scanman

Hi & welcome! We're a pretty friendly bunch here - so expect nothing but helpful comment. However, if you have a 'how to' query, I suggest you look at the 'Modellers Questions' forum - where people are just as helpful, and the response is likely to be quicker! Happy modelling, Ian

Too busy using it for model-making??

Reminds me of the layout which had BIG signs hanging from the front fascia - "DANGER - 12,000 MILLIVOLTS" ! Not much finger-poking there....

Various contributors talk about 'industrial strength' cyanos etc. Any brands/sources?? Regs Ian

Well, I guess I answered my own question. First, my thanks to Gavin at Hobarts (https://hobarts.com) who kindly provided me with an 'A5' offcut of a yellow/black sheet of 1.6mm acrylic laminate. A couple of hours in the workshop produced this... the figures in the boxes represent power as a percentage/cutting speed in mm/sec (as usual) - only I goofed, and the '2mm/sec' should read '5mm/sec'! The cross-hatching was set to 45 degrees at 0.2mm, cross-hatched. All were done at a single pass. The sign was cut at 20%, 10mm/sec. I see potential here...! Regards Ian

The 'Emblazer' comes with Vectric Cut2D. I use 'TurboCAD' to create drawings, save them as'.eps' files then import them into CutLaser. Works for me!

Hi Folks - advice sought! Has anyone tried cutting laminated acrylic with the 'Emblazer' - ie using it to remove the outer layer to reveal a contrast layer beneath?? My son's partner wonders if I can create some internal artwork/signage for her shop. Regards Ian

Well it COULD have been a 2mmSA mug - however it is to the same scale as the model under construction... (Part of a commission - back to my own modelling after 'work' tonight). It also contains coffee - far too early in the day to consider tea. I'm only halfway through my third 'perk' load (2 or 3 more to go...)

I'm in for a poloshirt and a mug. I can do without the apron - the wifes' fit perfectly and are mainly in pristine condition...

Which reminds me - isn't it about time we had an Association mug? Or have I missed something?? Regards Ian

'Never leave a naked flame unattended'.. Mind you, if you're getting naked flames you're doin' it wrong!

Re Tony Simms - OOPS - type in haste - repent at lieisure... The photos were taken with a new macro lens - still playing... Regards Ian

Moving on to the upperworks... The instructions require the modeller to drill 0.3mm holes in the 'splashplate to take the strapping. I left this 'til later! I did however CAREFULLY drill out the buffer locations in the pre-marked positions. Next stage is to fix the end supports (whitemetal) to the baseframe (whitemetal). I actually used superglue for this - but a word of warning. The end stanchions are VERY delicate! I actually dismembered one whist cleaning it up (and I have to thank Steve Simms, the 'No2 Shopkeeper for a very speedy replacement). However, I may have a solution - see the end-note. The half-assembled base frame can now be attached to the etched running gear. The next stage is to fit the 'splash-plates' over the 'anchor straps'. I cleared the etched slot with a 0.35mm drill and the process went fairly well - then the anchorstraps have to be bent to 90 deg to lie flat on the splashplate. At this point I used the pre-exisiting hole in the anchorstrap to drill the hole in the splashplate. I very quickly learned that the torque associated with the process snapped the end of the anchorstrap! These were then soldered down with 'Carrs Solder Paste' (no connection!). The beauty of the paste is that any excess can be removed with a fibreglass brush after the process. The drawback with this method is that things like pin-vices and fibreglass pens are working very close to those delicate stanchions! Still, I got the job done, and the unit is now very nearly ready for a swim in 'nickel-black' - after visiting a certain stand at the Southampton Show tomorrow!). Now a recommendation. If I make any more of these little beauties, I will leave the end stanchions off until I've fixed the baseplate etc to the underframe. This would also allow the option of making a much firmer soldered connection. Right -just the V-hangers and brake levers to fix.... Regards Ian

Nick - I'm always loathe to do that in case it interferes with the folding process - although having aquired a 'Hold & Fold' those fears are receding! They actually wern't too difficult - I think it took about 20 minutes to do all twelve. The beauty of batch-building. Hick, hick (that works too!)

Right - the 'Air Ministry' tankers. Like the cattle wagons these are a 2mm Association kit - so you'll need to join (http://www.2mm.org.uk)! So whats in the box (or jiffy bag) As can be seen, the chassis is in etched nickel-silver (and like the cattlewagons is a masterpiece in its own right) End frames and tank detailing are in white metal, whilst the tank itself is a resin moulding. SO FAR my construction method has followed the downloadable instruction sheets (4 of them with very good explanatory sketches for the detail). Having opened up all the relevant brake rigging holes to 0.35mm (remember the cattle wagons??) a start was made on the first chassis - This shows the basic underframe where the sides and ends form a nice rigid box once bent up and soldered. However I've got three of the little 'darlings'! Even so, by the end of the evening I'd reached this point - where the underframes and brake gear is basically finished - all thats left is to add an outer 'v-hanger' and the brake lever to each side. Unlike the cattleqwagons, the brake gear is a standard 'push me-pull-you' rod type - not half as complicated as the last lot! Right, I'm off to rest my weary eyes and pop the blisters!

