KH1

The last post saw a basic shell of a third of a Cradley Bogie - the working title for which soon became 'Cradbog', hence the title. One thing that really stands out with Up the Line is the smooth, reliable and realistic running of the locos and we wanted this to be the case again with this project. Thus the formula adopted was to go for split chassis pick up and DCC with stay alive. It is intended to have a realistic overhead wire but this will not be live. While on traditional locos there is plenty of room to hide big motors and gearboxes, the trams leave very little scope for this. Here is where Trevor's engineering skills and experience come into the mix with some beautifully crafted solutions. So now we have a chassis which runs, albeit a bit noisily and with a slight wobble. Solution - wait for some new parts to arrive and move onto something else! This may sound like very promiscuous modelling but there is a justification! The whole point of this initial exercise was to establish the practicality and the limits of what we could achieve in O-24.5, so to do this we really needed a 4 wheel car as well! How else will we know what curves we can employ on the layout? Therefore, not much more has happened with the Cradbog for now but in the next episode I will introduce the DS9!

I will try not to disappoint! Yes, the BCM does have a 3ft 6 system and some interesting cars but sadly not of much use for research at the moment as local as they are they are all firmly locked down. There are a few books on the subject but sadly, never enough photos. There is a sort of plan in mind but that is being kept firmly under my hat for now so as not too look too foolish if it does not work out. The first step is to make a working tram and find out what radius curves it will cope with. The initial plan was to make something a bit smaller and simpler than UTL but I can see that going out of the window already!

Something completely different indeed. Having been casting about for ideas for something new to astonish the exhibition circuit when it comes out of hibernation, I have eventually decided on something based on the Black Country tramways – a massive system of 3ft 6in tramways that had all but disappeared by 1930. As this is a completely new venture for me I decided that certain things would have to be tried out first to see if the idea was viable and first up was a tram! I was much encouraged here by my friend Trevor who kindly volunteered his skills to develop the chassis. Only trouble here is that he is in very locked down Wales so much discussion was needed via Email and as yet the two halves have yet to meet. More on the chassis later but for now the body. The closest I have ever come to building a tram body was a Branchlines railcar kit several years ago but in my true pioneering spirit I decided that it couldn’t be that hard! In actual fact it hasn’t been really, just take each bit at a time and try to work out how the original was constructed and be guided by this. As this at the proof of concept stage I decided that if I was going to make mistakes it would be much better if they were small ones, so, having decided between us that the Cradley Bogie would be the first victim I set about building a third of one! After much thought I started on the sides with the construction owing much to my days of building model aircraft. I was actually quite good at this but awful at flying them and there were only so many times you can take your pride and joy home with you in a bin bag before you become disillusioned! So, I identified the pattern of the ribs, made up a set by making a Nickel Silver sandwich and filling them all in one go. They were then soldered to a plain backing piece over the plan and a thinner outer skin bent to shape and soldered on. The resistance soldering unit was very useful here as was able to press them into shape while the solder hardened. The window frames were added by soldering brass channel over the ribs and soon a had a basic side – rather boringly I then had to make another! The floor was easy but then the fun started with the partitions. I probably spent far too much time on these but I really wanted to get them right. Nothing really hard, just a lot of fret saw blades gave the ultimate sacrifice. In all I counted 51 separate pieces went into the inner partition. The BluTack of previous pictures has now been superseded by solder and here we have a basic body end. As I said it is a proof of concept and it has certainly proved that I don’t have the time or patience to make the dozen or so vehicles that would be needed in this way. So, next task is to start working out what I can replace with etched and 3d printed components. As you may have guessed by the size of my hand this is in 7mm so track will be an interesting 24.5mm but I will tackle that once we have a working chassis and more on that next time.

