Leaderboard

4 new points were added to the board - two mixed gauge points and two narrow gauge. The board is like a swan, it looks pretty calm on top, but all hell breaks loose underneath with a maze of multicolored wiring. So far the running reliability is good, but with the stay-alive in the loco's its hard to tell if it's down to my track and wiring or not...maybe i need a 'normal' loco for fault detection? The Tillig track has been interesting to use and the transition from standard gauge to mixed gauge to narrow gauge is something different that brings a lot of interest. The track plan is evolving as i put the pieces down and along the way the aim may have changed from an isolated test board to a building block for a small layout. In the meantime, i will try and find a way of completing a continuous circuit with temporary loops, at least for the narrow gauge, to allow some more running sessions. Lets see where it takes me.. The biggest challenge so far is fitting the Cobalt point motors, they are really nice pieces of kit, but the alignment is difficult and always takes a bit of jiggling.

A minor digression into drawbars, here. Hornby's Rebuilt West Country/Battle of Britain models are nice products, with a couple of annoying quirks. The first and worst of these is that they're prone to gear failures, at least the ones produced in the early batches. I ended up with three, and after a few years two of them were both non-runners due to various issues. Hornby's repair department was no help at all, which I found very disappointing as they are by no means old models, and the Rebuilts have been in the catalogue relatively recently. Anyway, Ian at Redgate Models did a fine job with the models and while they were away I asked him to install sound as well. As a result I got my two Bulleids back in fine working order. The second quirk is less bothersome, but still annoying: the excessive loco-tender gap. See below: This is hideous, and unnecessary. Hornby did a much better job with the earlier Bulleids, so why this ridiculous gap? I've no idea but it makes them look daft, in my view. The gap is at least a scale foot too wide. I've tackled this in two ways. With the sound equipped locos, I didn't want to lose the extra pickup connections between the loco and tender, so I set about modifying the existing electrical drawbar. First, I unscrewed it, then unsoldered the two small wires which feed the two track polarities across the gap. By elongating the hole which the screw goes through, I was able to move the drawbar about 2mm nearer to the loco. I then made the hole round again by soldering a bit of scrap etch over it and filing it back to shape, effectively moving the hole. I had to nibble a bit away from the loco end of the drawbar for clearance. The connections were then re--soldered and the loco tested, and found to be all well. As shown below, the gap is now closed by about 2mm - small, but enough to make a difference. I could probably get another mm or so out of it, but there's a complication here in that the sound in the tender needs an extra plug-in connection between loco and tender, for which the space is already tight. One possibility might be to substitute a slightly smaller plug but as it is, I feel that it's enough of improvement to be going on with. With my first Bulleid, however, the one that never developed a fault, I was happy to lose the electrical connection and substitute a dummy drawbar from plastic: This one has never given any trouble with pickup from just the loco alone, and with the gap closed by another 4mm, the relationship looks pretty close to photos. However, I'm not sure that the sound-fitted locos would be as reliable as they are without the extra pickups. The remaining loco will get the shortened drawbar treatment, and then I'll be allocating new names and numbers to two or three of these, Thanks for reading!

The part of the instructions, which have only a couple of sketches and reminded me today of Airfix instructions back in the day when they purely text, is to add either a signal wire pulley, or a crank arm (cosmetic). This is different from the other kit I did which just offered a crank, so naturally I've gone with the pulley - though this is I suspect not prototypical for the period. It uses the same part as the bracket on the post and folds up with a pulley on another short bit of rod. This is soldered to the baseplate pointing either in-line or at right angles to the signal. The wire is coming from the front in my case. I may have to lift it a bit later. Now I have to go off-script as the next bit is fitting the lamp and bracket. Since I'm lighting the signal an LED needs to go in the lamp. This was much the same as outlined back in the dummy making posts, except this time the bracket needs a hole in as well for the wires coming down from the lamp. The lamp is a different shape to last kit, I'm guessing this is a GWR/BR(WR) thing but no worries. The front lens and the tell-tale at the back are not in line. By angling the pin vice I managed to get them to meet in the middle in the hole drilled up to get the LED in position. Before drilling the lamp I dug out a spare lamp from the previous kit (a bag full of signalling eBay extras the seller chucked in!) just to make sure which I wanted to use. The one on the left, with it's bracket, is the 'proper' one, the one on the right is the spare. As there will be wires I can't solder this so I was pondering two glue joints vs. one. I decided to go with the kit lamp and bracket (the lamp hadn't been drilled at this point) And then, while trial fitting the LED, the bracket vanished. Another 30 minutes on the floor failed to find it. Bloody aliens again I expect. Still, not a disaster as I can cite BRiness for having to use the spare. This is it drilled out. Next a hole is needed in the post. I marked it out as per the instructions and it turns out the new lamp is a direct swap for the lost one. So I filed a small flat on the post behind where the lamp bracket will go to give the glue half a chance, and also used the flat to drill a hole for the wires. I may need to open out the hole a bit, the wires go through (they are tiny) but its a bit tight perhaps. The LEDs, fortunately, come with long leads so the resistor can be cut off to allow feeding the wires down the post. So, test the LED (that would be annoying) and stick it in the lamp with Evostick. All good, glue drying time. I'll probably find that bracket sitting staring at me in a minute...

