Signaller69's projects

[Gibbo675]

Hi Martyn,

 

Is the reason you are resin casting the details because you have more than one locomotive of any particular type to produce ? I can see the pint if there are few to do rather than just one, although I suppose you have got the master for another day.

 

Gibbo.

[cheesysmith]

1 hour ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Martyn,

 

Is the reason you are resin casting the details because you have more than one locomotive of any particular type to produce ? I can see the pint if there are few to do rather than just one, although I suppose you have got the master for another day.

 

Gibbo.

 

He did say two pages ago he had acquired six. Methink someone will have a rat infestation.

[Gibbo675]

2 minutes ago, cheesysmith said:

 

He did say two pages ago he had acquired six. Methink someone will have a rat infestation.

But Dave, what if they are of different variants ?!?!?

[Signaller69]

7 hours ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Martyn,

 

Is the reason you are resin casting the details because you have more than one locomotive of any particular type to produce ? I can see the pint if there are few to do rather than just one, although I suppose you have got the master for another day.

 

Gibbo.

 

6 hours ago, cheesysmith said:

 

He did say two pages ago he had acquired six. Methink someone will have a rat infestation.

Hi gents,

 

You are both correct, my weakness for Type 2 bargains means I have several locos split between classes 24, 25/0, 25/2 and a solitary 25/3 to do eventually, so it made sense to do the underframes once (well, twice for the 2 differing basic types).

 

Martyn. 

[Signaller69]

Very pleased with the shade of blue from the "car aerosol" used on the 25/0! As near as perfect match as possible to the recent Bachmann class 24 I have to say, although the gloss finish made outdoor photographs a little difficult to avoid the reflections.

 

 

 

Thanks again to Gibbo for the RAL paint code (5020).

 

Onto moulding the class 25 fuel & water tanks now.....

 

Martyn.

[Gibbo675]

5 minutes ago, Signaller69 said:

Very pleased with the shade of blue from the "car aerosol" used on the 25/0! As near as perfect match as possible to the recent Bachmann class 24 I have to say, although the gloss finish made outdoor photographs a little difficult to avoid the reflections.

 

 

 

Thanks again to Gibbo for the RAL paint code (5020).

 

Onto moulding the class 25 fuel & water tanks now.....

 

Martyn.

Hi Martyn,

 

I might pull my finger out and deal with some of my nearly started examples.

 

Gibbo.

[Signaller69]

Mould made and a couple of test Class 25 tanks have been produced, this one is a friction fit in the cut out left by removing the Hornby part. A couple of air bubbles remain (nothing a spot of filler won't cure) but given the overall shape they have come out well and give a much more 3d effect to this area.

 

 

 

The Hornby frame needs a bit more tidying above the tanks before gluing them into place. As seen, a couple of weights were dropped into the liquid resin after pouring into the mould which will help to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible.

[ISW]

8 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

As seen, a couple of weights were dropped into the liquid resin after pouring into the mould which will help to keep the centre of gravity as low as possible.

Martyn,

 

Can I ask what you've used to 'glue' the metal weight into the plastic frame. It 'looks' like solder, but of course it can't be.

 

Have you refitted new/replacement traction tyres? Despite me putting weight into my Hornby Class 25, it still can't haul much.

 

Ian

[Signaller69]

2 hours ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

Can I ask what you've used to 'glue' the metal weight into the plastic frame. It 'looks' like solder, but of course it can't be.

 

Have you refitted new/replacement traction tyres? Despite me putting weight into my Hornby Class 25, it still can't haul much.

 

Ian

Ian,

It's just a trick of the light, it's an old unknown lead weight with a Hornby square one glued on top, as the latter won't fit in the mould lying flat. When added into the mould the weight displaces resin which overflows the mould of course, and this residue needs to be removed into another mould before it sets (no point in wasting it), so the trick is to half fill the mould, poke resin into the corners and recesses and then add any weight. If the weight is put into the mould first, resin won't get fully under it and there is not enough room to work the pointy air bubble removal wire into all the corners. I use a cheap Araldite equivalent to bond the tanks into place.

 

I have not made any alterations to the mechanics as yet and I doubt I will go to the lengths I went to with D5188, but in any event these locos won't be expected to pull more than 3 or 4 coaches or 10 wagons on the level. A couple of semi permanently coupled pairs with jumper cables may be formed for improved pick up ability though.

 

Martyn.

Edited August 12, 2021 by Signaller69

[Barclay]

It is an established trick to use two power bogies as they are apparently easy to fit in the trailing end. This allows new wheels without traction tyres to be fitted. The Ultrascale website tells us there are three types, which I assume it is good practice not to mix as they may run at different speeds etc.

 

3-pole motor and electrical pick-up on one side only of each bogie.

3-pole motor and electrical pick-up on both sides of each bogie.

5-pole motor and electrical pick-up on both sides of each bogie.

[cheesysmith]

The tin five pole motors would be the best. If they are good enough for Mostyn in P4 they will be good enough for the rest of us lol.

