Whats on your 2mm Work bench

[JohnBS]

Morning John, that really does look very good - couple of questions. Is the excess height due to the loco sitting high on its wheels or is there an issue with the body. Likewise, what is the width over footplate like. I've heard reports of them clouting platforms but suspect that could be the cranks sticking out more than necessary.

Jerry

Jerry,

Yes, the main cause of the excess height is that the loco sits too high on the wheels. Out of the box, footplate is 11.6 mm above rail level and the scale height (1:148) is 9.95. I managed to reduce the height to 10.3 mm by filing transverse grooves in the central part of the superstructure block and making a deeper slot in the outside frames for crank clearances. No problem with the flanges hitting the insides of the splashers. Consequently the overall height of the cab has also been reduced by the same amount. I packed out the central part of the keeper plate with a bit of lead sheet to reduce the vertical slop on the wheels. Still fettling the bogie truck mounrt to match. For some mysterious reason, the driving wheel axles have differing diameters 1.30 mm and 1.45 mm!

As to the widths, the footplate is 17.4 mm, with a scale width (1:148) of 16.6 mm - not too bad. Width over cranks, out of the box, was 21.7 mm, compared to a scale figure of 18.1 mm. By correcting the back-to-backs, pushing in the plastic cranks as far as I dare and very carefully grinding back the axles (don't let them get too hot), I managed to reduce the overall width to an acceptable 20.3 mm.

Hope that this helps - photos to follow soon.

John

[queensquare]

Jerry,

Yes, the main cause of the excess height is that the loco sits too high on the wheels......

Hope that this helps - photos to follow soon.

John

Many thanks John, just idle thoughts about finescaling one. I have even less justification for one of these than you have but they are a very attractive prototype and the pictures in the buff really are very good.

 

Jerry

[2mmMark]

...pictures in the buff really are very good.

 

Jerry

 

...must resist...   I must resist...

[JohnBS]

Hi all,

A Dukedog update.

Here are the loco and tender superstructures with a bit of added detail. I have added the handrails, smokebox dart, lamp irons, vacuum pipe, turned brass front buffers etc. Also I have drilled the washout plug holes deeper (they were scarcely visible on the original model) and ground down some of the casting in the tender coal space to provide a fire iron slot and to improve the shape when I add real coal.

The main work over the last couple of days has been to lower the loco superstructure to a more nearly prototypical height. To do this, I filed grooves for the driving axles in central part of the loco body and increased the clearance height for the cranks in the side frames while packing out the keeper plate with a bit of lead sheet to reduce the vertical slop of the axles. Then I had to adjust the pivot mounting of the bogie to match. In all, I managed to lower the loco by about 1.5mm and it looks a lot better.

Finally, out came the rattle can and Dukedog got a coat of grey primer. Still to do is to fix a front coupling and I want to try to fabricate some brake rigging to partially mask the driving wheels and then ensure that everything is running well.

More soon,

John

[Atso]

Another not quite 2mm scale post.

 

I've been playing around with resin casting a couple of 3D printed masters. Unfortunately, I managed to mess up the mould but did get some usable castings out of it before it went. The plan is to do an N gauge chassis and roof for this as well but, as I had the bodies and some 2mm chassis etches, I thought I'd knock up a van or four.

 

Here is the first (I know. I put the brake linkage the wrong way up!), two other chassis have just been primed and I've got the fourth to build during the week.

 

 

The van is currently being redesigned to make casting easier (along with it's resin chassis and roof for us N gauge luddites).

[2mil Graham]

Another not quite 2mm scale post.

 

...

 

The van is currently being redesigned to make casting easier (along with it's resin chassis and roof for us N gauge luddites).

Hello Steve

 

Is that an LNER fish van? Looks good on a 2mm chassis, hope you'll be making the body available separately.

 

Graham

[65179]

Another not quite 2mm scale post

 

Here is the first (I know. I put the brake linkage the wrong way up!), two other chassis have just been primed and I've got the fourth to build during the week.

 

Dia 23 test casting on 2mm FS chassis.jpg

 

 

It looks great Steve. Everyone needs at least one van with the brakegear on wrong! You can then congratulate anyone who spots the deliberate mistake. I've got a 9' wb LNER van that looks just the same.

