Dock Green

[alant]

Hi Chaz,

 

Glad you managed to get on with point levers, hope the instructions were useful!

 

Have a good Christmas.

 

Alan.

[chaz]

Hi Chaz,

 

Glad you managed to get on with point levers, hope the instructions were useful!

 

Have a good Christmas.

 

Alan.

 

Thanks Alan. It was a bit more work than I expected! Those S curve levers were held into the fret with six tabs (why?) and the fold down sides of the stand plates had to be cut back to get them to fit between the sleepers AND the slot needed to be lengthened. Still, I wouldn't have liked to have to try to cut the levers by hand.

 

I will be "doing" the last four points today. One is an older style Y point which therefore has no "coffin" to remove.

 

Chaz

Edited December 22, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

Just caught up with the coffin removal - that is an excellent job you've done there - it has inspired me to have a similar go at my points.

 

Not too difficult to do. I found my cheepo disc sander very useful in adjusting the length of the pieces of replacement sleeper. I found the most difficult part was being brave enough to attack the first one.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

Spent an hour or two yesterday making a couple of short lengths of wooden fencing....

 

First photo shows the first step in assembling a section of fence.

 

 

An offcut of card has been marked up with guidelines.  Two lengths of spruce are fixed to the card at each end with superglue. These are overlength and will be trimmed once they are detached from the card. The first fence post is glued to the two horizontal rails. All the timber and ply' was previously stained with very dilute black drawing ink.

 

Next snap shows some progress. The fence boards, from 0.8mm ply', are cut to length with scissors and glued to the rails with CA. I added "nails" with the black pen (a 0.2mm tip). I used the offcut of blue card to carry small dollops of superglue which I applied to the fence with the cocktail stick - I find this much cleaner and more accurate than putting it on directly from the nozzle on the glue bottle.

 

 

Third photo shows two lengths of fence. I released them from the card by sliding a scalpel under the glued ends of the timbers and then trimmed these to length.

 

 

Last picture shows the fences installed on either side of the canal.

 

 

I drilled holes for the fence posts that were a little undersized for the diagonals on the cross-section of the posts. I pushed these carefully into the holes, each one in turn - a bit at a time, the resultant tight fit holding them securely. Next task on the fences will be to add some grass and weeds along the base - once I have decided how the area in the foreground is to be finished.

 

Chaz

Edited December 29, 2012 by chaz

[David Siddall]

Nice work Chaz! You've also just given me an idea for what to do with my extensive collection of wooden coffee stirrers – I knew they'd come in handy one day :-)

 

David

[chaz]

I love model signals, for me they are every bit as interesting as the locos. So I was disappointed that, in a yard like Dock Green Sidings, where all the points are hand thrown all the movements would be controlled by hand signals from a shunter, with no need for any fixed signals. However the line out of the yard would be protected by a signal if it ran into an area where passenger traffic could be expected. This signal might well be connected to a signal box in that area and so out of sight beyond the yard.

I did consider making a somersault signal, however I built one of these some time ago and it was a real fiddle to get working nicely, so I settled on an upper quadrant job. However with a nod to earlier times I used a wooden post (the LNER sometimes renewed a somersault as an UQ signal but retained the original post).

 

The first photo shows the components laid out. The etched parts and castings are from MSE.

 

 

The post was machined from beech on a planer/thicknesser using a jig to get the taper (I used to be a DT teacher and had access to such machinery). I had a finished and painted UQ arm left over from a previous project which gave me a head start.

 

The next photo is a close-up of the arm pivot.

 

 

With a wooden post I make all the fittings with wire pins that push into holes. This makes painting easy when the post is white and the metal parts in black. The fittings can be eased away from the post but with the pins still in the holes to be painted. The brass base for the pivot is 6 x 4mm and those wire pins are 0.7mm.

 

You might be interested (?) in my working method for making such small parts.

 

find a length of brass the required width (an edge of a kit fret in this case)

mark out the length required and the holes but at this stage leave the strip overlong - I use a black permanent marker to colour the brass and then a scriber to mark out

drill the holes for the fixing wires

 

 

drill a hole in an wood offcut to hold the first wire vertical while you solder it to the base

take a length of tube to suit the pivot wire - 0.8mm wire will fit nicely inside KS125

solder the tube to the plate - note the brass offcut near my fingers to keep the tube sitting level

 

 

drill a hole for the first pin in the post

fit the plate on the post

using the plate as a drilling jig drill the second hole in the post

 

 

fit the plate back on the wood offcut and drill a hole for the second wire pin

whilst the plate is on the offcut solder in the second pin - be careful that the tube doesn't come adrift - a piece of card gently pressing down onto the tube does the trick

cut the tube and the plate to length - it's very much easier to do all the other work if this small part is not cut to size until now

clean up and test fit the pivot to the post

 

 

Fittings like this, if fastened with two wire pins, are usually a snug fit. If they turn out a bit loose I find that bending one of the pins very slightly makes the fit tighter (don't overdo this or you will not be able to get the pins in!)

