Jump to content
 

Ian Smith

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,395

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Ian Smith

  1. Ian Smith
    After a few months of doing other things, I have once again started work on my 3rd loco. Previously, I had formed the saddle tank (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-16413-gwr-buffalo-1076-class-in-2fs/) and there the project had stalled for no other reason than I wanted to progress Modbury for the 2mm Association's Supermeet last month.
     
    Picking up the reigns again, I have made a start on the chassis. Once again I have decided to provide the engine with a milled solid brass (albeit split framed) chassis. To achieve this, a length of 1mm thick brass is bolted to a main chassis block some 6mm thick the bolts being secured in insulating material in the main block. Once the pair are united at their extremities (outside the finished size of the chassis), the various holes for fixing bolts, axles and gear shafts are drilled through before the shape of the chassis is milled away.
     
    For this loco, I will be using some etched coupling rods of 14.5mm x 16.5mm wheelbase that I have done my own artwork for (they are of the "fish bellied" profile which unfortunately the Association do not provide). Until my own rods are ready I will be using Association ones as a jig to drill the axle holes and to test the final chassis build.
     

    Axle centre line and chassis extremities marked, first axle hole spotted with 0.5mm drill and peg inserted
     

    Coupling rods being used as jig to drill other 2 axle holes 0.5mm spaced from the peg of the first axle
     

    All 3 axle holes drilled. They are subsequently opened up to 2.4mm to house Association phosphor bronze bearings
     

    Axle holes for the gears drilled, chassis block milled to shape, and Association phosphor bronze bearings soldered in place
     
    ​Because the Buffalo class had outside frames, Association wheels with extended axles were purchased, unfortunately the wheels do not come with Fly Cranks so these had to be manufactured. A sheet of 0.018" nickel silver was used to fabricate the cranks, a 0.7mm hole drilled in a piece of the material for the spigot on the extended axle, and a 0.5mm hole was drilled 0.080" (about 2mm) from that hole. A little jig was made with a 0.7mm peg in it onto which the piece of nickel silver sheet was hung and the 0.5mm hole drilled 0.080" away from it. The crank was then filed around these two holes.
     

    First crank made and a start made on filing out second one
     

    First crank being used as a pattern to finish off the filing of the subsequent cranks
     

    Full set of 6 cranks
     

    Wheel, fabricated fly crank and Association flanged crankpin
     

    Set of wheels complete with their fly cranks and crankpins and remainder of spigot filed off
     

    Completed chassis, albeit with the extensions still in place - these will be cut off once all of the machining has been complete (the worm housing still needs to be made and bolt holes drilled and tapped)
     
    Finally a short video of the chassis being pushed along

     
    There is still a bit to do, not least of which will be a full strip down so that it can be painted!
     
    Ian
  2. Ian Smith
    Well yesterday was the 2mm Association's Supermeet at Tutbury. What a thoroughly enjoyable day it was too, a big thanks to John Aldrick and his team for organising such a successful event.
     
    I had been invited to attend with "Modbury", so arrived on Friday evening to set everything up. Unfortunately, a couple of Gremlins had snuck into the hall and had been having fun at my expense! The turnout controlling access into the yard refused to move in either direction which was somewhat annoying as it prevented anything other than main line running. Despite a thorough investigation, involving removal, testing and re-installation of the memory wire actuator on both Friday evening and Saturday morning I was unable to resolve the issue. Luckily this type of event is more of a social affair, so I don't think anyone noticed that the only running was on the main line, and those that did were kind enough not to mention it.
     
    Over the last 3 months or so progress on Modbury has been quite significant; all of the point rodding being installed, the Up and Down Starters being constructed and installed, the back scene painted and a start made on the scenery as well as the Down Waiting Shelter and platform being added too.
     
    The photos below hopefully show progress to date, being taken on Saturday morning before the show opened. Unfortunately I did not manage to take any photos of the other layouts attending the show.
     
    Overall View of the layout

     
    View in the Up direction towards Newton Abbot

     
    View in the Down direction towards Plymouth

     
    And a couple of slightly closer images showing the Waiting Shelter and the Road Overbridge


     
    It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, although I don't think I've ever spent so long talking! It was also nice to receive so many favourable comments on the layout - thank you to all.
     
    Ian
  3. Ian Smith
    Armed with the knowledge gained from failure, I have handed the task over to my good friend Percy V. Runce.
     
    So to Mark II...
     
    In desperation, I painted over the previous attempt with 3 coats of white emulsion to cover it. Then I mixed up a yellowy green colour and lathered it all over the area up to where I wanted the horizon to be - in hindsight a slightly lighter shade would have been easier to paint over!
     
    Once this had dried, I then began sketching on where I wanted the fields to be (initially just on the end part of the back scene by the bridge as I wanted to do just a section to ensure that I was happy with the field sizes, colours, and general look).
     
    It was then time to fill in the fields with various shades of green. Once the fields had dried, the hedge lines, trees and wooded areas were painted in a very dark mix of a greeny-brown. This was left to dry thoroughly before the highlights were added.
     
    Whilst not perfect, I am at least an awful lot happier with the outcome. Some photos show progress so far (approximately 1/3 of the total back scene) :
     

     

     

     
    The photos have been taken using a spare layout lighting tube for illumination (with daylight coming in through shed door and window). Personally I think the result looks a little better than the digital images illustrate.
     
    Ian
     
    PS I haven't as yet started to add any shadows to the scene on the right of the road
  4. Ian Smith
    Whilst I do not consider myself to be an artist, over the last few days I have tried to add a painted back scene to Modbury. The medium I have elected to use are acrylic paints, and unfortunately I have to report that I have been somewhat unsuccessful so far!!
     
    The whole back scene was covered in a sky to start with and was painted pretty quickly with white emulsion and Cerulean Blue acrylic paint. Because the complete back scene is about 9' long, I had to paint the sky in sections of about 2'- 3' at a time as the paint dried out to much otherwise. A portion of the back scene was painted top to bottom in white emulsion, then a (relatively) small amount of blue was quickly brushed on at the top of this section and blended down to baseboard level and the white blended back up. The process being repeated on the next section along, also blending into the previously painted section to avoid any step change in colour. I was going to put some clouds into the sky and did some practicing on a piece of lining paper that had been given the same graduated sky, but in the end decided that I quite liked the graduated blue as it is.
     
    Because I have never painted anything using acrylics before, I thought that it would make sense to get some advice from someone who has, and also done so very effectively, so a request was made to John Birkett-Smith (of Ashburton & Totnes fame) as to what colours to use. John was extremely generous by coming back with far more than a simple list of suggested colours, providing some much needed tips and directions on how to do it too.
     
    Before I could begin adding any colour, a basic background was sketched in in pencil showing what I hoped would look a little like the rolling hills of South Devon. To a certain degree that was the easy part!
     
    The next stage was to then start adding colour. Some suitable "distant greens" were mixed up and the more distant fields painted. Once dried however, I felt that the colours had dried to a very muddy looking green and were not at all what I wanted :

     
    As a result, a different set of "distant greens" were mixed up and the whole lot painted over. I also experimented painting on a few hedges and woody areas too :

     
    Once this had dried, again I felt that it didn't look right.
     