 

Simon

[Atso]

Hello Steve

 

Is that an LNER fish van? Looks good on a 2mm chassis, hope you'll be making the body available separately.

 

Graham

 

Hi Graham,

 

Yes, it is an LNER dia 23 fish van and I do hope to be able to make the body available separately when the new prints arrive.

 

It looks great Steve. Everyone needs at least one van with the brakegear on wrong! You can then congratulate anyone who spots the deliberate mistake. I've got a 9' wb LNER van that looks just the same.

 

Simon

 

Thank you Simon, I thought I'd point out the 'deliberate mistake' before somebody else did find it (and with my luck somebody always does!).

 

I've also made an etched association 12' WB chassis which I've balanced onto one of the dia 134 body test castings.

 

 

The word 'FISH' on the door is 0.7mm high! 

[Hendreladis]

Bit more broad gauge. Quite a few problems to work out even though this was meant to quick and simple first bodge to get a feel for any peculiarities that seven foot gauge might throw up. 

 

Open cabs are always a pain but a semblance of back head has been added. Crew will obscure most of it.

 

Hand rails are not attached so they have moved about a bit in the pictures. A lot of filing to be done below footplate level and, because of some very ill thought out construction, the lip of the valance will need to be simulated by adding some fuse wire. 

 

Most other broad gauge locos are going to need working crossheads and probably hand made wheels as the throw on the Associations ones is a bit too large. The eagle-eyed will see that the connecting rods on the pics of the VofN tank have to run in a slot in the footplate. Either that or jacking everything up by half a mil or so which causes different problems. 

 

Going to have to bite the bullet and make the boiler fittings next and a particularly awkward dished, oval smokebox door. 

 

If this was the simple one I am now dreading the 4-4-0Ts that have to follow.

[CF MRC]

That is looking fascinating and elegant.

 

If the handrails are not yet fitted, could I suggest filing down the handrail knobs a bit for width and ‘roundness’? You could protect the tank by putting a protective piece of slotted thin shim brass around the knob as you are reducing the size. The Association knobs are wonderful little turnings, but are a bit bulbous.

 

Tim

Edited April 3, 2018 by CF MRC

[65179]

A bit of progress with a shot down Steve Barnfield B16 etch:

 

Most of the details (including smokebox door, cab roof and buffers) have just been added to see what it looks like.  Handrails to finish, brakes etc to add to the chassis, and then lots of cleaning up of excess solder to do before getting on and adding the details!

 

Simon

[Nick Mitchell]

ex-L&Y Radial Tank 10735 actually left my workbench about a month ago, but I've been waiting until after the publication of the 2mm Magazine to post these additional images of it fully clothed.

 

Weathering commercial bodies with their printed livery is one thing, but this is the first kit-built loco I've finally completely finished and painted. Consequently I shied away from lining and went for LMS plain black. A few of these engines lasted in this livery into the early 1950s. 10735 was withdrawn in June '52 without having received BR number or livery. Given how fiddly the individual numeral transfers were to apply to the smokebox door, it is ironic that the real 10735 seems to have lost its smokebox number plate (like many of its brethren) in earlier LMS days. Having soldered the plate in place during construction, it remains in my fictional world. Had the loco been given its BR identity, no doubt it would have received a new number plate... and no doubt the number would have been available as a complete transfer from Fox! The next one might have BR lining...

 

The loco body was blasted with alumina grit for me by Edward Sissling prior to painting.

I then primed it with 2-pack etching primer, before applying the livery of humbrol gloss black.

I find airbrushing quite stressful, and this job was no exception.

The gloss on the tank sides appeared to have bits of grit stuck in it once dry. It was drying in a closed box, and I thought I'd removed the residue from the blasting very carefully, so I don't know what had caused this. I ended up with a run on the smokebox side as well.

Anyway, a rub down with 1200 grit wet & dry, and a second coat of gloss improved things considerably.

The shaded transfers are ancient SMS waterslide, which were rescued from a box of modelling materials Mike Raithby was disposing of last year. The carrier film was quite think, but I think I have managed to disguise it effectively.

The smokebox numerals are Fox.