Anyone who has read any of my infrequent recent blogs or worse spoken to me, will know that nothing at all has happened on the modelling front for several months due the long over due and rather complicated decorating projects that have been going on. Unfortunately I have not completely finished as our house id a definite Forth Bridge sort of project but I am at the stage where I can take a well earned pause. While I was decorating the lounge the contents were decanted into the newly decorated study and as it is actually quite cosy in there very little has been put back as yet. The more devious of you (and owners of large layouts), will have already realised that the prospect of a large and near empty room was just too much....... The agreement was that it would be for one weekend only but it is actually still there as last weekend disappeared in a flurry of unexpected work disasters. At first I thought I would just put out the basics but soon got carried away. As nothing at all has been run since the last outing to Telford O Gauge fourteen months ago now I was expecting some problems - and I got them! I am normally very careful about keeping everything together layout wise but some shifting about in the house and several sedimentary layers of junk made finding and getting to all the bits quite interesting although my biggest problem was finding all the stock which I had put away somewhere safe......... I was only able to fit four out of the six boards in the room in the end - I can get it all up when necessary at the back of the house but this makes me VERY unpopular! Several sticky point motors later and lighting that wouldn't I got down to some gentle shunting. It was then that the biggest problem arose when when pair of LED'S on the point control panel that didn't work escalated to non of them working. I have not as yet been brave enough to fix this. Unfortunately several bits of detailing have fallen off over the years, some of which I have recued but some are gone forever and general air of tattiness seems to have developed. As there is no way I am risking the living room carpet in the presence of glue I shall have to tackle these bits later probably on a board by board basis. A few years ago I did get some figures ready painted when PLM were selling off some of their old displays but haven't done much with them so far. I therefore had a bit of fun deciding where they might best be used when I finally get motivated to get the glue out.

That looks rather fine especially as it is in N. Just one thing shouts out though, but I have no evidence to hand, would there have been some diagonal bracing on the inside of the shed doors?

One possibility for the white paint, and you are not too far off with sighting, is that it may have been applied in the war (Second!), to make the entrance more visible during black out conditions. My justification for this is that there is still clear evidence of white painted edges to the brick door surrounds at the rear access to our house. Our cellar was designated as a community air raid shelter in WW2. Another thought for removal of polystyrene bits and I am afraid I can't test this at the moment but am sure you could have fun doing so. As they are so attracted by static could the static grass applicator be used to 'Hoover' them up or the old party trick of rubbing an inflated balloon on a nice Nylon jumper - yes that is what passed for fun when I was growing up in the grim 70's!

When I am faced with a butt joint, I often solder a short length of brass wire to the inside edge of the inside panel by holding this vertically on a scrap of wood with the wire resting on the wood. A bit of blutack or double sided tape will hold the wire in place while soldering if need be. This just gives a bit more 'meat' to butt and solder against. If you wanted to be really clever you could use a higher temp solder for the wire but I am not usually clever!

The good news is that I am sort of half way there on the decorating front with one room finished, now I have to decant the contents of the other front room into this one and start all over again! Once the decorating is done I can get back to some modelling. It has not been all hard work however as we sneaked off to Wales for a few days last week which culminated in another trip to Dinowig. This time I started from the top. From the big bus turning circle just passed Dinorwig village there is a nice level track that takes you right into the heart of the upper quarry. Again, all the pictures were taken safely from the correct side of the quite substantial fence. Although this section of the quarry is undoubtedly very impressive there is not as much infrastructure remaining unlike the lower levels I explored last time so a very different feel. At the end of the track there is a purpose made viewpoint which gives a great view down to the lakes. And when you turn around; There are still a few interesting bits lying around like these rubbish wagons' And a few more views; In this last one you can just see the fixed end for a Blondin ropeway with the cable still hanging down.

Bit of a 'Ghost Ship' at the moment actually! Anybody got any more Adnams beer related tuns - sorry puns?

Although modelling has now officially ceased until the end of the house decorating season I did manage one little project that had to be kept secret until now. My friend who is very generous with his cottage in Southwold had a significant birthday so as something a bit unusual I decided to make a model of the pub nearby which I know he holds in high esteem. From a picture I taken some time ago I was able to rescale it into approximately 7mm and drew an outline plan in PhotoShop. Several copies of this were printed off and used as cutting templates in my usual fashion. I used a compressed relief so the maximum depth is just 20mm - 4 layers of foam board but as it is designed to be viewed just from the front this works very well. The foam board was layered up and brick embossed plasticard used as the outer covering. The roof was from Redutex tiles which I also had in stock. The windows seem to take forever as I soldered them up from brass rod filed flat once finished. I did not glaze these but just painted up some card to go behind to give a warm welcoming glow. The sign written name and logo were again scaled and isolated from the photo and printed onto decal paper and applied once painting was finished. After much messing about with frames I settled on something from The Range which was being sold off for £2.50 which was very welcome. Last weekend we visited said friends at the cottage and the pressie went down very well even if it was a couple of weeks late. Only real disappointment was that the prototype has not yet reopened so I didn't get my pint (or two), of Blackshore Stout. All this is not without a railway connection of course as the 3 foot Southwold Railway harbor branch ran just behind this pub and there was a spur right in front of it. One day I might get around to modelling it properly but getting enough operational interest would be very hard as the branch was hardly used as by the time it and the First World war were finished the herring trade which it had intended to serve had moved on. I am now much involved in the restoration of our front room and the rejuvenation of the wooden floor - a carpet would be much cheaper and easier - so there is not going to be any modelling done for a while - very frustrating!

