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Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.


jamie92208
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Now that I am safely back in France, I'm continuing with the Slaters coach bodies.  I acquired 4 kits in various states and intend to build an excursion rake that would be on a trip out to Morecambe from the Sheffield area as they are all arc roof stock.  I have two D502 all 3rd's, a brake third and one that can be made into either a D512  lavatory composite or a D513 luggage composite.  I have the necessary compartment sides to make it into either.

 

It looks as if the D512's were mostly extinct by 1922 but some of the 513's were still around. That makes me likely to go for the 513. However there are no known numbets for those.  Can anyone help with a likely running number please.

 

Jamie

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An update on the new residents.  I thought that they had all moved out but I found one more chick yesterday. It looked fully grown but not yet in aduly plumage and as usual was rtying to get through a window.  The soft nylon sieve was deployed again and it was safely taken outside, where it flew off.  Mantime I'm drilling lots of holes in coach sides to take door handles etc.  I forgot to do this on the first coach but have managed one side of that using a spare compartment moulding as a template, held on with masking tape.  Just 18 more sets of holes to drill.

 

Jamie

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Over the past few days, I've managed to get quite a bit of work done on the set of coaches.  Yesterday it all started to come together

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The four of them plonked on part of the coaling road. 3 by 43' and one 45' composite. The roof for that isn'tlong enough so is being extended with bits of plasticard.  Much more work to do and I'm short of solebars.  I think I borrowed them to finish two EMU trailers.  More have been ordered but due to the B word and VAT, Slaters can only post orders of over €150  to the EU.  The new ones are heading for my daughter's and will get here by some means in due course.

 

Jamie

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More work has been done on the coaches.   I can't finish the solebars yet as they were used on the EMU's some years ago.  However more have been ordered and should be brought over by a friend in a fortnight.  I've spent most of my time making seats and then painting the compartment interiors and the seats.  This was how far I'd got last night. I've even started putting some detail on the coach ends.  This afternoon I put the steps on the other two.

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I'm a bit far from a model shop so used Tamiya Hull Red for the 3rd class seats and L&Y tan for the woodwork.

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They are coming on.  I have started on the roof detail and need to work out how to do the gas control gear on one end of each coach.  All the screw couplings are now assembled.

 

Jamie

 

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Good moaning from a dark Charente.  Work on the coaches has progressed  and over the last couple of weeks all the footboard supports were fitted.  Last night I even got the soldering iron fired up and fitted two setscof footboards.  2 more to go.

 

Jamie

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Good afternoon.  A bit of time was snatched this afternoon and the other two coaches had their footboards attached.   I thought that it was time for a photo and put them on the fiddle yard. Here are the first two, the Brake third then the composite where I have had to extend the roof.  All the other parts in the coach matched the 45' length except the roof. It has been spliced then two laminated of card have been inserted.  It now needs sanding doan and filling.

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Here are the two brake thirds.  One of the roofs has been coated with masking tape to represent canvas.

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There's not a lot to do before the bodies will be ready for painting. Just the gas pipes on the ends.   I'm running out of excuses to procrastinate starting on the dreaded bogies.

 

Jamie

 

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I do like the smell of napalm phosphoric acid on an afternoon,. With apologies to Apocalypse  Now.  It's the first time I've done a serious amount of soldering forva while.

 

Jamie

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  • jamie92208 changed the title to Lancaster Green Ayre - A whiff of Phosphoric .
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Good evening from the Charente.   I have decided to make a start on the dreaded bogies.  These are the same design as the ones that I used for the EMU's, apart from the power car power bogie that I made up from my own etchings.  They are horribly complex and I really struggled but when built they do run nicely.  After a lot of thought I decided to alter the sequence of construction from what is set out in the instructions.  I decided to make up a series of sub assemblies then put those together.  I've got 8 to do for the 4 coaches.  One of the trickiest parts was fitting the bolster when the bogie was part built.  I decided to build them as a sub assembly. The plan is to do the bolsters then the bogie sides as subs. then make the frame up from the two sides and solder the bolster in at the same time.  However the old grey matter has kicked in and I'm going to test this approach on one bogie rather than making a hash of all 8.  

This is the bolster and it's parts.

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The springs are araldited to the bolster plank.  First problem.  The springs need to fit where the thin wires are. They've had to be cut and filed. After a bit of fiddling the two parts are glued together.

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The brass frames stretchers go into the outer of the four slots in the centre of the frames.  A u beam goes into the inner two slots as here.

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Anyway, 1 down 7 to go.   I've now decided to glue the hanger castings onto the bolster plank first then add the frame pieces.  Some small progress.

 

Jamie

 

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Just to prove to the doubting Thomas' out there (**) none of the coaches are articulated and I am actually making 8 bogies.  I know that this will upset Sq. Leader Hunt who was looking forward to seeing a Clayton articulated bogie but here are the 8 bolsters, now finished.

 

Once they were finally complete i started on the first bogie frame to see how my cunning plan hold up.