 

I will post more pictures of the signal later.

 

Chaz

Edited December 31, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

A bit more progress this evening....

 

I fitted the two ladder supports to the post and adjusted their overlong legs so that they would just grip the ladder. I have found that if a joint like this is flooded with liquid flux and the iron charged with a small amount of 145 solder the merest touch of the iron has the solder flashing into the joint without disturbing the fit. Before I did this I tinned the ladder on both sides with 188 solder. This has the effect of stiffening it a little, although it remains a fragile item.

 

 

I removed the assembled ladder unit from the post to (very carefully) wash the joints with CIF, an alkali and a good neutraliser of an acid flux. The MSE fret that most of these parts came from includes some strip from which to form the ladder supports but these are very delicate so I used heavier section brass strip for a more robust result.

 

 

I cut back the ladder supports with a pair of tinsnips. Providing the leg to be cut is held, rather than the ladder, this is the safest way of trimming these to length. You could, of course, cut them before soldering in the ladder but I prefer to trim after assembly.

The next picture shows the ladder, the lamp bracket and the arm pivot installed on the post. It also shows that I sanded the base of the post down (using a power linisher not glass-paper - much, much quicker) and fitted it into a length of square brass tube. This is a telescopic fit in the largest K & S size (1/4inch), a piece of which will form a socket so that the signal can be easily fitted and removed.

 

 

The last photo shows the signal post dropped into position on Dock Green to test the fit. The track behind the post is the line in and out of the yard.

 

 

I'm hoping I can find a pyramid-style finial in the drawers for this post....

 

Chaz

Edited December 31, 2012 by chaz

[chaz]

A frustrating day, one of those when not much goes right. I did manage to make this fiddly little part for the signal.

 

 

I had to have two goes at soldering it up. The first time I put the balance weight lever in with a piece of paper each side to avoid the solder locking every thing up solid. Didn't work! I suspect the solder from the middle of the lever (it's two pieces laminated together) caused the problem. I took it apart, cleaned up the pivot hole in the lever with a cutting broach and tried again without paper - and this time it worked.

 

These extreme close-ups are pretty unkind on the work - and my fingers.

 

Chaz

[N15class]

Have you tried blackening the part you do not want soldered.

[chaz]

Have you tried blackening the part you do not want soldered.

 

Yes Peter, I have done this in the past, and it works fine, but this afternoon it just didn't occur to me. Not the first time I've been reminded of a technique I was familiar with but seemed to have forgotten. Is there any hope?

 

Chaz

 

PS - no sign of a pyramid cap for the post so I will have to pick one up at the Bristol show.

Edited January 1, 2013 by chaz

[chaz]

I "planted" the signal post in a lump of plasticene to spray it. Here it is with a coat of white acrylic primer. I have eased all the brass fittings away from the post on their fixing pins to facilitate painting them black. Guess who forgot to fix the safety loop at the top of the ladder?

 

 

On the left is the socket with a square tube to receive the post and a small round tube for the operating wire. I intend to unplug the signal when the layout is transported so the drive coupling needs to be a drop on arrangement.

 

The metalwork is now black, and I did fit the loop. The short piece of wire protruding from the top of the post is the arm stop

 

 

Next step will be to fix the arm and the operating wire and, of course, to build a drive. This will be powered by a servo.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

I have started making up some railings. This set will stop the staff at Dock Green Sidings from falling into the canal. At the moment they are in white primer, which I quite like, but I think they might well be dirty black - anybody got any thoughts on which colour is most likely?

 

 

Just needs a post cap and some weathering....

 

 

Chaz

Edited January 3, 2013 by chaz

[switcher 1]

Railings - rusty black, I would think.

[chaz]

Railings - rusty black, I would think.

 

I fear you are right, and I will probably end up painting them rusty black - but it's a shame - I quite like them in white, although they would have to be dirty.....

[Warspite]

Chaz

 

That signal is superb and beautifully engineered (as usual).

 

I also would have said 'rusty black' for the railings. The white does look good but just think of the fun you can have getting the rust right ...... and all that flaky paint!

 

Stephen

[chaz]

Chaz

 

That signal is superb and beautifully engineered (as usual).

 

I also would have said 'rusty black' for the railings. The white does look good but just think of the fun you can have getting the rust right ...... and all that flaky paint!

