CF MRC

Just finished detailing the tender front for LP. It is very unlikely to be visible, especially with the tarpaulin over the top. Still, God and I will know it’s there. Tim

Might be an idea to increase the sleeper density a little. It’s surprising how much heat and cold can get track moving, especially unballasted track. Tim

Lord President had a little saunter on Jerry’s test track at the CMRA St Evenage show today. I managed to find some tender axle box castings on the B&H stand that will be acceptable (after working on at work!), so that will save some time. Tony W also took some photos, so I’ll look forward to seeing them. Tim

Simple(?) job to motorise one of the original digitally controlled Lonestar A4s. (Dominion of Canada). Lonestar copied contemporary Hornby and Triangle locos, warts and all. Tim

Hell might freeze over quicker, methinks... Tim

As an aside, when we moved to our previous house (30 years ago) we met the next door neighbours. The husband saw my 2mm stuff and said “ah OOO”. On further questioning, it appear he made the dies for the Lonestar plastic track. Tim

Cab doors and fall plates help to make a tender engine look ‘joined-up’. In theory that should pivot, but that isn’t going to happen anytime soon in 2mm scale. Some sheets in the correct place do help however. On the big Gresley engines the cab doors are in two pieces, but just one will suffice. The doors and the fall plate were simply soldered to the cab and backhead/interior casting. Hopefully, with careful trimming, they should clear the tender on our 600 mm radius curves, although engines do funny things on layouts.... The cab details are significantly simplified, but they are nigh on invisible, especially with the weather tarpaulin in place. Suppose I’ll need to get a suitable crew sooner or later. Tim

The railway portrayed in Copenhagen Fields is “in an area of outstanding unnatural beauty”. Tim

Not sure if it’s a true response to this post, but on CF we have a proscenium ‘arch’ which carries spot lights to pick out areas on the front half of the layout. What is less apparent is that it is filled with other spot lights that illuminate the sky backscene from in front. These then floodlight, by reflection, the middle and far distance. It gives the sky a luminosity that backscenes generally lack. I would like to say that we planned it that way but, in truth, it was a serendipitous (dumb luck) finding. Tim

Took a bit of a diversion today from the front end to the rear end of LP. I have now acquired the 0.3mm pivot steel for the handrails so started making the knobs for the tender. The technique I use is the split pin method, as it will generally produce a nearer scale representation than a turning in 2mm scale. I think the originator of this particular ruse for making them was the great Pete Wright. The starting point was some 8thou by 0.3mm nickel silver strip which was bent into a hook. The ‘jig’ was simply a piece of steel about 3mm thick with a 0.5mm hole drilled in it whilst the knob was formed around some 0.25mm stainless steel syringe needle (actually a dental syringe needle - the white nylon hub is visible in the picture). The two ends of the n/s strip were threaded through the plate and the loop pulled on to the syringe needle by a pair of plyers below the steel plate: rather like garrotting it. The plyers were used to nip up the loop around the stainless steel syringe. The split pin was then tinned with a generous amount of solder. It could not, of course, stick to the stainless steel. The same needle was used to locate the stanchions in the 0.5mm diameter holes already drilled in the body work. These were then sweated into place with plenty of liquid flux (a little bit too generous with the solder here!). After cleaning up the pivot steel can be slipped into the holes, which being formed around a fractionally smaller rod give a firm grip on the definitive handrail. The advantage of this is that it is black, dead straight and can be put in place after painting, which makes lining out a lot easier. The photos are a little blurred, but I think quite an amazing testimony to a phone camera held single handed! Tim

There is quite a lot going on in the front truck of a P2; but one of their weak links (pun intended). The pony has been modelled with the bearing splashers and stretchers: very characteristic of a Gresley engine. Not sure how long the small guard irons will last in the hurly burly of an exhibition layout. The cylinder drain cock pipes will need to be made. These will probably be made of phosphor bronze wire, silver soldered together at the front where they run together and then soft soldered to the main guard irons and plugged in to the cylinders, which have both been made electrically live to the relevant chassis side to avoid any electrical shorts. The real thing is attached to the front guard irons, with massive side clearance allowed for the swing of the pony truck. I have built in potential for a side control spring for the pony, which may be helpful. It currently relies on significant weight for road holding as it is made of solid copper tungsten alloy, gapped electrically for spilt frames with epoxy resin. Not sure where the drains for the centre cylinder exited (A4s have three pipes at the front), but I won’t loose too much sleep over that one. Tim

