The Night Mail

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

They had a man in to do some painting and decorating, no problem with that as he did an excellent job:  However when he removed the door handles to paint the doors he found that the f'tard who had originally installed the catches had not used a 10-12 mm dia drill to  cross drill the doors for the square actuating rod but had used a 54mm dia hole saw.  The circular ornamental surrounds to the door knobs being glued back in place.

 

Of course when they were removed, it was obvious that they were not going back on! The catch itself was just hanging in the void. The chap that was doing the decorating stopped work when he realised the issue, and said he would go no further as he didn't want to be in the situation where he was unable to ensure every thing worked again.

 

I was asked what I felt could be done, as they really do not want to be replacing all the doors.

 

Fortunately I  had one of my infrequent bursts of sanity and wondered if my 54 mm hole saw could make a suitable plug to fit into the hole in the door.

 

The prototype was a good tight fit, so  over the next few days, I'll will cut out a number of plugs and bore them out to 12 mm dia for the actuating rod and then glue them into craters on each side of the doors. (Three so far, but I suspect all the doors in the house will be similar.)

 

I really would like to meet the person who did the original installation of the handles and smack him so hard that the next time he wants to clean his teeth he'll have to stick the toothbrush up his posterior.

 

Bear suggests that Big H ensures the neighbours realise just how difficult, time-consuming and dangerous (we're talkin' hole saw driven by a Hippo...) the job has been, and how much you've saved them by not having to replace the doors.  The cake should come flooding in for months afterwards.  Cunning, or what?

 

With best wishes for a happy birthday to the Wing Cdr....

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Bonjour, from La Belle France.  It seems that I'm on a fizzer for non attendance at an AGM.  I will have to plead Force Majeur as I was obeying orders from SWMBO. As she had threatened,  not to make a fresh Victoria sponge with butter icing filling, I didn't have much choice. However I'm dure that you managed without me.   

 

Happy Birthday Dave and I hope that you have a good and worthwhile  journey to see your Dad.

 

Jamie

 

This is a good example of the stout, honest and upright member of the Queens yeomanry being corrupted by the boujeus, plutocratic lifestyle of frogland. I don't know where will it end. Probably with a petit au pan chocolate on the patio whilst reading a copy of the Racing Times most likely.

 

Its all going to pot.

 

PS any chance of piece of the sponge as it sounds absolutely delicious.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

There has been talk of the 'iron harvest'.  On the day that we visited my uncle's grave we walked along the track from the cemetery to the location of the action. en route we passed this.

Whilst Dave, who was a former Tornado pilot and know a bit about such things and the effects, and I gave them a wide berth, we watched as one Brit stopped and put one in the back of his car.  Utter stupidity.

 

Jamie

 

As long as you are not to close behind him if there's any pot holes.

[SM42]

As it is Sunday and a rare day off of late, there may be some modelling done later. The mojo has returned albeit in a rather diminished fashion

 

I am under orders first to pay some bills, (which Mrs SM42 has details of and has yet to break the bad news of the balance,) tidy up a bit (work in progress,) put some petrol in her car , and generally not get under her feet. 

 

Later she has a course to do which will involve her taking over the office / modelling room and then later her twice weekly Covid test to perform for which I shall be the glamorous assistant (by that I mean I do all the work, she just collects the sample) .

 

Before she takes over, I have been sorting through some old projects and have found a number of Coopercraft GWR wagon kits I  built many years ago  for a club  project that never happened.

 

They are of little use to me now so I feel that an industrial project with some  internal use elderley wagons may be a good way of using them and some LMS wagons that are now too early for  my preferred modelling periods (another abandoned club project)

 

However before that takes place I need to make some space and so will have to continue the tidying by attacking the garage detritus and emptying the shed to make space to put all the stuff I tidy out of the garage in.  Add to that the ongoing sorting out of Mum's house, this will use up my other two days off

 

The wood pile will need a serious pruning if I am to make any progress.

 

Did I say days off?

 

I'll be glad to go back to work for a rest.

 

At least I may  be able to enjoy a beer or two later.

