Dave Holt

Hi Morgan.

Thanks for your kind comment.

From what you say, I think it is the Reidinger version, with exposed UJ's. Regarding UJ in drive shafts, I made my own out of 1.5 mm O/D tube for my BR Standard 5 Caprotti which look quite convincing (modest or what?). I filed two prongs on the end of the tube then sliced it off as close to the base of the prongs as possible, leaving a thin disc with the two prongs standing up. Two of these, face to face, with the prongs at 90 degrees, mounted on a central brass wire created a reasonable UJ assembly. I'll PM you a sketch as I can'y see how to add it here.

Dave.

Len,

I've recently finished off my Crab, Jubilee and Caprotti Black 5. all of which have appeared in the blog. My Fowler 3P tank needs glazing, a crew and coal to complete. Otherwise, the only part completed locos left are the Ivatt version of the Class 2 tank (Bachmann body on a Comet chassis) and a second Brassmasters Black 5 (frames assembled but not much else).

Needless to say, I've got loads of kits not yet started and I will have to give some thought to the order of priority for these, in due course.

Dave.

In this latest post, I alluded to knocking bits off and having to remove some new items. Well, today I addressed one or two of those items.

First, I modified and refitted the representations of the steam heat and train brake pipe below and behind the front buffer beam. The original versions had been catching the top of the front pony truck frame, preventing it from swinging freely and had to be removed. OK now.

One of the items which came off during handling was the speedometer "cable". This is soldered under the footplate below the cab and is very vulnerable when the body is off the chassis. It has now been re-attached, but greater care will be needed in future to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again.

I had fitted an Alex Jackson coupling at the back end only to enable trains to be pulled during trial running some years ago. Fairly early on in the finishing off project, I managed to get the hook caught through my jumper. Try as I might, I couldn't disentangle it so decided to just pull it out, thinking it would snap a thread in the jumper. Oh no! Instead, the hook snapped off the shank at the 180 degree bend at the nose. (It still pulled a thread, so I had the worst of both worlds.) Anyway, I've made and fitted a replacement AJ and also fitted one to the front.

Just waiting for the final etched parts now.

Dave.

I've never had or used an RSU but you make it sound quite a useful tool, especially where lots of overlays are used. It's always hard to get solder to flow in to the middle using a conventional iron and I find that with pre-tinned surfaces, it is still difficult to be sure you've re-melted the solder when laminating. Perhaps I should seriously consider acquiring an RSU.

Nice to see progress with this and the layout.

Dave.

They're going to look a bit out of place behind a Crab, Jubilee or rebuilt Scot, though!

Dave.

Robin,

Looking very nice, but 26 still to go - sounds like a mega task!

Dave.

Hi Dave.

I must say, I was a bit bemused by this post and struggling to figure out what the photos related to. Then I noticed your previous post, of the same date, to which the photos obviously relate. It appears to be a feature of the "Blogs" section that only one post per person is shown at any one moment in time, so if you post an update or correction, the previous version disappears from view. Most confusing! I've had the same happen to me.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations, but at least you're now getting back into modelling and also have some more comfortable (in winter) accommodation.

Best wishes,

Dave.

Excellent, Robin. Amazing, isn't it, that a loco with no real suspension can run so well when, often, our sprung or compensated efforts hurl themselves from the track with seeming gay abandon. Probably a lesson there.

Good to see it all working nicely.

Got to get those fiddle yard sidings done now!

Dave.

Robin,

I heartily agree with the complements already made. That train looks wonderful gliding past a few locos on shed. Very evocative. Not so sure about the rake of coaches in the yard, though?

Regarding the train being pulled by a steam loco, I look forward to seeing whatever you put on the front! Might have a few suitable candidates myself......

Dave.

Thanks for the comment, Robin. It's some time since I painted the bridge so I can't guarantee my memory but, as you say, it was primed with Halfords grey plastic primer. The basic stone colour was an enamel of a suitable base shade. The soot effect is matt black enamel applied by dabbing/rubbing with kitchen roll, if I remember correctly.

