Izzy

Just picked up a copy in Tesco's during the main weekly shop. Quite surprised since it's usually thursdays when most mags seem to appear around here (North Essex). Another really good issue with plenty for practical modellers to think about in respect of lighting/presentation either for simple home use or at exhibitions. Liked seeing Morfa Mawr, lovely shots, but had to look here to work out the track plan;- http://emgauge70s.co.uk/layout_aberath.html but having looked at the online shots several times in the past the article helped give a better understanding of it in overall terms. Izzy

I've got several sets of shelves in two rooms using this type of shelf support, mostly for books but also for more general storage. They have proved to be much stronger than other supports used in the distant past - thinner aluminium ones - but they are used with solid plank shelves screwed to the brackets with a maximum depth of 12" and length of 4ft ( three uprights to support this length and the weight that could be imposed). I do wonder whether some of the points raised re datum levels and vertical walls might cause a few problems when trying to go right around a room or having the baseboard 'shelves' too far out from the wall (more than 15/18") with the attendant risk of too much weight/pressure being applied at this outer edge for the brackets to absorb. Books etc are sometimes quite heavy but the weight is spread across the depth of the shelf from front to back. Most of these shelving systems rely on a good proportion of the imposed weight bearing down at the rear vertically on the wall uprights to prevent the fixings pulling out of the wall. Izzy

I know it's OT but considering all the faffing around needed with cabling it does make you wonder whether this option is easier/better for those that don't mind using phones/tablets as simple throttles and can afford it. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/128050-prodigy-wifi-smartphone-and-tablet-throttles/ I had already acquired a (more expensive!) wi-fi handset conversion before this appeared but the ease of use, not tripping over cables etc, made that worth getting as it works with whatever layout the system is powering as would the above. Just waiting to hear how Eltel has found it in real life use. Izzy

I don't know how many modellers are like me, thinking that the N7's were just used on passenger/empty stock workings, but browsing through John Mann's East Anglian Steam Gallery series of albums today on another matter I found one plate towards the back of part One showing 69713 on freight shunting duties at Bishop's Stortford on the 19th June 1959 - which may have just been between passenger duties but the single righthand lamp indicates freight work - and another in part Two with 69674 shunting wagons at Standon on 13th June 1958, which must have been as part of a freight working yet the single top disc fitted would indicate a passenger/mixed branch train. Whatever the particular cases it would seem to suggest a bit more leeway on using these locos in their later years for anyone considering getting one of the BR versions. It's certainly made me re-consider whether to get one, the main concern being whether there is enough room under the footplate for P4 wheelsets as I don't really want a re-run of the work the Hornby J15 entailed, or the Heljan W&M railbus come to that..... Izzy

I believe any standard cat5/6 cable/plugs will work. That is what I have used when needed. Izzy

Hate to say it but I don't think you are meant to trim the chairs off. The smaller Peco BH joiners fit between the sleepers as with prototype track. There is a thread here about the new track, and a debate over rail joiners! http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/134764-practical-peco-bullhead-trackwork/ Perhaps you could use the new joiners and glue (cryno probably) some half chairs around the rails where you have removed them to add back a bit of strength. Izzy

Thanks to the heads up from Zero Gravitas yesterday I picked up the bagged offer from Tesco's. Thought the layout book/mag looked rather familiar - then realised I had picked it up in Heathrow in early Decemeber to read on the long flight to Sydney........doh! Have to say though that for anyone that hasn't seen it the layouts Volume 3 is well worth getting. Loads of interest and inspiration, as is usually the case with Paul Lunn's designs as is evident in the actual months magazine. Izzy

Just got my first exGE area LNER type searchlight signal built and installed for my new layout Priory Road. A bit more here for anyone interested. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/134232-priory-road-signalling-advice-please/ Izzy

