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snitzl

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  1. snitzl
    The Works or Halfwits Wondrous Wagon Works.
     
    The works is a small wagon / loco repair shop, managed by Jack Halfwit, that services  the rolling stock of Snitzl. Comprises of three small buildings, water tower, hoist and pit. Most, if not all the inspiration for "The Works" was taken from photographs of  Tregarrick MKIV 1980 by Iain Rice in Model Railways February 1981. 'The Works' is presented here as a complete project with the usual snitzl step by step pictorial approach.
     






















     
    Thanks for Looking...
     
  2. snitzl

    Beattie Well Tank.

    By snitzl,


    Locos
    Adding details to the chassis including springes, valves and lots more.
     
    History.
    Joseph Beattie was one of the old school locomotive designers who believed in a low centre  of gravity for his locos. Boiler centre line was kept naturally low, while well tanks  between the frames were employed rather than the higher side or saddle tanks. An whole  series of boilers and smokebox's were designed for burning coal instead of coke. The last six and the Nine Elms locomotives had square splashers reminicent of short side tanks  and the safety valve mounted on the middle ring of the boiler, instead of the first. The  last six locomotives built by Beyer Peacock also had larger bunkers.
     
    Drawing Information.
    The Beattie Well Tank is a very interesting loco to model with many physical variations  made over its 120 year life span. Drawing details for the model were taken from an article  by D Hughes, entitled ' Build a Beattie Well Tank ' in Model Railways - May 1982. This article is mainly about the construction of a Jidenco kit, but includes drawings for three variants of the Beattie and a few photographs. Second source of information came  from an article by C.J. Binnie in Model Railway Constructor - February 1970 which also  includes a 7mm scale drawing and a few photographs.
     
    Project History.
    The Beattie Well Tank is yet another one of those incomplete projects from many many moons  ago, it is hoped that when complete, this little loco will become part of the 'Snitzl Town' stud and will be privately own by Charles Rhodes Textiles. I usually model locos on a single  prototype, but in this case, a large portion of the model is based on No 33, the ' Phoenix ' , with the crossheads and crosshead guides taken from No 247.
     
    Modelling starts with the coupling rods, connecting rods and crosshead guides, all of which  along with gardening breaks and decorating, took what seemed like an eternity. Front wheels were destroyed when the chassis was partially stripped down so that additional details such as ashpan, well tanks and wheel guards could be added.
     














     
    Snitzl.
     
  3. snitzl

    Coffee Pot Modifications.

    By snitzl,


    Locos
    Modifications and detailing on Neilson & Co 0:4:0  Coffee Pot.
     
    After reading other modellers blogs, its seems that quite a few of us are plaqued with infinished projects syndrome, with incomplete models littering our shelfs. In my case, I  had scratchbuilt 16 locos and 5 remained unfinished, so a decision was made to try and get  some of them transferred to the done section. This scratchbuilt model of the coffeepot was  started some 30 years ago, but because of its racehorse like running qualities was put aside  and forgotten for a few months, then years. This just might have been a lesson in ' is it  worth scratchbuilding a loco when you have very little information '.
     
    This is yet another loco built to run EM gauge that needed modifying to P4. During the initial dismantle of the loco, I was a little surprised with the lack of gearbox and method I'd used  for the drive. If memory serves, the boiler had been turned on a lathe and bored out so that  the tiny ECM motor was a nice snug fit inside, then a worm and wheel were made that had the  same centres as the drive axle / boiler on the model. The boiler was turned to just over a  millimeter oversize to accomodate the ECM motor which later caused problems with interference  between the suspension springs, reverse lever and boiler. The model was originally built to a simple drawing found in F.C Hambleton's book, Locomotives Worth Modeling, but when making present  day comparisons with the model there were differences with the splashers and steps. Recent investigations have revealed that variations did indeed exist with regards to splashers,  chassis, steps, rear cab and no doubt, quite a few more, not to mention later revamp  modifications to the boiler, coal bunkers and enclosed cabs.
     
     


















     
    Snitzl.
    Thanks for Looking.
  4. snitzl

    Adams B4 Modification.

