bertiedog

Preiser seem to do a set of Nuns,but out of stock, and expensive!

Looks like Wiking are a source of older types of tractors in H0 scale on Ebay, but it will have to wait till funds are available! 1/43 tractors are far more common than H0 sized offerings. Cars are not bad, there are several continental cars from Oxford in the ongoing range, even a Bubble car from Messerschmitt. Most German made cars and tractors are  very expensive, plus heavy postage costs from Germany.

Oddly the Feldbahn loco came post free offer.. normally the post to the UK is about £15, but it is never that in fact when the parcel is checked.

Stephen

Unlike the drawing earlier, the tape at 12.5mm exactly matches the Peco track width, and tests are needed to determine if the metallic tape is giving too much pull down as it may cause more wear and tear on the engine.

The tape can be split in half and this would economise by doubling the tape, but seems to leave more than enough attraction from the locos magnet, which are very powerful Neodymium types. They trip magnetic reed switches easily at over an inch away..

I am awaiting the separate Peco made rail sections to be able to split the track mouldings to double up the amount of track with the un-used sleepers in each 24 inch length of Z gauge track. For the price of the rail section it doubles the narrow gauge track.

The short, in terms of the original Busch track, sleepers do not show at all badly, it still gives a good narrow gauge look to it

The Roco tipping dump trucks took a matter of minutes to regauge to 6.5mm. and are cheaper and better detailed than Busch. Lots of H0e and 009 items can be converted, only bogied stock may give trouble with the potentially tight curves. 4 wheeled stock is OK, even the L&B Peco stock, but they will need  new metal wheels like Graham Farish, (Bachmann) make, as Peco only supply solid nylon moulded wheels in 9mm.

Kato and  other Japanese trucks can be used for bolster wagons etc., these usually have metal wheels, and are available via Ebay as spares.

Other than that there are the Busch items, but with postage are expensive from Germany, or limited stocks from UK stockists.

Most of the items are top quality and will give years of use, and many are marked made in the EU, not China..

As the line is  basically a Vineyard the dump trucks are used as  transport for the grapes etc, with taller versions in pictures, that would have to be scratchbuilt on Roco or Peco subframes. Wood box wagons would also be used, and also some barrel carrying wagons will be needed, along with special very large barrels to be used for Festivals.

As the line is quite long, other industries can be catered for to give other traffic to the main station and winery units. The main line of the H0f is about 25 feet in length, plus double tacked area and several sidings.

Cost alone with restrict the line at first, but at least the buildings are dealt with, bar a Hotel for the Village area, searching Ebay for suitable plastic kits to modify for use.

I have the old Vollmer Winery kit coming, and an old discontinued Vollmer Blacksmiths model, which will fit in near the village, with it's own siding.

One item to make are the fences and supports for the vines and find suitable material to make realistic vines along them, Noch and Busch make rubberised foam that can be pulled out to form the vines, the cover with fine tea leaves as the foliage, sprayed  green.

Other items to find rather than make are an H0 field tractor, and a vintage coach for visitors by road to the Castle.

Lots of the rest of the detailing can be scratch built, or re cycled from other kits. Many of the Oxford vehicles from the 00 range can be  used as they area bit under scale in several cases with smaller cars. The small Morris and the Austin Seven are nearer H0 than 00 size.

There do not seem to be many Nuns figures on the market, still looking!

The steam engine from Berlin has come in the post, excellent production, also Peco track pack, tested with the plastic metal tape, works as good as the Busch track or better, up walls etc.

A|so some Roco dump trucks in HOe for altering to 6.5 mm. A lot of H0e will modify easily if fitted with metal wheelsets.

Maybe in the comments so far they have not noticed that these are not imported but British made.....all depends on the quality or price, but far better to support British productions and leave the Chinese made items on the shelf as the unsold duplicates. It is known as competition.

Well a couple of moulds made for stone walling sections and a test casting in one, shows the stuff works, taking about two hours to set a casting about 1.4 cm thick hard enough to remove from the mould and try a solid one in comparison in plaster of paris.

