Velocemitch

A cold frosty morning on the East Coast Main Line, Near East Cowton. 46115 near East Cowton by Ian Mitchell, on Flickr

Thanks for all the replies, I’ve ordered some Phoenix etch primer and thinners, so will see how it pans out.

What are people using for primer on etched kits etc, top coat would be enamel. ive tried an aerosol from my car resto collection, but I think the spray is a bit course for models. I seem to recal a discussion about certain aerosol brands, but not sure where. I could use my airbrush, but again not sure who’s paint.

Thought I'd chip in on this as my real interest in railways and subsequently railway modelling was triggered by a trip to Steamport at Southport (I spotted the user name above!). This must have been in about 1974 so very early days for the museum I was struck dumb by the physical size of steam locos and then saw some N Gauge models in the shop. I would be about 13 at this point and had built just about every Airfix kit ever brought out. As a young child we had a train set, shared with my brother but It didn't inspire me. Following the Steam port visit I started exploring my local railways taking numbers, photography followed and became quite serious as I got older trips to South Africa and Turkey plus regular escapades chasing stem specials. The modelling started in N with an end to end around two sides of my bedroom, then a roundy roundy, both seemed really good to me but in truth were a bit rubbish. It got more serious by 1976 when I built a prototype of Holmfirth Station in N along with a few scratch built Loco's (some even worked!) and exhibited it a few times. I remember buying a Peco Jubilee with my first ever wage packet (there wasn't much left !). I had a dabble with EM gauge for a short while, learnt a lot about track standards etc and then moved back to the smaller stuff with 2mm finescale. The hobby stayed with me and became an obsession then for about thirty years until I started to find myself being drawn away towards Cars and Motorsport and failing eyes meant I was really struggling with 2mm. I gave up modelling in about 2010, but as retirement is starting to loom and motorsport becoming ever more unlikely to carry on (At least at the pace it was for me) due to the costs involved I'm starting to put my toes back into the world of railways. Strangely my eyes are starting to come back to me too, so I'm back soldering up ludicrously small pieces of metal to make 2mm stuff work!

Not sure if this is the right place to ask.... but I will im wondering which buffers to use on a pair of fence houses 21 Tonne hoppers I’m building. looking at photos I think they usually had the BR Standard F4 1’6” Spindle buffer, but I can’t see that one in the shop, which would be the closest?

I hadn't realised the post went through, I thought I'd stopped it as the video's weren't showing for me??? Do they show for others? There is a clear movement of the drivers possible half a mm or more. To be fair, previous wheels I had during that period didn't display this problem either, so may be its just a bad batch. It will be a shame to have to strip it all back out to use new wheels, but I guess its the right solution.

Is there a history of eccentric wheels within the association products? I've been working on getting my Bob Jones Jinty chassis running, which I bought years ago and never finished. The Wheels are an old version with cast white metal centres. I'm fining the chassis will not run well at all. It seems OK when running upside down with contacts attached, but when running on the track its awful. It looks to me like the wheels are eccentric, which is creating lots of problems with pick up. The chassis does have the Simpson spring idea fitted, I do wonder if this is part of the problem, is the quartering not quite right pulling the wheels up and down in the clearance? I've attached a couple of video's which might help on a long range diagnosis [[Template core/global/editor/attachedAudio is throwing an error. This theme may be out of date. Run the support tool in the AdminCP to restore the default theme.]][[Template core/global/editor/attachedAudio is throwing an error. This theme may be out of date. Run the support tool in the AdminCP to restore the default theme.]]

I bottled out of using the tube and have ordered a sleeve. safest option I think. threadlock sounds a good idea too.

Thanks sounds like I might as well go that way then, measuring the ID of the tube it’s 0.9mm so the gap to fill is .075 mm in theory, assuming it stays central.

Thanks Chris, I will look at other ways then, I think I have about 1.5mm of space between the Top of the frames and the underside of the mount. I hold be able to figure it out. one other question I notice the shop are doing sleeves to adapt a 0.8mm shaft to a 1.5mm worm. Are these a close press fit or bonded? It’s just I’ve found a small brass tube in my box of bits, which seems very close to doing the job, but would need bonding to the motor shaft as it’s a little bit loose. It seems a bit daft just ordering such a small item in isolation from the shop. But if they are a perfect press on fit and more appropriate I will get one ordered.

Question on the 3D motor mounts the shop sells. how do people usually fix these to the chassis? I am thinking of simply glueing the mount to the motor, but I’m not happy to glue the mount to the chassis too, so need a screwed fixing with adjustment. The four projecting rods underneath look like they may take a 10 BA nut, but they will be very close to the inside of the frames if I use them. My mount will be sat right down on the top of the frames, so the nuts will be between them.

Monte Carlo actually, rare as hens teeth. So was the 1.4 L&K we had.

The vast majority of Yeti’s are 2WD with the 1.2 mpi engine, which is pretty naff really. The 4WD ones are better, I’ve had two a 1.4 TFSi and one of the diesel gate cheat 170bhp diesels ( it was Red too!), the later was a cracking thing, you could hurl it around like a hot hatch, but with more grip. Won a rally in it once. Id choose a Skoda over a VW and I have a particular hatred of Audi. the doors closed just like any other car......

