Leaderboard

Well it’s been 3 days since the Uckfield show and my knees have finally recovered from standing for two days and grubbing around under baseboards during set up😀 The layout behaved it’s self and despite the fact that I can either talk to the public or operate the layout, but can’t do both at the same time everything went to plan! I collected the hire van at 10.00am on the Friday morning and with the help of my pal and master fiddleyard operator Roger the van was loaded with the layout by 11.30 am. The new extension board fitted in the van without any problems, we’re obviously getting better at this packing lark😀 We were on the road before midday and arrived in East Sussex by about 3.30pm, it was a pretty uneventful journey despite the rigours of the dreaded M25! Set up in the exhibition hall started at 6.00pm, so with a couple of hours to kill and being so close we decided it would be rude not to pop in and visit the Bluebell Railway😀 The station building is delightful, with an ornate half timbered porch and tiled upper storey, I particularly liked the ornate chimney stacks. The ticket office and waiting rooms were equally lovely, all they needed was a roaring coal fire in the grate to add to the ambiance! We were greeted in the platform by a rake of magnificent wood finished Metropolitan coaches, Sherton Abbas definitely needs an excuse for a model of one of these! Maunsell’s splendid S15 class number 847 was in steam, so we spent a happy hour or so on the platform watching it run round and depart with an excursion. The couple of hours at Sheffield Park passed all to quickly, but we left by 5.30pm to make our way to the Civic Centre at Uckfield and get the layout set up. We met my other pal Al at the hall and had the layout set up in about an hour and a half. The new extension board fitted into place without any problems, which was a relief as there’s insufficient space in my workshop to set the layout up in its entirety! After a good night’s sleep at the local Premier Inn, we arrived at the exhibition hall for 8.00am to get the stock set up and get the layout ready for the public. An excellent breakfast was provided by the Uckfield club, as were copious amounts of tea, coffee and biscuits during the day, I can honestly say I’ve never been to such a well organised show😀 10 minutes before the show opened Roger thought it might be a good plan to run a passenger train through the layout. It departed the fiddle yard and then abruptly came to a sudden halt as it entered the new scenic board! Although I’d tested the new board by pushing a few wagons and running some locos, I hadn’t considered that my brake third coaches have duckets and were consequently too wide to enter the layout😳 Some frantic adjustments were made with a hacksaw and although the aperture now looks like a dogs chewed it trains passed through all weekend without any further problems! We had an excellent evening meal on Saturday evening hosted by the club at the Hare & Hounds in Framfied. After the meal our host Adrian had organised an excellent quiz, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. There was then a presentation of the cup for the best layout as voted for by the exhibitors and traders and I’m delighted to say that Sherton Abbas won! There were some truly excellent other layouts at the show, so being awarded this award was a huge surprise and made the whole weekend even more special. The show was a little quieter on Sunday which gave me chance to have a better look at the rest of the show and chat to other exhibitors. Ian Smith’s Modbury is quite exceptional, the locos are like pieces of jewellery and the despite the small size of 2mm the level of detail is remarkable! Martin Finley’s Newton Heath Works was also fabulous and a perfect example of how to do a cameo layout properly. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the cup on the layout, as you can see it’s a pretty magnificent trophy! The show finished at 5.00 pm on Sunday and the layout was unassembled and back in the van by ten past six, which I think is probably our best break down time ever😀 The M3 / M25 was a delightful experience as always, but we got back to Cardiff and had the layout unloaded and back in the workshop before 11.30 pm. Huge thanks to both Roger and Al for all their help during the weekend and to Adrian for inviting us to such a rewarding well organised event. Best wishes to all, particularly those that came to the exhibition and came for a chat! Dave

