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richbrummitt

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  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. richbrummitt
    A New Year means that exhibition season is under way. It used to start earlier back in the North but there isn't a lot locally until January and then it's St Albans, Southampton and then it is busy through until March until it's over for another year. Returning from St Albans the realisation hit me of what I had done to myself. Then I get an email from an exhibition manager to confirm details for next year that very much confirmed it. I am an idiot. I unwittingly talked myself into this over a year ago and now I have to live with it.
     
    Since that conversation some work has been done on the layout. This has been to remove some items I wasn't happy with. When making the platform substructure I had second thoughts about the ground contour and after asking second opinions of many people with the prototype photographs I have I concluded that the rear siding had to be relaid. Up it came...
     

     
    ...and back down it went - a little higher than before. It is now nearly platform height at the buffer stops and the ground levels can look much more like the real thing must have been. The many rolls of solder make useful weights until I get around to using them up on my unbuilt kit mountain.
     

     
    Another area that has given me massive headaches and continues to do so is the turnout operating units. These were built as a moving sleeper below the track bed with 0.3mm wires coming through a slit in the 2mm plywood and soldered to the point blades. They worked until someone prodded one loose at Ally Pally where the boards were sat on the Association stand as a demo piece. A repair was impossible to effect and the truth was as bad as I feared as the design was proven wholly unsuitable. Proper planning...? Idiot! They had to go and I'd put it off for over six months. Finally I built up the courage to cut out the mechanisms. This is an example before surgery:
     

     
    First the electrical connections were severed and the sleeper removed.
     

     
    The plywood was cut away along with the sleepers because they were fixed to baseboard far better than they were to the rail.
     

     
    Now I must replace them. A more robust solution would be for small tubes to pass through from the TOU to just below rail level with a thin wire soldered to the switch rail that is a sliding fit in the tube. To begin with a jig was milled in Tufnol to create a gapped structure with the small tubes at the correct separation. The following series of pictures demonstrate its use.
     

     

     

     
    I now have seven of these soldered up waiting for divine inspiration to provide the rest of the mechanism from my ganged DPDT slide switches to these. This hasn't worked out well so far. I have read the Associations latest publication Track How it Works and How to Model it and that didn't result in any tungsten filament above head moments either. I have some parts mocked up from telescoping styrene sections but I am not sure how I can actually assemble the only idea that I keep coming back to in my head. Anything that is fitted needs to be less than 4mm in depth because that was how much space I thought would be needed when I had the router out and put the recesses in for the TOUs. A consequence of the baseboard design is that it is not possible to access the switch from beneath the baseboard. I used 20mm ply and it is not much wider than the cess at each side of the track so cutting this up would have been unwise to begin with and very difficult to achieve now. The remaining requirements therefore are bombproof reliability whilst being sympathetic to the small section loose heel switches and plastic chairs. I've done various things in the meantime to distract me and remain motivated but I really need to get this problem of my own idiotic making behind me to move on with this layout.
     
    I have trains and I have a venue and a date and I need some reliable working switches.
  6. 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!
  7. 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!
  8. richbrummitt

    Unfinished Business

    By richbrummitt,

    Sometimes it will be the case that when you post a photo of your work on RMWeb there is a helpful person who will kindly point out what is wrong with it. That was the case with my MR coke hoppers. What was missing?
     

     
    The handrail at the right hand side of the wagon. Now they are finished?
     
    I was waiting on some more container securing chains from N Brass Locos to finish off the GC machinery/implement wagon. They arrived earlier this week and I probably spent as long cutting the hooks, screw link, and securing eye up and splicing them onto some very fine chain acquired from Fleetline as I did assembling the wagon! I think the end result is worth it though.
     

     
    In the same parcel I got some of the driver/fireman figures. There is a third figure in the pack with a shovel, but he is waiting for a tender locomotive to ply his trade: he'd be a bit wasted in one of my tank engines. I soldered the small bases of the figures to some wire so that I would hold them in a pin chuck for painting (an idea I got from Mikkel). I am quite pleased with how they turned out, although close up I am not convinced about the shape of the cap for my time period.
     

     
    Here they are fitted in 1425. Although the cab number is rapidly wearing off due to handling. This the drivers side.
     

     
    and the fireman's side.
     