It certainly did and more so than a Fiat of equivalent vintage!

Living in North Yorkshire we are lucky to have a really good Horologist living close by. Lucky I say, because my Wife inexplicably decided to start collecting vintage clocks a few months back, we are up to four now!. It surprised us how cheaply you can pick up some really nice pieces, each of them has a name. Walter is the best one, a fairly large American made Wall clock from the 1870's, picked up for £70.00. We have a couple of smaller ones of similar vintage, which we got for a fiver each. Currently all the clocks are working and its quite good fun trying to keep them all roughly on time.

Yes thanks, I could take the current mount out, move the motor forward and gain some space that way. its just I’m probably better keeping the 816 for another project ( I’ve got a broken Mike Raithby 8F which it might suit ) and go for the smaller motor for the Jinty. it would leave more space for chips, which are a whole new ball game for me!

That's the 6-15 motor isn't it? I think this is the way to go for me as well, I will take the existing threaded mount out and perhaps have a go with one of the association 3d printed ones. It makes no sense cutting the body to fit the Faulhaber one.

Indeed it does thanks. I shall have to get one to play with.

I might try that Jim, it will likely have to come out if I change to a smaller motor anyway. its quite close to the gear set as it is, but if I had soldered the mount ring the other side of the spacer I might have got away with it. I can’t remember why I did it that way, I usually checked these things at the planning stage.

Interesting that the wing rail is separate from the approaching rail, rather than bent up as one. I suppose its inevitable as its impossible to push a bent rail through the chairs. Looks like a weak point for alignment and electrical conductivity etc though?? How accurate is the crossing nose, are the rails shaped or do you have to file them to get the Vee angle correct? Obviously pushing one too far in from the end will close up the gauge. How robust are the tie bars, I take the point that the slow acting motors are the way to go, but still it was always the Achilles heal of any pointwork I built, back in the eighties and nineties. It all looks a far cry from the N Gauge turnouts I used to make, when it was a lottery what would run through them, given all the manufacturers had their own ideas on wheel profiles and back to back dimensions!

A question about motors and mounts for them. I'm pressing on with my Jinty project mentioned in another thread. This is an old Fencehouses Kit which I started about 15 years ago. It stalled about 15 years ago when I gave up modelling. The motor I chose back then was a Faulhaber 816, which was attached via a threaded mount at the very front of the motor. Having started to look at the chassis and body more closely I have come to realise the motor is a bit long, it wont fit in the body unless I cut the rear of the bunker off and replace the back with a very thin piece of brass, even then I think the chassis will be about 0.5mm too far forward. I'm think I ought to swap the motor for one of the smaller 6-15's now available and find a new use for the Faulhaber. But my question is, can I still use this threaded mount, do the association motors have this feature? Also I do fear I might struggle to remove the worm from the current motor, and wondered if the worms being sold now would mesh with the gear wheel I bought back then. Its a 100DP 30/1 set bevel cut (I think???) I've attached a couple of photos which hopefully will help.

Here's a question... Soldering Irons what type do you use and at what Wattage? I've got a couple of small Antex ones a 12w and a 15w, but I think they are a bit too small, I was doing something which should have been quite simple today (assembling an assoc quartering jig), but neither seemed to be giving enough heat.

Andy I think this explains it, I’m sure I wasn’t going daft. The kit instructions are quite clear with 13t and 18t, but it’s obviously not going to work. It seems to be a mistake in the kit. looks like I’m going to have to change the gears. I hadn’t realised the muffs had changed, I wonder if this will make things awkward for the worm meshing, as the hole in the gear will be too large to suite a 3mm muff. I might need to reduce the diameter of an older muff local to the new gear. better rejoin the association now as well!

Yes checked that thanks, they seem clear enough.

A spot of help and advise required if I may.. I'm just coming back into modelling after a break of 10 years or so (might be more???). I used to model in 2mm and had some reasonable success with track and locos etc, so part of todays project is to check if I can still do it. I have picked up a part completed Fencehouses Jinty chassis kit, which I had started but never finished. All seemed to be going quite well, but I have hit a puzzling snag. I can't get the 64DP gears to mesh, the kit uses a 13t and an 18t set, which checking the mesh centres is 6.15mm. I have checked the hole centres on the frames and they are good as spot on. The muffs appear to be concentric (I've tried two sets), yet the gears just will not mesh properly. Almost like there is some mistake in the machining. Some times they feel normal, but other times they just snag like there is grit in the teeth!. there doesn't appear to be a point where this happens (ie if there was a high spot in the gear teeth). I can't see any issues with the chassis, it seems to be aligned right and I've also tried meshing the gears just outside of the frames using some long axle shafts, tried both sides too to rule out one frame being different to the other. The gears will have been purchased when I bought all the parts maybe in about 2007, not quite sure of the date. I wonder if there was a faulty batch or something? I've never had any real issues with gear meshing before, especially on the 64dp sets, which are usually pretty forgiving.