Bakewell - Peak District Line BR - Layout Views

[Andrew P]

Evening Al, that's just brilliant mate, BUT not so brilliant once you added the cream, ( get it? brilliant / not so brilliant? hahhahah)

O.K. so I wont give up the day Job,

Oh I haven't got one. I'm retired, ahhah.

 

Anyway its really good, very clever idea, and some excellent workmanship.

 

I don't know whether you know or not, but people like Fleishmann have had lights on their models for many years, even the N Gauge ones had lights on Steam Locos back in 1977 when I first got into trains. That's why in those days I modeled the German / Swiss / Austrian scene, first in N then later in HO.

[emt_911]

Al

 

Some interesting work. Definitely impressed with the result.

 

Duncan

[Sasquatch]

Am very impressed Al.

[westerhamstation]

Hi Al, It's good to see that you are taking it easy and are on light duties.

Fantastic result with the lights and neatly done. All the best adrian

[Jaz]

nice upgrade,thanks for showing how too.

[JCL]

That was great Al, you really are Mr Detail. Can you imagine the layout that would be created if you and Adrian ever got together to build something?

[C&WR]

Great updates. Al.  The loco lamps are inspired, & I wait with interest a view of the firebox effect!

Edited October 16, 2014 by C&WR

[Alister_G]

Well I've spent most of yesterday, and all last night until now, patching hundreds of web servers due to the interestingly named POODLE bug - NOT to be confused, in any way, with a doodlebug...

 

But, whilst sitting waiting for scripts to run, it's given me lots of time to continue some modelling.

 

I started this on Tuesday, but it's taken a while to get it finished.

 

So, having successfully added lighting to a loco, I thought I'd better look at providing some lighting for the other end of the train. I don't want to get in trouble with Bakewell's signalman, after all!

 

Luckily, the 1.8mm LEDs that I used for the Loco lamps also come in red flavour as well.

 

I took a Brake Van, and dismantled it. Then I filed off one of the moulded lamp brackets, and drilled two small holes:

 

 

Then, I carefully cut between them to create a slot that the back of the LED would fit in:

 

 

and pushed the legs of the LED through:

 

 

 

 

 

Then, I soldered some thin wires to the two legs of the LED, and cut off the remainder, as short as I could:

 

 

and fed the wires through a hole drilled in the floor:

 

 

 

I then fed the wires through a corresponding hole in the chassis of the van:

 

 

 

Then the wires were fed back through another couple of holes drilled in the support for the coupling:

 

 

 

So that they ended up in the central area between the wheels.

 

Next, I built this, out of scraps of black plasticard:

 

 

This is both a container for the resistor for the LED, and also the support for the electrical pickups, which I made out of two offcuts from the brass fret for an MSE signal ladder:

 

 

 

These sit both sides of the box, held in place by more offcuts:

 

 

 

The box was then glued in place to the base of the van:

 

 

in such a position that the ends of the two contacts bear on the inside of the wheels:

 

 

 

I then soldered up and tidied up the wiring, and added a base to the box:

 

 

It looks quite tidy, and at first glance could be the ballast weight of the Brake van:

 

 

Then I took it to the layout to try it:

 

 

 

As you can see, there is a fair amount of light bleedthrough, so I'll have to touch up the paint on the lamp, but nonetheless I think it looks quite effective.

 

I'll do a similar thing on one of my MK1 BKs, and an LMS suburban Brake, and then I should have a working tail light for anything I want to run at night.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

 

[georgeT]

Hello Al,   Looks very neat, great work....

 

George

[Classsix T]

That's smashing work there Al. Some flat staple wire could work for the lamp handle, make it “nip” the led sides and affix with a drop of black paint.

Also, some thin (say half a mill') strips of sellotape (other adhesive tape is available) on the wheel backs might give a pleasant flicker effect?

 

C6T.

[Jaz]

nice upgrade....oh...and upping the grade....

[Andrew P]

Nice work there Al, your putting us all to shame with your inventfullness (thought that was a real word!),

Great stuff, looking forward to seeing the coaches next.

[LNER4479]

Nice work there Al, your putting us all to shame with your inventfullness (thought that was a real word!),

Great stuff, looking forward to seeing the coaches next.

'inventiveness' is a word - and an excellent one to describe Al's efforts ('eventful' is also a word - not sure about 'eventfulness'...  )

 

When I saw the box being made up I thought a battery might be going in there but to have pickups rubbing on the wheels is of course a much simpler (and cheaper) alternative. Very definitely inventive

Edited October 18, 2014 by LNER4479

[freebs]

very inventive light work there Al - I may well be coming to you for electrical advice!

[Andrew P]

'inventiveness' is a word - and an excellent one to describe Al's efforts ('eventful' is also a word - not sure about 'eventfulness'...  )

 

When I saw the box being made up I thought a battery might going in there but to have pickups rubbing on the wheels is of course a much simpler (and cheaper) alternative. Very definitely inventive

Its all down to my bad  Grandma, I meant  'inventiveness'  hahhahah     thanks for guiding me in the right direction, and again well done Al.

[Alister_G]

Thanks all, I'll return to lighting in a bit, but I thought I'd update you on the ongoing saga of the telegraph poles.

 

Here's where I've got too.

 

Eight poles, with the basic structure completed.

 

 

and four, now with steps, and painted:

 

 

and eight of the smaller poles painted up:

 

 

I keep doing a bit, until I get fed up, and move on to something else.

 

Cheers

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Right, I can tell you're not interested in pictures of telegraph poles, so here's what I've spent this evening doing.

 

 

 

So I took my Arfix LMS Suburban Brake and dismantled it into it's component parts:

 

 

Having looked the job over, the first thing I needed to do was cut away a section of the strengthening piece on the Brake end of the floor:

 

 

Then, as I did with the Guards Van, I drilled two small holes and then cut away between them to form a slot:

 

 

A nicely focussed shot of my hand, there...

