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  1. buffalo
    Something a little different from the mostly GWR content in this blog. If you have read any of my other (layouts) blog, you'll be aware that Camerton has been on hold for a while while I rethink and strengthen my scenic skills. In the meantime, I've been working on a wholly imaginary layout called Nowhere or Nessun Luogo or Nirgendwo according to language preferences. This is a fairly simple HO and HOe layout that will allow me to run whatever continental stock I like without too much concern for prototype credibility. I'd better post an update on it soon as it has come on some way since the last entry.
     
    Along with the layout developments, I've been acquiring a very mixed collection of German, Austrian and Italian stock and slowly converting the locos to DCC. I was lucky to discover that a Fleischmann V100 purchased on ebay unexpectedly contained a Lenz silver chip, but everything else will need to be converted. So, I thought I might include some examples here of the more interesting DCC conversions.
     
    That brings me to one of my most recent acquisitions, the delightful little Brawa Köf II.
     

     
    At first sight it may look like a tricky job to convert this little euro-kritter to DCC but the cab is easily large enough to hide a small modern decoder:
     

     
    Potentially more of a problem is the solid metal chassis which is live to the right hand rail. The single wire from the motor goes to the insulated pickup on the left side. The motor contact nearer the camera in the next photo simply contacts the chassis below the rear motor support. Somehow this will need to be insulated.
     

     
    On the positive side, this model was also made in an AC version with an additional wire to the central skid pickup, and separate wires to each of the motor terminals. These four wires were taken through to the cab where the reversing relay was located. The beneficial side-effect of this version is that there are already grooves in the chassis to take these wires. One of these is immediately to the left of the black wire in the above photo. The larger slot for the other three wires passes through the rear motor mount.
     
    Next, the underside. The two screws secure the baseplate and the two holes, one threaded, near the centre of the plate are for fixing the pickup skid on the AC version. I'll return to these later.
     

     
    With the baseplate removed, the axles, idler gears and pickup can be extracted.
     

     
    The next photo is out of sequence, but shows how I dealt with the problem of the lower motor terminal contacting the chassis. The area under the terminal was milled out to provide about 1mm clearance below the terminal. This broke through into the slot for one of the idler shafts, but the shaft is still supported by a good thickness of metal at either end. Additionally, the rear motor mount was undercut to provide clearance around the rear end of the terminal.
     

     
    Now the decoder could be fitted. I used a TCS Z2, one of the smallest of current decoders. I'll also be using these fitted into the side tanks of Liliput U class HOe locos. The leads were measured and trimmed, and the lighting wires which won't be used, at least for now, were tied back. The black wire was passed through the hole used by the original pickup wire and soldered to the pickup.
     

     
    The axles and drive gear were replaced next and the red wire fed through the hole in the milled area below the lower motor terminal. This was then soldered to a small brass tag made from an old bit of scrap etch. The tag was secured to the tapped hole in the base plate with a short 2mm screw. This provides the input to the decoder from the live chassis.
     

     
    Next the orange lead was soldered to the lower motor terminal and the grey to the upper one. A small piece of insulating tape was added over the lower terminal. Really this was just belt and braces becauses the milling ensured there was adequate clearance. The motor was placed back into its supports and the wires pressed into the slots in the chassis casting.
     

     
    The body was then refitted and the decoder secured below window level with a small piece of sticky sponge pad. The body securing screw was replaced to hold the body down on to the chassis. This was necessary before testing because the worm is held in mesh by the body pressing down on the top of the motor.
     

     
    Everything worked first time when tested
     
    Now, what about lighting? The back would be easy enough, but I think the smallest SMD LEDs that I could see would still be too big for those front lights.
     
    Oh well, I still have the detailing bits to fit, and quite a few more locos to chip
  2. buffalo

    Camerton Goods Yard 2

    By buffalo,

    For several months I've been thinking that I just need to do a little bit more to the west end of the Camerton layout then I'll be able to post a new entry on the blog. Looking back at the previous entry (way back in February), though, I reckon I've made a fair bit of progress so it's well past time for an update. First an overall 'warts and all' photo where you can see the yard and, beyond the bridge, the station area is covered in modelling materials.
     

     
    I'm also beginning to make progress around the station but that will be a subject for a future entry. The third section beyond the station is still sitting in the garage in raw pink foam so it will be a while before I get any further at that end.
     
    The first major development was the completion of the road bridge, a 4mm plywood base covered with Scalescenes brick paper together with some home-made papers for the quoins and the large blue brick wall capping. I've also made a start on the road surfaces using chinchilla dust over a grey base but, as can be seen, much remains to be done here.
     

     

     
    The yard surface is mostly Carr's ash ballast. Other folk have commented on its dark colour even when the glue has dried. I reckon it looks fine for a wet day, but ash was typically much lighter when dry. To try to capture this I've been rubbing in grey and white powders to give plenty of variation across the area. The effect can be seen here though the appearance to the eye is closer to the lighter shades in the photos. Nevertheless, I think I need to do more as the real Camerton yard was probably a mix of ash and the local white lias and other limestones.
     

     
    Another development visible in the photos is the static grass cover with some clumps of hanging basket liner for rougher vegetation such as brambles. I've been quite pleased with the results that I've been getting from my home made grass machine. It struggles a bit with the longer fibres, but the overall effects are quite pleassing. I've been using blends from a range of grass colours and lengths, mostly Noch 'wild' and 'meadow' types in lengths from 1.5mm to 12mm, together with a few Mini-Natur 4.5 and 6mm types. The intention is that some of the surrounding areas are quite overgrown, but the GWR permanent way crew has been doing a good job of keeping the grass short adjacent to the lines and working areas.
     
    The entrance to the yard now has gates. These were made from sections of Ratio fencing with added hinges and other details together with carved wooden gate posts. There are few photos showing the original gates and none show any detail, but there is just enough to indicate they were similar to the yard gates at Monkton Combe which, fortunately, have been photographed more often.
     

     

     
    The gate photos above also give a good impression of perhaps the most time-consuming feature to be added so far, that is the fencing. The posts are all cut from 1.6mm square brass then blackened, painted and planted. The bit that took the time was making the typical GWR strainer posts at each end of a row of fencing and at strategic points along its length. These are such a characteristic part of the GWR lineside that I felt they had to be included. EZ Line was strung between the strainer posts then glued to each of the intermediate posts. Usually there were six or seven strands of wire in these fences, but I've left out the two lowest runs which would probably be hidden in the grass.
     
    The rail-based strainers are made from lengths of BGS bridge rail with all the necessary slots cut to aid bending and holes drilled to accept the wires. As supplied, the rail is a simple 'T' shape without the characteristic hollow profile of the prototype. Fortunately, at this scale the hollow underside is only visible in places, so can be represented by a simple cut with a razor saw. The next photo is just clear enough to show the details of an unused (and undrilled) example of the bracing pieces.
     

     
    There's much work still to do. More vegetation and a few trees, road surfaces, a yard crane, a corrugated hut on the platform, signals (which I'm working on), turnout operating units, tie bars and rodding, ...
     
    Finally, for now, a view through the bridge towards Hallatrow.
     

     
    Nick
  3. buffalo
    Earlier today I posted a short note on the Dapol Class 22 thread about my first attempt at converting the Dapol wheels to P4 using tyres from Gibson coach wheels. With the aid of a fan heater, I'd survived the cold garage for long enough to produce my first wheel.
     

     

     
    Since then, I've made three more so it is probably worth explaining how I did it in greater detail. The next two photos show the various stages of the process from the original Dapol wheel at the left to the new P4 wheel at the right. The brass objects in the first photo are the two halves of a simple tyre press that I knocked up to help ensure the tyres seated correctly.
     
    The wheels appear to be made of aluminium or aluminium alloy and are tightly pressed onto the axles. The latter are non-magnetic, so I assume they are made of stainless steel. The fit is almost, but not quite, tight enough to machine the wheels with the axle held in the chuck. I managed to do this first one this way but there was occasional slipping so, for the remaining wheels, I held the axle in a collet that was adapted to also hold the wheel. This was done by drilling a hole in the front of the brass collet and inserting a short piece of 1mm diameter silver steel rod. This then passed through a pair of the spokes to provide a dog drive to the wheel.
     

     
    The first stage is to turn the wheel down so that it is a tight fit to the inner diameter of the Gibson tyre. This appears to be a nominal 13mm, though my measurements did vary, perhaps affected by temperature differences indoors and in the garage. In practice, I aimed for about 12.98mm for this cut and two of the four wheels needed a fraction more to get a good press fit.
     
