John57sharp

Having had a good search I can’t seem to find any information about the prototype for the Association GE 10t Cattle Wagon, can anybody assist? cheers John

Handsome loco that. Well done. John

The demand for 2mm signals has brought Facebook down worldwide! Nice one.

I like urban buildings and I’m slowly constructing some of the Scalescenes range in N for use on my formative layout, but I’m not getting on too well with cardboard, so I’ve bought the fire station and I’m translating it into plastic card. The brick bond isn’t right, but it’s all I’ve got and you can’t see that easy at NVD. Van for scale and fitting test, I don’t have a fire engine yet. One thing I really need to do is to settle on a time period... but then I have 3 x green diesels and 1 large logo and 1 blue, so that’s a couple of decades...

A small update, nothing has happened in this scale for weeks, too complicated and personal for here, but we’re off and running again, here making coal loads for the minerals. Filler of milliput in plastic bag off cuts for shape, real coal to be glued over next. Thanks for looking in.

Well here’s a tale, we’ll get a back to 2mm wagons and locos soon, there’s a video in hand, but yesterday I was preparing to give a new16mm scale loco a coat of paint when I managed to drop the airbrush needle, in fact it slipped out of the mechanism when I tilted it. The thing is that usually this would be ok, the carpet is soft, the needle big enough to easily find. Not today. Being outdoors, the needle went down between the cracks in the decking. Oh how we laughed, oh how we cried.... Right said Fred, we’ll have to take that plank up, screws are worn and it may take some time. Many screws were undone and two planks lifted before the needle was found, replacing the planks again was easy. Reassemble the now clean airbrush and... but where’s the spring???? Not under the decking, I was fairly sure of that, I resolved to find a replacement, but after several attempts and no real progress, the moment had passed and other matters required attention. Clearing up dolefully, I gave one last look around where I had been the day before, and there it was! Pristine and innocent looking, just laying there waiting to be found. Of course the suns gone in for a few days now, so that job will have to wait. I will not pause to preach about care and understanding your workplace, I never seem to learn, but I hope this may help others, if only to raise a wry smile....

Stretched green or red sprue maybe? John

Thanks Nick, just gathering all the info I can and wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed anything . Thanks for the detailed updates, looking forward to trying this build using this thread as inspiration. Thanks to all the other contributors too, hope I can string something together and put it up on here. cheers John

Hello Nick, running behind the bus a bit, but looking forward to having a go at this soon. Did you ever issue an update to the notes at all? cheers John

Great news David. Chris Higgs do you have any chassis available still? cheers John

I’m wondering if the etches and chassis are still available? This is another inspirational thread and I’m sure I’m. It alone in thinking I’d like to build one now. cheers John

Fantastic clip, thanks William

Yes to jewellery stores, I think I got mine on eBay, I bought the stainless pins separately. The pads come in all shapes and sizes.

Tuesday again. Today’s top tip is a multipurpose tool primarily designed as a holding tool for jewellery makers, a ceramic black with tiny holes throughout, supplied with stainless (and mostly unsolderable) pins. Very useful for holding and securing work, protecting from heat. I got a twin pack, so the second doubles as a handy tool, drill, pin, wire, work and cocktail stick holder. I put it in a tin lid so the stuff doesn’t go straight through when you pick it up, but only after it did, once....

Thanks! I’m trying hard to get everything up to my standard, which my not match everyone else’s, but you have to I’m somewhere, and not being afraid to try is half the battle. The Association 16t is a fun build, I’ve a few of them on the go, and a couple of variations. They’ll be starring here soon. I can highly recommend the Association in general, and Nick Mitchell’s videos of his build: come over to the small side, you’ll love it! John

Getting down to it, 2mmFS wagons take just as long to do as their bigger brethren, perhaps longer, there’s a lot of fiddling. So some vans and now a few opens are receiving their numbering and lettering. It’s all CCT Transfers applied on gloss varnish then matt varnished over. I also ripped up the first 2 foot of Easitrac, it was too thick in glue and I hadn’t really thought through the wire droppers. The new length is almost ready to lay, pictures as it happens.

Tool tip Tuesday, well it is Tuesday and I was thinking of doing one of these now and again. Nothing new here, just stuff I’ve picked up along the way and found useful. I bought a pack of half a dozen of these off eBay for not much money, and they are surprisingly good. You might think, as I did, that the tips look chunky, but they go to a good fine point, and being ceramic and a bit chunky, they tend to warp less, so less parts ping away into orbit somewhere. As an aside, I think there needs to be a study into the danger of small part debris in low earth orbit, I’m sure there’s a lot of tiny parts up there! Another obvious benefit is that they are heat proof and can hold parts while you solder them together without the heat travelling towards your trembling fingers, fearful of the sudden pain. The edges are square too, increasing their ability to hold parts. The only downside is that they are a tad chunky in the tools tray, but that’s hardly a problem!

Thanks No still some decisions to make, I had intended to use DGs, but so far we are not getting on. May go (crazy) for 3 link yet, but some maybe semi permanently joined. The brake van is on the books, but first attempt didn’t go well, I’ll be looking at it again soon enough... cheers

Thanks Mikkel and it’s true about motivation. The stock box just holds the bits while I’m working, the numbers relate to the order they entered the system, I keep a matrix so I know which wagon has which type of chassis and wheels etc, eg #13 has no chassis yet as it’s due to have a more complex brake arrangement one, and I haven’t started it yet. The box also has a bigger compartment at the end to hold odds and ends, as yet unallocated parts. This is part of the enjoyment of building for me somehow.

With wagons #1 and #11 now numbered up, we officially have a train. Further vans are close behind, seen behind. Just some more subtle weathering to do here. Loco needs it too.

Wagon #22 gets buffers in the peg clamp, jigged up.

I’m writing this taking a coffee and (home baked) shortbread break while I order up some more wheels, and yet more vans from Shop2. Yesterday I got some progress on brake gear after watching Nick Mitchell’s wonderful video on building the 16T mineral, and following his methods I have succeeded in getting 3 or 4 levers on. I did a stock take and found I had one chassis too many, so I had to buy 2 more van bodies (they come in pairs) so I had to get another chassis too. Good job I like vans! Pictured below is the workbench at close of play last night. If you look carefully, you may see a brake lever stuck to the tip of the soldering iron.... the batteries ran out just at the wrong moment, and my spares have been pressed into Christmas lights duties, so everything stopped while we recharged! I’m pleased to say that the lever survived!

I’m fairly sure that Chris Higgs has stock of the CCT etch and roof, from a recent post here somewhere. I may need some too, so it stuck in there somewhere! Enjoying your updates, please continue. John

This is Wagon #12 undergoing some remedial work on the under frame. Replaced a few rubbish attempts at etched axle boxes from the 3D printed range. The large nut is a red herring!

Major good news! After the dispiriting news of jamming gears, I put it away for a day or two while I got on with something else. After carefully removing the wheels and gears until it freed up, I traced the problem, I think, to one of the short stub axles on the gear train, it was just too short, so I replaced it. After that it all ran smoothly, so I carried on, reassembled everything, even the rods, and it still ran! So I soldered the rods on with the microscopic washers and oil soaked rizla paper. It still runs. So far so wonderful. Stay tuned while I put the cosmetic outer frames on and so on. Once I’ve recovered from the celebration!