    To make a comparison, a start was made at the other end of the 9' run, this time with some more "mid-distance greens", again, some hedges, trees, and woodland was painted in :

     
    The whole lot was then left for a day or two so that I could look at it and better gauge the effect that I had achieved. What it revealed was several problems :
    The embankment end fields were in my eyes too blue (although the photo above doesn't really show it). The bridge end fields were too green. The contrast between the shade and non-shade parts of the woodland on both ends was (in both natural and layout lighting conditions) almost non-existent. (The dark wasn't dark enough or the light was too dark) The road seemed to go around a bend and just end in a field somewhere! Worst of all I think I had painted everything too small - everything painted looked incredibly distant, especially when a full sized 3D tree was positioned in front of it. Effectively, what I had painted could not really be reconciled with what will be modelled in 3D.

     

    The upshot of all this is that the painted fields, etc have received a couple of coats of white to try to eradicate them in readiness for yet another attempt!
     
    Ian
  5. Ian Smith

    Modbury Signal Box 5

    By Ian Smith,

    A couple of weeks work has seen the exterior of the Signal Box fundamentally complete.
     
    Firstly, I added the gutters. These were simply 0.030" plastic sheet gouged out with a 0.9mm drill close to the edge of the sheet. Once a suitable furrow had been ploughed, the sheet was turned over and what will become the underside scraped with a razor blade to provide the outside curvature. A strip was then cut parallel to the gouged gutter such that the gutter itself would be a mil or two off the building in line with the edge of the roof. Hopefully the image below will illustrate the gutter in its raw state.

    The cut-outs at the ends are to accommodate the framing of the signal box. Once attached to the building, end caps of 0.005" sheets were welded on and once fully dry were carefully pared away to the profile of the gutter.
     
    The roof was tackled next, adding strips of self adhesive printer label to represent the slates. The slates had first been drawn up in CAD, such that each alternative row had extra wide slates at the gable ends, and I also drew in a feint line half way up the slate to aid setting a consistent overlap when the slates were stuck to the roof.


     
    It was at this stage (before fitting the windows) that the building was painted. The brick and stone work were given an all-over coat of mortar colour, and once dry the bricks and stones were picked out by dry brushing/ dragging the side of the brush over the area so that the brick and stones collected some colour. The woodwork of the building was painted in Precision Paints Light and Dark Stone (although for 2mm scale I felt that the Dark Stone was a tad too dark so was lightened with a drop of white in a 5:1 ratio.

     
    The glazing bars of the windows was scrawked into some glazing material before being flooded with white ink. Once the ink was dry, a buff up with a cotton bud removed the ink from the surface of the glazing but left it in the grooves representing the glazing bars.


     
    The outer window frames were cut from the same self adhesive printer paper that was used for the slates, and once stuck to the glazing material was pared back to give a more or less scale sized window in its frame.


     
    The upstairs door was similarly prepared from layers of glazing material and paper label.


     
    Before fitting, the door had a small handle filed up in the mini drill from 1mm brass rod (the resultant handle being some 0.5mm round with an even slimmer peg at the back which was secured in a hole in the door. The image below shows the windows being fitted.

     
    The slates on the roof were picked out in various hues of thinned down Humbrol Matt 67, but once dry I was unhappy with the effect, so a thinned mix of Matt 67 and white was washed over the whole to tone it all down and lighten the effect somewhat. The name board and S & T plates (indicators as to the status of the Signal and Telegraph equipment) were printed onto photo paper and attached to the front of the box. Obviously in the idyllic summer of 1906, there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of the equipment so both show a white letter on a black background.
     
    The down pipes are simply bent up pieces of 0.5mm phosphor bronze wire with little wall fixtures of twists of 0.0044" PB wire (this latter had to be annealed over a candle flame to prevent it breaking while forming the twists). A spot of solder secured them in place and strengthens them. Tiny pieces of 0.010" plastic strip with a 0.4mm hole in it forms the back of the wall fixing. Once secured on the building the down pipes were painted in more PP Dark Stone (with the requisite drop of white added). The handrails around the windows are 0.025" nickel silver wire, bent to shape and size and secured in holes in the window frames. The tails of the wire simply bent down inside the building to secure the handrails in place.
     
    Finally some images of the completed box. I will add some rudimentary interior detail (the roof is removable, simply held in place by the barge boards within the gutters (a little but not much more than an interference fit). A rainwater barrel needs to be positioned below the down pipe - incidentally the "hopper" is simply a bit of carved 0.060" plasticard with a 0.005" backing. I also need to make a couple of fire buckets to hang on the steps too.
     



     
    Thank you for looking,
     
    Ian
  6. Ian Smith

    Modbury Signal Box 4

    By Ian Smith,

    Yesterday afternoon and early evening I did a little more to the Signal Box for Modbury. The work was to get the steps and landing completed.
     
    Firstly the steps. I have no idea how everyone else makes their steps in 2mm scale, so as is my want I went my own way. To start with a support jig to hold everything in place was made; the height of the landing and the distance the steps projected ground wards was plotted onto a scrap of foam board, and a diagonal marked for the angle of the steps. Then I cut slits into the foam board at 1.5mm intervals across the markings out that I had previously made. This allowed me to push steps of 6mm long 0.015" plastic strip into these slits, aligning them with the diagonal. Hopefully the photo below will explain better than my words.

     
    A pair of strips of 0.020" were cut for the steps support (stringer?), and one of these was welded to the ends of the steps in the jig.

     
    The support jig was then sacrificed to get the steps out of the slits without breaking the bonds between step and stringer!

     
    And the stringer on the other side of the steps was also welded in place

     
    The resulting set of steps had the ends of the stringers cut off so that the steps fitted properly against both the ground and the landing.

     
    Short lengths of 0.040" square rod were cut to size for the newel posts at top and bottom of the steps and the handrail post at the outer corner of the landing. Similar "half-posts" were cut from 0.020" and secured against the upper part of the 'box.

     
    Finally strips of 0.040" x 0.020" formed the handrails themselves. Hopefully once fully dry the whole assembly will be strong enough.


     
    The next step will be to add the gutters and down pipes, and some rudimentary internal detail will also be required.
     
    Ian
  7. Ian Smith

    Modbury Signal Box 3

    By Ian Smith,

    Following on from the previous entries on the construction of a Signal Box for Modbury, the next stage was to build the Chimney stack and the supporting ground floor wall. This was to be a brick construction, so a solid core of laminated plastic sheet was welded together and when dry cut and shaded to size to take into account the thickness of the embossed brick sheet which was to for the cladding. After the embossed brick sheet had dried, the decorative string courses near the top of the stack were added from 0.010" strips.

     
    The complete Chimney assembly was then added to the rear of the locking room.

     
    An area of 0.030" plastic sheet was then marked out for the 'box upper, and the planking detail "scrawked" on before the ends and sides were cut out. The window reveals were carefully cut, pared and filed out before fitting the window sills from oversized pieces of 0.015". Once the sills were properly dry they were filed/sanded back against a "stop" so that the stood proud of the planking a constant amount.


     
    The upper walls were then added around the base, ensuring that the framing added atop the stone walls was proud of the upper storey by about 0.010" all round. Strips of 0.010" were then added around the wall corners and around the window and door reveals to represent the frames thereof.


