Leaderboard

I'd done quite a bit of thinking and head scratching how to make an instanter link for some time. The shape is not easy to make around a former. Indeed my first few attempts failed to make it off the formers. The process still makes some duds during the cutting and final shaping stage but on the whole I am managing to make some slightly better than triangular links most of the time. This evening whilst clearing the workbench of assembled DC underframe etches and drilling headstocks to fit coupling hooks I pulled some of these triangular links and fitted them onto the closest appropriate wagon. and coupled it up to the adjacent one on the 'work' plank. On the left close coupled and on the right long coupled. I'll readily admit that they are really hard to get into the short position and couple there and there probably isn't much point but then why do we make these models? It's probably just because we can. Please excuse the incredibly cruel close ups and poor lighting.

I've been busy with other things during the last month, mainly work and stage managing an amateur pantomime (oh no you haven't....), so it's come as a surprise how much I've managed to get done. This is a 51L kit for a Midland long low wagon. It's the first time I've built a complete kit from this source, and it was rather good (although the fiddly etched brake gear was, well a bit fiddly). Apart from using some thicker Evergreen planked styrene for the floor, it's been built exactly as per the kit. And it's not often I do that. Next is a LNER D.120 'Pigeon van'. I bought this from D&S at the Doncaster show in 2003, which must have been quite soon before D&S stopped selling 4mm kits. It's been lurking in my 'to do' pile every since, but I enjoyed building the LCDR coach so much I decided to dig it out and build it. It went together well, except for the roof. This was vacuum formed, and wasn't a close match for the actual shape. It now has a solid laminated core of plasticard to hold t to shape. And after much cursing ans swearing it is now the right shape. It is red, because it's had several coats of Halford's red primer to allow me to spot all of the dents and distortions, and then fill them. Luckily a few D&S 4mm kits are available again, and I've got a LSWR Horsebox in my to do pile. Hopefully that won't have to wait 10 years to be built. The next model to be tackled comes with the option of paying an extra £12 for a resin roof. It's a David Geen GWR Toplight brake composite - the last vehicle for my rake of 1930s GWR through coaches. The roof put the total cost up to £82, so these aren't cheap but first impressions are very good. Luckily I only need one, but a complete rake of these would be a bit expensive. I should be able to post some progress soon - the plan is to finish it in time for Hornby announcing an RTR one in December.

There comes a time when you realise that no matter how much you like your own creation, that it ultimately has a shelf life. I've realised that Clutton, now nearly 24 years old, is getting near then end. I've done pretty much all the shows I've wanted to do, there are a few left to do, and bookings go into 2016 now. A couple of major shows I might have liked to go to like Manchester didn't materialise. So I promised Chris Challis that Clutton's final show would be where it started at. So Railwells it will be, probably 2018. I suppose I've gotten tired of the criticism that not enough trains are running. The attention span of the average exhibition punter is about 20 seconds (I should know, I've seen more than enough layouts that didn't command 10 seconds of my time). I've seen too many models of other peoples' models. It seems that striving for correct operation is wasted on 90% of the exhibition visitor population. So is it the skip after Railwells, or something else?