 

Stephen

 

Thanks Stephen. The signal is maybe incorrect: I think it is quite likely to have been a ground disc to control the exit from the yard. However this might well have gone largely unnoticed at the back of the layout and the wooden post starter is a much more impressive detail! (Not for the first time I'm invoking Rule One - but it does depend on what happens on the other side of the bridge...).

I think the bottom of the post should be black and I will attend to this when I fit the post cap. Today's job is to make up a servo drive for the signal. I'm going to give MERG's Sema4 signal-bounce software a try.

 

 

"I also would have said 'rusty black' for the railings."

 

Yes I think you are right. What swung it for me was that when I put the second set of railings in place the white paint did rather shout "look at me". They are only railings.

 

 

Not sure how much scope there is for "getting the rust right ...... and all that flaky paint!" - the railings are only 0.9mm in diameter. Maybe a quick dry-brushing is all that's required. What's probably more important is the weed growth around the base of the posts.

 

Now that I am in to adding the smaller details two things are occuring. Firstly, each detail takes a while, so progress seems to slow. Secondly the layout's appetite for details is huge, so they get swallowed up with little effect on the whole, it seems. Each detail does add to the picture although I am determined that the layout will not become cluttered.

 

Chaz

[chaz]

I have baseboard BC (the one with the signal) set up on two sets of legs so I can flip it over to work on either the top or the underneath.

have a look at...

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/58132-dock-green/page-2

 

The photo shows the signal post's socket.

 

 

Could be better placed? No matter, I need to get the servo away from the baseboard under-surface to make room for a linkage. I think a plywood bracket off the cross beam should do the job.

 

Chaz

 

PS - who was the joker who said that a DCC layout would only need two wires.........?

Edited January 6, 2013 by chaz

[chaz]

Made up a bracket to support the servo for the signal.

 

 

The operating wire to the signal (0.7mm) is connected to the nylon crank on the servo by a strip of nickel-silver. As the bolt on the end of the crank (12BA) will move through an arc it's probably best to put a measure of articulation into the linkage.

 

The PCB is from a MERG kit. It will control four servos, although this one will be used just for the signal (the board already on this baseboard is already connected to four points).

 

 

Above the baseboard the operating wire is fitted with a small tuning-fork shaped socket. The signal can be fitted and removed easily with just a little care needed to ensure that the balance weight lever drops into the socket.

 

 

This is what's left when the signal is lifted off. I will make a small cover box to protect the wire during transit.

 

I spent a frustrating hour this afternoon trying to program the servo using the MERG software with little success. Eventually I traced the problem to a dud servo. Once this was replaced I quickly got the signal working nicely.

 

Chaz

Edited January 8, 2013 by chaz

[chaz]

 

The nice thing about using a servo, a MERG PCB and the programing software is that the limits of travel can be set from the computer. Also the speed of the movement is adjustable. The trick is to allow too much movement from the mechanism and then to tame it with the software. It's obviously not possible to get more movement with the program than the servo can give.....

 

No scenery in this view as it had all been detached so that I could work on both the top and the underside of the baseboard.

 

I am going to try to get the signal bouncing.  - I had a brief look at the bounce facility in the software yesterday but couldn't get it to work and ran out of time. WTS

 

Chaz

Edited January 8, 2013 by chaz

[alant]

Chaz,

 

Servos and such like a bit above my head, but the signal looks great and will be even better if you manage to get the bounce working.

 

Alan.

[chaz]

Chaz,

 

Servos and such like a bit above my head, but the signal looks great and will be even better if you manage to get the bounce working.

 

Alan.

 

Thanks Alan. I agree with the late Frank Dyer, after the trains themselves, one of the things that most characterises a railway is signalling.

 

I think of servos as like a point motor (a Tortoise rather than a solenoid two-coil type) but with the advantage that you can control it's movement limits, direction of travel (up-down or down-up)  and speed from a computer. Yes, you do have to have an electronic driver board, but IMHO anyone one who can solder up a control panel can solder up a MERG Servo4 board.

 

Having gone onto the MERG forum this morning the bad news is that I will have to download new firmware for the PIC on the driver board if I want the signal to bounce. The firmware is still in it's development stages so I'm not inclined to go for it until the bugs have been sorted.

 

The signals on my home layout have mechanical  bouncers using near-horizontal pendulums, but I consider this design inappropriate for a portable layout like Dock Green, whose baseboards regularly get turned on their sides. When I reflect that Dock Green went to the Wimborne show without the signal at all, having a non-bouncing arm seems a minor problem - we just imagine a careful signalman....

 

Chaz

Edited January 8, 2013 by chaz

[chaz]

Spent some time this afternoon fitting a couple of lengths of railings to the sides of the incline. Where the far one stops I plan to add a low wall. One of the themes of Dock Green, with all these bridges, walls etc is that shunt moves should disappear and reappear behind them.

