richbrummitt

Paul, I hate to be the one to point this out but I rather someone said something before you build more if you have not already spotted this: The brakes should be the other way around in your opening picture since the brake actuating lever lifts the swan neck and the shaft rotates anti-clockwise. This is the opposite of almost every other brake system where with the lever to the right and when driven directly a simple lever rotates the shaft clockwise (the other side often has a cam, lift link or left hand lever to ensure the correct rotation of the cross shaft to apply the brakes). Kind Regards, Rich.

The new angle seems to be much better for a going away shot, else there is nowhere within the frame for the loco to be going. I'm rather fond of a 28xx too, especially one without outside steam pipes.

After doing the research in types and reading a bunch of reviews I went for a desiccant dehumidifier (Meaco DD8L*) rather than a compressor type. It still works well at the sub 20C that the garage workroom is normally maintained at and the noise is little more intrusive than a desk fan. To begin with it removed a lot of moisture (several trays worth in a couple of weeks) but it has settled right down now to a kind of ‘maintenance’ level. *Usual disclaimer - Happy customer, no connection.

yes please

It can be had/done: https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=72605 RDG tools have a 14x1 - 12x1 converter which might allow you to use a holder designed for the later U3/4.

It works just as many internet based shopping sites do: you browse for what you want and then checkout. There is good information about the various options when buying, sometimes hidden behind buttons links or ? hints. The difference with many other sites is you are buying community created content with possibly varying quality though I think it is reasonably clear from the site if a design is proven to print and whether the images are photos or the real thing of computer generated images of the file.

The trackbed has been cut from 1mm mountboard and fixed with some kind of wood glue. I figured that the paper probably came from wood so it ought to stick well with wood glue. First I placed it carefully and drew around it so that I could achieve the same alignment. It was left to dry over night beneath a pile of reference books. The templot track plan was carefully prepared by removing the tape from the underside and trimming the overlap away locally in the areas where the tracks are. This allows a single uniform thickness of track plan to be stuck onto the track plan. I used a well known brand of glue stick for this and a roller to press down firmly. I trimmed back and removed the rest of the paper surround and later the top layer of tape was teased away with a scalpel to get back to that uniform thickness of a single sheet of paper. Above you will see that I've kept the cutaway paper for now. It has some other details on that I might need - though I could print another. When I work out where I expect to trim the mountboard back a little more to get a ballast shoulder and cess in the right place. The board is small enough to work with on the lap and I have cut all the point timbers and stuck them down onto the template with pressure sensitive double sided adhesive tape over a couple of evenings. The Laurie etched chairs that were ordered have already arrived and so it's copperclad for the timbers and I'm using Easitrack for the sleepers. I've added Easitrack to feed the stock rails through to align and hold things for positioning and the chairs more easily during soldering. Just enough to get to the break of rail in the prototype after the one adjacent to the crossing. Is it too early to paint and ballast before the rails get in the way? It would rather obscure the templot plan! Obviously those areas that still need to be soldered cannot be painted either but some areas could be done. Now to re-read Track before I get too carried away and get out of sequence for construction.

That's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for. Chris did the etched versions. He himself stated that they were about as good as could be done with that process but they are not as bulky as they should be. I much preferred the whitemetal ones for their size but most (all?) are gone from the shop now. Unfortunately I did not purchase sufficient to cover the kits that I have to build where I depended upon the availability of such an item. As I do not have a printer the STL alone is not so useful. I will message you separately about an exchange.

Indeed it would, Nick.

Does anyone have RCH/GWR axle boxes ready to print? Preferably 9” journals but anything is better than nothing. I’m in need of some because I didn’t think through the horse box chassis that I’m building. They’re too far along to go for the etched ones. It seems to be one major type the 2mmSA shop doesn’t yet have to hand for print.

Did you have any issues with ballasting (and the sticking of) subsequently?

I’ve taken the plunge and cut the new trackbed. It’s a piece of 18mm ply, which is an offcut that I had to hand. To get the right shape I drew around the back scene as a template after placing the whole layout upside down onto the material 15mins with the jigsaw I’ve left some at the end with the yard turnout until I know what is happen with the turnout operating gubbins and it’s mounting. I’m going to try something else here but am apprehensive because this is where I got really stuck with Littlemore.

