MAP66

Hello folks, Several months ago, circumstances finally allowed for the planning and dare I say it, the construction of my first layout since returning to model railways eight years previously. Prior to this, I had been making the odd diorama or two, the odd tree or two and of course my experimental test track in P4 gauge ‘Tyteford Halte’ which incidentally is still in progress and found over on the Boxfile and Micro layout thread. So why now, well a house move from London to Somerset provided a house with an attached annexe which I selfishly claimed for a railway room (after first ensuring the Mrs was set up with a hobby room in the spare bedroom). The railway room itself is on the first floor with a room below used as a store/workshop. The room itself is long, at almost 22 feet, and narrow in shape. In fact, the available room width at one end of the room is narrower due to the stairs leading up to it. Even so, this still gives almost 9 feet at the wider end and around 6 feet where the stairs eat into the room. For track planning, I really wanted the benefits of a roundy, roundy layout, allowing for a mixture of full train automation and manual intervention when I felt like it. The room shape, however, lended itself more to an end to end layout. I like a fair amount of realism and wanted to avoid any sharp radius curves which would be unavoidable for a roundy, roundy. I then entered a period of several weeks wrestling with ideas of reverse loops, cunning scenery to disguise tight curves from view and then, I entertained the idea of two levels with a helix at each end connecting the two levels and this is what I have settled on. The upper level would be scenic and the lower level would be for the through fiddle yard and would allow for continuous running. My advanced apologies to all post steam enthusiasts as this will be steam era, late 1930’s and located somewhere in the South West. To me it doesn’t need to be an actual location, fictitious is fine but I’m liking the track plan of Shepton Mallet (Charlton Rd) station on the Somerset & Dorset Railway. So, I plan to borrow the Shepton Mallet track plan, introduce a slight curve through the station with a bit of compression to allow for the sidings etc. That’s enough reading for now, I don’t want to bore you all, but before I sign off, I should mention that this will be OO gauge with hand built track in all the scenic areas and Peco code 75 for the Helix and lower level. The helix and lower level will be constructed first. I dabbled in Anyrail and came up with the above track plan for the lower level. The reason for the cross overs at Helix B are due to the fact that in my haste I started to build the Helix the wrong way around. I'll try and explain that in more detail later. This is the scenic upper level, track plan which is loosely based on Shepton Mallet. The final version will see the station moved slightly over to the right and the trackwork to the right of the station will be slightly compressed to allow this. Then I will rename it. The start of Helix B, I am not known for my MDF skills but all surfaces and all exposed edges will receive undercoat and top coat to keep out any moisture. I have also allowed for access into the centre of the Helix.

As promised, I have put together a few images showing in a bit more detail the process I used to fit the rear window grills. It’s nothing fancy or complex but it worked for me… Here, I have drilled all the top holes first. Some are a little askew but I can open them up a bit with a small broach to get them back inline. A length of 0.2mm brass rod is cut to size and a 90 bend made at one end. The bent end is inserted loose into the first hole and allowed to lay over its corresponding lower hole. I am only drilling the lower holes one at a time to maintain parallel alignment with the previous brass rod. The next step is to mark on the brass rod using paint the point where the second bend needs to be. Now, remove the rod and line up the white mark in the jaws of a pair of pliers as shown above and form the second bend. With the second bend made, the rod is offered back to the window for a test fit. Its a good fit but the lower hole needs a slight opening up to the right to bring the rod over to the right. The right edge of the window aperture acts as a vertical guide for the first rod and then each subsequent rod is lined up to the previous one. The gap between each rod was determined by the marks left in the plastic after the original window grills were removed. when your happy with the fit, glue the rod in place. For this I used Deluxe materials rocket card glue applied with a small brush to feed the glue into the holes while the rod is in place. The glue will also help seal the hole and for any enlarged holes feed in some liquid filler. That's it, just repeat another eight times.