I thought an update dealing with the fitting of a tantalum based stay-alive for the Jinty might be of some interest following a post with a shot of it posted on the workbench thread. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/65499-whats-on-your-2mm-work-bench/page-81 post#2022 Unlike the 4F with its 12 wheel current collection the Jinty has been prone to stalling now and then when the track or wheel treads were less than really clean. So thoughts were directed to fitting a stay-alive to give it a bit of help. The unit was based around those developed by Nigel Cliffe : http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/DCC%20Stay%20Alive/index.html and using the (e-bay) links provided by Nick Mitchell to source the parts needed: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/65499-whats-on-your-2mm-work-bench/page-81 I had to substitute flat SMD 100R resistors because the 100R mini-MELFS weren't available. In order to fit the tantalum pack beneath the cab opening level I had to remove the plasticard fitting originally used to sit the decoder on and make a new one using thinner sheet so that a open box arrangement could house the decoder underneath the tantalums and still give the decoder a little room to breathe. I know some decoders are wrapped and I may be being over-cautious here but I like to ensure they have one exposed surface to aid cooling, however minimal that might be. Three of the tantalums was all I could fit within the cab space but that has proved quite enough to give the Jinty all the help it seems to need. I found I was able to replace the loco crew where they were before and the pack isn't visible. What is really clear is that I need to attend to the chimney (now done since the shots were taken), and give the body a decent finish i.e. a work-a-day weathering job. This is awaiting it's turn in the queue....... cheers, Izzy

Just a bit more on the searchlights with regard to LED brightness. I have always found LED based colour light signals to be a bit bright/glary. The recommendations generally seem to be that they are powered from a 12v supply and used with a 1Kohm resistor. This seems to be whether the LEDS are 3v or 5v. As I use a Prodigy PA2 DCC system (3.5amp @15v) I decided to take a feed from it for lighting via an adjustable voltage regulator which can take AC or DC input and output at any set voltage. Originally I set the output @12v but though various tests aimed at reducing the brightness to one that looked better and was easier on the eyes I ended up at 6v and with two resistors in series, a 1K plus a 1K5. This seemed fine on the workbench but still proved rather too bright once the signal was installed on the layout. What to do? A bit more experimentation indicated that fitting some kind of screen to the LEDS was the answer, to act as diffusion, and three circular layers of some hard tissue paper (originally used for wrapping some etches) fitted into the head aperture proved enough. These were fixed into place with a wash of Mek-Pak. I would guess tracing paper might work as well. Here are some before/after comparison shots. Not brilliant but they show the difference. The green is of course a bit more subdued than the red. Izzy

Just thought I would post a few shots now that I know what should go where. The point rodding has been added along with some LNER economical FPL's. Very basic in respect of details but doesn't look too bad. I am hoping that when it's all finally painted, ballasted, and weathered it will look reasonable. The first searchlight has also been made, using a SMD bi-colour LED, with a position light beneath. I am afraid the latter is non-working. Another similar signal is needed for the B platform, while a third for platform A will also have a theatre indicator, which I hope will work and be lit simply using some very small (tiny!) white SMD LED's I have obtained. Just to give an idea of the size.. Izzy

Thanks Justin, it doesn't look too bad and I'm happy with the compromise re looks. Re 'frog juicers' I think the simple ones from Gaugemaster would be ideal here. I did think about using them but tried to find an alternative way as although the layout is wired for DCC, (so no sections except the catch points cut off power to the sidings as well as doing the obtuse crossings), I can plug in a DC controller for loco testing purposes if I want, and non of these 'juicer' things is compatible with DC - I think it fries them if they are wired up to it. I did enquire via GM and they said no, along with the reason why, but I'm afraid I can't remember at the moment. So that is just something to bear in mind. Had I not found another way I would have used them and shelved running DC for testing. The GM ones seems good value against others. I admire you for taking on Bill's layout. It's never easy taking on anything made by someone else, and especially when it's a project in progress, for everyone has there own preferences and ways of doing things. Just keep asking questions. I am sure everybody is only too willing and pleased to be able to offer any help and advice they can. regards, Izzy

Yes, the heavy lines are FPL's. Where possible companies used as few as possible due to the added complexity, and directional rather than bi-directional running helped in this respect. I have only used versaline chairplates, and here is my latest attempt at a layout where I have reverted to soldered track using them and am just in the process of fitting the LNER style of economical FPL's. As it features both a single slip and obtuse crossing between plain turnouts and catch points I felt it was more than I could have managed with easitrac, although it would have probably looked a bit better. Hopefully when it finally gets ballasted it won't be too bad. At least it works ok, which is the main thing. Going back to the track layout your working on and the obtuse crossings I do wonder how you will switch the crossings for polarity. Could be an interesting challenge. As working my points has also reverted to purely mechanical means - simple Expo Tools DPDT slider switches working 0.9mm rod to tie-bars buried under the switches - I have used the catch point DPDT's to do this. As I keep reminding myself, and you seem to be finding out, it's all good fun........ regards, Izzy

