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Fenwick Pit: a North East Colliery in 2mm


Geordie Exile
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1 hour ago, Geordie Exile said:

They would be ideal, Mike, but for the size.  They're just a few mm too large.  I've sat and stared at them wistfully, but (apart from the mods I'd need to make to the headgear) they'd not look right.  I'm going to get on with the ground floor stuff over the next couple of days, & then maybe give DIY a go.  I'm currently thinking thin copper wire for the spokes if I can find/make a suitable rim.

Brass would be probably straighter. At a guess the wheel might be 16' across, so 32mm in scale. A strip of shim brass or plastikard drilled at 4mm intervals might be a starting point.

This would be a real challenge for a certain tv show!

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1 hour ago, Geordie Exile said:

They would be ideal, Mike, but for the size.  They're just a few mm too large.  I've sat and stared at them wistfully, but (apart from the mods I'd need to make to the headgear) they'd not look right.  I'm going to get on with the ground floor stuff over the next couple of days, & then maybe give DIY a go.  I'm currently thinking thin copper wire for the spokes if I can find/make a suitable rim.

Sorry if this double posts.

Brass would be easier to keep straight. I guess the wheels were 16' in diameter so 32mm to scale. This gives a circumference of about 100mm. Wheels vary in design but 32 spokes seems typical, so if you start with a strip if shim brass or plastikard with 32 tiny holes at 3mm spacing you should get close. Prototypically, alternate spokes go either side of the hub just like a bicycle.

This might make a good tv challenge!

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2 hours ago, Geordie Exile said:

They would be ideal, Mike, but for the size.  They're just a few mm too large. 

He might be prepared to offer a smaller set - minimal work for him, and the chance of more sales... 

 

Mike

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Or plan B.

If you Google image "model wheels" there are lots of laser cut wooden cart wheels. It should be possible to remove one spoke at a time and replace it with a brass rod.

It may be possible to spin the wheel first in the lathe/drill and cut the groove for the cable.

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1 hour ago, doilum said:

I got to thinking about when I had seen a good colliery wheel in 2mm. Turns out it was on a layout called Highbury Colliery at York in 2012. I believe it featured in MRJ around that time too.

 

I believe that layout belongs to Jerry Clifford (@queensquare) of this parish. His 2MMFS stuff is superb - might be worth a PM.

 

Cheers, 

 

Rich. 

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32 minutes ago, maridunian said:

He might be prepared to offer a smaller set - minimal work for him, and the chance of more sales... 

 

Mike

I've found his blog and messaged to ask whether he'd do just that!

 

1 hour ago, doilum said:

Brass would be easier to keep straight. I guess the wheels were 16' in diameter so 32mm to scale. This gives a circumference of about 100mm. Wheels vary in design but 32 spokes seems typical, so if you start with a strip if shim brass or plastikard with 32 tiny holes at 3mm spacing you should get close. Prototypically, alternate spokes go either side of the hub just like a bicycle.

This might make a good tv challenge!

Never played with brass, or any other metal come to think of it.  I've only just got into plasticard :D  I'm hoping the chap at the far end of the link that Mike (maridunian) posted will be able to furnish me with some.  If so, they'll do for the time being.  I may come back to a DIY version if I need to.

 

12 minutes ago, B1uejay said:

I believe that layout belongs to Jerry Clifford (@queensquare) of this parish. His 2MMFS stuff is superb - might be worth a PM.

Just googled and found his site.  Wow.  The wheels on his colliery headgear are beautiful.  I had a chat with the 2mmFS folk at the Perth Show in the summer, and was a little in awe at the time.  Having given this modelling lark a go since, I may revisit.

 

Thanks everyone for your contributions.  There's a lot out there that I'm unaware of, so I appreciate all the input.

 

Richard

 

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On 06/10/2019 at 22:31, Geordie Exile said:

Pleased with the way the headgear has turned out. The wheels are scavenged loco wheels and I need to find much finer versions somewhere.  Suggestions welcome as to where to source them. 

 

Ground floor and west wall to do next. 

 

20191006_214145.jpg

 

Winding sheaves. N Brass:

https://www.nbrasslocos.co.uk/nline2.html

Bottom of the page, item 22779

 

David

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Hi Richard,

Your thread has been referred to me by "Jukebox" of this parish because I am doing something similar in OO.  Top modelling, you certainly haven't lost it in the thirty odd years, hugely inspirational.  Now following.

Regards,

Brian.

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2 hours ago, Brian D said:

Hi Richard,

Your thread has been referred to me by "Jukebox" of this parish because I am doing something similar in OO.  Top modelling, you certainly haven't lost it in the thirty odd years, hugely inspirational.  Now following.

Regards,

Brian.

Thanks for the kind comments, Brian.  I've got a lot more patience in the intervening years - as a kid I used to throw an Airfix model together in half an hour - wings at odd angles, glue everywhere, bits left over :D  I've taken a butchers at your stuff - very nice indeed.  And you have what I've not: trains!

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1 hour ago, doilum said:

What diameter are you looking for?

Ideally 28mm.  I've used a 26mm loco wheel to form plastic strip and have a round outer rim.  I'll try spokes when I pluck up the courage.  In the meantime, I'm concentrating on completing the building itself.

20191010_205236.jpg

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44 minutes ago, Geordie Exile said:

Ideally 28mm.  I've used a 26mm loco wheel to form plastic strip and have a round outer rim.  I'll try spokes when I pluck up the courage.  In the meantime, I'm concentrating on completing the building itself.

