Kylestrome’s 4mm Workbench

[bcnPete]

Lovely work as always David - am intruiged to see more of the layout that these will all run on too...

[Kylestrome]

On 26/07/2017 at 23:30, thindude said:

What size or wire do you use for air pipes your thread shows 0.45 and 0.7, fantastic work. Thanks

 

The 0.7mm pipes are the engine control pipes (yellow) and the air brake pipes (red). The 0.45mm pipes are the main air reservoir pipes (white) which are, as far as I can tell from photos, thinner than the other pipes.

 

These are the wire sizes which look right to me but I can't guarantee that they are exactly to scale.

 

David

Edited March 3, 2020 by Kylestrome

[thindude]

The 0.7mm pipes are the engine control pipes (yellow) and the air brake pipes (red). The 0.45mm pipes are the main air reservoir pipes (white) which are, as far as I can tell from photos, thinner than the other pipes.

These are the wire sizes which look right to me but I can't guarantee that they are exactly to scale.

David

They look spot on to me, struggling to find 10amp fusewire though. Thanks

[Kylestrome]

No self-respecting layout based on the Scottish highlands should be without at least one Land Rover, so I’ve finally managed to get one finished for mine.

 

It has been cut about and modified from a JB Models kit (now Airfix?) for a long wheelbase military vehicle. It's a tricky model to make but I think it captures the 'look' fairly well. The front has been modified to represent an earlier series (I'm not sure which, though). 

 

The glazing has been replaced with 0.5mm acrylic sheet and the centre windscreen pillar was cut out and replaced with something a bit finer.

 

I claim no originality for the methods, which mostly came from here:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/116775-civilian-land-rovers-in-4mm/

along with the key measurements. 

 

 

 

 

Here are some photos of the particular prototype on which it is based.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kylestrome

[Arthur]

 

Very nice work, it's really captured the look. It's a Series 2, the giveaway being the headlights in the recessed centre panel. The Series 3, and some late model 2As, had the headlights on the outer wings. There were other, less obvious, differences too.

 

.

[PhilMortimer]

Another giveaway is that the modesty panels /skirts are deeper on an S2 than on an S3, though they can be retrofitted either way.

[Kylestrome]

What to do when a wagon occasionally derails because it is too light? Obvious really, you add some weight. But what if said wagon is an RTR bogie bolster wagon and it is already stuffed with as much lead as can be fitted in without showing? This is the situation I had with a Mainline Bogie Bolster C and the solution was to put a nice heavy load on it.

 

 

I usually add weight to my wagons to achieve a weight of 25 grams per axle, regardless of whether they are sprung or unsprung, so to get the bogie bolster up to 100 grams(!) I had to make a load weighing roughly 50 grams. This is where the office postal scales come in handy.

 

The load is made up of some spare nickel silver bullhead rail with some lead sheet cunningly concealed underneath. The rails were stuck together using Cyano glue and lead is held in with epoxy.

 

I took this opportunity to add the small bolster post retaining chains, made out of some of the finest chain I’ve ever seen!

 

Some new securing rings were made from 10 amp (29 SWG) fuse wire twisted around a 1mm drill bit. These were fixed into holes drilled in the sole bars.

 

 

Using a similar method, some additional chain links were made from 0.3 mm brass wire. These are needed for joining up the hooks, shackles and chains which hold the load in place on the prototype. The wire is trapped in one of the collet slits of a pin vice holding the drill bit. The resulting coil is then cut using fine wire cutters to produce separate rings.

 

Here are the finished shackles using some etched parts from Ambis Engineering. This is probably some of the fiddliest work I have ever subjected myself to and the air went a delicate shade of blue at times!

 

The load was glued in place with normal ‘slow’ epoxy and then a lot more fiddly effort got the chains fixed in place.

 

BTW, chains of various sizes can be obtained from ship modelling suppliers. Mine were bought in Germany, but there are probably similar sources elsewhere.

 

David

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kylestrome

[Kylestrome]

 

 

Here’s the first finished job for 2018 and it’s something I’ve been putting off for a long time because I hate flush glazing. I had a complete set of Shawplan ‘Lazerglaze’ but unfortunatley it was all cut slightly too small and just fell through the frames. That meant having to do 22 windows by hand but at least they weren’t awkward shapes like the ones on the Class 29. Apart from the buffer beams (see post #1), and the excellent Shawplan Extreme Etches roof grill, everything else is as it comes, including the windscreens that aren’t quite the right shape. The corners are not round enough for a Class 27 although they are perfect for the '26.

 

 

 

The chassis has had a chunk milled off the top to allow some space for my homemade base reflex speaker box. As I don’t see the need for lights, the circuit board was cut down to the essentials to make room for a Loksound V4 sound decoder.

