The Night Mail

[Canal Digger]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

made from scratch (well, usually excluding the motor and wheel castings,

I have a book "Modelling in '000' Gauge" by E.F. Carter (ie pre-N Gauge bit not Lone Star) where he describes making wheels [from rod], extruding his own rail [from wire] and winding his own motors! Does anyone still do the last 2? 

[Dave Hunt]

The advantage of soldering frame plates together is, for me, that you can then cut lightening holes etc. that are close together or near other gaps without running the risk of the saw, drill, whatever, catching and distorting the thin metal of one layer. Admittedly, this shouldn't be a problem if using steel but I'm naturally cautious when the possibility of ruining several hours' work is involved. The other thing I have found easier when using plates that are soldered together is clamping them onto base plates for drilling or milling as there aren't any bolt heads etc. to get in the way.

 

Having said that, HH is right in suggesting that the task of cleaning up is largely avoided but I think we are now entering the realms of what works best for a particular modeller.

 

Dave

Edited May 16, 2021 by Dave Hunt
Da*n predictive text again!! It just tried changing text to tea time! Grrrrr!

[Dave Hunt]

2 minutes ago, Canal Digger said:

I have a book "Modelling in '000' Gauge" by E.F. Carter (ie pre-N Gauge bit not Lone Star) where he describes making wheels [from rod], extruding his own rail [from wire] and winding his own motors! Does anyone still do the last 2? 

 

Only masochists I suspect. The last person I knew who sometimes wound his own motors was Sid Stubbs and even he didn't go as far as extruding his own rail. I have on occasion made a few wheels from scratch or had them cast from my patterns but some time ago realised that although I enjoy scratch building there is a limit to the earthly time allotted to me and if good quality rail, wheels and motors are available I'll use them. I do sometimes make my own gearboxes, albeit using commercially available gears.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Only masochists I suspect. The last person I knew who sometimes wound his own motors was Sid Stubbs and even he didn't go as far as extruding his own rail. I have on occasion made a few wheels from scratch or had them cast from my patterns but some time ago realised that although I enjoy scratch building there is a limit to the earthly time allotted to me and if good quality rail, wheels and motors are available I'll use them. I do sometimes make my own gearboxes, albeit using commercially available gears.

 

Dave

Stewart Hine used to wind his own motor commutators in 2 mm scale.

 

Back onto the frame saga, my frames being anything from 1/16" to 1/8" thick were not as flexible as Dave's !

 

However, I did find that for more complex shapes, I'd got to the stage where I drew the whole chassis from the footplate down to the rails in TurboCAD and had them laser cut. Ditto the valve gear.

 

When I get around to it, I have a load of small fly cranks to get laser cut.

 

The advantage of getting stuff cut with a laser is that if it is small work, then the laser cutting programmer can fit your bits onto a sheet which may have more than one job on it, which brings the price down considerably compared to a photo etched sheet.  Of course, sometimes you may have to wait until a suitable bit of work comes in that can have your stuff included in the scrap areas.

 

The last time I got some cut, it was done the same afternoon!

 

I really ought to get my two 7.25" gauge wagon chassis cut, as it would be much cheaper than buying a pair of kits.

[Northmoor]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Didn't the SVR paint 'City of Truro' in GWR livery down on side and BR mixed traffic livery on the other?

 

 

You can see the back of the tender is still green!

Oh I remember that being the "headline news" in Steam Railway mag in 1985.  It was the April edition, which enough readers to fill at least two pages of letters of bile and indignation in the next issue, presumably hadn't spotted......

[Happy Hippo]

Stevie checks out the MH(F) for depth and overall muddiness 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

8 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

It looks god, Douglas, I presume that you are going to fasten two bits of plate together and shape and drill them at the same time.

 

Jamie

Thank you Jamie, yes they have been fastened together and are being drilled in the same manner.

