Any Question Answered

[CF MRC]

To get fine coach lining in straw and black I use the Mecanorma pens with Magic Colour inks (Goggle the names for supplies). Certainly worked easily for my Oerlikon set.

 

For magnification I am spoilt by using high quality professional loupes and co-axial lighting. However, some of these are available at relatively low cost from the web. Quality may not be as good, but depth of field should be better than single lens systems. Massively good lighting will always help older eyes....

 

Tim

[JohnBS]

Hello 2mm people.

 

I'm working on some N gauge 3-Subs (thread in my signature), and although I have one of those desk-mounted illuminated magnifying glasses, am still struggling to see what I'm doing when it comes to the fine detail - in my case painting the head code stencils in particular.

 

Can anyone offer advice on how to paint such small lettering / any magnifying products I can use in addition too / instead of the maginifier I already have?

 

In terms of painting fine lines, I'm using a 000 Kolinsky brush, but even that feels a little clumsy. Would it help to pull / trim some hairs?

 

I'm fairly good when it comes to having a steady hand / perseverance / patience / it's just seeing / focusing on what I'm doing and finding

a suitably fine tool to paint with that is problematic. I've tried cocktail sticks, pins, but they're not doing the trick (combined with previously mentioned difficulty in seeing)

 

Many thanks in advance,

 

Mark

Mark,

I'm very impressed with your paintwork - the coach sides look brilliant.

In the circumstances of the headcode boards, I think that I would cheat and draw up the dot and F in Photoshop, print on thin paper and stick on to blank headcode frames. In my view, in 2mm scale, a crisp outline is more important than relief.

Otherwise, I agree with the importance of good lighting.

I hope that this helps.

Best wishes,

John

[richbrummitt]

I'll add to the crowd that recommends plenty of light. This comes first. I have an angle poise lamp with 3x15W fluorescent tubes that I sit less than 0.5m from the task when doing fine work.

 

I wear glasses, but am best to take them off when working up close. I'm fortunate that I don't (yet) require reading glasses. I do not use magnification better than 3x at the moment because everything can start to look scrappy if you make these tiny parts too large!

 

I think you will find finer brushes than 000. I have had brushes down to 6/0, however I tend to use a 4/0 brush for think lines because I found a brush I liked. I dip the brush in water, wipe, smooth the bristles to a point (I usually use my lips but be careful depending on the paint), add paint and then line my thumb nail / thumb / palm of the other hand to remove any glob, then put brush to model. I clean the brush regularly to avoid any build up or drying of paint.

[dhjgreen]

Try a cheap pair of supermarket reading glasses, they worked for me. Being binocular the image is in 3D so much easier to model. Take a piece you are modelling and try the various strengths until you find something that works for you; around £3 a pair.

[Southernboy]

Many thanks indeed for further very helpful replies. As always, I am much indebted for the sharing of experience and advice.

 

At the moment I am commited to trying to make the etched headcodes work as they are firmly fixed in place and to remove them in favour of Photoshop versions would now require some butchery as the cab fronts are firmly soldered / glued, painted and detailed in all repects apart from transfers.

 

Additionally I'd hoped the etched headcodes would herald a step-up in terms of the degree of detail I can achieve (I'm always trying to push my skills - but maybe this time I pushed a step too far? Time will tell). If necessary I'll have to revert to a printout as suggested.

 

Tonight I found in the local artshop 10/0 and 5/0 short hair brushes, plus a 3/0 spotting brush. I'll have go with these and see how I get on.  I've taken on board Richard's comments regarding paint ... my current thinking is I need to finess the degree of fluidity / dryness of the paint I'm using to control the degree of flow or otherwise above what I've done before.

 

It's a long shot - but it just might work! 

 

I'll also look at the magnifaction / illumination issues  ...

 

Thanks again for the valuable comments, they all really help my train of thought.

Edited October 27, 2015 by Southernboy

[Donw]

Try a cheap pair of supermarket reading glasses, they worked for me. Being binocular the image is in 3D so much easier to model. Take a piece you are modelling and try the various strengths until you find something that works for you; around £3 a pair.

 

I use x2 glasses for reading so I bought some x3.5 for 2mm modelling massively expensive in poundland. At a quid a time it is no disaster if you sit on them etc. I can also look through the magnifying lamp wearing the glasses.

Don

[omgTrain]

So I have finished my first section of easiTrack, that was part of the welcome pack, hoping to take on the wagon soon. Completing the track has raised some questions I have concerning easitrack and general track building.

1. How would you join separate sections of track together, thinking along the lines of fishplates in the peco world. I have search the association shop and was not able to find any?
2. I had trouble working out what way up the top of the bull head rail was, I think I have got it. But the question is, how detrimental is this?
3. Also I found the process of making the easitrack 2 out of 10, 10 being really hard. Using that sliding scale, how would you compare the construction of an easiTrack point?
4. Lastly are there any alternatives to easiTrack, also in comparison how difficult are they to construct?