After sealing the transfers with a couple of coats of Johnson's Klear, the loco was given a waft over with Testor's Dullcote. This is the first time I've used this lacquer, and am very impressed with the results.

Final weathering was very simple, done with a varying mix of Humbrol matt black and matt leather.

There's a 1951 photo of the real thing in Locomotives Illustrated after it had moved from Lower Darwen to Huddersfield. It has the cab window open the way I've modelled it. The cab glazing was done with Humbrol Clearfix, and given a wash of dirty thinners once set.

 

[Caley Jim]

Nice job, Nick.  I've always used satin black from a rattle can for spraying, but maybe you need the gloss surface for the transfers to adhere properly.  I can't detect any sign of the carrier film.

 

Jim

[Nick Mitchell]

Nice job, Nick.  I've always used satin black from a rattle can for spraying, but maybe you need the gloss surface for the transfers to adhere properly.  I can't detect any sign of the carrier film.

 

Jim

 

I've had problems with silvering of transfer film in the past on matt and satin surfaces.

If I have to put transfers on a non-gloss surface these days, I paint a patch of gloss clear varnish first.

I also always use Micro Sol now, even if I'm not trying to get the transfer to sit down over rivets, etc. It can soften the the edges of the carrier film to help disguise it. 

I think the Dullcote did most in this instance - stopping reflections along the line of the edge of the film, which was too thick for the Micro Sol to dissolve.

 

Nick.

[65179]

Lovely modelling Nick. It looked great in the Magazine, but that front-on shot really shows what a fine job you've done with this kit.

 

Simon

[Caley Jim]

I've had problems with silvering of transfer film in the past on matt and satin surfaces.

Of course I've never used transfers on account of there being no suitable ones available.  If I started using them now they would just serve to show up the deficiencies in my hand lettering on all the rest of my stock!

 

Jim

[JohnBS]

Good evening everyone,

Further progress on the UM Dukedog.

It has now got its wheels fitted and various details completed. I finished lowering the engine superstructure as much as I dare and decided to gouge a bit out of the undersurface of the forward footplate for the bogie flanges and something out of the driving wheel splashers. Also, as braces to the belt, I rubbed down the driver flanges by a few thou and lined the underside of the insulated side of the superstructure with fag paper and CA glue. All seems to be working fine. I still might try a very modest lowering of the tender superstructure.

Meanwhile, I have cobbled together some brake rigging and hangers from etch edgings and soldered them to wire "outriggers" epoxied to grooves in the chassis keeper plate. The help to disguise the coarseness of the N-gauge wheels.

Sundry details now fitted include a (dummy) front coupling, turned brass whistles, safety valves in the SV casing, a shortened loco/tender connecting wire and a (working) rear coupling. Then a final spray of grey primer, ready for painting with middle chrome green and black (luckily no lining required this time), followed by transfers and weathering.

John

[D869]

I've had problems with silvering of transfer film in the past on matt and satin surfaces.

If I have to put transfers on a non-gloss surface these days, I paint a patch of gloss clear varnish first.

I also always use Micro Sol now, even if I'm not trying to get the transfer to sit down over rivets, etc. It can soften the the edges of the carrier film to help disguise it. 

I think the Dullcote did most in this instance - stopping reflections along the line of the edge of the film, which was too thick for the Micro Sol to dissolve.

 

Nick.

 

It needs quite a leap of faith to paint something with a high gloss finish before applying transfers. I can vouch that Dullcote does do the job though but I do find it quite tricky to get a controlled amount onto the model - the spray can tends to be very enthusiastic. Mostly things have still worked out OK in spite of this but I think it is cellulose based and on one occasion I have had it soften the underlying (acrylic) paint which then moved resulting in some unsightly effects around the edges of the transfers. Some heavier than originally intended weathering was needed to hide the mess.

 

Regards, Andy

[Matthew W]

I managed to finish off the improved Dapol teak this evening, and also made some progress on one of the fish vans.

