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About this blog

A new home, but the same old stuff...

Entries in this blog

I Vaguely Remember The Name...

Yes, it's been a while. It's been a very long while, in fact.   Following the completion of the 37, I didn't really feel like doing any modelling at all. I think that, perhaps, a part of that was me thinking about how I could top that, and not coming up with anything, so nothing was done. I've now come to the conclusion that I don't have to top it, I just have to do something I'm going to find enjoyable. As a self confessed tank wagon perv it seemed only natural to ease myself back in with

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Can You Tell What It Is Yet?

Possibly not the best catchphrase to use these days , but I thought I'd start the next 7mm scratch build project with a little quiz. Although there's still a lot to do to the Cargowaggon Twins to turn them into an actual model, rather than a collection of bits, I wanted to get another project under way in the design stage.   I find that after a day at work, I often don't feel in the mood to do some actual modelling, and there's a good chance that I could cock something up through being tired.

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It's Been a Long Time

It has indeed been a long time, not only since I actually updated this blog, but also since the 37 project started, all those years ago. It was never intended to take quite so long and I still can't believe that nearly five years have gone by! There haven't been any updates as I didn't want to put any more pictures up until I was happy it was finished.     I'm pleased to say that the 37 is complete for now. It's taken a little while to get the lighting right, after its maiden running ses

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And So It Begins

What better to do on a sunny Saturday, then to put some good music on and break out the water mixable oils:     So far, I've made a start on the No. 1 end nose and the roof, working along to the other end. This is just the initial colouring, there's more to come once this is dry in a couple of days. The whole weathering job is going to take quite some time, I think, as not only is it much bigger than anything I've done before, I'm going to have to put more in the way of details in, if it's

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A Quick Update

I dunno where time goes these days - one minute it's Christmas and the next it's Easter! Still, I can offer a quick update on the 37 project - it is structurally complete and painted, with a few little bits to add before the weathering commences in anger. This is how it is at the moment:     The biggest problem at the moment seems to be a ride height problem at the No.1 end, this is currently riding some 2mm too high, which although it doesn't sound a lot, is enough to make it look a little

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What a difference a day (or several) makes...

Lack of updates should not be confused with lack of progress, although the two are usually related - I can't write about doing naff all, well, I could, but people would soon stop reading it!   However, in the time I've not been here posting, I have summoned up the courage to actually make a start on painting the 37 and it hasn't been the disaster that I feared it would. It came close to it on a number of occasions though! Mostly problems with paint adhesion, I don't think I cleaned the body qu

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The Spaghetti Incident

Progress continues slowly with the 7mm 37, and I'm currently in the middle of adding all the wiring for lights etc. This is how things looked the other day:   It's all a bit tidier now, but I am running out of places to put all of the wires - and the ones for the cab lights, speaker and cooling fan aren't even visible in this picture!   I've given up casting the brake shoes from the kit - I'm now in the process of drawing up my own and will get those from Shapeways, or possibly give iMate

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BRM Weathering with Oils Pictures

As the pictures in the printed magazine haven't shown up some of the subtle effects that can be achieved with the oil paints as much as I'd like, I've taken the liberty of putting the pictures used in the article, plus a couple of bonus ones, here. I'm not including the words though - this is in addition to the article, not instead of it   Click each photo for a larger view.   Intro:   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13

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The Current State of Play

This is how things are at the moment: I hate electrical fault finding, but with much reluctance I have broken out the multimeter to try and find out why my 37 disgraced itself a few weekends ago, where it made all the right noises, but didn't actually do anything. I've put the first bogie on its 'custom stand' for easier access   Fault number one was found quite quickly - one of the connections to the centre motor on the No 1 bogie is a bit dodgy, so that will have to be remade. Solderin

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A brief glimpse

After what seems to be a very long time, the heavyweight 37 is finally finished. Unfortunately, I can't say too much about the methods used at the moment, as it is scheduled to appear in a future issue of BRM. So, all I can post at the moment is a couple of teaser pics to prove that I am actually achieving something from time to time:     I'll put some more pictures up once the magazine is out.   It hasn't turned out quite as well as I'd hoped as some of the materials and techniques u

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Tarmac yer drive mister?

Actually not that kind of resurfacing, more a stalled project bubbling back to the surface for a little more attention. this happens from time to time, and frequently they sink back again, still incomplete, but I'm hoping to actually have this one finished by the end of the year.   Yes, the 37 has made a comeback, now that the distraction of the IZA Ferrywagons is over for the time being. Actually, a fair amount has been achieved since the last update, with most of the wiring in place, the c

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The Initial Griming

This really is the most I've done in ages - whilst on a roll I thought I'd make a start on the weathering. I used the water mixable oils for this, just to see if they were any good for loco, as well as wagon, weathering. They are! Well, subject to some limitations, anyway.   This is how things now stand:   I've used a combination of Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Black and White oils for the body grime. This has mostly been acheived by almost drybrushing the colour on, before running over it

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By 'eck, he's achieved something!

