Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

[Chimer]

Loved the Wildebeest saga, especially at the end where, having found a B1 you didn't know you had with an unsalvageable chassis, and decided the cost of a new chassis was extortionate, you felt you had to buy a new one - so the end result is you still have an unsalvageable B1 , plus an extra loco .  All you now need to do now is put Wildebeest back at the bottom of your box of tricks, forget it's there and that you ever tried to fix it.  Then when next you need a new loco, find Wildebeest again, to  your complete surprise of course , and repeat the process . 

[gordon s]

B*gger, I’ve been rumbled......

 

That story worked really well with my wife.....

 

Tale for today. Pulled out a Bachmann Standard 5 that had had a decoder fitted a while back. Still ran well, but then I noticed something hanging down and realised it was a broken speedo drive that comes off the rear driving wheel. Not the best design in the world with a poorly riveted fitting on the drive crank, meaning it just flopped about. The cable is a very thin plastic moulding which is fixed at both ends. Needless to say with the crank rotating there is some small movement on the speedo cable and being fixed both ends, there is no flex in the arrangement, so the small diameter speedo cable moulding just snaps in two.

 

No problem, I’ll get one from Bachmann tomorrow. Get out the service sheet for the loco and it’s not even shown as a spare. More than that, it doesn’t even appear on the drawing.....

 

I’ll still give them a call, but suspect I may get ‘the computer says no’.....

 

Now if I were a real modeller, I’d make one, but the parts are minuscule, my eyesight about 80% and my sausage fingers will ping items everywhere...

 

Failing that I’ll find a suitable screw to fit the driving wheel/con rod and leave it off completely. If the driver gets stopped by the Police, he can blame me.

 

A month of lockdown working on ET stock has seen some up’s and downs. Golf is becoming more attractive every day. Big balls, big clubs, brute force and ignorance at times. Far less stressful that faffing about with bits that are too small to pick up.....

 

2mm must be a young man’s game....

 

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by gordon s

[gordon s]

Chimer, just seen Southsea in your profile. That takes me back as I worked for a company  in Rodney Road years ago and met my wife in Southsea. Her family lived round the corner from Fratton Park.

 

I’ve had a few beers in the Still and West over the years...not to mention the clubs along the sea front.....  

Edited April 22, 2020 by gordon s

[Barry O]

You think that speedo cable is a problem Gordon? Bought some more coach door handles. (I accidentally threw my stash away)...take first handle...ping...bugggrrrriittt!

Take second....ping....

 

 

Mugadecaf consumed..then a nice Pinot age. ..

 

Baz

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, gordon s said:

2mm must be a young man’s game....

I believe that they start off that way, but maybe advance more quickly than the rest of us...

[BoD]

You can always manage without a speedo cable, it’s if the clutch or choke cable goes that you have to be more inventive.

[Theakerr]

I just trawl the net for the new Bachmann B1's.  I think last time I paid pounds 70 for 1 and 75 for the other.  Both had been badly weathered and one had a bit of a botched job of putting extra weight and the origional body would not fit.  No problem though because I didn't want the body anyway.  I do now have a lot of tenders that one day I will convert to 'sludge' holders.  Really neat those pictures of the Hornby tender and fire iron holder.   I will take a picture of one of the tenders I have modified and post it tomorrow

[Dragonboy]

12 hours ago, gordon s said:

 

2mm must be a young man’s game....

 

 

I wonder that myself some days but at the age of 67 I can still put transfers on N gauge society kits. Finished this pair yesterday 

[Enterprisingwestern]

14 hours ago, Barry O said:

You think that speedo cable is a problem Gordon? Bought some more coach door handles. (I accidentally threw my stash away)...take first handle...ping...bugggrrrriittt!

Take second....ping....

 

 

Mugadecaf consumed..then a nice Pinot age. ..

 

Baz

 

If they are the turned brass handles I put them in a pin chuck before filing them to shape, voila, no pings!

 

Mike.

[Barry O]

13 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

If they are the turned brass handles I put them in a pin chuck before filing them to shape, voila, no pings!

