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Andy Y

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Blog Entries posted by Andy Y

  1. Andy Y
    As part of the drive to get something useful done whilst the site's off in the evenings some layabouts in the to-do drawer have resurfaced. Keyhaven's always needed an 07 to help give it some geographical recognition and a lemon of a runner (and build) Craftsman 07 has lain dormant next to a Silver Fox resin body. The Silver Fox body needs a Bachmann 04 split chassis and having fried one chip with a chassis short when DCCing it too sat in the 'one day' pile. The detail on the Craftsman brass body is immeasurably superior and so it seemed a Dr. Frankenstein approach to modelling would give me a decent looker on a decent running chassis. First of all the Bachy chassis was sorted and chipped, the Silver Fox bonnet and boot were removed (yeah I did split the chassis at one pint cutting too quick but superglue has sorted that) as were the Craftsman panels. They just about fit together in the right places and in fact there's fractionally more clearance around the Bachy chassis block now.
     
    For a little loco it ran up quite a list of products required to finish it (unique lining and roundels to name a couple) with me aiming for the Fox ready to splat warning stripes. Yet another local shop seems to be running down the quantity of useful bits and bobs held in stock which meant I'd have to wait a few days and order some off t'internet. In the meantime I thought I'd have a go at the DIY-head-in option and save a few quid into the bargain.
     
    I've always found Tamiya masking tape to be the best for my use but this was going to put it to the test over the uneven surface and sloping edges.
     

     
    Cutting the masking tape down into 2.5mm strips for the front and 3.5mm strips for the top and sides the fiddly bit came in applying the sections of those strips onto the smaller than average shunter's backsides into something that looked reasonable. These were applied over Railmatch Acrylic Warning Yellow and didn't lift any of the paint when removed, Tamiya Acrylic X-1 black was sprayed over the whole nose and left to dry. Despite my best efforts to carefully lift the tape I did nick the yellow in a couple of places which will need a brush touch-up.
     

     

     
    Pulling those strips of masking tape off and seeing the finish was so much more satisfying than if I'd found the transfers I was looking for in that shop drawer. I'm so glad it wasn't a horror story.
     
     
     
     
     
  2. Andy Y
    As I mentioned in this month's BRM topic ......

     
    Please do make time to go and see this model if you get chance; if it were an exhibition layout (which it never will be as it weighs a ton!) and the trackwork was infilled it would certainly draw the crowds as I can't think of any exhibit which has as many buildings, windows and chimney pots. The model shows Burton as it was on Monday 10th October 1921. Why that day? A local photographer had been out recording town scenes which were invaluable to the modellers who made this impressive panorama.
     

     

     
    The full article about the museum is in this month's BRM - http://www.pocketmags.com/viewmagazine.aspx?titleid=856&title=British+Railway+Modelling&utm_source=modelrailwayslive&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=warnersgroup#5243f79396678
     
    Right now there's a special offer to subscribe to the digital edition for £19.99 if you click the link above.
     

  3. Andy Y
    A chance to get a bit of personal modelling done as it seems as we've been doing Sentinels to death of late (although this one's slightly different so I'm videoing it as I go along as a test of video more than anything else) but someone may find it of use later on.
     
    The intention is to get to something close to the pictured Sentinel in Sheffield's back streets at Grimesthorpe so it's a case of subtraction and addition to get the right result.
     

     
    An hour later the destruction's complete and it's time to move onto the construction phase (when some extras have arrived) and hopefully have it on BCB at the end of the month at DEMU Showcase.
     

  4. Andy Y
    Sorry; did I say tidy up in the previous blog entry? A slip of the tongue.
     

     
    Hopefully ready for action on BCB at DEMU Showcase this weekend - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/78016-demu-showcase-2014-burton-upon-trent-31-may-1-june-2014/ - even if you're not a D&E modeller it's a show well worth a visit for the quality of the layouts.
  5. Andy Y
    So what's an L&Y pug doing down at the seaside?
     
    This was an innocent bystander sat in the bottom of the drawer that I'd picked up for less than a tenner moons ago, no I didn't need it, want it or foresee any need for it but there you go. It'd be boring if everything was done to a plan wouldn't it?
     
    After a strip down and clean it was the quickest DCC hard-wire job I've ever done, hiding the decoder's another matter hence the use of 'Big Hands' on the footplate. A quick blast from the spray gun and weathering from the Tamiya make-up packs, paper nameplates (which give a clue to future Keyhaven developments) and job done. It still runs like a 3-legged dog though.
     

     
     
  6. Andy Y
     I took the opportunity yesterday to take my last ride on these venerable and extremely comfortable machines on a route that I have a soft spot for. Years of memories of watching them trundle over the bridge at Lymington made it too hard to resist. The Lymington branch racks up another last to follow on from the last steam branch; I wonder if 2050 will be seeing the last Desiro service on the branch with as much interest?
     

     

     
    Anyway, I gather there will be a more professional video coming soon; more details in due course and for a good cause!
     
