SteveBedding

Now if you are really looking for a building 'challenge'... ...then you've got the complete 'set' (PS don't get me started on the other great railway classic - The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery )

Yes, yes, yes... ...you just know that it makes sense...

[slight diversion off topic... - part of my selection criteria for SWMBO#2: 1) Must like trains... 2) Must cook... I must have got lucky second time round as a) SWMBO#2 likes trains and n-gauge in particular (she's learning slowly about being converted to 2mmFS...), and B) she's a trained chef end of diversion]. Back to the classics; how about this for a cameo somewhere on the 'back' of the layout (where the 'straight' joins the 'curve', furthest from window)... ...and just to keep the inspirational mojo flowing ...a suggestion for an Autocoach interior?

Surely, that's still too fast - I think the historical precedent was clearly defined in the Titfield Thunderbolt - not to exceed an avarage speed of 25mph...

Looking very nice Kris. The addition of paint to the scultptamold does seem to make a big difference in reducing that brilliant white glow! Though, 6 days does seem to be a bit long to dry out - I think you may have put it on a bit thick... ... I think this is an oportunity to learn from your experience Just how long does it take to get round the layout at a 'reasonable' speed? I'm sure you could get dizzy in your swivel chair if you try to follow a train thats going too fast - more importantly - is the chair the one offered in the Not the Nine O'Clock News sketch on business negotiations.... ?

Oops - I was having a senior moment . By brass plates I meant the very nice bracket that you had used to fit the motor... ...and for some unknown reason I had thought the body only came down as far as a line level with the buffers. Having looked back over previous entries (particularly Part VIII) shows that the side skirts (for better word) actually have the details already etched in... ...I should have just assumed that you would have had it covered

Coming on nicely - although you say you're mojo isn't all there, it hasn't affected the quality of the work. How are you going to 'detail' the sides of those brass plates - I know that just about each one of the railcars was different in some respect, but I I thought that the 'bit underneath' had some detailing (grills?) Keep working at it - It will be interesting to see your one alongside a Farish version...

The upside of a slack period at work (though that'll probably change in the next week or so), is that I have been able to 'abuse' the training budgets - of course it is all in the name of professional development and for the benefit of the organisation... ...but if it is of 'personal' gain, then so much the better.... Concurrently studying Service Management, Integrated Logistic Support, and a Project Management qualification has left me with a head that is full of conflicting (and some may say meaningless) jargon - and seriously reduced time for the important things in life - ie the layout . However some progress has been made this weekend, though even this has been limited by the running of all 10 Star Trek films on Film 4... . Board Joints Following from my previous post, with the three boards now mainly complete, the track-beds have to be levelled/sanded across the joints and the end panels need to be profiled. The joints between boards 1 & 2 was the simplest, the high ground to the south (front of layout) had been roughed out previously and only needed minor smoothing, and at the far side, the platform, buildings (water tower etc), and station forecourt run close to the rear edge. Between boards 2 & 3 the profile needs to be more accurately shaped. The ground level slopes down south to north following the stream bed that leads down to the river. The track bed is on an embankment with the stream passing through a culvert at the edge of board 3. The picture also shows the first part of the scenic back-scene structure (temporarily fitted). Having looked closely at a number of layouts and especially how the back-scene has been implemented, I have decided to go for a fixed scene set approximately 300mm above the track bed datum. This was chosen as a balance between having a good depth, but not being too high for the operator to reach over (when working from behind the layout) - being a 'shorty' I may still need a footstool . I have still to cut the access hole through to the fiddle yard/cassette store, but this will have to wait until the track plan is stuck down and the exact position known. The last picture shows the detail of one of the end panels - in addition to the bolts used to connect the boards, I have fitted brass Cabinet Makers Dowels to be more precise in the accurate alignment. These were chosen as I had a small stock available; they have a clearance of 0.2mm - 0.3mm which may be good enough... ...so far, I'm quite happy with the way these are working, but until I've got to actually laying some track over the joint, then I'll be more convinced. If necessary I can either replace or augment them with Pattern Makers Dowels (clearance 0.05mm). The next steps are to mark up, cut, and lay down the high grade 3mm ply that will act as the 'underlay' for the track - Ooh - the excitement is starting to build as I can foresee actual laying of track starting soon... :D

