Wright writes.....

[polybear]

29 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Ah,

 

I am due an eye test!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

It'll be all those flux fumes......🤣

[Jesse Sim]

5 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Ah,

 

I am due an eye test!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Well can you get it done before March? You’ll be my chauffeur and I’m worried….

[Jol Wilkinson]

21 hours ago, polybear said:

 

The flux sold by LRM is called Phosflux 6 (for W/M) and Phosflux 12 (for Brass & N/S) - I assume this means 6% & 12%, so no-where near the "40" (if that indeed means 40%).

 

 

That is exactly what the names stand for.

 

17 hours ago, gr.king said:

I can confirm that 145C solder can be used on whitemetal. I carelessly picked up the wrong solder some years ago and had built half of a Little Engines J11 before I realised why I'd been having to use more heat than seemed usual in order to get the stuff to flow! Remarkably, I didn't destroy any whitemetal castings, but any mechanical cleaning up of rough joints was harder work that it would have been with the preferred lowmelt (73C?) product.

Lower strength fluxes are, I have been told, used on white metal as it reduces leaching out of any impurities in the alloy which can cause blackening and impede adhesion of the solder. Perhaps one of the chemists on here can comment on that,

 

I use only phosphoric based fluxes on brass or nickel silver, with a Maplins "fume extractor" (basically a small, stand mounted 240v fan with foam filter elements) on the bench to draw away any fumes from soldering. I was the item I am working on in soapy water at the end of each session to neutralize any flux residue.

 

I don't use Powerflow on the recommendation of a well know professional painter, who found that some models he had painted which had been soldered using PF suffered from paint problems in locations where it hadn't been effectively neutralised. 

 

I recently used a flux on some ply and rivet point work which has the claimed benefit of not requiring cleaning/neutralisation. It is unfortunately nowhere near as effective as my usual phosphoric based flux.

 

 

[grob1234]

Good morning.

 

Anyone off to Milton Keynes for the show today? It'll be the first show I have attended in over 4 years so I'm really looking forward to it, especially as modelling season is approaching!

 

I'll be milling about somewhere!

 

Maybe see some of you later on.

 

Kind regards

Tom

[Iain.d]

After having had a couple of pretty busy weeks at work, I’ve been able to sit down this weekend and get the carriages I have under construction to the painting stage. All the bits are good to go other than adding rain strips to the roofs from tape; I’ll do that after the last clean tonight.

 

The compartments will have their final seats added after the interiors are secured to the chassis, utilising the bogie fixing bolts. I’ll only use a smidgeon of glue in case they need to come out at some point in the future.

 

The Comet Models D1704A Corridor Brake Composite:

 

 

And at the final check to ensure it’ll all still go together:

 

 

And likewise, the Comet Models D1791 Period II Corridor Composite:

 

 

 

I’m fortunate to have this Monday and Tuesday off, so I should be able to at least get them primered (Tamiya Oxide Red Fine Surface Primer) on Monday and the maroon (Tamiya Maroon TS-11) on, on Tuesday. Might even get the roofs and chassis’ painted too.

 

Anyway household jobs beckon…..

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[The Fatadder]

Speaking of soldering, a bit of a soldering question.

 

are there any good tips to help you stop solder getting where you don’t want it?  I seem to recall that applying something (graphite?) was recommended to stop solder joining up moving parts.

 

 

I am assembling walkways for the top of s 3d printed modern tank wagon I designed, however all the etches are far too long.  I want to cut a spare bit of the etched mesh and solder it across the end to reduce the length by 10mm, but my worry is that I will flood the holes in the mesh with solder.

[cctransuk]

2 minutes ago, The Fatadder said:

Speaking of soldering, a bit of a soldering question.

 

are there any good tips to help you stop solder getting where you don’t want it?  I seem to recall that applying something (graphite?) was recommended to stop solder joining up moving parts.

 

 

I am assembling walkways for the top of s 3d printed modern tank wagon I designed, however all the etches are far too long.  I want to cut a spare bit of the etched mesh and solder it across the end to reduce the length by 10mm, but my worry is that I will flood the holes in the mesh with solder.

