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Caley Jim

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Everything posted by Caley Jim

  1. So why does an 0-6-0 diseasal shunter have a tender? 🤔 Jim
  2. Sandboxes and brake gear now fitted. Because the sandboxes are hidden behind the front steps, I thought I might have got away with just a piece of brass with the sandpipe attached, but then I realised that from an oblique angle that would leave a bit of a gap, so proper sandboxes were created from the end of a pin from a 13amp plug. They and the brake gear have been treated with Beechwood Casey Aluminium Black which i feel gives a better representation of 'in service' condition than black paint. Since taking the photo I've added some thin strips of scrap etch in the area between the firesmokebox and the driving wheels, not to try to accurately model the valve gear, but just to put some 'clutter' in there to fill what would otherwise be an empty space. With all the etched parts now fitted, apart from the cab side lamp brackets, which won't go on until just before painting, and the number plates, which won't go on until after painting, attention will now turn to the 'round bits', So the trusty Black and Decker will be coming out! Jim
  3. She'll get on well with DJT. He wants to is going to rid America of all socialist lefties in order to 'drain the swamp'! Jim
  4. For loco driving wheels I have a Minitrix wheel cleaner. You sit it on the track with the two brass strips on the base in contact with the running rail, apply power, then hold the loco stationary on the two strips of brass wire 'brushes' on the top. Power passes from the strips to the brushes and drives the loco wheels. There's one listed on the Bay of fleas, but it's marked as out of stock at the moment. For carrying and tender wheels I use a brass wire wheel in a minidrill, applied to the rim of the wheel which makes it rotate and cleans it in the process. Jim
  5. This type of wheel is described in Mike Williams' book on CR Wagons (p35, drawing on p34). In it this type had welded joints between the spokes and tyre, reinforced by two bolts, one either side of each spoke. The drawing is from one for a 7T mineral 'bogie' and dates from 1878. The same wheels are shown on a similar drawing of 1882. Jim
  6. Post script to the above. Although the loco is running well, I found that when I either turned off the track power (when testing with a SPROG and JMRI), set a turnout against it, or lifted it off the track the motor gave a 'kick', enough to move the loco c1cm, which I realised was due to the CT decoder taking power from the capacitors. I hadn't experienced this with locos fitted with Zimo decoders. In consultation with my consulting electronics engineer, AKA @Nigelcliffe, it turns out that 'Zimo, being smarter, can tell the difference between "track DC" and "stay-alive DC". Most decoders cannot'. Changed the setting to 'NMRA digital only' and problem solved! Moral is, if you fit stay-alive to a CT decoder, don’t enable DC! At least with this loco I can unplug the decoder and plug the motor straight to the track supply for DC running (e.g. for running on Dunallander, which is why I enabled DC). Jim
  7. The buffer beam, valances and footsteps, cab inside splashers, reversing lever, smokebox door and bogie were all fitted in quick succession. Then I found I was back experiencing short circuits. Now this didn't surprise me as the clearance between the rear coupled wheel flanges and the rear of the cab splashers is very tight, but even after I had filed the inside of the splashers back a bit and lined them with tissue, the shorting was still there! 🙄 Much checking and partial dismantling followed, revealing shorting where I thought I had made sure there was none, including some of the thin double-sided PCB pads. (That bent step support on the LHS valance has been straightened) Having got that problem dealt with I then had to spend some time getting the front bogie to behave itself. The wheels weren't for rotating and adjusting the springs taking the current from it either had one set rotating or the other, but not both. It also wasn't happy going through a turnout. Eventually I replaced the 8thou wire with 10thou and the stronger springs seem to have done the trick. Thanks to a new circuit from one of our group members the stay-alive is now wired up and it's running rather nicely, though traction is still not great. Just as well it won't need turned on Kirkallanmuir as the combined wheelbase of loco and tender will barely fit on the 50ft turntable! Sandboxes and brake gear next. Jim
  8. There doesn't seem to be a 'sorry about that' button. 'friendly/supportive' seemed to be the best alternative! Jim