 

 

In the second picture I posed "Susan", the Peckett saddle tank, on its way down the incline with an unladen bogie bolster.

 

 

Who decided that it was a good plan to cover the top of baseboards with cork? They were wrong. The horrible stuff made drilling accurately for the railing posts quite tricky, with the drill bit (in a Dremel) bouncing around until it hit the ply'. Fortunately there is enough "give" in the posts to accomodate minor misalignments.

 

Chaz

 

PS I think I am going to have to start adding some grass and weeds soon. And the red brickwork is overdue for some filth.

Edited January 8, 2013 by chaz

[chaz]

Some time ago, having seen my forum postings, Peter Harvey (trading as PH Designs) asked me if there was anything he could help me with for Dock Green. I asked him for some etched brass gas lights. He sent me a drawing of the fret he designed and a couple of etches followed very promptly.

 

I have finally got around to doing something with them. The first photo shows one of the etches.



As you can see the fret has enough parts to make four lamps. Peter has etched the lamp tops so that they can be glazed as well as the main part but such lamps often had "blind" tops like this one....



This is not a gas lamp, but an ersatz electric copy, found near my home. However it does show the blind top style. I decided to plate the top with 5 thou' brass shim. The picture below shows this underway.



The lamp top etch is still flat.The panel on the left has been plated on what will be the inside. I used 188 solder to avoid any problems with blobs preventing this tiny part being folded up accurately. Between the coin and the fret are two tiny chips of solder - these will be ample for attaching the next piece of shim, seen ready on the right.

The next snap shows the top with all four panels blanked off with shim. On the right is the square centre plate, with its rim folded up - a tricky job as it is so narrow. The top fits into the half etch which is visible around the edge of the square centre hole.



I found that if the top is placed onto the plate and pressed down very gently it can be nudged into the half etch. Once it is soldered in place it can be flipped over and 145 solder (better at gap-filling than 188) run along the sloping corners.



The next picture shows the main body of the lamp still flat and the lamp top flipped over. You can see a square half-etch line in the plate into which the folded body will locate. This can't be soldered as the lamp will need to be glazed and the heat would destroy the clear plastic. Peter suggested using varnish to fix the glazing and the lamp top. I may use PVA to fix the top on. This will allow the lamp top to be removed if required - although I'm not sure if I am going to put working bulbs into the lamps or not.



To make sure that the lamp will fit the half etch in the square plate I used one plate as a soldering jig. I blacked it all over with a permanent marker pen to stop the solder taking.



The little square of card allows me to use gentle finger pressure to hold the job in place whilst 145 solder is run into the corner joints to fix the shape, without burning myself. The blacking worked well preventing the solder flowing onto the square plate.

The final photo shows the two halves offered up to each other to check the fit.

 

 

Phew! Some very careful forming and soldering was necessary - but I must say the fit of Peter's etched design is superb. Despite using tiny amounts of solder you can see some cleaning up will be necessary. Fine emery boards applied with a very light touch should do the trick without distorting this very delicate piece. Next step is to make up a post, complete with projecting ladder bars. WTS.

Chaz

 

PS (edit)   it's a bit disconcerting how unkind this C.U. photography is. I reassure myself that once painted and installed on Dock Green these will be fine.

Edited January 11, 2013 by chaz

[David Siddall]

Some time ago, having seen my forum postings, Peter Harvey (trading as PH Designs) asked me if there was anything he could help me with for Dock Green. I asked him for some etched brass gas lights. He sent me a drawing of the fret he designed and a couple of etches followed very promptly.

I have some of Peter's replacement step etches for my Hymek... the etching as you say is superb – and the metal origami's a bit impressive too :-)

 

David

[chaz]

A boring but necessary job yesterday. When I added the fences either side of the canal I thought it would be best if these were permanently "planted". They might get damaged if they were repeatedly removed and refitted. Checking the way the baseboards are paired up for transport in the back of a van I realised that I had left insufficient space and that the fences clashed with the canopy on the other board when brought together. By redrilling the boards that fit on the board ends I was able to increase the separation by a couple of inches.

the photo shows the boards linked up after the change. I hadn't yet moved the stop bars - these are screwed to the outside of the end boards and stop the baseboards being pushed too close together - with a resultant CRUNCH!



Whilst I had the baseboard AB (the one with the warehouse on it) mounted on legs I took the chance to fit the platform edging. This was made some time ago from Plastruct angle slotted at intervals on both outer faces with a piercing saw and sprayed with grey primer.



Another small detail fitted which adds a little to the overall picture.

Chaz

 

PS - viewing the posted picture I realise that it's quit hard to see the slots that make this edging look like individual stones but, trust me, they are there!

Edited January 13, 2013 by chaz