Signaller69 Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Looks a very neat solution Jim given the space constraints. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 Thanks Martyn - as usual the taking of the photographs show up the flaws not immediately apparent from the normal viewing angle, there is a distinct lean on the vertical to the left, I think that the "module" is not bedded in correctly as it was OK before I put it in place - some fettling required obviously. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 I agree low down shots can be a great boon for checking things that can be missed from other angles. Would the overlays hide the slight lean or is it critical the support itself has to be absolutely vertical? I know clearance is quite limited there, just wondering how much work would be involved in dismantling it if its glued and screwed though? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted July 15, 2018 Author Share Posted July 15, 2018 Hi Martyn - sorry for not replying sooner, I was down at my caravan at Prestwick at the weekend. I will take the unit out tomorrow night and check all the angles, hoping it might be as simple as the fabricated unit is not quite bedded in, fingers crossed!! Had a visitor to the area while we were down! Jim 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 G'Day Folks Popped in for a cuppa, did he. manna Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Thats some caravan site Jim! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted July 16, 2018 Author Share Posted July 16, 2018 Thats some caravan site Jim! I had hoped that having landed from the East that it would take off to the west, as my caravan site is right under the flight path, unfortunately it took off to the east, in pouring rain! Can't complain, the Police were remarkably relaxed about the whole operation, the area from which I took the photograph had been designated a public viewing area in advance and although there was a lot of police about they let us get on with taking photographs without hindrance, the crowd (must have easily been around 200 folk) responded by being well behaved and good natured, all in all it was a very pleasant evening. Jim 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 You lot must have been the best behaved spectators for his whole visit ! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 G'Day Folks The AA missile, bit to big for the back pack ??? manna Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 I have been pressing on with the bridge abutment and managed to get the majority of the work finished tonight, some painting and fine detailing still to do but it is structurally complete. Couple of views of the structure after applying the brick paper... The black painted wood will be hidden by the backscene so no covering is required A view of the underside, showing the brick lining of the top of the arch. The abutment put in place. Unfortunately the "lean" has not gone away and it looks as though it cannot be fixed, so in the absence of the solution I will do what most modellers do and CREATE A BACK STORY" = It is supposed to lean!! the abutment was noticed to be failing some years ago and all passenger services over the bridge were stopped (historical provenance here - the line into the real Allenshaw was severed due to the deterioration of the Clyde Viaduct). So the bridge has been left in place as the headshunt for the foundry with small tank engines only allowed on the bridge at slow speed. I am going to add some reinforcing rails and plates (as per Batty Moss viaduct) to help with the story The other abutment will be MUCH easier to make, as it is a simple support with no big structural complexity. Cheers Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Nice work, looks realistically substantial Jim. Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 G'Day Folks Don't you love subsidence !!! manna Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted July 24, 2018 Author Share Posted July 24, 2018 Hi all - Mrs Luckymucklebackit has gone off to the caravan so I have a week of evening modelling to my hearts content before I go down and join her on Friday for a week. The focus last night and tonight was on getting the cradle for the Allenshaw Inglenook and the Inglenook "Plank" constructed, last night was all about getting the levels right and mocking things up, a frustrating night where an extra pair of hands would definitely been a benefit, but tonight was much more productive and the plank is now complete with its frame and sitting in the cradle at the back end and on an existing support at the bridge end. The bridge end was a bit of a fiddle as the existing support was about 3mm too high for the framing and ply that I wanted to use, so I had to improvise with some thinner wood made up into a ply to get the height. General view of the plank and bridge.. The plank sitting above the fiddle yard, it is still possible to run the yard with the plank in place, but for a full "main layout" running session the plank would be removed. Couple of views looking down the trackbed Hopefully more progress tomorrow night! Cheers Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 Heatwave? What Heatwave? This week was my second summer week holiday, and weather wise this one has been as miserable as the first was warm and sunny. Gave up watching the rain running down the windows of the caravan yesterday and came home. The upside of this was that I could get back to work on the layout! I completed the abutment for the bridge and started track laying, As usual last minute changes have been made and this resulted in an additional point being ordered from Ebay, I hope to have this over the weekend. The changes