    By snitzl,


    Locos
    Scratchbuilt Em to P4 conversion with wheel rim turning for this L.S.W.R. class B4 Dock Tank.
     
    This second installment of Snitzl Works section covers the conversion of a scratchbuilt Adams  B4 in EM gauge to P4. The original model was built way back in the early 1980's to standard  gauge and a few years later converted to EM, so its taken a while to build up enough  enthusiasm to do this final conversion.
     














     
    Snitzl.
     
  5. snitzl

    Market Stall Wagons - Part 2.

    By snitzl,


    Fun Town
    Part 2 continues modelling of  the market stall wagons for Fun Town.
     
    If you've already read part 1 of Market Stall Wagons, then please skip past this intro text  to the images below.
     
    Searching the web for market stalls that actually ran on tracks and existed in our historic  past proved fruitless, I've no doubt that when this blog get's published on rmweb, dozens  of examples will turn up, if so, they might inspire further models. The type of market stall  required for Fun Town did exist as a road type vehicle and was available in model form as  a plastic kit by Wills, therefore the Will's model was used as a dimensional starting point. Although the model from Wills is based on a prototype of timber construction, the model  presented here is all metal. Raw materials for the stalls included 10thou brass sheet, brass tube, brass wire, steel for the wheels, aluminium foil for the canopy and a little solder.
     
    During construction of the stall's, a few other possible projects sprung to mind, perhaps a stall replenish vehicle, steam tram for the customers and market stall holder's during a market stall relogation.
     
    What is Fun Town ? : Fun Town is a  small table top module that can be used alone or  form part of a larger unit, it fit's like a jigsaw piece to the Walls Traverser Cover  to create a small 36" x 18" layout over the top of Snitzl Town's traverser.
     
    Done so far : Overhead Tram, Jules Verne's Flying Ship, Steam operated Traverser and Market Stall Wagons.
     
    Still to do : Steam Tram, Market Stall Engine with DCC uncoupler, Stall Replenish Wagon, Animated Figues, Hot Air Balloon, Interior racking & goods for the Warehouse and anything else that may be appropriate, in other words, a bit of fun.
















     
    Snitzl
     
  6. snitzl

    Market Stall Wagons - Part 1.

    By snitzl,


    Fun Town
    Modelling the Market Stall wagons for Fun Town.
     
    Searching the web for market stalls that actually ran on tracks and existed in our historic  past proved fruitless, I've no doubt that when this blog get's published on rmweb, dozens  of examples will turn up, if so, they might inspire further models. The type of market stall required for Fun Town did exist as a road type vehicle and was available in model form as a  plastic kit by Wills, therefore the Will's model was used as a dimensional starting point. Although the model from Wills is based on a prototype of timber construction, the model presented here is all metal. Raw materials for the stalls included 10thou brass sheet, brass  tube, brass wire, steel for the wheels, aluminium foil for the canopy and a little solder. During construction of the stall's, a few other possible projects sprung to mind, perhaps a stall replenish vehicle, steam tram for the customers and market stall holder's during a market stall relogation.
     
    What is Fun Town ? : Fun Town is a  small table top module that can be used alone or form part  of a larger unit, it fit's like a jigsaw piece to the Walls Traverser Cover to create a small 36" x 18" layout over the top of Snitzl Town's traverser.
     
    Done so far : Overhead Tram, Jules Verne's Flying Ship, Steam operated Traverser and Market  Stall Wagons.
     
    Still to do : Steam Tram, Market Stall Engine with DCC uncoupler, Stall Replenish Wagon,  Animated Figues, Hot Air Balloon, Interior racking & goods for the Warehouse and anything  else that may be appropriate, in other words, a bit of fun.














     
    Snitzl
     
  7. snitzl

    Sharman's Traverser.

    By snitzl,


    Fun Town
    Fun Town - Sharmans Traverser.
     
    Mike Sharmans vertical boiler steam traverser appears briefly on a Railscene 2 video that  features one of Mike's earliest multigauge layouts with some of the most unusual locomotives,  rail stock and features history has ever produced. I remember reading in one of the monthly  magazines that lack of information would not prevent Mike from a loco build if one took his  fancy, building a scale model from a single photograph was quite acceptable to him so I've taken his concept a step further and built a model of Mike's model. When it came to the finer  modelling details, searches made online provided a few details but on the whole, very little exists on vertical boiler steam traversers. The finished traverser is set up for DCC and runs as you would run an ordinary loco, speed of the traverser is much much slower than expected, so alignment of the tracks is not the problem I thought it might be.
     
