Whats on your 2mm Work bench

[Matt.S.]

On my workbench through the VAG - three 10' vac chassis, one harris mineral primed, one completed. 

 

[Nig H]

Here are some pics of an ex-LMS composite coach I have been working on for quite some time now. Apologies for the blurred pics.

 

 

As with most of my recent modelling, progress on these has not gone smoothly.

 

To paint the coach, I sprayed everything with a red oxide undercoat, then applied BR maroon to the sides. After leaving that to dry for a few days, I masked the sides off with some Tamiya masking tape and strips of paper. For the ends, I used some Humbrol Maskol. For some reason, the contents of the bottle had mostly coagulated, leaving a small quantity of liquid, which appears to be on the thin side. Anyway, I went boldly on, and applied the very runny Maskol to the ends. The Maskol took quite a time to dry, and as I realised that the first coat was very thin I added another coat. I then sprayed the ends and underframe with cellulose satin black, and when dry, I took the masking off the coach sides. With the Tamiya masking, much of the paint came away too- disaster. The Maskol had also been on too long, and didn't want to come away cleanly, leaving a messy residue. With hindsight, I should have removed all the paint from the sides and start again, but I tried to smooth the edges of the remaining paint before masking off the ends and underframe and then re-spraying with primer. This showed that my attempt at smoothing was less than perfect as the join was clearly visible, so I had to repeat the process twice more before applying the maroon top coat. Finally this went on OK, though the pics don't really show that the lower quarter of the sides needs more coats of maroon. Some paint on the footboard came away with the masking too, as can be seen.You can probably see in the pics that there is still some Maskol residue left. I'm wondering how to get rid of it. 

 

I think adding more coats of maroon should not be a problem, then onto adding the glazing. That will be fun, no doubt.

 

Regards,

 

Nigel Hunt

 

 

[Nig H]

I have been adding the finishing touches to one of the Association Black 5 kits I have. I've added glazing to the cab windows, and coal to the tender, though that should have been done after weathering. So that needs doing, plus adding a crew and connecting the wires between the loco and tender frames, then job done.

 

 

 

The loco was built by Jerry Clifford (I built the tender), and he painted everything. Lining and transfers done by Ian Rathbone, and he and Jerry have done a great job.

 

Nigel Hunt

[Nick Mitchell]

That Black 5 is a real beauty, @Nig H

 

On the subject of Stanier 4-6-0s, I've started converting another Jubilee - this time a Farish long firebox red one.

It will be re-numbered, and will acquire a Fowler tender.

 

 

The loco chassis will be replaced with one built from the Nigel Hunt conversion kit:

 

Here phosphor bronze bearings have been fitted to the frames, and double-sided PCB pads soldered in place to locate the frame stretchers:

 

The stretchers are fitted to pads on the opposite frame, checked carefully for square-ness:

 

The two frames were brought together in an Association assembly jig and soldered up. In the picture below, the worm-shaft mounting has been assembled and test-fitted to the firebox frame stretcher. The worm will be a direct drive onto a 38-tooth gear on the centre driving axle.

 

Lengths of axle steel are being used to check that everything is assembled square and true:

 

The Fowler tender is being assembled from the Mike Raithby etch.

I started building a Raithby 4F about 18 years ago, but was unhappy with aspects of it and never finished it off.

At the time, the 4F kit I had acquired didn't come with the supplementary etch to correct the tender width problem.

Since then, I acquired a partial tender etch and a spare supplementary etch from Mike's own gloat box, and the tender I am building now will be a mixture of re-cycled parts from my original aborted build, together with unused parts from my original etch, and additional replacement parts from the spares I acquired later.

 

The main superstructure has been assembled, and awaits detailing:

 

Plenty of room inside for motor, decoder and stay alive capacitors:

 

I'd originally used thick PCB frame spacers and was building the tender as a "simple" version which didn't transfer weight to the loco. I disassembled the frames to re-use them. The new incarnation features fold-up spacers, and will be weight transferring following the original design.

