Upper Hembury, East Devon - a GWR / SR Branch line

[BWsTrains]

Quite a bit of my time has been taken up with the next two buildings on my list, viz. the Stables and the Tannery.

 

The first stage was to build up a collection of reliable drawings with measurements and then planning my requirements for windows and other misc. supplies. As for the Stables I'll be building a much smaller version of Mikkel's @Mikkel which was based on the Park Royal Block. His posts are here...

 

and there are extensive details for which many thanks are in order. One thing I can't do is follow the main build route as that made heavy use of a Silhouette Cutter which I don't have. Additionally the windows are a odd size so off-the-shelf items are ruled out. Then there's all the in wall ventilators under and over windows, all cut by Silhouette.

 

The Vents seemed to be a good place to start, crack these and the rest should fall into place. Only catch was the vents are very fine at scale 12 slots in a 14mm length means each slot + divider is just over a mm.

 

I did not fancy cutting anything this fine at all accurately in PS sheet so the challenge sat on the shelf while I considered solutions. Bizarrely, my solution was sitting on my desk staring me in the face, an stainless steel fine mesh from a kettle which had died. This is shown top left in the Pic. The holes are about 0.5mm and a very careful cut with tin snips along one side of a row of holes delivers a handy template spaced at 1mm intervals.

 

A trial assembly run was done today.

Upper Right - a 1mm * 1mm strip of PS is loosely glued to the angle (Uhu glue stik) up against the mesh. Short lengths of 0.56mm * 0.28mm PS strip are places upright in each slot with a tiny drop of limonene applied with a fine screwdriver tip. the second 1mm sq strip serves only for support at this stage.

 

Once set, the assembled piece is removed from the angle support and offered up to the mesh at the desired separation - Bottom Left.. The second 1mm sq PS strip, now against the mesh can be glued to the strips as per before. With the strips each in their respective slots it all assembles easily.

 

Finally, Bottom Right, strips of 0.45mm * 1mm PS are glued over each face, the thicker supports being for the rear.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29 by BWsTrains

[Harlequin]

Hi Colin,

 

Making fiddly architectural details like roof ridge ventilators, with parts that need to repeated and accurately spaced, is where 3D printing come into its own.

 

For instance, I made a vent for @Schooner in the past:

with pinnacle!

 

Edited April 29 by Harlequin

[BWsTrains]

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

Making fiddly architectural details like roof ridge ventilators, with parts that need to repeated and accurately spaced, is where 3D printing come into its own

 

Agreed.

 

Mind you, "handomatic" can produce very fine results indeed! (in the right hands)

 

H/T to @Mikkel for handcrafted parts of this masterpiece. I'll be happy if mine is half as good.

Edited April 29 by BWsTrains

[Schooner]

1 hour ago, Harlequin said:

For instance, I made a vent for @Schoone

Damned fine it is too! Sadly the railway is near the bottom of a growing list, but I shall be pestering you again for a repeat order!

Edited April 29 by Schooner

[Mikkel]

14 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

Quite a bit of my time has been taken up with the next two buildings on my list, viz. the Stables and the Tannery.

 

The first stage was to build up a collection of reliable drawings with measurements and then planning my requirements for windows and other misc. supplies. As for the Stables I'll be building a much smaller version of Mikkel's @Mikkel which was based on the Park Royal Block. His posts are here...

 

and there are extensive details for which many thanks are in order. One thing I can't do is follow the main build route as that made heavy use of a Silhouette Cutter which I don't have. Additionally the windows are a odd size so off-the-shelf items are ruled out. Then there's all the in wall ventilators under and over windows, all cut by Silhouette.

 

The Vents seemed to be a good place to start, crack these and the rest should fall into place. Only catch was the vents are very fine at scale 12 slots in a 14mm length means each slot + divider is just over a mm.

 

I did not fancy cutting anything this fine at all accurately in PS sheet so the challenge sat on the shelf while I considered solutions. Bizarrely, my solution was sitting on my desk staring me in the face, an stainless steel fine mesh from a kettle which had died. This is shown top left in the Pic. The holes are about 0.5mm and a very careful cut with tin snips along one side of a row of holes delivers a handy template spaced at 1mm intervals.

 

A trial assembly run was done today.

Upper Right - a 1mm * 1mm strip of PS is loosely glued to the angle (Uhu glue stik) up against the mesh. Short lengths of 0.56mm * 0.28mm PS strip are places upright in each slot with a tiny drop of limonene applied with a fine screwdriver tip. the second 1mm sq strip serves only for support at this stage.

