ohanlonmartin

Thanks for those replies, I should have said these points are already fixed in position, I want to drill down through the tie bar to locate dead centre of lateral movement on the switch blades, probably didn't make myself clear enough though. When that's done I intend to drill up from underneath with an 8mm drill for sufficient clearance for tie bar movement via the pin in the point motor. I will raise the points enough from the base board to allow me to insert a block of timber to act as a stop and prevent the 8mm drill from underneath going right through the centre of the tie bar, that's the plan anyway so we will see how this all works out.

Hi, Can anyone let me know the diameter of the hole in the tie bar on Peco 00 points, I need to start tackling the fitting of a lot of Seep point motors and need to buy suitable drill bits, my eyes are not up to such small measurement reading from a rule.

Not to be pedantic but the OP was asking how much to increase the print size "by" and it could be taken that the response was meant as an increase "to" 133%. Increasing the size "by" 133% may not be what was intended, perhaps the OP has deduced that in any case?

Thanks Allan and Bill, In my earlier life working for the Irish railways there were some gifted sign writers whose skills were eventually lost with the introduction of "femo" (spelling) stripes, I did use a gauge to set out my 2mm white edging distance and used that as my guide, without taking measurements I reckon a scale 6 inches looks about right for the white line. As usual I am looking for a non-super skilled way to achieve what I am looking for, hence the use of ready made striping if possible, anyone any info on the platform base materials that were used among the LMS stations, brick (what colour?) or concrete?

Tinker, I originally fitted the edging slabs 2mm back from the platform extreme edges thus creating a rebate which was the thickness of the printed card, my snag arose when trying to wrap strips of he same card on top of and around the MDF, the card used was strips of the printed type just reveres with the white side on show, the card is proving too stiff to wrap around the MDF top The platform construction method I have gone for includes 18mm soft wood bases topped with 2mm MDF overhang along the sides running the length of the platforms, it's just the overhang bit I want to get the white line onto as well as the facing edge of that MDF overhang. Positioning the printed card slabs right to the edge of the platform top now allows me to do away with any rebate and just try to overlay the white lines on top of the slabs themselves, hence the Tipp-Ex and paint methods being explored. Anyone any thoughts on what the platform bases should be covered in as in brick, concrete or whatever, my initial thoughts were to use the Peco plastic facing but their cost is prohibitive for the amount I need, not sure whether LMS station used brick, concrete or other base construction materials.

Google is your man okay...... Quick scan on there for LMS stations and Keith's comments about variety is spot on, a mixture of all paving slabs and just slabs along the edges with the infill done in tarmacadam or perhaps even concrete, including various finishes along he same stretch of platform where sections of paving slabs were replaced with tarmacadam, presumably as an expediency measure following repair works? Some platforms did not have the white lines but the vast majority did have them.

Thanks Keith, Should have mentioned the layout is based on the pre-LMS and would be representative of practices in that region. I tried the Tipp-Ex white ribbon dispenser and it worked well by using a long straight edge as a guide to run the little mouse dispenser along the platform top, only snag was that with the sharp edge on the printed card slab stones the ribbon is being cut as you run along the edging, so you are left with just the top 2mm showing and nothing left over to wrap around and under the 2mm MDF. Not a huge problem as the MDF can be touched in with maybe liquid Tipp-Ex along the facing edge to complete the job. The Tipp-Ex white ribbon is extremely light and has to be so as to do its intended job of erasing on printing paper but it gives a nice clean white finish for my purposes and leaves virtually no thickness on the top surface of the platform.

Thanks, That might work out a bit wasteful as ideally a 5-6mm width would do the trick, however in my local stationers yesterday I picked up some standard Tipp-Ex erasure ribbon in a little roll-on dispenser. This is a very light white plastic ribbon used instead of the liquid form of Tipp-Ex and might do the trick if I am careful as it is very fragile, just need to set up a simple type of guide to run the dispenser along in order to achieve a straight line of 2mm width on top and then wrap the remainder around and under the edge of the platform. Packet of 3 dispensers for €5 so not a big money loss if it does not work out as hoped and at 5mm width and 6mtrs in each roll seems great value if it works! By the way my layout is set in the ubiquitous late 50's to early 60's steam to diesel period and am wondering if my using printed paving sheets entirely is correct for that time period or should it be paving for the edges only with tarmacadam in the centre of the platforms?