One of the models that's survived with me down through numerous upheavals and house moves is this Hornby Battle of Britain class "Spitfire". It was a Christmas present in 1981 so will soon have been in my possession for forty years. The model was much anticipated as the original Triang-Hornby Spamcan had been out of the catalogue for some years and I had high hopes that Hornby would have used the gap to improve the product a bit. After all, this was the time when Airfix, Bachmann and even Lima were putting out models that, at least in looks and finish, were a huge step above what had been available before. Hornby had started to meet the competition with models like the Schools and Fowler 4MT that, for their time, were nice products. However, when the Spamcan reappeared not much had been done to it! I think there were shiny wheels, possibly a keeper plate with some incorrect brake blocks, and that was that. However, I did like mine and thought it looked good with a bit of weathering. I added rear cab sheets out of plastic card, filled in the sand box holes, and added front steps and some extra weight in the body. Forty years on, and although I was still fond of the model, it had to be said that with its solid plastic deflectors and lack of brake gear, it couldn't stand muster next to one of the modern Hornby Spamcans from the early 2000s. I didn't fancy building a new chassis as I felt that we could rapidly get into Trigger's Broom territory! More importantly, and allowing for it being powered by an X04 motor, it still ran fine. So what to do? Ebay came to the rescue with the purchase of a vintage Crownline detailing kit intended for this very model! I'd been aware of such kits when I was younger but they were well out of range of my pocket money, not to mention skills! Before tackling the body I thought I'd work on the chassis. There was no point doing anything else if this bit couldn't be made to work properly. On with the brake gear! This already makes a huge difference in my opinion. The gear is a flimsy etch which needs to be glued to the Mazak chassis block. For added peace of mind with regards to short circuits, I first glued very thin acetate to the chassis block, then glued the etches onto that - the idea being that each half of brake gear is totally isolated from both the wheels and the chassis. The kit also includes proper slide bars, to replace the dummy plastic ones on the original model, as well as parts to adapt the piston rods into proper ones that fit into the slide bars. Next I tacked the main work on the body. This involves some major surgery to the front end, but it's nothing too difficult. The solid deflectors are removed, blanking pieces are fitted in to replace the gap in the casing, and then nice etched deflectors can be fitted over the top. Along the way, the front of the loco, with the smokebox door, is also replaced by a new casting of the right width. Throughout the process I tried to limit damage to the original moulding and paint job, as I felt I would save myself a lot of work if the basic Hornby finish could be preserved. For old time's sake I wanted to keep the name Spitfire. The kit also includes replacement buffer beam and buffers, new castings for the ash-pan and bogie, and some etches to improve the look of various details on the body. With the major work done, I indulged in some test-running. The loco was hooked up the fairly taxing "Pines Express", which is seven Bachmann mark 1 coaches which are somewhat on the heavy and draggy side. Other than some initial slipping, the Battle of Britain was well up to the task. Once run in, though, I imagine it will rarely be asked to pull such a heavy train. More work followed with the addition of some of the more fragile parts, such as front steps and cylinder pipes. I also used some of the parts intended to improve the tender. Touch-up painting then ensued, using Railmatch malachite which was a fair match to the Hornby shade. To my eye, it looks almost bang-on but the camera inevitably picks up some variation in hue, as evidenced between the body and the deflectors. The model very much still displays its Triang-Hornby heritage around the wheels and rods, but I feel that, taken as a whole, it's now far more at home among the more modern models - a testament to the basic body shape being very good, and in proportion. So there you go - nothing very clever, and very far from finescale modelling, but a nice way to keep an old loco in running condition. Cheers and thanks for reading.

In my role as Publications Officer for the 2mm Scale Association, I'm currently working on a revamp of the "couplings" chapter of the erstwhile 2mm Handbook. I was intrigued by the reference to Lin-Cup couplings, which I hadn't heard of or seen. So I went back to the June 1976 issue of the 2mm Magazine to read Lindsey Little's original article. His goal of "something inconspicuous, not too unrailwaylike, close coupling, sturdy and capable of being made by a squint-eyed tyro with ten thumbs" sounded promising... I decided to have a go at making some following the instructions in the article. If nothing else, this would allow me to photograph them for the new handbook. Firstly, here is a photo of a completed coupling, glued to the underside of a Buchanan Kits open wagon. The underside of the wagon is a mess because I had to remove the folded-up coupling "boxes" that I had previously fitted before painting. This illustrates a nice feature of the Lin-Cup: the "gubbins" is all hidden behind the solebars, with only a wire hook protruding beneath. Like an Electra, the hook hangs at a 45-degree angle (when the wagon is upright) thanks to the small lead fishing weight behind the pivot. The headstock of the wagon keeps the wire shank horizontal and hence the hook at the correct angle. Unlike the Electra, the pivot is on a 60-degree(-ish) angle to the headstock, so that when another coupling pushes against it, the hook both rotates both down and towards the vertical, allowing the opposing coupling to snap past. The coupling