Jesse Sim

21 hours ago, jwealleans said:

Dare I ask what you do over weekends?

Panic 

3 hours ago, jwealleans said:

Young people today, always in such a hurry….

Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I poop on company time. 

Nothing like a breakfast, a quick poo and a model railway exhibition to get your heart racing. 

31 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Thanks. Perhaps 4247 is by K's then? Any detectives out there?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks Great Western to me 🤐

12 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

As promised............

 

Tony Geary's B16/1 bogie arrangement. 

 

The chassis is electrically-dead, but still some little nibbles have been needed out of the front inside edges of the cylinders.

 

 

From this angle, those nibbles are hardly visible. 

 

 

Mike Edge's bogie arrangement on the B16/2.

 

Again, the chassis is electrically-dead, and no nibbles have been necessary to the insides of the cylinders. 

 

I had to elongate the slot in the bogie stretcher so that it would negotiate 3' radius curves.

 

 

I think it's a beautifully-made loco; I know Mike did a lot more work on the motion, but it needed my fitting of a DJH motor/gearbox to quieten it down. With the original drive (straight worm/gear), it was deafening. 

 

 

My bogie arrangement on the B16/3.

 

This has a live chassis, so I had to nibble a bit more off the inside of the cylinders, then smeared the inside angle with Araldite.

 

 

The angle is just visible, but only at extremely close quarters.

 

What all the three models above have are 'scale' bogie wheels. So many kit-built ex-NER locos with bogies have 'standard' ten-spoke wheels of too large a diameter. Fitting the correct wheels (Gibson/Markits) immediately helps with clearance issues. 

 

When Jesse Sim was over last year, I gave him a part-completed scratch-built C9.............

 

 

 

He took it to this stage.

 

The bogie wheels are larger than on most ex-NER locos, so some nibbling and Araldite was necessary on this.

 

 

I got this (rather dubious, though 'professionally-built/-painted') DJH C7 to (just) go round curves by substituting the bogie wheels with the correct style/diameter and nibbling away at the inside of the cylinders, later smeared with Araldite. 

 

 

Oddly, by actually restricting bogie sideplay.............

 

 

 

It allows a loco to negotiate tight curves without the risk of fouling.

 

This SEF Schools' chassis is arranged as a 'sort-of flexible' 0-8-0 (a daft explanation, but I hope it makes the point).

 

To have the rear bogie wheels splashers present (essential!) and those front steps (even more essential), it was the only way. 

 

I hope all these help...............

 

Comments/observations, please. 

 

 

 

 

She's still here in the box, I doubt she'll get finished anytime soon. I am having trouble getting her to run, I believe the rear bogie and articulated wheels are the problem, I also made a mess of the front buffers. She's been sidelined pending some more motivation.

8 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Little Bytham no longer has a pub. 

As an alcoholic Australian I must say...

On 25/04/2024 at 05:26, Woodcock29 said:

Jesse

Did you build the DJH kit I sold you?

Andrew

No not yet, one day. 

1 hour ago, jwealleans said:

I have had a request from a young Australian reader to show how I make up loco boxes for my kit built locos.   I don't think this is terribly revolutionary, but no-one knows everything and maybe it'll be of help to someone, so here we go.   Given that my stock travels a fair bit, it's important that it's protected and not too badly shaken about in transit.  I try to have this kind of arrangement for all my exhibition stock.  RTR locos usually travel in their original boxes, unless these become damaged or unusable for some other reason.

 

 

These are tonight's subjects, K3 17 (Bachmann/Wright) and C1 3272 (scratchbuilt, Mike Shepard).   17 came to me from Tom Foster and 3272, by the good offices of Roy Mears, from Hitchin.

I buy boxes at shows from Cheltenham Model Centre if I need any, although other retailers sell similar ones.   17 has one such box which came with it from Tom.   3272 is in the box it came in, which is that from an ABS V4 kit.  These are a deeper box, so the engine can stand upright rather than lie on its side.  Coopercraft used to do this size of box in dark blue and white and I have quite a few like that.   NuCast and SEF boxes are very similar.  I'm not sure upright or prone makes much difference if the box is properly padded.