     
    A roof was made from 0.015" sheet, the rear section receiving a cut out to fit around the chimney stack, and a pair of gussets cut and placed immediately inboard of the end walls to ensure that the roof was an interference fit (I want to have the roof removable).



     
    The bargeboards at the gable ends of the roof were cut and fitted from 0.020" for strength before setting the roof aside while continuing with further detail of the 'box ends by adding the vents.


     
    Finally, for now, the vents were added in the ends. Firstly holes were drilled, cut and filed in the ends about 4mm x 2mm. A piece of 0.020" plastic was then closely "scrawked" to represent the vent louvres, and strips from this area of the sheet cut out so that some 0.010"x0.040" strip was added on edge around the embryonic vent to represent the vent framing.

     
    The completed vents were then secured within the holes made in the ends such that the vent frame stood a little proud of the surrounding planking.

     
    That's the state of play for now. The next task is to make the steps and associated handrails - I will initially make these from plastic strip, with a view to potentially having to re-make as a soldered construction of metalwork if they prove to be to delicate!
     
    Ian
  8. Ian Smith

    Modbury Signal Box 2

    By Ian Smith,

    Having completed the CAD drawing for a signal box based on the preserved one at Bodmin General (see previous blog entry http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-16898-modbury-signal-box/),I printed a couple of copies out onto thin card so that i could make a mock up to check the size of the building :
     
    3/4 view of Front

     
    3/4 view of Back

     
    This little mock up confirmed that (to my eye) everything looked in proportion and construction proper could begin. My preferred medium for building construction has always been plasticard, so a strip of 0.040" plastic sheet was cut out to the height of the base of the box, and on a small sections of it the planking for the locking room door and the locking room window surround were carefully "scrawked" perpendicular to the long edge of this strip. Once complete, the front was cut from the strip based on the centre of the window surround section, and the end with the door done similar. The remaining end and back of the locking room were similarly cut from this strip. The sizes of all of these pieces were carefully measured to take into consideration the 0.020" stone embossed plasticard that will be applied to the outside of the signal box base once assembled.
     
    Before the 4 sides and ends were assembled, the window was carefully cut and filed out of the front section, and once I was happy with the size of the hole, an over-sized section of 0.015" was cemented along the bottom of the reveal to represent the window sill. Once this had dried it was sanded back so that it protruded a small amount - in actual fact the thickness of a scalpel blade as this was to hand and was rested against face of the wall section as a stop for the sanding operation. The 4 sides were then cemented to a piece of black plasticard for a base, and then the walls were clad in the aforesaid embossed stone plasticard. The woodwork sill above the stone locking room has been added from 0.030" strip so that it stands a little proud of the stonework below (although as I write this I am waiting for the solvent to set so that the excess at the corners can be cleaned up.
     
    Locking room front

     
    Locking room back. The chimney stack and supporting wall will be brick built hence the space between the stonework sections on the back wall

     
    The next item on the agenda is to construct the chimney...
     
    Ian
  9. Ian Smith

    Modbury Signal Box

    By Ian Smith,

    Following on from the theme of my last blog entry, I have continued with the Virtual Modelling. This time I have been drawing up the plans for my signal box, this is based on the one surviving (and preserved) at Bodmin General. I have a 4mm scale plan from the SLAG series of "Bodmin" articles in the Model Railway Constructor (and indeed built such a box from my 4mm layout many years ago). However, because I want to get the windows and doors etched I felt it would make sense to draw up a 2mm scale version (from which I can copy the items I wish to include on my etch artwork later). The resulting drawing is shown below, and also has the benefit that I will be able to print a few copies onto card and build a mock-up building to ensure that I am happy with the size and positioning of said box on the layout!
     

    Signal Box drawing (based on Bodmin General)
     
    Once my mock up is built and I am happy with it, I will begin the build in plasticard, using embossed stonework and brickwork cladding where necessary. The windows and doors will have to wait until until my etch artwork is complete and I have a metal doily in my hand. This could be some time as I still have a couple of coaches to finish drawing and the windows for both signal box and station building to add to the artwork yet! I think that the windows for the station building will certainly benefit from the etch process :
     

    Main Station Building drawing (incomplete - based on Bovey Tracey)
     
    Ian
  10. Ian Smith

    Modbury Bridge

    By Ian Smith,

    Not a lot of modelling progress has been made in the recent couple of months. All of the track work on the layout has been completed (and wired). A start has been made on the scenery (or at least the land form) behind the station, and some modifications have been made to the over bridge.
     
    I decided that the wing walls that I had originally constructed were a little too long, so these were cropped and new buttresses added to the ends. I also felt that the roadway was too wide so I took a saw to the bridge and removed a 5mm section out of one side of the road to enable narrowing to something that looks a little more like a country lane rather than a 3 lane motorway (it probably wasn't quite that wide but...)
     
    Once the whole had been reassembled, the stonework was given an all over covering of a mortar coloured enamel, then the stonework was dry brushed in a variety of shades of greys / browny grey to pick out the stonework. The photos below show the current state of play, and now needs some weathering.
     

     

     
    On the virtual modelling front, I have been drawing up some artwork for some GWR Dean bogies (6'4" has been drawn up, just starting the 8'6" variety). These will be for some Worsley Works coaches that I have on the go. Additionally, I want a 6 wheeled full brake (diagram V13) to go with the clerestory coaches, so that too has been drawn up (body only for now - still have the under frame to do).

  11. Ian Smith
    Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons I have not ordered the previously drawn models from Shapeways yet. One of the reasons for this is that I have decided that I don't need any more of the Outside Framed Vans that I were originally forming part of that order. I have however almost finished 2 of the Vans, attempting to complete them in GWR Red Livery with the 5" G.W.R lettering.
     
    The one with the roughly printed side I have decided to finish off as a grounded body, the images below hopefully will allow the reader to discern the variable results of the 3D Printing process between the 2 sides of this van (the roof of this van is 0.010" plasticard) :
     
    Good Side :

     
    Bad Side :

     
    The other van that is almost complete now (apart from the less than 1mm high lettering), and can be seen in the image below. Because I had initially drawn up the van as a body only, I have constructed the solebars and headstocks from plasticard strips (with rod welded on to give the impression of the bulb section solebars). The Buffers and Springs/Axleboxes are the last of my stock of Cast White Metal items that the 2mm Association made available years ago, and the W Irons and brake gear are from Colin Waite etches from the same source. The roof is 0.006" nickel silver sheet gently rolled into an arced profile on the mouse mat.

     
    Because I now have all of the Oustide Framed Goods Vans that I think I'll need, I decided that I would make up the rest of my ultimate order with Shapeways with some of the Cattle Wagons that I will eventually need. To this end I have now drawn up one of the Large (18'6" over headstocks, 11'0" wheel base) W1 / W5 diagram wagons, and also one of the Small (13'9" over headstocks, 8'6" wheel base) W3 diagram wagons. Google Sketch-Up screen shots of these can be seen below :
     
    W1/W5 Cattle Wagon :

     
    W3 Cattle Wagon :


     
    The image from below illustrates the recesses I have drawn into all of the models to help aligh the 2mmSA RCH W Irons (part no. 2-312), and also a similar recess for the V hanger.
     
