Rick_Skateboard

Managed to do exactly that in sun last week; photted the Krok, had a beer from the excellent Monsteiner brewery, then rode it back to Davos.

Shwt has a really good disused station.

Screenshot of the LMS publicity film, may be of some use? Rick

Progress update on the Pickersgill. A while ago I had a go at punching some rivets with my friend's borrowed rivet press, but I couldn't get on with it. I then had a go at doing some freestyle with a hammer and a pin, but I found it impossible to get consistent results. Being a fan of good tools, that was all the excuses I needed to buy a GW Models universal rivet tool, and it arrived this morning. As the dials read out in MM, and allows very fine adjustments, I decided to draw out the bufferbeam 10x real size on graph paper, and then plot the coordinates of the holes. This resulted in a successful 'riveting' session, although I do wonder if the bufferbeam now looks a bit too busy. I used a mix of the 2mm scale and 4mm scale settings, and perhaps it might have been neater if I'd kept to the smaller size? Thoughts on that would be appreciated. Perhaps it will look ok once it's painted, and a has a coupling, vacuum, air, and steam heat pipes added. I've now soldered the buffers and the coupling hook in place, and it's ready to fix to the front footplate of the loco. I drilled the buffers because they are supposed to be riveted to the bufferbeam, and I didn't think the turned components looked right just being plain around the base. I'm planning to put bits of wire in the holes to represent the rivet heads. Drilling them was a nerve wracking job, but amazingly, the .4mm drill survived to fight another day! Finally, the coupling is made from two Smiths coupling hooks sweated together, I always think they look a bit too thin on their own. CR Pickersgill '72' class 4-4-0 No.54487 at Helmsdale by David Mason, on Flickr Here's what it's supposed to look like! Rick

I had some new soldering iron tips arrive in the post, so I thought I'd better get on with putting the loco back together. I've soldered up the main components of the body, the castings went together ok, and I'm fairly happy with the soldering. It's now in a state where it can be sat on the chassis again, and I'm going to have a think about what detailing I want to add before I put the boiler on. Body soldered together. Solder joints underneath. View from the rear. The fallplate piece has the slot that the rear of the chassis sits in. Sat on the chassis. A dry run with the boiler in place. I did consider Archer rivets, and I've used them before on a wagon I scratchbuilt, but I quite fancy having a go at making brass overlays for this model, mainly because it's not something I've done before, and it's a chance to try something new. Rick

Thanks for the replies. I've not tested the chassis yet, but one of my concerns is DCCing it, because it looks like its live to the frames. Perhaps that wont be an issue if I carefully insulate the decoder. I've got bits to add brake gear and I can make up some sanders and other missing details if I keep the chassis. I have done some kit building before, and I'm generally happy with soldering etc, although I've not done it for a while. The last thing I built was a Meridian Ruston in 009, but that was all soldered together, including brass to whitemetal. I was planning to make brass overlays for the smokebox and front bufferbeam, there's quite a lot of rivet detail missing on the whitemetal castings, it was certainly like that in BR days. I might also look at making a new smokebox door. The tender is going to be a Caley Coaches one, but will need some modifications to make it right for the Pickersgill 72. I had a parcel from Caley Coaches today, so I can start looking at all the bits and working out what I'm going to do first. Hopefully some forward progress soon, Rick

