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Dave John

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Blog Entries posted by Dave John

  1. Dave John

    Some signal box parts.

    By Dave John,

    I have been making some more of the parts for the signal box. My idea is to generate a set of pre-painted assemblies which all sort of go together neatly at the end. Best laid plans….
     
     
    So a snapshot of the main structure. Lower walls will be brick on this one. The 4 bits in the soffit are steel.
     

     
    Those steel bits are there to catch the magnets in the roof section. The open rectangle they are on allows a bit of down flex at the corners .
     

     
    Roof clicks neatly into position like so. Clicks off easily so can be painted separately.
     

     
     
     
    The lighting module uses a pair of warm white LED chips. Thing is all those windows make the insides a bit visible, so I don’t want wires to be seen.
     

     
     
    A bit of head scratching later. Make the lighting module so that it fits down inside the chimney breast. It can go in after all the interior detail is fitted, the roof can be removed without disturbing it. I will put a pair of spring contacts on the bottom of the pcb so it just slides into place.
     

     
     
    Lastly, a few bits prepared and ready. Interior bits are a nice etch by Severn Models.
     

     
    Just a few snapshots in bad light really, but helps keep me on track. 
     
  2. Dave John

    Starting a signal box.

    By Dave John,


    General
    The signal box on Kelvinbank consists of a photo of Boness box stuck to a light bulb box. Ok, its the right style and size, but time to make something a bit more accurate.
     
    So the silhouette has been busy. The windows are all done as a single layer, the frames both sides laminated onto that. Cutting all those soffit brackets took a while, but I’d never manage it by hand. This is the second attempt, I got my dimensions wrong on the go.
     
     

     
    Some brickwork for the lower sides next.
     
  3. Dave John

    CR 29 class in service and shunting.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Well there we are, No. 203 in service. It looks all right from a distance, but harsh close ups show my lining inabilities. I did try some of the 2 part Fox transfers where you overlay black on a red/white line, but I just couldn’t get them to look right. The CR red/black/white was subtle with fine lines, hopefully one day a transfer maker will take pity on us.
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
    Then again what matters is how it runs. These engines were built for trip and shunting work, so a bit of video showing 203 doing just that.
     
     
     
     
    I’m quite pleased with that. It will never win races with a 90-1 reduction, but it has considerable tractive effort and is very smooth, all previous pickup problems eliminated. The acid test is pushing a full train backwards through pointwork buffer to buffer and it passes that easily.
     
     
     
  4. Dave John
    Many years ago I made a CR 782 class from the SE finecast kit. There are some pictures of in in service in some earlier blog posts. The basic whitemetal body was fine, pretty accurate and it went together well. It was getting to look very tired, needed a repaint and some details were the worse for knocks and being stuck back badly.
     
    I was never entirely happy with the chassis. Centre axle drive, semi rigid with slightly rocking outer axles. Never picked up really well, too highly geared and the motor filled the cab. Hmm.
     
    However the most obvious fault is that it is the wrong loco.
     
    A bit of history. The 9 members of the 29 class date from 1895 and were fitted with condensing apparatus for working the Glasgow central lines. The same basic design was used for the later 120 members of the 782 class built between 1898 and 1913. So for where I’m based the 29 class is a bit more appropriate.
     
    Right, it was 782 class No. 245 and now its going to be 29 class No. 203.
     
    Chassis built up. AGW frames and wheels re used. Rear axle driven from a high level gearbox and extender with a mitsumi motor. Compensated with high level hornblocks which I thought were a very clever fold up design. Having a silhouette makes cutting balance weights a doddle.
     

     

     
     
    The body ready for quite a lot of filling and a spot of primer. Backdating to a 29 class mainly involves extra pipework, a westinghouse pump, air tanks and different footsteps.
     
     

     
    Paint shop next.
  5. Dave John
    Fair enough, I know its a bit of a model railway cliche but the only place I could put the bus to get a picture was on the bridge.
     
