Corbs' Cobbling - Is it electric?

[Player of trains]

It looks superb Corbs, very much considering RC for my own beyer 4-4-0 now. I think there needs to be some gateway between the tender and cab footplate. Lots of space for an unfortunate sod to tumble through.

[Corbs]

Whilst I procrastinate and pontificate on how I'm actually going to mount the motion on the 2-6-2T, we had a train day of working on the megalayout where the 4-4-0 showed itself not up to the challenge of dragging 4 4-wheelers with the brakes on uphill, but the venerable Hornby-chassis E2 didn't break a sweat.

 

As a result, the 4-4-0 definitely needs more weight, more power and more battery life, so I rewired and modified the tender.

A much bigger 270mah battery is fitted and the 9v upconverter is now hard-wired in to save space.

I cut the side and end out of the coal space to help it to fit which also involved cutting through a few support ribs inside the tender, but I think it'll be reet.

 

The E2 No.301 was treated to a long overdue makeover in the form of some styrene frame extensions to cover up that unsightly gap fore and aft of the chassis.

 

 

 

The other E2 was also in for some work. This one sits on a Bachmann 3F chassis and I decided to permanently wire a 9v upconverter to it, stashing both this and the receiver in the bunker.

 

 

The input wires from the battery go in one side, and the output wires to the motor down the other.

 

 

Shown here being fixed in with araldite - note I forgot about wheel flanges and had to cut the goo back a bit

 

 

 

This has a 150mah battery fitted. Originally it was much too fast, all the speed control was at the top end of the controller. I've wired in a couple of diodes to drop the voltage a bit before it gets to the motor.

The battery has a charge lead attached which is accessed behind the magnetic smokebox door.

The diodes have worked quite well as did a good running-in session, but it's still too fast for my liking and I wonder if I accidentally used a 12v rather than a 9v upconverter. Surely they can't be this Smokey-Joe like normally? Maybe another couple of diodes are needed although space is a factor.

Not sure why the roof is crooked in the photo, an effect of the speed maybe?

 

[EDIT] actually I did solder in an extra diode in each direction which seems to have helped control the top speed. I have a feeling the wheels are still catching the chassis and making the slow movements jerky, so more body alteration is needed. Might also try to pack some lead into the spare corners.

 

 

 

LAP 1 is running time, continuously flat out on the rolling road, so I would guess that shunting work might last quite a bit longer.

LAP 2 is charging time, just shy of an hour.

 

 

Really must get on with that Prairie and fit the couplings to the 4-4-0....

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Corbs

[Corbs]

On the E2 above - ended up soldering even more diodes in so it now has 4 in each direction. In theory this now means it starts at 3.7v, steps up to 9v, then back down to 5v, doh. All part of the fun of trying to match power to motor/gear combos.

 

I am determined to finish off the SMR prairie and had hit a wall with the cylinders and more specifically the motion, brackets etc. I had intended to adapt stuff from the radial but after a month with no progress I got frustrated and removed the Adams cylinders.

Instead I am hoping to use some cruder but simpler items in the form of the Bachmann 'NotPercy' ones I had (you guessed it) in a drawer.

These have the (round) slide bars integrated into the cylinder so only one mounting point to worry about.

 

The crankpins were knocked out of the Terrier wheelset and some longer replacements from spare B2 wheels (left over from the W4 wheel swap) were bonded in with Araldite.

I also flopped the coupling rods over so the join is on the furthest side to reduce the chance of the connecting rod catching on it. Handily Terriers have an evenly split wheelbase!

Note: important to use matching crank pin bolts - the Peckett ones are much smaller than the Terrier ones and getting it wrong can ruin screw threads.

 

The cylinders had been modified and sanded flat on top for the old 'Perseus' bash I did a while ago. Now it was a case of fixing on some strip to give a more level top.

 

Which was then bonded to the cylinder stretcher I had previously made from brass and styrene.

 

^ This picture shows how much of a lip the resin chimney had so it needed shaving down with a scalpel blade.

I slipped with the blunt blade and scratched the smoke box, so changed it, every time I do this I think ‘should really change blades more often’ and every time I forget.

 

 

 

Here it is now with the green stuff putty hardening, to be sanded smooth. Front wheelset is posed there for now until I work out how to mount it.

