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Traeth Mawr -Building Mr Price's house , (mostly)


ChrisN
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11 minutes ago, Northroader said:

I’m racking my brains to remember all the threads I liked, then doing a search for each one. Then when it comes up there’s a “follow” to click at the top of each page.  Then you pick up new posts on the activity thingy. There’s probably a simpler way of doing it, wonder what Mr. Price thinks about it all?

 

I have looked at 'Content I follow'  which has some of what I had posted in, but I started to post again so have a 'Content I posted in'.  Tonight that seemed to have expanded to some that I had only posted in before the change so maybe we will get the old ones back once the indexing has happened.  Just a hope.  It also knows which blogs I have commented on which it never did before.

 

Mr Price just looks at me as if I were barmy if I mention anything like this.  He shakes his head and walks back to his office for a cup of tea and a cry.  (Not that he would admit to the second of course.)

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He never got to be a stationmaster by crying, it’s only when he gets to the eisteddfodd and the Hwyl  and the Hiraeth get to him, and that’s perfectly excusable.

ps yank spell checkers don’t like Welsh at all, do they?

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21 minutes ago, Northroader said:

He never got to be a stationmaster by crying, it’s only when he gets to the eisteddfodd and the Hwyl  and the Hiraeth get to him, and that’s perfectly excusable.

ps yank spell checkers don’t like Welsh at all, do they?

 

Ah, yes, but he only cries in private so no one sees him.  I am not sure English ones do either.

 

P.S. Do not tell anyone I have seen him crying it would really upset him.

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We have talked about the weather  before on this thread and while I was looking to see if there was anywhere else I could find archive material earlier than 1897, 8 for through trains on the GWR  to the north, I came across the Met Office National Meteorological Archive which is based in Teeter.  After an email conversation I found that they have digitised all the daily reports from their stations since 1860 until I think the present day.  Here is the link https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/collection_86058de1-8d55-4bc5-8305-5698d0bd7e13/  .  There are other links to reports from  'Stations of the second order',  rainfall data, (Big file that one), and the monthly reports which now include not only the summary but also maps and data.  I can post those if people are interested.

 

What is noticeable is that there are very few stations in Wales, in fact only Hollyhead and St Anne's Head in Pembroke, but there are at least two stations of the second order, St Davids and Llandovery, (I think).

 

So the big question is what was the weather like on Thursday 21st March in Traeth Mawr.  Well as it was closer to Hollyhead than Pembroke it was cloudy, with breaks in the cloud and a temperature of 50 degrees F.  (That is about 9 degrees in new money.)  So all the people on my layout without warm coats on, which are quite a lot are either 1) very hardy, or 2) a bit chilly.

Edited by ChrisN
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Hi Chris

 

Thanks for that link it made for very interesting reading and I now know that in the area I model in 1904 it was fine until Nov 21st and the gardens were full of flowers.

 

A brilliant find.

 

Thanks

 

Jim

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1 hour ago, aberdare said:

Hi Chris

 

Thanks for that link it made for very interesting reading and I now know that in the area I model in 1904 it was fine until Nov 21st and the gardens were full of flowers.

 

A brilliant find.

 

Thanks

 

Jim

 

15 minutes ago, Simond said:

What splendid fun!  

 

A notional date for my layout (July 1930, maybe) suggests North Wales was fine, dry, rather warm with isolated thundery showers.

 

best

Simon

 

I am amazed that they spent all that time scanning the data in.  As I said there is more but I think this is all we need.

 

It would be a bit sad if you chose a date and it was throwing it down with rain or the weather station put the weather as 'u' which means ugly, or threatening.  I cannot imagine them using that word on the BBC weather.  I wonder how a backscene with big dark ominous clouds would look? 

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Ah, there you are :) 

 

Chris, that weather database looks like a lot of fun, must explore. Thanks also from me for posting it.

 

Incidentally I found the thread with a good old fashioned site search, so the database or whatever to call it has got you listed now :D

 

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Mikkel,

Thank you for looking for me.  I have found during the week that the content I have posted on previously has appeared.  An added bonus is that I also seem to be seeing your blog on it as well which I never did, neither did I get alerts when you posted even though I asked for them.

