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garethashenden

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  1. garethashenden
    Early on we decided to cover the front and back of the layout, most of the actual scenery, with carpet underlay. This produced a good effect, especially with a little bit of effort. It did, however, leave us with a dilemma about the middle of the layout. We tried a few different techniques for the ground cover round the various sidings, static grass, ground foam, but these didn't really produce the effect we wanted. There was too much contrast between the different materials and the change in colour certainly didn't help.
     
    Yesterday we decided to cover the problem areas with carpet underlay to match the rest of the layout. We started by removing the lift out sections from the back so that they would be easier to work on and not get glued in place.
     
    A thick layer of pva and an oversized bit of underlay later...

     

     
    Once that was in place and drying with went on to other projects. Les painted some Scale Link etched plants and applied ivy to a hedge.



     
    Chris glued coal to our coal piles.

     
    And I painted the roof of the large clay dry.

     
    Before disassembling everything I posed some recently completed stock by the small dry.

     
     
    Thanks for looking! Leave a comment, we like those...
  2. garethashenden
    Well I've spent the day making bushes and a hedge. I've found a pretty straightforward technique that gives pleasing results.
     
    To start off, we had already placed rubberised horsehair around the layout as a first step. It had all be sprayed brown before placement but they didn't really look that good. So here's what I did to improve the looks.
     
    I sprinkled fine dark green ground foam around and on top of the horsehair, then a little bit of fine black ground foam. I then sprayed a light layer of matt varnish on top. Finely teased postiche followed the varnish. This was followed by more varnish and more foam, both dark green and black joined by a small amount of light green, just for a highlight.
     
    The hedge consists of 6 (I think) bushes. These were made with twisted 0.25mm brass wire, 3 or 4 stands per bush about 2" long each. These were shaped to form a basic armature to which was added a small amount of rubberised horsehair. These were then sprayed with grey primer and allowed to dry. Once dry the same varnish/postiche/ground foam technique was used. They were then planted close together up a hill (and at the edge of a board joint).
     
    And now for some pictures:





     
    Leave a comment, let me know what you think.
  3. garethashenden

    Jenny Lind Part 1

    By garethashenden,

    This post covers the the building of a 5&9 models "Jenny Lind" kit in EM gauge.
     
    Jenny Lind is a 2-2-2 with a six wheel tender. Singles often provide problems when it comes to powering them and this is no exception. Others have powered this kit using a modified High Level LongRider bogie and this is how I have done it as well. The only real modification is to add a central axle.

     
    The tender went together without a problem other than having to fabricate a footplate out of brass as the whitemetal one caused the tender to ride too high.
     


     
    I started on the locomotive next by fitting the valve gear. It is quite fiddly and delicate and should really have been etched, not cast. It went together ok in the end though.

     
    The frames were then fitted capturing the leading and trailing wheels.


     
    The boiler went together easily along with it's fittings. It is just sitting there in this picture, hence the funny angle.

     
     
    The only real problem I've encountered is with the driving wheel splashers. The inside diameter is the same as the diameter of the tread of the wheels. Therefore there is no room for the flange and even if there was the wheels would be in contact with the splashers and cause running problems and shorts. I think I will cut the top off the splashers and replace it with thin brass sheet. This will keep the same outside diameter while significantly increasing the inside diameter.
     
    The model will be finished in dark green with a burgundy underframe. White and black lining. More to come in future.
  4. garethashenden

    Manning Wardle

    By garethashenden,

    I haven't made much progress with stock for Empire Mills recently but I have finished a RT Models kit for a Manning Wardle, the Selsey Tramway's 'Ringing Rock'. I've posted it off to it's owner today so time to share the pictures.
     







  5. garethashenden

    850 Part 4

    By garethashenden,

    More progress has been made. The rods are fitted and the quartering adjusted. It runs!!!

    I think it needs a little adjustment, it's not as smooth as it could be a very slow speeds. But still, the split chassis works as do the CSBs.
    I've fitted the springs, sandboxes and buffers.

    I've also fitted the brakes and primed the whole chassis. Since the picture was taken everything has been painted black.