Chimney is better but could use a bit more gentle sanding/filing.

As I said the rods are a bit coarser but 'done is better than perfect' in my eyes and if I ever get braver/more inventive I can try it again.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Corbs

[Corbs]

I've had these Ultrascale wheels to swap into my AWVR Class 20 for several years, always intending to make a video about the upgrade, but I got sick of it never happening so took the plunge, literally took about 5 minutes! Big difference to the coarse wheels with traction tyres it had before. Still needs couplings.

 

 

Back on the 'main fleet', to mount the Prairie body I have used a little styrene tab at the front that gets screwed down, then the back of the loco is held in place with neodymium magnets.

 

 

The magnets are covered up with sandboxes salvaged from the Dapol Drewry Shunter kit (since I didn't need them on my skirted model).

 

After some more sanding of the cylinders and a bit more painting of the driving wheels, it looks like this. 

Left to do:

Dummy frames at rear

Wiring in Rx and battery system

Crew

Handrails

Weathering

 

 

 

After a shopping spree at Caley Coaches, the 4-4-0's safety valves got upgraded to this turreted type rather than being mounted directly to the firebox.

Also, I finally decided to use the solid brass Dean Goods dome I had been saving as No.5 needs all the weight it can get over the drivers. Going to leave it unpainted as it looks cool.

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Corbs

[NeilHB]

Fantastic stuff Corbs, I do love those Sodor & Mainland locos!

[On30runner]

Corbs I'm trying to find a decent replacement for Dullcote, what are you using now?  I tend to mix acrylics and enamels so need something that is ok on both.

[Corbs]

Recently I've been using Tamiya Clear Matt spray, it's not as good as dullcote but it's ok.

[On30runner]

13 hours ago, Corbs said:

Recently I've been using Tamiya Clear Matt spray, it's not as good as dullcote but it's ok.

Many thanks 

 

Is that list number TS-80?

[Corbs]

On 12/03/2022 at 12:38, On30runner said:

Many thanks 

 

Is that list number TS-80?

Yep that's the one.

[Corbs]

As I was saying before I was interrupted....

 

A massive change at cobblin' HQ as I have moved from the bedroom to an actual dedicated work room. More on that when the move is complete but in the meantime some modelling has occurred, not least because I got the covid and found it an acceptable activity rather than actual work which melted my mind.

 

Adam came round to test out Erebus Pit (we were taking it to Nailsea MRC but I had to cancel due to illness). Good opportunity to pose some recent projects!

 

and some old ones.

 

A very satisfying moment when I received the first RTR wagons I worked on. I did the livery artworks for the SECR 5 and 7 plank wagons.

I did have a few moments where I imagined going back in time and telling the 8 year old Corbs that one day he'd be working on RTR model trains, which was nice.
 

 

I didn't work on the GPV but got one anyway. Here they are semi-permacoupled using the 3D printed instanter couplings. Love those things, they slot into the NEM pockets.

Coin-a-sewers may note the FUTURAMA themed PO wagon decals which I am selling to raise money for the Oxfam Ukraine Humanitarian fund.

 

 

I took up kitbuilding to pass the days as I couldn't speak (throat too sore) and doing the same task for too long at a time made me retch uncontrollably which wasn't pleasant.

 

Here are some of the projects.

Parkside China Clay wagon

 

An NG brake van - 'Cora'

 

More Bristol Business decals based on those found in Ian Pope's book. These two appeared in the Bachmann range but I have used them on the Parkside/Peco tank wagon kit.

 

 

More to come from that treasure trove, just trying to find ways to improve on what has been done RTR.

This uses the standard Dapol wagon but I like it because the merchant was based opposite where my office is now.

 

 

 

I LOVE Slaters wagon kits. Last night I built one as I was getting ready for bed, and this morning I built another while having breakfast.

 

 

On locos - I grew to hate the lining on the Sharp Stewart 4-4-0, how it didn't follow the cab cutout shape or the splasher.

I put the loco body on the flatbed scanner, brought it into Illustrator, drew up new lining and boom! Much happier with it now. It's thicker than before as it's at the minimum tolerance I can do for white/black/white on the OKI laser, but it's far better than it was, and I like having splasher lining.

 

 

 

More soon...

