Jub45565

Another option is that if I do sort out the screw adjuster on the pull rod, then the hex part could be attached to the crank end with a rod entering it from the clip on section around the wheels. I think initially I will build it as is, using option 2 from my last post, and then with it detachable I can assess how it looks and upgrade it later.

Well here goes a gamble - I updated to Windows 10 (I was on 8 which was only useable with add on toolbars and things so I thought I had nothing to lose) and while most of it seems fine it does seem to have removed photo studio 6 for me. This is no bad thing, as while it did the job it did take its time and was clunky. The photos here were altered in GIMP, which while letting me choose by quality it didnt let me choose by image resolution, that I could see... Anyway,the brake hangers have been assembled. These currently have my lace making pin to slot in the tube but also the slot on the bracket to locate in the slot. I may yet file off the latter if it proves to be too difficult to install or remove the brake gear, but I thought Id leave it there for now. I can always remove it later, but if I removed it now I can't put it back... All 4 assembled: One in place in its tube: I have soldered in the cross members, and placed the brake pull rod and pull rod cranks and now have more decisions to make! Having got the brake shoes clipping on and off, I need to work out a method for the rear joint of the pull rod to become free. (The joint through which there is a lace making pin in the photo below): I so far have 2 ideas in mind: 1 option is to assemble the joint with the lace making pin a joint, so that the brake gear can hinge down. That allows the wheelsets to drop out, but it doesnt allow the brake gear to be removed from a running chassis for debug, or painting. Option 2 is to open up one side in the hole through the pull rod, so that it is an interference fit over the lace making pin. That way it could clip on and off. Any other suggestions from the house? I must say I am not 100% convinced by the rear of the pull rod. It lacks the screw adjustor in the rear section of the pull rod, which noticeably changes the look of the pull rod in that area. I might be able to get away with filing notches in the pull rod, but it is visibly a hex shape in photos. Also the pull rod crank on the right hand side (as shown in my photo) has the crank to the pull rod and the crank to the cylinder as a single piece, but looking at photos the nearest bit only goes up to the cylinder. This can easily be altered though as there are spare pull rod cranks on the etch so I can modify a couple... Edited for a spelling I'd already corrected once...

I don't necessarily think driving standards have changed, but there is a general lack of common courtesy all round really. If we want to drive slowly that is fine, but if there is a queue of 50 vehicles behind us we should really pull over and let the traffic pass. It is the same courtesy that means we indicate at roundabouts and junctions to allow other road users to understand our intentions and so continue their own journeys if it isn't going to cause a conflicting manouver. Too many people live in their own little world without a thought to anyone else and what little things one could do to help other people out. Live and let live.

Woop! It runs nicely - a few pauses due to loss of pickups, so the next jobs are to add more weight and the driving wheel pickups - but there are no discernible tight spots or binding going on and none of the crankpin nuts were worked loose during the test. I deem it a success!

Not all of this progress was made over the weekend, but a fair bit more was achieved than anticipated as the weeding seems to have become home to some wannabe butterflies - and who am I to disturb them... So with the plan laid out and oriented onthe boards... The next job was to start laying some sleepers - ply 0.8mm thick bases from C&L. With the cork and trackbed glued down with copydex, the turntable well hole was created. I drilled a load of holes, and then drill them all together... Then some track was laid: Starting with the common crossing, and then the stock rail which had all the chairs threaded on. I am using the Exactoscale chair sets, and the sleepers which are yet to have chairs on them are for chairs which do not grip the rail and so can be slid in afterwards. Track feeds are being done with lace making pins through the board, soldered to the underside of the rail and then wire feeds will be soldered to the section of the pin under the layout. This shows the underside of the board, which has progressed a bit since this photo. The Lenz control unit is in place, as is the connection panel in the end. There is a DPDT switch to toggle between DC and DCC, and connectors in the end for DCC 16VAC, accessory 16VAC and DC 12V - 2 sets via banana plugs, the 16VAC via a DIN socket. The wiring is going via screw earth terminals, one for the 'front' rail feed and one for the 'rear'. The black and red wires coming through on the left of the photo are from a piece of C&L flexi track that had been my test track in free air, and is temporarily tacked down here for electrical testing (passed) and to be used for other testing prior to actual track being finished. When I made my C&L order they were out of stock of Exactoscale S1 chairs and I thought I have a fair number in stock, but sadly not. It is at least Railwells at the weekend... otherwise my work is back to the 2P for now.

