Skinnylinny

Wines and spirits first!

All we need now is a GER liveried tram loco to haul them! Meanwhile, for those of us no longer using the Julian calendar (don't give that straw-mop in Westminster ideas!), we have now entered June, which is Pride Month. As such, it felt appropriate to add Pride flags to my On30 Mogul, in place of the more usual classification flags. The flags were produced last year by Corbs at Railway Mania to raise funds for an LGBTQ+ homelessness charity.

Not for my layout, but technically pre-grouping (and I daresay they will appear on a Linton Town at some point, even if not prototypical!). A pair of renders of the forthcoming Rapido Wisbech & Upwell tramcars, shown here representing no. 7 & 8 in GER condition. Up until now I believe all the public renders have either shown an assortment of detail variations, or the Titfield version specifically. The renders and any further updates can of course be seen on the thread in the Rapido section of the forum.

Ah, go on, we'll share some updated ones...

I thought so, but "Burtons of Linton" doesn't feel right with one! The greengrocer is next door... And yes, those upstairs windows will get a coat of something that is not gloss white at some point!

Well, some actual layout work has been carried out. Not much, but it's a start! Readers may remember a while back that I built a Fair Price Models shop kit, with the intention of it becoming a shoe shop. Well, the window display has finally been painted, assembled and glued into place: The display shelves and shoes are from a Dornaplas kit, and the "Shoes" and "Boots" lettering were part of the shop sign included in said kit (although I didn't want to use the main shop name, so some lettering from the transfers box was pressed into service. The main sign still looks a bit empty and I'll want to find some more small gold lettering to fill out the spaces either side of "BURTONS" (Should this have an apostrophe? I'm not sure... Maybe it's run by a married couple). I think this window display really brings the shop to life though, and I had a lot of fun assembling it!

Right you are, I somehow missed that one!

And those PC models 56-footer models aren't light or very free running! That said, I think the picture might show two 4-sets, rather than a 9-carriage train.

If I'm going to try it with 9 bogies on, I'm going to need a bigger layout!

A haulage test has now been carried out. With only a little slipping on starting, the A12 will haul 5 bogie carriages, two 6-wheelers and three 4-wheelers, on the straight and level. This is far more than I ever expected or hoped!

Oh, but they're beautiful, quite beautiful! Very much looking forward to seeing how the 4mm LSWR 6-wheelers turn out, although I may have a vested interest there. Your scumbling on the teak livery is *gorgeous*!

IT LIVES! Camp horror movie villain laughter ensues Apologies for the background noise, the incorrect coaching stock, and the non-functioning upper quadrant signal (it was the layout's first exhibition and there are still some bits to finish!) . But it lives! It runs! (and much less lumpy than it was)

Well, the front running board pilot beam has been added, which is a really awkward shape (especially without any top views!), and work has started on the tender. As built, the loco was handbraked on the rear bogie truck of the tender only, before gaining a Westinghouse pump on the right-hand-side of the loco (but still no loco brakes, at least in preservation!). I'm slightly torn on how to model the loco (with or without the Westinghouse pump), but as this is to be a one-off project, I think I'd like to model the loco as built, meaning no Westinghouse pump. The pilot ("cowcatcher" itself is also an awkward shape to model - this loco, rather than the traditional all-wooden construction that springs to mind with an American 4-4-0, has one made up of angle iron, in an odd shape that defies verbal explanation! That will require some thoughts as to how to model it. This screenshot from the game Railroads Online shows the shapes at the front of the loco which I have to contend with!

I agree that some level of liveliness would be prototypical, but the amount of slop in the wheel-rail interface in On30 is likely to lead to a lot of liveliness! That said, at least the loco has a relatively long coupled wheelbase for a 4-4-0, but the front bogie sticks out a long way too! By the time the pilot/cowcatcher is added, more than half the loco length will be in front of the leading axle. I suspect some wire springing will solve the issue, but it's still something I am aware of as a potential issue.

I could... if I were using threaded crankpins! And yes, I have used nail polish as a threadlock, as well as a brushable insulation coat (it's rather harder-wearing than paint, in my experience). It's a very versatile addition to the dressing table workbench!

