Guy Rixon

An unexpected step forwards, or possibly sideways. My lady wife bought me a resin printer as an early christmas-present and these have just emerged: The first print is one of the RFM buffer-guide sprues. The second is a partial wagon-chassis with Hill's patent brakes, something unobtainable as etched bits. The buffers I shall use immediately, as I have a wagon waiting for them. They are as good as SW prints, except possibly that the bores for the buffer tails may not have formed well; I'll find that out in due course. The chassis print is a stress-test of the printer. It's almost useable as is, but is a little warped at one end, which may turn out to be fixable with heating and reshaping. It's also lost a few bits, such as the safety loop at the "downhill" end and part of the slotted crank on the far side. But these are early days and I've not got the process optimised yet. Most likely, I'll print this again, with better support structures, after adding more detail to the solebar faces. These efforts are not to replace the RFM range sold on Shapeways (which is why I'm showing them here and not on the shop thread), and I won't be marketing the home prints. The fact that the printer works well means that I can make for myself things that would be unattainable (assembled banana-van bodies with properly-smooth sides) or unaffordable (forests of cast-iron columns for my elevated railway) at SW. I can also develop new RFM products very cheaply. The incremental cost of materials per small print is very low and the shipping charge cost is just the shoe leather consumed in walking upstairs.

Phase errors arising from frequency drift are annoying in single-phase systems as they stuff up clocks, but more serious in multi-phase installations where they can, apparently, cause overloads and fires. Buffer sets connected to supplies with drifting phase are a particular problem. Many years ago, an engineering colleague was invited to inspect the local power station of which his facility was a leading customer; this was on an island that only had the one power station. All seemed well and good, until he noticed that the station's wall-clock was showing the wrong time. Reasoning that the clock was mains-powered, and wrong because the frequency was drifting, the visitor got rather stressed and angry with his hosts. Eventually they got him calmed down and fetched the clock off the wall to show him. It was battery powered.

An insight: if it's an "L". I can build the thing above Bedford Street rather than next to the road. Then I can continue along (contrafactual) North Bedford Street to Seven dials. This helps a lot with curves and the width of the station. I just need to relocate the Post Office (historically built in the 1870s) from Bedford Street to Chandos Street. The bays for the Market traffic will be on iron viaduct over Bedford Street and, possibly Henrietta Street. I feel justified in iron viaduct from Chandos Street down to South of the Strand, as this is just a big, unavoidable bridge. That gives me about four modelled feet of iron viaduct, which is plenty.

I am increasingly drawn to the elevated railways of NYC, the precursors of the subway system there. I'm building up a pin-board of other people's images of that system. I would like Strand to show some of the same visual effect, with spidery lattice viaducts along widened streets. There is some scope for that in the current plan, where the railway crosses the Stand itself and the opened area between Agar and Bedford streets. It would, I think, give a much nice feel to the layout than endless yellow-brick viaducts. However, I don't know if iron viaducts would have been considered in the early 1860s; the NYC railways were made somewhat later, when the metal was cheaper. The real scope for the extended, iron viaduct is along the length of the re-imagined Tottenham Court Road, replacing the cut-and-cover tunnel there, as far as the junction with the Met and the tunnel under Euston. I could even build that as a second layout, using the stock from Strand. Might even finish that one before I pass away. At least it has no junction work to obsess over.

Having done nothing to models over the summer and early autumn (because not physically where my railway stuff lives), I now have some progress for both the 27' coaches and the Grand Vitesse van. Here's the brake prints: These are orders of magnitude easier for me to fit than brass assemblies. They are accurate models of the SECR rigging c.1898. Best of all, they can be fitted, by gluing, after all else is done and the wheels are in for good; this lets me include the pull-rod that runs below the axle. The plan is to fix them to the chassis using "tacky glue" so that they can be pried off unbroken if I ever need to drop the wheelset.