During the Cardiff model railway show back in October 2019, I treated myself to a couple of six wheel coaches from Dragon Models. http://www.taffvale.wales/page1.php Although I thoroughly enjoy building locomotives and wagons, I always find building coaches a bit of a slog and consequently haven't got many to use on Sherton Abbas My entire passenger stock comprises of three Slater's 4 wheel coaches, a solitary Slater's all 3rd bogie clerestory and an etched brass V2 passenger brake van. I'm about half way through a Slater's Clerestory brake 3rd dia D14 which I really should summon the enthusiasm to finish, but I fancied a bit of soldering, so made a start on this Passenger Brake Van! Dia V9 brake van. The kit comprises of the usual etched brass frets, accompanied by some lengths of brass wire, white metal castings and a pre formed roof. Kit components Before the body could be assembled the door hinges and door bangers had to be soldered in position along with the droplight window Hinges and door bangers The sides and ends could then be soldered together. Unfortunately this was easier to say than do, the kit relies on butt fitting the sides and ends and would have been so much easier if there had been locating tabs incorporated in the kit design Eventually I managed to get the thing square and strengthened the joints with fillets of solder. Sides and ends assembled The W irons and supporting flooring were assembled next. The kit has a clever design that allows the wheels at each end to pivot and the centre axle to be able to slide left and right, which hopefully will allow the model to negotiate tighter curves than the prototype! W irons The components for the outside clasp brakes were then added. I'm always concerned that metal brake shoes will cause an electrical short if they touch the wheels, so I wrapped the shoes in epoxy resin soaked tissue paper which once set provides good insulation. Outside Clap Brakes The body and W iron components were then fitted together and the ride height checked. Body on wheels The etched brass step boards provided in the kit looked suspiciously malnourished and this was confirmed by measuring against a scale drawing. An order of brass strip and 1mm square brass rod was obtained from Eileens Emporium https://www.eileensemporium.com/materials-for-modellers/category/brass-flat-strips-metric and step boards were constructed from this. The picture shows the boards provided in the kit at the bottom, along with my fabrications at the top. Step boards The step boards were fitted to the body ensuring that there was still room fore the W irons to pivot/slide laterally. Step boards in Situ On the prototype coach the W irons are connected together by a rod linking them all. However on my model if I simply soldered a wire linking all the W irons together on each side, it would stop the W irons being able to pivot or move laterally and lock everything solid. To overcome this issue I soldered a length of brass tube behind the centre axle W iron and then cut the connecting rod in half. The rod was then soldered at one end to the outside axle W irons, but allowed to slide free in the centre axle tubing. This subterfuge is hopefully not too obvious, but should allow the coach to cope with reasonably tight radius curves. Centre axle tube The coach was then burnished with a fiberglass bristle pen to remove excess solder and then the white metal ventilator bonnets, axle boxes etc were glued in place using 5 minute epoxy resin. The white metal buffers included in the kit left a bit to be desired, so I replaced these with sprung versions from Slater's. White metal components in position. The next couple of pictures are of the coach with the roof just resting in position, the next step will be to paint and glaze the model before the roof can finally be fitted permanently and the hand rails fitted. I also need to decide whether to model the coach with gas lighting, or as oil lit. I quite like the idea of oil lit to provide a contrast with my other gas lit coaches, but I'm not sure if this would be appropriate for a coach running in 1905. Roof in position Despite a few problems encountered during the build of this coach, nothing was insurmountable and I quite enjoyed the experience! Bearing this in mind I think I'm going to make a start on building a matching 6 wheel composite carriage dia U9, I might even finish that Slater's D14 clerestory! Until next time.... Best wishes Dave