    Ian
  12. Ian Smith
    For my next 2mm scale engine I had been considering an Armstrong Goods 0-6-0 tender engine (which I will also build) but in the end I've decided to begin work on a GWR "Buffalo" 1076 class. This engine is effectively a tank engine version of the Armstrong Goods, having the same wheelbase but slightly smaller wheels (and obviously no tender), and also has outside frames. For my chosen period (c.1906) nearly all of this class still had their saddle tanks (they were later rebuilt with pannier tanks).
     
    Drawing on the experience of my first 2mm scale engine (my 1854 class saddle tank), I decided that this one will be fully scratch built (the predecessor being a "conversion" from a Farish 57xx - I say "conversion" because in reality there isn't a huge amount left of the Farish model!). One of the main things that bothers me about the previous model is that there is no rivet detail on the saddle tank where the plates of steel were joined together. It looks OK from normal viewing distances, but I know it's missing - I could add some using Archer's rivet transfers I suppose, but as I said in my blog when I was building the model there are other compromises so eventually I will probably give it a complete new body. That said, it did what I hoped it would do - to allow me to prove to myself that I could model in 2mm Finescale, and more importantly get a locomotive to work in the scale.
     
    However, I've digressed. So on to the "Buffalo"...
     
    As mentioned above, for this model I intend to put a representation of the rivets on both the saddle and the outside frames. To this end, the first thing I needed was a rivet press!! So, armed with various pieces of steel I made myself one!

     
    This has been made so that I can locate it in the lathe chuck, and use the cross slide and top slide (locked at 90 degrees to the cross slide) to allow evenly spaced rivets to be pressed into some sheet material.

     
    So today, I have done just that. A piece of 0.005" brass was cut roughly to size and mounted on the lathe and a good many rivets pressed in at a 0.020" separation. Once all of the rivets were pressed, the brass was finished to size and rolled to the profile of the saddle - I had previously fretted out a pair of formers of the correct profile for the front and rear of the saddle (one will actually be the smokebox front eventually) - and the whole lot soldered up. Below are a couple of photos complete with the requisite coin of the realm to illustrate the size.

     

     
    Now I've managed to prove that my riveter works, and that I can form the saddle the next stage will be to begin work on the chassis. For this I will utilise the same method as I did for my Metro Tank, and will mill up a solid brass chassis albeit retaining the standard 2mm scale split axle methodology of construction.
     
    Ian
  13. Ian Smith
    Today I have well and truly been brought kicking and screaming into the 21st century!! I've been playing with static grass - the last time I did any scenery on a model railway I used surgical lint a'la Barry Norman.
     
    So having purchased a couple of bags of Heki grass (a green and a beige, both 2-3mm long), borrowed a friends static grass applicator and inspired by Gordon Gravett's book on grass etc I had a go. Mr Gravett seems to advocate blending his static grasses, so that is precisely what I've done too (a mix of about 3 green to 1 beige). The area I decided to experiment on is the Up end embankment (this is the area that all of my experiments take place - point rodding, signalling, ballasting).
     
    A layer of Green Scene's "Flock Cement" was spread along a portion of the embankment (a few pieces of flock were immersed in the glue to hopefully provide a clumpy effect for small areas of the grass), and the first layer of grass fibres deployed. After a couple of minutes I had what looked a good coverage, so the area was vacuumed over and the loose fibres collected in a hanky over the end of the pipe. These fibres were popped back in the applicator and a second coverage deployed to hopefully fill up any glue that hadn't been covered first time.
     
    Once the whole section of embankment I had earmarked for this experiment had received these two applications, some PVA was put on randomly and Woodland Scenics foliage was pressed into the wet glue. After all this had dried reasonably, I then kind of "dry brushed" PVA to the tips of some of the previously laid grass fibres, and a further deployment of just beige fibres applied to these PVA patches. Only small areas (no more than 2" square) were done at a time as I felt that the small amount of glue would dry very quickly. After each patch had been treated, the residue was vacuumed off and used on the next section.
     
    For a first attempt, I'm fairly satisfied with the results (photo's below). I probably need to attack little areas with a pair of scissors and/or tweezers to thin out some of the clumps though.
     
    3 photos showing the grassy embankment which also show the Baulk Road and Point Rodding along the embankment



     
    Having taken the above photos, I couldn't resist the opportunity to show my Metro tank and 4 wheel coaches in their natural environment




     
     
    Ian
  14. Ian Smith
    Following on from the last instalment, I have finally got around to getting some of the rodding in place on the layout. This is of the round variety, with stools (or stands) at no more than 6'0" (12mm) centres.
     
    The stools (on their bases) were superglued in place alongside the track using a straightish length of 0.25mm nickel silver wire as a guide to getting them in line. Once they were all secure, the wire was removed and rolled repeatedly between two pieces of sheet steel to remove any odd kinks and get a nice straight bit of wire again before a 90 degree bend was made at one end and close to that bend a little joggle inserted to raise the rod from the first angle crank to the level of the stools. It was then a simple matter of applying very little solder at the crank and each stool in turn to secure the wire in the saw cuts of the stools themselves. The two test rods that I've put in so far are for the Up end Up Main/Down Loop turnout and its associated FPL.
     
    The FPL rodding passes beneath the rail in a little channel bored out with a very small dental burr. For this early type of FPL, there was a square section rod connecting (via very small (in 2mm) cranks) the FPL locking mechanism to the lifting bar. I made this by filing 0.5mm wire to a square section and putting a couple of rings on each end to represent the bearings that the square section revolved in. The FPL itself is simply some 0.005" plasticard strip laid along the top of the baulk next to the rail, although I have shied away from any representation of the lifting bar cranks. The reason for making these small components is that for my period of interest these items were painted red by the GWR and will therefore be very noticable if not a feature so I really felt that something other than just the FPL cover in the 4' was needed.
     
    I'm pretty pleased with the results, although it probably doesn't stand the close scrutiny of macro digital photography!! Below are some images of the construction :

    Rodding Stools fixed in place before the rodding attached (although the FPL and switch connection cranks have also been laid)
     

    A cruel close up
     

    Rodding being added for the FPL
     

    Rodding to the FPL and Switch blades in place
     

    Completed section
     
     
    I originally had the intention to add some short pieces of wire on top of the stools/rods to represent the top rollers on the stools. All being well I will try adding this refinement on a few stools to ascertain whether or not there is a visual improvement (and also how much extra work will be involved and whether it b***ers up what's there - any lingering with the iron will cause the wire to buckle from expansion!)
     
    Thoughts???
     
    Regards,
     
    Ian
  15. Ian Smith

    GWR Down Home

    By Ian Smith,

    Just coming off my workbench is my first 2mm scale signal (actually it's my first completed signal in any scale!)
    This one is the Down Home for my fictional Modbury layout. The post has been milled to a tapered profile from 3mm square brass bar, the arm, balance weight and ladder are MSE components. The lamp is my own turning fixed to a small piece of L section brass. The finial is an old (overscale) OO handrail knob with a piece of 0.5mm phosphor bronze wire pushed through, soldered and turned to a point in a mini drill. The base of the finial is a small scrap of 0.010" (or 0.008" - can't remember) nickel silver with a 0.5mm hole through it, soldered to the top of the post (with the finial) and then sanded back to be a little proud of the post on all sides.
     