These bearings, on the other hand, were soldered into the frames 18 years ago... I knew they'd come in handy one day!

 

 

That's as far as I've got for now, but I'm hoping it won't be another 18 years before this tender is finally rolling along and resplendent in Crimson!

[Sithlord75]

'tis a thing of beauty Nick.  Every time I look at one of your builds the Rule 1 Siren sounds (well except for the Coal Tank - the Totally Justified Claxon goes off then!).    I really should persevere with a loco.

[queensquare]

44 minutes ago, Nick Mitchell said:

That Black 5 is a real beauty, @Nig H

 

On the subject of Stanier 4-6-0s, I've started converting another Jubilee - this time a Farish long firebox red one.

It will be re-numbered, and will acquire a Fowler tender.

 

 

The loco chassis will be replaced with one built from the Nigel Hunt conversion kit:

 

Here phosphor bronze bearings have been fitted to the frames, and double-sided PCB pads soldered in place to locate the frame stretchers:

 

The stretchers are fitted to pads on the opposite frame, checked carefully for square-ness:

 

The two frames were brought together in an Association assembly jig and soldered up. In the picture below, the worm-shaft mounting has been assembled and test-fitted to the firebox frame stretcher. The worm will be a direct drive onto a 38-tooth gear on the centre driving axle.

 

Lengths of axle steel are being used to check that everything is assembled square and true:

 

The Fowler tender is being assembled from the Mike Raithby etch.

I started building a Raithby 4F about 18 years ago, but was unhappy with aspects of it and never finished it off.

At the time, the 4F kit I had acquired didn't come with the supplementary etch to correct the tender width problem.

Since then, I acquired a partial tender etch and a spare supplementary etch from Mike's own gloat box, and the tender I am building now will be a mixture of re-cycled parts from my original aborted build, together with unused parts from my original etch, and additional replacement parts from the spares I acquired later.

 

The main superstructure has been assembled, and awaits detailing:

 

Plenty of room inside for motor, decoder and stay alive capacitors:

 

I'd originally used thick PCB frame spacers and was building the tender as a "simple" version which didn't transfer weight to the loco. I disassembled the frames to re-use them. The new incarnation features fold-up spacers, and will be weight transferring following the original design.

These bearings, on the other hand, were soldered into the frames 18 years ago... I knew they'd come in handy one day!

 

 

That's as far as I've got for now, but I'm hoping it won't be another 18 years before this tender is finally rolling along and resplendent in Crimson!

Red Jub with a Fowler tender, great combination Nick. Looking forward to seeing this one progress 

 

Jerry

[yaxxbarl]

As alluded to in a reply to Nigel Hunt on his 4F - Not so much on my work bench per se but here's progress on my new circular test track - it's based on the one we have at Keighley inherited from Chris Arthur, made from two 4' x 2' pieces of MDF suitably cut to provide space for a 2' radius circuit of Easitrac, with bits of copper clad at the baseboard joints and at the power feed.

 

The Easitrac sections are joined with the new stainless steel functional rail joiners which have worked pretty well so far, indeed tests with the multimeter have shown that without soldering or extra wires between sections there's good electrical continuity so initially I'm going to try it with just the joiners providing both the mechanical and electrical connection between the sections of Easitrac.

 

The last two pieces of plain track are going in tonight and possibly even the last cross-board section if I get that far, followed by wiring later in the week. At this rate it should be ready for the Chapel En-Le Frith show that I'm demoing my wares at (and attempting to make the odd wagon chassis) this weekend!

[Nick Mitchell]

9 hours ago, queensquare said:

Red Jub with a Fowler tender, great combination Nick.

The Farish model was an impulse purchase at Colne exhibition not long before Covid. I saw it and fell instantly in love - as one does!

