Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Signalling the changes...

[Skinnylinny]

It's funny - the Great Southern Railway definitely used rivets for some of their early wagons... In fact they were even countersunk on the inside of the wagon, which explains why you won't see any bolt head detail inside my scratch-built wagon stock... All in the interests of accuracy! 

[Regularity]

12 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

It's funny - the Great Southern Railway definitely used rivets for some of their early wagons... In fact they were even countersunk on the inside of the wagon, which explains why you won't see any bolt head detail inside my scratch-built wagon stock... All in the interests of accuracy! 

Did they use side knees?

[Regularity]

13 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

I've upset a couple of people by pointing out that their laboriously modelled bolt heads were a waste of time and effort.

No, Stephen. The information was useful. It was the way you pointed the matter out which caused any upset. not that there was much.

[Skinnylinny]

Well the fancy glue arrived today, and so some more work happened on the footbridge. Some more chopping has brought it a lot closer to a prototypical height, but I am limited somewhat by my desire to use as much of the clip-fit geometry as possible, in order to strengthen the build. I've managed to get the bottom of the deck to 16'6" above rail level, which will probably reduce to 15'9" by the time I fit the smoke deflector plates. I'd been hoping for somewhere in the 14'-15' range, but there seem to be plenty of photographs of footbridges much taller than the trains passing underneath them, and I need to allow for the curved end sections of the main deck sides. I think this will have to do for now. If I shorten it any further I will lose the last set of lugs holding the end stair sides on.

I think I've managed to create something that keeps the character of the Hornby footbridge, without immediately shouting out its origin, and that's what I was going for. Now, I must start chopping up the bits for the other side...

[Andy Hayter]

Looking good to me.  It is worth remembering that the clearance close to the platform edge is significantly reduced - by my estimate on the screen about 5-6mm - due to the curved support below the deck. 

[Compound2632]

How high are the platforms above rail level? They look to be about mid-buffer height on the Radial - around 14 mm. That's a bit on the high side - 3'0" would be the maximum in pre-Grouping days, with 2'6" or lower not unusual. So, by lowering the platforms, you'd lower the bridge nearer to the ideal height.

[Caley Jim]

Could you reinforce the joints by drilling holes in the opposing faces and inserting short stubbs of tight fitting wire? I did this recently when trying to repair something (not modelling related) which was made of a soft, waxy plastic, with some success. 

 

Jim 

[Skinnylinny]

4 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

Looking good to me.  It is worth remembering that the clearance close to the platform edge is significantly reduced - by my estimate on the screen about 5-6mm - due to the curved support below the deck. 

I'm very much thinking that - I could have modified the bridge slightly differently to have a flat deck in the middle, but I liked the curves, even if they're a little exaggerated for the location. 
 

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

How high are the platforms above rail level? They look to be about mid-buffer height on the Radial - around 14 mm. That's a bit on the high side - 3'0" would be the maximum in pre-Grouping days, with 2'6" or lower not unusual. So, by lowering the platforms, you'd lower the bridge nearer to the ideal height.

You've just made me double-check, to make sure. Nope, my platforms are just about at the bottom of the bufferbeam - just about 12mm above rail level. They've laid on the baseboard while the track is raised up on cork to give this height. I considered having them lower but that would have either meant trimming a straight line in a 1.5m-long platform, or raising the trackbed higher. I'm also aware that most of my GSR coaching stock is ex-Triang-clerestories which ride a little high, thus making the platforms seem lower. I really should look into lowering those, but it's among all the other "needs doing"s.
 

3 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

Could you reinforce the joints by drilling holes in the opposing faces and inserting short stubbs of tight fitting wire? I did this recently when trying to repair something (not modelling related) which was made of a soft, waxy plastic, with some success. 

 

Jim 

Would that this were possible - the top rail or the footbridge sides measures in at a weedy 0.4mm thick. No wonder glue had a hard time! Fortunately this new glue seems plenty strong enough. I'd need to be a 2mm finescale modeller or better to drill a hole in that accurately!

[Caley Jim]

2 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

Would that this were possible - the top rail or the footbridge sides measures in at a weedy 0.4mm thick. No wonder glue had a hard time! Fortunately this new glue seems plenty strong enough. I'd need to be a 2mm finescale modeller or better to drill a hole in that accurately!

Well, even a No. 80 drill is 0.35mm in diameter, so no chance there!

 

Jim

[Andy Hayter]

5 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

I'm very much thinking that - I could have modified the bridge slightly differently to have a flat deck in the middle, but I liked the curves, even if they're a little exaggerated for the location. 
 

 

 

I think the curves give the bridge a Victorian/Edwardian elegance that you would not find in more recent times.

[Skinnylinny]

I must admit that I haven't successfully printed the private-owner wagon yet - the solebars seem not to want to print and the bodyshell has warped somewhat. I'm going to attempt to re-engineer the supports I used. However, the printer got purloined today for a rather different purpose!