    The Gibson tyre has a small flange at the outside end of this surface to ensure the tyre sits squarely on the centre. The next step (third wheel from left) was to cut a 0.4x0.4mm step at the outer end of the previous cut to match the flange on the tyre.
     
    Next, the wheel and tyre were cleaned and the tyre pressed on to the centre until the slot and flange were firmly seated. The brass press was intended to be used between the chuck and tailstock on the lathe but, in practice, it was just as easy to do this in the vice.
     

     
    The photo above shows how a thin piece of metal extends beyond the new tyre at the back of the wheel. This is all that remains of the original inset part of the Dapol wheel in the area beneath the flange. The final machining operation is simply to face this off to give a clean back to the wheel in line with the flange of the new tyre.
     
    Finally, the wheels were re-fitted to the bogie using the original Dapol muffs, brass bushes and plastic washers. additional brass spacer washers were added to take up sideplay.
     

     

     
    With luck, I'll get the other four wheels done tomorrow. Before everything goes back together, the bogie sideframes will need trimming to clear the new wheels and, perhaps, to adjust their height. Others have commented on how the axle boxes are not in line with the axles.
     
    Coincidentally, Geoff (sparky) has drawn my attention to a new development on the Ultrascale web site. Putting two and two together, it looks like they may be considering offering to do something similar with customers wheels. Either that or they've managed to get a supply of the standard Dapol wheels.
     
    Nick
     
    Update, 14:40, 20th Jan 2012:
     
    All eight wheels done and after a quick test on the rollers D6331 assists with track laying at Camerton (though strangely devoid of bogie frames):
     

  4. buffalo

    Pre-grouping stock

    By buffalo,

    2009-11-29: N6 horsebox added at end of this entry.
     
    Progress on the Buffalo and Dean goods awaits a warm weekend suitable for painting in the garage. At least that's my current excuse In the meantime, I thought I would show some of the other items that have served to fill in gaps in locomotive construction over the past few months. You can blame Mikkel for this he has recently shown a selection of pre-grouping stock on his blog illustrating various approaches to kit building/bashing, etc. I mentioned that I had a W1, inspired by his on gwr.org, and had used some brass angle to replace the Ratio plastic footboards. Most of these are experiments in getting to know the materials and the parts and etches available from different suppliers. As you will see, painting is not one of my greatest skills but, hopefully it will improve when I summon up the courage to complete these.
     
     
    W1 from Ratio T47 parts
    As I said this was inspired by Mikkel's original write-up on gwr.org. I decided to replace the stepboards with 3x1.5mm brass angle as all of my old Ratio 4-wheelers, built nearly 30 years ago, had suffered here. Various other parts including Mainly Trains etches and ABS brake cylinder and buffers were used to finish it off underneath. The buffers have had their heads cut off and are drilled for fitting Gibson sprung units. The W-irons are Bill Bedford sprung units. The livery is not a previously unknown GWR variation, but one of my painting experiments. The idea was to paint the black first, then brown and finally fill in the panels with cream. Whether it works, only time will tell...
     

     

     
     
    T20 from Ratio T47 parts
    After the W1, I searched through Russell in the hope of finding something I could make from the remaining parts of the Ratio 4-Wheel T47 brake thirds. The best fit seemed to be a T20, a 4-wheel brake third with central luggage and guards compartment. The basic body has been built, though using Mainly Trains brass ends. Much work remains to be done here...
     

     
    Parkside Dundas W7 Beetle
     
    More recently, I've put together a Parkside Dundas W7 Beetle. As with the W1, I've replaced much of the underframe with brass parts and added sprung buffers and white metal piping. This time, the spring units and the couplings are Masokits. I really enjoyed putting these together and am very pleased with the results. The spring units work very well and I find them easier to get working properly than the Bill Bedford type. The springs stay in place without extra packing and there is no need to try to straighten short lengths of wire.
     

     

     

     
    IKB U28
    Not content with all these unfinished projects, I started another one this week This is an IKB kit of a U28 6-wheel clerestorey luggage composite. The etch says U16, but I think that may be a four wheel arc roof variety So far, I have rolled and folded one side and added all the brass detail. The photo shows this together with an untouched side and one of the ends that has also been rolled to get the tumblehome matching on side and end. Much more work to do here.
     

     
    Sometime, I'll get around to posting some of my goods stock. I've made more progress with painting thse, and some even have transfers But, then, painting GWR goods stock is a little easier, as long as you don't make the mistake of thinking grey is always the same colour
     
    51L N6 horse box
    Here's one I forgot to include when taking the photos for this entry. It's an N6 horse box built from a 51L kit. This was my first attempt at a brass kit after gaining some experience with white metal wagons, etc. I built it last year as I thought I should get a bit of practice with brass kits before embarking on something like the Dean goods.
     
    At present, it has been painted, although the roof needs toning down a bit, and is awaiting glazing, transfers and blackening the buffers and chains.
     

  5. buffalo
    We've seen several GWR 4-wheel coaches on the blogs in recent weeks so I thought I would add one that I've been working on. The origins of this project go back more than four years to this topic in the early days of the current incarnation of RMweb and long before I started on the current incarnation of my Camerton layout. I'd almost forgotten it until I was reminded by a post by Miss Prism in this topic. The original intention had been to identiy the unusual brake coach used on passenger and mixed trains between Hallatrow and Camerton before the opening of the extension to Limpley Stoke. The topic ended with me assuming that the coach was a T49, much like the one recently restored at Didcot.
     
    Since then, a few things have happened. Firstly, I came accross a mention of the branch coach being a brake composite. This probably makes more sense than a brake third as there were a few folk in Camerton at the time who would not have travelled third class. Then I found a figure caption in an article by Richard Kelham on the Cam valley collieries in BRJ No9 (1985) which said that the coach was a U25, and closer inspection of the photo in the Maggs & Beale book showed that there was indeed a larger gap between the ventilators of the third and fourth compartments. This is poor reproduction of the photo in question (ignore the date, it's certainly no later than 1907, probably earlier). In the original topic, Mikkel had suggested using some Shire Scenes parts to make the end ducket. Well since then, Shire Scenes faded away and was resurrected by Dart Castings.
     
    After I was reminded of the old topic I found that Dart Castings were now selling a T49 kit so I began to think about whether this could be converted to a U25. All that was needed was to chop out a 3mm wide section in the panelling between the fourth compartment and guards van and insert it between the third and fourth compartments, thus creating the wider first class compartment. So, out with the razor saw. The first picture below shows the Shire Scenes T49 sides and ends, but the second side has been cut and re-arranged (don't worry about the alignment, its not soldered yet).
     

     
    The next photo shows the same side with all parts soldered together, but before forming the tumblehome.
     

     
    The ends were formed and added, together with a brass floor, solebars made from brass channel and Bill Bedford axleguards. The Shire Scenes kit only covers the body and a few detail parts and is intended to be assembled on a Ration kit underframe. I went with brass because it is my preferred medium
     

     
    Footboards were made up from brass angle, various underframe details came from a variety of sources or were made by hand. Having just said I prefer brass, you'll notice the partitions are made of plasticard...
     

     
    So to bring us up to date, I sprayed it with primer today and will need to use a little bit of filler to paper over some of the cracks. I'll probably spray the underframe black tomorrow, but it will then have to wait until I finish the current project (a David Geen Diagram L autrotrailer for use when the Limpley Stoke extension is opened) so that they can be painted together...
     

     
    Finally, I've added an underneath view as I noticed I hadn't taken any earlier.
     

     
    Nick
  6. buffalo
    Although the main focus of my Camerton layout will be in the Edwardian era, I do hope to run a variety of stock from later Victorian years through to nationalisation. For this, like all good GWR branchline layouts, I'll need some pannier tanks. At some point I would like to include an early pannier conversion from an early saddle tank, for example, a representative of the 1813, 1854 or 2721 classes. I'm going to start, however, where everyone else does, with a 57XX or 8750. As I already have a couple of Bachmann bodies, the obvious way forward is to add High Level chassis to these, a task that has been keeping me busy over the last couple of weeks. Let's begin with the obligatory shot of the etch:
     

     
    Apart from the etch, there are various bags containing gears, hornblocks and other bits and pieces. Like other High Level kits, this one comes with a gearbox and includes frame spacers for 00, EM and P4. It is designed to be built either rigid or using the supplied compensation beams on the centre and rear axles, with a rocking front axle. However, as the title suggests, I decided to go for a CSB arrangement rather than compensation. Recently, there's been much muttering over on the main forum area about springs and compensation with all the usual cries about them being difficult, time-consuming, etc. Hopefully what follows might pursuade one or two folk that they are not really the work of the devil.
     
