Sophia's WKR workshop

[Sophia NSE]

This is the broken wiring

[AdamsRadial]

The little brown thing ? It's a suppression capacitor to stop interference on old 625-line TV systems and medium-wave radios. I assume the upper (bigger) one is Ok and it's the little one half-hidden by the red wire that's come adrift? (I'm puzzled by there are two of them, one should be sufficient).

 

If you can hang on for a day or so I've got one of these chassis arriving in the post and I can have a better fiddle-about to see what might be the reason.

 

In my previous post I suggested bypassing the wheels and pickups to test the motor directly, there the red wire is soldered to the motor connection is one point to apply the first wire, and on the opposite side of the motor, probably with a black wire, is the other.

 

Is it totally dead in the reverse direction, or does it jolt briefly and then stop? That is often a sign of a pickup wire bent out of shape.

Edited May 10, 2020 by AdamsRadial

[Sophia NSE]

22 minutes ago, AdamsRadial said:

The little brown thing ? It's a suppression capacitor to stop interference on old 625-line TV systems and medium-wave radios. I assume the upper (bigger) one is Ok and it's the little one half-hidden by the red wire that's come adrift? (I'm puzzled by there are two of them, one should be sufficient).

 

If you can hang on for a day or so I've got one of these chassis arriving in the post and I can have a better fiddle-about to see what might be the reason.

 

In my previous post I suggested bypassing the wheels and pickups to test the motor directly, there the red wire is soldered to the motor connection is one point to apply the first wire, and on the opposite side of the motor, probably with a black wire, is the other.

 

Is it totally dead in the reverse direction, or does it jolt briefly and then stop? That is often a sign of a pickup wire bent out of shape.

It's the red wire thats coming adrift. It runs perfectly in reverse but absolutely nothing forwards

[AdamsRadial]

If you can see where it's come adrift from the solder it back on. If you're not in a rush then hang on till I get my chassis and I'll be able to make a far better assessment. I can't use it straight away until I've turned up a chimney for the bodyshell for which I bought this. Not that I like the modern GWR stuff, but Chadwick's books use the 14xx as the basis for a few interesting tanks, an LSWR 0-4-4T and a GER 2-4-2T which I rather like the look of.

[Sophia NSE]

That's the only reason for me buying a 14xx, though I do have an M7 chassis on the way although the trailing bogie is far too long for anything SECR

[Sophia NSE]

Slightly rough around the splashers but I'm still pleased with the results

[Artless Bodger]

Something I tried years ago, read it in a magazine, was to stick some clear sticky tape to a piece of glass (lightly so you can peel it easily later), paint it the required colour, then cut it into strips with a scalpel and steel ruler. Carefully peel the strips of tape off and apply them to the model. I used it to replicate lined out panelling on an old Farish OO coach, trying for LBSCR umber and white. It was fiddly and you had to be careful not to stretch the tape or the paint film cracked. That would have been with the old cellulose based tape, modern polypropylene tapes might not take the paint so well. Only works for straight lines though so wouldn't help much for splashers.

[Sophia NSE]

I don't even want to think about lining for a while 

[Chris116]

1 minute ago, Sophia NSE said:

I don't even want to think about lining for a while 

I forecast some unlined stock in the production line for a while!

 

May be the easy option but I suspect you will soon want to push yourself to find out just what you can manage. From what I have seen you are doing very well.

[Sophia NSE]

1 minute ago, Chris116 said:

I forecast some unlined stock in the production line for a while!

 

May be the easy option but I suspect you will soon want to push yourself to find out just what you can manage. From what I have seen you are doing very well.

I'm actually going to start work on the often threatened layout! After finishing the push/pull driving coach maybe

[Chris116]

Just now, Sophia NSE said:

I'm actually going to start work on the often threatened layout! After finishing the push/pull driving coach maybe

I look forward to seeing your progress. Good luck.

[Sophia NSE]

1 minute ago, Chris116 said:

I look forward to seeing your progress. Good luck.