Thanks again, On the masking off and painting suggestion I feel the danger is that on lifting the masking tape it may well pull away the top surface on the printed paving sheets, over time would the paint not discolour? The Trimline tape looks like a contender and I will ring the supplier for more info, if I am reading their blurb correctly does it mean there are 8 different tape widths on the one roll, my ideal would be for a width of circa 4-6mm.

Many thanks for those, I had indeed considered both options previously but wasn't confident of getting the Tippex straight and neat enough but I will now give it a go, on the masking tape; I did have a go with white insulating electrical tape but found it to be too pliable to get a straight line. On my experimental pieces I have used rows of edge slabs and in-filled with paving slabs between those, the finish looks quite good, to me anyway but I am far from happy with my folded over white card for the edging. I would really like to get a clean crisp right angle finish on the edging and am wondering if there is any sort of balsa wood or plastic right angle profile that might do the trick, there is quite a lot of platforms to be edged and although only a small detail I think they are very noticeable and need to be the best finish that can be achieved

Not sure but if this has been done to death, my apologies. I am now trying to construct the platform tops on my 00 scale layout, the base material is 2mm MDF (to be fixed on top of 18mm timber) which I plan to cover with Metcalfe paving sheets, not the Metcalfe individual paving slabs. Has anybody a recommendation to achieve the white line edging on platforms, at present I have experimented by using strips of white card (the reverse of the printed paving sheets) and sticking those on to the platform tops. Given my skills level, the width of the white strip finish on the platform top I am looking for is 2mm or approx.6 inches in real life, by using strips of white card 5-6mm wide I can stick this to the top and crease/fold and stick the remainder down on to the platform top edge and then trim off the residue which gives a finish of 2mm on top and 2mm along the edge. However when it comes to folding the white card strips down to cover the edge of the platform top it is difficult to "crease" the card and achieve a neat fold, the card is less than 1mm in thickness but it is strong enough to be very resistant to creasing. Scoring the underneath of the card runs the danger of cutting through it and then trying to re-stick the strip of card on to the platform top edge. I have considered some form of white paint as the edging finish but doubt if I can be neat enough in its application and there would then be a difference in depth between the paving sheets finish and the white edging. Any suggestions?

Hi, Having built quite a lot of Metcalfe kits I am interested to read that people are mitring the corners of those buildings. How is that achieved and does it not reduce, even minimally, the overall size of the buildings and if so does that mean that any bases the buildings sit on have to be reduced also. As a poorly skilled modeller I am a fan of Metcalfe kits and may very well need to do lots more of them shortly so any ideas that helps to improve those would be welcome.

Always true that you get what you pay for, with no sound chipped loco's in my stable I was considering this offer as a kind of look-see opportunity but will now discount that and maybe retrun to the idea of sound when I have progressed with the layout itself.

Hi, Saw this as a special offer from Hattons this week: "Hornby - R3460TTS Class 4F 0-6-0 44198 in BR Black with late crest - TTS sound fitted" Not having any knowledge/experience of sound chipped loco's can anyone let me know what the above TTS sound actually does? I have had a query answered by Hattons which just said: "This model is DCC fitted and comes complete with Hornbys own TTS sound chip which is an added benefit which hopefully will be a great addition to your layout." Thanks

What an uplifting insight into what human relations can and should be, for your Dad to have planned all that even before you were born was very meaningful, this area of the forum can sometimes provide a nice interlude from the everyday "problems" of model railways, it's wonderful that you can remember your Dad as you continue your love of the hobby.

That looks good to me particularly to give a view of how steeply the sides of the embankment are finished at the coaling stage itself, I was apprehensive that space restrictions might lead to a ridiculously steep looking finish adjacent to the ground level track. I still have that part of the project to finish off and it will be a while before that gets seen to as I am in the middle of insulating the attic roof, don't ask, as per usual I have got my priorities in the wrong sequence and am now doing what should have been sorted out years ago!

Thanks TonyMay and DavidCBroad, I did get that incline completed for the coaling stage, albeit on a 180 degree curve and it looks right alongside the loco sheds and pits, as soon as I can get myself organised hopefully I can get a couple of photo's posted here. At the moment I am in the middle of insulating the loft where I have the layout in and that is proving a bigger task than I anticipated or foresaw, recommended to use was the 80mm sheets of Kingspan for insertion into the roof rafters of the entire loft at a cost of approx. €1,000 for the sheets alone! That was one shock but the bigger one was studying the rafters and noting they were fitted less than straight (some were actually bowed) when assembled and fastened by the slats for the roof tiles with the result that any sheets being cut to fit between them would be practically impossible to get a tight fit with. To the rescue came my local builders provider who very kindly offered me for free lots of lengths of 100mm square "skids" of insulation foam board which are apparently used to allow fork lifts to get under palettes of sheets of plywood etc., a lot of work in transporting and unloading and storing hundreds of those up in the loft but the savings on money will justify that. Typical me but all this construction work is only now being done after the layout has been laid, carts before horses wouldn't do this justice, last stage of the wrongly timed construction work will be to sheet off the section of the loft with the layout in it and enclose it to make a railway room in itself. I will take a couple of photo's for posting here when I get the project completed and maybe they might help others with ideas for using their loft space.