    Before getting stuck in, another warning is in order. This is a luxury build with all mod cons when it comes to jigs and other tools (though I don't have a quartering jig or a hold and fold, and don't feel the need for them). Those of a more spartan pursuasion may chastise me for this so it's worth saying that none of these are necessary. I've done it all before and could have done it all again with simple hand tools and three lengths of 1/8" silver steel rod but I simply chose not to.
     
    So, let's start with the frames and rods. The frames were removed from the etch, cleaned up and the holes for rigid axle bearings reamed out to take the supplied bushes. The rods are a three layer lamination jointed together with a supplied rivet. The result is a substantial 0.85mm thick:
     

     
    So why did I bother with the rigid axle holes and bushes? Firstly, so that I could use a High Level CSB jig to help mark out the fulcrum positions for the beam:
     

     
    I was going to spend some time with the well-known spreadsheet working out the positions but I discovered that the job had already been done for me. The 57XX is just one of many examples illustrated on one of the clag.org.uk CSB pages.
     
    The High Level jig is intended to be used with their CSB tags that are attached to the bearings in their horn guides. The jig has three rows of holes corresponding to the holes for the spring wire in the tags and, together, these allow some flexibility of choice in placing the wire. In this case, the highest of the three holes promised the least interference with frame spacers and other parts. Once this was decided, holes were marked out and drilled. Some small cutouts were needed in the front spacer, motion plate and firebox front. In the latter case, this only needed a slight extension of the slots provided for the normal compensation beams. The cutouts are circled in yellow below, and the intact EM spacers are also shown for comparison:
     

     
    Remember that I said there were two reasons for using the rigid chassis axle bearings? The second was to aid setting up my Avonside jig using both frames and rods to give a double check on the axle spacing:
     

     
     
    Once the jig was ready, the area around the rigid bushes was removed and the sides of the resulting slots cleaned up ready to accept High Level hornguides. At this point, I also removed the representation of the underhung axle springs so that later the wheels and axles could be dropped out without removing the wheels from the axles. I will be using Gibson wheels and I think it is essential to minimise the number of times they are removed from and replaced on the axle.
     

     
    With the hornguides in place, the frames were erected on the jig and the spacers soldered into place:
     

     
    CSB fulcrums were created by soldering short handrail knobs into the holes drilled earlier and we were ready for the first test of whether the springy beams lined up and were clear of any obstructions:
     

     

     
    All was well, so on to the next stage. The lower part of the boiler was rolled to shape, the gearbox was assembled and tried in position:
     

     
    At this stage, I couldn't resist a sneak preview of the final result, so three wheels were pressed on to axles and, after removing a few small bits of plastic, one of the bodies was placed over the chassis:
     

     
    The Gibson 4'71/2" GWR P4 wheel is one of those that comes without the pre-drilled hole for the crankpin, so these needed to be drilled. Consistency in the crank throws is an important factor in obtaining smooth running. To get the holes in the right place, a simple jig made from a piece of brass with a 1/8" and a 0.75mm hole at the right centres would suffice but, again, I took the luxury route. With the milling vice loose on the table I clamped a piece of 1/8" rod in the vertical V groove and inserted the other end in a suitable collet. The vice was then clamped to the table and, after removing the rod, offset the table by 3.17 3.34mm to represent the 91/2 10" crank throw*. Then, the pin holes were drilled in each wheel. The wheels were either already mounted on an axle, or on a dummy slightly undersize axle:
     

     
    Interestingly, the small depressions molded into the wheels were found to be at a slightly larger pitch, so some care was needed in starting the small drill. Another feature of Gibson wheels that's often commented on is the fact that the crankpin holes align at or near the edge of the inner molded boss. Something has to be done here to ensure that the heads of the crankpin screws do not foul the axle bearings and the screws are not forced off centre. Two common solutions are carving away some of the boss with a scalpel or countersinking the holes. I chose the latter approach and this was aided by my setup in the milling machine. I simply countersunk the inner end of the holes using a 2.5mm drill:
     

     
    Next, the wheels were fitted and quartered. Again this is often presented as one of the arcana of chassis building but is really very simple. First, I pressed the three loose wheels part way on to their axles and aligned the quartering roughly by eye. The cranks on each side do not need to be exactly 90 degrees apart, but the cranks on each axle must all be at the same angle. I took the rear axle as my datum and fitted crankpin bushes to the pins on this and the centre axle, leaving the plain unbushed pins on the front axle. I then fitted the rods and adjusted the wheels on the centre axle until the chassis would roll freely. If you look carefully at the next photo, you should be able to see that there are no bushes on the front pins:
     

     
    At this point, the rear and centre axles have exactly the same quartering. Then, I put the bushes on the front axle and replaced the rods, adjusting only the front wheels until the chassis would roll freely. Once everything is aligned correctly, the wheels were then pressed fully on to the axles using a b2b gauge to fix their final positions.
     
    As I had only reamed the holes in the rods to be a sliding fit with no slop on the crankpin bushes and was testing without any lubrication, I wasn't surprised to find there was a very slight binding between the rods and bushes. It is very slight, though and I'm confident that with just a touch of the reamer and some oil it will all smooth out. However, as I was running out of time this evening and wanted to get this post finished, I quickly refitted the motor and went for a quick run on the rolling road. It works
     

     
    Now all I need to do are the little fiddly bits like the brakes and pickups, and solve the little problems of how to make the underhung springs removeable and how to mount the vacuum pump without fouling the CSB spring Then sometime, I must finish the second one and get back to carving off the topfeed and other modifications to the Bachmann body.
     
    Nick
     
    Update 2012-12-03:
    CK asked below about other ways of drilling the Gibson wheels. Here's what I would have done if I didn't have the mill. First take a piece of brass about 3mm thick and mark off two points at the crank throw distance, in this case, 1/8" (91/2" full size) 3.34mm (10" full size)*:

     
    The one in the photo is actually a scrap piece of aluminium, but something like the earth pin of a 13A plug would be ideal.
    Drill both points at 0.75mm, then open out one to 1/8". If possible, do this in a drill press to ensure the holes are vertical and parallel, otherwise do what you can by hand. Next, take a piece of 1/8" brass rod, put it in a drill chuck and polish it with some emery cloth. The idea here is to reduce the diameter very slightly so that it will be a good sliding fit in the wheel's axle hole. Use as a jig to drill holes. It's maybe a bit tricky to line up when starting but should ensure that the holes are parallel and all the same pitch:
     

     
    On the back of the wheel, either trim with a scalpel as below then countersink or, when you finished using the drilling jig for the pin holes, open up the smaller hole to around 2.5mm and use as before to countersing the hole.
     

     
    Update 2013-03-16
    * Diligent work by Miss Prism has found that the crank throw should be 10" so I've updated the above to show the correct measurements. Perhaps the dimple in the Gibson wheel is in the correct place? Mine remains half an inch undersize but, hopefully, no one else will be misled...
  7. buffalo
    The old Jindenco/Falcon Brassworks kits will be well-known to old hands, but there has been some interest shown on the forums in their recent re-introduction under new owners so it is perhaps worthwhile to present a review of one of the 'new' kits. I recently ordered a couple of these kits, an AA6 PW brake van and a CC3 Signal Dept. tool van and both arrived within six weeks. I assume that if you are the first to order a particular kit then you'll have to wait a similar period, but they may be producing a small number of each kit when it is first ordered so subsequent orders might be delivered more quickly.
     
    Apart from a freshly produced etch, the kit contains various pieces of straight wire and white metal castings. For some reason, perhaps problems with the packing list, no buffers were supplied, though the AA6 kit included a suitable set of MJT buffers. The instructions, always one of the least satisfactory parts of these kits, have been retyped using a computer. They are still just a copy of the originals but, hopefully, given time and feedback from builders they can be improved.
     
    Time, I think, for a photo. I forgot to take one of the complete etch (there's one of the AA6 here), so let's start with the body:
     

     
    The instructions, like many other Jidenco originals, tell you to fold this up with the etched detail to the outside. That may be correct for all those vans with external planked detail but for this iron bodied van it is quite wrong. Here, the fold lines should be on the inside, but first the rivet detail along the bottom of the sides and ends needs to pressed out.
     