The Polycrete looks identical, but is under half the weight. I doubt it is as strong, but is OK for purpose on a layout.

The poly crumb could be added to plaster of paris, but as usual the plaster sets far to quick and risks waste, needing exact amounts made and used at once.

With the fillers it may take hours to set, but also means the surplus can be used up in making odds and ends from it. Tetrion sets in about an hour or so.

A set of columns for foundations are needed and cast in cardboard tubes lined with tin foil scumbled up before gluing onto the interior, to give a textured finish to the cast column. Again much lighter than solid plaster

However the main use is direct onto the boards in the landscape around plastic and wood buildings to make rugged terrain look better with a top coat of the stuff, and more will be done over the next few days.

There is another version that I have used before, and that is sawdust in the filler mix, will added PVA, that works great, but is almost as heavy as Plaster on it's own.

Years ago, old museum dioramas I worked on used "chad", the paper punched from IBM sorter computers or double shredded paper mixed into plaster, with added cascamite powder glue for strength, a sort of paper mache plaster.

Do you have any pictures of the final results Stephen? It sounds like just what I might be looking for. Can it be carved or scribed once set.

That's one thing it will not do well, as the surface is delicate due to the poly crumb in the stuff, The surface takes texture from the mould in the same way as plaster, but the dried surface could only have scribed detailing if another coat of plain filler was added, or a surface layer of say Das was used.

The mix whilst wet can take texturing, a sponge could be dabbed on to the trowelled on surface to bring out the crumb texture, or other textures like sand could be thrown on to the wet polycrete.

Also you could add other crumb like dried plaster flakes to the mixture to make the finish rough.

I will do photos later, it just looks like plaster!, posted here or on the H0f layout as work proceeds. If done in moulds then they are identical to plaster of any kind, but lower in weight. I tend to use vinamould for such castings if large, or silicon sealant if smaller details in quantities as the mould lasts better.

I am pretty sure this may have been mentioned before, but I cannot see it on RM web, the use of a mixture of Polyfilla, or equivalent filler material in dry powder form, mixed with polystyrene crumbled to a fine aggregate. For convenience it is called Polycrete.

The key point to it is the result, a relatively lightweight material for forming rocks, or moulding for walls and other structures on a model railway.

Polystyrene is obviously easy to use on it's own, but it is a bit cumbersome cutting up blocks, and somewhat wasteful on the off cuts left over.

I experimented with trying to crumble up the remains to use them mixed with ceiling paint, the plaster type. but it was slow to break up the poly.

The answer is an old food processor, used with the normal blades fitted, and a pre-broken up supply of poly foam or insulation foam. Use the machine on the slow speed range

Blitz the poly to a crumble, only a second or two is needed, dependent on how fine a mix is needed.

The resultant poly crumble mix is carefully transferred to a poly bag, it is all static charged and will go everywhere if your not careful.

Take a 2 litre bowl or any near size, and pour in the mix to about the top, and add a teaspoon of washing up detergent, about a desert spoon of PVA glue, plus water to the mix and let it settle, and then add about three to four dessert spoons full of the dry powder filler, and keep stirring till the lot becomes like very thick cream, adding more water as needed.

Then when completely mixed add more powder filler till it becomes the consistency that you want, from pouring into moulds to a self supporting plaster for vertical surfaces. Colour can be added with acrylic paint or poster powders.

The material is very adaptive, it can be used for pouring into vinyl or silicon moulds. which will leave it with a smooth finish in contact with the moulds surface, or dependent on the moulds finish.

If it is done thicker or with courser polystyrene "crumb", then it can just be trowelled over a support structure or even piled up on it's own, or stuck to walls.

The finish will depend on the crumb size and any texturing you add to the surfaces, you could add really big pieces of poly to the mix to give a rocky landscape finish.

A smooth mixture is self levelling, so useful for track beds etc., just vibrate the area whilst wet and it will settle flat.

Once dry the stuff is very strong, but dependant on the ratio of filler to poly it may get a bit of crumbling to the surface. This is cured by painting the whole surface with a coat of PVA sealer, which is best anyway before the painting of the final landscaping colours and finish.

