mag th

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9MT A Razor Saw Let Loose

So, one loco drive Hornby 9F, plus two GBL 4MTs were attacked with a razor saw.  There's a lot of bits....      Here's all that is left of the 9F body        And I've cut and shut two sections of tank and cab from the two GBL Class 4s to make this        Also been experimenting with a Triang Princess bogie for the rear. If this works ill replace the wheels with larger more prototypical ones and this will set how long t

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Parkside RCH 5 Plank 12 Ton Wagon - 1

Picked this kit up at Wycrail along with some Bachmann NEM pocket coupling mounts. The wagon will hopefully end up as a severely distressed wagon on Summat Colliery used to ferry loco coal from the screens to the coaling stage.   Anyway, following half an hour's work this lunchtime we have this     buffers and couplings yet to fit, will rob a couple of NEM pocket couplings off Summat's 16 tonners to position the pocket mounts. I want to use the NEM pocket couplings

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Servoset II - Continued

Last night I managed to get the LEDs and push buttons fitted to the pcb and then fitted the front panel.     The front panel was tricky and takes time to get anything like right. A bit disappointing that the legend for the rotary controls does not line up fully. Something not quite right in the print methinks.   Anyway, here it it ready for the next stage which is completing the electronics.  

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Standard Eight - an unholy marriage

I received the Bachmann class 5 bodyshell from Invicta on Monday so last night I set about persuading it to sit on the Hornby 8F chassis. First obstacle was the lower section of the smokebox which fouled the cylinder block. So out came the hacksaw and slitting wheel!       I cut a slot in the rear of the chassis block to accept the mounting pillar under the cab and fitted the two together, or so I thought .... The terminal block on the motor fouled the extreme back edge of the boiler - s

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O Gauge Sentinel #5

Well, the castings from Meteor arrived as promised and mighty fine they are too. I ended up with quite a few spare bits including 5(!) buffers, a round chimney, a cast roof vent and what I think is the internal chimney.   Some modifications were needed to fit the model though. 5mm was removed from the height of the filler and the driveshafts tie bars had to be lengthened - I guess the Lima chassis has a wider wheelbase than a prototypical Sentinel. Here's how I did this:   First I cut off th

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