Sophia NSE Posted May 19, 2021 Author Share Posted May 19, 2021 1 hour ago, uax6 said: Your H class 0-4-4T looks very good, with nice lining... Can I suggest one thing that will make a big difference? The space behind the motorised chassis and the bige is very open at the minute. If you could fabricate something that would look like the bottom of the firebox/ashpan and a bit of frames towards the bogie to get rid of that openess she will look top dollar. Thats a very nice look-a-likey of a Drummond Dornoch Tankie... Andy G I had actually put together something vaguely ashpan like last weekend but I hadn't taken any new pictures 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangoOscarMike Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 20 hours ago, Sophia NSE said: Had a very bad modelling day today..... Mojo well and truly gone. I'll still be lurking on here but not as active as I have been I'm sorry about your setbacks, and I hope you get your Mojo back and increase your activity again sooner rather than later. I'm in the opposite situation: toy trains are the only thing that is working out for me right now. Everything else has turned to soup (no drama or tragedy, just endlessly treading on the banana skins of life and getting custard pies of frustration in my face). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 22 hours ago, Sophia NSE said: Had a very bad modelling day today. The homebrew controller I've been building refuses to work despite everything appearing to be fine internally. The final straw was when my Q1 misbehaved yet again and my admittedly not very good soldering job literally fell apart. All railway equipment very quickly and quietly put into a box before the Q1 was launched at the nearest wall. Mojo well and truly gone. I'll still be lurking on here but not as active as I have been Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, everyone has bad days. Hopefully you get your mojo back soon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 (edited) Double-posted, sorry. Edited May 20, 2021 by RedGemAlchemist Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artless Bodger Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Sorry to hear of your misfortunes. I too have learned to pack it all away when things go wrong - the hard way, in the past several models have been given the 'distance test' - usually to my regret after. Hope you get the Q1 back in action one day as it is a lovely model. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cypherman Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Hi Sophia, Don't despair, We all get those bad days. About 12 months ago I went through the same problem while I was restoring a Triang 2-6-2 2mt. Everything looked right, All the component parts work ok in other loco's or on test. But the bloody thing would not run. I left doing any modelling for a couple of weeks and came back to it. The problem was staring me straight in the face. I had re-wheeled the engine and had put one set on it the wrong way round. Thus it kept shorting out. A sort of couldn't see the woods for the trees moment. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted June 6, 2021 Author Share Posted June 6, 2021 Some mojo has returned and so I was able to finish building my controller. Turns out I hadn't adjusted the settings correctly Next up was another game of musical chassis with the Q1 as having got the Hornby chassis wired up and working, it proceeded to strip it's gears after being put on the test track. So back out came the K's chassis and the realisation that my cheap soldering iron had decided it too didn't want to work, which led to everything being put away. I bought a new soldering iron and also set about replacing the ropey old K's motor with an X04 from something else. It works, sort of. Only the front pair of driving wheels are able to pickup despite the pickups being against the wheels at all times. Any suggestions chaps? A representation of the ashpan has been added too 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted June 7, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 7, 2021 Is the second set of drivers actually touching the rails? I routinely add pickups to the bogie wheels. It can be quite basic in as much as just shorting one side out to the bogie casting and making it live to the same side as the chassis of the loco, to adding wipers to the other side as well. Andy G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted June 7, 2021 Author Share Posted June 7, 2021 8 hours ago, uax6 said: Is the second set of drivers actually touching the rails? I routinely add pickups to the bogie wheels. It can be quite basic in as much as just shorting one side out to the bogie casting and making it live to the same side as the chassis of the loco, to adding wipers to the other side as well. Andy G All wheels should be touching. I've been testing with a 9 volt battery before it even went on some track and only the front set of drivers picked up properly Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted June 8, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 8, 2021 I take it that they wipe on the rear of the rims? It might be that they need cleaning and re-tensioning. Andy G 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paleopotato09 Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 All of the locos you have build look amazing and have inspired me to try kit bashing myself. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 21 hours ago, Paleopotato09 said: All of the locos you have build look amazing and have inspired me to try kit bashing myself. Glad that I've inspired you, hope to see your efforts soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 So, what's new on the WKR? Not too much as it goes. The rebuild of Chart Sutton is very slow at the moment, but I have knocked a little something up using scrap material I had to hand. What I eventually hope to be a fully scenic photo plank/diorama. Its made from a couple of thick bed slats, some card, and a liberal amount of PVA glue. I deliberately haven't taken any close ups as my ballasting leaves a lot to be desired. The plan is for a bridge on the left hand side and either a small halt or embankment running along the majority of the board. It's long enough to comfortably fit a mixed train and I could probably also use it as a test track for my locos 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artless Bodger Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 Bed slats, sounds a bit Great Escape-ish, didn't they rob bits of wood from the bunks and huts to line the escape tunnels? The ballast looks ok from here, you've painted the rail sides too. It's something I shy away from, tried a little bit in the sidings on my current layout, first attempt at loose ballasting since the old Reed's club layout some 35 years ago - I glued up some of their wire in tube point control - not popular. I'm no better now, so brown painted baseboards have to do. