Steve Hewitt

On 06/12/2023 at 09:01, Bucoops said:

@Steve Hewitt may be able to offer some advice on finding something?

Hi Paul,

I'm afraid I can't help with regards to alternative suppliers of etches.

Looking at your sketch, I would have thought you could make all the structure, as seen in the front view, from standard MSE etches.  Look at S008/3 for the large bracket, and S0021 or S0024/2 should give you enough to cobble the arch structure.

The main posts would be either S0020 if you want the taper, or Alan Gibson 4M62 if you want them parallel.

Without a plan view I can't see what you would expect to find in terms of etches.

Personally, I would expect to make all the walkways from Brass Strip for the supporting "Iron Work", with wood strip for the walking surfaces and Lace Pins for the handrail stanchions with 0.3mm N/S wire for the Handrail itself.

Hope this helps.

Steve Hewitt

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/59687-semaphore-signals-4mm-scale-mainly/

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/177988-beattock-00-finescale/

See for yourself.............

Progress on our layout continues, but it's not very photogenic.

However, our annual exhibition is being held on December 2nd and 3rd.

Admission is £5 for adults, accompanied children free, family ticket £8.

This venue is on the ground floor of the Conference centre, and our Clubrooms are immediately above on the first floor.

Throughout the weekend at approximately hourly intervals we will be offering accompanied visits of our clubrooms to any interested visitors.

Why not come along and see Beattock for yourself as well as the other projects our Club has to offer.

Steve

3 hours ago, Adrock said:

Hi Steve,

 

Many thanks for your detailed reply. This is really helpful as I look to replicate something very similar!

 

A final question if possible - where have you sourced the component parts for your layout legs from? 
 

Thanks again

Adam

Adam,

I hope the following will help:

Leg components...............

The components used in our legs are based on commercial handrail and barrier systems.

The cast socket which is attached to the baseboard:

From:  Flocon

C11.131 Wall Flange - Handrail Fitting

C36F.173F Female End Swivel - Handrail Fitting�נ4
26.9

C35.173M Male Through Swivel - Handrail Fitting�נ10
26.9

These latter two are used to make cross bracings

The legs are Aluminium from:

Alloy Sales Ltd.:

1 1/8 in x 16 swg - Aluminium Round Tube 5000 mm
£19.95 per unit

All cut 940mm long plus offcut

The adjustable feet are from:

ZORO:

GN6336.4-ST-40-M8-55 Star Knob; Polyamid; Bolt   

The captive nuts for the feet are from:

Amazon:

Threaded Insert M8 Screw-In Nut Zinc Alloy Hex Socket Nuts Screw-In Sleeves for Wooden Furniture

All the above were ordered on-line, so you should be able to find them for yourself.

The foot end of each leg was plugged by a turned piece of dowel into which the Insert nut is screwed.

This was from a local timber supplier.

Best of luck.

Steve.

The Baseboards for Beattock........

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the question.

The Baseboards are mainly 9mm Plywood. i.e. Top and the two long sides.

The ends are 18mm Plywood.

The batton in the corner between the Top and Side is 20x20mm planed all round.

The Tops are 2ft x 4ft, cutting three from an 8ft x 4ft sheet.

The forth "2ft x 4ft" remnant (Undersize because of the saw cuts) is cut into 5in strips for the sides.

The remaining strip is cut into approximate squares to use as reinforcing pads for the inside of the sides where dowels  and/or captive nuts will be located.

Assembly was performed using several Jigs and Drilling Guides to give consistency  and squareness.

Ends were always drilled in clamped pairs to ensure accurate alignment for the Dowels and Bolts.

Similarly, adjoining sides were clamped together when the Pads were fixed and subsequently drilled for Dowels and Bolts.

Note: The Dowels used to align boards in a North/South direction are conventional with a Male and Female pair.

To align boards in an East/West direction, the Dowels consist of a pair of Females with a separate Dowel of 7mm Silver Steel inserted from either side.

All the dowels are turned from 18mm dia mild steel bar.

All joints were assembled with "Gorilla" glue and countersunk wood screws.

At this stage there is no cross bracing under the boards. Where any is found necessary it will be introduced after all the "underground" equipment is in place - mainly servo motors for all the points and signals.

Currently I would say the boards are "Lightweight" in that they can be handled by a single member.

This will probably not be the case when they are complete.