 

 

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of locomotive scratchbuilding, Douglas. I find that the sight of a locomotive that I have made from scratch (well, usually excluding the motor and wheel castings, or sometimes the finished wheels) one of the most satisfying things.

 

As Jamie suggests, frames should be cut when fixed together to ensure that everything is square when they are erected. I too use steel for frames (20 or 25 thou as that is about scale in 7mm) and solder the blanks together with a gas torch before cutting and drilling then unsolder, again with the gas torch, before cleaning up, which is the biggest job.

 

As far as getting long wheelbase engines round curves is concerned, judicious use of sideplay on the intermediate wheelsets will usually do the job. In Gauge 1 the typical minimum radius curve that such 'real' engines would negotiate without restriction would scale to about 15 feet but with a bit of sideplay built in that can easily be reduced to a more manageable size. My S7 engines, even the Compound and the Schenectady Mogul, will negotiate 7ft curves quite happily and that's with hardly any extra sideplay at all.

 

I wish you every bit of luck in your endeavour.

 

Dave

Thank you Dave, 

 

Yes I’m using steel for my frames, I’m not sure what thickness though. I’ve decided on bolting mine together before the drilling commences, as I don’t particularly enjoy soldering.

 

 

Above is the progress so far, obviously the bogie cut out needs doing along with more filing.

 

 

The splashers on the Caley Dun look a bit daunting so the engine below is also being considered. 
 

 

Photo credit, and more photos: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/7mm-finescale-nbr-class-lner-d50-4-0t-1778324572

[New Haven Neil]

4 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Oh I remember that being the "headline news" in Steam Railway mag in 1985.  It was the April edition, which enough readers to fill at least two pages of letters of bile and indignation in the next issue, presumably hadn't spotted......

 

I think that was the best railway April fool ever - the letters were hilarious.

[Canal Digger]

Bit of a frustrating day trying to sort my Hugar Train Set, see my thread on Collectable/ Vintage, oh well

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I think that was the best railway April fool ever - the letters were hilarious.

 

Not railway related but shortly after we joined the EU (or EEC I think it was then) the RAF internal magazine for aircrew and engineers, called Air Clues, ran a piece on April 1st stating that European aviation was going over to the metric compass where a full circle was 100 degrees, each divided into ten millidegrees, and that all aircraft, radar stations etc. would be modified at a date to be advised. Much to general amazement there were quite a few fish caught on that particular hook.

 

Dave 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Afternoon all,

 

Progress is going well, the front bogie part of the frames has been profiled and all the holes for the frame stretchers in the frames have been drilled. However, the frame stretchers are proving to be a but of a problem, do to my not being the greatest at bending steel. However, I am thinking of using some very hard hardwood, which one can then drill and tap, and if needed you can strengthen the threads by putting in some very liquid superglue.

 

Douglas

[figworthy]

6 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Stevie checks out the MH(F) for depth and overall muddiness 

 

Talking of which, it was good to hear big H on t'wireless this morning, sounded like he was having a good wallow.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000w3hv

 

Just after 0800

 

Adrian

[Happy Hippo]

You know when your mind is going when:

 

Your wife asks for superglue and you hand her a tube of debonder.

 

It's even worse when she sits there complaining that the superglue doesn't work.

 

The de-bonder doesn't work any quicker when you squirt accelerator onto it either!

 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Winslow Boy]

4 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

You know when your mind is going when:

 

Your wife asks for superglue and you hand her a tube of debonder.

 

It's even worse when she sits there complaining that the superglue doesn't work.

 

The de-bonder doesn't work any quicker when you squirt accelerator onto it either!

 

 

Sounds like a definite lack of cake to me.

 

[Dave Hunt]

2 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Afternoon all,

 

Progress is going well, the front bogie part of the frames has been profiled and all the holes for the frame stretchers in the frames have been drilled. However, the frame stretchers are proving to be a but of a problem, do to my not being the greatest at bending steel. However, I am thinking of using some very hard hardwood, which one can then drill and tap, and if needed you can strengthen the threads by putting in some very liquid superglue.

