Whats on your 2mm Work bench

[Sithlord75]

3 hours ago, tapdieuk said:

 

Well a slight bump.....

The Jinty's rear wheel set is slightly wide to Back to Back. The other locos and stock went through OK.

But yes, a good sense of achievement. 

 

Finishing off these LBSC Ballast wagons and a LSWR horse box from etched pixles.

 

 

 

 

What choice did you make for a chassis for the HB Will?  I've one to finish but haven't decided what to do about the chassis.

[tapdieuk]

Kevin, (I think its a 9ft LNWR assocation chassis) it was a part made and kicking around on the work bench! 

I had put it together to test the USB soldering iron and the power bank set up, which the iron did with no problem.

It was still in the unfolded but complete state. It looked about right  although buffer beams were from another etch (PO wagon etch)

With another strip of etch for a foot board. 

 

The etching is OK, fiddly. The half etch brass parts do like to deform. 

 

Will

 

[A. Bastow]

Hi folks!

 

On the workbench this week is a test etch for an LSWR A12 “Jubilee”. Because oddly, having a go at this was less scary than tackling a radial tank kit… and I wanted to show it off at the NMAG meeting on Sunday…

 

I already have a list of corrections to make to the artwork as well as to add bits I missed. The general shape is there though! 
For now I’ll have to scratch build the missing bits/cut from scrap etch and fill other bits. 

 

Adam

[queensquare]

7 hours ago, A. Bastow said:

Hi folks!

 

On the workbench this week is a test etch for an LSWR A12 “Jubilee”. Because oddly, having a go at this was less scary than tackling a radial tank kit… and I wanted to show it off at the NMAG meeting on Sunday…

 

I already have a list of corrections to make to the artwork as well as to add bits I missed. The general shape is there though! 
For now I’ll have to scratch build the missing bits/cut from scrap etch and fill other bits. 

 

Adam

 

Looks really promising Adam, put me down for one - they were occasional visitors to Bath on freights from Templecombe.

Jerry

[Alex Duckworth]

I've been working on these Harton engines off and on (mostly off) for a while now. Both from Mike Edge 2mm etches, both with DCC and directional lighting.

 

 

[Alex Duckworth]

I should add that although no.13 has a scratch built 2mmFS chassis with a 6mm motor no.10 is N gauge and runs on a tiny Portram chassis. I did build a chassis for it using a 6mm motor but was unable to get the chip or any weight into it whilst leaving the cab clear. The motor in the Portram is only about 3mm dia.

[Alex Duckworth]

You really cannot overestimate the value of photographing your models. Although only a quick I-Phone snap the photograph above has been bugging at me since I first looked at it - I can now see that the lettering on no.10 is way oversize, I'll post a better photo when I've corrected it.

 

Alex.

[chrisveitch]

On 20/05/2022 at 18:13, Alex Duckworth said:

I should add that although no.13 has a scratch built 2mmFS chassis with a 6mm motor no.10 is N gauge and runs on a tiny Portram chassis. I did build a chassis for it using a 6mm motor but was unable to get the chip or any weight into it whilst leaving the cab clear. The motor in the Portram is only about 3mm dia.

 

They're both an excellent representation @Alex Duckworth - I remember them well from trips to see the Harton system in my teens (which makes me feel pretty old...which I am). Your models and this week's cycling along disused mineral lines of the North East has got me thinking along the lines of 2FS coalfield industrials (again). I might have to dust off that Austerity body. 

[Alex Duckworth]

3 hours ago, chrisveitch said:

 Your models and this week's cycling along disused mineral lines of the North East has got me thinking along the lines of 2FS coalfield industrials (again). I might have to dust off that Austerity body. 

 

Go on - you know you want to.

 

Alex.

[chrisveitch]

On 21/05/2022 at 23:20, Alex Duckworth said:

 

Go on - you know you want to.

 

Alex.