 

I then trial fitted the 1.8mm LED:

 

 

here's what it looks like inside:

 

 

I then took the LED and gave it a thick coat of Matt Black all over:

 

 

Turning my attention to the bogies and wheels, I removed the existing Airfix wheelset from the rear bogie, as they are plastic wheels - no good for electricity - and replaced them with Hornby metal wheels:

 

 

 

 

Then I had a think about how I was going to get electricity to the LED from the wheels. I've no more spare brass strip, so I tried some copper-coated steel wire in various shapes and positions:

 

 

Until I was happy I could secure the pickups in position.

 

Having decided on a shape for the pickups, I built up a base out of black styrene which would hold them securely in position:

 

 

And fits like this inside the bogie:

 

 

I then soldered on the wires:

 

 

and then glued on the top section which would hold everything in position:

 

 

When all dry, I fitted it into the bogie:

 

 

 

 

Whilst I'd had the coach in bits, I quickly painted up the interior, to make it a bit less plastic looking:

 

 

Then I refitted the interior and the glazing. I had to cut a corner off the glazing strip to clear the leads of the LED:

 

 

I drilled a hole through the floor of the interior, and the base of the frame, as close as I could to the bogie pivot, and fed the wires from the bogie through and up into the body:

 

 

 

 

Then, I soldered the wires to the LED with a resistor in series, and put it all back together.

 

I took it to the layout, and tried it:

 

 

 

 

Again, the LED needs a bit of touching up, but apart from that, I reckon it looks all right. As ClassixT suggested, I need to make some attempt at modelling the handles for these lamps, which I need to look at.

 

That's all for now, thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[uax6]

Looking good Al.

 

With regards to the 20T brake van, I think I would have bent the LED legs through 90* so that they poked through the van floor, hard up against the end, so that the connections were under the floor.

 

Could you increase the size of the resistor to make the lamps less bright?

 

The poles are coming on nicely, I take it you will be staying them correctly around the curves?;-}

 

Andy G

[Alister_G]

Looking good Al.

 

With regards to the 20T brake van, I think I would have bent the LED legs through 90* so that they poked through the van floor, hard up against the end, so that the connections were under the floor.

 

Could you increase the size of the resistor to make the lamps less bright?

 

The poles are coming on nicely, I take it you will be staying them correctly around the curves?;-}

 

Andy G

 

 

Hi Andy,

 

I did think about that on the brake van, but the legs were not side by side, they were one above the other, so I would have had to do some intricate bending to get the legs directly down next to the end plate. Also there isn't much room under the floor, I would have had to cut away a lot of plastic to give enough room to make the connections.

 

I'm currently using a 2k resistor, which is the biggest I have, but I may need to look at a larger value.

 

Cheers,

 

Al

[uax6]

Could you not turn the led through 90* then? ;-}

 

These things are always easier at the other end of a computer network!

 

Is the plan to put lamps on all locos?

 

Andy G

[Alister_G]

Something different this evening, I bought a couple of Airfix kits. They are two Bedford lorries - supposedly RAF - but for my purposes I'm thinking that they are ex-services stock now in public use.

 

 

The first one is a Bedford QLD general purpose truck, and I've tried to make it look 20 years old or so, to fit with the idea that it's retired from service use, and a bit run down.

 

So I started with the basic chassis and engine block, and for most of the kit I painted bits before assembly, with some touching up afterwards.

 

As a basic colour mix I used Humbrol Matt Leather (No.62) and Humbrol Rust (RC402) for all surfaces, over which other colours were added as needed.

 

The colour balance on these photos is all to pot, I've tried adjusting them but it didn't get much better, so there's an orange cast which is not accurate.

 

So here's some of the construction:

 

 

 

The transfer gearbox is made of aluminiium, so isn't painted in rusty colours:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the completed vehicle:

 

 

 

 

I've deliberately left off some of the military hardware that was in the kit, and also the canopy on the back.

 

I'll have a go at the other one, a QLT troop carrier, tomorrow.

 

Thanks for looking,

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Could you not turn the led through 90* then? ;-}

 

These things are always easier at the other end of a computer network!

 

Is the plan to put lamps on all locos?

 

Andy G

 

very true.

 

Um, I don't know, probably not, but maybe one of each of a representative sample. The 4F, I'm thinking of removing the motor altogether, and running it as a dumb engine for use as a pilot or banker.

 

I've got 2 Crabs, 3 4Fs, 2 8Fs and 2 Jubilees, so one of each of those might get lamps, if I can fit them in, but I haven't tried a loco with a motor in it yet, and so may be pushed for space.

 

Really the idea only started as now I've got the platform and station illumination it seems silly not to have some loco stock to take pictures of as "night" scenes.

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[Alister_G]

Here's some more photos of the Bedford QLD taken this morning, which more accurately represent the actual colours I used in painting it, and also in its setting on the layout:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

[westerhamstation]

Here's some more photos of the Bedford QLD taken this morning, which more accurately represent the actual colours I used in painting it, and also in its setting on the layout:

 

bedford-qld001.jpg

 

bedford-qld002.jpg

 

bedford-qld003.jpg

 

bedford-qld004.jpg

 

bedford-qld005.jpg

 

bedford-qld006.jpg

 

Cheers,

 

Al.

Hi Al, lovely bit of modelling and painting, one thing that I noticed is that the dashboard lights are not working, I think that a lamp must have blown. I am just off now before you can throw something at me. all the best adrian.

[emt_911]

Nice work with the QLD Al. I think it's been aged just right. Now looking forward to the T.

 

It's interesting to see one built up as there are due to be a couple on HA. Just in a slightly different condition.