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by Corbs

[Mike 84C]

That lining is really clever and I like very much the Brizzle  based themes.

[Corbs]

Goodness me, it's almost a year on since the last update!

If I'm honest the almost-total wiping out of the photos on this thread must have demoralised me a little. I've resolved to try and restore as many as I can from my photo archives. Have started working from the beginning and the end to try to make it as unboring a task as possible.

 

Modelling has been somewhat fitful as working 3 jobs wasn't condusive to having much in the way of hobby time, plus there is a broken car to work on, plus every other commitment one signs up to.

Not long after my previous post, I had a bit of a crisis at my 'main' job after getting covid. Multiple projects running over time and over budget, remote working (even though I was mostly in an office, my colleagues were elsewhere) taking its toll, never having any spare time, carrying a lot of mental burden for these projects, and then when the deadlines came and went, it turned out they were arbitrary and all the fuss was for nothing. I think something clicked in my mind and I fell into a sadness I couldn't explain, not wanting to do anything. I did see a therapist for a few months but their brand of therapy didn't really work for me. Over a few weeks the gloom subsided and I felt 'normal' again but I had probably stopped caring and my heart wasn't in my job any more.

So, some of you may have seen I have left my job of the last 12-14 years and am now working full time for Rapido which is like a dream come true. Leaving the self-employed life has been quite liberating mentally, too, and I really hope I can get my spare time (and maybe some peace of mind) back.

 

Anyway, there have been a few ongoing projects, you may have seen some of the progress on the CLINIC and NORTHBRIDGE threads where I have been building more 'realistic' locos and stock for the big layout at my parents' house.

 

As far as COBBLIN' goes, here are a few thingys.

 

Painting the ironwork of some of these wagons is fiddly but really makes them pop.

 

Hopefully this ^ might become this v 

 

 

Another example is this Harwick Colliery hopper.

 

 

This Oxford Rail 'Toad' has also been sold into colliery service and is getting the same treatment as the hopper.

 

Handily the ol' decal printer was on hand to make some custom graphics.

 

 

Bit o'muck

 

 

Adam brought his model 'Portbury' to meet the real one when I was a crew member back in April.

 

Killian of Small Loco Works printed me some brilliant Padarn Railway transporter wagons.

 

As these have no conventional buffers and drawgear, it made sense for me to modify TK&F No.5 with an extended bufferbeam as this would have operated with the transporter wagons back in S&MR days.

 

 

The transporter wagons are for these 2ft 3in gauge tipper trucks, carrying copper ore down from the mines in the hills. These are RT models kits which I have glued in place on the wagons. I've got another 5 to build to fill out the rake some more!

 

 

 

 

 

I've had my J70 in the cabinet for so long and not done anything with it, but I took the plunge and cut out one of the inspection hatches to show a peek of the slidebars, as if the crew had been oiling and not replaced the cover yet.

 

Saw this little guy.

 

 

I used my new-found love for doing etched bits to do some new, more elaborate name plates for the home fleet.

The LRS plates are excellent but I wanted to include a little nod to the origins of some of the names.

 

PPD in Lochgilphead have absolutely superb service. This material is actually a little too thin so when I do it next time I'll thicken them up a bit.

 

 

No.705 'Westlin' has a Dalahäst for its icon, the fictitious reason for its name being that it was the name of a Sudrian racehorse.

This is a Dalahäst, which is the icon of Dalarna which is where Sabina is from (that's me hugging the leg).

 

I've removed the smoke deflectors to represent a different period in the loco's life (also none of the others have deflectors).

 

This necessitated replacing the handrails, there is a bit of blending left to do on the smokebox too. The other thing it needs are some proper outside steam pipes, but I want some Chapelon-style ones and might end up 3D printing them.

 

Proper lamp irons on the front end help, too.

 

 

Part 2 to follow shortly....

Edited March 5, 2023 by Corbs

[33C]

It's great to get the mojo back isn't it! "Have you been busy, what time are you on to?" qu. Peter Kay.

[Corbs]

... Part 2 bringing us up to now.

 

Me and my sister cabbing a certain blue tank engine at Exeter Rail Fair back in 1994. I think I was too excited to smile!

 

 

and another pic from a magical Didcot trip back in the day.