     
    Source: The 3-CIG 'Slammer's' last days.
  7. Andy Y
    Remembers those Solvite ads decades ago where they papered a bloke to a plane and flew around and the one where they pasted him to a board and swung him from a helicopter? I never believed them for one minute but I now reckon they used this stuff:
     

     
     
    It's 1mm thick, 38mm wide, double sided and self-adhesive on a thin core of foam. I thought it would be worth a go for laying the track on the train turntable onto expecting something that would allow secure fixing without the use of pins ( being unsatisfied with latex-based adhesive last weekend) and the ability to lift and adjust if necessary. WRONG.
     
    This stuff must rate high amongst 'sticky things that don't do what you want them to' with it's propensity to adhere to any organic substance within a 3 yard radius rather than where you want it to go. Face, body hair, clothing etc. Once it's in contact with wood or track that's it, fixed. Forever.
     

     
     
    Eventually I did get part of the TT and the approaches sorted; when I've got a day when I want something more agonising than a needle in the eyeball I'll get the other end done. I'll now be trying to work out how to slide some copper-clads under and solder for additional rigidity at the join as the only weakness is in the chairs - certainly not in the track being fixed to the board!
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  8. Andy Y
    I wouldn't call it one of my quickest projects, after 18 months it's still not actually finished but I thought it would be appropriate to round up the bits that have been around before.
     
    Keyhaven won't feel right to me until there's a filthy old Crompton burbling away in early guise (probably GSYPWL - work that one out) and so a 33/1 and a 33/0 shell have been sitting for ages idly waiting for me to grab some time to attack them. I know I could probably just about live with the incorrect roof profile of a 33/0 but if I was going to go to the trouble of doing all the other bits to backdate it I thought I'd may as well make it as right as I could.
     
    Stage 1 - Hacking the body.
     
    The cabs have been cut away from the 33/0 with the cut being made just above the moulding line as shown below. It takes time and a will to cut gently and often rather than too deep in any one pass but a reasonably neat line can be taken by working freehand around the moulding.
     
     

     
     
    To give myself maximum room for error in doing this I cut below the moulding line on the 33/1 cabs and then filed back with a test fit process until it was near enough. There is a slight difference in the depth between the two moulding lines between the two variants, the 33/0 being around 0.5mm deeper, which is correct? I don't know but by this time it was easier to take more of the top of the 33/0 cabs than it was to take anything off the roof of the 33/1.
     

     
     
     
    Moving onto the roof it was relatively easy to determine the position of the old exhaust from the drawing below.
     

     
     
     
    What was concerning was the outer sides of the exhaust on the drawing were different from all of the images I had seen but I've followed the images rather than the drawings.
     
    Handily on the roof of the 33/1 are four little pimples (plate bolts or lifting eyes?) that appear to mark the position of the earlier exhaust so it becomes a case of joining those dots with a small saw.
     

     
     
     
    Once the panel is cut out the opening is tidied with a file, the removed section is filed back by around 2mm at each side and a vertical face prepared on each side. A plasticard liner will be created inside the body for the reduced exhaust panel to be glued upon.
     
    The clamps/brackets are removed from the roof by a shaving action with the knife, shaving from varying directions produces a reasonable result but any irregularities are removed by using a small file very softly over them. The newer style exhaust grille is also removed by shaving and filing prior to filling.
     

     
     
     
    So; that's the part done that had the potential to ruin two bodies, it was not as bad as I thought to be honest but it does represent 3-4 hours steady work and I haven't got anywhere near re-assembly - that will come when I've done some rubbing down.
     
     

     
     
     
    I shall  use the early 24 circular exhaust port (pic below) from the Brassmasters 24/25 detailing etch which is spot on for the dimensions given, the wife may also find a very small hole in one of her nylons to form the grille.
     

     
    The cavity around the roof horns was filled along with the later vent.
     

     
    The body and cab were brought back together.
     

     
    The following pic shows the vent and exhaust in situ.
     

     
    The remainder of the process was re-assembly, re-siting the speaker beneath the exhaust rather than beneath the cooling fan (why do we do that?) and taking it through the paint shop.
     
    As I said it isn't complete, it will be when I find where those Archers rivets for the roof got to though.
     

     

  9. Andy Y
    After months years of chewing over the next phase of Keyhaven everywhere I turned there were self-created compatability issues and also the legacy of bits that could have been better so I'd decided some time back that its offspring would recreate some of the old but improve upon it, especially from an operation viewpoint, and take the idea a stage further.
     
    If I keep deliberating and looking for problems it'll never happen so now is the time of year to make a start, a time when you can traipse in and out of the house fetching and cutting things without turning the rest of the house distinctly nippy.
     

     
    A pile of wood, today.
     
    A picture of a pile of wood shouldn't really merit an illustration but it's there to say that I thought that part through too and saved myself a whole bundle of time in return for a fiver by getting Jewson to cut the ply. It seems fewer and fewer of the DIY tin sheds actually trust their staff to cut bent timber in straight lines or for customers to not end up with splinters and claim inordinate levels of dosh for psychological trauma of timber related injuries. It's hardly top quality but with the construction techniques I'll be using it won't be a problem.
     