On a flat bed being delivered!

Just like soldering, depth of field is pretty simple if explained properly which I am now about to try and do at way past bed time and with a little beer inside! The smaller the aperture (the hole in the lens), the greater the depth of field so more will be in focus. Just remember that a small aperture is a high f number, say f22. The problem with using a small aperture / high f number is that it lets in less light so a longer exposure is needed (the hole needs to be open for longer), or in other words a slower shutter speed, so seconds rather than thousands of a second. If you have the camera securely on a tripod and the subject is not moving as in your case this is not a problem. If anything is moving in the scene you need a much faster shutter speed and thus a more open aperture which gives less depth. Hopefully you are still with me! I mentioned before that if you have the camera further away and you zoom in you will get a better depth. The only other variable is the ISO, a low ISO , say 100 will give better quality but will need more light so exposure times will be great or the aperture needs to be larger. A high ISO (1600 plus depending on camera). means you need less light for a correct exposure so apertures can be smaller or shutter speeds quicker BUT the higher the ISO the lower the quality. Every camera and situation is different so it is really just a case of experimenting to get the best balance between the variables, this is certainly much easier and cheaper with digital cameras than the days of film. I am happy to have a chat if you want to PM me

Be careful of mixing different 'colours' of light which can make a very complex brew that automatic or preset white balance cannot cope cope with. Experiment with turning your ceiling lights off while using your new set up. Depth of Field is also influenced by the distance of the lens from the subject so if you have a true zoom on your camera (rather than a digital zoom that just messes with the pixels), try moving the camera back and zooming in with the lens for a greater DoF . For lighting that area under the overall roof try shining a torch with a focused beam under it for all or some of a long exposure. Do bear in mind previous comment about mixing colours of light although much fun can be had by adding a coloured filter over the torch provided by a sweet wrapper - equal amounts of enjoyment being provided by the photography and eating lots of sweets to find the correct wrapper!

I have now moved on from the cheese grater stage with the GVT tram loco and am convinced I made the right decision with scrapping my first attempt - not that this one is perfect and some bits are annoying me but not enough to abandon it now. It is now a very solid and stable body greatly helped by the additional metal but also by my building it upwards while having tack soldered the basic body to a sheet of copper clad PCB which really helped to keep everything straight. Here it is attached to the PCB which also makes a great return for the resistance soldering iron which I used to great effect in attaching the beading. Each outer panel was made up separately as per the original which has meant the panel lines are really beautiful which I fear does not really come out on the pictures. Using the double skin has also meant that the inner panels can be riveted, some of which are visible on plans and photographs but others I have had to interpret for myself. I have done something about powering it it that I have cut out an alarmingly large amount of metal from the boiler in order to fit a Branchlines chassis that I have available.I need to get on wit the cab now which is actually quite a complex area and is scaring me a bit, but I guess it does not involve a great deal of metal if it needs a few attempts. There may be a bit of a hiatus now in traditional modelling as I am planning to push on with the decorating of the house - been here 15 years and still not finished!. Unfortunately this will mean dismantling the front office/ modelling room, redecorating this and then turning this into a temporary lounge while I do the proper lounge across the hall. I have been stacking up a few 3d projects in my head to work on which should be possible to push on with though.