    I still need to fit something to represent the bottom of the boiler, otherwise the motor is visible. Then it's cab details, boiler/tank details, painting and lettering.Oh and attaching the boiler to the footplate. Shouldn't be too long now.
  6. garethashenden
    No real progress on the 850 recently, but I have a few part finished (as always) projects.
     
    First up is an Iron Mink. This is the ABS whitemetal kit. There are a few things I've changed though. I wanted to model one of the earlier built ones with grease axleboxes rather than the oil ones fitted to the kit. This presented a slight problem in that the w-irons and axleboxes were integral to each other. In the end I removed all of it and fitted Comet etched w-irons and MJT axleboxes.

    Everything was then painted the proper colour; red.

    As supplied the roof is plain plasticard. I'm leaning towards the MRD etched rood but I haven't completely decided yet. I need to order transfers as well, unlettered wagons are piling up...
     
    While perusing a private owner wagon book I came across an adorable wagon belonging to the London & South Wales Coal Company. Built in 1874, it is very short with only an end door. Dumb buffers at one end and sprung buffers at the other. Definitely the sort of thing I like. Then Duncan came across a drawing of it in a second book, which pretty much sealed my fate. Although it is hard to tell from the pictures, the planking is scribed onto the sides. I need to fit all the strapping still and the w-irons need adjusting, they are sitting too high, the axleboxes won't fit.


     
    Finally we come to some layout work. On Empire Mills (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1534-the-empire-project/) we have a new loading dock:

    This is a perfect place to recreate a scene that I'm fond of. China clay was shipped in wooden casks until part way through World War 1 when it switched to bags. I've come across this picture a couple of times and it needed to be modeled...

    So I got some bits and decided to have a go. Everything came from Dart Castings.



  7. garethashenden

    850 Part 2

    By garethashenden,

    If part 1 was about springing, part 2 is about pickups. I hate pickups. They're fiddly and unreliable and a pain in the backside. There must be a better way.
     
    About 9 months ago I built a replacement 2mm FS chassis for a Farish Jinty. That went together very easily and without the need for pickups as the 2mm Association recommends split chassis. Why isn't this more common in 4mm, it's so simple.
    The Jinty:

     
    There are three things that need to be done differently with a spit chassis. The frames have to be electrically separated from each other while still being strong enough to work, the axles must be electrically split and the wheels must be electrically connected to the axles.
    Wheels first. The 2mm ones are brass with steel tyres and include brass half axles. Just about all 4mm wheels are plastic centred. There are some brass wheels available from Alan Gibson but they require a lathe to finish. Therefore a method of connecting the wheels electrically with the axles are needed. Two main ways of doing this, there are etched strips which fit onto the axles and solder to the back of the tyre. The other option is to drill a hole against or in the back of the tyre and run a wire down to the axle, forcing it in the bore for the axle. I had intended to use etched shorting strips but they are out of stock from the EMGS, so impatience won out and brass wires were used.
     
    The axles are from the EMGS. There are ways of making split axles without use of a lathe and I will have to do that for upcoming 2mm axles, but at £1.40 each it's worth just buying them. They are only available in 26mm lengths, so they need to be shortened a bit for EM. The axles are split about 1/3 of the way along, this allows the gearbox to be fitted without shorting everything. Three part axles are another way around that problem. I trimmed the long end of two axles for the non-driven wheels and both ends of the third axle. This was done so that the gearbox was not bridging the gap and so that the gap was still inside the frames.
    An axle with a shorted wheel:

     
    The chassis spacers are the next issue. There have been various methods discussed, double sided copperclad is the most commonly recommended. I didn't fancy cutting a sheet into strips so I looked for an alternative method. Using an unneeded OO spacer I did an experiment. For the spacer into an L, tin the inside, then fit single sided copperclad sleeper strips. Once this had cooled I used a piecing saw to cut through the nickel silver and copper while leaving the pcb as intact as possible. I used a multimeter to test the continuity and was then as physically abusive to it as I could be. It passed quite easily.