Sorry for all the probably simple questions, I'm rather new to all this. Also I really want to make sure I understand the space before making a commitment to 2mm finescale.

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

Edited November 1, 2015 by omgTrain

[Caley Jim]

So I have finished my first section of easiTrack, that was part of the welcome pack, hoping to take on the wagon soon. Completing the track has raised some questions I have concerning easitrack and general track building.

1. How would you join separate sections of track together, thinking along the lines of fishplates in the peco world. I have search the association shop and was not able to find any?
2. I had trouble working out what way up the top of the bull head rail was, I think I have got it. But the question is, how detrimental is this?
3. Also I found the process of making the easitrack 2 out of 10, 10 being really hard. Using that sliding scale, how would you compare the construction of an easiTrack point?
4. Lastly are there any alternatives to easiTrack, also in comparison how difficult are they to construct?

Sorry for all the probably simple questions, I'm rather new to all this. Also I really want to make sure I understand the space before making a commitment to 2mm finescale.

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

Hi Joe.  Glad to see you giving 2FS a go!  

 

To answer you questions (well, three of them):

1   You don't need fishplates.  Attach a dropper wire to the end of each length of track and pass them through holes drilled in the relevant places in the trackbed.  You simply align the ends of the rail accurately when glueing the track down and then solder the droppers together underneath for electrical continuity.  These also give you places for track feeds.  If you want an isolating gap, omit the droppers

2   It can be difficult to work out which way is up, but using magnification helps.  If you find it difficult to thread the rail into the sleepers despite lightly chamfering the ends, you've probably got the rail upside down!

3   I haven't built any turnouts using the new pegged chairs, so can't comment, but I have built a fair number of turnouts on interlaced sleepers using a mix of Easitrac and pcb sleepers.  Results can be seen on my layout thread - link in the signature below.

4   There are several other systems based on pcb sleepers, but these are all much more time consuming than Easitrac, at least for plain track.

 

HTH,

 

Jim

Edited November 1, 2015 by Caley Jim

[Nigelcliffe]

So I have finished my first section of easiTrack, that was part of the welcome pack, hoping to take on the wagon soon. Completing the track has raised some questions I have concerning easitrack and general track building.

• How would you join separate sections of track together, thinking along the lines of fishplates in the peco world. I have search the association shop and was not able to find any?
• I had trouble working out what way up the top of the bull head rail was, I think I have got it. But the question is, how detrimental is this?
• Also I found the process of making the easitrack 2 out of 10, 10 being really hard. Using that sliding scale, how would you compare the construction of an easiTrack point?
• Lastly are there any alternatives to easiTrack, also in comparison how difficult are they to construct?

Sorry for all the probably simple questions, I'm rather new to all this. Also I really want to make sure I understand the space before making a commitment to 2mm finescale.

 

Item 0 -  if serious about 2mm track building, buy a copy of the book "Track" from the Association shop.  Buy it even if you're not making your own track, its a really good book.  Then settle down to a lot of reading !

 

 

Question 1 - don't use fishplates, scale ones would be really tiny!  Align rails carefully and fix the sleepers down properly and all stays aligned.  Some people use the traditional method of a soldered PCB sleeper for the last one in a length of rail.

 

Question 2 - not a massive issue, but if you clean up the end of a cut rail with a file its usually easier to see it clearly (I also put a slight chamfer on the bottom parts of the rail where it will slide into chairs).  And, after a while, you learn what light to look under, what magnifier (if any) you need, and then put a mark with a felt pen on the top surface so you can find it again.   

 

Question 3 - impossible to give a value.   Its considerably more work than plain track, but not that hard.  I'd say, about as hard as constructing the underframe etch in the kit you have, but different skills.    The new "pegged chair" method is easier for standard geometry turnouts. 

 

Question 4 - See Item 0.  Buy the Track book, really, it will save typing about 200 pages of answer !    There are lots of alternatives, the main one being soldered construction which a number of people prefer because of the ease of adjustment during construction and checking.    If turnouts are very offputting, then you can buy them ready-built from an Association member, Keith Armes, prices start at around £18, see the "Small Suppliers" bit of the 2mm website, underneath "Products".   

 

 

- Nigel

[omgTrain]

Hi Joe.  Glad to see you giving 2FS a go!  

 

To answer you questions (well, three of them):

1   You don't need fishplates.  Attach a dropper wire to the end of each length of track and pass them through holes drilled in the relevant places in the trackbed.  You simply align the ends of the rail accurately when glueing the track down and then solder the droppers together underneath for electrical continuity.  These also give you places for track feeds.  If you want an isolating gap, omit the droppers

2   It can be difficult to work out which way is up, but using magnification helps.  If you find it difficult to thread the rail into the sleepers despite lightly chamfering the ends, you've probably got the rail upside down!

