Pixie

50 minutes ago, Kylestrome said:

 

Excellent stuff Steve, but I'm surprised you don't call yourself 'Cavalier Models'! 

 

David

Cheers David. Funnily enough, some of my 1/43rd car detail etches are branded as such!  I think Greyhound sums up my approach to modelling pretty well; a big burst of energy followed by a lot of lying on the sofa...

Another test build is almost finished; this time the Doncaster Prototype Mk.1 W3083, as preserved at the SVR. It’s currently in desperate need of some 2mm wheels, weathering and varnish.
 

I must get around to a proper workbench update and the Greyhound Models listings.

Steve

Anytime Tom. Indeed, thank you for the rather excellent 3D printing of the 123 cabs. Good ol’ fashioned bartering at its best.
 

My own Griddle is nearly complete too - looking forward to seeing your green one!

Cheers,

Steve

What dimensions do you need Justin? I can offer a set of Western walkways. 

Pix

2 hours ago, Lacathedrale said:

@Pixie I saw you did stainless etching for the grills on your diesel detailing - but it seems you are in the minority for this material - can you give any thoughts behind its use?

Hi William, 

For most of my 'construction' etches (things like wagon chassis, bogie inners, etc) I use 10 thou/0.25mm nickel silver which seems to pretty common in the 2mm world; I am a fan of how it builds up and take solder. The use of 0.1mm stainless steel is only for items that I need the finesse and strength, whilst also being thin. PPD do not offer 0.1mm nickel silver, but if they did I'd be very worried that the roof grilles would just tear. Likewise, the coach sides shown above are in 0.1mm stainless steel - if they were nickel silver I would be worried about deforming the window bars and kinking the sides when rolling. I've never tried soldering stainless steel but I believe it's more challenging that nickel silver. It's more about choosing the right metal for the situation rather than personal preference. 

Cheers,

Steve

I can’t really add much to the debate aside from being an advocate of Autocad, the Hollywood Foundry guides and PPD - no relationship with the latter aside from being satisfied customer. They did seem to to go through a period of occasionally supply a slightly ‘fluffy’ etch but everything I’ve had recently has been razor sharp. The below is 4thou stainless steel with each vent on the grille being 0.1mm wide.

I still find unwrapping an etch for the first time one of the the most satisfying elements of our hobby, akin to a metallic Christmas morning. 

Cheers,

Steve

44 minutes ago, 2mm Andy said:

Shame that most of the railways in the UK seem to have used covered vans to transport aeroplane fuselages/components.

Meanwhile, across the pond...

Pix

On 19/09/2020 at 18:43, -missy- said:

 

Hi PS.

 

Do you have to quarantine comming back from France? Plenty of modelling opportunities!

 

Julia.

Hello Julia! How’s things? Congratulations on the Chairman’s Cup, well deserved! I was granted exemption from quarantine through work, although I still limited myself to only going to work and distancing/face-masking at all times just in case I was carrying it. Thankfully, all clear here. The time not spent outdoors certainly gave a lot of time to get some CAD work done, I even spent a little time on Autodesk Fusion which was fun. My other half did have to quarantine; two weeks indoors almost drove her insane.

Cheers,

Steve

Not quite the right thread but does anyone recognise these - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184443254323?

If they are indeed ‘N gauge’, they look relatively vintage and finescale.

Cheers,

Steve

Hi MHB,

The Clayton glazing pushed straight out, it made a nice change not to have to fight with heavily glued in glazing. The main edge you want to paint/cover is the edge that’s an interference fit with the

body so it’s important to remove it. 
 

The vertical uprights are in unchanged, just painted black. I didn’t remove any material from them or trim them at all. 

I hope this helps, please let me know if I can assist any further. 
 

Meanwhile on my workbench, things have turned very Southern. I’ve had a hankering to model some early 2000s SWT EMUs for a while so I’ve been busy in CAD. So far I’ve finished the 4-CIG, 4-BIG and 4-VEP.
 

And a few oddities to as space fillers. 
 

I think the entire world maybe drawing etches at the moment, PPD are quoting up to 6 weeks lead time!

