CF MRC

If they were Jidenco origin, you deserve a medal! Look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday in St A. Tim

I went to school with Andrew Kinsella's son, Keith. Tim

All your lamp post now needs is a Victorian 'lady' standing under it! I think you could make the post a bit finer if you tapered it with a few strokes of a file, maintaining a 1.5 mm o/d X 6 mm high base. You have 0.5 mm to play with and it only needs the goodwill of the metal at the top. Think yourself lucky that we won't be putting in an order for 3 dozen on CF! Tim

I have now completed the rear running plates on the P2. Gresley engines with this type of running plate have a small step between the cab floor level and running plate over the wheels. The front running plate finished just short of this position. In one of those jobs where things fall into place quite nicely, I bent up the step as an extension of the rear running plate (as can be seen in the first photo): it also does a good job of masking the joint. Of course the clever etch designers would probably have made this all from one piece, but scratchbuilt components are generally better made in penny numbers (at least they are with me). Soldering this assembly in place was a bit tricky as the engine is a very good heat sink. It was of course tinned with 144 solder and then held in place at the front end with a little self-locking clip, as can be seen in the second photo. The iron needed plenty of solder on it to make a good heat transferring area with loads of phosphoric acid flux in the region. It was laid up next to the valence and runny plate and set at maximum temperature - 450 deg C. When all the solder was flowing well the iron was removed. There was quite a bit of solder to clean up, but I think the final running plate and step looks the part. Tim

Teaching is a fascinating hobby: I am really am not concerned about what is said of the profession - we all know someone who has inspired us. I get great pleasure from teaching hand skills to people from all walks of life. Putting in the theory behind it all is also a challenge, but again very worthwhile. In 33 years of teaching I have only found two individuals who simply couldn't develop adequate manual dexterity (or as one of our technicians used to say "the students need to get manual dexterity with their hands"...). When you have an individual with a strong artistic tendency, then the results can be outstanding. The beauty of model railways is the ability to combine pictorial artistry and engineering: not many practical hobbies allow that, especially when you have a project involving a group of individuals all contributing to the greater whole. Tim

Up market Brio? Tim

Pictures of the modified articulated Japanese tram mechanism for the tube. Basically, all of the top hamper was removed to fit into the loading gauge, copper tungsten weights were fitted over the bogies and some substantial wiper pickups installed (110% reliable). The wheel standards are irrelevant as there are no turnouts. Tim

Mark The B Type bus was completely scratchbuilt in Plastikard, using an early photocopier for the advertisements and destinations and office staples for some of the metal bits. The tram was also by Matthew and skids along on solid acetal 2mm scale wheels moulded by Denys Brownlee as replacements for Peco wheels. It is actually the second tram, as the original (at that stage only the lower saloon) was nicked at the first time we exhibited the layout at Horticultural Halls in the mid 80's. Every few years it needs a new set of wheels. It is magnetically coupled to a massive mechanism under the road (also made by Denys) that has five wheels: the large fifth wheel is in the middle, is rubber tyred and runs on a strip of emery paper. The gauge is equivalent to Irish broad gauge in 3/16th scale, with substantial sprung copper wiper pick ups running on the circular steel rail. The tram has one magnet (N) and the mechanism under the road has three (NSN) to centre the vehicle above it in the road. The road itself is thin PCB with the code 40 FB rail directly soldered to it. No one seems to notice that it only goes up and down the same length of track. It is usually the most reliable part of the layout and must have covered hundreds, if not thousands, of miles over the years. I have one of the Oxford diecast trams, but that is very disappointingly crude, especially at the top. Might be OK with very major surgery. I converted the STL from a white metal kit (might have been a Beaver RT). The other buses are from solid clear resin castings, very subtly made by Ced Verdon. On the North end of York Way we have an indeterminate 1:400 bus headed south, sourced from architectural suppliers. The tube was completely scratchbuilt by Stewart Hine using a power bogie with an armature from a Z gauge mechanism. This was replaced by a Japanese tram type mechanism this year (much cut down and modified) coincident with a major simplification of the underground layout. This has to be 110% reliable and previously it had not been. My four year old grandson had great fun 'driving' it at the last AP show! Tim

A rare photo of R33 over London. 'On the 2nd July 1919, when the R34 began her transatlantic flight, the R33 also left the sheds that day with the SR1 to fly over the peace procession in London, again the ship towing a very large banner advertising Victory Bonds. On this flight the ship carried a band on the top gun platform, however the band members would have been out of sight from the crowds below the ship and it is doubtful that the music would have reached the crowds as well' (source Airship Heritage Trust). Probably coincides with our model of the DH2 going to the Imperial War Museum down the Cally. I'll see if I can find an old photo. Tim