    Once the body has been folded into a box, the next problem becomes apparent. Like Iron Minks, the iron bodied vans in the CC group all have curved corners, though the kit folds to a simple right angle. The solution is to fill the inside corner with a suitable piece of brass -- I used some 1.6mm square section -- and file the corner to shape:
     

     
    The next item in the instructions is also wrong. It says that both side and end windows should be attached to the outside of the body. Whilst the prototype had external window frames on the sides, the end windows were opening and are more correctly represented by soldering their frames to the inside of the body. The required effect is seen here, together with the doors that have been added to the sides:
     

     
    Perhaps the most difficult part of many of these kits is folding the solebars. I use some home-made bending bars in which one plate has been milled to suit such tasks. Perhaps one of those Hold and Fold devices would also do the trick but, otherwise it will be tricky without some suitably sized pieces of metal:
     

     
    The axle guards and brake detail supplied in the kit may also cause problems. Both etched pieces are identical, so one has to be folded in the reverse direction to the other. Otherwise, the rather minimal brake detail will not match up correctly:
     

     
    Whilst it should be possible to construct a rigid chassis using these parts, I replaced everything between and below the solebars with readily available and better alternatives. I used Bill Bedford sprung axleguards. The outer ones were carefully aligned and soldered in position, then the solebars and buffer beams added. The central axleguards were then aligned relative to the outer pair and soldered to the back of the solebars. Once the solebars were in place, the body strapping was added, wrapping it down over the outside of the solebars.
     

     

     
    The roof was supplied as a piece of pre-rolled brass. That would have been helpful if it were the right size and correctly curved. Unfortunately, it was both a couple of mm oversize in both directions and insufficiently curved. It's a bit more difficult to trim the sheet to size once curved and it needed further rolling to match the ends before fitting the strapping. I also cut out the areas underneath the roof lights so they wouldn't show after glazing.
     
    These vans had iron roofs with rivetted strapping over the panel joints. Whilst there were a few odd pieces of strapping left over on the etch, there was not enough for this job, so I used some rivet strip from a Mainly Trains wagon detailing etch. The roof lights and oil lamp tops were added, and I also made up a little stove unit with its flue emerging from the roof. The position of the oil lamps shown on the drawing in the instructions is, I think, wrong. The drawing is copied from the Swindon original but, by comparing the Swindon drawings for this family of vans, I came to the conclusion that the roof details shown for CC3 are simply copied from the, already suspect, CC1 drawing. The positions of lamps and strapping is more likely to be correct on the CC4 and CC7 drawings.
     
    The oil lamp tops are very nice castings, but those for the springs and axleboxes are less suitable. They are the correct types, but are ones that include the axleguard or W-iron so are not really suitable for the kit as intended to be built or, as here, with added axleguards. MJT do a suitable 4'6" spring and box casting with long J-hangers (part no 2248) for the central axle, but I don't think they do a suitable one for the outer axles. To get round this I cut and filed the supplied castings to remove the axleguards and allow them to fit. As mentioned earlier, no buffers were included so I added a set of MJT sprung ones. The DCII brakes were made up from parts from one of Bill Bedford's DCIII etches.

     
    Finally, to the paint shop. I've long been a little suspicious of the extent to which black was used for departmental vehicles at this time. Many photos (although I know of none of CC3) certainly show a darker colour, but many of these are quite heavily under-exposed. For this reason, I decided to paint it using Precision GWR wagon grey. However, I had forgotten how dark the paint in my two tins of this were. When first sprayed it looks like a very dark version of the usual grey but, when dry, it is almost black. So, it looks like I'm going to have to go with the black, or at least very dark grey, livery.
     

     
    Lettering was entertaining, all done with HMRS methfix. Apart from having far too few pre-1904 'G.W.R', the sheet includes 'Reading' in both italic and roman and 'Signal Dept' in roman. Unfortunately the latter is far too big for one of these vans and the style is probably incorrect for pre-1904. In the end, I used italic 'Reading' as supplied, 'Dept' from an italic 'Engineering Dept', and 'Signal' was made up from parts of 'Slough' and various other place names.
     
    Overall, then, I enjoyed building the kit and produced, I think, a satisfactory result. The instructions could be significantly improved/corrected, and It does need extra work beyond just soldering the etched parts together so is probably not one for an absolute beginner. Nevertheless, it was much less difficult than one or two other Jidenco/Falcon kits I've tackled in the past.
     
    Nick
     
    EDIT:
    Added photo, taken as per centre metering, not over-exposed, to give a better idea of the colour. Black, slightly glossy unweathered wagon on left and Railmatch GWR grey on right:
     

     
    EDIT: to add a couple of views of the sliding central axle arre=angement:
     

     

  8. buffalo
    Buffalo WorkBench
     
    by buffalo
     
    original page on Old RMweb
    __________________________________________
     
    This page covers my detailing work on an old Airfix 14XX body mounted on a High Level chassis. These posts have been extracted from my workbench thread on the old RMweb, where they were mixed in with the Buffalo build.
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Sun Jul 26, 2009 11:21 pm
     
    While I ponder the design of the CSB and decide on a new gearbox for the Buffalo, here's one I prepared earlier. At the start of the thread I mentioned several other projects that have been occupying corners of my work bench. One of these was an Airfix 14xx on a High Level chassis, something that appears to be quite a popular subject on RMweb. As the chassis build has been covered elsewhere with an early contribution by craigwelsh (http://rmweb.co.uk/f...&t=2571&start=0) and more recently by Knottyjohn (http://www.rmweb.co....t=46044&start=0), I'll just focus on some of the detailing work on the old Airfix body.
     
    The idea here was to take a cheap Airfix body, picked up on eBay, and to try to create a representation of a 48xx as running in their early years during the mid to late 1930s. As a prototype, I chose 4836 which was built in August 1934 and is known to have been at Bristol in 1938. The modifications entailed removing the top feed, as none of these were fitted before 1944, and the whistle shield and bunker steps which first appeared only on the last fifteen examples built in 1936.
     
    Basic detailing was done with the usual Mainly Trains detailing kit which, by itself, provides significant improvements to the appearance of the model. Further detailing involved the cab interior, lamp irons, brackets on the bunker for holding the fire irons, lance cock, replacement tank fillers and vents, and boiler wash-out plugs. Inspired by CK's addition of sanding gear operating levers to one of his panniers (http://www.rmweb.co....art=725#p620976), i thought I might try something similar.
     
     

     

     

     
    Since these photos were taken, 4836 has been painted, lettered and numbered, and has had some initial trials on the chassis. A few small details including the cab windows and some light weathering are needed to complete the body. All went well running in the chassis on smooth DC, but as soon as I put everything together with a DCC decoder, she would run for while, then throw one of the drivers out of quartering. My suspicion is that the vibration from all those square waves and back-emf are just sufficient to overcome the stiction between wheel and axle. I'll have to remove the loose driver(s) and use some loctite to overcome this.
     
    Photos of the near complete model to follow when I get a chance.
     
    nick
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by Knottyjohn on Mon Jul 27, 2009 12:21 pm
     
    Hello Nick,
     
    Thanks for posting the photos of your 14XX/48XX Airfix body here. While I've pretty much finished the chassis for mine, I've not yet done much to the body apart from added new handrails to the bunker and cab, so it's good to see how you have progressed with yours. It looks good so far. John
    __________________________________________
     
    ??? posted on Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:41 pm
     
    As promised, a couple of photos of 4836 in her current state. Cab windows, handrails, sand pipes, and a little more light weathering, etc to be done once the quartering issue if fixed.
     

     

     
    Those who know their GWR may question the tank side lettering on an engine built in August 1934 In which month did the shirt button roundel made its appearance in? I don't know, so in my world it was September or later, as I much prefer the earlier style
     
    Nick
    __________________________________________
    Comment posted by David Bigcheeseplant on Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:57 pm
     
    You may want to paint the top of the tanks and spashers black rather than green, as this was GW practice.
     
    David
    __________________________________________
  9. buffalo
    At the end of the last entry, I had just managed to avoid assembling a 1911 engine with a 1925 bunker. I hadn't really expected to make much progress over the next couple of days but things have gone rather well, so I thought a brief update was in order. A search through kit leftovers and other bits and pieces failed to locate any suitable replacement bunkers. In fact, I'm managing to collect a fair number of later cabs and bunkers so maybe sometime Ill have to try building something in 1920s or 1930s condition.
     
    There was nothing for it but to try to scratchbuild a bunker. I approached this with some trepidation as although I've made many detailing parts to add to kits, I've never actually tried to scratchbuild a major component before. So, out came the brass sheet, gas torch, razor saw and various sizes of round bar. Very soon I had the beginnings of the bunker:
     

     
    This is an approximation to the early flared-top steel box fitted to many GWR tanks up to the later 1880s (RCTS type 31 or type 2A on Mikkel's gwr.org bunker page). During the 1890s these were often topped with coal rails and eventually the rails were infilled with, and later replaced by, fenders. Of course, examples of most of these types seem to have co-existed, but by the time of the first Buffalo pannier conversions in 1911, the latest type (91 or X1) with a beaded fender had become the norm. A few more pieces of brass were cut bent and soldered to produce the basic shape.
     

