Jump to content
 
  • entries
    73
  • comments
    494
  • views
    77,692

About this blog

Previously documenting the recreation of a small sliver of Oxfordshire in miniature finescale with regular deviations into the rolling stock being built as a distraction this blog has been renamed to reflect the decision not to finish Littlemore in the near - mid future.

Entries in this blog

You've Been Tangoed - GWR Modelling Cliché No. 1 - Part 1

After an offer to Rabs of a file to try on his (then new) printer rather a lot of time passed and after an almost near miss with the postal service a little package arrived through the door recently with a bright orange one of these in it.     The detail is comparable to some of the finest stereolithography that I have witnessed from professional bureaus. I know Rabs has spent quite a lot of time tweaking and practicing, refining the machine and the process and it has been worthwhile. The n
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

10

You Shall Go to the Ball

The aim was to have a portable layout that wasn't a micro shunting plank that would fit in to our (rather small) car. There's nothing wrong with shunting planks but I wanted the whole station, preferably uncompressed. I drive a Citroen C2, and there's not much room in the back. Unfortunately hobbies that require large objects to be moved don't fit in well with a love of small French hatches.   Initially I thought the layout could fit behind the rear seats, but this is a daft shaped space that
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

3

Why I'm Ripping My Track Up

I've started work moving the layout forward again. Here's a photograph of progress since I got back from Peterborough. Progress has gone backwards to move forwards. I've printed out and mocked up the main railway buildings, the station and signal box. I want to get these started, and they can be worked on and completed before being incorporated into the layout when it is ready. That bit is all fine so far. You will see that a large chunk of the rear siding has been removed.     It seems fas
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

11

Where'd it go?

I visited Littlemore recently to take some photographs of the site as it is today and better understand the topography. Here are just some of the pictures I took to help with the layout, along with some explanation to help make sense of them.   The site of the station itself is now occupied by a fabricators. Here is how the approach looks today from the road:     and the approach itself:     The station buildings are long gone. The road is carried on an overbridge, mostly built up ov
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

0

What Have I Done?

Oh dear. I had a day out on the 2mm association stand with Littlemore today and the conversation went something like:   "Are you going to exhibit your layout then?" "Yes." "When do you plan to have it ready for?" "If I have it in a somewhat presentable state within a couple of years I'll be reasonably happy." "Would you come to such and such exhibition?" "Er..." "When is it?" "I'm not sure I want to commit to anything right now." "Usually January." "Oh, okay." "Shall we say January 201
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

8

Wagons Roll

After a frustrating Easter weekend trying in vain to produce TOUs to any design that might have the necessary pre-requisites I eventually figured something out. This has allowed me to get on with track laying. I'm not convinced that Easitrac is any quicker than soldered construction. It is undoubtably easier if you are scared of a soldering iron and will probably have improved appearance compared with solder blob chairs. However I am in no doubt that Versaline is the current daddy where appearan
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

6

Wagons Also Spin

Actually that's a lie because although last night saw the wagon turntable installed it is permanently fixed in line with the main siding.     The outer slots are from when the turntable would have been broad gauge. Information that I have been able to locate suggests that the castings that formed the outer ring were hacked on site when the gauge conversion was made.     The wood deck is removable for the moment to facilitate painting. It also requires the planking scribed in.   The e
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

0

Unfinished Business

Sometimes it will be the case that when you post a photo of your work on RMWeb there is a helpful person who will kindly point out what is wrong with it. That was the case with my MR coke hoppers. What was missing?     The handrail at the right hand side of the wagon. Now they are finished?   I was waiting on some more container securing chains from N Brass Locos to finish off the GC machinery/implement wagon. They arrived earlier this week and I probably spent as long cutting the hooks,
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

9

Trigger Happy

A little update regarding my RSU woes: I got hold of aforementioned Carr's solder paste and have successfully constructed a couple of RCH wagon underframes without the problems encountered previously. It amazes me how little solder paste is required to produce a solid joint. My only issue now is the dispensing of the paste from the syringe. Even the most gentle momentary squeezing, it seems, will produce a string of the stuff oozing out of the nozzle after I put it down. I've taken to leaving it
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

7

Travelling in Style

Apologies for anyone who's been holding their breath: this entry has been a while because I keep getting distracted any time I come on rmweb and run out of time before I get to updating this. Sorry.   This expands on a thread in the 3D Printing and CAD group on my experiment in 3D printing model railway items. I have a job that uses a 3D CAD system extensively so I have a 'leg up' (as one person kindly put it) on the skills required to create a file for printing. Having used similar technology
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

10

Time Travelling Equine Transport - Back Dating and Detailing The N Gauge Lima Horsebox - Part 4.

What might have been the last vaguely sunny evening of the year was used for getting the undercoat sprayed out in God's own paint booth. I am still working on a representation of the lake livery, which I personally think should be darker than most renditions I have seen. A mixture of a dark brown and deep red from the citadel range was used in this case.   I thought I had all the details added and then, upon opening the white(ish) colour for the roofs, I realised there were no rain strips on t
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

13

Time Travelling Equine Transport - Back Dating and Detailing The N Gauge Lima Horsebox - Part 3.

It's been a while due to reducing this sprawl     to something that was presentable. There was a concession to keep one desk for now (by the window) and so I have this week finally manage to squeeze a few useful hours furthering the odd project not currently mothballed.   The horse boxes had a number of parts made or cut from the frets with the potential for loss when packed and I wanted to get them fitted. I had originally planned to finish these for next weekend and am now on a promise
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

6

Time Travelling Equine Transport - Back Dating and Detailing The N Gauge Lima Horsebox - Part 2.

