Atso's occasional workbench

[Atso]

As some of those who I saw at Ally Pally know, I've been playing around with some resin casting. While results have been very promising, the castings have shown that my initial design for the vans could do with some revision to make life easier. Therefore, I've spent a bit of time redesigning these and will be getting another batch of masters printed in due course.

 

However, I have a handful of cast fish van bodies, but no rooves or chassis, and it seemed a pity to not use them. Therefore, I put together a few 2mm Association etched chassis (two in primer drying and one more to be built) and knocked up a roof using BHE etches. The results of the first effort is below.

 

 

The actual kit will have a mainly cast chassis and roof to make things easier for modellers.

[Kris]

That looks fantastic, and using the 2mm chassis gives a very good result.

[Atso]

Thank you Kris.

 

I've made an etched chassis for the dia 134 van (body balanced on chassis at the moment!).

 

[Atso]

The revised versions of the vans are now being printed by Shapeways - hopefully they'll show up soon!

 

In the meantime, I've been updating (or rather redesigning from the ground up) the Thompson L1 (as well as interpreting a load of new information on the County!) as it is the oldest model on my Shapeways shop (c. 2010).

 

 

 

The body above covers (or rather will once finished) nos. 67740-67765 built by North British Loco (their second batch without Westinghouse equipment). I'll be doing the Darlington and Hawthorns versions eventually as well which will cover all the production batches (but not no. 9000/67701).

[Atso]

Hi all,

 

A reasonably quick re motoring of an ancient Farish 4P chassis. The motor is one of the 7mm coreless types that briefly became available a year or so back. A set of wheels from a Farish B1 have been substituted and the Dapol B1 boiler is tacked on top to take advantage of its tungsten weight. All a bit of a bodge at the moment and the quartering needs tweaking....

 

 

Not one for me but a bit of a proof of concept (or not as the case may be) for a friends project.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Atso

[Atso]

L1 CAD largely completed now.

 

[Atso]

Having had the MK2 V1 test print for a few months now, I thought it was high time I actually got around to finishing it and making sure that everything works out as expected.

 

 

Annoyingly there are one or two things that need to be altered in the CAD but overall I think it is shaping up quite well.

[Atso]

I've spent the morning back on the County CAD. It's been riveting stuff! 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Atso

[Atso]

I lined out the V1's bufferbeams this morning - my first use of my bow pen this year!

 

 

 

Below is a picture of the 'white' I used for the lining. Following the advice of Ian Rathbone and Geoff Haynes, I mixed some black into my gloss white to tone everything down a little. Looking at the model, I wouldn't say that the lining looks anywhere near as grey as it actually is.

 

[grob1234]

What Haff is that Steve? 

 

I think adding that black into the white is definitely toning it down quite a bit, yet it still looks white. Is this just for N or also OO?

[Atso]

What Haff is that Steve? 

 

I think adding that black into the white is definitely toning it down quite a bit, yet it still looks white. Is this just for N or also OO?

 

Hi Tom,

 

It's my old Kern pen as I've not had the money to purchase another Haff to go along with my bow compass yet. I prefer the Haff but I've been unable to find a handle to take the end and using them while attached to the compass is a bit cumbersome.

 

Both Ian and Geoff say that this works for 4mm scale as well. Having been told this I spent a bit of time carefully inspecting there work. You can see that it has been toned down if you really really really look under a magnifier in very good light but even then it looks so much better than using the (theoretically) correct colour. Maybe try with a couple of drops less in the white than I did. I put 14 drops of gloss black into a brand new tinlet of Humbrol 22 - I also got lucky as the paint was already pretty much perfect in consistency for lining (I've really struggled with Humbrol paints recently).

Edited May 10, 2018 by Atso

[grob1234]

I'll give it a try when I eventually do some modelling!

[Atso]

I'll give it a try when I eventually do some modelling!

I look forwarding to seeing the results. Don't forget to post a video of it, I'm missing those at the moment!

[Atso]

Not a huge amount has happened over the last couple of weeks due to a bout of depression hitting me. This has been annoying as I really thought I had this under control and hadn't had a bad day in quite some time.

 

Luckily my girlfriend, who is a teacher, was on half term last week and surprised me with four days in Somerset! This has been very helpful in being able to switch off for a few days; although I'm not a fan of all the driving! This trip also provided me with the opportunity to briefly visit Jerry Clifford and see his workshop and layouts - Bath, despite being far from complete, is very impressive!

 

Anyway, a little progress on the test build for the GNR full brake. I've still got to design up the roof fittings and make a couple of detail changes to the CAD but I think it's beginning to come together quite well.

 

 

Everything is in gloss at the moment prior to applying the decals so sorry for its rather shiny appearance! 

