MikeOxon

There is a rather characterful waterworks at Windsor, near Slough, in GWR territory. Might be too tall for you but some nice features for modelling. see http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/berkshire/slough/pictures/4235553-windsor-castle-waterworks/ Mike

I had intended to wait until my carriage truck was complete, before writing another post, but various events have introduced delays, so here is a 'work in progress' report. . Some of my readers seem to like my 'off-beat' approach to modelling and this one also has some unusual features! It all began when I saw a box of 'extra long' safety matches on the supermarket shelves. I had been looking at a drawing of an early wooden-framed carriage truck (1866) in Janet Russell's book on 'Great Western Horse Power' and suddenly got the idea of making the frame from these matches! The drawing shows several intriguing features, such as the diagonal-planked floor, with iron strips under the carriage wheels, and supports for moveable cross-bars that are below the side hand-rails. I constructed a simple under-frame from a selection of both 'extra long' and ordinary matches. I also had some small pieces of veneer from an old marquetry set, which provided a suitable deck. I glued the veneer to a rectangle of 10 thou brass sheet, to provide mountings for the under-gear. The first source of delay was that the 'MJT' compensating W-irons, which I intended to use, have been 'temporarily out of stock' all year, so far. When I had no reply to an e-mail querying potential availability, I looked for alternatives and found both the 'Mainly Trains' GWR running gear etch and their wagon detailing set. I fitted the running gear under the brass floor and found that I needed to cut recesses in the backs of the side frame members to accommodate the W-irons. Fortunately, the match wood was easy to cut with a scalpel blade. The 'Mainly Trains' detailing set contains lengths of rivet strip, intended for wagon bracing, which I used for the strakes along the deck of the carriage truck, together with some square riveted plates to complete the ends of the loading ramps. The next step was to mount the two side hand-rails. The prototype used angle irons as vertical supports at the wagon ends and T-section bars for the intermediate supports. I had some 1mm x 1mm brass angle rod, so cut this into short lengths and then fixed lengths back-to-back for the T-sections. This was very fiddly and I should have made up the T-sections before cutting into individual lengths. These intermediate supports also ended up too wide, though this is not really noticeable in practice. Perhaps I should have used styrene sections but I wanted to represent the metal of the prototype with metal parts. The top rails were too small in section for matches, so I used 1mm square styrene rod for these. Once these parts were all in place, I added additional iron-work details to the solebars, using parts from the 'Mainly Trains' fret. I think it took me as long to add these details as some people take to build a whole layout 🙂 I'm now stuck again, waiting for grease axleboxes and other parts to arrive from 'Dart Castings' - those guys really mean it when they say 'allow 21 days for delivery' The 1866 drawing does not show any brake gear. I assume that, after 1880, the vehicle would have been fitted with the moving-cylinder vacuum brake with a single side lever. If anyone has any more information, perhaps they could let me know. Link to Part 2 Mike

For the record, this is how it looks in Photoshop Elements. Mine is v.2 but I expect the principles are similar in later versions. In the 'Image' menu, select 'Transform', then 'Perspective'. Use the mouse to drag the corner handles to get the effect you want. If you choose 'Free Transform', in the same menu, you can also rotate or stretch the image in any direction. Mike

I expect the photo has made the handrail look much more 'wobbly' than it actually appears - photos do that! On the other hand, your hand-done lining looks splendid Mike

The nice thing about scratch building is that you can add just as much (or little) detail as you want, and you don't have to do it all at once! Thank you for showing exactly how you did this bit of detailing Mike

It's taken me a while to get round to photographing mine but i seem to have less splay than you. As I mentioned in an earlier post (#57), I folded the transverse tabs first and then the W-irons. I think this has forced the fold of the irons just a fraction further out, which seems to have helped. Mine are standard Bachmann 00 coach wheels. The problem I have is that 00 wheels are so close together that I have to bend the brake shoes in a long way, to come anywhere near the wheel treads! Mike

I like the 'laid back' attitude of the Simplex driver. I hope an officer doesn't see him

Not only a super result but an excellent description of how you built it - a very useful and informative post. Thank you. Mike

Nice pics - I like the 2nd and 4th best. The inclusion of the green signal 'makes' no.2 and you have handled the exposure for the bright metal reflections very well. The misty morning shot is very atmospheric and I like the silhouette of the signalman in the box. No.1 is too cluttered for me and I think a vertical crop of No.3, to select the key elements of the flowering buddleia, and the indicators, might be a good idea - the pipework on the right is a bit ugly but that's just my taste - I tend to take the 'less is more' approach. Suggested crop on your original That's some rat -i thought it was a cat at first glance! Mike

Since retiring, I have a strict rule "Never work to a deadline" On the other hand, it is a great way of ensuring that you actually do get on with things Mike

...but only one 'proper' one Mike

I think B/W is very effective for shots like this - especially as you have kept the red signal light!

Perhaps time for a compressor for the price of a few cans of propellant e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Performance-Professional-Airbrush-Compressor-As18-2/dp/B00BG9MTQC/ref=sr_1_19?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1394211182&sr=1-19&keywords=airbrush No inflammable gas either.

How long before these images appear in someone's book?

