Copenhagen Fields

[CF MRC]

Fair comment, David. There are plenty of walls to attach to, but a railway sign near the entrance would be appropriate. 
 

Tim

Edited April 10, 2021 by CF MRC

[CF MRC]

The 5mm thick protective Perspex screen has now been fitted to the end of the cart road. It is held in place by a couple of blackened 12BA screws, so can easily be removed for photographic purposes. 

The tapped holes in the Perspex were rather conspicuous, so I ran some grey paint in the hole. They look a bit like protective bollards or, in the case of the nearer one, three bollards because of the refraction on the polished end of the sheet.  It’s all a good deal sturdier, which is a relief, and essential for an exhibition layout like CF. 
 

Incidentally, the layout is having its own very special exhibition at Keen House on July 10-11th. 
https://www.themodelrailwayclub.org/product/buy-tickets-to-our-events/
It will be jolly hard work, but hopefully people will enjoy the opportunity to really get to know the layout.

 

Tim

Edited April 11, 2021 by CF MRC

[CF MRC]

And somebody said,  ‘all the buildings on CF were the same colour’...

This little group was made by Richard Wilson. I have been adding garage posters & he is working on some pumps. 
 

Tim

Edited April 12, 2021 by CF MRC

[Caley Jim]

52 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

....he is working on some pumps. 

Didn't know garages sold gym shoes!  

 

Jim (windae picked as always!)

[CF MRC]

Richard Wilson’s petrol pumps arrived today, so they were fitted this evening. It was tempting to use the red & yellow shell logo on top of the pumps, but I think that would be out of our period. Probably needs an oil cabinet nearby. 

These little details help to bring the scene to life, but will not be visible to the public on normal exhibition. 
 

Tim
 

[CF MRC]

Just a cast iron water trough. 

Tim
 

[Caley Jim]

18 minutes ago, CF MRC said:

Just a cast iron water trough. 

Do you have a horse to take to it, or are others going to have their snouts in it? 

 

Jim 

[CF MRC]

Working on the horses, Jim. Let’s not get political on the other point!

 

Tim

[CF MRC]

Clearly there was a need for something to warrant the horse trough. Young Jim very kindly sent me three of his lovely little etched drays. These were used as a basis for suitable vehicles for the potato & veg trade. 

The horses available in 2mm scale are pretty dire. This little chap, with his nose bag on, was converted from the beast plonked between the shafts of the centre open wagon.

I knew there would be another use for the jig I made for constructing the cart road canopy rooves: it makes a good spraying platter, with the little bits held lightly in place with double sided adhesive tape.

Some wagons just posed in the open yard area - the big one was originally from Langley, but thinned down quite a bit. The boxes of lettuce were simply blocks of styrene suitably carved and painted. The sacks were originally white metal castings, but heavily modified to ‘sit down’. The tarpaulins are folded up at the back of the wagon. 

The dearth of suitable horses is being worked on...

 

Tim

Edited April 25, 2021 by CF MRC

[mike morley]

Can't help feeling that the alterations to the horse deserve more than just two pictures and a single sentence.

Edited April 25, 2021 by mike morley

[CF MRC]

It’s really a question of studying horse anatomy and cutting and splicing bits of metal, Mike. I use low melt solder with lots of liquid flux and re-sculpt bits by adding excess material and then carving back with a scalpel or very sharp micro-chisel. I suppose it helps that I grew up with horses, so some of it is memory, but there are loads of pictures out there on the web to look at. 
 

The off-side front leg was replaced with a length of white metal rod and re-carved, the neck was shortened by taking out a wedge, just behind the mandible and the head was tipped down at the same time; the nose was shortened, but then a lump of white metal was re-joined and carved to make the nose bag (I don’t recollect seeing this modelled before). The near-side femur and rump was moved back with pliers to raise it and the hoof turned over in a resting pose.  The ears were re-sculpted with one up and the other down - drawing out a point in low melt solder -  he is shaking his head to one side because of flies around his ears and he is also swishing his re-sculpted tail: the Kings Cross area must have been alive with flies from the local industries and trades. 

 

A rather cruel close up. 

 

Hope that helps.

Tim
 

Edited April 25, 2021 by CF MRC

[mullie]

That is stunning, thanks for sharing a more detailed explanation of how you created the horse.

 

Martyn

[bécasse]

A comment rather than a criticism, Tim, I suspect that your potato sacks are a little on the skinny side, see https://www.heritagesouthholland.co.uk/article/potato-railway/ and https://nocton.blogspot.com/2017/01/nocton-estate-railway.html , in both cases scrolling down to the relevant picture.

[CF MRC]

They certainly aren’t potato sacks David. They are something quite dense, could be grain. 
 

Tim

[Yorkshire Square]

13 hours ago, CF MRC said:

I suppose it helps that I grew up with horses...
 

 

You can phone Childline, for that sort of thing, these days. 

[bécasse]

11 hours ago, CF MRC said:

They certainly aren’t potato sacks David. They are something quite dense, could be grain. 

I doubt whether grain was handled there as it was usually sold direct from mills (of which there were more than you might assume in London). Beetroots perhaps?

