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richbrummitt

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  1. richbrummitt

    4FO+1UFO

    By richbrummitt,

    If you were hoping for Southern MUs then you might want to leave now ;-)
     
    I've been trying very hard to finish some of what I have started. The amount of visible desk (zero) had become an impossible situation, especially considering that our spare bedroom has three lengths of worktop in it and SWMBO only has a small portion of that. In attempting to paint more of the items I had built but not painted I had a growing pile of stock that was 'finished' awaiting couplings. Progress was being made but things were not getting to the point where they could go in the stock boxes I bought earlier in the year. (I have a rule that stock cannot go in the box unless it is finished with couplings - i.e. really finished and suitable for use on the layout).
     
    Here we have the results of painting and coupling fitting from this week.
     
    LNWR diagram 88 van.
     

     
     
    Long time readers will have seen this in a previous entry. Since then some further weathering has been udnertaken, mostly the addition of various chalked notes. It only really needed some couplings to be complete.
     
    MR D342 coke hoppers.
     

     
     
    These have been hanging around unpainted almost since my order came through when Chris Higgs originally offered these as limited availability a few years ago. Fortunately for Midland fans they are now available from shop 2. The paint specification in Midland Wagons 1 suggests the paint recipe contained more than 12 parts white or clear to one part black. I had my doubts whether the lettering would be visible on such a light colour (there isn't much contrast in some pictures of the prototype) and I darkened the left one a little with a very light black wash from the light shade I chose. The one on the right has been in service a while longer and the lead in the paint has darkened the colour. The lettering stayed bright because of the paint used, which had a 'self cleaning' property.
     
    GER cattle wagon.
     

     
     
    Built with a steel under frame. According to LNER wagons a small number of this diagram were on steel, rather than wood, under frames.
     
    GC Lowmac.
     

     
     
    Okay, this one's not quite finished, but it is painted and has couplings. These wagons had the securing chains permanently fixed to rings in the deck and I have run out of N Brass Loco container securing chains after loading up the Macaw Bs seen in previous entries. More have been ordered so I expect to be finished soon.
     
    I didn't so myself any favours with the to-do pile at TINGS recently. Having intended to get a couple more Mathieson wagons I got talked into a few more. Fortunately I dealt with this swiftly by re-painting internally, dusting with weathering powders, re-wheeling, and adding couplings such that they aren't going to be hanging around in the UFO pile.
     

     
     
    I'm a little way off a mimic of the coal train on the Dartmoor scene at Pendon, but until I have an 8 coupled loco finished there might be a problem with siding space...
     

     
    ...because I think I might have an addiction: I've ordered more!
  2. richbrummitt
    I fixed the last of the wires yesterday evening. The layout has been electrically finished, but untested, for about a week. I just had to finish boxing up the controls and transformer. The controller is a Malcolm's Miniatures Pictroller housed in a Maplins box of appropriate size. This is the closest thing I could find to a Pentroller without the uncertainty of supply. The only major difference as a user is that the brake is not continuous - it has a pot to set and then the brake can be applied in three stages (roughly equated to some, more, and ooh eck!). The box is quite deep and suits my somewhat lengthy fingers quite nicely. The connection to the layout is from underneath.
     

     
    I had not used the controller prior to last night, and then only in direct control mode, so cannot really comment any further on it.
     
    The power supply is by a gaugemaster transformer that I have had in the draw for quite some time. Again housed in a Maplins project box. I have used one of the 16V~ outputs solely for the controller with a 1A self resetting trip and the other will provide the oomph for the uncoupling magnets and lighting (when I get that far)
     

     
    At the moment the lid remains off because I reckon it would get sweaty in there if used for very long. I'm going to find a small AC fan to put in the lid to keep things cool and power this directly from the second winding with the magnets and lighting.
     
    Aside from a few PW issues that I am already aware of, and some others that I am sure to be lurking still, I can play trains
     
    Here are a couple of (poor quality) videos of the trains so far:
     
    http://www.flickr.co...57594126202068/
     
    http://www.flickr.co...57594126202068/
  3. richbrummitt
    I've lost count of how much I've spent on wire, and yes it looks almost exactly like last time you saw it. It is however fully wired up. Unanswered questions still include: Why does it all take so long; and is it possible to make it neat? Here's a gratuitous picture from the other end of the layout.
     

     
    I have used 3PDT switches (a 4PDT in one case) to allow the track to be double isolated unless the correct route is set. This should, in theory anyway, work just like insulated turnouts - only better. When I built a previous layout with live crossings using just a SPDT switch for the polarity I regularly ran into a short circuit. The idea for the arrangement as described is to remove this as a possibility! The catch points are operated by a SPDT switch which knocks the feed out to one rail so you have to change these too.
     
    The cross baseboard connection is permanent (the boards are permanently connected. I made four four core cables up with lengths of heatshrink. Two for these and one each for the PSU and controller connections. The latter are plugged into DIN sockets on the underside of the small central piece with the middle legs on. Hopefully it will still fold up correctly!?
     
    I haven't tried it out yet, but am looking forward to playing trains on my own layout. Then it will be back into the garden for further woodwork, basic landscaping and some initial colouring.
  4. richbrummitt

    An introduction

    By richbrummitt,

    I thought best to introduce what is to follow.
     
    I intend to keep the thread up to date with what is happening across my workbench (wherever that is in house or garden) but the primary reason for getting on with it now was to allow others to see how my layout Littlemore* is progressing towards that ever closer date in June when the 2mm Scale Association is celebrating it's 50th Anniversary in Oxford with a 2 day expo.
     
