Simond

Rod, mind the brake chain on the 37! cheers simon

What’s not to like about that? A useable modelling material, and two biscuits. An argument for moving to modelling in 10mm, perhaps :)

I think the issue with modelling things like this is their weight. Or, perhaps, more realistically, the relationship between their stiffness and their weight. If you could hold a bit of tarpaulin so it was horizontal, I'm confident that it would have to have a very short overhang before you didn't just get a fold at the point youre holding it, whereas anything we might use as a model materrial will be relatively much stiffer. The two tar'p'd opens in Mike's picture made me think more of wet tissue - that might be persuaded to hang and fold in the way that the real cloth does. Perhaps a piece of something that doesn't immedately fall apart, so a cleaning cloth for glasses, or a baby wet wipe? Drape over a (sacrifical) wagon, and drip PVA onto it to see if it sets with the requisite folds, creases and sags, maybe?

Thanks both, John built his with equalisation at one end. It’s not great, because it’s as likely to lift a wheel at the rigid end as it is for the wobbly end to behave itself. I hope some weight either side of the rigid axle will sort it, as it’s built with the roof glued on, and the axleboxes glued to the W irons… more generally, I’ve found this problem with Felix Pole 20T coal wagons too. It seems that long WB wagons might be a bit prone to it. Probably weight distribution, or simply a lack of weight. cheers Simon

Ade, I was at my pal, John’s place on Thursday, and he built one of these. Good looking vehicle, but he says it’s not a good runner, it has a tendency to wander off into the ballast at the slightest provocation. It’s a case of “a butterfly’s wing” being sufficient! Do you have the same issue, have you equalised yours, if so, how, and how is it weighted? cheers Simon

next time you're on a platform, stand about two coach lengths away from the other people. I guess the colours of their clothes will be a bit muted, you'll see shadows where their eyes are, and maybe under their chins, a beard or moustache might show, as will hair colour & hat if applicable, but beyond that...? I know, coaches are longer these days :)

Yeah, saw that, and thought of Ron’s wonderful models. Haven’t heard anything from him for a while. Hope all is ok.

Looking good, Ade, remind me please, is this an RTR or a kit-built? cheers Simon

Lovely, My early experience in modelling on the late Ken Longbottom’s Diggle & Halebarns 0 gauge line. It was perpetually dusk. I find such scenes really evocative. Thanks for posting.

Thanks Michael much appreciated Simon

Hi guys, sorry, been a bit quiet on here of late. All well, anyway. I'm currently building a Timbertracks Devon lasercut kit of Tetbury goods shed, which is quite big & chunky, and a nice bit of design & laser work - it’s going together well, with modifications of course. What it does not have is a crane or cranes, which I’m sure the prototype certainly would have had. so a plea - if anyone has drawings or photos of the inside of Tetbury GS, or any other similar size/era, I’d be very grateful to see them cheers Simon

Does anyone have any drawings of the castings on the tubular post version? or is there an accessible one at Didcot? cheers Simon

Picture frame glass is thin, cheap & probably doesn’t have ground edges, and might be less than perfectly flat. I think the “frames” which are just glass, clips and a backing board might be toughened, and do have ground edges, so might be better. I have a glass shelf from an old cabinet or something, had it for years, it’s about 5mm thick, very definitely flat, toughened, and ground. When things get too big, the kitchen worktops are granite, so they're ideal for an overnight glue-setting session. But I do like the graph paper idea.

:). A digital problem!

That’s confused me, I was expecting a 2-4-0!

Brass boilers are probably made from drawn tube, with soft soldered stamped end plates, using external firing and low pressure. So low-stressed assembly, made to a price, by relatively unskilled labour. And directly painted. A model engineering boiler is typically a complex form, working at higher pressure, hence higher temperature, so hard soldered, made by skilled craftspersons, and usually clad over insulation (though probably not in 0 gauge). And much more expensive, and expected to last.

Labour was cheaper in those days…

an example https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283269246477?hash=item41f429ae0d:g:fJAAAOSwOd9dpXkJ these were much cheaper a few years back, but they are probably still good value even now. Other option is to use a toothed belt and stepper motor - the toothed belt can be arranged around pulleys to provide a parallel motion.

Hector, welcome! I should start by saying I have not yet built a traverser, but I have built and programmed a turntable, and the issues and principles are similar. For an HO traverser with 5 tracks, you’ll need a total movement of something in the region of 150mm. This is convenient, as there are lots of ready-made Chinese “stepper, leadscrew and guide assemblies” on the web with this travel. You could use two of these to support & guide your traverser deck, I would not bother with drawer slides. You can arrange the woodwork to suit You could control them with an Arduino, I think there’s code on here to do that. You’ll need some kind of zero-point detection, could be optical, could be as simple as a microswitch. I’d probably fit detection at both ends, and arrange my program to confirm & adjust the straightness of the deck whenever it’s switched on, as if the deck is moved when it’s off, the controllers won’t “know” where it is. The other purchases necessary will be “H-bridges” to drive the steppers, and a suitable power supply. Hope this gives food for thought, I look forward to seeing your progress cheers Simon

My take on such things is largely dependent on the success, or otherwise, of the enterprise.

Fingers crossed. over 1000 views on Western Thunder too. We hope for good news.

I remember the TriAng giraffe car

is it an early series 3? If so, you might want to pm me.

A lot easier to do than multiple “L” cranks too…

The signals are rather special…