I do, and Mr Simpson taunting me with news of his latest project at the Jarrow show yesterday has only inflamed the situation…

[2mmMark]

5 hours ago, chrisveitch said:

I do, and Mr Simpson taunting me with news of his latest project at the Jarrow show yesterday has only inflamed the situation…

All I have to say is...


Mick treated us to a few images during the recent ZAG meeting.

[Nig H]

I have been building a Deeley/ Fowler hybrid tender from a Mike Raithby Fowler tender, one or two bits from the Deeley tender included with a Midland Railway Belpaire 4-4-0 and some bits from my own etches. Here are some pics.

 

 

 

The chassis before attaching the draw bar top plate. This might not be totally necessary but secures the coupling better. I moved the bend at the front of the motor mounting beam backwards by about 1mm after this pic.

 

 

Close up of the lower drawbar fixing from the Mike Raithby kit. I set this lower down on the rear spacer than intended to allow for the kink in the front end of the motor mount. The ideas is to transfer some weight onto the back end of the loco.

 

 

 

Two pics of the tender body, showing the characteristic expanse of footplate at the rear end arising from fitting the shorter Fowler tank onto the longer Deeley frames. I think this is about done apart from fitting some of those very nice new 3D -printed axlebox/ springs Tony Simms has produced.

 

 

The drawbar and u/js complete and assembled. I hadn't appreciated how close the the gearbox and motor would be and the male u/j is quite short. I'll wire the motor up to the frames and give the chassis a trial run next and see how it performs.

 

Nigel Hunt

[Caley Jim]

I too have started work on an 0-6-0.  Mine is a CR 294 class 'Jumbo' and will be No 337 of a batch built under John Lambie in 1894 to order Y37.  It's being built from my own etches.  The chassis has the same arrangement as my 417 Class 2-4-0, with an offset motor in the tender driving the loco via a shaft below the footplate.  This time I'm using a 16:20 gearing in the tender, rather than the 14:22 in the 2-4-0.  This keeps the bottom gear clear of the capacitors, so the latter don't need to be angled up out the way.

 

A couple of shots of the loco chassis showing the gearbox and spacers attached to the frames via thin d/s pcb and the worm mounted in the bottom of the firebox.

The hole in the rear spacer is for the pin on the front end of the tender coupling while the two in the front spacer are for the body mounting screw (rear one) and for attaching the cosmetic frames which will carry the brake gear.

 

The complete chassis.

The crankpins have still to be cut back.

 

And it runs, though there is a tight spot which I'm confident will go once it is run in.  It will almost drag itself along!

 

 

 

Jim

[Crosland]

On 01/07/2022 at 21:30, Caley Jim said:

... the worm mounted in the bottom of the firebox.

 

Nice, I've not seen worms mounted low down like that.

[Richard Hall]

Trigger warning: messy workbench and untidy soldering.

 

 

The J39 chassis kit I purchased at Derby is starting to come together. Farish J39 was £20 as a non-runner from the local model shop. It isn't actually my first attempt at 2mm: I have a half-finished Jinty chassis from a previous brief dalliance with the scale about 20 years ago. But I think I'm a better modeller now than I was then, a more patient modeller at least, and I might stand a chance of getting this thing running.  I have a scratchbuilt J27 on a Farish Pannier chassis which I think the Jinty will end up powering.

 

Just about to deflux, prime and paint the chassis, and while the paint is drying I will have a go at rods and crankpins.  Then I can see how well my shiny new quartering press works.  I've been thinking about axle sideplay which seems to be limited by the width of the axle muff contacting the inside of the frame bushes.  Presumably if I want a bit of sideplay on the centre axle I can just shorten the muff slightly and then slip slotted temporary spacers between the muff and the chassis frame to get the muff central on the wheelset?  There seems to be plenty of room between the hub backs and the frames to allow a bit of sideplay: I'm wondering whether I need to shim the outer two wheelsets to stop the muffs wearing and giving me sideplay where it isn't wanted. 

 

Richard

 

[Caley Jim]

Shortening muffs is not an issue.  I do it all the time and I've never used anything between the muff and the bearing.  It's never caused a problem.