That's a handy tip, thank you! I'll remember that one... (Plus it'll mean the crankpin washers will end up a silvery colour rather than brass, always an advantage!) Work's been continuing on the Baldwin, which now has wheels, coupling and connecting rods. Unfortunately the pilot (the part which sticks out in front of the smokebox) has a complicated shape when viewed from the top... and I haven't been able to get any top-down photographs or drawings! So that part will have to wait. I've also virtually test-fitted the same motor-gearbox combination I've used in the A12, which fits neatly between the frames and the widely-spaced driving wheels. This would leave nearly the entire firebox volume open for weight, which would help balance things, as there's a lot of overhang at the front. I've not yet decided exactly how to handle bogie swing on this loco either - I imagine that with the amount of slop in H0 wheel standards, there could be a propensity to waddle, which would be very visible at the front. I suspect some form of bogie springing will be required. I suspect that the driving wheels are going to have to have 3D printed centres, fitted to turned tyres which I'll have to source from somewhere. I've intentionally drawn the tyres thicker than I expect them to be, as CAD-wise, it's easier to thicken the rim of the wheel centre later than to try to shorten all the spokes.

Well, I tried to straighten the crankpins and I suspect I ended up damaging the wheels. A quick order was placed with Scale Link, and some plastic ones have arrived with which to replace them, along with fresh, straight crankpins, and a "proper" Romford screwdriver. Mine had gone missing, and I suspect that "bodging" the crankpins into place with a pair of pointed tweezers hadn't helped. A friend at the Hacklab offered to show me how to use the CNC milling machine, so we tried to mill some coupling rods out of steel, but didn't get very far, choosing instead to work with aluminium. This still came off the mill with a ragged edge, so I suspect more research needs doing on feed and tool speeds, but some tidying up with needle files has shown that with the replacement wheels and milled rods, a smooth-rolling chassis resulted. The wheels were thus painted, rods fitted (using superglue to hold on the retaining washers, rather than solder, for fear of melting the plastic driver centres and messing up the running again!) and the loco now runs on my temporary test track (some setrack and a 9V battery). A fair amount of weight has been stuck into the boiler and smokebox, using tyre weights and Liquid Gravity. I'm looking forward to testing it with a proper controller on a club layout, to see what it'll do, but I may end up adding tender pickups too, if I can get them to work without adding too much friction. The A12 is never going to be a heavy hauler! So, what's the next project? Well, CAD-wise, I've started work on something a little different, American even! A Baldwin Class 8/18 C 4-4-0, specifically Eureka, no. 4 of the Eureka & Palisade Railroad, built in 1875. This locomotive is one of the early engines in the Railroads Online computer game, and I've fallen in love with it as a classic early American 4-4-0. While the prototype is 3' gauge, I'll be bending reality (and dimensions!) a little to run with my On30 stock (on scale 2'6" gauge track). I'm not looking forward to scumbling that wooden cab, or figuring out how best to represent the large expanses of polished brass, though!

Jack, Thanks for the recommendation. Unfortunately the Poppys jig is only available for 1/8" axles, and because of the gearbox I'm using 3mm axles for the A12. What I really need is to find some kind person with a lathe to turn me a set of 3mm diameter "toothpick" type axles which I can use to set the lengths of the coupling rods! Painting of the loco continues in preparation for the arrival of lining transfers. One side is just about painted, with the other side in progress. The Hornby Adams buffers have now shown up (in a place I know I emptied and searched several times!) so these have replaced the Bachmann ones fitted.

If you pop up a photo of the instructions in French, replying to this post to "ping" me with a notification, I'd be happy to translate. 😀

An attempt was made to assemble coupling rods from the Gibson "Universal" rods set, but due to not having appropriate jigs and bits (and possibly also due to having bent crankpins which I had somehow not noticed!) running is... lumpy to say the least. I'm going to have another go at the coupling rods with another set of etches I have found, but this will have to wait until I've got my hands on some 3mm diameter coupling rod setting-up axle thingies. That said, it looks quite nice posed on "Yetts o' Muckhart", the new Edinburgh & Lothians MRC layout, which will be making its exhibition debut at the Glenrothes show on May 14th and 15th. The appropriate buffers have somehow gone missing, so some Bachmann ones are currently taking their place. As seems to be expected from 0-4-2s, this loco is going to need quite careful balancing in order to get any haulage capacity whatsoever. The smokebox will be *filled* with lead! Some spring cleaning of the flat has also taken place, with the result that the layout is now much tidier than it has been in a long time. Some scenic work might even happen soon!

