Inspired by Brent June 1947

[St Enodoc]

16 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Interesting, how would you go about powering them?   

 

Even if they are not connected to a motor straight away, modifying them so they are capable of working would save a lot of time later on.  

Mine work off memory wire but Viessmanns or servos would work. Anything that pushes a wire up and down really. I'll try to do a brief write-up at the weekend.

[The Fatadder]

The focus on the layout remains on track and signalling, with progress being made at a snails pace….

 

With the arrival of the first Dapol signal for the layout yesterday, my first job for the evening was to test fit it into position.  This was easier said than done as the area where it needs to be mounted is a quarter 9mm plywood and three quarters 3 inch foam.   As a result it cannot be fastened with the Dapol nut and will have to be glued in position (once ballasting & signal detailing is complete).

 

This was followed by walking around the rest of the layout drilling holes in the location of each signal before adding BBQ skewers to represent each post.  As a result I have found two signals which are going to give me problems, where there is limited clearance between the cutting sides and the running lines.  This has come about through changes I have made to the terrain between Vicarage Road and the Avon, caused due to my relocation of the bridge over the Avon further away from the station.  When I get the next pair of signals I will see just how bad the clearances are, but there is a good chance that a small cut away into the hill will be required (as the cutting is quite steep I will need to check for prototypes here).

 

For the rest of the signals no terrain has been constructed to date, so this marking out of signal locations will help avoid a repeat of that situation.   Through the process of locating the signals, I have identified a few signals in my original plan which will now be omitted.  This includes one (potentially both) of the distant signals at the Exeter end and the bracket signal controlling access to the up loop.  It also highlighted a potentially risky situation having a bracket signal on the lift up section.

 

Moving on to track, Tortoise motors have now been installed onto the new double slip.  The first half is working perfectly, with the linkage doing its job and both sets of switches working as intended.  More importantly under test (by hand) a pair of B Set coaches were happy to pass from the station onto the branch.  The other side has proved more tricky, unsurprisingly this is the side on which the soldered linkage failed and had previously failed and had to be repaired in situ.  One set of blades works perfectly, however the other is not closing in one direction (coming from the branch to the yard).  I cant tell if it is a miss aligned point motor or if the linkage is not working, so tonight’s job will be taking it back off the board and having another go.

 

Once this is done, the final job will be connecting the new feeds to the wiring loom and running some trains, (which will be good as I want to start ballasting at the weekend.)  Before I start on the ballasting, does anyone make a decent casting for a GWR point motor?

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by The Fatadder

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

Moving on to track, Tortoise motors have now been installed onto the new double slip.  The first half is working perfectly, with the linkage doing its job and both sets of switches working as intended.  More importantly under test (by hand) a pair of B Set coaches were happy to pass from the station onto the branch.  The other side has proved more tricky, unsurprisingly this is the side on which the soldered linkage failed and had previously failed and had to be repaired in situ.  One set of blades works perfectly, however the other is not closing in one direction (coming from the branch to the yard).  I cant tell if it is a miss aligned point motor or if the linkage is not working, so tonight’s job will be taking it back off the board and having another go.

 

Once this is done, the final job will be connecting the new feeds to the wiring loom and running some trains, (which will be good as I want to start ballasting at the weekend.)  Before I start on the ballasting, does anyone make a decent casting for a GWR point motor?

 

 

 

Rich, the linkage looks fine in the photo. Make sure your tip clearances are OK and that there are no copper burrs or small bits of solder or paint getting in the way of the "other" pair of blades sliding over each tiebar.

Edited March 28, 2019 by St Enodoc
Remove unnecessary quoted text/images

[81C]

Rich a small dab of clear silicone would hold the signal and you will able pull it apart if need be.

[The Fatadder]

A lot of work last night and not a lot to show for it, the focus was the bridge carrying Vicarage Road over the Plymouth end of the station approach.

 

The prototype bridge has gone through lots of changes over the years, however from photos (with the exception of the smoke deflector & road surface) the condition is pretty similar now to that of 1947. 

 

The build uses two layers of 20 thou plasticard, both marked for rib locations by the silhouette cutter.  The cutter also prepared the cuts for the mesh, which then had to be recut by hand to separate the blanks.  So far only one side has been prepared and it took a whole evenings modelling time!

 

On to this will be fitted the ribs on either side, the top, and eventually the ribs under the bridge (once both sides are together and fitted to the deck.)