After 45 minutes I had attached 5 brass bits to the first side frame.    I then realised that I'd put the bits on the wrong sides of the frame, 2 on one side and 3 on the other.  These all had to be taken off, cleaned up and then I managed to get two of them in their correct position.

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One brake hanger bracket and One step bracket complete.  So far so good.  

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**  For the benefit of most readers, two follower of this thread have commented on the progress on other threads. 

 

Hopefully there will be some more progress today.  This afternoon though it's layout time.  My friend Andy is coming over and we are going to test all the signalling system that connects the 4 control panels.   It's much easier to do with 2 people as 2 of the panels are outside the layout.  I've even done a small spreadsheet to tick various boxes off as we do this.  Then I will be able to hopefully correct any faults that we find.

 

Jamie

 

 

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After a good dinner yesterday I managed to earn enough brownie points to have an hour in the shed.   I cracked on with the bogie side frames.   Once I'd found out the best way to use the self closing tweezers to old little castings and etchings onto the frame, things went rather well and by the end of the hour I'd managed to finish two frames.  Enough for one bogie.   (That's for one end of the Clayton quad art set Stephen and Dave).

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A little bit of truing up needed but I was rather pleased with the result.   The plan is now to add the cast brass ends and the cross members plus the various other spring and brake hangers etc that need to go on, along with the footboards.  All being well that will finish all the high temperature soldering and just leave the plastic and white metal parts to add before the wheels and then brakes go on.  The plan seems to be coming together.

 

The good part of last night was that no bits dropped of whilst others were being added.   I realise that I could have used some 145 solder for part of it but was quite happy with how it went.

 

Jamie

 

PS Only another 7 to go. 

 

PPS   The testing session went well and though there are some LED's to fit all the signal system relays worked as they should.  We even ran some trains, not only on the main line but up and down the Castle Branch.  A good afternoon was had.

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Good morning, just, from a rather damp and misty Charente.  Good news, the grape harvest is in and the wine is maturing for it's statutory 15 days before distillation starts, so life is fine and dandy.

 

Anyway, last night I got another chance to escape to the shed and had about an hour in total working on the bogie and managed to finish the brass soldering.  a further 10 castings and etchings plus the bolster sub assembly were soldered in.   Two araldited joints on the bolster let go but were successfully repaired with low melt. This was the result.

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I'm quite pleased with this.   I now need to give it a good clean up then start attaching the other bits and pieces.  I learned a couple of tips along the way such as adding the outer brake hangers to the cast end beams before soldering the beams to the frames.   I just hope that I can fit the wheels and axleboxes without trouble npw that the step boards have been added.

 

Onwards and upwards.

 

Jamie

  

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A bit more progress tonight. I trial fiited some wheels and actuallly got the bogie to run freely. Real progress.

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It even ran freely on the main line. A real milestone.  Then the WM frames were taken off and the small brake gear castings araldited on.  Hopefully some more progress soon.

 

Jamie

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I haven't totally neglected the project over the last 3 weeks.   I decided to proceed with getting the other 7 bogie frames made up having learnt a few lessons.  This is the main one.

1.  Don't fold the end frames up until all the castings are on the side frames. 

 

Anyway I set to work a few night ago to cut out the 14 side frames etches and fettle them.  These were then bent along the top to give the upper flange.   The next task was to cut the brass castings off the sprues, 14 bogie ends, 28 brake hanger castings, 56 step brackets and 56 spring hangers.   These then needed their moulding sprues removing.   I found that the bench grinder, with suitable tools to grip the castings worked a treat.  I even separated them out into little pots.

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Eating all those glace cherries shows my devotion to the hobby.

then the side frames had various holes reamed out then this afternoon I decided that I hadn't smelled phosphoric for a while so soldered all 14 side frames where the hornways had been folded.  

 

Yes there is progress.

 

And I can't let this pass without paying tribute to Bob Essery, who has sadly died.  His books will be a lasting companion and source of knowledge on the reference shelf above my bench.  RIP Bob.

 

Jamie

 

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I have got some work done over the last 3 weeks but it has only just started to bear fruit.  I have tried at least 3 different ways to assemble the bogie frames but have at last found a method.  The first job is to attach 4 spring hangers and 2 brake hangers.   Then 4 more spring hangers to the end castings.   The frames look like this when they have all their pieces attached. First the inside.

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Then the view from above.

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Then the ends of the frames are bent round to 90 degrees and the end castings and bolsters added.  I did try adding the bolster first but that was a non starter as I could add the bolster but not the spring plank.  However i eventually found a method that involves adding the end castings to make a secure frame, then to spring the bolster in, tack solder it then add the spring plant before soldering up.  the bolster and plank use tab and slot to locate them.   By last night I had 4 of the remaining seven frames complete, apart from one brake hanger and casting that has gone walkabout. 

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I'm quite happy with the results so far. Just 3 more to go,

 

Jamie

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And one more done this afternoon then I counted up how many brake hanger etches I had left, just 9 and I need 16.  I've sweated some scrap etch together and soldered 3 hangers to the top.  I just need to cut them out now.  Oh Frabjous Joy.