So I thought I should show current progress, photos tell 1000 words and I havent posted any for a while... Firstly the oldest one, which proved that the loco ran, but before any weight was added or coupling rods... (and before my motor issue mentioned in my last post...) Then I added weight - 3 layers of lead in each tank. It isnt quite as heavy as I'd like yet, but there is room for a bit more and the boiler is yet to be hollowed out to allow for liquid lead in there. Then 2 views showing the CSBs, gearbox and torque reactor. These 2 are hot off the press, I've done some fettling and the unit rolls beautifully. The replacement motor is all fitted any raring to go, and will be tested once this post (and an Ilkley update) have been done... The torque reactor goes through another handrail knob, and seems to be doing its job admirably (allowing the gearbox axle to move up and down with the CSB suspension, but not allowing the gearbox to rotate around the axle).

Well I've been diagnosing the bind, and it appears that it is actually the motor! (Mashima 1420). Unfortunately I didnt test it before shortening 1 end of the drive shaft and fitting the worm, though I have a worm puller so removing it hasnt been an issue. When running it by itself it binds though, and when power is removed it sumersaults itself through 180 degrees. It gets very warm too. As I say, I've already modded it a bit though so I'm not sure if Chris (Mr High Level) would/could take it back, but my initial priority is to fit my other one and see whether I can get the chassis running well! Progress at least...

Oh, and while initial tests will be DC, I am currently thinking of getting a Zimo MX621 for it, though I must admit my DCC gen is a year or 2 out of date...

A small update... The gearbox is assembled, driving wheels quartered and fitted, CSB's threaded through, and motor wired to the pickups from the trailing bogie. In that state, the loco ran smoothly and wobble free, so I fitted the coupling rods. The High Level gearbox employed in this has a grub screw on the gear on the axle, so I can switch between 'rolling' and 'powered' with ease. 3 sheets of lead have been added to the insides of each tank, which puts the centre of mass just behind the rear driver. There is room for more weight at the front between the frames, and if I drill out the resin boiler more I can add some liquid lead in there. Tonight the Bristol S4 meeting was held at Gordon's so I took it along and put it round the test track. The balance of the CSBs looked good, the pickups worked well and I'm sure will be excellent when combined with wipers on the driving wheels. There is a slight bind at the moment, and the lack of torsion beam on the motor makes its presence felt. A tip was also given that when using a gearbox with a grub screw to put a flat on the axle so that it can bite that rather than try and skew the gear - which may explain why my chassis rolls more freely than it runs under power at the moment, If that doesn't work I will open the coupling rod holes out a tad - I purposefully left them pretty tight on the crankpins initially. Less is more, I can't put it back... So it isnt perfect - but very good for the first roll with rods on. I'll hopefully post some photos tomorrow (or later today by the time I click the post button...)

Looks like an interesting project Dave, I did always like Mk1. I'm at the stage of thinking about turnout control - do you use a commercial TOU with Servo's or fabricate your own linkage?

Hi Martin, As per Bachmann DMUs and LMS bogies? I don't see why not.One reason for doing it this way is that I can do powered tests with coupling rods before sorting out the driving wheel pickups, but using plungers might actually help with road holding as well as being a means of pickup. I very much hope the Branchlines bits are still available - but aside from a phonecall I couldnt confirm, someone else may be in a position to know though. I believe they were at Larkhill recently, and will be at Railwells, so I'm sure someone will be aware. Cheers,

Time for an update! Not a lot has been done of late, mainly as I was waiting for the Ultrascales and then Ilkley has taken over a bit (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/99883-ilkley-locomotive-shed-4mm-p4-1950s/page-2&do=findComment&comment=1958849). However, the trailing bogie is now complete, with its split axle pickups. These use Branchlines axle parts (and jig) and standard phosphor bronze pickup wire which as can be seen was aligned over the axle hole when fitted to keep it in tension. The photo was taken as soon as I'd done the soldering, these where then cleaned up and sanded flush. Next on the agenda is constructing the gearbox and playing with the CSBs. I'm going to try 12 thou first I think...

