shortliner Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I do have an electric Jigsaw - but I usually do my fingers with a handsaw ( APTLY NAMED! ) Number 1 lady thinks I should have a very large first aid kit out there when I am cutting wood! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thnksno Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 lol! I'm on round 2 of my layout right now, for the winter... I decided to narrow it and put a 90* curve in so it is 'L' shaped now. Also I'm going against the L-girder bench work standard and am using 1x3 box frames with 1x2 joists ontop of a set of support legs that fit into slots on the bench tops. Basically this allows me to break the 'L' pattern in 2 and slide the support legs out of sockets for transport/storage and is MUCH lighter than L-girders. I think someone from this board gave me the idea of using biscuits to assemble and it is going together very sturdy... But I feel your pain about the cold. I've not been wanting to go out there and cut wood/biscuit slots, so work has been slower than when I cut the original bench work when it was warmer. Not to mention doing something twice kind of takes the wind out of my sails! Anyway, I was out yesterday cutting some pieces and it was all I could bear to stand there with my 16" compound saw whirling, the fan blowing cold air right down my shirt while lining up the cuts! Today it's supposed to be near 50*, might get some done! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 I have given up on Nails/screws/biscuits - my baseboards are now built with 10mm x 35mm pine frames topped with 6mm MDF - everything clamped and glued together with 30 minute polyurethane wood glue - Construction Industry equivalent to Gorilla glue but twice as much for half the price. Provided the cross bracing is done properly there is virtually no flex, and the board is relatively light ` Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thnksno Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 WOW! That is thin! You fellas overseas and the metric system, lol, we tried that for like a week here in the US. 1/2" x 1 1/2" for the baseboard frames is much lighter than I would have ever thought to go. How do you deal with cutouts/grade differences with a solid flat surface? I know there are a multitude of ways, but curious if you build up with foam or wood? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 Since the new layout is small and fairly narrow, I am using 6mm MDF with 8mm x 16mm pine edging, with some extra deep 8 mm pine battens to take brackets to the wall, set about 2 foot apart. The 8x16 is the rim, but acts as bracing. Buildings are set on cut out area, drop in on battens around the edge 5mm thick glued to the underside. This allows complete removal for work on them. I always use expanded poly for the scenery, painted with several coats of polytex, the texture finish flexible ceiling plaster, which is excedingly strong, and takes any type of finish or paint. The MDF is fully sealed with PVA sealer on both sides to prevent warping. After the wiring is fitted, and the layout up and running, the bottom edge has panels of 2mm hardboard fitted with screws. This prevents damage, but also adds massive strength. I like the Gorilla glue, but it is expensive stuff, I use it for furniture restoration etc., but find PVA is best for layouts on cost. Biscuits are good for furniture and panel wood work, but screws are the easier method for layouts. No mitre joins, just long double screws, just as strong. For all woodwork nowadays I use drywall screws, self drilling, minimal risk of splitting etc, fantastic grip, and very cheap. Joints between boards are done on brass dowels into brass tube, with screw shackles on the edges, ( like window security shackles). All electrics are via ex equipment computer serial plugs and sockets. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Since I live in a VERY small house, and most of my layouts are never bigger than 6' 6" long by around 1' wide and of necessity flat topped, the situation has never arisen - My 2010 layout 149th Street Harlem Station is an irregular trapezoid shape 49" wide x 29"long on one edge and 39"long on the other, and since it is supposed to be right at the waterside it will be completely flat Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Stephen - do a google search for Everbuild Lumberjack 30 Minute polyurethane wood glue - (they do a 5-minute version as well) around £9.00 for a 750 gm pot - the construction industry version of Gorilla and MUCH cheaper. Wear gloves when using - If it gets on skin and sets, it will be there for 10 days or so! