Nig H

February 28

On 26/02/2024 at 08:59, Etched Pixels said:

The artwork (Etched Pixels, Ultima, some older stuff inherited by Ultima) is now with the 2mm SA long with some etch stock. Please give them time to get a handle on it, there is a lot of stuff and it isn't always arranged in an obvious fashion. The Gresley overlays for Minitrix are now with the 2mmSA and they are one case the artwork is laid out in a fairly logical manner, although there are a lot of sides on the sheet and not always in the proportion that would be best!

I have just sent the NGS two parcels of stock I had from Etched Pixels. Included are lots of conversion sides for Thompson coaches but I don’t recall having received any Gresley sides. Maybe there will be some in the next consignment.

I should mention that Alan didn’t sell any stock to the 2mmSA. He is giving the stock to us free of charge, which is really kind of him. As part of the agreement for the transfer of the stock to the 2mmSA, it was agreed that any stock we didn’t want would be offered to the NGS free of charge.

Nigel Hunt,

Product Development Officer, 2mmSA

February 16

3 hours ago, MrSimon said:

They look great Nigel! What did you use for the roof section on the Worsley kits?

Many thanks

Simon

Hi Simon,

Thanks. I use Association plastic roofs, cut to length and thinned at the ends to something nearer the prototype appearance.

Nigel H

February 16

Here are some pics of the final two coaches. These are a Stanier composite from a Worsley works kit, and a Masterclass Stanier brake third. The composite is the last in a rake of four Stanier crimson-liveried coaches, and the brake third is to add to a rake of three maroon period 1 coaches built some time ago. One of the roofs in my previous post was a replacement for one I decided I didn't like on a coach built decades ago.

The crimson coach blended in well with the three already built.

The brake third should be the same colour as the original three period 1 coaches. These were painted and lined by Ian Rathbone, and I thought I used the same colour (LMS Crimson Lake) on the brake third.

This pic was taken with flash and makes the main colour look very bright, almost like crimson rather than the intended maroon.

This is the rake of four. Sorry about the lack of focus but you can see that the liveries don't quite match.

One other point I noticed with the Masterclass coaches was that the door grab handle holes are spaced further apart ( c. 0.25mm - 0.5mm) than on the Worsley Works coaches. The Masterclass kit includes etched grab handles, which I used, but seem a bit chunky, though I tried filing them down a bit after soldering in place. I realise that parts like these probably need to be etched a bit over or not at all.

I think both kits can be made into reasonable models, depending on the skills of the builder, but a lot more thought has gone into the design of the Masterclass kit to make it easier to build, and I'd prefer it if I had a to choose between the two.

Nigel Hunt

February 16

On 05/01/2024 at 17:21, Nig H said:

More to follow soon.

Nigel Hunt

Maybe not so soon, but the last two coaches are now finished apart from weathering. I thought I'd mention one or two aspects of the construction in case its useful to others. Firstly, the bogies are secured with a 12 BA screw, with a washer soldered on the top. The hole in the bogie is slightly greater than the head of the screw, and the screw is held tight against the underside of the bolster.

I use a former as shown below to make the handrails that are attached to the ends of the coach. The various holes in the former are to cater for the different positions of the holes in the ends.

I use 5 amp fuse wire usually as its easy to bend round the edge of the profile. The wire is quite fragile and can get bent after being fitted, but its easily corrected back to the right shape.

For plastic roofs, I use 5 thou plasticard cut into thin strips (not more than 0.5mm wide) for the ribbing on the roof. Applying this reasonably accurately is a tedious exercise. The pic below shows two roofs ready for cleaning up, and the tools I use.

The wet and dry I use to sand the roof where my fingers have pressed down on pools of Mekpak, and to smooth the ribbing where it has split during application, causing the join to stick up slightly. Its also useful to try to reduce the thickness of the ribbing a bit, I think even 5 thou is probably over scale.

