Whats on your 2mm Work bench

[Ian Morgan]

A lick of paint and some etched window frames, and the Royal Albert Bridge Inn is nearly ready for the Basingstoke show this weekend.

 

Unfortunately, I am two window frames short. I will have to get some more at the show (Ratio 309) if I can't source some earlier.

 

 

Having to print it in three sections was actually a good thing, as painting the detail on it as a single lump would have been tricky.

 

[yaxxbarl]

9 hours ago, Ian Morgan said:

A lick of paint and some etched window frames, and the Royal Albert Bridge Inn is nearly ready for the Basingstoke show this weekend.

 

Unfortunately, I am two window frames short. I will have to get some more at the show (Ratio 309) if I can't source some earlier.

 

 

Having to print it in three sections was actually a good thing, as painting the detail on it as a single lump would have been tricky.

 

That's rather nice that, the wiggly tin roof over the garage (?) end seems particularly effective.

 

Way back in the day (talking 20 years ago) Southport MRS had an N Gauge layout of the Saltash & the Royal Albert Bridge that I helped operate at a few shows.

 

The first few times it was shown, it was exhibited with the fiddle yard at the front with the idea that people would look at the bridge across the fiddle yard or from either side. I don't recall that working too well so it soon reverted to a conventional format with the bridge at scenic section at the public side.

 

Also, it had the chain operated ferry going back and forth beneath the bridge, propelled by black nylon thread rather than a chain attached to an electric motor.

 

I suspect, though, this earlier layout is long gone by now.

 

Cheers,

 

John

[Wotan]

Well…

a first for me a smooth and silky running association chassis kit awaiting its motor and pannier body.it went together easily and the gears meshed, maybe just maybe I’m getting the hang of this now- it’s about time!!

Best Michael

[Chris Higgs]

Mostly these days I just reprise my existing etches, a sort of 'Greatest Hits Tour'.

 

But occasionally I do actually produce something new. I leave it a while to see if someone can deduce what it is.

 

Chris 

 

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi Chris,

 

Bogie Bolster - not 100% sure which variety though.

 

Probably a Macaw H - going by the brake gear/levers.

 

Phil H

[Chris Higgs]

15 minutes ago, Scottish Modeller said:

Hi Chris,

 

Bogie Bolster - not 100% sure which variety though.

 

Probably a Macaw H - going by the brake gear/levers.

 

Phil H

 

Nope. 

[Matt.S.]

Is it a BDA?

Edited April 2 by Matt.S.

[CF MRC]

8 hours ago, Matt.S. said:

Is it a BDA?

Nope, they’re at 64 Wimpole St. 

 

Tim

Edited April 2 by CF MRC

[Yorkshire Square]

I had a productive couple of days om the Roadshow stand at York. The plan was to finish painting some wagons and make a start on lettering. It went better than I might have expected, but now I need to get couplings fitted to the remaining stock.

 

[Chris Higgs]

On 02/04/2024 at 01:36, Matt.S. said:

Is it a BDA?

 

Not any sort of bogie bolster, although I can see why you might think that. Instead it is an underframe for one of these.

 

I suspect many N gauge modellers of a certain age will have one of these lurking around. Perhaps we can pool them together and run the 'Ashburton Grove Pullman' on Copenhagen Fields...

 

Chris

 

[GER_Jon]

Blimey Chris I've got one on my bench now in bits to figure out a chassis! Part of my chemistry set.🙂

[CF MRC]

“Perhaps we can pool them together and run the 'Ashburton Grove Pullman' on Copenhagen Fields...”
We used to run one when the layout ran BR period stuff in the early days. 

Tim

[Sithlord75]

On 02/04/2024 at 09:13, Chris Higgs said:

Mostly these days I just reprise my existing etches, a sort of 'Greatest Hits Tour'.

 

But occasionally I do actually produce something new. I leave it a while to see if someone can deduce what it is.

 

Chris 

 

Funnily enough I had my five or six of these out today and wondered about the possibility of a better chassis.  Is there a possibility of a better chassis for the masses?  I'll do a proper count if there is.

[Chris Higgs]

9 hours ago, Sithlord75 said:

Funnily enough I had my five or six of these out today and wondered about the possibility of a better chassis.  Is there a possibility of a better chassis for the masses?  I'll do a proper count if there is.

 

There is a possibility to run a batch of these. I think they would cost around £10 each. Bogies not included, they are already available in Shop 2 - item 2-398.

 

Chris 

[yaxxbarl]

To quote Magnus Magnusson, "I've started, so I'll finish" - so I'm back working on the 3d printed Austerity I started last year before getting waylaid by the release of the EFE one!

 

 

I'd had a lot of problems with the 3d printed footplate warping and breaking, so I decided a new one made from a combination of plastikard with a nickel silver overlay was needed, using bufferbeams from an association chassis etch. I'll also be adding the reverser.

