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Showing content with the highest reputation on 30/09/13 in all areas

  1. Hello again. My modelling mojo has returned once again. I think its down to a combination of things, shows, steam railways, and quiet weekends have all helped. Using this new apparent enthusiasm I have once again turned my attention to the never ending point rodding for the layout. Its been something that has slowed progress on the layout to an almost standstill. Below is the next installment in the long running saga of Highcleres point rodding, some of you might have already seen some of these elsewhere on RMWeb... I took another approach this time. A section of rodding roughly 2ft in length is 4 rods wide and I didnt really fancy the idea of individually soldering 5 rodding stools every scale 6ft or so. This meant a rethink to try and speed things up a little so above was the beginnings of a different approach, a 0.3mm thick length of Brass which has 0.5mm wide x 0.7mm deep slots with a 0.7mm pitch milled into it. This Brass 'comb' was them cut up into sections which could hold 4 rods, which in turn was soldered to a short length of 2mmSA PCB sleepering. For cosmetic purposes (is anyone really going to ever see them for real?) I then soldered 2 etched stools to each end. The point rodding (0.4mm square stuff from MSE) was then easily slotted into place and the whole thing was held together with a little solder. Care was taken not to hold the soldering iron in place for too long so to unsolder everything (it happened a couple of times which was a pain). Ok, so not the best quality photos (taken with my phone) but this is the impression the point rodding gives. This particular section still needs to be painted then stuck into place properly (its resting on top in the piccies). To me, this is a mini milestone as producing rodding using this method has made it so much easier, so much so that the rest of it doesnt look anywhere near as daunting to me. Sadly though I didnt produce enough of the bits so it will be back to the beginning soon to produce some more. I hope it looks alright and is worth all the effort? Missy
    3 points
  2. Good evening all, Just thought I would update on the progress of my first and main structure for this mini layout. I have now added the sides to the top section and the base of the feeder floor, which was a bit of a nightmare to fit as I had to reposition the front two legs which were originally glued in place slightly too far forward. Here are a couple of progress shots with my first strip of bullhead track now completed. A ground level view. A view of the Eastern face. I have also had a "rumidge" through the box of bits and made some interesting and relevant discoveries for this layout. Some mineral wagons which I had built from kits, probably 20 odd years ago and had started some rust effect weathering using the good old maskol technique! Also discovered was a Silver Fox Baby Deltic kit, unmade and crying out to built! I must have purchased this all those years ago when I had my mini ECML layout in my bedroom!! I must also mention that I popped long to my 2mm area group on Saturday and met some of the guys there. It was great meeting them and I had a most enjoyable few hours working on the A4 and having some great discussions about modelling. I also had the driving wheels on the A4 turned down to 2FS standards while I was there by one of the members (thanks again for this if you are reading this blog) with just the pony trucks and tender wheels left to do. I have to say that dismantling the Dapol A4 is an absolute nightmare and I was glad I had some experts on hand to help me through this painful experience!!! Just need to work out now how to put it all back together!! :scratchhead: :scratchhead: I plan to spend a couple of evenings this week progressing the tower so hopefully it will have its full height by the weekend and a further update on progress. Best regards, Jeremy
    3 points
  3. A brief update, which I will add to in the week when I get chance, Victoria Bridge is coming on in leaps and bounds ready for the Cradley Heath show on the 19th October.. a quick peek through the dark door of my shed reveals a little slice of summer, neatly picture framed! Next week, some technical trouble shooting and track cleaning, removing scenic bits from where they hadnt ought to be!
    3 points
  4. The newest project is my last planned locomotive for this year, and is a B4 or 'Immingham' class 4-6-0. This will use bodies from a Hornby B12 and Patriot, and a chassis from the Hornby B12. The chassis is actually the easiest part to do; in hindsight I should perhaps have done this model first, rather than leaving it this late- both my Jersey Lily and B5 use the same chassis but with major modification that were great headaches at the time. With the B4 all that is necessary is to cut down the gap between the bogie and the driving wheels a little, and add a set of Bachmann 'O4' motion. This done I moved onto the bodies. Breaking out my Charles Reddy drawing of the Imminghams and matching it up to the loco bodies, and remembering how I did my Jersey Lily, the B12 body was swiftly reduced to the parts I can use. Basically I cut away the frames below the running plate, including the bufferbeam, and then made a vertical in the boiler just behind the second to last boiler band. When I reached the splashers I stopped, put a vertical cut through the running plate just behind the middle splasher, and then made a small diagonal cut to bring the two together. At a later date I need to cut away the lowered front end of the running plate and bring it up level with the splashers. The Patriot body is similarly cut, though in this instance straight through immediately in front of the firebox. The firebox is noticeably too long but luckily there is a boiler band on it at just the right point. So we use this as a guide and cut the front of the firebox away (it is the front end of it that we shall be using). After this operation you should have the cab end of the Patriot with about 4mm of firebox still moulded on to it; cut this away and you end up with the basis of the cab. Next time I'll be carefully sanding and filing these three components to get a nice joint between them all, and taking a chunk out of the boiler barrel so that I can move the smokebox back by 3mm or so...
