Jump to content
 

lankyphil

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    315

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by lankyphil

  1. lankyphil
    Finally got around to getting some paint, then finally got around to spraying it!
     

     
    Looks a dam sight better now, and it works as a motivator in itself, as it looks better it inspires you to do a bit more...
     

     
    Next job, wire up the marker lanterns and some interior lights. Which will mean I'll need to build an interior...
  2. lankyphil

    Caboose Part 2

    By lankyphil,

    So progress on the caboose.
     
    The old chassis has been shortened, the floor bolted on, the verandas stuck on and a coat of primer slapped on. I wasn't too sure about the proportions, but once the cupola was added, it looks a lot better in my eyes.
     

     

     

     
    I think I'll add some sort of underframe equipment between the bogies still, then a rudimentary interior, lights for the lamps, couplers, then paint it, the list goes on!
  3. lankyphil
    Well it's only been two months since the last wittering! But, I've actually done stuff!! Shock horror!
     
    My coaches have been disassembled, painted, and reassembled. The colour? BR Maroon...
     

     
    Which I don't think look too bad behind a black 4-6-0, especially in the sun
     

     

     
    Surprised no one has had that livery idea before!
     
    The line has been named though, it is now the Melbreck Valley Railroad. Just need to decide on the lettering for the livery.
     

     
    That's all for now folks!
  4. lankyphil
    Well, it has been a while!
     
    But progress has been made!!!
     

    So clear up from the last entry, yes, the hole in the wall was too small, the whistle (the highest point on my Bachmann Annie) was fouling it. So I trimmed a bit from the top. Then I found the tender handrails were too wide. So I enlarged the sides. Then everything finally fitted!
     
    Some more Metposts were sunk, a few uprights fitted in, then decking boards laid on top covered with some roofing felt offcut, kindly donated by Dad.
     

     
    All of which left me with what looked more like the beginning of an elevated motorway...
     
    I needed a removable section, to bridge between the garage and the elevated section, as I am fitting a door (mainly for weather protection), but of that later.
     
    So, with the purchase of some second hand track from Steve Lewis (of this parish and G Scale Central), I donned my navvy cap once again and started track laying.
     

     
    The addition of track makes a world of difference. It also tends to attract small children. Mainly my son. Who either wants to know, "Daaaad! What you doing?", "Train come out?" or what he can hit with his "knock knock" (Translation from toddler speak = [Toy] Hammer). But the addition of some wire makes even more difference, because then we can get down to the serious bit.
     
    Playing trains.
     
    No, I meant testing the track laying. Honestly!
     

     
    So I trotted out the ten wheeler (looking very grotty due being covered in dust from garage-wall-hole drilling) and ran about a grand total of 8 feet down the garden. Not much, but it's a start! I was concerned about the gradient, but she was quite happy to push 4 Bachmann coaches back up the hill into the garage (where they start going through an LGB R1 crossover) without any real fuss.
     
    I've also knocked up a door to replace the bit of ply that was wedged in from inside.
     

     
    So all of this has been a slow and steady effort, culminating in the big push (Wiring up and testing) over the bank holiday. (Mainly because mum and dad were entertaining the kids).
     
    However in a brief period of freedom, Dad attacked some of the undergrowth in the Raspberry plantation, where I'd thrown some track to indicate roughly where the trains would run to the Domestic Planning Officer, and created this shot.
     

     
    All that's missing is the drone of the raspberry harvester and the rattle of the loading cranes as they load raspberry hoppers ready for the next pickup freight.
     
    That's all for now folks!
  5. lankyphil
    So we had a little bit of decent weather, and I had a day off work, mainly to look after the kids, but the wife came home early. So I set to work with the angle grinder and the diamond tipped blade.
     

     

     
    5 minutes work and a scrap of marine ply and a rough cover was made.
     

     
    What next then? Well the line from the garage to the garden is elevated, so I knocked in the first met post that will support the line.
     

     
    Lets hope the weather holds next week! And the kids are good, or asleep!
  6. lankyphil

    Caboose

    By lankyphil,

    So I have a caboose, from the original Bachmann Big Haulers set that I started out from, but it's a "bobber caboose". Or a 4 wheel one in English. Which I'm not particularly keen on.
     
    So I acquired another bodyshell, and spliced them together, to make a more eye-pleasing (well, to my eyes at least) off-center caboose.
     

     

     
    In this scale, I didn't think that a plastic sheet floor would be up to the job. So after a quick search around the garage, I found an old metal drawer divider. So i got my trusty Dremel (other mini drills are available) out, slotted a cutting disc in and started to cut. Very quickly I realised that I'd be there for an awful long time. And then I saw the angle grinder! 2 minutes later and the floor was roughly cut out. I've marked out where I need to trim it slightly, I think that may be tonight's job after I've out the kids to bed, and before the wife gets home from work!
     