    I have kept a record of my completed (or near completed) rolling stock on Flickr for some time. A word of warning: My interest is pre-grouping Great Western and I am modelling a branch line. If you find this clich?©d or plain sickening then look away indefinitely
     
    *Littlemore is the name of the real location, however the layout may yet have another name that I am toying with.
  5. richbrummitt

    Back from the Dead

    By richbrummitt,

    It's been a while, 6 months I see from the last entry, but like buses three come along at once. Various real life (what model trains are not real life?) issues prevented much (any) progress with things for a long time. A couple of exhibition visits of late have really got me motivated again and after I treated myself to a frankly ridiculous desk light that Precision Paints had on offer at the Watford show I had to have a test.
     
    I've been working on the trio of Bachman Macaw Bs that were acquired last year. So far they have been treated to scale bogies, which dramaticaly reduces the width below the solebars. They are attached around the moulded pivots and retained with the original plastic pins. All the lettering has been removed and will be done by hand to match in with my existing stock. I have started the weathering and re-painting already, but have not yet got very far.
     

     
    Apologies for the quality of the lighting in the photo. The rest of the room seems almost like darkness compared to my desk now!
     
    Two of the three are going to be permanently joined to carry a 90' load of timber. I have to either find some 4mm square strip wood or wait until I can get in the garden to reduce some of the 8mm square that I have. An 8mm square 180mm long piece of wood is loaded in the photo so you can get an idea of the size of the load. I am planning to load the other wagon in a similar manner to that on the cover of Russel: Freight Wagons and Loads in Service on the GWR. I have some thin wood that will do nicely, however I calculate that I need to cut at least 400 pieces of wood 1.1mm width and around 40mm length for this one and that will take up a few evenings alone.
  6. richbrummitt
    In between eating, drinking, partying, visiting, more eating, more drinking, more... (I shan't go on because I imagine we've all had to go through the same thing) I've wangled a day off and managed some time at the workbench. I really wanted to get the underframe finished on this milk brake van so that it was at the stage for painting. The roof and details will be added after the body has the base colour on. This allows me to easily paint the inside - essential where there are windows present.
     
    Last time you saw this vehicle here it had little more than the contents of the kit assembled. After sitting idle for about 5 years I had just rebuilt the W irons with some spares that included the brakes and added the trussing. This used nickel silver strip. Next on the list were the lower footboards. I wanted to devise a method that would allow easy and accurate spacing of the stirrups for soldering whilst ensuring they were upright. An off-cut of Tufnol and a few hours on the newest addition to the workbench (a Proxxon MF70 milling machine) produced a simple jig to do just that. First I drilled a series of holes down the centre of the edge spaced according to the stirrup positions. Afterwards I ran a milling cutter to form a groove down the centre for the upright of the step board to sit into against the wire inserted in the various holes. I hope the picture of the jig mounted in the vice explains it better than I can in words.
     

     
    An short length of the reduced angle used for the footboard is sat in place ready for the stirrups, bent from nickel silver wire, are inserted into the holes and soldered up. The ends can be trimmed to length once the soldering is complete. The holes are drilled vertically in the mill and ensure that the wire is upright when soldered on and the spacing will be the same for every one. Various additional holes exist so that I can use it again for coach bogie footboards and horse box steps, which are shorter and have different stirrup spacings.
     

     
    Before fitting the assembled footboards I fixed the whitemetal axle boxes (2mm Scale Association 2-473) and looked at the springs (2mm Scale Association 2-464). I realised that I couldn't fit these around the trussing, and on further observation of the line drawings in Slinn & Clarke to ascertain the size and position of the longitudinal tank I realised that the vacuum cylinder was on the wrong side and that I had soldered the floor in the wrong way around all those years ago (the instructions turned up as a page marker in one of the Russel volumes and were found to be misleading). Major surgery was needed! I unsoldered some items to enable a chunk of floor to be removed for re-insertion with the correct orientation. Before refitting on a new section of 0.010" nickel silver, making a complete floor for the vehicle for the first time, I added the footboards followed by the springs. Lastly the cylinder was added. I had some dowel the correct diameter so it was cut from that. It is cross drilled in two positions and slid onto a U shaped 0.5mm wire. This makes adjusting the vertical position easy. You will see the ends of this wire cut and filed flush in the underside view below.
     

     
    The model is now rested off the workbench with various other items awaiting the arrival of warmer drier weather so that I can get outside with the spray cans whilst I get on with the next item.
     
    Greetings of the season and all the best for 2012.
  7. richbrummitt
    I've a good stash of passenger coach kits and to make a start it seems sensible to begin at the bottom and work up. Many of them are in firmly in the no longer available category, having been shot down from larger scales. (I am aware of plans to try and get one of these ranges reintroduced - fingers crossed.) These are bodies only and require the Dean type of bogie, which was not available anywhere, and so I had my own etches made to compliment the kits. The remainder of the coaches are Masterclass toplights. These include the bogies that have been added to the range available from the 2mm SA shops.
     
    The Dean bogies
     

     
    Front left: 8'6" wheelbase, Right: 6'4" wheelbase, Rear: 10' wheelbase.
     
    These are all destined for 5522 and Blacksmith kits. The stretchers that the scroll irons fit to are included on the etch but the axle boxes and springs will be the whitemetal ones available from the association shop.
     
    Some of the toplight bogies
     

     
    Left: 9' equalising 'American' bogies, Right: 9' 1914 'Fishbelly'? bogies. There are some more of each type and a pile of 8' 'American' bogies to solder up. The foot boards have yet to be folded or cut off as appropriate so they may look a little odd just now.
     
    I like to add bogie brakes to the bogies and to this end I've made up 20 sets.
     

     
    80 units look more like a pile of scrap!
  8. richbrummitt
    I planned to model a larger station on the line, but did not want to compress any of the track plan so settling for one of the smaller stations (although one with plenty of goods traffic) made for a much better option. The only wall longer than 10' in our house is in the living room and that is out of bounds for model trains. On top of this I have a small car, and if the layout was going to be portable then it had to be compact.
     
