Lancaster Green Ayre - The Barn Owls have returned.

[jamie92208]

Good evening folks, no I haven't vanished from the face of the earth.  The mojo has been missing and life kept getting in the way.   Anyway tonight I decided that i needed to do some modelling rather than shovelling soil into raised beds.   It's been raining anyway.   So I set sail for the shed after tea and made a start on erecting some fences round the brewery store on the front of the layout.   I have a Poppy's Woodcraft kit for some 4 rail fencing so I laid out some parts in the area and made a start.

I joined several panels together and laminated some of the fence posts.   Then laid them out to form the boundary of the yard.

The yard has a road gate and also needs a gate onto the nearest siding in order that beer barrels can be loaded into the vans or opens.    I bought a gate kit but  rather than leaving it as a large gate that would swing over most of the yard I am going to cut it in two then make the two gates open inwards.  The wagon is useful as a store for parts.

There is a baseboard join through the yard so it will be a little tricky to disguise it.   I may well make the stretch of fencing removable.  Anyway some very very modest progress.

 

 

Jamie

 

[Dave Hunt]

Doing the fencing for my layout I find that the first forty feet are the worst ☹️

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

I agree.  Doing that it, I've realised that I need to redo some of the platform fencing that got damaged in transit.  Another order to Poppy's. 

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Nothing for months then 2 in 2 days.  Like London buses.   I managed to spend some time in the shed today as well as shovelling a lot of earth into a raised bed, but each time I went up of down the shed another piece of wood gor glued onto the fending.   By this evening there was progress to be seen.

The three main pieces of fending have been glued together and plonked in the ground cover.   The gate has been cut in half and one piece has it's diagonal stay on it.   The main gate posts have been cut and are also plonked.  I now need to make some hinges and that will give me the width for the gate opening.   Once that's in the fencings final location can be sorted out.

 

I also found some skytrex beer barrels.

This gives a better idea of the gate.

 

Just for DH this is the state of part of the platform fencing.

It definitely needs some tlc.  An order will be placed that hopefully I can pick up when we are in the UK in mid June.

 

Jamie

 

[jamie92208]

At t he model railway group meeting last week I was asking a good friend and superb modeller, Paul Wilitts, how to paint fencing to achieve that weathered grey look. He suggested painting with light grey enamel  then covering it with acrylic black.  Then when dry scrape the black off with a knife.   This was the result.  

I think it needs a bit more scraping but as it was next to coal wagons that were being unloaded and near several factory chimneys I quite like the effect.

 

Jamie

[Ian Smeeton]

Sorry to pee on your parade, but your gate has he diagonal going the wrong way.

 

Wood is great in compression , but no good in tension.

 

The diagonal should run from the base of the post end to the upper opposite corner, otherwise it is guaranteed to sag.

 

Ask me how I know!!

 

Regards,

 

Ian 

[Compound2632]

10 hours ago, Ian Smeeton said:

Sorry to pee on your parade, but your gate has he diagonal going the wrong way.

 

This is where I really, really, want Jamie to turn up a photo showing that was how it was in 1920!

[Bloodnok]

10 hours ago, Ian Smeeton said:

Sorry to pee on your parade, but your gate has the diagonal going the wrong way.

 

Wood is great in compression , but no good in tension.

 

The diagonal should run from the base of the post end to the upper opposite corner, otherwise it is guaranteed to sag.

While everything you said is true, there are a *lot* of gates in the real world that are built and hung like that. e.g.:

http://www.lancashiregates.co.uk/images/Galleries/5&6_bar/Irthing 5 Bar Iroko Gate.jpg

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon from a warm and sunny Charente.   2 months since my last post as the mojo went AWOL.   However the fencing parts got delivered via my daughter who we met in Bournemouth in June.  For some obscure reason my mojo reappeared a few days ago and after some cogitating I worked out a method for repairing the platform fencing.  Part of the Poppys kit was the jig for making the diagonal Midland fencing.  The first task was to remove the 4' length of fencing that had plenty of gaps in it.   Some water applied with a paint brush softened the PVA and I was able to detach two long lengths of fence.  Then I was able to clamp a damaged section in the jig and glue in any missing pales.

Then it was a case of leave for an hour then repeat.   Then repeat etc.  Eventually both sections were glued together and the last few pales glued in.  This left me with a 4' length.

As far as possible the uprights were left in place after soaking them away from the fence.

Finally this afternoon I started to glue the long length back in place.