Two persons are required to assemble boards together, and three is ideal. The third person can be underneath dealing with the Bolts.  

Any more information I can give please just ask.

Steve

Next steps..............

We intend to purchase all the point kits we require for the front (scenic) part of the layout as a single order.

We are now using some old, and some not so old, track to plot the precise location and configuration of the point work. It is clear that some points will need to be handbuilt, and to that end we are producing tracings of the areas affected.

To be continued......

Steve

Hi Ian,

Thanks for your kind comments. 

I use 0.5mm dia Fibre purchased from All Components. 

It's the 'end lighting' type, not the 'side lighting'.

Steve. 

Cork to the left us, cork to the right of us...............

The South end. Cork laid and track being positioned to determine point configurations.

We're using photo copied templates from various sources prior to ordering.

We like very much the British Finescale kits, and hope to use them where possible.

The new Peco "Unifrog" also very good, but considerably more expensive.

It is likely that we will have to construct some ourselves where commercial offerings are not available.

Our ever increasing collection of photos is very helpful, particularly where it shows inaccuracies in published track plans, diagrams etc.

The North end where everything curves round towards the fiddle yard.

More soon..........

Steve

Another step on what will be a long journey................

The N gauge layout which has been occupying the space in our clubroom where our Fiddle Yard will go has been temporarily dismantled and stored.

A smaller layout is now in that space as it is prepared for exhibition at our annual show on December 2nd and 3rd.

This has allowed us to erect the first two boards of the Fiddle Yard.

Cork laying is making good progress at the South end - photos next time.

Steve.

Some more progress.............

We're still refining the baseboard design to improve the aesthetics and access for operators.

The corner boards have all been modified to give a 45 degree "chamfer".

We have also reduced the depth at the north end of the layout from 4ft to 2ft by removing one board completely and inserting two 45 degree inner corners.

The North end of the layout. The Moffat Branch will end here and the fiddle yard starts.

At the South end we've started plotting out the track and laying the 2mm cork. We are using Copydex as the adhesive in the hope of reducing noise.

We intend to use Peco Bullhead code 75  flexitrack with points from British Finescale's range of kits.

Where there are very tight curves in the Engine Shed/Yard we may need to hand build one or two or use Peco Small Radius Electrofrog points.

We have printed templates for the various options available which we are using to define the actual layout as we progress.

More soon.......

Steve

Thanks Jon,

I found your bus at the Showground, but couldn't find you!

Steve. 

A few more steps, mainly forward.........

We have decided to install the proper legs under all the baseboards.

Our system of legs is based on a standard aluminium tube of 1-1/16th inch dia some 940mm long.

The upper end of each will locate in a cast socket and be retained buy a grub screw.

The lower end has a wooden bung with an M8 captive  nut in it.

Into this is screwed a M8-55 Star Knob; Polyamid; Bolt.

We have standardised on these bolts for joining the baseboards together and as adjustable feet.

Starting erecting the boards on their tubular legs.

Our clubroom floor has a significant gradient which requires extra packing in places where the adjustment provided by the screws is insufficient. 

More boards with their legs awaiting assembly.

More to come as we progress.........

Steve

2 hours ago, Michael Delamar said:

Hest bank had an interesting gantry signal with both a semaphore and a colour light are you building that one?

In a word - Yes.

However I won't be adding the colour light signal. I'll be leaving that for Mike Edge to do.

Steve

Try Hobby Holidays .

Great range of materials. 

6 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

The best thing to do Les is to upload to YouTube and post the URL or share link here.

That's exactly what I do. 

Steve 

We've now completed the basic construction of all 30 boards.

All the boards are now being sealed with at least two coats of Teak Oil. As this takes 24hrs to dry it will take quite some time to complete.

In this shot, the six boards stacked in the distance have had two coats on their undersides and outer edges. They will have to be turned over for their top surfaces to be dealt with.

You will see the boards are currently standing on old supports , salvaged from "Oxenholme" when it was scrapped. They will eventually stand on  a series of individual adjustable legs constructed from aluminium tube with cast sockets fixed under each board.

The boards do not yet have any cross-bracing, the need for which has to be determined.

The location of the legs and bracing (if required) will be determined when the track plan has been drawn out full size on the boards. Each precise location will be determined to minimise interference with point mechanisms, signals etc.

More soon I hope......

Steve

Those are really superb signals Jon.

Well done, Steve.