Chris Higgs

8 hours ago, Nig H said:

Yes, Etched Pixels  (EP) = Ultima.

Well, sort of. Etched Pixels = Ulitima items originally created by Colin Albright, plus other things added later. Perhaps I should have said Albright era Ultima.

Chris

13 hours ago, Nig H said:

I have been discussing with Alan Cox of Etched Pixels what will happen to his range of mainly coach-related accessories. The end result has been that the range is being divided up between the Association and P & D Marsh. The latter have been granted permission to use the EP white metal moulds they possess to sell castings in their own right, if they so wish. The Association has received some parts (plastic and white metal) and will sell these in its shop. Some of these will be listed soon. Some parts have been sent to the NGS, and more will be offered to them soon.

 

Details of EP etched parts are to be sent to me soon, and I and Tony Simms will decide what we want to do with them. The Association also has the moulds for various plastic roofs and plans to sell them via its Shop.

 

So, some of the range will end up with the Association,  some with P& D Marsh, and some with the NGS. 

 

Nigel Hunt

 

Product Development Officer

So by the EP white metal moulds is meant the former Ultima items?  If the moulds are still in good conditions those are excellent quality. I do hope P&D Marsh take up the option to produce them. 

Very good news that the plastic roofs will be made available again.

Chris

16 hours ago, tapdieuk said:

 

EFE Austerity 

 

Wheels skimmed and fitted with Assocation 9mm tyres.  Using MK 5 crank pins loctited into the threaded crank pin holes. Wheel base measured at 10.8mm & 11.8mm 

Temporary coupling rods for now, but shuttling up and down the test plank.   

Scale wheelbase would be 10.81mm and 11.84mm. So spot on. 

Can you see through under the boiler on these models?

Chris

11 hours ago, Klaus ojo said:

Bruce,

what a pity that I do not have broad gauge and knuckle couplers. The VR F class looks great!

"Wrong gears" is an issue: The chassis is designed for 14 and 18 teeth 64DP gears and so the mod  0.4 gears should be an acceptable substitute.

Err, no it isn't. The 08 uses 14:18 tooth gear ratios, but the Class 11 uses 14:16. Looks like the instructions are wrong, and the accompanying chassis diagrams which showed the correct ratios have vanished. An 18 tooth will not only not mesh, but will also foul the track as it has a larger diameter than the 8mm wheels the class 11 uses.

Not convinced by the VR F class. Looks like management decreed it needed cow catchers on ends and sides, and the shed staff found an old station bench that they could use the timbers off to achieve that. 🙂

Chris

On 03/09/2023 at 10:20, DuncanFogg said:

Matt,

 

I certainly agree with retaining headstocks whenever that is an option. Here are three, with different types of DC brakes.

 

Currently in a train stopped at Didcot Parkway looking across I can see one the 1:1 scale versions

Chris

1 hour ago, yaxxbarl said:

Typically... EFE Rail are releasing a retooled N Gauge J94/Hunslet Austerity just as mine is well on the road.... but I shall continue.

 

To be fair I was almost expecting this as EFE took on a lot of DJ Models' tooling and projects of which the J94 was one of them.

 

Having had a closer look at the examples on the video it looks like combining the new body with an association chassis may be a good bet.

 

Yours, in awareness of the inevitable comedy of the situation,

 

John

I await them with excitement. I do hope pictures means they are absolutely coming. We are still waiting for the Dapol WCs (11 years and counting - almost as long as the real things lasted in service).

Chris

Real thing is 7'3" + 8'3". True for all 57XX, which is what Dapol have modelled. That scales to 31.92mm and having just measured the model that seems to be what it is.

Dapol do have a habit of varying wheelbases, but normally only when they cannot squeeze the wheels in due to the flanges e.g. 9F and A3/A4.

Chris

On 22/07/2023 at 18:11, Doncaster Green said:

 

 

None of my sources quote a width figure of any sort but the calipers showed 17.7mm which scales up to approx. 8ft 7ins; possibly a touch over sized but not unreasonable.  With measurements this close to scale I'm happy to carry on with them, particularly as the Association chassis is an almost perfect fit and they are a lot less fragile than a 3D print - a decided benefit from my, ham- fisted, point of view.

 

8' 2 1/2".  Here's a photo of the works drawing

Chris

On 28/06/2023 at 00:29, yaxxbarl said:

On my workbench the past few days has been my Sonic J50 conversion - wheels now painted and on a test run...

 

 

Also, my NCB Austerity No. 8 finally has its new chassis under it...

 

 

Both need couplings and No. 8 will get a spot of weathering.

 

This is effectively a rebuild of my first 2FS loco from over 20 years ago - now updated with a proper chassis to replace the original Farish/Ballantine wheels conversion. It's also had a full repaint and updated detailing using etches and details that have become available since its first iteration.

 

Cheers,

 

John

 

 

 

 

If you want to see how British N gauge RTR has come in the last few years (decades?) these two photos are it.

Chris

On 26/06/2023 at 17:29, Nig H said:

Thanks Simon,

 

It looks like you have to come up with your own arrangement for the power train and drawbar then. I’ll let Tony know.