I realise that 3-205 duplicates the complete etched chassis kits, 57xx, J94, 08, 4F, Jinty, (not sure what 1109 is - the generic tank?) but they are a good backstop for anyone that might muck-up the rods with the kits (like me) or wants slightly beefier alternatives. I think the design of them is such that any of the rods can be produced fluted or plain. Just reverse the way the pairs are backed together. Izzy

Very sorry Justin, I do think you are reading it wrong. The O/s might be very early as it doesn't correspond with the diagrams on Signalbox.org. If you look at the Long Melford 1912 dia : https://signalbox.org/diagrams.php?id=1064 you will see that Bill has reproduced the actual parting of the two branches to Glemsford and Laveham as per the diagram. Just plain turnouts coupled with three obtuse (diamond) crossings. There are no slips at all. Both sidings come off the Up lines. I believe the (very) long term aim Bill had was to (eventually) build the station area as it was, and the arrrangement being built was to get it up and running in a simpler/condensed form, and why it was called 'Short Melford'. Another board with the station would just replace the middle board with the long siding. Hopefully I have it right. Obviously once you know how the track was supposed to be then what is already down will make sense and it might all then fall into place. The track was soldered with Bill's own etched chaiplates I believe, that used to be available through shop 1. I do think that perhaps you will have to make it using etched plates of some kind to get it to all line up height wise. Either the versaline ones of perhaps the new ones from Lawrie Adams. Not tried them yet. Izzy edit - sorry, meant to add that the routes are very much up/down lines, not bi-directional, the FPL's on the bit you are dealing with show that.

Having struggled with this aspect of the rod sizes I would personally welcome a re-run of these if produced exactly as they are now but perhaps with smaller crankpin holes at the now standard 0.5mm size. These can always been enlarged if needed and the rods thinned down to suit. The multiple OS cranks are particularly useful for someone as cack-handed as I am who often needs several attempts at things to get them right. I envy those who can use the correctly sized rods - it's not through lack of trying - but it just seems beyond me. best regards, Izzy

I think that Bill B would have worked it all out before he started laying the timbers. That if you use 10mm as the rough datum lines for rail position, 5mm both sides of the drawn centre lines I can see, I am sure you will find that where they cross will be the crossing nose at the front edge of an appropriate timber. Given that the track design has already been drafted out by Bill I think you do need to establish these first, and. then kind of ‘join up the dots’. This would save all the effort of having to lift all the timbering. Using Templot as suggested would be another way but you might find that while it is great for generating odd angle obtuse crossings - and there are three in this formation - none of the timbering might line up anywhere. I have found you have to be a bit careful when using it for complex track work. Recently I had to replace a templot generated 1-6 single slip with the 2mm SA version (drawn by Keith Armes) because the former just didn’t have sufficient allowance for using 2FS clearance standard switches along with the necessary rail isolation cuts. Izzy ps. I can’t see a slip anywhere in the photos of this formation, am I missing something? ( there are a couple in the actual station area).

I have recently completed a D120 4-wheel brake and hope it's okay to post some shots of the construction in case they may be of interest. The sides/ends are the etched ones from Comet, buffers and torpedo vents Markits, couplings Smiths, while the wheels are Romfords altered a bit on my lathe to run on P4. The rest is mostly plasticard. and it seems to have turned out looking quite reasonable and runs okay. I am particularly grateful to Scott for starting this thread and giving me the impetus to undertake it based on seeing what he made completely from scratch. Great stuff. I had to fit dividers to keep the sides from bowing inwards along with 0.9mm brass rod at the inside top. The way the ends fit into the sides with the fold-up floor end and locations for the solebars is very helpful. Seemed strange making up the springs/axleboxes with the springs on the other side to the front of the boxes. The roof needed inside strips to keep things as square as possible but I couldn't get the top very smooth, so I took some of the tissue paper the etches came wrapped in and flooded it onto it with Mek. Gives quite a good canvas type look. I had to add another bit to the underside of the roof so it could be held in place with a 8ba bolt from underneath as it wouldn't sit down properly without it. The inside axle frames I made in plasticard rather than brass as in the past. For a small shunting type layout it runs quite okay. Too free running can sometimes be a drawback on less than totally level small layouts where the stock may be shunted about and not run in a fixed rake. I had fun adding a few small squares as rivets. Oversize but is okay from a distance! It all looks much better in primer. And then painted.....Halfords cans for the primer/top coat on the body, with the underframe/ends brush painted in matt black. A few HMRS methfix decals. regards, Izzy