     

     
    Now I'm back to the point that I thought I'd reached in the last entry. The tanks and bunker are still loose and there is more work to do before they are fixed.
     

     
    The next stages will involve some of the smaller details that will be less accessible once the tanks and bunker are fitted. There'll also be a bit more scratch building as the tank and smokebox front will need to be replaced...
     
    Nick
  10. buffalo

    Buffalo rescue

    By buffalo,

    I'm sure everyone is familiar with the work of cat and dog rescue centres, donkey sanctuaries and so on. This entry is intended to be the start of the story of my attempt to rescue a bedraggled and mistreated Buffalo. In this case, an Alan Gibson pannier tank kit that I spotted recently on eBay and managed to obtain for rather less than half the cost of a new kit. Was it a bargain? Only time will tell. What follows is something of a catalogue of errors and, though I have no intention of poking fun at the original builder (I remember melting a fair amount of the first white metal kit I tackled), some of this may be useful for novice builders to see some of the pitfalls than can be easily avoided.
     
    The kit was advertised as "...complete but may have been incorrectly assembled in some areas..." This turned out to be an understated, but reasonably accurate, description, though most of the spring castings were missing and there were no plunger pickups in the box. Interestingly, though, there is a plastic cased gearbox unit and a set of cast brass outside cranks, neither of which I had seen before. From these, I'm assuming that it is a fairly old kit dating back well into Alan's days, rather than Colin's current version.
     

     
    At first sight, it didn't look too bad and the tank and bunker had been assembled quite well though, strangely, not following the order suggested in the instructions. The top, sides and front of the tank had be glued together as a single unit whilst the lower part had been soldered to the running plate. This appeared to have been done using a relatively high melting point solder though, fortunately, the white metal had only been melted in a couple of places where it will be fairly easy to fill at a later date. Further evidence of failure to read the instructions came when I noticed that parts 31 and 32 were still on the etch and had not been soldered to the footplate first. These are rather important pieces serving to locate the smokebox front and the bunker, and provide strengthening at the points where nuts are attached for screwing the frames to the body.
     

     
    The underside was not so pretty and the soldering showed signs of inadequate heat (probably too small a bit on the iron) and a lack of flux. The outside frames were also far from straight. Here, I suspect they were a bit wiggly before fitting, rather than suffering distortion from poor soldering technique.
     

     
    Problems with the soldering of the outside frames and buffer beams became more apparent when I started to remove them, Only about one centimetre of the frames were firmly attached at the rear end. The rest, and the front buffer beam, came away with gentle finger pressure and only a little help from the iron. A clear sign of lack of flux and resultant dry joints as confirmed by the crystalline brittle fracture, and lack of flowing, of the solder seen in the next image.
     
     
     
    Also visible in the above photo are several examples of overenthusiastic rivet punching. Mindful of the fact that not everyone owns a rivetting tool, Alan provided a pinpoint axle to serve as a primitive punch, and I think Colin still includes them. Being difficult to hold between the fingers, I suspect most beginners would be tempted to invoke the aid of a hammer. This is probably what has happened here as a fair number of the rivets have been pierced right through. An axle might be useful for this task, but only if first blunted and perhaps held firmly in a pin chuck. As they come, pinpoints are far too sharply pointed for this use.
     
    The soldering on the brass cab was much better though again there were signs of insufficient heat where the cab was joined to the footplate. A conspicuous error here was failing to roll the roof so that it fitted properly before soldering. This resulted in some creasing of the half-etched piece and flattening of the curve where it was not supported.
     

     
    Also, note that the backhead has been glued in a little too high with the footplate 'timbers' bent up to meet it, and with none of the extra detailing attached. The regulator, brake lever and fire door levers are still on the etch, even though there is a quite clear drawing of how they fit in the instructions.
     
    Once the lower part of the boiler and tanks had been removed, the full horror of the splashers came to light. These are probably one of the hardest parts for a beginner to get right on a kit like this. Like the cab roof, it is essential to form the parts to the correct shape before soldering.
     

     
    Finally, to the frames, and another example of how not to do it. You don't need an expensive jig, but some lengths of 1/8" silver steel and squared paper would go a long way towards avoiding this sort of misalignment.
     

     
    In a very short time, I had reduced it all to a kit of parts and started on cleaning up the runningplate:
     

     
    So where do we go from here? Much more cleaning, some straightening and re-shaping then, hopefully, a fairly straightforward reassembly. The holed rivets and the couple of bits of melted white metal can be hidden by filler and paint. The cab could certainly be recovered, but I'll probably use the other parts still on the etch to build an earlier cab as seen on the early pannier conversions. Apart from the bunker, the kit is well suited to this as it represents one of the earlier, smaller boilered forms with a flat top to the tanks. I haven't decided on a particular prototype yet, but will be aiming for something like the 1911 photo of No 1635 in Russell's fig 248.
     
    Wish me luck!
     
    Nick
  11. buffalo
    At the end of the last entry I was left with a kit of parts needing cleaning and, in some cases, reshaping or replacement. As I was starting on this task an interesting discussion with Miss Prism developed in which he suggested that the widths specified on the Swindon drawings reproduced in Russell were wrong. After much discussion, a couple of new books and some measurements from photos, I had to agree with him. So, firstly I had to accept that my previously built saddle tank is about 9" too wide and secondly I had to think about how this kit could be modified to the correct dimensions. In a way, this solved something that had troubled me before. Most photos of the saddle tanks give an impression of height whereas most models appear quite squat. I'd put this down to the different viewing angles of prototype and model, but now I'm convinced there's a bit more to it.
     
    So, modifying the kit began by using the razor saw to trim a 1.5mm strip off each side of the running plate:
     

     

     
    The sides of the bunker were sawn off and the back reduced in width before re-assembly. Next, I took a strip out of the centre of the front sheet of the unused open cab etch. The side sheets were detached (they were intended as a simple fold-up) and fixed to the narrower front sheet so that the sides projected forwards by about 0.3mm in typical GWR cab style. Then came the more complex task of narrowing the pannier tanks. The thick side pieces have a step at top and bottom where the tank top and boiler underside pieces fit. Although it could have been done with a file, I chose the easier approach of milling these steps so that they were 1mm deeper. A further 0.5mm was then filed off the edges of the top and bottom pieces. The next photo shows an unmodified piece on the left and the deeper step on the right:
     

     
    With narrowing completed, it was back to the straightforward build. However one look at the splashers confirmed that at most a couple of them were recoverable and the rest were just too mangled. I made replacements from a suitable sheet of nickel silver. The next photo shows the old ones above and the new ones below:
     

     
    The running plate was built up with outer frames, splashers, steps, etc.
     

     
    Now with all the narrowed bits a rough trial assembly shows that things are heading in the right direction:
     

     

     
    In this final shot, it's clear that some more work is needed on the white metal tank/boiler assembly to get it to sit properly on the runningplate.
     

     
    Once that's done I'll be able to fix these parts in place and get on with some of the smaller details. Only one major item remains to be resolved. The white metal tank front has a smokebox door that is far too large and no representation of the numerous rivets seen on the prototype. That will need some thought, but my current idea is to replace the whole of the front with a piece of brass sheet...
     
    Nick
  12. buffalo

    2500 Gallon Tender

    By buffalo,

    I finally finished making and fitting the lamp sockets to the 2500 gallon tender, so it is now ready for painting. The engine and tender have been scrubbed with 'Bar Keepers Friend' and warm water, and are now drying after rinsing in cellulose thinners. In the meantime, I'm trying to warm the garage sufficiently to get a coat of primer on before it gets dark and the temperature drops. This was the state of the tender and its chassis a little earlier this afternoon.
     

     

     

     
    Nick
  13. buffalo
    Nearly two months since the last post here, so time for an update, if only to show that there has been some progress.
     
    With the chassis running quite well, I turned my attention to painting the body but, first, I needed to practice with my new air brush and compressor. After a week in which I experimented with paint/thinner ratios, air pressures, spraying distances and needle openings, as well as learning how to strip an clean the brush, I was ready to start on the buffalo.
     