    I had done a couple of dry fits with the frames, gearbox, and an AG axle and I realized that it would be much easier with the P4 spacers rather than the EM ones. This would give me just a little bit more room between the frames, just enough for a couple of insulating washers on the driven axle. So I took those two and fitted them with copperclad sleepers as before:


    After that the frames went together quite quickly:

     
    I have made more progress since then but really it goes under Part 3: Bodywork...
  8. garethashenden
    Now this really is Duncan's fault. I was handed a part built Alan Gibson Buffalo pannier tank kit and told to get on with it. I looked it over briefly and it looked ok in most respects at a quick glance. This kit had been set aside do to life getting in the way rather than encountering a major problem, so it should be straight forward to finish it, or so I thought.
     
    I started with the brakes. They were already assembled, so I put them in position, fitted the pull rods and soldered everything up. Easy
     
    I then moved on to the handrails, seemed like the next thing that needed doing. This is where I found the first thing that needed redoing. I slid a length of wire into the already installed handrail knobs. The three on the boiler were in a line but the one of the cab was lower than it should be causing a noticeable dip in the handrail. I checked the other side and found the same thing there, at least it's consistent. The offending handrail knobs were then removed and new holes drilled in the correct position.

     
    The same was completed on the other side with only the front remaining. I spent a while looking at the front of the model wondering where on earth the top handrail knob was supposed to go. It looked like this:

     
    Duncan has kindly provided me with quite a good picture of the particular locomotive he wants, all resplendent in garter crest livery. I spent quite a while comparing them, model, prototype, model, prototype, etc. until finally, Oh! The smokebox door is too big. I had a rummage through the box and came up with a separate door casting which was smaller. Compared it to the prototype, yeah that looks better. I carefully removed the door darts and then went to work with the file. The two steps were sacrificed in the process but they can be replaced with a bit of brass. The new door and the old door darts were offered up with the results that everything looks better.

     
    There is now plenty of room for a handrail knob. This and the accompanying handrail were duly fitted,

     
    That's enough body work for the moment, lets look at the chassis.

     
    The green wires are there temporarily to test the pickups, everything else is as received.
    Everything seemed to be pretty much in order, so lets check the gauge and quartering. One of the cranks was missing, no matter the front two axles can be quartered anyway. All the wheels were closer to P4 than EM gauge, quickly corrected. On to the quartering:
    Assemble the rods, quarter the cranks by eye, stick it together, roll it along a bit of track, tight spot. Fiddle, better, fiddle, rolls nicely. Screw to body, half a rotation, tight spot. ######. Remove body, rolls fine. Ok, what's it hitting? Place body on chassis, rolls fine. Hmm.
    Look at the chassis, hmm, that's not quite straight. Oh, and the other frame is even more banana shaped. Problem found. Screwing the chassis to the body twisted the chassis just enough that it wouldn't run. No problem, should be able to adjust this without too much disassembly.
     
    Everything up to that was best part of a month ago. Exams got in the way but I was able to get back to this last night. "I should be able to just prod the frame spacers with an iron to get them in the right position" was the initial plan. "Well, if I take the brakes off there will be less resistance". "And the wheels and axles." It was at this point that I discovered two more problems. One, the position of the motor was causing the frames to bow outwards, two, a couple of the hornblocks were barely hanging on. The chassis was quickly reduced to its component bits. Oops.
    gdrh
  9. garethashenden

    850 Part 1

    By garethashenden,

    One can never have too many projects on the go at once. So lets start a third locomotive, before finishing the other two. This may sound like the worst idea ever, but there is actually some logic behind it. The second locomotive is Duncan's Buffalo. This should be a straightforward job of reassembling the chassis, I'm just not in the mood today. The first locomotive is my 517. The next thing to do on that is to build the chassis. This is starting to sound like a familiar stopping point, but there are other factors involved. Having built a replacement 2mm chassis for a Graham Farish Jinty last autumn I have become quite a fan of split chassis. I have decided I wanted to build my EM locomotives with split chassis from here on. The other thing I have been wanting to try out is CSB suspension. The combination of theses two new techniques led me to believe that a 0-4-2 was not the wheel arrangement to practice on.
     
    Enter the 850 Pannier Tank. I mentioned in a previous post that as a poor student complete kits were beyond my reach. This is still the case and this kit, while now complete, is no exception. This was an affordable ebay purchase in that there were a few bits missing and the bidding didn't go too high. The chassis and wheels were missing along with, as it turned out, the footplate. All the castings were present and untouched. I was undeterred by missing bits, I figured that the wheels would be available from Alan Gibson and they do milled frames for an 850 so no problem. Upon receiving the kit I looked trough it and found that the footplate was also missing. Damn.
     
