Mid-Cornwall Lines - 1950s Western Region in 00

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

Have you ever considered investing in a solder sucker?

I've thought about it but never gone any further. And don't call me a sucker!

 

2 hours ago, BWsTrains said:

A friend of mine suggested using desoldering braid

I use desoldering braid from time to time. If the solder on the sockets hadn't responded to the needle files yesterday, that would have been the next step.

[St Enodoc]

6808 Beenham Grange and 6837 Forthampton Grange are now right for work.

 

7820 Dinmore Manor is next on the list but I think I'll make some more DG couplings first.

[St Enodoc]

Another fret of 16 couplings is now ready for fitting. I also chipped the Manor after running it in on DC for an hour (15 minutes each at half- and full speed in each direction). I'm pleased to say that the loco ran smoothly and controllably both on DC and then DCC. Perhaps some of the reported problems with the first batch were ironed out for the second - I hope so!

[Tankerman]

On 20/02/2024 at 09:03, Chamby said:

 

Clearly we are not alone… it doesn't say much for the manufacturers quality control, it is a simple enough thing to check.

 

My experience, in other electrical fields, is that there is no Chinese language equivalent for the words 'quality control'

[TrevorP1]

1 hour ago, Tankerman said:

 

My experience, in other electrical fields, is that there is no Chinese language equivalent for the words 'quality control'

 

Carol builds one of the 'Rolife' kits now and again. How she does it is beyond me. Some of the things they expect the builder to do are what I would call "setting you up to fail". To her immense credit she never gives up (I would have thrown the wretched things against the wall!) and achieves a result far better that I could, although she did  admit defeat with a couple of seats - I ended up soldering up replacements from brass wire!

 

Lately she has taken to the products of Scale Model Scenery - a much more sensible idea!

[Dunsignalling]

On 20/02/2024 at 09:03, Chamby said:

 

Clearly we are not alone… it doesn't say much for the manufacturers quality control, it is a simple enough thing to check.

Unless you are buying something like a Bentley or Aston Martin, quality control, as the term used to be understood, is a thing of the past.

 

Mass production these days relies on something called Quality Assurance, which involves random sample testing of a percentage of items at various stages and on completion (different examples at each stage).

 

If the sampling is (say) one in forty and inspection occurs at four stages, only one in ten get checked at all.

 

The "system" is primarily intended to "encourage" assembly-line staff, and clearly works, otherwise we'd be seeing up to 90% of things with significant defects.

 

John

[St Enodoc]

5 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Unless you are buying something like a Bentley or Aston Martin, quality control, as the term used to be understood, is a thing of the past.

 

Mass production these days relies on something called Quality Assurance, which involves random sample testing of a percentage of items at various stages and on completion (different examples at each stage).

 

If the sampling is (say) one in forty and inspection occurs at four stages, only one in ten get checked at all.

 

The "system" is primarily intended to "encourage" assembly-line staff, and clearly works, otherwise we'd be seeing up to 90% of things with significant defects.

 

John

Nevertheless, QA and QC are (or, perhaps, were) not well understood, in the way that "western" nations understand them, in China. Around 10-15 years ago the company I worked for was involved in a major (multi-billion dollar) procurement project where the hardware was being built in China to an Australian company's design. Both we, as the client's technical adviser, and the designers had full-time teams on site throughout the seven-year manufacturing phase to ensure that any shortcomings were identified and addressed at as early a stage as possible.

 

The manufacturers, on the whole, had no problem with this arrangement. I suspect that, quietly, their directors and managers welcomed it as it was much easier for them than to train their workforce to adopt an entirely different culture from what they were accustomed to.

 

"If the sampling is (say) one in forty and inspection occurs at four stages, only one in ten get checked at all" - of course, statistically, that could mean that it's still only one in forty that are checked, because the same ten could get checked randomly at each stage (but usually aren't).

[1466]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Nevertheless, QA and QC are (or, perhaps, were) not well understood, in the way that "western" nations understand them, in China. Around 10-15 years ago the company I worked for was involved in a major (multi-billion dollar) procurement project where the hardware was being built in China to an Australian company's design. Both we, as the client's technical adviser, and the designers had full-time teams on site throughout the seven-year manufacturing phase to ensure that any shortcomings were identified and addressed at as early a stage as possible.

 

The manufacturers, on the whole, had no problem with this arrangement. I suspect that, quietly, their directors and managers welcomed it as it was much easier for them than to train their workforce to adopt an entirely different culture from what they were accustomed to.

