eldavo

On 04/01/2023 at 21:20, gwrrob said:

Nice @eldavo have you got the internal dimensions for the box please.

Looking down on the box the Internal dimensions are approx 330mm wide by 230mm.  The bottom section is 130mm deep while the lid is 30mm deep.

You get what you get in terms of quality.  It is after all a cheap Chinese box.  The weak points will be the hinges and the top and bottom panels which are only 3mm thick.  I wouldn't transport a loco worth 1000s in one but for my bodges it's better than a cardboard box.

Cheers

Dave

Another small hut...

At £20 for 2 I couldn't resist the Hobbycraft boxes even if they aren't the ideal size.  For the price they are quite nicely made. A coat of acrylic varnish should seal the timber ok.

The catch is not up to the job so I have a couple of butterfly latches to fit.  The boxes should be deep enough to accommodate two layers of locos on their sides.  I've made a separator from 3mm ply with 1 cm medium density packing foam top and bottom.  This sits on supports made from ply.  I've yet to fit out the upper level.

Underneath this a couple of tank locos are comfortably snuggled up.

I think they'll do the job.

Cheers

Dave

My mojo is definitely starting to return but of course we are now into the silly season so I'm unlikely to get any more workshop time until the new year.  Rather than tackle the difficult things that need doing I've managed to find more diversionary activities and the grass is starting to grow all over the place!

As it's almost the end of the year so I thought I'd document the current state of play with some overall shots.  I've laid in an approach road/track to the goods yard area (the paint is still wet!).

The goods shed itself has been bedded in but still needs internal details and lots of external clutter including road vehicles.

The same goes for the engine shed area.  It's all much too clean and tidy even for the Midland.

All these views are actually from the operator's side so at some point I will have to reverse the baseboards and see what things look like from the public side.  That will also mean I have to sort out some sort of backscene.

2023 will also see decision time on what I do with the station buildings.  Based on Buxton or somewhere else? Lots to think about.

Have a good Christmas and New year and let's see what 2023 brings us.

Cheers

Dave

19 hours ago, lezz01 said:

That's a very good representation of a Midland ground frame hut Dave. You may be decrying it but it's a bang up job nonetheless. Where did you find the drawing?

Regards Lez.

Thanks Les.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any drawings so it's all done from eyeballing photos and guesstimating.  There are a few pics in the study centre catalog but a lot of detail is difficult to make out and any dimensions have to be estimated based on assumptions about the size of the door.

For Ashwood Dale the hut is towards the back some distance from the viewer so I just wanted something that looked credible.  It's good enough for the job even if not an exact replica.

Cheers

Dave

The hut has been lightly weather and glued to is base.  The CAD looked like this:

As with all the other buildings on the layout the hut is designed to be removable for transport and so has a cardboard "plug" under the base to locate it.

That's more than enough about small huts.  Better get on with something more substantial.

Cheers

Dave

A couple of short spells in the workshop has seen the groundframe hut painted, glazed and roofed.  I've also knocked up a wooden plinth for it from coffee stirrers and scraps of card.  Here it is just plonked down on the plinth with the 2 lever frame placed inside.  It needs a bit of weathering then it can be glued together.

I've assumed as it's a fairly insignificant building not even the Midland would go to the lengths of painting it in the yellow paint scheme so have just gone with a Denbigh cream and Venetian red (brown) paint scheme.  Now I've gone this for somebody is bound to tell me that's wrong.

With the hut sorted I suppose I'll have to finish off the point rodding that I've been putting off for months.

Cheers

Dave

18 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

... What I think will really bring 3d printing to the fore is the development of a printing resin with all the best qualities of styrene.

There are some useful resins appearing now that are very tough and flexible.  Not sure Modelu or others use them though as they tend to be expensive and messy to clean up.  They certainly aren't like the common all garden stuff that is often very brittle.

Cheers

Dave

There has been a distinct lack of mojo in Ashwood Dale over the last few months.  My modelling time has largely been taken up by Winchester Railway Modellers Redbridge Wharf layout in one way or another especially in the run up to Warley.  Today I thought it was time to crack on and do something.  Bit on the chilly side for trotting down to the workshop but no excuse for not firing up the CAD software and giving the 3D printer some work.

With my rather whaky track plan there is a need for a ground frame in order to allow goods shunting access to one of the sidings that requires a move across some pointwork that is under control of the signal box.  I'm sure in the real world it would just be a couple of levers out in the open but if I modelled that I'm sure they would get knocked and damaged so I've built a shed.

Here's the hut still on the printer build plate before cleaning and curing.

