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hayfield

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  1. hayfield

    K's GNR Atlantic

    By hayfield,

    I have started to build up the cylinders, they are now glued together and I have started the filling process with Milliput. More filling is required along with rebuilding the cylinder fronts.
     

     
    I also need to work out whow high the cylinders should be.
     

     
    They are just a push fit into the chassis / body at the moment.
     
    Next job is to rebuild the crossheads
  2. hayfield

    K's GNR Atlantic

    By hayfield,

    Last night I tried to get the chassis working with the front bogies. Those early locos builders never took us 4mm modelers into consideration when designing their locos. There are a lot of wheels to get into a small space.
     

     
    Unlike most kits the front bogie is attached to the chassis from a bolt above the centre of the bogie, there is a cast section which glues to the chassis. It also holds the cylinders.
     
    Like everything with this kit nothing seems to fit. On reflection the cylinders or rather the 2 parts which are still left on the casting, stop it from sitting flush with the footplate, I had to pack the back of the chassis by 1mm to level it. The wheels look like they should go into the body a bit more.
     
    Luckerly the offending part will come away from the chassis without too much trouble. I will get the casting into some boiling water and hopefully the 2 cylinder parts will fall off. I think the builder either fitted the cylinders up side down or incorectly. Still the first job is to get the chassis fitting snugly with the body and working. Then I can have a go at the cylinders.
     
    This afternoon I have made a start with the tender, unfortunatly the builders file has been at the tender parts as well, plenty of filling is required with this item as well.
  3. hayfield

    K's GNR Atlantic

    By hayfield,

    The second attempt to secure the gear wheel to the axle seems to have worked, as there is no slipping. I took each wheel off in turn, trimmed and adjusted the pickups, greased the bearings and replaced the wheels.
     

     
    As I watched the loco go up and down the track the rear drivers were not turning, the 2 small rear wheels were lower than the rear drivers by a fraction so a small amount of fileing sorted this out. The front bit of the footplate where the cylinders go needs building up,as its been badly filed. So some filler had been added, this needs to dry for a day or so.
     
    Tomorrow I will sort out the front bogies, start building the tender and do a bit more to the body
  4. hayfield

    Last weeks work

    By hayfield,

    Junction still on the workbench
     

     
    Had a busy week at work and done very little on thursday or friday, but finished laying the timbers.
     

     
    For ease of posting the junction is being made in 2 parts, see the red line in the right hand side. It would have been easier to build as 1 unit then cut in 2 but this leaves a gap made with the slitting disc which would have to be filled to keep all in line.
     
    Yesterday I have fitted all the 5 V's and the crossover stock rails, with joints made where needed.
  5. hayfield

    Layout

    By hayfield,

    View from the fiddle yard
     
    The track will be SMP flexi track and (C&L) copper clad built turnouts all in 00, I thought about making them from C&L plastic parts but I decided against this
  6. hayfield

    LNER J52 update

    By hayfield,

    Over the weekend I finished building the loco, the most tedious job was to make the steps from brass sheet. I swapped the split pins for brass hand rail knobs. Fitted etched rear window grills and I fitted some whitemetal steam pipes.

     
     
    For the past few nights I have undercoated and sprayed the loco gloss black, I will now pick out the buffer beams and other items which need painting different colours and will number and letter the loco over the weekend, then a coat of satin varnish will tone the loco down.
  7. hayfield
    I sanded flat the filler I put into the gaps on the SMP turnout, a lot easier with no rails in the way. Now just have to fit the rails.
     
    Also built the common crossing for the C&L plastic turnout
     

     
    Just placed on the sleepers, as it does not show up on the paper plan too well.
     
    The V was soldered up in a simple jig (hi tec engineering)
     

     
    Then the wing rails were soldered to the V with scrap brass shim
     

     
    2 extra bits of shim hold the frog in gauge, then the ends were cut level with the rails. Now for the interesting bit, threading all those chairs. But thats another night.
     
    The postman arrived with some interesting bits. A set of Alan Gibson mainframes for a GWR 36xx (scratch built body I got off Ebay) with some 2mm Hornblocks and a K's 57xx, part built and some of the birs painted. These are now soaking it caustic soda. It was missing one of the axle screws (I had a spare) and also missing the worm gear so will fit a set of Romfords. Won a Jamieson GWR King on Ebay this afternoon, again part built and some parts missing. Will be interesting to see whats there when it arrives.
  8. hayfield
    This trailing crossover was on my bench overnight, and after a wet mornings golf and a lengthy drying out session in the clubhouse drinking large hot coffees modelling time this afternoon was restricted. Still I managed to get all the rails soldered up and tested with a wagon.
     

