Sirdouglas' O gauge

[sir douglas]

nearly there

[sir douglas]

its done for now, it will likely get some weathering one day but its at least usable

[sir douglas]

something ive been working on a little bit at a time since May last year but i didnt want to post about until i at least got to how it is now. Ive been wanting a photograph background for stock since i dont have anywhere else other than Deffors goods yard and that keep changing so i have no consistent background. The idea is a diorama based on a loco or wagon works with 3 tracks from a wagon turntable which gives the different angles to photograph the stock from; side-on, left hand 3/4 and right hand 3/4 views. the size of the board is 16 1/2" by 12"

 

The track is laid on copper clad, the turntable is a disk of copperclad covered in balsa planking, the pit is a tin lid. Non of the copperclad is is electrically gapped since since its just a diorama

 

the cobbled surface is cheap wilko filler which was then scribed and painted, finished with 2 coats of matt varnish. The bare ply around the egdes are footings for half relief buildings

 

The backscene is 12 1/2" tall, on the right it doesnt go all the way to the front so photos can be taken from an angle across  this is where it is currently. J.Aspdin has been added for scale

[sir douglas]

Another jump in my randomness, its time to bring Skyrack back into the works for repair after it failed last year on the Eyemouth branch, it might as well get an overhaul while is in.

 

The motor died back in March and is now being replaced with a second hand Hornby which i was reserving for a new build for another little petrol loco but needs must. the old motor is in the bin and i need to work out a mounting for the new one. the gear box has been upgraded with the old style styrene blcok spacers being replaced with copper tube. and the unnecessary 3rd spacer cut of

 

while i'm working on it, the cab has always look a little oddly tall so is being reduced a bit. the cab has been cut off and the unwanted amount on the stanchions removed. square section styrene is added to them to join over the gap, but before the roof goes back on, the interior is being repainted from cream to off-white starting with a grey undercoat.

 

The plan for the overhaul also includes replacing the lining. Sometime soon i need to get an order for some sheets of styrene from Squires, ive not used them before but of course im not currently going anywhere to get some in person, i was going to go through Eileens for convenience of the ordering process but i also want a bow pen (also known as ruling pen) which squires sell at a good price.

[sir douglas]

Adding some colour inside before the roof goes back on instead of it all just being black. some rust on the exhaust, silver on the engine, brass on the radiator top, red on the column (though hidden in the photo) and a blue coat for the driver with some mesh stuck in the radiator

[sir douglas]

Gilgamesh had used the same type of Hornby motor as his one so i'm copying the mounting but changing the tail end to nut & bolt rather than folded tabs in slots, which will over time wear and snap.

 

and locked in

 

Its was a silly decision originally to use an over sized plug for the motor, which is now replaced for a more appropriate example. its wired up and works. i might also add brake gear which wasnt on because you can hardly see the chassis with the body on

 

Ive gone over the body with sandpaper and filled the gaps with milliput. i actually opened out the gaps to give more room for the milliput to grip into. There is also filling across the end to fill an obvious join gap in the body work from when it was built

[sir douglas]

painted back up and varnished. the wheels were also redone while i was at it. this loco also suffered from the short chain problem as ive mentioned before which was also fixed. the rods need painting which was never done. Teh top pf the motor mounting is now black so its not so obvious inside.

 

At some point ive added brass pin heads for bigger buffers. I can't remember but it might have been during stock testing before the 2019 Middleton show

 

[sir douglas]

Done for now.

 

Gilgamesh is still out of service with a damaged gear and when i tried using Rebecca on Eyemouth last year, there was a very bag knocking in the motion making it un usable

[figworthy]

23 hours ago, sir douglas said:

painted back up and varnished. the wheels were also redone while i was at it. this loco also suffered from the short chain problem as ive mentioned before which was also fixed. the rods need painting which was never done. Teh top pf the motor mounting is now black so its not so obvious inside.

 

At some point ive added brass pin heads for bigger buffers. I can't remember but it might have been during stock testing before the 2019 Middleton show

 

 

Very nice, and I like the name.

 

Adrian

[sir douglas]

The problem is a broken slide bar, i have tried to fix it before because there is a superglue blob on the break so i'm probably going to have to replace the all of them. Anyway while generally looking over the loco for anything else, when sitting it on a flat surface there was a rattle. The front-right bush has been lowered about 0.5mm to fix that. I thought aboutt compensation but there isnt enough room without the crankpins fouling the slide bars.  A closer look at the wheel found that i never smoothed down the milliput balance weights which were a still bumpy, so thats been sanded down and primed

 

superglueing the bush into position. the hole was filed out a bit too much giving side play so i screwed the rod to the axles to keep the wheelbase correct while the glue set

 

wheels sanded down and in grey undercoat. the rims were scraped back because they were chipped