    I took the track plan from a map in a book and increased the size until the platform matched the length quoted in the text. I also checked that the station building was about the right size based on the elevation and plans available from the same source.
     
    I measured up the boot carpet from the car and worked out what would fit comparing to the plan. The prototype is on a curve and that has helped with fitting things in, but I still ended up with about 10% shrinkage from the prototype. I figured that this would go un-noticed.
     
    The baseboards are from ply of varying thickness. Most is either 3mm or 9mm with the track bed being 18mm (I think). The latter was cut from the reinforced parcel shelf that I built for my first car, aged 21, to house speakers. It has been knocking around for several years since and finally been put to good use. Shown below are the finished main boards with the track bed laid on.
     

     
    The idea is that the boards will not have any removable or detachable parts, travelling easily in one piece, without being to heavy and fold out transformer style. Two pictures below show the boards in their folded and unfolded state.
     

     

     
    The legs need some further bracing yet, and the catches and closures all need to be added. For the time being though attention has turned to other parts what with the reducing temperature and daylight.
  9. richbrummitt
    First of all I must apologise for the lack of pictures tonight. I have finished updating the etch artwork that was the subject of the last post. This has taken a little longer than I thought due to having issues with swelling of my right eye for no particular reason not helped by a misdiagnosis the first time I visited the doctors. After several days off due to pain and problematic vision I got about sorting out the issues identified in the test builds. I included a chassis with a sliding centre axle on the fret, rather than having to use a cleminson chassis, although it will still be possible to take this route if desired. I also thought again about other diagrams and it is apparent from any photograph of a milk train from the early 20th century that to be representative it should probably have vehicles of differing heights, widths, lengths and include several vans for the various cuts.
     
    I have already covered diagrams O2, O1, O3, and O4. O2 has a different end profile but these are all 6'8" body height. Diagram O5 is similar to O4, but with 7'6" body height to allow an extra layer of crates for fish to be loaded. This would provide for different height vehicles, so I have drawn this and will be adding it to the sheet. With an alternate set of ends I could provide for the O6, which is an O5 with end doors, like a Siphon H. I'll have to see what can be sensibly catered for in the space of the fret. It might be sensible to consider these as two separate items. I hope to be sending the revised sheet off for etching early next week and further hope that everything is right.
     
    I was also considering drawing a Siphon C (diagrams O8, and O9), but there is already a kit for this in the Scale Link or Shire Scenes range. I have seen a picture of the etch and whilst not perfect I think it should be possible to produce a decent model from it. The inside planking for the end doors is not on the fret, but it could be cut from planked plastic sheet, or scribed separately and inserted inside the end framing. It would seem a bit silly to duplicate effort, and in addition I don't fancy my chances of getting the louvres right first time. I believe that all the longer siphons are available from Ultima Models so that allows for plenty of choice for vehicle length within a train.
  10. richbrummitt

    Bricking It

    By richbrummitt,

    Aside from running out of ideas and being in desperate need of linking a lever frame with my TOUs so that I commence scenic work I have been slowly putting brick after brick individually in various walls.
     
    I have a plan to produce my own brick paper 'kits' for the three station buildings (station building, signal box and weighbridge hut/goods office) on the computer using photographs of actual bricks arranged to proper bricklaying practices in as much as I understand them before printing them on sticky backed papers and wrapping them around a laser cut former. The latter so the sizes of the building and openings are more accurate than I can cut by hand. Fortunately drawings of the station building appear in the OPC line history and the signal box is a standard type that is covered in the Ericplans book. The weighbridge hut/goods office is similar enough to the one in this book to have just the West window changed for a smaller one, as indicated by pictures.
     
    I began by getting frustrated wrestling with GIMP until I realised that a vector graphics program was what I required. I downloaded Inkscape and got moving reasonably quickly after digesting a few tutorials. It is quite tedious work and initially I wanted to get a feel for how long copying and placing individual bricks would take but things have progressed reasonably quickly and some re-use is possible. For example opposite sides can never be seen together so you only never need draw one side of the building before making allowances for the window openings. No-one would know that the bricks repeat unless they read this!
     
    Thus far I have the weighbridge hut/goods office structure brickwork completed and have made a start on both the signal box and station buildings. The first step was to draw out a side and end. I drew these polygons with no border so that the line width does not need to be considered. I wasn't going to attempt to use the brick photographs as it was because of matching up the tile and patterning issues. I planned to use the bricks but not the mortar. I drew the mortar outlines in an off white colour as a series of rectangles. These brick outlines have no fill and the outline is a scale 3/8". I used four sizes - stretcher, header, queen closure, and a header plus stretcher for 'corner bricks'. When drawing these you need to consider the thickness of the mortar outline. The error is tiny but over the length of a building the error accumulates quickly. Inkscape allows snapping to the bounding box and to use the centre of the outline for the bounding box rather than outer edge of the line. This makes putting the 'bricks' together really easy. It is tedious though and at the moment there is only the mortar. Once I started drawing the bricks I found that I needed to adjust the sizes of the walls slightly to fit the bricks but these really are small alterations.
     
    Once you have all the mortar drawn in it is time to add the texture. I cut out the individual bricks from a texture available freely on the internet that had a colouring that I liked. I used paint to do this and copied each brick into inkscape as a separate bitmap. Try to use just the bricks and not select too much mortar. Resize the brick textures to the size of stretchers, headers, &c. and then duplicate and add the bricks. Using the snaps align them to the mortar outlines and then place them on a layer behind the mortar.
     
    Here's a crop of what it looks like

     
    I've printed this out onto paper and built it up around a shell of mount board to get an idea for how this method will work.

     
    and placed it in approximately the right position in the yard.