 

You could try using a Sharpie pen to blacken the etch; then scrape off the coating only where you want to solder.

 

CJI.

[The Fatadder]

Thanks for that, it seems to have done the job nicely.  Just another 2 more to do now (and of course a few more bunt fingers)

 

while on the subject of 3d printed models this will be on my work bench soon, GW diagram O5 siphon that I drew and printed earlier in the year.  
There’s still a bit of layering in the roof (it’s a toss up between inclusion of the rain strips vs ease of sanding down the lines.)  To keep the rivet detail I couldn’t print at the optimal angle for quality, I now have a sheet of etched corner plates so will try printing at an angle to see if I get a better roof….   I’ve never built a 6 wheel coach before so making the thing work keeps getting put off…

[Tony Wright]

I'm wading through the (ostensibly) professionally-built locos which I mentioned earlier. 

 

Suspicions have been aroused even further, having discovered that a chimney on a NER loco has been fixed in place back to front - with the capuchon at the rear!  

[andytrains]

On 07/10/2022 at 12:15, APOLLO said:

 

 

Brit15

Burning/cooking human flesh actually smells like pork.

 

[Tony Wright]

I've now got two of the 'professionally-built' locos going - a DJH Raven Atlantic and a London Road D2.

 

Friction-fit drivers have been discarded, gearboxes sorted out (how difficult is it to make a High-Level gearbox poorly?), clearances made for bogie wheels (both tight) and the front of the tender of the D2 arranged to bear on the rear of the loco body (to aid traction). 

 

Both now run well, but it's much harder putting something right than starting from scratch (I know this, and always advise against it, but I took pity!).

 

I'll post pictures later. 

[60526]

Tony,

I can't see it mentioned in WW anywhere, but congratulations on Little Bytham winning the Hornby Magazine layout of the year award at the GETS exhibition. I just happened to be there when 2nd place was given to Pete Watermans cathedral layout, but sense prevailed when Little Bytham was announced. A shame that LB is not exhibited, a wider audience would appreciate it. The cathedral layout was worth a view just to see the tensioned overhead catenary, but looking at a Hornby LSL blue pullman derailing on straight track turned me off a bit. 

I don't know if anyone else on this forum visited GETS at Milton Keynes, I was there as an exhibitor, some very nice layouts, ok if you were after the latest model from the numerous box merchants but very little specialist trade for me to get enthused about. I obtained a loco drawing from Isinglass for a Nu-cast LNER E4 that I bought the other month, I've just read in the latest BRM that NC and partners have just released the E4 as a new kit. I wanted to buy some EM track, C&L were there, I think that it might be for 3 exhibition running, he didn't have any, what is that all about?

So sorry to hear that Iain Rice has left us to a better place, my preference for good reason has been to compensate loco chassis and I'd put it all down to Iain showing off his skills if I remember correctly at one of the old Chatham dockyard exhibitions. His articles were always a good read

All the best

Charlie

[westerner]

I've not posted a photo on here for ages.

 

So here goes

4 new additions to Blackney, a Bedford lorry and 3 wagons all kit built.

 

[Tony Wright]

7 hours ago, 60526 said:

Tony,

I can't see it mentioned in WW anywhere, but congratulations on Little Bytham winning the Hornby Magazine layout of the year award at the GETS exhibition. I just happened to be there when 2nd place was given to Pete Watermans cathedral layout, but sense prevailed when Little Bytham was announced. A shame that LB is not exhibited, a wider audience would appreciate it. The cathedral layout was worth a view just to see the tensioned overhead catenary, but looking at a Hornby LSL blue pullman derailing on straight track turned me off a bit. 

I don't know if anyone else on this forum visited GETS at Milton Keynes, I was there as an exhibitor, some very nice layouts, ok if you were after the latest model from the numerous box merchants but very little specialist trade for me to get enthused about. I obtained a loco drawing from Isinglass for a Nu-cast LNER E4 that I bought the other month, I've just read in the latest BRM that NC and partners have just released the E4 as a new kit. I wanted to buy some EM track, C&L were there, I think that it might be for 3 exhibition running, he didn't have any, what is that all about?