Good luck with your build and not to worry you but there is no need to go quite so deep with those groove cuts, if you think about it the grooves are for locating and bracing the cross members as strengtheners and the more you groove out of the longtitudinals the weaker those become so a balance is needed. What you are doing with the router for grooves is a quick way of getting the same finish without using a mallet and wood chisel and that's fine but IMO don't remove more than 50% of the material from the thickness of the longtitudinals and ideally remove even less, by the time you screw (and glue?) those cross members you will have a solid framework anyway, the angling of the uprights from the leading edge of the framework back to a beam along the shed walls is definitely the way to go and it will be good and strong for what it's intended. There is also a correct way to use the router as in from a left or right hand starting point, while the router will cut either way you might find less chipping of the material and less resistance if you start from the correct side, if the cutting bit spins clockwise I think you need to start your rooves from the right hand side but a quick test run on a scrap piece should help sort that out, do be extremely careful as a router is a deadly piece of kit used in a free hand fashion as you are doing. For your click lok laminate floor do not be tempted to glue as well as click lok the panels, if you deide to re-lay the floor then run the panels as you have them but complete the first panel run from end to end of the shed by joining the panels end to end, you will then have to cut the overhang from a panel to fit the lenght of the shed, that cut piece than becomes your starting panel from the far end of the shed, followed by a full length panel, and by default you get a brick pattern with no waste pieces, that's one of the big selling points of the laminate flooring system. You also should lay a 2 or 3mm light foam flooring underlay and then lay the laminate flooring on that to create a sort of floating laminate floor, don't worry the laminate's own weight keeps it in place and it won't actually float anywhere, the expansion gap is a must also. You may not want to reverse anything you have done so far but if you want the best foundations before you start work on the actual layout now is the only chance you will get to do so.

Thanks LNER, a picture paints a thousand words....... I believe I can get approx 2,000mm of a run of track to make the incline but to do so means it will be on a sweep so we will see what happens on a trial run with stock and loco/s. At some point (no pun intended) I hope to pluck up courage and post a photo' and maybe evena track plan of the layout, it is completely non-representative of anywhere and entirely being built for fun but with wish to make it workable and realistic, hopefully after a more than (on and off) 30 year lead in I can actually get it completed, it has been a vey long and at times expensive learnning curve. My re-awakened interst in the hobby has been greatly inspired by this forums topics and gaining access to a local railway modelling club. Martin

Thanks Stuart,

Oops........... Forgot to answer the question, if I can get it working so much the better but if space is too critical I will just leave it as a scenic feature, if my reading of your gradient suggestion is correct would that mean I need 2,000mm (50x40) to get to a loading height of 50mm from the baseboard level?

Thanks that's a great pic, Perhaps the incline construction wasn't exactly standard and had a bit to do with the local terrain and building materials available? Martin

Apologies......... Yes you are right, I should have said full, while I am not fanatical about things a realistic and workable standard to my layout wil do me. Thanks Martin

I got some advice on the card modelling pages regarding the slope/incline leading up to the loading level of the Metcalfe coaling stage and a minimum of 700mm distence in track to a 50mm loading stage height was receommende but a longer rung of track on the incline would obviously look better (ratio quoted was 14x1 hence 50mmx14 = 700mm). Scale is "00". As I can get between 900-1,000 mm of track run I am happy enough that it will "look" ok, my queries are; 1. How to get the track to bend/graduate at the point where the slope/incline meets the horizontal plane of the loading stage? 2. What the base of the slope/incline would consist of, an earth embankment, brick or whatever, I hope to get the layout set in the LMS era leading to BR. 3. How much space should be left on the overhang to store empty wagons, would enough room for 2-3 wagons be ok? Thanks for any help in advance.

The draw bar is not staying in position as a non secured fit so the upward bend is next to be tried, I didn't remove the capacitors and no sign of any jerky running so far, thanks for the advice/replies.