 

I am amazed that this has been digitised.  I assume that the National Archives have not digitised more things as they have such an enormous amount of stuff whereas the Met Office only has its own records.  There is more as well.  I have not checked too much but there is European weather.  Apparently the Met Office and its records were st up to record maritime weather so there are reports from Scandinavia and I think the forecasts cover the Baltic so you may be able to infer what the weather was like in Copenhagen on a particular day.  The nearest you will get to Farthing though is the Oxford Reports.

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At risk of getting political, and much as it's interesting, fun, and rather curious, I'm not wholly sure about the intrinsic value of scanning thousands of pages of historical weather data, when I'm sure we can all think of other, more pressing, needs for our taxes to be spent on.

 

And, yes, I know, it doesn't cost a fortune but..

 

Best

Simon

 

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18 minutes ago, Simond said:

At risk of getting political, and much as it's interesting, fun, and rather curious, I'm not wholly sure about the intrinsic value of scanning thousands of pages of historical weather data, when I'm sure we can all think of other, more pressing, needs for our taxes to be spent on.

 

And, yes, I know, it doesn't cost a fortune but..

 

Best

Simon

 

 

Simon,

I was surprised that there was a public archive of the weather in the first place, but as it is there they might as well digitise the data. It will probably mean it will last longer and maybe within the Met Office scientists who are investigating climate change, weather patterns or whatever now do not have to go to Exeter.  

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On 07/02/2019 at 13:02, Simond said:

At risk of getting political, and much as it's interesting, fun, and rather curious, I'm not wholly sure about the intrinsic value of scanning thousands of pages of historical weather data, when I'm sure we can all think of other, more pressing, needs for our taxes to be spent on.

 

And, yes, I know, it doesn't cost a fortune but..

 

Best

Simon

 

 

Could argue the same about any public archive, the NRM for example. Historic data is a huge resource, if you lose it it's gone.

Nigel

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Nigel,

 

I wasn’t suggesting they threw the data away!  

 

And I’m as keen as the next modeller to have everything available, for free, at the click of a mouse, but it’s still a cost and a questionable investment in times like these.

 

anyway, I didn’t want to get political, and I’m sorry I raised the point and diverted Chris’ thread.

 

best

Simon

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One of the few things I manage to do at the moment from time to time, is to draw files for my Silhouette cutter.  It has been mentioned that some people would like me to post what I do and how I do it for say the E25.

 

If there is a real desire for me to do this I will.  I can post a 'blow by blow' account or just a general overview.  Please let me know if there is an interest.  (I know there are dedicated threads to cutters, which up to now I have not read but will do when I come to actually cutting, so I am not sure what detail they go into.)

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Hi Chris, Jason's thread is pretty extensive but personally I am always interested to see how other people do things - e.g. an overview of the E25. On the other hand, if it keeps you from modelling I'm not so sure :)

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21 minutes ago, Mikkel said:

Hi Chris, Jason's thread is pretty extensive but personally I am always interested to see how other people do things - e.g. an overview of the E25. On the other hand, if it keeps you from modelling I'm not so sure :)

 

Thank you.  Sometimes I can work on the laptop when I cannot model so it is a thought that I could do something.  I know there are other threads but I thought there might be an interest.  I am not worried either way.  Mind you I could show people what I do and they could say, "Why on earth are you doing it that way!?"  I will see if anyone else responds.  So far transferring the lower panel from a G41 to the E25 has not worked.  The shape is not the same, but then looking again at the drawing of the G41 the ends lean outwards but just a tiny tad.  I 'love' these drawings.  I am sure the E25 is not straight as whatever I do it never lines up with the drawn lines.  Still, the drawings I have used from books, or even HMRS drawings were a different size at one end to the other.  Makes life interesting.

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I would be interested in seeing how you do it as I'm trying to work on a couple of brake vans and am going a little round in circles. But as Mikkel says I would like to see my request drawing you away from your own modelling.

 

Kind regards, Neil

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I have the E35 and G41 drawings - two different versions of the latter - in the batch i received from Jack Slinn's son. They are too big and in the wrong format to post here but you are welcome to copies. They might possibly be straighter than yours.

Jonathan

PS Glad to see a post. i was beginning to think the Railways of Wales section had died - mind you I need to post too.