 

Jim

[Izzy]

I usually trim the muffs with a scalpel. Being Delrin they don't file down easily and won't wear down. If your going to think about fitting Simpson springs then they need to be shorter still to give room for them between the muffs and the bearings. I also tend to drill a 1mm hole through the centre to drop a bit of cryno in to lock the stub axles in place once the wheels are on the muffs. Mind you I only ever build wheel drop-in type chassis, which does tend to make assembling and adjusting things a bit easier, and why I do them that way.

 

Bob

[65179]

I shorten my axle muffs using a file or emery board with the muff stuffed in the end of a minidrill. I can't cut straight with a craft knife/scalpel.

 

Simon

[Richard Hall]

I'm going to put this down to beginner's luck, but I appear to have a rolling 2mm locomotive.

 

 

I haven't fitted the worm gear yet as I wanted to be sure the wheels would go round.  After a bit of fiddling with the quartering, and pushing it back and forth along a length of Easitrac a few times, the wheels now rotate without locking up anywhere.  There is perhaps a tiny hint of stiffness at a couple of spots which I am hoping will clear with a bit of running.

 

 

In the end I decided (before reading helpful comments above) that since the muffs resisted filing very well they would be unlikely to wear in service.  I shaved a bit off the centre muff to give a touch of sideplay, and after that it was all plain sailing apart from a couple of minor issues.  I tried soldering the crankpins into the wheels but a couple came loose so I fixed them with cyano instead.  And having managed to solder the crankpin washers on (using a bit of fag paper behind them) I decided to nudge a couple of them a bit closer to the rods and inevitably soldered the whole lot together. Luckily I'd been sparing enough with the solder that I was able to salvage the situation.  Thinking about it, the slight binding might be a very thin layer of solder on the affected crankpins.

 

Still have the motor, driveshaft and tender drawbar to sort out.  Motor is likely to be a Chinese 1015 double ended flat can: I bought twenty of them from Bee Studio for about 30 pence each and they aren't bad. I have a ridiculous number of Chinese motors in my gloat box: 8mm and 10mm flat cans, weird 6 pole square cans, numerous 7mm coreless including some nice double ended ones, and some beefy open frame skew wound 5 poles which I suspect came from the factory that supplies Atlas in the US.  I'll put a flywheel on one end of the motor and possibly another on the worm shaft.  Not much time for modelling during the week, but hopefully a few more hours next weekend should see the J39 running. 

 

Not a bad starting point for a newcomer to 2mm, although the instructions assume a high degree of familiarity with etched chassis in general and 2mm construction techniques in particular.  I soldered half the frame bushes the wrong way round before I realised the "top hat" flanges are supposed to be on the inside unlike every kit I have ever built, and broke off a couple of  the spacer locating tabs before I realised what they were for. My only real criticism is that the etch doesn't include the lubricator drive: this would be a nice gentle introduction to the black art of 2mm valve gear assembly.

 

Richard

 

[Nigelcliffe]

9 hours ago, Richard Hall said:

...  I'll put a flywheel on one end of the motor and possibly another on the worm shaft.  

 

 

All looks good so far.   

 

Be careful with flywheels.  They need to be in-balance (concentric), otherwise you have something which will cause problems.  A loose fit flywheel held on with loctite or superglue may well be out of balance.   

 

 

- Nigel

[2mmMark]

On 03/07/2022 at 23:03, Richard Hall said:

In the end I decided (before reading helpful comments above) that since the muffs resisted filing very well they would be unlikely to wear in service.  I shaved a bit off the centre muff to give a touch of sideplay, and after that it was all plain sailing apart from a couple of minor issues.  I tried soldering the crankpins into the wheels but a couple came loose so I fixed them with cyano instead.  And having managed to solder the crankpin washers on (using a bit of fag paper behind them) I decided to nudge a couple of them a bit closer to the rods and inevitably soldered the whole lot together. Luckily I'd been sparing enough with the solder that I was able to salvage the situation.  Thinking about it, the slight binding might be a very thin layer of solder on the affected crankpins.