 

Mike.

These are p reshaped.  As it happens I found them using the sock across end of hoover trick

 

Baz

[Enterprisingwestern]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

These are p reshaped.  As it happens I found them using the sock across end of hoover trick

 

Baz

 

Ooh where from? The Markits ones are a block casting.

 

Mike.

Edited April 22, 2020 by Enterprisingwestern
Spillchucker.

[gordon s]

Just won the lottery...again. The lovely lady at Bachmann Service had a 105 trailer car pcb last week and today she had a rummage and found two speedo cables. Yes, I managed to blow the led's before you ask. Got distracted and a live wire just touched the board....

 

Chance of either being available were virtually zero as neither are shown on the service sheets.

 

I've started making one. It's small and fiddly, but I'm determined to have a go. We 'sposed to be modellers when all said and done.....

 

Can I go and play golf now....

Edited April 22, 2020 by gordon s

[gordon s]

What beautiful day and had things not gone the way they have, 32 of us would be sipping beer in the Cotswolds after the second round of golf on our Spring Trip. Of course stopping home is a small price to pay, particularly when our thoughts continually go to those working or struggling with Corona.

 

Railway modelling really is an up and down hobby. I made a new speedo cable and it's passed the three foot test, but still work to do before close up photography is allowed. Another rummage under ET and something caught my eye. Another Bachmann WD, only this time, Vulcan no less. Looking at BR Database, it was at Doncaster before going to Frodingham. Had to Google that one as a London boy. Turns out to be close to Scunthorpe (I wonder if the censor will let that one through?) Funny, the database doesn't mention the name at all, so I don't know if that was a late addition.

 

Anyway, connected up a DC supply and it ran beautifully. Smooth and silent, so thought that will do. A new Zimo and I'll be a happy boy.

 

As I was converting this loco to DCC, the guarantee fell out of the box and I was surprised to see this....

 

 

Good grief, it's sat in a box for 17 years and never seen the light of day. I had to Google to even see if Transport Treasures still existed and yes, they do.

 

After all the stick our manufacturers get, you can't argue with 17 years doing nothing. Add power and away it goes.

 

Cheers Bachmann....

Edited April 22, 2020 by gordon s

[BoD]

..... and if it hadn’t....

 

 

....... well you’ve still got the guarantee.

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, gordon s said:

you can't argue with 17 years doing nothing.

Sounds like my modelling!

Quote

Add power and away it goes.

Maybe not...

[Ian Smeeton]

You can lose a fair chunk of that 17 years just browsing the Digital Print Gallery on the Transport Treasury website.

 

Regards

 

Ian

[gordon s]

....and the winner of numpty of the year is....

 

Spent yesterday carefully reassembling a split chassis chassis V1, but the plastic gear was a little worn, so had a look in the spares box and found a replacement. Hooked up the motor to a DC supply and it ran so much better. Feeling pleased, I repaired all the split axles and reassembled the valve gear, wired up the decoder, taped all the wires and plonked it on the test track. Tiny movement and then dead  short. Back to the bench with a meter and all fine. Back to the programming track, tiny movement and then dead short. Repeat this process for half an hour until the penny drops....

 

 

Brass bushed plastic gears may run well, but not in a split chassis......

 

Funny what comes to light once you wipe away the grease and oil....

Edited April 24, 2020 by gordon s

[Barry O]

did you know that gap filing cyano is a wonderful conductor...no it is an excellent insulator!!!? Look for Zap-a-Gap

 

 

Baz

Edited April 24, 2020 by Barry O
Got conductor and insulator mixed. Doh!!

[Regularity]

51 minutes ago, gordon s said:

Brass bushed plastic gears may run well, but not in a split chassis......

 

Funny what comes to light once you wipe away the grease and oil....

On which note, don’t use switch cleaner to clean split axles. Well, not if the insulation is Tufnol, leastways.

Not only is it a good conductor, it also permeates into the Tufnol. Ask me how I know...

