Castle Aching

[Compound2632]

My next challenge is teaching myself low melting point soldering. 

 

I viewed whitemetal soldering with trepidation until I bought a temperature-controlled 50W Antex soldering iron, I think from C&L. £50 well spent. Set to below the melting point of whitemetal*, I know that however long the iron is applied to the castings, the Second Law of Thermodynamics is on my side. I've only built wagons so far, practising technique. The most important thing is to polish up the whitemetal faces that are to be soldered. 

 

*Varies according to the composition of the alloy but 160 deg C seems safe.

[runs as required]

I viewed whitemetal soldering with trepidation until I bought a temperature-controlled 50W Antex soldering iron, I think from C&L. £50 well spent. Set to below the melting point of whitemetal*, I know that however long the iron is applied to the castings, the Second Law of Thermodynamics is on my side. I've only built wagons so far, practising technique. The most important thing is to polish up the whitemetal faces that are to be soldered. 

 

*Varies according to the composition of the alloy but 160 deg C seems safe.

I do agree with the advice to use a temperature controlled iron.

I also thoroughly recommend use of an old throw out white metal model as a practice piece (I tend to do this with any bit of soldering as I do it these days so seldom)

I've also managed quick in-and -out thrusts with a hot iron on white metal.

[Northroader]

I’m slowing down, matey, Ive been trying some of the “quick in and out thrusts with a hot iron” attaching limbs on w.m. figures, sometimes I’m just not quick enough!

[Nearholmer]

I’m pretty sure I showed my £10 soldering iron controller earlier in the thread.

 

With that, low melt solder and the right flux, soldering white metal is astonishingly easy and neat.

 

For longish seams in loco kits, I could that the solder had to be sort of ‘written’ onto the fluxed joint, rather like using the bit as a quill pen.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Donw]

Jonathan, if you don’t feel up to low melt solder, and I certainly don’t, the times I try white metal soldering it starts to dissolve in shapeless pools, you can assemble your kit with 24- hour Araldite epoxy. Do it a bit at a time, and hold in position with blutak and elastic bands until it’s set, and you’ve done it. I’ve got a big 0 gauge hopper wagon done this way with no problems.

A few spots of superglue can hold bits in place while the epoxy between them for strength sets.  I too am wary of soldering whitemetal having soldered up a cast body nicely I managed to poke the iron against the cab while checking it was all done. Doh! NMind you there are others reasons I am not a fan of whitemetal except for castings.

 

Don

[Argos]

Probably all the issues listed.

 

Too much going wrong to narrow it down, It's all shoddy. I did as suggested and pushed some trucks through, but it was too depressing.

 

In the first turnout, (picture below), some stock derails in the areas of the point blade and the nearer stock rail.  You can see where I have inserted a pin to hold the latter in gauge.  I could not even see that the slide chair had moved so much when it came unstuck until I saw the enlarged picture. It does not help that I can no longer see properly.  The time has come for reading glasses! In the meantime, I feel rather like Donald Pleasence in The Great Escape; "I can see! Take me with you!"

 

The second turnout I have failed to gain a good shot of in the poor light.  The main problem here is that the V stands too proud. It may well be that the crossings are too narrow.

 

Bear in mind that the other turnouts are probably equally defective, but I haven't managed to wire them up or make them operational yet.

 

Yes, I can understand wiring when David is standing next to me. He leaves, so does my grasp of the matter!

 

I really cannot think about this anymore, It's just depressing me and I'll end up in a state like yesterday.  In fact, I have.

 

Yes, I need someone here. Sorry, but there is. My solo attempts at fixing this cannot prosper, and I will simply despair and chuck the whole thing.  I simply do not have the mental resilience to deal with the consequences of my lack of ability and success.  As things are at the moment I don't need to discover the wonderful world of something else I can fail at. 

 

Of course, now I just feel again that any other railway modelling will be a complete waste of time.  So nothing will get done.  It's not anyone else's problem to sort out, it's mine.  But I won't sort it out. I've had weeks since T's project ended.  If was going to sort it out, I would have done so by now.  I am not going to sort it out. 

 

Hi Edwardian,

 

I can wholly empathise with your predicament, indeed it sounds all too familiar.

 

There have been numerous occasions where I've come close to ripping all the trackwork out on Glencruitten and going back to standard N gauge.