Looking good Kris and nice to see more progress happing on Avonwick . Just where is the good farmer and Daisy, are they busy at work, or wandering off round the rest of the trackbed 'supervising'? The sculptamold does look good with the colouring added - how long did it take to dry eventually? Chris - "spherical objects" is all I can say to your disparaging comment . There is only one railway worth modelling and it isn't Red! (OK so maybe some of the diesel hydraulic D800s and Westerns were later, but that doesn't count (...I'll admit that Midland does come a close second though...)

At the moment, the boards are only connected by the bolts, I'll be fitting the locating dowels when all the ends have been finished (varnished) and that's when I'll do the 'landscaping' of the profiles and the final sanding of the trackbed to ensure that the levels are continuous. The picture below shows the rough outlines of the required profiles to suit the landscape - its not something that is easy to draw/plan but is better suited to actually 'doing' (but I do need to have a rough idea first )

As expected the past week or so has had too many distractions and too much fun which has got in the way of quality modelling time (oh, and that work thing gets in way as well... ). Last weekend I was able to get to the Chippenham Model Railway Show - was made very welcome by Neal and the other members of the BMRG - many thanks indeed . The layouts were most impressive, but my particular interest there was to see Black Dog Halt; as this was part of the Calne Branch, it has an especial attraction - many photos taken for future reference, but these two pictures (travelling from Stanley Bridge towards Calne) give a feel for the simplicity and clean lines of the station. It does show that (for a future project ), it is very straight forward for Smokey Bacon to be developed further along the line of the Calne Branch... ...though a 20ft L-shaped layout has not been given design approval by SWMBO! This weekend got even better as I was allowed out to go to the Farnham & District MRC show at Aldershot on Saturday. I went as an 'apprentice driver' with Mark Cox who was exhibiting his layout Witney Euston for the first time (it has been 'out' before at the 2mm Association Expo earlier this year, but that was a mainly in-house event and not fully exposed to the harsh realities of public scrutiny...) It was a highly enjoyable day - spent most of it laughing! But more importantly, it was very useful in getting an appreciation of working the exhibition circuit. Also, it was a valuable experience in gaining some 'best practice' pointers: If possible, set up the night before - allows the layout to 'settle' and 'acclimatise' in the room/hall, Loco's need to be kept warm overnight - minimises 'running-in' time first thing in the morning, Keep cassettes to a manageable length! DG couplings work best if there is only one 'loop' in operation - make rolling stock single-ended, ...and lastly... Red Bull and Jelly Babies seem like an effective way to kick-start the day . Definitely a big thanks to Mark for allowing me the pleasure of a days playing trains - now looking forward to Didcot even more Despite these distractions, some progress has been made on the layout, though sometimes not always goings as well as hoped - thanks Kris for the moral support and words of encouragement... The minor snafu on the trackbed for board 3 was straightforward to recover and allowed work on the bard to continue - the cross beams and scenic support have now been fitted. I had noticed that the vertical pillars on the legs were a bit of a tight fit and needed to be sanded to ease placing the boards; after an initial sanding, all 3 boards were assembled on their legs and the 'fit' checked. (it was difficult finding a bit of path flat/level enough to complete the assembly - I would have used the kitchen (nice level floor...) but I think SWMBO would have been mightily unimpressed if I fired up the belt-sander there ) It all fits level and true; some further thinning of the legs is still required and the floor to the cassette area needs to be fitted, but this will have to wait until the scenic divide is put in - I did spend a fair bit of time at the two exhibitions looking at other peoples back drops and have now got a way forward for mine. The two clamps visible are there to hold board 3 at the right height on the legs, these have since been replaced by softwood strips and bracing blocks to support the cassette area. This still leaves lots of little jobs that need to be completed before I get to the exciting stage of laying some track, but on the whole, things are still progressing rather nicely.