 

 

 

The steps I followed to improve the finish:

• Disassembled the coach fully, including de-soldering the lighting pick up wires
• Coat of Klear to seal the original finish
• Mix of chrome yellow, small amount of burnt umber, and liquin applied with a scratchy brush over the areas left in red oxide
• Another coat of Klear to seal
• dark Games Workshop wash applied to bring out the door frames
• "sepia" Games Workshop wash applied to the solebar to tone down the red oxide look
• Buffers painted with Humbrol gunmetal - not sure what the weird gold colour Dapol used was about!
• Edges of the clear window mouldings picked out in dark grey to minimise the prismatic effect
• Window moulding given a coat of Klear to improve the clarity
• Roof moulding given a thick wash of Revell Anthracite, then largely removed with a thinners soaked cotton bud
• Roof airbrushed with relatively thin coat of Revell Anthracite

IMG_20180325_191656.jpg

 

IMG_20180325_191803.jpg

 

I blackened the brass pick ups, but I'm wondering whether it might actually be better to rip out the pressed brass bearings and pick ups and push in some association bearings. It looks like the Association only does coach wheels on 15.2mm axles - the Dapol originals are 14.8. Has anyone else converted these models? Perhaps with the tips slightly filed off, and /or top hat bearings pressed into the bogies with a soldering iron, the 15.2mm version will work?

 

The project thats made some progress is the GCR fish van, from the second hand BH kit amongst Bill's stuff. Not 100% happy with it - I started to solder back on overlays that seemed lose, only to find the rest was glued, so I ended up replacing each joint with the overlays in situ - lots and lots of cleaning up! The sides seem OK, but the roof, which was evidently half-etched with "planks" to help fold, seems a bit too prominent. I don't know whether to maybe remove and replace with a thinner rolled nickel silver roof?

 

IMG_20180325_195233.jpg

 

Justin

 

Hi Justin, the bodywork looks so much better after being breathed on.

 

As to the wheels, I have just tried 7mm Association wheels on 15.2mm axles in my Dapol Gresleys, and they fit the old, non-light-bar-ready bogies that are on the first batch of these which I bought when these coaches first came out a few years ago. These have moulded pinpoint recesses in the bogies, and although the 15.2mm axles are a sloppy fit, they seem to run OK.

 

However, as you point out ( and I had not noticed ! ) they don't fit the newer light-bar-ready bogies.

 

I tried removing the metal insert on one side, and the 15.2mm axles then fit, but because the recess on the plastic side is too big, the result is that the axle does not sit leval and the bogie, and the coach body on top of it, adopt a marked list to one side, so that's a non-starter.

 

Fitting top hat bearings looks tricky: the recess in the bogie moulding is vaguely conical so they don't sit comfortably, and while you might get away with melting them in I would think the risk of getting it wrong would be quite high. Drilling out the recess might enable you to glue them in but I am not sure they would then match the available axle lengths.

 

I thought of turning down the existing Dapol wheels and using the existing axles. The problem with this is that you then need to move the wheels down the stub axles to get the back to back + axle lengths right, and I have not yet found a way of doing this.

 

What I think I will do is keep the metal pickups and use Association wheels on 14.8mm axles. Shop 2 sells 14.8mm axles which you could use as replacements for 15.2mm axle wheelsets, or 15.2mm axles can be filed down quite easily: I have just had a go, and with the axle held in a pin chuck it only took a minute or two.

 

As to wheel sizes, the 7mm wheels look better but do lift the body very slightly, while 6mm wheels keep the height down but look noticeably undersize. Except at eye level the wheels are however pretty invisible behind the bogies. If you use 6mm wheels, then they can be had on 14.8 mm axles anyway.

 

As to couplings, I think Nigel Cliffe devised and wrote up a way of fitting DGs into NEM mountings a few years ago ( maybe in an old 2mm Mag ? Or maybe it was on his blog ? ). 

 

Hope this is of some use.

 

All the best, Matthew 

 

-

[Izzy]

I thought of turning down the existing Dapol wheels and using the existing axles. The problem with this is that you then need to move the wheels down the stub axles to get the back to back + axle lengths right, and I have not yet found a way of doing this.

 

I made this little tool to alter Dapol and Farish wheels with stub axles. The brass threaded shaft is bored out at the end so it only presses on the outer edges of the axle coning and doesn't thus damage the very end of the pin-point axle. This needs cleaning up/replacing every so often as the pressure on it distorts the bored end as I 'turn' it to apply pressure and shift the axle/motor shafts using a pair of pliers, but brass BA bolts are cheap/easy to obtain, and it does the jobs required quite well. I am sure available suitable gear pullers could be made/adapted to do the same job.