 

David

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kylestrome

[bcnPete]

That looks superb David

[Kylestrome]

 

After a few months in service 7581 is getting a bit grubby, but Eastfield is at least doing a good job of keeping the body sides and ends clean. In other words, I have finally got around to weathering the hybrid Class 25/1 that I described in this thread:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/106053-bachmannhornby-rat-sandwich/page-1

 

David

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kylestrome

[bcnPete]

Another cracker David

 

Would be great to see some more pics of the layout - it just looks ‘right’

[Kylestrome]

Recent RTR wagons are so good, there’s little left for us poor model makers to do but change wheels and couplings. Even so, one can still find the odd detail or two that needs ‘improving’. The Bachmann Grain hopper is a good example. 

 

Getting the wagon apart was relatively easy as there was very little glue holding the parts together. With the top off, some extra weight was epoxied inside to bring the total up to 50g.

 

Because the moulding process does not allow undercuts there is an unprototypical gusset behind some of the stanchions. 

 

It’s a bit tricky to remove them but, with a little care and a sharp scalpel, it is possible to make a reasonably neat job of it. 

 

There are also some very small moulded ‘hand rails’ (three on one side, six on the other) which can be pared off and replaced with 0.3mm diameter wire. These are all the same size, so it is worth making a simple drilling jig from a scrap of plastic sheet to help with accurately drilling the holes. The handles themselves were bent up using one of Bill Bedford’s etched Handrail Drilling Jigs, which I can highly recommend. 

 

Slots for the Dingham couplings were opened out using a piece of broken jigsaw blade held in a pin vice. 

 

Brake cross rods from 0.7mm wire were fitted, after carefully drilling through the brake blocks, and then the safety hangers bent up from 0.5mm wire. As with most of my RTR-based wagons, the P4 wheel sets are just a straight replacement for the 00 ones after the pin-points have been rounded off a little.

 

It just needs a bit of weathering to finish it off.

 

David

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kylestrome

[Regularity]

Carrying on with the coupling theme, here is my way of close coupling coaches. 

 

I’m not one of your ‘hair shirt’ P4 modellers, so I’m quite happy to leave certain details on RTR rolling stock as they are if I can’t see a way to improve them. So it is with Bachmann Mk 1 corridor connections; the only real problem with them is that they don’t connect! I have got around this problem by mounting opposing magnets between vehicles in a rake. The magnets are ‘normal’ (ferrite?) ones with north and south poles arranged to attract each other (obviously).  

 

Neat idea.

Have you arranged these in an up-down orientation? If so, why not have them left-right, and arranged consistently one way or the other - SN or NS? It matters not which way round, just do them all the same. Turning a coach 180 degrees will reverse the orientation of the poles, with respect to an adjacent coach (because looking towards the gangway, the left on one coach is the right on the other) and then you won’t ever have to worry about the orientation.

[Kylestrome]

Neat idea.

Have you arranged these in an up-down orientation? If so, why not have them left-right, and arranged consistently one way or the other - SN or NS? It matters not which way round, just do them all the same. Turning a coach 180 degrees will reverse the orientation of the poles, with respect to an adjacent coach (because looking towards the gangway, the left on one coach is the right on the other) and then you won’t ever have to worry about the orientation.

 

You didn't really think I'd thought it through that far, did you? 

 

The maximum length of train on my layout is only two coaches and there are three fixed rakes (if you can really call them that). The couplings don't allow for turning vehicles, so I didn't need to consider problems of polarity.

 

David

Edited July 7, 2018 by Kylestrome

[srihaggis]

Some really good modelling going on here. 

[Regularity]

You didn't really think I'd thought it through that far, did you? 

 

The maximum length of train on my layout is only two coaches and there are three fixed rakes (if you can really call them that). The couplings don't allow for turning vehicles, so I didn't need to consider problems of polarity.

 

David

Are the three rakes always to the same formation?

 

To be honest, the thought of arranging the magnets horizontally, do to speak, popped into my head straight after I thought how clever you had been, and it seemed worth mentioning just in case someone else was tempted to try the idea.

[Regularity]

Lovely work as always David - am intruiged to see more of the layout that these will all run on too...

Pete:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/129453-kinlochmore-–-west-highland-4mm-p4/

[Kylestrome]

 

Although I don’t really need yet another project to work on, I couldn’t resist what I thought would be a quick ‘finescaling’ of the new Dapol Turbot. As is usual it won’t be quite so quick after all so here, at least, is the first stage of the job.

 

Because the original bogies are far too narrow to allow standard 26mm axles to drop in, the only solution for EM and P4 modellers is to replace the bogies. Fortunately, the correct Davis & Lloyd pattern bogies are available as a kit from Stenson Models, in sprung or rigid versions. 

 

Not wishing to complicate life more than necessary, I bought the rigid ones. They come with some rather nice white metal castings but one needs to supply the bearings and wheels oneself. They went together very well and took less time to make than I needed for taking the photos. The instructions can be downloaded here: http://www.stensonmodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CC57B-Davis-Lloyd-5ft-6in-Rigid-Bogie.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

The next step will be to shorten the underframe pivot bosses, when I can work out exactly how to do it without doing any damage to the bits I want keep.

 

David

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kylestrome

[Adam]

Interesting - not that I have any particular use for a Turbot - but with one eye on the forthcoming Bogie Bolster E...