Looking very nice Pete, your fixed magnets seem to work rather well! From the pictures it looks like you've missed off the 'tongue' on the couplings which I thought was required for the delayed effect but it doesn't seem to stop them working nicely . Do you intend to 'colour' the DGs or are you just going to leave them as brass? (PS Is the ski jump intentional? )

Well its definitely a Oh buggrit !!! day today ; with various tasks at work and exhibitions to attend, I knew that any progress on the layout was going to be in small doses - but what the heck, that merely extends the enjoyment.... One simple task was to put the 'mirrored' track plan on the underside of the board 3 track-bed; a simple task, I've done the 2 difficult ones and this one is only 1 1/2 sheets - what could go wrong? So... 1) Measure, trial fit, and sand plank - check, 2) Prime and re-sand plank - check, 3) Mark plank with datum lines - check, 4) Print Templot 'pages' (and allow time for ink to dry) - check, 5) Stick pages to plank (Note to self - used up last of spray mount - get more) - check, ...Looking good so far... ...the paper templates stuck perfectly, no bubbles or ink runs 6) Sanity check before varnishing - che...? - Oh buggrit !!! Not looking quite right? Hmmm, datum lines OK?, right side of plank (sounds daft but looked anyway)?, Ah, lined up wrong Templot grid line with datum . Oh well, as previously noted, most things can be solved with a belt-sander . What this has reminded me, is that I have been lucky so far with no major blunders (well none that I've noticed), and I have to expect that just when you think everything is going smoothly, Murphy will strike with a vengeance

Thanks for putting me straight - I know very little about early BR . I looks great in that 'striking' colour - I've got one (or was it a Monster?) to build but fortunately, that's going to be nice 'dull' brown....

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about Farmer Giles and Daisy, it all comes back to me from your original posts in the dim and distant past... ...on an RMweb far, far away... The bridge is looking very nice, the additional depth to the sides does not detract and would not be 'noticable' if you hadn't posted the pictures of the original ; when you put the additional curved courses of bricks over the arch, it will blend in even more. The bogies on the B-Set look very nice (I'm guessing that you've done both of them now) and the coupling looks fine, but, is the colour of the Giant right?

Then gardener's hut is simply outstanding, you have captured the essence of the building and period delightfully , this is a joy to follow... ...a matter of interest, just how long did you/will you take to paint the figures - it looks like a serious undertaking in its own right? Please keep the pictures coming - especially those illustrating the construction - it shows us novices how things can be achieved

Good to see you back Mikkel - I had found The Farthing Layouts on the previous RMweb and found your attention to detail in producing the atmosphere to be absolutely astounding . I'll keep looking to watch your progress - learning from a master

I saw St Ruth at the Expo and was mighty impressed - that's some fiddle yard/sector plat you have there . I have always had a fondness for the old western hydraulics, especially the D800 Warships (though I have no idea why ) so your avatar brings a to my face... I'll watch this with interest so keep it coming please (especially the pictures - warts & all )

Combination of sheer 'bloody-mindedness' combined with the fact that I thought I had ordered a couple and they seem to have fallen off the bottom of the last order... ...more simply, I have the mill (ostensibly for doing chassis frames) but even though I have an engineering background, I'm not that confident in using it yet. Making the sleeper strips seemed like a nice and simple way of getting it out of the box and actually using it - rather than just having 'plans' for a future date... Things are progressing at a fair rate now - the Easitrac arrived this week; but without the ABS sleeper strips - not in stock - hopefully someone will be able to get some at the AGM tomorrow from the central shop. Also my local model store got the 3mm ply for me today so the 'track-bed/underlay' can be worked on... ...this is just as I'm going into a busy period with reduced free time

Thanks for the clarification Will - makes a lot of sense I had a look at that etching company's website, unfortunately it doesn't give much information. I'll be interested in seeing how things work out with them.

