Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Signalling the changes...

[BlueLightning]

45 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

We now have 9 locomotives

 

10 locomotives now

[Skinnylinny]

Well, I've nearly recovered from Model Rail Scotland (two 1.5 hour naps yesterday, followed by falling asleep at 7:30pm and not waking until 8am the next day!). Lots of fantastic layouts and very helpful traders. Glendevon ran smoothly, which was a relief for the club's first show in two years.

I've picked up a few more bits for Linton Town - various figures and details from Langley Models (including a large rack of meat to hang up outside the butcher's shop, and a Brougham carriage to go on the LSWR carriage truck), a Slaters wagon kit, and some miscellaneous bits such as pinpoint bearings and handrail knobs.

I also picked up a built Coopercraft W1 cattle wagon, which will get repainted and weathered to go with the rest of the Titfield stock I plan to acquire. Speaking of which...

This is something I'm working on - there's a fair amount of work still to do, but I'm rather pleased so far! Several separately-fitted detail parts didn't make it onto this print, as its main purpose is to check the fit of the larger components for now. Anyway, anyone fancy a pint at the bar? May I trouble you, sir? I'm afraid you have my corner...

Edited March 3, 2022 by Skinnylinny

[Skinnylinny]

Down at the club tonight. I also picked up a Hornby LB&SCR full brake for the princely sum of £22.50. It's 8 feet too long, but with some chopping... The panelling still won't be quite correct but it should look rather better! 

 

 

Now for lots and lots of sanding to get neat joins!

[Skinnylinny]

Hello all,

It's certainly been a rollercoaster of a month. Modelling has been happening, albeit slowly. I've had another go at the lining on the LB&SCR G class. Still not perfect, but I'm getting happier with every attempt. The current state of affairs looks something like this:



It's certainly a vast improvement from when I first acquired the model!



There has also been a little more On30 stock acquired (two boxcars, a coach and a "combine" (luggage brake, roughly translated!) although these have all arrived in various "Christmas" liveries, and are gradually being repainted into something more sombre. The coach and combine may be shortened somewhat as they feel very long.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/710042704884793414/960133323810807828/20220331_190009.mp4

The peak of the month came with the arrival of some SE&CR open wagons from Rapido. I was a part of the team that designed these; indeed, they're my first RTR product, and I'm rather proud of being part of the team. Reviews have generally been positive, which is always a nice confidence boost.



However, some bad news arrived a few days ago, of the passing of my grandmother. I've taken some time to visit my family, which is doing me a lot of good. A nice gentle trip out into the Scottish borders, and even their cat remembered me and came running down the stairs to greet me (which, given I've not seen the cat in at least 3 years came as a surprise!). Things are starting to settle down a bit now, at least.

[Skinnylinny]

Not much of an update. The funeral is next week, and I'm planning to pop into the office while I'm visiting. 

A little modelling has, however, been done this week. Just a little. 

Two more Andrew Stadden figures have been painted for the layout. Not perfect, but certainly good enough to only need a little touching up before going onto the layout. Seen here with an out-of-the-packet Model Scene porter. I'm not sure he'll end up on the layout at all, but if he does, he'll be getting a repaint and probably hidden in a dark corner of the goods shed!



I think the chap in the blue waistcoat needs a trip to the barbers, his beard is rather raggedy! Ah well. Eventually they'll join this lot on the platform:



The waitress came as something of a surprise when she arrived - I was a little short of getting free postage on an order from a model shop, and they were offering "get one random Noch figure for £1", and she was the one that arrived. I wonder if she could appear in the window of one of the nicer houses, maybe adjusting the curtains or something. She certainly seems nice enough that it'd be a shame to hide her away like that rough-and-ready porter!

[Skinnylinny]

Well, I suppose that's another cat breaking (or should that be "braking"? No, this is the pre-grouping section...) out of the bag. Personal modelling time has been restricted a little by work (although given the prototype, I don't really mind!). 