So sorry to hear that Iain Rice has left us to a better place, my preference for good reason has been to compensate loco chassis and I'd put it all down to Iain showing off his skills if I remember correctly at one of the old Chatham dockyard exhibitions. His articles were always a good read

All the best

Charlie

Thanks Charlie,

 

I'm astonished Little Bytham has won the Hornby Magazine layout of the year; I had no idea. It's a tribute to a wonderful team.

 

I hadn't noted that Iain Rice had died. Another 'great' in the hobby gone (and he's younger than I am!). I worked with him and for him on several occasions during his time as Editor of MORRILL (a sadly-missed publication) and also when he set up his own magazine, which, unfortunately didn't last long. I can't imagine a stranger pairing in a way. Our approach to model railways, both philosophical and practical were poles apart and our approaches to model loco construction could not have been more different. He once described me as the 'greatest model railway Luddite ever'; an epithet I took great pride in, and still do. 

 

Returning to Little Bytham; Brad Hinton, over from Australia, visited today; a splendid chap. His comments about LB in my visitors' book were very complimentary. In fact, he was amazed at the standard of the running (how different from Iain Rice's laudable approach - no springing/compensation, and really big locos travelling very fast!), Just as I was preening myself in the light of his praise, a wagon I was shunting derailed on a double slip! Oh the shame; typical, propelling it at no miles per hour and it fell off - just as an A4 went flying past on 13 bogies at 90 (scale) mph! I think I'll give up shunting (though an errant back-to-back was the cause).  

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

I don't think I mentioned it, but the 'professionally-built' locos I'm getting going are not for sale. I'm working on them for a chap who got in touch with me via Norman Solomon. Baz Oliver has kindly said he'll investigate the DCC installations; these were in them (including speakers), but I've temporarily removed the gubbins in order to get the locos to work properly, which, thankfully, they do now. No amount of DCC is ever going to cure a chassis which was locked solid!

 

I find myself in a difficult situation. I don't need to 'justify' what I do by being highly-critical of a fellow professional's work, but what I've got here have been very poorly-made; both mechanically (especially) and with regard to prototype fidelity in appearance. I think the chap who commissioned them has just written off what he's paid to experience. 

 

Anyway, I'll post pictures when I've finished off the locos, though how far to go is a real question. Vacuum standpipes are surely not super-detailing, are they? Are brakes? And, under a loco painted in LNER green, the wheels were not black! 

 

Watch this space, please..........

[westerner]

As quite a few of you seem to like the shots of Blackney I thought I'd post one more ala Ben Ashworth.

 

 

 

[Woodcock29]

Heard yesterday the sad news that Iain had passed. We had him as our UK speaker at our BRMA Convention in Perth, WA in 2005. I recall he was very entertaining.

Andrew

[Tony Wright]

9 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

Heard yesterday the sad news that Iain had passed. We had him as our UK speaker at our BRMA Convention in Perth, WA in 2005. I recall he was very entertaining.

Andrew

Good morning Andrew,

 

Iain was very entertaining - a good speaker, and a brilliant illustrator and wordsmith.

 

Our conversations could be entertaining, too - my having to hold the phone at arm's length on occasions!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[drmditch]

11 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

 I'll give up shunting (though an errant back-to-back was the cause).  

 

But shunting is fun!

(and of course necessary for any attempt at prototypical goods train operation.)

 

Having said that, I did have a shunting problem last week which revealed a problem with a van which looks quite good but has a problem with its w-irons, of which I was aware but trying to ignore!

 

This seems to have lead to a mini-project updating a couple of vans to LNER Dia.14, and updating research as well.

 

So shunting has to be a good thing, doesn't it?

[2750Papyrus]

Over the years, I have bought a number of kit-built locomotives.  Only two of these have been new build direct from "professional" builders and both were returned for corrective work on their tenders, which rocked when placed on a sheet of glass to check their squareness.  Fairly basic?