Kris Thanks for you answers - I'll look forward to seeing you progress with the Toplights Could I ask you to update your B-Set bashing blog with some pictures of the fitting of the new bogies - with details on how/where they needed to be fettled to fit the exiting Dapol mounts? Cheers Track Board Joints - PCB Milled Sleeper Strips At last – something other than woodwork ! (Though I still have got some more work to do there… ) In previous efforts in building model railways, I had not addressed the issue of how to ‘properly’ lay track over board joints – in not expecting the layouts to be ‘mobile’, I had adopted the approach of move first => repair later … … However, over the years I had started to notice different (and far better!) methods on layouts at exhibitions, such as using PCB sleepers or soldering the rails to small screw heads. OK, what good idea’s could I steal for Smokey Bacon… … the common practice for many of the members of the Oxford 2mm Group (Highclere, Witney Euston, & WSI) is to use sheet PCB, cut and milled to represent a number of sleepers – a strip of between 6 & 10 sleepers is laid across the joint and recessed into the track-bed/’underlay’ at a height matching the normal ‘single’ PCB sleepers. Sounds simple, but something I have never tried before. New skill needed here – how to mill PCBs… The 2mm Association very conveniently publish the sizes and spacing for sleepers in their member’s handbook, which was essential to getting the sleeper strips right – I originally fought shy of finescale modelling due to fears about lack of knowledge (and, more honestly skill), but I have been very pleasantly surprised by how easy the track aspects are! With very limited knowledge (and abilities) it is relatively straightforward to produce your own track work; there are simple jigs available or by using Templot it has been reduced to a modest level of ability – and this was even before Easitrac was developed! 2mm Milled Sleeper Strip – Basic Dimensions Having got the outline size of each strip, I could work out how many I could reasonable produce in a ‘block’. I am fortunate to have a (very) small milling machine which is ideal for this task – however its working area is limited to about 135mm x 60mm. Allowing for a small oversize for clamping, it is possible to work on a panel of 140mm x 50mm which can produce 6 sleeper strips at a time. Now faced with a 3 axis set of movements and some fairly precise measurements I thought I’d better work out exactly what the cutting path would be – I could just see myself blissfully bodging away and producing something which spectacularly failed to be what I wanted ! Two very useful bits of advice were given: 1. Cut along the length first – this reduces the risk of snagging the corners and damaging the ‘sleeper’. 2. DON’T FORGET THE WIDTH OF THE CUTTER when advancing along the strip! With the planning done (and the coffee drunk) there was no excuse to delay attempting this further. My learning points here were to take it slowly – remember which way to turn the handle – and keep the Hoover going! Much to my surprise, it actually was far easier than I had feared – like many of the modelling I have tried over the past year, it was the unknown anticipation that was the hurdle to overcome, rather than the actual difficulty of the task! A finished sleeper strip (one down 10 more to go…); once milled and cut down to size, all it took was a quick once over with an old file to tidy it up AND a scoring down the middle of the copper to isolate the two sides electrically (I used single sided PCB for simplicity here). One last tip on this – after lightly scoring with a sharp knife, carefully run the edge of a triangular needle file along the score line to ‘break’ the copper (don’t file too deeply). Final observations - cheap (?) PCB sheets (from a well known high-street electronic component chain) do contain air-pockets in the base material and this can lead to holes in the sleeper strip. Also, having done one side, the strip has a tendency to curl up slightly which leads to cutting 'deeper' than expected - easy to address if you are aware of it. Well now I better go and hoover the carpet to get rid of all the PCB swarf...

Will, This has been a fascinating project - it's amazing what can be achieved when scratch building . How / where are you planning on making the etched parts?