With the LED now fixed in the lamp, the leads got fed down the post. I half expected them to get caught up on the rod providing the pivot for the counter balance, but all went swimmingly. Twisting them together may have helped. The camera's really struggling close-ups today, wrong phase of the moon or something. And then the lamp was glued on, making sure it lines up with the spectacle lens holes. Followed by the track circuit plaque. I placed this as per the instructions, but I feel it's a bit low. Maybe another GWR/BR)WR) thing. I've concluded it can stay there as it's not 'wrong' as such. So to the lampman's platform. I've made my signal 19ft tall so I 'have to' have one - though to be honest I'd have one whatever the height because they look nice. I got a bit puzzled here (not that that is all that difficult) as the platform comes with a couple legs sticking out that are to be shaped round the post, but not long enough to meet at the front. A nice cuppa perusing Google, and the picture on the front of the instructions, seems to imply the platform sits on some sort of frame (part of the platform) that's fixed to the post with a strap going round it. After some consideration I cut the legs off and made up a strap with legs for the platform to sit on. It looks the part anyway. (Yes, it needed a tweak in the right hand photo). And then soldered to the post in the prescribed position. (A bit of an optical illusion here) Followed by the ladder. Next is the handrail round the platform. This looked awfully scary and fragile, but it all went just fine. The ladder has a strap securing it to the post somewhere around halfway up. The kit provides some material for this, but it's not long enough to do it in one piece. A rummage around in the etch off cuts box provided a strip of brass long enough to make it in on one piece. Add the finial and there it is done. The blind that goes behind the lamp I'll fit after painting the arm, same for the spectacle lenses. The operating rods go on last of all (because they get in the way of painting). Some searching has revealed the other kit I keep referring to that I built the other signal from is from Scale Signal Supply (via Invertrain). This one, MSE, is identified as being a GWR tubular post signal, whereas the SSS one is identified as being a GWR/BR(WR) tubular post affair. I guess that explains the differences, such as they are. Which is 'best'? Neither, really. Both make a very nice signal, just the MSE one seems a bit more GWR and presumably earlyish BR, whereas the SSS one is definitely BR, so take your pick. The MSE one has a few more options, and the instructions are well written but you'd need to get up to speed on terminology a bit, and be able to work without diagrams in the most part. The SSS one is simpler in terms of making a stop or distant in one style only, no calling on arm (3ft) option as far as I remember but with pretty pictures in the instructions ; sketches, really. The MSE one comes with an etch for the handrail round the lampman's platform, whereas the SSS one you have to make it with wire and position the uprights as you see fit (the plastic center from a till roll makes a good former) - hardly arduous though. I have no requirement for any more signals, but if I did I'd go with SSS - simply because it's more 1980. I mentioned at the beginning that the instructions for this build recommends using three different temperature solders, but I built it only using low-melt with the iron on full tilt. Don't try this if you are not confident with a soldering iron. You could easily build it with glue if soldering is scary.

This weekend was a chance to finish off painting the asphalt and to make a start on getting all the road lining and decals down. Ferry terminals seem to be covered with white yellow and red lining of different sorts so out with the acrylic pens and bendy ruler to start marking it all on. (marking on the top road lines first using the bendy ruler for the corners.) (I then marked out a chevron where the two routes split before marking the lines down the ramp.) The ramp road crosses the railway at the bottom. Due to the dockside industrial nature I decided to make this an open crossing with give way decals rather than full barriers. The first thing to do was to mark on the box junction. I decided to go with a hybrid design using the diamond pattern courtesy of my daughters set square but spread over the whole box as when vehicles are running they use both lanes in one direction on the ramp. Not quite to DfT diagram standard but as this is a private road I didn't think that mattered. (box junction marked on) I really like these acrylic pens. They make line painting really easy. I then lined the rest of the junction Having completed this it was out with the scale model scenery self-adhesive decals again to put the finishing touches to the road markings. The tiny writing proved quite tricky to get off the sheet, but everything else came off and onto the layout relatively painlessly. (arrows where the traffic flows meet) (decals applied to Junction) Having completed the approach roads I turned my attention to the dockside. Having looked at images of Dover the mooring points are marked with red paint and a yellow border whilst on the train ferry Dock there were numbers marked on the dockside I assume as a count down for the ships crew to know when they were about to butt up to the Linkspan. I wanted to mark out the area of the tramway in a similar way to how it was done at Weymouth with a single 45 degree line and dashed outer edge. Unfortunately my yellow pen started running out when I got to that part. Here is the state of play when I finished this evening. (marking the mooring points) (additional parking bays marked in with yellow lining progressed. Lots of no parking paint slapped down) (scaled count down to Linkspan in metres along Dock edge) I need to order a new yellow pen to finish off the yellow lining. Thanks for reading

Dapol / Airfix VENTILATED MEAT VAN This months model is a recently constructed Dapol kit of a BR ventilated meat van in use from the 1950's up to the 1970's although not used for its intended purpose towards the end of their careers on BR. My model shows a meat van in early 1960's condition having been repainted from coaching stock maroon it to BR Bauxite and now in use for general merchandise. Apart from the basic kit I have used some very nice buffers from Nairnshire modelling supplies and Smith's screw link couplings. The door hinges as supplied were designed to allow the doors to open and were most un prototypical . They were removed with a sharp knife and the doors glued in solid with MEK, Dummy hinges were added from Microstrip. Considering the age of the moulds used for making these kits and the softer plastic used these days I am quite pleased with the results and will build a couple more I think. Cheers! Frank