     
    Just need to cut the rails to isolate the V's and gap the sleepers, the plan was made by someone else (better than my work) and is on a slight curve. Large radius curves (cannot remember the size) which will allow big locos to run through at speed. Built to 00 gauge.
     

     
    Down memory lane, an old SMP 60" radius kit I have been asked to build. Not used the SMP plan, built to a B6 size. I have gapped the sleepers first and will fill them before fitting the rails, as it will be easier to sand flat without the rails in the way. Some time since I have used paxoline PCB rather than fiberglass which is much stronger.
  9. hayfield

    MTK Railcar resurfaces

    By hayfield,

    Re the J52, I put on the wrong size letters and decided to remove them, There was something wrong with the Humbrol paint from the can I used, and in takeing off the LNER transfers it affected the black paint. I gave the damaged parts a sand and have given the loco a respray of black from an older Humbrol spray can. If this does not work then I will have to strip it down and start again
     
    Anyway last night after having the problems with the J52 I decided to do a bit more with the Waggon und Maschinenbau rail bus.
     

     
    I cannot remember how long ago I started building it, last year I painted it Green (Malachite)and built up the roof. Last night I masked off the central band and painted it aluminium as I did with the roof (roof should be grey though)and painted the seats and internal body brown.
     
    Chassis needs pickups, body will be varnished so I can fit the glazing. Once its all running OK I will fix all the seats in place, glue on the roof and seal the joins. Must get back to the transfer company as I want a set of wiskers and numbers (I ordered them but some how my cheque was not cashed and the order not delt with).
     
    Have a MTK (No Nonsence kits now) Bristol Rail Bus to build, well its 2 sides and 2 ends. What year will I start it? well I only brought it last year.
  10. hayfield

    North lights

    By hayfield,

    I have started to build up the north lights
     

     
    A backing piece of 15 thou, then 2mm strips to build up the window bar detail. I then cut out the window blanks then added 1mm bars on top of the 2mm bars. Hopefully once the bars are painted they will look a bit thinner. Only 40 more to make.
     
     

     
    I have champhered the tops of the lower pelmet, on the picture the added depth this detail makes is not as noticeable as it is in the flesh. I now need to saw the brick courses in.
  11. hayfield

    Railcar update

    By hayfield,

    Over the weekend I did some more work on the railcar

     
    I sprayed the body with satin varnish so I can now fit the windows. Also chopped the Hornby seated driver about and he fits nicely in the drivers seat.
     
    Wipers fitted to each of the 4 wheels, I think the gear set is 30-1 which is a bit fast on my H & M Clipper unit so will try it on a feed back unit once the layout is up and running. Roof will be fitted once the glazing has been completed and some people have been installed. W irons have been shortened and painted black
     

     
    This is the kit of parts (see earlier blog comment) and instructions from the No Nosense Kit (x MTK)of the Bristol Railbus. Each side has 2 bits, 2 ends, floor and air vents. Its part kit and part scratch built project. I doubt if I will use the floor as i prefer one made from copperclad. I might use the High Level Pacemaker Traction Pack for this one.
  12. hayfield

    Railcar's chassis

    By hayfield,

    Following a question I have shown my simple chassis arrangements. Its not going to please the rivet counters but then again I do not think they would use a MTK kit. The seats are old MTK ones for a DMU so are not quite correct.

     
    The main part of the chassis is a piece of PCB board,I then soldered 2 coach W irons to it. I made a motor mount from some brass sheet and added a DC10 motor with 30/1 Romford gears. I added 2 square bits of brassbetween the W irons for added stiffness. 8ba bolts soldered to bits of brass, which were then stuck to each end of the body. A hole is cut into the PCB board to allow the worm gear into the body and part of the motor, which fits flush with the floor, a High Level kit may keep all below deck but once the seats are in place nothing can be seen
     

     
    All I now need to fit are PB strips to act as wipers on the wheels, and cut the very botom part of the W irons off to hide them.

    For the Bristol Railcar I may use the High Level kits PaceMaker traction pack http://www.highlevelkits.co.uk/ The good part about these kits is all you have is 4 sides so you can fit what you want to it as its up to you what you do. The floor can even be 1 piece which is either stuck or soldered in place.
     
    Its nice to have something a bit different, and in fact could command a small diorama layout of its own. The diorama could be no more than 3' long and 6" to 9" wide, I could use 4 different railcars, 1 rail bus, a GWR and LMS push pull units. A bit bigger then 2 car DMu & EMU could be used.
     
    A good site is the Railcar Ass http://www.railcar.co.uk/.
  13. hayfield

    Rails now in place

    By hayfield,

    A couple of photos of the junction now all the rails are in place
     



     
    I must make more room on my work bench, using a building board 4' x 1' is a bit large for my bench.
     
