Wright writes.....

[jamie92208]

9 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Some years ago I had the unenviable task of recovering a neighbour's cat from the road one evening, after someone had run it over (for which there was no excuse, it being a shortish cul-de-sac - though to some it resembles Santa Pod....).  Then followed the next morning by going over to tell the lady owner (and her kids) opposite, and then acting as Undertaker.  Not one of my better days.

 

Yes unfortunately a cat is not an animal that you have to report if you hit one with a motor vehicle.  As a young bobby I had to learn the Mnemonic DGCHAMPS which listed the reportable animals. Dokgs, Goats, Cattle, Horses, Asses, Mules, Pigs and Sheep.  Why I can still remember that after 47 years but not what I had for breakfast I don't know.

 

Jamie

Edited August 17, 2020 by jamie92208

[Erichill16]

4 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Dear All,

Been reading posts but nothing to contribute recently but thought you may like to see a picture of Sydney, a dog  we doggy sit quite regularly. He’s catching up on ‘Wright Writes’ 

Best Wishes,

Robert

 

[CF MRC]

On Tuesday, we will e getting this little fellow:

Tim

[jrg1]

Can we get back to modelling?

[polybear]

6 hours ago, CF MRC said:

On Tuesday, we will e getting this little fellow:

Tim

 

In 2mm scale too.....

[Tony Wright]

14 hours ago, Bucoops said:

I've actually managed a little bit of modelling. I've been trying out my new RSU on the roof vent of my Drewry 04 kit.

 

I've already put spacing pieces on the underside of the vent, then rolled it. Some more solder cream added to the spacing pieces - 

 

 

Used a magnet to hold the roof in place on the bar - 

 

 

Place the vent carefully into the right place and apply the RSU - 

 

 

 

Worked very nicely indeed. I can see me using it a lot for laminate or layered joints. 

 

That looks excellent work, Rich.

 

What is the secret of success with an RSU? I've borrowed two (for review), from two different manufacturers and couldn't get on with them at all. In the end, I didn't write the reviews because I had nothing positive to say.

 

The solder paste just made a mess and I found I could get excellent results by just tinning laminates, flooding them with flux and then just applying a hefty iron to do the job (a technique I still use). I like the iron's ability to run molten solder along a seam, acting both as a bond and a filler. Do that with a probe and it repels the solder (yes, I know you're not supposed to do that). 

 

Not only can I solder several heat-absorbing laminates with my traditional iron, I can also solder tiny components as well.

 

 

These frames were fixed in place by tinning their rears and the rebates they fit into, flooding with flux, held with a tiny peg, and the iron introduced from the rear.

 

 

Where access to the rear is impossible, I use the same technique but use the iron from the front. Tiny amounts of solder are the key.

 

 

Still a bit of cleaning up to do on these runners.

 

 

Seen before, this is the Isinglass LNER milk van I built for my Crowood book. Any still-visible solder disappeared under the paint. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Tony Wright
typo error

[Tony Wright]

4 hours ago, jrg1 said:

Can we get back to modelling?

Good idea,

 

As the one who really started this (with a throw-away line about a cat's scar) I take full responsibility. 

 

Above all else, this is a modellers' thread and I'd not like it to just be a picture book of pets.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Atso]

On the subject of modelling (hacking in this case). I've been reworking the donor Dapol Hall's cross heads and N Brass slide bar castings for use with my latest two C1 builds. The top two cross heads have been altered while the bottom two are has Dapol produced them.

 

 

I also had to widen the slipper (is that the right term?) and narrow the slide bars to get a running fit.

 

 

I've also tried to be a little more scientific in my approach to weighting the C1s - opposed to gun-ho method that almost resulted in disaster on the original model I built. Fitting a coupling to the tender and undertaking some haulage trials is next.

 

 

[Tony Wright]

Odd (or is it?) that several things discussed on this thread (the future of exhibitions, for instance?) have their own threads?

 

It must be very hard to have put hours and hours of work into building/detailing/completing an exhibition layout and, particularly, building masses of stock for it, only to have the prospect of it never being seen. Many exhibition layouts can only be set up at shows, their being too big for a home or clubroom. Do they have a future, I wonder? 