20191010_205236.jpg

So all you need is a way of pricking out the circumference at 5.5mm intervals to give 16 spokes. Neat rim though!

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Main heapstead nearly complete.  Still to do: all of the H-beams that hold it up (one end wall and some foam board are currently doing the trick); gangway/stairs that run the length of that ground floor element; stairs/platform leading up to the cage; the whole western wall; roof walkway and rails up the headgear; workshop which joins the heapstead to the winding house. (And proper sheaves - still playing with options.)

 

Did I say "nearly complete"?

 

And after that lot, the screens (nurse :) ) and the conveyers that feed them.

 

20191010_213053.jpg

Edited by Geordie Exile
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10 hours ago, Brian D said:

What are your plans for locos (Q6, J27) and stock (Hoppers) in your chosen scale? 

Hi Brian.  So far I've got hold of a second-hand Class 14 which I know worked the Backworth sites.  I don't know a great deal about locos (yet) but the reference material shows a bunch of Austerity 0-6-0STs: whether they're commercially available as RTR I've yet to find out.  The wagon fleet was of a quite distinctive design, which I know doesn't exist off the shelf, and I've no idea how I'm going to deal with that.  The easiest approach (in the "never mind the rivets, does it look right?" sense) is to find those that are close enough and respray/rebadge them.  I'm going to need umpteen - see the picture on page 1 of this thread!

 

At the risk of getting tarred and feathered, the authenticity of the rolling stock is of secondary importance to me.  Although saying that I had intended to create an approximation of a generic North East pit scene, and have now ended up counting bricks to get it as right as possible, so ask me in a few months :D 

 

Richard

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59 minutes ago, Geordie Exile said:

Hi Brian.  So far I've got hold of a second-hand Class 14 which I know worked the Backworth sites.  I don't know a great deal about locos (yet) but the reference material shows a bunch of Austerity 0-6-0STs: whether they're commercially available as RTR I've yet to find out.  The wagon fleet was of a quite distinctive design, which I know doesn't exist off the shelf, and I've no idea how I'm going to deal with that.  The easiest approach (in the "never mind the rivets, does it look right?" sense) is to find those that are close enough and respray/rebadge them.  I'm going to need umpteen - see the picture on page 1 of this thread!

 

At the risk of getting tarred and feathered, the authenticity of the rolling stock is of secondary importance to me.  Although saying that I had intended to create an approximation of a generic North East pit scene, and have now ended up counting bricks to get it as right as possible, so ask me in a few months :D 

 

Richard

For BR stock, you're probably looking at Dapol 21t hoppers; along with their bigger cousins, the 24.5 tonners. Flat-bottomed minerals were relatively uncommon in the North-East

Internal stock would be more difficult; 7-plank ex-PO minerals would be a start, along with 21t hoppers, that looked quite like their BR equivalent. The problem woukd be the ex-NER 16t and 20t wooden-bodied hoppers; given the number you'd need, you might be looking to resin-cast some.

In any event, this link may be of interest:-

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/industrialinternalwagons

This is a lovely model; we used to live at the back of Clara Vale pit, about twenty years after it had shut. The surviving buildings were very much in the style of your model.

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On 11/10/2019 at 11:01, Fat Controller said:

For BR stock, you're probably looking at Dapol 21t hoppers; along with their bigger cousins, the 24.5 tonners. Flat-bottomed minerals were relatively uncommon in the North-East

Internal stock would be more difficult; 7-plank ex-PO minerals would be a start, along with 21t hoppers, that looked quite like their BR equivalent. The problem woukd be the ex-NER 16t and 20t wooden-bodied hoppers; given the number you'd need, you might be looking to resin-cast some.

In any event, this link may be of interest:-

https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/industrialinternalwagons

This is a lovely model; we used to live at the back of Clara Vale pit, about twenty years after it had shut. The surviving buildings were very much in the style of your model.

Thanks for all of this info, Brian. When I come to think (more) about stock, I'll come back to this post!  I'm really amazed how supportive and helpful this online community is, with so many suggestions and kind words.

 

(I've been away from the North East long enough to have forgotten where Clara Vale is :o  Next time I'm visiting, I might have a wander around the old site, as it now appears to be a nature reserve.)

 

Richard

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On 11/10/2019 at 09:51, Geordie Exile said:

 

 

At the risk of getting tarred and feathered, the authenticity of the rolling stock is of secondary importance to me.  Although saying that I had intended to create an approximation of a generic North East pit scene, and have now ended up counting bricks to get it as right as possible, so ask me in a few months :D 

 

Richard

 

I'd say that if initially at least you're dependent on RTR stock 20T hoppers are good, but although they don't seem to have turned up at Backworth, 16T minerals shouldn't be ignored. Bates pit, next door at Blyth, swore by them on account of the size of the screens there, and other pits saw them as well.

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Nearly there. The ground floor is now detailed, and most of the supporting H-beams are in place. I had to leave these until last as the make the model quite fragile. Once they're bedded into a landscape it'll matter less, as they're not actually weight-bearing except the short ones underneath the central ground floor building.  Two more at the rear (northern) aspect once the glue's dried, some paint and weathering, then it's onto the western wall.

20191013_213553.jpg

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This is an exceptional model, and the excitement of how it will develop moving forward will keep me glued on here for updates.

 

Do I continue with my plans for a model of Fenwick pit and the East Holywell/Backworth general area. Or do I just sit back and admire yours

 

I've already been working on rolling stock and engines. 

 

Keep up the great work. 

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