Inspired by Brent June 1947

[drduncan]

Can you file, grind or razor saw off much of the mse stool bases to make them useable? Perhaps dig them into the ballast too?

D

[The Fatadder]

36 minutes ago, drduncan said:

Can you file, grind or razor saw off much of the mse stool bases to make them useable? Perhaps dig them into the ballast too?

D

They could be cut down, but it feels like quite a lot of work (especially to ensure consistency in the amount cut off)

 

As mentioned previously I pre fitted the ballast with blocks of plasticard as supports for the stalls.  So these would need to be removed and a lot of ballast touch ups.  
 

 

It won’t be a big job to draw up a basic 4 roller stall with a crude outline of the real thing matching the size but with none of the detail on the ModelU part.  (To do it properly would cost another £100+ for stalls that you just won’t see.)

I just need to inspect the other end of the layout and double check the rod numbers at the London end, (to check if I need any more 3 rollers) before placing an order.

 

 

[checkrail]

Always nice getting plastered at lunch or evening.

[The Fatadder]

6 minutes ago, checkrail said:

Always nice getting plastered at lunch or evening.

I miss the days of a 2 hour business lunch on expenses….

[The Fatadder]

After a little more work on the point rodding, I have got on with some more work on the lifting section. Alas I ran out of plaster so it’s back to waiting for another Amazon delivery.

the lighting is very poor at this end of the layout, (something that will need to be sorted eventually).

 

the aim is to be able to get photos of the main line OR the branch but not both, 

 

testing a few angles on the main, I think it is achieving what I was hoping.  Though I am still trying to decide if I will blend the branch transition a bit more,  the original plan was to just have a grass bank, but it was far too steep.

[The Fatadder]

No progress over the summer (though most August was spent in Florida which rather got in the way this being as close to anything GWR)

 

 

I have cracked on with a small job yesterday evening.  Most of my locos are currently running without headlamps, (and for that matter there are no tail lamps either)

To do the job properly with the ModelU parts (which are by far the best out there) would cost a fortune given the volume that I need.  Do my intention is to slowly upgrade over time.  For now I have drawn my own based on dimensions taken at the Dean Valley Railway earlier in the year, shown here next to a ModelU lamp after a quick dusting of primer.

the key feature I still need to determine is how to do the lens. My hope is painting the inside silver and adding a blob of pva will do the job….

Then I just need to print 50odd of them, plus another 20 or so for tail lamps.

 

My plan is that by the spring all locos will be fitted with headlamps and all brake vans / rear coaches will have a tail lamp. 

[Neal Ball]

Thats an interesting project Rich. Is it possible to print them pre-coloured white to avoid any further painting?

[The Fatadder]

41 minutes ago, Neal Ball said:

Thats an interesting project Rich. Is it possible to print them pre-coloured white to avoid any further painting?

It is a possibility certainly, however my understanding is that if you use different resins you have to use different settings to get the best results.  So having calibrated the machine to run with my usual transparent red resin, I havent yet tried using an alternative.  

 

That said, I suspect even if it was pre coloured in white I would probably still want to give it a coat of paint to finish it off. 

 

Now that I know the design has worked to an acceptable standard, I need to do a few modifications and alter it to get something suitable for side lamps for my brake vans.  (I am assuming that a head lamp and a tail lamp would be the same design).

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by The Fatadder

[Nick Gough]

3 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

Now that I know the design has worked to an acceptable standard, I need to do a few modifications and alter it to get something suitable for side lamps for my brake vans.  (I am assuming that a head lamp and a tail lamp would be the same design).

 

 

The main difference would be the position of the slot for mounting on the lamp irons.

Side for locomotives and rear for coaches/wagons. How obvious that is at 4mm though...?

[The Fatadder]

8 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

 

The main difference would be the position of the slot for mounting on the lamp irons.

Side for locomotives and rear for coaches/wagons. How obvious that is at 4mm though...?

That makes sense, will be a small tweak to remove the fittings from the sides of the lamp and the addition of the fittings to the rear of the lamp.  A few mins work at most and it will be ready to print, or at least it will be once I get a delivery of more resin.   

[Nick Gough]

Of course the door for the burner is different too. Rear for loco, side for tail.

 

I have an old Great Western Echo with drawings of the loco lamps, both GWR and BR. IIRC the main difference was the shape of the handle.

[The Fatadder]

the resin is pretty hard to drill out, so I will have a look at the possibility of adding a hole in the print. 
 

[The Fatadder]

 

another loco done, I found drilling the lamps a real paint, so I’ve adjusted the drawing to include a hole in the print to fit the lamp iron.   
 

Getting lamp irons fitted makes such a difference, will be prioritising this now over fitting drivers as they are much less obvious.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

They sit really nicely. Great idea to include a hole in your design work.

[The Fatadder]

It’s been a while since I made much progress on Brent, over the summer I’ve lost my motivation somewhat.   To try and get things moving again I’ve started on one of the big missing items, the down waiting room.

 

So today I’ve had the cutter out to produce the main parts before assembling the core of the structure. 

 

the drawing has the lower window bar a touch too thin so it didn’t cut properly. This will need to be replaced with evergreen strip.  It now needs a little fettling before painting, after which I will have to start work on the canopy (for the up and down platforms…)

 

I think for the signal box I will reevaluate my plan and look again at laser cutting.  I think am not convinced the planned plasticard route will work as well as I’d like. The other remaining building for the goods shed is still awaited from Intentio, hopefully not too much longer…

[Nick Gough]

Looks very nice.