One of the coaches I'm doing is a Chris Higgs model. This includes a resin roof and I couldn't use the plasticard for the ribbing on this as it wouldn't adhere permanently. I used some Tamiya masking tape instead, cut into thin strips, again c. 0.5mm or less. The Tamiya tape was much easier to apply than the plasticard, and no cleaning up afterwards is necessary. Here is the result.

I'll post some pics of the finished coaches in the next post.

Nigel Hunt

February 8

Hi, how long does the shuttle take, and what is the frequency.

Thanks,

Nig H

February 1

17 hours ago, Geordie Exile said:

I'm mulling over how best to combine a lever for wire-in-tube turnout operation with a polarity switch for the frog. Before I reinvent the wheel, does such a thing already exist somewhere, or does someone have a working design they'd be willing to share?

Cheers, Richard.

Hi,

I used a hacked servo (there’s a description on here somewhere) but with a DPDT switch instead of a DPST one. One side of the switch changes the crossing polarity at the same time as the turnout is changed via the panel switch. I was pleasantly surprised that it seemed to work well. I’ll try to find the description if you are interested.

See my posts of 9th and 23rd March 2023 in the ‘what’s on my workbench’ topic.

Nigel Hunt

January 5

On 04/01/2024 at 16:11, Nig H said:

Well, I finally finished these coaches and here are a couple of pics. As I'll be making a couple more, I'll leave the weathering until later.t

Nigel Hunt

The sides I'm working on are from Worsley Works. The position of the ventilators is not marked in any way so after tinning sparingly along the top edge of the side, I soldered the outer door ventilators in place, positioning them by eye as best I could. I then held a steel rule against the bottom edge of the two attached ventilators and taped the rule to the coach side. Then the rest of the vents were added, held against the steel rule for the vertical position, and by eye as accurately as possible centrally on the door.

I hold the vent down with an old Exacto knife blade. The theory is the point stops anything slipping whilst soldering, and minimizes the heat sink affect, though the steel rule will be much worse anyway.

The tape is Kapton heat-resistant. Its useful for lots of things.

Once I'd soldered all the vents on, I soldered the sides to the ends. Not the easiest of jobs, but it gets easier the more sides are attached, and if you tack solder everything at first, you can make adjustments to the joins so that sides and ends are attached accurately.

Here's an end view after soldering the floor unit inside the sides/ ends. Its worth checking the solebars end level with the ends so that the buffer beam is level with the ends when soldered to the solebars.

The WW floor pan includes fold-up trussing, which I don't like, so I used my own or Ultima trussing instead. The centre of the floor pan is still quite flimsy so I soldered a rectangle of double-sided pcb to the inside of the floor pan. I don't know why I used pcb, I could have used scrap metal sheet instead.

Pcb in place and also 12BA nuts for bogies.

And the underside.

More to follow soon.

Nigel Hunt

January 4

On 03/10/2023 at 16:56, Nig H said:

I have been working on some LMS Stanier suburbans for what seems like ages. The first one I did, the maroon one, I had to repaint because the masking over the sides took the paint with it when I removed it after painting the ends and underframe. Once I'd successfully repainted it, John Aldrick kindly agreed to do the lining on the sides, and very good it is too. For the crimson ones, I brush painted the ends and underframe so I didn't need to mask off the sides. It tuned out to be easier than I thought, though it took a long time. I

The next stage was to apply coach numbers and class 1s etc transfers. I started with some CCT number sets for the coach numbers as these include the correct number ranges for these coaches. The colour of the transfers is yellow, which is wrong for the pre-1956 crimson livery (it should be old gold). I thought I might be able to run an orange felt-tip pen over the transfers but this didn't really work. The number sets went on OK, but when I cut out the 'guard' lettering for the guards compartment door, I found the transfer lifted away from the backing paper. I applied these anyway. I wasn't totally convinced by the results of all this, the colour just looked wrong.

