nickwood

That certainly looks the part

Thanks to everyone for liking the posts since Southampton. It seems there were a lot of RMwebbers who visitded this show, many of whom made themselves known and a few who perhaps were a little shy in coming forward. I have been very busy the last few days, we are moving stuff constantly around the house ahead of decorators and I also had a Pendon Scenic Workshop to co-lead today so please excuse the late response to the last couple of posts. It's a good idea Teaky and I'll investigate it further, thanks. I'll have to struggle on with the same issue for the BRM show at Doncaster this coming weekend as I just do not have the time to do anything about it in the meantime. Hi Martyn. I'm glad you posted this as I menat to and forgot. As I recall, the little boy, about 5 years old I would say, was being held aloft by his Dad so that he could see better. His Dad was watching the operations and the boy unprompted just came out with "This is just magical". I was leaning over the fiddle yard at the time, right in earshot and thanked him for making my weekend.

I prefer the mininatur fibres and like Alcanman use the Autumn / winter shades predominately for summer scenes. I've found the Peco layering spray very good for adding shorter straw shades to greener grass to add length and give the appearance of dying grasses.

Thank you to everyone who has commented and liked what they saw. It was another good show with Much Murkle and I had quite a few RMwebbers stop by and chat. I really enjoyed it. The cassettes performed well, even better than I expected with only a couple of minor irritating issues (see below) which can easily be put right before the next outing at BRM Doncaster in a couple of weeks time. John, I passed on your regards and Steve Flint asked me to respond in kind. He is going to be in touch regarding some sort of feature on Much Murkle for Railway Modeller but he has quite a backlog of layout features to publish. We discussed the possibility of adopting a different angle for a feature other than the standard 'this is my layout, I constructed it like this etc etc' and it is likely that this is the direction we will go in. I'm not sure quite what type of feature it will end up as but it should be an interesting exercise none the less. Hi Andy good to see you again at the show. For the benefit of others reading this, the foam I used on the stop ends of the cassettes didn't bond well to the adhesive tape and ocassionally would fall off. Easily replaced by just pressing it back in place but annoying all the same. It's interesting, that having used velcro copiously to fasten things together when transporting the layout I hadn't even given it a thought for this solution. I like the idea (apart from the sewing bit, I'm no good at that) but not I'm not sure it's the right solution yet. Rocket card glue has also been suggested as a possible solution as I'm told it has latex in the formula and won't soak into the foam and make it rigid. I need to do a bit of experimentation I think. The other minor issue with the cassettes was that the stop ends are a couple of millimetres or so too wide on each side. This really only affects the loco cassettes as they are stored on shelves at the end of the fiddle yard four abreast. The width of the stop end was preventing them sliding into place properly. This will be an easy fix using the electric chop / mitre saw to shave a blade widths off each end of the stop.

Thanks John. It is always a good show. I had a chat with Steve Flint after setting up this evening. He is going to take a look at MM over the weekend, so hopefully I might have to write an article for RM soon. Please make your self known Scott. I'll be happy to let you and your boy have a look backstage. Rob likes throwing a hand grenade and retreating quickly. The only thing Eastern about the GWR is Paddington, plenty of pigeons there.

Everything is ready for the journey down to Eastleigh for the Southampton MRS show this weekend, well apart from these two that is....

Welcome Drew, I went to school in Gainsborough many, many years ago and still visit Scotter occasionally. Like Alien I also follow the Iron.

Thanks Martin I have had a PM from Hayfield and hopefully we can get it resolved at Southampton later this month.

I'm surprised comments stopped on this thread back in November. I have a problem with a P4 point kit bought from C&L which has a pair of mismatched switch rails. I have tried phoning, the phone continually rings with no answer and he doesn't respond to messages on his website contact form. I last tried to contact him using the website form on 20th Nov and would have expected to receive a reply by now. The delay has probably sounded the death knell of the cameo competition layout I was going to build. As it was to be a temporary change of gauge for me it probably will also be a good few quid wasted. How long should someone make allowances and maintain patience? It was early October when I first tried to make contact and I really think he should have cleared his backlog of orders and queries by now. I see C&L will be at the Southampton show and I hope that he will be accomodating when I visit his stand.

Dave, I'm really sorry to hear that you've finally decided that you have to part with Lydgate, it must be heartbreaking. I thoroughly enjoyed my two outings with you helping to operate it at Newbury and Andover. Lydgate and your handiwork deserve to be seen more and would heartily recommend anyone who has a desire to own an exceptional exhibition layout to get in touch. It is a joy to operate and you actually get two independant layouts in one. If I didn't have Much Murkle I would jump at the chance. Unfortunately I can't make the Calne Show as a visitor this year. Good luck with the sale.

I'm not saying who I had in mind

The protruding wires have been cut off with a disc in a mini drill The ends have been painted. I have mentioned before that the couplings on my stock are handedtherefore the stock doesn't get turned. The red end will connect with the dock to ensure that the couplings are in the correct orientation. The only stock that has to be handled during an exhibition is brake vans as they come off the layout at the wrong end of the train. A cassette with the stops raised to allow stock to pass through. I don't know what the collective noun is for a number of cassettes but here is my effort to build as many as the resouces I had available would allow. A few more than I need to run MM at an exhibition but it allows for expansion of the fleet Oh I nearly forgot, a little piece of foam has been attached at both ends to protect the stock from any ham fisted operators I think this (not so) little job can now be considered complete and the cassettes ready for their first outing at Southampton MRC show at the end of the month.