 

I may be a little cynical, but the fact that a "professional" charges for services does not necessarily imply that they possess a high degree of competence and/or knowledge, whether we are talking house maintenance or model railways.  

 

 

[grob1234]

20 hours ago, 60526 said:

Tony,

I can't see it mentioned in WW anywhere, but congratulations on Little Bytham winning the Hornby Magazine layout of the year award at the GETS exhibition. I just happened to be there when 2nd place was given to Pete Watermans cathedral layout, but sense prevailed when Little Bytham was announced. A shame that LB is not exhibited, a wider audience would appreciate it. The cathedral layout was worth a view just to see the tensioned overhead catenary, but looking at a Hornby LSL blue pullman derailing on straight track turned me off a bit. 

I don't know if anyone else on this forum visited GETS at Milton Keynes, I was there as an exhibitor, some very nice layouts, ok if you were after the latest model from the numerous box merchants but very little specialist trade for me to get enthused about. I obtained a loco drawing from Isinglass for a Nu-cast LNER E4 that I bought the other month, I've just read in the latest BRM that NC and partners have just released the E4 as a new kit. I wanted to buy some EM track, C&L were there, I think that it might be for 3 exhibition running, he didn't have any, what is that all about?

So sorry to hear that Iain Rice has left us to a better place, my preference for good reason has been to compensate loco chassis and I'd put it all down to Iain showing off his skills if I remember correctly at one of the old Chatham dockyard exhibitions. His articles were always a good read

All the best

Charlie

 

Hi Charlie

 

I attended on the Saturday, and felt the same as you about the standard of the layouts on show.

 

There were some very nice examples, but most if not all required the hand of god to appear in order to fix poor running. I thought Pete Watermans layout was very good, and when I was watching, nothing fell off the track. There was a very nice O Gauge Layout, which showcased the bulk of the locomotives in that scale very well. One thing I recognised was the importance of good lighting - the hall was very dark in my opinion, and the best layouts were the ones with the best lighting.

 

Although I bought my wallet along with me, I purchased nothing. As you say, lots of very shiny boxes, but no kits that I could see, with the exception of Isinglass. I was impressed with their 3d printed coaches, and due to the size of their range, I'll certainly be buying in the near future.

 

Little Bytham is a worthy winner - it luxuriates in not having to travel around, so that could be one reason for the good running - it certainly makes it fun to play with!

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, drmditch said:

 

But shunting is fun!

(and of course necessary for any attempt at prototypical goods train operation.)

 

Having said that, I did have a shunting problem last week which revealed a problem with a van which looks quite good but has a problem with its w-irons, of which I was aware but trying to ignore!

 

This seems to have lead to a mini-project updating a couple of vans to LNER Dia.14, and updating research as well.

 

So shunting has to be a good thing, doesn't it?

I don't find shunting as much fun as watching express trains roaring past. 

 

It would seem that LB had two pick-up workings a day - one Up, one Down. The train engines did the shunting (there being no yard pilot). Both the pick-ups are run in the sequence, and any shunting which takes place is down to the operators. Some shunt, others don't bother (I'm in the latter camp). All shunting stock is equipped with Sprat & Winkle couplings, which work perfectly in the main. To be fair, derailments in these movements are very rare. Indeed, derailments anywhere in the sequence are very rare indeed. In fact, I can't recall any of late (apart from yesterday's; which has been investigated and attended to - a wheelset ever so slightly wide of gauge). 

 

I don't find operating (not just shunting) 'fun'; not unless it's in the company of friends. I've said before, I prefer to use my time building things. Speaking of 'building' things, has anyone ever replicated horse-shunting? There was a horse at LB for this purpose. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, 2750Papyrus said:

Over the years, I have bought a number of kit-built locomotives.  Only two of these have been new build direct from "professional" builders and both were returned for corrective work on their tenders, which rocked when placed on a sheet of glass to check their squareness.  Fairly basic?