I planned to airbrush the transfers with a protective layer of vanish, as is usual practice. I thought the transfers might be blown away by the airbrush so it seemed a good idea to brush over the transfers with some satin varnish. Doing this caused the lettering on the transfers to disintegrate. Has anyone else have this happen? So, in the end I removed the CCT transfers from the crimson coaches, and used Fox transfers instead. Although these were the correct old gold colour, I had to make up each string with individual digits and letters. This was quite tedious but not as bad as I thought it would be. So that's where I'm up to - see pics below.

Next step is to varnish the sides and spray the roofs. Then fix the glazing and seats inside the bodies, and attach the roofs.

Nigel Hunt

Well, I finally finished these coaches and here are a couple of pics. As I'll be making a couple more, I'll leave the weathering until later.

They're not perfect but I'm reasonably happy with the results.

I started on the next coach by forming the tumblehome (or turnunder) on the sides. I have used a plasticard former to do this as shown here.

The metal rod or tube is forced down along the bottom edge of the side and against the angled edge of the former to bend the bottom section the side to a slight curve. Its best, I find, to get the bend slightly too tight, then it can be flattened slightly if needed, with a steel rule pressed down on the side.

Next I'll solder the door ventilator hoods in place.

Nigel Hunt

December 7, 2023

8 hours ago, Matt.S. said:

Morning all,

Currently building two D2026 motor car vans however the reccomended components no longer exist. Please can someone assist with the following - either confirmation or recommendations please!

2-004 currently 5.25mm wheels, 14.2mm axle (should this be 7mm disc?)

2-464 4'6" spring, J hanger, LMS?

2-419 Mystery axlebox (flat fronted LMS?)

2-121 Buffers (possibly coach buffers?)

Hi Matt,

You need 7mm diameter wheels and if it's the Stephen Harris kit, then 12.25 mm axles. The springs and axle boxes sound about right. I think the type of buffers varied over time, so you need to have a look at some pics at the approximate time period to decide, but coach buffers (as clipped to a varying degree) are probably what you need. There's information in LMS coaches vol 1, page 88 onwards, or try the Paul Bartlett website.

Nigel Hunt

October 23, 2023

On 16/10/2023 at 17:14, Chris Higgs said:

Well, sort of. Etched Pixels = Ulitima items originally created by Colin Albright, plus other things added later. Perhaps I should have said Albright era Ultima.

Chris

Thanks Chris, I'd not appreciated the distinction. I agree with you about the quality of those castings. Was it you and me buying up large stocks of them at Warley one year when we heard Ultima might stop selling them?

Nigel Hunt

October 18, 2023

12 hours ago, Nigelcliffe said:

Writing as the designer of the current wheel range, its not something I'd recommend. The stainless is extremely hard, and eats drill bits. (Which is why they've changed to 0.75 on the newer ones, the cost of drill bits for the 0.5mm hole was getting silly).

I note Tony has indicated above that he is seeking the return of the proper 0.5mm crankpin.

- Nigel

I was suggesting drilling the old brass wheels to 0.75mm to take the wider crank

pins. Not necessary if 0.5mm pins are brought back into stock.

Nigel Hunt

October 16, 2023

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

The only slight problem is that these are marked as WSL. Since 0.5mm has been/ is still the default crankpin size I don’t quite understand why given how many previous type wheels that use them will still be around. Otherwise anyone with previous wheels - such as me - will be hunting for alternatives once they disappear if I need replacements.

Bob

I think the idea is that you can drill the hole in older wheels out to 0.75mm to use the new pins. Does that allay your concerns, Bob?

Nigel Hunt

October 16, 2023

19 hours ago, wellseasoned said:

This is really heartening news.

I am a member of the 2mm Association which is a bonus.
Purely as an example, a number of people have previously expressed an interest in the Hawksworth sleeper etches. As far as I can make out they haven't been produced in a long while.