3   I haven't built any turnouts using the new pegged chairs, so can't comment, but I have built a fair number of turnouts on interlaced sleepers using a mix of Easitrac and pcb sleepers.  Results can be seen on my layout thread - link in the signature below.

4   There are several other systems based on pcb sleepers, but these are all much more time consuming than Easitrac, at least for plain track.

 

HTH,

 

Jim

 

Thanks Jim for the advice, just trying to understand the simple principles that I took for granted in N-Gauge and OO Gauge. You layout looks great by the way, will definitely being following that thread.

 

Item 0 -  if serious about 2mm track building, buy a copy of the book "Track" from the Association shop.  Buy it even if you're not making your own track, its a really good book.  Then settle down to a lot of reading !

 

 

Question 1 - don't use fishplates, scale ones would be really tiny!  Align rails carefully and fix the sleepers down properly and all stays aligned.  Some people use the traditional method of a soldered PCB sleeper for the last one in a length of rail.

 

Question 2 - not a massive issue, but if you clean up the end of a cut rail with a file its usually easier to see it clearly (I also put a slight chamfer on the bottom parts of the rail where it will slide into chairs).  And, after a while, you learn what light to look under, what magnifier (if any) you need, and then put a mark with a felt pen on the top surface so you can find it again.   

 

Question 3 - impossible to give a value.   Its considerably more work than plain track, but not that hard.  I'd say, about as hard as constructing the underframe etch in the kit you have, but different skills.    The new "pegged chair" method is easier for standard geometry turnouts. 

 

Question 4 - See Item 0.  Buy the Track book, really, it will save typing about 200 pages of answer !    There are lots of alternatives, the main one being soldered construction which a number of people prefer because of the ease of adjustment during construction and checking.    If turnouts are very offputting, then you can buy them ready-built from an Association member, Keith Armes, prices start at around £18, see the "Small Suppliers" bit of the 2mm website, underneath "Products".   

 

 

- Nigel

 

Thanks Nigel for the advice, I will order the track building track asap. The idea with the marker pen is great. I think for the time being I might go for the pegged chair system, as my plan only has a single point, and I think a standard geometry will be fine. I will attempt to build one, and if all else fails then pay for someone to build me one.

[Branwell]

Joe,

 

There's a very good series of videos on building an Easitrac point starting with

 

And I'd echo what others have said - buy the track book and settle down with it and a big mug of tea!

 

Good luck!

 

Regards,

 

David V

[cornish trains jez]

So I have finished my first section of easiTrack, that was part of the welcome pack, hoping to take on the wagon soon. Completing the track has raised some questions I have concerning easitrack and general track building.

 

• How would you join separate sections of track together, thinking along the lines of fishplates in the peco world. I have search the association shop and was not able to find any?
• I had trouble working out what way up the top of the bull head rail was, I think I have got it. But the question is, how detrimental is this?
• Also I found the process of making the easitrack 2 out of 10, 10 being really hard. Using that sliding scale, how would you compare the construction of an easiTrack point?
• Lastly are there any alternatives to easiTrack, also in comparison how difficult are they to construct?

Sorry for all the probably simple questions, I'm rather new to all this. Also I really want to make sure I understand the space before making a commitment to 2mm finescale.

 

Thanks,

 

Joe

 

Something I do to link up the two sections of track is that I always make sure there is an overlap of sleepers at the end of each section so then you just thread one section onto another. It helps massively when glueing down as the sections are pretty much pre-aligned.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

[omgTrain]

Joe,

 

There's a very good series of videos on building an Easitrac point starting with

 

And I'd echo what others have said - buy the track book and settle down with it and a big mug of tea!

 

Good luck!

 

Regards,

 

David V

 

Thanks David, that youtube series looks very comprehensive, I will set aside time to watch that. 

 

Something I do to link up the two sections of track is that I always make sure there is an overlap of sleepers at the end of each section so then you just thread one section onto another. It helps massively when glueing down as the sections are pretty much pre-aligned.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

 

Jeremy

 

Thanks Jeremy. I really like the idea of staggered sleepers. Love your track on Euston, actually you're to blame for me starting this 2mm track.   

 

Joe

[cornish trains jez]

 

 

 

 

Thanks Jeremy. I really like the idea of staggered sleepers. Love your track on Euston, actually you're to blame for me starting this 2mm track.   

 

Joe

 

 

Thanks Joe. I have BCNPete here on RMweb to blame for my conversion to 2mmFS! I've never looked back since.

[garethashenden]

I'm building a 2-6-0 with an 8 wheel tender. The tender has two bogies and I'm wondering what the best way to make these is. They are outside framed, with 5.25mm wheels. I'm going to turn the wheels anyway, so if needed I can make extended axles. I do want pickup from all wheels. Any ideas?

