Cwmhir - The camera never lies

[Darwinian]

40 minutes ago, danstercivicman said:

 

Your layout looks amazing!

 

Very impressed!

 

What lights are these?  

 

They work very very well and I’m interested for my Stranraer layout.

 

best

 

Dan 

Thanks for your kind comments Dan. 

The LED lights are a daylight white strip that comes as a roll. I chose the brighter intensity version. LEDs are connected in groups of 3 so the tape can be cut to length. I also bought the dedicated power adapter. 

Lots of options out there.

Adrian

[danstercivicman]

25 minutes ago, Darwinian said:

Thanks for your kind comments Dan. 

The LED lights are a daylight white strip that comes as a roll. I chose the brighter intensity version. LEDs are connected in groups of 3 so the tape can be cut to length. I also bought the dedicated power adapter. 

Lots of options out there.

Adrian

 

Cheers  

[Darwinian]

I've been playing with my DSLR  camera. Its an old one (Pentax K-x) and to be honest I'm not convinced the iPOD doesn't do a better job. I don't have the right lenses or post focus capabilities on the DSLR which doesn't help.

 

Anyway here are the best of the bunch

ROD 3082 in it's final year before scrapping brings empties into Cwmhir on  a running in turn following repairs at Caerphilly works (Rule 1 applies).

 

 

A branch goods awaits shunting in the platform road.

 

Things have not been running well. I cannot get reliable running over the start of the main incline up to the station from the fiddle yard. I think putting this on a curve was a mistake. It used to be OK but now I can't get bogie vehicles to negotiate it reliably. The double slip is still the layout's Achilles' heel, at some stage I really will have to rebuild it.

[88C]

I hope you can get your problems sorted. Does all bogie stock give trouble or just a few? If things used to work, hopefully it may be something minor but still frustrating, best of luck.

 

Nice to see the Welsh brake vans.

 

Brian

[Darwinian]

10 hours ago, 88C said:

I hope you can get your problems sorted. Does all bogie stock give trouble or just a few? If things used to work, hopefully it may be something minor but still frustrating, best of luck.

 

Nice to see the Welsh brake vans.

 

Brian

Most stock is OK now, just my collett set. I think the bogies are catching somewhere as the gradient and curve change. The ROD now does run OK so improvements have been achieved.

[Penrhos1920]

On 31/03/2020 at 20:14, Darwinian said:

 

 

 

A branch goods awaits shunting in the platform road.

 

Things have not been running well. I cannot get reliable running over the start of the main incline up to the station from the fiddle yard. I think putting this on a curve was a mistake. It used to be OK but now I can't get bogie vehicles to negotiate it reliably. The double slip is still the layout's Achilles' heel, at some stage I really will have to rebuild it.

 

A pair of interesting break vans there, ex Taff and Rhymney (and correct branding) if I’m not mistaken.  Are they kits?

[Darwinian]

11 hours ago, Penrhos1920 said:

 

Are they kits?

Yes and no  respectively. The TVR is a Dragon Models etched kit. The Rhymney is scratch built in plasticard.

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Darwinian
Respell auto spelling

[Darwinian]

D-set problem sorted. 20thou washers on the bogie bolsters gave enough clearance to rock for the gradient changes. cutting back brake pull rods and adjusting the dynamo belts so that nothing catches on the bogies as they rock or turn has done the job.

Perhaps I’ll leave the detailed under rigging off in future, it’s almost invisible on the layout.

[Bogusman]

Hello there really enjoying this thread. Could you please tell me what Archer sheet of rivets you used on the TV brake van as I agree with you on the bracing will deform as I have one to build and I like your solution. 

Pete

Edited April 7, 2020 by Bogusman

[Darwinian]

On 07/04/2020 at 19:18, Bogusman said:

Hello there really enjoying this thread. Could you please tell me what Archer sheet of rivets you used on the TV brake van as I agree with you on the bracing will deform as I have one to build and I like your solution. 

Pete

They came from AR88087 the resin rivet  starter set. As I don’t need that many I bought this to try them out in various uses.

[Darwinian]

Today saw a start on the Aberdare loco. Well actually I put the motor/gearbox together a couple of days ago but today saw the first bits of the kit being used.

I found it essential to carefully file off the etch cusp from the frames and spacers. Getting it off in the slots that the frame spacers pass through was fun. Narrow strips of fine grade wet and dry paper had to be cut and then worked in the slots to take off the cusps.

Had to drill out holes for brake stanchions and almost forgot to do the holes for the sandpipes  in the frame stretcher arms.

Top hat bearings soldered into the rear axle positions with the flats on the outside, then filed flush on the inside. 

