Captain Kernow

We didn't set out to build a race track, but someone did get a bit carried away with the unripened flying banana...

Last night at DRAG, we held the official 'opening' of TT2, with five trains running at the same time on each of the five circuits (4 x P4 and 1 x OO). With other stock lined up on the loops as well, the 'start line' looked most impressive! Getting ready: Some individual items running before the 'grand ceremony'... Dave Browne's J52: Nick Cann's 108: 10800 & Re6/6's 11-CEP My Class 25 makes for unexpected motive power on the 'Dawlish Donkey' set: By happy coincidence, Mike Ainsworth, Secretary of the Scalefour Society, was visiting that evening, and watches the preparations on the other side of the test track, whilst 10800 tackles something on his Lion: The line-up starts to collect: And of course,

A brilliant idea, if I may say so!

I've finally tackled one of those jobs that I've been putting off for a while - adjusting the sharpness of the curve into the main fiddle yard on 'Engine Wood'. Whilst generally around 2' 6"+ in radius, a very short section was inadvertantly laid rather sharper some years ago, which some of my locos didn't like. As a result, I've lifted the very sharp track, tidied up the board and re-laid it with new track and a re-aligned cassette 'docking station'. This took most of the afternoon, but I also took the opportunity to test the two new sets of coaches with their close coupling over the curves, plus a bit of track weathering in the station (also long-overdue). General view, showing a still-unweathered 82041 (built in 1995!) coupled to the Maunsell set, waiting to run over the newly-laid curve: A cruel close-up of the tunnel portal: D6318 in the fiddle yard, waiting to test the curve with the other new set of coaches, a pair of Bachmann Mark 1s: And is held at the home signal upon emerging from the tunnel: 53804 is the next test subject: ...and is captured immediately prior to exiting the tunnel: With Railex only just over 3 weeks away, the priority now is to finish weathering the two sets of coaches, complete one or two minor repairs to other stock and put the full layout up for testing in a week or so. Unfortunately, I doubt that I will have time to finish 82044 in time for the show, so that will have to wait.

Thanks for those shots - it's great to be able to see images of railway activity in other countries!

Well yes, technically that is true, as has been said by others. Phil said in his posting on this thread 'horses for courses'. I think I've got to go along with that philosophy. Some things irritate me on models, others do not. I will admit to having a pet hate of GW locos where the smokebox door is obviously wrong, such as the Airfix/Hornby 14XX. But with regards to the Heljan Western, I've got to ask the question, if the roof profile bothers you, then that's fair enough, but is it wrong enough to make the model look like something else? Does it look like a Hymek, for example - answer - 'no!' Does it look like a Black 5 - answer - 'no!' So what does the model look like, when you put it on the track - answer - a 'Western!' I'm all in favour of getting models 'spot on', and might even buy a Dapol Western myself, if it's as good as they say it will be. I'm also planning to get one of those new perfect Class 33s from Rail Exclusives, not because I'm then going to junk my existing Heljan one, but because it would be nice to have a 'perfect' Class 33. In the meantime, I'm far more likely to need counselling over the poor running qualities of certain Bachmann steam locos than the appearance of my Heljan Western or Class 33!

It's been a busy week and today I've had the first chance since last weekend to do a bit more on the new chassis for 82044. To re-cap, it's a Bachmann body, but the chassis just wouldn't run smoothly until I dismantled all the valve gear. Having seen how essentially loose and apparently wobbly the valve gear was, I decided to build a replacement chassis, based on a Comet kit for a 76XXX 2-6-0. The Comet side frames needed a lot of alteration to fit the Bachmann body, and they also needed to be extended at the rear, due to the fact that this was now going on a 2-6-2T and not a 2-6-0. Today I fitted the driving wheels, having first taken a tad off the flanges to give a slightly more satisfactory appearance. Yes, I'm using Romfords, despite there not being the correct number of spokes. This project is all about using up some of the stuff I've had in the Nutkin Store for years... And anyway, no one has thus far tried to count the number of spokes on my other 82XXX at exhibitions... Having soldered up the coupling rod overlays, these were fitted, together with the crankpins and retaining washers on the outer wheels and the whole thing directly wired into the motor and given a test on the bench. To my relief, it all worked nice and smoothly first time. Having said that, I'd have been slightly disappointed if it hadn't, given the very basic, uncompensated chassis... Rear chassis extension:

I can only echo what Mike has said, Robin, it's wonderful work. And you're adding the rivets as well! (will they actually be visible?! ) What I would appreciate would be a photo showing the Proxxon machine with a typical 'cut' in progress, please?

Lovely stuff Mikkel, four minutes well-spent, and CTMK also thought it was wonderful!

Hi Kelly, I'd have thought that your 18w iron would be a good place to start with soldering brass, provided you aren't planning to solder huge areas. On the other hand, a 25w iron could give you that little bit more 'oomph'. There are others on here more qualified than me to comment on irons. What I use is a variable temperature Antex iron, with a small dial on the handle to control the temperature. I actually use the Antex iron to solder whitemetal as well, provided the bits aren't too small and/or too thin (in which case, glueing may always be the recommended course of action). Carrs 145 (marketed as 'detailing solder', I believe) will actually be OK for a lot of applications (well, I use it a lot for all kinds of things, not just 'detailing', and it works just fine). The higher temperature solders do, however, allow you to make joints which will then (in theory) sustain a further, lower-temperature joint close by, using the 145. You will get various suggestions for flux, but I use Carrs Green label for most applications, except whitemetal soldering, for which you need their Red label. One tip when soldering brass to whitemetal is to thinly tin the brass surface first with 145 or 188 solder, then use the 70 solder to join the whitemetal to the brass. Brass strip can be got from Eileens with no difficulty, or from modelshops with a 'K&S Metal Centre' or similar. Bits of whitemetal are a bit more problematic if you are looking to purchase some, probably easier to ask folk on here it they could send you odd bits lurking in the bottom of their kit boxes. Many kits supply alternative parts, so after building your chosen loco etc., you are sometimes left with spare bits of whitemetal. Same goes for bits of brass off-cuts - you might as well ask the good burghers of RMWeb to send you a few bits they don't need any more...

Yeah, but if you don't ask, you don't get....!

Just a quick entry, this, because I have to get back to the hair shirt.... I managed to dismantle the Bachmann chassis for 82044 and found, after some cleaning and careful re-assembly of the side rods only, that the problem was in the valve gear. The basic 0-6-0 chassis ran reasonably well with wires directly soldered to the motor and the valve gear and cylinders removed. I found one of the connecting rods quite badly bent and twisted. They are of very hard metal, so it could not have been careless handling on my part. After that, however, and having had a long, hard look at the way it is all so loose and just wobbles all over the place, I decided that I wasn't going to do any more with it, so it has been discarded in favour of the modified Comet option. So, I am currently building a Comet 76XXX chassis, with extensions soldered on the back, and have spent most of today doing that for one of the side frames, carefully modifying it so that it fits the Bachmann body. I'm not quite there with it yet, however, as more major surgery is necessary to the Comet chassis around the cylinder area. I've built the cylinders and slide bar assembly already, because that really has to be in the right relationship to the body before much more is done to get the chassis running. I had a spare Mashima 1620 round can motor and DJH 50:1 gear box, which I'm using for the project as well.