Caley Jim

I would do it in the direction which has the tight spot and see how that works. One of my early chassis wouldn't do a full revolution when I applied power. I set it upside down in a vice (with card vice grips in place) and touched the motor contacts with a pair of leads from a power source, first one way round until it stalled and then the other. Each time it would go a wee bit further until after a few minutes of this it would do a full revolution. left it running a wee while and it was fine after that. Every loco needs a bit of 'running in' at first. Jim

Lubricate it, sit it up against a stop and let it run for ten or fifteen minutes. That usually loosens up any tight spots in the mechanism. Jim

I'm always a bit wary of that. As you say, the timing has to be just right and the previous coat has to be well dried. Today's work has been another coat of white, again very thin. I've managed for the most part to keep it off the beading, so that will only need the odd touch here and there when I'm putting the final coat on the lower panels. Back to the canopies while that dries! Jim

Aye, that'll be shining bright! Jim

Steel underframes were usually made from steel channel, so you can see the lip along the lower edge and also the thin cross section of the headstock. Also they don't have the washer plates above the W-hangers. Having said that, some wooden solebars were 'flitched' in that they had a metal plate running all, or most, of the outer surface so you don't see washer plates on them, however, you would see the thicker section of the ends of the headstocks. Jim

I've driven that road many times. It must have been a spectacular journey in steam days. It strikes me that some sort of holographic backscene might be the answer? There has been a thread on Strathyre station on the CRA forum recently. Jim

Another 2 bays added, so I'm half way there (at least as far as the bays go). Another chimney coming up as you can see on the right hand bay. Jim

Today's stage has been giving the lower panels and the beading a second thin coat of Purple brown, that on the beading using a bow pen set so that the blades are almost closed. Despite that some paint has got on the white (or maybe that's due to me shaky hand!). That should be sorted out with the second coat of white on the upper panels. The lower ones and the ends will probably need a third coat, but I only intend touching up the upper beading where white gets on to it. I post these stages, one by one, to show that, with these panelled coaches with two colours, it's not just a case of paint the main colour, then the upper panels and that's job done! Jim

First coat of white on the upper panels. This was a very thin mix applied into the centre of each panel and 'teased' around the edges. Capillary action draws it to the edges of the panel, leaving the centre very thin, but that will get a second coat. Before that, however, the purple brown will get a second coat, that on the upper beading being done with a bow pen. Jim

They are the frames between the sheets of glass. Same as the vertical and horizontal bars on a sash window. Jim

Now that the etch sheet from PPD has arrived I can get on with these - in between painting the 45ft 1st class coach. 5 bays have now been assembled: The gaps in the adjacent sides of bays 4 and 5 are where a chimney comes through from the island platform building below. One or two astrigals are going to need careful straightening! Being only 0.25mm square they are rather fragile. Only 9 more bays to go!

Agreed there, Andy. The painting stage is the longest on these. A coat of purple brown, then a thin coat of white in the panels, then another p/b, then another white..... Not to mention the touching up where the one gets on the other. Then there's the lettering, crests (two each side on this, plus a monogram on the centre door)....... All this leaving a day between stages. Yes, the finishing takes the time! Jim

Didn't know that pre-WWI Gentleman's Clubs had TVs! Jim

Richard always did things on a grand scale. He once exhibited a scale model of Kyle of Lochalsh at the Glasgow Show - 7mm Scale!! Not only that, he ran it to the Highland Railway timetable - in real time, which meant there were no trains running on the Sunday!! Jim

Progress slowed slightly over the week-end due in part to the arrival of the sheet of etches from PPD for the Dunallander canopies (of which more on that thread later). There were a few items on that for other people, so they were dealt with first. The coach has been dis-assembled and the body, floor/underframe and bogies (with the wheels removed!) sprayed with rattle can black. The droplights and boletcheons received a coat of reddish brown (they were mahogany) and the lower panels and the beading have had their first thin coat of Precision Paints Caledonian coach purple brown. I prefer to apply several thin coats rather than try to cover in one in order to preserve detail. Unfortunately my painting skills are not what they once were, so I suspect there will be more repeated touching up being done than there used to be, before I'm done. The droplights and boletcheons could, I think, do with being a little more on the red side, so they will get another coat first before I put a first thin coat of white into the upper and waist panels. Jim

For me, the outstanding performance in this table has to be that of CR No.733 climbing the 1:75 Beattock incline at an average speed of almost 40mph, (presumably without assistance in the rear, as the times are pass-pass) with an ihp/ton of locomotive weight of 20.1. But then, of course, I'm biased! Jim

As I've said elsewhere on several occasions, I think we get too hung up about the exact shade of, particularly, wagon colours. I won't repeat again a story I heard of a former painter at Doncaster being asked how they mixed the grey paint from the black and white pigments, but his response to detailed queries was they they weren't too bothered about the exact mix and it could vary from batch to batch (which probably meant day to day). He said the 'bosses' were only fussy about the colour of the top link locos. In any case, a few days out of shops in the smokey, sulphurous atmosphere of late 19th/early 20th century industrial Britain and I doubt two wagons would be the same colour. Jim