After three weeks of decorating much of which being spent dangling alarmingly over the abyss of our ample hallway, I decided that today was going to be different i.e. a whole day playing with trains. Well, not quite a whole day as didn't actually surface until lunchtime but hey, I deserved it! After some consideration of which dormant project to continue with I settled on the Mk2 GVT loco a this would get me cutting metal the quickest. Think again - the revised structure meant a good couple of hours reworking the drawings for my templates but got there eventually. This version is using an inner shell made up of two pieces to which all the outer panels will be attached individually as on the real thing.So here is one half being attacked in the GW rivet press. There is one row of rivets on the inside and I made an indentation for each of the 'spot welding' holes. The second pic is the side having had all the holes drill through at 2.5mm. These holes will be on the inside and are for soldering the outer panels to from the back resulting in a sort of spot weld that can easily be dressed if necessary.The second pic is the side is in my modified bending jig with gauge blocks being used to set the precise location of the bend with no measuring or guessing involved. So a whole days work has ended up with this looking alarmingly like a cheese grater but it is far more rigid already than the previous version

The other thing to look at with drills are the ones with the oversized shanks - usually 2.3 mm I think. Expo do a set or Squires or Hobby Holidays will sell singles. They are far easier to locate in the chuck and do seem to be an awful lot stronger. Alternately just open the etched holes out with a small broach, far more gentle especially on really small pieces

First the dilemma ,Turin60 was absolutely correct, it is a GVT loco and sorry David, I did reply to your comment trying to steer you in the right direction but it has not appeared on the blog for some reason – I probably put it on the wrong one and is now mightily confusing someone! It has become apparent that there are a couple of problems with the body which I just don’t think I can live with . The whole point of this project is to make something that is significantly better than the rather aged Peco white metal kit so I deserve it to myself to get it right even if it does mean starting again. The main problem is that in the 10 though nickel silver which is what I have to hand it is just not rigid enough. I know this will get better as things like the tanks are added but there will still be significant areas where the sides will be unsupported. The solution then is to use a double skin which does have further advantages apart from the strength. I feel far more confident in making an essentially plain inner body in two or possibly just one piece with the individual outer panels attached separately. This means that there will be no difference between panel lines between those butt jointed and those scribed. It will also make the riveting on the inside of the body on the tank tops my easier to do. Another advantage is that I can add a slight step where the beading goes which will greatly help it’s location. It should not take me too long to start again as all the work in PhotoShop to draw to make up my ‘sewing patterns’ can easily be adapted. As I was playing with CAD last night I also designed a smoke box door and a few other smaller items that should help the project along. To soften the shock of starting again I have turned my attention back to the Ruston, hence the CAD session. After much musing on how I was going to do it I finally set about designing a chassis. This was never going to the final version which is just as well as although I am quite proud of some bits, others are a complete disaster. So, good bits – the wheel bearings fit, the wheel base is correct and it fits snugly inside the body. Bad bits – I forgot that the layshaft bearings are smaller than the wheel bearings and didn’t provide a cut out for the wheel so they won’t fit at all! I deliberately didn’t make any provision for mounting the motor at this stage as I knew several versions would be necessary. I know you CAD veterans out there will be much amused by mistakes but as a novice in this field am actually feeling rather smug with myself! Pics of the body will show a small amount of progress but I decided that it would be best not to go any further until the chassis and drive arrangements were settled. Another upside of all this is that I may have found the problem with the bed levelling on the Ender. The lead which runs from the control box to the print head had managed to coil itself up under the print bed and and as the bed moves back and forth it was rubbing against one of the adjuster wheels so this was being turned and thus throwing the levelling of the bed out. One cable tie later and the chassis block printed very well and I actually had quite a problem removing it from the bed this time!

With progress on the little Ruston on hold until a suitable battery and motor arrive and having got fed up of jigsaws I started on something else that I have been meaning to explore for a long time and just to add a little more audience participation I shall let you try and guess what it is! I had assumed that getting the bends correct would be no problem with the little bending jig that I got from Metalsmiths I think, quite some time ago. Getting a nice bend no problem but in the correct place AND perpendicular..... After some thought I came up with a little mod for the jig which involved drilling through a metal square and attaching it nice and flush via one of the threaded holes in the jig. Result a nice, solid 90 degree guide. Next problem was getting the bend in the right place. A little basic maths and a bit of trial and much error resulted in me finding the precise amount of metal that had to stick out from under the bar. The gauge block set again came into it's own as I used these to butt up against the bar and just pushed the metal up to be flush. Next problem was that the drawings I was using from the xxxxxx book - whoops nearly gave it away - say they are 10mm to the foot but the printer (of an otherwise impressive book), seems to have had other ideas. There is a definite lesson there! I eventually managed to scale them to 7mm and 'flatten' them to take the corners into account so as to make my customary 'sewing patterns' for getting the rivet detail correct. I used the GW press again but this time just used the stop to set the distance of the line in from the edge and just used the dots for spacing which I found to be a good compromise between time and sanity. I know it might not look like much but it has been a significant leaning curve to get to this point and there are still a few more lock down days of experimentation in store too until I manage the next stage.