Ahh -just down the road from 'Odiham' then! Regards Ian

Moving on... The cattle wagon underframes are now complete - The underside view with D1529 (l) and 1530 ®. Spot the differences! Easier from the side maybe?? - So now theyre off for a wash & brush-up - a good scrub with fibreglas, followed by another with 'Barkeepers friend', then a warm soak in the ultrasonic bath. Rather than paint them, I'm going to coat them with 'Carrs' 'Nickel Black' - hopefully the effect will be less thick than paint (and perhaps less liable to rubbing off). An yes Nick, I glued the axleboxes into position! Right, on with the 'Air Ministry' tankers... Moving on... The cattle wagon underframes are now complete -

Ian Last time I was in Freshwater (many moons ago now) the signal cabin was doing duty as a bus-stop in the village? Regards Another Ian

Opening a can of worms here... I've got *about* £500-~£700 to spend on a 3D printer - so, for model-making purposes (I'm not going to be spraying chocolate or rubber!) any suggestions as to which one to go for? All advice gratefully received - and no legal implications! Regards Ian

Hi Don - Chris has checked the overall dimensions (in his word 'I wont do a chasis for a model whiich isn't right') and it looks good. The issue with the pannier chassis is that the wheelbase is wrong. If you check out Chris Higg's thread on 'A Haynes Manual...' he is in fact 'modding' the pannier chassis to make the wheelbase correct - and as the G^ and 'O2' were virtually identical body-work wise he's going to do an 'O2' chassis as well! I can take a little credit in suggesting the 'G6' mod to him...

Cheers Dave - I *think* thats how I read it!

An apology (or 2)... Firstly - sorry its been a while - what with Xmas and some personal modelling (if you're interested visit the 'micro-mouse section' at http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/113568-the-odiham-branch-a-new-project-in-2mmfs/)...Secondly - whilst I started work on this section of the commission before Xmas I've mislaid the images - so bear with me, your coming in with the work 30% done! This part revolves round the construction of two very early (1845) coaches commissioned by the LBSC. As can be seen their lineage can be directly traced back to the stagecoach! They are the product of '5 & 9 Models' ( www.5and9models.co.uk) - who created the cattle wagons seen earlier. Its fair to say that, whilst the castings are extremely fine, the instructions are about as basic as the original coaches! There's not much argument about the 'box construction' of the coach body, but items like 'locate the solebars' take no account of the fact that the only guide to their location is a faint line on the outside of the solebar indicating the level at which they should sit inside the body. I think... As can be seen, the solebars appear to fit in this assumption, as the plasticard floors - fitted inside and on top of the solebars appear to give the correct ride height for the w-iron units. Ahh - the w-iron units... The instructions cheerfully say 'remove the outer parts of the frame to make a 'V-Iron'. I'm still puzzling over that one - and there is little in the way of prototype info to solve it! Having cut the floors I then moved on to the interiors. One interior has been completed - the other shows the relevant 'bits'. It looks basic - because they were basic! No padded seats - that would be asking for trouble as these coaches had no glazing (by the way, these are 'First Class' coaches - you can tell - they've got roofs... - todays 'Southern' passengers would REALLY have something to moan about!). Both interiors complete. Note that one of the end compartments only has seats on the end bulkhead. This is the compartment directly below the guards seat (yes, he's on the roof, along with the baggage, which is why there are no luggage racks in the compartments). The instructions do advice 'painting the floors before fitting as it will be impossible afterward'. Agreed. In fact, best to paint the whole thing! Even in the latest HMRS guide (Pt 2 of 'Southern Style') information is on the near side of 'non-existent' for internal paintwork - so I went for mahogany seats (which I'm guessing were slatted) and a 'flat brown' for the bulkheads which were likely to be affected by smoke & the weather. If anyone has further information - it'll be about a week or so before the roofs go on! Until then - they are starting to look the part! Next installment will probably be the running-gear if I can resolve the issue of the 'V' or 'W' irons! TTFN Ian

Jim - I've followed your examples of masochism on the VAG! You must keep Rich Brummitt company in the 'Funny Farm' ! Regards Ian Hi Becasse - An element of 'memories' here... The first loco I had was a 'generic' GF 0-6-0 which with a stretch of imagination coudl become a 'G6'... It doesn't help that (in the main) I'm a GW person or that I bought Nick Tilstons' NBrass' kit at a show last year. I'll find some reason to runit (a 'running in' turn from Eastliegh en route back to Feltham perhaps??