Much appreciated Rob. I won't lie it can be a bit fiddly and I do have sausage fingers but I got into the groove with it and was fitting a bar every 3 or 4 minutes. When I do the other side I will take some more images showing the actual process, better than explaining sometimes, an image paints a thousand words. For information the brass 0.2 rod is by Albion Alloys available from numerous model shops at about £5.50 for 10 x 300mm lengths. I also broke my last 0.3mm drill doing just the one side, so there will be a slight delay in doing the other side until I order some more. I do have an etch of various spectacle plates and grilles with one for the 9 bar 14XX, I think from Wizard. When I offered the grill up to the window aperture it was far to big and a lot of plastic would need to be removed to accommodate the grill. I didn't like the idea of that, so I opted for the brass rods instead.

Thank you @DarthHelix and welcome to RMweb.

Today, I ventured to outside of the cab and cut out the horrendous looking plastic moulded window bars (see below). Some very careful filing was then required to tidy and square up the sides of the window apertures. Now came the moment to see if I had made a disastrous decision or not. In other words, can I fabricate and fit some convincing looking window bars to replace the offending ones? Yuk, those window bars need to go. The protype window bars have an O/D of 17mm over the paintwork. Which equates to approx. 0.22mm O/D in 4mm scale. I had a few lengths of 0.2mm brass rod which would do nicely for the job. How the bars should look. These windows on the 'Tivvy Bumper' are protected by 10 bars each. The Airfix model and I think a number of actual class 48XX loco's had 9 window bar, so I'm having 9. So now we come to the task of getting a straight length of brass rod to resemble a window bar 18 times over. To make it more interesting, the bars are also slightly different lengths as the window aperture along the top edge is higher at one end and lower at the other. The obvious answer here, apart from don’t tackle this in the first place, would be to build a jig to form the bends in each rod at the required measurements. Then another jig for accurately drilling the required holes top and bottom of the window aperture to locate the window bars. As I often don’t do the obvious, I did instead as follows; I drilled all the holes required using my pin vice and a 0.3mm drill. The window apertures still had marks where the plastic moulded bars once where, which I used as markers for drilling the holes. I then started on the window bars. A 90 bend was formed at one end of a piece of rod cut to a few mm longer than required. The bent end was inserted into the first hole and held there flat against the window aperture. Using a fine paint brush and white paint, I then marked onto the rod the point at which the second 90 bend needed to be. The second bend is in line with the opposite corresponding drilled hole. Using this method, I have completed one window with 9 bars without any major cock ups. One more window to go! Fully committed now, the point of no return! You can experience a bit of drift on the drill bit as seen above in a few places, this can be remedied by opening up the offending hole slightly to get it back in line. When the rod is in place it then becomes hardly noticeable. Note in the foreground , two of the broken pieces of the original window bars and compare how thick and chunky they are compared to the nice slender brass rods. First side done, phew!!! All reasonably equally spaced and parallel to each other, good enough for me anyway and a vast improvement to what was there originally. View from the other side, the surplus ends will be cut back flush when glue has dried.

Thanks again Kevin, all very appreciated.

Thanks Steve much appreciated. I might be after some tips when I finally get to the stage of weathering the 48XX and Autocoach. I'm really impressed with the results you have achieved with your Diesel stock, I guess adopting some of the same principles would work for a steam loco.

Thanks Bill, much appreciated. This was something which could very easily be over engineered for a workable solution. Turns out it needn't be and was quite a simple fix if you happen to have the materials to hand. Actually, the most testing part of the operation was to accurately cut out the door from the moulded cab-side where the plastic looks to be about a scale 6" thick!