More work on the horsebox. I had hoped to make some more progress but it has been too hot and sticky to spend time upstairs in front of a window that looks west on an evening! I did manage to get some of my UPOs (un-painted objects) undercoated as a result of the hot weather allowing access to the garden without fear of disaster so it's not all bad.   The end steps were added next. I thinned down some styrene angle to something like the correct dimensions so that steps could be cut uniformly t
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

3

Time Travelling Equine Transport - Back Dating and Detailing The N Gauge Lima Horsebox - Part 1.

Amongst the many other things that I alude to on my workbench in previous entries there have been a selection of horse boxes growing in number for some time. I am currently (still) working on a pair of GCR and an M&GN item from David Eveleigh along with a pair of Lima GWR items, that are the subject of this entry. I know they are branded LMS but from what I can gather from published books and photographs they are meant to be a GWR vehicle to diagram N16 and the LMS didn't have a vehicle anyt
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

12

Time Ticks By

After more procrastination than really should have been necessary a somewhat productive afternoon finally occurred with the final pieces of the switch operating mechanism fabricated and fitted allowing the lever frame to operate the switches for the first time.   I reused the telescoping square section motion limiters linked to the new TOUs and had the operating rods from the motors move these. The linkage between the motion limiters and the TOU is soldered directly to the TOU wire but some ad
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

0

Thinking of TOU

Work is ongoing on the station platform. The construction method comprising a 5mm foam board core edged with PECO brick platform mouldings seems to be working well. The ramps have been made with some creative slotting and mitres from the straight pieces to produce the desired angle for the length of slope.   I have also taken some time re-organising the mess in my area of the hobby room. The milling machine has been set up and tried out, although running and cutting at 20,000rpm is quite noisy
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

7

The Realisation I'm an Idiot

A New Year means that exhibition season is under way. It used to start earlier back in the North but there isn't a lot locally until January and then it's St Albans, Southampton and then it is busy through until March until it's over for another year. Returning from St Albans the realisation hit me of what I had done to myself. Then I get an email from an exhibition manager to confirm details for next year that very much confirmed it. I am an idiot. I unwittingly talked myself into this over a y
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

15

The rain stopped, briefly.

The weather eased for a few days at the same time as I had booked some leave. I had hoped that the two would coincide and must have got lucky. As a result a lot has happened to the baseboards, but nothing picture-worthy. What I have done is organised a lot of items for the layout. I have had a couple of orders of baseboard fittings arrive. These are all now fixed so the boards lock and peg together when folded. When unfolded the feet are adjustable in height. After a large amount of corrections
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

0

Switch Surgery (Not for the Faint of Heart)

No update last week because after I had fitted the first of my revised TOU mechanisms and feeling good about it I moved on to the others only to discover that the rebates in the other board were not as deep by 0.8mm!   Oh-oh!   I had to make the rebate deeper somehow and really didn't want to be rebuilding the switches. Inspiration came to me quickly and I was able to achieve the unthinkable in a reasonably short space of time.   I used a 3mm graver for the one nearest the board edge wh
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

9

Stop. It's the end of the line.

I haven't given up! This evening I've put together one of the new range of buffer stops available from the 2mm SA.     The etch folds in half to make up double thickness portions. A Z-fold makes the alignment of the three 'rail' portions to be joined quick easy. A choice of wood (represented by six thickness' of etch) or rail cross beams are supplied on the fret, but nothing looks quite as good as wood as wood itself. Using wood for the cross beam also solves the problem of isolating one ra
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

8

Staying Focused

From this post forward you will (I hope) notice a marked improvement in the quality of photographs. This is a result of a generous bonus from my employer this year and me treating myself to a camera so that I don't have to use a phone any more!   I have been working on improving and back dating a pair of Lima horse boxes, at the same time as finishing a few other horse box kits from other companies. These were going to be the subject of the next post but as is usual I have got distracted onto
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

4

Stab, Stomp, Sizzle and Have I Become Totally Inept? (updated)

No pictures today because I don't know where I last left the cable and they aren't very interesting anyway, just a pile of mangled nickel silver underframe parts that were looking lost on my bench.   Those that read the 2mm VAG might have noticed that I decided to concoct my own RSU from a leftover car battery charger. I rewound the secondary coils to give three outputs similar to the commercial units (Don't ask me for any more details because I'm not electrically qualified and the moderators
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

18

Some Tricky Soldering

The TOUs are finally finished. A little jig was made up to quickly and easily bend consistently sized dropper wires in left and right hand forms. These are long enough to fully engage the brass tubes fixed to the moving sleeper (no longer visible) but not so long that they have any chance of causing a short by touching the brass housing of the TOU. They are then fitted and carefully soldered to the underside of the switch rails.     Once painted, ballasted etc. they it should be near enoug
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

6

So Far So Bad

The gingerbread man caught me in one. I've been working on some etch artwork for 6 wheeled siphons on and off since 2005. I got them pretty much finished for hatching and sending to be etched in 2007 and then didn't get around to it (like most other things in the hobby room...). Finally I pulled my finger out, bit the bullet, got around to it, or whatever and sent off the PPD (usual disclaimer, no connection &c.) for them to be turned into something that might just make up into a model.  
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

11

Slow Progress

After a more off than on January I've finally got my backside into gear. I realised that I was getting behind (that's if I was ever up to date?) and have set myself goals on a monthly basis. The first of these is to have the track laid and operational at the end of February.   So far all the rails are in the blocked crossing area that makes up the east end of the platform. I'm really impressed with how it has come out, and running stock through it appears I only have one tweak to make where th
richbrummitt

richbrummitt

3
×
×
  • Create New...