Giles

I also incidentally made an enclosure which cuts the noise down a lot! It's made from 18mm MDF and carpeted internally. The dalek type doors work really well for access. The Hoover I use for extractionbis the loudest aspect by far, now. I've also given up on using Proxxons for spindles and use the FME- P Spindle.

No updates as such, but I've been using it a lot. About four loco chassis including slide bars, cranks, motion etc. And recently a 16mm live steam scale rebuild cutting a new cab from 0.036" nickel silver and buffer beams from 2.2mm brass (both using 1.6mm D cutter)

And now with glazing (1mm acrylic) in the specs - though it's clean, so you can't see it.... and PLA printed chopper couplings. I've tried to make them as compact as possible.nthey articulate, with a modicum of self-centering, and the chopper has a bar for an un-coupling magnet. The new boiler is painted and ready for fitting.

Well, the new boiler has arrived, and it's slightly different and needs a mounting bracket, so slight delay.... However, new buffer beams are made and fitted together with front footplate. I have also removed a number of cheese-head screws and replaced them with counter-sunk or hex.

I've ordered a new boiler, as the new ones have a fitting allowing water top-up, whereas this old boiler requires the unscrewing of the safety valve to refill. Amazingly, a new boiler is about £80 or so - which I think is extremely good value - and says a lot about the simplicity of design and manufacture. I've also ordered a pair of spectacle rims, as I only had two, not four. I shall glaze them when I've got all four fitted. Rubbing down has been done, and the loco reassembled. New buffer beams next...

Absolutely stunning paint job on that OTA !

I spent the day painting with Halford enamel (aerosol) which is surprisingly good..... all bits are painted, though I have only just started rubbing down ( then polishing of course..). I will in due course darken the motion with gun blue. I'm very happy with the transformation, and I think she makes for a much more presentable loco. Other jobs will probably be new buffer beams and couplings.

Finished the fabricatiln and started painting. The boiler is now black, as is the roof and footplate. The main body is still in primer. The whole thing will be black (Halfords enamel) which goes on quite well. It will also rub down and polish nicely, which will be important for the overall finish. Before I started painting I put everything mechanical back together and steamed it for the first time just go make sure it did what it says on the packet. The gas burner is surprisingly efficient, and the safety valve started feathering at just under 40 and doing it's job on the mark. The only thing not quite right is the regulator is blowing by a little. On the whole, very pleased. Stripped it right down again for painting. I shall replace the brass handrails with steel. Yesterday I added beading to the cab opening, which was a bit of a fiddle as it always is - but went alright.

Where we are....... there has been a lot of real work this week, which has been welcome, but takes first place- however today was mine..... The foot plate has received its angle valences and steps (the latter carved out of 0.036"N/s by the Stepcraft) The body has got a rear lamp iron, roof hinge assembly and a roof - again mostly chopped out by the Stepcraft as it has more stamina and accuracy than I do..... The Roundhouse body has 'orrible slots to accommodate their roof hinge. I have links to avoid that which work well - the only down-side being that you have to hold it open. I forgot to design it for that....... The regulator servo is also now very nicely nestled under the floor, and we are starting to get there.

I think nowadays this issue is just as often the local authority altering the road layout , reducing the laybys and parking and massively increasing the pavements in front of all the existing shops - it certainly is in our area! It has changed dramatically and several times in the last 20 years - so a long-term shop owner does not have the same access rights as he did in the past.

The easiest way is using radio control, as you just have a joystick to manipulate, rather than buttons etc.... The Deltang receiver is smaĺler than most decoders. Here is my 0-14 example

More gentle stuff..... foot plate mounting lugs fitted to body and everything drilled, so foot plate and body mow bolt together (there will be a balance soldered to the underside of the foot plate, so the screws will be hidden) Tank steps added, and the previously open corner on the underside of the tanks filled. Small things, but they will now cease to catch the eye.