This evenings efforts have resulted in an openable cab-side door! I had been putting this off, as I wasn’t over confident in getting it to work and still look passable. In truth, it was either tackling this or constructing the second flip down seat. The door won and it turned out not to be such a pain in the ar5e as I first thought. For those interested, here’s how I did it. For the cab door I cut a piece of plastikard 5mm x 12.5mm and along one of the long edges I superglued on a 12.5mm length of 0.5mm brass tube. A length of 0.2mm brass rod was passed through the tube and trimmed to length, allowing 1mm to protrude at the bottom end and enough to form a 90 bend at the top. A 0.3mm hole was drilled more or less into the junction where the door frame meets the floor and another hole was drilled where the top of the door meets the door frame. The brass rod locates into the lower hole and the top bend is then pushed into the top hole. The door is then free to open and close. We kick off with the real door. Here's my version, outside closed first. Closed from the inside, you can just make out the brass tube. Look at all that space in the bunker for a decoder. Open sesame! And from the inside. Ernie has just checked out my door hanging skills and reminded me to not get too complacent. In his own words "The other side still needs doing"

Hi Chris, Sorry to hear your struggling a bit, try and stay positive mate. Not sure what just happened but I uploaded a post on my thread and it came out on yours, apologies for any confusion caused, I think it was only there for a minute or so. A senior moment on my part.

GWR Fireman Earnest Stoker has been instructed to check out the near completed rear bunker lower wall. However, he seems more interested in the boiler pressure, or lack of. I guess I will need to give him a shovel before he starts moaning again... Not sure about footplate attire for 1938'ish, I've gone for a washed out denim look, which was all the rage for that summer season. X10 magnification of the Magnum moustache. Ernie did have his eyes open when looking at those gauges, he just blinked when I took the photo. Sorry Tom, almost forgot to include you.

A little more progress was made today and we have the detail completed on the r/h side (if looking head on) of the lower bunker wall. Which includes the flip down seat, extended hand brake column and the other column. The left hand side is next, whereby another seat is required and two more column controls and that’s for another day. If you compare to the real thing you can see that I have fitted the flip down seat much lower than on the prototype as I had expected to use HO 1/87 scale figures. However, there seems to be adequate space in the cab for an OO 1/76 fireman figure. Luckily, I think that a seated 1/76 scale figure will still look OK in the lower position of the seat. Putting it another way, I’m not repositioning the seat as it was a massive fath to fit it in the first place. This is a HO scale figure to test out the flip down seat. You can also see the extended base to the hand brake column. Head on view, the figure actually looks too small within the cab interior. Now compare with a 1/76 scale figure and the fit looks right. Seat in the upright position and the other control column is now added. Final view showing coal in place (bigger lumps) smaller pieces will be added later when wall meets cab floor. And a view of the real thing 'The Tivvy Bumper rear wall bunker' try saying that after a few Doombars (other ales are available).

Remember I said about one step forward and three steps back, so I managed to construct the recess well in the rear wall of the bunker and in doing so I broke the join where the new piece of bunker wall joined the roof section. I think a stronger join is required for added support, so I will need to work on a better solution for that one. Meanwhile, I had spent some time making the handbrake for inside the cab and while rummaging through a box of bits I came across a GWR handbrake from Mainly Trains which I probably brought several years ago, another hour or so wasted there. However, this ended with a nice surprise as the same rummage also discovered and liberated my stash of 48XX body detailing bits. This was a timely discovery as I thought they were long lost and I was on the verge of re-ordering these parts. This sequence of events was a new experience for me as normally when I can’t find something after hours of searching I would probably order another and after the new item arrives, I would almost certainly then find the original lost item while looking for something completely different. Very frustrating, expensive and I have quite a few items with their doubles. Anyway, as I say finding these parts was a result which means that when (If) I get the cab interior finished I can then get straight onto the bodywork detailing without delay and finally the work involved for coupling up to the Autocoach. Remember the autocoach, that seems ages ago. Back to the cab interior and I did do a bit of painting, but only a bit… The well has been formed for the handbrake handle but the wall fell off!! Those 'orrible offending blobs of glue will be addressed when the wall goes back on. I think it should look quite good when completed with the other column controls fitted, 2 drop down seats and real coal on the floor! Here we can see that the Mainly Trains handbrake column is too short (the cab wall, well and and box sections are dimensionally correct to the (Tivvy Bumper) I will need to add a few mm to the column length.