Ah -but I have a secret photo of the trials Derived from images by Phil Sangwell licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Hi Jason, I seem to have been fairly lucky with colour matching to GWR green but it does need a bit of trial and error, with small patches first. The transfer film is very 'floppy' and, although it can be 'teased into position with cocktail sticks (blunt), it's quite hard to get it completely aligned - you can see some droop towards the ends of my tender pic (though I try to blame it on the camera and it's hardly noticeable in practice) If you are doing a complete flat panel, then photo paper is better, since it is more rigid, but you do have thicker white edges. No problem if it's inset into a panel or a splasher, for example. That is why I took to over-painting the edges afterwards and, with thinned paint, even over the face of the panel as well. Hope that helps. Mike

I've tried something similar, as shown on the tender side at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1405/entry-12657-cheats-lining-lettering/ I used the inkjet printer to provide the base colour, rather than paint, though I have tried over-painting with a brush and applying a very thin coat, after printing, to get an exact match. One advantage, if you make laminated sides with the cutter, is that you can paint the layers separately, so you don't have to pick out panels individually. .

There was some discussion of this machine, earlier in the thread at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79025-a-guide-to-using-the-silhouette-cameo-cutter/?p=1313362 I notice it is already discontinued by the supplier mentioned there. Also,another member (Andy Vincent) mentioned haveing one at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79025-a-guide-to-using-the-silhouette-cameo-cutter/?p=1320697 You could try contacting him for info. Mike

I agree, Mikkel, that these kits have a delicacy that suits their subjects. The way the main body folds - a bit like origami - is clever. Some tabs to lock things together for gluing or soldering would make a lot of difference to ease of assembly.

I have the 'Portrait' version. If you look at the specs for the two models, they use the same cutter heads, have the same maximum cutting force of 210gf, and the same maximum cutting thickness of 0.8mm. The 'lighter' part of the product description merely refers to the weight of the unit and has nothing to do with cutting performance. The Cameo has a wider bed, which makes for a larger, heavier unit, just as A3 printers are bigger and heavier than A4 ones. Mike

In my earlier post about the 'Scale Link' kit for a horse bus, I mentioned that I had another of these kits to make a 'Victoria' carriage, which I've now constructed. The 'Victoria' was an elegant 4-wheel vehicle, with a low and wide entrance, suitable for use by ladies wearing the voluminous skirts of the period. My example is destined to be loaded onto an open carriage truck, for the use of the local Lord of the Manor, on his annual trip to London for the Season. His wife and daughters will enjoy seeing and being seen in the Park in this handsome vehicle. Like the previous kit, this one is very delicate and somewhat fiddly to build. The first task is to identify the various parts on the fret, as the main body has a very complex outline and some of the links look more like sprue than component! The main body is designed to be folded to shape but is completely devoid of any tabs to facilitate holding the thing together, when formed. I decided to hold the parts in position, by hand, and then run a little superglue, with the aid of a cocktail stick, along the various joint lines. There's a choice of two hoods on the fret, one raised and one folded. Amazingly, the raised hood has a couple of tabs to help hold the top of the hood to the sides. Unfortunately, the appearance is nothing like a real hood, seeming as though it is made of plywood rather than fabric. Since my carriage will be a wagon load, I thought it most unlikely that the hood would be raised in transit (like an open umbrella in a strong wind), so I was happy to discard this part and used the folded version instead. Similarly, I discarded the rather skeletal lamps, deciding that these would be removed for travel and stored safely in the groom's compartment of the accompanying horsebox. . As with the horse bus, there are some extremely delicate parts - the steps, for example, are held by a 'thread' of brass, whereas the real coach seems to incorporate these as part of the flowing mudguards. Having learned from my previous encounter, I assembled the wheels onto their axles before fitting these to the minute slots in the hyper-thin springs. I used a dot of superglue to secure the wheels and their washers to the flat strip 'axle'. Alas, I got some excess glue on the hub and, in trying to remove it, seriously bent the hyper-thin spokes on one of the wheels. The real coach had pretty delicate looking wheels but I hope they were stronger than these! I think the angular mudguards also need replacing, to create more flowing lines that would reflect the elegance of the real carriage. I suppose that, for transport, I should throw a tarpaulin over the whole carriage but, even if the model is far from perfect, I intend to leave it exposed. I removed the shafts from the fore-carriage, for transport, and will lay these under the coach, on the bed of the carriage truck. That is the next vehicle that I have to build but that is another story.... Mike

Brilliant I'll remember that phrase for my own layout! Mike

indeed it does. The problem seems to be that RMWeb adds stray characters on the end of the link - delete those and the original link works Mike

Many thanks for the link. I was amazed to see the similarities to my own 'design', which was loosely based on American practice. I like the idea, described in the article, of running back to the depot with two sets coupled together - totalling 3,200 hp. Quite something for 1908 It was interesting to see the interior too. I bet those resistor grids got hot at times! Mike

I didn't hit your problem with the W-irons, since I folded the long tabs first and, when I subsequently folded the sides, they seemed to mate up quite well. They also ended up slightly further apart, so not as splayed as yours but still not parallel. I agree about the under-size holes but, from comments I received on my blog, I was given to understand that this is pretty usual -still annoying, especially since opening out the holes in the very fragile brake shoe assemblies is b.... awkward. On the second chassis I made, I opened out all the holes while still on the fret, which was very much easier - see my diagram at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1405/entry-13324-six-wheelers-wip/ I also agree about the screw heads not fitting in their recesses - the instructions say they are cheese-head screws but those supplied with mine were CS, that didn't fit as described. If you've not found out already, you'll also need to open out the slot in the centre carrier for the 0.9mm rods from the end units to pass through - not easy, either, and should not be necessary! (the slot is in the foreground in your last photo) I gave the kit a 'thumbs up' because it does its job (when completed) very well, and covers a wide range of different wheelbases (which I needed). I do, however, empathise with your irritations over the fit of some of the parts. I came to this kit from a 'Scale Link' horse bus, which was extremely fiddly to build, so this kit seemed very straight-forward, in comparison! Mike EDIT: corrected name of source of horse bus