woodyfox

The GF casting won't take solder. I drilled holes and inserted brass wire to solder feeds onto when i converted a Peak to DCC.

Hi Ken, I would email Steve at Railtec transfers. He is very good and has done bespoke stuff for me in the past.

I would advise against using ipa as it has a high polar charge effect which encourages the micro arcing that produces dirt. I would stick to those fluid with a low polar rating. That's my reason for opting for lighter fluid.

I run DCC in n gauge and use WD40 contact cleaner after cleaning with lighter fluid. It works really well. I believe the key is to use a non-ionic liquid for cleaning (water and IPA are ionically charged apparently but lighter fluid isn't) followed by a protective barrier of contact cleaner. Studies of track dirt shows that it is caused by micro arcing at the wheel rail interface which the constant high current of DCC combined with an ionically charged cleaning fluid being used accelerates dirt production/accumulation.

This is superb. Recommend to anyone wanting to model industrial decline, BR 70s freight operations and private shunters.

Cosmetic shops do nail polishing pads with 4 different grades on each side for the cost of pennies. I use them on my n gauge track with success. I wipe the lifted dirt off the polish pads with lighter fluid. I then use the WD40 contact cleaner on the rail head. I get good smooth slow running.

For a very strong bond in an awkward space with various materials I always use superglue with bicarbonate of soda either sprinkled on to the wet glue around the join or put on first before the glue. It sets very hard and can be sanded back. I've used this method to secure magnets on O Gauge vehicles to act as couplings without any failures.

Hi all, I've added some greenery to the swing bridge scene and completed the two-part resin pour on the river. I think it's OK - no leaks! The below video clips show the progress utilising my full ER HST with power cars 43078 and 43079 shattering the Sunday morning peace with the Paxman units on full tilt. A class 108 on a local passes in the other direction almost unnoticed.... Cheers Stu

On reflection you're absolutely correct. Abigails party would of course have been repleat with lined drapes - i'll adjust prior to fitting the roofs. Thanks Stu

Hi Robert, This 124 utilises the Worsley Works etches with Minitrix MK1s providing the frames, bogies and roofs. The underframe equipment is scratch built. I believe someone does a 3d printed version? Cheers Stu

Thanks Adrian - an opening bridge would have been a step of too much complexity for my abilities!

Hi, I've built a row of stone houses on a rise in front of the 4 track section. The roofs are next on the list of to do's but to my eye the curtains are way too bright! I know it's the 70s and oranges and pinks are all the rage but surely this is too far.. Cheers Stu

Hi, Back in July my daughter left home to live in Uni accommodation. She vacated our converted loft space. After I pleaded with her (for a few seconds ) not to leave her room so I could finally build a layout in a dry, warm, decent sized room. It was all to no avail and so I was forced to begin building Hinderwell. Based in the West Riding of Yorkshire somewhere, it's a 10'6 by 7' oblong roundy with a sliding drawer storage yard that's (very annoyingly) 5mm too short for a full Eastern Region HST. The baseboards are open plan 12mm ply with the track base 12mm ply atop 12"spaced uprights. It's a four track mainline for half the run reducing to two lines over a swingbridge. Then there's a through station (with removed middle road) leading to a single lead rationalised junction. Track is Peco code 55 with electrofrogs, the storage bit utilises code 80. It's DCC with turnouts controlled by analogue Cobalt motors. Signalling will be 3 aspect colour light using Absolute Aspects signals. The storage yard has 14 lines and I use brass tube soldered to the outside of the rails with brass wire L shapes to align the tracks through the tubes. This also provides sufficient current flow. This is the single lead junction out of the storage sidings leading to the station area. Beyond this around the far curve is the swing bridge. This is the swing bride area. The river bed is being prepared for a resin pour. The flat area will have a redundant industrial building on it. As it's West Yorkshire in the 70s, i've built some stock to cover gaps in the RTR range. This includes class 104, 110 and 124 DMU's. Here's the 6 car Transpennine class 124 crossing the Hinderwell swing bridge with the Calder Valley 3 car class 110 passing in the other direction. Cheers Stu

Try here: https://healthyhumanlife.com/blogs/news/how-long-does-it-take-for-plastic-to-decompose Or here: https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/plastic-problem/plastic-environment/plastic-production-decomposition/ There are a multitude of other sources. Plastic has been around for about 70 years. No bacteria are known to process/utilise it. Reasearch into enzyme breakdown is still in its infancy. Scientific estimates suggest a time for plastic to disappear from the environment to be in at least the 10s of thousands of years. Sources claiming shorter 'decomposition' times are misleading. Decomposition is a natural process - plastics merely deteriorate into smaller fragments as UV attacks the polymer bonds.