 

 

On the Sodor & Mainland 4-4-0, I couldn't put my finger on what didn't look right about it until someone pointed it out at last.

 

The issue was the amount of footplate behind the cab side, making the loco-to-tender gap very large.

 

 

It bothered me more and more until I decided to do something about it.

 

Whoops....

 

 

SLICE

 

So much better.

 

 

Obviously there were quite a lot of gaps that opened up so some fillering was in order.

 

One of the other issues with this Oxford Rail chassis was that the motor was absolutely pathetic and even using a 9v upconverter didn't really help.

 

 

This is a little 3-6v (I think) coreless motor. This should enable me to use a 3.7v setup without an upconverter.

 

The flywheel forms part of the transmission so I prised it off the original motor. The Nigel Lawton shaft adapter isn't quite the right size for the motor output shaft...

 

 

... So I hammered it in to the flywheel and secured with loc-tite, then drilled out the inside of the adapter with a pin vice, then loctite-d in the motor.

 

 

I had recently seen Sam's Trains do a similar motor conversion on two Oxford Radial Tanks, where he just used hot glue to secure it in place. Simple, not pretty, but it works!

 

 

This probably isn't advisable but I used the soldering iron to melt away excess bits of glue where it would have prevented the body going on.

 

A new loco-to-tender coupling araldited onto the loco with the slow-setting stuff. I used a drop of superglue on one edge to hold it in place while the araldite set.

 

 

Testing the flexibility on a 1st radius curve, which it just about managed.

 

 

The white bits of filler were attended to by spraying the green paint into a pot until it pooled, then using a soft brush to apply it. It does dry very quickly so you need to be fast.

 

 

Fall plate is just an angled piece of styrene cut to width. 

 

 

The crew are whitemetal to add a tiny bit of extra weight over the drivers.

 

 

The cab steps are the previous ones but the either-side flare didn't really work, being more suited to tank locos.

I cut away the lower part of the steps on one side to mimic other tender loco steps.

 

The RC system is a simple installation, with the receiver tucked into the tender side. The battery sits under the removable coal load. Plug it in to turn it on, unplug to turn it off.

 

Adding handrails back on (trimmed to length after this pic, natch)

 

 

 

First test run! There is some vibration noise in reverse but having investigated it, there's nothing I can do about it.

Note this is cranking the speed up to max with no inertia, the actual response is much better than previously. Battery life should also now be improved.
 

 

Something else that's in dire need of finishing off is NWR No.102. This has been a long term on/off project. The chassis does technically work but it needs securing to the body, and the RC plumbing in. I've put a lot of weight in the nose and a strong spring on the front bogie, will also be packing the chassis with lead when I have worked out what wiring setup it needs.

 

As a starter though, I have added some Mainly Trains lamp irons.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Corbs

[Compound2632]

That 4-4-0 really does look the thing now!

[Player of trains]

Fantastic overhaul of the Beyer Corbs, it really does make the model look far more proportional. I’ll have to make notes for remotoring my own Beyer when I get around to redesigning the body shell from scratch

[Corbs]

It's a snow day here in Bristol so have a retro pic of BHS Co. No.16 during a blizzard.

 

[Corbs]

Something fresh, a deal on a second hand Bachmann N Class.

 

The cab was stubborn but eventually came off along with the deflectors.

 

A little chop here…

 

…. a little chop there (Margate-era 8F body from one of the drawers)

Some choice cuts mean the cab fits to the N class running plate a lot better than the previous conversion which used the N backhead.

 

 

It has a solid front unlike the other one.

After some Araldite, it starts to take shape!

 

Tender is from one of the ROD conversions, either the Garratt or the 2-8-4T. Need to make a hybrid coupling bar up between them.

 

This one might become Edric, or possibly Sigurd. Maybe another altogether?

[AlfaZagato]

Happy to see your version of Sodor still developing.   I'd either missed or forgotten, what's your logic on a 8F cab on an N?

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

Happy to see your version of Sodor still developing.   I'd either missed or forgotten, what's your logic on a 8F cab on an N?

 

I'm thinking, there was a stock of Woolwich parts they were using up very slowly...

[Corbs]

8 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

Happy to see your version of Sodor still developing.   I'd either missed or forgotten, what's your logic on a 8F cab on an N?

