VRBroadgauge

At the recent Australian Supermeet I was surprised to receive a lathe (!) on a long term loan (Mikey said the if he out lives me he’d like it back). Challenge accepted. I’d always intended to have turned funnels and domes on my locomotive fleet. I may now even have a crack at splashers and air pumps ala Tim Watson. Thanks Mike. Our 2mm family is all kinds of awesome.

I've been regauging Association wheelsets from 9.42 to 10.5mm gauge. I just made up a jig out of styrene (plasticard) and moved the wheels accordingly after some careful measurements. I've had excellent results. Is this what you're referring to?

A holiday at the coast. I managed to sneak a box of 2mm M wagons into the back of the car. I soldered one chassis (10’6”) together but because I forgot to pack the hold and fold I wasn’t entirely happy with the result. I’ve spent my time preparing about 20 chassis broaching out the many holes and cleaning out the appropriate slots. The etches are my own work as you can see in the photos. 2mm Finescale 10.5mm broad gauge VR prototype

The 2024 2mm Supermeet is done and dusted. The attached photos of Wansbeck Road don’t do it justice. If you get a chance to see it at an exhibition make sure you have a good look. Superb modelling by Mick Simpson. Great foresight by Kev and Dave to save it from a bonfire and preserve it. It’s a bit cheeky to pose my VR rolling stock on it but that’s how we roll in oz. A big thanks to Phil Badger for hosting and to Steve Curry for his talk and display of his scratch built (N scale) locomotives. See you all next year - hopefully in Yackandandah.

Little has happened in the 2mm world (moved house, sold a house, building a house c/w modeling room for impending Cudgewa). I managed to get a couple of 3DP bodies (U van and UB van) epoxied in place. Still a big fan of my tri-axled stock.

I'm enjoying the photos of your layout Jerry. I'm loving those big sweeping curves and how they open the space up. Too many layouts have tangent track and parallel baseboard sides. I'm hoping to capture some of this on Cudgewa sometime soon. I won't be getting a whole lot of modelling done this year due to building a new house and living in a rented house. Looking at your build gives me some inspiration to get stuck into mine when I'm able to.

Would those be the rods that I did for Laurie? I'm glad they worked out OK. @Sithlord75

Cause it aint. If you look in the background you'll see the diseasel's chassis which is an Association class 11 kit... The T class (Beyer Peacock 1874) is quite a bit shorter than the English Electric beastie. I didn't think about what was in the background when I took the pic. You were'nt the first to point this out Jim. I should've put the my agricultural body on it. :)

Finally sorted out the worm for the VR T class 0-6-0. After the initial problems with the bore of the worm being too large for the 1.5mm shaft, I sourced a 1/16 piece of material and cut a new one The worm had to be slightly broached out to accept said shaft as did the bearings in the gearbox. I popped out one of the bearings during this process and soldered it back in - backwards. It turns out that this was a happy accident. The worm is a much better fit in this configuration and I don’t need to install the agricultural washers that I made. My mathematics are still working. The motor lines up with the shaft and the tender with the loco. 2mm finescale 10.5mm broad gauge VR prototype .

I'm using 0.3mm NS for my models. Having used both 0.25mm and 0.3mm I find the thicker material a bit more rigid where it needs to be. Having said that I have a model on my drawing board that combines 0.3mm and 0.2mm (a sheep wagon with nearly transparent sides). Also 0.3mm is easier mathematically when you're designing etches.

Because I can’t do much heavy duty modeling in the next twelve or so months (moving house, selling a house, building a house), I can do some extended planning. The great John Allen of Gorre & Daphetid fame was an incredible planner. He never made a move without sorting it out well in advance. He made models of his models prior to construction and referred to them often during. Exhibit A of Cudgewa. I’ve designed the bench work and backdrop to suit. I’m confident most problems can be worked out before I start cutting timber.

2024 is a big year for Cudgewa. The start of the build. There’s quite a few planets that have to line up but I’m quietly confident. This post is probably a bit silly but excitement trumps reason. A package arrived yesterday from the Association. Contained within was enough rail and about a third of the sleepers required to lay my main line. My design is point to point so I’ll be starting at the fiddle yard and progressing to the buffer stops at Cudgewa. The plan is to do the main line first and then come back and fill in the gaps. The pic below shows 75 metres (240 odd feet) of track (need more sleepers). I haven’t been this excited about modelling since I learned to etch.

Hand laid track (particularly finescale track) trumps commercial track in both appearance and performance. Code 40 rail whilst technically not to scale in most applications is a city block better than Code 55. I’m no Laurie Adams or Mick Simpson when it comes to laying track but I’d back mine against any commercial version.

A present from my brother (who will become invested in the layout build). Aged new signage. One for the layout door and one for the front gate.

Merry Christmas Jerry. Have a great 2024.

Why have I put up a pretty picture of some cow paddock? This is the future home of my long anticipated 2mm Finescale layout of Cudgewa. We’ve taken possession of 5 acres of land at Yackandandah. We’re hopeful that we will be in our new residence and super shed by this time next year. I have planned a 12m x 7m layout room with attached workshop and guest room. A long time dream will be realised.

I'm doing a similar thing with a VR locomotive I'm designing. I've put a 0.4mm half etch across the centre line of the etches where they need to be seperated. I'll cut these with a razor saw. I like the idea of making the chassis rails integral and then separating them after the spacers have been installed.

That view up the platform is gold Tim. I think people would appreciate it as they would identify with it. Just like catching a train!

West Wyalong is my neck of the woods Tim. We're about two hours south just over the Victorian border at Wodonga (soon to be Yackandandah). If you're ever down here yell out and I'll put the kettle on.

There seems to be a liking amongst my British brethren for horse boxes. I’ve done a number of etches for various British railway companies. This little beastie is a Victorian Railways F wagon (5’3” gauge). The Cudgewa branch of which I’m modelling used these on a regular basis. There was a station at Wabba (Wob-ba) that was never built. It had an earth platform adjacent to the main (no siding) where trains would pull up and discharge horses. The F wagon could carry 6 horses and a crew in the middle compartment. These wagons had clestory windows for some reason. This model is of the original 1925 version. There is a bogie version that carried 12 horses which I may or may not do. The positioning dowels worked a treat. Once more, my mathematics passed the test.

12BA work fine. All my bogie stock use them.

I believe it was code 30 bar. That shouldn't be impossible to find.

I've nearly completed a scratchbuilt 0-6-0 that I designed an etch for. If I can do it - anyone can. I've received plenty of help and encouragement from Association members along this path. I'd find a kit out of the Association shop and do that first. You can always modify said kit to suit which is half the fun. For me it's more about doing something and learning from it. There's lots to read and videos to watch but actually doing it is way more useful.

Do tell... Cutaways so that you get to model the inside of the tunnels?

We're a bit alike Jerry. I married a kit drummer. We had a nine piece band (complete with horn section) for a while. My brother was a semi-pro jazz musician. Something about musicians and trains....