Nah Jim, the dentistry is just a hobby! Tim

The wonderful tumbled down buildings were made by Matthew Wald, who is currently making some offices for the goods yard behind York Road viaduct. The photos were taken in the early 90's by Barry Norman with wet film. Tim

Blast(ed) pipes by name and nature! These little blighters took a whole evening to make and fit. The first go looked OK but was just a bit too far back, so they were taken off and repositioned forwards a touch. They were made from some copper wire of the correct diameter. The anti-slip areas were also re-scribed: an advantage of making the front end from white metal. Tim

Found a couple more of the Cally from the Club archives. The demolished house may correlate with the Minutes of a meeting of The Model Railway Club 13th October 1915: ‘The meeting was brought (to) an abrupt conclusion at 9.30 by the visit of Zeppelins to the immediate vicinity. ‘ A number of German Naval Zeppelins bombed London on the 13th October, producing one of the worst airship raids of the war. The most damage was sustained around The Aldwych & The Strand These photos were labelled as having been taken by a chap called B. Norman, obviously quite a few decades ago, but after the Great War. Tim

I think CF will see me out Don! Plenty yet to do. Tim

Found this picture in the archives. Horse must have been moving in the long exposure. The tailor's dummies almost look like Slater's 2 mm scale figures! Happy Christmas everyone! Tim

Lubrication The streamlined P2s have very clean lines and running plates but on the near side were two Wakefield lubricators. Many years ago I bought some neat little castings and thought they would serve. However they were a bit too big, so I turned up some square brass rod to represent the oil reservoirs and hand wheels. Unfortunately, I haven't found a way of reproducing the operating linkage, spokes on the wheels or the oil feed pipes... Tim

It has been an awfully long time since I posted anything on CF. The track plan at the southeastern side of the goods yard, especially at the front, has been finalised and has gone to Keith Armes for turnout manufacture. We have included an extra crossover to allow a twelve-wagon run-round in the goods arrival sidings, without conflicting with the main up goods traffic. This area can be worked as an independent front yard. Interestingly, we have identified a loop line that would also be an excellent way for transferring trains between the Up & Down lines. The goods lines fiddle yard track at the back has always had a ghastly S bend on the big fiddle yard board. This was no longer needed as any crossover of passenger trains between Up & Down main lines will now be accommodated on the 'Sopwith Camel' -shaped southern board, (all our boards have quirky names) therefore removing the need for this kink. We have therefore straightened it out and realigned the section, as can be seen in the first photo: our goods engines will hopefully no longer need to attend agility classes. At the same time we have laid in a straight piece of track on the new raised baseboard for loco testing. This could be connected to the Up Goods line as a storage spur for the train that shunts the yard. There is also now a comfortable rounded handle in the vicinity of this siding which should help in handling this 10' long mega board. Buildings at the South end of the layout have made progress, as has the infrastructure. It is very nearly a new scenic layout in its own right. The board called 'Randall's Knob' now has a case catch to locate it positively on the layout and the roads and retaining walls are well attached to the amazingly complicated frame that makes up this board, as can be seen in the second photo. It is ready for all the buildings, roads and infrastructure to go on it. Tom Knapp's building, the 'Paget Christian Centre', of the London Christian Mission is going to look spectacular at the front of the layout (photo 3). The building was converted from a London terrace for this ministry just north of KX. You can Google map the address at Randell's Road, which sits just above the Gas Works Tunnel portals - also made by Tom in San Francisco. The large goods warehouse block now sits solidly on the board and it will be possible to shunt a few wagons in and out of it from the front goods yard under York Way. Mike Randall has laser-cut the facade for this massive building out of thin ply. I may be working on some awnings for this at the MEE at Ally Pally in January. The owners of the various plots can be seen in the final photo: Richard W has some very tasty buildings underway for his bit and I will eventually make another tube station, 30+ years after the first one! Meanwhile, the main goods yard board is being thermally tested in my conservatory, awaiting the arrival of Keith's track and some group working sessions in the New Year. The layout will next be erected at Keen House in time for the 2mm AGM on 15th October and worked on intensively thereafter, prior to its next appearance at Warley in November and the CMRA Stevenage show in January 2017. I think there will be some significant changes to CF by that time, 33 years from when we started. Tim

It's the depleted uranium core in the boiler that will make all the difference..... The running boards are now nearly complete, apart from Wakefield lubricators on the LHS. They needed some careful scoring and bending to make the splashers clear the wheels. A good way of holding small pieces of sheet metal is to put them on a file (the tang of the file is visible at the bottom of the picture) and then clamp down - the teeth on the file will stop the metal from slipping. This can be seen in the photo prior to scoring. The other photos show the boards and the last shows the RH one in place. Tim