Updatiostini: Ok, where does this loco building n00b start.... Oh yes. Firstly I'd like to appeal to those of you who know better and have built a siable bunch of these. Much of what I've written below will probably make you cringe and be a good example of how not to do things! If that is the case then I'll just agree with you and try to learn. If your, like me fairly new to loco kit building then this post might provide some help or interest. I had to have a real good think how to build this chassis becasue I had to literally ignore 90% of the instructions, instead relying on the component and arrow picture. Some of the text was useful but a lot of it wasn't because it only covered fixed axle guys and only had 00 or EM frame spacers. It might seem a sound assumption that only the exacting guys would want suspension and thus don't need instructions because they are so magic- but even they had to start with their first (me! Not my first loco build, but my first P4 locobuild and with springing). Anyway, after having a good look I got my Alan Gibson P4 frame spacers out and had another good look. The Loco kit has the usual slot and tab method etched in for the frame spacers and a cylinder at each end that is secured to the frame sides via screw. Being 00 this was useless so I folded one of the '3 way' spaces to make a 'hollow rectangle' spacer. I hope I'm making sence but the pictures will reveal all. Due to all this, and due to me using a Comet Models GB5 with 1/50 Drive Extender I couldn't put the P4 spacers in exactly the same place as the kit intended the others to go, so again I had to have a good think. The following picture shows my highly sophisticated method of starting things coupled with a metal engineers square (pictured on top). I haven't included any pictures between that an the finished article because it's a bit hard to convey what I did other than what I have wrote above, but suffice to say just keep checking on the plate glass that everything is square and only tack joint for a while becasue just when you think it's fine the metal cools down and it's out again! Having graciosly recieved some axle/coupling rod jigs in the post from Mike G' I used them as intended by using the coupling rods as a jig, thankfully the kit was etched well and corrisponded with the hornblocks and everything almost lined up. There was about 1mm of difference because I had opened the hornblock holes out too much so getting this in the right place was a bit of a fiddle. The jig ends were too thick and not tapered but this wasn't really a problem because I just put a metal rule to the center of the jig pins and measureed the difference, and holding the coupling rods close. Again, hope that makes sence. I could grind them to a point I guess. The coupling rods needed to be cut in half and laminated to provide a joint, this was easy but figuring out what to cut took more thinking than I originally envisaged. If I did it wrong I'd be in the sand trap. Fortunetly I did it ok. This is the chassis. Built bad and roughly in my opinion but that is due to experience lack. Pick ups are my own design after a long think and consultation of the forums and Ian Rice's book. I've seen some of the methods employed by others and they are much better being less obtrusive and probably better functioning. I'm just hoping that after painting them black and they model finished they won't look too out of place. I'm probably shaming myself showing this but here goes. The horrid white plastic card is another attempt at reducing short circuits to provide another barrier and also some room for any liquids to run onto, like a collection trap - rather than seep underneith to the chassis. Details in the next paragraph. I'd also like to say this is infact my 3rd attempt at doing the pick-ups. I used PCB and the first one was superglued but later came undone buggering everything, plus after a while it kept somehow shorting out. The second one I soldered and was fine initially but after a while also caused mysterious short circuits. I still can't fathom why this is the case becasue I checked repeatedly that nothing was touching and the only conclusion I can come up with is maybe some flux got in the way and tricked between both copper plates of the PCB andd fibreglass middle. I don't know. Suffice to say I then encounterd a really big mistake... After washing the chassis and drying it, it seemed a little better but the tester needle was still moving half way, so I thought, 'How about using a hair dryer!? That's surely going to evaporate any moisture.' Right, but. Alan Gibson wheels don't like hair dryers and two tyre rims fell off the plastic wheels proper! :evil: *sigh* Powerbond 806 to the rescue again. I tried to get them on perfectly and I think I have but maybe at a major zoom I haven't, anyway, lesson learnt. The next