[Atso]

I turned my attention back to the V1 build today providing it with its identity.

 

 

No. 2911 was briefly allocated to Kings Cross shed for seven weeks in 1931. Since taking the picture, I've moved the numbers around as I wasn't happy with their placement. The red paper to the left is clear decal paper that I've sprayed with the same colour as I did the lining. Once it has dried I'll use my bow pen to draw in a black line and carefully cut the paper to leave a thin red line either side of it. This will form the boiler bands for 2911. I've not attempted this before but have seen it used to good effect on some very nice 2mm finescale scratch builds, notably on Tim Watson's fantastic P2 build.

[Atso]

A bit more progress on the V1 with the application of the boiler bands. I tried Tim Watson's technique for 2mm scale locomotives to make these - thanks to Tim for sharing this in his thread. I sprayed some clear decal film with Humbrol 220 red and left this to go hard. Then I drew on the center black line using my bow pen and again left to dry hard. Next I carefully cut the decal using a razor blade leaving a slither of the red protruding beyond the black line and applied to the loco. I need a little more practice at cutting a consistent line but I'm very happy with my first attempt at using this technique.

 

 

The current state of 2911 with the remaining decal film after applying the boiler bands.

[Atso]

A bit more progress this evening...

 

 

I do enjoy this stage as I think it is these fittings that really start bringing the model to life.

[millerhillboy]

Looking absolutely superb Atso, those bands are top notch.

[Atso]

Thanks Millerhillboy,

 

I'm really happy with how the boiler bands have come out but practice will make them more consistent in the future.

 

2911 moved on a bit today with the application of the buffer beam decals, picking out the brass work and making up some vacuum pipes.

 

 

I've also found a couple of generic figures and have primed these tonight to paint you and fit as the crew.

 

I've also been experimenting with building my own N gauge track for my future fiddle yard using 2mm Association bits. Today has seen the production of my second turnout.

 

 

Following the turnouts, I made a start on this.

 

 

The first prototype turnout was used to make a short test track, a video of it in action is below.

 

 

So far I'm encouraged by the results especially as, other than a blade filing jig (from Finetrax), I had to gauge everything with only the aid of some calipers.

Edited June 12, 2018 by Atso

[grob1234]

Lovely smooth running on lovely hand made track. Makes even code 55 look massive. In fact it looks like P4, so you've achieved the aim. Nice work.

[Atso]

Lovely smooth running on lovely hand made track. Makes even code 55 look massive. In fact it looks like P4, so you've achieved the aim. Nice work.

 

Thank Rob. The aim is actually to ultimately make reliable (cheap) track for my fiddle yard as I'll need to be able to reverse rakes of wagons reliably which I don't think Peco turnouts are up to. The scenic section will be made out of Finetrax kits which, I believe, are based around the kind developed by the 2mm Association (but to N gauge standards).

[Atso]

2911 is pretty much finished now. I'll weather it at some point but not straight away...

 

 

I glazed the window was Kristal Klear which was just about dry when I took the photo. There is a crew in there but you couldn't tell with this photo!

[Atso]

Hi all,

 

I had a great day up at the Great Central Railway yesterday and saw quite a few friends from the forum.

 

Anyway, now that the glazing and coal is dry, some more photographs of the V1 - all cruel close ups!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, one with the flash turned on to prove that there is a crew in the cab!

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by Atso

[Atso]

I've test printed the L1.

 

 

There are a few corrections needed but I think it's already looking the part.

[Atso]

A while back I designed a body tub for an A5/2. Unfortunately, I've not bee able to identify a suitable donor chassis with close to the correct 6'6 by 6'6 coupled wheelbase needed. A few days back I rediscovered a stash of old Farish chassis blocks that I obtained some time ago. I recalled that sometime ago Mr King did some crazy work on a Bachmann A1 chassis (4mm scale) to reduce the coupled wheelbase to be suitable for an A2. I therefore decided to see if I could do something similar with the Farish block.

 

I printed a jig to hold the components (I could've make this up out of plastic to be honest) and cut the chassis (an old A3 one) into three bits, removing c. 2.5mm from each end in the process. I then applied Araldite to the mating surfaces and placed everything in the job for about an hour. After this, I removed the chassis from the jig and placed it on the flattest surface I could find, made adjustments as required and have now left it to cure.

 

 

I'll make up another jig to shorten some coupling rods (using solder for these!) and try and fit a 40 tooth 0.2MOD gear to a spare set of 4MT wheels I have - these are slightly underscale for 5'8 drivers but keep the A5/2 in proportion to my K3s, N2s and V1. If all is going well, I'll use a Nigel Lawton 8/16 motor to power the contraption. The bogie and pony (radial truck on the prototype) will be source from some more Farish spares.