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Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00


St Enodoc
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5 hours ago, john dew said:


I am so envious of your signal set up and particularly your skill in making them. Sadly I know my limitations, but you and @checkrail ( yet another John....we have a trio) have indirectly convinced me to try and install some Dapols.......then I can look forward to making the computor  “pull the levers”.

 

I dont imagine you are watching the NH Nations Cup? England v Georgia was never likely to be a riveting game but played in a monsoon, in an empty Twickenham......and Nigel Owens constantly re setting scrums....:angry:

 

All Blacks v Argentina must have bee interesting?

 

Best wishes
 

 

Thanks John, I appreciate that very much.

 

I've always been interested in signalling, ever since the early days of digitally-operated Hornby-Dublo upper quadrants. I graduated to Ratio kits - still digitally operated - then to Ratio kits powered by their cord system. @Barry O built some of those for me, with Colin Waite arms, for the first St Enodoc branch terminus.

 

They are very much functional models with several liberties taken to put operation above looks. For example, nobody has yet noticed (or perhaps you've all been kind enough not to mention) that none of the signals have stanchions or railings. I tried and failed, so now I don't bother.

 

Dapols driven by the computer sounds fun! I look forward to seeing that.

 

I don't think we're getting the NH Nations Cup here, although I haven't searched for it specifically. Yes, ARG v NZL was a cracker. The Pumas never gave the All Blacks enough time or room to settle and were always looking for gaps and ways to get the ball behind the defence. Quick hands, especially on the blind side, were the key. I'm convinced, too, although totally without rational justification, that rugby in daylight is always better than rugby at night. I used the word "gripping" before - I'll add "exhilarating" to that.

 

ARG v AUS this Saturday - let's see how that goes!

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23 minutes ago, teaky said:

FYI  Before you waste any time searching the wrong channels, two of the NH Nations Cup matches are on Channel 4 and the rest are on Amazon Prime.

Thanks Rob. It seems that beIN Sports is showing them in the Asia Pacific region (the same mob that also relay 6 Nations games) so I might pick one or two to record and watch later.

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having them on Bezo channel has turned me off watching Rugby... shame as it if the same happens to RU which happened to Cricket when it was moved to Sky could be  a bad idea....

 

baz

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I've now painted and striped four more main arms (two for the batch after this one) and two calling-on arms, so after trimming, varnishing and glazing they'll be ready to use.

 

For the yellow-armed disc, I'm going to try a sliver of Tamiya masking tape. If that works, it will be much easier than an equivalent sliver of Pressfix transfer.

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On 19/11/2020 at 13:14, St Enodoc said:

For the yellow-armed disc, I'm going to try a sliver of Tamiya masking tape. If that works, it will be much easier than an equivalent sliver of Pressfix transfer.

Well, it was easy to apply but unfortunately the Tamiya tape just isn't opaque/bright/vivid enough. Tomorrow I'll get a Pressfix coach lining sheet out and try a small piece of "first class" band.

 

Other than that, the signals are now ready for final assembly and to have their actuators fitted. I should get that done over the weekend and, depending on the weather (if it's fine we'll be out and about) I might get them installed too.

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1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

Well, it was easy to apply but unfortunately the Tamiya tape just isn't opaque/bright/vivid enough. Tomorrow I'll get a Pressfix coach lining sheet out and try a small piece of "first class" band.

 

Other than that, the signals are now ready for final assembly and to have their actuators fitted. I should get that done over the weekend and, depending on the weather (if it's fine we'll be out and about) I might get them installed too.

Why not paint the tamiya tape yellow before applying it?

I am about to use the same approach to add the missing boiler bands to my 47xx, I am sure I have read about someone else using that approach successfully.

 

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8 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Why not paint the tamiya tape yellow before applying it?

I am about to use the same approach to add the missing boiler bands to my 47xx, I am sure I have read about someone else using that approach successfully.

 

Thanks Rich. I'd thought about that but I was a little concerned about the paint flaking off. Based on your suggestion I'll try that before the Pressfix. I'll probably use ordinary adhesive tape rather than the Tamiya tape as it's thinner and, unlike boiler bands, I don't need to give the impression of thickness. Watch this space.

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13 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Thanks Rich. I'd thought about that but I was a little concerned about the paint flaking off. Based on your suggestion I'll try that before the Pressfix. I'll probably use ordinary adhesive tape rather than the Tamiya tape as it's thinner and, unlike boiler bands, I don't need to give the impression of thickness. Watch this space.

Well, I painted a bit of adhesive tape and a bit of Tamiya tape with Precision (yes, it's that old) Signal Yellow this morning but I don't know the answer yet, because after nearly 12 hours the paint is still tacky. I'll have to leave it overnight now.

 

The other two signals, 50/44 and 51/45, are finished though and might get installed tomorrow, depending on how long and how bibulous our pub Sunday roast turns out to be...

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On 21/11/2020 at 22:33, St Enodoc said:

Well, I painted a bit of adhesive tape and a bit of Tamiya tape with Precision (yes, it's that old) Signal Yellow this morning but I don't know the answer yet, because after nearly 12 hours the paint is still tacky. I'll have to leave it overnight now.

 

The other two signals, 50/44 and 51/45, are finished though and might get installed tomorrow, depending on how long and how bibulous our pub Sunday roast turns out to be...