It was a good job @65179 had previously convinced me that there is no limit to the number of Jubilees one may legitimately aspire to, because at least now I have somebody to blame...

 

Anyway, a chat with John Aldrick about LMS trains at York made me think he was hinting that I should finish off Ceylon (my Jubilee for the Jubilee), but he was unable to disguise his sheer disgust when he realised that I am still planning on turning it out in experimental pea green with LNWR lining.

 

But to cut a long story short, there is an opportunity for a red Jubilee to appear on the pre-war YORK model at York show this Easter, and if I get my act together, this loco may put in an appearance. The sudden cancellation of 7 days planned strike action has "upped the ante" somewhat now that I have got to go to work!

 

The Fowler tender idea (as if there wasn't challenge enough) came from research into Jubilee liveries and allocations. If I was going to have a long firebox red Jubilee, I'd want it to be one of the ones which ran over the Central division in the post-war/nationalisation years while still carrying the remnants of it's pre-war livery. This would fit in with my Grand Plan (which I'm slowly coming to realise involves me living to be about 200).

In the end, the choice was quite narrow, and came down to 5702 Colossus (ironically, the identity of the Jubilee Nigel Hunt lent me, and which sailed inspirationally onto my workbench at the very beginning of my YouTube odyssey - albeit modelled much later in life after it had received a Stanier tender.)

 

An unfortunate side effect of my research was the growing conviction that in the long run, one long firebox Jubilee would not be enough, and so an additional loco body has now been acquired. This will also need a Fowler tender, and will one day become 5711 Courageous in 1946 black (a nod to the Bagnall saddle tank Courageous, which currently operates on Preston docks, in whistling distance of my workplace... a model of which would also be lovely...). There's a short firebox Jubilee with a short 3,500 Stanier tender waiting in the queue as well. What have you done to me, Simon?

 

 

[65179]

1 hour ago, Nick Mitchell said:

The Farish model was an impulse purchase at Colne exhibition not long before Covid. I saw it and fell instantly in love - as one does!

It was a good job @65179 had previously convinced me that there is no limit to the number of Jubilees one may legitimately aspire to, because at least now I have somebody to blame...

 

Anyway, a chat with John Aldrick about LMS trains at York made me think he was hinting that I should finish off Ceylon (my Jubilee for the Jubilee), but he was unable to disguise his sheer disgust when he realised that I am still planning on turning it out in experimental pea green with LNWR lining.

 

But to cut a long story short, there is an opportunity for a red Jubilee to appear on the pre-war YORK model at York show this Easter, and if I get my act together, this loco may put in an appearance. The sudden cancellation of 7 days planned strike action has "upped the ante" somewhat now that I have got to go to work!

 

The Fowler tender idea (as if there wasn't challenge enough) came from research into Jubilee liveries and allocations. If I was going to have a long firebox red Jubilee, I'd want it to be one of the ones which ran over the Central division in the post-war/nationalisation years while still carrying the remnants of it's pre-war livery. This would fit in with my Grand Plan (which I'm slowly coming to realise involves me living to be about 200).

In the end, the choice was quite narrow, and came down to 5702 Colossus (ironically, the identity of the Jubilee Nigel Hunt lent me, and which sailed inspirationally onto my workbench at the very beginning of my YouTube odyssey - albeit modelled much later in life after it had received a Stanier tender.)

 

An unfortunate side effect of my research was the growing conviction that in the long run, one long firebox Jubilee would not be enough, and so an additional loco body has now been acquired. This will also need a Fowler tender, and will one day become 5711 Courageous in 1946 black (a nod to the Bagnall saddle tank Courageous, which currently operates on Preston docks, in whistling distance of my workplace... a model of which would also be lovely...). There's a short firebox Jubilee with a short 3,500 Stanier tender waiting in the queue as well. What have you done to me, Simon?

 

 

 

I've merely helped you see what you always wanted! Whether what you need is something entirely different... Maybe you need a Mitchell plan rather than a Grand one to work too!

