harris0169

Thanks Jim for confirming. The biggest thing with cardboard modelling of locos and chassis, is trying to find the details. This is why I appreciate that you have posted so much about the skills and knowledge you have developed and acquired so that others - well me - can have a go and develop their (my) skills too. I did contact John by text a year and possibly a bit ago to see if I could find anymore information which I shoulda followed up with a call I guess when I didn't hear back. Anyway - I have you in the here and now so that'll do nicely! Along with @cornamuse and @Annie too. All the best Andy

Hi @JimRead Don't want to cause thread drift...yet here it comes (!)....Was it John Fownes (who I think we spoke about)? When trying to find out more about the cardboard locos I did find this article: https://issuu.com/mortons-digital/docs/rmm007 on page 56/57 And I think Phil Parker mentions the team at the Club here: https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2015/06/#:~:text=slice or two...-,One,-very unusual demo and the link in Phil's post has one save on Wayback Machine/internet archive here: https://web.archive.org/web/20160418021844/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/instalek/cardboard.htm How did my Sherlock sleuthing go? All the best Andy

Totally brilliant. 👍

Ahhhh...just seen in one of the photos there is a "skirts" version Fairlie type.... And this crazy Doo-dah (with covers like you show in your picture: ...Don't envy your choices! All the best Andy

Definitely agree on showing the motion. Even if it's just the coupling rods to start with. I think it adds to the view experience seeing things moving around. Tyler Falls Greendale double Fairlie for inspiration perhaps?: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1774508726114661/search/?q=fairley (Hope the link works) And a quick snapshot here: Cheers Andy

Hi @JimRead - I haven't glued proprietry track but I keep looking at what people do because I want to fix it to Foam. And want track with tight radius which tends to mean it needs fixing well. Haven't really seen answers covering both aspects. Here's some ideas... People do seem to use both PVA and Copydex. In this thread there are some ideas about it. Quite like the idea in there of wide head pins/tacks to allow adjustment of alignments of track. https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=40066 Also there is someone who uses Aleene's Tacky Glue here: https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/laying-track-with-glue-12192594?pid=1331025468 Another thought is to use Impact adhesive...In that direct Email I sent you recently I didn't clarify the glue but it was impact adhesive. Which can apparently be reactivated with heat from a soldering iron...not going to work on a plastic commercial track base obviously! The other thing I thought was if you wanted to use track pins you could glue thin wood (lolly sticks cut up?) under the cardboard baseboard at the places where you want to pin. Then predrill the hole with a pin chuck and push in pins. I normally use this method with a traditional wooden top baseboard if I don't want track glued permanently) You could also use this method if you want to solder ends of rail. Maurice Deane (of the Dean pattern Fiddle yard) soldered rail to Gimp pins with heads cut off on one of his layouts. OK...Apologies that I have not tried any of these myself so there is not real life experience. And I haven't really seen anything to say how to glue tight radius curves without pre-bending rail - and even then I've only guessed this is what was done. I have info on simple railbenders as well if needed. Cheers Andy

The building looks great. Very cleverly done in my opinion. Andy

Yes I'm not quite sure what he means by shellac making it "hard and crispy". All the things about shellac and card is it makes card "hard" and therefore stronger. Who knows...it's tantalising being on the edge of nearly knowing what works for someone and why. Point is I think shellac, polyurethane varnish or paint sound like good options which may do different things and end up the giving the desired outcome... ie a model that is wanted that will stand the test of time! 😀 Is it time to throw in that I have also seen the use of PVA to create hardening and read about emulsion paint too? PVA at about 3min 30s of this And emulsion paint mentioned on page 3 paragraph 6 here: https://tlrs.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Terry_Russell_Tramcar_modelling_in_O_gauge.pdf And of course superglue is suggested on internet to soak into edges you might want to file...(and apparently shellac too?) So...pick your poison. I'm going to start with shellac because I have it and apparently soaks into card well. Also the lack of water in it sounds like a good thing. I did a quick search just now and there are quite a few posts on here in relation to shellac... Also doing a quick search for a comment I found before on polyurethane varnish I found this comment which whilst it is aimed at a model's finish could help with a formula for card perhaps?.... all just stuff I'm afraid...Proof in the pudding All the best Andy