 

Douglas

 

You could use the old tried and trusted method of making frame spacers from brass bar. Cut some lengths of bar slightly oversize then face off one end of each piece in the lathe. Reverse and face off the other ends. Measure the lengths  with a vernier then face off to get to the length you want, drill through tapping size then tap to a depth to suit the screws you are going to use. Drill clearance holes in the frames and screw the frames to the spacers. I suggest that this would be preferable to using wood, no matter how hard (unless you use lignite).

 

I often use such spacers that I have made previously to hold the frames at the correct spacing and alignment while I fix the proper stretchers, motion brackets etc. in place.

 

Dave

Edited May 16, 2021 by Dave Hunt
Adding last sentence

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

 

The frames for the first locomotive produced in house by the Florence Avenue Locomotive Works were erected today. Hardwood spacers have been used, and seem to be quite good. They certainly look nice, and add a whole new meaning to “sandwich frames!”

 

 

 

So, the plan going forward is to drill some more holes into which will be bolted some Meccano 1/2 inch angle brackets. These will then be bolted to a sheet of brass that will form the running plate. The smokebox saddle will be made from wood, and the cab will probably be brass. The boiler will be a metal tube of some sort. 
 

Wheels will be the LNER pattern 6”6 driving wheels from Walsall Model Industries, and the bogie wheels will also be from them. Or I may bungle the bogie from my Bing GtV to help the budget. 
 

Motorization at the moment isn't planned. The model may remain unmotorized, as some Bassett Lowke models for signaling schools were. 
 

Currently the engine will be based on I believe a Dunalastair I, but the tender seems quite complicated so that NBR tank engine may end up being done.

 

 

Douglas

[BR60103]

Back when the Platelayers Society was new and I was one of the younger members (in my 30s), rewinding motors came up. Another youngster leaned over to me and said "I've read about rewinding motors, but never thought I'd meet anyone that had done it."

 

Other April Fools:

Soldier magazine: The Guards' bearskins keep growing and they have to visit the barber for them every so often.

Soldier :  The amalgamated "fractional" regiments will be decimalized.

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Evening all,

 

 

Big update. I realized this evening that when calculating the size of the proposed drivers for the engine, I neglected to change the scale factor from 1:32 down to 1:43. Meaning that, I actually have gauge one frames. I can’t say I’m complaining, as I was rather disappointed about not being able to do a gauge 1 engine. 
 

This of course meant that new frame stretchers would be needed, so the wooden ones were replaced with Meccano 1/2 angle plates, which happen to be the perfect size for making gauge one frames from roughly 2 mil steel plate. 
 

 

 

 

 

The result of all this is now the frames are considerably stronger, and should get even better once the axles are fitted. 
 

So now some 6 foot 6 inch drivers need ordering from Walsall.

 

Douglas

[polybear]

6 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Sounds like a definite lack of cake to me.

 

 

Baz has hid it all.....

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Back when the Platelayers Society was new and I was one of the younger members (in my 30s), rewinding motors came up. Another youngster leaned over to me and said "I've read about rewinding motors, but never thought I'd meet anyone that had done it."

 

Other April Fools:

Soldier magazine: The Guards' bearskins keep growing and they have to visit the barber for them every so often.

Soldier :  The amalgamated "fractional" regiments will be decimalized.

 

The two most famous ones I can remember, are the Spaghetti harvest report on one of the heavyweight BBC programmes and one on the front page of the Times one year reporting that that Belgium was going to split into two countries on language lines.

 

Jamie

[Northmoor]

57 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

The two most famous ones I can remember, are the Spaghetti harvest report on one of the heavyweight BBC programmes and one on the front page of the Times one year reporting that that Belgium was going to split into two countries on language lines.

 

Jamie

The second could conceivably happen.  Many years ago one of the big papers (possibly the FT) produced a supplement on opportunities in a completely fictional South Pacific island nation which was opening up to foreign investment.  There were even adverts from real companies who were in on the joke.

