MrWolf Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Thanks to tinkering with those old Triang clerestories, I am finally getting things moving with actually building a layout. We have one oddly shaped room here which gives me 20ft x 2ft of room. I can have the layout at 4ft high and construct storage space below. I borrowed a mates van yesterday and collected some 9mm ply for the sides and top. I had some 19mm ply for the ends kicking about and ran out of excuses. The boards will be 1200x600 so it will fit into the room. The sides are 150mm deep for rigidity, fixed together with polyurethane glue, 25mm pins and screws. Once the track layout is finalised I will attach cross bracing. I know my luck, I would otherwise end up with a brace directly beneath a point tie rod. So far so good. They're stacked up on a level floor to dry off overnight. Tomorrow is sand, paint and bolt up. Afterwards, Christmas will get in the way for a couple of days! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted December 29, 2019 Share Posted December 29, 2019 Back to work after the Christmas obligations (Though we did manage to go out on the motorcycle Christmas morning) and we are almost done building something to run the Triangstein's monsters on. It needs bracing on the legs and is only loosely bolted together here in the shop as the floor was apparently designed for modelling rollercoasters. It's five 1200x600 boards, which gives me plenty of scope for a decent run of single track in an uncluttered landscape. I know this isn't the right thread for layouts, but I can't navigate this site without it crashing for some reason. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold nickwood Posted December 30, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 30, 2019 If you have a problem accessing the correct parts of the site to post your layout progress, and can navigate to the forum rules, notices, faults and help menu, you could seek help and advice or alternatively the try the link below. If you can't do this then perhaps seek some advice from Andy York using the PM facility. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/52-forum-rules-notices-faults-help/ I really don't think that you should be posting your layout updates on this thread which is supposed to be about modifying Triang clerestory coaches into a specific GWR diagram and therefore quite niche. Wouldn't mind knowing more about the bike though BSA A10? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 1, 2020 Share Posted January 1, 2020 Thanks for the advice, I'll give that a go. It's likely to be this phone having an embolism as much as anything. I know that as soon as I navigate to the home page it crashes on me. I had a rather short window to get the boards built and in the house so posted it here. I will be hacking up another clerestory shortly as penance and will post pictures! The bike is a 1949 BSA ZA7 Star Twin, which as you probably know was BSA's flagship sports bike in the 40's. It's kept shiny but is my regular transport and definitely no slouch! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 As it was me who went slightly off track and left this topic upside down in a field of sprouts, I thought I had better be the one to re-rail it. As an antidote to the New years day ritual of meeting groups of like minded idiots on antediluvian motorcycles at a tea stall in the middle of nowhere, I have been sat in the warm and happily committed creative atrocities on another tatty clerestory. The body was good on this one, but the roof had been painted with what I can only presume was a cake fork. It is though, my attempt at a D15. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Having read through the thread again I decided to sort out the panels either side of the luggage doors and scraped away the ribs once I had cut away as much as I dared using a very sharp curved blade. After a couple of attempts, I cut new panel divisions from 0.010 plasticard. I am going to let them harden overnight before cleaning up any rough spots and priming. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold nickwood Posted January 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 2, 2020 Very neat work and looking good. What bogies are you going to use? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Thankyou for the encouragement, getting those old panel divisions scraped flush takes a bit of concentration and as the plastic changes colour slightly once you cut away the surface it's tricky knowing whether you have removed every last trace. Priming should show that up. As for bogies, I may have to go down the white metal route or printed if I can find them. I am tempted to try cutting down some plastic bogies just as an exercise and not worrying too much about strict accuracy. I will also need to remove the triang bogie mountings and create bolsters for the new ones at correct spacing. I have also removed the end handrails to fit wire substitutes. Any advice you can give me on buffers? The plastic Hornby ones make the original brass Triang items look like something from a P4 exhibition layout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Hornby have seen fit to stick just the head of their plastic loco buffers in the original hole - These aren't very good in the first place*.... I used to use K's brass coach buffers with the head filed elliptical (which shows how long ago I did them!), but then switched to white metal ones (MJT IIRC), but AFAIK these are no longer available either. (I hope to be proved wrong!) *They replaced a far superior Tri-ang product made properly in metal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold nickwood Posted January 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 2, 2020 (edited) 247 Developments make the correct 6’4” Dean Bogies in Whitemetal. I think someone may also do them as a 3D print on Shapeways. I left the original Triang buffers on mine. Edited January 2, 2020 by nickwood 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Thanks, I'll have a look for cast buffers, but not before I have had a look through the box of wreckage, which is starting to resemble the aftermath of the crash at Quintinshill. Anyone else noticed how Triang brass buffers are easy to pull out but a @#£%&*?! to push back in? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 I've not had great problems refitting Tri-ang buffers, but relieving the hole slightly would avoid difficulty and the risk or breaking the plastic. