Chuffnell Regis

[Graham T]

And just for a bit of fun, a silly photo of a ridiculously busy Chuffnell Regis to end the day

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

Now things are slowly getting back to where they were about a week ago (except with a working point motor now, of course).  I still need to do some more work on painting the new rail and sleepers; I think a coat of sleeper grime might help to tie everything back together.  And also a touch of oily steel on the point rodding cranks and linkages, then it will be time for ballasting (again!)

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Graham T

[prtrainman]

54 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Now things are slowly getting back to where they were about a week ago (except with a working point motor now, of course).  I still need to do some more work on painting the new rail and sleepers; I think a coat of sleeper grime might help to tie everything back together.  And also a touch of oily steel on the point rodding cranks and linkages, then it will be time for ballasting (again!)

 

Looks good Graham. I think you have done well to replace the point & fit the new bit of rail without damaging the nearby dummy point rodding. Speaking from experience here!

Philip 

[Graham T]

Thanks, having the Dremel was a big help, and also the ballast (woodland scenics) had been fixed with diluted PVA, so it hadn't set like cement!

 

I was very pleased to only have a little bit of the rodding to replace though.  If only the point motor had been as simple!

[MrWolf]

I think that you have done a great job there, you've tried every possible fix for the existing set up, resisted the temptations to junk the lot and start again (I know how demoralising that actually is.) took the bull by the horns and beaten the problem. 

Having been an engineering troubleshooter of sorts, I'd say that you have swum the Atlantic with this one, climbed out and demanded a beer!

[Graham T]

Beer - now that's a fine idea!  Is it beer o'clock yet?  Must be pretty close...

[MrWolf]

To quote a song line, It's five o'clock somewhere.

[Graham T]

A touch of grime has blended things in a bit better.  It doesn't exactly match the surrounding tracks, but my excuse is that it's recently had the sleepers replaced, and so that's why they're a different colour.  I'll also leave the new ballast un-weathered to support my story!

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Graham T

[chuffinghell]

4 minutes ago, Graham T said:

A touch of grime has blended things in a bit better.  It doesn't exactly match the surrounding tracks, but my excuse is that it's recently had the sleepers replaced, and so that's why they're a different colour.  I'll also leave the new ballast un-weathered to support my story!

 

Once ballasted it will be fine, the dust from the ballast will help to tone down newly painted areas (it’s why the area you have ballasted is lighter)

[Graham T]

Thanks, we'll soon see.  Work is driving me batsh1t crazy, so I'm going to take a break soon to do the ballasting.

[Graham T]

That shows you how bad this project is that I'm working on - even ballasting is preferable!

[Gedward]

8 minutes ago, Graham T said:

That shows you how bad this project is that I'm working on - even ballasting is preferable!

 

And I'm busy sanding down architraves and skirting boards. Now where did I put that ballast?

[chuffinghell]

I’m currently very busy at work so by the time I get home really I don’t feel like doing anything at all 

[Graham T]

I mostly work from home, so can skive off take a break every now and again to spend a few minutes pottering about with Chuffnell R.

 

Latest update from our intrepid reporter at "The Battle of Awkward Point" ((c) Mr Wolf).  Here's the dry ballast, carefully firtled into position.  Glue has now also gone down, so we'll see how the colours look once everything has dried out.

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

The replacement buffer head for the diesel railcar arrived the other day, so I've just spent a pleasant hour or so detailing the front back other end of the railcar.  I started off by filing away the fake coupling hook, and then drilled a hole for the replacement, a Hornby screw-link coupling, which is really rather nice.  I also used some Mr Surfacer (the grey goo you can see in the pics) to fill in some existing holes in the buffer beam, put in by the previous owner by the look of it - I thought they were in the wrong place.  Then I drilled a new hole for the steam/vacuum pipe (sorry but I don't know which is which!) closest to the coupling hook, modified the end of the casting a little bit and fixed it in place with super glue.  The other pipe hangs from below the buffer beam, so that also had its end removed before being super glued in position.  Next was the narrower pipe on the other side of the screw-link.  I fashioned this from some 0.5mm brass wire, folded double and then bent and trimmed so that one end sticks out of the hole I drilled in the buffer beam to simulate the tap, valve, or whatever it is, and then the pipe itself dangles down from below it.  Finally I cut some small pieces of plastic strip and popped those on for the lamp irons.  I guess those were there for emergency use or something similar, if the built-in lamps failed?  I went over the new buffer head a few times with some fine wet and dry paper, but might make it look a bit more worn yet, to match the others.