    So there we are, more of a minibus than a full sized one. By the Edwardian era trams were very much the commonest public transport but I have seen pictures of this sort of small bus in the area. I think they were effectively used as a family sized taxi with seating for about six people at a push. It is based on a Scale Link etch, the figures are Andy Stadden though the driver has been Mikkelised with new arms.
     

     
     

     
     

     
     
     
    A loco rebuild next inline on the bench.
  6. Dave John

    Some shots in the dark.

    By Dave John,


    General
    It was gloomy yesterday so I turned the layout lights on and tried running a few trains in the dark. Daft, but oddly fun.
     
    Anyway, a few random pics of variable quality. The station in general, I need to lightproof the roof more next time it is off.
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    This is a lucky pic. I cant really see the from of the station building so its just done by point the camera at the mirror on the end of the layout and hoping. The resultant image is then reversed in preview.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
    Through a window. Atmospheric, a bit.... 
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
  7. Dave John

    Another go at a sheeted wagon

    By Dave John,


    General
    Another go at a sheeted wagon. Fair criticism of the way my early attempts at roping sheets down led me to consider a more realistic way of doing things.
     
    Looks a bit better in terms of roping, but I think I could improve the sit of the sheet itself.
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    The starting point is a CR D15 dropside whitemetal kit from 51L. This is made up in my normal fashion. However in order to tie the ropes down I needed to fit cleats to the solebar right in the corner where it meets the bottom edge of the curb rail. A bit of study suggested that these were a basic hook on the D15, some wagons had a T shaped fitment.  As far as I can tell there were 4 on the sides and 2 on the ends.
     
    I drilled through at about 45 deg , 0.3 mm. Brass wire was inserted through these holes and superglued from the floor side. I say brass, but I’m not sure what it actually is. You know those fizzy wines where you get a net of brassy looking wire round the cork, well its that stuff. Much softer and easier to bend than brass rod, almost like 5 A fuse wire.
     
     

     
     
    The sheet is I think an old exactoscale one. Basically wet it with water and  a tiny spot of pva, mould it round the wagon and foam load. When dry ease it off. Ropes of elastic EZline superglued on to form loops. Thats a fiddly job…..
     
     

     
     
     
    Well, hmm. It does look better than bits of cotton tied round the whole thing. I am still thinking about a way of reinforcing the lower sheet edge and having the rope pass through holes ( doubt I could manage a scale eyelet ) Given the prevalence of sheeted wagons in trains it is something I want to keep nibbling away at, but thats for next time.
  8. Dave John

    A simple scotch derrick.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Right, back to some modelling. I have said painting is not my forte, add full size painting to that too. Anyway, a scotch derrick. I made this a long time ago for the previous layout, but I haven’t got round to fitting it since its a bit vulnerable as it is towards the front of the layout.
     
    Scotch derricks are a simple crane, they were used in large numbers throughout the railways and industry in general. Drawings of the size preferred by the CR were published in “The true line “ and mine is scaled closely to those. It’s a basic model, the wood bits are mahogany, the iron bits are brass. The gears are from all sorts of stuff, anything with likely usable bits never gets thrown away without salvaging the gubbins.
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
    Well that looks ok to me. But, why not make it all work. Er, a controller …..
     
     

     
     
     
    A bit of video of it in action.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    I have rebuilt the top end which had gummed up over the years, the drive system needed tidying up, but I’m fairly happy with that. Somewhere I have some lacing cord to replace that hairy cotton. The ball on the hook is a bit overscale too, but anything smaller lacks the mass to make the hook go down.
     
  9. Dave John

    A gap filled in.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Scenic work is not something I am very good at, but there we are a gap filled. I wanted it to look like one of the old estates that got enveloped by the progress of Glasgow to the west but has yet to be developed. The  result is some lengths of very old boundary wall in some odd locations if you dig about in the area.
     
    Anyway, it fills a gap.
     