 

Once set, the assembled piece is removed from the angle support and offered up to the mesh at the desired separation - Bottom Left.. The second 1mm sq PS strip, now against the mesh can be glued to the strips as per before. With the strips each in their respective slots it all assembles easily.

 

Finally, Bottom Right, strips of 0.45mm * 1mm PS are glued over each face, the thicker supports being for the rear.

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Colin, that's a very creative solution. I really like when ordinary household items are brought into use.

 

Can the strips be angled slightly downwards or is that too fiddly?

 

 

[BWsTrains]

3 hours ago, Mikkel said:

 

Hi Colin, that's a very creative solution. I really like when ordinary household items are brought into use.

 

Can the strips be angled slightly downwards or is that too fiddly?

 

 

 

Thx Mikkel,

 

I was keen to see how well it worked and I agree that at 0.28mm the bars are too thin. This prototype will be consigned to installation as a gutter drain on the approach road and I'll work on producing a better Mark II.

 

Colin

[BWsTrains]

The Water Tower

 

With the Ratio Kit in hand, it remained to decide on the final details before any assembly. Would it be shorter Cylinder (as at Wallingford - early), full Cylinder or the Conical top type? At Wallingford this latter type was installed to replace the short original tank soon after the Karau photo of 1919 . Greater capacity and higher head being obvious benefits.

 

In the end I decided my Upper Hembury setting would have warranted a large early cylinder tank since both GWR and SR Operations were planned from shortly after the outset of Operations.

 

Later on, increased demand was met by fitting a large (8" pipe) pumped feed to maintain the head during periods of heavy usage. Hence there was no need for a costly replacement exercise. The large feeder pipe design which I'll use can be seen at both Wallingford and Watlington, plus many others no doubt, but I've not found photos.

 

This option is not supplied with my kit and I note that just a very modest ~4" feed pipe comes in the Dapol Motorised Kit. Mine will get the works, which I'm planning to fabricate from some filled PVC, of which more later.

 

Next to the Kit build. Nothing particular to note other than I took a lot of care during assembly, having been out of practice with assembly of PS kits for some time. It is coming together much as expected, now only requiring the final detailing items and touch up painting. The GWR light and Dark stone shades were blended up by my standard method using various Vallejo Acrylics and hand brushed.

 

Edited May 12 by BWsTrains
Revised pipe dimensions and date info

[Neal Ball]

3 minutes ago, BWsTrains said:

The Water Tower

 

With the Ratio Kit in hand, it remained to decide on the final details before any assembly. Would it be shorter Cylinder (as at Wallingford - early), full Cylinder or the Conical top type? At Wallingford this latter type was installed to replace the short original tank somewhere between 1919 and 1937 . Greater capacity and higher head being obvious benefits.

 

In the end I decided my Upper Hembury setting would have warranted a large early cylinder tank since both GWR and SR Operations were planned from shortly after the outset of Operations.

 

Later on, increased demand was met by fitting a large (9 inch pipe) pumped feed to maintain the head during periods of heavy usage. Hence there was no need for a costly replacement exercise. The large feeder pipe design which I'll use can be seen at both Wallingford and Watlington, plus many others no doubt, but I've not found photos.

 

This option is not supplied with my kit and I note that just a very modest ~3" feed pipe comes in the Dapol Motorised Kit. Mine will get the works, which I'm planning to fabricate from some filled PVC, of which more later.

 

Next to the Kit build. Nothing particular to note other than I took a lot of care during assembly, having been out of practice with assembly of PS kits for some time. It is coming together much as expected, now only requiring the final detailing items and touch up painting. The GWR light and Dark stone shades were blended up by my standard method using various Vallejo Acrylics and hand brushed.

 

 

I used parts from the Ratio conical tower kit for my model of the Henley-on-Thames water tower. I had to shorten the arm, but the rest was used. I still haven't put the ladder and inspection bits on yet - one day I might finish it!

[BWsTrains]

Completing The Water Tank

 

The remaining fittings were the various other fine brass items off the fret, a water outlet and the water feed. All these are shown in the two photos (ladder still to be cut to length).

 

Station Side

 

   

Engine Shed side

 

 

Various details to follow.

 

Edited Thursday at 08:14 by BWsTrains

[peterm1]

Really nice modelling and attention to detail.

 

This isn't meant as criticism.  I don't know what length the real ladder would have been, but if it was cut to be the same height as the top of the tank, it would be pretty dangerous to get on or off.

[BWsTrains]

2 hours ago, peterm1 said:

Really nice modelling and attention to detail.