    Next job is to cut the isolation slits with a cutting disc and fit the tiebars, at least I can do this with the turnouts off the building board and they come off in half as they have been built as two units.
     
    Now the moment of truth testing with a loco, loco wheels are thicker than my wagon wheels so there may be a bit of tweaking so all runs smooth.
  14. hayfield

    Shelf layout

    By hayfield,

    I have had some time to do some modelling today, I finished off an EM faceing crossover and gave a K's J72 a final coat of LNER green then picked up the Wills 2 road enging shed I started building last week.
     

     
    This is where I finished last week with the 1st wall propped up against the mockup. Tonight I managed to build the second wall
     
    I have taken out the first two bays of the mockup just to see how the progress todate fits in with the temporary track plan. The plan is still OK but the point work will need adjusting as I have built the 1st shed wall 1 window bay extra.
     
    I need another shed kit to finish off the walls and several roof packs. I went into the loft and found some Wills packs. Wall sections with windows, plain bond brickwork and tiles, great I thought I can get on with the build without waiting for the extra kit to arrive. Wrong as the wall sections I have with windows are English bond not plain bond. Still it will give me time to add extra details and work on keeping the roof in the air where the interior of the shed will be open without walls.
  15. hayfield

    Shelf layout update

    By hayfield,

    I am building a shelf layout in my workroom as a test bench for my locos, storage for them and to play trains. My main interests in the hoby is building whitemetal loco kits and building turnouts.
     
    The space I had available was 5' 3" long by 12" at one end and 18" at the other. Locos would enter the layout from the right from a fiddle yard (which would be hidden from view by a coaling plant) under a road bridge on one of 3 tracks. On the left hans side will be a 6 road engine shed and a head shunt for the coaling stage.
     
    I built the board and played around with various track plans, once set on a plan I built a mockup of the shed in card based on the Wills 2 road kit
     
    Once settled on the plan I started to build the walls
     
    Monday morning my local shop had some cork sheet in so I layed this last night and as I had built a second wall on Monday I could put the shed in place and double check the track plan
     
    The track plan need slight adjustment and I need to buy another shed kit to build the next bay.
  16. hayfield

    slow progress

    By hayfield,

    Not much has happened recently, like everyone else work and social life has got in the way.
     

     
    The shell is now stiff enough for me to finalise the position, I have also now worked out the track positions.
     
    I was hoping to be able to cut out the inspection pits today but have been distracted and it is too dark outside to cut them out.
     
    Still I am now in a position to work on which ever part of the layout takes my fancy.
     
    I can carry on with the shed building, with either continueing the slates, make the northlights/ smoke jacks or detail the building sides.
     
    Or build the 3 remaining turnouts which are outstanding. Or cut out the inspection pits and start track laying.
     
    Now to clear up the work bench after a spot of trach building for someone else
  17. hayfield

    Starting the detail

    By hayfield,

    The walls looked a bit stark, so I decided to see if a plynth at the bottom of the walls would look better. It breaks up the wall quite well (looks better in real life where depth is more apparent), I will bevel the tops once the solvent fully drys.

    Window sills have been added , and will also be beveled. Windows are tacked in place (well I hope they are).
     
    Have added a horizontal barge board under the capping, as it looks better being there rather than a bare wall. I think I will put this on the front wall under the capping for the same reason.
     

     
    Now to carry on with the roof's and I hust find my microstrip so I can start the north lights.
  18. hayfield
    For the past 2 weeks I have been building turnouts for others, I think it was 5 00 and 3 EM ones and repaired a 3 way. So I fancied a change.
     
    A friend gave me a K's GNR Atlantic kit. It had been built and then dismantled. Well on monday once I had finished and posted everything I decided to have a go at it. The motor turned the wheels but the cylinders had been badly built and they faced a bit inwards so the crossheads rubbed against the drivers. After one of the piston rods snapped I decided to dismantle the cylinders and rebuild them once I had new crossheads.
     
    I decided to get on and rebuild the body. As some of the parts were still stuck together I tried to fit them together, as the fit was not to good I got out my old saucepan and dunked the parts into boiling water. Now they were all seperate. The footplate shoud have been in two parts however the larger part had been broken. After a little fettling I got all glued in place except where the footplate had broken in 2 which I soldered back together.
     

     
    Last night all I had time to do was to repair one of the splashers with Milliput, as it had been reduced in size!!. To night I filed it to shape and found that the bottom and other end also had been reduced, so I have built it up and will file to shape tomorrow. I also filled in the hand rail holes which were too big and did a bit of gap filling where the footplate had broken.
     
    The tender needs a bit more dismanlting, so the pan will come out again in a bit.
     
    I am working in the dark as the kit has no instructions, and I cannot see that any of the mags have done a plan. Still that half the fun.
     