I got into building carriages as looking into my crystal ball around 5 years back, I could see the Farish offerings creeping up towards the £50 RRP, and they are very nearly there.

This price tag could inspire others to try their hand at making a carriage. Therefore the continued availability of etches and castings is really good news.

Thank you Nigel for passing on this positive news.

Hi,

Please don't expect the full EP range to re-appear. As I said, I don't know what etches might be produced. The artwork/tools for some of the range may not be re-usable, and we may decide that some items are of low interest so not worthwhile producing.

Concerning white metal castings, we have limited stocks of certain items that we will sell in the Association Shop. When these are gone, customers can ask P & D Marsh to produce items from the EP moulds they possess. They have agreed to consider such requests. The Association is unlikely to produce any white metal castings as we don't possess the moulds, nor do we have the manpower to undertake the work.

The Association produces etches for certain items that EP cast e.g. battery boxes, and has also produced 3D print versions of items such as coach roof ventilators. We may use these methods to fill some of the gaps in the EP range, but again, it depends on having manpower to undertake the work.

Nigel Hunt

October 16, 2023

8 hours ago, Chris Higgs said:

So by the EP white metal moulds is meant the former Ultima items? If the moulds are still in good conditions those are excellent quality. I do hope P&D Marsh take up the option to produce them.

Very good news that the plastic roofs will be made available again.

Chris

Yes, Etched Pixels (EP) = Ultima. It might be a good idea for people to send enquiries about the EP castings to Paul Andrews at P & D Marsh. He has agreed to consider any requests for these castings. The plastic roof moulds are being modified slightly to overcome some technical difficulties in using them. This work will be undertaken as soon as possible, but other work has a higher priority at the moment.

Nigel Hunt

October 15, 2023

I have been discussing with Alan Cox of Etched Pixels what will happen to his range of mainly coach-related accessories. The end result has been that the range is being divided up between the Association and P & D Marsh. The latter have been granted permission to use the EP white metal moulds they possess to sell castings in their own right, if they so wish. The Association has received some parts (plastic and white metal) and will sell these in its shop. Some of these will be listed soon. Some parts have been sent to the NGS, and more will be offered to them soon.

Details of EP etched parts are to be sent to me soon, and I and Tony Simms will decide what we want to do with them. The Association also has the moulds for various plastic roofs and plans to sell them via its Shop.

So, some of the range will end up with the Association, some with P& D Marsh, and some with the NGS.

Nigel Hunt

Product Development Officer

October 14, 2023

4 hours ago, wellseasoned said:

DavidK71,

Really nice to see a post on this forum after such a long break. You have once again made a lovely job of this sleeper.

Does anyone know what will/has become of the E.P. etches and castings?
Ray of BH Enterprises has sadly recently passed, so the future of these etches may not be safe.
Could we maybe be down to the offerings of Worsley works in the future?

Hi,

I am the Product Development Officer for the Two Millimetre Scale Association. When I heard that EP was winding down, I contacted them to ask what would happen to the range of products. The end result has been that the range is being divided up between the Association and P & D Marsh. The latter have been granted permission to use the EP white metal moulds they possess to sell castings in their own right, if they so wish. The Association has received some parts (plastic and white metal) and will sell these in its shop. Some parts have been sent to the NGS, and more will be offered to them soon.

Details of EP etched parts are to be sent to me soon, and I and the Association Sales Officer will decide what we want to do with them. The Association also has the moulds for various plastic roofs and plans to sell them via its Shop.

So, some of the range will end up with the Association, some with P& D Marsh, and some with the NGS.

Nigel Hunt

Product Development Officer

Two Millimetre Scale Association

October 4, 2023

14 hours ago, PaulCheffus said:

Hi

Was it enamel varnish? I tend to use Johnson’s Klear with these to seal them before using any other varnish.