    The drive rod is 36SWG (0.076") phosphor bronze wire, threaded through the balance arm bent through 90 degrees and up through the rod guides (which are small pieces of 0.3mm ID tube soldered to the post oversize and filed back to a more acceptable representation of the rod guides), at the top another 90 degree bend allows the wire to pass through the arm. The ends of the drive wire snipped off and flattened to secure. The glazing in the spectacle plate is "Canopy Glue" which once dry was coloured with Staedler fine marker pens, the greeny blue being just that - coloured blue and once dry over coloured with green. The lenses of the lamp are just simple dots of Canopy Glue on the painted lamp case (although they don't really show).
     
    Below are some images of the completed signal.






     
    The below baseboard drive arm is held in place with a piece of bent Slater's 4mm handrail steel wire, and is removable to allow the arm to be swung inside the channel so that the whole unit can be slotted into the socket in the baseboard. The 8BA bolt will be used to firmly secure the signal in place (although it will need a washer).
     
    Ian
  16. Ian Smith
    Although I haven't as yet finished all of the track work on Modbury, the parts that are laid will need ballasting before too long. This in itself poses a few slight problems, like what to use for ballast? But one of the things that I want to install before I tackle the actual ballasting is the Point Rodding - Yes, I will be putting point rodding on my 2FS layout!!
     
    A re-read of the appropriate section of the 2mm Association's publication "Track - How it works and how to model it" gave a potential solution, using various sections of metal strip with notches cut in the end and mounted upright in holes in the baseboard to represent the rodding stools. I also looked at Pete Wright's solution that he documented in the 2mm Magazine (Aug & Dec 1989 and Feb & Apr 1990) where he used N gauge rail with slots cut in the head for the stools. Neither of these solutions really appealed to me so I decided to devise my own method. I even drew up some stools in Sketchup with a view to getting them 3D printed, but ultimately decided that they would be far to fragile and could very likely be completely destroyed by over zealous track cleaning. Something soldered up is for me definitely the way forward.
     
    A look at some drawings of GWR rodding stools (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/1559-the-distance-between-point-rodding-stools/page-2 : Entry no 43) showed them to be around 7 1/2 inches high (including the top rollers), I decided that if I used 1mm square brass rod with a bit of wire on top for the roller that it would probably pass muster as a rodding stool.
     
    First I needed a jig so that I could consistently cut slots in the square brass bar, so I used Geoff Jones' idea of a butt hinge :

     
    Loading this jig with a length of 1mm square bar, and a few minutes work with a razor saw gave me a few slots at one end of the bar :

     
    This end had a upturned V shape filed along it with a few wipes of a file, giving me the embryonic rodding stools :

     
    Some of the slots were continued through to part off the individual stools, these were then soldered to a length of point timbering PCB (held down with a cocktail stick while applying the iron) :

     
    Once I have made hundreds of these little devils in various denominations of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 bays I will begin the task of positioning them at scale 6' intervals in runs from the (as yet unmade) signal box to the various points and FPL's. The rodding itself will be phosphor bronze wire, and hopefully it will all look reasonably realistic when painted red :-)
     
    Thanks for looking,
    Ian
  17. Ian Smith

    2FS GWR Loading Gauge

    By Ian Smith,

    At last nights meeting of the Midland Area Group of the 2mm Scale Association, along with working on some of the items that were started at the previous meeting we continued to identify some more of the things that we still need to add to the layout.
     
    Obviously, like so many other layout projects there is still plenty to do. One of the things that we all feel is missing is a loading gauge in the goods yard. A quick search of t'internet for GWR loading gauges in N gauge showed that although there are a couple available that could be suitable they looked a little chunky (to my eyes at least). So this entry relates to my endeavours today to construct a (hopefully) more reasonable model in 2mm.
     
    Initially, I drilled a 0.5mm hole through the web of a couple of pieces of code 40 bullhead rail, a length of roughly 0.5mm diameter spring steel was poked through these holes and the lot soldered together to form a gallows structure. A suitable drawing of a typical GWR Loading Gauge was located and the "multi-arced shape" of an "opened up" gauge was bent up in 0.45mm brass wire. This embryonic gauge was sandwiched between two pieces of steel plate and laid on the concrete outside the workshop where I laid into it with a hammer to flatten it (in reality the hammering was rather subdued as every couple of blows the wire was checked to ensure that the flattening process was equal along the length).
     
    Once I had the hanging gauge, I twisted up some lengths of 0.044" phosphor bronze wire to simulate the chains that the gauge is suspended from, and these and the hanging gauge soldered to the spring steel gallows. The next stage was to add the gallows supports that cantilever out from the rail upright. Holes were drilled through the rail webs to accommodate the upper support which was bent up from 0.3mm brass wire, threaded through and soldered in place at either end of the spring steel cross piece. A further piece of the same brass wire was fitted below the tail of the cross piece bracing it to the rail uprights.
     
    Small loops of thin phosphor bronze wire were made to slip around the gallows to provide a support for the ropes/wires that operated the hinged sections at the ends of the hanging gauge, and were soldered in place before adding the operating ropes/wires from even thinner phosphor bronze wire (which were anchored in place through a hole in the lower half of the rail uprights, and secured with more solder).
     
    Once all was carefully cleaned up, and following a spray of white primer, and the lower portion of the upright was painted in an off-black (black that had a very small amount of white added to it to tone it down a bit), the wires/ropes were touched in with a suitable brown/grey colour, and a little dirty thinners washed over the whole to tone down the stark whiteness of the primer completed the job.
     
    Hopefully, it will be planted within the St Ruth Goods Yard soon and will be another item ticked off the list.
     


    Completed GWR Loading Gauge - standing all of 4cm tall.  
    Ian
  18. Ian Smith
    Because I am now trying to get some of the under-board gubbins in place for the operation of the turnouts I need to get some of the above board items in place so that I can ensure that the two won't interfere with each other. One of these above-board items is the "Point Dependent Ground Disc Signal" associated with the catch point at the exit to the goods loop.
     
    This little signal is one of the old style rotating types whereby the lamp case rotates to show a round green plate (and green light) when the road is clear or a red rectangular plate (and red light) when the road is blocked. Richard Brummitt has also made one in 2mm (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/63608-little-and-lit/) but being some sort of masochist he decided to illuminate his!! At a very early stage of thinking about what I wanted to model and to what extent I wanted to model it I discounted lighting up my signalling. The principle reason for that decision is simply that I feel if I were to go down that route then I would also have to add illumination to everything that would be lit from dusk til dawn, to me that included engine lamps, firebox fires, coach lighting, etc as well as the signals.
     
    So to the task in hand... Although small I really want all of my signals to work, and this ground disc is no exception. So the first item on the agenda was to make up a TOU and the associated Memory Wire actuator for the catch point, before these were fixed in place I drilled a 6mm mounting hole for the Ground Disc housing (an 8mm length of 5.5mm diameter brass tube with double sided PCB soldered on each end and drilled through centrally to accept the ground disc pivot).
     


    Ground Disc Housing  
    Once the TOU had been fixed in place and tested I was able to progress with the ground disc itself confident that the mechanism to make it rotate 90 degrees would not foul or be fouled by the TOU.
     