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 Stephen - do a google search for Everbuild Lumberjack 30 Minute polyurethane wood glue - (they do a 5-minute version as well) around £9.00 for a 750 gm pot - the construction industry version of Gorilla and MUCH cheaper. Wear gloves when using - If it gets on skin and sets, it will be there for 10 days or so! Thanks for the reference but I do not use enough to justify it, as it also has a shorter shelf life. If I use it I plan to use it all up in one go if possible. It's the skin reaction that also put me off regular use, I also found the PVA superglue mix method was very good, half the joint in PVA and half superglue, they react and set quickly, in seconds, and cures out to a very strong joint. It is sandable as well, and takes stain, which despite claims on some makes of expanded polyurethane, including Titebond, do not take paint or stain at all well. This only really worries me with classic ships hulls in stained planking, any resistant glue and it shows. It is very critical on ships decking, especially fitting blackline caulking between boards. I use tradtional hot pearl glue for this type of work. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 Shortliner, the picture shows the shape approx in 40 thou or so brass, four dressmakers brass pins, two visible, two hidden uner the outer axle boxes, all soldered and then pinned on to the plastic sides, no glue. Don't forget the black frames are smaller and give a better look to the whole side. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 The Brass Boxcab on Ebay 190376788770 has reached £62+......and a day to go...a bit too expensive, you could get a running one from the States including the postage for less. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 Phew, it's near £70 now and still time to go.....Boxcabs in "kit form" must be in fashion. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoRS1 Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 it is probably somebody following this thread, or the bronx terminal, inspirational. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 I bet the seller is a happy bunny! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 Yes a Happy Seller, should we claim commission? On the locomotives for the Pensylvanian Stewartstown shortline, suitable steam was a bit in short supply, but I noticed a kit on US ebay, a 280 Tender locomotive, a "Brass Betsy", the US produced "Great Western" kit from 1950/53......yes, yet another vintage kit! This is an 1890's style 280 loco, very small and neat, and totally suitable for the shortline. I bid at the last moment and got it for £40, not bad by any standards. The cast brass kit was quite well known in it's day, one of the first lost wax and brass kits, came with a Kemtron motor, lots of details in brass and lost wax. They sold the kit to Kemtron, who made it for a while as both an HO and HOn3 loco, and used the cast brass lost wax parts in their main range in the 1950's. The locos were never good runners as bought, Kemtron offered a correction service for many years in the catalogues. The problem was the accuracy of the frames and the rods, they did not match! Easily corrected,. but fatal for a kit. Great Western supplied the side rods, and connecting rods with "as cast" holes, and forgot brass castings shrink after casting......Once corrected, they run very well, and can have springing added etc. The motor was a Lindsay designed one, made for the kit by Kemtron. Unusually for small old timer locos of this period the motor is in the loco, not the tender, possible because of the especially small Kemtron motor. From the photo, I cannot see the cylinder block, but I have one already!!! It was done by Kemtron as a Universal old time cylinder block, and still is made by Precision. I also have a brake gear shoe set for the loco, although the bag says HOn3, the wheels were the same diameter on both versions, so should fit fine. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 This is the type of 280 locomotive the Brass Betsy portrays, very similar, cylinders etc, and there are alternative stacks in the kit. Such small 280's are not modelled commercially very often, except in the H0n3 versions. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 82 squids - I'll say he should be happy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 I'm not the lucky buyer....honest. those brass pilots have re-appeared.... http://www.stewartstownrailroad.com/friends%20newsletter.pdf now you've got boxcabs, small older USsteam locos, etc on the boil...especially on ebay...do you want to kickstart some of the above [page 3?] speeders? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 BTW..would MDC/Roundhouse 2-8-0's count as suitable for Stewartstown RR? { I have one complete, and several kits-of -bits.....I used to buy up old-stock HOn3 MDC's from the likes of MG Sharp, from their stall....then re-gauge to HO.....£10-£15 per kit not bad...[prices as per 1990's, I admit...have far too many old time tenders though.....hence my specific interest in your work...] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 BTW..would MDC/Roundhouse 2-8-0's count as suitable for Stewartstown RR? { I have one complete, and several kits-of -bits.....I used to buy up old-stock HOn3 MDC's from the likes of MG Sharp, from their stall....then re-gauge to HO.....£10-£15 per kit not bad...