    An email followed by a phone call to Alan Gibson resulted in wheels, crankpins, and a complete set of etches arriving through my door just before exams began. Everything was placed carefully in the box to await my freedom. At a rather excellent RailEx over the weekend I visited High Level and left the stand with a rather empty bank account but a bag full of goodies. These included three gearboxes, lots of hornblocks, CSB tags, and his CSB jig.
     
    The first step is to determine the correct position of the fulcrums for the springy beam. This is where a lot of people give up as there is some fairly complicated maths involved. Luckily, someone has already done the maths and all that's actually needed is to plug the numbers into an Excel spreadsheet. First the axle loads need to be determined. Ideally these should be even and I see no reason why they won't at lest be close to even on this locomotive. The sprung weight needs to be determined, so everything except the wheels, motor and gearbox was dumped on a scale. This does include the etches that will be discarded but it doesn't include any extra weight I may add, so it's close enough. The total weight was divided by the number of axles to give the axle weight. This was entered into the Excel followed by the wheelbase in mm. After that a blind stab at fulcrum points was taken. The final input is the wire used as a spring. The default happens to be the same steel wire I have been using for Alex Jackson couplings, so I left it alone.
     
    The spreadsheet provides figures for the maximum deflection of each axle. The actual deflection doesn't really matter but was does matter is that all of them are even. The positions of the fulcrums are adjusted until all three deflections are even. The High Level jig is marked out in 0.5mm increments, so I left it at that rather than balancing it perfectly but being unable to actually produce it.
     
    On to actual building!
    The frames were released from their etch and offered to the CSB jig. The jig is quite simple in design and use. Two round bearings are used at a time, one in the centre of the jig and the other in an adjacent axle. Small holes were drilled for the fulcrums which, with the jig removed were enlarged to the correct size. I am using Alan Gibson short handrail knobs as fulcrums. Everything has gone together quite easily, mostly due to the brilliance of High Level's designs. I determined that the middle axle will be the easiest to drive, the rear would interfere with the cab too much. So Spacesaver hornblocks were fitted to the middle axle with standard hornblocks at both ends. Unfortunately It was at this point I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures yet. So there is one of the first frame and one of the two together.


    That's it for now. I'll put it together in the next few days.
  10. garethashenden
    Being a student, funds are tight. Small bits can be acquired here and there but complete locomotive kits are out of the question. So when Empire Mills received a donation of a Hornby GWR 1400 I took the opportunity to do something with it. After letting it mature for about 18 months I decided the best thing to do was cut it up and make a 517 instead. This fits well with the Edwardian era china clay layout that will be Empire Mills' next incarnation.
     
    After studying a number of pictures and drawings it appears that the cab and bunker must go for any 517 conversion. To make an earlier 517 the Belpaire firebox must go as well. The piercing was was located, blade inserted and cab and bunker separated from boiler and tanks. The firebox next met with the same fate and everything was cleaned up with a couple of files. Most of the top feed was removed with the saw with the remainder and piping falling victim of a file.
     
    The state of things:


     
     
    More parts to be removed include the two boxes on the splashers, most of the detail on the smokebox door, and the buffers which will be replaced with Alan Gibson early GWR sprung buffers.
     
    As I mentioned in my last post I also have Duncan's 517 kit to build. This is an Alan Gibson kit in whitemetal and etchings. I will primarily use photographs as a guide but some parts, such as the cab, will be copied from the etched components. From now on I will refer to mine as 517[1] and Duncan's as 517[2]. With 517[1] in its current condition I compared what I had to the whitemetal tank castings from 517[2]. There was a quite noticable difference in height between the two tanks. Back to the drawings, it turns out that 517s have tanks which are 6" shorter than 1400 tanks. I also discovered that the boiler is mounted 6" lower as well. Now that would be a sizable amount of cutting and reattaching, something that I am invariably not going to get square. If I were just building one model I probably wouldn't bother. I certainly wouldn't have noticed. But since I have the two, and they could conceivably run together, they should both be as accurate as possible.
     