After a little more than 20 hours the yellow paint had dried, so first I cut a strip from the adhesive tape. Unfortunately that wouldn't stay in position even after pressing down, so I tried the Tamiya instead. Success! A coat of matt varnish to seal it and it now looks fine.

 

20201122001yellow-armdisc.JPG.6ecfa4985084026f10c9760997cdeda0.JPG

The slight bump in the middle is where the operating rod pokes through the etching slightly. Once the varnish is dry, I'll pierce the (yellow) spectacle and the whole thing will be ready to install.

 

Thanks for the tip, Rich @The Fatadder.

 

Edited by St Enodoc
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1 minute ago, St Enodoc said:

After a little more than 20 hours the yellow paint had dried, so first I cut a strip from the adhesive tape. Unfortunately that wouldn't stay in position even after pressing down, so I tried the Tamiya instead. Success! A coat of matt varnish to seal it and it now looks fine.

 

 

The slight bump in the middle is where the operating rod pokes through the etching slightly. Once the varnish is dry, I'll pierce the (yellow) spectacle and the whole thing will be ready to install.

 

Thanks for the tip, Rich @The Fatadder.

Glad to hear it worked, looks spot on!

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19 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

might get installed tomorrow, depending on how long and how bibulous our pub Sunday roast turns out to be...

Lunch was excellent, at the Glebe Hotel (in Glebe, funnily enough) https://theglebehotel.com.au, so by the time we got home I couldn't be bothered to take the signals outside let alone install them, so that can wait a while.

 

The two-arm bracket at the Down end of the branch platform is next. I'm thinking of making the arms the same height but the configuration of the Ratio bracket means that they might be a little too close together horizontally. I'll do a dry run first. I have seen a photo, taken in 1953, that shows a distant view of the signal with the Branch to Main arm higher than the Branch to Branch so, if the equal-height arms don't work, that's my fallback. One fine day I'll change all the signals to represent more closely their full-size counterparts but at this stage getting them built, installed and working is the priority.

 

Edit: Just checked my signal progress spreadsheet and I see that I've now built just over half the signals for the whole layout (33 out of 65 structures) which is a pleasing milestone. Only 16 are installed yet though - the others are the three I've just finished, the disc that I nearly put in the wrong place last week, the Down Branch Advanced Starting and all the St Enodoc signals that I removed when I dismantled the old layout.

Edited by St Enodoc
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54 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Menu looks interesting....

 

Baz and her 8ndoors

Yes it is, isn't it. What is doesn't show is the Sunday Special, a choice of two roasts plus dessert for $30. We both had roast beef, which was beautifully rare, with roast potatoes (very fluffy), carrot, red onion, cauliflower and pumpkin, and a very big Yorkshire pud with caramelised onion gravy. Top class. I finished off with the treacle and rhubarb tart but swapped the vanilla ice cream for honeycomb. All washed down with a glass of Beaujolais (not often seen in these parts) and a glass of Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvedre. Mmm. That might explain why not much got done after we came home.

 

Photo on its way from V.

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On 22/11/2020 at 18:18, St Enodoc said:

The two-arm bracket at the Down end of the branch platform is next. I'm thinking of making the arms the same height but the configuration of the Ratio bracket means that they might be a little too close together horizontally. I'll do a dry run first.

 

20201122002equalheightarmsdryrun.JPG.557667b9c94d926b762755dab3f87fdb.JPG

This excruciatingly-cruel close-up shows the problem. The end of the right-hand arm is very close to the spectacle of the left-hand arm. Not only does it look cramped but I think that the right-hand arm might actually foul the left-hand lamp, which of course isn't fitted for this dry run. Consequently, I'll build this signal in the standard way.

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Cold custard can only be served when containing sliced banana. Cold custard with a warm tart must be some strange southern way of making a mess out of good food...

 

Baz

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40 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Cold custard can only be served when containing sliced banana. Cold custard with a warm tart must be some strange southern way of making a mess out of good food...

 

Baz

Funnily I am in the minority of people I know and the hot / cold custard debate........Bananas and Custard no thank you.

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2 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

The end of the right-hand arm is very close to the spectacle of the left-hand arm. Not only does it look cramped but I think that the right-hand arm might actually foul the left-hand lamp,...

 

Indeed. The prototypes seem to vary a lot with respect to the distance between the dolls. In cases where the arms are at different heights, they can often be very close together. It seems fairly typical to allow a bit more space in the cases where the arms are at the same height. I assume Ratio have chosen the common case where the heights are different, but it is a pity that they don't make any provision for some variation in the doll spacing with this kit.

 

I think that the round post version (Ratio 468) provides more space between the dolls.

 

Yours, Mike

 

 

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6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Ooh yes - preferably with a thick skin on top.

 

Reminds me of a pub I visited in Nottinghamshire many years ago.  Pud was apple pie and custard.  I turned the custard jug upside down, and nothing happened.  The custard had to be dragged out of the jug with the spoon.

 

Proper custard.

 

Back to muddling.

 

Adrian

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On 21/11/2020 at 22:33, St Enodoc said:

Well, I painted a bit of adhesive tape and a bit of Tamiya tape with Precision (yes, it's that old) Signal Yellow this morning but I don't know the answer yet, because after nearly 12 hours the paint is still tacky. I'll have to leave it overnight now.

 

John, have you thought about using a piece of yellow electrical insulation tape?

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