A mini modelling session this afternoon resulted in a start on the cab bunker inner wall. I raided my scrap box of plastikard off-cuts and found some suitable bits for measuring out. The first task was to extend the rear wall which on the cab roof ends just below the windows. That was pretty straightforward to resolve with the cab floor now in place, measurements were taken and a piece of 020” plastikard was cut to size and butt jointed in place with super glue. Then it’s onto the two boxy sections, the larger of which houses the sliding door for the coal to drop through. Some likely contenders for the job were again found in the scraps box where I was able to construct two rectangle boxes from. The boxes will be glued to the back wall with a 2mm wide channel separating them. The channel is there to accommodate the handbrake column. I also need to fabricate a well recess in the upper section of the rear wall which serves to slide the handbrake handle into to keep it out of the way – but that’s for next time and it should all be painted up by then as well. The rear wall has been extended down to meet the cab floor. The 2 rectangle boxes have been formed and will soon be glued to the back wall. Glue n' Glaze applied with a needle was used to form the rivet detail. I have modelled the coal door in the open position. Another view of the bunker wall detail, with a clearer view of the channel for the handbrake column. A final view of what I've been up to. I've just noticed those window bars Mmmmm they might be getting the knife treatment and replaced with brass wire.

Thankfully, that decorating malarkey is finally over and I managed to get back to modelling again. Don’t get too excited, as its small steps at the moment and a lot of trial and error, so not much to show at present. It’s one step forward and 3 steps back with this cab detailing, enjoyable though, none the less. I made the decision to glue the cab floor assembly into the bodyshell at this stage, mainly because I was fed up with it dropping out at the most inconvenient times. Hopefully, I won’t come to regret that decision. However, this does then give me a measurement for forming the inner bunker wall and that’s what I have started working on today. The recent trip to see the ‘Tivvy Bumper’ provided me with all the details I needed to make a start and so this is my next challenge to complete. For now though, a quick glimpse of the cab, minus the backhead, to show the comms bell and a brass looking blob which is my interpretation of the lubricator assembly. The floor is glued in now, so let's hope it doesn't need to come out again! I tried to get the bell and lubricator as near as possible to where they should be located, however, due to having a clearance gap between the motor spindle and the firebox glow LED , the backhead, when fitted, will be about a scale foot further into the cab. That took some explaining, the sacrifices of wanting firebox glow 🔥 How it should look. And this is what I will be trying to replicate next... And this... But not the wicker basket, not sure why that's there?

I’m still involved in decorating at the moment, taking much longer than expected! I needed a break from it so sneaked back to the modelling room (after first seeking permission from the Mrs). It’s good to come back to something after leaving it alone for a while, I find it helps to look at things with a fresh perspective. So, there I was, sat at the bench staring intently at the backhead I had previously been working on. Something didn’t sit right with me, ahh yes, that water gauge looked ugly and cumbersome. Moments later, I had prized it off and had began working on version 2. While I’m at it, that screw reverser is sitting too far forward, so that came off as well! Some time later that evening, a smile returned to my concerned face as I glued back onto the backhead, water gauge MKII and the screw reverser was also re-positioned. I started to grin at the result which was short lived as it suddenly dawned on me that tomorrow, I would be back to decorating again – groan. Anyway, not a lot to look at in terms of progress but here are some before and after pics... Here's how that water gauge looked! Ugly and not much like the prototype as shown below... This is water gauge MKII, which I'm much more happier with. This is where the screw reverser was originally positioned, too far forward, compared to prototype below... You can clearly see that the small wooden shelf sits forward to the reverser handle. Difficult to tell from this angle but trust me when I say that the wooden shelf is now forward to the reverser handle. So that's it for now folks. I will be attempting to also model the lubricator and Comms bell and there is some more plumbing work required to complete the front section of the cab interior. However, that will all have to wait until after the decorating is finished.