    2 points
  5. Hello, Welcome to my blog in which I hope to share my previous, current and future model building projects with you. I am not intent on offending anyone or expressing in anyway 'this is how it should be done', I just hope that my building experiences and the products thereof might inspire others to have a go. I have a busy life thankfully but yet I still manage to have time to 'escape' into railway mode, which is very relaxing when it is going well... The subject picture here is my very first attempt at model railway kit building and indeed 'o' gauge building; and if I can add one more, brass kit building. The subject being a four wheel Taff Valley Railway Guards van. I offered to build a kit for a good friend of mine and this is what was proffered. The kit was very enjoyable to build and built my own confidence up no end with the result. Particularly enjoyable was the curved tumble home on the coach side, especially the guards ducket. In building this coach I quickly learned the use of small square wooden blocks, which I still have and still use, for making and fixing brass pieces too to solder together. I must add that wooden clothes pegs were and are a God send 8) Anyway, painting awaits my current project - an O gauge GWR siphon (six wheel). Cheers! Stu
    1 point
  6. Site survey completed, Aerial views analysed, Couple of train trips past the location to verify some of the details and I was ready to start the track planning piece. I'd already selected the location based on the alignment with the Main London Brighton line. The aerial views gave a good view of the current and probably historic layout so I just had to deal with the returns into the Fiddle Yard. The overall size was constrained by 2 main factors, firstly the length of a module for the WSNG standard and secondly what I could fit in on my existing frame in the railway room. Both 8 feet long by 2 ft wide. With the fiddle yard this was going to be tight so opted to increase the depth to 30 inches but make it removable for use at home if the extra 6 inches became a problem in the room. I normally do all my drawing by hand on graph paper but as that doesn't work very well for blogging have transposed this to excel which doesn't do the curves very well but gets all the track aligned. All the points are numbered ready for the point motors and wiring, The points at the front of the board are a mixture on short(for the sidings) and medium length for the line transitions. Peco 3 way points in the FiddleYard. Attached base board drawings Once the trackplan was completed then moved on with the position and think method of placing the points and sidings on the baseboards and starting the build on the aggregates facility as this was going to be the key building to fit into the area.
    1 point
  7. The replacement etches arrived from Mr. Chivers very promptly and a couple of days later I set about a new chassis for the second Hunslet. I will point out for any new readers that the need for a replacement chassis is entirely down to me and my rather over ambitious attempt to compensate the first one. I have not given up completely on this but is going to be put aside in the interests of meeting my now less than a year deadline. I think the recent experience has helped and did various things like putting in longer crank pins on the front axle and making sure these were countersunk first straight away. Result is a really, really quiet and smooth chassis first time with no opening out of the coupling rods or any other such tricks. Here it is in my slightly makeshift but very effective gig. And in quite a brave move sprayed even before testing with the wheels but with some bits where future soldering is required masked off; So here we have a super running chassis on the rolling road. I sat there just watching it completely mesmerised for ages! Next jobs are fitting pickups and then valve gear - not sure which I am least looking forward to! Once these two quite unpleasant tasks have been completed I anticipate pretty speedy progress towards completing half of my planed steam roster, then it's sorting out a couple of Baldwins.
    1 point
  8. Before I can finish the building of Fanshawe Ltd. I must decide what wall based street furniture I want to use. I spend a lot of time behind my PC searching for street names for Northall Dock. For Greater London there are several options. See the picture below. On Flickr there is a London Street Name Pool with a lot of pictures. I could skip all those modern type street name signs. I also tried to find names that refer to the scene of Northall Dock. For Northall Dock I will use the blue enamel signs. Not all street name signs are from Greater London, but they are blue enamel. After finding the picture I had to do some photo shopping to cut out the street names and resize them. I Used the brick height as a guide that means that the signs are 2 or 4 mm high in 4 mm. I chose for Northall Dock the following names and signs: Anchor Street will be used for the road along the warehouses. Canal Street for the alley between the buildings of Farnshaw Ltd and Roope & Voss. Waterford Road for the street along the cottage. The hydrant sign on the building of Roope & Voss. The “Bill stickers” sign in the alley. Next time again some modeling progress. Regards, Job PS. Today I had some time to model. And because I'm working on the premises of Fanshawe Ltd. I decided to put the name sign and the Bill Posters side on the side wall. I also created with the help of Publisher the Bill Posters is innocent "graffito" on the wall. Maybe not all perfect on the picture it will do in the diorama as later pictures will show. Hope you like my Post Scrip-tum. Job
    1 point
  9. Since April we have spent more time at our caravan in Dorset than at home. My wife has decided that she wants to move there to be nearer to one of our sons & grandchildren. In principal I quite like the idea and suggested that within a couple of years we should do that. However things have rolled along so fast I'm now a worried man. Within two days we have sold our house subject to contract. Fine only I'm working on Castell Mawr a collaborative layout with me doing nearly all the work & spending most of the money - I like that as I'm in complete control. The problem is this layout's booked into our Milton Keynes clubs 2014 show in February, I have trouble moving such a big layout the 7 miles to that ..... so what happens to it ?? If I leave here it won't get finished & may get damaged, If I take it, I can't get it back, and even that is supposing our new as yet not found home has room for it !! I have done a little work recently and am currently waiting for more Knightwing spear security fencing. Here is half the sidings that I set a stage on this week. Some quality fiddle-yard !! Dad-1
    1 point
  10. What has been really taking up my time over the last few months are these: They are the basic Farish Poole-based PCAs being detailed with the TPM detailing kit. I went to attach the walkways this morning only to find out I had to make a slight adjustment to get one of them to fit into the new holes. As I adjusted one, it pinged open. This is not the first time this has happened but it now means I'm going to have to solder them together, or they might spring open once painted. Then I'd have a problem on my hands! They are at slightly different stages in construction as I am using one to learn for all the others I plan to do (up to 8 in total). I have followed the instructions, but have digressed slightly in making the upper grabrails out of fine wire - seen on the right-hand model (this is clearer if you click on the lower photo). Although the ends are missing they are complete and ready to be attached. I need to file the lower end pieces further before doing this. The next photo shows the models against an RTR model for comparison.
    1 point
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