Caley Jim

That loco has a fair turn of acceleration! Jim

DL-limonene is my (and others') preferred solvent. Not as aggressive as some others and more pleasant to use. Jim

Having started on the 'What's on your 2mm Workbench' topic I thought It would be better to carry on in a new topic to keep everything together. The second bogie has been put together as has the floor and underframe. One issue with these kits is that there are often no tabs and slots to accurately locate parts and i had set the footboards on the first bogie too low, so they have been adjusted. The bogie mountings have a 'hump' across one direction and are mounted with these at right angles to one another so that one bogie keeps the coach level transversely, but can rock in the long axis, while the other can rock transversely. The pivots are studs of 14BA bolt and the bogies are retained by nuts soldered to pieces of scrap etch, the length of the studs being such that when the nuts are run up tight, the bogie is still free to pivot and rock. and from above: The brass rod gas tanks and the cast white metal headstocks keep the centre of gravity low and makes these coaches steady runners. the cast buffers, wire westinghouse brake pipes and etched hooks will be added nearer the end to reduce the risk of them being damaged. More wheels are on order. Body sides next! Jim

just started writing this when Nigel replied. i can only agree with all he says. Soldering is not the 'black art' it is portrayed as by some people and Nigel gives you the basic essentials. Start with some bits of metal to practice with. PM me your address and i can send you lots of the edges from etch sheets, c10mm wide 10thou nickel silver, which will let you practice and make mistakes without ruining anything. Once you get the hang of it you'll wonder what all the fuss was about. Don has replied while I type this, so maybe I'm repeating what he has said. Jim

Certainly. To stop the door ironmongery, locking handles etc., damaging the van sides when they are opened. Just like the door stops you have in the house to stop the door handle damaging the wall. Jim

Gary, I've PM'd you a list of CR kits. Jim

It should do. It's worked for me in the past. Jim

Rails of Sheffield are bringing out an RTR 812 Class. Jim

Now that's what a passenger train should look like!!! Jim (Just started on a CR 45ft 1st)

What I can make out of the shading looks pretty good to my eye! Jim

The Late John Boyle was a well know Caledonian modeller, modelling the early period in 7mm scale, and he produced a range of etched kits for coaches and locomotives in both 7mm and 4mm scales. the artwork for these was all hand drawn- no CAD in the 1980's! He was kind enough to have some of these produced in 2mm scale for me including a range of CR 45ft non-corridor coaches. I still have a number of these and, as John sadly passed away at the beginning of April, having contracted Covid-19, I decided to build another one in his memory, this time a 7 compartment 1st. The Fox pattern bogies for these were designed to be flexible, the two main parts comprising a side and end and a half etched cross piece, the two diagonally opposite corners where these meet being clipped together by some tabs. In 2MM they are rather tricky to assemble and i had difficulty with them previously, however this time I have made them rigid by soldering the clipped corners. Because the were designed for larger scales they require 12mm axles when using Association bearings. Brake gear is supplied, but it is too delicate to be practical. So far I have assembled one bogie, but as i find I have only these two pairs of 7mm wheels, i will have to use them to set up both bogies and put together an order to get some more. Only after i took the photo did I realise that one of the spring hangers was distorted. this has since been rectified! Jim

That would do just as well. I've clamped one upside down in the vice before now with the power clipped to the motor! Jim

Still b****y good.! Jim

It's amazing what a bit of lubrication and simple running in will do. Put some oil on the moving parts, especially the gears, run it up against a stop and leave the power on. Jim

Can you not just remove the grub screw, fit it in a pin vice with the (now not) slotted end projecting, hold that in a vice and re-cut the slot with a piercing saw or Exacto saw? I've made grub screws out of off-cuts of 12 and 14BA screws that way. Jim

Sounds like he has good taste! He could be converted to The True Line yet! Jim

What exactly do you mean by 'doesn't run'? is there no movement at all, or is the motor buzzing indicating that something is jammed? If the former, has a wire come adrift from either the motor or the chassis? Has your battery died? If the latter, has the motor got pushed down such that the worm is now too tight on the wormwheel? It pays to be diagnostic about this situation, rather than just giving up in disgust! Jim

Blue with black and white lining is the only proper livery for passenger locomotives, though they should have crimson lake valences and cylinders! Oval brass number plates are also essential along with the companies initials in gold, shaded black and a suitable heraldic coat of arms (stolen borrowed, preferably, from a royal source). Jim

Not perhaps relevant to the title of this thread, but according to Mike Williams' 'Caledonian Railway Wagons and NPCS' the interior of CR brake vans was light stone with a pale blue ceiling. Jim

As I posted recently elsewhere, I used card under the main line and loop tracks on Kirkallanmuir, the stuff that costs £5.20 a sheet and comes as the backing of an envelope with a rather nice free magazine in it! I cut sections to the outline of the ballast shoulder, glued them down with a generous amount of PVA and then sealed it with a further coating of PVA before using the same glue to fix down the Templot print. The sidings etc were laid straight on the baseboard to give that slight difference in height,Shaved down card and woodfiller being used to create the transitions between the two levels. I had no problems when ballasting with a dry mix soaked with dilute PVA. Jim

IIRC, and Andy will no doubt correct me if I'm wrong, depth:length for an I beam should be in the region of 1:10-12. I believe the cross beams would sit on the bottom flange of the main beams and be riveted/bolted to them. Jim

Scenic work continues with the extension of both the sleeper fence and the wall on the opposite side of the road up to the wing walls of the overbridge. Above the wing walls are short stretches of post and rail fencing, the posts being 40 x 40 thou and the rails 30 x 10 thou styrene strip. At the other end of the overbridges walls and a gate have been put in bounding the field beside the exchange sidings and the 'grassing' of the field finished off. The section of embankment between the exchage sidings and the colliery branch adjacent to the weightbridge office has also been textured and has sprouted some small bushes. The banking between the sleeper fence and the main line will be the next area to be textured. I also dug out a pack of two piles of crates which I bought from Ten Commandments at Model Rail. These are cast in plaster and were a rather insipid colour as bought. They needed a wee bit tidying up round the lower edges, but once painted and with some tissue paper labels stuck on they don't look too bad. Here they are sat around the warehouse along with some barrels I had cast in white metal many years ago and a couple of new hurdles. None of these are fixed in place yet until i decide if that is exactly where I want them. One stack of crates may go elsewhere on the layout. Apologies for the (very) foreign wagon in the foreground! I have a very good excuse for it, but that's another story! Jim

Seeing a new loco run for the first time is always very satisfying, doesn't matter whether it's your first or your 9th! Jim

The 2mm SA bearings have an internal cone angle of 75°, to suit the 65° cone on the end of the axles. Of course you have to be a member to be able to buy them. Jim

Would it not be better to print a hole into which an Association top hat bearing could be fitted? Jim