    Unfortunately, my timing couldn't have been much worse as I only managed a few hours in the garage before the cold and/or damp weather set in. It was however, enough to get the basic green coats on and to make a start on the indian red frames. Since then, I've brush painted the backhead, cab roof and floor, smokebox door and tank front, and inside the bunker in black. The photos below show the results so far:
     

     

     
    Next will be all the fiddly detail above the footplate in indian red and finishing and attaching the backhead and other cab details, though this will have to wait for a time when I can clear and clean up my workbench. I've been working on other projects that involce much sawing and filing, so there's too much dust around to risk any painting. Finally, when the weather eventually improves, I think I'll mask off the of the fiddly stuff and get the airbrush out again for a final coat of green on the tanks.
  14. buffalo
    I had been making steady progress with this kit up to the end of last month, then life, work, health, dentistry and so on intervened leaving me precious little time when I felt able to do any modelling. Nevertheless, some work was done though not enough to make it worth posting a weekly update. In odd hours or half hours I managed to build up the chimneys and roof, and to add the numerous small details provided in the kit. These included many rivet strips, lamp irons, the forward/reverse gear mechanism on the right side and the water feed valves and pipework on the left. The double chimney assembly is quite complex and needs some modification to the etches to enable it all to fit between the boiler and the cover plate on the roof. At least I know it is there, but it's unlikely anyone else will ever see it...
     
    At last today the time came for a final scrub before taking the body, boiler and roof outside to dry in the intermittent sunshine.
     

     

     
    Drying was followed by a quick wipe over with cellulose thinners. Then the model, paint, and garage were warmed up with the aid of a fan heater so that painting could begin with a couple of coats of Teroson etch primer.
     

     

     
    After posing for photos in works grey, it was back into the garage for a couple of coats of Halford's satin black.
     

     

     
    I used some Maskol on the brass and copper boiler fittings to avoid having to scrape the paint off again. Once again, my jar of Maskol had almost dried out but remainded just about liquid enough to use. I have a history with this stuff of buying a jar, using it once then sealing it carefully only to find the next time I use it that it has dried out. Can it be rejuvenated?
     
    Nick
     
    ps. to help answer Paul's question, here is a photo showing the underside of the roof with bracing pieces that fit inside the front and rear of the cab. It also shows the underside of the chimney assembly which fits into the superheater section on top of the boiler.
     

  15. buffalo

    Camerton in pink foam

    By buffalo,

    I've made steady but slow progress on the baseboards over the last month or two. The boards are made from Knauf SpaceBoard extruded polystyrene which comes in 1200 x 500 x 52.5mm sheets, though it seems they are getting increasingly difficult to obtain (see this thread). End plates were made from 9mm ply and fitted with bolts and dowels from C&L. The front and back facing is 4mm ply. The foam pieces were glued together, and to the plywood, using the non-solvent indoor variety of "No More Nails". Being designed for indoor use, this stuff dries very slowly in cold and damp weather and, as I was working in the garage, there have been long periods over the last couple of months when little progress could be made.
     

     
    The entire layout can be seen in the above photo. In the foreground is the goods yard at the western end of the station. This section up to the bridge is 800mm long and is intended to be a lift-out piece over the doorway of the railway room. The next board is the station section and is 1270mm long by 610mm wide. Now that the messy landforming task has been completed, these two boards have had a 4mm ply track bed cut to shape and fitted and have now been brought indoors for further work.
     

     
    The final board, at 1390mm long, covers the area from the signal box to the eastern bridge, including the branch to the colliery. I still need to do some fiddling with the Templot plan to get an acceptable minimum radius on the curved double slip before finalising the shape of the track bed. Once that's done, this board will also move indoors.
     
    I described the necessary compression of the plan in an earlier entry. Whilst we often discuss horizontal compression, I've not seen much mention of the vertical aspects of such scaling. Camerton is dominated by the Old Pit batch at the rear of the layout area, and I've tried to keep this close to scale height even though its length is reduced to about 70% of the original.
     
    Bridges, of course, need to be very close to scale height and this often leads to quite implausible gradients on approach roads on some layouts. At the front of the layout there is a road linking the two bridges. At the real Camerton, this descended to track level and had a more or less flat section over the middle third of its length. In order to fit this in without excessive gradients, I've had to reduce this flat section almost to nothing. The road gradient at the goods yard end is perhaps a bit on steep side as this section is much more heavily compressed than the rest of the layout. Fortunately, though, the 80% compression of this area leaves the station approach from the far side of the bridge with an acceptable slope.
     

     
    Finally, for today, track laying has commenced on the two boards that have been brough indoors. The above photo shows the first length along the temporarily fitted platform. The incongruous collection of stock is just what happened to be close at hand and fitted with P4 wheels In line with the prototype, the platform line and loop will be layed with inside keys simply by reversing the Exactoscale GWR chairs. Of course, the chairs aren't exactly right, but they do go some way towards representing the appearance of this long-lived feature at Camerton. The original Hallatrow to Camerton section was laid in this form, whereas the S&C work, new sidings, and the line beyond the platform towards Dunkerton were laid with conventional chairs in 1907-10.
     
    Nick
  16. buffalo
    Only a little progress this week because limited modelling time has been split between building a bridge for Camerton and the Sentinel. Nevertheless, the kit is now beginning to take on the unmistakeable form of the prototype so I thought it worth posting one photo showing the engine and tank covers resting in place on the running plate.
     

     
    Apart from end pieces, the kit includes a couple of formers to help get the shape right. The curves were formed around various lengths of steel rod of appropriate diameters. There are groups of half-etched lines along the insides of each bend to aid the bending process, though I'm not entirely convinced by this approach. It is difficult to roll the brass without these lines beginning to show on the outside, so some rubbing down is required to remove these. There are still some details to add including the feed water pumps and the filler cap, then I'll need to work out how best to attach this to the running plate and cab front.
     
    Nick
  17. buffalo
    Since last weekend's entry, most of the work on the Sentinel has focussed on a myriad of small pieces. The first of these to be added were the sandboxes and the axleboxes and springs. The latter castings are highly detailed and capture the characteristic shape of the spring supports. Small filler tubes were fitted to the front sandboxes. These pass through the running plate and have their filler caps added.
     

     
    Two other points of interest in the above photo. Firstly, I've had to make a small cutout in the running plate at the right rear of the large cutout for the motor and gearbox. This was because I found the upper rear spur gear on the chassis just fouled the running plate. The extra space needed was only about half the thickness of the running plate, so no cutout was needed in the cab front. Secondly, the handbrake standard is on the wrong side of the cab! There is a hole in the footplate at this point and I had assumed this was for the standard. It was only when I came to start on the brake rigging below the chassis that I realised my mistake. The next photo shows the body with cab front attached and the handbrake moved to the correct side.
     

     
    Perhaps the most complex part so far is the boiler. A mixture of etchings, castings and wire builds up into a very detailed representation of the vertical boiler with superheater and chimneys above, and the lower part of the ashpan below the frames. The next picture shows the various cab detail parts basking in today's late afternoon sunshine.
     

     
    On the left is the coal bunker, then the boiler with the superheater section just resting in place on the top. The instructions recommend filling the boiler with lead, so the superheater will only be fixed in place once the chimneys have been built up and some lead sheet formed to a suitable shape. To the right of the boiler is the ash pan (upside down) and, in the foreground, the lever assembly that fits just inside the right hand cab door. There are three levers, one for forward and reverse gears and the others for sanding. It's difficult to find prototype pictures that show these levers but the evidence from Joyce is that left hand lever operates the left rear sandbox and the right hand one operates the other three. The central gear lever has a rod that will pass through the cab front to a linkage alongside the engines at the front.
     
    Next the chimneys and cab roof, then comes the tank and engine covers. Either that, or it's back to the brake gear and all the rivet strips around the base of the cab...
     
    Finally, for now,
    of two similar engines that survive in Brazil. 
    Nick
  18. buffalo

    Return to Loose Ends

    By buffalo,

    A discussion over in the Little Didcot thread about broad gauge track reminded me that I've said little about Loose Ends for nearly two years. Mind you, I've also done very little with this little layout on a few boxfiles. After the warping disaster, I put the boxes back on the shelfs where they stayed for most of the next year. However, the embankment section has had a new foamboard track bed without cork and a short section of dual gauge double track has been laid and ballasted.
     
    The track was relaid using copper clad strips for the baulks and balsa for the transomes. As before, the rail is from the Broad Gauge Society stores.
     

     
    The tilt wagon has suffered a little when one of the cats mistook it for a small animal and discovered what happens when it is pushed off the cliff at the end of embankment.
     
    Nick
  19. buffalo

    CSP Radstock Sentinel

    By buffalo,

    Back in early December on the Radstock Sentinel thread, I had mentioned that I ordered one of the new CSP kits. However, Roger Slade told me that he had sold over forty kits in the first couple of weeks, so I had to wait until new etchings, castings, etc. had been made. Last Tuesday it arrived so, after a quick look in the box, I settled down to read the instructions. The instructions appear to descibe every stage of the build and are accompanied by many expoded isometric drawings and other diagrams, photographs of the model and of the prototypes. On first read, I found one diagram with missing part numbers, but a quick email to Roger soon sorted that out with a pdf copy of the original by return.
     