 

I may be a little cynical, but the fact that a "professional" charges for services does not necessarily imply that they possess a high degree of competence and/or knowledge, whether we are talking house maintenance or model railways.  

 

 

I think the term 'professionally-built' has become linked with excellence; erroneously in many cases. I've lost track of the number of locos I've had through my hands whereby the builder 'has been paid for his/her work'. 'Work' which I've found to be of a very shoddy standard on far too many occasions. Though it might seem pompous, one of the reasons I always signed my work was that anyone buying it 'second-hand' from the original commissioner (for whatever reason - death in some cases) would know its provenance should anything require attention later on (my lifetime guarantee is on the loco, not the owner). 

 

One friend, who bought 'professionally-built' locos from a well known model shop (at the time) was told that (after he complained that they didn't run) he was the only one of the many customers who'd bought them who returned them - everyone else was delighted with their purchases. Most went from the display case in the shop to a display case in the owner's home. I saw one or two (though it wasn't my brief to fix them), and the numbers of faults included nowhere near enough sideplay in the axles to negotiate even 4' radius curves, loco-to-tender drawbars so short that nothing beyond a dead straight piece of track could be traversed, no clearances in the frames around bogies, poor pick-ups, tight spots in the motion and, when they did run, excessive noise. The irony was they looked very good, many having been painted by Larry Goddard. 

 

My observations on the matter include; the best builders/painters never need to advertise and will quote a delivery time in years. Their prices for their work are (with justification) high.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Tony Wright
clarification

[Tony Wright]

56 minutes ago, grob1234 said:

 

Hi Charlie

 

I attended on the Saturday, and felt the same as you about the standard of the layouts on show.

 

There were some very nice examples, but most if not all required the hand of god to appear in order to fix poor running. I thought Pete Watermans layout was very good, and when I was watching, nothing fell off the track. There was a very nice O Gauge Layout, which showcased the bulk of the locomotives in that scale very well. One thing I recognised was the importance of good lighting - the hall was very dark in my opinion, and the best layouts were the ones with the best lighting.

 

Although I bought my wallet along with me, I purchased nothing. As you say, lots of very shiny boxes, but no kits that I could see, with the exception of Isinglass. I was impressed with their 3d printed coaches, and due to the size of their range, I'll certainly be buying in the near future.

 

Little Bytham is a worthy winner - it luxuriates in not having to travel around, so that could be one reason for the good running - it certainly makes it fun to play with!

Thanks Tom,

 

Though I didn't even know there was a Hornby Magazine layout competition. 

 

I've never been to a GETS, so cannot comment, but your observations (and Charlie's) strike a chord with me as well. In my view, no layout should be displayed without lighting, yet several don't seem to have it.

 

As for traders of the 'specialist' kind, I think it's endemic that their presence at all shows is diminishing rapidly. Though the layouts at Wigan were superb, I saw no stands which were selling loco/stock kits (other than a few plastic ones) or the means of making them go. Shiny RTR red/blue/red-blue/black and green boxes were there in abundance. In fact, I was probably the only one selling loco kits (second hand), though one stall was selling a nicely-built DJH 82XXX Standard 2-6-2T, for £50.00! The proprietor said nobody had been interested. I tested it, it ran well, and it was DCC-fitted. Perhaps the overall trade was right. Is this the way the hobby's going? Folk happier just buying the latest item of RTR wonderment? If so, it's not the hobby for me.............

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[2750Papyrus]

Though I love "watching the trains go by", I also enjoy watching well-conceived shunting movements and also terminating/starting passenger train movements.  However, unless trains are left to complete circuits a number of times, that requires multiple (skilled) operators or a high degree of automation.

 

The use of shunting horses was widespread and I did provoke a brief conversation on a forum a few months ago but it was felt that the simulation of leg movement would be necessary for realism but difficult to achieve.  That would certainly be beyond me but I did pick up an old Kitmaster motorised van and a nicely painted Shire horse, with the intention of mounting the horse from a wire projecting from the front of the van.  Adjusting the height to clear pointwork will be critical to appearance, I think.