    The first task was to turn up the lamp case - in 2mm scale this is some 1.5mm diameter and 1.5mm high with a further domed roof with integral "chimney" on top, the whole thing being no more than 2.5mm high. Before the lamp case was parted off from the end of a 2mm diameter brass rod I was using, a 0.7mm diameter hole was drilled up into the case to accept the pivot of nickel silver rod. The aspects of the signal were made from pieces of 0.004" nickel slier sheet, the round plate being stamped out of the sheet with a purpose made 1mm diameter punch on a piece of lead sheet, the rectangle from a 1mm strip which was sanded back to size after being soldered onto the case.
     


    Ground Disc Lamp with the round and rectangular plates soldered in place and mounted on a 0.7mm nickel rod  
    The base of the ground disc was next up and included the baulk of timber to which the cast ground disc base was bolted. This item was filed up on the end of a piece of 3mm square brass bar, which had a 0.7mm hole drilled though it to accommodate the pivot rod. Before the base was separated from the bar, an area around the 0.7mm hole on the bottom was filed away to provide a recess to accommodate a small turned up washer that would be soldered in place on the pivot to prevent the lamp case moving upwards (and potentially being lost when the baseboards are up turned). Similarly a 0.3mm hole was drilled through the cast base to accommodate the point rodding that will connect it to the catch point blade.
     


    Ground Disc Base atop a timber baulk  
    Once all these little components had been made, the pivot was passed through the base and secured with a tiny washer, then the base was then soldered on top of the housing (with the pivot rod passing through). Finally a small crank was made up with a 0.5mm hole just off centre and soldered below the housing in such a way as to be at 45 degrees to the plates on the lamp case - the idea being that a drive rod (attached to the TOU) will engage in the 0.5mm hole and a push of ~1mm will cause the pivot and hence the lamp case to rotate 90 degrees.
     
    The whole upper assembly was chemically blackened (although not as black as I had hoped so I will need to go over it with a splash of paint), the faces of the round disc and rectangular plate were painted green and red respectively, the timber baulk was painted PP Track Colour (Weathered Sleepers), and the drive rod painted red (as will be all of the point rodding, FPL's, etc suitable for the Edwardian period).
     




    The finished Point Dependent Ground Disc before locating on the layout (before touching up the parts that are supposed to be black)  
    Thanks for looking.
     
    Ian
  19. Ian Smith
    Over the Christmas period I have been giving further thought to the signalling diagram for Modbury, and its associated Locking Chart.
     
    I really want to get this as sensible/accurate as possible because it is my intention to use the signals to allow power to be provided/denied to the various track sections, effectively engines will only get power if the correct signal(s) have been Cleared to allow entry into the section.
     
    To this end, I have come up with the following :

     
    I still have a few items to iron out, which hopefully I can do by referring to prototypical GWR Signal Diagrams. For instance a train given "Shunt Ahead" rights in the Down (to the left) direction, would a ground disc be provided by turnout (5) to allow the train to come back into the Down platform (especially since the turnout is beyond the road over bridge)? Similarly, I have provided a ground disc (11) by turnout (12) but can't decide which side of the track it would be sited - it is there to allow access into the Goods Yard/Up Loop by trains shunting in the Down (from the right) direction.
     
    I have also been giving consideration to the method of wiring the connections to the Signal Actuators (Memory Wire). Luckily, I have the Model Railway Constructor articles on the P4 North London Group's "Bodmin" layout, where they have described the utilisation of relays to facilitate the type of operation that I want to achieve.
     
    To this end, I have taken their ideas and produced an example wiring diagram for a short section of track with a couple of signals which I will now develop into a full wiring diagram once all of my track work has been laid (I have provided a fews comments for myself when I come back to this in a few months) :

     
    Hopefully the diagrams are large enough for interested parties to read!
     
    I look forward to receiving further comments (critical or otherwise)
     
    Ian
  20. Ian Smith
    Tonight I have been trying to finalise the signalling diagram for my fictional GWR through station Modbury.
     
    Below is the diagram that I have come up with. Hopefully it is a realistic representation of what the GWR would have provided for my Edwardian modelling period of c. 1906.
     
    All being well others who are better informed than myself will be able to provide guidance to any errors that I may have made. The main query I would have is whether the turnout on the main line at the right of the diagram would be signalled in some way for shunting movements into the goods loop and sidings?
     

     
    Any comments welcome (I haven't assigned lever numbers yet)
     
    Ian
     
    (Edited 5/12/14 to replace original PNG file with a JPG version)
  21. Ian Smith
    After a few trials and tribulations, I've done it!!! I've finally managed to scratch build a working locomotive in 2mm Finescale
     
    Since the last instalment, the sub assemblies have been primed with Halfords No 8 Self Etch Primer, the footplate sprayed with Precision Paints Indian Red. Before the buffer beams and footplate top were brush painted the pre-turned spring cups were super-glued in place behind the valances (the bond made more secure with 24 hour epoxy), and the assembly sprayed with Humbrol Satin Varnish. This was the first issue - the varnish dried very matt.
     
    The bunker assembly and Boiler/Tank/Cab assembly were all spray painted with Cherry Paints Pre 1928 GWR Green. This is when the problems really started!!
     
    The Cherry Paints green was quite unlike the Precision Paints Pre 1928 Green that I'd used on my saddle tank, so the whole of these two sub-assemblies were soaked in IPA for an hour or two (which is a really good paint stripper), and an old electric toothbrush used to take the model back to bare metal. Once the sub-assemblies were scrubbed clean and dried off the painting process was repeated with the contents of a very old tin of PP Pre'28 green. Before I did the black-work on the smokebox, tank tops and cab roof these assemblies were lined with Fox transfers GWR lining, and the handrails scraped back to the bare steel. The whole lot was then given a spray of Humbrol Satin Varnish. Guess what, this also dried with a very matt finish!!
     
    Not being one to give up lightly, once everything had dried for a day, another batch of Humbrol Satin Varnish was loaded into the airbrush and everything given another coat - annoyingly this too has dried matt!!! I think another type of satin varnish needs to be purchased !!!
     
    The buffer housings were re-drilled 0.8mm to clear out any paint that had strayed inside before the steel buffer heads and shanks were fitted and secured with super-glue from the tail end (which protrudes behind the rear of the buffer beams). The dome and safety valve casing were attached to the boiler with epoxy as were the tank fillers and the tool boxes on the tank tops. The whistles were fitted in pre-drilled holes in the cab roof and secured with a spot of super glue inside the cab.
     
    The sub-assemblies were bolted together, and attached to the chassis. A test run revealed that what was once a lovely runner now didn't budge!!!
     
    After what seemed like hours of frustration, the fault was eventually found to be the motor wire - I'd used a body fixing bolt that was too long at the smokebox end, and had effectively cut through the wire in the end of the motor . An order was quickly placed with Nigel Lawton for a replacement motor, and was luckily fulfilled in a couple of days. With the replacement motor fitted, the whole thing was reassembled (this time with a much shorter bolt into the smokebox) - once again the damn thing didn't run, so a couple of days were spent trying to get back to the smooth runner that I had a few weeks ago. This entailed removing the gearbox to ensure that the quartering was still good - it was. Taking the gearbox apart and reassembling it all again - it seemed that there was a slight bind in there somewhere which the small NL Midi Motor couldn't quite get past. Once it was all put back together again, it was put on the end of a mini-drill to run it in for a bit before everything was made whole again.
     
