Salcombe Harbour

[Highlandman]

I have been really bad lately at keeping this topic updated but that does not mean I haven't been doing any modelling.

 

Work on the main layout has slowed at the moment but I have started doing some other jobs that needed attention. Some of the old stock I have is having it's coupling changed to Kadees. I have been trying the relatively new #146 whisker Kadees. These have the long centre shank and so far I have been having some success fitting them to British stock. 

 

I have managed to repair two 45xx locomotives that somehow got damaged. Lost chimney on one and a broken front step on the other. I was able to cannibalise on old body for the spare parts. Unfortunately the chimney is from an unweathered body so will need blending into its new donor.

 

Over the Easter holidays I was able to adapt an old folding kitchen table into a useful modelling centre. The table was one of the type that you could store two stools underneath and fold down a leaf to cover them. The stool are no more , but a shelf has been added to the table top. The table has been deepened at the back so that I could fit some Really Useful boxes in one side for storage, the other side was shelved to hold plasticard, my compressor and other bits and bobs.

 

 

 

 

 

[edited for speeling spelling errors]

[Highlandman]

The table does mean that I can keep a selection of my tools handy and start on a project with out getting everything out and packing it away afterwards.

 

I have had an old Airfix autotrailer for about 30 years now in the GWR chocolate and cream. As far as I know autotrailers weren't used on the Kingsbridge branch but with my line history I am assuming that one could run to Salcombe from the Yealmpton route. Problem was I want in the faded Crimson Red/Maroon colour that was used in BR days. So I thought why not bring it up to date and make it my first ever conversion/improvement project.

 

I stripped the unit down into its component part and have stored the glazing and door handrails in a small box with the bogies and roof. I sprayed the bodywork with Halfords red oxide primer before I decided to detail the coach. But I then decided to add handrails made from brass wire and new lamp irons.

 

 

 

I have also turned my attention to the chassis and all the equipment underneath. My intention is to use Dart Castings detailing kit to replace the moulded battery boxes and steps. I was going to get one at the recent Epsom show but unfortunately the stand card machine had broken and I didn't have enough cash on me to purchase. But Expo EM is coming soon and i'll pick up one from there.

 

In the meantime I have started to strip the chassis, but while I was cutting away the battery boxes the truss rods snapped. The plastic on the Airfix models is very brittle. I had also discovered a very fine stress crack across the main underframe body, son not wishing to stress it any more I have decided to make a brass subfloor with brass 'L' shaped truss rods soldered on. When I get the detail kit I will solder all the etches on and then stick the sub floor to the plastic underframe to help reinforce it.

 

 

 

 

The white plasticard fillets are where I have filled in the holes left by removing he underfloor mouldings.

 

Next I must ry and get some more work done so that I can keep this topic updated and start making a concerted effort to get more work done on the main layout.

[Highlandman]

Another job that needed doing. Buffer stops.

 

I've not decided fully what buffer stops to use, Mainly Trains, Lanarkshire Models or Peco. For the meantime I have started to assemble Peco bufferstops to see what the end products look like when finished.

 

The problem with the Peco products is the material they are made from. This appears to be a form of nylon, is very slippery and does not take adhesives easily. I have assemble the item and mounted it on the track as per instructions, but then I secure them to the rail by drilling a hole through each corner of the buffer and rail web and insert a small lace pin. Quick touch of solder on the inside rail and it is fixed.

 

 

I have inserted two stretcher bars made from 0.75 brass wire top and bottom. These are held in place with a small dab of superglue. 

 

 

 

Because of the 'slippery' nature of Peco plastic I have sprayed them with and etch primer to see if that will help key the final paint finish.

 

 

 

At the moment these are starting to look reasonably okay and at more than half the cost of the other two suppliers. I'll see what they look like after final painting and weathering.

 

[Highlandman]

If you're wondering about the autotrailer. I am just waiting to pick up the detailing kit at Expo EM later this month. Most of the prep work is done though.

[Kris]

Whilst there were not auto trailers on the line, rail motors were used on direct services to Plymouth. The back story to your auto trailer could be that this direct service has been reinstated. 

[Highlandman]

MODELLING TABLE RE-VISITED

 

In an early post I mentioned that I had 'bodged', (apologies to Andy P), together a modelling table from an old folding kitchen table. I was happy with most of it but the table flap bugged me some what.

 

The original was a semi-circle with a single pull out leg in the centre. This meant I had to sit to one side of the leg and also lost valuable desk space because of the material lost to the circle. So with some encouragement form SWMBO, yes I did say encouragement, I have adapted the table flap and the legs that hold it up.