 

Anyway, all done now bar the painting.  Flush glazing and improved figures will have to wait for now!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Graham T

[Nick C]

18 hours ago, Graham T said:

but my excuse is that it's recently had the sleepers replaced, and so that's why they're a different colour.  I'll also leave the new ballast un-weathered to support my story!

I'll have to take a photo of Alresford next time I'm there, there's a short length of track in the platform there with exactly that - and a nice neat rectangle of new, clean ballast...

 

Alton tomorrow - and there's a hand-point there with the lever pointing the wrong way...

[Graham T]

That's interesting Nick, and is swaying me to leaving the paintwork on the new track and ballast as it looks now, with everything dried out:

 

 

 

 

The only bit that bothers me is around the tiebar, where it all looks a touch too dark and uniform; but hopefully that will look better when I re-fit the FPL ramp.

 

Talking of re-fitting things, I also managed to break off a ground lever whilst I was cleaning the track last night, so there's another thing for the to do list!

Edited April 11, 2022 by Graham T

[Nick C]

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

The only bit that bothers me is around the tiebar, where it all looks a touch too dark and uniform; but hopefully that will look better when I re-fit the FPL ramp.

The working areas of a set of points were copiusly greased to keep them working smoothly, so they're virtually black.

[Graham T]

I've mostly been working today (yes, honestly) but did take a few minutes to solve a couple of DCC snags that had been bothering me.

 

My Dapol Mogul would only run on 28 speed settings - my own fault from an earlier programming faux pas - and I managed to reset it.  Pleased with that as I no longer need to remember to switch between speed settings when changing locos.  Previously if I forgot and left the Mogul on setting 128 it would take off like a scalded cat.  Most unsettling...

 

The other one was my 56xx, which for some reason thought that forward was reverse, and vice versa.  Adding one to CV29 fixed that one as well.

 

But now I need to clean all the track again...

[chuffinghell]

5 hours ago, Graham T said:

The only bit that bothers me is around the tiebar, where it all looks a touch too dark and uniform; but hopefully that will look better when I re-fit the FPL ramp.

 

Looks great, had we not been aware of you having to removed a point and replaced it we wouldn’t have known 

 

You might find that a light dusting of white weathering powder will tone it down but try it on a scrap piece first because if you apply too much powder it can be a pig to remove

When I added the longer sleepers I painted them with the same sleeper grime but what I’d done previously had faded so the new sleepers stood out like a sore thumb

 

Before

So I applied a ‘little’ white weathering powder

 

After

 

It’s subtle but it has toned it down and doesn’t stand out as much

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by chuffinghell

[Graham T]

I don't have any powders, but perhaps I'll try just a very diluted wash of grey.  Still pondering (I do that quite a lot).

[chuffinghell]

8 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I don't have any powders, but perhaps I'll try just a very diluted wash of grey.  Still pondering (I do that quite a lot).

or dry brushing maybe?

I do much more pondering than actual modelling 

[Andrew P]

2 hours ago, chuffinghell said:

Looks great, had we not been aware of you having to removed a point and replaced it we wouldn’t have known 

 

You might find that a light dusting of white weathering powder will tone it down but try it on a scrap piece first because if you apply too much powder it can be a pig to remove

When I added the longer sleepers I painted them with the same sleeper grime but what I’d done previously had faded so the new sleepers stood out like a sore thumb

 

Before

So I applied a ‘little’ white weathering powder

 

After

 

It’s subtle but it has toned it down and doesn’t stand out as much

 

And, if you haven't got white weathering powders nip into the Bathroom and grab some Talcumed powder.  Its what I use, and I now smell nice as well.

[Andrew P]

2 hours ago, Graham T said:

I don't have any powders, but perhaps I'll try just a very diluted wash of grey.  Still pondering (I do that quite a lot).

See above Graham.

[Graham T]

You know, strangely enough I did think about using talc!