 

Nigel Hunt

Indeed there was no room laterally for the 'normal' cantilever gearbox inside the Farish body, and anyway people were always complaining about how they flex and have no way to adjust the mesh. So I stopped doing them a while ago. I did etch an alternative sort of worm holder that would bolt onto spacers front and rear of the worm, but they are still sitting in a bag somewhere. Or a cantilever gearbox that has multiple folds on it to move it towards the centre of the chassis. In the same bag I think. 

Chris

8 hours ago, 2mmKiwi said:

Hi Tim,

 

This photo came up on a Facebook feed, I'm sure you have it or have seen it. Based on my exposure to Copenhagen fields I thought I recognised the Potato Market area on the extreme left.

Is that correct?

 

SteveM

NZ

Well, Copenhagen Fields has made a promising start, but plenty still to build it seems. Lucky we have Easitrac now.

Chris

13 hours ago, nick_bastable said:

Or should I just paint them BR/SR green or BR crimison ?

 

Having the first option is one of the great benefits of modelling the SR. If I ever get them finished, I intend to paint all my Bulleids green and just stick to Bachmann offerings a a bit of crimson and cream for variety.

Chris

1 hour ago, Hendreladis said:

How do you remove the motor from these Dapol panniers? I bought a non runner that was awash with oil. Having assumed that to be the problem cleaned everything up but then found that the motor had locked up. Seemed an unlikely turn of events but it won't turn bar rocking a couple of degrees each way.

 

Can't for the life of me see how to extract it from within the mouldings without a hammer - my go to choice generally.

 

Andrew

It is very difficult. It is attached by wires inside the smokebox, and is a very tight clip fit inside the boiler. Removal was not envisaged in the design. Replacement even less so. Lever it out with a screwdriver at the rear and hope for the best is my advice (and I have removed a couple).

 Chris

1 hour ago, CF MRC said:

As an aside, a friend has just turned up this guide photo of Chiltern Green. 

Had darker hair then, but I’d only been married six months at that time. 

 

Tim

Those were the days. An exhibition lasting a whole week and opening until 8:30pm. I do remember working on the stand of Cheltenham Model Centre and it seeming to last forever.

Chris

On 28/03/2023 at 20:34, WM183 said:

I could press them on / off with my lathe and tailstock easy enough. I may try reprofiling some, but 2mm SA axles are cheap enough I'd rather just replace them if I can!

I'll try some 15.2s and DGs. Thanks!

Definitely use the 15.2mm axles. You might just want to touch the axle ends with a file (very gently!) to blunt the point, otherwise they might cut into the plastic axle boxes.

The 14.8mm axles do not work at all well with Fleischmann/Minitrix etc.

Chris  

On 26/03/2023 at 02:10, CF MRC said:

Seems pretty unequivocal
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=car+drive+shaft+angle&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi37Z7zs_f9AhX8iv0HHfyzBvQQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=car+drive+shaft+angle&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQDFCICFiTD2CnI2gAcAB4AIABRogBgAOSAQE2mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=fRQfZPe6HfyV9u8P_OeaoA8&bih=1302&biw=1381#imgrc=IRA-FnR1KjFAQM
 

Tim

Including that we should never use drive shafts for what we do, going around corners. 😔

Chris

Personally I think there isn't going to be one answer to this anyway. If you have a small shunting plank/branch terminus layout, I'd put plenty of weight in. I have seen a few 2mm/N layouts where the light stock barely seemed to hold the track, and gave no impression whatever of the mass of the real thing.

Whereas if you want long trains, obviously you do need your locos to be actually able to pull the stuff.

Chris  

You might want to consider this reference: https://www.nmra.org/sites/default/files/standards/sandrp/pdf/rp-20.1.pdf

It only takes into consideration bogie stock, I wonder when exactly American railroads last had any 4-wheel stock.

Many people have observed an all brass coach does weigh a lot, probably too much. Interiors made of lighter materials, and perhaps open spaces in the floor could help to reduce this.  I also know Colin Allbright felt that the resin roofs in my kits might present some stability issues with a high Centre of Gravity.

On point 7 I do recall managing to pull complete trains off the track on tight curves. It was Hornby Dublo 3 rail, mind. I think consistent weight throughout a train is a jolly good idea.

Chris

The valve gear on a BR Standard 4MT (both the 2-6-4T and 2-6-0 varieties) and 3MT (2-6-2T and 2-6-0) are all the same as on a Fairburn (at least prototype-wise).   The only difference I know of is that BR switched to using plain coupling rods  instead of fluted during the builds. For later versions. I used to know the exact point at which they switched on the 2-6-4T, but cannot find it now.   But 80067 had fluted rods and 80079 had plain, so somewhere between those two.

Chris

10 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

I found the dimensions of the gearbox in the instruction sheet on the Association website, but I can see no way in which you can do anything other than drive directly onto the axle.  There is only room between the cheeks of the gearbox to fit a wormwheel, so no space to fit a secondary reduction.  😒

 

Jim.