 

I purchased an 18mm thick board of furniture pine from a well known diy outlet, cut it to size and then rounded the edges with my router. An extra set of legs was made from 40mm x 20mm planed timber to match the existing leg. A castor was added to the bottom and an adjustable flap support was added to the top. This was made with an M6 t-nut fitted to the top of the leg. A 20mm M6 hexagonal bolt was screwed in to that and a thick felt pad stuck to the top to protect the underneath of the flap.

 

Two small blocks of timber strip were fitted under the flap to prevent the legs from being pushed beyond the table edges. The whole lot has been given four coats of Ronseal Clear Gloss varnish to seal it and hopefully give some protection from all the 'nasty' chemicals we use while modelling.

 

Hopefully you will find this useful and if you can get hold of this type of table you can have a go yourself.

 

Below is the original table and they can be found on ebay for as little as £10 second hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Highlandman]

Went to ExpoEM yesterday and met some RMwebbers,

 

Coombe Barton, who was a great help with information about autotrailers and which traders to get parts from.

Indomitable026 , who let me take photographs of Diesels in the Duchy. Some of which I have posted on his thread.

Ullypug and his superb Clevedon WC&PR layout. Again many thanks for letting me take some photographs.

 

I also manged to pick up a few little bits to help projects move on. An autotrailer detailing kit from Dart Castings and 9ft bogies from Comet models, now there's no excuse for not getting on with detailing my Airfix Autocoach.

 

I also learnt about a new adhesive. New to me that is. D-Limonene Polystyrene solvent. Apparently this has a slower evaporation rate than MEK or Butanone and is great for laminating sheets of plasticard together. I was recommended it by Geoff Kent who was demonstration his method of making building and other models from plasticard. That's another adhesive to add to the arsenal but unfortunately I couldn't get any because Wizard Models didn't bring any to the show and because of that Holiday Hobbies sold out by the time i found out the did it. Well there's always Railex in Aylebury next weekend.

 

Now I've got to do some lines.........

 

I MUST DO SOME MODELLING

I MUST DO SOME MODELLING

I MUST DO SOME MODELLING

I MUST DO SOME MODELLING.......................

 

[Highlandman]

Some more work done this evening on the Airfix autocoach I am detailing. Because the Airfix model is a hybrid using design factors from a Diagram A28 & A30 autocoach. The one I am attempting to replicate is the A30 which I believe is correct for the body but requires 9ft bogies.

 

So I have started work on the Comet items I purchased at ExpoEM.

 

Below is the main etch that comes with the kit.

 

 

It includes the main bogie frame with end stretchers and etched representations of the brakes if you wish to use them. I started by removing the end stretcher bars and soldered on the brakes. I found it a lot easier to do this before fixing the bars to the main frame.

 

 

The main frames with pin point bearings soldered in and folded.

 

 

 

As per the instructions I soldered on the end beams aligning them with small lengths of wire through pre drilled holes. The wheels were fitted to make sure they ran smoothly with no binding.

 

 

 

Above you can see how the brake shoe etches will give a reasonable representation of the real thing.

 

Next the white metal bogie frames were cleaned up and the rebates drill out slightly oversize to fit the bearings on the frames.

 

 

 

Can you spot the mistake? OOoopps! The drill bit dug in a bit to deep and broke through the face on this bogie so I will have to stick it on and make good with a little filler. I am definitely not confident enough to try filling it with some low melt solder.

 

Next job is to clean them down and give both sets a spray with some of my preferred etching primer available from Halfords.

[Highlandman]

A bit more done on the autocoach tonight. I have managed to finish off the two 9ft bogies. They have been cleaned and await a coat of primer.

 

I have started on the under frame by making up the battery boxes and soldering them to the brass sub floor.

 

 

 

The only problem I have found is that the printed instructions in the Dart Castings kit state that they are to 4mm scale and the fact is they come up smaller than that. It could be that the set in my box was not printed at full scale or it's common to all of the kits.

 

The problem can be overcome as the instructions are available on Dart Castings website as a pdf file. Just make sure that when you choose to print them the page scaling option is set to NONE. After I did this and checked the drawings against the model under frame they appeared to be more accurate. It makes for placing all the extras in the right place that little easier.

[Highlandman]

The battery cupboards were not quite in the right place to fit the brake v-hangers, so I had to move them nearer to the truss frame. I could then solder the v-hangers on to the sub floor.

 

Looking at the detail kit, the brake cylinder and actuating arms are cast from white metal. This does mean that the fine arms are rather fragile and easily bent out of shape. So what do you do? Make them yourself you idiot. So I did.

 

I happen to have some old nickel silver etch left over, so I was able to punch a small mark in the nickel and drill it through 0.8mm. Cutting off the length I required it was mounted in some small mole grips at an angle. I was able to round off the top edge and then file away the angle to get a tapered lever which can then be soldered onto 0.8mm brass wire, copying the positions on the white metal sample. Hopefully this will be a little more robust underneath the floor of the coach.