Hello All, I've wanted a model of a Pickersgill 72 for ages, and I've now got hold of a badly built one to take apart and start again with. 5 minutes in some Nitromors had the paint off, and I was able to dismantle the body simply by gently pulling it apart. Whatever glue had been used wasn't holding it very well! I now have a load of castings to start again with, and I intend to solder it back together. I'd like to try and improve on the original kit, so I will attempt to add detail where I can, including some brass overlays and perhaps a new smokebox door, as well as the usual seperately fitted pipework and handrails etc. I've ordered some detailing bits and a tender from Caley Coaches, and Jim Smellie there couldn't have been more helpful. I was inspired by Ben Alder's blog post about his Pickersgill, and using a Hornby T9 chassis, which is something I'm still thinking about, if I could get hold of one for a decent price. Here's the loco as received. Paint bubbling in the Nitromors. Useable castings, still with some cleaning up to do. Chassis, which would benefit from some detailing if it is going to be used. A rivet press and tin snips kindly lent to me by friends. I've never used a rivet press, or done much work with brass sheet, so this will be an experiment for me. The left hand running board has the vacuum pipe cast into it, which is quite nicely done, but I feel like it would be better if it was a seperate piece, so I may cut it off and make one from wire. Any thoughts or advice for this project would be great. Rick

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to look at some more photos and have an experiment with different fonts and sizes then. Interesting to learn more about this. Cheers. Rick

Hello All, I believe the numbers seen on SR route code discs are the locomotive's duty number? Does anybody know how they were applied, and what size or font they were? I'd like to get the detail right in 4mm scale, but I also have a full size replica disc I'd like to put a number on, and I plan to make some 5" gauge ones too. I'm guessing they were printed on paper and stuck on with some sort of wallpaper paste or similar? Any information would be appreciated. Cheers, Rick

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll save my money! Rick

Apologies if there's already been a list of allocations on this thread. Were there any of these cranes in the Scottish Highlands? I've seen a picture of the Inverness crane, but I think that was a Cowans 75 tonner. Basically, I'm looking for an excuse to buy one! Cheers, Rick

Narrow gauge cattle vans weren't unloaded there; the dual gauge track was so the narrow gauge could access the sawmill farther down next to the standard gauge lines. The goods and cattle were unloaded from the narrow gauge in a different part of the yard. I've never seen a picture of a narrow gauge vehicle on the dual gauge track, but I'd be very interested if anybody has seen one! Rick

Great video, thanks for taking the time to do it. Rick

Hello all, I'm after three Mk3 Sleepers in Intercity livery, early or Swallow. Hornby models would be my preference, but Lima ones would be fine. These carriages seem to be virtually impossible to get hold of now! Cheers Rick

My Mk2f RFB and TSOs arrived today. Here's a picture of the RFB between two Hornby (Lima tooling?) Mk3 SLEs. I also took a picture of half my sleeper train laid out in the kitchen; maybe one day I'll build a layout that can accommodate it! Cheers Rick

My Mk2f RFB and TSOs arrived today. Here's a picture of the RFB between two Hornby (Lima tooling?) Mk3 SLEs. I also took a picture of half my sleeper train laid out in the kitchen; maybe one day I'll build a layout that can accommodate it! Cheers Rick

I've still not been contacted about the 37114 I ordered. Anyone know what the latest news is? Cheers, Rick

Little Sister - Queens of the Stone Age.

24 Hour Party People - Happy Mondays

Silence - Delerium.

Can't Stop - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

A Thousand Trees - Stereophonics

Hello, Is it possible to adjust the brightness of LEDs on the function outputs with this decoder? Cheers, Rick

I've spent some time today modifying the headcode blinds on one end of my TC, I did the same thing on my Thumper. A lot of light bleeds out through the printed headcode, so I've made a cardboard version and coloured it in black with a permanent pen. I scraped the printed headcode off the inside of the glazed panel with a cocktail stick, then slipped the cardboard and a small piece of white paper in between the glazing and the clear plastic fibre-optic part. The result is that the two rectangular blinds are much better defined, and the light doesn't bleed out around them. While I had it apart I sealed the LED all round with black tack, to stop the light bleeding back into the cab too. Before. After. Untreated end. Black tacked end. The light is still too bright, but I'm hoping that when my new Bachmann 36-557 decoder arrives I'll be able to dim the function outputs down. Can anyone confirm this is possible? If not I will slug it with a resistor. Cheers Rick

Has anybody got a diagram for the 20s? I saw them on the Hull line on Tuesday. Cheers, Rick