 

Jamie

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After a couple of nights sorting out the brake hangers I set to work to make up the remaining two frames.  a couple of hours work over two nights and they were done.  A couple of steps etc that had fallen off were soldered back on and as far as I now there are no pieces over.  This was the end result.

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Next little job is to fit 64 brake blocks and 14 white metal A frames with their castings attached.  Hopefully there is a packet of little items from Slaters waiting at our daughters that I will be able to pick up, then the fun of getting the wheel bearings fitted starts.  It's coming along nicely.

 

Jamie

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Despite freezing temperatures  I made some progress yesterday.  I drilled out all the brake hangers to 0.75mm to take the brass pins that will hold the brake shoes.  Those were quite quick with the mini drill.  The 42 brake shoes needed a pin vice as they are plastic and only 2 of them broke. I have a few spares.  2 bogies will have to wait until the packet of spares gets here from the UK.  We were meant to collect them this week from our daughter's but Covid has put paid to our trip.  I will have to devise another route.

 

Jamie

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Good work on those Slater's bogies.  They are hateful things to build and I invariably end up with bits falling off!  I ended up creating a 3D printed version which is just 3 parts and goes together in a couple of minutes.  Doesn't have the same level of detail but I get to keep my sanity.

 

Cheers

Dave

 

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A bit of a pause on the bogies due to other activities that mainly seem to involve, food, drink and trying to be sociable.  However with advice and help from a good modelling friend in Ruffec (20 miles away), I've taken a great leap into the unknown world of DCC.  When I helped to operate @bbishop 's layput a Warley I was very impressed with the slow running of his Lenz, locos.  I have no intention of converting the whole layout to DCC but as it is wired, 2 wire cab control, it is relatively easy to make one part an island of DCC.  The chosen part is the coal yard. In real life this would have been horse shunted, 1 wagon at a time with train engines bringing in rafts of fulls and taking out the empties. No one has yet produced a fully controlable 7mm horse yet so I propsed to work the yard with a dedicated 1F tank loco. There is a headshunt and a good place for an electro magnet to operate couplers.  I've decided to fit spratt and winkles to a dedicated pool of coal wagons.  However the coal yard is a long way from the operators, beyond arms length, and I didn't want another control panel on the front. I then started thinking about DCC for reliability. 

 

The plan is to have the power suply to the coal yard, switched by a relay that is fired by the points that give access to the yard from the Up Main near to Skerton Bridge.  This would mean that a 'normal' analogue loco could bring in a new cut of wagons and take out empties. This was always a propelling move so no run round would be needed. The normal loco would then depart, the points would be set back to normal, and then the DCC tank would shunt the yard.  That's the plan.  I would arrange an isolating section to park the DCC loco on.

 

With Paul's help and advice a rough plan has been put together.  I have taken the plunge and sourced a 1 amp decoder and socket from a guy called Claudio in Italy. Excellent  service and prices.  I will now fit that to the tank loco. Once fitted I plan to nip over to Paul's with a suitable length of track for programming.  He models Welsh nartow gauge in 7mm so has no suitable track.  We then plan to program and test the loco.  Once that's done I will start ordering kits from MERG  and build my own units.  I will also build a small subsidiary control panel for the coal yard to sit alongside the main line panel on the layout. If I arrange the leads correctly it should be possible to have it either inside or outside the layout.  The slight snag at the moment is getting the MERG kits delivered from the UK due to a combination of Brexit and Covid regs.  Sorry for those two obscenities.  I was supposed to be picking up a pack of Slaters spares for the bogies from our daughters. However due to one of our son's getting Covid the trip had to be cancelled  at 8 hours notice.  Fortunately  he's OK.

 

Anyway here is the incriminating evidence.

 

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Jamie

 

 

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If you disable the "use on DC function" on the chip the you shouldn't need to isolate the loco when you switch from DCC to DC. the loco won't move on DC at all Jamie.

Regards Lez. 

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10 minutes ago, lezz01 said:

If you disable the "use on DC function" on the chip the you shouldn't need to isolate the loco when you switch from DCC to DC. the loco won't move on DC at all Jamie.

Regards Lez. 

Actually it might be useful to keep the DC ability so that the loco could do trip workings back to the cassette storage or a trip to thecloco shed with coal wagons.  I'll look at that in due course.

 

Jamie

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They don't always work so well on DC. It's a bit of a lucky dip! Some locos behave just as well on DC and DCC and then again some of them are a bit lumpy. It all depends on the chip! They should all work the same because they have the same basic or compatible software but not all chips are equal and some motor/chip combos don't like DC very much, they misbehave. Lenz should be OK though as they are very good chips.

Regards Lez 

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Good evening.  I did a first today. I chipped a loco.  The 1F tank engine now has a chip fitted.  After a bit of thought and testing I plucked up courage and did the deed.  A programming track has been part made with a yard of track glued to a piece of ply.  

 

I have also been working away at the bogies.  I soldered up 14 bearings last night and tonight got 3 bogies onto their wheels.  Still a lot of work to do but I do need to fettle the bearings and check that they slide up and down easily.

 

Jamie

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