On a whim on Monday I decided that I would actually just build something - not anything with any particular purpose or greater project in mind but just something I fancied doing. So, what you will see now is a Ruston 16/20 taking shape in 1/35th. If one of my more outlandish schemes we to ever see the light of day I would need a few of these so I guess it is a sort of dry run. I have recently tried and failed to fit a chip and a stay alive into a KB Scale Ruston LBT so thought that given the extra space of going up a scale or two this would not be a problem. I have not really thought about how this will be powered yet but there is a possibility it could become my first radio controlled loco. I have a Slaters 1/32nd that has been knocking around in a part built state for a long time so in the absence of any drawings I used this to scale down from. Construction is very traditional so far being mostly from nickel silver sheet with a bit of brass tube but I have used a few techniques for the first time and am learning a lot from this one. I set off with building a set of frames from 18 thou sheet as I didn't have any brass angle of the correct size. Cutting all the metal has been made much easier now that I have the guillotine and using the gauge blocks makes this even easier. I have also used the gauge blocks to mark out many of the pieces for the rivets and windows - much quicker and more accurate than with a ruler alone - at least when I use a ruler! Another thing I have made a lot of use of are some small steel set squares and magnets to hold pieces true while soldering - the rather poor photo may explain but I am sure you can work out what I did. Usually, where I need two identical pieces exactly the same I will solder two, or more, pieces together and then drill / file all the pieces together. I always get too carried away with the solder though and have a nightmare trying to separate the pieces. This time however I tried something different and used double sided tape to fix the pieces and seems to have worked. Something else that came into it's own was the little chop saw as I was able to slice less than 1mm off a piece of tube to form the round window surround. After soldering this on I just drilled the aperture and used a fret saw to remove the rest and finishing off with a half round file to get a lovely round window. As I have no plans to copy out and cut up as templates for where the rivets should go. for the first time I fitted the slide onto the GW rivet press. It took a bit of practice but am pretty pleased with the resulting rivets although it did seem to take ages to do. It would also have been much easier if I had not done the window first. As always after soldering, everything had a few minutes in the ultrasonic cleaner which is great at getting flux residue off and so after two fairly lengthy sessions, here we have about half of a Ruston body. So far everything has been pretty tradition but there are a few parts coming up where I think I shall be putting my fledgling CAD skills to use.

Thank you Mike, David and Snitzle for you comments. I have tried everything to get it levellled and seems to work for a bit but then not the bext time (which could be several weeks!), I use it. The filament thing is interesting though as I have used a couple of different sorts without thinking that it might be part of the variation. I have spent a substantial chumk of today in AutoCad and thought I was betting somewhere but now appeared to have changed something somewhere and nothing is behaving!

They are 1/32 and built by Trevor Hughes as part of a major project to model Pendre with no compression! Various bits of the project have appeared in MRJ and NGIR with more articles to come and hopefully the finished article but probably a couple of years away. It is all very inspiring and a great mix of traditional modelling with modern techniques where it is sensible to use them hence the 3d bobbins.