What would be a sensible adhesive for our SRBP (copper clad) sleepering to paper for a permanent bond?

Bravo! The perfect tonic - cheered me up no end. Thank you.

I’ve seen some on Amazon and eBay. Probably just need to take the plunge and find out what appears. Did you do anything special where the lead screw attaches to the table?

I found that despite the serial number on my MF70 machine I required the earlier Usovo ‘tuning spindle’ than the splined one. It would be worthwhile finding out (by opening up the head of the mill) what you need before ordering. Getting rid of the backlash is high on my to do list. I’ve bought a spare KT70 so it can take some time and not take out the mill! I haven’t found suitable nuts that I’m certain of yet though. Maybe I have to buy a whole lead screw and nuts. How much movement do people have in their MF70 spindles? (Easy to measure with a DTI.) Andy Carlson put me onto this and I found I had another 0.002” potential error here too.

I built one Cleminson chassis from the Fencehouses etch. It does exactly what it is designed to do, which is get 6w coaches around tight curves. Crunching the numbers shows that this level of complexity is not required for short wheelbases such as yours on sensible sized radii (usual 2mm recommended minimums and above) that I guess you will be using. I noticed that David is on this forum recently so you should be able to contact him directly through this site. I would rather not speak for him since the status of his etches is sure to have moved on from what I knew of them from several years since. Where accuracy is important I'm increasingly doing my own thing. Unfortunately that means everything takes longer and or costs more to get the results.

Are you sure you are holding the etch the right way up? The PC GWR horsebox etch I have seen says N6 on it (this matches the description on Alan's website and the body shape reflected that assertion). The GWR built 50 of them (and also a large number of N9s if that is what you have) so you need not worry that this was a unique vehicle, however if you really have too many GW horseboxes I would be delighted to relieve you of one. As you know I am also putting together a train of horseboxes - probably a special for a hunt rather than races. Sadly I cannot help you with a short LSWR box. I've had a good root around in my gloat drawer and my unbuilt etched horsebox stash now only has left one each of longer bodied LSWR and LNWR examples, plus a MR example of Bill Bedford origins. Whilst digging I did find a MR dia. 420 4w luggage(?) van of some strange origin - almost certainly shot down by someone at some time, possibly from O gauge artwork since the W irons/springs are not etched so presumably castings - that is surplus to my requirements. The GER body that David Eveleigh does/did is the best example of any of his kits that I have built. The LD&ECR had some very similar ones that would have passed to the GCR by your time period. I built two - one in GER and one in GCR livery.

There is no theme option on the mobile version (according to iOS 13.4.- and Edge 45.8.13) that I can see. 2021 theme does not give a desktop version on this device.

Desktop site now loading if a bit odd in places on iPhone. If I change the theme as suggested above I can no longer have the desktop site. At the moment it’s a choice between some weird picture behaviour with full functionality or a functional mobile site. Will await further updates patiently.

there used to be an option to request the full version through the site at the bottom of the page. That went with the previous update iirc. My memory aligns with your info. I have <1000px screen width. I was fingers crossed that a new version might get the desktop version. I can set the browser (I’ve tried Safari and Edge) to request the desktop version as default and/or whilst on the page but out of all the sites I visit the only one that I do not get a desktop version is rmweb. Android did this fine on the last update so it might just be an Apple thing regardless of browser. I might be the only person who likes signatures (because of the potentially interesting content in links).

If you cannot get it back with wet sponge or whatever-name-of-the brass-wire-ball-thing that Ian and I have then one way to get it back is to use a tip tinner cleaner product. (They’re almost certainly bad for your health.) Place the cold tip on it and turn on shoving it in as it warms. Should come out nice and shiny. I think you already worked out that a shiny tip works best.

Is it possible to get the desktop version on iPhones now?

I believe the roof is meant to form the other side of the box that makes the body. That doesn’t help you with a surface to add your interior to, mind.

John, These are meant to be built such that the chassis and body are separable. The T shaped part fits inside the ends and the floor (with the rest of the underframe) screws onto these attachment points at the ends of the body.