 

2021's show diary is already showing casualties..................

[Tony Wright]

7 minutes ago, Atso said:

On the subject of modelling (hacking in this case). I've been reworking the donor Dapol Hall's cross heads and N Brass slide bar castings for use with my latest two C1 builds. The top two cross heads have been altered while the bottom two are has Dapol produced them.

 

 

I also had to widen the slipper (is that the right term?) and narrow the slide bars to get a running fit.

 

 

I've also tried to be a little more scientific in my approach to weighting the C1s - opposed to gun-ho method that almost resulted in disaster on the original model I built. Fitting a coupling to the tender and undertaking some haulage trials is next.

 

 

Great stuff Steve,

 

Such ingenuity!

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Atso]

15 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Great stuff Steve,

 

Such ingenuity!

 

Thanks for showing us.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Thank you Tony,

 

I'm not sure how much ingenuity there is here, after all Dapol, Farish and Peco did much of the work. One thing I am feeling a bit smug about however is the tender chassis. This was 3D printed and made into a split frame pickup system by soldering wires onto the bearings (invisible once the outside frames are on) and shorting out the tender wheels to the axles using fine wire and some 1.5mm by 5mm steel dowel pins. I discovered that the Donor Hall chassis is made out of stamped steel plates so I soldered magnets to the tender wires to avoid using screws. It makes the raw chassis look a bit like a bug, but it works.

 

 

[Tony Wright]

9 minutes ago, Atso said:

 

Thank you Tony,

 

I'm not sure how much ingenuity there is here, after all Dapol, Farish and Peco did much of the work. One thing I am feeling a bit smug about however is the tender chassis. This was 3D printed and made into a split frame pickup system by soldering wires onto the bearings (invisible once the outside frames are on) and shorting out the tender wheels to the axles using fine wire and some 1.5mm by 5mm steel dowel pins. I discovered that the Donor Hall chassis is made out of stamped steel plates so I soldered magnets to the tender wires to avoid using screws. It makes the raw chassis look a bit like a bug, but it works.

 

 

And that's not ingenious?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Denbridge]

11 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

 

Yes unfortunately a cat is not an animal that you have to report if you hit one with a motor vehicle.  As a young bobby I had to learn the Mnemonic DGCHAMPS which listed the reportable animals. Dokgs, Goats, Cattle, Horses, Asses, Mules, Pigs and Sheep.  Why I can still remember that after 47 years but not what I had for breakfast I don't know.

 

Jamie

There are a lot of vets (and other bodies) who would like the law changed to bring cats in line with other pets. That includes keeping them safe inside. My vet recently commented that he is becoming increasingly upset dealing with a sharp rise in the number of felines brought to him with illnesses and injuries that are completely avoidable if owners would only keep their cats inside.

[jrg1]

Regarding RSUs I find that the crucial factor is selecting the correct solder paint.  I use Carr's 188 paint with a London Road RSU.  

[grahame]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

 

It must be very hard to have put hours and hours of work into building/detailing/completing an exhibition layout and, particularly, building masses of stock for it, only to have the prospect of it never being seen. Many exhibition layouts can only be set up at shows, their being too big for a home or clubroom. Do they have a future, I wonder? 

 

 

 

Do they need a future? I'd have thought that even a large layout would have been built with a location in mind (other than a show) for it to be set up to test it out, check alignments, running, electrics, etc., even if they don't get publicly displayed. And, of course, for some (many?) much of the enjoyment is in the building/construction of the layout, scenery, stock, etc.,. So maybe they will continue to be built, even in the hope that one day . . . . . . some time in a far away galaxy . . . .

 

 

[jwealleans]

Morning Tony,

 

I thought this might interest you, being a mix of the traditional and new technology in the hobby.   Some time ago on the scratchbuilt coaching stock thread, I was interested to see some teak Gresley carriages produced by a user called Gazman424.   We started discussing the way he makes them and he offered me a pair of sides for a D265 TL (the 54' steel Gresley vehicle used in the GE Area).  Time passed and earlier this year a box landed on my doormat.  It didn't however, only contain sides, but a virtually complete vehicle:

 

 

 

 

 

This is all laser cut from card to Gaz's own drawings.  The underframe and bogies are his own 3D prints.  I think this is a remarkable illustration of what new technology can do for us as modellers if we take the time to master it and just how self-sufficient we can be.  It was also very generous; all i had to do was supply a roof, paint and glaze it.  Card would not have been my medium of choice - I've never built a card vehicle before - but there was very little difference in the way I went about it to the way I'd finish any other carriage. 