PS: this is also a good (short, tantilising) read... John Fownes doesn't use Shellac but just cheap spray paints form "pound-type" stores (well the article mentions Wilko): https://issuu.com/mortons-digital/docs/rmm007 page 56/57 This is the only article I can find on John's work with any detail. Phil Parker shows a picture of his work in this post: https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2015/06/great-central-railway-model-event-2015.html And there is this page I wrenched out of the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20160418021844/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/instalek/cardboard.htm Cheers Andy

I think you are right. Some come with additives eg: linseed oil to help with getting it onto the piece. This one doesn't seem to...(random search)... https://www.decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/b/BUTTON_POLISH/ Suffice to say I am not experienced with shellac...it is on my list of things to try...I'm just a google jockey. Shellac flakes (from reading around) are indeed a product of insects ... "shellac, commercial resin marketed in the form of amber flakes, made from the secretions of the lac insect, a tiny scale insect, Laccifer lacca " (from a random search: https://www.britannica.com/topic/shellac#:~:text=shellac%2C commercial resin marketed in,becomes rigid at room temperature.) Shellac is thinned with meths which I think helps with (lack of) warping. As well as Jim Reid's use of Shellac there is an article here by the late Colin Binnie on card coaches.... https://www.colinbinnie.com/card-coach.html And there is a copy of E. Rankine Gray's Cardborad rolling Stock on Jim's site on this page: https://ogaugemicro.blogspot.com/p/links.html I have been trying to collect as many resources as I can on card railway modelling. I have loads of card generated from everyday living. I think also I can see why plasticard was such a great hit when it came about when you look at how card has to be "treated" to be able to model with and protect it. But I still like the idea of using it. All the best Andy

Folks have mentioned Button Polish as a "ready made" shellac (along with French polish, acklnowledging St Enodoc). Cheers Andy

Hi Annie Was the polyurethane varnish solvent or water based do you know? Just thinking about warping of card with water-based anything. I bought some shellac flakes from ebay to add to my stockpile of materials for card modelling a-la-Jim Reid and Cornamuse. All the best Andy

Hi Ian. Good calculatin'! Nothing like some good old brain training! Love a bit of Legal paper 😊 Thing is, that just makes it plain weird. I don't understand how 2 tracks don't make it through the opening. Perhaps because the 7mm track is approx double the width of 4mm track and the opening is only 7/4 bigger? I think that's possibly it. Anyway, it is what it is. Thanks Ian for the reply. Edit.... Aha! @brossardnoticed the same and reduced the width of the central pillar.... All the best. Andy

Hi @Ian Holmes That's a bit weird...Possibly two things... 1. I measured the kit part I have - Structure C page 21 of the parts. Is this what you get (approx) for the width and height of openings?: Large opening....81.5mm 4mm scale -> 142.6mm O scale ( by multiplying 7/4) Smaller opening....42.5 in 4mm scale -> 74.4mm in O scale Height of opening 54mm in 4mm -> 98mm in O scale 2, Secondly in the suggesting in the kit the point is a Y (Which might make a difference) and probably more impacting, the second line into the large opening comes off the front track. This allows the tracks to converge before going into the large opening. It seems that with the point on the rails feeding the large opening the tracks diverge too much. You could also reverse the buildings so the large opening is to the left side and then the Left hand point would be straight through down the canal at the front into the small opening and then diverge off to the left to feed one side of the large opening...hope that makes sense...probably need a diagram....here's a mashup...I don't have photoshop...this is mangled with Powepoint! The back track then could be curved towards the exit of the Fiddle yard to make it less boring (actually on second thought I like it - could even be a separate feeder line - with/without running rights over the other lines etc etc)... All the best Andy

Sounds like a plan 😊 Will be interesting to see what mods to the standard design you might make to do this. Should be good fun... All the best Andy