The bridge still needs some further washes to blend it all in and give some tone variation, perhaps with a hint of green to suggest moss/lichen?

Yes, I really must arrange a visit to Barrow Road, so I'll be in touch shortly.

Dave.

Thanks for the kind comments. Hope I can maintain the standard(!) with the body. I think the push-pull gear will be a challenge as the DJH effort is so grossly wrong.

I'll take some photos of the chassis and keeper plate arrangement when I disassemble them for painting.

Dave.

David.

For what it's worth, I think the second arrangement looks visually more interesting. But there again, I like "gubbins"!

Dave.

That's running very smoothly, Robin, despite any difficulties with the conversion. Obviously worth the effort and whatever pick-up arrangement you settled on appears to be working well.

How much work have you had to do to the body? Ex Midland loco with tall chimney, RH drive, etc. Deeley or Johnson tender?

Interestingly, that loco appears to have had an early demise as it's not listed in the 1959 shed book.

Dave.

Hi Robin.

That all looks very well thought out and neatly executed. I've incorporated a dead section for the last half metre leading to the fiddle yard on "Holt" which will be fed from the fiddle yard area when a cassette is in position.

I must say, your safety barriers appear rather substantial - designed to stop a scale 600 ton train traveling at 150 mph?

The first photo caused a double take with me thinking the curved plain track was not layed, so I presume it's an older photo than the others, as you've clearly got a full, continuous circuit now.

Dave.

Hi Robin.

It must be most satisfying to have stuff running right round at last. Very smooth, too. Interesting sounds though!

Dave.

Your re-aligned track looks good. It's odd how once the idea forms that something isn't quite right, it burrows into your brain until you can't see anything else and it just has to be sorted out. I'm sure you'll keep looking at the new arrangement and think "Yeh!"

The other good point you make is that however long one leaves a job, or divert on to alternative projects, the issue doesn't seem to resolve itself. I kept putting off the cobbled area in the goods yard on Delph/Holt, but months later, when I went back to it, it had failed to do itself in the meantime. I was quite put out.

Of course, when I did get down to it, the whole thing was easier than I had anticipated, as is nearly always the case.

Happy modelling in 2018.

Dave.

David,

Thanks for your kind comments. Mr Clarke has also suggested it looks far too clean for a Caprotti, so I have invited him to render it "more prototypical" if he wishes, so I'll see what happens.

Dave.

Very smooth running, Robin. Sprung stuff does seem to have that nice, steady, solid sort of running.

I bet you feel very pleased to have got something moving through the fiddle yard - a nice little pre-Christmas present to yourself!

Best wishes for Christmas and New Year to you.

Dave.

That seams an unusually short baseboard, or am I missing something? Glad to hear your making progress and getting stuff moving.

Dave.

It's looking very good and neat. Are you using a fixed driven rear axle and a single compensating beam between the front driven axle and the centre of the bogie?

Dave.

Robin,

Wiring looking very neat and tidy, as always. There are quite a few wires connecting to your point motors, so I imagine some of them are for polarity switching using on-board contacts? I fitted Tortoise motors but used extra poles on the panel switches to switch polarity as I'd read that the on-board contacts were not all that reliable. Of course, my approach vastly increased the number of wires to and from the panel and I ended up with rather more pins in my board connectors!

The mechanical linkages under the point operating units look very complex but very neat and well engineered. They put my efforts with plastic sliders and "00" rail rodding, to shame and no mistake.

Dave.

David,

Well, they move on my bit of test track! Now they are all DCC chipped, I can't really test them on Clarenden as it's DC only and has different DIN sockets to my DCC unit. I'm hoping to give them a run at the NLG Christmas meeting.

Dave.

Like the Class 40 - my favorite diesel locos. I've got one of the latest 6 axle drive Bachmann examples (in plain green) to convert using Penbits sprung bogies. Might be the next project after your 4F chassis!

Dave.

Robin,

All very neat and simple looking, as per the previous boards. Is that a splendidly isolated turntable pit in the corner?

Dave.

Thanks, gents.

I think I was a bit lucky as it turned out I hadn't done a particularly good job of soldering the original side on !

Dave.