    Despite having many other projects on my workbench, somehow I just could resist making a start on the kit. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos at the start, so the photos below of the brass and nickel silver etches and the castings show their state on Saturday morning.
     

     

     

     
    In addition to the above, the kit includes assorted wire, hand rail knobs, screws, etc. and another bag contains a Mashima 1020 motor, a High Level RoadRunner gearbox, shaft material, bushes and a collection of spur gears. All of this is in a good quality card box.
     
    First, I made a start on the chassis. I had decided to order the kit with chassis even though I intend to run it on a P4 layout and the chassis is really only designed for 00 or EM. Given how well my Model Rail/Dapol Sentinel runs on a rigid 4WD chassis, I decided to take the risk of trying something similar with this kit. If that plan doesnt come off, then I'll just have to put some form of sprung motor bogie underneath it. Note the wheels are just ones that were to hand. They will need replacing with a plainer disc form later.
     

     
    To build the chassis for P4, I decided to use the supplied EM spacers and reverse almost all of the instructions about which way round the bushes should go and whether or not they should be filed down. The next photo should help to explain this.
     

     
    The bushes in the gearbox were prepared as per High Level instructions with the flange on the inside and the outside filed down flush. The final shaft of the gearbox extends through the frames to drive the outside spur gears. Here, I fitted the bushes with their flanges to the outside and filed down the inner ends to take the gearbox, with about 0.5mm sideplay. All other bushes on the gear side of the frames were fitted with their flanges to the outside and, contrary to the instructions for 00/EM, the larger boss of the spur gears was not removed and was placed towards the frames. This ensures that the gears and their shafts will be kept in place by the wheels, as originally intended in the design. Note the spacing washers behind the small spur gear need reducing to improve alignment and a piece of tubing needs to be added at the opposite end of this shaft to prevent it coming out. The axle bushes on the non-gear side of the frames were reversed, with their flanges inside the frame. Fortuitously, this arrangement gives an equal extension of the wheels beyond the frames on both sides and minimal sideplay.
     
    Next, the running plate, valances, cab floor and outer frames were built up. Getting the right shape for the curved section leading down from the higher running plate to the cab entrances is quite critical. For the first side, I followed the instructions and added this section after attaching the valances to the running plate. For the other side, I attached both the valance and the outer framebefore the curved section was added. This made it easier to ensure that the curve was correct before adding this short section.
     

     
    Much of yesterday was spent embossing rivet detail on the cab and adding the 'coal hole' doors, beading, handrails etc. There were also a few details added inside the cab: coupling cover, buffer beam braces, and handbrake column. In the next couple of photos the cab is only loosely tacked in place to check that fits correctly, and the inside coal bunker and cab front are merely resting in place.
     

     

     
    Well, that's the easy looking bits done. Still to come the curvy front bonnet over the tanks and cylinders, the incredibly detailed model of the boiler, and much more...
     
    Nick
  20. buffalo

    Camerton goods yard

    By buffalo,

    Some progress this weekend on the western end of the layout. This is the area of the goods yard, separated from the station by a road bridge. I say 'goods yard' but, in fact it was nothing more than a short siding alongside the line to Hallatrow. The yard was equipped with a short loading platform and a two ton crane. On the model, this area is much reduced in length to fit on a small removeable board across the room doorway. The photo below shows this section looking east.
     

     
    The foam base shown in the previous entry, "Camerton in pink foam", was covered in sculptamold to form the rough surfaces of the various slopes and embankments. These areas were painted in browns and greens to provide a background for the later addition of vegetation. The yard and road surfaces were covered in lightweight filler and painted grey. The road surface, intended to represent a loose surfaced country road in the early years of the 20th century, was then covered with chinchilla dust. Some patching will probably be needed later. I'll also be using this material with various grades of ballast to surface the goods yard.
     
    Tracklaying has started on this and the station board. I need to finish the crossover between the platform line and loop before the goods yard is complete. This crossover has been moved a few feet to the west relative to the prototype so as to avoid the join between the boards. I thought at first that this might cause problems with the siting of the goods platform in the yard, as the siding here is much reduced in length compared with the prototype. However, careful examination of a couple of photos of this area show that the platform did partly overlap the crossover. A wagon placed anywhere except at the west end of the platform would foul the crossover and any traffic using the loop.
     
    Today was mostly spent ballasting this short section, though not entirely satisfactorily. After a couple of hours carefully tamping the ballast with a soft brush, the misting spray decided to do an impression of heavy rain rather than mist. This undid much of the previous work so I anticipate some patching will be necessary when the PVA is dry.
     
    Finally, a start was made on a part of a small bridge at the west end (foreground in the above photo). Further painting and weathering will be needed, but it is useful practice for tackling the more substantial bridges on the layout. Below is part of a typical surviving bridge on the Cam Valley line with red bricks and blues for the corners. This is, in fact, the bridge that will appear at the far east end of the layout. The photo gives an indication of what I'll eventually be aiming for. Of particular note are the extra large capping bricks in blue.
     

     
    The idea for using chinchilla dust for the road surface came from this post by Doug (Chubber), though whether I'll get anywhere remotely near his standard of modelling is an open question...
  21. buffalo
    I had been expecting the next post here to be about the chassis of my 1P, but since my last post way back in January, very little has happened on that front other than a minor disaster when I needed to take some pieces off the bogie and managed to melt more solder than was intended. Since then, the number of different unfinished projects on my bench has multiplied. 58047's body received its first coat of Halford's satin black a couple of months ago but since then I've been distracted by other projects. At least it meant the paint had time to harden before the next stage.

    Then, BR numbered using LMS style digits and retaining its LMS lettering on the tanks sides it looked rather too much like ex-works condition. The next stage was to try to get it looking more like its 1951 condition as seen, for example, in the first post of this thread. Those who have followed earlier entries in my blog will know that I'm still something of a novice when it comes to painting. I've done a little weathering on wagons before, but this was my first attempt to weather a loco.

    I started with an overall wash of Railmatch acrylic weathered black. This was followed by contrasting some parts, such as the smokebox and cab roof, using Lifecolor weathered black. The former has a bluish tint whilst the latter has a greenish tint so together they can be used to give some variation. The remaining work so far has been done mostly by dry-brushing using several Lifecolor rust tones and Vallejo chalk white for the water staining.

    Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results, though I think I might have overdone it in places. I anticipate a final light airbrushing of dust from below once the frames are done, unless anyone has any other suggestions in the meantime.
     
    Nick
  22. buffalo

    Signals at Camerton

    By buffalo,

    I'm posting this here to keep everything in one place. It is a summary following a very useful discussion in the thread/topic called Signalling Camerton following the prototypeincluding much help from The Stationmaster, I've arrived at the following draft diagram
     

     
    It is based on my own observations from photos, Mike's comments and explanations and the diagram in R.H. Clark, An Illustrated Survey of Selected Great Western Stations, vol 2. Clark's description implies that there were no FPLs, but it seems that he was in fact describing the situation some five years after the end of passenger services. Photographic evidence shows that there was one on the facing point on the approach from Hallatrow and two on the double slip.
     
    I've now numbered everything from left to right, not just signals. I'm not sure whether all the symbols are correct and the numbering almost certainly does not represent the optimal ordering for the levers, but it's a start. Mike suggested that there may be further information to be gained from inspection reports, so I'll be planning a trip to Kew later in the year to follow this up. Signal 13 is interesting because it has a route indicator box, but one that is narrower than those in several photos. Another research task is to try to track down a better photo of this type of indicator.
     
    Nick
  23. buffalo

    Camerton, the location

    By buffalo,

    For those who do not know the area well, I thought I would add a little more background on Camerton. First, a link to the station area in Google Maps. Turn on the Map Labels layer to see the roads and their names. Red Hill crosses the site of the bridge at the west end of the track plan. Bridge Pl Rd runs from west to east across the map and over the bridge at the surviving east end. The four bungalows along Bridge Pl. Rd. are built on the trackbed in the station area, the station platform and building was in the area of their back gardens. At full magnification, it is possible to make out the top of a wall made of the pale coloured local limestone at the north end of the first bungalow's garden. This, I believe is the wall of one of the Old Pit buildings that is often seen in old photos of the station. The end of the building was located about half way down the ramp leading from the road to the station.
     