Those north light buildings on LGSC look pretty good to me. One of the best tricks with backscenes is to use the same paint palate on the last modelled section of the layout that you are using for the foreground of the backscene. Then diminish colour saturation and brightness in the 2D painted sections thereafter; scenic flats help as well. CF uses diminishing scale down to 1:450 on the modelled sections. There is very little detail in anything towards the back and the viewer’s imagination is used to fill in the missing bits. Tim

Or maybe this? The secret is knowing what to leave out. Tony has some better overall views of Copenhagen Fields. Tim

Indeed Rich, Silver Fox often gets that acclamation when running on CF. Lord President’s unoffficial epithet is currently ‘AK47 round’, but that won’t be so obvious once painted. Tim

Hope to get there on the Sunday, Tony. The P2 will obviously be in my pocket. Nearly finished now, ticking off the detailing list. Still got to make the castings for the Cartazzi and tender axle boxes. Tim

Here you go Martin, to appeal to your Thomas the Tank engine leanings, Micky the Mikado for a certain 2 mm layout. Don’t worry Tony, it was only carved in Blu-Tak. Maybe point your lens at it in a couple of weeks? Tim P.S. I rather like backscenes.

Or one could have the junior version: Tim

Lamp irons crossed off the list now. The front end of a Gresley streamliner is a very subtle collection of shapes. I am pretty well content that Lord President is about right. Whilst LP started off as a Phil Kerr white metal casting, there is absolutely nothing left of the original shape. All the front end needs to be complete now is a whistle which will, of course, be made of a non-tarnishing alloy. Tim

Lamp irons are little beasts that are always vulnerable and need to be well attached. I normally drill a 0.5 mm hole to locate the irons. They are made from 0.5 mm wide nickel silver strip. The strip is bent back on itself leaving a small piece visible, which will be the future lamp support base. The long arm of the strip is then bent at ninety degrees to make the upright lamp support. This is then tinned and soldered where the material is double thickness and then the long arm cut to length for the upright. A few strokes with a file and the lamp iron can be put in the hole and with a bit of flux and a fairly dry iron sweated into place. Final trimming (the lamp base is a touch too long) and fettling can be done when all four are in place, to ensure consistency. Tim

Well, forty 0.5mm holes later, Lord President is ready for a load of fittings. The handrail stanchions will be epoxied into place on the boiler, as it is solid gun metal. The four washout plugs at the top of the boiler are simply dimples, whilst the three mud hole doors in the Wooten firebox are drilled depressions and then carved to make the oval shape with a scalpel. These are slightly small, compared to full size and do not have any raised detail. They are to be lined out with a white and black line, whence they will be the correct size. Lining out is monstrously difficult to do around raised details. In 2mm scale it is better to simplify details to aid painting. Less is more... Tim

I am now more holy than righteous (or at least Lord President will be). I have started marking up and drilling LP for handrail knobs, the ejector pipe, lamp brackets, washout plugs and mud hole doors. Trusty calipers being used in the way they’re supposed not to. The holes are centre marked with another trusty tool, a gramophone needle with the point ground to a pyramidal shape to cut a small countersink. The ejector pipe is made from 0.4mm pivot steel. The handrails will be 0.3mm, but I have currently run out and I’m awaiting stock from Cousins. The wholes were drilled by hand/or drill press in the white metal. These were far harder to do accurately than I expected and quite a bit of solder filling and re-shaping of the front end was required. Part of this required re-marking the lines for the cods mouth doors. The originals that I had scribed weren’t quite the correct shape. A piece of insulating tape was used as a scribing guide. Now all I have to do is make a few lamp irons and handrail stanchions / knobs.... Tim

The singles were effectively built in pairs. Number 547 would be a good choice James. It would fit the Rapido model condition (with false sandbox cover and filled splashers) and was long lasting. Somewhere, deep in the vaults, I have pictures of all sides of this engine. Photo by Craig Tiley, courtesy of RM. Merry Christmas everyone! Tim

Looks very good. A bit of work with a paint brush on the ‘silver’ bits to tone them down would enhance it. The guard irons and motion supports should also be painted. The wheels would also benefit from black painted rims. Look forward to seeing mine in the flesh alongside it’s OOO cousin. Tim

Robustness. Over to you Mark. Tim

To see his memorial look around you: Tim