    What is Fun Town ? : Fun Town will be a small table top layout that will include a  market stall railway, overhead tram, animated figues, rotating hot air balloon, steam  operated traverser and anything else that may be appropriate, in other words, a bit of fun.




















     
    Snitzl
     
  8. snitzl

    Monorail Part 2.

    By snitzl,


    Fun Town
    Fun Town - Monorail Part 2.
     
    In this, part 2 of the monorail tram design and development, a lot of effort has been put into reliable running and how it was or was not acheived. A decision was made in part 1 of the design, to keep areas of development that didn't work out in the blog, this was so that we can see how the final design was arrived at. Normally, when ideas don't work out,  I'll delete all the unwanted material, go back a few pages and hide all evidence to give the impression that all was plain sailing, but for me, this is rarely the case. Although the  tram featured in this blog is not based on a prototype, once this monorail system is complete
     and running is reliable, a search will be made for appropriate prototypes.
     
    What is Fun Town ? : Fun Town will be a small table top layout that will include a  market stall railway, overhead tram, animated figues, rotating hot air balloon, steam  operated traverser and anything else that may be appropriate, in other words, a bit of fun :- after the demise of Kimberley, I need it.



















     
    Snitzl
     
  9. snitzl

    Monorail - Part 1.

    By snitzl,


    Fun Town
    Follow the development of a monorail for Fun Town in this part 1,
     
    Is it a bird, is it a plane, or is it just Snitzl Town's overhead tram.
     To be honest, didn't know whether to call this project an overhead train, engine or  tram, technically its not yet a train, so I opted for tram. It's actually been eight  months since my last blog, the main reason being that development of this overhead tram system has had a few major setbacks that caused me to take a three month break to sort out my workshop, replaced my old Southbend Heavy 10 lathe with an even older pre war  Boley & Leinen LZ4, made new countershafts for a couple of Pultra lathes and then constructed  new work benches. Enough of the excuses, this blog starts with the development of the monorail and ends with the archway supports for the rail, there's still a little more to come in part four of  Fun Town.
















     
    Snitzl
     
     
     
  10. snitzl

    Fun Town Micro Layout - Part 2.

    By snitzl,


    Fun Town
    Fun Town Micro Layout - Part II.
     
    Here's part 2 of a small fun type layout which will also be my first venture into DCC. The  main feature of part 2 of Fun Town Micro Layout has been the construction of wrought iron  railings from 10 thou brass sheet and 0.5mm dia brass wire. Never tried this before, so there was a little learning curve in the initial satges as the process developed. Before  starting the job, I purchased 20 x 0.5mm dia twist drills from the bay, expecting to break  quite a few of them but only broke one, just lucky I guess. I decided that part 3 will cover the developed and construction of a mono rail and I'm quite looking forward to that.
     
    For now, here's part II, hope you enjoy.











     
    Snitzl
     
  11. snitzl

    Snitzl Towns -Market Stalls.

    By snitzl,


    Misc
    Here is yet another illustrated guide through the construction methods used on Snitzl's  market stalls.
     
    In all, ten similar stalls were built and modelled in styrene with bread, pies, flowers,  biscuits, meat, books, dishes and vegetables made from various materials. A simple brass injection mould tool made years ago was used for wheel production and the small empty crates  are modelled in 10 thou brass.
     
    Construction of the simple brass mould tool will be covered in a future blog.
     
    Inspired by photographs from the real world and a product sold as 'SS37 Market Stalls' by Will's.
     


















     
    Snitzl.
     
  12. snitzl

    Snitzl Town Harbour

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    Harbour Walls and Warehouse.
     
    Here is an illustrated guide through the construction methods used on Snitzl's 12 foot  harbour wall, step ladders, mooring rings, mooring bollards and warehouse. A little time has been spent adding variations to the plain stone walls with bulging / multi-layered stonework.
     
