Caley Jim

I meant to comment on this in my last post. Are you certain that the quartering is spot on? Try setting the rods on one side at top, or bottom, dead centre. Then turn the loco over without allowing the wheels to move. Now look at the cranks on this side and see if they all lie at the same angle, ideally horizontal, or at least near it. If any of them don't, place a small screwdriver between the spokes on that wheel and gently turn it slightly to the correct position. I've often found that the problem you describe can be cured, or at least greatly reduced this way and it's worth repeating it several times. If the running gets worse, then undo the last adjustment a wee bit.. A bit of running in can help too. Jim

Have you checked the back-to-backs of the loco wheels? Sometimes if they are slightly tight (i.e. the gauge does not slip in easily) it can make them tight going through the crossings, especially if the between checks is a little wide. I remember Anthony's 08 stuttered going through crossings until he found that the centre wheels were a tad under gauge. Nice to see such good progress. Wish I could get the time these days! Jim

I can relate to all of that! Amps, volts and ohms I can cope with - after that I'm lost! Jim

! used one on Connerburn before I went DCC and never had any problems. In fact we often found that the layout was running better at the end of a show than it had been at the start! Jim

Hi Justin, To my eyes, they look a wee bit dark - nearer mahogany than teak. I've built four of David's kits for GER NPCS, all finished in teak. I used the method recommended by David, applying a base coat of yellow, followed by brushing burnt umber artist acrylic along the grain with a stiff brush. Results below (which were to David's critical satisfaction) sitting in the carriage siding on Connerburn. Jim

If you look a the last photo on my Kirkallanmuir thread (link in the signature) you will see one of these carrying a large packing case covered in a GNSR tarpaulin! I also have an NB van and GCR cattle truck and my model of 499 also uses one of your kits. Jim

Thanks, Don. John lives near Cheltenham and, yes, most of his etches are produced in 7mm. They were marketed under the 'Decent Coaches' label, but another member of the CRA has now taken over the sale of them. The 45ft coaches in the photo of No.445 are from his artwork also. Jim

Thanks, Angus. All my lettering and crests are done by hand with a fine sable brush, 000 or the like using thinned enamel paints. Recently I've taken to using white artists acrylic for wagon lettering. The lining on my early locos was done with a bow pen directly onto the model, but on the last 5 I've built, plus a repaint of No. 29, I've used the following method, which I've just described on the CRA forum: 1. Stick some strips of sellotape to a smooth tile so that they butt up against one another 2. paint a thick coat of gloss white enamel onto the sellotape and give it a good 24hrs+ to dry 3. with a bow pen draw a series of lines in black gloss paint or indian ink leaving a couple of mm between them and allow to dry 4. with a new No 15 scalpel blade, cut lightly either side of a black line, leaving a small edge of white 5. carefully lift the end of the strip of lining thus produced and gently peel it off the sellotape. This takes a bit of practice and some strips will break. 6. dip the strip in a 50/50 mix of varnish and thinners and then place in position on the model using a couple of cocktail sticks to align it For curved lining, leave the strip in the varnish mix fr a little longer and it will soften sufficiently to allow you to bend it gently round with the cocktail sticks. The curves around cab and frame cut-outs etc. are a we bit too tight for this to work there, but I have got away with doing it with a few short straight bits. The lining has to be cut short of the corners and they are filled in with a fine brush. There are no transfers available in 2mm as far as I am aware. I'm embarrassed to say this, but the late Colin Brady showed one of my coaches to Fox Transfers at a Glagow show and asked if they could produce transfers for the crests. The answer he got was 'Not as good as these'. Jim

For anyone who is interested, I've posted some photos of my locos at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/61066-scottish-locomotives/page-8&do=findComment&comment=1836754 . Jim

As promised earlier, photos of my fleet of 2FS CR locos. All have scratchbuilt chassis, all except 445 being beam compensated to improve current collection, and all are DCC fitted with CTelectronic decoders. 419 class No. 445. My first ever loco, entirely scratchbuilt. 29 class No. 29. An old 2MM scale Association white metal body kit for a 782 class with new steps and cab roof and with condensing gear added. 498 class No. 499. A Graham Hughes white metal body kit with replacement cab roof and steps. Three for the price of one here. From the back, 216 class No. 391, 294 class (Jumbo) No. 686 and in the dock in the foreground, the ancient 2-2-2WT No. 1A used for hauling the Officer's Salon No.2A. All scratchbuilt.. 171 class No. 173. Part scratchbuilt, but using etches shot down from John Boyle's artwork. 98 class No. 108. Again part scratchbuilt with John Boyle's etches. Hope these are of interest. Jim

