P4 Fryers Lane v2.0

[mudmagnet]

11 hours ago, Mark Forrest said:

One of the things that was discussed during the layout's outing to SWAG was the need for something else in the yard area at the back of the layout.

@mudmagnet had a very nice oil tank with him on his sales/demo stand and I was able to try this for size.  It looked good, but the configuration of pipes and ladder didn't quite work.  Fortunately, thanks to the versatility of 3D printing and Richard's skill in designing stuff, it was possible to tweak the design to suit.

It arrived in yesterday's post and looks fantastic - I'm really looking forward to painting and weathering it.

 

 

 

Many thanks Mark.

Will look great when painted and weathered.

I have these for sale on my sales page.

[Mark Forrest]

No real progress on the layout as any spare time over the past couple of months has been spent on some jobs around the house or (in the brief gaps between terrible weather) out riding bikes.

On the way back from one recent bike ride, I popped into a model shop and bought myself a Rapido Toad.  A bit of an impulse buy, but it goes nicely with a Heljan class 14 that I bought recently through the member's sales section of the Scalefour Society forum.

 

Think this may be the first Rapido product I've bought, I'm impressed by the level of detail and ease of P4 conversion.  The Class 14 is in need of a little work, it was made clear by the seller that it can be a bit hesitant to start.  With that in mind a strip down, clean and possibly new pickups and on the to do list.

[Mark Forrest]

The rare combination of being in the right frame of mind and having some free time coincided today and I decided to take a look at the Class 14.

After a while searching for my rolling road, I gave up and tested it on a length of track from the former Fryers Lane fiddle yard.  It was initially hesitant to run, but seemed to get going and started to run reasonably well, although occasionally stalling.  This confirms my suspicions that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, it probably just needs a little TLC.

Let the dismantling commence!

 

Having worked out how to get the thing apart, I've cleaned off the paint from the cosmetic frames (which are made of a shiny plastic that doesn't take paint well) and given them a waft over with some primer.  It's tempting to try to add a bit more depth to the very two dimensional springs, but I'll probably leave that for now.

[Mark Forrest]

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, there hasn't been much progress on Fryers Lane.  I've done very little modelling over the last 6 months; painting a couple of wagons, tinkering a bit more with that class 14 and filing up a pair of replacement switch blades for the siding turnout is probably the total of my activity.

 

I did, however, write an article about the layout which has appeared in the latest Scalefour News.  Editor Gavin has done a fantastic job of improving both the quality and quantity of the content in the Scalefour News - despite this he was still willing to publish my article.  Not only that, one of my photos of the layout made the front cover, which was a nice surprise when it popped through the letterbox.

 

More recently, I've been following with interest the release of the Cavalex class 56.  I'd not paid much attention to this when first announced and to be honest I don't really have much (any) need for Type 5 power on a layout like Fryers, but the quality of this model won me over and 56070 arrived with me this afternoon.

 

For the photo it's balanced on its 00 wheels - I'm expecting a delivery of P4 wheels in the next couple of days.  So far it has only had a short run along a yard of 00 track, but first impressions are that it more than lives up to the hype surrounding it's release, with very smooth running, excellent sound and an amazing level of detail.

 

With a bit of luck there's a SLW 25 not far away too which will give me a couple of blue locos to run the layout in early to mid 80s era.

[2ManySpams]

1 hour ago, Mark Forrest said:

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, there hasn't been much progress on Fryers Lane.  I've done very little modelling over the last 6 months; painting a couple of wagons, tinkering a bit more with that class 14 and filing up a pair of replacement switch blades for the siding turnout is probably the total of my activity.

 

I did, however, write an article about the layout which has appeared in the latest Scalefour News.  Editor Gavin has done a fantastic job of improving both the quality and quantity of the content in the Scalefour News - despite this he was still willing to publish my article.  Not only that, one of my photos of the layout made the front cover, which was a nice surprise when it popped through the letterbox.

 

More recently, I've been following with interest the release of the Cavalex class 56.  I'd not paid much attention to this when first announced and to be honest I don't really have much (any) need for Type 5 power on a layout like Fryers, but the quality of this model won me over and 56070 arrived with me this afternoon.

 

For the photo it's balanced on its 00 wheels - I'm expecting a delivery of P4 wheels in the next couple of days.  So far it has only had a short run along a yard of 00 track, but first impressions are that it more than lives up to the hype surrounding it's release, with very smooth running, excellent sound and an amazing level of detail.

 

With a bit of luck there's a SLW 25 not far away too which will give me a couple of blue locos to run the layout in early to mid 80s era.

 

Well done on the article Mark. 

 

Think you need to photo the 56 on the big orange box it came in....

[AY Mod]

9 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

Think you need to photo the 56 on the big orange box it came in

 

Can we get Bram to do the unboxing video?

[Southwich]

10 minutes ago, 2ManySpams said:

 

Well done on the article Mark. 

 

Think you need to photo the 56 on the big orange box it came in....

