Whats on your 2mm Work bench

[Nig H]

Here are pics of some LMS suburban coaches I've been building. Its surprising how much work is involved in coach building, but the end is in sight for this batch.

 

 

 

Remaining jobs are finish off coach end handrails, fix underframes to bodies, paint ends, add transfers (running nos, first class door 'ones' etc), attach footsteps to bogies and screw these to the underframes. Finally, light weathering. 

 

Nig H

[2mmMark]

 

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 A few of these engines lasted in this livery into the early 1950s. 10735 was withdrawn in June '52 without having received BR number or livery.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

 

 

I recognise that setting!  Pleased to see the layout is still around.   I see a proper backscene has been added.  It'll be 29 years old this autumn.  That's scary!

 

The Radial tank looks very nice - good job!

 

Mark

[Phil Copleston]

I recognise that setting!  Pleased to see the layout is still around.   I see a proper backscene has been added.  It'll be 29 years old this autumn.  That's scary!

 

The Radial tank looks very nice - good job!

 

Mark

 

Oh yes, Mark - good ol' Clive Road Sidings! We spent many a happy exhibition shunting wagons around on that thing while promoting 2-mil modelling. Happy days. 

Edited April 10, 2018 by Phil Copleston

[Nick Mitchell]

I recognise that setting!  Pleased to see the layout is still around.   I see a proper backscene has been added.  It'll be 29 years old this autumn.  That's scary!

 

The Radial tank looks very nice - good job!

 

Mark

 

Thanks Mark.

It is also scary to think that Clive Road Sidings has been in my care for 10 years - as a temporary facility while I get around to building a layout for myself. (I've progressed as far as building a lever frame and a small-scale mock-up in all that time!)

 

I wouldn't go as far as saying that what you see is a proper backscene - it is a short section I painted as a "sampler" under the tutelage of Barry Norman, propped up temporarily for the photos.

A couple of the solder joints where the point blades are attached to the moving sleepers need attention, and the tree has completely disintegrated, but otherwise he layout is doing remarkably well and sees plenty of use. A testament to the skill and care which went into its original construction.

 

Nick.

[Matthew W]

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.

 

wp rmweb 02.jpg

 

wp rmweb 01.jpg

 

regards

 

Izzy

 

Thanks Izzy - that looks good. Much better idea than my attempts at "bashing" the axles through !

 

Matthew

[2mm Andy]

After a longish period of little or no enthusiasm for modelling, I've managed to get a couple of small projects a little closer to completion;

 

 

Both are from Severn Models etches and go together very well. The smaller hut has had a replacement roof from some corrugated aluminium. Both need painting and a bit of weathering/detailing to complete them.

 

Andy

[JohnBS]

Good evening folks,

A bit more on the Dukedog. He has just come out of the Swindon paint shop and still awaits number (and perhaps name) plates.

On top of the grey primer initially came a coat of Humbrol RC405 acrylic green. The result was horrid - the wrong shade and orange peal all over (I'm not sure if this was just a batch problem). Serves me right for not doing a test on an old model. So back to the Nitromors bath - it's a good job that it is a metal loco.

Then a re-prime with the Halford's rattle can grey and a coat of Precision Paints post 1928 GWR green enamel - a much better result. After a couple of days drying, out came the masking tape, followed by a spray of matt black, again from a rattle can. Buffer beams, springs and other details were brush painted with enamels. Then I added some footplate flooring and a dummy fall plate out of 15 thou black plastic card.

Next, time for the transfers/decals. I still have some venerable Methfix transfers and prefer these to the normal water-slide ones. Finally, a sprayed coat of Future polish as protection, a thin layer of crushed coal in the tender and re-assembly for a test run. All in order!

A bit of weathering, a loco crew and some fire irons to follow soon.

Best wishes,

John

[Hendreladis]

I did attempt to reduce the size of the handrail knobs as suggested by Tim. Methinks I need to try again.

 

Finished as far as I am concerned. Attempting to add more detail is unlikely to overcome some of the other shortcomings but a useful exercise for the next one. Time to scrape off the vim and throw on some undercoat.

[Donw]

Really looks the part. I think you said Vale of Neath. I think I have seen pictures of one of these probably in the WRRC archive.

 

Don

[Phil Copleston]

Good evening folks,

A bit more on the Dukedog. He has just come out of the Swindon paint shop and still awaits number (and perhaps name) plates.

 

Looks super, John. Within a short 1930s time-window you have quite a choice of names carried by some Dukedogs before they were removed: 3205 'Earl of Devon' might be appropriate! 

[Ian Smith]

In trying to get "Modbury" more ready for it's next outing at the Epsom & Ewell show at the end of the month, I've been trying to make some more trees.  Most are fairly generic affairs for the wood at the back of the layout, but for stand alone hedgerow trees I'm trying to produce ones that are more specific.  The first of these is an Elm, and as with all of my trees the branches and trunk are formed from 0.4mm diameter copper wire, twisted and soldered to form a structure onto which the foliage can be draped.