    So after a few traumatic days, I now have a second engine that runs very nicely on my test track. The images below show her as she is at the minute.
     

     

     

     

     
    There are a few things still to do :

    Coal in the bunker
    Crew in the cab (it also need a back head but I doubt that I will get that made before next weekend)
    Brake gear (again I'm not in hurry to fit that)
    The cab sides could do with being lined, but they are pretty small and the curve around the cab opening has put me off trying that just yet as I suspect I need to do that freehand.  
    Ideally, I would want her to have a bit of a sheen, so one day I will either try re-varnishing her, or she will have to have a complete strip back to bare metal and the whole painting/lining process repeated with hopefully a successful protective varnish.
     
    Am I satisfied with my efforts (despite the problems encountered)? Yes, I'm absolutely delighted!! I've proved to myself that I can build a working locomotive in 2mm Finescale, and that will give the confidence to try some of the other models that I want for my branch line. Having now built 2 engines one with an Association etched chassis and one with a milled brass chassis, there is no doubt in my mind that for the engines that I want (which are predominantly small) that a home made milled brass chassis is the way to go. The saddle tank weighs in at 43g (with the Farish cast tank and footplate), the Metro tank is 39g (with lead in the bunker and side tanks), and in this scale loco weight is key. Happily, she will pull my train of 4/6 wheeled coaches without any sign of slipping.
     
    Ian
  22. Ian Smith
    More progress has been made on this little project, such that she is now ready for the paint shops.
     
    To finish her off, the cab roof needed some detail (the whistles won't be added until she has been painted). There is a rain strip along the back edge of the cab roof, this was added from a single strand of multi-core wire (0.2mm diameter). To get this perfectly straight before attempting to solder it in place it was rolled on a flat surface (a piece of sheet steel) beneath another flat surface (a steel rule) this very quickly straightens a piece of copper wire this thin. Once this was attached, the holes for the two roof handrails were marked up and drilled along with the holes for the whistles. The handrails were formed from some Albion Models 0.2mm diameter nickel silver rod and soldered in place with a slip of card below them to ensure that they were equally spaced off the roof.

     
    After looking at some photos I realised that I had omitted the sand box lids on the sandboxes that are at the top of the cab steps. Some 1mm rod was quickly turned up and glued into holes to represent these.

     
    The next part to be manufactured was the smokebox front. On these early engines the smokebox door was of the dished pattern. To turn this up, a brass mandrel was made and a piece of 0.028" nickel silver sheet was soldered on the end of it before mounting in the lathe. After some little time, a smokebox front complete with dished door was formed. While mounted in the lathe, a 1mm hole was drilled in the middle of the door for accommodate the smokebox dart handles. The dart itself was turned up from a piece of nickel silver rod, but before the turning was performed a 0.4mm hole was drilled laterally across the diameter of the rod a couple of millimetres from the end to allow the handles to be threaded through.


    The door hinges were the next item to be tackled, being simply formed from thin strips of 0.004" nickel silver sheet the thicker end of each jingle piece was wrapped around a piece of 0.008" guitar string to represent the hinge itself.

    Once these items were cut to their final size they were soldered in place on the smokebox door/front.

     
    Once I was happy with the smokebox door/front assembly, it was epoxied in place over the gaping hole in the front of the smokebox. Epoxy was also used as a filler on the front of the smokebox saddle below the turned smokebox front. The following day, once the epoxy had fully cued any excess was trimmed and filed away.
     
    The next somewhat daunting task was to make the combined handrail knob/lamp socket that sits at the top of the smokebox above the door. For this a piece of 1mm diameter brass rod was drilled laterally across its diameter with a 0.3mm drill (a small indentation with a wipe or two of a knife edge needle file allowed the drill to start without sliding off to one side or the other). Once this transverse hole had been made, the rod was re-sited within a pin chuck to allow the flats of the lamp socket to be formed on the end mm or so of the rod. Once happy that I had a square section on the rod end, it was transferred to the mini drill and filed to represent the handrail knob and the shaft to attach it to the smokebox front.


     
    The last little game was to form and fit the boiler/smokebox handrail. A length of 0.008" guitar string was carefully bent to the right shape (far easier and quicker to say than do!), and the repeatedly trial fitted around the smokebox using the previously made knob/lamp socket as a guide. The pair of handrail knobs needed on the smokebox sides were formed using my usual method of using a loop of single strand multi-core wire in the pin chuck, this is spun around a piece of handrail wire until the tails snap off.


    Once I had made sufficient to allow a suitable sacrifice to the carpet god, these threaded onto the handrail and sited in the previously drilled holes in the smokebox sides. After a suitable period of fettling to ensure that I was reasonably happy with the way that the handrail lay, the knobs were touched with a wipe of solder, extra solder was needed where the twisted handrail knobs fitted into the over sized holes to be cleaned up afterwards.

     
    So there she is. All ready for the sub-assemblies to go to the paint shops.

     
    And a final photo to show what she looks like with all of the loose parts plonked on in their relevant positions.

     
    Hopefully, the next few days will see a visit to the paint shops. I suspect with Autumn coming on strong that I will have to employ the de-humidifier and fan heater in the workshop/railway room/shed for a hour or two before breaking out the airbrush.
     
    Ian
  23. Ian Smith
    Continuing with the addition of detail, I have now completed the bunker assembly. This required the addition of the coal rails, the lamp sockets, the handrails and the fire iron hooks.
     
    The coal rails are simply 2 lengths of 0.3mm straight brass wire that were taped down while narrow strips of 0.004" nickel silver were soldered across them centrally and about 11mm either side of the centre line for the support brackets. Once the brackets had been soldered on and cleaned up, the bunker rails were bent to shape to fit around the bunker and the ends of the two rails bent downward in characteristic fashion (the support brackets were soldered in place with 188 degree solder so that I could subsequently attach the assembly around the top of the bunker with 145 without the risk of it all dropping to apart to its constituent pieces).
     
    The lap sockets (rather than brackets - the GWR used lamps with a square spigot projecting below the case that slotted into a square socket about 4" square with a central square hole to accept the spigot in the early 1900's, on the bunker back these sockets were mounted on a "stalk" that projected from the bunker back) were formed from 1mm diameter brass rod by filing a square section on the end of the rod, and the rod filed down in a mini drill to represent the "stalk". Once made each was soldered in place in holes in the bunker back.
     
    The handrails are simply made from 0.008" guitar string (the handrails were polished steel in the early 1900's), with knobs made by taking short lengths of 0.2mm copper strand wire (a single core from multi-core wire), forming into a loop the tails of which were trapped in a pin chuck, the guitar wire was passed through the loop and the chuck spun until the loop wire snapped off. This results in a twist of wire with a small loop on the end that when soldered in place forms a neat knob.
     
    The fire iron hooks are again simply made (but the very devil to solder in place) from narrow strips of 0.004" nickel silver bent into the characteristic shape.
     
    The close up photography below shows that I still have some cleaning up to do and the projection of the top of the handrail above the knob on the left hand side needs filing down a little.
     


     
    A set of small turnings that won't be added until the painting is complete are the things that are are part of the leading springs that are fixed below the footplate valance (shown clearly in the photo below)

     
    Because they are polished steel, these have been turned from 1.5mm silver steel rod - the fattest part is 1mm diameter, the spigot below and the stalk that I've left on to allow them to be blued behind the valance and considerably thinner!