 

 

I use upholstery foam as the basic material.   1/4" or 3/8" are equally good.   I used to get it from a local upholsterer but they have since closed so I ordered this last lot online.   You can buy it by the metre and it's not expensive.  From memory this piece was 2m x 3m originally and it's lasted several years.

 

 

The Cheltenham boxes come with a foam bottom insert so I keep this.  It's easy enough to make one by this method if your box doesn't have one.

 

 

This part is as simple as drawing round the box and cutting it out.   Make each side piece long enough to do side and end so you don't have any fiddly little bits.  Put the side pieces in and use the bottom piece to hold them in place.   You can use double sided tape or tape loops to hold everything in place if you're especially tidy minded, but the idea is that the box will end up so full that nothing can really move about.

 

 

One of the problems with snugly packed locos is getting them out of the box.   I make a cradle of bubblewrap longer than the loco and wide enough to allow me to pick it up out of the box.   Now, I have heard of paintwork being marked by bubblewrap if left in contact with it for a long time, so although that has not happened to me to date, another layer is needed.   I keep the acid free tissue which kit etches come in for this purpose, or you can just use kitchen roll.   

 

 

17 snugly packed away.   I have kept the larger foam pieces which came with the box to prevent it sliding lengthways.  These are easily made from packaging or even rolled up kitchen roll or offcuts of your thin foam.   I also always keep the little desiccant packets which seem to be included in everything these days and slip one of those in.   

 

 

3272 equally snugly packed showing that it stays upright.   Again I've kept the existing packing in the lid, the larger pieces at each end and a desiccant packet  In each case just pulling up the bubblewrap at each side of the engine makes a cradle to lift it from the box and packing it away again is the reverse operation.

Fairly straight forward, i though you might have created a hole in a big piece of foam. 

4 hours ago, jwealleans said:

 

 I did ask if you were planning to bid before I did, I should point out.

Yes you did, glad it’s done to a good home. Replacing the motor was what put me off it, not because I can’t do that, but with the amount of projects on the go, I didn’t need another one. But I’m now finding myself on the hunt for another C1..

5 hours ago, jwealleans said:

Preparation for Bristol continues: another loco testing session at the weekend on part of the layout which was up for electrical maintenance.

 

I had to take a couple of pictures of this on the layout while i was there: those who read Sir's thread may have already seen it.   Expect to see more at the show.

 

 

 

Not so hot on dead frog points (only picking up off the driving wheels) but fine tearing down the main line.    Just as a C1 should be used.

 

 

 

 

 

I should have had a punt on it… seems like a cracker of a loco. 

15 hours ago, jwealleans said:

I use PB and nickel silver for pickups - both have their advantages and their place.  

 

 

I've been beavering away with loco cleaning and stock testing over the weekend and up to last night.   Checking stock for free running and obvious damage - not overly onerous but there's a lot to cover.

 

 

There was the usual round of repairs too: the cattle wagon had lost its couplings at both ends, the RTR wagon was tight on the wheelsets and needed a bearing recessing a little, the carriage didn't roll well and turned out to still have the masking tape on the wheels from when the bogie was sprayed (it's done 3 shows like that), the H & B van lost an axleguard when I was taking the wheels out to oil them and I had to glue the W iron back on again.  The GN horsebox had lost the door controller and the brake van had a cracked gearbox (which is what they call the Kadee mounting/pivoting affair).

 

 

I also had two roofs coming adrift in the Scotch Goods stock and a corridor handrail fallen off one of the carriages.   We've come back from shows with much worse.    Loco-wise I had a couple of failed solder joints on loco-tender connections but that was about all.  One of them was on a Hornby pacific, which is unusual.   I'm back up to Grahams this weekend for some more testing so we ought to be in fair shape for Bristol.

Is that that wagon wheelbase jig/tool? 
 