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 21 hours ago, Artless Bodger said: Bed slats, sounds a bit Great Escape-ish, didn't they rob bits of wood from the bunks and huts to line the escape tunnels? The ballast looks ok from here, you've painted the rail sides too. It's something I shy away from, tried a little bit in the sidings on my current layout, first attempt at loose ballasting since the old Reed's club layout some 35 years ago - I glued up some of their wire in tube point control - not popular. I'm no better now, so brown painted baseboards have to do. The ballast looks okay from that distance, but I'll have to take a close up to show how below average it is Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted July 6, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 6, 2021 Most ballast that you buy is too coarse. It can be ground down in a coffee grinder or in a mortar with a pestle. Most real ballasting isn't as uniform as you would expect either... a neat edge generally makes it look better though. Andy G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamsRadial Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 2 hours ago, uax6 said: Most ballast that you buy is too coarse. It can be ground down in a coffee grinder or in a mortar with a pestle. Funny you should say that, I've been looking at drying out the left-over coffee grounds in the filter and using them as mid to dark brown ballast, once I've established that they won't swell of otherwise degrade when treated with PVA. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 I deliberately bought N scale ballast as I find the OO stuff looks far too large 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artless Bodger Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 On 06/07/2021 at 10:38, Sophia NSE said: I deliberately bought N scale ballast as I find the OO stuff looks far too large Sensible unlike me - I made the opposite move, I had medium brown left from a never ballasted OO layout years ago, so I tried it on my N gauge, looks horrible, luckily hidden behind the platform to a large extent. Also it looks too orange once glued, more like ballasting with bricks. I managed to get some fine dark brown just before lockdown, that looks better but rather sombre. Head Gardener let me raid her horticultural grit sand, sieved with the tea strainer, that isnt too bad, a bit yellow perhaps. It tickles me a bit when people advise to brush the ballast into place with a soft brush, makes it sound all so easy, and it takes more than a drop of washing up liquid to break surface tension. I'm obviously doing something wrong somewhere, plus I don't have anywhere near enough patience. The old sock is what I put over the nozzle of the dustbuster to save loose material after glueing - I don't have access to finer hosiery. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 I just chucked my ballast on while the glue was still wet from laying the track. Obviously I won't do that when I actually build my layout 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artless Bodger Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 2 minutes ago, Sophia NSE said: I just chucked my ballast on while the glue was still wet from laying the track. Obviously I won't do that when I actually build my layout Shades of the permanent layout at Reed's (not the exhibition one I glued up the point rodding on), lift the track, liberally paint PVA, lay the track and tip on the ballast. We had litres of industrial PVA - were allowed to visit the RCC box factory yard and decant off any left over glue in the 1 ton semibulks they had finished with - got about 20 litres from each one. Good stuff but if we needed to later lift the track we had to pour boiling water on it to loosen the glue then use a 1" wood chisel. The baseboards were scrap plywood from RCC box blank cutting dies, the scenery made from box blank broke (OCC) and paper off newsprint reel bottoms all aquired from site companies under the Reed banner. Actually your method sounds rather easier than the post ballasting method, but not if you do your track planning in-situ as I do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artless Bodger Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 On 06/07/2021 at 09:05, AdamsRadial said: Funny you should say that, I've been looking at drying out the left-over coffee grounds in the filter and using them as mid to dark brown ballast, once I've established that they won't swell of otherwise degrade when treated with PVA. I think you can get used coffee grounds from some coffe shops - sold more for planting medium. Might smell nice - my colleague used to collect the tea leaves and dry them out in the lab oven to use for scenic scatter suitably dyed. We usually drank lapsang, so the lab smelled interesting at times (way better than when doing solids on sludge samples though). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 8 minutes ago, Artless Bodger said: Actually your method sounds rather easier than the post ballasting method, but not if you do your track planning in-situ as I do. It's easier but not very good if you get a bit heavy handed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artless Bodger Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Heavy handed is my only mode. I might try your method in places I can prise the track up a bit, it's only pinned down. Goodness knows, I've altered the track plan several times since initially putting it down, despite 'careful' planning, I always think better of it once it's down. I get more pleasure from that than actually running trains - possibly. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia NSE Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 12 hours ago, Artless Bodger said: Heavy handed is my only mode. I might try your method in places I can prise the track up a bit, it's only pinned down. Goodness knows, I've altered the track plan several times since initially putting it down, despite 'careful' planning, I always think better of it once it's down. I get more pleasure from that than actually running trains - possibly. Unfortunately with my way the ballast has to be placed perfectly Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now