 

"If the sampling is (say) one in forty and inspection occurs at four stages, only one in ten get checked at all" - of course, statistically, that could mean that it's still only one in forty that are checked, because the same ten could get checked randomly at each stage (but usually aren't).

In the 1970s I worked in tv rental , an industry founded on the unreliability of tv sets and their (relatively) high price .

British made tv sets would be assembled and tested once completed . Japanese sets had every component tested and passed before each was assembled into the tv . The result was that Japanese tv sets were reliable… which eventually finished off tv rental . 

[St Enodoc]

Rounding off a busy week, 7820 is now right for work.

 

I fitted the DG couplings, which needed a different method from usual due to the somewhat, shall we say, bespoke way in which Accurascale has integrated the NEM pockets into the bogie and tender design. Very neat but not leaving a lot of space to play with.

 

In the end, after a bit of trial and error, I cut the plate of the DG coupler back as far as possible, leaving just enough room for a no 52 clearance hole for a M1.5 x 3mm self-tapper. Similarly, I cut the loop of the tension lock to let me drill a no 56 tapping hole. Screwing the coupler to the top of the remains of the tension lock coupler allowed the tails to engage and latch in the socket. The height, fortunately, was almost spot-on first time. The couplers project further beyond the buffers than I would like but this seems to be the way with tension lock couplers in much modern RTR stock. Having said that, the Accurascale Manor is far from the worst I've seen. I might try this method on other RTR stock, especially wagons, in future.

 

Finally, the etched plates fitted perfectly over the printed ones, which made life nice and easy.

 

This week will see some prep for the Forestville show next Saturday and Sunday, where I'll be dividing my time between stewarding with the host club and demonstrating how to build plastic wagon kits on the BRMA stand.

 

http://www.nsrma.com.au/exhibitions/

 

http://www.brma.org.au/index.html

 

If you are within reach of Sydney's North Shore, please come along and say hello.

Edited February 29 by St Enodoc

[St Enodoc]

There have been lots of appreciative comments about the weight and hence pulling power of the Accurascale Manor.

 

I have added no extra weight and as received the adhesive weight on the six driving wheels is 11.5 oz, to the nearest half-ounce.

 

Over 60 years ago, in the old Model Railway News, Jack Newton made an argument for 4mm models to weigh one ounce for every three tons of adhesive weight on the prototype. I find this hard to achieve, even with cast kits and especially with modern RTR stock that has little space for extra weight.

 

7820 comes in at 4.4 on this scale (50.4 tons/11.5 oz to one decimal place), so I'm confident that it will manage all that's expected of it when called into service as a spare loco on the layout.

 

Incidentally, my vehicle with the "best" or lowest ratio for ton/oz, is the Heljan AC cars railbus. With a prototype adhesive weight of 5.5 tons (one driven axle) and a model adhesive weight of 15 oz (two driven axles) this has the remarkable ratio of 0.7 ton/oz. This is meaningless, really, as all it has to do is move itself around although I suppose it might improve current collection.

 

At the other end of the scale, excluding stock with traction tyres and/or tender drives, is the Kernow D6xx Warship, with a prototype adhesive weight of 80 tons, a model adhesive weight of 11 ounces and a ratio of 7.3 (four axles driven in each case). Notwithstanding, this loco can easily cope with its task of hauling the main line expresses round the layout.

[ian]

7 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

This is meaningless

Welcome to the world of statistics.

[St Enodoc]

7 hours ago, ian said:

Welcome to the world of [insert preferred science/engineering/mathematical discipline here]

Fixed.

[St Enodoc]

The last day of summer brought temperatures in the high 30s and a thunderstorm approaching as I write.

 

A nice bonus was listening to the first Test from the Basin Reserve in Wellington, while I carried on sorting out some bits and pieces ready for Forestville at the weekend.

 

I'll take four Parkside O13 china-clay wagon kits to build, which I'll modify slightly to represent the BR-built diagram 1/051 vacuum-fitted version. Once finished, they'll complete the full 14-wagon formation of the long china-clay train. Why 14? Well, with the loco and brake van, it's the longest train that will fit in Polperran headshunt clear of the Barry slip.

[Siberian Snooper]

Hi All,

 

I have finally got to the current end of this epic layout build after ANTB posted a link here with the arrival of the Granges at the end of July last year.

 

I thank St E for replacing the lost photos, that in itself was a mammoth task.