And another update! It's been lovely here today, so I took the opportunity to head into the garden. Gardening was not high on the agenda though... (actually, I tell a lie. I did do an hour of bush bashing first thing). I have constructed the boxes, fitted hinges and done a small test section of cuprinol... The hinges needed a size 3 screw, the head of a 2.5 fell through, which left some protruding through the other side of the ply. I cut this off with a carbon slitting disk and all looks nice. Next stages are to cut out some ends - outer ends to be fitted permanently. I have enough spare ply for some inner ends too, so I might as well construct them while it is in the mind. I need to make some cutouts from the front flaps to work around the toggle catches which are yet to be fitted. Then I need to fit the alignment dowels - which are waiting for me to make up some packing pieces from 60 thou plasticard so they sit flush in the 6mm ply. The tops are a bit droopy, so I will fit more bracing to square it all up.

Oh, and my LRM turntable kit has arrived!

The progress has been with ordering, receiving and constructing plywood laser cut baseboards from Grainge and Hodder: http://www.graingeandhodder.co.uk/store/c1/Featured_Products.html If designing my own I would have sorted out the backscene, lid and front at the same time - but the cost of these looked worth a punt, and far more likely to get me moving sometime this decade! So I now have 2 baseboards, each 900mm x 400mm. The plywood as supplied is a bit droopy, and the slots and tabs are not an interference fit, so I weighted them with books for a few days to try and flatten them, and then glued them together. The instructions recommend glue and pins, but the few pins I tried kept failing to stay within the mating piece of 6mm ply so I will see how they go for now. There will probably be extra bits screwed on as I build the boxes anyway, which I will get to... But first, here they are: The first two show that they do slot together, but do not hold themselves as a baseboard: Then we have the current progress - both boards built: These still have remnants of kitchen paper on them, use to protect the books used to weight/clamp them during the gluing process, so the next job is to clean them up. I will then add the alignment dowels and toggle catches, and in some ways I will then be ready to put some cork down and start laying track! However, before I do, I want to finish the structures as per the following image: The red box is a cross section of the baseboards as they are, end on. This will then have a fixed backscene, as shown in black. The blue section is the lid, with 2 bracing batons. This will be hinged from the backscene, and would allow it to fold fully back on itself if required (in my setup as shown above, it will lean against the wall, with something to stop it falling back). The green section shows the front, which will hinge down and would allow for layout info to be shown, should I ever get this to an exhibitable state... So that's the plan, now I need to formulate the hinge arrangement to make it happen, and look tidy when both in use and when away. I also need to work out a catch arrangement for the blue/green interface. I wont really want to have to screw/unscrew it to use it, but I dont really want toggle catches there unless I can find some nice black ones to hide. I want it boxed for a few reasons - firstly it keeps the dust off, and secondly it creates their own travelling boxes should they go anywhere, and thirdly these are currently sat in the corner of my bedroom (and will be until my housemates get the hint and get their own houses!) so it isn't always appropriate. So there we are with current progress - and having got my Ultrascales I am currently trying to move along with the 2P too!

Surprisingly, yes! I should be in a position to post about it tonight...