I know, it has been ages since I have given an update. Now, that is not because I have been idle - it is because I have been VERY idle! I am probably being a bit harsh on myself there as I have been to plenty of exhibitions but as a civilian or helping out on other peoples layouts which has been great experience. I have scaled back outings for UTL drastically and at the moment there is only one booked being for the Mid Wales show in Welshpool, 24th October this year. Hopefully things will back on track again by then and we will not have the added excitement of the floods which blighted this year, tales of which will echo for many years. I am still considering several options for my next layout venture but I would like something a bit smaller and less complicated. The trouble is all my plans seem to turn out even bigger and more complicated. So this last year has been more for consolidation and getting to grips with some of the gadgets I have amassed, some of the techniques I want to develop and in tackling the elephant in my modelling room. The London Road resistance soldering unit has been sitting there staring at me for well over a year and I have to admit to being a bit frightened of it. I eventually plucked up the courage and actually rather like it! It will never replace the traditional soldering iron (or irons actually), but for detail work it is great. A little chop saw is another addition which is great for cutting tubes and brass section cleanly but I do need to design some sort of a fence so it can be set a bit more accurately. Another rather larger investment was a metal guillotine which I have been chasing for a few years now. After some teething problems and the addition of a not inexpensive slip gauge set I can now turn out accurate and cleanly cut pieces at a rate which far exceeds what I can do with them. This has led to me batch producing a few items with the aim of making a bit of pocket money to feed my habit. This has led me off in another direction for the first time as well and I have now commissioned some rather nice lost wax castings for loco fittings which should accelerate progress on a slightly secret (for now), project. So, all the above is for rather traditional modelling so now for that elephant - CAD. I have been wanting to get to grips with this for quite some time but all my attempts to get my head around have just ended in frustration. But, with help and encouragement from the David of Fen End Pit and the brilliantly explained adventures of Mike Oxen on this site, I have actually got somewhere this time. Admittedly I did get somewhere then got distracted by the Summer and promptly forgot everything I had learned but relearning was easier and took me further. I am now fairly confident with OnShape for 3d but am still struggling a bit with AutoCad which I intend to use for etch design. It is one thing learning CAD but what am I going to do with it. The answer, of course, is to get carried away buying 3d printers. THE first indulgence was actually a CNC milling machine followed by a filament printer and closely followed by a resin printer. Logic would probably have dictated getting to know one machine before getting the next and so on but in this respect my logic failed me. basically I have had problems with them all to some degree which if anyone out there has any understandable solutions to I would be most grateful. Firstly the CNC mill. The test engravings that come with it work fine but when I use GBRL everything moves around properly but the cutting motor will not spin. I gather it is because the pins on the board that control the motor have been changed but I have yet to find a solution that I can understand to address this either physically or in the software. With the Ender filament printer I have had dreadful trouble getting things to stick to the bed. I have tried a piece of glass and then spraying this with heat activated adhesive but with little success. I bought a BLTouch self levelling sensor which I fitted without difficulty but cannot get the software to install properly on the computer. I have given up on this for now as I did have a bit of a brainwave. The thread which is automatically printed presumably to clear the nozzle always sticks on the far left had side of the plate so why not move the print in the slicer software to the left hand side of the build plate? I have now actually had some success with some small items such as some little brackets to replace broken ones which hold up a shelf. I had similar problems with the Photon resin printer and had great trouble in getting anything to stick to the build plate. This has resulted in a small army of mutant Llamas with which I tried but miserably failed to impress the now not so little Iz. I think the problem was that I was building up a bit of a sludge of failed bits that had printed but not attached so the build plate was not making proper contact with the film. Resin is pretty nasty messy stuff really. I was finally pushed into getting to grips with this by my rash promise to design and print some bobbins for some slate wagons a friend was building. Considering they are only 2mm and 4mm tall I am actually very pleased with the results and think they look great on the finished wagons. So that is the state of play at the moment - much frustration, some success and plenty of unfinished projects. As an aside, one thing that I did do to try and fix the situation with the Ender was to buy a laser thermometer to check the temperature of the nozzle and build plate. 'What are you wasting money on that for' was the wifely retort - it seems to have been forgotten now that it is in regular use to check for fever......... That red dot is also excellent for giving the lazy cats

I Maybe you could ask your President!

This is turning into a very convincing and VERY well thought out little layout, all those years of visiting exhibitions have not been wasted. It is not that I thought you could not do it - it is more that I thought you would never get around to doing it!

Pit props! I am fairly sure that these were manufactured by dedicated suppliers so would then have to be transported to mines. Larger mines undoubtedly manufactured thier own but small scale concerns would not have. One owner would often have a number of mines so might manufacture them centrally and these would then need distributing. Can't come up with any one source that would confirm this as has been dredged from the morass of my mind but makes sense to me and would make an excellent wooden load.