involved abandoning the idea of the run-down passenger platform and using the point that I had to make a loco siding and a brake van dock instead, this provides additional shunting interest when the freight arrives from off scene and the brake van has to be put of the right end of the train going back out after the shunt has been completed. The plan now looks like this The "Y" point will go where the Peco Label is sitting just now, and will be the entrance point for the two "Three Wagon" sidings, the "five wagon" siding has already been laid. As the weather is forecast to improve over the weekend we are planning to get back down to the caravan tomorrow, so that will be it until Monday Night. Cheers Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Innovation time again! As I am a typical canny Scot I wanted to have some form of automatic uncoupling method for the Inglenook without paying out for some electromagnetic DCC super duper gizmo I therefore came up with this, don't know if it has been done before but basically it is a wire operated contraption which needs a bit of fine tuning. The basic idea is as follows. I dripped a hole in the board between two sleepers and pushed a piece of plastic tube through and cut to length flush with the top of the sleepers and just below the underside of the board I then fabricated the actuator using a piece of rod that is a nice sliding fit in the tube topped off with two layers of plasticard, the thicker layer on the bottom had a hole drilled to accept the rod. The small hole at the end of the rod will take the cable, it is important that this hole is at right angles to the plasticard strip of there will be a tendency for the top to turn when activated. The wire I used is picture hanging wire bought from Wilco for £1.50, this is anchored using a staple on one side and one of those self adhesive cable anchors on the other. The wire is passed through the little hole at the end of the actuator, I originally was going to use a weight to help the actuator reset but I found some spring in the odd things box and used that instead The cable has been temporarily wrapped round a piece of old rail, I want to use a lever mechanism eventually And the finished top looks reasonably unobtrusive between the rails, some painting and weathering will follow. Does it work - this video shows the first trials Hope this is of some interest Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 Ingenious yet simple uncoupler Jim, no doubt it will work well. I did a similar idea for 009 some years ago but that was simply a length of wire in tube, one end through the edge of the baseboard with a piece of round Lego as a knob, the other end curved down, round and up vertically through the board (like a "?" shape) with a disc of brass soldered on the end acting as the uncoupling plate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 Thanks Martyn - thought it was too simple and obvious to claim any originality! :-) Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 Thanks Martyn - thought it was too simple and obvious to claim any originality! :-) Jim Your method prevents the uncoupler turning Jim, hence why I had to use a disc of brass, so its an improvement! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted August 11, 2018 Author Share Posted August 11, 2018 Hi All - managed to complete tracklaying and assembling the point mechanisms last night, the track took a bit of fiddling as the normal configuration didn't quite fit. I had to trim a couple of sleeper lengths off the "Y" point to make it fit, still the prototype of yard I am modelling never had nice smooth formation. I modified the method of assembling the spoke and wire actuator from the way I did it for the St Margarets project, as I had a couple of issues with the spoke getting bumped enough to pull the wire out of the hole in the point, and it is a devil of a job to get back in. I therefore bent a "tail" to rest on top of the point and dropped the wire through, this meant that I could not pre-form the loop for the spoke to pass through and as a result had to bend the wire around the spoke, which is a trickier job. I also had a couple of points where the spoke was too short to reach from the operating side so I had to use a short piece of copped tube as a sleeve soldered to two sections of spoke to make the length. Another issue was that the actuators for two of the points had to cross over each other due to the angle of the point, easily done by setting one actuator 5mm higher than the other. The electric feeds are also not in, just have to position the auto-uncouplers and that will be the underside of the plank finished, then I can get started on the scenic. Cheers Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 Not much creative activity on either Gateside or Allenshaw over the past week thanks to the purchase of a display layout. My nephew is the manager of a Care Home in Glasgow and he offered me for the princely sum of £100 this 8ft by 4ft layout, all the buildings and scenics and stock includingHornby Duchess (old style) Set including Duchess of Sutherland with four LMS coaches and Track Lima Strathclyde Liveried class 101 DMU Hornby Thomas set with Annie, Clarabel and various wagons An unfortunately incomplete Hornby Pendolino, driving coaches missing but the two inner coaches present. Lima class 47 in Intercity Livery The layout was delivered on Friday Morning and put in the dining room, I was given clear instructions from Mrs Luckymucklebackit that it was to be dismantled and out of the dining room by Sunday! And no Mess!!! This was not the easiest of jobs as I wanted to salvage as much as possible and whoever built it meant it to last - which unfortunately had led to its demise. It was constructed