    So that's where things stand now. Trying to find the courage to cut things up again.
    For the mechanism I have decided to use Alan Gibson milled frames, a High Level gearbox, High Level CSBs, and split chassis pickups. I thought about using either the High Level or Comet chassis kits but I decided that by the time I had built it the way I wanted I would have thrown out too much of the kit to make it worthwhile.
  11. garethashenden
    Following yesterday's accusations that everything was my fault I must insist that actually, it's Duncan's fault. We started building the layout, then he moved to Portsmouth.
    I should probably clarify that my primary interest is in the Boston & Maine railroad c. 1950. So saying I know very little about EM gauge is an understatement at this point. But none the less, here I am in charge of an EM gauge layout with not much more than a vague idea of how to build it.
    So it is, as you can see for yourself, Duncan's fault, not mine.
     
    The layout has it's own blog so this will mostly be a blog of things I do at home. Some things that will appear:
    Gibson 850PT
    Gibson 517 (Duncan's)
    517 from something that once was a Hornby 14xx
    Mainline Dean Goods
    Gibson 1076PT (Duncan's and almost finished despite what he will tell you)
    Gibson 850ST (Duncan's again)
    Bunch of private owner coal wagons (on the Empire project's blog)
    LNWR coal wagons (I've seen pictures of them in Cornwall, don't argue!)
    GWR red wagons
    A pair of bufferstops for Copenhagen Fields
    Finishing my 2mm Jinty.
    Etc.
     
    Should be done with that lot by the end of the day I think.
  12. garethashenden
    So we have the track for the permanent section of the layout, built on cartridge paper in two sections (as there are two baseboards).


    That was just before Christmas 2012.
    In late January or early February 2013 the baseboards arrived:

    The track laid down:

    And a train (with kindly loaned stock) running!

    The layout was exhibited in this state on the demonstration stand at Alexandra Palace 2013. Throughout the next nine months progress was slowly made, most notably the addition of the track on the two lift-out sections at the back of the layout. Which brings us to January 2014:

    The basis of scenery progressed with the addition of carpet underlay:

    By mid-March things had progressed to such a stage that there was even a sky!

    The arch really helps the layout come together.

    A closeup of a couple of wagons, Alex Jackson couplings much in evidence.

     
    And finally; the layout performing at Alexandra Palace 2014:


  13. garethashenden
    Having removed a sizable portion of scenery yesterday I was informed this morning that the BBC would be filming something in the club later this week and could I please position some stock on the layout. I've spent my afternoon at the club making both the new loading dock and the platform on the large clay dry presentable.
     
    The foamboard we had cut to rough shape was used as a base. All of this will have to be redone properly in the future so I wanted to make disassembly easy. I used double sided tape throughout. First the layers were stacked, then brick sheet was cut to form the two visible sides.

    The tops of the platform was then covered in tape to which ballast was applied. I sprinkled dark green ground foam around the edges to hide the joints

    The large platform presented more of a problem. There is lots of blue foam visible and lots of cut outs for ladders.

    I decided that the cut outs were too much effort for something temporary. If we had had any stone sheet I might have acted differently but brick was all that we had.

    The top edge of the platform does not bear close inspection but overall it is much more presentable and I am please with the result.


    About 90 minutes work.
  14. garethashenden
    Yesterday we had our first official layout group meeting. Probably should have done it sooner, but better late than never. In this we discussed follow up from Ally Pally, things that went well and things that didn't. We also covered what needs to be done before our next outing (Portsmouth in November) and who is to do what. Up until now the layout has gone in the back of a 7.5T truck with other stuff/layouts for AP, but this has to change. We had originally intended to have the layout fit in the back of an estate car, and now I have six months to figure out how to do it. This will possibly include some modifications to how the layout goes together so that it can be set up more easily and by fewer people.
     
    Duncan produced a comprehensive list of all the tasks that need doing and they have mostly been allocated. They range from simple things such as "This building needs a bit more detail around the base" to middling difficulty "We need a box for the large clay dry to transport and store it safely" to the complex "How on Earth do we fit all of this into the back of a car?"
     