That shows that I need to paint the new bits.   One problem no Railmatch Sleeper Grime. Fortunately a friend who lives near Stafford is coming over from the UK later this week.  Thanks to Topp Trains of Stafford the paint was ordered and has now been picked up and hopefully will be with me by the weekend.

 

Onwards and upwards.

 

 

Jamie

 

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by jamie92208

[lezz01]

Nice job on the fence repair Jamie. I too have lost my mojo a bit plus I'm waiting for some electronic bits and bobs from China. I could do it with what I already have but then I'll just re-do it once the other parts come so I've paused things for a bit plus I'm having a bit of a mare making wheel weights which is driving me a bit nutz!

Regards Lez. 

[jamie92208]

Thanks @lezz01@lezz01 I hope the mojo returns. I've been back this evening and am making progress and it's coming on.  It's several years since I did any fencing of this type but it's. Coming on.  The paint has now been collected and should be here Friday.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

The mojo is still around and I have persevered with the fencing.  I still have to make several short visits to the shed each day but progress is being made.   On the long length on the down platform I have reached the buildings so plonked what I thought was the easternmost part of the station in it's place.   It was quite late in the evening and I couldn't work out what the white strip under the building was.

A Doh moment.   I realised the next morning that I'd plonked the wrong building there.  Tat's the one for the Up platform.  I went over last night and put the correct building, namely the gents, on.  This looked better and you can see the new bits of fence in the area.  The last piece was waiting for some glue to dry. 

I also replaced some missing pales at the other end of the platform about 5' away.

Once the down platform is finished then it's time for the up platform.  To access that I need to be inside the layout so am waiting till I can take all my tools etc through.

The paint arrived yesterday as well so I can get that done in due course.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Progress has continued.   The down platform fencing is underway but is tricky as there is the platform ramp where the geometry alters to keep the pales in the same alignment.  I had to take it all off it's supports and work on it on the bench.  It's coming on.   

 

On Tuesday at short notice I had two very good young lads, 6 and 8, with their parents and grandad, come to visit.   They both got the hang of controlling trains and also switching points.  As they only spoke French this was quite pleasing.   I hadn't run trains for some moths and we did get locos round both inner and outer circuits.   However this revealed a few track problems.  It was tricky to see what was happening behind some backscenes  Yesterday I was working on the fencing after one piece had been glued I set to work to dismantle the rest of the lighting rig and backscenes so that I can watch what's happening from the control panel.   This is the peril of flying solo on a multi operator exhibition layout.    I did find one problem very quickly where a baseboard joint wasn't tight.   An hour later I had removed a recalcitrant bolt and T nut with the aid of a lump hammer.   It turned out that they were cross threaded.   That's sorted and a loco has now run smoothly over that joint.   Now it's time to hunt the electrical problems.   One 3" stretch of rail has already been identified and being without a feed and a point blade under the station canopy has the wrong feed to it.   The layout does look a bit naked.

 

Jamie

[PeterBB]

Great to know that your mojo has returned.  This end with what is going on all layouts packed away so now embarked on painting N-gauge figures for SRfanJV Josh's Wadebridge layout.

[jamie92208]

Good evening from a warm and sunny Place. More success in the shed today. Over the past day or two I've been working my way round the Up Main using loco 311 as a test bed.  About 8minor track giggles have nowbeecorrected and this afternoon I was able tonset the loco running, then just leave it running round and round as I did some fencing g work.  I even managed toget a photo.  This is a great achievement considering the journey that the layout has made and the temperature variations in the shed. 

Here 311 is just coming off the viaduct into the station.

 

Jamie

Edited August 6, 2023 by jamie92208

[lezz01]

Gota love a slim boilered Johnson 4-4-0. It has to be one of the most beautiful steam locos ever built.

Regards Lez. 

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Gota love a slim boilered Johnson 4-4-0. It has to be one of the most beautiful steam locos ever built.

Regards Lez. 

It was one of the last three of that class and was shedded at Hellifield. Built for me by the late Tony Bond. 

 

Jamie

[lezz01]

20 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

It was one of the last three of that class and was shedded at Hellifield. Built for me by the late Tony Bond. 

 

Jamie

I have a Ratio kit for one but it's an early one so it has a funky plastic chassis I really need one of the later ones with the Perseverance chassis so I might scratch build a chassis or sell it on and get a London Road etched brass one.  

Regards Lez.

[jamie92208]

7 hours ago, lezz01 said:

I have a Ratio kit for one but it's an early one so it has a funky plastic chassis I really need one of the later ones with the Perseverance chassis so I might scratch build a chassis or sell it on and get a London Road etched brass one.  