 

Adam 

[26power]

On 1/28/2019 at 7:50 PM, Kylestrome said:

Although I don’t really need yet another project to work on, I couldn’t resist what I thought would be a quick ‘finescaling’ of the new Dapol Turbot. As is usual it won’t be quite so quick after all so here, at least, is the first stage of the job.

Because the original bogies are far too narrow to allow standard 26mm axles to drop in, the only solution for EM and P4 modellers is to replace the bogies. Fortunately, the correct Davis & Lloyd pattern bogies are available as a kit from Stenson Models, in sprung or rigid versions. 

 

The next step will be to shorten the underframe pivot bosses, when I can work out exactly how to do it without doing any damage to the bits I want keep.

David

Hi.  Could you solder a piece of brass strip to the bottom of the transverse member and make that what the Dapol boss bears on, once the existing hole in the top of that member is opened up to allow the boss just to pass through?  That opening up would need to be enough to allow some play.  Might need some packing on top of the new bottom member to get the ride height correct.

Hope this helps!

Edited February 1, 2019 by 26power
Typo

[Kylestrome]

Now I've reached the point of no return with the underframe. I have used some very small wood screws to fix it to two equal sized pieces of hardwood so that it can be held firmly and level without damaging the fine details. The brake linkages and pipes are made of very flexible plastic and can be gently levered out of their mounting holes, with fine tweezers, and taped out of the way.

 

Using a burr in my mini-drill, mounted on a drill stand, I carefully milled the pivot bosses to leave them 0.5mm high which gives just the right buffer height with the new bogies.

 

Fortunately, the pivot screw threads are so deep that there is enough left for the original screws to be reused. They need to have their flanges turned down to a smaller diameter to fit inside the new etched bogies (a quick job with the drill and a needle file).

 

Here is the finished wagon ready for a load of sheet lead covered over with sand. The underframe has been dirtied but the bodywork will only receive a minimum of weathering, because it would still be relatively new in my ca. 1986 operating period.

 

David

Edited March 3, 2020 by Kylestrome

[TTTE]

Turbot looks very nice David.

 

Colin and Phil's bogies are lovely to put together - I used a set of the sprung ones under a Rumney Models bogie bolster E chassis with a Cambrian Turbot kit body. Just need to sort the door springs out before paint.

 

Regards, Tom 

[Kylestrome]

Despite having a metal underframe the Turbot is a little on the light side so I decided to put some extra weight in it and cover it with a load.

 

Three pieces of lead sheet were epoxied onto the deck which brought the overall weight up to about 90 grams.

 

Three pieces of 10mm thick balsa wood were carved into ‘heap’ shapes. These were also stuck down with epoxy so that any exposed lead was also covered.

 

Different grades of stone ballast, and a sprinkling of sand, were then dropped onto a coat of PVA to represent old ballast.

 

David

Edited March 3, 2020 by Kylestrome

[Kylestrome]

No item of RTR rolling stock is safe in my hands!

 

Within 15 minutes of them being delivered, this was the situation for a brand new Bachmann Presflo ...

 

... and a Hornby BR brake van, which will be re-painted in freight brown.

 

The Presflo is destined to be number four in the small fleet of alumina carrying wagons that I’m currently working on. The first three started life in Tunnel cement livery and have been patched painted and are being lettered with Model Master transfers. Matting down and lots of weathering to follow.

 

I’ve also recently acquired another Airfix/Kitmaster/Dapol (I wish they’d make their mind up!) Prestwin kit. The packaging proclaims that it’s made in Wales, which makes a pleasant change from China, and that it’s made from re-cycled plastic. Bravo! This one will have some of its bits used to make a Diagram 1/274 wagon (higher body and 10 foot wheelbase) mainly because I like a bit of a challenge and it’s more fun than pulling RTR stuff to bits. Watch this space.

 

David

Edited April 11, 2022 by Kylestrome

[Fat Controller]

14 minutes ago, Kylestrome said:

No item of RTR rolling stock is safe in my hands. 

 

Within 15 minutes of them being delivered, this was the situation for a brand new Bachmann Presflo ...

 

 

... and a Hornby BR brake van, which will be re-painted in freight brown.

 

 

The Presflo is destined to be number four in the small fleet of alumina carrying wagons that I’m currently working on. The first three started life in Tunnel cement livery and have been patched painted and are being lettered with Model Master transfers. Matting down and lots of weathering to follow.

 

I’ve also recently acquired another Airfix/Kitmaster/Dapol (I wish they’d make their mind up!) Prestwin kit. The packaging proclaims that it’s made in Wales, which makes a pleasant change from China, and that it’s made from re-cycled plastic. Bravo! This one will have some of its bits used to make a Diagram 1/274 wagon (higher body and 10 foot wheelbase) mainly because I like a bit of a challenge and it’s more fun than pulling RTR stuff to bits. Watch this space.

 

David

A 'Red Panda' underframe would do for the Prestwin, though you'd have to fill in the spaces in the axleguards to represent the Plate type. Certainly easier than doing a cut'n'splice on the brake levers. The other possibility would be to use the Parkside Iron-Ore Tippler chassis.