A warning: if you're receiving a package via UPS --- and if you buy from my Shapeways shop for UK delivery you will be, because that's who Shapeways use --- be very cautious about redirecting the delivery to a different address. I've been away from home for a while and I redirected a delivery to save time. If I'd stayed at home, it would have come on the 21st. If I'd let them deliver to the original address I would have got it on the 26th when I was briefly home. As it was, UPS told me on the 24th that the package would come to the alternate address on the 26th ... three days after I left that address. UPS support arranged a second redirect back to the original address, for delivery on the 26th. They then delivered to the alternate, empty address on the 26th --- allegedly --- but a quick search by a neighbour revealed no trace of the package. UPS support are now arranging a search by the original delivery agent to recover the package from wherever they hid it and I should get it on 1st November. The time-saving redirection has cost 6 days and several hours on the phone chasing it. On-line tracking has never given good information about where the package was or when it might move next. The underlying problem seems to be that UPS sub-contract their deliveries, at least for some parts of the UK, and the sub-contractors can't handle redirection efficiently. UPS' tracking system can't see what the sub-contractors are doing. UPS customer support, who are very helpful, can't sort it out quickly because the sub-contractors don't listen. TL;DR: UPS redirection of deliveries is so broken that it's worse than worthless. Don't use it unless you want your goods lost or delayed. Simple delivery to one address specified at purchase should be OK.

Also LCDR.

I think a few LNWR 0-8-0T were converted from 0-8-0 tender in the 20th century; or were these 0-8-2T? Either way, they were not condensing engines. The LNWR's only condensing goods engines were the pair of special condensing tanks that worked at Liverpool.

If you want an actual coat of paint (or varnish) then it needs to be visibly wet on the surface. If it looks dry then it's probably adhering in clumps. The latter is OK, sometimes, for weathering effects but doesn't often give a good finish in a base coat. I find this to be true even with matt finishes. It's also true for acrylics, more so than for enamels, and especially important if you want a gloss or semi-gloss finish. Over-spraying while the coat is still wet is tricky. On the one hand, it may be better to strengthen the first coat rather than spraying another full coat after the first is dry and thereby getting too much depth of paint. On the other hand I find it causes runs more often and sometimes I don't get uniform coverage at the end. In general, I only now over-spray a wet coat if it's paint I've mixed myself; it removes the risk of getting a different mix for the second coat.

The SECR self-contained buffer used on the Maunsell/Lynes designs of wagons (not to be confused with the SER type used on older wagons converted from dumb buffers) was very much like the equivalent GWR buffer. The SECR one had a collar behind the head where the head was riveted to the ram, while the GWR did not; presumably the GWR used welded heads and rams. Nobody makes a model of the SECR self-contained buffer that I know of. As noted above, Lanarkshire Models do the GWR in whitemetal and I also sell prints for them. If anybody desperately wants the SECR version complete with riveted collar, I could produce it.

Why should a basic model be less expensive to manufacture than a highly-accurate one? Most of the costs are the same. The extra consultancy to achieve a highly-accurate, historical model won't be that great an increment. You can save somewhat by not having so many hand-assembled parts, but the manufacturer has assembly costs even for a toy. You could reduce the quality control, but the quality on the full-price models is debatable, so maybe not so much to cut. The other possible change is to make the same models, year after year, in quantity, so that the tooling costs are spread out more. That's the exact opposite of the recent trend to make everything as limited editions, and one would have to wonder whether the older business-model still works.

When did condensing steam-circuits become typical for ships? I know that battleships were built with then in the last quarter of the 19th century, and I know that they could be a failure point. Canopus, a pre-dreadnought battleship, was stopped at the Falklands with condenser failure in 1914 and thus managed to locate the fleeing German fleet for the battlecruisers to finish off.

There is a two-part article discussing the Air Ministry wagons in detail in Modeller's Backtrack (therefore ancient, but sometimes available secondhand). From memory, the Air Ministry wagons were class-A rated, based on the RCH 1927 specification, with some updates. IIRC, this means: largest tank size allowed on 9' wheelbase suitable for petrol, IIUC 14 tons load; angled end-stanchions rather than vertical; no bottom outlet (not allowed for class-A oils because fire risk if leakage); catwalks around the top hatch (first introduced about the time of the Air Ministry fleet); handbrake only (vacuum brakes not required and wagons anyway limited in speed for safety); probably Morton brakes, since there was no bottom outlet to get in the way; either welded or riveted tanks, and the Ministry had some of each. The anchoring of the tank to the underframe is also relevant, for fidelity, but I can't remember if the Ministry wagons had wing plates or saddles, or a mix of both over different batches. Photographs needed! The livery mix is interesting, bearing in mind that wagons built in the 1940s might not quite have got to their first repaint in the early 1950s. The very early wagons, which came out just before WW2, were in the class-A buff livery, with red bands on the tank sides and the end cross-bars. Then the livery was changed to silver tanks and red solebars. Then somebody realised that the Luftwaffe would really appreciate the shiny, high-vis targets, so the tank colour was changed to dull grey, I think keeping the red solebars. I've no idea what wagons are available from the trade. If I were assessing RTR for suitability, I'd prioritise the tank-anchoring and end-stanchion details, as they would be more noticeable if wrong than the tank size or the underframe details. Walkways on top could easily be added if missing and bottom outlets removed if present (one could convert a model of a class-B wagon to a class-A wagon if need be) and I'd expect to repaint and re-letter to get the correct livery.