[Signaller69]

9 hours ago, Barclay said:

It is an established trick to use two power bogies as they are apparently easy to fit in the trailing end. This allows new wheels without traction tyres to be fitted. The Ultrascale website tells us there are three types, which I assume it is good practice not to mix as they may run at different speeds etc.

 

3-pole motor and electrical pick-up on one side only of each bogie.

3-pole motor and electrical pick-up on both sides of each bogie.

5-pole motor and electrical pick-up on both sides of each bogie.

 

32 minutes ago, cheesysmith said:

The tin five pole motors would be the best. If they are good enough for Mostyn in P4 they will be good enough for the rest of us lol.

 

A "Chinese" Class 29 was what started "Crinan" off; all wheel pick-ups and a 5 pole Ringfield, but I wouldn't honestly say it ran any "better" than a 3 pole version, other than having a better pickup arrangement, and a Bachmann 25 chassis was substituted in the end.

 

However, I am keeping the current Class 25s as budget upgrades as far as possible, the idea being that some will have female sockets fixed behind the bufferbeams, and able to operate singly or in a pair, with a couple of locos fitted with longer Male leads which can only operate in a pair with one of the "female" locos, with the benefit of twice as many pickups per pair. This should give several permutations of pairs.

 

I'm surprised Hornby haven't kept the 25 in the Railroad range with a better motor and pickups arrangement.

[Signaller69]

Yellow ends applied, still not done the handrails though......Bachmann 24 keeping it's cousin company!

 

Hats off to Steve at Railtec, having put an order in yesterday for 4 sets of custom number decals, which arrived today!

[ISW]

10 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

However, I am keeping the current Class 25s as budget upgrades as far as possible, the idea being that some will have female sockets fixed behind the bufferbeams, and able to operate singly or in a pair, with a couple of locos fitted with longer Male leads which can only operate in a pair with one of the "female" locos, with the benefit of twice as many pickups per pair.

Martyn,

 

As an alternative you could try magnets (very small neodymium type) instead of plugs / sockets. One pair of magnets installed flush on the bufferbeam and painted to disguise, and the other pair on short flexible 'fly leads' from the adjacent vehicle. I did this but with both vehicles having 'fly leads' and the magnets at 'mid span'. On reflection, I think putting the connection 'on' one of the vehicles is better and results in less stress on the magnet-to-wire soldered connection.

 

Ian

[Signaller69]

23 hours ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

 

As an alternative you could try magnets (very small neodymium type) instead of plugs / sockets. One pair of magnets installed flush on the bufferbeam and painted to disguise, and the other pair on short flexible 'fly leads' from the adjacent vehicle. I did this but with both vehicles having 'fly leads' and the magnets at 'mid span'. On reflection, I think putting the connection 'on' one of the vehicles is better and results in less stress on the magnet-to-wire soldered connection.

 

Ian

Hi Ian,

I'm intrigued how you managed to solder the wire to the magnets? And how 2 sets of connections (+ve and

-ve) are kept apart? I came to the conclusion that having any sort of electrical connection midway between 2 locos would be a bit obtrusive. I have used a mini plug & socket on my 126 set and this works well with one end fixed under a bufferbeam and the other extending around the bar couplings directly to the pick up bogie on the adjacent vehicle. I have also considered separate removable jumper leads which connect to fixed plugs on each loco, but I'm not sure these would allow sufficient flex for curves in this scale - I wonder, has anyone tried this? 

 

Martyn.

[ISW]

8 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

I'm intrigued how you managed to solder the wire to the magnets? And how 2 sets of connections (+ve and

-ve) are kept apart? I came to the conclusion that having any sort of electrical connection midway between 2 locos would be a bit obtrusive.

Martyn,

It's reasonably easy to solder wires 'end on' to one side of a magnet. Just use a little solder (basically just tin the wire) and only use the iron for a couple of seconds. Too much heat destroys the magnetism. 

I put the two wires on either side of the vehicle, a bit like real life ETH cables. With judicious use of the N/S poles of the magnets, I made it impossible for the wrong wires to connect.

The weak point is the junction of the solder and the wire. Because the wire has to be very thin (I used some decoder wire) too much flexing and it breaks. That's why I think it'd be better to have the connection 'on' one vehicle, thus reducing the flexing to 2 locations (mid-span between vehicles give 4 locations).

In the example above, the N/S poles are orientated such that they repel each other.

 

Ian

[Signaller69]

On 14/08/2021 at 18:48, ISW said:

Martyn,

It's reasonably easy to solder wires 'end on' to one side of a magnet. Just use a little solder (basically just tin the wire) and only use the iron for a couple of seconds. Too much heat destroys the magnetism. 

I put the two wires on either side of the vehicle, a bit like real life ETH cables. With judicious use of the N/S poles of the magnets, I made it impossible for the wrong wires to connect.

The weak point is the junction of the solder and the wire. Because the wire has to be very thin (I used some decoder wire) too much flexing and it breaks. That's why I think it'd be better to have the connection 'on' one vehicle, thus reducing the flexing to 2 locations (mid-span between vehicles give 4 locations).