    After the current option had been "finished" we moved on to discussing what we wanted to do next. The layout is designed so that the industries at the back and the track that serve them are removable. Once they have been removed we can then insert two new boards complete with a new industry. This allows us to change the location and operating company with ease. This way everyone can model their own interests with the support of everyone else and under the umbrella of one layout project. Unfortunately this does come with the disadvantage that anything done on the permanent front part of the layout must be vague enough to work everywhere in the country and anytime between 1830 and now.
     
    With the completion of the China Clay option it was time to start discussing seriously what we wanted to do next. We started off with defining what would be expected of anyone proposing to lead an option. They would be expected to do the majority of the research and organisation. There would also be a need to provide a set number of complete trains as well as several locomotives. Lists of required stock should also be produced so that other members of the group could contribute accurate stock if they wished. Everyone has ideas for options that they'd like to do, some are more developed than others but that's fine as we can only do one at a time.
     
    Finally, we had class. There had been interest expressed amongst the group in learning how to build whitemetal kits. Everyone brought in a kit to work on and Duncan set to explaining the procedures for cleaning up castings and them soldering them together. We aim to cover other areas of finescale modelling that are of interest to the group and you certainly don't have to be an EM modeller to get something out of it.
     
    Here is the team (with two 2mm observers) looking on while Duncan discusses the types of joints one can encounter in a kit.

  15. garethashenden
    We will be at the London Festival of Railway Modelling at Alexandra Palace the 28/29 of March. As this is now less than two weeks away, we have been working frantically to get the layout presentable. Since the last post the entire team has been working hard and the sort of stuff we have been doing includes:
    Making a new 'roof' for the layout which will have an LED lighting rig attached to it (Gareth - who incidentally showed that, despite being an American, he has a full and extensive grasp of Anglo-saxon idiom and vernacular language when the N gauge group decided to traipse across the area where he was working. Fortunately they had small feet.....)
    Making a number of saplings for the layout (Ivan)
    Painting and turning Scalelnk etched bracken into withered winter examples rather than lush summer vegetation (Duncan, Ivan)
    Painting Scalelink water plants (Les)
    Positioning the water plants (Duncan)
    Adding banks of nettles and brambles to the layout (Duncan, Les, Ivan)
    Cajoling of the electrics (Gareth)
    Weathering and painting of the large china clay dry (Chris, Gareth)
    Detailing the large dry (Chris)
    Building and installing the platelayers hut (Duncan)
    Painting the platelayers hut (and fixing the bits Duncan broke off trying to install it) (Les)
    Experiencing the tedium of repeatedly drilling holes for fence post and gluing fence posts in place (Ivan, Les and when cornered, Duncan)
    Building and painting a store or mess hut for either the clay dries or the loco crews and shunter based on an ex-broad gauge wagon - but we haven't quite decided which yet (Gareth)
    Airbrushing 'dirt' over the track and ballast (Duncan)
    Toning down the banks of nettles, brambles and bracken (Duncan)
    Adding the layouts workforce and the wagon full of empty casks (Gareth)
    Fixing the small dry in place and bedding in the scenery surrounding it (Gareth, Les)
    Airbrushing the road surface (Duncan)
    Laying more carpet underlay as rough grass, and then cutting and teasing it into shape (Duncan)

    There are lots of areas that have been worked on recently of which we don't have photographs. These include the fencing along the front of the layout. This has been made from Slaters posts and will be strung with ez line. Also unphotographed is the very nicely painted platelayer's hut. You'll have to come to the exhibition and photograph it yourself!
     
    The carefully painted water plants have been planted, they didn't go as far as expected, so more have been ordered.

     
     
    The platform now has a population and a bit of character. The figures are mounted on brass wire so that they can be removed for a change of eras, the horse and cart are likewise removable.

  16. garethashenden
    The Model Railway Club's Autumn Open Day is Tomorrow 16/11/14. Empire Mills will be operating along with Copenhagen Fields, Lacey Dale and a visiting 3mm layout.
     
    11 to 4 at Keen House, Kings Cross, London. £3 for non-members.
     
    http://themodelrailwayclub.org/
     
    Come by and say hello.
  17. garethashenden

    Long time, no blog

    By garethashenden,

    Time for an update.
     
    Over the summer we have been poking away at various projects on the layout and things are really starting to come together.
     