UV light causes brittleness in plastics. Regular exposure to direct sunlight is enough. They may have been stored as shop stock in such a way prior to purchase? Rather depressingly, every bit of plastic that's ever been manufactured globally still exists somewhere.

Used glass spice/herb jars with a screw top are very useful for liquids such as IPA, diluted pva and mixed paints. Sainsbury's own brand ones are a good size. I use pen holder desk tidy's for holding tools.

I recycle plastic takeaway tubs and have a plastic box with small, multiple compartments that my kids used to store something called power crazy go-gos when they were 5 or 6. They're in their 20s now...

I have just used my test track in n gauge that's been in a cold drafty garage for a year. Sound fitted locos worked really well with just a wipe with a cloth over the rails. I last cleaned the rails with lighter fluid followed with wd40 switch cleaner. It seems to keep rails clean and untarnished.

Hi, Class 46 in green to class 45/0 in grotty BR blue with sound is complete. I've only fitted a coupling at one end. The leading end has had the WTT number changed to 0O00 to reflect a machine in around 75-77. Here's the completed loco having its first sound sequence and run fully assembled. I'll run it on my test circle a for a whlie now to highlight any issues. Cheers Stu

Hi, A weekend of transfers and weathering. The train of gas tanks is now complete bar a bit of weathering on a couple of NGS medfits that will be used as barrier vehicles: I'm quite pleased with how the old Peco tank wagon kit can be adapted to create a TTA gas tank. Even with the well explored inadequacies of the kit, my 'impresstionist' approach to modelling works OK in this scale i think. Once the transfers were applied, I gave them a couple of coats of Testors Dullcote. This was followed with some picking out with a dark wash and then a light spray of a brake dust enamel. The 45 has also had the same treatment but still needs a grey/black dusting in some areas before reassembling. Cheers Stu

And here it is: Very loud for a small speaker! Now to sort the body shell. Cheers Stu

Hi, The speaker and decoder have now been wired in. I soldered the motor wires directly onto the brass motor brush retainers. The rail feed wires were more tricky to attach to the isolated live chassis sides. I decided to drill a 1mm hole in the top of each side. I then plugged the holes with 1mm brass wire sat 3mm proud. The wire was secured by adding superglue gel around the hole to which was added a dusting of bicarbonate of soda powder. This reacts with the glue and sets solid. The rail wires from the decoder are then soldered to the wire stubbs. I will do a few more circiut tests to check fir shorts (again!) and then it will be firing up time! Cheers Stu

Hi, Good progress on the 45 and gas tanks today. The tanks and peak body shell got a couple of coats of gloss varnish for transfer applications. The 45 chassis needed a bit more metal cut off one end to accommodate the decoder. Only 1mm depth, so not too bad. The decoder and speaker are now stuck in place with double sided padded tape: Losing one of the chassis spacers and screw caused an issue whereby one motor flywheel came into contact with a chassis side. It didn't cause a short as far as I could tell but would have, at least, affected running quality. Therefore pads have been added to the sides of the motor casing which are compressed against the inside of the shell sides with the effect of keeping the motor and flywheels centered. I've also fashioned a plastic spacer which is glued to the cab bulkhead rear which prevents the chassis sides coming into contact. The assembly has been tested for short circuits with a multimeter several times in several places and I'm ready to wire it all up. There is no lighting so just 6 wires to solder up. Cheers Stu

Wow! I rather do an old P&D Marsh w/m kit! I did one many years ago - istr you needed a Farish class 20 chassis?

Absolutely. I got this one for £93 off Ebay. It ran well on DC and once the over wide bogies are sorted it's a fine representation in this scale. The decoder was about £126. With transfers I get a 45/0 with great sound (hopefully) for about £225. Plus a few hours fun messing about with another project!