Kensington Olympia in n scale

[acg5324]

A day at the NGS Yorkshire meeting, didn’t get as much done as I wanted as I’d left one important thing behind and brought the wrong sized microstrip with me. Latest little project is to build a couple of Italian ferry vans using the NGS BR ferry van chassis……forgot to bring the chassis so I marked up the sides leaving plenty of trimming room at the ends. Doors and top runner added was all I could do.

 

The two MCW Metrobuses conversions had some more progress, including front windscreen cut to fit.

[acg5324]

Bus progress

Some cream cleaner and cotton buds took off the four part doors printed on the glazing.
The first of the Metrobus bodies has now been primered, dry overnight for the red coat tomorrow.

[acg5324]

The chassis for the ferry van was detached from its body and I thought, that’s useful…..the roof is screwed on and I can use that for the Italian one. So I undid the screws to find the roof is also glued on. Why both?

 

I need to get the correct sized microstrip from work, so there won’t be any progress on the these for a few days.

Edited April 16 by acg5324

[acg5324]

An email tonight from Chris Nevard with some of the photos taken a week ago. For obvious reasons I can’t show any, but they are stunning, especially the B&W ones.

[acg5324]

The Metrobus painting is largely done. The grill and destination boards were all masked up and sprayed black. The window frame edges have also been blackened. Adverts, destination blinds and LT symbols to add, prior to a coat of satin varnish Window vents to do in silver before reassembly. Last job will be two part doors.

[37114]

I have to go to Kensington Olympia on Thursday for work so will be interested to get a sense of the area vs the layout, I haven't been for years! 

[acg5324]

The poorly class 37 had its chip refitted, which is now a very loose fit in its socket. To get round this I bent the pins a bit which improved things. However after a test run the dreaded clicking appeared. On checking the bogies one of the wheel sets has a split gear.

 

Farish now have two different sets of geared wheels available for the Tractor,  black or later white. Does anyone know if it’s just a material change and not a change in the number of teeth?

 

I’ve also posted this on the Farish forum.

Edited April 23 by acg5324

[acg5324]

As I can’t find my pack of LT roundal decals for the bus, I’ve ordered some more, so they’ll turn up when the replacements arrive. Today the windows and doors were masked up and sprayed silver for the vents and undercoat, then yellow and red for the doors.

 

Side adverts added, I need to paint the seating too.

[acg5324]

Managed to find a correct wheel set and gear for the class 37 in one of the spares boxes at work. This has been fitted and the loco reassembled. Testing tomorrow.

Edited April 26 by acg5324

[acg5324]

Mmm the class 37 is still an issue. The decoder is very loose in the socket and not making proper contact. Not sure how I can correct this. Might have to unsolder the old one, which was fine, and swop them over. I could add some solder to the decoder pins to thicken them up……suggestions welcome.

[acg5324]

A productive day at the Yorkshire area NGS meeting today. The first of the ferry vans is coming together, main body fitted onto the NGS Ferry van chassis.

[acg5324]

On 26/04/2024 at 18:16, acg5324 said:

Mmm the class 37 is still an issue. The decoder is very loose in the socket and not making proper contact. Not sure how I can correct this. Might have to unsolder the old one, which was fine, and swop them over. I could add some solder to the decoder pins to thicken them up……suggestions welcome.

The saga…..has finished. Martin at work fixed the socket by tightening up the apertures with a pin. Chip refitted but got hot and the loco barely moved. Fresh chip fitted and all is fine.

[acg5324]

A bit of work done on the T-Trak boards this week. I’ve made a start on fitting the Armco barriers on the bridge. These are very fiddly to put together. They are laser cut card made by Scale Model Scenery. Each upright is three very small pieces! In addition I’ve made the signage for the overhead gantry( yet to be built ).

 

Work for the next couple of days then it’s another Yorkshire area NGS meeting on Saturday.

Edited May 8 by acg5324

[froobyone]

2 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

A bit of work done on the T-Trax boards this week. I’ve made a start on fitting the Armco barriers on the bridge. These are very fiddly to put together. They are laser cut card made by Scale Model Scenery. Each upright is three very small pieces! In addition I’ve made the signage for the overhead gantry( yet to be built ).

 

Work for the next couple of days then it’s another Yorkshire area NGS meeting on Saturday.

 

I hope that's a local sign for local people.

 

[acg5324]

1 minute ago, froobyone said:

 

I hope that's a local sign for local people.

 

There’s nothing for you here. 🤣

[franciswilliamwebb]

1 minute ago, froobyone said:

 

I hope that's a local sign for local people.

 

 

Perhaps it should say "Local Traffic"😎

[AndrueC]

28 minutes ago, acg5324 said:

A bit of work done on the T-Trak boards this week. I’ve made a start on fitting the Armco barriers on the bridge. These are very fiddly to put together. They are laser cut card made by Scale Model Scenery. Each upright is three very small pieces! In addition I’ve made the signage for the overhead gantry( yet to be built ).

You should try their palisade fencing. Each pole is thickened by an additional piece of wood on either side.

 

I was also a bit concerned about their picnic tables but they went together surprisingly well as did their wooden gates.

 

But there are times when I wished I modelled in a larger scale. Having to construct steps by inserting treads one by one for one of my station bridges was a nightmare I shall long try to forget. The Ratio model 'cheeped out' and the steps were a single piece. I was so, so grateful for that :)

Edited May 8 by AndrueC

[acg5324]

A reasonably productive day in Heworth at the Yorkshire area NGS meeting……..even if it did involve me going back home to get my tool box that I’d forgotten to pick up!

 

47480 Robin Hood got to stretch it’s legs this week with some Mk2s that hadn’t been out of the box before.

[acg5324]

After the third attempt to get a roof on the Italian ferry van I finally succeeded…..and a start on assembling the second one.

[acg5324]

The T-Trak modules also got a trip out. The gantry to hold the earlier signs was also largely completed, no photos yet.

[acg5324]

On 09/04/2024 at 18:00, PaulCheffus said:

Hi 

 

I used my last set to cast some in resin so I now have an endless supply 😀 and have just used some to create four more Belgian Ferry vans to diagram E266

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Before I use up the last of my ferry van ventilators I’d better cast some for future use. I thought it should be possible to make the mould using Silicon sealant? What resin did you use Paul? TIA.

[PaulCheffus]

2 hours ago, acg5324 said:

Before I use up the last of my ferry van ventilators I’d better cast some for future use. I thought it should be possible to make the mould using Silicon sealant? What resin did you use Paul? TIA.

Hi

 

This is what I used 

https://www.mbfg.co.uk/polycraft-moulding-casting-resin-kit-mini.html

 

I managed to get quite a lot of castings out of the set and I would gather together anything you might need in the future and cast it all together as the resin once opened has a limited life.

 

A rough estimate I got the following out of the set

 

50 BOC tank ends plus around the same number of vents

60 Freightliner bogie side frames

30 GPS bogie side frames

100 ferry van vents

50 75mm long seating strips

30 mk2 coach roof vents

 

The above doesn’t include the castings that weren’t perfect.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[acg5324]

Just back from a short break to Bergen in Norway…..some train, LRT and funicular action during our stay. An organised tour as part to the holiday included the Flam Railway. The locos used on their are the Norwegian version of the SBB class 460…..so about 14000hp on a six coach train makes light work of the maximum gradient of 1 in 18!

Edited May 16 by acg5324