As far as I am ware (and I have no experience to go by) the answer is 'yes' for modern N-gauge profile. Whether the same is true for 'pizza-cutter' wheels I don't know. Presumably your friend is aware of FiNetrax https://www.britishfinescale.com/ if he doesn't want to convert to 2FS. Jim

Not too surprising as they were originally a Drummond design. The originals had 3-layer panelling with individual lower panels on the doors and in between. Lambie reduced that to 2-layers, but still with beading at the doors. These represent the McIntosh era version. Jim

They are from a full set of castings for these coaches for which I made masters when they were made in the late '80's. IIRC Colin Allbright also got some for his Ultima range and it may be these that Etched Pixels now have listed. I still have a few castings. If you want some PM me. Jim

Progress has been a little slower than I expected due to a number of things. the new roof took me a wee while to get right, here seen with the etched one above it. It was made from some 4thou brass. the etched one was fixed on top with some bits of double sided tape, the hole centres marked with a sharp needle and then the indent on the back filed off. The process was repeated until a small hole was made and these were then opened out, first with some fine reamers I have (Tim knows the kind I mean) and then broaches. A card template was made to align the rainstrips, from fine wire, but they still needed a fair bit of tweaking to get them even, and the gas pipe made from the same wire. It's not perfect by any means, but is as good as I can make it. The brass I had used is quite a bit stiffer and springier than the etch brass and it took a lot of work to get it to the required radius. I like to make roofs to a slightly tighter radius then required so that when soldered hard down on the centre of the ends the edges are tight down on the sides. I then had a senior moment and fixed the roof on the wrong way round, with the gas pipe running off at the wrong end! Some careful un-soldering and I was able to get it off un-distorted and refitted the correct way round. With all the soldering done, the various castings for the lamp tops, HAVOK ventilators, gas control box and buffers have been fitted, along with the etched hooks. Westinghouse pipes are still to be added then it will be ready for the paint shop. The wheels I had ordered arrived today, so here it is sitting on a length of track.

Where there is a need for a very short, but flexible spring, adding some coils will increase the flexibility without increasing the overall length. For every coil you are increasing the length of the wire by 3.142d (where d is the diameter of the coil), and therefore its flexibility, without increasing the overall length of the spring. Jim

I would add two items. Carrs 188 solder paint and a silicon soldering mat. There are loads of different ones on the internet. One with lots of little tray compartments on it is invaluable for keeping track of all the little parts you remove from an etch as well as sub-assemblies. They also have magnetic areas where you can put tools (when you remember to!). The hardboard is still useful where you need a hard surface to press against while soldering. A metal surface is also useful for cutting tags on - block of thick brass or steel, e.g. door catch plate or the like. Jim

The sides and ends were assembled in pairs, being careful that they were joined at the same corner! One end was pinned to a piece of plywood making sure that it was vertical, the side was offered up to it and the two tack soldered at the top corner. After checking that side and end were at right angles to one another they were tack soldered at the bottom and then the seam sealed from inside all the way up. The two sets were then assembled together in the same way and the end handrails, alarm indicator, gas lamp control rod and corner lamp irons added. the latter will be left projecting at right angles until after painting to allow access to the beading behind them. Finally, for now, a shot of the body sitting loosely placed on the underframe. For the benefit of one of the CRA members I've included a scalpel to give an idea of the size to anyone not familiar with 2MM scale. Next up I'll have to make a roof as, of the two sets of side and roof etches for the first which I have, one is missing the roof. Jim

The details have now been added to the sides and ends. The first of these on the sides were the lower door hinges - tiny items, but significant in that they break up the lower panel. Etching is not an exact science and the level of etching can vary, not only between sheets, but between different areas of the same sheet. The small slots for these are a case in point, not all having etched fully. I made a little tool from a piece of scrap etch, filed down to the width required and then tapered on all four surfaces, and held it between adjacent jaws of a pin vice to open out the slots. Next came the door ventilators, soldered in place by placing a spot of solder paint where they had to go, holding them in position with a cocktail stick and applying the iron to the flange above until the solder was seen to flow. Lastly were the droplights. To get these accurately positioned I lightly stuck a thin strip of sellotape to the lower inside surface of the side with its top edge just above window level. Each droplight was then slipped between the side and the tape and roughly positioned. Where a droplight is in the open position the lower left corner needs to be cut away to clear the hole for the door handle. Once they were all roughly in place the side was turned over and the droplights accurately adjusted and the tape pressed down firmly. The top edge of each droplight was then soldered (top corners in the case of open ones), the tape carefully removed and the bottom edges soldered. The ends have the steps, on one the mounting lugs for the alarm indicator and on the other a couple of lengths of fine wire representing the gas pipe (the bent bit has been straightened since the photo was taken). Both also have the bracket for fixing the body to the floor with a chunk of brass soldered to it and drilled and tapped 14BA for the fixing screw. Although there are holes for 4 of these I find two at diagonally opposite corners suffice. Now to assemble these into a body, after which the end handrails can be fitted followed by the roof. Jim