    It requires the glazier and tiler to visit now.
     
    I think this will work well and so am continuing to work on the other buildings. The bridge is taking some time because each brick also requires rotating to fit the arch. A lot of time will be saved painting things later though and I really quite like the effect. I must work on making the corners more square though.
  11. richbrummitt
    I'd done quite a bit of thinking and head scratching how to make an instanter link for some time. The shape is not easy to make around a former. Indeed my first few attempts failed to make it off the formers. The process still makes some duds during the cutting and final shaping stage but on the whole I am managing to make some slightly better than triangular links most of the time.
     
    This evening whilst clearing the workbench of assembled DC underframe etches and drilling headstocks to fit coupling hooks I pulled some of these triangular links and fitted them onto the closest appropriate wagon.
     

     
    and coupled it up to the adjacent one on the 'work' plank.
     

     
    On the left close coupled and on the right long coupled. I'll readily admit that they are really hard to get into the short position and couple there and there probably isn't much point but then why do we make these models? It's probably just because we can.
     
    Please excuse the incredibly cruel close ups and poor lighting.
  12. richbrummitt

    Crossing work begins

    By richbrummitt,

    After reading several times through the GWSG publication on GWR switch and crossing practise I felt ready to begin creating timbering diagrams for construction. I used the A3 photocopy to scan into CAD and then stretch and scale to size then drew over the top. This took much longer than I thought, and it would probably be quicker to recommend that anyone else thinking of doing things this way stopped after the initial splines and then added all other detail afterwards.
     
    There were two main areas of crossing work at Littlemore. A pair of connections at the east end of the station with a catch in between and then three further crossings that require through timbers at the east end of the platform. There is also a further catch near this area.
     

     
    The above shows the two formations quite well. With the whole thing being curved every crossing is compound. The timbering that has been cut is from one pack of Easitrac sleepers. I also realised that I did not have enough check or slide chairs from the 14 sprues I had purchased, nor did I have enough turnout operating units because I forgot to count the catches. This has now been rectified by a quick order and even faster turnaround by the nice man in 2mm SA shop one (Thanks Owen) and hopefully much track will be completed throughout the festive period.
  13. richbrummitt
    Quite a bit has happened in the last two weeks whilst rmweb has been on it's travels. The weather to go outside and finish the legs, extensions and bracing on the boards has still not been forthcoming. I booked a couple of days off work to get extra daylight and the heavens sent rain (and snow). So instead I've been building brake vans and getting a sore throat. More on them another time.
     
    I figured that to make the short diamond a jig was in order so I figured out a way to make it on my little lathe.
     

     
    I broke a lot of these
     

     
    The rails were fixed to angled sole plates, in turn fixed to the 24"x7" longitudinal timbers. These were cut in one shot from 4 thicknesses of 20 thou nickel silver and attached whilst the rails were in the jig.
     

     
    The whole lot was turned out from the jig without problem (yet!)
     

     
    I then cut for electrical breaks (and gauge in one direction because of my Heath Robinson approach to jig manufacture in this case). A rail broke away and the more I tried to fix the more parts fell off. I composed myself and accepted that I had to rebuild half the crossing again. I did this free hand with judicious use of blu-tac and a highly calibrated Mk1 eyeball or two.
     
    Chairs were added and the whole glued to the timber base. It just so happens that two Easitrac timbers laid side by side are the right width, and I doubt anyone will see a join between the running rail and check after ballast and paint.
     

     

     

     
    I am considering rebuilding the whole because although it appears to function well enough with stock running through I think it could look better?
  14. richbrummitt

    Dirty Half Dozen

    By richbrummitt,

    These wagons have been hanging around between the layout and the workbench for a long while appearing in the background of previous photographs of models.
     
    I bought a few Mathieson models wagons to see what they were like, with the idea to convert them quickly and easily. They are really good models for RTR with crisp fine detailed mouldings. The length and width is comparable to the 2mmSA 1907 RCH body but the height is noticeably greater, despite also being 7 plank wagons. To use 2FS wheel sets the brake blocks need to chamfered or thinned to clear the flanges, which can be pared away with a knife or removed with a file. Either is easy to do. My next step was to drill the headstocks to fit the coupling hooks. I used a mini-drill on the lowest speed setting but the metal chassis block requires to go steady and clear the drill flutes often to prevent breakages.
     
    The liveries are printed really nicely but look so very bright. To begin with I attacked them with a scratch brush and followed up with some black washes. The loads are 'heap' shaped extruded polystyrene bases cut to be a tight fit inside the wagons, painted black, with a thin layer of finely crushed coal on top. (I looked up the most common sizes that coal was broken into and at scale size it's pretty small at around 0.3mm.) The exterior and chassis were treated with my first attempt at weathering powders using a rust colour from DCC supplies (no connection).
     

     
    Here they are sat on the slightly lowered and newly realigned back siding on Littlemore. I haven't included any pictures of this because there are plenty of pictures documenting pulling 2mm track up on here already. I didn't actually harm any track, just the wood underneath it, but I have some more pictures to come of cutting painfully close around the switches to replace the TOUs. More on that another time. For those that might be interested the photograph was taken at F22 and exposed for 15 seconds. It's still a little blurry at the back and the liveries are a little more readable in reality - I haven't completely obliterated them, although it can be difficult not to get carried away and overdo weathering!
  15. richbrummitt
    A picture heavy blog post to ask a fairly simple question. If it is possible to have a poll on a blog post I can't work out how but it would be useful in this instance.
     
    I had previously consigned myself to the replacement of the unsatisfactory toggle switches, which had only been bought because they were available in 3PDT and 4PDT flavours, with banks of linked slide switches. With the TOUs coming out as well I figured I would change these too.
     
