Tony Teague

34 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Anyone who fancies a bit of nocturnal train-spotting might be interested in this, between Bicester and Claydon:

 

 
 

The “track settlement trains” will be in the Claydon - Bletchley section from 8th April.

 

 

Given the line is not open to traffic it seems odd that this acn't be done during the day

A little more scenic progress:

I shaped the landform using card strips, and have made providion for a driveway descending from the road above to the building that will be on the hillside.

At the bottom of this picture you can see the small problem that is preventing me going beyond this point for the moment:

The soldered tagstrip is correctly placed under what will be the removable platform on which the building sits, but the choc-block connector below it is wrongly positioed and will be beneath a fixed part of the hillside - so all that is required is to stretch the two wires from the choc blck and solder them to spare tasg on the tag strip = > next job!

Ignoring that for the time being I finished the card formers and got the first layer of plaster bandage in place; there are a couple of small areas to fill in, plus a 2nd layer required but already things are looking different:

The platform for the building will have retaining walls to the front & rear. Here is what remains to be done once those wires have been moved:

Not far to the overbridge!

Tony

17 minutes ago, thegreenhowards said:

Tony,

 

I don’t have any photos to hand, but will take some next time I’m in the club if that would be useful.

 

Andy

Thanks Andy

That would indeed be helpful.

Tony

36 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

I've been taking some 'similar' shots to the ones I posted the other day; those taken by John Forman. 

Any comments?

 

 

Other than the colour, the greater depth of field in my pictures is the biggest difference I can detect, though I don't know if John used a lens which stops down to F.45; unlikely, being hand-held. 

 

Tony

Also seemed to me that there were differences in the focal lengths used in several of the shots; without knowing what he used it would be incredibly difficult to replicate things precisely. Nevertheless an interesting exercise and some different angles from those normally seen.

Tony

Thanks for the several suggestions relating to the electrical connectivtiy of my cassettes; a further suggestion has been made to me 'off-line', via the use of audio jackplugs attached to the cassettes, which sounds interesting and if anything, even more fool-proof than crocodile clips.

The locating aspect for the cassettes is less of an issue because there are already brackets in place which make getting this wrong quite difficult.

 I will explore and report back in due course.

Tony

48 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

Small crocodile clips serve the dual function of locating and providing electrical contact.

In fact a further option has ust been suggested to me off-line, via the use of audio jack plugs which would be attached to each cassette - all very interesting!

3 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

I make up a brass clip, which holds the cassette in place and also provides electrical continuity.

 

Thanks - how different is that to what I have used?

Didn't manage to attend, but pleasing to see such a relatively small number of rucksacks in attendance! 😏

I hate to disturb this stimulating discussion on accountancy, project management and the like 🥱, but may I ask a model railway related question?

My layout has a cassette system for extra storage and the cassettes are formed from a plywood strip with aluminium angle on either side which act as rails for trains stored on the cassettes; when installed for running, the cassettes are held in place and connected electrically by a brass strip to either side, and unfortunately, despite really very little usage one of these brass strips has snapped off.

This is a view of the arrangement pre-snapping, withe the cassette stretching to the left and the two brass strips curving out to the top & bottom of the image:

So my question is, how have other people located and connected their cassettes and should I be using something more flexible or springy than brass?

Apologies for this railway-related intrusion, but all suggestions appreciated!

Tony

Further progress has been made on the plastering front, which I shall cover tomorrow, however, I have a question and hope that someone might be able to assist.

At the back of the layout, and the front of the fiddle yard, I have a cassette system which was covered briefly about half way down p.22 of this thread:

The cassettes are formed from a wooden strip with aluminium angle on either side, and these act as rails for trains stored on the cassettes; when installed for running, the cassettes are held in place and connected electrically by a brass strip to either side, and unfortunately, despite really very little usage one of these brass strips has snapped off.

This is a closer view of the arrangement, withe the cassette stretching to the left and the two brass strips curving out to the top & bottom of the image:

So my question is, how have other people located and connected their cassettes and should I be using something more flexible or springy than brass?

All suggestions appreciated!

Tony

9 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Best of luck ...... time seems to be in very short supply nowadays !

Especially when one is ancient & decrepit!

I was reminded of this thread by something that happened today, and that has prompted my working through it an replacing all of the images that were lost in the "great RMWeb image debacle" of a couple of years back.

It is, however, disgraceful that in the last 3 years I have managed to achieve ZIPPO in terms of this project - although I do realise that it is because my efforts lay elsewhere - so I think that I must charge myself with doing better in 2024 and re-engaging with my Continental Ferry Van projects!