Well, I absolutely agree (and I genuinely think it's great that you've taken the time to point this out) - this worm and gear (which were sold as Romfords matching set) are highly inefficient - right at the bottom end of the efficiency chart for worm and gears (for all the reasons you've rightly pointed out). A well engineered worm and gear can be very much more efficient - but still not as efficient as other forms of gearing. Escap for instance chose to use bevel gears as their primary drive between motor and Portescap gearbox - partly for space, but certainly for efficiency. In Practice I find it much more satisfactory to use bevel gears to extract maximum efficiency, particularly when using smaller, less powerful motors than the N20s, where any shortfall shows more readily. My projects in recent years haven't seemingly needed running in, in consequence. (P.s. I needed the 5:1 × 20:1 ratio on this, and couldn't find many options! MKll was a K20 bevel gear solution) Best Giles

I've put inner sides on the tanks as it always bugs me looking over the top of the boiler and seeing that the tanks are just empty shells. I've also filled the top leading edge of the tanks. I've noticed that just about all the Lady Anne's have the open seam which screams 'etch' which is easy enough to deal with whilst you've got no paint on it! Just a big of wire and solder, then file it back to form the edge. I'm in the middle of PLA printing a servo mount to fit between the frames.

Both tanks are nicely soldered to the cab (the cab is nickel silver, silver soldered, and the tanks are brass - soft soldered). And the foot plate is roughed out in brass. It amazes me how easy it is to dismantle this thing. About two minutes to get the boiler off, one the body is off. My 10 1/4 Bagnall is a bit more of a handful!. I'm enjoying this foray into 16mm. I have always been put off by the high speed racing, as it didn't look like a realistic scale model. The eye-opener of the Slomo transforms the idea, and that these little things can perform as realistically as electric. I quite understand locos large enough to ride behind, but not locos that neither perform realistically not perform a useful function (My opinion only!) But this technology transforms that equation

Ah... well their first 1980's 0-6-0 version of Lady Anne - not the current version which is the Mk3. It obviously had the option of slip eccentric, as there is a notch in the chassis for it. The present one has a much more detailed cab with hinged roof and a body that just lifts off leaving the mechanics intact (with four screws). This one requires the removal of the lubricator, gas tank etc. to take the body off, which is one of the reasons it wants sorting!

Lastweek, for some unknown reason I bought a Roundhouse Lady Anne. It turned out to be the earlier version - which looks much cruder than the current type. I decided therefore to look at modifying it. I'll just replace the cab, I thought ' but the more I looked in to it, the more I realised that it needs a total rebuild so that the body and running plate/footplate are separate. I've made the major cab components, and it appears that it is only the chopped off tanks that I can re-use! I have a Slomo on order.

Excellent! I've also just bought a Lady Anne (and ordered a Slomo for it!) For the same reasons - although I have nowhere to run... I very much look forward to see how you get on!

My brother in law is double jabbed (58) and he's just got it, quite hard at the moment, high temperature, chest etc., so the vaccine is undoubtedly a very good idea, and helps, but it is not infallible. Interestingly, the DIY home tests all came up negative, but the proper (PCR?) one certainly came up positive!

Thank you Gentlemen! (I've always liked simple....)

And discharging the tippers

And so it progresses.....

The motor end of the tipping mechanism. Under the baseboard this simple linear actuator will be mounted. There is a 1mm dia nickel silver rod soldered to the nut which disappears off the top of the photo. This is the bit that actually does the pushing through the baseboard. The gearmotor is a 12v 1000rpm type with M4 x 50 threaded rod as an output shaft. The guide bars are 1.6mm silver steel. Only 40mm of travel is actually needed to do the job, and the speed looks good.

Hi Andrew, Thank you - you wouldn't believe it had taken a tumble off the bench..... but the old rub down and polish does help.... Here's the link to the boat https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/40271https://flic.kr/p/2mdcJci9537102

This is one of five radio controlled locos that will be working the layout. The body is an old Agenoria kit, and the chassis is scratch-built (0-14)