 

Preparing the photos for this post I realised that I have made a slight error with the lattice work on the front adding too many holes.  I am now trying to decide if I will re do it, redo one side, or live with it.  I am leaning towards either option 2 or 3…

Edited March 29, 2019 by The Fatadder

[calvin Streeting]

nice bridge  ..  but wouldn't it be easyer to use strips of plastic layered ontop of each other, rather than cutting holes.?

[bgman]

I would be tempted to redo the latticework Rich, its a fairly easy job with the CAD and Silhouette otherwise it could be one of those niggling little things, know what I mean ?

The cutter won't take long to produce the correct lattice once you've altered or redrawn it.

 

G

[The Fatadder]

I did think about that, but the benefit of cutting them all out was getting the machine to deal with the precision so all the holes are the same etc.

 

it also adds guide lines for either side of the ribs to ensure they are all correctly spaced 

[The Fatadder]

1 minute ago, bgman said:

I would be tempted to redo the latticework Rich, its a fairly easy job with the CAD and Silhouette otherwise it could be one of those niggling little things, know what I mean ?

The cutter won't take long to produce the correct lattice once you've altered or redrawn it.

 

G

 

I cant work out how I made the mistake in the first place.   What’s the point of doing a detailed photo survey if you don’t look at your photos..... 

 

I think what i will end up doing is using this for rear beam (that you can’t see) and redoing the drawing for the right hand side that is visible.

[calvin Streeting]

1 minute ago, The Fatadder said:

but the benefit of cutting them all out was getting the machine to deal with the precision

 

got it  and agreed let a machine do it  

[The Fatadder]

13 minutes ago, calvin Streeting said:

 

got it  and agreed let a machine do it  

The only problem is that the machine cant cut clean through 20thou plasticard, hence having to run a scalpel down all of the joints in order to get a good cut

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

 

I cant work out how I made the mistake in the first place.   What’s the point of doing a detailed photo survey if you don’t look at your photos..... 

 

I think what i will end up doing is using this for rear beam (that you can’t see) and redoing the drawing for the right hand side that is visible.

If you can't see it, why worry about the lattice at all?

[The Fatadder]

13 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

If you can't see it, why worry about the lattice at all?

 

 

You never know know where you are  going to stick a camera.  There are some good views to be had of a train exiting the station into the curve.  However as it would be a rare occurance the error would not annoy me as much as it would on the station side

[calvin Streeting]

and the best greek status are carved on the back properly  

[Siberian Snooper]

I would do it in 10 thou and draw it as a diagonals, do two of them and turn one over to get the diamond pattern.  It will make it easier for the machine too cut and the laminations Will duplicate the original. 

 

 

 

[The Fatadder]

A big box arrived today from Derails containing some Ratio parts and some deep pour water.  The latter needs pouring tomorrow, the former has provided parts for the water tower.

 

i started with the water tower, building the tank as per the instructions.  I used the spare end plates as spacers to hold the sides the correct distance apart.

 

The brick built part  of the tower needed to be scratch built to match the prototype. 

 

Parts were cut from 20thou sheet and SE Finecast brick sheet.  These have been laminated together with limonine  to get the basic 4 sides, the Ratio windows will be reused. 

Later on once the main parts are dry, there are several more detail layers to add the thicker brick areas and assemble the core structure.

 

there are plenty of details in the kit which will help finish it off nicely. 

[St Enodoc]

On 28/03/2019 at 07:40, St Enodoc said:

Mine work off memory wire but Viessmanns or servos would work. Anything that pushes a wire up and down really. I'll try to do a brief write-up at the weekend.

Rich, this is what I do.

 

1. Looking at the post from the front, with the lamp on the right, glue a small piece of styrene sheet to the left face of the top of the post to make it wider.

 

2. When that's completely dry and hard, drill through the widened post to make the pivot for the arm. The size of the hole depends on what you use for the spindle. I have used thin nickel silver wire (the stuff that comes in Ratio full-size signal kits) but brass pins or wire would do.

 

3. Make a tiny loop in one end of your wire then bend it at 90 degrees to the plane of the loop. The distance to this bend depends on how you are going to actuate the signals. For Viessmanns you will need about 5mm. For my memory wire actuators I only need 2mm or so - in fact the minimum I can get away with without fouling the post itself.

 

4. Drill a hole in the disc to be a tight fit on the spindle. Push the spindle through the hole from the back and fix the disc face on the front.

 

That's all I do. I fix the balance weight in the On position and I don't worry about a back light blinder - I just paint the horizontal part of the spindle white.

 

How you fix the signals in place is also up to you. I glue them firmly to a base plate, below which is the same tube arrangement as for the Ratio full-size signals, which forms the mounting for the memory wire actuator.