It'll be a little unorthodox as I've already built the baseboards out of foamboard

[Sophia NSE]

Today's arrival

I haven't built a full kit since a couple of Ian Kirk Maunsell coaches a very long time ago. I may have to order something to give it a bit more weight. I have seen car wheel balancing weights used inside rolling stock so I may look into that

[Sophia NSE]

Well, what started off as having a look at the kit, quickly progressed to seeing how some of the parts go together and ended up as this...

The body is in two parts so I can give it a spray when the weather is better. I will also give the driving coach another spray and I'm thinking of giving all the coaches a thin band of lining between the purple and cream

[Geevor Clayton Loco]

On 16/04/2020 at 22:34, Sophia NSE said:

Secondly, are H class handrails available as spares and if so could someone put a link to them? If not, which handrails would be suitable for both locos?

I don’t think you can get them as spares as they are moulded on the model, but you can get turned stanchions from various companies including Phoenix paints https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/products/4-shr-25.

Another option  would be to make them yourself (see photo). The one on the left is just another bit of brass rod a 90° from the handrail using a blob of solder to represent the stanchion. You can get brass rod from lots of companies (Albion alloys is a good one to try) or eBay/Amazon, I think I used 1/32” dia.

The one on the right is a bit of plastic rod drilled through the middle with a short bit of rod super glued on the side, and then the handrail is pushed through the hole, with a bit of super glue where you want the handrail, to hold it in place.

A coat of paint makes them look round and its much cheaper than buying them.

I expect other people will have better ideas but these seem to work for me.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Geevor Clayton Loco
To include missing info.

[Sophia NSE]

As promised/threatened, the push/pull driving coach

The full push/pull set with loco

[AdamsRadial]

The 14xx chassis arrived a day early, all credit to the seller, and runs happily in both directions, although it loves shedding one of the traction tyres (don't make me get the glue out...). I haven't dismantled it (yet) but there is one obvious difference between it and yours, there are none of the little brown suppression capacitors. They might be red herrings though.

 

A quick inspections shows there are phosphor-bronze wiper pickups to all six wheels. The trailing wheels have a lot of up and down movement in them but I assume this is to allow for sharp changes in gradient, but it does mean that rocking over a set of points might cause loss of connection.

 

As your motor runs in one direction, the fault is not in the wiring. There are only two wires to the motor, red on the left-hand side and black on the right-hand. The motor frame is not connected to either set of wheels, and the brushgear is in a nylon block so is likewise insulated, all current goes through the red and black wires. (A really wild speculation here is that somebody in the past has packaged a diode into a brown blob and put it across the motor terminals to make an engine that will only go forwards. Improbable.)

 

There is a bit of to and fro movement on the armature so it is possible that changing direction could cause enough of an armature shift to move the commutator from a nice clean shiny part to a dirty part.

 

Here is my suggestion for testing further:

 

Using plasticene under each of the couplings, prop the chassis up above the rails so the wheels will be free to rotate.

 

If you have some small wires with crocodile clips on them, clip one end of each wire to a rail, otherwise, get two short pieces of wire and use paper-clips or plasticene to secure one end of each to the rail. Turn the controller on, and touch the other clip of each wire directly to the motor terminals. Find the orientation where the motor runs happily, then swap the wires to the other side, watching carefully what happens to the worm. If the motor gives a very small flick and then stops, it suggests to and fro movement and a dirty spot on the commutator. As a quick and dirty fix, put the leads back to where the motor runs happily, and either spray some switch-cleaner into the commutator area, or use an eye-dropper and put a little IPA in there. Run it for a short while, then swap the leads and see if it now changes direction and keeps going. For a very mucky commutator I have had to do this.several times in succession.

Edited May 13, 2020 by AdamsRadial

[Sophia NSE]

1 hour ago, AdamsRadial said:

The 14xx chassis arrived a day early, all credit to the seller, and runs happily in both directions, although it loves shedding one of the traction tyres (don't make me get the glue out...). I haven't dismantled it (yet) but there is one obvious difference between it and yours, there are none of the little brown suppression capacitors. They might be red herrings though.