However, I know in my heart of hearts that approach would never satisfy and perseverance is the only way to learn and gain the knowledge and skills required.

 

Even now after months of fettling the the rolling stock bumps through the pointwork a bit too much for my liking, but I can at least operate the layout with reasonable reliability.

 

As with most things I find the best approach is take it a step at a time.

I concentrate on getting one point running satisfactorily, usually the one that is giving the least grief, then move to the next.

I then keep operating and adjusting until I am happy.

On occasion I have had to replace a crossing and now I think there is a switch blade that needs to be changed.

It's all part of the learning curve, and I am all too aware I started at the bottom.

 

I should add that my first point build was utterly disastrous when presented with the first wagon run through and a lot of adjustment was required to get it right, I then ran a second wagon through that was equally disastrous only to realise that the back to backs were out on the first wagon so had to reverse everything I'd done.

 

Lesson 1 - check your back to backs before altering the pointwork!

Edited May 29, 2018 by Argos

[Guy Rixon]

I have a memory that this problem of turnouts going under-gauge is common to plastic, functional chairs. There's a post mentioning that on the S4 forum today, and I'm pretty sure that I've read about it elsewhere. I suspect (waving my hands a bit) that the method of gauging the turnouts deforms the chairs inelastically allowing the rail to move outward during construction. The chairs then gradually relax so that, some months after construction and testing, the track is under-gauge.

 

The cure would seem to be using at least some rivets to establish and maintain the gauge. I now intend to work that way with the pointwork for Strand.

Edited May 29, 2018 by Guy Rixon

[Edwardian]

I had the pleasure of entertaining Runs as Required briefly this evening.  He kindly checked on the health of the patient and did some all round morale boosting. 

 

In other news, I picked up my first pair of reading glasses today - I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled - this means I can actually see what I am doing!

 

Anyway, David reminded me that CA is now a community project, and that I am to keep it going and to accept help, including practical help, whenever offered.  I have very gratefully accepted an offer of turnout building, which will at least allow me to start modelling again. Thank you DonW, Chief Engineer of the WNR.

 

David also volunteered his services, as the Parish Remembrancer, so he will soon embark upon the task of indexing the topic, so that its past glories can be easily called to mind in the context of present digressions.  Once this mammoth task is complete, updates may be run as required. Thank you, David.

 

I remain extremely grateful to everyone for their continuing support of my faltering steps. It does very much help.

 

It has been suggested that I should encourage a more participatory approach.  I thought I had inasmuch as everything from track plans to new locomotives, and from station architecture to moribund seaside resorts, has been evolved through discussion; the canon grows organically from the gifts of many hands, and, when the layout is built, it will be in a form that could only have been achieved as a group effort.

 

The pleasure has been in the journey, and, so, the journey will continue.  Castle Aching is only one destination on the West Norfolk Railway and we are nowhere near arriving at it. I hope that one day we will arrive there, but, if we do, it will be as the point of departure for many other parts of the line, for some of which I may not be at all responsible!

 

Thank you all and goodnight.

 

Oh, and take a break, lads ....

Edited May 29, 2018 by Edwardian

[St Enodoc]

I had the pleasure of entertaining Runs as Required briefly this evening.  He kindly checked on the health of the patient and did some all round morale boosting. 

 

In other news, I picked up my first pair of reading glasses today - I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled - this means I can actually see what I am doing!

 

Anyway, David reminded me that CA is now a community project, and that I am to keep it going and to accept help, including practical help, whenever offered.  I have very gratefully accepted an offer of turnout building, which will at least allow me to start modelling again. Thank you DonW, Chief Engineer of the WNR.

 

David also volunteered his services, as the Parish Remembrancer, so he will soon embark upon the task of indexing the topic, so that its past glories can be easily called to mind in the context of present digressions.  Once this mammoth task is complete, updates may be run as required. Thank you, David.

 

I remain extremely grateful to everyone for their continuing support of my faltering steps. It does very much help.

 

It has been suggested that I should encourage a more participatory approach.  I thought I had inasmuch as everything from track plans to new locomotives, and from station architecture to moribund seaside resorts, has been evolved through discussion; the canon grows organically from the gifts of many hands, and, when the layout is built, it will be in a form that could only have been achieved as a group effort.