    Having played with the S4 Society lever frame previously on Jerry's Tucking Mill and seeing them again on the S4 stand at the Southampton show I could not resist them any longer. The slide switches went in a cupboard and 10 levers worth (2 kits) were ordered immediately on returning from the show. The signal box at Littlemore had 15 levers, reduced to 7 and was then demolished leaving an actual ground frame where the box had been reclassified as one earlier. I figured that 10 levers would suffice because the layout isn't big enough to model any of the distants that could have existed but I would need the odd extra one where a switch was operated manually.The discussion on how the layout might be signalled based on my needs for the model and to use 10 levers is in a separate topic here. The electrical work will be covered in a later blog post with the help of a bulk purchase of microswitches that arrived today.
     
    This brings me back to the question. When considering where to house or attach the levers on the baseboards, which are a bit minimalist, I thought that it might be fun to have them located behind the signal box. I like the idea of operating from the front and this location would be convenient because very few operating rods would have to cross the baseboard joint. One down side is that it could make it a pain to photograph the layout. This problem could be overcome by making the frames detachable but I will demonstrate later why I do not think this is much of an issue. What might be the biggest problem is that it spoils the overall impression of the layout when exhibited. I've trial fitted the frames where I'm thinking of putting them and taken some overall views of the layout as best I can in it's current location.
     

     

     

     

     
    So does it offend you?
     
    It should still be possible to get some good photograph opportunities without the levers in view, or with the possibility of them being cropped out without losing the subject or the composition of the image as demonstrated by the following viewpoints looking along the layout.
     

     

     

     

     
    I'd appreciate yes or no answers to the above question, along with any other comments. Eecially from any people who exhibition manage.
     
    It's not possible to have them any lower than in the pictures without moving them outside of the baseboard facings because of the internal structure of the boards.
  16. richbrummitt

    Double Heading

    By richbrummitt,

    I'm still working on having things moving on the layout at Expo with under three weeks remaining.
     
    Several weeks ago a pleasant suprise landed in my inbox, an opportunity to test build two new locomotive chassis kits. A short exchange of emails later and a subsequent jiffy packet arriving through the letter box and we were away.
     
    The chassis are to fit the GF 57xx body and the Dapol 0-4-2T
     

     
    Also included was a jig for assembling the frames
     

     
    First the frames are bushed before inserting into the jig, which is easily folded up sqaure using the tabs and markers provided.
     

     

     
    It is best to open up the bearing holes first and use 1.6mm drills to locate in the jig. I found this out afterwards. Phosphor bronze and even PCB frames are much stiffer than etched under the pillar drill!
     
    Next up the pick up springs were added and the motor mount attached...
     

     
    ...followed by gears and wheels. I quarter wheels by hand/eye.
     

     
    Next up was the brake assembly.
     

     
    I wanted to make these removable so set about insulating them from the frames to allow a complete cross piece from 0.3mm n/s wire through the bottom. Short pins of microrod were added at the top of the brake arms to locate into the holes in the frames. Once painted they are insulated.
     
    Here the locomotives are pictured working and near complete. Both have 8mm coreless motors. The bodies have had no detailing, but there is some minor interior modification to allow fitment of extra weight.
     

     
    This is especially true of the Dapol body. I mounted the motor the easy way (into the cab) and have virtually run out of space for lead to move the balance forward to gain better electrical pick up and adhesion.
     

  17. richbrummitt
    I don't agree with the idea that Deadlines = Motivation but a deadline does require a certain work-rate and focus for it to be met. For the next eleven months I need to maintain focus combined with a reasonable work rate to complete the work required to transform the bare wood and pink hills into something resembling a small part of Oxfordshire all those years ago. I feeling quite motivated at the moment however.
     
    Below the baseboard I have the TOUs issue to resolve once and for all along with the means to operate the few signals required. These will be linked up to 10 levers provided by a pair of the S4 society kits. There is some rewiring involved because the toggle switched I have currently got the wires attached require too much force to move and will be replaced by banks of microswitches. If it is possible to include easily with the existing wiring I would like to include the facing point lock lever within the electrical interlocking but I haven't had a chance to assess this possibility yet. Three signals require construction.
     
    Above the baseboard I have a minimum of four main structures to put together: The station building, signal box, weighbridge, and the road bridge at the Oxford end. If the lodge is missing it will not be so noticeable and the smaller structures will not require as much time as the aforementioned structures will command. The final ground shape has still to be completed at the front (North) of the layout and ground colour and cover to commence. I'll also need to put a top on the platform.
     
    Around the baseboard there is some tarting up to be done with the backscene and fascia to paint The layout will need a skirt to cover it's legs up and the St Albans venue commands a proper lighting set up too.
     
    To be sure of trains running well the track needs thorough testing and as a preference some new cassettes producing. The track requires painting and ballasting once this is completed. Allowances have to be made for the point rodding stools and crank bases whilst ballasting so these can be added as time allows.
     
    So there's a work list of sorts that I've put together. I'm not particularly a fan of these list type blog entries but I've put it here as a reference and to help the focus so thank you for indulging me. I think it will be very useful to be able to compare what should be happening to what is actually getting done.
     
    Work on the under board items is taking place with the revised TOU mechanism parts in production and the levers waiting for some paint so there will be another progress based entry with pictures soon.
  18. richbrummitt
    So here it is. TOU Mk2 and yet another moving sleeper with a difference. The shaping has made a lot of use of the milling machine. In fact the only part that I used a saw for was cutting the milled channels to length.
     
    First I milled some channels to receive the sleeper tie bars in whatever this material is?
     

     
    These are sized to fit into square section brass and were cut into 20mm lengths. The thickness is 2.5mm leaving a 0.5mm for the tubes that are soldered to the sleeper and a shim of 0.040" plasticard to make a snug fit in the brass section. Originally I had intended to glue the sleeper tie bar into some telescoping styrene sections but that didn't feel like the right move to make. This is shown in the top of the picture.
     