[prices as per 1990's, I admit...have far too many old time tenders though.....hence my specific interest in your work...] I have one of the outside framed 280 Roundhouse H0n3, did they do an inside framed version as well?..... I can't remember offhand. I found the outside framed one problematic, all those plastic crankpins etc., thin rods, to change. Decent wheels though, but a very odd double gear worm drive. Actually the whole layout design would work for HOn3, thoughts of dual gauge flashed through the mind.....there was an extension branch from Stewartstown, and you could add a spur in HOn3 from the Station.......very tempting, but a DRG outside framed in PA?? the inside would be better. The Betsy is just about right size, the line had a larger 260 in later years. The Betsy will need new rods, split for springing, done Varney style with wires. I hope the wheels are in decent condition. Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 82 squids - I'll say he should be happy! Mind you, if that had been RTR and in a box it would have sold on US Ebay in the $200 range, mint it would fetch a lot more. Did anybody notice the very curious Mantua kit for a 282 Mikado, from the same seller as the Boxcab, that appeared to be a Frankenstein mating with a Graham Farish Hudson body! There were the remains of at least three HO locos in the box.....and the seller had a working Farish Hudson for sale as well. The Mantua chassis was doing duty as a 484 Niagara type under the Farish boiler. I was interested in the working Farish Hudson, but the Betsy 280 was far more attractive!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 I have currently [??] 3 mantua boilers hiding..[somewhere cold]....one from a more-or-less complete hudson, one from a pacific, and I think one was a doorstop. they are all...I think...identical. I have a lot of their 6 axle tenders as well..... their chassis weer very much in the vein of......if I may...Hornby-Dublo? the hudson was a very smooth, silky runner as I recall......until something jammed....weight, huge gears, and more weight helped in this.....like a Dublo Duchess? MDC made outside and inside framed consols in HOn3.....I gethered together at least 3, one is/was running...shays as well......one running, two 3-truckers yet to be mastered.... I have a set of 4 Varney ore jimmies too...with boxes.....they all had bigger diameter wheels to the later Roundhouse versions...dunnowhy. sorry, a sidetrack.....I recall reading somewhere...someone had turned one of Bachmann's On3 2-6-0's [the cheap one], into a small-wheeled gauge O deep south logging loco....was it one of you lot? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tebee Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 If you want a Farish Hudson there is another one one ebay for only 397.50 pounds(£)...... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GRAHAM-FARISH-OO-SCALE-NEW-YORK-CENTRAL-LOCO-COACH-x2_W0QQitemZ370261137018QQcategoryZ69819QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLSL%252BSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BIEW%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D9%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8333475909339237420#ht_4286wt_836 Mind you if you do want one I have a some what rougher one in my collection of "things-I'm-never-going-to-get-around-to-doing-anything-with" which you cane have for a lot less! Tom Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 I'm not the lucky buyer....honest. those brass pilots have re-appeared.... http://www.stewartst...0newsletter.pdf now you've got boxcabs, small older USsteam locos, etc on the boil...especially on ebay...do you want to kickstart some of the above [page 3?] speeders? You mean......... these pilots........ I have just bought, (a second set), possibly to go on a Robico Lindsay Stubby Diesel replica I am doing ??? (see post on the Varney and Lindsay diesels for this new line). Stephen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastairq Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 ok, Stephen...no need to rub it in..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 If you want a Farish Hudson there is another one one ebay for only 397.50 pounds(£)...... http://cgi.ebay.co.u...0#ht_4286wt_836 Mind you if you do want one I have a some what rougher one in my collection of "things-I'm-never-going-to-get-around-to-doing-anything-with" which you cane have for a lot less! Tom Go on , book a holiday, put it on Ebay!!! or if your serious about cheap contact me!!!! I have one of the wooden boxes for one, Grandad was a friend of Graham Farish and transported his products on his lorries, the boxes were Kilner jar Rubber seal boxes, re-used for the Hudson. My father had one, but a relative half hitched it !!!......Leaving just the box, must have been nearly 55 years ago. I was not allowed at 5yrs old to play with the loco!! I have been after a replacement ever since the loss.... Stephen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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