A thread on the 2FS layout i currently have under construction is at the link in my signature. Jim

Earlier I wrote: "I built one of these in 2fs some time ago using etches reduced from John Boyle's artwork. " I should have mentioned that this loco can be seen emerging from under the bridge in the last post on my layout thread - link in the signature below. Jim

I built one of these in 2fs some time ago using etches reduced from John Boyle's artwork. I'm away from home at the moment and don't have any photos of it on my tablet. It has a Branchlines minimotor (which I believe is no longer available), 2mmSA gears and disc bogie wheels kindly made for me by a now deceased member. I intend posting some photos on here of my CR 2fs Locos when I get home and have caught up on all that I have to do after a month away. Jim

But not as irrsistable as purple brown and white. :-) Jim

Just found this thread and notice that it's dominated by 4mm motorised biscuit tins, so thought I'd balance things up a bit with a mention of my 1885-1915 period CR layout Kirkallanmuir. Thread at the link at the bottom of this. A couple of photos of track laying in progress. Jim W

It would be a waste to use whisky, but whiskey might be acceptable!

I use fine sewing thread. My wife has quite a selection of colours. I think that one (which is a Graham Hughes GNoS open kit) was straw coloured thread, treated with some dilute brown acrylic colour to make it more 'rope' coloured. This also helped to take the hairy look off the thread. The thread is wrapped round the buffers and then secured with a spot of cyano. On my CR wagons the tarps are tied down with pale blue thread as Caley ropes had a blue strand through them.

I see you're even putting the stonework under the arch! I was severely criticised by the Forth and Clyde group's resident engineer because I hadn't put in the cross girders under mine! Jim

The bridge and surrounding walls etc. have now been painted and fixed in position, ready for bedding in. The kerbs on the road have been painted, but the road and pavement have still to receive their surface coating. 686 approaching the bridge with a freight, while 173 departs with a local. The leading 6w brake/third is one of my original layered plasticard coaches, now with a Cleminson underframe. A view over the goods yard. The track at the bottom is the site for the goods shed. There will be no more progress for more than a month now as we are going off on holiday. Jim

I thought the big tubular bit between the fire box and the smoke box was the 'steam generator', but what do I know? Jim

Phil has beaten me to it, but another tool to use is a strip of hardboard about an inch wide and 6-9 inches long. Taper one end to 1/2 inch wide and use the end to rub the track. This will polish the rail without causing any abrasion. Of course the track has to be free of any gross contamination first. To remove paint from the rail head after painting new track I made a scraper which I described in the magazine. Jim

As promised, some more up to date photos. The long retaining wall and roadway are now ready for painting. A view looking towards the bridge And one from above the goods yard. A couple of 'foreign' wagons in the coal siding! The blue line indicates the approximate line of the backscene in front of which will be a row of low relief buildings. Also an overall shot from the down end of the layout. The scenic base around the interchange sidings has been given a coat of green emulsion, but no scenic dressing have been added yet. A shot of the sidings themselves. The banking between the sidings and the colliery branch behind will be heavily wooded.

Richard, I've had a closer look at your build of the wagon and I notice a few other things you've missed as a result of not having the instructions. 1) The tops of the corner plates should be trimmed flush with the tops of the wagon sides. Essentially, you've left part of the tags still attached. This one had me worried at first as i thought the corner plates were located too high and i couldn't figure out how that could have happened! 2) You haven't folded down the axlebox lids before you removed their 'handles'. They should slope down from the back at 45°. Should be easy to fix provided you haven't soldered them to the W-hangers! 3) Once you've folded down the lids, you can then bend the top of the spring buckle back over the top of the spring. This photo of a finished example should give you the idea. Usual apologies for the crap lettering! HTH. Jim

It's an early, pre-diagram book, wagon, based on a Ken Werrett drawing. Outside W-hangers were common until around the early 1880's.Jim

No, Richard, the brake hanger is on one side only. A simple direct connection between the lever and the brake block hanger. Nothing at all on the other side. Do you feel that I should have made that clearer in the instructions?Jim