     
    In the middle is a prototype for the final design: an off-cut of 3/16" square brass with a slot milled lengthways where the tubes protrude through. The various parts that fit within are shown beside it. At the bottom is the final design, which includes the lugs that fold around to retain the channel and shim, plus tabs for pinning the device to the sub track bed.
     

     
    Here is the final design placed in situ. One of the wires will be used to link up to the operating lever but both are used as track feeds to the droppers for the switches. I'm thinking to cover it over with some paper because that is all the space I have!
     
    Now to finish the other six and get them fitted.
  19. richbrummitt

    Finished Goods

    By richbrummitt,

    Some of the wagons started several years ago as chassis for an article have finally been finished. The Minks are done. The Opens are waiting for inspiration on a good way to make the sheet supporter parts, having made a few false starts already. With them is my 'cliché' from two entries back (started around 5 years ago). It has been painted a long time and is now lettered. These are all done with Fox transfers which, aside from the time consumed assembling the numbers from individual digits, I have got along with rather well. 
     

     
    From left to right: Mink A, diagram V14; diagram V1 (second lot), V4 (a short one) and V5.
  20. richbrummitt

    Frankenpannier

    By richbrummitt,

    Way back when Chris Higgs offered me a test build of the conversion chassis for the Farish pannier tank I always knew that it should have a new footplate. Alas I've had an almost complete chassis under an entirely unmodified body for around a decade. Moreover for my intended time period I also knew the body would require some changes beyond detailing to represent one of the predecessors of the 57xx class. 
     
    The photograph below shows how far I got in two days. Day one was spent machining off the cast running plate, followed by marking up and cutting out a new one. I used 0.4mm double sided copper clad with a view to providing the chassis insulation for the split frame in the underside of it. I also removed the top feed and various other details from the tanks. More than half of day two was spent making the splashers. First turning a couple if fat tubes with appropriate inside diameter and soldering a disc to create the front face. I got three splashers out of each of two discs.  The coupling rod was used to mark off the splasher positions along the running plate. After soldering in place some awkward material removal remains under the splashers to create space for the wheels. What remained of the day allowed me to get a start on the buffer beams, valances and steps. All these are fretted and filed from n/s sheet. At the moment the rear is over long since I haven't finalised the exact engine and/or bunker size to determine the rear overhang. 
     

     
    Putting everything together I have some obvious dimensional differences. The can side is from a 28xx and dimensionally a little lacking in height.  The tanks are I think still too high - as is the running plate, I think - but I can't get them much if any lower. Oddly the buffers appear to be the correct height against other rolling stock, which is weird. I've also cut the rear steps too short by around 1mm. The firebox still protrudes too much. There's quite a lot left to do but I need to ponder these dimensional issues before progressing further.
     
    I deliberately haven't disclosed the class of engine. Maybe we should have answers in the comments. For those that don't remember or are new here (it has been 5 years) I'm aiming for early 1920s condition, which perhaps makes working this out a little harder. 
  21. richbrummitt

    Frankenpannier II

    By richbrummitt,

    Following discussions on the previous entry I reasoned to construct a cab before making a decision about the tanks being close enough to the right size or completely unusable. I also went looking for a suitable engine in RCTS i.e. one that would have the potential to be on the lines of the ex. B&HER, on which more another time. The 645 and 655 class were originally Wolverhampton engines and most of them stayed 'North'. From locomotive allocations I've got 769 and 1804 at Bristol, which is a close to the B&HER as I can get. 1801 and 2701 were at Severn Tunnel Jcn. Of these the Severn Tunnel Jcn. engines were the first to have panniers but not until 1920. 1804 didn't receive them until 1926 - a little late for me - but 769 was adorned such at the end of 1922. That's in my post WWI to start of grouping modelling period and hopefully avoids me going full scratch build to create a saddle tank! According to RCTS 769 also had top feed at some point. Arrgh: I already filed this off the tanks I've got left over from the Farish body I've now discarded most off. 
     
    Looking at plenty of drawings and pictures of the cab the first thing that struck me was that compared to the cabs on engines in the Churchward era the side profile of the cabs is very much different. I made up a new file for the milling machine and after much head scratching to work out why I wasn't getting sensible output from the stepper motors I eventually got some new cab side sheets cut out. For some reason the tool list in my CAM software had replaced itself and I was trying to run at a feed of 15000mm/min, something the motors just won't keep up with, rather than around 120. This should have been really obvious when reading the .nc file, but I also had a duff version of the file I was comparing to with speeds that would also cause a huge number of skipped steps. I cut and filed up a cab front, soldered in position, and cut another large chunk of the Farish body away (the portion inside the cab and bunker) so that it could all fit together. The cab spectacles are probably a little undersize. I haven't found a definitive dimension and it's much easier to make them larger than try and put some metal back!
     


     
    The chimney - which was the incorrect tapered type - has been removed and the tanks lowered. This means that at present the body no longer fits on the chassis; the motor mount fouls the inside top of the tanks. Comparing with pictures the raised firebox on the 57xx was new with pannier tanks for that time. It was off with the safety valve cover, which didn't survive being centre popped out of the fixing hole, and more filing to get the firebox closer to flush.
     

     
    I am starting to wonder if the tank top with the plate over the tanks is representative of pannier tanks of the early 1920s. I've also filed back the cover for the lubricating? pipework into the smokebox and the tank vents. Oh, to find an above view. Maybe it is better to carry on in ignorance? I'll need to do a new smokebox door in time regardless because the moulded one is too flat, and quite possibly should be the earlier style with a dished front and a circular rim/border.
     