I make no certain claims. but the mix is far more flame resistant than poly on it's own. it is light and must be durable as the parts are all known materials. If set alight it smoulders and slowly burns, but nowhere as fast as polystyrene on its own.

Other materials like vermiculite could be added, or even paper or cardboard after it is blitzed in the food processor.

It may need experiment if other fillers like plaster of paris or art fillers are used, but Tetrion, Wllko own brand and Polyfilla all work with poly crumb.

The overall strength depends on the amount of wall filler, and the amount of PVA added to the initial mix, too little and it will crumble more, and always need the PVA sealer top coat.

It could be cast into standard sized building blocks to be used under structures, eliminating using wood etc.

It think it is the most flexible way to use plaster on a layout, without a weight penalty involved with thick solid plaster and wood supporting the scenery. Far cheaper than plaster cloth, although that has its uses in thin sections where it is the strongest material. Plaster cloth could act as support for a top coat of Polycrete to add texture.

It is being used by myself extensively on the reconstruction of an old HO layout to a H0f narrow gauge line, as it is so flexible in it's uses and application.

Stephen

It sounds an interesting move, It must mean both companies output is in sync to say the least, bu it stifles competition, and that is not good in the longer term. Oxford remain in theory independent, but it is a take over in all but name of a rival maker, not just in railways but the die cast business, which will be affected more as far as customers are concerned.

It must mean a range contraction, as duplication must be eliminated, and Hornby's backers are going to want to see a return on any investment made in the previous rival.

Loss of a rival like this can only mean less for the consumer, the range will be consolidated, and the general pricing pressure will be upwards. It does give Hornby access to the production facilities of Oxford for it's various products, not just railways, and I suspect that is the main reason for the move.

The CEO brings expertise, and with the other changes Hornby feel safer now a rival is under some control. It had been noticeable for a time that Oxford had been quite quiet in developments generally, this manoeuvrer explains a lot..........

It cannot all be bad for the consumer, Hornby have bought further time to reconstruct themselves, and it protects the long term prospects for them, but maybe not in the end the staff at Oxford.

Pity the Irish modeller in 4mm on 16.5, even further out of gauge........life is full of compromises, Electric locos disguised as steam,  Diesels without a trace of internal combustion, curves that would look better on fairground rides, and lines that loop back in a few feet to where they came from for no earthly reason....come on, it's only a model, a pastime should not become an overarching passion......

Stephen

Back to the boards and laying the track bed, complicated a bit with some of the H0f elevated on trestles or embankments, so I will just have to work along the line from one end to the other to get the levels involved. Fortunately the Locos can take fierce gradients with the magnets in action, albeit with short trains to ease the loads.

The vertical thickness of the whole end areas will need increasing to cover the tunnels, and also the village end as well. Have to find more Styrene packing or buy in insulation sheets of expanded foam, plus some ceiling tiles. A good roadbed is card, it works over well laid expanded foam, and H9f is hardly heavy duty stuff.

I was going to discard the loo brush pines, but may refinish them and get more, as they look all right in tighter groups and give an air of a consistent type at least. They do look like Christmas tress when set on their own though.

Some more standard code 75 track would be nice, all my usual suppliers are 'out of stock', maybe it's Peco's way of increasing demand for bullhead rail.

Probably not intentionally, but Peco have a slight reputation in the trade as a producer who proceeds in things at a more glacial rate than others, both in production and in supply to retail shops. They make a vast range, which no shop could afford to stock, and rely on special orders for a lot of items, which sounds easy, but is awkward for shops to tag on special orders, when they may be short of credit or cash, as the customer has not paid as yet. this tends to discourage shops doing the order.

Perhaps part of the answer is the internet, order from Peo's site and nominate a dealer to pick up the goods from, the shop receiving a cut for the service.