picture shows my method of fixing the gearbox to the frames to stop it doing a wiley jig everytime the engine changes direction. Two 0.7mm brass rods bent twice and soldered. Easy, simple, cheap, effective, adjustable, perfect in my opinion. I had a lot of trouble getting good running and the gearbox in the above picture is my second. It still has the same problem as the first but not so bad, and after another of my infamous bodges it's even better. The cog directly below the motor worm has a hole in it for a grub screw. it doesn't matter weather you use the grub tightened to the layshaft, just sitting there dangelling its legs or removed; the worm struggles to negotiate the obstruction becasue it is IN THE TEETH! Silly design if you ask me. Fine at most speeds, even fairly slow, but for proper slow speeds it doesn't like it. My bodge was to insert some styrene rod into the hole via superglue, clip off the excess and then murder it with 350 degrees of soldering iron so that the remainded melts over the initial teeth. My own idea, that after a lot of detritus clean up, seems to have improved things somewhat. It still isn't perfect mind. At some point in the build I also had to move a hornblock becasue it hadd about 1mm of horizontal play in it and after tis was sorted (by measuring in relation to other axles) it improved things no end. Although I like Alan Gibson's hornblocks, once the axles are in they are only removable if you pull the wheel off, unlike other suspension methods I am interested in. I suppose building them slightly different to the instructions wouldn't be hard but I like the screw adjuster idea. Easy to change. After running the engine though it seems the suspension only works downwards. the weight of the loco' is designed to compress the springs 100% and so the hornblock is riding on the screw adjuster, ergo when the engine is running at a bumpy bit of decending track the springs push the wheel down into it - great, but when you come to a slight bump upwards the engine has to just bump itself up because the springs are already fully compressed. CSB I believe has the compression midway thus solving this but maybe a future build of mine will find out. Anyway, I prefer having hornblocks than non, is still better than a rigid chassis. I painted the chassis at some point but not properly. I didn't use primer and I didn't spray becasue I didn't want to gum up the hornblocks or springs. Any ideas on the correct way? I just used brush on Humbrol enamel knowing that it sticks fairly well to bare metal and a chassis once assembled wouldn't be touched too much so I should get away with it. The same thing goes for wheels, I'm unsure on the best way. Whilst tweaking the running of the chassis I used bluetack as crank pin screws, supprisingly effective! Alan Gibson's crank pins needed a hole clearing in the coupling rods to 1.6mm's, but this was scaring me because as I reamed them I continued with one and it was getting so thin at the edges I honestly think papr was thicker. Scared of splitting it I crafted (lol) a circular lump from some scrap etch fret that ould fit in the hole, gummed it with solder and drilled a new hole. My method now was to gum up the crankpin threads with solder and just ride on them. Bad practice I know but with such thin rods I had little choice, maybe for an express locomotive there would be more metal to play with. After tweaking the running I just soldered a fat washer as a securing retainer using the paper washer method. Not sophisticated but then, I'm not sophisticated yet. As a loco building n00b I need to place function above other considerations. Because of my alternate method I wanted a washer as a smooth barrier between the wheel and the coupling rod, just like the intended bush would have done. I didn't have any thin enough so I melted them in. Rash, I know but it worked. You just need to be careful not to dwell too long and realign the crankpins slightly after they went drooped. The previous and following picture show the brass washers in a couple of places. In hindsight I think in future I might use Markits/Romford crankpins intead. They are a little fatter but are smooth with no thread and I have a large supply of them already. Oh yeah, I also had to re-drill brake hanger holes because I guess they were designed for those bigger older wheels, that or they were just being a milimeter or more cautious. I've set mine fairly close but careful that they don't touch either with or without compression. Final picture. I repainted the chassis and added some good old gunk and rust and also the painted the wheels. I do need to touch things up in places and the blue is actually a different shade than what you see here but the unnatural light makes it look wrong. What you think? Comments good or bad welcome, good critique only helps when implemented. f

