Portchullin Tatty

Dave,

Re the slipping gears; which I too have suffered.

I now only use the Highlevel gearboxes that are "+" - ie they have the additional final section that is intended to allow them to fold under themselves etc.  The final gear on these are secured with a grub screw and therefore they do not suffer from this problem and/or the axle can be removed.

The ornamental detail you are struggling for a name for is called a dentil - http://architecture.about.com/od/buildingparts/g/dentil.htm

 (despite what it says here dentils can be other than rectangular).

Cracking modelling; both this church and the other stuff that you have been making.  It is nice to see people enjoying making buildings as they transform models if done well.  Hunt around for Mackay's Building Construction - especially old ones (the books come in four volumes and have been going for 60 years!).  The ones on Amazon are pricy at the moment; you can get them for

Top notch Jon - truly expertly weathered too.

(minus that horrid picture Morgan came up with though - yuck!)

Hi Robin,

It was the tracks visible most clearly in the second from bottom photo that concerned me (as I am assuming the small fillet board that is most clearly visible in the third from bottom is a permanent addition to the remainder of the board above it that came about when you increased the scope of the scheme). If these are not to connect to anything, then there will obviously be no problem.

I find the C&L pattern maker's dowels give good control of location in the vertical and sideways planes but they rely on partly how tight the boards are closed together and also the initial quality of the board construction and their durability to deal with the horizontal plane.

Mark

Robin,

Are you confident that those oblique lines crossing the board joint will work? The boards will have to close absolutely perfectly every time as even a fraction of a mm will result in a big difference?

At the very least, have you thought about the old trick of sliding fishplates? I know they look a bit iffy, but I do fear for this area!

Mark

That looks absolutely cracking Nick.

I think it is safe to say that Bachmann won't be producing one of these any time soon and it is a very unusual and interesting model.  Must have been hot inside it though; big glass skylights on a black painted iron box - phew!

Do you not need a further shunt signal to control the release from the second siding on the bottom pair?  As you have a double slip, either siding can exit directly onto the main line.

This would mean that 15 would need to be controlled from the box, as it would need to be locked.  No 16 is the one I think ought to be on a ground frame!  So one problem solved and another created - sorry!  However, do not get upset by popping one lever into the frame, I dare say it happened in some places.

David,

You might well want to look into CNC routing, rather than laser cutting.  In essence the CAD program controls the movement of a milling/routing head across the sheet of wood.  As it is aimed at much more industrial type processes it can easily deal with bigger sheets and can cut to variable depths depending on the commands it is given.

This is how "Brilliant Baseboards" were made (here is a clip from their now site although I am not clear if they are still going

One other observation I have is to suggest that you move the cut outs on the intermediates downwards a bit and to make them smaller.  You often find you need to cut things in from above and if a point motor or signal servo needed to go where one the intermediates is located, you will have a problem as the cut will break the integrity of its structure?

Mark

Brilliant Jon!

I might have to succumb to a DMU but they never really went north of Inverness so I am struggling for an excuse.........

David,

For what it is worth, it is most unlikely that you would have had tie bars finishing on plates just above the window.  The tie bars are to secure (normally resecure) the elevation back to the floors.  This is to stiffen the building back up and/or stop an elevation peeling off.

Putting a tie bar next to a window lintel will mean that the plate has little to attach too and in all probability the elevation will still peel off, just with a little bit of brickwork still attached.

Sorry, it is my profession................!!!

Why don't you replace the bogie wheels with some Gibsons?  They are a lot narrower, so ought to give you half a mm on each side.

It would be a reversible step too, so if it does not work then you can go back to plan B.

Mark

Cracking as ever Jon!

See you back at the Bluebell in a few weeks with Barry?

Hi Mark,

Missenden was fun wasn't it; although I had at least one step backwards for the two I might claim going forwards!  I'll get around to posting something on my Highland Miscellany thread before to long on my adventures.

There were in fact three pairs of fathers and son; all in the small scale loco building group!

That is Fab jon, you really do get the look of these things!

Very smart; some of these resin buildings from Bacmann/Hornby are very good it would appear!

You are likely to find that putting a shim on the check rail will improve the performance of the turnout rather more than putting it on the wing rail (as you have done).  This is because the job of the checkrail is to bear on the rear of the flange and make sure that the other wheel is not tempted to take the wrong route at the crossing.

Amazingly, it went over the side i.e. at 90 degrees to the track. I don't know how he did it.

Perseverance I suspect... 

Gravity shunting?

Sorry to hear about this; it has always been my fear with cassette fiddle yards.

If you are interested in the clearances, then get a "mint gauge" from the stores.

These are very effective at finding even the tiniest of tight spots.

Not wasted on me................

If ultimately you do decide to retire it, I am sure the replacement will be equally good and all layouts do have their time.

ebay is full of offers for Tower Pro SG90 servos or try some of th eonline sellers.  Giantshark is one, although not a patch on its predecessor Giantcod.

That reminds me of Linka, do you remember that stuff?

I'll tell Terry on you; then you'll get yourself a deadline Andrew..............

Painting method no 2!

This sample piece does look very good indeed; doesn't it?

Whilst I can hardly say I have done any of this, I would think the technique for corners would be a chamfer?  I don't know whether the laser cutter can be rotated to cut a chamfer or whether you will need to file this on by hand afterwards (in which case you will want to make the final bricks a tad long for safety).

You will probably find it worth getting hold of some building construction text books.  If you can get some "Mitchells Building Construction" from the 1930s, - 70's these would best (the modern ones less so).  They contain numerous detailed drawings of how arches are formed, the correct coursing of bricks, window detailing etc etc - invaluable to get building construction details right.

A technical colleage library would be best; or drop me a PM.

Some advice I would give is to make sure that check rails that are really holding back soil are actually rather narrower (so the check rail gap is wider) than either scale or your gauge tolerances would demand.

This is because they add a lot of drag to the wheel flange and reduce the pulling power of your loco a lot. This may nto be relevent on something fairly small as you have here, but is relevent on anything larger. Guess how I know that........!!

David,

I have had some similar thoughts with Portchullin and have already reached the conclusion that it needs replacing! I guess that I have the advantage that I have pseudo finished layout (although I had originally intended to do a number of further things with it) but some of the same things that you have mentioned above I also suffer from; baseboards that are not really fit for purpose and difficulty of getting to the gubbins below being two!

The one thing that I do take as a positive of the layout is that it does work and I do know much more about what made it work and what had to be overcome to get there. I am sorely hoping that the next venture will be much quicker and less painful to get to the satisfying stage of "up and going" as a result.

So whilst I note you do not actually say you have made a decision, take heart that even if you do what you have learnt will stand you in good stead for the next time!!

Enjoy whatever course is selected.