Haggerleases

I shall give it a go.

I'm trying to justify the £40 I spent on the jig, as a beginner, thinking it was the right way to go. I will of course try all methods, and I'm very grateful for the advice. It's very helpful.

I sort of get that, but when you put the rail in the jig to file the correct angle, aren't you filing all that mostly away anyway?

Hi all. Had a bit of a faff last night using this device. I would have posted on the EMGS forum but it seems pretty dead. Basically I am constructing a crossing V for a 1:5 turnout. Point rail. The EMGS manual has an error where it says, 'File a piece of rail as far as the centre of the web as shown i Fig. 1. One way to do this is to secure the rail in the jig as in fig. 2. Well there isn't a jig shown in figure 2, so this should read fig. 3 I guess. It also doesn't say which way up the rail should be? Am I filing from the top down? I'm having trouble getting the bend right after filing the rail down to the web for a distance of 4.5mm as in the manual sheet. 4.5mm isn't much to play with. Why is this bend put in there at all? It seems to serve no purpose. For a manual, (and a resource for a beginner perhaps?) it's pretty vague. I've tried searching the forum but most of the older pics seem to have gone AWOL Anyhow I ended up with an inch long slash in my finger from my freshly filed rail :( so I decided to call it a night lol. Any advice? Stew.

Still struggling! Exactoscale chairs with MEK/Butanone onto ply is a seriously poor bond. I've tried everything, every permutation, and I can still flick them off the ply with very little effort. Perhaps I'm being over ambitious. I want track I can still use daily in 40 years. I feel like I shouldn't give up though, the track sections look amazing, just so damn fragile!

Would the RCH w irons etc. have been a later mod? What would the vehicle have been built with?

Thanks all, that's great. I will crack on with that.

Hi Paul. Which ones do I need out of the link you posted?

Hi all. I'm very new to the hobby, and busy soldering up this kit, https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wagons/nbrd067/. And so far, It's going really well, however, the kit has these, https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/wagons/nbrc015/ which I've fitted, but I've decided I want my wheels to be sprung. Can anyone point me to exactly what I need to purchase to do this? Something that will fit in between these axleguards and enable both axles to be sprung. Can someone point me in the right direction? Perhaps a link to exactly what I need? Kind regards Haggerleases.

Anyone got a sample of the random stone paper they could upload now we're on a roll?

Ask and ye shall receive! Thanks chaps, something to play with! Nice one.

I love a challenge...Hmm, the holy grail of brick papers lol. Surely it's not beyond the wit of man to reproduce this stuff. Someone produced it once, and with a great deal less tech than we have now.

Hi all. I know this stuff is like the proverbial rocking horse poo to get hold of, but does anyone have a sheet of either of these two ('smokey brick', and 'random stone') that they can scan and send as a file? I know reproduction of colour is difficult, as is finding the right paper, but I am willing to try, and if necessary accept the results, or even attempt to reproduce them from scratch. I have access to some very high end facilities through work. Can anyone assist? I'm guessing copyright no longer an issue? Failing that, does anyone know of a close modern substitute?

Hello all. I wonder if anyone knows what happened to Anthony Murray's 7mm scale Scottish 'Dean Bridge' layout, as featured in Model Railway Constructor, and several outer annuals, books and magazines. He had some beautiful locos by the likes of Stanley Beeson etc. as well as ones he had constructed himself. The layout looked quite atmospheric. I wonder if it, or any of the locos or stock are still extant? Regards Haggerleases.

Izzy. Thanks so much for that comprehensive reply. I appreciate your effort. I was starting to think it was the composition of the chairs, so you may very well be right. I am going to get hold of some c&l chairs and see if they work any better. I guess if I don't figure out the issue I'll always wonder what caused it. Hand in pocket again lol.

Oh dear. After my reasonable trial results the other day, I made a length of track at the weekend. Pre-loaded the sleepers with butanone, added a decent smear of 'Poly Pipe' adhesive, put the rail with the pre-threaded chairs on the sleepers after painting a little butanone on each, more butanone on the sleeper after fitting to wick its way in, weighted it down etc. Looked great. Felt quite pleased with myself. Left it 12 hours or so to be safe, picked it up off the template and the thing basically fell to bits in my hand. Disaster. I think I'm going to have to admit defeat very soon. I need my track to be way more durable than this. my EMGS bullhead rail pulls out of the chairs very easily too.. I think I may be doing something fundamentally wrong, though I can't think what. Back to the good old soldering iron at this rate.

