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  • RMweb Gold

That's the sort of microswitch I have used - they work pretty well.

Sounds like you can now move on - of which I am envious being as my mojo has disappeared without trace.....

I wonder where I left it.:scratchhead:

Nevertheless I am enjoying watching what others are doing.

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  • RMweb Gold

An afternoon's work, slotted in around the 'not quite as boring as the rest' British Formula One Grand Prix bits, has resulted in enough microswitch leads to finish the job. Plus one extra because I can't count.

 

P1020128.JPG.338cca1767cf6f3096adb6d3f91e3abf.JPG

 

P1020130.JPG.b748dbeca67b2e6a8c4f9d8a235e2aef.JPG

 

The arrow is for my own benefit, so that I can remember for future occasions which of the contacts is the common. For those of you with black and white, it's the one next to the middle one.

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  • RMweb Gold

Way back on Page 13 I reported a problem with some M7s that kept derailing at the same place in the fiddle yard. Nothing else derailed at that point, so I assumed it was the locomotives that were at fault.

 

All were taken apart and a cause sought, to no avail.  I eventually ran one of them over the point where they derailed enought times to see that the front end of the locomotive seemed to be higher than the rear just as the leading driving wheel reached the common crossing. I laid a steel rule along the length of the point and immediately created a short circuit. :rolleyes:

 

The cause was plain to see. The track and points in the fiddle yard are all pinned down rather than stuck down, to facilitate changes and adjustments in the early stages of construction. The central part of that particular point was not pinned down, creating a very slight hump at the common crossing. Once this was corrected with the help of a thump and some track pins, all three M7s behaved as well over this point as everywhere else on the layout.

 

One problem solved. On to the next.

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  • RMweb Gold

Peco points have a habit of doing this. A similar problem has besmirched Mutton's left hand fiddly yard with a similar remedy being applied. 

 

 

Rob. 

Edited by NHY 581
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  • RMweb Gold
54 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

Peco points have a habit of doing this. A similar problem has besmirched Mutton's left hand fiddly yard with a similar remedy being applied. 

 

 

Rob. 

 

I'm in good company, then. :D

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  • RMweb Gold
2 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Hmmm,  both Tinner's and T-CATS are suffering this also, enough for me to consider scrapping both and starting a new project.

 

That's what Peco want - after all, you'll buy more track then won't you? :rolleyes:

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  • RMweb Gold

I suppose it was inevitable that there would be some weathering included in this topic at some time. Here it is!

 

I was asked recently how I would go about just imparting a slightly dusty look to coaching stock sides. Would I use an airbrush and what size nozzle, type of paint, etc? My response gave rise to furrowed brow and questioning look, until I explained further.

 

There are many ways with weathering materials to achieve a specific look or effect, and some are more suited to a particular task than others. I use a lot of pigments (weathering powders) or, rather, I use a very small amount from a large selection of pigments. The type that I use come from the military/aircraft/fantasy modelling fraternity's vast variety of colours from several manufacturers, because they tend to be extremely finely ground. In order to lay down a very thin coat of dust, it is best to use something that can represent that dust, and these pigments achieve that without too much work being involved.

 

Application involves any number of tools, depending upon the nature of the subject, and I normally use a filbert brush and Tamiya cotton swabs. Quantities applied are minimal, to the extent that after each stroke of the brush you can barely see a difference. The receiving surface needs to have a texture or the pigment has nothing to 'grip'. If there is a shine to the surface, it ain't gonna take powder. Matt or satin surfaces are best.

 

This mail coach was painted in a fairly matt colour, and the panelled sides allowed the build up of dust to be represented by the simple expedient of running the barely pigmented brush along the length of the sides several times, until the build up could just be seen.

 

IMG_8339.JPG.92000a6e5c5107f4f6a86a053ae79745.JPG

 

The same principles were applied to the underframe, wheels and bogies, but using a different shade of dirt.

 

The roof was airbrushed. Large plain areas are not really suited to pigment weathering, if a uniform finish is required. The same interrogator asked how I go about masking off a coach side to prevent paint going where it shouldn't, and I told him I don't. More raised eyebrows. Masking the sides of a finished model could result in damage to transfers, raised detail, glazing and so on if care is not taken. My approach to any task such as these is to minimise risk of damage, and to avoid paint going where it's not wanted I create paper or card masks. For a coach roof the mask will consist of a strip of 1mm or 2mm thick card that can be leant against the guttering. You ought to be able to see that there is no roof paint on the edge of the guttering of this coach side.

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  • RMweb Gold

I had been wondering if anybody would ask why a Great Western coach features in a topic that's about modelling a real Southern location, even though that real location was a joint operation between Western and Southern. Maybe the 'real location' bit has got lost in the story somewhere. It was going to be the introduction to the topic of coaches, but I lost concentration somewhere. Not unusual!

 

My version of Easton, running as a pucker passenger terminus with quarries beyond the station for stone traffic, will have a selection of green coaches and crimson coaches that come from periods between the early 1950s and late 1960s. Hornby and Bachmann have produced some very nice models from those periods, enabling me to prepare some meaningful train formations that aren't beyond the bounds of possibility. I know that there are many more possibilities available when kits are included in the mix, and scratchbuilding (or even kit-bashing) would mean everything that ever ran or might reasonably have run could be represented. I have to take into account how much time is available to do everything, though.