Perhaps a master site with all subscribed makers on it to make the service worthwhile, it helps both the maker, and the shops, and most of all the customer. Delivery point systems work in other trades, look at Argos and Sainbury's developing it, perhaps the model trade should move in this direction to help shops and speed up deliveries of large stock inventories.

Stephen.

It's all in the minds eye,...... the track is real...... the gauge is right, ..................and it's 00 and 16.5mm..... go on..................keep saying this to yourself repeatedly in a darkened room, relaxed on a couch and indulge in self hypnosis, or a good strong stiff drink, ...or both.....then the whole issue will fade away,.... yes it will,........ convince yourself.........go on......you know it all makes sense eventually, as the bottle empties.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Stephen

PCB strip in fibre glass backing on order for the points, to go with the Peco rail section already on order. Roughed out a design for the closing frog pointwork as well, but it will need one made to check it all out that it works OK, and does not risk shorting out etc. The pivoting blades will need to be switched like a normal frog to get it to work reliably. The check rails will be added, but are non functional in this type of point, purely cosmetic as there is no frog gap.

The Castle is now about half painted, with repairs and extras to add, plus getting the Nuns installed... after they have de schossed themselves and got back in the habits.

I have found a Vollmer raised signal box, a Faller "Folly" castle tower ruin, small scale for background perspective use, and an unknown brand small German Chapel, all retrieved from storage or fitted to the layout. The Volmer Winery is due as soon as the seller returns from holiday! One house is under restoration, so only a Town Hall or Hotel to find or buy in.

The Vollmer signal box is a bit over the top for a Feldbahn, but as tee is a piece of duel track to the engine shed it can be left to oversee this part of the layout around the engine sheds,

I see that lots of the Faller Building range has laser cut card parts in it now, not all plastic, which sounds a bit like an economy  move as you cannot get the depth you can with mouldings and durability may be lower. The Noch range s near all laser card, but with muti -layered design, but very expensive, more like American Craftsmen wood kits in prices.

I'll have re-draw the outline plan ( the drawing), a bit more, as the layout depth available is less than at first thought, at about a foot. but it has larger ends for turning circles already built in and worth using rather than discarding. over all 12 feet by one foot, plus the ends for HO set track diameter turning circles.

Stephen

I notice that Busch now make a "ghost" wagon, shades of the Kitmaster Van with a motor bogie under it, apparently it can pull the non motorised items that Busch make around the track..

The magnets might be a bit obtrusive in N gauge, they are easy to hide on narrow gauge though. The tape works out at £1.57 per metre, which is stlll less than the Busch track, the total being the Peco Z plus the tape. At 12.5 wide it may be possible to slit the tape in half at  6.25mm, and it still work, but it needs a careful experiment to confirm it will still operate. It obviously halves the tape cost, but would not make such an easy base to mount the half de-sleepered Peco track on, as the wider tape.

Stephen

My point exactly. 68 years without any innovation or progress, because the NMRA says so.

 

If you like collecting 1949 models, the obvious thing would be to collect some 1949 track to go with them.

 

Martin.

Have you seen the1949 Lindsay EMD 1500, ALL lost wax brass castings, the lot, including the body and bonnet, to museum standards of accuracy, and the performance cannot be beaten, with a seven pole skew slot ringfield motor with fully floating compensation. The so called wider wheels are fitted, but Lindsay allowed for dead scale in the design of the bogies. it is silent and powerful, and about the best US model ever produced in HO. No current models come near the quality, and it runs on modern code 83 track to perfection.It was party this standard that inspired the standards the NMRA aimed for.

Unfortunately Lindsay, who had worked with Pittman during the war as a motor designer as well, died far too young and never saw his range expanded as he intended. He also designed the "super" Varney range, but this was withdrawn by Varney due to the high cost of production, and Lindsay's death leaving them without a designer to develop anything.

The 1949 track required is the Peco code 83, the same product in code and with scale sleepers and scale spikes was made by both Lindsay and Kemtron. The Peco is the modern version, and impossible to tell at normal viewing from the 1949 track.

H0 is an daft idea, and thank goodness the pioneers had the sense to see it.