    Inspiration for the warehouse comes from both Dave Shakespeare's canal tunnel on  Barden Road, featured in Model Rail - April 2003 and the front cover of a Langley Models brochure.
     




















     
    Thanks for Looking...
     
  13. snitzl

    Warehouses - Three of a Kind.

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    Warehouses - Three of a kind.
     
    Warehouses - Three of a kind, has taken over 500 hours to model with an end result that  recurs time and time again for me. It seems strange that some buildings modelled look perfectly fine on the workbench, but when placed in situ on the layout, they don't seem to belong.
     
    Again, inspiration for the warehouses was taken from photographs of Tregarrick MKIV by  Iain Rice in Model Railway Constructor - May 1980 and Model Railways - January, February 1981.
     
    The Warehouses are presented in the usual snitzl step by step pictorial approach which is  very handy for me when making three almost identical buildings. Two of the buildings are  based upon Iain's originals whilst the third is a variation with a tower.
     
    Most area's of construction are covered in this blog but some parts that lack detail  are covered comprehensively in other blogs.
     






















     
    Thanks for Looking...
     
  14. snitzl

    The Terraced Shops

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    The Terraced Shops :
     First of all, an apology, I didn't start taking pictures of the construction methods  for the terraced shops till part way through this project, however, all will become clear  with my next posting.
     
    The terraced shops are part of what is to be a market place on the Snitzl Town layout.
     
    The illustrations below show how they were constructed.
     









     
     
  15. snitzl

    Small Station Building.

    By snitzl,


    Kimberley
    Kimberley - Small Timber Station Building.
     
    Built for Ilkeston Woodside MRC's 00 / 4mm layout of Kimberley ( G.N.R. / L.N.E.R. / Midland Railway ).
     
    Here are a few illustrations following the construction of this part timber station building. The original building was constructed by the Great Northern Railway in 1876 and early photographs  show wood panels down to ground level, later pics show bricks had replaced the timber from below  the windows. Construction of the model involved accurate marking and cutting of mainly 0.5mm  styrene sheet with the aid of a rule and digital vernier. The timber front panel is a little out  of square, which I blame on an engineers square bought at a car boot sale. The error was only noticed when window and timber layers were glued together and I decided to live with it. Area's of construction that lack detail are covered comprehensively in other blogs and this will be the  format for future blogs. I must point out that my blogs are a record for myself of how I have created models for kimberley or Snitzl and its a added bonus when other modellers find them of interest.
     














     
    Snitzl.
     
  16. snitzl

    Trestle Bridge.

    By snitzl,


    Stonework and Structures
    Trestle Bridge.
     
    Based on Wickham Bishops trestle bridge over the river Blackwater with slight variations,  this is a step by step guide to modelling the main components of this bridge in  styrene sheet. The stone supports at either end of the bridge are briefly covered  and further details of their construction can be found in Random Stone Walls. The bridge itself, is a fairly straight forward bit of model making ideal for the beginner.  Most of the trestle bridge is constructed from 3.0mm styrene sheet, which when cutting  is scalpel marked in the usual way, secured in a suitable vice with scalpel mark aligned to the top of the jaw and bent to create a break.
     












     
    Snitzl.
     
  17. snitzl

    Lattice Bridge.

    By snitzl,


    Stonework and Structures
    Lattice Footbridge and Steps.
     
    Based on a G.N.R. foot bridge that existed at Kimberley station,nottingham, this is a step by step guide to modeling the main components of this bridge, from styrene sheet. The stone support  structures for this bridge are not included in this build because similar structures of that  type have already been covered in other blogs. The build method is very similar to an earlier  construction for Kimberley Station, with slight alterations due to lessons learned from that  model. The earlier foot bridge had weak points between the handrail sides and steps that required repair from time to time.  The main stone structure that supports the steps is based on a bridge structure  at Crediton Station in Devon.
     




















     
  18. snitzl

    Point Motors.

    By snitzl,


    Electrics
    Designing a point motor for Snitzl.
     
    To start with, I looked through all my early magazines for idea's on point motors and  came across an article from Sep 76 Model Railway titled 'A Revolutionary Point Motor ' by John Popkin. The snitzl design was to be a development of that design, but combined a sliding mechanism and point motor into one unit.
     