Cheers

Paul

Yes it was enamel. I have/ had a bottle of Pledge Multi Surface cleaner with 'formally (sic) known as Klear' on the label, but I never thought to use it, though it seems to have disappeared, having just tried to find it.

Nigel Hunt

October 3, 2023

I have been working on some LMS Stanier suburbans for what seems like ages. The first one I did, the maroon one, I had to repaint because the masking over the sides took the paint with it when I removed it after painting the ends and underframe. Once I'd successfully repainted it, John Aldrick kindly agreed to do the lining on the sides, and very good it is too. For the crimson ones, I brush painted the ends and underframe so I didn't need to mask off the sides. It tuned out to be easier than I thought, though it took a long time. I

The next stage was to apply coach numbers and class 1s etc transfers. I started with some CCT number sets for the coach numbers as these include the correct number ranges for these coaches. The colour of the transfers is yellow, which is wrong for the pre-1956 crimson livery (it should be old gold). I thought I might be able to run an orange felt-tip pen over the transfers but this didn't really work. The number sets went on OK, but when I cut out the 'guard' lettering for the guards compartment door, I found the transfer lifted away from the backing paper. I applied these anyway. I wasn't totally convinced by the results of all this, the colour just looked wrong.

I planned to airbrush the transfers with a protective layer of vanish, as is usual practice. I thought the transfers might be blown away by the airbrush so it seemed a good idea to brush over the transfers with some satin varnish. Doing this caused the lettering on the transfers to disintegrate. Has anyone else have this happen? So, in the end I removed the CCT transfers from the crimson coaches, and used Fox transfers instead. Although these were the correct old gold colour, I had to make up each string with individual digits and letters. This was quite tedious but not as bad as I thought it would be. So that's where I'm up to - see pics below.

Next step is to varnish the sides and spray the roofs. Then fix the glazing and seats inside the bodies, and attach the roofs.

Nigel Hunt

September 19, 2023

12 hours ago, Nick Mitchell said:

5702 (lack of) Progress report #6

I'm looking for advice/opinions.

I made a start on the tender livery. The paint is Humbrol gloss, which is a bit bright, but I'm hoping weathering will dull it down and blend it with the loco body. Maybe a dark tinted varnish would be useful.

The real issue I'm having is with the lining. I'm using Fox transfers. These have separate yellow and black lines. The idea is to put the thicker yellow lines on first, and once they're set, overlay the black lines.

I apologise for the slightly out of focus photo, but this shows the first stage of yellow lining on one side of the tender (steps not quite complete):

This is the other side, after I've added the black overlays:

The main problem I have is with the large rectangular panel.

Because I put the transfers on the inside of the panel edge, butted up to the beading, the yellow lining appears inset from the beading.

I'm not sure this is correct, and when I paint the beading black, I'm worried it will look too thick.

The top panel yellow lines are inset too, but by much less.

So... should I even be worrying about this?

Should I try to remove the rectangular panel lining and replace it? I could use the thinner yellow lining as applied to the tender underframe (there is plenty of this on the transfer sheet). This would give a similar effect to the top panel.

Hi Nick,

After seeing the comments made subsequently, I'm wondering if for the rectangular panel you could apply the yellow transfers first up to the inside edge of the beading, then overlay that with black transfers, leaving (hopefully) a thin yellow edge to the black beading. You'd still need to work out how to do something similar for the upper panel, including the upper edge of the rectangular panel.

An alternative might be to paint the beading and the edge of the upper panel black and apply yellow lining with a Mecanorma lining pen.

I had a quick go with a 0.35mm pen on a very old GEM tender (my first ever attempt at a kit). The paint finish is very poor and at least partly explains the poor results I achieved. also, i am not very good at this sort of thing, but you will be much better. The yellow can be touched up or removed completely without harming the underlying paintwork. Tim Watson used these pens to line the CF Oerlikon stock, I think.

Here are some pics.

If you want, I'll bring the pens to Bradford next week for you to try out.