Slightly disappointed you didn’t say nice new 47 if I’m honest… 🤣

[Mark Forrest]

37 minutes ago, Southwich said:

Slightly disappointed you didn’t say nice new 47 if I’m honest… 🤣

I think you're expecting too much of Spams' loco recognition skills.

It's another example of the "flat front, two windows" class.

[Mark Forrest]

41 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

Can we get Bram to do the unboxing video?

I've already had to stop him eating the package from Modelu containing the crew for the 56!

[Worsdell forever]

1 minute ago, Mark Forrest said:

I think you're expecting too much of Spams' loco recognition skills.

It's another example of the "flat front, two windows" class.

 

Of course two of those are in the sub class 'quiff'. 

[2ManySpams]

48 minutes ago, Southwich said:

Slightly disappointed you didn’t say nice new 47 if I’m honest… 🤣

 

I did reading and and there was a clue in the bit wot Mark writted.

[2ManySpams]

9 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

I think you're expecting too much of Spams' loco recognition skills.

It's another example of the "flat front, two windows" class.

 

Exactly, all the same

[2ManySpams]

9 minutes ago, Worsdell forever said:

 

Of course two of those are in the sub class 'quiff'. 

 

I may approve that addition to the system.

[Southwich]

13 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

I've already had to stop him eating the package from Modelu containing the crew for the 56!

Even if it is out of era I’m hoping I’ve made the cab rather than my old man!

 

Will

[Mark Forrest]

15 hours ago, Southwich said:

Even if it is out of era I’m hoping I’ve made the cab rather than my old man!

 

Will

Unfortunately I chose based on era; you'll have to wait until the next one!

[Mark Forrest]

Wheels - and very nice they are too.

 

Hopefully I'll get some time later to fit them.

[Mark Forrest]

Wheel swap done, very simple and quick.

 

Time for a bit of a test run.

 

Initially I found the loco a little hesitant through my (admittedly less that perfect) point work.  A quick check of back to backs found them to be 17.5mm; easing these out to 17.7mm helped - I suspect the backs of the wheels were dragging slightly on the check rails.

I found the DCC settings gave an enjoyable and intuitive driving experience, making it easy to stop the loco in the correct place when shunting.  Hopefully more time for a more thorough play over the next few days.

[Mark Forrest]

As DPD have misplaced a parcel of bike components I was planning to fit today, I found myself with some unscheduled free time and made a last minute decision to go to Doncaster exhibition this morning.

 

I picked up a couple of new wagons for the layout.  Firstly a Revolution TUA tank.

A set of P4 wheels popped straight in with no other modification required and (despite feeling quite light) the wagon runs very nicely.

 

Less simple to convert was the Rapido OAA.  I have a part finished Hornby OAA in one in my projects box, but thought this would make and interesting comparison.

While the underframe detail is impressive, conversion to P4 is not straightforward as the brakes foul the wheels.  In addition the axles used are longer than normal, resulting in a sloppy fit when replacement wheels are fitted.  At first I considered swapping the P4 wheels onto the Rapido axles, but these are 1.5mm diameter so that wasn't really an option.  I ended up drilling out the axle boxes to fit brass bearings and after some trial and error got things running nicely.  Now I need to refit the brakes I had to chop off - might persevere with the Hornby one after all.

[Enterprisingwestern]

10 minutes ago, Mark Forrest said:

Now I need to refit the brakes I had to chop off - might persevere with the Hornby one after all.

 

RTFM!

You should have wider gauge compatible brake calipers in the accessory bag.

 

Mike.

[Mark Forrest]

1 hour ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

RTFM!

You should have wider gauge compatible brake calipers in the accessory bag.

 

Mike.

Thanks Mike.  I'd missed the bags of bits which had got mixed up with a load of other wagon related detritus on my workbench.  Wider calipers now fitted (and and coupling mounts chopped off).

[Mark Forrest]

Remember this building I started as part of the layout extension?

 

I've finally got around to making a proper version of it to replace the foam board mock up.

At just over 600mm long, it's easily the largest structure I've ever modelled; should be interesting!

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Are you going to have enough room for the big top?

 

Mike.

[Mark Forrest]

2 hours ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

 

Are you going to have enough room for the big top?

 

Mike.

Yes, I really must get around to giving that bargain lorry a bit of a repaint!

[Mark Forrest]

A bit more progress with the building.  I've decided that, because of the size of the building I'm going to make three separate sections then join them together when cladding it with embossed plastic.

The loading platform and canopy will be separate subassemblies that will be added later too.  I've added a lot of internal bracing to (hopefully) prevent warping - all very necessary but, quite boring too.

To break up the boredom, I've started to build another wagon.

 

 

[bradfordbuffer]

2 hours ago, Mark Forrest said:

A bit more progress with the building.  I've decided that, because of the size of the building I'm going to make three separate sections then join them together when cladding it with embossed plastic.

The loading platform and canopy will be separate subassemblies that will be added later too.  I've added a lot of internal bracing to (hopefully) prevent warping - all very necessary but, quite boring too.

To break up the boredom, I've started to build another wagon.

 

 

Can't beat a cambrian kit...old school modelling