[sir douglas]

the slidebar problem has bee avoided for now, it may crop back up one day. the break was very very gently melted back together with the soldering iron, so the repairs are done much quicker than expected and the loco is back in its box

[sir douglas]

Back tot he little Manning Wardle, finishing off the pipework with the left hand injector feed. I was thinking of making it out of bits of plastic as i did with Hestia or bits of brass bu chose to file it out of a solid piece. the copper wire was soldered on straight then cut & bent to fit. the tank outlet and clack valve are plastic. With that in place, the left hand cabside was fitted. An extra that wasnt planned are the tool hooks on the tank. theres still a few things to do, like the brake gear and draincock rodding ont he right hand of the tank

[sir douglas]

making up the draincock rod, painting and  fitting

 

 

 

Brake gear, the mountin of the are bits of nickel sheet superglued into the wheel keep plate, with brass brake arms soldered to the bent ends

 

[sir douglas]

All the brake gear is on. On the prototype, there would be a rod connecting the top of the shoe arms but it can't be included here. the the rod betweent he crank and shoe is only soldered to the crank or the keep plate wouldn't be removable

 

Then after a coat of grey then gloss black. it doesn't look right since its not come out a solid even coat, it'll need a second 1. If you look tot he left, there 2 little brass things, i'm making my own salter springs. 6mm of 1.5 brass rod with half of it reduced in diameter by about 0.3mm and 0.5mm soldered on top

 

 

[sir douglas]

The firebox area was looling a bit too shiny, so ive tried dulling it down by making a mix of brass with some brown. The hand rails and hooks are in grey to finish in black

[sir douglas]

This chap used to work in the transfer yard at Long Preston, when the Stocks reservoir contract was finished and the yard closed, he moved down here to work as the driver on the Heath Quarry line

 

a figure has been chosen for the fireman but havent got a suitable driver. this figure used to stand in front of the oil and sand sheds on LP with an oil can in his hand. Firstly the paint was stripped, his right arm was cut off and replaced with a spare in my little collection. a shovel was made up out of brass and he has a flat cap transplant, the heathen was hat-less which can't be tolerated. The flat cap is a bit of styrene held on with a brass pin and super glue into his head.

 

back on the loco, the footplate valances are added, they are quite deep but have to hide the thick old footplate behind. the cab steps were made up with brass. i recently read something describing them as "bent shovels"

 

and with coal in the bunkers, with obligatory spill on the footplate

[sir douglas]

them chickens are up to something

[figworthy]

2 hours ago, sir douglas said:

them chickens are up to something

 

Fowl Play ?

 

Adrian

[sir douglas]

i did have a driver figure but i had to change the angle of his arm

 

and fitted

 

something i thought would be a nice idea but it has come out a bit s**t. using my laptop screen as a photo bachground to set the loco against where my ficticous quarry line goes

 

map https://ibb.co/6D61TTD

 

climbing past the tower on the Hall line. using 1 of my own photos

 

crossing the road on the Common line. using google streetview

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by sir douglas

[sir douglas]

While i'm on a roll getting stuff done, there is still the sand pot rodding on J.Aspdin to finish. It was started back in April last year just after the repaint to add a bit of detail to an otherwise plain loco. the lever rod comes from the cab on the right-hand side inbetween the boiler and tank which connects to the right pot and to another crank on top of a short vertical shaft, athe bottom of which a third crank works a rod nberneath the boiler to the same vertical shaft and cranks on the left.

 

The right-hand shaft assembly glued on with the lefthand assembled and being painted in the mole grip. just ignore the dust it has been sat waiting for this last jobs for only 10 months

 

The left hand assembly stuck in place. the rod to go under the boiler just needs painting across the middle before going on. i opened out the hole in the top of the tank a bit too much so that has been capped to re-drill. While i was inbetween making bits, i painted the wheel and gear cover for the overtype in the same blue as the Peckett. the clip is just to stop it falling over

[sir douglas]

it was tricky soldering the parts together without melting the super glue and plastic by gently tapping it with the iron until it joined, but i got there eventually. its done.... again

 

painting in progress with a piece of paper to not get it on the boiler

 

The now obligatory cobble shot

[sir douglas]

Moving on with the North British wagon, superglued in 0.5mm brass wire for the hinge pins and added nearly all of the bolt heads. I have just found 2 things, firstly the C shaped plate on the solebar is called the crown plate and secondly the ironwork in place of the crown plate on this wagon has 2 rope hooks on it for horse shunting, so they have been added

 

[sir douglas]

gussets under the side doors and latches on the end. including the little pin and chain (explained below)

 

this is part of a photo from an LNER wagon book showing the latches, a chain link fits around a spigot on the door, then a pin on a chain slips into a hole in the spigot to keep the latch on.

 

[Irish Padre]

Lovely fine work - good crisp finish.

[Annie]

Beautiful workmanship.