 

The pleasure has been in the journey, and, so, the journey will continue.  Castle Aching is only one destination on the West Norfolk Railway and we are nowhere near arriving at it. I hope that one day we will arrive there, but, if we do, it will be as the point of departure for many other parts of the line, for some of which I may not be at all responsible!

 

Thank you all and goodnight.

 

Oh, and take a break, lads ....

That's more like it! Good onya, as we (sometimes) say down here.

[corneliuslundie]

I really think that CA is the most carefully thought out "fictional" model railway I have come across. I really like the approach of creating the world in which it is to exist. Yes, we have rambled and wandered not just off piste but onto a completely different mountain from time to time. Even if the layout never is finished (if any layout is finished) I already have a very clear idea of the area in which CA is set, its history, geography, local industries, local characters, local architecture, the traffic therefore offering etc etc etc. It has really been very satisfying reading all the contributions from so many people with different skills and backgrounds and able to call on different aspects of the topic. 

And Edwardian as host has never complained when one of us tries to rewrite "his" history of the line a little to allow some new aspect to be considered, whether coprolite or sheep.

So all along it has been a co-operative effort. I am sorry that at this stage at least I am not able to offer any practical contribution, though i shall watch out for opportunities. I must admit that once the index is in place I shall be sorely tempted to write the guide book I have been wittering on about.

And it all started with some magnificent buildings the like of which I can only dream of. There is real talent there. But we all have pour strengths and our weaknesses - and it is obvious from the many comments recently that Edwardian is not alone in finding track building is not one of his strengths.

Yes, each day I make sure that I have time to keep up with the ever developing story of CA.

And though not relevant to CA (and apologies to Edwardian for yet another side track), many thanks to those who responded to my comments on white metal soldering. I shall report on the Sarn/Nantcwmdu thread in due course when I have taken my temperature controlled iron out of its box and applied it to that spare tender kit.

Jonathan

[Donw]

I have a memory that this problem of turnouts going under-gauge is common to plastic, functional chairs. There's a post mentioning that on the S4 forum today, and I'm pretty sure that I've read about it elsewhere. I suspect (waving my hands a bit) that the method of gauging the turnouts deforms the chairs inelastically allowing the rail to move outward during construction. The chairs then gradually relax so that, some months after construction and testing, the track is under-gauge.

 

The cure would seem to be using at least some rivets to establish and maintain the gauge. I now intend to work that way with the pointwork for Strand.

 

I discovered that the plastic chairs can be distorted when I first used them and this can be a particular problem around the crossing area. You can easily push the crossing nose back if it is all plastic chairs. My first resolution was to put a brass screw under the crossing nose and solder the crossing down onto that. Since then I have adopted the use of metal strips soldered to the undeside of the rails to hold the crossing/wing rail assemby and arranging the strips so they align with the timbers and expoxy them down onto the timbers. If the strips are the right thickness they will hold the rails at the correct height to match the chairs. This was how I did the samle for Ewardian.  It is also important that any pressure used to hold the the rail and chairs down while fixing is vertical so it doesn't deform the chairs sideways at all.

Of course it didn't matter that some of my early 0 gauge turnouts may have been slightly under 32mm gauge - ahead of the game now 31.5 is being used by some  . More likely are problems such as the rails at the knuckle moving slightly and no longer aligning correctly with the crossing.

 

However with 2mm the chairs are much finer and while quite strong enough to hold the rails when trains are running a few soldered connections do assist during construction so I think you will find that works well in 4mm.

 

Don

[sem34090]

Some upbeat news!

 

This meets your locomotive draughtsman with joy!

 

Once I can I intend to make a start on the Fox Walker 0-6-0ST Secret Project. Just need to find that electrotren chassis the required components for the project!

[Hroth]

Some upbeat news!

 

This meets your locomotive draughtsman with joy!

 

Once I can I intend to make a start on the Fox Walker 0-6-0ST Secret Project. Just need to find that electrotren chassis the required components for the project!

Completely incoherent, dear boy.

 

Must be a function of too early in the morning......

[RedGemAlchemist]

I had the pleasure of entertaining Runs as Required briefly this evening.  He kindly checked on the health of the patient and did some all round morale boosting. 

 

In other news, I picked up my first pair of reading glasses today - I grow old, I grow old, I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled - this means I can actually see what I am doing!