 

Andy

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

This is a good example of the stout, honest and upright member of the Queens yeomanry being corrupted by the boujeus, plutocratic lifestyle of frogland. I don't know where will it end. Probably with a petit au pan chocolate on the patio whilst reading a copy of the Racing Times most likely.

 

Its all going to pot.

 

PS any chance of piece of the sponge as it sounds absolutely delicious.

Thank you for your interest in the sponge cake.  If I find thstvI need any help in the quality control area, I will of course think of you. However, having spent 60 years doing missionary  work in Yorkshire, I think that I may have enough stamina to complete the task unaided.  I will report in due course.

 

Jamie

[SM42]

Mrs SM42 is back from church and shopping. (No, she does not consider them the same thing)

 

Good news is, she has brought cake. Type unknown, donated to the cause by cake making friend from church.

 

Things are looking up.

 

Andy

[Florence Locomotive Works]

17 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Just make sure the syringe isn't filled with meths by mistake when putting it out. 

 

I did do that once, on the second or 3rd time I’d steamed the engine. We’ll say the population of lichen growing on our patio was absolutely decimated. 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Another in us this morning of the mogul.

 

No fires were had, however we still have the problem of a severe lack of steam. I have put this down to quality of meth spirits available in the USA. USA meths contains only 40-60% methanol, and the rest is various things to dissuade alcoholics from imbibing it. UK meths contains a much higher percentage of methanol, making it burn hotter. 
 

 

Currently I am looking at burning Everclear or Wood Alcohol. I’ve also been in contact with another mogul owner in the USA who uses a different brand of denatured alcohol. But with this being Oklahoma the sale of such products is not really very popular with certain people. 
 

No pictures were had, but I was able to shoot some video. 
 

Douglas

[jamie92208]

Just a point Douglas. As far as I reme  the active ingredi in Meths, aka Methylated Spirits, is Ethanol which has had a small amount of methanol aka wood alcohol added to it along with some purple dye and IIRC, Piridine for a bad taste.  You need a high precentage of ethanol to get heat. If you don't need large amounts, you might be able to buy surgucal spirit at a pharmacy.  I'm not sure how much heat, pure wood alcohol would give out.  

 

Jamie

Edited April 25, 2021 by jamie92208

[Happy Hippo]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear suggests that Big H ensures the neighbours realise just how difficult, time-consuming and dangerous (we're talkin' hole saw driven by a Hippo...) the job has been, and how much you've saved them by not having to replace the doors.  The cake should come flooding in for months afterwards.  Cunning, or what?

 

With best wishes for a happy birthday to the Wing Cdr....

Not only cakes, but cordials, pickles, chutney, jams and marmalade also come winging in my direction.

 

I decided to reassemble the router table this morning so that I could make up the parts that were broken/missing from the dolls house.

 

All went well, including the manufacture of the replacement parts, until I had to drill the 6mm holes for the window frame pivots.  The drill expired with a defective switch.

 

I can't complain as the drill is about 25 years old (they only have a rated life of about 10 hours total use) so it's served me well.  A new one will be ordered in due course.

 

The annoying bit was I'd set up all the fences and stops on the drill stand for accurate repeatability, so they will sit there until the new drill arrives.

 

I should never have given my pillar drill to Morgan!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

42 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

ethanol

I was worried I got them backwards, thank you for that Jamie.

[Happy Hippo]

34 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

I was worried I got them backwards, thank you for that Jamie.

You could use Isopropyl Alcohol as a substitute for meths:  It burns hotter and cleaner than the purple stuff!

[Florence Locomotive Works]

31 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

You could use Isopropyl Alcohol as a substitute for meths:  It burns hotter and cleaner than the purple stuff!

Well some grain alcohol has been bought, which was also recommended to me. I’ll try it then iso alcohol I think.

[Happy Hippo]

22 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Well some grain alcohol has been bought, which was also recommended to me. 

Whiskey?

 

[pH]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

All went well, including the manufacture of the replacement parts, until I had to drill the 6mm holes for the window frame pivots.  The drill expired with a defective switch.

 

I can't complain as the drill is about 25 years old (they only have a rated life of about 10 hours total use) so it's served me well.  A new one will be ordered in due course.

