An investigation into Stewart Hines Pentroller.
This blog investigates Stuart Hines Pentroller and presents a layout of the board, identifies components, includes schematics and presents various oscilloscope captures of the pulse width modulation and timimg pulses in an effort to understand the function of the design. Last night, I was a pleasantly surprised to receive a telephone call from Stuart, granting permission for details of Pentroller to be presented in this blog, howeve
Brief Prototype History for the T14.
The LSWR Class T14 was a class of ten 4-6-0 locomotives designed by Dugald Drummond for express passenger service for London & South Western Railway, built at Eastleigh between 1911 and 1912. The T14 was not one of Drummonds better loco designs, they suffered from heavy coal and water consumption and the axle boxes ran extremely hot. Later modifications included removal of the paddlebox type splashers, raising the footplate and forced lubri
This project is to try and do as much as possible to finish off an L.S.W.R. class F9 4:2:4T.
Brief Prototype History for the Bug.
The bug was Dugald Drummonds inspection loco built by L.S.W.R. works at Nine Elms and completed in april of 1899, numbered 733. Original livery for the loco was apple green edged with chocolate with a black line edged either side by white. The saloon was painted dark green / brown with the upper recessed panels in salmon pink, lining for the saloon
Adding details to the chassis including springes, valves and lots more.
History.
Joseph Beattie was one of the old school locomotive designers who believed in a low centre of gravity for his locos. Boiler centre line was kept naturally low, while well tanks between the frames were employed rather than the higher side or saddle tanks. An whole series of boilers and smokebox's were designed for burning coal instead of coke. The last six and the Nine Elms locomotives had square
I needed a Tenshodo type 14:1 worm and wheel for the current project I'm working on. The Tenshodo's were about the right size and would probably do the job, but a preference for metal gears prompted this sub project. The one thing that this blog demonstrates besides novice gear making, is how much time can be spent making side tracked components before work can begin on the job in hand. Now that the gears are complete, changes have been made in the main project that may render these gears as unr
The little people in 4mm scale.
Creating figures in 4mm scale is a bit of a hit and miss affair for me. When sculpting the face, some figures turn out great, while others turn into real monsters. The initial sculpting is done in dental plaster or chalk from which a silicone rubber mould is created. From this mould is cast a white metal figure which is further detailed to become a 'master figure'. If multiple copies of the same figure are required, then a second silicone rubber moul
Continues with the development of an analog Pentroller type.
This blog brings to an end the development of an analog Pentroller type controller with a couple of versions that have turned out rather well. The blog also includes a shuttle circuit that is designed to be used in combination with the controller in a future fun type layout with automatic trains, automated chimney sweep brushes, people waving, light flashing and whatever else that springs to mind. So, while browsing the r
Here's a little design and development work on Flexichas Motor Bogies.
Been thinking for quite some time about modelling a couple of motor bogies with Sharman type suspension and although the idea I have in mind is new to me, I wouldn't be overly surprised if the idea had already been done. Some years ago, scale flange wheels were fitted to all snitzl rolling stock, which in turn made all of the fixed chassis locos unreliable due to derailing. Presently, with the exception of tw
Hello RMwebber's. Snitzl is a nickname I've had from very young, used by my mother to describe the mess I used to make whenever I made something. These blogs will illustrate whatever I've been obsessed with, whether it be sctrach building, electronics or venture's into the unknown. I tend to model whatever I like, with little thought as to location. For instance, the illustrated lattice bridge is based on a bridge that existed at Kimberley Station, Notts, which was G.N.R. and later became Mid
I've been working on a small 0:4:0 shunting locomotive for Fun Town's market stall's. I decided early on to design a new locomotive drawing inspiration from the transverse cylinder engine "Albion" and a small shunting loco De Winton. To make things even more interesting, the loco would be operated with DCC and include a DCC uncoupler with an animated operator and also, other as yet undetermined animations to be added as the project progressed. The project starts with a compensating chassis machi
Brief introduction and Wheel Quartering Jigs .
Snitzl Works blog will illustrate and describe my efforts into modifications and scratchbuilding of rolling stock / locomotives along with all the sub assemblies / components such as gearbox's, gears, worms, wheels, motor bogies, wheel quartering jigs and will also include all the trials and tribulations that can sometimes occur along the way, so perhaps this blog should be a guide on how not to modify and scratchbuild locomotives. I
Fun Town - Ice Cream Wagon.
Had this crazy idea about building a few animated wagon's that would run on DCC for Fun Town's market. The original thought's were to add movement to the 4mm scale humanoids that would occupy these stationary wagons, maybe a rotating head, guy serving ice cream, someone waving, rotating cog's / gears, steam cylinder's, and roof fan's. The animated wagon's would be similar in size to the market stall wagon's and form part of the same train. With very little pre p
This is yet another of those jobs that's been on the to-do list for a few years, yet, what prompted me to make a start on this project was the fact that I needed a turntable to showcase some of the rolling stock for future model railway video projects I'm attempting. Therefore, the project will exclude a couple of design components that I will illustrate but not include in the model.