It’s bending history a bit but I like to think that the LMS standard cab design was adapted from the NWR house style, a nice big cab with double side windows is surely nicer when most of the line is exposed to the Irish Sea….

 

So this is the same reason that the ex-ROD 2-8-0s are initially rebuilt with NWR cabs years before they gain 3C boilers.

[Corbs]

A burst of modelling recently due to the Nailsea Show (weekend just gone). I was helping out with Adam's layout 'Erebus Pit' and got to bring along a few of my RC and DCC locos to include in the mix.

 

It was a lot of fun to operate between 2-3 people at a time. The DCC could be controlled from a Roco handset or from our phones so with someone operating the points, we could keep at least two locos moving most of the time.

 

A few Sudrian interlopers were on the layout and took over duties on Sunday morning.

NWR 301 and BHS Co. 16 are seen here.

 

NWR No.106 'Perseus' is pictured alongside Adam's SCOW Bagnall.

 

 

One loco that didn't make the show was No.300, the E2 with enlarged hopper bunker.

I could not get it to run well, it was still much too fast on RC even with diodes to drop the voltage. Low speed operation was impossible.

 

On Saturday evening I tore into it to see what could be done.

 

Originally I thought that it was down to emulsified grease in the drivetrain, but now it seems to be the Bachmann 3F motor. When I try to rotate it by hand, it feels like a cement mixer.

 

 

Given that the Hornby motor and chassis on No.301 performs excellently on RC, producing a lovely crawl, the obvious solution is to replace the chassis on 300 with a Hornby one.

 

I had this old thing in my stash.

 

 

Comparing this photo to the one above shows where I have razor sawn out chunks of the chassis block to fit around the body. A nice fluke was that the fore and aft screw holes actually line up with the styrene mounts I had already fitted to the body, so it easily screws in.

 

I managed to find a matching set of wheels in various boxes, the Margate-era ones are far too chunky. Unfortunately I am missing one valve gear screw so am waiting on a new set to arrive - incidentally these things seem to be quite rare as I could only find one person selling them.

 

 

Posed on the new chassis alongside its classmate.

 

Note that 300 (photon-printed) is bent along its length compared to 301 (shapeways-printed and much older). Might need to try the hot water trick to reduce the warp.

 

 

 

[Corbs]

New crankpins arrived so No.300 has been wired up today and tested. Shown here with No.300 to show the relative speeds. 301 has slightly more top speed it seems, but a badly quartered wheelset means it's jerking a little.

Much happier with the speed and controllability. It's a strange thing that such a cheap and readily available chassis is so well suited to RC.

What you see here is top speed!

 

 

It was about time I used the other two custom nameplates for Nos. 704 and 503.

 

Colonel Henry Regaby features the crossed gauntlets and rose insignia of the Sodor Regiment (hence the commemorative green livery) while Duke of Gordon bears the crest of Clan Gordon (stag over a crown).

 

The metal I've had them etched in is quite thin so I stuck them to styrene to stiffen them.

 

 

 

Also, I got bored of looking at the plain white NW on one side of the tender, so I peeled them off with a fingernail, gave it a bit of wet sanding, and then applied some NORTH WESTERN lettering with one of the NWR crests designed by Luke Ryan.

 

Much posher now....

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Corbs

[Ruston]

On 02/04/2023 at 22:20, Corbs said:

Colonel Henry Regaby features the crossed gauntlets and rose insignia of the Sodor Regiment

I know all this Sodor stuff is related to Reverend Awdry's books but where does all of this fictional history of the island come from? Do you just make it up yourself, or did Awdry publish it in other books? It wasn't in the original books as far as I know, but it is around 45 years since I read them.

[jdsnape]

24 minutes ago, Ruston said:

I know all this Sodor stuff is related to Reverend Awdry's books but where does all of this fictional history of the island come from? Do you just make it up yourself, or did Awdry publish it in other books? It wasn't in the original books as far as I know, but it is around 45 years since I read them.

There were a few books published - one by Rev. Awdry, and I think one by Christopher.

I found a copy of it here from googling it (not sure the legitimacy of having the whole PDF available! but you don't seem to be able to buy the book any more)

 

https://studylib.net/doc/25511551/the-island-of-sodor-pdf--1-