 

Once all of the soldering had been completed, the branches were bent to a shape that I felt looked Elm-like, and all but the single strands given a coat of polyfilla-PVA mix.  When this was dry the trunk and branches of the tree were originally brush painted with a mix of Humbrol Acrylics, but I immediately decided to treat this as an undercoat as the colours in the tubs were no match for the colour indicated on the tub lids, so I ended up with very dark grey-brown which also dried shiny.  Note to self - stick with what you know (enamels) and don't try these new-fangled acrylic things again!  A top coat was again brushed on of grey-brown matt enamel, and once that had dried the foliage could be added.  For this tree I'd bought some Polak Naturex foliage mat at the York Exhibition, in this case the "Savanna Green" in the "Finest" granularity.  Small pieces about the size of a finger nail were cut off the mat and teased out before glueing to the ends of the branches.  Further pieces being added around the lower tree trunk to represent the smaller branches/suckers that in my eyes define an Elm.

 

Because this tree is destined for the rear of the layout, I have deliberated made it relatively small - about 90mm (45 foot tall to scale).  Hopefully this will provide a degree of forced perspective, the one I have part built to disguise the mouse hole at the right hand end of the layout (and will be situated at the front of the layout will eventually be almost twice as high).

 

All being well I'll get a few more done and installed in time for Epsom.

 

Ian

[bcnPete]

Very nice Ian - am hoping to try and get to the show and see the layout for the first time

[Crosland]

Very nice. How many strands did you start with at the base of the trunk?

[Ian Smith]

Very nice. How many strands did you start with at the base of the trunk?

 

I'm not too sure - I've just looked at another similar sized tree that I've just painted and trying to count the strands in the soldered blob at the foot of the tree would indicate some 14-16 individual strands.  However, what I tend to do is to take 3 or 4 of these strands, loop them back on themselves a few centimetres away from the trunk so that I get a double amount of strands in a branch, as these are twisted together, they are split again after anything from 5-20mm to form finer branches.  Eventually I end up with small loops on the ends of the branches which when soldered solid are cut through to form 2 fine branches onto which the foliage will eventually be fixed.  The tails of the original loops are tied back into the main trunk and the whole thing repeated as I go up the trunk.  If there is insufficient wire towards the tops of the tree then individual branches are formed from 3-5 strands which are soldered into the top of the trunk to form the canopy of the tree, the secret here is to solder up these sub-assemblies, and then cut off all but a strand or two (just enough to provide a solid anchor for these) that can be attached with a few wraps of fine wire to the top of the trunk.

 

Unfortunately I haven't taken any part built pictures of the trees currently being made, but hopefully the photo below of an early attempt should hopefully illustrate what the words above may not...

 

Ian

[Caley Jim]

For some of the trees on Connerburn I used textured masonry paint to coat the trunk and larger branches.  It can be painted on quite thickly and a sampler tin will do a lot of 2MM trees.   You can add powder or acrylic paint to alter the colour.

Jim

[Nick Mitchell]

I've had one of Bob Jones' Fence Houses Model Foundry 9F kits on and off my workbench many times over several years.

 

The reason it has been taking so long is that I have been figuring out how to make more of the bits of valve gear move. It has been a case of doing little bits every couple of years in-between other projects as inspiration has struck.

 

Making a valve spindle to pivot to the top of the combination lever, and getting it to slide in and out was fairly straightforward. Setting the loco in forward gear would have been too easy, and I'd have finished it years ago... so I decided to make it reversible - well, my mother's maiden name is Watson, after all! (No relation as far as I know...)

 

At the time I was getting into DCC, and thought it would be easy to control the reverser with a function key. Ah, the innocence of youth...

Well, modifying the etched parts for the motion brackets to accept functional expansion links was ticklish, and working out how to make the thing move by itself even more so. However, I've finally cracked it, and I can now get on with finishing the loco - which should be the easy bit. (All those pipes!!!!) Bob has challenged me to have it running on Fence Houses at York Show next Easter. I think I'm in with a chance now.

 

Here's a video of the chassis moving and shaking for the first time under its own power this evening.

 

https://youtu.be/ReAw9BP5ofQ

[nick_bastable]

I've had one of Bob Jones' Fence Houses Model Foundry 9F kits on and off my workbench many times over several years.

 

The reason it has been taking so long is that I have been figuring out how to make more of the bits of valve gear move. It has been a case of doing little bits every couple of years in-between other projects as inspiration has struck.

 

Making a valve spindle to pivot to the top of the combination lever, and getting it to slide in and out was fairly straightforward. Setting the loco in forward gear would have been too easy, and I'd have finished it years ago... so I decided to make it reversible - well, my mother's maiden name is Watson, after all! (No relation as far as I know...)