I'm just heading home on a train from Sheffield, after a fantastic but thoroughly exhausting day at Rails of Sheffield's new shop launch. It was great to meet customers, and I finally got to see and handle the 3D print from an early version of the CAD for the Wisbech & Upwell tramcar. It's very different holding the model in my hands, rather than seeing it on-screen, where I can zoom in and make things H-U-U-U-G-E! 

The SE&CR brake van project kept me busy for a while, and it's something for which I'm very much looking forward to seeing the finished product. After all, I already have a C class in Wainwright livery, and a partially-built O class in SER lined black. That's two brake vans I'll need straight off the bat! Then maybe a double-ended one just for variety's sake...

I can't resist, I'm sorry - I'm going to share one of the renders of the CAD work so far... To say I'm rather pleased would be a bit of an understatement!

 

It was great to meet the team at Rails, and to talk to customers. It took a lot of self-control not to spend lots of money in their second-hand section, but I think I got away with it!

[Jack P]

I'm so excited about this brake-van Linny!

 

You did an absolutely stunning job on the SECR open - i've been gushing to Andy about it.

 

 

The other Rapido projects looks awesome too!

[Skinnylinny]

Thanks, Jack. I can't lay claim to all of the SECR open though - I was part of a team for that one! I worked on the bodyshells, someone else did the underframe (and a fantastic job he did on it too!), and yet another person designed the printing artwork. To say nothing of the skilled people in China who actually moulded, assembled, and painted the thing!

[Nick C]

You should be very proud Linny, the wagons are fantastic, and the CADs for the brake look great! 

[Skinnylinny]

What's this, some actual physical modelling from me? Well, kind of... 

A while back, I started on CAD for an LSWR A12, and it got as far as a first draft print, which was test-assembled and even ran (briefly!) on a club layout:



Well, a fair bit of tweaking of the files has been going on behind-the-scenes. I wasn't happy with the printed rendition of the Adams buffers, so they have been removed, to be replaced by spring ones from the Hornby Adams Radial. The space between the frames was very empty, and quite visible, so some dummy motion has been added. A few tweaks for strength (the steps have been thickened slightly to prevent the snapping that can be seen on the bottom cab footstep). Various small changes.

Well, everything has finally come to a head. Train Times model shop in Eastbourne have recently started offering a 3D printing service, using a resin printer but with higher resolution than my own. What a difference that printer has made. The prints arrived yesterday, and I've already added handrails, and primed the model. The surface finish is much smoother than my own printer, and much more consistent. There are some very slight print lines on the boiler, dome and chimney, and I'll possibly give the dome and chimney a light sanding, but the lines on the boiler are fine enough that they should disappear under a coat or two of Phoenix Precision LSWR Drummond Green (from my experience painting 3D prints). The lighting for this photo is rather cruel!





As can be seen, the motor mainly occupies the firebox, giving me a nice big empty boiler to stuff with weight, which should help with both the balance and the haulage capacity of the loco. 

[Nick C]

So when's the Rapido version coming out? 😉

Edited April 21, 2022 by Nick C

[Edwardian]

There's a rather nice OO Works version, now they've changed the announced LSWR livery to the correct one.  Urie-era with Drummond fittings, however, so too late for my modelling interests. 

[Skinnylinny]

Indeed there is, although too late for mine, too. Plus I believe it's a lever-reverser type, rather than a screw-reverser, and not dual-fitted, so... 

I've now added some rather nice etched coal rails which @Corbsdrew up for me and stuck on a test etch he was having done. I think they add a nice touch of finesse to the tender, while not being hyper-fragile as 3D printed ones would have been.



The loco chassis has now been painted, and DCC Concepts pickups added (although tweaked slightly to reduce the friction from them bearing on the wheels). The trailing wheels have now also gained some rudimentary springing (a piece of wire bent to a "Z" shape) to keep them on the rails. I still need to make up some coupling rods from the Gibson universal etch, and wire up the pickups to the motor. I'm excited to see the chassis run!