 

Anyway, David reminded me that CA is now a community project, and that I am to keep it going and to accept help, including practical help, whenever offered.  I have very gratefully accepted an offer of turnout building, which will at least allow me to start modelling again. Thank you DonW, Chief Engineer of the WNR.

 

David also volunteered his services, as the Parish Remembrancer, so he will soon embark upon the task of indexing the topic, so that its past glories can be easily called to mind in the context of present digressions.  Once this mammoth task is complete, updates may be run as required. Thank you, David.

 

I remain extremely grateful to everyone for their continuing support of my faltering steps. It does very much help.

 

It has been suggested that I should encourage a more participatory approach.  I thought I had inasmuch as everything from track plans to new locomotives, and from station architecture to moribund seaside resorts, has been evolved through discussion; the canon grows organically from the gifts of many hands, and, when the layout is built, it will be in a form that could only have been achieved as a group effort.

 

The pleasure has been in the journey, and, so, the journey will continue.  Castle Aching is only one destination on the West Norfolk Railway and we are nowhere near arriving at it. I hope that one day we will arrive there, but, if we do, it will be as the point of departure for many other parts of the line, for some of which I may not be at all responsible!

 

Thank you all and goodnight.

 

Oh, and take a break, lads ....

Good to hear you sounding more upbeat mate.

Also, glasses do not equal old. I know that from experience.

The long trek to Castle Aching continues. Even if we never get there, which I am almost certain we will, the journey has and will continue to be extremely entertaining. 

Edited May 30, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[Nearholmer]

He who would valiant be

'gainst all disaster,

let him in constancy

follow Don Double-You.

There's no discouragement

shall make him once relent

his first avowed intent

to build a railway!

 

Let there be an outpouring of Great Joy and a sharing of the wine of grateful thanks in the knowledge that Edwardian has been aided from the Slough of Despond by the ministry of DonW, and a girding of the loins in readiness for the ascent of the Delectable Mountains, for they are as surely before us as the sunrise on the morrow.

 

And, no man may call himself Old on the cause of using eye-glasses while yet he is able to recall his own name at less than three tryings; think ye with care that some among us have been needful of their aid from tender years.

 

Beware ye, though, The Evil Varifocals. They are a deceit wrought by the most sutil serpents of the opticians trade and will lead a man as a path set about with primroses unto the worship of 16mm/ft and Coarse-0, all other things being as dust-motes and the toenails of gnats in their dimension.

 

Kevin (who seems to be suffering from an outbreak of Seventeenthcenturyism this morning)

Edited May 30, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Compound2632]

Beware ye, though, The Evil Varifocals. They are a deceit wrought by the most sutil serpents of the opticians trade and will lead a man as a path set about with primroses unto the worship of 16mm/ft and Coarse-0, all other things being as dust-motes and the toenails of gnats in their dimension.

 

I never got on with reading glasses but am happy with two pairs of varifocals - standard for driving and general use, "office" for computer use and modelling. I take both to exhibitions - generally the standard ones do but I find myself reaching for the "office" pair when looking at 2mm scale layouts. 

 

I'm not so very old neither.

[sem34090]

Ah, I like it when Kevin has a literary outburst!

[RedGemAlchemist]

I never got on with reading glasses but am happy with two pairs of varifocals - standard for driving and general use, "office" for computer use and modelling. I take both to exhibitions - generally the standard ones do but I find myself reaching for the "office" pair when looking at 2mm scale layouts. 

 

I'm not so very old neither.

I just have two pairs of glasses (one for when I'm at home and a "cheap" pair for work) and a pair of prescription sunglasses, as my issue is horrifically bad short-sightedness. 

I've needed them since I was 16. I am now just short of 25.

 

Ah, I like it when Kevin has a literary outburst!

As do I!

Edited May 30, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist

[Compound2632]

I'm not so very old neither.

 

 

I am now just short of 25.

 

Well, more than twice your age...

 

But wearing glasses for short-sight since my early teens. Once you're into your late 40s the presbyopia sets in so you're stymied either way. 

[Nearholmer]

I’ve got a pair of ‘close work’ varifocals too, but I barely ever wear them, because they run out of focal range at about arm’s length, and it feels like being inside a translucent goldfish bowl. The ‘general purpose’ ones are good for everything from reading to infinity, but no good closer than reading-distance, so I simply take them off and squint a lot, which the optician claims is A Very Bad Thing.