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 I am certain that they would have been fitted in a jig with a press tool in the factory, to stop them falling out. Triang toys were always robust. I have just found six buffers in the junk box. That sorts out both the D15 and the M&SWJR brake van. I have had a look on the 247 Developments website and not only found the bogies but also parts for a locomotive project I have on the back burner. I have just swapped the scruffiest clerestory I have ever seen for a used kick-start spring. My mate got it at a swap meet. It does at least have scale wheels. If I can get the paint off... 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 On the subject of dead clerestories, I ended up with this in an eBay bundle that included a "Kit built" toad. It wasn't, it was junk. But cheap junk with scale wheels and metal handrails. Obviously, this coach started out as one of the all second coaches. It appears to represent some form of autocoach. Does anyone know what, how close it is to any prototype and is it worth my while repairing and improving it, or should be junk it, fit a spare plain end I have and use the body for something vaguely ex-Cambrian Railway? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 17 hours ago, MrWolf said: Having read through the thread again I decided to sort out the panels either side of the luggage doors and scraped away the ribs once I had cut away as much as I dared using a very sharp curved blade. After a couple of attempts, I cut new panel divisions from 0.010 plasticard. I am going to let them harden overnight before cleaning up any rough spots and priming. Which is exactly what I should have done..... Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 8 minutes ago, MrWolf said: On the subject of dead clerestories, I ended up with this in an eBay bundle that included a "Kit built" toad. It wasn't, it was junk. But cheap junk with scale wheels and metal handrails. Obviously, this coach started out as one of the all second coaches. It appears to represent some form of autocoach. Does anyone know what, how close it is to any prototype and is it worth my while repairing and improving it, or should be junk it, fit a spare plain end I have and use the body for something vaguely ex-Cambrian Railway? Is it a rather freelance attempt at part of a Clifton Down set? Tony 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 20 minutes ago, Prometheus said: Which is exactly what I should have done..... Tony Because you had mentioned doing just that, I was inspired to have a go. Otherwise I would never have known. I think that the quality of build and finish on your example far outweighs any discrepancy in the panelling. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prometheus Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 That's really kind of you - I appreciate that. I'm looking forward to seeing your's progress, too. But credit for the original idea must go to RosiesBoss, it was his model that I thought worth copying in the first place. This is just the sort of modelling that I enjoy! Tony 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty1966 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I have dozens of the original buffers and MK 1 bogies sat in a storage box. Living out in the wasteland of Newfoundland, nobody is interested in buying them on Ebay due to excessive mail rates (thanx for nuthin' Canada Post) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 And not enough scrap brass in those buffers to make it worth a 300 mile round trip to the local junkyard either. I have a similar problem whenever I see a worthwhile vintage motorcycle project for sale, it's almost always located in Cornwall or the Scottish Highlands. In fact, the last one we collected involved a trip to the most southwestern point of Wales. About a 600 mile round trip. Not much of a journey in Canadian terms, but with the price of petrol in the UK and a 63 year old van, it was quite the adventure. I have found Dean pattern coach buffers on the Dart castings website. MJT IIRC? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 On 02/01/2020 at 20:48, Prometheus said: Is it a rather freelance attempt at part of a Clifton Down set? Tony That was my thought too! The answers to the rest of the question are :- not very and I'd go for the fitting of the new end etc. https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNTWL_ALYozy_rZsqdEHcSjO-IMwQQ:1578142538680&q=clifton+down+set&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjA4rCL_-nmAhXL8qQKHYxFCr8QsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1303&bih=666 The Clifton Down set has long been a project.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Now that IS interesting... Certainly something to bookmark for a future project. I'm sure I can concoct some justification for it appearing on a line up in the Marches... But for now I am reminded that I have a workbench full of every other coach I own, none of which is complete and I also have a layout started upon which we cannot test run any trains yet! Thanks for clearing up the mystery everyone, something that would otherwise have been binned will now have a new lease of life with an arc roof and swearing blind it used to be Cambrian Railways property. That does leave me with the figure of the motorman and the gong removed from the not all that Clifton Downs coach as a prompt to have a go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold nickwood Posted January 4, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2020 If any of you guys want a copy of the article explaining how to kitbash the Clifton Downs set from the Ratio 4 wheelers send me a PM with your email address. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 A light coat of primer after filling is all I have had time for as I have been busy with the layout and constructing a couple of river bridges but I think I have got away with altering the panels either side of the luggage doors. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 The bogies have arrived from 247 Developments, along with a few other bits and pieces. I am currently keeping this project on the back burner whilst I get the layout up and running, (first train ran tonight) I realised that I needed another left hand point, so hopped on the bike and shot off to the local model shop. Idly browsing the secondhand shelves I spotted these two future projects at a fiver each.... This Triang clerestory addiction is escalating... I hate you all.... 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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