     

     
     
     
     
    If you are going to have a gate, you might as well have a working one.
     
     
     

     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    Modelling time will be a bit restricted for the next few weeks, house decoration is needed. I’ll be overcome with emulsion, as they say.
  10. Dave John

    A useful timer.

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have had a couple of weeks sorting out a few problems on the layout. I have had some difficulty with the long crossover to the storage sidings which had decided to get themselves out of gauge a bit. Add to that a couple of other electrical problems and all in all it has taken a while to fix.
     
    Of course getting it all sorted meant running a few trains to test it all. Which led me to improve the traverser control panel a bit. I haven’t really mentioned the traverser much, its not the most elegant of things and in some ways it is a compromise to make the space useable. The six tracks on it are automatically switched to the up and down cabs when the traverser is aligned and locked. For the purposes of running round and forming trains there was a local cab switched in from the control panel. Thing is, having prepared a train I would go back to the railway room, pick up the respective cab controller and then look bemused when nothing happened.
     
    Yep, I was always forgetting to switch back from the traverser cab to the main cabs.
     
    So I replaced the switch with a simple timer. Press the button gives traverser cab control. 5 leds light and go out one by one as it counts down over about a minute. if you want more time press the button and it returns to the start of the countdown.
     
     
    A couple of pics
     
     

     
     

     
     
    The circuit diagram.
     
     
     

     
     
    Might be useful for other things, feel free to play about with the idea.
     
     
  11. Dave John

    Operating the Caledonian

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have been reading “Operating the Caledonian Railway”, volume one, by Jim Summers. It is an excellent book, explaining many of the technical, economic and social reasons that led the railway to operate in the way that it did, and I have learned a lot from it.
     
    Let me give you an example. Here is a picture of a goods train passing through Kelvinbank. It might be argued that it is a bit on the short side and that there should be a few more sheeted opens, but generally the stock and the layout are all in period and modelled to a reasonable degree of accuracy.
     
     
     

     
     
    But let’s have a closer look at the rear of the train.
     
     

     
    You see that is completely wrong. CR brake vans did not have duckets and so it was considered bad practice to marshal a van or similar high vehicle close the the brake, thus obscuring the view forward for the guard. Indeed written instructions to the effect that a few lower vehicles should be in front of the brake were issued.
     
    Now thats a lot better.
     

     
     
    Just looking at the train as a whole it makes obvious sense once you see it.
     
     

     
     
     

     
    I am slowly looking at timetables and the actual makeup of trains. I want to present as far as possible an accurate working picture of the Caledonian. Limitations of modelling mean that in some ways I will never get it totally right but I would like to move towards a working schedule in which the vast majority of the trains run are close to how they would have actually been.
     
    As I said I have learned a lot about how things should be done (and how they should not be done) from Jims book. Volume two should be illuminating.
     
     
  12. Dave John

    Cleaning and a wagon.

    By Dave John,


    General
    Time for spring cleaning so I have given the railway room a good  going over this week. Dust accumulates and I’d rather be making stuff but if I don’t keep on top of it I will have twice as much to do as all the stock fills up with fluff. Not to mention all the points, signal and things that just seem to jam up if you don’t.
     
    However essential cleaning is it cannot be described as photographically interesting.
     
    This is a LNWR D 466 open carriage truck made from the 51L etched brass kit. Would it have run on CR metals ? Possibly, taking a carriage  to the shooting estates of the rich perhaps. Who knows what is under that sheet.
     
    So here it is, tidied up and fitted with magnetic ajs.
     