 

It will look lovely though even if it is pulling those brown things rather than some nice crimson lake coaches 😉 

 

 

Besides we need to restore the balance in the 2mm Force. Far too many big LNER engines and GWR beasties at present.

 

One question, why the Raithby Fowler tender rather than a Farish Fowler one?

 

Simon

[65179]

I feel an honorary mention is required here for the sadly departed Paul Price. An N gauge modeller who would definitely have told you Nick that you can never have too many Jubilees in red or 1946 black. He had a worse Jubilee addiction than me: 

 

Sadly many of the photos from his thread/blogs are gone.

 

Simon

[Nick Mitchell]

3 hours ago, 65179 said:

One question, why the Raithby Fowler tender rather than a Farish Fowler one?

 

Partly sentiment - my first attempt at it wasn't right, but this way it could live on in some form - and partly pragmatism - the Bachmann spares department have sold out of Fowler tender tops, and I had the Raithby bits to hand.

 

Also (and please don't tell Henk) I really like soldering kits!

 

3 hours ago, 65179 said:

Maybe you need a Mitchell plan rather than a Grand one to work too!

 

With all these Jubilees to buy wheels for, I'm going to need something more akin to a Marshall plan...

[65179]

I should probably finish this one

 

Simon

[DavidLong]

20 hours ago, 65179 said:

 

One question, why the Raithby Fowler tender rather than a Farish Fowler one?

 

 

I'm more puzzled by the fact that the Raithby tender is 1:152 and the locomotive is 1:148.

 

David

[DavidLong]

Never mind all these glamour puss locos, Nick, what you really need to 'keep the balance, is a Crab. Here is your start point:

https://www.farishnspares.co.uk/graham-farish-by-Bachmann/crab-class-b-r-black-body-l/crest-tender-no-42932-372-225.html

I have absolute faith in your ability to produce a silk purse from a sow's ear . . . 

 

David

[Nick Mitchell]

5 hours ago, DavidLong said:

I'm more puzzled by the fact that the Raithby tender is 1:152 and the locomotive is 1:148.

 

I did think about this, but not for very long. The coaches it pulls will likely be 1:152, an there will always be some discrepancy having any converted N gauge loco running in a predominantly 2mm scale setting.

Even if I did have a Farish Fowler tender, I'd want to use the Raithby/Hunt style underpinnings to transfer weight to the loco, and then the wheelbase would be wrong.

 

I'll evaluate how wrong it looks (and find out if anyone even notices!) once the conversion is complete. It may be that the second one has to be done differently... but Fowler tenders coupled to Hughes and Stanier locos look like they're the wrong scale anyway!

(Having said that, the Stanier 3,500 gallon tender kit I have from Nigel is also 1:152 I believe.)

 

5 hours ago, DavidLong said:

Never mind all these glamour puss locos, Nick, what you really need to 'keep the balance, is a Crab. Here is your start point:

https://www.farishnspares.co.uk/graham-farish-by-Bachmann/crab-class-b-r-black-body-l/crest-tender-no-42932-372-225.html

I have absolute faith in your ability to produce a silk purse from a sow's ear . . . 

 

Oh, yes, A Crab or three would be right up my street! Edward Sissling's one with Ballantine wheels looks the business.

I'm still living in hope that @Nig H will see the light and release a full kit for one...

[richbrummitt]

1 hour ago, Nick Mitchell said:

Oh, yes, A Crab or three would be right up my street!

I think you are lucky: Stock level was three when I looked. 

[yaxxbarl]

The test track is now largely complete, barring any tweaks needed to the track and a couple of association roundel stickers on it.

 

After a bit of running I've found that using the 1-095 Functional Track joiners are working well both for mechanically joining the track but also electrically joining each of the four segments of track in each 'leaf' of the test track without any need to add any solder. There's going to be a full weekend of running it this weekend at the Chapel En Le Frith show so I'll know for certain by then if they'll do like that.