A Happy New Year one and all.. Having returned from the festivities, time to crack on with the cattle wagons. The bodies wern't too much of a problem - two variants are provided, and with two underframes on the stocks, there was no argument really - The plank-ended variant - will be a 'Maunsell' to dia 1529 and The ply-end variant will be married to the 'Bulleid' dia 1530. On to the brake rodding, etc. Reach for the 0.3mm rod... Damn - a trip to Alton - where the thinnest available is 0.35mm! Back at the ranch - it's amazing how much difference 0.5mm makes. The etched holes are exactly 0.3mm, so out with the 0.35mm drill - and I find that my trusty pin vice wont close on it! It used to, and by now it was too late to go shopping! So some time was spent hand-twiddling the drill. Eventually all was ready for assembly - and its at this stage you realise just how small these models are! Anyway, two hours of cursing and burned fingers resulted in the dia 1529 underframe nearing completion - Still to be fitted is the vac cylinder (several are on order from shop 2), and the one mod I made was to remove the brace piece from the clasp-brake rodding. It doesn't show on the prototype drawing and I was a little concerned about wheel clearances etc. A side view of the completed assembly - and yes I've still got to make and fix the axleboxes. I think I'll give the burns a couple of days to recover! The work still need cleaning up - but these are rather cruel enlargements of something not much longer than the top joint of the thumb!

As the 'Old Year' approaches it's end - time for a quick update! Phase one - a length of track... The trackbed was made from2mm 'Depron Foam' - those of you who follow my blog(s) will know that I quite like this stuff, as it is easy to work with. Being a high- density urethane foam DON'T wave a soldering iron near it... It is laid by cutting lengths half the width if the track, plus 1.5mm for the 'ballast shoulder' - which is easily added with a few light strokes of fine sandpaper. Painted dark grey, left to dry then glued to the baseboard (Again, urethane foam) with a quick-drying PVA. The inner edge follows the track centre-line. When the other side is added, effectively the track-centre is transferred upward. Rails next - 'Easitrak' of course, with a couple of brass sleepers (suitably gapped) to provide dropper points. Rail ends where they cross the baseboard joint are soldered to strips of copper-clad, again suitably gapped. The track itself is temporarily held in place by track-pins passing through suitably-drill holes in the sleepers. It will all be finally fixed in place when ballasted (probably a mix of 'Cascamite' powder and Chincilla dust) What did I miss?? Painting the rail-sides before laying! Phase Two - Some rolling stock The list to be completed includes two brake vans (B&H) two cattle wagons and two 'Air Ministry' oil tank wagons (all 'Association' kits). In hindsight maybe a tadd to o much for the six days alloted (I hadn't taken into account SWIMBO -being at home, needing work to be done in the garden...) The BV's will probably take a back-seat (they're 148th anyway - must look round for something closer). At first I was going to start with the tanks, then thought 'I'll go with something simpler'... Apparently! SR Cattle Wagons Okay - I'm a GWR man, and my reference shelves reflect that. I have one book on SR Goods stock - and its the wrong one! Fortunately the internet came to the rescue, and looking at the various images available it became obvious that I had the parts for Diag 1529 & 1530. The difference is in the brake gear - D1529 has a centrally-located brake operating lever, whilst D1530 has end-operating brakes somewhat akin to the GW's 'DC' system. Two types, two kits which will make either - so make both! Dia 1530 The kits come in various sections - the body in plastic, a separate etch for the underwear, and you also need buffers, wheels, couplings and vac cylinder (all available from Shop 2) to complete. Thisis what I stared with: - And as the basic underframes are (initially) identical, it made sense to build them as a pair - (Meet my new best friend - does the bendy bits brilliantly!) On then to the different bits - the axle-box/solebar assembly for D1530. Note the assemblies are 'handed' - if you get both brake operating brackets at the same end - you've done it wrong. I didn't. For once... The other 'mod' is to remove the central 'v' hangers from the solebar/underframe. So thats where we are at the moment. Back to the room now for another hour (SWIMBO wants her hand held during 'HP & The Deathly Hallows Pt I'...) Personally I hate the little bloke - but I'm frightened he'll turn me into a slug if I say something (and that makes soldering VERY difficult!) To those of you who read this before midnight tomorrow (31/12/16) - all the very best for the coming year. To those that read it later - too late, you're stuck with it now (but best wishes any way)!