[CF MRC]

Gareth

With my extensive experience of American 2-6-0s (!) I would make internal frames for spilt frame pick up and dummy external versions. Extended pinpoints will be harder to make and not good for pickup. They will not stay as pin points for long if the juice is going through them.

 

Tim

[VonRyan]

How long does it normally take to hear back from the 2mm association when joining via the Internet? I've paid my dues and such, and was told my information was being forwarded to whomever is supposed to deal with it, but I would like to know when to stop holding my breath. Will I get my information via email or will it be physically mailed to me?

[Nigelcliffe]

How long does it normally take to hear back from the 2mm association when joining via the Internet? I've paid my dues and such, and was told my information was being forwarded to whomever is supposed to deal with it, but I would like to know when to stop holding my breath. Will I get my information via email or will it be physically mailed to me?

Normally within two weeks or so for the UK, a bit longer for other countries as the post takes time.  Material is sent by post.   If really concerned, then you can email the Association via the website and someone will check its all going through - the "info" contact is me.

 

The organisation is all volunteers, people doing it in their own time for benefit of others.  If someone takes a week or two for holiday that puts a delay onto things. 

 

 

- Nigel

[Caley Jim]

The organisation is all volunteers, people doing it in their own time for benefit of others.  If someone takes a week or two for holiday that puts a delay onto things. 

As the person who maintains the membership database, I have just had a list from the membership secretary of the application forms which are in the post to me.  There doesn't appear to be any overseas members among them (as you don't give your name I can't be sure whether you are one of them).

 

He also said in his email that he was going away for a few days, so it may be a week or two before you hear anything.  If you let me have your name and email address in a PM, I will make sure that he let's you know when he has processed your application.

 

Jim

[garethashenden]

Gareth

With my extensive experience of American 2-6-0s (!) I would make internal frames for spilt frame pick up and dummy external versions. Extended pinpoints will be harder to make and not good for pickup. They will not stay as pin points for long if the juice is going through them.

 

Tim

Thanks Tim, I thought that would be the way to do it. Assuming the two frames are joined by pcb, I'll have a screw holding the bogie to the tender, but how do I go about getting the power from the bogie to the tender? Wires? Springs? Contact tabs?

[VonRyan]

Normally within two weeks or so for the UK, a bit longer for other countries as the post takes time. Material is sent by post. If really concerned, then you can email the Association via the website and someone will check its all going through - the "info" contact is me.

 

The organisation is all volunteers, people doing it in their own time for benefit of others. If someone takes a week or two for holiday that puts a delay onto things.

 

 

- Nigel

I'd have thought since I had emailed in my application (and received email confirmation that my application was received) that I would also get a confirmation of membership or somesuch via email.

 

 

As the person who maintains the membership database, I have just had a list from the membership secretary of the application forms which are in the post to me. There doesn't appear to be any overseas members among them (as you don't give your name I can't be sure whether you are one of them).

 

He also said in his email that he was going away for a few days, so it may be a week or two before you hear anything. If you let me have your name and email address in a PM, I will make sure that he let's you know when he has processed your application.

 

Jim

PM headed your way

[Chris Higgs]

Thanks Tim, I thought that would be the way to do it. Assuming the two frames are joined by pcb, I'll have a screw holding the bogie to the tender, but how do I go about getting the power from the bogie to the tender? Wires? Springs? Contact tabs?

 

I'd go for wires. Make sure they are very light and flexible ones.

 

Chris

Edited November 5, 2015 by Chris Higgs

[StuartM]

A quick question re DCC

Can you run a DCC converted loco using a CT chip on DC, primarily to test pick-up/wiper continuity ?

[Nigelcliffe]

A quick question re DCC

Can you run a DCC converted loco using a CT chip on DC, primarily to test pick-up/wiper continuity ?

Yes, with three conditions - first CV29 is enabled for DC running (which needs disabling for fitting stay alive units) and second the DC supply is smooth DC, not something with high frequency feedback. With high frequency feedback (eg. Pentrollers) some decoders/locos will be fine, others get very confused.     And, third, do not use electronic track cleaners (eg. Relco) or you risk damaging the decoder.

 

A 9volt battery is a very smooth source of DC.

 

- Nigel

Edited November 6, 2015 by Nigelcliffe

[CF MRC]

I'd go for wires. Make sure they are very light and flexible ones.

 

Chris

On my American 2-6-0 there wasn't room for thin wires as the motor and massive tungsten flywheel got in the way of any current collection from the front bogie. There was insufficient length for the requisite flexibility using thin wire: the bogies are almost square, so their tracking is easily biased by soldered wires. I therefore used phosphor bronze wiping pads lightly sprung down onto each side of the rear bogie which also took the current up to the motor brush tags (Portescap 1016). The p/b wipers also gave some springing to the rear end of the tender.

 

Tim