from 15mm flooring chipboard on a sturdy timber frame, with Hornby steel set-track throughout, this had been pinned in every hole then well ballasted with a strong PVA solution I think (rock hard), and since the layout had been displayed in the foyer of the care home (as per photograph = glass windows all round) had been subject to some extremes of temperature that resulted in about 50% of the track buckling, so that had to be scrapped off. All the buildings were Metcalf, securely glued to the baseboard so I had to carefully pries these off, lost the platforms and one industrial building (but saved the glazing for future use), the only downside is that again because of where the layout was displayed, the side of the buildings facing he window were well bleached. Also managed to save a whole load of good quality trees and other scenic details which will find their way onto Gateside. Suffice to say it is now an ex-layout, bereft of track it rests in the skip The stock that came with it is now in the loft pending a check over and test, hope to do that tonight and post some photographs. Cheers everyone Jim 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted August 20, 2018 Author Share Posted August 20, 2018 To finish off the uncoupler mechanism I have cobbled together the lever frame to actuate the uncouplers [/url] The levers are made from plastic tube with the picture wire threaded through, a small length of the bicycle spoke forms the pivot rod mounted in two pieces of choco block. I then cut small squares of copper from a sheet and curved then so that they fit round the plastic tube, the copper squares and the picture wire were then tinned and then the wire was soldered to the copper which was then in turn superglued to the plastic rod, to give more rigidity a copper tube was then pushed up the inside of the plastic tube. I have still to paint the levers to colour code them to each uncoupler then form a bit of casing round the lower end Jim 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted September 11, 2018 Author Share Posted September 11, 2018 Tonight I returned my focus to the back bridge parapet and some scenic dressing of the "old" trackbed, I had kicked this off a couple of nights ago and had placed a length of track in place and ballasted round about it, then pulled the track up before the glue had fully set, this gave the impression of the track panel having recently been lifted, tonight I went back and gave it some scatter and static grass. The back girders have also been painted grey and weathered At the end near the bridge, I have added a fence to mark the end of the disused line and the operational line, as was usual for these boundaries, the old line has become a shortcut and the fence has been breached! I want to add some bits and pieces to give it that real run down look. With that done I cranked up the soldering iron and made this up from some strips of brass sheet and old Hornby steel rail What is it? It is something that seems to be rarely modelled, picking up the back story fro a few pages ago the bridge is in dodgy condition, so the CCE has added some reinforcement bars to keep the stonework from collapsing! Even RIbblehead Viaduct had this done! This has now been set aside and given a coat of red oxide primer, once it has then been painted rusty brown it will be glued in place on the bridge parapet. Jim 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted September 15, 2018 Author Share Posted September 15, 2018 Afternoon everyone, - I didn't do my usual Friday night post as I was doing that which we all find most boring - ballasting I also managed to muck this up as I used that cheap PVA from "the Works" mixed 50/50 with water - this does not work as the PVA is already a dilute version of the likes of Unibond, so I had to nip up again this afternoon and mix a proper dilution and re-spray. This obviously is an initial base layer of ballast as it will need to be weathered/distressed substantially before it looks like the old set of sidings that it represents, similarly the bridge looks like it has just been freshly laid! The old fence - which is the laser cut kit from "model railway scenery" using the wire supplied in that kit has been weathered a bit with the wire painted a rusty brown and a couple of plasticard corrugated panels added to the gap, these need to rust a bit as well Cheers for now Jim 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Signaller69 Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 Looking good Jim, the added supporting ironwork and vandalised fence are very nice details; looking forward to more as time allows! Martyn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckymucklebackit Posted September 23, 2018 Author Share Posted September 23, 2018 Thanks Martyn - Progress has been slow due to business travel, but I finished off weathering the track on the bridge and have mounted it in place. Need to start the scenic work on the shunting area but I have some issues with the uncouplers, one lever broke and one other has stopped working due to the glue from the ballast gumming up the works. I am planning to dispense with the plastic levers and I bought copper tube at the Ayr model show to replace them. Hate having to go back and re-do stuff but it cant be helped Latest photos: Bridge back in place Detail of bufferstop and fence, I need to blend these together a bit, it is obvious that they were done separately, photo was a bit dark unfortunately.[/url] A taste of things to come, 16T mineral wagons have been bought to fill the yard And on the subject of bufferstops, I chose dark brown, but at Kings Lynn they paint these things a bit brighter!!! That's all for now Jim 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now