    Whilst I continue to search in books (I've gone through several likely tomes off my shelves without finding anything yet) there are plenty of other things that this engine will need. One such prominent item is the bunker. I followed some dimensions from drawings but couldn't reconcile the width with pictures. I'm absolutely convinced that the bunker at it's narrowest is as wide as the cab and the flares protrude beyond that profile even though the dimensioned drawing of a bunker I was looking at, presumably for the original bunker size, has a width much less. Did they get wider with time? They definitely got larger in other respects. I hope that I don't need to remake this narrower later on.
     
    I made the bunker from etch waste. I always save the edge pieces. The lower portion was made first with two parallel bends made in a precision vice, carefully measured to be the correct separation to create a bunker the same width as the cab. The sides were made overlong and then made to length after bending. The flare was made, again held in the vice, by gripping with smooth jawed pliers around a 3.5mm drill bit to create the large radius curve. I've not made such a shape before and had read that the corners a tricky many times. I concur they are interesting for all the reasons I've read about. I cut a front and fixed it in place to make a rectangular tube and soldered it onto the footplate in the correct place. The extension was made in a similar way but bent with an increased corner radius and width to match the size of the flared bunker top. Copious amounts of solder were added here - something that's easy to do with multicore - to allow for material to file back and hide any small gaps, especially on the aforementioned corners where there are some tears from forming the flare. The sides are trimmed to length and shaped after fixing.
     

     
    The cut out visible in the cab front is to clear the worm gear, which just protrudes into the cab but should be hidden well enough by the backhead.
     
    A couple more pictures of the current status. Rat tale files have been used to clean up the excess solder and finish the corner shape. Whilst I'm still looking for that photograph that shows the tank tops there are still plenty more jobs around the footplate to be getting on with, and I need to create a new motor mount to allow the lowered tanks to fit over the chassis.
     


  22. richbrummitt
    With the bunker in place it was on to the cab next. First of all though some business below the footplate: steps. I wanted all the steps to be uniform section. Rather than try to bend neat channel up from flat sheet I reasoned to have a go at filing the required section from a piece of brass bar given how small they are. The whole bar was clamped in the vice for ease of holding whilst first the channel was formed. 
     

     
    A serious of slits made to create individual step 'fingers' with a fine piercing saw.
     
     
     

     
    These were then fitted in place. 
     

     
    A basic firebox has been bent up and soldered in place and the side beading on the cab has also fitted. The cab beading started as a thin etch strip, which was drilled close to the end to accept the handrail wire. The strip was shaped and adjusted and readjusted and adjusted some more with tweezers and small smooth jaw pliers until the shape matched closely with the cab side sheet before carefully soldering in place. A dimple was drilled into the footplate to locate the handrail and I started soldering there. (My first effort commenced with soldering the beading and caused a separation of the handrail - beading join and a fruitless search for ~10mm of 0.3mm dia. n/s wire on the floor.) Carefully the beading was held in correct alignment and soldered a little at a time until it was all in place before filing back to nearly flush. 
     

     
    A detail that I noticed when poring over photographs is a detail on 645 class that does not seem to be present on any other type of pannier tank is that the footplate is cut away at the top of the cab steps so I've done the same. (The front guard irons will need to be cut off since I haven't seen a 645 class with any of those.) A cab roof has also been cut rolled and fitted. The final size adjustment was made by filing after fixing in place. I pondered whether fitting this now would restrict access for fitting further detail (springs, reverser, backhead, floor, &c.) but of those details that will be visible around a fireman and guard they are the larger items and the backhead will need to be glued in place anyway since I plan to use a steamprint/NBS one from shapeways, which is plastic. Here's the current status with the chassis and what's left of the Farish body balanced. 
     

     
    A replacement safety valve bonnet is on order, and with a chimney and buffers it will be smaller and smaller details. That said the new motor mount (with the tanks lowered the old one will no longer fit and is unsuitable for modification) and body fixings are fairly major details still to be sorted and I shouldn't put them off much longer. 
     
    According to a thread I found the other day but can no longer locate there is a picture of my chosen engine (769) in Locomotives Illustrated 118 on p19. I've not yet found a copy but I would be very interested to see the picture if anyone knows an alternate source of the image...
  23. richbrummitt

    Frankenpannier IV

    By richbrummitt,

    Following on from the previous installment a kind friend provided the image I was looking for of the target engine in early 1920s condition. There are several Swindon features to incorporate, particularly on the chassis, including reinstatement of the front guard irons. More of that in a future installment. 
     
    With the cab and bunker erected I moved my attention onto the boiler. Appropriately sized tube was cut to length and a balancing pipe for the tanks bent and attached before being tacked to the partial firebox to check height and level before creating the material to support the front end and further fixing.
     

     
    The balancing pipe was made from tube and so some wire was inserted to reduce distortion on the sharp bends.
     

     
    The boiler had to be cut away to allow the tank casting - I probably cannot justify calling it a body anymore - to fit. A reversing lever was formed and fitted too. It will be mostly hidden by tool box and handrail. 
     

     
    In a bits box I found some No. 1 toolboxes and various other castings from N brass locos that will assist greatly with progress around the footplate.
     

     
    I felt these needed some filling to reduce the prominence of various features. The unfettered versions is top right, subsequently treated to similar condition as bottom left. I cut and filed some lumps of brass 2x2x3mm for the front sand boxes too and trial fitted them with the tanks. The safety valve cover is a replacement part since I destroyed the first one after drilling it out too much.
     

     
    The toolbox height was felt to need some further reduction by more filing before final fit. One fitted I returned to the cab. A 'small backhead' was also in the bits box and this was fitted in place. More filing required to clear the gear train but that is now hidden - a great result.
     

     
    The cab floor, which I may have mentioned previously had to be adjusted. Fortunately it was still a loose part since I need to add a few more details to it before final fixing. The photograph shows the underside.
     