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51 minutes ago, corneliuslundie said:

I have the E35 and G41 drawings - two different versions of the latter - in the batch i received from Jack Slinn's son. They are too big and in the wrong format to post here but you are welcome to copies. They might possibly be straighter than yours.

Jonathan

PS Glad to see a post. i was beginning to think the Railways of Wales section had died - mind you I need to post too.

 

9 hours ago, Anotheran said:

I would be interested in seeing how you do it as I'm trying to work on a couple of brake vans and am going a little round in circles. But as Mikkel says I would like to see my request drawing you away from your own modelling.

 

Kind regards, Neil

 

Thank you both.  I will have a go at giving an overview as I go.  It may take a while, and I will have to think how I do it.  The next couple of weeks I am away accepting a machine in a hospital department I look after so I intend to take some modelling with me, but it was going to be a cardboard kit so I should have time to play with the files when it is drying.  It will also give an impetus to actually do it on odd occasions.  Also, I am not doing 'this is the best way to do it' so if you think what I have done is just silly then please say.

 

As for the drawings not being straight, it is not so much a problem as what I draw is straight and any errors are tiny and are only noticed when things are enlarged.  Once everything is drawn you have to straighten things up and put them in order so it does not matter.

 

Ok, I shall think about my first post, but it will not be today as I am going to be busy.

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I am away from home at the moment so I thought I would bring some modelling with me.  I decided to bring SkinnyLinny's, of this parish, cardboard laser cut Stroudley brake third.  Simple.  No not simple.  I had decided to use Tacky Glue as that is what I have used for card models before and not the recommended PVA and, well it is no use.  Put aside and bring the PVA next week.  (Can I get away with 'School White Glue' as the pot is about the third of the size or will it be too thin?)  I then put the top hat bearing in the axleboxes and found I only had three........

 

I then went onto trying to finish of the brass coaches for the Dolgelley train and have just done a bit but it is not very 'Craftmanship/Clever' and if I had stood on my head with my hands tied behind my back with a blindfold on I might have done a little better.  Still, getting there.  There will be pictures, but probably from a long way away.

 

So on with the E25.  Please say if I am boring you by going into too much detail.  I am not going to tell you what buttons to press as there are other threads that do that.  I shall start by saying that for me this is like the game, the name of which I do not know, where things sre moved around in order.  You start with a pile and you end up with the same pile in the same order somewhere else.  I start with one file but probably have three, or four or five by the end of it.  The last one having all the information on it.

 

So what I am aiming for is this (here goes first image posted using the new software.)

 

312234060_E251.jpg.d9fd84154976af710fe36fc5d3eef4ec.jpg

 

Wow, pictures not links.  Please do not quote this post as the replies will be hugh.

 

You see that for the sides there are five layers, the blue and yellow one is the outer panelling, (blue) and score marks for the doors,(yellow).  The next red one is the windows plus the outer window on the doors.  The second has the same windows except for droplights on the doors.  You will notice that three and four are not full height.  The final one is to hold the glazing in place.  I just got to that stage on one of my builds when life intervened, but if you go to Andy G's thread on Coach Building, (Andy may even reply, who knows?), he explains why you need to do it like this.  The nds should be the same but there shouuld only be three, or five.  I think the fifth layer is going to be plasticard strips to hold the glazing but I drew this along while ago and I have not annotated it or written any instructions.

 

So how do we start.  Surprisingly, you cannot import an image into the Silhouette software, you open it.  File, open, choose the JPEG you want.  Surprising and confusing until you find out how to do it.  It looks like this

 

319357976_E252.jpg.fe2b0a2e2504810135eec974d2402e3a.jpg

 

You will notice it is too big.  So, 'Shrink it dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry, shrink it!

 

I draw a line, usually in red so I can see it, to the size of something that I know the size of, then, making sure it reads in cms, or  mm, then I shrink the image so that it fits and is the same size.  Viola!

 

1203596424_E253.jpg.c8b1df6b2c8889747c3d30a414916442.jpg

 

The redline along the roof I drew to try and make sure the image was square to the cutting mat.  The carriage now is but the clerestory is not.  Never mind.