[Happy Hippo]

I'd just finished off the staining and painting of the Mud Kitchen yesterday afternoon when I received a tasking to assist in the collection of something Nyda had bought of Facebook marketplace.

 

It was a small children's kitchen!

 

All I can say is that this indoor toy is best suited to a small modern residence, whereas mine (almost a two man lift) is more suited to a stately pile inhabited by the gentry.

 

But the little voice at the back of my head is saying:  'Why did you bother?'

 

Today's job is to convert my cheap and cheerful trim router into a cheap and cheerful router table.

 

I've also had a cunning plan to fit a rudimentary screw driven height adjuster to my bigger router table. This has been decided as having an inverted plunge router installed as the motor unit is fine, but it is very fiddly to adjust to get the correct height set for the cutter.  You need about 3 pairs of hands.

 

So the plan is to make a  U shaped frame with a threaded hole in the top.  A section of studding will thread through this, and contact a plate which pushes against the top of the router. (Remember it's inverted in the table.)

 

A couple of nuts on the bottom of the studding will allow a ratchet spanner to be  connected.   Cranking the rod up will give quite fine adjustment:  The existing lock on the router being used to secure the unit at the correct height.  This could also be enhanced by a lock nut on the studding.

 

I think this might work, and is about 30 minutes work as opposed to having to build a complete lift table for the router!

 

I now have to take Nyda for her second Covid jab.

 

 

[jamie92208]

23 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I'd just finished off the staining and painting of the Mud Kitchen yesterday afternoon when I received a tasking to assist in the collection of something Nyda had bought of Facebook marketplace.

 

It was a small children's kitchen!

 

All I can say is that this indoor toy is best suited to a small modern residence, whereas mine (almost a two man lift) is more suited to a stately pile inhabited by the gentry.

 

But the little voice at the back of my head is saying:  'Why did you bother?'

 

Today's job is to convert my cheap and cheerful trim router into a cheap and cheerful router table.

 

I've also had a cunning plan to fit a rudimentary screw driven height adjuster to my bigger router table. This has been decided as having an inverted plunge router installed as the motor unit is fine, but it is very fiddly to adjust to get the correct height set for the cutter.  You need about 3 pairs of hands.

 

So the plan is to make a  U shaped frame with a threaded hole in the top.  A section of studding will thread through this, and contact a plate which pushes against the top of the router. (Remember it's inverted in the table.)

 

A couple of nuts on the bottom of the studding will allow a ratchet spanner to be  connected.   Cranking the rod up will give quite fine adjustment:  The existing lock on the router being used to secure the unit at the correct height.  This could also be enhanced by a lock nut on the studding.

 

I think this might work, and is about 30 minutes work as opposed to having to build a complete lift table for the router!

 

I now have to take Nyda for her second Covid jab.

 

 

That's given me an idea. I have a rather dangerous table saw that I was about to take to the tip. The blade is already off.  I wonder if I could use the table to mount my router. Please post pictures of your endeavours in due course.

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

11 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Not railway related but shortly after we joined the EU (or EEC I think it was then) the RAF internal magazine for aircrew and engineers, called Air Clues.

 

I used to enjoy Air Clues, especially the  'What I learned about flying from that' column.

 

Did you ever manage to read 'British Army Review'?  There was always a rather satirical article, poking fun at rules regulations and the top brass by 'Sustainer' (Who turned out to be a Lt Col in the Catering Corps.)

 

When the latest edition of BAR appeared, it was not a case of checking on the headline article on latest military thinking by some big wig, but what 'Sustainer' had to say this quarter!

[Oldddudders]

59 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

The second could conceivably happen.  Many years ago one of the big papers (possibly the FT) produced a supplement on opportunities in a completely fictional South Pacific island nation which was opening up to foreign investment.  There were even adverts from real companies who were in on the joke.

The Grauniad. San Serif.