  9. It doesn't need to know. Heat it is not readily transferred through a vacuum, therefore a hot liquid inside does not lose heat to the outside and a cold liquid inside does not gain heat from the outside. Seemples Igor! 😁 Jim
  10. Well, that will make sure he takes his hat off before he enters the sanctuary! 🙂 Jim
  11. All mine have a projection on the crank at the turnout end which operates the arm of a microswitch. See centre right in this photo. (The other crank operates a catch point, so no crossing to change) Alternatively you could have the microswitch at the lever end, but that involves longer wiring runs. Jim
  12. Never having had to deal with emails in a business environment I have not been in that position. As Data Officer for the 2MM SA I have to be diligent and keep an eye out for members sending changes of address in order that our database is kept up to date as required by GDPR. Jim
  13. I would be perfectly happy with that, but then, as I've said before, my standards are nowhere near as high as yours! ☹️ Jim
  14. It's worth keeping an eye on the spam folder, not only on your email app, but also on your ISP's email server. I've frequently found messages on both which were not spam. Sometimes when I find myself getting messages on the VAG which are in the middle of a conversation, the start of the conversion having been marked as spam. Jim
  15. Here in Biggar, about as far from the sea as you can get in Scotland, one of the double skinned polycarbonate roof panels in my greenhouse has gone AWOL. The base of the greenhouse itself is screwed to 2ftX2ft slabs, so it isn't going anywhere in a hurry🤞. Our bins were intact, but all higgledy-piggledy even though they are a bit sheltered between ourselves and our neighbours houses. Slightly calmer today, but rain coming down in stair-rods. Jim
  16. I sometimes find that you have to play about with the quartering, making tiny adjustments, to find the sweet spot which is as good forwards as backwards. Jim
  17. Having spent the last few days chasing short circuits in both the loco and tender, involving much tissue paper and cyanoacrylate to cure them, the loco is finally running, albeit without any stay-alive yet. The motor has been tuned slightly, P and I set to 20 and 10 respectively, which seem to give the smoothest running, and acceleration and deceleration both set to 10. This test had the power setting in JMRI at 50% and direction change by switching directly between forward and reverse without using the brake. The lead on the cab roof is to help adhesion and pick up from the loco. The stuttering through the turnout is probably as much to do with the turnout as the loco! As can be seen, it copes quite happily with the approx. 15" (370mm) curve on my test track. It will also run at 'count the spokes as they come to the bottom' speed, so I'm happy with that. Jim
  18. I was going to suggest making the junction part of the RLS station throat, but you beat me to it! With a brick lined cutting trains will pretty much disappear before they get to the tunnel, depending how far along you make the entrance. Jim
  19. All the details you need to model any WCJS vehicle are in the 'Register of West Coast Joint Stock' book published by the HMRS many years ago. That photo is a scan from it. Jim
  20. Hi Brian, John's artwork was all drawn by hand on paper at 10mm-1 ft and then photo reduced. The 2mm etches were ones he was kind enough to have done for me. I never saw any etches with station furniture on them. I have no idea what happened to his drawings when he passed away. Are you a member of the CRA? If so, you could ask on the forum. If you're not a member I could ask on there for you. Jim
  21. @Wheatley has in his signature “Everywhere in Scotland is spelt 'Ecclefechan' and pronounced 'Kirkcudbright'.”. We've just come home from our weekly sequence dance club which meets in Revenstruther Hall, locally called 'Renstrie'. Jim
  22. They are all held in the National Archive at Kew. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C13213 Jim
  23. Don't know that I can justify a Cardean. I'm only justifying the Dunallastair and the G & E Direct set on the basis that there has been an 'incident' somewhere on the Shotts line, so services are diverted. I suppose I could say something had happened around Law Junction, so WCML services were similarly diverted. Then I would need to build a rake of WCJS coaches. To be honest, I always fancied doing a WCJS sleeping composite, just to see what punters reactions would be! Has the definite look of a 'cut & shut' job! Jim
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