Back to the cassettes. The 3D printed stop didn't really work. The design was ok but although the plastic section was printed at 1.5mm thick it proved quite brittle along the printed layers and snapped easily. A rethink was necessary. Here's what I've come up with as an alternative. A wooden angle moulding hinged on wires. The moulding is fixed with 5 minute expoxy resin to the wires. The inside face of the moulding has to protrude slightly forward of the aluminium angle to allow it to hinge upwards. The prototype is not quite finished as the protruding wires need to be cropped off flush. A small piece of thin foam will glued to the inside face of the stop to protect any stock from damage. The wires are bent to give a good surface contact with the moulding to assist gluing and give extra strength. Stop in the down position. Bottom edge is in-line with the top half of the buffers so as not to damage the couplings. Stop in the raised position. It will self support due to the bends in the wire. I think when I'm completely happy with the operation I will paint the wood. As the couplings on my stock are handed (ie they only have loops on one end) and therefore do not get turned, it would be useful for the operators to have each end of the cassette a different colour to denote which end has the coupling loops.

Johnster The system I have been using of a drop down bar stops with a padded strip attached has worked well and I've had no stock damage. I use DG couplings which are quite fragile cmpared to RTR tension locks but the key is as you rightly say not to have the coupling in contact with the stop.

Duplicate post deleted

Hi Andy Pieces of foam will be a fall back position if my other plan doesn't work. My old cassettes had a padded hinged bar at each end which dropped down to stop the stock running off the ends. I'm planning on having something similar but a little more sophisticated. I designed a hinged flap and have a friend producing it as a 3D print for me to try out. Once we get it to works ok then he will print all that I need. Season's greetings to you and your family as well.

Hi, they are DG autocouplers available from Wizard Models. They are fitted to all of my stock and have been very reliable in exhibition use. https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/couplings/dg-type-e-couplings-dge/

Thanks Mikkel. My only concern with the brass strip is that it requires careful placement of the cassette when sliding it home to make sure it doesn't get bent out of alignment as it is quite thin. Hopefully the side strips of aluminium will help to make sure this doesn't happen. It perhaps needs the aluminium strips to project slighty further than the brass strip so that the cassette is properly aligned before sliding it home, however I haven't got any longer pieces to hand at present so I'll give it a trial before the next exhibition to see how it goes.

Much Murkle will be at the following shows in 2018, I hope one of these is convenient for you 27 & 28 January @ Southampton MRS, Eastleigh 10 & 11 February @ Festival of British Railway Modelling, Doncaster 6 & 7 October @ Wigan FRM 20 & 21 October @ Uckfield I would normally like to do 6/7 shows a year but have had to reduce the number of bookings I can accept in 2018 & 2019 due to other commitments. I already have 3 shows booked for 2019 and 2 for 2020, one of which is Warley.

I've managed to complete the cassette docking station today and ready to place at the fiddle yard entrance. An aluminium strip is fixed to the outside edge of two short lengths of angle and brass strip to the inside edges. The brass strip is bent to give it some 'spring' so that it makes good contact with the cassette and transmits power across. The aluminium and brass strips are fixed with pop rivets. Both angles are then screwed to a piece of 9mm ply to match the cassettes and gauged to suit. The next two photos show a cassette being offered up and slid into place. Finally before fixing to the layout a couple of small holes are drilled in the angle to allow wire droppers to pass through and be soldered onto the brass strip. I did have problems here getting a good soldered joint as the whole assembly acted as a heat sink. In hindsight it would have been easier to solder the droppers in place before fixing the brass strip. I now have to put the two layout boards up so that I can get the dock accurately aligned with the track before finally fixing and connecting the wiring. Just the stock security to sort out now.

Today, I has mainly been making cassettes..... The old cassettes have given good service since MM first went on tour and have completed 25 exhibitions. They were constructed using 6mm MDF and Peco rail and I described their construction on page 2 of this thread. We have experienced some problems at recent exhibitions with alignment, warping and general wear and tear. I have been promising my operational team that I will build some new cassettes since last summer and decided to take advantage of the Christmas break to get on with it so that we can start 2018 with more reliable fiddle yard operation. The basic cassettes shown above are constructed on a 9mm ply base machine cut to 67.5mm wide with strips of 38.1 x 25.4 x 3.2mm thick aluminium angle. The two angle pieces are drilled with 3.5mm diameter holes at no more than 200mm centres. The screws used are 3.5mm x 9.5mm self tapping screws. To ensure the correct gauge (16.5mm) for 00, one length of angle is fixed securely. Before fixing the opposing angle strip the two end holes are opened out to 5mm which will allow some adjustment when setting the gauge. The gauge is set using vernier calipers and the two end screws are fixed and any adjustments made before fixing any other intermediate screws. The end screws that are used for adjustment need to have washers due to the hole size and these can be seen in the photos. The angle and ply strips were cut to length using an electric mitre saw which makes it easy to make repeat cuts of the same length and gives a clean cut needing very little cleaning up of burrs. Two more jobs to do before these are complete. I need to make a new plug-in dock which will provide power to the cassettes and each cassette will need something to keep the stock secure whilst being moved. I have a design in mind which is a development of the method I used on the old cassettes. A friend is making a test 3D print for me to experiment with. Hopefully I will pick it up before Christmas.

On that theme it's the first chance to see Much Murkle in the North of England

Catalogue each item, photograph and price as replacement value, then talk to Magnet Insurance who specialise in Model Railway insurance.

Thanks Grahame, good to meet you and I enjoyed our chat.