I don't think it was ever intended to. With today's lower revving motors, I feel that perhaps two stage reduction is not needed any more mechanically, although getting the worm shaft at an appropriate height to attach a motor is another matter.

Chris

On 05/02/2023 at 00:48, martin580120 said:

Finally, I haven't made much progress on loco building, the outstanding jobs list on the J94 is pretty much as it was at my last report - I've added some masking tape to mark the height of the handrails in preparation for adding the handrail knobs and, well, stalled. My excuse here was waiting till I had a test track to allow me to test the quartering and running properties, and, well, see above.

 

However, the wonderful @Caley Jimpresented me with a wee bag of goodies today at the FCAG meeting for my CR439 Class. This inspired me this evening to made some progress here...

 

The frames are folded up, and the frame spacers added. The Worsley Works etch has the frames as a single piece, so once the spacers were soldered in place, I clamped the whole thing in a vice and took the pointy edge of a triangular file to the joined NS and PCB to gap them. The wheels are loose fitted- I'm not going to do much more with this because I need to get a motor - given this is intended to one day haul 4-8 coaches, I felt the Association 6mm motor is too wee, and the 12mm flat can is a bit too wide to fit inside the body without butchering the footplate etch. I have found a supply of Tramfabrik 8mm motors on that well known auction site, so that's on the wish list (other suggestions of motors/suppliers welcome - I think I can fit up to 10mm inside the body if I drive the rearmost main axle).

 

I did however make a boo boo, with the trailing bogie, well, maybe a couple of boo boos...

 

 

Here, I tried to drill out to accept frame bushes and managed to mangle the etch - I have a suspicion I'm not supposed to use these bushes on this,but I would ask the advice of those more experienced and wise than I if I am, or if I'm not if I should be using something else?

 

It is advisable to use bushes, it's just that Allan Doherty (a.k.a Worsley Works) is primarily a 3mm modeller so does not produce his etches to be directly compatible with 2mmSA components. You could just try running the wheels of a bogie directly in 1.5mm holes with no bearings, but I would not advise it, and they would probably not last very long.. You might be able to solder bearings to the rear of the frames aligning the holes accurately, rather than drilling out, but then the muffs would need to be shortened somewhat.

Chris

Chris

You can solder the frames to something thicker and then drill them out.

EDIT: or perhaps super-glue them as Tim has shown on his thread?

Chris

14 hours ago, Matt.S. said:

Thanks Chris - that's exactly what I was missing. Since I've emigrated I've missed having Titfield Thunderbolt on my doorstep. 

The other place that I know has a good diagram is the Masokits instruction diagrams. You only get these if you buy something from him, but prices are not much.

https://traders.scalefour.org/masokits/index.html

I don't know where my copy is at the moment, unfortunately.

Chris

6 hours ago, Matt.S. said:

One resin GW van awaiting axleboxes, two SR 8 plank opens ready for brake gear - can anyone shine a light on monarch brake gear?

 

Lots of enlightening photos in An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol. 4 SR. Including one on the front cover.

Or you can deduce it from this drawing https://steamworkshopstores.com/collections/slate-wagons/products/southern-railway-12t-vans-to-diagram-1458-general-arrangement-with-10ft-wheelbase-and-monach-brake-gear-drawing

This photo is a SECR wagon but has a similar arrangement. 

I assume the trick you are missing is that the tail of the brake levers have to be folded over 180 degrees so they attach behind the V hanger. There are two small pips on the rear of the brake levers that show where  they are to be bent. 90 degree bend at each of the points marked by the arrows. CLose together so you might just fold it over a piece of etch or a steel ruler.

Chris 

53 minutes ago, Izzy said:

 

Not a lot to it really David. I got this idea when the prospect of a circular layout still had legs to have a late BR era sequence. So I obtained said Dapol Freightliner 86 along with a couple of sets of Farish wagons and the Dapol 156 in Regional Railways livery. There was also a Dapol EWS 66 and Farish Transrail 37.

 

To help convert the Dapol locos, shift the wheels along the pin-point axles to obtain the correct b-t-b without causing damage to said pin-points, (after of course maching the wheels to reduce the flanges), I made this small wheel puller tool from a bit of brass round.

 

 

 

The bolts are 'sacrificial' in that under the torque produced to shift the axles they can deform at the end so need re-doing depending on useage. One has a plain end to push plain axles, the other a central bore for pin-points so it's pressure is on the outer surface. It allows controlled and small adjustments to be made by turning the bolt, which has to be gripped with a tool such as pliars given the forces sometimes involved.

 

Here is a shot of the 86 with freightliners and 156 on Priory Road. Given the early stage of the layout you can see it was quite a while back.

 

 

With the dropping of the circular idea these all became surplus to needs and I have tried to 'move them on' via an add a while back in the 2mm newsletter. The 66 & 37 went but with no takers for these they now just sit in their boxes as I have no use for them, indeed I might try again as I could use the space for stuff I'm currently producing!

 

Bob

I have a number of Kato locos where the same principle has been applied (by the wheel turning service when it existed). There are a few ways to achieve the pushing of the axle but the key feature required is that you don't press on the end of the pinpoint, rather onto its shoulders.

Chris