The Loadhauler + is a sliding fit between the frames. I had to very carefully file the bottom idler gear axle to exact width.

Axles 1 and 2 will be compensated and I’m using “High level models” standard hornblocks for this.

Dry run to check it all fits.

[Bogusman]

Thanks for the info on the rivets. Is it a martin finney aberdare kit?

 

Pete

[Darwinian]

Yes, I am embarrassed to say I’ve been putting it off since 2008.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Darwinian
Typo

[Darwinian]

Checking on 3rd radius it looks like I might get away with it. Just a matter of whether it is still “in gauge” with the outside cranks on.

The driving wheels are just some old Gibson ones I’m using for checking.

[Darwinian]

Brakes done today. I hate doing GWR double hangers. This time I used a pair of 0.45mm drill bits driven into an offcut of mdf as a jig to keep them aligned. 

The hanger wires on the chassis were over length so the completed hangers were spaced out from the frame with bits of insulation from layout wire. Then another piece was used to hold them on. The bottom connecting wires and rods were added and held in the same way. The hangers and rods were soldered to the cross wires in turn after removing the bit of insulation. All wires were then nipped back to length and cleaned up so the whole lot will unclip at the top.

[Darwinian]

Patience not up to more Aberdare building so I have been doing scenic bits.

First of all I worked on the station forecourt. This is just painted mount board with some talc and Carr’s ash ballast for texture. A bit of static grass finishes off.

 

 

Also knocked up the mystery pipe that will hide the baseboard join running.up the retaining wall. Entirely fictional from memory so the engineering may be dodgy.

[Darwinian]

Back from not going to Taunton yesterday afternoon for the SWAG members day. Now I have a chance to explain how that pipe works.

I realised early on that I would have to have a baseboard join across the scenic section of Cwmhir station, including the platform and back retaining wall.

How to hide it then.

Now you see it.

Now you don’t (hopefully).

And on the retaining wall - the pipe.

Still needs weathering though.

[Darwinian]

Back onto the Aberdare for a few hours today. All as per instructions except for cutting the footplate around the rear drivers for OO clearance.

Heres the footplate substructure done (lower) but not the overlay (upper).

[Darwinian]

Got sidetracked by some cattle wagons sitting in my display cabinet. These were painted as whitewashed inside which would be wrong for my 1929-33 period. Now partly repainted and fitted with Dingham’s.

Two original Coopercraft and a scratchbuilt small van. Must be 1980s built.

[Darwinian]

Back to the Aberdare.

Electrical connection from loco to tender.

 

My least favourite bit. Making the belpair firebox. The instructions say to space the front and back formers apart with studding. I don’t have any, nor any bolts long enough. Instead I made a U shaped spacer from sheet brass. The front was laminated together using high melt solder and cleaned up, especially the edges. Then the U attached. The wrapper carefully bent to shape around various diameter rods. Then soldered on with multi core solder that has a somewhat lower melting point. It took me four attempts and about 3 hours to get this.

The plan is to fill the cavity with loose liquid lead and then solder the back on.

[Captain Kernow]

Nice start with the Aberdare project. Also good to see some good old-fashioned single beam suspension as well, particularly in OO. Presumably you've also discovered that compensation in OO improves running and electrical pick-up?

 

[Darwinian]

4 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Nice start with the Aberdare project. Also good to see some good old-fashioned single beam suspension as well, particularly in OO. Presumably you've also discovered that compensation in OO improves running and electrical pick-up?

 

Thanks Captain. Yes I’ve been compensating OO stock for years for improved pickup and tolerance of my dodgy  OO-fs track building. 

[Mrs Durby]

Way-to-go with the 00 compensation, Darwinian!  Perhaps not so vital with tender locos, it certainly is with 4- and 6-wheeled tanks, although having to split the coupling rods on the latter to allow the wheels to move independently is a bit more time consuming.  
Personally, I'm rather fond of split axles too (not always easy around the final drive gear), but when it all comes together and you can just run it and forget about having to keep cleaning it, you smile and realise it was worth all that extra effort - 'coz it works !   

[Darwinian]

Boiler barrel sections now done. A single tube of lead flashing is fitted into the coned section. I had to do this twice as I put too much lead in to start  with and the motor wouldn’t fit. The smoke box section has a roll of lead that stops just short of the chimney position.

Main components stood together.

[Darwinian]

Went to a garden centre today as we needed fertiliser, seeds and stuff for our veg plot. Very odd having one way system and everyone social distancing but otherwise just like before. Somehow it felt stranger there than it does at the supermarket.

 

Anyway not not much done on the Aberdare as I’ve been making buffer stops for the station yard. Courtesy of Lanarkshire Model Supplies.