     
    Finally, I've made the tool boxes and the tank fillers. The tool boxes are simply 3mm square brass with one side filed over to give the rounded top, a slip of 0.004" nickel silver being rolled to shape and soldered onto this rounded over part to represent the lid, the embryonic lid was filed back to be just proud of the sides of the tool box. The tank fillers are again small turnings, the clasp to keep them shut being made from 0.008" nickel silver soldered into a slot sawn across the diameter of the lid and filed to shape once soldered in place.

     
    Also shown in the above photo is the brake standard that goes inside the bunker. The bunker has been filled with lead and a hole drill into it to accept the bottom of the brake standard. The finished article can be seen in place in the photo below.

     
    The next stage is to make the smokebox front and fit the boiler handrails - then unless I spot anything else that I ought to add she will be ready for a coat of paint :-)
     
    Edited to add further photo with all of the bits plonked on to give an indication of how she's looking now :

     
    Ian
  24. Ian Smith
    As they say the devil is in the detail ...
     
    The body is now in 3 sub components :

    Footplate,
    Boiler, Cab & Tanks
    Bunker  
    And now comes the slow task of adding the minor components and details to these to achieve a complete model. The first part to be "detailed up" is the Footplate. To this I need to add the springs and axle boxes for the leading wheels, the buffers, the vacuum and steam pipes and finally the lamp irons.
     
    I had already turned up the buffers - I make these as 3 separate components, a small square "plate", a turned buffer housing, and a steel buffer head and shank. The 4 buffer housings were sweated onto a sheet of 0.006" nickel sheet, and each of these trimmed out to give a housing on a small square plate just a little bigger than the rear of the housing. In turning the housings, each had a 0.8mm hole drilled centrally down it's length to accommodate the buffer shank. The buffer heads and integral shanks were turned from some 3mm diameter steel rod, and the shank was made a few mm long and 0.75mm diameter. The head/shank will be glued into the housing once painting has been completed. Each buffer housing was soldered in place on the buffer beams.
     
    The leading wheel springs sit on top of the Footplate, and to help to get them the same size and shape I drew them up in Inkscape, and the resultant printout double sided taped (probably should have glued it) onto a piece of 0.028" nickel sheet that had two pieces laminated together. The spring shape was them carefully fretted and filed out using the printout as a guide. Once The spring shape was filed to shape and size, the face between the "hangers" at each end and the central strap that holds the leaves of the spring together was filed away to leave these elements standing proud of the spring leaves (I haven't tried to represent the individual spring leaves in 2mm!!!) Once filling was done the laminations were separated to give me the 2 springs. The photos below show these steps :



     
    The axle boxes were then made up from a piece of milled nickel strip (as used to be sold by the 2mmSA for crossheads), as this was a flat "T" section where the upright of the T being just the right width to fit in the horn guides in the footplate valances. A strip of 0.008" nickel silver sheet was cut to the same width as the upright of the T, and was rounded off at one end. Because the outer round plate of the axle box in my modelling period appears in photographs to be polished brass, a small 1.5mm disc of 0.005" brass was "belted out" of a suitable piece of sheet material - actually, a piece of 1.5mm silver steel was ground flat at one end and used as a punch to stamp out these discs on a piece of lead sheet. These 3 parts were soldered together and the whole thing cut and filed to length. Because there is a small gap at the top of the horn guide when the axle box is fitted, a piece of 0.45mm steel wire was soldered to the back of each axle box to represent the prototype link between the axle box and spring above. the photo below shows the individual elements of these axle boxes (left) and a completed one (right) :

     
    The Footplate sub-component with the springs, buffers and axle boxes in place (the lamp irons (well sockets - the GWR lamps in my chosen period having a spigot that located in lamp sockets that were about 4" square) have also been attached at this point - these are simply made from 1mm brass rod filed square at one end, and a flat filed into the rod behind these cubic sections to provide the steel fixing plate which was fixed to the Footplate) :

     
    This final photo shows how the footplate looks with the boiler/tank assembly bolted in place (the fixing is actually 2 12BA bolts screwing up into the bottom of the sandboxes at the front of the side tanks.

     
    The next stage is to apply the detail to the Bunker assembly - this will comprise the bunker coal rails, the cab hand rails, the lamp sockets on the bunker rear and the brackets for the irons. Just how much of this will get done in time for the 2mmSA AGM next weekend remains to be seen :-)
     
     
    Ian
  25. Ian Smith

    GWR Small Mero Tank (3)

    By Ian Smith,

    Some significant progress has been made with my first scratch built 2FS loco - It works!!!
     
    Following on from the last instalment, I had determined that I needed to construct some of the body work in order that I could determine how well or otherwise my dog clutch arrangement would be successful in transferring drive from the motor to the gearbox. A dog clutch is used in engineering when turning between centres so I had some conviction that it would work, but I was a little worried that if the centre line of the motor and that of the gear box were too far adrift that the final drive at the wheels would be erratic.
     
    Because I was mounting the motor in the boiler/smokebox, effectively I had to mount the boiler on the footplate to judge the centre height of the motor shaft compared with the centre height of the gearbox. In order that I could do that I had to make the tanks so that I could fit the boiler on top of them, and to ensure that the wheels and gearbox would not encroach into the cab space I had to make the cab too. In addition, because I needed a way to anchor this top assembly to the footplate, I decided that the best way was to make the sandboxes ahead of the tanks and drill and tap them 12BA so that the tank/boiler cab assembly could be held together. in the end I also needed to make the bunker/cab floor too so that I could screw the chassis into something!!
     
    Below is a photo showing all of these separate assemblies (the gearbox is held on the main chassis block with a peg at one end and a 12BA bolt at the other (from underneath) :

     
    Once I could actually put all of this lot together, I found that I could fit a slightly larger flywheel, so a new one was made with a 0.5mm peg protruding to provide the drive to the gearbox :

     
    This peg acts on a bar which extends across the gearbox drive shaft (another turning in stainless steel, the end of which filed to provide bearing surfaces for the peg on the flywheel - The Dog Clutch :

     
    In order that the motor could be fitted in the boiler, the original wires from the Nigel Lawton motor were cut short, and replacements of enamelled wire soldered in place - the enamelling preventing shorting. The new wires can just be seen in the photo below before they run along the top of the motor through the boiler. Because of these wires, the motor is now an interference fit within the boiler so there is no need to glue or otherwise secure it in place :

     
    With the boiler bright work just plonked on top, this how she looks now :

     
    And to prove that (after much fettling) she works :

     
    To get this far has been a bit of a trial - getting the thing moving without binding has proved much more difficult than my saddle tank did. That in itself is particularly frustrating because the original chassis that I built in traditional 2mm ways of phosphor bronze frames held apart/together with PCB still has the wheels (with coupling rods) in it and rolls happily without issue, it just lacks weight which is why I went down this route of a solid chassis.
     
    The next stage is to start making and adding the details to bring her to life as it were (buffers are already done). Will she be ready for the AGM? Highly unlikely!! Hopefully, I will get her completed for Warley so she can share a turn hauling my 4 wheel coaches up and down St. Ruth's branch line.
     
    Regards,
     
    Ian
×
×
  • Create New...