    A Bullied coach plan book came in the post this morning that I won on Ebay. The cost of posting it was more than I paid for it including postage, I might send the guy the difference as I feel a bit guilty.
  19. hayfield

    To nights jobs

    By hayfield,

    A few little jobs done to night
     

     
    The crossover is finished, sleepers gapped, tiebars fitted and isolation breaks cut through the rails. A right selection of locos used for testing, Mainline J72, K's Terrier, Wills Pannier and a Comet Auto tank chassis
     

     
    The SMP turnout has had the sleepers gapped and filled prior to fitting the rails, the idea is to see if its easier filling the gaps and sanding them before fitting the rails.
     

     
    Building a C&L turnout in 00 to a B6 size. I build these on tracing paper and use 2 thin strips of double sided tape to hold the sleepers in place. Sleepers cut and fitted, next job is to build the common crossing. The V's are soldered together in a simple jig, then the crossing/wing rails are soldered to the V with 3 pieces of scrap brass shim which is positioned to sit on the sleepers.
     
     
    Once I have finished these two turnouts I can get on with an etched Pannier chassis I want to build in P4, so have been re-reading Iain Rice's etched chassis book in my lunchtime
  20. hayfield

    Turnouts finished

    By hayfield,

    I have finished the 2 turnouts I was asked to build, the first was a SMP 60" radius built to a B6 size, Its some time since I have used SMP products, I feel that the Paxoline sleepers are not as good as C&L fiberglass ones as the widths seem to vary a bit (the ones in this kit were quite good)and the material seems a bit weaker than fiberglass. Also the rail seemed to be softer.
     

     
    I did use the SMP tiebar, but found my normal style easier to fit the blades close to the stock rails.
     

     
    Next was the C&L turnout, I fit the common crossing first, then the stock rail.
     

     
    Followed by the other stock rail, the switch and check rails. I have also soldered a wire from each stock rail to its switch rail as an electrical bond. Both have been tested and run fine.
     
    Thursday I did a bit more to a GWR pannier chassis I am building in P4, hopefully I will be able to do some more tomorrow. I also put a couple of body parts of a K's 57xx into caustic soda to remove the paint, last night these were removed and washed, all the paint came off and the 4 bits which had been glued came appart.
     
    I have a spare set of 4'7" drivers in P4 so the 57xx may become my third P4 loco. On the other hand I might just build it using the K's chassis which came with it.
     
    Also yesterday a Jamieson GWR King (body and chassis)arrived in the post, its missing some tender axle boxes and front bogie. The question is do I build it as per the kit in 50's standards with the brass bar chassis, or do I add extra detail and use a spare Comet King chassis I have.
  21. hayfield
    Not listed much lately, one of the reasons is that I had a problem with a couple of programs including my camera link,another having new windows fitted to the house (had to tidy up the workroom and stop using for a few days)also sorting out the seedlings in the greenhouse and planting some of them out, but most of all the bench has been full of turnouts for the past 6 or 7 weeks.
     

     
    EM gauge junction which was built on a gentle curve just to add a couple of complications. Brooke Smith timbers and C&L chairs and rail. The turnouts are slightly different in size as the inside one is on a sharper radius.
     
    The build took longer than I thought, but mostly as other things got in the way (bank holidays and the above) but once a couple of problems were ironed out with the curved part of the crossover it was an enjoyable build.
     

     
    EM gauge B7 turnout built with C&L plastic sleepers and chairs. As you can see I build these on tracing paper and attach the sleepers to it with thin strips of double sided tape for transit.
     

     
    3 different methods, top turnout EM B6 with Brook smith ply sleepers, middle the C&L EM B7 (plastic sleepers) and the trusted Copperclad turnout, this one is a P4 A5 which I built just to see if I could build one in P4
     

     
    A close up photo of both wooden and plastic sleeper built turnouts. Which is better? close up I think the wooden sleepers look best, but then its easier getting a good finish with wood stains than painting plastic. However those with artistic tendencies can paint the plastic sleepers to look like wood. Then again from normal viewing distances can the average person tell the difference ? And from a distance well finished copperclad track looks superb.
     
    Anyway back to the trailing crossover which is on the bench
  22. hayfield

    Work bench

    By hayfield,

    Latest loco on my workbench is a Keyser
     
    LNER J72
     
    Now in the garage after having a coat of apple green for each of the past 3 days. As per my entry on the last web I need to adjust the chassis as one of the spacers is stoping the motor sitting flat enough. So out with the slitting disc and reduce the size of it.
     
    The chassis is one I got off Ebay, I have had to swap motors and change a Comet gear box for a simple motor mount, so that the cab can be kept relatively clear of motors.
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