 

I haven't got any step-by-step photos to show and the signals are all packed away at the moment but here are some photos of the completed signals on the old St Enodoc layout:

 

A rather out-of-focus view of a Viessmann-powered disc in the On position...

 

...and in the Off position.

 

A memory wire powered signal. You can see how the spindle is shorter than for the Viessmanns, I use Scalelink brass discs, not the plastic Ratio ones.

 

The same signal from the back, showing the dab of paint that lets you see from behind whether the signal is On or Off.

 

A higher-angle view showing the signal on its baseplate. The Ratio tube is fixed underneath this.

 

Hope this helps - good luck!

 

 

[The Fatadder]

More work on the water tower.  The first step was to take the components made in the morning and add on extra layers of plastic to model the recessed sections.

 

Again this took the approach of gluing the layers in place with Limonine and then weighting down while it dries. 

 

The 4 sides (along with one additional spacer) were glued together to get the basic box.

 

At the top of the brick section there are 2 courses of bricks which come out from the side, these were prepared off model before gluing into place

 

finally the completed tank assambally was test fitted.  This will not be glued into position until I have painted the tank.

That said I couldnt resist posing it in position for a photo.  A lot more impressive than the short structure the Ratio kit builds

[2ManySpams]

On 29/03/2019 at 09:33, The Fatadder said:

The only problem is that the machine cant cut clean through 20thou plasticard, hence having to run a scalpel down all of the joints in order to get a good cut

 

Use 2 layers of 10thou. Top layer has the diagonals going one way, bottom layer the other way. That way you get the machine to do all the work and the prototype layered effect.

[The Fatadder]

 

A couple of photos from last night:

 

 

The water tower placed in position, I have also added some paper around the lower siding to mock up a rough approximation as to how it will look once the area is resculptured to get a raised area around the end of the soding

 

 

The cutting approach to vicarage road, (a lot longer than the prototype due to the geometry changes).  Are these slopes too steep for grass? 

 

The wooden post in the top right is the signal for the end of the loop, which i previously mentioned needs to be recessed into the side of the cutting.  I welcome feedback here.

 

 

i am about to start buying ballast, and would like to hear from those who have modelled ash ballast as to their approach.

likewise the gap between the tracks on the main,  would this be stone ballast or more ash?

my ballasting experience only covers modelling post 1985...

[The Fatadder]

Its month end week at the office, so too much time working and not enough time for modelling….

 

Last night I managed a quick half hour working on the Manor, which has now been fitted with its bogie.   I do however need to find a suitable spring, I had hoped to use one of the ones that come with Smiths couplings but it is far too stiff.   

 

The next job will be cutting some frame extensions to fill in the 1mm gap between the short Comet frames and the thin brass footplate (basically filling the hole where the plastic would be on the Mainline Manor).  This will leave the clyinders, and a question as to whether the clyinder is short or mounted too low.   I will compare the chassis against the drawing in the Mitchell instructions and adapt accordingly. 

 

I have just  purchased a Hornby 3500 churchward tender from EBay which will replace the Mitchell one (that can return to the 43xx).  It will be resprayed into a proper shade of GWR green when I paint the loco.

 

I have also now got access to my gallery so I can see the photos I took of Cookham manor at Didcot, this should give me what I need to paint the interior 

Edited April 4, 2019 by The Fatadder

[81C]

Rich Is this any good to you .

https://www.thejunctionbox.net/shop/carriages/Hornby-r4505/

[The Fatadder]

8 hours ago, 81C said:

Rich Is this any good to you .

https://www.thejunctionbox.net/shop/carriages/Hornby-r4505/

Thanks, a great price but unfortunately the all firsts were a BR introduction.  

 

 

A couple of photos from the Bachmann stand at Bristol today 

 

[The Fatadder]

I have been playing with a little weathering on 4807.  It’s starting to come together, but I would be interested to know what else I should try on it

 

the body is not properly fitted to the chassis as the motor is a tricky fit into the firebox, while the chassis needs the pickups rebuilding as it looks like they are the cause of the poor running.

 

etched number plates are due soon (having just had confirmation they are ready for etching)

Edited May 8, 2019 by The Fatadder

[St Enodoc]

35 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

I have been playing with a little weathering on 4807.  It’s starting to come together, but I would be interested to know what else I should try on it

 

the body is not properly fitted to the chassis as the motor is a tricky fit into the firebox, while the chassis needs the pickups rebuilding as it looks like they are the cause of the poor running.

 

etched number plates are due soon (having just had confirmation they are ready for etching)

Boiler bands?