Now to work out where I will find the time.............

Tony

2 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

For those suffering from insomnia............

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AiRP3jVN2v0pszzrSEL92Be9BFSC?e=w0yeuF

Excellent video Tony, and witness to the perfect running qualities of the locos that you have built.

Sad that all kit-built locos don't perform in this way (in my limted experience!).

Tony

Brief, pictureless update.

I managed to complete the landform along narrow strip to the front baseboard edge today, but my camera failed to fire for some reason!

A small part of the area requires a 2nd layer of plaster bandage so I shall get that done and try again with the errant camera before painting the whole lot in brown undercoat.

There is also an even smaller strip between the track and the cliff face which needs attention and in 2 areas this is complicated by the pull-out sections of cliff face.

I shall try to get the fixed part completed but the entire pull-out sections may have to be re-built to make their removal easier in the event that access is required.

A further update will follow at some point in the coming week.

Tony

2 hours ago, jwealleans said:

Morning Tony,

 

I'm very reluctant just to have axle ends running in resin, it's never a good long term solution.   In this case, Wizard waisted bearings dropped straight in and Gibson 12mm wheels ran freely in them.   About as simple as you can get.

Thanks Jonathan

That was my concern - but it sounds like the solution is simple.

Tony

2 hours ago, phil_sutters said:

Ask the Ukrainians!

I guess I was taking an insular, British Isles perspective.

On 27/01/2024 at 08:26, jwealleans said:

 

The right hand vehicle is a Three Peaks Models L & Y D1 open.   This only just qualifies as a kit as there were only two pieces.   It was recommended elsewhere and as I'm always interested to look at new products and manufacturers (and I have a number of LMS containers in need of wagons), i gave it a go.   The finish is very good, the resin is slightly flexible, which is a bonus and it took longer to open the package than to assemble it.

Hi Jonathan

As you say, the 3 Peaks L&Y D1 kit looks about as simple as one could get; I had a look at the website where one can download the instructions - and again, I suspect that it takes longer to read them than to build the model, however, I have one question:

The kit does not include wheels, and there is no mention of embedding wheel bearings / axle cups into the axle boxes. Did you do this - in which case what was your experience in drilling out the axle boxes - or are you just relying on the axles sitting directly in the resin casting.

Tony

Today I decided that I would get plastered 😃

Or rather that I would plaster the land form along Churminster cutting that I had shaped a week or so ago:

I'm pretty pleased with the result, which makes a huge difference to the appearance of this section, as I had anticipated. This area took over 2 rolls of plaster bandage which was applied in two layers; I now need to order some more.

The gap to the right of the 2nd shot (& at the rear of the 1st) is where I have pulled out the removable area of the steep cutting face so that it didn't get stuck in place! It is removable because it has rather a lot of electrics behind it to which access may be required.

This transformation has made me feel that I must now get on with the remaining land formation, which is almost the last on the layout, so I plan to deal with the narrow strip to the front later this week if time permits, before moving on to the slightly more problematic strip down the middle.

Tony

There have been a couple of alarmist stories in the popular press recently about the death of railway modelling as a hobby - following the news of the demise of both Hattons and the Earley Show - so I was pleased for my attention to be drawn this morning to a more balanced view:

https://thecritic.co.uk/death-of-the-model-railway/

Worth a read I feel.

Tony

This is a bit more of a balanced perspective on recent events, and worth a read:

https://thecritic.co.uk/death-of-the-model-railway/

Tony

35 minutes ago, big jim said:

100 people, were you rambling or invading? 

No, surely invading happens on beaches???

Thanks Giles

Certainly made my single brain cell itch!

Good job that there is so little left to do...............................😁

Tony

4 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

My name is Clive and I am a locoholic. I have developed a secondary addiction, well it is not my fault they are called MULTIPLE UNITS, some are electric but not as Tony knows them.

 

 

And unmade 4 COR kit with a restaurant  coach so could be a 4 RES.

Wow!

So now I know that I am not alone............

Can I ask the origin of the 4COR / RES / BUF / GRI kit ?

At present I just have those available RTR - 2BIL (several), 2HAL (several), 5BEL

Despite my trainset being 1938 - 1948 I did have a 2H, 2EPB, 2x 4CEPs and an MLV but eventually I realised hey must go as being out of era!

20 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

My name is Clive and I am a locoholic. I have developed a secondary addiction, well it is not my fault they are called MULTIPLE UNITS.

 

Being a Southern modeller I am trying hard to resist that secondary addiction, but it is to EMU's...............fortunately very few are available in any form, which helps.

As to the loco addiction, well, I am beyond hope! 🥲