[CF MRC]

Could well be beetroot. There is, of course, the massive granary warehouse at the end of KX goods yard. 
 

Tim

[CF MRC]

Christmas came early today for me as the trader signs for the potato market arrived from Ben Weiner as well as the castings for the Handyside canopy supports from my colleague at Guy’s.

Tom E’s 3DP columns were mounted for casting with a large wax feeder sprue on a sprue former and casting ring. 

They were then invested in a very high temperature investment. 

This was brought up to 900deg C to expand the investment and burn out the plastic. The investment expansion accommodates the shrinkage of the metal on cooling. 

The metal ingots can be seen in the crucible with the hot casting ring in place. The metal is heated by induction to 1500 deg C. 

At casting temperature the button of molten alloy can now be seen in the crucible.

It’s now been vacuum cast into the investment ring. 

The exciting bit is when the ring is quenched and the castings divested. 

The alloy used is shown here:

This sort of alloy is the stuff that some crowns and metal dentures are made of (as well as artificial hips). It’s about as strong as you can get in my trade and this little exercise was a test to see if it would be of use for student teaching purposes.

The final castings were minimally cleaned up with grit blasting to remove the investment, but the remaining green oxide layer may help paint adhesion - as will the ‘as cast’ surface. These columns can afford to have a bit of paint build up when sprayed as the top of the casting was quite heavy, in reality. 

(image copyright Malcolm Tucker)

Trimming from the sprue and any adjustments will be done with diamond discs and burs, although this is a relatively soft Co Cr alloy compared to some. When fully fettled and painted, the columns will be attached with full strength epoxy resin adhesive. There is no way those columns are going to get bent! 

 

Hope this is of some interest. 
Tim

 

 

 

 

 

[Caley Jim]

2 hours ago, CF MRC said:

I presume that's not asbestos you're using to line the casting ring!  

 

2 hours ago, CF MRC said:

 There is no way those columns are going to get bent! 

And I hope you have a 1st aid kit ready for anyone who knocks against them!

 

Jim

[CF MRC]

15 hours ago, Caley Jim said:

I presume that's not asbestos you're using to line the casting ring!  

 

And I hope you have a 1st aid kit ready for anyone who knocks against them!

 

Jim

Indeed not Jim, but we used to! (The sharp pointy bits are inward facing).

 

Tim

Edited April 28, 2021 by CF MRC

[drmditch]

Thank you. Fascinating process.

[richbrummitt]

16 hours ago, CF MRC said:

Christmas came early today for me as the trader signs for the potato market arrived from Ben Weiner as well as the castings for the Handyside canopy supports from my colleague at Guy’s.

Tom E’s 3DP columns were mounted for casting with a large wax feeder sprue on a sprue former and casting ring. 

They were then invested in a very high temperature investment. 

This was brought up to 900deg C to expand the investment and burn out the plastic. The investment expansion accommodates the shrinkage of the metal on cooling. 

The metal ingots can be seen in the crucible with the hot casting ring in place. The metal is heated by induction to 1500 deg C. 

At casting temperature the button of molten alloy can now be seen in the crucible.

It’s now been vacuum cast into the investment ring. 

The exciting bit is when the ring is quenched and the castings divested. 

The alloy used is shown here:

This sort of alloy is the stuff that some crowns and metal dentures are made of (as well as artificial hips). It’s about as strong as you can get in my trade and this little exercise was a test to see if it would be of use for student teaching purposes.

The final castings were minimally cleaned up with grit blasting to remove the investment, but the remaining green oxide layer may help paint adhesion - as will the ‘as cast’ surface. These columns can afford to have a bit of paint build up when sprayed as the top of the casting was quite heavy, in reality. 

(image copyright Malcolm Tucker)

Trimming from the sprue and any adjustments will be done with diamond discs and burs, although this is a relatively soft Co Cr alloy compared to some. When fully fettled and painted, the columns will be attached with full strength epoxy resin adhesive. There is no way those columns are going to get bent! 

 

Hope this is of some interest. 
Tim

 

 

 

 

 

This post seems to answer the question “what other things do I need to get/budget for to go with my 3D printer?” pretty well. 
 

Fascinating stuff. 

[TomE]

On 27/04/2021 at 19:16, CF MRC said:

 

Those have come out very nicely Tim!

 

Tom.  

 

[CF MRC]

The traders have now erected their name boards at the Kings Cross Potato Market. The signs were drawn up and printed by Ben Weiner: he even made the font specially for the job. The ‘traders’ are fairly obviously all people who are Club members or who have helped with the layout (or two of my grandchildren). The views under the canopy will not be possible, once the layout is fully assembled; indeed the supporting columns for the canopy (next job) will rather get in the way of the camera once they are in place. I think everyone must have gone to the refreshment club for a cup of tea...

 

 

 

This is the view that will be available: awaiting columns, wagons, carts, horses & people!

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the model so far. CF really is a team effort. 

Tim

Edited April 30, 2021 by CF MRC

[65179]

Those under the canopy shots are just amazing Tim. Fantastic modelling.

 

Regards,

 

Simon