     
     

     

     
  13. Dave John

    Filling in a gap

    By Dave John,


    General
    Mikkel asked what was between the main part of the layout and the Viaduct sections. The simple answer is a gap. The boards need to move towards the window wall to give them enough room to swing round into the room to be worked on, so they stop short of the window wall by a foot or so.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
    I always had a vague idea that I would build a lightweight scenic extension to take the eye round towards the window. Well, I have finally got round to it. Its mainly made out of foamboard with the curved part from two layers of 1 mm card . The whole thing sits on a small strap on the main board and holds on with a couple of magnets. Weight is only a couple of pounds so it is easy to handle.
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
     
     
    Scenically I think it will be heavily overgrown, a remnant of one of the many old estates to be found along the banks of the Kelvin before the expansion of the city in the nineteenth century. Must try and get rid of those bubbles in the sky as well.
  14. Dave John

    A Caledonian ROD 2-8-0 part 2.

    By Dave John,


    General
    All things considered the modifications to the body were straightforward. It all comes apart easily and the plastic seems to work well. The list of things which need to be altered to make a Caledonian version are as follows;
     
    Replace buffers with continental style ones. ( these are from shapeways)
    Fit westinghouse pump, smokebox rhs.
    Remove safety valve cover, fit ross pop valves.
    Square off and slightly reduce chimney height.
    Reposition and fit single whistle.
    Remove boiler topfeed and pipework.
    Remove smokebox door handle, fit handwheel type
    Remove smokebox door number plate.
    Fit plate type smokebox hinge.
    Add lamp irons to cabside and tender rear top.
    Add safety chains to bufferbeams.
    Add header discharge valve, smokebox lhs.
    Add air brake reservoirs under rear footplate.
    Add brake pipes.
    Add 3 number plates. Cabsides and tender rear.
    Add NBL build plate. (I have some, can’t find them atm)
    There should also be a piston rod cover on the front of the cylinders, but since it would foul the front wheels I left it off. Jacks are another issue, some of the CR engines seem to have had them, others didn’t so mine hasn’t.
     
    One thing that the rtr manufacturers seem to do very well these days is backhead details. I wish they would sell all the bits as a separate pack for use in other models.
     
    Anyway, a simple paint job followed by a bit of a light weathering to bring out some of the detail. I need to wotk the weathering in a bit when the light is better.
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     

     
     
     
    So how does it run? Well the honest answer is acceptably but not wonderfully smooth. It rides hard over some pointwork and the flanges hit the inner tops of the chairs in some places. The fact that I had to limit the sideplay of the front drivers so tightly means that it fishtails a bit on curves. That said it hauls 25 wagons happily and gets round most of the layout without falling off.  I am not going to try to turn the wheels down, they are diecast from something a bit soft and I doubt I could do a good job of it.
     
    If this was going to be a mainstay of my loco fleet I would get frames and a full wheel set from agw and build a compensated chassis, I still have the option to do so if I feel I want to run more post war stock.  However the point of the exercise was to see what I could do with a 50 quid bargain and I’m happy with the result for the amount I have spent.
     
  15. Dave John

    A Caledonian ROD 2-8-0

    By Dave John,


    General
    Following WW1 the Caledonian, like many other railways, were short of locomotives. They therefore hired 53 surplus Robinson ROD 2-8-0 s from the large pool available locally at NBL . They ran 1919 to 1921. A comprehensive thread is available on the CRA forums
     
    Really it is a decade out of my time period, but Hattons were selling them at low prices so I bought one ( BR, ex GWR version ) just to see what I could do with it.
     
    First off loco chassis. I could buy all the stuff and make a proper EM version, but lets see what I could do with the Bachmann one. On examination the axles are 3mm with splined ends reduced to 2mm. These go into a plastic bush press fitted into a cast wheel.
     
     

     
    I dug about and found some perspex rod just over 3mm.  Cut 4 bits , in the lathe, drill 2mm and superglue to the original axle  at one end . When set put the axle back in the lathe and finish the perspex to the axle diameter.
     

     
     
    There followed a session of assembly adjustment and messing about. I made spacers so the front drivers have no sideplay. Even so the slide bars needed a bit of tweaking for the crossheads to clear the crankpins. The thing ran like a lemon first time, a fault traced to the second axle bearing being low. Well, when I say bearing I just mean the square slot in the chassis casting where it sits being low, so stripped down again and a bit of filing. It took a whole evening but eventually I got it running well enough. The bare chassis running round the layout and not derailing though riding a bit roughly through some pointwork. I could turn down all the flanges a bit but I’ll leave it for now.
     