     
    I don't think the gaps will be visible normally 
     

     
    Whilst filing I also adjusted the rear cab steps to the style shown in the aforementioned prototype photo. Here's the current status.
     

  24. richbrummitt

    Frankenpannier V

    By richbrummitt,

    Time working on this has been reduced since going away at half term and building some baseboards for a 5' radius test track type 'layout' to enjoy with my son who is, fortunately, train mad. 
     
    Honestly it is those wiggly bits of pipework immediately in front of the cab below the tanks that I am avoiding. N Brass Locos have an ejector/injector casting but it does not look like the wet type that existed on pannier tanks when compared to photographs. 
     
    I have been focusing my efforts on the chassis instead. First off I checked the fit of an 'engine' in the boiler/tank space.
     

     
    This is held in place by the brass tabs left on the boiler lower portion being adjusted until they grip the can of the motor sufficiently. The motor is a 7x17mm coreless type from eBay. The firebox has been cut down as much as I dare on one side to check the mesh of the worm, which is infinitely adjustable by packing the motor fore and aft to suit. An initial look at this suggests that it will require minimal packing to get the mesh on assembly just right. The motor will necessarily remain part of the body to allow the bottom of the boiler to be modelled. Also visible in this view are the filed to size and shape sandboxes, which were drilled out to accept the lids. The latter began life as flanged crankpins. 
     
    The front guard irons have been reinstated. On 645/655 class the guard irons are on the ends of the brake pull rods but this engine has been so Swindonised by this time in it's life that the picture shows separate front guard irons. I wish I never cut them off because they are so far from the wheels now.
     

     
    Moving onto brakes: This was another job that I had been putting off since I saw a photo of the particular engine I had selected because the Swindonisation had also extended to replacement of the original inside brake pull rods to those wiggly external ones that I had hoped to avoid by building a 645/655 class. Oh well! 
     
    The original brakes that I had built for the original conversion were problematic and of the incorrect type. A new set were filed out of a set of frames that I was not going to use. There are/were two options with the 57xx replacement chassis; one for middle axle drive and one for rear axle drive. The former requires compromise with the gears visible if you want to avoid a skirt to the boiler (as the Farish body is cast). The latter is/was available as a separate etch with frames that can be substituted to allow the drive to be completely within the firebox - though machining of the body casting is necessary to get a motor in the boiler/tanks. I was never going to use the other set of frames and they had a convenient set of holes for the brake hangers at the correct spacing - I just had to mark out and file around them.
     
    A brake subassembly was built up around a second chassis as a jig. If I was building the whole kit from the beginning I would do it this way again. Surely I will build another pannier tank at some point and so this frame assembly will not be wasted. I do not like soldering anywhere near the wheels since the tyres are steel and I have suffered problems with rust. (On the independent recommendation of three people I now have a dehumidifier in the workshop, which will hopefully make a difference.) 
     

     
    This method also allows the brakes to be a completely separate assembly that will allow better ease of maintenance in the future should it be required. The downside is that only way that I could think of to attach it is by the copperclad between the brake pull rods with two screws into an additional frame spacer in the bottom of the firebox/ash pan area. Where the pull rods are outside of the wheels this will mean that the copperclad is visible between the rear coupled wheels. I'm not sure how intrusive this will be once painted and therefore how I feel about it. Next steps include cutting the assembly free by severing the ties at the top of the brake hangers and assembling the whole. What is left of the cut wire can be unsoldered and cleaned up to use the frames again for the next brake assembly and a further pannier tank.
     
    The photo below shows the corresponding location for the screws in the chassis. Nuts are soldered to the top of the additional frame spacer, which was necessarily soldered in place next to the wheels as I did not fancy removing/replacing them. 
     

     
    A packing piece of insulating material 1mm in thickness is needed between the chassis and brake assembly. A further interruption to modelling is about to happen: Christmas...
  25. richbrummitt
    I started researching the details that are left to add and continued fabricating small fiddly things like brakes then the realisation: before I get much further with the detail I should ensure that it will actually work. 
     
    Something that I should have done before soldering anything to it was gap the PCB footplate on the bottom to maintain the isolation of the split frame chassis. This was completed without destroying anything much of what was already attached. The valances came away in two places where the tack soldering gave way.
     
    I removed some further material from the side of the firebox such that the worm mesh can be checked and the packing adjusted until it looked right. There is just a little further material to be removed from the packing at this stage.
     

     
    The hole is well hidden from view once the top is on. You'd have to be close up at track level, and looking upward, to see it. 
     

     
    Soon some testing must take place and that could mean playing trains. Buffers and couplings will be needed for maximum enjoyment. With the help of Steve and Nigel I found some buffers in the 2mm range that have the partial taper of the 'Churchward' type. They're not perfect - no step and the mounting plate is circular, not square. Looking at the above photo I can see the footplate is no longer a straight line and the join where I put the valance back behind the front step is quite obvious. Cruel are these photos at multiple times full size. Something that had been bugging me was the reversing rod. It was previously too high, slightly above the splasher. Photos suggest that it goes behind or the splasher is relieved to allow it to fit so I removed and reattached it lower down. I think it might be a little short now. Maybe the engine is in reverse gear?
     

     
    As previously estimated only a small amount of packing was required - less than 0.010" - fixed and filed down. Easier this way than trying to lower the motor. Had much more packing been necessary for mesh additional material removal would have been required from the tank/boiler casting (what's left of the Farish body on this). 
     
    With some superglue fixing the worm in place and a few volts applied to the motor wires I have observed the wheels turn once again. This was somewhat brief: After several full rotations the superglue bond gave up. Perhaps some further investigation required to see if this is a real problem or just poor gluing.  
     
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