 

I have a choice of trains made up of one or more of the following types:

 

BR Mk1

Bulleid

Maunsell

Wainwright Birdcage

LSWR Gate Stock

 

Purists look away now.

 

I expect that there will be one or more publications somewhere that will reveal just how many of these actually ran to Easton, but until I find them I'll play with the ones I want to.

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  • RMweb Gold

You may have noticed from various photographs in this topic that there are a few goods vehicles present for use to, from, and at Easton. When being run in pure Easton mode there will be short trains mostly composed of stone carrying vehicles, but when being run in fantasy mode there will be some longer trains running right through the station area.

 

At the moment all of the goods stock in place has come out of a blue or red box. I do have an accumulation of kits that will need to be built, and I'm sure it won't be long before I make a tentative start on those. I had a visitor from the Churminster and Stowe Magna vicinity yesterday, who brought along some interesting additions to my accumulation. Although they all come in boxes with the same label on them, it is said that they can be made into several variants, so that will be interesting. I expect that there will be some entertainment value in anything that follows their construction.

 

P1020229.JPG.72707c73d8dd880bbcdfe8a6da542cc1.JPG

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  • RMweb Gold

How many people do you know who have a box somewhere that contains a few wagon kits?

 

P1020230.JPG.46f6a1ffbde786391ed72017b4833493.JPG

 

How many people do you know who, when seeking that box among all the other carefully labelled boxes, find that there is another very similarly labelled box?

 

P1020231.JPG.8c0a072744ec44ed5930675af3fb3c8c.JPG

 

How many people do you know who, when examining the contents of the two boxes, find that there a couple of duplications? :scratchhead:

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  • RMweb Gold
22 minutes ago, Mick Bonwick said:

How many people do you know who have a box somewhere that contains a few wagon kits?

 

P1020230.JPG.46f6a1ffbde786391ed72017b4833493.JPG

 

How many people do you know who, when seeking that box among all the other carefully labelled boxes, find that there is another very similarly labelled box?

 

P1020231.JPG.8c0a072744ec44ed5930675af3fb3c8c.JPG

 

How many people do you know who, when examining the contents of the two boxes, find that there a couple of duplications? :scratchhead:

 

Me, me and me...

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  • RMweb Gold
4 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

How many people do you know who have a box somewhere that contains a few wagon kits?

How many people do you know who, when seeking that box among all the other carefully labelled boxes, find that there is another very similarly labelled box?

How many people do you know who, when examining the contents of the two boxes, find that there a couple of duplications? :scratchhead:

 

I confess that in my case it is two drawers full - despite regular in-roads they still seem both to be full....

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  • RMweb Gold
4 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

I confess that in my case it is two drawers full - despite regular in-roads they still seem both to be full....

 

There's a secret to that...

 

Stop buying more kits!

 

Al

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  • RMweb Gold

Searching through this account of Easton's construction for something completely different, I saw this photograph on page 2, so thought I'd republish it together with a photograph of the same area taken nearly 6 years later:

 

IMG_3465.JPG.898f47a0d6c7fed22ff343c4c0a00acd.JPG

 

P1020233_Cropped.jpg.319f62e3dc7b9e15eeecd85186abe52e.jpg

 

I am now absolutely certain that replacing the lift-out section with a lifting flap was the right thing to do.

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  • RMweb Gold

Several years ago, I bought a Brassmasters detailing kit for a Bachmann Wainwright C Class. It has been sitting in a box since then, awaiting a C Class upon which to use it. I have one that was weathered but I decided not to upset the weathering by fitting it. There the situation remained for some considerable time.

 

I came across a C Class being put on sale, quite by chance, by a certain Sheep Bloke, and parted with some virtual money. I was rewarded by a virtual postman leaving a box on the doorstep. All I have to do now is make time to combine the two.

 

P1020237.JPG.074fa7d94d718cc2487b26a72001b9a0.JPG

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  • RMweb Gold

A return to the workshop today has seen progress made on the planning of the scenery around the station area.

 

Because the track plan had to be altered from the nicely flowing curve of the real place, there had to be some compensation in the positioning of buildings. This has resulted in the platforms being longer than the prototype and the distances between loco shed, signal box and footbridge being greater. How often do modellers have to lengthen their layouts compared with the original?

 

When I bought my first DLSR it came with a bundle of free software that included a stitchiing function for multiple photographs. It has lain unused for years, but today I changed that and took a series of shots to put the length of the station area together. It is very rough and ready and unless you have a large screen you may not be able to make it all out.

 

Easton_Merge_2.jpg.b7d8e5da9f419a023c853380f8ebc27d.jpg

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  • RMweb Gold
2 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

This has resulted in the platforms being longer than the prototype and the distances between loco shed, signal box and footbridge being greater. How often do modellers have to lengthen their layouts compared with the original?

 

You may have to surrender your modeller's licence if you carry on like that. :O

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