    I cut the old verandas off the Bachmann "donor", these will go together with a chassis and bogies from a flat car.
     

     

     
    That's as far as I've got at the moment. I've got some LGB side lanterns to add, but I need to put some LEDs into them instead of the bulbs so I can run them off a smaller battery.
     
    Cheers
  7. lankyphil
    So after some advice on my original thread, I planned a "fiddle yard" of sorts for the garage.
     
    Nothing too classy, just a couple of sidings running down one side under the shelves.



    The storage utilises some modular shelving that came from a office clearout via my Dad, and an old desk, also from the same. the line will enter from the outside world on the white shelves at the back against the wall. A spare shelf connects the white and grey units and houses the crossover, the kickback of which (where the loco is standing) will become the loco cassette connection.



    The sidings then cross another old piece of shelving, this time from Mum and Dad's, slung between the grey unit and the desk. This is where the rear line ends, as the desk supports are in the way, but the front line continues underneath the desk before terminating at the right hand side.


  8. lankyphil

    The Garden So Far.

    By lankyphil,

    Last summer I received permission to construct a railway outdoors.
     

    The garden is about 17m long by 8m wide. The veg patch at the rear is elevated by 1ft. The orange area is a "forest" of raspberry canes.

    The rough plan is for some sort of station somewhere in the border with a return loop to the south around the edge of the patio near the kitchen. Heading up the garden the line climbs, does a circle of the veg patch then descends back to the "station" area.



    We've got a fair few rhubarb plants and a lot of raspberry canes, so I intend to have some rhubarb wagons (bolster wagons) and some raspberry trucks (gondolas) to run for "play value".

    ThIs is the top of the garden, where line will run around the edge of the raised veg area. It'll be behind the retaining wall though



    This line will then curve around, crossing over the other line and hug the fence as it descends towards the house. (Imagine the plank is curved (about 3ft radius) and starts from where the paving slabs finish)



    Meanwhile, the line that has run along the fenceline at the rear of the "plot" has started descending towards lawn level (I'm going to cut out 1 "brick" on the retaining wall in the corner by the fence), passed underneath a meccano bridge (to be built...) and is now running along the edge of the lawn/paving (It'll probably sill be a bit higher than it is in the photo).



    The two seperate lines continue to drop towards the house where they meet in a bit of a balloon loop.





    There is a storage area/branch in the garage, I'll describe that in a seperate post though.

    Phil
  9. lankyphil

    Setting the Scene.

    By lankyphil,

    I'm Phil.
     
    This "blog" is the result of constant whining from a certain Paul, of Foster Street fame. I may be associated with Foster Street by the way. Is that guilty by association? Who knows.
     
    Anyway.
     
    After attempting to model the Southern Region in 4mm for a few years, the wife appeared with 2 kids. A 4mm layout in a 3 bed semi was never really going to be feasible, so someone who shall remain nameless (it was Paul) suggested going outdoors in G.
     
    So I did!
     
    But what about the 00 stock? Well, couldn't get rid of it, and the garden railway stuff is being done on a budget (Yes it is possible), so I joined Warrington Model Railway Club so I can stretch the legs of that stock.
     
    Well that's about the long and the short of it.
     
    Best get some modelling done!
  10. lankyphil

    Progress Report.

    By lankyphil,

    So the weather is warming up! Spent some time out in the garden with the kids yesterday, had to keep them warm so we did some civil engineering. Basically controlled digging. We dug a cutting in the top left corner, it involved moving part of a rhubarb plant, but it needed dividing anyway!
     

     
    I finished it off while they found their slide!
     
    I've wired up the "fiddle yard" too, and acquired a Playmobil articulated DMU. The kids love it! It's radio controlled so they can play with it without risk of electrifying themselves too. And, the power unit is a self contained 0-4-0 unit with siderods in the middle, so it'll be ripe for kitbashing when the kids have grown out of it!
     

     
    That's all for now folks!
  11. lankyphil
    It sounds impressive doesn't it, until you realise it's in G scale, so is actually pretty easy.
     
    In the garage/workshop/man cave/dumping ground, the line from the garden enters, then splits into two sidings, with a docking area for yet to be built loco cradles on a kickback off one of them. The points form a basic crossover, so I wanted to link them together to operate as one. Mainly because I can.
     
    My original plan was to use Meccano. But, after knocking up a test piece with two cranks, I found that there was just too much slop in all the joints to get reliable action all the time. Replacing the Meccano with RC aircraft parts, namely a bit of bowden cable and a plastic crank, married to a Peco ground throw, works fine though.
     

     
    The youngest has just pulled the operating arm out of the ground throw however. Oh well, another excuse to spend some more time in the train room tomorrow!
×
×
  • Create New...