I sympathize, having had something similar happen recently. The battery on a rechargeable drill gave up about 2 years ago. I found the same model  in a charity store for $15 and that battery lasted till this month. So now I have two drills with no chargeable battery and no possibility of getting one (the model of drill is old and has an unusual connection to the battery). They’ll be going to the electronic recycling depot.

 

The good news: I got a rechargeable pair - a good make of drill/driver and impact wrench - on special, reduced from $260 to $150.

[J. S. Bach]

1 minute ago, pH said:

I sympathize, having had something similar happen recently. The battery on a rechargeable drill gave up about 2 years ago. I found the same model  in a charity store for $15 and that battery lasted till this month. So now I have two drills with no chargeable battery and no possibility of getting one (the model of drill is old and has an unusual connection to the battery). They’ll be going to the electronic recycling depot.

 

The good news: I got a rechargeable pair - a good make of drill/driver and impact wrench - on special, reduced from $260 to $150.

Can you remove the batteries and get them rebuilt? There are some places here that can do that; the insides are usually standard-sized cells. One place here is "Batteries+Bulbs"; I was looking for an Eveready No. 781 4½ volt battery (no information on-line at all); they said to bring one in and they could rebuild the innards. I was going to, but the covid lockdown started later that same week! Oh well, I still have the 781 and will probably do so later this year. Note that the 781 is used in an old VOM of the type that I used in the Navy.

[jamie92208]

52 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

Whiskey?

 

You might do better with moonshine which I believe is availablevin some rural areas of the USA. Over here it's called eau de vie, the water of life 77% ethanol. Howevervtherecare better things to do with it than burn it.

 

Jamie

[Florence Locomotive Works]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

Whiskey?

 

I did suggest Glenn-something-or-other once. If this was an American live steamer I’m sure Jack Daniels would be an excellent fuel. 

[Tony_S]

11 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

I did suggest Glenn-something-or-other once. If this was an American live steamer I’m sure Jack Daniels would be an excellent fuel. 

When my son was a student in Calgary I noticed on one of our frequent SkyPe calls a bottle on his shelf called Everclear. I asked if it was drain cleaner but he explained that it was rectified spirits and as it was legal in Alberta he had got some to see what it was like! 

[simontaylor484]

Douglas you could always distil your own'shine 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

34 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Douglas you could always distil your own'shine 

I’m sure if I wandered about in the woods outside of town for long enough I wouldn’t have to.

[Dave Hunt]

Once, on a detachment in Norway, I got trashed on potato moonshine and have never had a hangover like it before or since. I don't think that the headache was helped by the fact that the party had featured an inter-squadron marksmanship competition with 9mm handguns (which was, on reflection, in the raving dangerous category) but nobody had thought to bring ear defenders. I think that the term young and stupid could be applied.

 

Dave

Edited April 25, 2021 by Dave Hunt

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Well ladies and gentleman, I declare the engine fixed. Or at least I’m fairly certain it’s as good as me, a novice model engineer can get it.

 

 

This project has spanned 14 months in all, during which I have learned and continue to learn quite a lot about what not to do with a live steam locomotive. As an example, don’t fill the burner through the vent pipe whilst it’s burning! Many thanks to all who have provided advice.

 

Today in total 5 steamings were done, the last one was the best yet. The engine still can’t pull my MK 1s, but it handles a small goods train fine, which I intend to add maybe and another wagon and certainly a brakevan to.

 

The problem was solved by:

 

A: using Everclear, a hotter burning fuel.

 

B: adjusting the height of the vaporizing tube of the burner several times to find the correct height, and fixing the bend in the vaporizing tube so that now in theory all areas get the same amount of vapor. 

 

A video below shows the run before the latest.

 

The next task will be building a semi permanent live steam floor layout, suitable for coarse scale operation. This mainline entails making a station, probably from wood and Meccano.

 

Douglas

Edited April 26, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[BR60103]

Douglas: you may have said before, but what track are you using? All Lionel or mixed with something else?

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

6 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

I did suggest Glenn-something-or-other once. If this was an American live steamer I’m sure Jack Daniels would be an excellent fuel. 

NOooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!