 

I then draw a line along the top, and a line along the bottom of the coach.  I then draw a line down one end and use the second button from the top to change the line to the correct shape.  When it is the correct shape I choose it, copy it, paste it and flip it so it should match the other end.  I then try and put it at the other end.  You will then say, 'How can you see anything?'  The answer is 'With great difficulty', so I group them together, cut them and either paste them lower down or on a file that is called 'E25 parts'.  I often find that the parts are not matching ends very well so I ungroup them,then  I assume the ends are correct and fit them to the top line, then match the bottom line and if necessary shrink the bottom line.  Regrouping the four lines I copy and put it back and hopefully it fits correctly, if not then it should only be a case of lengthening or shrinking the shape.  If the ends are wrong then I start again on the ends.

 

If I am happy with this I then cut it and paste it three times on the other file, making the three different colours.  Voila!

 

98099781_E253a.jpg.b21f99a77a30cf03426505a20f313ea6.jpg

 

I then match all three up, and I make it quite large and match a corner so that they actually match completely.  Not a magnified image.

 

14381999_E254.jpg.15938d1a2038d476d96ac88ad66a07ea.jpg

 

Why do I do this?  It is the only way I have found to make all the layers match.  They are different colours as then you can select by colour.  I group them and put them back on the image.

 

I made the lower pannelling by using the rectangles with curvey corners and then drawing a line along the end as below

 

1443899681_E255.jpg.04611e11b37318f0f1313fda8865da9f.jpg

 

I then grouped them, cut them and pasted them elsewhere and using the 'Erase Tool' removed the parts that I did not want, copied the line from one end, pasted and flipped it, stuck it on the other end.  Easy Peasy.  (Unless you have bad eyes and the wrong glasses.)  Eventually it looks like this

 

334416594_E256.jpg.2203519674a6bca088261da78aaa5a65.jpg

 

The random line is just that, a random line.  The panelling will go back.

 

Now, I think the rest of it for a while is curvey corner rectangles of different sizes, square rectangles, (:-) ) and not much else so I may get that all done before posting again.  I have just noticed the three part elliptical roof, interesting, not done one like that before.

 

If this post is a bit all over the place it is because I have already worked 50% more this week than I usually do, three days instead of two, and I still have two to go.  I probably ought to just retire.

Comments always welcome.

 

If you have been thanks for looking.

 

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Chris

Very interesting. I'm thinking about doing some etched coaches from similar plans. One of things I'm pondering is the actual length, or rather depth, of the bottom part of the sides where the tumblehome is. Because the side is curved at the bottom, the etching needs to be deeper there than the plan shows. I can think of various ways of achieving that without convincing myself which is best. Trying to get my head around your method, I'm not sure whether it achieves that or not. so, does it?

Cheers

Nigel

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8 hours ago, ChrisN said:

I shall start by saying that for me this is like the game, the name of which I do not know, where things sre moved around in order.  You start with a pile and you end up with the same pile in the same order somewhere else. 

 

Chris, I call that game "life" :)

 

Many thanks for taking the time to post this. I use Inkscape for the drawing so haven't actually used the Silhouette drawing software yet. It is useful to see what it can do, so far it looks pretty much the same as Inkscape.  The resizing option is one of the extra bonuses that comes with this sort of software I find, being able to scale a drawing to correct size so easily is very useful I think. 

 

I'm also taking notes of your proposed brass coach building techniques. Now where can I get a blindfold... :D 

 

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16 hours ago, NCB said:

Chris

Very interesting. I'm thinking about doing some etched coaches from similar plans. One of things I'm pondering is the actual length, or rather depth, of the bottom part of the sides where the tumblehome is. Because the side is curved at the bottom, the etching needs to be deeper there than the plan shows. I can think of various ways of achieving that without convincing myself which is best. Trying to get my head around your method, I'm not sure whether it achieves that or not. so, does it?

Cheers

Nigel

 

Nigel,

I think the answer is, probably not, but I think that the difference is quite small so will not be noticable, or have an effect if there is a tumble home on the side but not the end.  If I remember correctly the MSLR coaches are like that but I have not quite got there in making my first one.  As there  is a tumble home on both the end and the side it could be that the coach is slightly smaller.  By measurement and calculation the tumblehome part that actually curves is approximately 6.49mm, and the straight line of that curve is 6.4mm.  Given how ham fisted I have been with the ration coaches 0.1mm is within my tolerance.

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