Cheers,

Pix

You jest, but I got stuck in traffic on the M25 this morning which meant I didn’t make it home in time. 

Luckily, with the wonders of modern technology, I could still ‘attend’!

Pix 

There's a lot out there in 1/144 scale Jerry; they're close enough for me.

The F-Toys range is very good - I'm not sure what you're looking for but they've certainly done a Spitfire and a Swordfish. They come pre-painted and nicely assembled; I've got a bunch of English Electric Lightnings for formation flying over Parkend.

There's some interesting stuff out there in 1/144. Airfix do a SRN4 hovercraft in the scale, that I've quite works out how to include into a layout yet.

Cheers,

Steve

More of a Scrapbox appeal than a Gloatbox appeal!

I'm on the look out for a good number of the old, non-Blue Ribband Farish Mk.1 coach bodies. Either the old-old type with the window inserts or the solid-sided type. The livery is completely irrelevant; as is the roof, chassis, bogies, underframes, box, window inserts, if they're Poole produced or early China produced. It's just the body moulding itself I need - I have a cunning plan.

Please let me know if you can assist - remuneration via the usual means is available or a donation to the charity of your choice.

Cheers,

Steve

1 hour ago, grahame said:

All the pics of the RTR models on this thread seem to be missing the corner steps. Are they supplied and has anyone bothered to fit them?

 

 

 

Yes and Yes.

Cheers,

Steve

Hi John,

I've got some that are in use on Parkend to make up 2-3 wagon 'clusters' with DG's on the outer vehicles. They're very nice and it's quite pleasing to take up the slack when hauling a train of them. My only criticism is they're a permanent coupling so a long rake would be a big of a pain to handle; if I ever get around to building the 'mainline' layout I sometimes threaten to build then I would probably find a way of mounting them with a magnet so they could be separated.

I don't think there's anything available now - I bought a big bundle from the chap behind Mathieson Models which remain unused so not really been in the market for them. I seem to recall someone on here (or perhaps the VAG) has been making some 2mm 3-links so it may be worth checking with them.

Cheers,

Steve

Hi Justin, 

Thats looking good; certainly dropping it down is a marked improvement. I’m looking forward to seeing Dailuaine in full early-70s mode, I think it’ll look very at home.

I had a look at mine this evening and the normal approach for the Hymek and the 22 wouldn’t work as you suggested, there’s just not enough chassis block for the springs to make contact with and they would end up somewhere in the gear tower. For mine, I’ve nipped the paddles at the corner of the chassis block so they were flush with the chassis block. 

I’ve then added the slightest of ‘humps’ in the middle so the paddle is not inconstancy with the bogie upright. 

The spring on the bogie upright then makes the electrical contact and allows for a little height tweaking. 

It seems to have worked, my Clayton is currently trundling around my Unitrack circle without much fuss. Assuming it’s all fine at the weekend then I’ll solder the springs in place. 

Height-wise, I’d call it close enough with this Farish Mk.1. 

For reference and as promised, here’s the what I do for the Dapol 22s and Hymeks. It’s pretty basic but solves the problem well. 

Cheers,

Pix

These look great Julia - there’s something very appealing about not-the-norm point work and I have to keep reminding myself the narrow gauge is only 4mm! I hope they spawn a layout in time.

Are there any examples of a double divergence point? In other words where both the standard and narrow gauge go in both directions. That could be a interesting next step.
 

Steve

On 01/09/2020 at 21:41, PaulCheffus said:

I’m guessing you didn’t see my PM. I will be getting some printed towards the end of the year and wanted to know what number you would like.

My sincere apologies Paul, I’ll be in touch!

On 03/09/2020 at 18:47, justin1985 said:

Is your idea to replace the upright tabs from the bogie with springs, and have them rub against the existing flappy contact strips (but with tension taken out of them?).

Morning Justin - good choice on livery. My next one will be the same to model D8658 in its final BR days; it’s a great machine in preservation that makes a very satisfying noise!