A 3v coin battery such as a 2032 is good for testing 3/5v LEDs and you don't need a resistor. Izzy

David, When I removed the gearbox parts I added another layer inside on both sides to give a bit of extra strength around the gear shaft areas. As Chris is now producing chassis etched with two layers this won't be needed, but I don't know whether all chassis are like this now, or just new types. But I have more original 04/08 chassis to build as I am also doing both green and blue versions. My blue 04 will be the next to get a tantalum stay-alive. As even with the etched 2mm chassis and 7mm coreless there is so little spare room in the bonnet it does seem likely the cab floor will be where it goes, hopefully beneath the level of the cab windows. Watch this space...... If you use a solid piece of pcb you will have to allow for keeping all the individual parts isolated from each other which is why I went for just strips along the outside frames as the slightly easier option because you will need the thin footplate layer on top whatever to achieve the right base height for the buffer beams and front steps. Bob

Yes, might have been ran as required or once/twice/thrice weekly or a mix of them. Certainly plenty of demand at certain times, sugar beet etc and enough to keep some lines open/mothballed/truncated for these when the traffic was there, Cockfield, Snape etc. Izzy

Lovely construction David, I wish I could make mine half as neatly. If I have it right, when running in reverse the gearing force on the motor in the 03 would be pulling the worm away from the motor, so my original thought doesn't have legs. I do notice however that I added inner strengthening layers to the chassis around the gear layshaft areas on both the 04/08 chassis to beef them up a bit and this may well help absorb some produced vibration noise. Strangly I have found that these Chinese 7mm coreless motors run nicely 'out-of-the-box' with the default settings on the DCX 76's whereas the Farish & Nigel Lawton coreless types both need some tweaking with CV's to get the best out of them. Will you be fitting stay-alives? Having now experienced the advanatge they produce even with good running locos like the 08, all my shunters will get them, and especially as I have also struggled to get really decent reliably running 03/04's. In respect to the outside frames on the 08 I made a replacement footplate from thin brass shim sheet ( K&S sell very useful packs of it with a range of differing sizes), and then used point timbering strips glued to it with the OF's then soldered to them. The frames of course need isolating from the footplate, and the front/rear beams, so gaps were left. The front beams were made as a 'wrap-around' unit with the front steps and keeping a gap between the steps and frames proved 'interesting'. Plasticard between the frames then isolates the chassis from the footplate when it's all screwed together. I did post some shots on the yahoo VAG in the distant past but not sure if they are still around on the new IO VAG so have added a few here in case they may help anyone. regards, Bob

Many thanks. That's an idea I will experiment with. It has made me think of whether T shaped pins could be used, pushed in and then rotated under both rail bottoms so they could be soldered onto them. Keeping heat/soldering iron well away from the plastic easitrac base has been my concern/problems and doing this between the sleepers while not being visible would be a neat solution. Izzy

The problem is that all the Easitrac/Finetrax pointwork building parts are for Bullhead formations whereas as I understand it you want FB on concrete. This also applies to filing jigs, cast/milled frogs/crossings etc, ( the Finetrax are cast, the Easitrac are milled). Making FB pointwork is slightly different to BH in that the stock rails inner foot needs filing back to accomodate the blades which can't be filed up using the BH jigs and also need more work to do. Not impossible by any means - I made my first handbuilt FB track in N back in 1973 so simple tools are all you need - but it does all take time. During your timescale I have read that on the Western Region FB on timber and also BH on both concrete and timber were still much in evidence, with the latter often found on secondary lines and in sidings so there is plently of scope to mix and match the various combinations. Izzy

I think the problem with an issue like this is that there are so many variables that it’s often difficult to pin down. My 04/08 for example have these Chinese 7mm motors, but whether they are the same production as David’s or just similar spec...... Mine are also fitted onto the chassis with a plasticard ‘box’ around them as well as axles moving in slots. All of this could affect how resonance vibrations are transmitted through the chassis/body. To restrict shaft movement I push the worm on as far as it will go. So when the end hits the motor body it acts like a limit stop. Very crude but it works okay. I still have stocks of the older, longer, black version worms with 1mm bores and I don’t know if this would work with the newer white type. Otherwise you could use the shouldered 1mm-1.5mm adapter sleeve but this isn’t a firm push fit on the shaft. Bob