Thanks Jim, Wish I could say the same for my DIY endeavours 😄

Hello Jim, Just been catching up with your latest thread, wonderful stuff. Looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. All the best, Mark

Unusual for me, 2 weeks without a post! I thought I had better report in to provide you all with a non-progress update. Well, it’s non-progress on the modelling front but all go with some home decorating for the last couple of weeks. Happy wife, happy life un all that. I reckon I’ve got another week of this and then hopefully will be released, on good behaviour, back to the modelling room. So, before that day arrives, I have plenty of time to think about what needs doing next on my little tank engine while painting ceilings and hanging wallpaper. Anything to take my mind off painting ceilings. My thoughts around the tank engine tend to arrive in my head in a non-logical sequence and are often interrupted without warning by other life dilemmas such as; were getting low on milk and how long has that pack of salmon slices been open for in the fridge! Anyway, getting back to the 14XX which will eventually run on TH and the new layout, it will need to fit in to the time period of the late 1930’s. The more observant of you will have noticed that it currently sports a ‘top feed’, a feature which would not have been seen until around 1946. So that needs to go and while I’m at it, the smokebox door needs to go as well and replaced with a more prototypical one. These jobs will be added to the list and addressed after the cab interior is completed. Then there’s the class14XX itself, which hasn’t been re-classified as yet and in the late 1930’s would instead be a 48XX and will be referred to as such hereafter. So, that’s it folks, I should be back in a week or so with another update which hopefully will include some actual modelling of the 48XX.

Well done on the run Neal and if you give in to temptation and dig out the dart castings kit, I hear there's a couple of likely lads on RMweb who had a go at one. If memory serves, they go by the name of @MrWolf and @MAP66.

Nice detail painting on the backhead there Keith, a case of getting the small paint brushes out. I have seriously thought about getting a 3D printer but I wouldn't have the space for one anyway and I'm quite convinced that I wouldn't cope with getting to grips with the accompanying design application/software. So, I'll carry on keeping it traditional but I must agree it would be a lot easier for me if I could design and print.

Thanks Keith, much appreciated. Its probably a good job that I don't model 7mm scale as I would never finish detailing the cab! 😄

I recently realised that I never actually declared that I had completed the HL chassis build, I just sort of went straight onto the body shell and I think I will be inside the cab for some time to come. So, just to confirm the chassis is done and I found it a joy to build. All that remains, which is not part of the kit is to wire it up when I have the sound decoder (still not ordered) and add some lead weight to get it running nicely. With the wiper pick ups, I settled on just fitting to the rear driver and trailing wheel axles. Trying to get something working on the front drivers was proving too problematic and I abandoned it in favour of fitting a stay alive/power pack which I will get with the decoder. A bit of backtracking there before we move forward again. Well, I say forward, at best I would describe my modelling progress as like wading through treacle dragging a ships anchor behind me. Its not all bad though, as I now have a few details and measurements to carry on with the cab detailing. This might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I thought its good to show what you can achieve with bits of sprue, scraps of plastic and brass and a bit of creativity. I have started to model the areas to the left and the right of the back head which are two box type constructions as seen on the real thing below… The boxy bits are in, a tight squeeze. Forgot to mention, I took a scalpel to the cab side and removed a door. Still working on how to fit it back again. Everything eventually fitted in, another coat of green paint is required on the boxes. New floor has been painted and completed with chequer plate. Some more plumbing is required (delivery pipes) and I'm thinking about taking on the lubricator assembly which fits below the right window. After that, I can make a start on the bunker wall.

Nice to see the raised plank in action Neal and the County passing the test. You've done a splendid job there and can't wait to see it all primed up.

I can only vouch for the Airfix autocoach where HO 1/87 scale figures are more correct to scale for the coach interior for ModelU figures. I originally purchased 1/76 scale and they were noticeably overscale for the interior. Page 25 (fifth post down) of my Tyteford thread provides a bit more detail on this. Just to reiterate, the ModelU figures are correct to scale, it's the coach interior which is underscale in terms of floor to ceiling height.