 

 

A steel sided vehicle isn't the ideal model for this method as the windows end up recessed too far.   For wooden Gresleys, though, it's ideal.  It's lighter than a brass vehicle but not so much as to make it unstable and in every other respect it's indistinguishable from the brass vehicles either side of it.  Have a look at the outstanding collection of vehicles Gaz is building up and you can't fail to be impressed.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by jwealleans

[Bucoops]

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

That looks excellent work, Rich.

 

What is the secret of success with an RSU? I've borrowed two (for review), from two different manufacturers and couldn't get on with them at all. In the end, I didn't write the reviews because I had nothing positive to say.

 

The solder paste just made a mess and I found I could get excellent results by just tinning laminates, flooding them with flux and then just applying a hefty iron to do the job (a technique I still use). I like the iron's ability to run molten solder along a seam, acting both as a bond and a filler. Do that with a probe and it repels the solder (yes, I know you're not supposed to do that). 

 

Not only can I solder several heat-absorbing laminates with my traditional iron, I can also solder tiny components as well.

 

 

These frames were fixed in place by tinning their rears and the rebates they fit into, flooding with flux, held with a tiny peg, and the iron introduced from the rear.

 

 

Where access to the rear is impossible, I use the same technique but use the iron from the front. Tiny amounts of solder are the key.

 

 

Still a bit of cleaning up to do on these runners.

 

 

Seen before, this is the Isinglass LNER milk van I built for my Crowood book. Any still-visible solder disappeared under the paint. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Morning Tony,

 

I believe the biggest thing is cleanliness leading to low resistance between the various parts in the electrical circuit. The idea being that the solder cream is the only significant resistance in the circuit and so the heat is generated at that point only, melting the solder and then you take the power away whilst still holding the probe in place. Once the solder has solidified you can then remove the probe. I have found you have to use miniscule amounts of cream as well otherwise you do end up with a mess. That is fine with me as it's not cheap compared to regular solder.

 

I've not tried it yet but I believe you can also position small pieces of regular wire solder along a butt joint and brush some flux along where you want the solder to flow and then apply the probe nearby. Or you can tin one side of a laminate and then make the sandwich again with flux between the layers.

 

I know that you clean your joints before making them so I cannot answer why you struggled. The hardest part I am finding is remembering to remove the power before the probe - I have had some nice sparks and some slightly charred brass as a result. Easily removable though.

 

Rich

[Tony Wright]

28 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

Morning Tony,

 

I thought this might interest you, being a mix of the traditional and new technology in the hobby.   Some time ago on the scratchbuilt coaching stock thread, I was interested to see some teak Gresley carriages produced by a user called Gazman424.   We started discussing the way he makes them and he offered me a pair of sides for a D265 TL (the 54' steel Gresley vehicle used in the GE Area).  Time passed and earlier this year a box landed on my doormat.  It didn't however, contain sides....

 

 

 

 

 

This is all laser cut from card to Gaz's own drawings.  The underframe and bogies are his own 3D prints.  I think this is a remarkable illustration of what new technology can do for us as modellers if we take the time to master it and just how self-sufficient we can be.  It was also very generous; all i had to do was supply a roof, paint and glaze it.  Card would not have been my medium of choice - I've never built a card vehicle before - but there was very little difference in the way I went about it to the way I'd finish any other carriage. 

 

 

A steel sided vehicle isn't the ideal model for this method as the windows end up recessed too far.   For wooden Gresleys, though, it's ideal.  It's lighter than a brass vehicle but not so much as to make it unstable and in every other respect it's indistinguishable from the brass vehicles either side of it.  Have a look at the outstanding collection of vehicles Gaz is building up and you can't fail to be impressed.

