Entry posted by cornish trains jez
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Good afternoon all,
First update on this project for 2014! Quite a few small bits have been going on and the model is starting to come together now.
First of all, I decided to make a start on building the handrails. Whilst there is no etched kit available in this scale to model handrail I set about making my own as it looked like they would all be different sizes anyway. Various techniques were tried and tested for making these. First of all, I blue tacked the parts to a pre drawn handrail on an off cut of ply. With all the pieces in position and a dab of solder paste on each join, I applied the iron. Well, while some sections stuck ok, others didn't and when I returned with the iron, the piece which was originally nicely soldered together came apart. With the swear box suitably filled up I set about attempt number 2. This entailed predrilled holes in the sheet of ply, in which to drop in the posts and then solder on the railings. While this technique was a little more successful, the posts became stuck in the pre drilled holes and the subsequent breakage of the structure was trying to remove was inevitable.....swear box number two was then filled up!
The third attempt was far more successful, and some lessons learned from the previous attempts. I first superglued the brass posts into position (made of 0.5mm brass wire with the cross rails being made out of 0.25mm brass wire) and once dry, I carefully added the rails, again with a dab of solder paste doing one side first then the other side with the minimal touch of the iron on the solder, but just enough to form a join. Hey presto, I had my first handrail!!! While, this melts the superglue a touch, it seems to work well and a second handrail was added into position.
It needs a little cleaning up, but once painted, it should look ok. And I've just realised that the upper handrail needs an adjustment to the left hand side.....cruel little camera!! 
Next up, I have built the observation cabin which controls the wagon tippler and skip hoisting machinery. Many thanks to the guys from the "return to grantham" website for their assistance on information and the excellent close up photos of the coal plant and its buildings. These have come in very handy to the build of the model. I just need to add the door frame, door and steps and this little building will be finished. The roof is angled to one side as per the prototype.
Last up, was the lifting beam situated at the top of the coaling plant which was occasionally used to hoist any machinery up the tower in the event any repairs needed to be carried out. It is built using a small piece of H-section plastic with the "H" filed down a bit and then some strips of 0.5mm micro strip to form the other supports. It's not quite finished yet and still needs some support struts added. Here is a close up of the current progress.
Here are a few more photos of the overall structure with my latest addition, the Farish A1 pacific which I will be renumbering 60149 "Amadis". I hope to get some baseboards put together soon and start laying the easitrac.
As always, any comments are most welcome.
Best regards,
Jeremy
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