seems to have been more utilised in 7mm scale, in the form of the "Lincs" auto coupler (see here). But I haven't seen it during my (comparatively recent) involvement in the 2mm scene. Although I haven't yet tried them in operational use, I think this coupling has several benefits. Firstly, and importantly for me, it is robust and quite forgiving of misalignment. At the same time, it is probably the least conspicuous 2mm auto-coupling other than the fiddly Alex Jackson. Here is a comparison of wagons fitted with Lin-Cups (right) and Electras (left): It's hard to see here but with the Electras you can actually see the weights hanging down behind the wheels, as well as the pivot tube beneath the headstocks. There is a further advantage to Lin-Cups not visible here: you could still fit dummy representations of real 3-link or screw couplings, hanging down from the coupling hook. This is not true (I don't think) with Electras, where the delay "dropper" would get in the way. (As yet I haven't found the time to try making 3-links, it has to be said.) The next photo is a comparison with DGs, which prevent you even from fitting the coupling hook: When it comes to operation, the Lin-Cup lacks the "delayed action" facility of DGs, Electras or Alex Jacksons, where you can uncouple at one location and propel the wagons to another spot without coupling up again. But it makes up for this, I think, by (a) the above advantages and (b) the fact that you can uncouple using simple permanent magnets underneath the track. This works because the only way to uncouple is to reverse the train (taking the tension off the hooks) while over a magnet. Similar to the "Electra shuffle". Here you see two wagons as they would look while pushing along clear track (top) and while over a magnet (bottom): Notice that the couplings hang down quite a long way - this could be limited by putting some packing under the wagon floor to stop the "weight" end behind the pivot from moving up so far. Here are two end views to show how the coupling hook moves when over a magnet. The magnet here is actually fixed (temporarily) below the wooden base of my test track. So why are these couplings not so popular? Perhaps there is a fatal flaw that I am yet to discover, but I suspect it is partly the fact that they are not commercially available and you have to make them yourself. This turned out not to be too difficult, but it would be very hard without first spending a little time to make jigs like those recommended in the original article. The first is for bending the "frame" and just consists of two bits of nickel silver soldered together. The hardest part was cutting/filing one of these into the shape of an equilateral triangle, which I did by guesstimating. I've been making the frames from 28swg phosphor-bronze which makes it easy to spring onto the tube. The second jig is for soldering the steel hook to the tube. A jig is essential here as it has to be soldered at a 30 degree angle in one plane (so that it will pivot sideways) and a 45 degree angle in another (so that it will hang at 45 degrees in the resting position). I found a scrap bit of aluminium angle and followed the instructions in the article, drilling and filing a slot to hold the brass tube. It's hard to see but the section of aluminium against which the hook is sitting is bent up at 45 degrees. For the record, my tubes are 0.8mm (O/D) brass from Albion Alloys, which gives a nice free fit over the p/b frame. I scribed a mark at "5mm in front of the frame" to guide me, but I found that slightly longer is needed for the wagons I've tried so far, because the coupling hook extends through the headstock and prevents the coupling frame from being fitted right up against the inside of the headstock. The hook is made from the same spring-steel wire (or guitar string) used for Electras. In use, I fixed the hook to the jig with masking tape and held the tail end down with a bit of wood. I used Carr's Yellow Label flux and plenty of solder. A decently-sized soldering iron bit was helpful as the aluminium acts like a heat sink. Here's a close up of a finished coupling, once the fishing weight has been "crimped" on and secured with cyano. It's certainly no harder to make than an Electra, and I'm quite impressed so far.

Some progress has been made with the Lima GUV/cct. A coat of red oxide on the the body revealed some nasty gouges where I scraped the beading away. Obviously lacked the finesse/patience!! Imperfections were sanded, filled with revell plasto (only thing they had in hobbycraft but rather good) and further sanding. The bogies where sprayed black, wheels popped in and sides glued on. It is quite tough getting wheels in and out without bending the frames out of shape once the sides are fitted. Contact glue was used. A further coat of red oxide on the body to cover the filler. Rivet detail was added to the underframe using plastruct rod. The sole bar rivets are drilled holes. Alot easier and they look fine if not better than my plastruct efforts. The underframe was primed then sprayed black. A general view of the work so far. Vac and steam heat pipes are added before the black spray coat. These are vac pipes by Lanarkshire model supplies, the steam heat bent and cut to mimic a steam heat pipe.