 

 

 

 

Good morning Jonathan,

 

I'm puzzled (very easy, I know), but you say the box didn't contain sides. If not, did you have to have the sides laser-cut? Or, am I just too dim to understand what you've written? 

 

Anyway, it looks superb.

 

And is that a 521 Series J6 I see in the background?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

I don't know whether others found the recent heatwave intolerable, but in my case it just put a stop to any of my model-making.

 

However, with cooler conditions, I'm cracking on with the MPD L&Y 0-6-0. 

 

 

With the loco body (apart from detailing) substantially complete, I've turned my attention to the tender. 

 

It's an old kit so the brass was quite tarnished and needed plenty of cleaning up. 

 

As designed, the sub-frame and outside frames were meant to be soldered in solid, effectively trapping the wheels (in this case in EM) forever. This is daft, so I've made the sub-frame detachable. 

 

 

[jwealleans]

14 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

the box didn't contain sides

 

My fault, Tony, for not being clear.   It didn't only contain sides - it contained the entire carriage, bar roof.   What is shown in the first 4 pictures was what was in the box.

 

Yes, that is the LRM J6 you helped me with earlier in the year.    It's at the stage where I want to test run it before I add more detail and finish it off, but I have no where to do that until Ormesby reopens.

Edited August 17, 2020 by jwealleans

[Clive Mortimore]

53 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

Morning Tony,

 

I thought this might interest you, being a mix of the traditional and new technology in the hobby.   Some time ago on the scratchbuilt coaching stock thread, I was interested to see some teak Gresley carriages produced by a user called Gazman424.   We started discussing the way he makes them and he offered me a pair of sides for a D265 TL (the 54' steel Gresley vehicle used in the GE Area).  Time passed and earlier this year a box landed on my doormat.  It didn't however, only contain sides, but a virtually complete vehicle:

 

This is all laser cut from card to Gaz's own drawings.  The underframe and bogies are his own 3D prints.  I think this is a remarkable illustration of what new technology can do for us as modellers if we take the time to master it and just how self-sufficient we can be.  It was also very generous; all i had to do was supply a roof, paint and glaze it.  Card would not have been my medium of choice - I've never built a card vehicle before - but there was very little difference in the way I went about it to the way I'd finish any other carriage. 

 

 

A steel sided vehicle isn't the ideal model for this method as the windows end up recessed too far.   For wooden Gresleys, though, it's ideal.  It's lighter than a brass vehicle but not so much as to make it unstable and in every other respect it's indistinguishable from the brass vehicles either side of it.  Have a look at the outstanding collection of vehicles Gaz is building up and you can't fail to be impressed.

 

 

 

 

Hi Jonathan

 

A wee bit more advanced than mine is at the moment.

 Plastic card sides.

[PMP]

2 hours ago, grahame said:

 

Do they need a future? I'd have thought that even a large layout would have been built with a location in mind (other than a show) for it to be set up to test it out, check alignments, running, electrics, etc., even if they don't get publicly displayed.

 

Apparently not Re the set up and testing. I know of at least one that meets that criteria and I’ve seen it a couple of times at shows. It’s running was poor. I’ve never understood that mindset, if one of my layouts goes out it, and it’s stock/lighting etc is all checked in the week preceding. To me having a layout run poorly or fail at an exhibition is not an option, it’s ‘my name above the door’. Friends layouts are also prepared with the same mindset, including larger layouts. 

 

That preparation also means things like spares lights/controller or workarounds for any reasonably anticipated problem. So far so good!

 

 

[Jesse Sim]

20 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 

 

Where does it go next? 

 

 

 

 

I might be buying a new motorcycle.......anyone want to see pictures? 
 

 

I’ll get my coat 

[Doncaster Green]

Hello,

 

To fly the flag for 2mmfs, this has just left the paintshop for final fettling and weathering:

 

A Diag 50 SCLC

 

(Please excuse the fact the roof is the wrong way round - it will be corrected!)

 

Regards

 

John

 

[MJI]

25 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

I might be buying a new motorcycle.......anyone want to see pictures? 
 

 

I’ll get my coat 

 

Yes, what is it?