[The Fatadder]

In advance of making a start on the roof / canopy I needed to get the test roof from the garage to use as a template.   Couldn’t resist posing the building in its new location. Nice to finally get rid of the Amazon box mock-up (can’t wait to get rid of the white card mock-up in front of it…)

[checkrail]

21 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

It’s been a while since I made much progress on Brent, over the summer I’ve lost my motivation somewhat.   To try and get things moving again I’ve started on one of the big missing items, the down waiting room.

It's good to see you posting again re Brent and progress being made once more.  Still following with interest. Building looking good.

[The Fatadder]

Hopefully won’t be so long until the next update.   Though I have a reasonably priced copy of the Aktins wagon bible arriving from eBay in the next day or two which may result in some 3d printing distractions…

 

I have set to work on some of the fettling on the ends of the waiting room this evening. Hopefully will have it fit to paint at the weekend, I’ve ran out of light stone but I know some shades of EWS gold make for a very close match (so I will check how close the jar I have is to it…)

[The Fatadder]

Slowly making progress painting the waiting room, I had debated painting the framing before gluing together but in the end decided the risk to the paint from the glue was too high.  So instead I painted the whole thing in light stone and am now in the process of carefully painting the framing in dark stone.  So far I am managing one side a night (although it will all need a second coat).  The light stone is a little blotchy, but I am not too worried as from experience it will make for a good basis of a weathered finish (once a couple of dirt washes have been applied).

The plan is for the core of the building to be glazed and put in place on the layout by the weekend

 

I have been giving more thought to the canopy structure, the plan here is that I will 3d print the brackets / support beams which will be glued onto the building before adding the canopy from plasticard (not forgetting to chamfer the edge to get a vertical section for the valance.    Speaking of which I guess I ought to try cutting it from 10 thou plasticard to see how well it comes out...   

Ideally I want to try and keep the roof section removeable so that there is potential at a later date to remove the building from the layout and add an interior / lighting.  

 

Then attention can return to the signal box and most likely a first attempt at drawing for laser cutting...  (though I am half tempted to see how well I could 3d print it in two halves.....   If I had a bigger printer able to fit the whole thing I'd be even more tempted!)  

 

 

[The Fatadder]

The light stone is still looking blotchy, as it still needs the weathering washes which ‘should’ turn what looks like a poor paint job into tatty weathered paint.  I’ve used the technique before successfully so it ‘should’ work again…

 

interior walls should be the next to be painted, along with the white window frames.  

[Neal Ball]

1 hour ago, The Fatadder said:

The light stone is still looking blotchy, as it still needs the weathering washes which ‘should’ turn what looks like a poor paint job into tatty weathered paint.  I’ve used the technique before successfully so it ‘should’ work again…

 

interior walls should be the next to be painted, along with the white window frames.  

That’s going to look great Rich

[The Fatadder]

A late lunch today saw some more progress, with a weathering wash applied to the outside of the building along with painting the interior walls.

 

Still giving thought as to how I will tackle the roof.  I am unsure as to the angle of the canopy vs the building.  One thought is to have a flat core with a rib along the outer face (along with a thinner rib along the centre line).  A second skin of 20thou would then be added to the top to get the angle.  It would make the whole assembly easier to build (meaning a square edge on which to attach the valance), while the flat "inside" surface would not be noticeable from normal angles.....

At any rate it needs the supports drawing & printing no matter how I do it (including the more complicated support at the foot bridge end.

 

When I will get round to that drawing is a different matter, as mentioned previously last week I managed to source a cheap copy of the 2013 edition of Atkins et al.  So much more useful than my first edition of pt1 and pt2 given how many more photos (and more importantly drawings) it contains.  I have already spotted several future projects that I want to try printing (such as a ballast plough, along with a match truck (should Oxford's crane ever appear).  However the most interesting for now is on page 498 with drawings for both a mess and a tool van for a brakedown train.  

 

Its not the version I really need for my Swindon crane (all be it currently numbered as OOC's example) however the bogie example which is required for that is too big for my printer (and not covered in the drawing).  A van that at some point I would very much like to build an etched kit for.   However the long term aim is for two cranes, as I would like to do one of Newton Abbot's examples should the Oxford release appear and I think (aside from the lack of planking on the mess van) the drawing is what I need....

 

Based on my (unfinished) project for the 6 wheeled siphon it will be an easy coach to print (easier still than the siphon as it can just use a standard Bill Bedford underframe from Eileen's) 

 

 

 

[The Fatadder]

retaken the photo for the last post in slightly better light

A little more work and I have a basic roof structure.  

[Nick Gough]

The canopy at Brent was, I believe, similar to that of the octagonal island canopy at Cholsey & Moulsford. The girders supported a series of longitudinal battens. These in turn supported two longitudinal areas of wooden planking that formed the canopy. The planking nearest the platform edge was set higher with a noticeable step down to the second area, nearest the building. Both areas were angled downwards, towards the building, draining into a gutter, above the wall, adjacent to the bottom of the slate roof. The whole of the planking was covered by a waterproof layer (zinc I think).

 

When I get home, next week, I can dig out a sectional drawing of this arrangement that, probably, explains this better.