In the example above, the N/S poles are orientated such that they repel each other.

 

Ian

That looks superb Ian, a very neat solution. Once painted I can see they would be unobtrusive. How well do they cope with curves? The points on Crinan are all large radius, although a couple of the sector plate roads have curves down to about 18" radius but the others are more gentle to dead straight.

[ISW]

On 15/08/2021 at 23:54, Signaller69 said:

That looks superb Ian, a very neat solution. Once painted I can see they would be unobtrusive. How well do they cope with curves? The points on Crinan are all large radius, although a couple of the sector plate roads have curves down to about 18" radius but the others are more gentle to dead straight.

Martyn,

There's no problem negotiating curves, as there is enough spare slack 'wire' in the connections. The only problem I've encountered is the aforementioned fatiguing of the wire/solder connection. I had one break quite early on, which I managed to re-solder back on. It really needs the wire insulation as strain-relief but, of course, the insulation recedes when you apply heat ... That's why I suggested placing the connection 'on' one bufferbeam instead of mid-span.

Ian

[Gibbo675]

Hi Martyn,

 

Have you seen this thread by @hmrspaul?

 

Gibbo.

[Signaller69]

1 hour ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi Martyn,

 

Have you seen this thread by @hmrspaul?

 

Gibbo.

Hi Gibbo,

No I hadn't come across that thread, thanks for pointing it out. Some very interesting photos there. 

 

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

The 25/0 has had cab front handrails and Railtec decals applied and awaits a coat of Matt varnish.

 

I am waiting on 3 Brassmasters class 24 etched detail frets to arrive, which will provide the cabside door handrails for this and a couple of 24 conversions. In common with several 25/0s this one didn't have boiler compartment grille frost covers applied until at least 1974 (if at all). Presumably, not having boilers, they didn't need them? The Brassmasters fret also contains these and they will come in useful for other locos yet to be tackled.

 

Meanwhile the first 25/2 has had the same lowering exercise and resin tanks fitted along with the usual LMS buffers.

 

Which allows a comparison of cab ends (with apologies for the poor lighting):

 

 

The Hornby couplings will be cut off and replaced with NEM boxes and/or Kadees once I've decided on the method of fixing them in place.

 

I have also been in contact with Brian Hanson for 5 more Shawplan roof fans & grilles, which I am told are out of stock so I need to drop him a reminder next week. Not a problem as I have various jobs with the various chassis lowering and loco body mods to keep me tied up for weeks I think, plus another session of resin casting is looming......

 

Martyn.

[Signaller69]

The blue 25/0 has had matt varnish applied but still awaits the handrails to arrive, plus cab interiors and glazing. The green 25/2 is almost ready for spraying once the marker lights are sorted, the roof fan cut out and cab edges rounded off. 2 more locos have started down the path to becoming "skinhead" 24s, with Milliput used to replace the headcode boxes in the time honoured way; both will probably be finished in variations of green livery.

 

 

The remaining 2 "not quite started" locos will probably stay as blue 25/2s, although a green FYE 25/0 might just be considered......

 

[Signaller69]

The first 24 is shaping up quite well with the underframe, roof and bodyside work mostly done apart from some etched and plasticard additions.

 

The cab fronts and windows will be tackled next.

 

The 25/0 still needs cab door handrails, glazing etc.

 

Flush glazing on both will have to be hand cut; every window other than the centre front one differs from the "as produced" Hornby model, so SE Flushglaze is out of the question. Which reminds me that I have one of the class 126 Trailer Composite vehicles still to glaze too.

 

 

[ISW]

2 hours ago, Signaller69 said:

The first 24 is shaping up quite well with the underframe, roof and bodyside work mostly done apart from some etched and plasticard additions.

Martyn,

The Hornby Class 25 conversions are going really well. Impressive work.

 

Your 'Class 24' with D7596 on the cabside does make you look twice ... Reminds me of those accident damaged Class 24s that had a Class 25 cab retrofitted, but in reverse! Something I don't think ever happened? Obviously it'll all appear 'normal' once you add the correct cabside number (with a D prefix, of course).

 

Ian

[Signaller69]

1 hour ago, ISW said:

Martyn,

The Hornby Class 25 conversions are going really well. Impressive work.

 

Your 'Class 24' with D7596 on the cabside does make you look twice ... Reminds me of those accident damaged Class 24s that had a Class 25 cab retrofitted, but in reverse! Something I don't think ever happened? Obviously it'll all appear 'normal' once you add the correct cabside number (with a D prefix, of course).

 

Ian

Thankyou Ian,

 

Yes, a mystery for the spotters!

 

I quite fancy doing a 24 with a 25 cab at one end (it would save some work to boot!) But I can't find any evidence of any ScR locos so fitted in my 1970-72 time frame unfortunately; I am very happy to be proved wrong however and research is ongoing! Most such conversions seem to have been carried out after this time it appears though.

 

A few 24/1 and 25/0s had the same treatment too, sometimes with the winged headcode boxes but no horn enclosures.

 

Cheers,

Martyn.