Nigel Hunt

August 30, 2023

2 hours ago, A. Bastow said:

Hi all,

I have designed a kit for an L&Y 21' Covered Carriage Truck. The body is 3d printed and the chassis is an etch.

How much demand do you think there is and would it be unreasonable of me to ask for indications of interest before the etch is sent to production? Or would it be better for me to order just a single sheet of the etch and see how it goes, ordering more as demand increases?

Cheers,

Adam

Hi Adam,

In my experience not many people express an interest in a proposed product compared to sales once the production run is up and running. So, you might need to gamble on potential future sales and just go ahead anyway. As has been said, you should build a test etch before going to a production etch unless you feel very confident that the first version will be spot on, but you risk damaging your reputation if you produce something with errors in it, even if you correct the errors with supplementary parts (which add to your costs).

For almost every loco kit I have produced, I have needed to produce and build two test etches before going to a production version. Normally the second test etch has been good enough to produce a model for my own purposes, with final tweaks included in the production version. On occasions I have found errors in the production version not apparent in the test etches, usually resulting from variations in the etching process. This has sometimes necessitated the production of a supplementary etch, again adding to costs.

You probably won’t make much from marketing 2mm kits, so consider producing what you want for your own purposes, and if you can sell some to offset your own production costs, great. Most of my kits have earned a surplus of income over production costs, but the most profitable have probably paid me an hourly rate of less than £5, maybe closer to £1,for the research, drawing/design, handling the production etches, administration and bookkeeping, and despatch.

If you want to offer something, I’d suggest you provide as much prototype information as possible (within reason) so interested parties can judge what’s on offer.

Sorry if this has dampened your enthusiasm, but good luck if you proceed anyway.

Regards,

Nigel

June 28, 2023

Hi,

Has anyone got any 8 spoke 6mm dia. 13mm axle wheels they are prepared to sell? I would like at least three axles. I can buy or swap some other wheels.

Nigel Hunt

June 26, 2023

On 25/06/2023 at 16:39, 65179 said:

I thought Chris Higgs did the Farish replacement chassis?

Looking at the etch, it looks like any motor can be used; glued directly to one of the spacers or mounted on one of the Association motor mounts as required to line up the motor shaft and the coal hole. The narrow Farish body precluded the usual cantilever gearbox arrangement so it looks like (unless I've missed it) that either L shaped support brackets with a bearing for the worm shaft fitted to the spacers fore and aft of the wormwheel, an equivalent U shaped bracket or a milled equivalent will be needed.

Simon

Thanks Simon,

It looks like you have to come up with your own arrangement for the power train and drawbar then. I’ll let Tony know.

Nigel Hunt

June 25, 2023

Hi,

Tony Heywood was asking me about the Association Farish Black 5 chassis kit. He wanted to know how to link the worm to the worm wheel. Also, how are the loco and tender chassis to be linked, and what is the intention regarding motors? Something mounted in the tender on the frame spacers?

Apologies if the answers are already there, sometimes I can't see for looking!

Nigel Hunt

May 15, 2023

There is now a place available if anyone is interested. Please get in touch with me at nigelhunt62@outlook.com if you are interested in attending.

Nigel Hunt

May 14, 2023

On 11/05/2023 at 12:08, Ian Smith said:

Ian,

I was lucky in that Richard Brummitt furnished me with a set of his etchings for a pair of Dean 10’0” bogies. I have added springs and axleboxes from my own 8’6” Dean bogie etches. Richard’s etch includes laminations to build up the volute springs which I think I will use. Brake gear will also be poached from my 8’6” ones. Step boards will be fabricated from some strips of step boards that I included on my 6 wheel coach etch to fill up space.

Ian

The Association will hopefully be releasing kits for 8' 6" and 10' Dean bogies probably September-ish. These will be etched frames with 3D printed volute springs. I'm waiting for one final test etch before going to production.

Nigel Hunt

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