     
     
    You would think that the tender would now be a simple job. Er, nope.
     
    The wheels have the same plastic bush and press onto 3mm axles with 2mm ends. These are a snap fit into the tender frames. Not going to go in if they are set for EM.
     

     
    Second problem, the outer faces of the wheels foul those internal “splashers”. Ok, chop those out.
     

     
    Well, I don’t like axles running in plastic anyway. So I might just as well make a proper tender chassis and bolt it on.
     
     

     
     
    It has the added bonus that I can make a set of pickups while I’m at it.
     

     
     
    Body next .
     

  16. Dave John
    Well, it has taken a while but there it is. Number 729 is running and in service. As I have said I find painting and lining difficult but it does look reasonable from normal viewing distances. I am pleased with the way it runs, smooth and with quite sufficient tractive effort for my needs. Watching it in motion I think that the closed doors do make a difference, if I make another tender engine I will repeat that bit.
     
    Anyway a few pictures .
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     

    A bit of video, rough but best I can manage.
     
     
     
     
    Hello to everyone I met at the SECC  on Friday, interesting exhibition.
     
     
     
  17. Dave John

    A motley crew....

    By Dave John,

    I have been slowly painting and lining the D1. It must be said painting and lining is something I have never been good at. I know how to do it but I just don’t seem to have the artistic flair for it. More than half an hour and my eyesight and hands become two entities with wills of their own, so it might be a while longer while I do the D1 bit by bit.
     
    Mind you, I have no shortage of crew ready to drive it. Figures by Andy Stadden, The close up pic shows me where I need to just correct the paintwork a bit.
     
     

     
     
  18. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 6

    By Dave John,


    General
    I made up most of the tender body and then spent a while getting things level. Set the buffer heights and shim the compensation beams so the footplates are lined through. Then place the loco and tender on the tightest curve I have ( about 48 inch radius ) and that gives me the minimum length for the tender - loco drawbar. The Caley coaches tender kit includes these, but the size I needed was between the two. Easily adjusted. I put the whole thing together and ran it up and down for a while. Tender needs a bit of weight but apart from that smooth.

    It is always satisfying to see what is essentially a scratchbuild run well. But something was niggling at me. The overall look was right, but somehow the line of things was broken. I went back and looked at photos of the real thing.

    It dawned on me. Cab doors. The Caley liked cab doors hinged on the tender side plates and opening out. In the shut position they covered the lower half of the cab handrail. They shut them. Looking at pictures of engines out on the mainline they are well and truly shut. Well, they would be. The ballast is a long way down and going past rather quickly. Doors are a good idea.

    Ok, I then wondered how everyone else had tacked the issue. I searched, I looked, I went away. You see cab doors on tender locos are one of the modelling worlds little secrets. We ignore them, particularly in the smaller scales. I am as guilty of this as the rest, I have built tender engines and quietly ignored the gap. In rtr terms the gap is often the size of the grand canyon to get the thing round train set curves but even in more accurate layouts they seem to be quietly ignored. The problem is simple, models go round tighter curves than real trains so the door would either be too big of too small. Even with my 48” curves the door would have to shrink and expand by 3mm ish.

    Time for a bit of a think. I ran the D1 and its tender up and down a while and had a tidy up of the bench. A thought struck me, the doors don’t have to shrink and expand, they just have to appear to shrink and expand from a normal viewing distance. Sliding doors in effect.

    I dug out some fine brass tube, 0.8 mm od, 0.4 id. 4 sections about 20 mm long were inserted into the tender as parallel to the body as I could make them. Ok, the top two intrude into the coal space, but thats where the coal will be.



    Next I made up some doors, 10 thou brass with 10 thou spring steel wire as the runners.