Following on rather quickly from my last Post I can see that there is far more interest in Bachmann’s newer Cravens than their earlier Class 108s. Cravens (top) Class 108 (bottom) To prevent buffer locking on Peco Medium Radius points the Cravens appear to need an extra millimetre separation compared to the Class 108. "Mind the Gap" - Cravens. My Cravens do not get much use and hence I have not studied them quite as much as the Class 108s. I have been puzzling - “Why the difference in behaviour?” Actually it is quite obvious: “Eyes left – eyes right” The Bachmann Class 108s have larger diameter buffers than the Bachmann Class 105s – which helps prevent buffer locking on tight curves.

They look brilliant Rich. Wonder how they (and you) will perform at an exhibition with Mr Knowitall breathing down your neck :-) Jerry

As long as I don't need to couple them we'll be fine Maybe I can invite Mr Knowitall to step up or ask politely that he STFU. Kim and I have been known to hide at the back of the layout if he turns up:-) I still think its bonkers but, I know, onions!! Jerry

Ssh. The men in white coats might hear you. I've made some mock screw couplings for various NPCS. Have a look in my gallery at the Siphon builds. They have just two links. It's just as well the brakes are on. We don't want them rolling off on their own. I drop enough stuff on the floor as it is! As long as I don't need to couple them we'll be fine Maybe I can invite Mr Knowitall to step up or ask politely that he STFU.

Another diversion from layout building and work on the G16 and 2 HAL. I looked at my Lima class 31, 31 327 in Railfreight grey and thought I would like to do something useful with it, as the 30/31 was a particularly good model from the Lima stable. Some years ago I fitted separate handrails to the front of my blue 31 004 and repainted the yellow ends completely. 31 327 had been languishing in a drawer because it had never had the side handrails which were supposed to be supplied in the box but weren't. I decided to shave off the moulded on handrails at the front and drill the holes (#76 drill bit) before losing track of the correct positions for the handrail ends. Bending the handrails involved a small amount of trial and error. followed by gluing with superglue (cyano-acrylate). The door handrails were just as fiddly to get right, especially the ones with the bend at the top on the edges closest to the ends. I partially repainted the yellow using slightly thinned Humbrol gloss yellow (#69). This should not have matched fully but blended with the slight weathering I had applied at some time previously and barely shows at all. Flushed with that success, I decided to try it on analogue DC and it ran very sweetly, even without cleaning the wheels (I'm not a huge fan of Lima's running qualities but occasionally one could get a 'winner' that ran really well - both of my class 31s are in this category). I decided to try out a DCC conversion, using an old, sidelined Digitrax DH123 decoder, which has the advantages of 1. being expendable and 2. possessing a 9-pin JST connection from the wiring harness into the decoder, allowing me to replace it in the future with a better decoder. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the running, even with this non-BEMF decoder, particularly in light of my previous poor experiences with Lima mechanisms on DCC, so much so that I will convert 31 004 as well in the near future. Now all it needs is a little more judicious weathering and some etched nameplates and I'll be very happy with the result.

Rich- I'm looking forward to the working screw couplings on the batch build of coaches! - BTW the wargon's arn't going anywhere 'cos the vac pipes are separated! In all seriousness, these look really good. Well done.

The mans mad, mad I tell you. He'll be climbing mountains next (because they're there!) Well done Rich - I've been re-contermplating using them on the 'EM' side. Think I'll give it a miss in 23mm! Regs Ian

A while back I mentioned that I had been busy making a portable test track. Two have been built, one for Peter Clark (who conceived the idea), and this one. Case closed. . The basis is a cheap aluminium snooker cue case. The innards are ripped out, and replaced with a baulk of timber, on which the track is laid. the overall case dimensions are 34" long, 3" wide 2"mm high. the internal timber is 2 1/2" x 3/4".- length to suit. Case open for business I left the timber a bit short to give room for a 9V battery controller (Thektronics in my case), and a single length of track is glued in place. Job done. For Peter's track, we made the infill board full length and double sided. Each track is wired to a standard power socket to allow a variety of controllers to be connected. For Peter the requirement was to have one side laid with 2mm FS standard gauge and a length of NN3, and the obverse laid with PECO N track and a length of Shinohara Code 40, also N. There is plenty of space to fit other combinations- N one side, P4/EM the other.. do as you please. The intrepid could fit other connectors for DCC or analogue power supply, switched via a DPDT for safety.....the options are limited only by your imagination.

Some folks may have seen several episodes describing this under construction on the workbench thread in the 2mm forums. Last night it was planted on the layout and given a quick test. All seems to be working OK. Which frees up my signal building board for the next one... plenty more to do! We also have some new buildings... must try to get my camera and the buildings to be in the same place at the same time.