Still no sign of the Phoenix Drummond green paint, but by a strange co-incidence, I did find some Railmatch LNER Doncaster green, which is a very close match(!) - close enough to be accounted for by less-light-fast, hand-mixed paints, in my opinion. A light weathering, once finished, will hide this variation further. The loco went down to the club last night, and was given its first few coats of green, and the chassis was wired up, although I forgot to bring the coupling rod kit, so while the chassis so far runs rather nicely, smoothly and quietly, it doesn't go anywhere! Apologies for the terrible lighting there, with the rather strange colour cast from the infrared heaters at the club. A better impression of the colour can be got from the photo below, with a Hornby M7 repainted with Phoenix Drummond Green: The plan for Thursday's club night is to try to get the coupling rods done, get some weight into the boiler, and see how she runs properly!

Well, the grey primer has now been "lifted" somewhat by the addition of some black paint to provide an approximation to a "photographic grey" livery, until I can find the Phoenix Drummond green and purple brown paints! Then will come the fun part of carefully picking out pipework, springs, axleboxes etc. Apologies for the messy edges, I was making sure that I got the black right up to the edges, to prevent any unpainted grey spots showing through once the green is applied!

Indeed there is, although too late for mine, too. Plus I believe it's a lever-reverser type, rather than a screw-reverser, and not dual-fitted, so... I've now added some rather nice etched coal rails which @Corbsdrew up for me and stuck on a test etch he was having done. I think they add a nice touch of finesse to the tender, while not being hyper-fragile as 3D printed ones would have been. The loco chassis has now been painted, and DCC Concepts pickups added (although tweaked slightly to reduce the friction from them bearing on the wheels). The trailing wheels have now also gained some rudimentary springing (a piece of wire bent to a "Z" shape) to keep them on the rails. I still need to make up some coupling rods from the Gibson universal etch, and wire up the pickups to the motor. I'm excited to see the chassis run! I'm very glad I modelled the dummy motion - it fills a gap that had bugged me, without it being a solid block under the boiler. The occasional moments when a flash of red under the boiler catches the light really improve the appearance of the loco, and should be even more noticeable when the grey is replaced by green, purple brown and black.

What's this, some actual physical modelling from me? Well, kind of... A while back, I started on CAD for an LSWR A12, and it got as far as a first draft print, which was test-assembled and even ran (briefly!) on a club layout: Well, a fair bit of tweaking of the files has been going on behind-the-scenes. I wasn't happy with the printed rendition of the Adams buffers, so they have been removed, to be replaced by spring ones from the Hornby Adams Radial. The space between the frames was very empty, and quite visible, so some dummy motion has been added. A few tweaks for strength (the steps have been thickened slightly to prevent the snapping that can be seen on the bottom cab footstep). Various small changes. Well, everything has finally come to a head. Train Times model shop in Eastbourne have recently started offering a 3D printing service, using a resin printer but with higher resolution than my own. What a difference that printer has made. The prints arrived yesterday, and I've already added handrails, and primed the model. The surface finish is much smoother than my own printer, and much more consistent. There are some very slight print lines on the boiler, dome and chimney, and I'll possibly give the dome and chimney a light sanding, but the lines on the boiler are fine enough that they should disappear under a coat or two of Phoenix Precision LSWR Drummond Green (from my experience painting 3D prints). The lighting for this photo is rather cruel! As can be seen, the motor mainly occupies the firebox, giving me a nice big empty boiler to stuff with weight, which should help with both the balance and the haulage capacity of the loco.

Thanks, Jack. I can't lay claim to all of the SECR open though - I was part of a team for that one! I worked on the bodyshells, someone else did the underframe (and a fantastic job he did on it too!), and yet another person designed the printing artwork. To say nothing of the skilled people in China who actually moulded, assembled, and painted the thing!