    I've been working on a few early GWR wagons the past few weeks. Here is a mostly finished David Keen kit in front of one of the clay dries. Just need to finish the lettering and add couplings. Maybe a bit of weathering too.
     

     
    I've got back to the water feature. I gave the whole thing a healthy coating of gloss varnish to simulate wet mud. In the end it came out better than I could have planned. Some parts either dried matt or flowed off without my noticing so there are "wet" and "dry" areas of mud producing an effect that is more realistic than if I had only applied the gloss to some areas.
     



     
    Chris has been proceeding with the large clay dry. The mortar was washed in a few weeks ago and now the stone colour is going on. It is painted all over and then individual stones are picked out. It will then be dry-brushed to bring it all together.
     


     
    I briefly investigated an electrical fault. One of the points has lost some power to the frog. There is power when it is set one way but not the other. It's fine with bogie diesels but small steam engines stop dead. I've found the fault but didn't feel like breaking out the soldering iron at the end of the day, so it goes on the to-do list.
     
    Finally, I spent a while thinking about the scenery on the left hand side of the layout. It looks fine around the edges but between the tracks looks pretty bad. Bad enough that I've made a tread just for it. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/90327-what-would-you-do-with-this-area/
     


     
    Thanks for looking!
  18. garethashenden
    I have made a point using FS 160 standards. These are basically 2mmFS standards regauged to 9.0mm instead of 9.42mm. I've been wanting to try this for a while, now I have. I'm quite please with how it came out and will be continuing with these standards. Lots of pictures:











  19. garethashenden
    Now that the chassis is mostly done it's time to do the body. This is all pretty standard etched kit building, so how about more pictures than words?
     
    Forming the curved splashers was a bit fiddly, but not too hard. The option front steps were added as they are present on my prototype (1907). The half cab was folded up and soldered in position followed by the cab floor and cab wheel covers.

     
    One issue with building the locomotive with a split chassis is that the footplate will cause a short. Enter another 2mm trick. Cover the bottom of the footplate in cigarette rolling paper, soak with superglue and leave to dry. This will leave a thin layer of insulation. The insides of the bufferbeams must be covered as well, something that I am only thinking of as I write....
    Before:

    Fully covered:

    Cut to shape:

     
    The sides were then soldered to the base of the tanks. The top has been left off until final positioning of the gearbox has been done. The bunker was then soldered up.
     
    Everything positioned but not attached:

     
    I'm afraid all of these pictures are a bit rubbish. Hope to do better next time...
  20. garethashenden
    Continuing from this post, I've made lots of progress on these wagons, they're almost done. I received some quite helpful advice from the original designer of the kits. The etched floor is a newer addition to the kit and explains why I have been having so much trouble with it. A suggestion of single brakes was met with enthusiasm by me and promptly fitted to the three wagons without brakes.
    I decided to invent a coal merchant and name it after a friend so I hand lettered all the wagons for C. STEELE in white. That looked a little plain so I added yellow shading. I think they look rather good. Here's the first one being tested on the layout. Imagine the class 25 is actually a Great Western saddle tank...

     
    Here is a different wagon with most of the shading done.

    The full rake positioned on the layout

     
    Fitting these with couplings was an interesting experience. There is a very nice jig which holds Alex Jackson couplings at the correct angle and correctly positioned relative to the buffers. Unfortunately, it mounts on the buffers. I eventually worked out a system whereby I held the jig about where it should be, positioned the coupling on a bit of copperclad, then poked it with a soldering iron. This worked well enough although they will need fine tuning. I ran out of wire before I finished the wagons so there is one still to go. Additionally, one still needs the iron work picked out in black, there is at least one period missing and some of the shading needs touching up. Oh, and two still need their brakes finishing.
  21. garethashenden
    Water runs down hill. So, front and centre should be the wettest part of the layout because it it the lowest. I always find myself drawn to water on layouts so I thought I'd add something. The first problem is that there is no space for a sizable water feature. Adding to this, most of the basic landscaping had already been done, the hills are in place along with brambles and a tree so really all that can be done is the hint of water beyond the layout. The edge of a pond or marsh, even a small stream, just out of sight.
     