Regards Lez.

From potentially fallible memory 311 was built from a Janick kit that I picked up cheaply at the club 2nd hand stall at Warley.  It really does look beautiful.  Tony also built a 3P, 736 from a Gibson kit  and a Single for me, all beautifully done. 

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

Not much to tell over the last month but over the last few days I've finally had a go at getting the latest 2F to run without the rods binding.  I had a frustrating 2 hours a few days ago but to no avail despite trying every thing I could think of.  This evening, fortified by a glass of red I gradually reassembled it and it ran smoothly.  I have no idea what I've done but when I connected the motor up it ran smoothly.  I now have no intention of taking the wheels off again but need to fit pickups and brake gear.

 

Jamie

Edited September 27, 2023 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

A bit more progress over the last couple of days.  Yesterday I started trying to fit pick ups to 3188 the 2F.  The double sided copperclad didn't like being soldered to and the insulation broke down.  Then I couldn't find any copperclad so this afternoon there was a quick call to Marcway for some N gauge sleeper strip.  That's now winging it's way to a friends in Staffordshire who can bring it across next weekend.   

 

So what to do this afternoon, I thought simples look at the next loco that I wnat to get going.   That's 448 a 2P kit that I bought part made off Ebay.   The chassis seemed to be OK to begin with but then one wheelset jammed.   It turned out that one of the nylon hornguides had come unglued so I had to take the wheelset out and araldite it back on.   This will be left till tomorrow before i do any more,

Then I thought that I'd check the back to backs.   One was spot on at 29 the other was 30.4.   However I think it's a very old form of Slaters and I don't want to take the wheels off as the quartering seems OK but I have no idea how they are quartered.  This is what the wheel centre looks like and one is fefinitely not pushed fully home.

Any thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

 

I also found out that there is no rigid gearbox.   The motor is screwed to the frames with two bolts and pivots on the bolts to mesh with the drivers.  I am tinking of putting some quarter inch square brass across the frames with a 6 BA bolt tapped through it to push the motor p for the work to make reliable contact.

 

All good fun.   I will probably try putting the wheelset in the vice and then squeeze it up till the B to b s correct whilst being careful of the crank pins.

 

Bon nuit.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

2 more days and a little further but a little back as well.   I got the wheelset mounted again but when I tried to power it up the motor mount turned out to be completely impractical.   After a lot of thought I raided my box of spare motor gearboxes and found one.   To mount it thug I had to separate a wheelset.   I got it all back together then tried to run the motor.   I must have got the quartering  bit out as next thing one of the rear hornguides came off the frames.   I've araldited this ne back n and will leave it till tomorrow.   As it's now over 30 degrees the shed was getting a bit warm so I've retreated to the house which is a bit cooler and left the glue setting.   I might go back this evening and work on the loco body as I need to find a way of attaching the boiler barrel to the firebox.

 

It's all good fun.

 

Jamie

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

Jamie, when I use Slaters or similar insulated hornguides, once I have glued them in place I always drill and tap through the hornguides and frames 14BA and insert screws to fix them in place, which avoids the problems you are having.

 

Dave

Edited October 1, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

Jamie, when I use Slaters or similar insulated hornguides, once I have glued them in place I always drill and tap through the hornguides and frames 14BA and insert screws to fix them in place, which avoids the problems you are having.

 

Dave

Thanks I'll do that.  The quartering is the difficult bit.  I'm having to do it by eye with one side at the 0900 position withe the coup, ING rods just covering the axle ends. 

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

A bit more progress over the last two evenings work.   I got the second hornguide glued back and then drilled some holes for 14BA bolts as suggested by Wing Commander Hunt.  In the process I managed to knock another hornguide of so that had to be glued on and left.   Yesterday afternoon I spent a frustrating 2 hours trying to get the wheels quartered and finally gave up in disgust .  Two remaining brain cells must have rubbed together as I remembered that I had another 2P kit, unstarted but with a modern set of Slaters Drivers.  I unpacked them and set the chassis up in the Chassis jig to check it.

The coupling rods seemed a little tight so this evening I double checked the alignment of the jig and when it was correct got the chassis squared up.  Then it was just a matter of fitting the new wheels and refitting the rods and motor/gearbox.   

Everything rotated freely, hurrah, but I do need to countersink the 12BA bolts to stop them catching.  However this is real progress.

 

Jamie