 

If you want to use an overscale wheel profile for RTR, you need to reduce the track gauge. Otherwise the wheels won't fit inside splashers, behind valve gear, inside axleboxes, behind bogie side frames.

 

All H0 models are over scale width in the running gear for this reason. For UK-outline steam locomotives the result is particularly noticeable, with steam locomotives way over scale width across the splashers.

 

Using exact-scale 16.5mm gauge in H0 with much overscale NMRA Code 110 wheels is an utterly bonkers idea, and it is the sort of thing you end up with if there is a self-appointed body of so-called experts such as the NMRA trying to force their ideas on everyone else. Thank goodness we don't have such a body in the UK, where anyone and everyone can innovate and progress the hobby, instead of being stuck in the 1950s, where much of the USA hobby still is.

 

Martin.

Oh boy..all Americans, and the rest of the world,  are wrong on the use of HO, the arguments about splashers are true, or were true as modern models get around the problems that HO once had... so all Japanese brass is rubbish, Fulgarex is rubbish, Pannier is rubbish, all other fine scale German makers are rubbish then, as well as the popular main stream makers, who do still alter dimensions to suit, just as 00 does even more on track.

Repeating that NMRA wheels are over size in width is so cheeky from a country that reduces the gauge to suit models. The amount is slight and allows a 1949 Lindsay or Varney to run on exactly the same track as made today, same profile, same gauge , same back to back, total compatibility, totally satisfactory operation.

Try running a Trix on Peco code 83......or a Hornby, or a Tri-ang, or even a Meta "scale"standard from the 50's, they are not going to run on any modern track bar streamline ode 100.

The slight over width was very deliberate, it stops most drops in frogs on NMRA standard track, but barely compromises the appearance in the same way that 00 does with the god awful gauge chosen for 4mm.

It is all compromise, there is no one right way, but the compromises chosen by the NMRA are slight compared to the awful situation over here. The European situation is indeed more complex, but some of the finest commercial models ever made have been in HO scale, far more exact to the prototype than 00 can ever be. The track is the fatal flaw till P4 is used.

HO has fine scale as well, but because the gauge is the same, most older units lie Lindsay can run on the super scale track with suitable adjustments to the back to back, try doing that with a Trix from the 1950's., they did not even build to 4mm scale.

Stephen

An idea in development is smoke, or fog, not the hot oil that smoke units use, but the Vapour type used by smokers,

The idea is to use a small air pump to supply one of the E ciggies units hidden in the area under the castle and in the tunnels, so that a reed switch would trigger the vapour smoke as the loco enters and it bursts out in a cloud of steam from the tunnel.

The amounts of vapour produced by small pumps is impressive, demonstrated on you tube, and the vapour is water based and non toxic within reason. Low odour liquid is made as well, and is more friendly than the oil used in smoke units.

The pumps are cheap, about £1.60 from China, air pumps for aquariums, and any cheap E cig will do, connected up with silicon pipe.

If it produces as much smoke as shown in the videos , you could end up with a fog bank over the Vineyard if not careful.....

Pump unit.

or use a smoking lady.....

The costs are spiralling up wards at the moment, it is almost reaching the cost of one Heljan L&B loco.........What seems an expensive German made loco and system, turns out to be quite affordable with a few alterations, and few items with made in China on them...

However points, even though not Chinese, are expensive, and hand built will be the order of the day, with PC sleepers and code 60 rail.

The idea is to copy the old Wrenn track idea of closing the frog gap as the hole bade structure of the point pivots to operate, a bit more sophisticated than Hornby clockwork type, but both cause the frog gap to vanish totally, with fantastic improvement in running and electrical simplicity. With the Wrenn type it barely shows that the frog closes, and you can leave the check rails in place even though they are non functional. to ease making I will settle on two types, a six inch radius point, and a 9 inch radius, which covers the present needs of three to four points, with the possibility of more added later on.

The lack of a frog gap should smooth the passage of the loco and stock.