I suspect that the bi-directional road is acceptably safe if both ends are controlled from the same box; the locking should make it so. However, if there is a box at each end of the station, then it's harder to see how safety is assured. I could imagine a station with a line that is a running line in one direction only but which allows shunting movements in the other.

What liquitex.com describe as soft-body sounds similar to what I used to buy as medium-body. Lower-viscosity paint in bottles (c.f. paste in tubes) is right. EDIT: wikipedia has a useful description of the different kinds of acrylic paint.

That's the difference between the two ranges. Heavy-body (comes in tubes) is designed to keep brush marks, as it is a substitute for artists' oil-paints. Medium-body (comes in small bottles), which is more of a craft paint, doesn't keep the marks so easily. Most artists' acrylics commonly available are an oil-paint substitute and keep brush-marks. I only use them for naturally-streaky finishes, like wagon interiors or teak graining. EDIT: having read Liquitex's site, I now see that the soft-body (neé medium-body) is claimed to retain brush strokes. If it's the stuff I used 15 years ago, as seems likely, then I can say that it will retain brush strokes if you want, but you can brush out the marks to get a smooth finish.

A 37.5" wheel to true scale in 1:76 would be 2.2% oversize for a 42" wheel in H0. IIRC, Gibson wheels are actually 12mm and 14mm. The 12mm one is then 2% under-scale for a 42" wheel in H0, which is fine. Uniquely, Gibson do a 12mm Mansell-pattern wheel which is perfect for older coaches in H0.

If you can get them, Liquitex medium-body artists colours are good for brushing onto models, better than any other art material I've tried. They are not good for spraying. The full-body (heavy-body? Can't remember the technical term) paints from Liquitex are different and not so useful.

Etched Pixels sell N-gauge kits for coaches with printed armatures. I don't know if a printed forming-jig would work; I doubt that it would be strong enough. A printed template might help.

Usually, something that represents the outer faces of the louvres and darkness in between is fine. In etched kits, bars for the outer faces and black card to stop light showing between. Neatness is perhaps more important than accuracy. I once made actual, slatted louvres for some fruit vans and it didn't look any better than moulded grooves; I could have let in a solid panel with some engraving. The louvre faces in the 51L sample are not so neat. I'd be inclined to cut them out and to substitute a scribed panel.

HMRS have builder's drawings for the underframe and body of the coach part but apparently not for the engine part. IIRC, the engines were by Kitson's and those drawings may be in a different collection (NRM?). You'll not get at these drawings for a while, though. HMRS are not selling drawings at present because of the pandemic. When they do open up again, the railmotor drawings are not yet scanned (marked 'request quotation' on the HMRS site), so there may be a delay while they scan them.

If you really want a water course, how about a mill leat? They were often straight with vertical sides, and may be either steep, earth banks or faced in stone. The depth from bank to water level can be anything from inches to a couple of metres, spending on what level is needed at the mill. Surrounding buildings may be built right up to a leat, such that the side of the leat is a continuation of the wall of the buildings.

Since Mike is trying to optimise these models, we might consider three points of fine detail. 1. Given that the planks look like they're starting to decay, are they perhaps a little too yellow? My eye reads the colour as plausible, but my mind suggests that wood that old might be greyer. 2. How much decay would the railway tolerate in floor planks before replacing them? Bear in mind that most of the floor planks in bolster wagons carry no load other then railwaymen climbing aboard while loading. 3. The sheeting and flooring of wagons is sometimes specified as "red deal". Does this imply an actual red shade to the timber before it weathers to grey?

What's your problem with the painted floor? It look right to me. The less-weathered planks are fine. The split plank looks like wood that split and has started to decay along the split. The darkest plank looks like one that has warped lower than its neighbours, rot has started where the rain collects. The only part that look even slightly painted on is alongside the central ironwork.

The yoof of our village have been gathering in the park to drink and flirt all the way through lockdown. Corona is their preferred beer, and I'm forever picking Corona-branded bottle-caps out of the grass. I don't think they understand about foreshadowing.