 

I do have a question, which way round do you fit the diodes to the coils on the electro magnets, I forgot to make a note of it whilst wading through these 300 odd pages and I don't fancy going back through them to find the answer.

 

Thanks for the ride it has been a pleasant read.

 

[BWsTrains]

My suspicion is it doesn't matter.

 

Do I get my 5 Quid this time? (or more shame and embarrassment heaped upon me!)

[St Enodoc]

On 29/02/2024 at 19:17, Siberian Snooper said:

Hi All,

 

I have finally got to the current end of this epic layout build after ANTB posted a link here with the arrival of the Granges at the end of July last year.

 

I thank St E for replacing the lost photos, that in itself was a mammoth task.

 

I do have a question, which way round do you fit the diodes to the coils on the electro magnets, I forgot to make a note of it whilst wading through these 300 odd pages and I don't fancy going back through them to find the answer.

 

Thanks for the ride it has been a pleasant read.

 

The electromagnets work on dc, so the end of the diode with the stripe has to be connected to the positive feed wire. Otherwise, the diode just shorts out the coil and the magnet won't do anything.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_diode

 

 

On 29/02/2024 at 20:02, BWsTrains said:

My suspicion is it doesn't matter.

 

Do I get my 5 Quid this time? (or more shame and embarrassment heaped upon me!)

Sorry Colin! Of course, if you were using ac for the magnets, you wouldn't need the diodes at all.

Edited March 3 by St Enodoc
Added link to earlier page

[BWsTrains]

41 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

The electromagnets work on dc, so the end of the diode with the stripe has to be connected to the positive feed wire. Otherwise, the diode just shorts out the coil and the magnet won't do anything.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_diode

 

Sorry Colin! Of course, if you were using ac for the magnets, you wouldn't need the diodes at all.

I'm just a glutton for punishment!

[St Enodoc]

An extraordinary day today at the Basin Reserve. I must try to bring a radio to listen at Forestville tomorrow (might not need to on Sunday...).

[St Enodoc]

A good first day at Forestville. I completed only one wagon, as I was busy explaining what I was doing and why I wasn't building the kits according to the instructions, as well as what a china-clay wagon actually was and what it did. I also bought some more second-hand road vehicles for the layout and a pack of Merten people called "In the garden", of whom about half will do for Pentowan beach.

 

Day 3 at the Basin Reserve was slightly less extraordinary than yesterday but still very interesting, while tonight I watched the Super Rugby Pacific match between the Crusaders and the Waratahs. No spoilers!

 

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

[ian]

1 hour ago, St Enodoc said:

I also bought some more second-hand road vehicles

How many more buses? And will you need to include some more bridges...

[5BarVT]

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

of whom about half will do for Pentowan beach.

Will that be a Gwiwer Penhayle Bay type of beach scene, or is Pentowan too refined for that?

Paul.

[Clive Mortimore]

6 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

A good first day at Forestville. I completed only one wagon, as I was busy explaining what I was doing and why I wasn't building the kits according to the instructions, as well as what a china-clay wagon actually was and what it did. I also bought some more second-hand road vehicles for the layout and a pack of Merten people called "In the garden", of whom about half will do for Pentowan beach.

 

Day 3 at the Basin Reserve was slightly less extraordinary than yesterday but still very interesting, while tonight I watched the Super Rugby Pacific match between the Crusaders and the Waratahs. No spoilers!

 

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

You mean they are wearing pack-a-macs and leaning into the wind as they walk.

 

I have had "sunny" holidays in Cornwall.

[5BarVT]

1 hour ago, Clive Mortimore said:

You mean they are wearing pack-a-macs and leaning into the wind as they walk.

 

I have had "sunny" holidays in Cornwall.

Liquid sunshine, dear boy!

Paul.

[TrevorP1]

2 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Liquid sunshine, dear boy!

Paul.

Proper Job!

[St Enodoc]

20 hours ago, ian said:

How many more buses? And will you need to include some more bridges...

None. No.

 

15 hours ago, 5BarVT said:

Will that be a Gwiwer Penhayle Bay type of beach scene, or is Pentowan too refined for that?

Paul.

A combination of ideas from the real Polkerris, Portholland, Sennen Cove, Porthminster, Goodrington Sands, @Gwiwer's Penhayle Bay, @gwrrob's ANTB, possibly one or two others and my imagination, so a real mish-mash. Don't forget that Pentowan is inspired by Newquay, so "refined" probably isn't the correct term.

Edited March 3 by St Enodoc
speling