For the bogie/pick-up arrangement I retain the uprights on the bogies and use them to mount the coupling springs onto vertically (the bogie uprights fit into the ‘bore’ of the spring), fixed place with a little blob of solder. The vertical springs then make direct contact with the chassis block for electrical continuity and provide just enough uplift to provide the required spacing between the gearing. It looks a little like Flexicoil springing but with one spring either side of the gear tower. This means that flappy paddle system can be completely discarded, which pleases me greatly as I’ve had no end of issues with it.  I’ve used this system for years on my Hymeks and D6300s and I’m pleased with it, it also seems to solve the body-moving-before-the-bogies-do issue that plagues Dapol stuff. I’m currently in France* but I will get some photos when I get home - it’s a lot simpler to photograph than explain. The only issue with the Clayton I see is that chassis block is only as wide as the nose but the principle should still work. 

One thing I have been musing it’s putting a Judith Edge cab onto the EFE body, it would certainly add some finesse around this area. 

Cheers,

Steve

*where I seem to have acquired a helper... who helpfully deleted attempt one at this message!
 

4 hours ago, CF MRC said:

It’s a well known fact that when people make comments about what CF needs, they generally get given the job

Hmmm, in that case, I think CF would Really good in early 70’s mode. 
 

Let me know how many Deltics you require. 
 

(Excellent and inspiring work as ever Tim) 

Pix

On 22/08/2020 at 21:33, PaulCheffus said:

Hi

 

I have similar plans for mine when it arrives. How difficult was it to dismantle?

 

Cheers

 

Paul

Hi Paul - easy enough. There’s 4 little screws to remove, bogies pop out in the usual Dapol manner and then the bonnets unclips from the running plate. I’m not a fan of the pick up ‘flaps’ which come down from the chassis block to the bogies and can see they’re going to be a bit of a pain to put it all back together again - I will replace these with coupling springs mounted on the bogies in due course. 
 

We’re you able to order more Tamper transfer by the way? I really must finish mine and would be verY appreciative if you have any spare. 

On 22/08/2020 at 22:25, Kylestrome said:

This should be of some interest to you. A 1902 68mm film which has been stabilized, speed corrected and coloured:

 

 

Enjoy!

 

David

 

That’s wonderful and hard to believe it’s almost 120 years old!

On 23/08/2020 at 08:14, John57sharp said:

Enjoyed your update, I wonder if you could expand on up your glazing tweaking at some point? I’ve got a Dapol. 22 with a touch of prismatic.

 

cheers and thanks

John

Hi John, sure. It’s nothing more scientific that giving all the edges of the glazing which I don’t want I be transparent a coat of Matt black or, where there’s a friction fit between body and glazing, a coupe of coats with a black Sharpie. The main area of improvement for the 17 is the inner ‘window sill’ which disappear as when painted black.

On 23/08/2020 at 11:57, justin1985 said:

 

So many great projects Pix! Was the glazing trick just a case of running around the "lip" of the glazing with black paint?

 

Any thoughts on converting the 17 to 2mmFS? I noticed from a picture Ben Ando posted on the N Gauge Forum that it looks like it has pin-point pickups. So it's a case of having to turn down the wheels, rather than being able to use any drop in axles?

 

I've got one on the way from Kernow for my distillery shunting plank, even though they hardly ever made it onto GNSR metals, by the sound of it ...

J

Thanks Justin. I think it’s a case of sending them off to Gordon; none of the drop ins are a real starting point. I think the wheels move on the axles so it shouldn’t be a major job. Which livery did you go for?

Cheers,

Steve

Looking at this whilst considering a 2mm fine scale conversion - the prototype has 3’ 3 3/4” wheels according to the CLAG Wheelbase data which scales out to 6.8mm in 1/148. Measuring the EFE wheels measure 7.45mm so there’s a 0.65mm gain in height there which goes along way to the 0.8mm discrepancy discussed above. The final bit could easily be lost by tweaking the ‘flappy paddle’ pick up arrangement or replacement with springs as I plan to do. It’s still an excellent basis for taking the model further; I’m well up for a couple more of them.
 

Pix

The man himself!

Great, thanks Paul!

Cheers,

Steve