Today (the 23rd) is my birthday, and I have reached the ripe old age of twenty-nine. I received a present from Gary at Oak Hill (a nice set of modelling paintbrushes in a carry-case, which should help them last rather longer than the ones that inevitably end up chucked in a toolbox), and a cryptic email from Tom TurboSnail, with a 3D printer file attached. He knows I've been pondering/wanting an SER O class for Linton to represent the SECR's goods interests in the area. Well, I added some automatically-generated supports, and set it off printing. The first print isn't perfect (it never is for me!) but I have a second version printing now, with my missing supports on the bufferbeam and the bottom edges of the boiler fixed, and hopefully this time it will print correctly. That being said, it's already looking rather nice. I'm thinking SER lined black, although I could be tempted towards Wainwright goods green. 



...and the tender will be getting changed, as will the brake rodding...

[Annie]

Happy birthday Linny.  29 eh, - you know it's all downhill from here.  Not that it ever made any difference to me what age I was supposed to be.

[Caley Jim]

29?  Yer just a wean!!  I always say that the first 50 are just a practice run.  You only start counting after that (at least I have, by which reckoning I'm 4 years older than you)!!!

 

Many happy returns, Linny!!

 

Jim

[Andy Hayter]

Happy Birthday and many more of them 

[Edwardian]

Ah, 29. Just about remember, I hope you have a great birthday and many happy returns indeed, Linny

[Compound2632]

17 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

Tom TurboSnail, with a 3D printer file attached. He knows I've been pondering/wanting an SER O class 

 

O! O! O! Going weak at the knees...

 

... and belated birthday greetings too. 

[Skinnylinny]

Thank you all for the kind wishes. I had a lovely birthday, even if the party was a Zoom call!

Just for @Compound2632... the second O class print has come out beautifully, and now has some handrails and a smokebox dart. The Oxford chassis runs beautifully smoothly, and now I need a tender... 

[Caley Jim]

13 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

O! O! O! .....

000 is 2MM scale nowadays!  

 

Jim

[Compound2632]

26 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

000 is 2MM scale nowadays!  

 

Jim

 

That's nought-nought-nought, which is naught to me. Mine is a very round-mouthed Oh! repeated thrice. 

 

I'm thinking biscuit factory here.

[drduncan]

Happy birthday!

DrD

[drduncan]

Linny,

I’ve been admiring your 3D open.  How do you do the springs?

Regards

Duncan

[Caley Jim]

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

That's nought-nought-nought, which is naught to me. Mine is a very round-mouthed Oh! repeated thrice. 

Exactly what I said, treble-O!  

 

Jim

[Skinnylinny]

Oops, some lining transfers happened... and some red paint too... Still a fair bit to go yet but it's already made a big change to this side.


 

3 hours ago, drduncan said:

Linny,

I’ve been admiring your 3D open.  How do you do the springs?

Regards

Duncan

I've been using SketchUp, so my technique might not translate into your CAD software of choice. I draw the top edge of the spring in a sketch, then use the offset tool to generate lots of spring leaves (I usually do a 0.1mm thick spring leaf, then a 0.2mm thick "groove" (0.2mm  deep), then repeat. I then manually trim the ends off the arcs in the appropriate place to get the shape of the spring.

[Skinnylinny]

A little more work has been done on the layout - the arrivals platform road has been laid along the length of board 2 (of 3), and part of the departures road too. I started spraying with my track weathering paint, only to have it sputter out and die - guess I'm going to buy some more tomorrow! This is a bit of a pain as I'd been hoping to do some ballasting this evening while watching Gary's YouTube stream. I will probably end up working some more on the platforms, or laying the goods yard instead. Plenty still to do!

I did manage to get some transfers on the wagons I got from @TurboSnail - these now look lovely behind a Hattons P class, with one of mine. For anyone who's not sure about the quality of model you can get from 3D printing, all three wagons here are 3D prints from a home printer.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Skinnylinny

[Skinnylinny]

Well, a little more work got done during the stream - more paving slabs were laid, until I completely ran out just at the baseboard joint, both sides of the platform were clad in brick plasticard, the tricky board-joint-crossing into the goods yard was laid (very carefully, as it crosses at an oblique angle), and the other side of the SE&CR wagons were lettered. 

This morning, the postie brought more paving slabs and a Wills platform canopy kit. I wanted a traditional-style canopy, but one without and glass in the roof. That discounted the Hornby standard yellow ones (although they do have rather nice cast supports), the Metcalfe kit, the Ratio kit and the Dapol kit (also excluded as just... something about it didn't feel right). That being said, the Wills one almost perfectly fits the platform (there is a slight overhang over the track, but it's clear of the loading gauge, and will keep the model passengers try as they board!). 

I do like the shape and proportions of the Wills kit, but I'm still not convinced by the supports - there aren't very many included (unless you fancy chopping up what comes in the kit(!) and the columns feel a little weedy. At what point did the "6 foot from the platform edge must be clear of obstructions" rule come in? I might consider having two rows of columns rather than the included single row.

Apologies again for the messy background and the poor lighting - natural light is very dim in Edinburgh today and the lighting in the bedroom isn't set up for sun-level brightness.