Leaderboard

I purchased a Proxxon Cut off saw a few weeks ago to enable accurate cutting of the brass and nickel silver sections required for the roof girders and eventually the roof trusses [ the likely follow on project after the girders ]. I did send the first one back after discovering a problem with the on/off switch - it tripped the RCD each time I switched it off! The replacement appears to be alright and I have used it to produce all the diagonals for the lattice girder with pleasing results. The close up shows the addition of the 3 wider 'T' sections nearest to the end of the girder and the narrower ones towards the centre. Each diagonal is positoned with a dab of Carrs 179 solder and fixed in place using an RSU. After completing both sides here is the finished girder - rivet overlay still to be fitted. These photos clearly show the three layers of the lattice making up the girder. The finished product has proved the method of constuction for me and I shall now proceed to make up the remaining sections.

37114 seen at the opposite end to the other views of Meanach on the station approach.

After an enforced layoff ( three contracts for windows - very nice) and the loss of my mum-in-law (b....y awful) it's nice to be back in the workshop modelling for myself (gerrynick - if you;re reading this I've not forgotten Hellingly's windows!). During the break I received a set of LRM axle jigs, so the next phase is the setting-up of the suspension units. First, build the coupling rods! These are in two parts, both of which are reasonable thickness, so when sweated together do take on the 'massive' look of the prototype. The crankpin holes were then drilled out to take Gibson bushes. (yes, the bush is one of the long versions. The way they tend to 'ping' rond the workshop I didn't want to risk a short one)! One of my teenage memories is going on a trip round Swindon Works with the school model railway society (do any still exist?) and seeing a coupling rod formed from a single blank of steel. So impressive! On to the chassis. The rear axle is fixed, and had already been bushed. The leading horn-block/bushes were assembled and reamed 1/8th". Then the problem arose... The jig axle was marginally too big to pass through the bushes... (anyone else had this problem?) . I checked using the reamer and a Gibson axle - both passed through and rotated freely... Only solution - take a file & emery cloth to the jig axle! About an hour of file/check - file/check & the jig finally did what it was supposed to do. I then 'loaded' the front jig with the hornblock assemblies - and then found the chassis is slightly thicker than the etched outer portion of the hornblock. Result - the outer face of the bush doesn't clear the chassis . The solution will have to wait until tommorw. I propose to file 'flats on the outer face of the bush. This will slide in the chassis - but prevent the bush from turning. I hope. The axle jigs roughly assembled! It's nice to be back Regs Ian

It's been a busy week and today I've had the first chance since last weekend to do a bit more on the new chassis for 82044. To re-cap, it's a Bachmann body, but the chassis just wouldn't run smoothly until I dismantled all the valve gear. Having seen how essentially loose and apparently wobbly the valve gear was, I decided to build a replacement chassis, based on a Comet kit for a 76XXX 2-6-0. The Comet side frames needed a lot of alteration to fit the Bachmann body, and they also needed to be extended at the rear, due to the fact that this was now going on a 2-6-2T and not a 2-6-0. Today I fitted the driving wheels, having first taken a tad off the flanges to give a slightly more satisfactory appearance. Yes, I'm using Romfords, despite there not being the correct number of spokes. This project is all about using up some of the stuff I've had in the Nutkin Store for years... And anyway, no one has thus far tried to count the number of spokes on my other 82XXX at exhibitions... Having soldered up the coupling rod overlays, these were fitted, together with the crankpins and retaining washers on the outer wheels and the whole thing directly wired into the motor and given a test on the bench. To my relief, it all worked nice and smoothly first time. Having said that, I'd have been slightly disappointed if it hadn't, given the very basic, uncompensated chassis... Rear chassis extension:

Thanks. Some info : oo gauge smp track with marcway turnouts operated by dcc concepts slow motion motors. The track is all jointed 60ft sections with finescale brass fish plates .control is by prodigy dcc. All locos are detailed and sound chipped and mainly renumbered to locos i had haulage with and / or worked the area. Meanach is very much work in progress . Once it's a bit more complete I will take some better pics instead of just off the mobile.