    The design looked so straight forward that I went ahead and made enough components for twenty units. Some of the components ie worm gear, worm, screws and offset shaft with its  Mandrel, were time consuming to make. With only a couple of components missing to form a complete assembly I decided to put one together and try it. Well, shock horror, the action was far to fast even at 8 volts and far to noisy. I'd done everything I could on Snitzl to keep  noise levels down, with cork ballast and latex glue for ballasting and the noise from this point motor, amplified by the baseboard, was far to much.
     
    There's a lesson to be learned here ( for me at least ), if you have an idea for anything,  don't make twenty.
     


     
    Snitzl.
     
  19. snitzl

    Tiling a Spherical Roof.

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    Method used to create and tile a spherical roof .
     
    I used a 3D solid modeling package to determine diameters of the rings that form this dome. Dome rings were created using a digital vernier as a pair of dividers to not only mark, but also score a groove deep enough for a scalpel to follow when cutting out.
     
    Could have used the lathe, but didn't fancy the cold freezing temperatures of my workshop.
     


     
    Thanks for Looking..........
     
  20. snitzl

    Stratified Rocks

    By snitzl,


    Natural
    Here is a method for creating realistic stratified rock.
     
    An article from one of our model railroad friends suggested using ceiling tiles to make  stratfied rock. When I mentioned this to John Lavender, a club member, he suggested using insulation board, some of which was lying about the club room. Apparently, this type of foam  insulation board is quite common in the building trade.
     
    Three layers of this board were used to create an eight foot long cutting on Ilkeston Woodside  MRC's layout kimberley Station and it only took an afternoon to carve. Best results are acheived  with haphazard horizontal cuts with a scalpel, adding more accuratley placed vertical cuts to  finish. The illustration below shows two small test pieces which were used on both Snitzl and Kimberley.
     


     
    Snitzl...
     
  21. snitzl

    Guttering

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    Short blog on the construction of guttering on Snitzl.
     
    Illustrates construction of a small wooden office, complete with guttering. No down pipes ,  but we have a gutter. I only use this approach now and then, usually a con-caved piece of  plastic does the job. There's also a variation on this thyme that's worth a look.
     








     
    Thanks for Looking..
     
  22. snitzl

    Signal Box Windows.

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    Constructing Signal Box Windows for Snitzl Town.
     
    For completeness, part 2 of windows for Snitzl shows one of the way's to create  signal box style windows. It looks quite nice, but it's a little on the bold side. This method uses a digital vernier to accurately position the rule when marking and cutting.
     









     
    Thanks for Looking..
     
  23. snitzl

    Windows

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    Making windows for Snitzl Town.
     
    Here are some of the methods I use to model window surrounds and window frames.

     Rather than make individual windows, I build an array of windows that become part of the structure which adds strength to the building. I align the window frets with two steel blocks, left and top and these become datums for gluing and if required also aid accurately cut windows with a vernier.
     













     
    Thanks for Looking..
     
  24. snitzl

    Tile that Roof

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    A much slower but more effective way to model roof tiles and ridge tiles.
    Step by step guide to Tiling Roofs.
     
    I've tiled most roofs on Snitzl Town using this method, and there's no doubt in my mind that  the overall look is well worth the time and effort. Its worth modeling the odd building with  larger tiles, and that might be a good starting point. Try not to get to much liquid poly under  the tile, because really thin styrene tends to distort. Use a small artists brush, not the one  in the pot.
     










     
    Thanks for Looking..
     
  25. snitzl

    The Mart

    By snitzl,


    Buildings
    The Mart is one of my favourite buildings .
     
    The Mart was a brick building that existed in the city of Nottingham in the early 1900's. I have modeled this building in stone, with the earlier wooden railings. The methods used in  the construction of this model are fairly typical for all my buildings. However, changes to  how the roof was attached have changed lately due to curling of the plastic. Like the  terraced shops, this building is part of what is to be a market place on the Snitzl layout.
     
    The illustrations are a step by step on the buildings construction. Snitzl.

     















     
    Thanks for Looking..
     
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