 

 

 

The Delrin muffs will last the life of the loco and beyond!

I now use solder balls for a lot of my soldering, it's a good way of delivering a controlled amount of solder which is very handy in places where you want the bare minimum, e.g. crankpins

Aluminium kitchen foil is an alternative to cigarette paper.  It won't absorb any soldering flux, which is what can carry solder to unwanted locations.

Something I do with layered etched coupling rods is burnish the crankpin holes with the shaft of a drill (the unfluted part). This acts as a parallel reamer and smooths the bearing surface.

Mark

Edited July 5, 2022 by 2mmMark
corrected spelling

[Caley Jim]

On 03/07/2022 at 12:16, Crosland said:

 

Nice, I've not seen worms mounted low down like that.

This will be the 5th tender loco I've built with this arrangement. Keeps the drive shaft out of sight in these locos which have a low tender and an open cab. I've nothing against those who put the shaft through the cab. It's just a personal thing. 

 

Jim 

[Richard Hall]

Managed to do a bit of sneaky weekday modelling, fitted the worm and shaft and played around a bit with mechanical bits to see what would fit.  First job was to make up a drawbar.  I'm quite pleased with this, uses nuts soldered to 14BA cheesehead screws , the screws double as body retainers and the drawbar transmits current on one side.

 

 

I ended up fitting two flywheels to the motor - an Association one on one end, and one salvaged from a seized Farish V2 motor on the other.  The motor will have to sit at a slight angle as the worm shaft on the loco is a bit higher up than I would have liked and there isn't a lot of clearance at the back end of the tender: if I ever manage to scratchbuild a chassis, Jim's "underdrive" sounds tempting. Driveshaft and yokes are Dapol spares from DCC Supplies, bit chunkier than the recommended bit of bent wire but they work and I already had them in my box of bits.

 

 

Just need to sort out a motor mounting, a bit of wiring and as much lead as I can cram in everywhere.  The loco has a ballast weight in the boiler but it is made of something light and aluminium-like.  Presumably manufacturers can't use lead or its alloys any more. 0

 

Richard

[A. Bastow]

I posted a few weeks ago that I was working on a test etch for an LSWR A12.

 

This is how far I managed to get. There are some things fundamentally wrong with the etch design- which is why I did a test etch really. This has come from the second sheet that I have drawn up and again tons has been learned. I got the worm to engage and turn everything, but I wasn’t happy with the worm housing. I believe the boiler sits too high by a millimetre as well. 
 

Since the photo was taken I have recovered functional parts that can be re-used and I’ve made a list of corrections. 
 

It almost looks passable doesn’t it? I thought it best to stop the project at this stage, make those fundamental corrections and start again in a few months time. Onwards and upwards!

[Caley Jim]

Catching up with @Nig H's build.  The tender body is now almost complete, just buffers, tank fillers and brake standard to fit, all of which will be done later.  The brake gear won't be added until the loco body is built and the running is satisfactory.

 

 

Still a wee bit of tidying of excess solder to do.

 

One of the issues I have when connecting loco and tender with my drive arrangement is that of the drive shaft coming out of the slot in the tender gear shaft while trying to thread the other end into the worm shaft.  Fitting the sort of retaining pin which @queensquare uses is not really feasible.  After a lot of thought I came up with the idea of forming a piece of 10thou p/b wire into a tight 'U', joggled to be clear of the bearing, and gluing it to the underside of the frame carrying the latter such that it is aligned with the slot in the shaft when that is vertical.  With the slot and the 'U' lined up the loop in the drive shaft can be inserted and then when it is turned slightly it is prevented from falling out, but still has sufficient longitudinal movement.  I glued it in place rather than solder as I didn't want to risk disturbing the bearing ,or, worse, soldering the shaft solid!

 

 

Seems to do the trick so far, but looking at the photo I realise it could be done with a piece of scrap etch, bent to an 'L' and with a slot in it, soldered to the underside of the motor mount.  I may yet try that.

 

Jim