 

 

You can see the white metal part that comes with the kit at the top of the picture. Some of the levers need a little dressing up, but I think they have turned out okay so far.

[devondynosoar118]

Very nice work on the auto trailer! Beautiful brass fabrication on the details.

[Highlandman]

devondynosoar118, on 24 May 2014 - 23:40, said:

Very nice work on the auto trailer! Beautiful brass fabrication on the details.

 

Good to hear from you Tom and thanks for the kind comments. I decided to try this idea as it seemed more robust. I must be mad. Mind you it's making for an interesting first detailing project.

 

Any news on Kingsbridge at all? Or have you been side-tracked with VW's again?

 

All the best

 

Andy

 

 

[Highlandman]

I've just finished soldering up the first brake actuating arm, using the white metal item as a guide.

 

Apologies for the poor quality of this picture. The camera refused to focus properly on the actuator, always on the mat, but I hope you get the idea.

 

 

This one is a little better. The nice thing about it made in nickel is that it can be tweeked around and filed for a better fit. And it is much sturdier.

 

 

On with the others now.

[Highlandman]

A bit more work done on the body of the autocoach today. The original wire handrails I had attached were replaced with the ones that came with the detailing kit. They make a big difference. Footsteps and lamp brackets have also been fitted.

 

 

 

One of the things that the kit does not cater for is the door handle on the guards doors and they recommend you keep the molding on. I thought it didn't look right and decided to replace it with a length of fine wire bent to shape. I think the end result is much better than the original molding. At least I'm pleased with it.

 

[Highlandman]

The autocoach body has been re-primed after adding the extra detail and handles and I have now started adding details to the underframe. The steps are the most fiddly, trying to get them sitting right as well as matching up with the molded hinges and step on the frames.

 

I have glued the brake cylinders on to the subfloor with 5 minute epoxy, but I have managed to solder the dynamo on. The beauty of making up the brake actuators in brass is that I have been able to move them along the arm to line them up in the right place. Something I would not be able to do if I had used the white metal castings.

 

It's a slow job, but I can see it coming together now.

 

 

 

 

 

[Highlandman]

AUTOCOACH UPDATED & CORNER BOARD LANDSCAPE

 

I've just realised that I haven't updated this topic for a while.

 

The autocoach is waiting for some laserglaze windows and bodywork lining after having been sprayed in Phoenix Paints BR Maroon, though i'm not to sure on the shade. Maybe it should be faded a bit more. I will post some pictures when I can take them.

 

Meanwhile on the baseboard front I have started to add some pink foam landscape. Baord Three, the corner board, has the hill aded to the corner and I am working on the bridge link to the 'New Harbour'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Highlandman]

BOARD TWO - THE STATION THROAT & HARBOUR JUNCTION

 

So that I can marry the scenery up across the board joints I set up my work bench, two trestle and an old door, in the living room and joined board 3 & 2 together. I then cut out a 6mm ply contour for board 2 using the edge of board 3 as a template. I am stick ply end to the scenery to help stop the foam from breaking away and to give the plaster bandage something secure to finish on.

 

Board two is where the embankment and road come down to the level crossing giving access to the 'Old Harbour' and what is/was the cattle dock (yet to be decided). Again using my favourite pink foam, the embankment was carved to the shape i wanted using the contour former on the end as a guide.

 

 

I then realised I had to partially build the signal box I was going to use so that I could cut out the embankment for it to fit next to the level crossing.

 

 

CATTLE DOCK / DISUSED CATTLE DOCK NOW A S&T-ENGINEERS LOADING DOCK

 

Using some 40thou' plasticard I built loading/cattle dock to go near the level crossing siding. I've not yet decided if this is going to be a working cattle dock with the extra traffic this brings in or more off a disused cattle dock now taken over by the S&T department or engineers, where the two siding next to it are used for infrastructure traffic. I might try and leave it so that both options could be used to vary the traffic on to the branch. I happened to have some Metcalfe stone set paving to hand and will use this as the top surface of the dock. 

 

The landscape will eventually be built up to and and over the back edge of the dock, looking as though it had been built into the hill side and had been their for some time.

 

 

 

 

 

The buffers are Peco buffers pre-assembled on the workbench as mentioned in a previous post, sprayed with an etching primer, to see if that would help paint stick to the shiny plastic Peco make their buffers from. These were stuck on to the end of the sidings using PVA.