I'm very glad I modelled the dummy motion - it fills a gap that had bugged me, without it being a solid block under the boiler. The occasional moments when a flash of red under the boiler catches the light really improve the appearance of the loco, and should be even more noticeable when the grey is replaced by green, purple brown and black.

Edited April 24, 2022 by Skinnylinny

[Skinnylinny]

Well, the grey primer has now been "lifted" somewhat by the addition of some black paint to provide an approximation to a "photographic grey" livery, until I can find the Phoenix Drummond green and purple brown paints! Then will come the fun part of carefully picking out pipework, springs, axleboxes etc. 



Apologies for the messy edges, I was making sure that I got the black right up to the edges, to prevent any unpainted grey spots showing through once the green is applied!

[Skinnylinny]

Still no sign of the Phoenix Drummond green paint, but by a strange co-incidence, I did find some Railmatch LNER Doncaster green, which is a very close match(!) - close enough to be accounted for by less-light-fast, hand-mixed paints, in my opinion. A light weathering, once finished, will hide this variation further. The loco went down to the club last night, and was given its first few coats of green, and the chassis was wired up, although I forgot to bring the coupling rod kit, so while the chassis so far runs rather nicely, smoothly and quietly, it doesn't go anywhere! 

 

Apologies for the terrible lighting there, with the rather strange colour cast from the infrared heaters at the club. A better impression of the colour can be got from the photo below, with a Hornby M7 repainted with Phoenix Drummond Green:



The plan for Thursday's club night is to try to get the coupling rods done, get some weight into the boiler, and see how she runs properly!

[Skinnylinny]

An attempt was made to assemble coupling rods from the Gibson "Universal" rods set, but due to not having appropriate jigs and bits (and possibly also due to having bent crankpins which I had somehow not noticed!) running is... lumpy to say the least. I'm going to have another go at the coupling rods with another set of etches I have found, but this will have to wait until I've got my hands on some 3mm diameter coupling rod setting-up axle thingies.

That said, it looks quite nice posed on "Yetts o' Muckhart", the new Edinburgh & Lothians MRC layout, which will be making its exhibition debut at the Glenrothes show on May 14th and 15th.



The appropriate buffers have somehow gone missing, so some Bachmann ones are currently taking their place. As seems to be expected from 0-4-2s, this loco is going to need quite careful balancing in order to get any haulage capacity whatsoever. The smokebox will be *filled* with lead!

Some spring cleaning of the flat has also taken place, with the result that the layout is now much tidier than it has been in a long time. Some scenic work might even happen soon!

Edited April 29, 2022 by Skinnylinny

[Jack P]

Linny, 

 

The Poppys Jig for setting up chassis' is a really excellent bit of kit - it's also great for working out coupling rod lengths. 

It's also relatively affordable from memory, definitely worth adding to the toolkit if you can justify it!

[Skinnylinny]

5 hours ago, Jack P said:

Linny, 

 

The Poppys Jig for setting up chassis' is a really excellent bit of kit - it's also great for working out coupling rod lengths. 

It's also relatively affordable from memory, definitely worth adding to the toolkit if you can justify it!

 

Jack, 

 

Thanks for the recommendation. Unfortunately the Poppys jig is only available for 1/8" axles, and because of the gearbox I'm using 3mm axles for the A12. What I really need is to find some kind person with a lathe to turn me a set of 3mm diameter "toothpick" type axles which I can use to set the lengths of the coupling rods!

 

Painting of the loco continues in preparation for the arrival of lining transfers. One side is just about painted, with the other side in progress. The Hornby Adams buffers have now shown up (in a place I know I emptied and searched several times!) so these have replaced the Bachmann ones fitted. 

 

[TurboSnail]

There's a way that I'm told works for a certain type of crankpin (I think it's Markits Deluxe?) where you put the axles in the chassis and use the threaded end of the axles as your jig - as the threaded bit is the same diameter as the crankpin.

[Skinnylinny]

Well, I tried to straighten the crankpins and I suspect I ended up damaging the wheels. A quick order was placed with Scale Link, and some plastic ones have arrived with which to replace them, along with fresh, straight crankpins, and a "proper" Romford screwdriver. Mine had gone missing, and I suspect that "bodging" the crankpins into place with a pair of pointed tweezers hadn't helped. 