 

 

 

regards

 

Izzy

[Nig H]

A bit of progress with a shot down Steve Barnfield B16 etch:

 

 

Most of the details (including smokebox door, cab roof and buffers) have just been added to see what it looks like.  Handrails to finish, brakes etc to add to the chassis, and then lots of cleaning up of excess solder to do before getting on and adding the details!

 

Simon

Hi Simon,

 

Your loco looks great so far and I look forward to seeing more progress soon. Maybe you could tell as more e.g. motor/gears scratchbuilt element.

 

Nig H

[Nig H]

 

ex-L&Y Radial Tank 10735 actually left my workbench about a month ago, but I've been waiting until after the publication of the 2mm Magazine to post these additional images of it fully clothed.

 

Weathering commercial bodies with their printed livery is one thing, but this is the first kit-built loco I've finally completely finished and painted. Consequently I shied away from lining and went for LMS plain black. A few of these engines lasted in this livery into the early 1950s. 10735 was withdrawn in June '52 without having received BR number or livery. Given how fiddly the individual numeral transfers were to apply to the smokebox door, it is ironic that the real 10735 seems to have lost its smokebox number plate (like many of its brethren) in earlier LMS days. Having soldered the plate in place during construction, it remains in my fictional world. Had the loco been given its BR identity, no doubt it would have received a new number plate... and no doubt the number would have been available as a complete transfer from Fox! The next one might have BR lining...

 

The loco body was blasted with alumina grit for me by Edward Sissling prior to painting.

I then primed it with 2-pack etching primer, before applying the livery of humbrol gloss black.

I find airbrushing quite stressful, and this job was no exception.

The gloss on the tank sides appeared to have bits of grit stuck in it once dry. It was drying in a closed box, and I thought I'd removed the residue from the blasting very carefully, so I don't know what had caused this. I ended up with a run on the smokebox side as well.

Anyway, a rub down with 1200 grit wet & dry, and a second coat of gloss improved things considerably.

The shaded transfers are ancient SMS waterslide, which were rescued from a box of modelling materials Mike Raithby was disposing of last year. The carrier film was quite think, but I think I have managed to disguise it effectively.

The smokebox numerals are Fox.

After sealing the transfers with a couple of coats of Johnson's Klear, the loco was given a waft over with Testor's Dullcote. This is the first time I've used this lacquer, and am very impressed with the results.

Final weathering was very simple, done with a varying mix of Humbrol matt black and matt leather.

There's a 1951 photo of the real thing in Locomotives Illustrated after it had moved from Lower Darwen to Huddersfield. It has the cab window open the way I've modelled it. The cab glazing was done with Humbrol Clearfix, and given a wash of dirty thinners once set.

 

front on 2.jpg

right side with crane on crossing 2.jpg

left side 2.jpg

 

Hi Nick,

 

Amazing work, and one of my kits too. Will you be doing a video to show how beautifully it runs?

 

Nig H

[Mr chapman]

Ian,

My layouts, although to 2mm scale, use N-gauge track so I don't have the problem of trying to fit fine scale wheels.

 

John

Sorry for being a bit dim here... But do you mean 2mm scale models on standard N gauge track, or N gauge profile rails to 2mm track gauge? Lovely work btw

[JohnBS]

Sorry for being a bit dim here... But do you mean 2mm scale models on standard N gauge track, or N gauge profile rails to 2mm track gauge? Lovely work btw

Hi,

N-gauge wheel standards (albeit some judicious refining of flanges) running on Peco code 55 track, carefully ballasted. Everything that is scratch built (locos, buildings, etc) is to 2mm to 1ft scale - the sums are easier! See my blog listed below for more details.

Thanks for the compliment.

John

[Kylestrome]

 

On my workbench this morning: a couple of buildings for Kylestrome. The cottage (right) is over 30 years old and still not finished! The shop was just an idea at the beginning of the week, so I can work fast when the mood takes me. The window frames were made with some rather thin styrene strip.

 

More here:

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/131535-kylestrome-–-2fs/page-2

 

David