    These slid into the brass tubes like so. The hooks at the front go round the lower part of the cab handrails.



    So with the tender and loco together at the biggest angle between them you get this sort of telescopic action.
     
     

     

    The proof of the pudding is in the watching…..
     
     
     

    I’m actually quite pleased with that. It’s probably been done before, so I wouldn’t claim to be original. Just a first for me.

    Paintshop next. Might take a while.
  19. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 5

    By Dave John,


    General
    I have got on fairly well with some free time over new year. The last difficult bit of the body was getting the roof soldered on neatly and adding the cab handrails. The spectacles were giving me a bit of grief, and awkward thing to form in brass. So I stopped and thought about it. 10 minutes later I had enough to do a fleet of engines thanks to the silhouette. The dome and chimney from the DJH kit fettled up reasonably, safety valve and whistle are from Caley coaches.



     


    So next step chassis. Calculate the shims needed, carefully clean and paint the frames first. Rear wheels and gearbox in without problems and nicely square. I sometimes find quartering problematic but this one required very little adjustment. The backscratcher pickups are from my bits box of very small springy contacts taken from old electronics. they actually are double contacts but are only the width of the rear of the flange.



     
     

    So, put it under the body and stick it on the track. This is where you normally find the coupling rods foul at the top of their travel, but lo, it ran. This is a dry run, not even oiled it yet. A bit grainy wthj me just holding the camera, but it gives the general idea.
     

    Most of the tender is done too, getting there .
     
  20. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 4

    By Dave John,


    General
    Getting the boiler and footplate fitted together was a time consuming task. Try, file a bit, try again, file a bit more. When in place I could make the spectacle plate and get the whole thing looking a bit like a D1.

    So here it is actually sitting on the track. Also seems to pass the push along through points and curves without the wheels fouling the body test. In theory that means the Gibson wheels will be fine.


     

    From the rear with the motor and gearbox in for a trial fit. There is room for some weight above and to the sides of the motor which I think will be needed. The centre of gravity is ahead of the leading driver due to the boiler and it wants to come back to between the drivers.



    Ok, this is the backhead from the kit, together with the wheel and worm drive cover. Hmm.



    A bit of help from the silhouette produced a styrene laminated one which is pretty close to the drawing and can be detailed reasonably easily. Also it can go in after the rest is painted.
     


    Since I have slimmed the width down to about scale size the DJH roof is now too big. It is too thick as well, so I thought it was simpler just to solder one up from bits of brass.


     

    Should be a fair bit of free time next week so things should get progressed at a better rate. Happy new year to all and I hope your modelling goes well in 2019.
  21. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 3

    By Dave John,


    General
    Boiler next. Hmm. I had a look at the DJH one and decided to give it a bash. Well, quite a few bashes. Removed the alignment tags which didn’t align, got it in a jig of scrap wood bits and whacked a lot of lowmelt solder at the gaps. I then filled all the bits that needed filling with lowmelt and attacked the whole thing with a variety of knives, sanders and files.

    Most of the “detail” on the castings was overscale and I would have removed it anyway. So after a fair amount of work I now have a decent starting point. The whole thing has been given coats of gap filling primer between sanding down sessions, the stuff does seem to fill scratch marks and makes it far easier to see where further work is needed.

    It is the first time I have used the gap filling primer. So thanks Corbs, I saw the way you used it to fill and highlight areas for rework and borrowed the idea.

    A bit of an out of focus pic , but you get the idea.
     



    Oh , and I painted some wheels…
     


     

    Now the fun of getting the boiler and footplate fitted together.
  22. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 2

    By Dave John,


    General
    Having got a rolling chassis I turned my attention to the footplate. The one from the kit was unusable so a brass plate cut out and the valance added.

    Next part, splashers. The DJH Dunalastair 1 is a kit for OO. With EM you need about 23 mm to clear the wheel fronts, the cast wm ones were much too thick to be any use. That also made the cab too wide. I rather think that the kit was always a bit too wide, in EM it was going to be far too wide. There was no way the outer splashers would clear the coupling rods either. Out with the brass sheet again.