Hi OzzyO, Yes it is these two: http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/jpl-8050-h-professional-ultrasonic-cleaner-25l-a74jk http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/jpl-8060-h-professional-ultrasonic-cleaner-3-l-a91lw Both available a bit cheaper either on Amazon or via eBay. I gathered from earlier sections if this topic that the drain valve and degassing features would be worth having, but as Arthur notes while there is discussion on the availability of these models within the topic there isn't any feedback after purchase! Cheers,

To drag this topic kicking and screaming back to life, I am looking at the JPL8050 or 8060. Does anyone have either of these and would you recommend them? Online reviews elsewhere are all a bit mixed but there are a lot of people out there trying to either clean carburettors... Should be large enough for a 4mm mark 1 if the tray basket isn't in place. I am looking at using it for cleaning etched kits - I might experiment with whitemetal later on but if that does suffer from pitting I would look at other options for cleaning, I have enough etched cleaning work to do to warrant a purchase. By the looks of it the extra features of the 8060 are worth going for - the built in drain & degassing facility especially.

There was a white metal D1661 available from David Geen. Goes together nicely, but does have weight issues... Still available by the looks: http://www.davidgeen.co.uk/catalogue/lms.htm

So with the splasher sides held vertical, the next step was to add the tops: And then remove the cross piece, cutting it in two and then desoldering from each end: Next up was preparing the bogie for split pickups. I created a sub stretcher from 60 thou plasticard, and stuck that in place with epoxy. Once fully cured, the metal frame was cut through, off centre so as not to interfere with the attachment point. I ensured that two metal structures were fully isolated, checking with a multimeter, before filling the cut slot with more epoxy. This now needs sanding down, and the bogie pivot hole redrilling. The last bit of progress, for now, has been the adding of brake gear hanging rods. Another gem pickup up from Morgan, these are made of 1.2mm OD 0.6mm ID tubing, and the brake gear itself will be constructed on 0.55mm lacing pins cut short, so that the brake gear will be able to be clipped on and off - making the painting job easier, but also allowing the wheelsets to be released.

Hi Gordon, Thanks for that - yes seeing one would be useful. I can do 2D CAD so that sounds like a sensible route to go down. Cheers,

Hi Gordon, thanks for that. I'm not sure whether to get it cut or do it myself, but am tempted to get it done with greater precision that they can achieve - & probably quicker turnaround... One thing that would really tip it in their favour - as long as it isn't a silly price - would be if they could also cut openings for the turntable & possibly pits. edited to remove duplication... for which I'm blaming the mobile site!

I think the only thing that I am yet to divuldge is that all the points are B7 except one, which is between the 2 coaling roads, and that is a B6. Also, the yellow tape measure in post 12 can be seen to be at an angle. This was done deliberately with the view to that being the straight edge of the layout, which would bring the turntable a bit closer to the front and allow a bit more room behind for the 'fiddleyard'. I will probably allow for a cassette. Once I have clarified what the water tower fed, and what it looked like, I can decide whether to model part of it beyond the turntable, or move it to the shed side of the table.

Thanks Mike, I think I will go for the straight down the middle option. It would be good to know whether I can get it to all work faultlessly over the joint (who knows what I might want to attempt in the future), and in this instance if it really doesn't work then I could permanently attach the two together as a 6 foot unit. I have no issues with dabbling with the odd risk involved, but I do like to know there is a way to salvage it if it goes belly up! I wouldn't say I have OCD, but I'm pretty sure an offset joint would get to me too - when the two were apart at any rate. I had missed your thread - the problem with so much going on on here these days... - now on the followed list!

I have had another play with templot, and updated the track spacings to 70mm. This is looking much better, and option a for the coaling roads looks to have sufficed! I have drawn on the dimensions from the scalescenes shed for the time being. I am now satisfied that this project is a goer! As with any shed, there isnt a whole load of operating potential - but at least it is several moves to even get off shed! - but it will serve my purpose of being able to be left fully up, and allow me to experiment with point mechanisms, scenery options, etc, rather than waiting another 10 years and plowing straight in with an overly ambitious layout! Only pondering point left is whether I want to attempt to put the board joint right down the middle. It is perfectly possible, all being fixed bits of pointwork and the moving blades well away so can be properly anchored, but it might be asking for trouble with any slight discrepancy on alighment. Any thoughts on this? (or anything else?!)