RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted December 3, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2014 When it comes to fitting AJs I've found that using the hinge/pivot mounts such as those from Palatine models (and used in conjunction with their 180 degree bending jig) helps with the initial set up (adjustment) and improves reliability (as the free length of the wire is shorter than the traditional method). Other thing I absolutely wouldn't be without is the mounting jig available here: http://www.scalefour.org/eshop/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted December 3, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2014 AJs, phah! Any coupling that requires constant tweaking and protection with toilet roll tube sounds way too girly to me. No, what you want is a good old indestructible Lima coupling. You can ram those together and drop them on the floor with no problem. They look great too*. * with closed eyes... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted December 4, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2014 AJs, phah! Any coupling that requires constant tweaking and protection with toilet roll tube sounds way too girly to me. No, what you want is a good old indestructible Lima coupling. You can ram those together and drop them on the floor with no problem. They look great too*. * with closed eyes... So glad you've finally seen sense and are over the Kadee thing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted December 4, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2014 So glad you've finally seen sense and are over the Kadee thing Thought you'd prefer the unobtrusive Lima over the unrealistic Kadee. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jason T Posted December 4, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2014 The big advantage to the Lima ones is that if you have been painting your stock, the hooks are large enough to hang them on the washing line to dry out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted December 4, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 4, 2014 The big advantage to the Lima ones is that if you have been painting your stock, the hooks are large enough to hang them on the washing line to dry out Obviously not possible, and therefore a major issue with AJs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-GNR Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Another little up date on the Neilson..... Cylinders built & crosshead/slide bar assembly working well. Just need to file down the leading crank pin bush & nut to allow clearance behind the slide bars. Cheers for now..... Chris 17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock67B Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Afternoon Chris and Jason, Sorry for the rash of ratings but I hadn't looked in for some time until prompted by a post from Jason on (I think!) AndyP's 'Bitton' thread. It would appear that the collaboration between the two of you has produced a modelling 'A-team' and I've had no choice but to add the thread to my ever growing daily visit list. Thanks for the inspiration men! Kind regards, Jock. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 7, 2014 Share Posted December 7, 2014 Nice work on that Little Loco Chris, very nice matey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jason T Posted December 8, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 8, 2014 My delivery of under-gubbins from Mainly trains arrived so for the next wagon on the list for The Mill (an LNER built ply sided van), I thought I'd have a go. It does, in my opinion, improve the looks by a noticeable amount but this van has taken more than twice as long as a normal (as supplied by Parkside) build, and included hacking away large parts of the floor base, soldering, epoxy resin, folding tiny sections of brass, etc. I know that the bars between the brakes aren't right but from an end-on view, they give the impression of what should be there and when it's all painted black and weathered, most of this won't be visible anyway unless you get in really REALLY close or turn the van upside down. Saying that, one of the reasons for spending a bit more time and effort on these than I normally would (if, say, for Bacup) is that The Mill will be an exhibition layout and will be around 4' high and viewed close up. As the stock will be sat around a bit, right in front of people's eyes, I wanted to make sure they were a bit better than the ones used on Bacup (which are viewed from a higher vantage point and not by the general public). Upon resizing the photos, I noticed that there was a bend on one of the solebars and a bit of plastic/glue created 'hair' on the end of the roof; both these have now been fixed but before painting begins, I'll give it a final check over for any other anomalies. Worth the extra effort and expense? To me definitely, although I can categorically state that I will not be revisiting the 80-odd kit built wagons on Bacup (they far outnumber RTR ones). 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 Excellent modelling as usual my friend. It really does make a difference. Well done, how many do you have to do for The Mill? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jason T Posted December 8, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 8, 2014 Not many really; the maximum length of a train that can fit in the fiddle yard is three wagons and an 0-4-0. Of course, the layout will be run in two distinct periods (possibly three, if we stretch it to the early 70's) so will need two full sets of period-suitable stock. for BR stock, I am looking at building around 20; a mix of hoppers for coal traffic (including a Dave Bradwell 13 ton hopper kit kindly donated by Mr Wordsell Forever), vans and 5 plank opens should suffice. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted December 8, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 8, 2014 Very nice Jason. In my experience the minimum you need is about four times the train length so you can have a qurter to half on the layout bring in one train and not take all of those already there out and still have a different train ready to bring in. If the viewers are watching long enough to see all the wagons you are doing pretty well and they should have forgotten what they have already seen. Don Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Hello JasonT. Great improvement on the wagons, lots of work tho, great stuff, watching with interest mate... George Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Jason T Posted December 9, 2014 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted December 9, 2014 Hi George. It is a lot of work, much of it fiddly and time consuming and if I had a lot of wagons to build then I definitely wouldn't be going this far with them all but for this layout, it is worth it (in my opinion). When you look at the cost, the kit for this van is £9, the whitemetal buffers are £2 and the etched brake gear (enough for two wagons) is £3.85, a total of £14.85 (more than the equivalent Bachmann RTR van which is, of course, ready built and painted). However, building something yourself is a thousand times more rewarding than opening a box, especially when you go that extra bit further. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted December 9, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 9, 2014 Hi George. It is a lot of work, much of it fiddly and time consuming and if I had a lot of wagons to build then I definitely wouldn't be going this far with them all but for this layout, it is worth it (in my opinion). When you look at the cost, the kit for this van is £9, the whitemetal buffers are £2 and the etched brake gear (enough for two wagons) is £3.85, a total of £14.85 (more than the equivalent Bachmann RTR van which is, of course, ready built and painted). However, building something yourself is a thousand times more rewarding than opening a box, especially when you go that extra bit further. Couldn't agree more Jason. You're getting to enjoy both the journey (research and build) and the end result. Much more satisfying IMO than simply taking stuff out of boxes and plonking it on the track. The items you've worked on now mean so much more to you and are unique. Great stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-GNR Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Evening all...... Excellent job Jason on the wagon under-gubbins, well worth the extra effort mate. The Neilson Crank pins, bushes & nuts filed back & it now glides along a treat. Sanders & injectors next & then the gearbox & pick-ups. I'm already wishing i'd gone split chassis with it.......Oh well. Cheers Chris 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Evening Chris and Jason, great stuff guys, this is really going to be a Mini Treat for Exhibition goers very soon. All the best guys. P.S. Some good points Chris, (2MS's). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted December 9, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 9, 2014 so thats what you wanted the track for Jason! Nice work and keep on building! baz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted December 10, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 10, 2014 When you look at the cost, the kit for this van is £9, the whitemetal buffers are £2 and the etched brake gear (enough for two wagons) is £3.85, a total of £14.85 (more than the equivalent Bachmann RTR van which is, of course, ready built and painted). However, building something yourself is a thousand times more rewarding than opening a box, especially when you go that extra bit further. I usually reckon I'm spending about £20 on parts and consumables for an average 4 wheel van or open by the time it is built painted and weathered; it soon mounts up. I tend to look at it in terms of how many hours of modelling my £20 has bought me with rather than how much the finished wagon cost me - that's how I justify it to myself anyway! One time saver I got into the habit of when there was a need to churn out stock reasonably quickly for BCB was to use cast rather than etched brake shoes/hangers with etched levers/vees etc (or sometimes, particularly for clasp brakes, to use the ones from the kit), because folding and soldering the brake shoes is the really time consuming bit, whereas vees and levers is where you can really see the benefit of the etched parts. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-GNR Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Afternoon.... More progress on the Neilson. Motor & gearbox made & fitted, usual High Level deal, very straight forward. Having done that i was left scratching my head regards pick-ups & where/how to fit the decoder.... The decoder is an 8 pin Zen nano 4 function + stay alive, i'm new to DCC so most of that means nothing to me but i chose that one because it was the smallest i could get. So i promptly chopped off all the wires i wont be using (not really into the sound stuff) & spent about half an hour trying to get the decoder to fit under the motor in the boiler bottom half, but after some swearing & faffing about i decided it wasn't happening. So, as shown in the photos i've managed to squeeze it in the void in between the chassis frames underneath cylinders, very tight. I've drilled holes in the frame spacer to run the wires to the motor & pick-ups. Also drilled a hole in the underside of the boiler to feed the wires up to the motor. Pick-ups Given how small this thing is i wasnt sure what method i was going to use, if id planned ahead more i think i would have gone split chassis but that would have meant a lot of adapting to the construction. I've gone for what i now know as 'back scratchers' i used these on my N5 (see my workbench tread) as they are really unintrusive & gives a good large surface area of contact on the back of the wheel tyre & it works well with compensated chassis because the wheel can move up & down the pick-up & there is no way for it to loose connection. Given the lack of space & openness of the frames the leading axle has the wipers coming from the underside of the frames & the rear axle over the top. This way allowed them to remain invisible from view when running. Its hard to believe that all this gubbins fits inside this tiny loco! Its not fully clear in the photos the pick-up arrangement & wiring for the decoder & motor but if i remember i'll take some more photos when its dismantled ready for paint that might show it better. Cheers for now Chris 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Worsdell forever Posted December 11, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 11, 2014 Nice tidy place for the chip, but, where's the stay alive bit go? I've just put one of these (a 6 pin actually) in my NER A class, it's a much bigger loco and there still isn't much room! Seems to be a good chip with smooth running 'out of the box' with Mashima motors although I did lower the start voltage as it set off at a scale 10 mph! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-GNR Posted December 11, 2014 Share Posted December 11, 2014 Nice tidy place for the chip, but, where's the stay alive bit go? I've just put one of these (a 6 pin actually) in my NER A class, it's a much bigger loco and there still isn't much room! Seems to be a good chip with smooth running 'out of the box' with Mashima motors although I did lower the start voltage as it set off at a scale 10 mph! Evening Paul I've chopped the stay alive off, defiantly no room for that. The shop i got it from didn't have it without & said given that if its going to be running on hand built track with live frogs it wouldn't be necessary. I've managed to get a flywheel in so I'm not worried about smooth running. I only had a quick mess about with it last night, it was late by the time id got it done but with the flywheel & 108:1 reduction it performed very nicely. Cheers 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris-GNR Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 (edited) Hello.... It runs!!!! Sorry for the bad quality of the vid. just the injectors to fit then its paint time. Cheers Chris Edited December 13, 2014 by Chris-GNR 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emt_911 Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Nice smooth movement. Excellent work Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now