With the excess resin cleaned off and the model hardened in the curing station it was time to remove the supports.  It was really a bit of a stretch to print the whole thing in one go and lo and behold I managed to break a couple of the glazing bars.  A spot of superglue and we are good to go.

Time for some paint...

Cheers

Dave

Can't remember whether I've posted a link to this before but there is a great film of how the LMS did the same things that went on at Redbridge:

https://youtu.be/vwHKOMq5WzI

Cheers

Dave

We are at Warley this weekend. 😁

What an outrageous waste of natural resources.  It's almost as though we should go through approvals for every product made if humanity is this stupid!

Cheers

Dave

With the limited runround facilities it must have been a messy operation.  Maybe it's only us modellers that expect goods traffic to be handled away from the platforms.

Cheers

Dave

Confused of this parish wonders why there are 4 I2C wires?  Surely I2C is a 2-wire protocol.  I understand the 0v wires of equipment have to be common but can't figure why you would need 4 wires plus the power supply.

Not critical but intriguing.

Cheers

Dave 

The figures could be printed in sections cheaply on an FDM printer BUT you would need a good quality scan to work from.  The Modelu figures are great but they own the scan data so you would have to either strike a deal with them or get yourself scanned again.  The printing is not really the expensive bit, it's the scanning and associated processing.

Cheers

Dave

We've been rather remiss in keeping this thread up to date.  Redbridge Wharf finally got back on the exhibition circuit this year after the 2 year hiatus caused by the pandemic.  Earlier this year we took the layout to Ally Pally and a busy time was had by all.  Next month we will be at the Warley exhibition at the NEC.

As a warm up for the "big one" we were at the Farnham club's exhibition this weekend and a jolly good show it was with a good selection of great layouts.  We were very pleased to be awarded the "Most Appealing Layout" award based on votes from the public. Thank you all who voted for us.  We had a great weekend and were very well looked after.

Some lovely work on this one.  Some of the best results from Metcalf kits I think I've seen.

Cheers

Dave

Flood those windows with some Johnson's klear and they'll look even better. IMHO of course.

Cheers

Dave

A few nice motors at a small car show at Clungunford in Shropshire today...

Quite a lot more but I didn't get pics.

Cheers

Dave

For those that like detail here's how the rake is made up:

Bain horsebox (MSE kit).

Brake composite (Janick kit).

Composite (Janick kit).

All third with luggage (Janick kit).

Brake third (Janick kit).

4 wheel passenger brake (Slater's kit).  Should really be one of these either end I think.

I have finally finished the paintwork on this rake of coaches, hoorah!  A few roughly painted cheapo Chinese figures have been scattered about just to make it look as though this is a passenger train.  I can't be bothered to spend too much time on the interiors as you really can't see any detail from normal viewing distances when the roof is on.

Ouch that's a cruel close up and shows some shabby paintwork I haven't cleaned up very well!

As a rake I think they look suitably Midland.

I now probably have enough coaches to run the layout but I doubt that will stop me building more.  The platforms can take a decent array of stock as seen below.

The single is pulling in to the platform with the rake of 4 Clayton square panel clerestory coaches, along with a Bain horsebox and a 4 wheel brake, while in the next platform is a rake of 54ft Bain round panel clerestories top and tailed with 6 wheel brakes. In the short platform is an autotrain.

That's a lot of red paint!  I also have a number of 6 wheel and bogie arc roof coaches to run a couple more trains.  May have to build some more locos.  :-)

Cheers

Dave 

A red lens?

Cheers

Dave 

With the horsebox done and dusted it's time to crack on with the Clayton clerestories. The final stage of the lining process is to touch in any black and crimson where the gold lining has escaped or I've been overly enthusiastic in cutting back. That done the coach is glazed, transfers are added and the whole lot is given one of two coats of Johnson's Klear.

Looks a bit rough in a cruel close-up but probably ok from 4ft.  With the roof checked for fit all the coach needs now is a few passengers before it enters service.

Two more to glaze etc.

Cheers

Dave

I have been having the odd hour or so working on the clerestory coaches but with 3 to do it's taking some time. I have though managed to get the horsebox across the finish line today.  Being my usual stupid self I ignored the recommendations of those who know what they are doing and used yellow to line it out.  It looked terrible and was a dreadful ragged job!  No choice but to spray another coat of crimson on it and start again.

This time I've used a cream colour which looks much better and I've managed to get much finer lining.

Today I added glazing and transfers.  It has now had a coat of Johnson's klear to seal everything. It will need some light weathering which will tone down the lining even more.  It looks ok from 4ft away or if a take my glasses off but here's a cruel close-up.

Back to lining out the coaches with gold for the next few sessions...

Cheers

Dave