[Edwardian]

On 30/05/2018 at 09:22, Nearholmer said:

He who would valiant be

'gainst all disaster,

let him in constancy

follow Don Double-You.

There's no discouragement

shall make him once relent

his first avowed intent

to build a railway!

 

Let there be an outpouring of Great Joy and a sharing of the wine of grateful thanks in the knowledge that Edwardian has been aided from the Slough of Despond by the ministry of DonW, and a girding of the loins in readiness for the ascent of the Delectable Mountains, for they are as surely before us as the sunrise on the morrow.

 

And, no man may call himself Old on the cause of using eye-glasses while yet he is able to recall his own name at less than three tryings; think ye with care that some among us have been needful of their aid from tender years.

 

Beware ye, though, The Evil Varifocals. They are a deceit wrought by the most sutil serpents of the opticians trade and will lead a man as a path set about with primroses unto the worship of 16mm/ft and Coarse-0, all other things being as dust-motes and the toenails of gnats in their dimension.

 

Kevin (who seems to be suffering from an outbreak of Seventeenthcenturyism this morning)

 

I'll see your Milton Bunyan and I'll raise you one Old Testament reading from Matins at St Tabitha's:

 

Our First Lesson is taken from the Book of Macadamia, Chapter IV, verse 7:

 

And the Lord came unto Macadamia in a dream and sayeth

“Go thee to the Memonites and showeth them the hindmost parts of thine ears

For, verily, they have been cleansed and are pure in the sight of God”

Yet Macadamia was sore afeard, for the Memonites washed not behind their ears

Yay, they stanketh mightily.

But the Lord said “Fear not the Memonites, for the clean cannot be made unclean in the sight of God”

And so Macadamia came unto the Memonites and admonished them in the name of the Lord and exhorteth them to stink not unto high heaven.

And the Memonites bore Macadamia to a pit of unclean things in which they placed him and pelted him with turds.

Which only goeth to show.

 

Here endeth the Lesson.

Edited May 1, 2019 by Edwardian

[Hroth]

I'll see your Milton and I'll raise you one Old Testament reading from Matins at St Tabitha's:

 

Our First Lesson is taken from the Book of Macadamia, Chapter IV, verse 7:

 

And the Lord came unto Macadamia in a dream and sayeth

“Go thee to the Memonites and showeth them the hindmost parts of thine ears

For, verily, they have been cleansed and are pure in the sight of God”

Yet Macadamia was sore afeard, for the Memonites washed not behind their ears

Yay, they stanketh mightily.

But the Lord said “Fear not the Memonites, for the clean cannot be made unclean in the sight of God”

And so Macadamia came unto the Memonites and admonished them in the name of the Lord and exhorteth them to stink not unto high heaven.

And the Memonites bore Macadamia to a pit of unclean things in which they placed him and pelted him with turds.

Which only goeth to show.

 

Here endeth the Lesson.

As the Knowing replied, Nuts!

 

As for reading glasses, I've found that the best thing to do is get half a dozen of the cheap Poundshop variety (of the correct strength!) and leave them around the house so you always have a pair to hand in emergency.  And keep at least one pair wherever you do your modelling to save hunting at a critical point.

 

Keep your best pair for reading or for staring at clients over with your hands steepled.

[Hroth]

Or for the truely "Edwardian" look (vide Arthur Ransome) have you considered....

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOS-Pince-Nez-Mini-Wallet-Armless-Nose-Resting-Emergency-Reading-Glasses/263590953037?hash=item3d5f3ec04d:m:migCNjwoABOmDLySYOtda6w

 

Pince-Nez reading glasses? 

[Compound2632]

Late-Victorian/Edwardian O-gauger:

 

 

OO came later - more of a twenties thing:

 

 

 

[Hroth]

Late-Victorian/Edwardian O-gauger:

 

a1cbf63ca6f7b705b01a6b3c8f1d2022--monocle-joseph.jpg

 

OO came later - more of a twenties thing:

 

Specs20s-1.jpg

Eeek!

 

You wouldn't want to cross the O-gauger....

 

I fear that OO Man would be a little ineffectual, a sort of younger Sergeant Wilson!