 

Anyway, firstly here's some pictures, also a link to a video of it in action - 

 

 

[MrSimon]

Great to see another Jubilee being started - I hadn’t realised there were long and short ones, is my Peco donor body all wrong for the Colosus nameplates I’ve got in the box?  I’d like a Newton Heath one with a Fowler tender (but I’m not wedded to the tender if that makes the loco incorrect…)
 

Many thanks

Simon 

[Nick Mitchell]

56 minutes ago, MrSimon said:

Great to see another Jubilee being started - I hadn’t realised there were long and short ones, is my Peco donor body all wrong for the Colosus nameplates I’ve got in the box?  I’d like a Newton Heath one with a Fowler tender (but I’m not wedded to the tender if that makes the loco incorrect…)

The first batches of Jubilees had fireboxes with vertical throatplates, which became known as "short" fireboxes.

Some of them were altered to be able to take the newer "long" firebox boiler (the overall length of the boiler+firebox was the same) to create a pool of spare short firebox boilers.

The PECO model was something of a hybrid - essentially it has a short firebox, but with dome and top-feed positioned as if it had a long firebox... as well as having a few other anomalies such as the whistle in the wrong place, too few washout plugs on the right hand side of the firebox, and other plugs missing altogether.

Colossus did receive a Stanier tender later in life, so you'd have to paint it green to be correct in that respect.

As for the firebox, you could try to modify it, but it is actually quite hard to tell the difference unless you are really into Jubilees!

 

[Yorkshire Square]

Just finished the very first Finetrax 2FS double slip! If a ham fister like me can put one together, most anyone can. Now gone off to someone more technically able than me for further inspection. 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Yorkshire Square

[DavidLong]

20 hours ago, Yorkshire Square said:

Just finished the very first Finetrax 2FS double slip! If a ham fister like me can put one together, most anyone can. Now gone off to someone more technically able than me for further inspection. 

 

 

Good news indeed, Tony. May I ask, is it 1:6 or 1:7?

 

David

[A. Bastow]

Hi folks. 
 

It’s been ages since I have posted something here. Mainly due to working away in the background on various 3d print bits. 
 

I decided to revisit an old project to see if I could rescue it. I attempted to scratch build an L&Y Class 28, probably about two years to 18 months ago. I published an article about it in the 2mm Magazine on what had been learned during the course of building it, with it ultimately being an unpowered loco that I can shunt around.

 

I thought it was worth trying to use one of the milled gearboxes from the association. 
 

I’ll let the results, slightly jerky as they are, speak for themselves. It’s certainly not a work of art, and a bit of work needs doing still to get it running smooth- clean wheels will help! 
 

To have produced what essentially boils down to my first working scratch build, I am immensely pleased with myself to say the least!

 

Until next time!

 

Adam

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by A. Bastow

[Caley Jim]

My concern with 3D printed bodies is one of weight.    How much adhesion does the loco have to haul a decent train?  It can be difficult enough with a metal  body to get sufficient adhesion in a small loco.

 

Jim

[A. Bastow]

2 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

My concern with 3D printed bodies is one of weight.    How much adhesion does the loco have to haul a decent train?  It can be difficult enough with a metal  body to get sufficient adhesion in a small loco.

 

Jim

Hi Jim.

 

You’re right, weight was a concern. 

The boiler has been filled with lead and there’s plenty of space to fill inside for extra, including between the chassis frames and in the firebox. 
 

The tender does need a bit of weight adding to it as well. All to come!

 

 

[Yorkshire Square]

4 hours ago, DavidLong said:

 

Good news indeed, Tony. May I ask, is it 1:6 or 1:7?

 

David

 

Hi David

 

The first run will be 1:7 - double and single slips plus a diamond. Once they're done I hope we can get 1:6 variants out. Crossovers are also on the to-do list!