     
     
    Within 30 minutes a ply sandwich forms the first 3'6" x 2' baseboard frame, fairly lightweight and reasonably rigid (well it will be when the cross-member goes in when I've finally decided on point locations). Another layer of ply or foamboard will sit upon the ply deck. I was tempted to go with foamboard for the whole thing but some recent experiences told me I'd possibly get frustrated with the amount of bracing required to eliminate any variations in level that could happen if unsupported.
     
    Another timesaver was to use a staple gun as the principal tool rather than ommer'n'nails or screwing it together.
     

     
     
    So what will K2yhaven look like? It will be the equivalent of turning the existing layout through 90 degrees (on the right of the plan) with the station at 90 degrees to the quay across the back of the layout. The station will be a terminus formed from a truncated branch route. The left foreground will be a boat yard with a ramp down onto a car ferry with the centre foreground being the harbour water.
     

     
     
    My target is to get it reasonably complete by Taunton next April.
     
    The topic will run here but significant posts will be copied over to the blog as a digest.
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  10. Andy Y
    Got the crayons out and had a scribble.
     

     
     
     
    And then tried to put it into a 'real world' context.
     

     
     
    That's definitely not to scale, that ferry would be huge!
     
    For anyone who hasn't been to Keyhaven (which is probably in excess of 99% of the population) this snap shows where the car ferry ramp would be.
     
    http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/19508
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  11. Andy Y
    Another day shower dodging.
     
    Baseboards connected, train turntable cut out, front scenic boards knocked together and the boards corked.
     

     

     
    I've not decided yet whether the water (front middle board) will be done as before with paint/PVA/varnish layers on the flat ply top or to invert the board and create some depth to the water within the well. I'll try a couple of ideas and see where it heads.
     
     
    When it's all locked together it's reasonably stable; I did manage to disassemble and get it back indoors inside 5 minutes as another shower headed our way.
     
     
     
    Source: K2yhaven
  12. Andy Y
    Whilst grazing over a cuppa  carrying out vital research for the Keyhaven extension I came across the following Pathe clip that fills in a few gaps for me on one of the components of the extension.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     

     
     
     
    Ain't the 'net great?
  13. Andy Y
    Every now and again I suppose many of us go beyond what we'd normally expect as our own "it'll do for me" criteria and get carried away with something.
     
    Keyhaven wouldn't have been right without a late 60s Crompton rattling away on idle and so the saga of the 33/0 began with much hacking to get a 33/0 with decent roof profile and one thing just led to another. To follow on from the blog link above the Archer's rivet transfers never did surface so I got round to ordering some more. Once you start to look really close another 'find' creates more work and I thought I may as well make handles for the roof panels rather than Heljan's distorted nipples. Then there's the louvre/grille debate which, having gone an obsessive step too far, meant that I spent time creating ambiguity rather than a definitive action. See, it's getting silly isn't it?
     
    Whilst deciding to slim down the tanks a fraction rather than just slice out some unseen bits I decided that fitting a bass reflex speaker and mounting the tank sides onto that would be another way of upping the spec, adding unnecessary cost (but it don't 'arf sound beefy now!) and creating another to do task.
     
    Virtually every snap of a working Crompton shows the roof to be a fairly overall sooty charcoal but having taken some snaps of a 33 with a comparatively clean fibreglass roof I could make out there were some ribs under there which affected the uniformity of finish so it would be nice to give a hint of that. Oh, and I mustn't forget the slightly fibreglassy tone to those parts, and the normally less filthy exhaust (but of course some snaps show a hint of rust spots). And then cover it in grime. I must be mad.
     
    Now I'm not that stupid to have been at this weakness full time but I did start it 23 months ago and I've finished
     

     

     
    Now for the really silly bit:
     
    1 x Heljan 33/1 £55
    1 x Heljan 33/0 body £20
    1 x Howes sound decoder £115
    1 x Bass reflex speaker £10
    1 x Archers Rivets £11
    Transfers / Paint £15
    Replacement wheelsets £5
    Time @ minimum wage £don't even go there and it would have been even worse if I'd seen Pugsley's body scraping at some time in the process.
     
    Total > £230.00
     
    No thanks; I don't want one that much!
     
    Having learned some useful lessons along the way I fancy one in original livery. Utter madness.
     
     
    (don't be silly) done all that I can until Mr Hanson can get some extreme etches for the grilles and laser cut windows sorted*.*Other nags are on his list I'm sure.
     
    Source: Unhealthy obsessions .....
  14. Andy Y
    "Ooh, I didn't expect it to be that big", long time since I've heard that one.
     
    Whilst showers just about managed to hold off I was able to get the main baseboards and legs knocked together. I hadn't properly considered the leg issue when I made the previous board so that's also been replaced which now means the legs are interchangeable between boards with an easy slot in. No more bulky steel trestles!
     

     
     

     
     

     
     
    A little more time would have enabled me to fit the internal angle bracing and baseboard connectors but I don't think it's too bad for an afternoon's work. There's still two more boards to make for the front section but they're scenic only.
     
    Source: K2yhaven
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