Hi Kris, Thanks for your comment - I'd been considering replacing the complete bogies and wheels and your timely observation has reinforced that idea for me. I've looked at your blog and your "B-Set bodging" does give some good pointers on changing the bogies and the effects on couplings - the height difference is quite noticeable - I'll need to get the books out to see what the correct height should be to set any spacers on the bearings... ... that said, if I do the same 'bogey mod' to the B-Set, Autocoach, and Collet's, then they will all be about the same height and any differences wont be noticeable... ...I take it you've seen the article by Maurice Pearce on gwr.org.uk (Detailing the Dapol B-Set coaches in "N") where he addresses the improvements that could be made to the shell-vents on the roof, the 'outer-end' buffers, and the missing dynamo... ...I can't comment at this time on the issue with the window, I need to look up the differences between the B-sets to diagrams E.140 and E.147 - that's another little task to keep me occupied in the evenings (I reckon an hour or so with a ruler and Russell's GW Coaches should resolve the question... ) One quick question, which bogey etch did you choose to use (are they complete etches, or mixed etch and cast sides) - I can't tell from your pictures?

Missy Glad to see you did finally 'decide' to build your own chassis - and very nice it looks too The clean neatness and simplicity is most impressive and is certainly worth further consideration as a way to 'adapt' the Farish Railcar (for those of us who don't have your sculpturing skills in building the etched body... ) How are you going to do the side frames on the drive units? Steve

Rolling Stock – Initial Thoughts Too cold, wet, and dark to get out into the garage, so I thought I’d look at some of the other aspects of Smokey Bacon; there are three main threads to the project: 1. The layout – baseboards (including track-work and scenery), the legs/supports, and the control system. 2. The rolling stock – locos, carriages, and wagons (covering GWR, PO, and other ‘common user’, plus WD…) 3. The ‘timetable’ of operations or workings. …and lastly, but equally important, maintaining the thread on RMweb… Whilst work on the layout is progressing steadily, little or no work has been done on the rolling stock! Over the past few years we have ‘accumulated’ a fair amount of N gauge RTR stock that can be adapted to suit 2mm finescale – some to be fair cannot ! The actual need (as opposed to the wish-list…) in terms of rolling stock falls out of the timetable and operating schedule and as much as possible I intend to replicate the real schedule of the prototype as far as possible. There are two very good books, both titled “The Calne Branch†(G Tanner and Colin Maggs) which are absolutely essential to researching this line; these along with Jack Slinn’s “Siphons†give enough information to reconstruct the ‘normal’ working schedule of the line in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. In addition to the GWR’s scheduled passenger and goods services, the products of the C&T Harris factory were worked to a regular schedule of their own as they covered almost all of the country - destinations ranging from Penzance, Portsmouth, and Paddington, to Cardiff, Manchester, and Glasgow… Just to support the ‘normal’ scheduled workings, the basic rolling stock roster will have to include: Locomotives: 14xx, 45xx, 54xx, 57xx. Carriages: Autocoach, Collett Corridor stock, B-Set. Goods/freight: The full range of GW open, flat, and box wagons; RCH PO wagons; and of course Siphon’s C and F. Added to this, the ‘unscheduled’ movements such as engineering works trains (Collett 2251 and PW wagons) and WD movements (troop trains and ‘leave specials’, war materials and equipment - Dean Goods & Q1?) further increase the rolling stock requirements. Finally, whilst the majority of the stock would be in the 1942-47 livery (unlined green or black with GWR), there will be some instances where the pre-’42 livery (with the ‘Shirtbutton’ monogram) was still present, and increasingly, the wartime ‘austerity’ livery caused by shortages of paint would be present. (…and then there will be those models that are just too nice not have and will have to be justified somehow… ) This just scratches the surface of the diversity of rolling stock that will eventually be needed. Some will be available from RTR models, with additional detailing and re-wheeling (ie Autocoach and B-Set), however, much (ie Siphons and Minks) will have to be scratch-built or constructed from a range of plastic and etched brass kits. There is still a considerable amount of work to be done in identifying the loco running numbers and allocations etc that would be appropriate (I’ll admit here I am not going to be a perfectionist and firmly believe in the 80% solution…) but this will be for another day.. Hmmm, looking back at this, am I really going to be ready by 2020?