On the stock, the line will rely on L&B Peco and Minitrains types, re-gauged to 6.5mm. The Peco wheels cannot be used as they still use the hard nylon moulded wheelsets, so these have to be replaced with Graham Farish wheels in N gauge, which can be adjusted from 9mm to 6.5mm. The 4mm scale size is no problem, they just look a bit beefier than usual, and help make the track look even more narrow gauge than usual. The tippers etc are about the right size and Roco and Minitrains do 3.5mm scale ones in a good selection. They come with metal wheels that can e re-gauged at once.

At first I will leave the couplings as Bemo type, it is standard in 009, and the H0f locos can take a spike to operate the loop, or be fitted with the loop instead. They should pull OK, pushing will have to be tested.

On passenger stock there appears to be a total disregard for health and safety on the preserved Feldbahns as most seem to feature flatbed wagons with garden seats bolted on the the top surface, no handrails, no safety features! In one video on youtube the passengers all get off the train to push it in Titfield Thunderbolt style after a derailment occurs! Some resolutely stay sitting on the garden benches whilst it is sorted out.....

Stephen

Only two tribes? in the UK there used to be estimated that over 20 different gauge, scale groups were at each others throat so to speak, and they disregarded the toy train users, who tend to get dismissed, unlike outside the UK.

There are few so forthright in their views than a proponent of a particular combination of scale and gauge, and it shocks US visitors and was the basis of hours of discussion with Lin Westcott and John Allen, when I meet them on a visit to the UK for the London NMRA convention. Mr Pritchard was there in the evening and joined in the talk about the hobby in general, and how difficult it was to design products for such an un0organised group of enthusiasts, yes we are enthusiastic, and unfortunately a lot are also unaware of the difficulties in making items for sale in the UK, where independence is somewhat treasured at the expense of setting standards that can be followed.

Go on, admit ypu play with trains, that fine models of any type interest you, have fun, and let others run things other ways as well. But at the core should be standards that stop makers from making incompatible items, and press for improvements at all times.

Peco have improved the track with the bullhead, it will sell widely, and maybe they will change the rest to better spacing etc over the years.

If pioneers had put their foot down 00 would never have happened at all, and we would all be following H0 to every bodies benefit, instead we still have carping remarks about scale  /gauge relationships nearly 90 years on from it's inception.

Now wonder new comers are still confused s as to what is going on. Try turning up at a Model club asking for membership with  set of three rail equipment, see the reactions in the UK, off-putting and very condescending to say the least, and risks putting the newcomer off for life.

It happens in the States as well, but far less than here. Look at the giant toy train at Xmas market in the States, it is still there despite people saying it is fading, locos and tracks around trees and Winter displays of models etc. It supports a lot of the hobby trade in the US, but the market is almost non existent in the UK, mainly because we still look down on toy trains, with the exception of Thomas.

It is not an insuperiority complex here, it is a superiority complex that drives UK modelling, a curious inability to see the joy of a hobby, by replacing the joy with an over earnest attitude about the modelling, perhaps typified by remarks about nice models but I would not buy it because it was not used on my line, group or company. There are none so partisan than railway enthusiasts, and it gets worse with track and gauge issues.

Re stating the obvious problems with 00 on here may not be lelpful, it opens old wounds too much, and does raise the hackles of some on here to say the least, live and let live is better in the hobby on this point, as unpicking 90 years of the mess is plainly impossible..

 At least Peco is having a darn good try with the track.........next should be deliveries on time from the rest of the trade......

Stephen.

Railway modellers, or Playing trains, a layout in a day, from the land where three rail lives on.....

No Peco involved here, but it provides some thing many UK users forget, a bit of fun.....

Older Romford nuts would have fitted as Romford increased the nut diameter in the early 1950's to get a better grip on the castings. The nut on current wheels can be reduced to fit the old size. The square hole being bigger should not be a worry if the set is built up to fit drop in frames as a jig can hold the wheel whilst epoxy glue sets with the wheel running true, I doubt that the square hole and nut was a patented idea.

But the point is 12 volts out is not required by me, just 6 volts with about 9 volts in, with appropriate resistors, it works! This range is fully within spec.