 

The loco being modelled has larger than average buffers, so LMS 18" ones are fitted, a lubricator is fitted to the footplate and I've put some lamp irons on.

 

The chassis is also having some work on it, with the coupling rods removed for a repaint.

 

Next is fitting some lead weights in the saddle tank and smokebox, adding an impression of the boiler backhead and sorting out a cab floor, gluing the body back together with Araldite and then priming and painting.

 

John

 

Edited April 8 by yaxxbarl

[yaxxbarl]

SO - having done some more on the 3D Printed body, including having to put it back together after it dropped on the floor and the bunker came off, I eventually put it on the chassis and despite lots of fettling it still rode way too high, also I was not happy with the cab side opening, which was just, compared with an EFE body, just wasn't right. At all.

 

Therein lay the solution - I had, as it had donated some bearings and various other things to get my previous conversions going, an EFE body with a duff chassis. A bit of comparing showed that the gears lined up nicely with the firebox and, after trimming out an opening in the footplate and trimming down the tops of the chassis frames, it'd fit.

 

Also, at York, Mick Simpson had asked me about the feasibility of using an association chassis under the EFE body.

 

So basically, that's what I've done -

 

 

This view should show both the cutting I've done to the footplate and the bits I've trimmed off the tops of the chassis -

 

 

Finally, another view of them fitted together -

 

 

To get the gear to run freely I've had to both widen the aperture in the footplate in the smokebox area a little more, and also chamfer the bottom of the insides of smokebox moulding.

 

I also removed the moulded sandboxes from under the footplate and the two pillars for the self-tapping screws to secure the EFE chassis block and keeper plate. A hole for a 12BA bolt has been drilled through the footplate, and a 12BA nut will be soldered to a small piece of nickel silver to secure the chassis to the body. A little plastikard packing just inside the buffer beams will ensure it's all at the right height.

 

The EFE motor is mounted too high to engage with the gears, so it is being replaced with an association 6mm coreless, probably mounted on a cut and filed down association 3d print motor mount. The wires will be routed down to connect onto the PCB under the cab, and some lead weight will be added in the tank to make up for that lost by not having a cast chassis block anymore.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

 

[DuncanFogg]

I have finally assembled my last set of Masterclass coaches.

 

They comprise

 

         D125 BT

E155 CK         C70 TK

D124 BTK      E152 BCK

 

 

One of my drivers was to complete the spraying before the weather turns cold and damp. Detailed painting, fittings (such as door handles) and transfers can be done indoors over the winter.

 

[yaxxbarl]

Latest instalment in my EFE Austerity body on an association chassis and we're almost ready for final painting.

 

The chassis fit has been pretty much finalised, with the footplate sitting level on the chassis. I put some plasticard spacers in at either end to make sure it sits level, with screws at both ends to secure the body to the chassis.

 

 

Running is fine, I've added some lead in the firebox and around the motor in the tank. I've not fitted couplings yet so not had a chance to gauge haulage, it feels lighter than one with the EFE chassis, testing will tell but certainly enough to haul a few minerals back and forth.

 

The plastic handrails can break with a lot of handling, so I replaced most of the handrail knobs with the brass ones I've got, I'm sure the association etched handrail knobs would be a good alternative here.

 

 

The cab glazing has also been removed, but one of the EFE spectacle plate etches pinged off never to be seen again whilst trying to remove it to straighten it up. So, replacement spectacle plates in the shape of the Shawplan Extreme Etchings Class 40 Horn Grilles have been fitted. I've used other 4mm horn grilles for this purpose before and these are just the right size!

 

Replacement glazing will be fitted to the front, probably cut from clear plastic sheet of some sort. I'm thinking I'll keep the rear spectacles unglazed as that seems the case on the prototype I'm modelling.

 

 

Jobs remaining before painting are fitting a lubricator to the footplate, replacing the buffers with turned brass ones with larger heads, filling in the holes in the buffer beams, removing the cab doors and fitting a bit of plastikard to the back of the firebox to the gears aren't exposed to the cab.

 

Couplings will be fitted after painting! In the next instalment I'll post some pictures of it broken down into the component parts which should show how the motor is fitted and connected to the chassis.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 12:39 by yaxxbarl

[Chris Higgs]

On 17/04/2024 at 11:15, DuncanFogg said:

I have finally assembled my last set of Masterclass coaches.

 

They comprise

 

         D125 BT

E155 CK         C70 TK

D124 BTK      E152 BCK

 

 

One of my drivers was to complete the spraying before the weather turns cold and damp. Detailed painting, fittings (such as door handles) and transfers can be done indoors over the winter.

 

 

Have you used one of the Toplight resin coach roofs for the D125 BT? They are the right length but D125 would not have had the longitudinal rainstrips.

 

Chris 

 

[DuncanFogg]

Chris,

 

I think that was the roof you supplied originally with the etches. Although I have added ventilators and given it a coat of paint, it is not actually fitted yet, so it would not be difficult to remove the strips - thanks for the tip!

 

Duncan