Snitzl
I've been doing a little more work on 'De Snitzlton', a small 0:4:0 shunting locomotive for Fun Town's market stall's. This blog covers the scratch building of the wheels, connecting rods, gearbox modifications, axles, mechanical parts for the steam assisted uncoupler and the animated and non animated 4mm scale figures. I probably got to carried away a little with one figure that seemed like a good idea at the time, but after a period of calm / settling down, this figure was destined for the lay
Fun Town - Sharmans Traverser.
Mike Sharmans vertical boiler steam traverser appears briefly on a Railscene 2 video that features one of Mike's earliest multigauge layouts with some of the most unusual locomotives, rail stock and features history has ever produced. I remember reading in one of the monthly magazines that lack of information would not prevent Mike from a loco build if one took his fancy, building a scale model from a single photograph was quite acceptable to him so
Decided to cover this topic in a little more depth and detail after visiting one of my earlier blogs for some information, only to find it totally lacking in regards to the electric's and programming details for Arduino. Arduino is not something I work with everyday, the last time I tinkered was some 6 years ago in blog 'Funtown Micro Layout - Part 1', so this blog serves as a reminder to myself, for the next time I tinker. So began a re-investigation, what files did I use for programming previ
Modifications and detailing on Neilson & Co 0:4:0 Coffee Pot.
After reading other modellers blogs, its seems that quite a few of us are plaqued with infinished projects syndrome, with incomplete models littering our shelfs. In my case, I had scratchbuilt 16 locos and 5 remained unfinished, so a decision was made to try and get some of them transferred to the done section. This scratchbuilt model of the coffeepot was started some 30 years ago, but because of its racehorse like
First off I must apologize for the long delay in posting a blog, the truth is that for the time being at least, I cannot spend as much time as I'd like on model railway's. Therefore, after what seems like an eternity, here's part three of 'De Snitzlton'. This blog covers the design and construction of a trailing bogie / pony which I considered a last resort 'steam assisted uncoupler' method as I much preferred the original design that featured in Part 1, but this design failed to deliver. This b
Fun Town - Ice Cream Wagon MKII : Continuing with the crazy idea of building a few animated wagon's that would run on DCC for Fun Town's market.
Determined to have an animated figure in this build, so I went for a tea drinking ice cream seller that also rotated his head as he eyed up potential customers. Things didn't turn out quite as expected, but the final result aint to bad.
Thanks for Looking............
Verne's Tower - Flying Machine.
As part of Fun Town, I was thinking of modelling a hot air balloon that revolved around the large tower, but in the previous blog on Mike Sharmans vertical boiler steam traverser, Mikkel commented that the traverser was very much in the stye of Jules Verne in appearance. This got me thinking about maybe modelling the hot balloon baised on something Jules Verne might have designed, a web search was done and after browsing through many images a compl
Here's a couple of methods you can use for making replacement coupling rods.
Its not unusual when scratchbuilding a new loco chassis to make the rods first and use them as a jig to drill axle bearings holes or holes for axle bushes, but there are times when there's a need to make replacement rods. Here are a couple of methods that may be of use. The first method is the simplest, but requires the use of either a milling machine or compound slide mounted on a bench drill. For those t
Lattice Footbridge and Steps.
Based on a G.N.R. foot bridge that existed at Kimberley station,nottingham, this is a step by step guide to modeling the main components of this bridge, from styrene sheet. The stone support structures for this bridge are not included in this build because similar structures of that type have already been covered in other blogs. The build method is very similar to an earlier construction for Kimberley Station, with slight alterations due to lessons le
An experiment with full panel decals as an alternative to traditional lining methods.
The idea for this experimental blog came after a second attempt at lining the Beattie Well Tank.
I've often heard it said that lining rolling stock takes practice, practice practice, but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life re-spraying and lining a Beattie Well Tank, I'd sooner spend that time building, building, building, also the Beattie Well Tank required bespoke graphics that would be i
Random Stone Walls and Cover Stones.
Step by step guide to building random stone walls from styrene sheet, the slow and hard way. This illustrated guide shows the methods used to create walls on both Snitzl Town and a club layout by Ilkeston Woodside MRC of Kimberley Station, Notts.
The walls of Kimberley, as I call them, took about 8 months to complete. Not to be out done , Snitzl Town will have more.
Thanks for Looking.....
A much slower but more effective way to model roof tiles and ridge tiles.
Step by step guide to Tiling Roofs.
I've tiled most roofs on Snitzl Town using this method, and there's no doubt in my mind that the overall look is well worth the time and effort. Its worth modeling the odd building with larger tiles, and that might be a good starting point. Try not to get to much liquid poly under the tile, because really thin styrene tends to distort. Use a small artists brush, not t