    Immediately north of station, and within the curve of Red Hill as it turns to the north-east is the site of Old Pit. This area and the now tree-covered batch that stretches away to the east is now landscaped with a statue of a miner and visitor information boards:
     

     
    The batch itself is now a small public space with much vegetation, but a quick look at the ground gives away its origins:
     

     
    Returning to the Google Map, the line may be traced to the west towards Radford and to the north-east towards Dunkerton. Ater the eastern bridge, Bridge Pl. Rd. continues in a straight line for a short distance. Notice the line of cottages at right angles to the road. These were part of New Pit. The line from Camerton passed through the gap between the two groups of cottages before reaching the screens and loading area. New Pit batch forms a prominent tree-covered conical hill immediately north-east of the colliery site.
     
    Other features of Camerton's mining past can be seen in the satellite images, including routes of tramways between Old and New Pits and to the land sale depot on the hill to the north. In the middle of a field on the northern side is a small isolated stone building, the former store for explosives used in the pits. The route of the Somersetshire Coal Canal along the north side of the two pits is, however, less easy to make out. Other useful views may also be found in Street View.
     
    I have labelled this panoramic view from the south side of the valley to indicate the approximate positions of the various features:
     

     
    The most obvious difference between the landscape of the early 20th century and today is the extent of modern tree cover. Most of the area of interest for the layout is today buried in woodland, but contemporary photographs show a much sparser tree cover. In particular, trees were only becoming established on the oldest eastern part of the Old Pit batch.
     
    In a comment on the previous entry, TimV mentioned the shortage of photos of trains at Camerton. This is certainly true, but there enough of the station and sidings to get a good idea of their appearance. There are, however, some significant areas that do not appear to have been photographed. Fortunately, the eastern bridge survives, but I have not seen any photos of the western side of the western bridge, only of the siding and goods dock beyond taken from the bridge. Similarly, views of the Old Pit are rare. Most only show the pit buildings hidden behind the station building, so there is still some uncertainty about what survived and for how long.
     
    No signalling diagram exists, but there is almost enough information from maps and photos to place the surprisingly large number of signals. Some questions remain, however, and I'll be starting a thread in the appropriate forum to try to get some input on these from our resident signalling experts. Perhaps I'll cover the outcome of this in my next entry. In the meantime, I have some foamboard but still need to get more plywood before starting on the baseboards.
     
    Nick
  24. buffalo
    Way back in February 2010 I posted an entry in this blog describing my thoughts on building several layouts. One of those layouts was based on Camerton in the Cam valley, North Somerset. It is area that I know well from my younger days and I've long been fascinated by the contrasts between its collieries and otherwise rural landscape. Since returning to modelling a little over four years ago, I've made several unsuccessful starts on a Camerton layout, each failing to satisfy because I was simply trying to compress too much railway into an insufficient space. This past weekend, however, has seen a major breakthrough with a solution to my previous problems.
     
    Prototype Background
    First though, for those not familiar with Camerton, a little background. Following a long gestation, the branch from Hallatrow on the Bristol and North Somerset line to Camerton was finally opened in 1882. For most of its length, the branch line ran parallel to, and was to be the undoing of, the Somersetshire Coal Canal. The valley had a number of collieries, of which Timsbury (Upper and Lower Conygre Pits) and Camerton (Old and New Pits) were initially most important to the railway. A simple run-around loop and siding were provided at the Camerton terminus, together with an extension beyond the station to New Pit. Most of the early traffic was coal trains serving the pits, but passengers were also catered for from the start by mixed trains including a single four wheel coach, probably a T49 or similar.
     
    Later, the branch was extended to reach Lympley Stoke where it joined the Bath to Bradford on Avon line. The new section was completed in 1910 although it was possible for coal trains to run from Dunkerton Pit from 1907. Camerton station was extended at this time by the addition of a couple of sidings, one facing each direction. With the line fully open, coal could be taken out in either direction. Autocoaches hauled by 517s and steam railmotors provided the main passenger services over the full length of the branch. Passenger services ceased in 1915 although they were briefly re-instated between 1923 and 1925. The original section between Hallatrow and Camerton was closed 1925, so Camerton again became a terminus, but this time at the west end of the branch. Freight traffic was hauled mostly by 0-6-0STs and Dean Goods in the early days and later by various pannier tanks. The line finally closed to freight in 1951, although it was made famous in 1952 when it was used in the making of the Titfield Thunderbolt film.
     
    Despite its short life as a passenger station, Camerton is an attractive prototype for a model. It sits in a curved amphitheatre of part natural and part man-made origin. It has road bridges at either end and the steep sided, partially tree-covered, Old Pit batch (tip) forming a backdrop on the north side behind the station building. Beyond the station to the east, the track curves gently to the left, and the branch to the New Pit curves away to the north-east on a tighter radius from a double slip at the end of the platform. The station building was an example of the smaller variety of William Clarke's standard design, as also used on the Bristol and North Somerset line.
     
    Making a Plan
    So what was the problem in converting this little station into a model? As is the case for many of us, it was simply a question of space. My only indoor space suitable for layouts is just 2.66m long, although a temporary cassette of no more than 0.85m could be added across a doorway at the left end. Unfortunately, a scale length model of the section between the bridges would be at least 3.5m long, so some compression is required.
     
    All of my previous plans assumed that I would need a similar length cassette area at the right hand end, so that trains could run on and off the layout. This would leave only about 1.8m between the bridges or, roughly, 50% compression. Now, over the last few years, I have designed, partly built and ripped up several versions of this constrained plan. That was until this last weekend when a series of realisations revealed a solution:
    Baseboards made with insulation foam can be incredibly light.
    Lightweight baseboards are easily portable.
    The Camerton track plan between the bridges is in itself a workable shunting layout.
    Given the above, simple fiddle yards could be constructed for each end, and the layout could be taken out to the garage in the summer and run as an end-to-end layout without the space constraints of my study/workshop/layout room.

    With these in mind, I've been able to create a plan which I think captures the essence of Camerton without excessive compression. In practice, this means that the station end has been compressed to about 75% of scale size which will still allow reasonable length trains. The eastern end has been compressed to about 65% and this will still leave a credible length for the eastern storage siding. Using the development version of Templot, I've been able to create a plan which maintains the characteristic curve of the line and the irregular double slip that provides one end of the loop and the branch to New Pit -- thanks, Martin
     
     
     
    So, here is the plan:
     

     
    Other than the compression, the only distortion needed to get the plan to fit on 0.5m wide baseboards has been to curve the lines to New Pit (top right) back to the right to stay within the boards. This, in turn, means that the road over the right hand bridge curves more tightly to the right than the original. Hopefully, most of this distortion can be hidden by landscape and trees.
     
    A brief bibliography:
    Colin Maggs & Gerry Beale, The Camerton Branch, Wild Swan.
    Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Frome to Bristol, Middleton Press.
    Mike Vincent, Through Countryside and Coalfield, OPC.
    Chris Turner & Gerry Beale, Station Master at Camerton, GWRJ 60.
  25. buffalo
    With some trepidation I'm starting my first entry in this new style workbench blog. My intention is to continue where I left off in my workbench thread on the old RMweb. I'll have to check that link later as the old forum is offline at the moment . As a result, I'm not sure whether my last post at around 6:45 this evening actually reached the old site, so I'll start by repeating it, slightly edited, here.
     
    I've spent some of the last couple of days looking at the new RMweb (only as a guest, I haven't dared to log in in case Andy sent the boys round to slap my wrists or worse ) and reading the various HowTos in preparation for the great release tonight. I like much of what I've seen but am still uncertain about this blog approach to work bench threads. To me, the reversal of the time dimension in blogs disrupts the normal sequence in telling a story of the building a loco/wagon/coach/building/etc. We'll just have to see how it pans out. Maybe I'll try Martin's transfer program to move the old thread to the new site, but I'm still not clear what it will end up looking like.
     
    Anyway, back to the Buffalo. I have managed to complete the detailing of the body and have given it a first coat of primer, followed by a few Archers rivets to represent those not present on the castings or damaged during the build:


    Since the last photos I've added the cab roof and whistles. The whistles were made from brass rod and tube and protrude vertically from the cab roof, although they are hidden by masking tape in the photos. The idea of using the London Road Models LNWR pattern lamp sockets was less successful. Although the footplate mounted sockets could be made by filing off part of the mounting plate, the way the sockets are mounted on the bunker and at the top of the smokebox are quite different from the GWR pattern. In the end, I made my own. Those on the bunker are made from 1mm square brass tubing with a 0.4mm brass rod soldered into a hole on one side. The rod was then low-melt soldered into holes drilled in the bunker. The one at the top of the smokebox incorporates the hand rail knob, so this was milled, drilled and turned from a piece of 2mm round brass rod. The results aren't perfect, but look reasonable from 'normal viewing distance'.
     
    Nick
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