 

 

Hopefully there will be a few more updates shortly as I have got some time to concentrate on building this layout.. MInd you, I do feel a bit like the Americans in the space race, finding out that someone had already beaten me to a model of Salcombe by fifteen years. The wonderful layout was on show at the REC Farnborough show in Woking a couple of weekends ago. Oh well! C'est la vie

[Highlandman]

Oh! By the way, the holes in the top of the baseboards is not giant woodworm (munchius railbordii), but location holes for the signals to be fitted, servos to go underneath. More on this soon, I hope..............

[Highlandman]

A bit more work done on the layout this past week. I am doing things in no particular order, just when required or a certain job takes my fancy. Because I share space in our kitchen and living room I have to make the most of the time I get.

On my last post I wrote about work on board two, with some blocking out of the scenery and a need to build the signal box and loading dock to see where I needed to cut out the foam for them to fit. The signal box is partially built and I hope to show that in the next few posts. The main projects have been the loading/cattle dock and a mock up off the warehouse/factory to go on the harbour board.

 

The loading dock has a scratch built base from plasticard and uses florist wire for the railings. The posts and gates were rescued from a Ration cattle dock kit. The larger 4 bar gate was knocked up from some thin plastic strip/

 

 

 

 

 

I have tried to replicate an old misused dock where the rails have started to rust and the concrete posts have seen better days. The stone setts are from the Metcalfe range, and I think have worked rather well. Final detailing of the dock will be done after it is in situ. Things such as weeds, muck, grass and further weathering.

 

On the harbour board I have made a start with the inset track and have begun cutting Wills granite sett sheets to size, No easy job considering their thickness. I wish they were slightly thinner and bigger. If this works it will be a lot easier than trying to use tile grout or plaster and scribing in the details, but watch this space, I change my mind as often as Imelda Marcos changes her shoes. At this time though, I am quite happy with the appearance, but will need a lot more Granite setts sheets from Wills.

 

 

 

 

 

The other thing I need to do was see what type of building I wanted to run along the back of the harbour board. So I started to build a card mock up to get an idea of size and style. As you can see this has two main buildings and a later addition leantwo work shops to the right. The left hand side stiil has to be decided could be a further addition to the factory/warehouse or a different business all together.

 

Originally the lines on this board were cut short of the board edge but I am coming round to the idea of extending them to the edge of the board giving me an option to build a smaller extra board fiddle yard to run on to as the rest of the harbour. In that case I would like to place a building in front of the forward track to act as a break for train leaving the stage. Not sure yet but it could be part of a fish market with a narrow quay in front just to off load fish onto. Gives me another form of trafiic for the line. If anyones got any other suggestions i'd like to hear,

 

The building at the back, at the moment is a business for a shipwright and chandler, offering the chance for a lot of incoming and out going traffic.

 

 

 

 

 

The name is undecided but at the moment it reads 'Tackers Shipwright and Chandlers'

[westerner]

It's coming along well. It looks really good. Keep up the great work.

[john flann]

I'm sure another look at the many photos of Weymouth Quay will provide the (necessary?) inspiration.

[john flann]

Andy, I have just made a post but for some reason it has been 'auto saved', if anyone can tell me how to "unsave it", I'll post it.

[Highlandman]

Hi John

 

Hope you are well and everything is serene and bucolic in Hintock. The autosave function only appears to capture to the cache every 2 minutes so it will only allow you to reload the last thing you typed less than 2 minutes ago. It can be recovered in the full edit page only and appears as light grey text on the bottom of the edit page, ' View Auto Saved Content'.

 

 

So I am not sure if it will recover the post that you want it to.

 

All the best

 

Andy

[David C]

Another prototype worth looking at for industrial/quayside warehouses etc is Looe in Cornwall. The Wild Swan book by Gerry Beale, "The Liskeard and Looe Branch" is well worth a read and contains lots of photos of very modellable buildings, although a tad expensive. I'm seriously contemplating a layout based on this line, although it will have to be very severely compressed.

 

David C

[john flann]

Andy, thanks for that, the substance of the 'saved' post was that I looked out my copy of the book "The Weymouth Harbour Tramway", Wild Swan  that co-incidentally is by the same Gerry Beale whom DaveC refers, it is an excellent guide to the WHT with a feast of evocative photographs.

 

Along the WHT were rather graceful Georgian terrace houses, several PH's, "The Royal Oak", "The Sailor's Return" and others, the Customs House, a bonded warehouse and a timber yard along with sundry other users. But what might suit you as an occupier was "Cosens & Son, Engineers,Iron & Brass Founders, Millwrights , Boiler Makers, Boat Builders."

 

There are also a number of other excellent photos of the WHT in a Back Track article I wrote on the subject; Volume 22,Number 7, July 2008.

 

And yes, Hintock is happily enjoying its ever present beautiful English summers day. I enjoy it too. I'm busy working on one or two new developments.