[gordon s]

Afternoon all....May 1st and still stuck indoors. Golf course looks magnificent and I can't wait to start playing again. Hope you are all well and keeping out of trouble.

 

Still tinkering around. Managed to get the other end of ET station wired up in terms of route and turnout control. I haven't solved the problem of switching and route diagrams yet, but I'm really finding it a logical challenge to try and identify which turnout is which from the ECoS controller. For some reason my brain isn't making the conversion from a diagram in straight lines to a multi platform station with around 40 turnouts all on the curve.

 

No matter, that can wait a while as right now I need to correct some items of track laying which I am far from happy with. It may mean lifting at least one turnout completely as somehow I have a difference in height between two in particular, which means a minor peak above track level. No problem with smaller loco's, but 9F's and the like almost rock as they go over the high point. They still run, but it's not a look I'm happy with.

 

A couple of new additions arrived last week. The replacement B1 from Hornby and somehow down the line I'd missed that Hornby had released a Crosti 9F a few years ago. No idea how I missed it as they are one of those really ugly locomotives that are so ugly they are beautiful. A little like the Q1 and a must have. There were still some early crest ones kicking about, but after much searching I found one late crest model from a small dealer. Ordered it and it arrived a few days later. I have to say it runs beautifully and you are hard pushed to understand why it is a Railroad model. OK, no pick ups on the tender and some of the detail is moulded on rather than being separate parts, but the moulding is very well done and it chunters around ET quite happily for hours at a time.

 

One of the things fairly high up the list was stock weathering, so as the weather broke a couple of days ago, I got out some powders for a play. Mixed results, if I'm honest. I've gone from 24 brand new vans all looking much the same to 24 dirty old vans all looking much the same. Please feel free to give me some honest opinions as I'll always welcome feedback, particularly if it comes with some hints and ideas how things can be improved.

 

I started with the airbrush and gave each one a light coating of dirty frame colour, working up from the bottom at an angle, so the higher surfaces were left fairly free of paint. Axles boxes and under frames were then powdered with rust and toned down with dirt afterwards. The body was fairly well covered with dirt and smoke and then pared back with a fibre glass pen.

 

I'm not unhappy as they could pass the 3' test, but somehow I believe they can be improved further.

 

Let me know what you think......

 

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Nice weathering on the vans, but I think you've hit the nail on the head about them all looking the same, why, because bauxite vans weathered at a prodigious rate and looking at photos of van trains there are rarely two the same shade, anything between brand new and barely coloured just shared.

Without stripping the vans and mixing up fifty shades of bauxite you'll struggle to maintain a great deal of difference.

 

Mike.

[gordon s]

Thanks Mike, much appreciated. I guess the problem is my own of just lumping 24 vans together when I can mix them up with grey vans and other wagons of different types. I’ll see what’s about once I open some more boxes.

 

Vans are relatively straight forward as are other planked types. I’m going to struggle a bit with 16 tonner’s until I find a method that works. Back to MW’s book tonight for some light reading.

[Kier Hardy]

Well I like them and think you've done a great job. When you get the next batch out of their boxes, you can use some different colours and mix them up with the ones you've done already. That should suit the pedantic amongst us. I'd be happy to run them on my layout, although I suspect they wouldn't do the sleepers much good (if they make it to the end). 

[mullie]

The MW book is still my go to source of ideas, the wagons look good. Not sure if you have coloured the wheels, that is always worth doing. Like Kier has said once you mix them up with some other weathered wagons any uniformity won't show. Dry brushing some colour variation on the planking of the next batch would help. Maybe do them in smaller batches, maybe six at a time?

 

I do appreciate that with a larger layout it is a much bigger task.

 

Martyn

Edited May 1, 2020 by mullie

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Gordon, I found Humbrol weathering powers very good. They are applied with a dry brush and you can put on as much or as little as you like. Comes in smoky black, dark earth and rust. The beauty of them is they can be almost washed off with warm water and washing up liquid so you can get some variation of weathering.

 

After weathering

 

After washing off