A friend at the Hacklab offered to show me how to use the CNC milling machine, so we tried to mill some coupling rods out of steel, but didn't get very far, choosing instead to work with aluminium. This still came off the mill with a ragged edge, so I suspect more research needs doing on feed and tool speeds, but some tidying up with needle files has shown that with the replacement wheels and milled rods, a smooth-rolling chassis resulted. The wheels were thus painted, rods fitted (using superglue to hold on the retaining washers, rather than solder, for fear of melting the plastic driver centres and messing up the running again!) and the loco now runs on my temporary test track (some setrack and a 9V battery).

A fair amount of weight has been stuck into the boiler and smokebox, using tyre weights and Liquid Gravity. I'm looking forward to testing it with a proper controller on a club layout, to see what it'll do, but I may end up adding tender pickups too, if I can get them to work without adding too much friction. The A12 is never going to be a heavy hauler!





So, what's the next project? Well, CAD-wise, I've started work on something a little different, American even! A Baldwin Class 8/18 C 4-4-0, specifically Eureka, no. 4 of the Eureka & Palisade Railroad, built in 1875. This locomotive is one of the early engines in the Railroads Online computer game, and I've fallen in love with it as a classic early American 4-4-0. While the prototype is 3' gauge, I'll be bending reality (and dimensions!) a little to run with my On30 stock (on scale 2'6" gauge track).



I'm not looking forward to scumbling that wooden cab, or figuring out how best to represent the large expanses of polished brass, though!

[jwealleans]

I use low melt solder with the crankpins on ScaleLink wheels.   I don’t think you can melt the plastic with that.

[Skinnylinny]

On 08/05/2022 at 23:04, jwealleans said:

I use low melt solder with the crankpins on ScaleLink wheels.   I don’t think you can melt the plastic with that.

 

That's a handy tip, thank you! I'll remember that one... (Plus it'll mean the crankpin washers will end up a silvery colour rather than brass, always an advantage!)

Work's been continuing on the Baldwin, which now has wheels, coupling and connecting rods. Unfortunately the pilot (the part which sticks out in front of the smokebox) has a complicated shape when viewed from the top... and I haven't been able to get any top-down photographs or drawings! So that part will have to wait. I've also virtually test-fitted the same motor-gearbox combination I've used in the A12, which fits neatly between the frames and the widely-spaced driving wheels. This would leave nearly the entire firebox volume open for weight, which would help balance things, as there's a lot of overhang at the front. I've not yet decided exactly how to handle bogie swing on this loco either - I imagine that with the amount of slop in H0 wheel standards, there could be a propensity to waddle, which would be very visible at the front. I suspect some form of bogie springing will be required.

I suspect that the driving wheels are going to have to have 3D printed centres, fitted to turned tyres which I'll have to source from somewhere. I've intentionally drawn the tyres thicker than I expect them to be, as CAD-wise, it's easier to thicken the rim of the wheel centre later than to try to shorten all the spokes.

[Regularity]

2 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

Plus it'll mean the crankpin washers will end up a silvery colour rather than brass, always an advantage!

You could use steel nuts…

Also, clear nail varnish (or red if the coupling rods are painted thus, or other colours) works well as a thread lock, but a sharp twist breaks the seal (no walrus type jokes, please!) 

[Skinnylinny]

56 minutes ago, Regularity said:

You could use steel nuts…

Also, clear nail varnish (or red if the coupling rods are painted thus, or other colours) works well as a thread lock, but a sharp twist breaks the seal (no walrus type jokes, please!) 

 

I could... if I were using threaded crankpins! And yes, I have used nail polish as a threadlock, as well as a brushable insulation coat (it's rather harder-wearing than paint, in my experience). It's a very versatile addition to the dressing table workbench!

[Regularity]

3 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

I could... if I were using threaded crankpins!

Doh!

(On my part!)

Frankly, I would do it any other way.