Time for an update Mark? BTW, airships can be hung over a model and justifiably not move. Graf Zeppelin poled around London quite a bit in the 20's. These people sell some good models of airships: http://www.anticsonline.co.uk/1843_1_105338950.html The R33 we have on Copenhagen Fields is scratchbuilt. I have a 1:144 WW1 Zeppelin, but that is 4' long! Tim

Made a start on the running board plates. These were made from 8 thou nickel silver strip, but needed the 'splasher' bent downwards at the back. This was achieved by scoring the bend line with a scalpel blade on both sides, then placing it in the vice: the score is line just visible in the picture. I then use a file to push the metal over to the required amount. You can also use this technique to cut a straight line in metal. The score lines need to be a bit deeper and the metal is then moved backwards and forwards to work-harden the joint and then snap it. There are details to go on these running plates such as lubricators and a rear edging strip to prevent the engine cleaners from slipping down the slope of the splashers. It will be much easier to make these with the plates separate from the engine. The final photo shows the plate sitting passively on the engine. The splashers will need careful adjustment to clear the drivers. In the end, I don't think they will be very visible, but at least I'll know they are there. Tim

If you look in post 1077 David, you'll see that the window frames are bright brass on the prototype. Using wire could be an option, but I didn't have any brass that was appropriate (maybe should drink some Rioja) and flattening afterwards is a bit hit and miss. I wanted a flat surface to solder to the cab front and then be able to file it back to the correct thickens and dimensions. Soldering on wire wouldn't quite give that effect. The brass strip is a bit oversize and is quite soft so it will bend sideways if it's held tightly in well ground pliers and equally good pliers used to move the free end. I have a lot of experience in bending bits of brass sideways on CF.... If you look carefully, you will see that the corners of the unfitted frames are rounded. Once sweated into place the inside and outside edges of the frames were trimmed with files to the correct size and the front face filed down to thickness. A sharp scalpel can also be used to chop off any bits of brass in the wrong place. When the engine is painted, the brass will be exposed. Glazing them will be fiddly! Tim

Fettled the cab-firebox area a bit more in the cold light of day and reduced the size of the cab window frames. There is a bit of porosity in the silver solder, but this lines up with the ejector pipe. Next thing to do will be the running plate, which isn't as simplest as it looks because there is an integral set of sloping splashers over the driving wheels and some natty little brackets to support it. Tim

Sorting out the cab. The cab on the P2 is a 'lost plastic' casting derived from a Farish plastic moulding. This has some pleasant rivet detail on the roof and the centre raised bit is a tricky shape. It was quite straightforward to modify the pattern a little, invest it and cast it in students alloy (a type of brass used by dental students when they are learning to make crowns). Getting it to fit the Wooten firebox on the P2 took quite a lot of doing and the sides needed considerable thinning to look respectable. At the front, the windows in the spectacle plate are close fitting against the boiler cladding and quite large with brass frames. The original moulding/casting did not represent these at all well. The boiler was turned from gun-metal and the firebox sides bent up from thick brass and silver soldered to the boiler. This is visible half way up the firebox in the second photo. So brass window frames were needed. Some thin brass strips were guillotined and bent up as can be seen in the third photo. I made about eight before something passable emerged, with the floor being particularly hungry this evening. They were sweated onto the cab and boiler with a very hot iron! The brass front window frames are quite conspicuous on LNER engines. I need to spend a bit more time cleaning up to get rid of the scratch marks: the iPhone 6 has an incredibly good close up camera that doesn't take prisoners. The cab interior will probably be made as a plastic pattern and cast in brass alloy. If anyone wants any cab mouldings, I have some spare. Tim

I recall Joe Rowe's epic 4mm EM model of 10000 being quite a dark grey. Did I read somewhere that it was battleship grey? In that case you have a choice of Home or Mediterranean fleet. The former would be Laurie Lovelesse's model (which looks spot on). the later would be more like a works grey and rather too light. Would make an interesting 2mm loco. Certainly plenty of room for the motor and weight! Where is the best source for works drawings? The book on the subject is evidently not well endowed in this dept. Tim

Thanks for the comments Tony. The Lone Star A4 copied the original HD, which I converted to Dominion of Canada. The Minitrix A4 was a reasonable profile butt very fat and bloated (we did run one for a while). The Farish A4 is pretty good: our Silver Fox was made from this. The cab on the P2 used the Farish A4 cab as a pattern. The front end of the P2 started out as a Foxhunter A4 from Phil Kerr. The origina l was OK, but it is now a shadow in the past after much carving and re-shaping. I haven't git close and personal with a Dapol A4, but they look pretty good to me. Might see what can be done with a skirted version. Tim