 

This isn't meant as criticism.  I don't know what length the real ladder would have been, but if it was cut to be the same height as the top of the tank, it would be pretty dangerous to get on or off.

 

Thx Peter,

 

A few points are relevant

1. That's how it was, plenty of photos to confirm. I still need to trim mine back
2. The ladder was to an inspection hatch directly in front of it. Others might comment if it was used to clamber onto the roof but clearly NOT in the case of the later conical type tank.
3. OHS was not a concept back then. I'd not be on a ladder that high lacking a hand rail or two. Top sits some 32 ft above ground! Also, in modern parlance inside the tank would be probably be classed as a "Confined Space".

All of which makes the need for a permanent ladder a mystery to me.

 

[BWsTrains]

The Water Tank Feed Pipe

 

As noted previously, early GWR water tanks had a low volume water feed but later upgrades saw the installation of powerful pumps and large (8+in) piping. This is an example, joining flanges and lagging on the lower sections. The shiny upper section suggests steel piping.,

 

 

I decided to replicate this feature on my tank, It is an interesting omission from the Ratio kit and the Dapol kit has just a narrow gauge early pipe.

 

For the pipe I repurposed something from COVID times, the handle from the test kit nasal swabs. These appear to be in an engineering plastic grade of Polypropylene, tough as blazes and fortuitously for me me 2.5mm diameter - perfect.

 

For the flanges I used Sculpey PREMOI modelling medium. A thin sheet was rolled out and 5mm discs punched out. Then a feeder hole was punched in the centre of each. They were then hardened (130C 30min)

 

 

Next the centres were drilled out to 2.5mm diameter and then the edges trimmed back to a little over 4mm. Then the flanges were rounded off with a diamond file

 

 

Having bent the rod by warming over a flame, the flanges were fitted and glued on with CA. A small circular 3mm Neo magnet was glued at the tank inlet end and another inside to hold the pipe in place. This means the assembly can be more easily removed as required.

 

 

 

To finish the pipe, I primed it and painted with Vallejo Steel Model Color. The outcome exceeded my expectations.

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 11:22 by BWsTrains

[john dew]

Hi Colin

 

Excellent modelling! The stone paint finish is superb and I have to admire your dexterity with the fire devil.

 

I found the etched “ chains” for the crane and supply were rather short and inflexible. Jewellers chain looks more realistic and can be hooked on to a post.

 

Adding the external water supply pipe is a master stroke - I dont believe I have seen it modelled before. I realise you have painted it as per the historic photo but I wonder if by 1937 it would have been able to escape being painted in Light stone to match the rest of the tower..

 

Whatever- it is a super model

 

Best wishes

 

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BWsTrains]

Traverser Access Sensor

 

This has been on hold while Graham sorted out the tech problem of short range in Mark I. Now I've taken delivery of the much improved Mark II and set about installing it for a trial run.

 

For those unfamiliar with the issue, access to the traverser has been deliberately screened with a scenic break and so the boundary of layout and storage zones lies well out of the operator's view.

The purple line marks the approximate boundary overlaid on this earlier photo, over 40cm behind the last point of clear vision from in front.

 

 

While I have a suitable wide angle mirror available, the Traverser operation point is around 2m removed from the crossover and one near miss move convinced me I needed a more comprehensive security solution. Graham, who'd built the Traverser control system figured it'd be easy enough using an IR emitter (remote control type) and a matching sensor.

 

Mark II is certainly strong enough and gave me the luxury of deflecting the beam with a mirror to simplify the installation.

 

The mirror was easily installed at the inside end of the traverser boundary, adjustable for alignment. As will be seen shortly, putting the LED emitters at that spot aligned accurately would be difficult.

 

 

Next a test with a small red laser. This confirmed that a beam could easily be directed parallel with the boundary at a suitable height for detection.

 

 

Then the IR LED emitter and control modules were installed.

 

 

The device is powered by 5V from a USB power supply.

 

Finally the sensor at the other side of the entrance lanes

 

 

A quick test and alignment tweak gave me a perfect operating detector. push even the lowest wagon onto the boundary line and lights flash back at the Traverser control. With no blockage one of the two LEDs (the green) stays ON alerting that this system is operational.

 

As set up the beauty of the system is that the light will be solid green to confirm that the traverser is free to move AND to monitor the movements of trains onto/ off the storage area. The lights will flash Yellow/Green while the movement is underway then revert to solid green once the transition is completed.

 

Very fine work indeed by my good friend. The electronics control aspects have been submitted as a topic to Silicon Chip (not yet accepted for publication)

 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:22 by BWsTrains
more info