    It’s a casting. Sort of ….



    Anyway, Progress to date. Needs some cleaning up but its the right size and square.




     

    While I was at it I had a look at the tender. Hmm, not my kind of chassis, and the amount of fettleing it would need to make it the right width was silly. I looked at the parts I would need, added it all up and just decided to buy a tender kit from caley coaches. Ok, it will need a bit of adjustment for a Dunalastair 1 but far less work than the original.

    Hmm, that looks more like it.


     

    Boiler next, lets see….
  23. Dave John

    A Dunalastair 1 part 1

    By Dave John,

    A very long time ago I bought a second hand Dunalastair 1 DJH kit . Well, it was 18 quid a go complete with a set of Jackson/Romford wheels and an XO4 motor? Plus some other bits. There was even a spare tender in there which ended up behind 583.

    So why had someone sold it? Well to put it politely the castings were horrible. Looked like they just hadn’t got the whitemetal hot enough and it set while flowing. The footplate was junk, the edges and lip were all over the shop. The boiler was laughable. The tender parts looked like the halves of the mould were a mil apart. You could cast a battleship with the flash.

    But its a DJH kit , why not flog it for silly cash on flea bay? Well, nope, no way would I inflict that on a fellow modeller. Just not on. So over the years I have accumulated a few parts and thrown them in the box.

    Now you are all going to point out that very good kits are available for other Dunalastairs, two to four. There are, but sometimes you just have to stretch your modelling legs and actually file some metal. So stuff it, I’m building a Dunalastair 1. On the plus side I have a lot of info; drawings, pics, descriptions.
    Let’s see how it goes.

    At least I’ll have a box to keep it in.



    Ok, a chassis, some the Romford/Jackson wheels on for now. Gibsons are being painted. I started with a set of Gibson profile milled frames and went on from there.




     

    The compensated front bogie uses copperclad as the spacer, the pattern cut in the bottom would let me fit pickups later.



    High level gearbox, straightforward build, runs nicely.


     

    Well, it’s a start.
  24. Dave John

    A backscene in place

    By Dave John,


    General
    Well there we are, a backscene in place. I’m not completely happy with it but it is just pictures stuck to cardboard and I can look to improvements over time. Taking a break from it and thinking about it while standing back from it all and running some trains is more likely to inspire me to better things than flogging on with it at the moment.

    The mirror across the end does give a feeling of depth. Again I think I’ll leave it there for now, if it begins to look wrong I could try and generate some backscene for the end. It is just clipped in place, easily removed.

    Posts and so on are actually straighter and leveller than they look in the pics, the camera has done its distortion thing a bit.










     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    Anyway with the long nights upon us I think I fancy sitting down and doing some stuff at the workbench.
  25. Dave John

    tasks that grow...

    By Dave John,


    General
    This started with me trying to do a backscene. Well, I almost have but it has led to other things. To get the backscene onto the backing boards I have to divide and move the layout about to get at them. Not all that difficult since it was designed to be moveable. While it’s out I might as well pave the street between the station wall and the backscene since its much easier to do from the rear of the layout. Oh, and sort out various bits, add the fixings for the station platform and stair.

    Of course if I’m putting the steel screws in the platform to meet the magnets in the station building I might as well drill through for the lighting feeds. Hmm, since I have the drill set up I could also drill through for lamp posts. Might as well install them while I’m at it. I could just wire them all up as well……..

    See what I mean, tasks that grow.

    Anyway, some badly focussed snapshots .

    A cobbled street ;



    Some Screws in a platform ;



    A railway room that the Caledonian pup has to thread her way to the comfort zone.



    The pup really is fed up with being scared of fireworks. So am I. I know it’s a railway site and I’m probably going to get shouted at, but there is an official petition to ban firework sales to the general public. Easy to find.
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