Cheers Martin, that's an excellent help, thank you for that. I'll have a look through the topic and see if I can hone my technique.

I'm a member of both EMGS and Scalefour societies, so I'm sure I'll dig them out from the various sheets. Steep learning curve, but worth the effort. Thanks fellas.

Martin. I'm normally an instruction follower of the highest order, but I've looked in vain on the Exactoscale website for any instructions on gluing chairs. Where on the site are you seeing this?

Hi chaps. Bit of success today. I used the Polypipe stuff. Brushed it onto a sleeper let it dry, then put a few chairs on with mek/butanone or whatever they're calling it this week. Worked much better. I couldn't budge them sideways, but could still (with more of a struggle this time) lift it off with a fingernail. The chair had bonded to the layer of polypipe adhesive, which had bonded to the ply. I think the polypipe stuff may need a little thinning. It is quite thick and gloopy. I think a factor is the temperature in my converted attic man cave causing the MEK to 'flash off' too fast. I'll continue the experiment in a cooler room and report back.

Worthwhile discussion guys, thanks ever so much for your comments one and all. Not easy being a beginner, you see all this amazing track and you think 'hmm, I'll give that a go, can't be too hard' and before you know it you're grinding your teeth in frustration. Having actually worked with a Pway gang in the early 90's I have to say the big stuff is a lot easier. Am sure the end result will be worth the pain.

Superglue does it, it bonds the plastic like hell to the wood, but it's very unforgiving, in terms of time and placement. It's long term strength is also suspect. What I'm saying is butanone isn't neccasarily the wonderful fixing method it's made out to be, and the various producers of chairs etc are not promoting a complete system. They're selling a product and relying on the end user to spend a small fortune on a whole shelf full of very nasty chemicals to find something that works. Not really acceptable in this age of caring for the environment. If you're selling a plastic chair in 2021 you need to specify how to fix it easily and cheaply to the various options available, with the least environmental impact possible.

Why would they produce that as a chair for plain track? What an odd decision? Unless it's just a beefy generic chair that looks like a bridge chair? Or casting other chairs in brass was difficult? It's a head scratcher for sure.

Tony, the problem I have is I'm not getting that lovely little rectangle of plastic left behind on the ply when I ping it off. There's virtually nothing left behind. All, its early days for me, I'm just experimenting, I have one of the British Finescale EM points, and very nice it is too, also a few lengths of EMGS flexi track, I'm pretty much trying every technique to find one that suits. I've soldered to rivets, soldered to copperclad, glued to plastic, etc etc, but I can't get away from the look of stained ply sleepers. They look amazing. I was quite impressed with the look of the DCC concepts brass chairs, but what on earth sort of chair is that?! I wasn't that bothered about track at first, as it was all about the locos and carriages etc, but the more you know, the more you notice! Damn stuff is a hobby in itself!

MEK and Butanone are exactly the same chemical, but with a different name. Let's get that straight. CH₃CCH₂CH₃. I have a fat bottle of MEK here. Its Butanone. Manufacturers however may have slightly different formulations. Just like petrol isn't just petrol. It can vary a great deal. That's why I asked for someone who had apparently found a winning formula. So, I have a bottle of MEK here that bonds plastic chairs to ply sleepers very poorly. You can push it side to side, and it won't budge. You can thread some rail through it, and pull the rail upwards, and it won't budge. But....twist it or put your fingernail at the side and lift? Pop, it's off. No good. So. Can anyone suggest a chemical that bonds exactoscale chairs to EM gauge society ply sleepers such that I cant just flick them off with a fingernail? This is why I said it's the 'Emperors new clothes.' there may be people out there who have track that seems fixed, but it isnt, and nobody dare check.. because when they find its ready to fall to bits, they'd have a load of work up in smoke. I want track that is rigid and durable, for many years. This stuff isnt cheap, but the way I see it at the moment, plastic to wood bonding the way we want it for our hobby, is deeply flawed, and nobody is calling it out. The only good bond is superglue. And that can be brittle. There isnt a good proven 'system' of plastic chairs and wood sleepers out there at the moment. I would be tempted to give up and go back to using 2.5mm rivets and solder, but guess what? the EMGS doesn't have those rivets in stock! And they haven't had them in stock for ages (Amongst other things). The dreaded 'Read More' button.... Frustrated.