 

At the time I was getting into DCC, and thought it would be easy to control the reverser with a function key. Ah, the innocence of youth...

Well, modifying the etched parts for the motion brackets to accept functional expansion links was ticklish, and working out how to make the thing move by itself even more so. However, I've finally cracked it, and I can now get on with finishing the loco - which should be the easy bit. (All those pipes!!!!) Bob has challenged me to have it running on Fence Houses at York Show next Easter. I think I'm in with a chance now.

 

Here's a video of the chassis moving and shaking for the first time under its own power this evening.

 

https://youtu.be/ReAw9BP5ofQ

stunning                I may need to reconsider my hobby

 

Nick

[CF MRC]

Very impressive Nick! Unfortunately, I could not make the valve gear on Mons Meg powered to move it because the linkage is all tucked in behind and within the motion support bracket.

 

Tim

[Donw]

I've had one of Bob Jones' Fence Houses Model Foundry 9F kits on and off my workbench many times over several years.

 

The reason it has been taking so long is that I have been figuring out how to make more of the bits of valve gear move. It has been a case of doing little bits every couple of years in-between other projects as inspiration has struck.

 

Making a valve spindle to pivot to the top of the combination lever, and getting it to slide in and out was fairly straightforward. Setting the loco in forward gear would have been too easy, and I'd have finished it years ago... so I decided to make it reversible - well, my mother's maiden name is Watson, after all! (No relation as far as I know...)

 

At the time I was getting into DCC, and thought it would be easy to control the reverser with a function key. Ah, the innocence of youth...

Well, modifying the etched parts for the motion brackets to accept functional expansion links was ticklish, and working out how to make the thing move by itself even more so. However, I've finally cracked it, and I can now get on with finishing the loco - which should be the easy bit. (All those pipes!!!!) Bob has challenged me to have it running on Fence Houses at York Show next Easter. I think I'm in with a chance now.

 

Here's a video of the chassis moving and shaking for the first time under its own power this evening.

 

https://youtu.be/ReAw9BP5ofQ

 

Unbelievable. But once you see it moving the valve gear I can see it would be worth the challenge. 

Don

[eldavo]

Barking mad but beautiful!

 

Cheers

Dave

[TomE]

https://youtu.be/ReAw9BP5ofQ

 

That is mental, in a good way!

 

Tom.  

[sp1]

Incredible!!

[Nig H]

I've just started making up a Midland Railway Johnson 3,250 gal tender from a second test etch. When I looked at inserting 0.3mm rod for the brake hangers I realised the middle ones would get in the way of the tender body pivot assembly. Luckily I'd not glued the muff to the stub axles so I was able to remove the pivot and file away some of the pcb spacer as can be seen in this pic. Eventually I made the left side the same as the right.

 

 

The rods for the rear brake hangers go right through the rear spacer pcb pads and although I managed to clear the copper on the pcb round where the rod stuck out inside the frames, I was concerned that the rod might easily move when the brake hangers were soldered in place (the other rods are 'L' shaped, the long side soldered to the inside of the frames). It dawned on me that soldering the rear rods to pcb pads soldered to the inside of the rear spacer might solve the problem. The pic below shows the result, with the single rod now cut in two. 

 

 

I must remember to check the frames are electrically isolated from each other.

 

Nig H

 

 

 

 

[JohnBS]

Good evening folks,

Well, the Dukedog is (almost) finished.

Stopping passenger lamp fitted, loco crew added, brake and water scoop standards made, vacuum cylinder installed and the loco weathered (a light spraying of black/earth paint on the frames and wheels, then a wash of diluted artist's oil in the "nooks and crannies" - Van Dyke brown - and finally an application of weathering powders). All that remains to be done is the fixing of number- and perhaps name-plates.

Does anyone know of a suppliers who is likely to stock 32xx series 2mm/N plates?

Best wishes,

John

Edited April 17, 2018 by JohnBS

[Alex Duckworth]

Good evening folks,

Well, the Dukedog is (almost) finished.

image.jpeg

Stopping passenger lamp fitted, loco crew added, brake and water scoop standards made, vacuum cylinder installed and the loco weathered (a light spraying of black/earth paint on the frames and wheels, then a wash of diluted artist's oil in the "nooks and crannies" - Van Dyke brown - and finally an application of weathering powders). All that remains to be done is the fixing of number- and perhaps name-plates.

Does anyone know of a suppliers who is likely to stock 32xx series 2mm/N plates?

Best wishes,

John

 

Nice Dukedog John, very encouraging as I'm doing pretty much the same thing. I'd try Guilplates ( 32 Wodeland Avenue, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 4JZ, 01438 565980, no website ) for the number and shed plates, they made me a 2mm set for my 15XX.

 

Alex.