 

A quick inspections shows there are phosphor-bronze wiper pickups to all six wheels. The trailing wheels have a lot of up and down movement in them but I assume this is to allow for sharp changes in gradient, but it does mean that rocking over a set of points might cause loss of connection.

 

As your motor runs in one direction, the fault is not in the wiring. There are only two wires to the motor, red on the left-hand side and black on the right-hand. The motor frame is not connected to either set of wheels, and the brushgear is in a nylon block so is likewise insulated, all current goes through the red and black wires. (A really wild speculation here is that somebody in the past has packaged a diode into a brown blob and put it across the motor terminals to make an engine that will only go forwards. Improbable.)

 

There is a bit of to and fro movement on the armature so it is possible that changing direction could cause enough of an armature shift to move the commutator from a nice clean shiny part to a dirty part.

 

Here is my suggestion for testing further:

 

Using plasticene under each of the couplings, prop the chassis up above the rails so the wheels will be free to rotate.

 

If you have some small wires with crocodile clips on them, clip one end of each wire to a rail, otherwise, get two short pieces of wire and use paper-clips or plasticene to secure one end of each to the rail. Turn the controller on, and touch the other clip of each wire directly to the motor terminals. Find the orientation where the motor runs happily, then swap the wires to the other side, watching carefully what happens to the worm. If the motor gives a very small flick and then stops, it suggests to and fro movement and a dirty spot on the commutator. As a quick and dirty fix, put the leads back to where the motor runs happily, and either spray some switch-cleaner into the commutator area, or use an eye-dropper and put a little IPA in there. Run it for a short while, then swap the leads and see if it now changes direction and keeps going. For a very mucky commutator I have had to do this.several times in succession.

When I first got the loco it ran in both directions but the red wires are now almost completely disconnected, which possibly happened when I removed the body

[uax6]

Make sure you don't ever use WD40 on anything though, it will dissolve the plastic. WD40 is probably the worst thing ever invented for 'cleaning' stuff.

 

Andy G

 

edit: the only thing it is good for is for spraying into your mates car's/motorbikes engine. Unscrew the spark plug, spray as much in as possible and then replace the plug. When it is fired up the amount of smoke is unbelievable, as is the look on your mates face!

Edited May 14, 2020 by uax6

[Sophia NSE]

Everytime I see IPA mentioned on here I always wonder how a beer will help 

I should get myself some of the modelling IPA though

[Spam Can Man]

I have used brake fluid in the past to strip paint. It washes off easily and doesn't melt the plastic. I have got quite a few Hornby Dublo R1 locos which I bought in various states of dilapidation. I am in the process of superdetailing them. Including fitting Markits wheels, new motors, scale size coupling rods and sprung buffers. Bodywork wise, I have cut away underneath the boiler and fitting a new boiler bottom, fitting the correct safety valves and cut away the top of the fire box and re-profiled it to the correct round shape. One glaring error is the front spectacles which should be round and not arch shaped, I think this was done due to moulding constraints of the time. I filled these in with plasticard and finished off with etched brass spectacle windows at the front and grilled spectacles at the back. Oh, and I removed the moulded coal in the bunker and replaced with real coal. Extra details, remove moulded handrails and replace with wire and turned handrail knobs, dart on the smokebox door and building up the steps. I must get around to photographing them some time!

Gary 

[Sophia NSE]

It was definitely the wire causing the issue as I somehow managed to solder it back on and now the chassis runs forwards and backwards

[AdamsRadial]

Good to hear. So what's it going to emerge from the chop-shop as, one of the LCDR 0-4-4T gunboats?

[Sophia NSE]

12 minutes ago, AdamsRadial said:

Good to hear. So what's it going to emerge from the chop-shop as, one of the LCDR 0-4-4T gunboats?

Right wheel arrangement, but it's an ex SER machine rebuilt by Harry Wainwright

[Sophia NSE]

Not too much to update but the Q1 has couplings, although not great for when in push mode and there's a cavernous gap between the loco and coaches

However, with the coaches using old Mainline couplings has resulted in a much more acceptable gap between the coaches

I managed to find another Mainline coupling and liberated a coupling from a Dapol wagon, giving a much better result

I must give that coach a touch up soon!