Does anyone know where to get one? 

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good evening Rohan,

 

The one thing I like most about old 'talkies' (other than their often 'gritty' appearance) is that I can understand every word that's said.

 

The other night, Mo and I started watching Oppenheimer and gave up because most of the dialogue was mumbled; into incoherency at times! A multi-award winner it might be, but what has happened to actors' diction? 

 

I find it everywhere in the media today (and I'm not going deaf!). Incomprehensible gibberish at times, accents so thick as to be able to be cut by a knife and spoken grammar so appalling (he's took a dive, the other day!) that an ear would have been cuffed in my teaching days! If this is what 'inclusivity' in the media means, I'm glad I'm old!

 

Apologies for the rant.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Tony we don’t watch films anymore, we read the subtitles and watch half the movie. 

28 minutes ago, Barry Ten said:

 

Nice vid, Jesse (and Foo Fighters of course). Some friends of mine were at Thirlmere on Easter Monday.

I thought some of my other taste in music my scare some viewers.

8 hours ago, Woodcock29 said:

 

 

Andrew (currently in Doha on my way to the UK!)

I’ll get my shopping list emailed to you. 

Well, as I said, I’ve never seen 4903 modelled. I didn’t say a 4903 never existed  😉

13 minutes ago, jwealleans said:

Impressive sausagery.

I knew you’d like my sausage 

1 hour ago, Chuffer Davies said:

The only models that are unsuitable (without significant modification at least) to convert to DCC are locos where one or both of the motor’s brushes are earthed directly to the chassis.  The models I know to have such motors are the Hornby Dublo, Triang Rovex, K’s and Mainline split frame locos.  Any motor where the terminals are (or can be) isolated from the frames can be operated under DCC so I would expect the O4/3 to be suitable.

Frank

I know most motors can be DCC’d, but I was hoping for a quick turn around on the model to get it straight into traffic. Lazy? Perhaps…

On 03/04/2024 at 07:04, Tony Wright said:

What a fantastic event the York Show was over the Easter weekend. Brilliant, one of the best in the calendar. May I please thank the organisers, all the exhibitors, all those with whom I spoke and, most especially, those who donated to CRUK, either because of my fixing their models, direct donations or material donations? Mo and I made over £260.00 for the charity (who suggested Yorkshire folk were parsimonious? Whoever it was, they're dead wrong!).

 

Speaking of Mo...........

 

 

Here she is behind my display, checking all the monies (without her diligence, everything would be a muddle - as is always the case when she's not with me). My most-grateful thanks.

 

I had little chance to photograph anything...........

 

 

Though Andy Ross' incredible workshop in 7mm was a must.

 

 

Bob Dawson always has something new to show, and this year it was this OO9 micro layout.

 

His grandson, Scott Waterfield.............

 

 

Showed how a magazine cover free hut could be made into a lovely model. 

 

I put some of Peter Lawson's locos up for sale.........

 

 

This Gibson 'Austin Seven' sold, though for no more than the current price of the kit. 

 

 

This Little Engines O4/3, however, didn't.

 

 

Neither did this DJH Crab. Since Peter used prototype references, I must conclude that someone had cleaned the '3' on the cabside. 

 

I'll be putting pictures on here soon of many more of his locos I'm trying to sell. 

 

All run beautifully. 

 

 

Tony is the O4/3 suitable for DCC? I’ve been on the hunt for an O4 that could pull one of my heavy trains…

On 24/03/2024 at 02:06, gr.king said:

That gives you ages to scratch build the locos, ready for them...

How quick do you think I work? 🤣

On 22/03/2024 at 21:12, gr.king said:

 

Balance the books by scratch building some locos to go with a chimney and some lamps, if you ever get those.

I should have them Wednesday week, that’s when my mate gets here after travelling via Melbourne and NZ for a few weeks. 

On 18/02/2024 at 21:13, jwealleans said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nothing worse when you send a friend some bogies and he scratchbuilds the wagon better than yours 🥲