I've not really acheived much of late, I haven't really felt like doing much and the large scale 37 has stalled as there's a few expensive bits I need to buy for it before I can continue. Over the last week or two I've slowly started to feel like doing something, so thought I'd turn my attention to some of the unfinshed projects kicking around the shelves behind the workbench.   The quickest win was going to be the model of 37890, that I started nearly two years ago! It's been mostly complet

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He ain't heavy....enough

The second bogie has now reached a stage where I could plonk the loco down on the pair of them to see how everything looked and worked, so I couldn't resist giving it a go! It has highlighted a couple of minor, related, problems that are going to be fairly easily corrected. The bogie pivots need to be cut down a bit further as they currently hit the centre traction motor on each bogie, and the loco isn't quite heavy enough for everything to sit right. The first problem can be cured with a big

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A little pick-me-up

Slow progress continues with the bogie project, although the end of the first one is in sight, and as can be seen from the background of the pics below, the second is coming on quite nicely. It's taken me a little while to work out what I was going to do with current collection, but have settled on a fairly simple setup that picks up from 4 wheels on each bogie. I may add pick-ups to the centre axles at a later stage, but figured I'd try without to begin with, as it's easier!   This is the f

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I was half right!

The half right bit being at the end of my last, unusually verbose, post where I said that the next post would be about modelling and with pictures and stuff. So here it is! The part I was wrong about though is that I thought it would be about the 37 bogies, however I've decided to do a bit more to the TTA chassis that still only currently exists in the virtual world.   I've now drawn up the axleguards (W-irons if you must ), mounted them to the chassis rails with Scale Hardware rivets, and

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Isn't the Internets Brilliant?!?

It's not often I feel compelled to compose a more typical blog post with my general wittering (I think two in as many years is quite sufficient) but over the last few days I've been, well overwhelmed isn't quite the right word, but I've come to truly appreciate what a fantastic tool the Internet really is.   Of course, there are the more immediate aspects, (one of which I'd probably best not mention here ) such as bringing together like minded groups to discuss their interests and share their

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Does my chassis look big in this?

As a further distraction from the 37 bogie project, I thought I'd do a little more to the chassis for the Nitric Acid tanks. I'm using Alibre design for this as well, which has a sheet metal function, that calculates fold sizes and the half etched fold areas based on the parameters I specify. It's taken a while to get my head round, purely because there's so much it can do, and I'm not really familiar with CAD, so I'm very much learning as I go along.   There's a few hours work gone into thi

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First test

Links for the final parts of the saga: 38 - A little pick-me-up 39 - He ain't heavy.....enough 40 - Tarmac Yer Drive Mister? 41 - The Current State of Play 42 - The Spaghetti Incident 43 - What a difference.... 44 - A Quick Update 45 - And So It Begins 46 - It's Been a Long Time   A further, small, milestone has been reached since the last update - the first bogie has been wired up and tested with an old Hornby controller. As shown in the photo below, it all works together! I did have two sw

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More 3D and a lesson in observation

I'll start with the lesson in observation. When planning a model of a wagon, check what axleboxes it had in the period you'll be modelling it in, don't rely on more recent photos!   I've been turning my attention to the Nitric Acid tanks again, as a little bit of a break from the 37 bogies (more of that in another post to follow shortly) so dug all of the research material out the other night. In a previous post, I'd been drawing up the SKF axleboxes, as that's what I thought I required but

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I don't believe it!

Said in best Victor Meldrew voice, as the first bogies is now 95% complete and all appears to work as intended!   The sideframes aren't glued in place yet, merely held in place by the spring pressure and the location of the axleboxes/equalising beams, but it performed successfully in a few hand propelled tests last night. I can run the bogie over an obstruction of 1.5-2mm, with all other wheels remaining in contact with the ground as demonstrated in these pics:     The bottle of flux w

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Insert string of expletives here....

As you may have gathered from the title, things aren't going quite according to plan with the 37 bogies, I've discovered a problem with the design of the plate that links the 4 secondary suspension points and the central bearing. If I mount it in the way I'd planned, the travel of the bogie rests on the top of the middle traction motor when the axle is at its highest travel. Seeing as the normal planned position for the central axle is towards the top of its travel, this causes a bit of a probl

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Mocking....

up the final ride height was one of this evening's little tasks (it's amazing what you can do with brass rod and blu-tack!). Now that I've got all 6 motor units assembled and test fitted into the bogie frames, I wanted to make sure that I could get squeeze everything in that I wanted to and check clearances.     As you can see, it's all a little tight in there! The shiny bits on the cross-member are the lugs that the torque reaction arms will fit into, engaging into similar holes on the e

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Back to life....

Back to reality. I've given the virtual world a bit of break for the minute, instead turning back to the 37 bogie in the, possibly vain, hope that I'll have one assembled for Telford.     The picture above shows the last of the motors undergoing final adjustment (cf. bodging) and testing before assembly. I am pleased to confirm that they all actually work, having been tested on my ancient Hornby controller.   More soon!

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More virtual shenanigans

Having had the house to myself most of the weekend, I've used it wisely to get quite a lot of modelling done, both in real world and virtual. I've now created the axlebox for the Nitric tank project, and I'll probably do the Timken version at some point in the future.   Behold the mysterious floating axlebox:     The SKF logo is a little more prominent than it should be, but that's unavoidable due to the resolution required for printing. I understand that the minimum feature size for FU

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