    Started off simply enough. Bit of plasticard, 60 thou I think. A4 sheet, cut about an inch off the short end. The sheet didn't need much trimming to shape as the carpet underlay grass has a fair amount of give. The plasticard was evostuck to the layout, careful to be level and flush with the top of the facia. Then painted grey and sprinkled with N gauge ballast.
     

     
    Once that had dried I spread a bead of PVA around the edge and everyone joined in adding reeds made from excess bits of underlay.
     

     
    That's the state of things as the moment. On Thursday I will have an opportunity to add a few different varieties of reeds. I also have some finer material to add in with the ballast. Once that's done I'll use a bit of gloss varnish to make it look wet.
  22. garethashenden
    My tastes in railways (particularly British ones) tends towards the unusual. I am completely uninterested in BR steam, for example, and find myself increasingly drawn to pre-grouping, if not Victorian, railways. While I can't claim to be a fan of the Great Western, Duncan's desire to model Edwardian GWR is at least the right era. While perusing the bay of E a few months ago I happened across a lot for five identical white metal kits for dumb buffered private owner coal wagons. Now dumb buffers tick the boxes when it comes to unusual. I know they haven't always counted as unusual, but they do now. While dumb buffered wagons were on the decline in our 1905-1914 timeline, they are not entirely out of place. So I bought the kits. They are Chatham kits, the prototype is a Parry wagon, quite common to the North London Railway.
     
    The kits arrived and I had a look at the instructions. This is where the problems began. The instructions say to fit the ends between the sides, add the etched floor, the solebars, and the w-irons. Simple enough right?
     
    Problem number 1; If assembled in this manner the etched floor is too long. If one of the etched planks is removed, however, it now fits. So that's what I did. Having so far assembled the body I then went to fit the wheels. Two etched w-irons are supplied, one of which can be made to rock if desired. While I generally think that compensation is a good idea, I wasn't too impressed with the rocking mechanism so I opted to build the wagon rigid. Using the semicircular ironwork on the solebar as a guide, I installed the w-irons. All was well, until;
     
    Problem number 2; The brakes don't fit! These wagons have two brakes on one side with rather larger wooden blocks. These are set to a 9' wheelbase. Unfortunately, the castings on the solebars are set to 8'6". A file was retrieved from the box of tools ans steel brakes were produced. Oh well, I've got four more anyway and variety is nice. Right?
     
    Wagon number 1:

     
    Wagon Number 2.
    About a week later I decided to have another go at these wagons. I figured I must have made a mistake somewhere with the last one, this time I'd do it the other way around, maybe that would solve the problems. So i fitted the sides between the ends. This made the wagon longer and narrower than the first, but the floor fitted with a problem!! Ok good, progress. It should be mentioned at this point that I decided to solder this wagon. Having superglued the first I thought I should improve my white metal soldering skills and that this would be the thing to practice on. So, the body is soldered together, now fit the solebars, done, no problems. Fit the w-irons, fit the brakes. The brakes still don't fit. Ugh.
     
    Got a new kit, opened it up and compared the parts. There are markings on the underside of the floor to aid fitting the w-irons. It's just a half-etched line to be lined up with a fully etched line in the w-irons. Not high tech (or actually helpful). When these lines were compared to the ironwork on the cast solebars the source of the problems was made clear. The detail on the solebars was in the wrong place. Ok, so here's the plan; two wagons with an 8'6" wheelbase, three with a 9' wheelbase. Keep things interesting.
     
    It was at this point that I compared the two wagons. Uh oh, those buffers don't line up. I went and found some other wagons and compared everything. The second wagon had had the solebars fitted too far out. The should have been trimmed to fit around the end. This will need to come off, be fettled, and go back on. Still on the to-do list.
     
    The underside of number 2 during construction.

     
    Wagon number 3
    For this one I decided I would remove the erroneous details from the solebars before assembling the wagon. File, whitemetal, job done. Having learned from the mistakes of wagon number 2, I filled the backs of the buffers so that they will fit. I got a bit carried away with one and it will need some filler. Wagon and solebars assembled, everything looks good, still need to fit the w-irons.
     
    This picture of the three wagons shows the problems with number 2's buffers. It's the one in the middle.

     
    Wagons 4&5
    For these I will build them as I built wagon number 1. Trim the floor, stick everything together. I will alter the wheelbase so that it is 9'.
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