     
    Along with a lick of paint they hide the fact the motor protrudes a long way into the cab, although it doesn't really obscure the view directly through the opening from one side to other it used to noticeable when looking down into the cab. The locomotive has been re-motored recently and had a few touch-ups cosmetically. There is a lot more that could be done to improve the appearance, however I wish to concentrate on other matters and one day I will get around to making the locomotives to portray the early 1920's pre-grouping scene, for which 1425 is not suitable.
  9. richbrummitt
    More work on the horsebox. I had hoped to make some more progress but it has been too hot and sticky to spend time upstairs in front of a window that looks west on an evening! I did manage to get some of my UPOs (un-painted objects) undercoated as a result of the hot weather allowing access to the garden without fear of disaster so it's not all bad.
     
    The end steps were added next. I thinned down some styrene angle to something like the correct dimensions so that steps could be cut uniformly to length from this modified section. I used styrene because a good bond could be made easily to the end due to the identical materials being easily bonded. A paper template was made to help with alignment, which flips over for the other side.
     

     
    The eagle eyed will probably notice the lower step on the left side. The drawing shows it the right way up but pictures show it fitted this y. After asking on the GWSG the answer came that this is a result of the GWR using 3 tail lamps in their early years and the fitting of the lower step was necessary to allow the lamp to be carried on a lamp iron fixed in this area just above the buffer beam. I'm not sure I'll be making too much effort to adapt the brass coach kits I have stashed that should probably also have this feature. It's likely that they match the drawings quite nicely, but not photographs.
     
    The ventilators above the doors have been added, along with those on the roof. These vehicles had lamp tops for roof ventilators so they look just like the lamp tops.
     

     
    I create lamp tops from PECO track pins with the head filed flatter and a sliver of stripped insulation, a method described by Frank Lax in some inspirational articles in RM from my youth. There might be a better way but they look quite acceptable when painted. Some spares are shown in the foreground of the photo above. Here's a 3/4 view with poor depth of field :oops:
     

     
    The chassis is substantially complete. This has been built up from an assortment of components, scrap, and surplus parts scrounged from other kits in a manner not dissimilar to that described for the Beetle B chassis here.
     

     
    The buffer beams are the most obvious thing remaining to be added, although there are other minor parts to go on. I am not looking forward to adding the lower foot steps because they will require soldering after the spring and axle box castings, which are whitemetal!
     

     
    A final photograph of the other horseboxes under construction. The bodies are from David Eveleigh kits with additional parts where required. The chassis are from the same 'source' as my other NPCS under frame constructions i.e. cobbled together from surplus. I did make some etches for a 10' chassis for 7mm wheels. It is a simple one part affair that comprises of fold down W irons that they brakes fold in from however I sold most of them to friends and other 2mm scale association members and left myself short. Never mind.
     

     
    Those eagle eyed people mentioned earlier might also be able to spot some other otems clogging the workbench: A GER passenger cattle box (This probably needs a better home), and an Ultima O11 Siphon G that haven't got very far with.
  10. 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!
  11. richbrummitt
    Amongst the many other things that I alude to on my workbench in previous entries there have been a selection of horse boxes growing in number for some time. I am currently (still) working on a pair of GCR and an M&GN item from David Eveleigh along with a pair of Lima GWR items, that are the subject of this entry. I know they are branded LMS but from what I can gather from published books and photographs they are meant to be a GWR vehicle to diagram N16 and the LMS didn't have a vehicle anything like this.
     
    Lima horseboxes are not so easy to find for sensible money nowadays and I apologise to anyone who thinks such items should be treated as sacred. I was fortunate to collect one for £6 by blind luck and the other for a swap of a Chivers LNER horsebox kit that I never intended to build. As it turns out I could have quite probably scratch built the vehicles with a similar amount of effort because I only re-used the sides. Everything else went in the scrap box on the floor. At least I didn't canibalise models with in correct GWR livery! However, had I have tried, the initial outlay would have been significantly more.
     
    The Lima model is actually pretty good dimensionally. Roughly to 2mm scale in height and width, but closer to 1:148 for length. I'd always overlooked the model because I figured that it was probably Limas all too common blend of a minimum of two different incorrect scales in different directions; I realised I was wrong after reading some discussions on internet forums and listening to Jerry Clifford.
    Diagram N16 was introduced too late for my modelling period, but there are some not too significant differences between this diagram and some earlier ones. To go back to diagram N12 (which is as far as you would go with this body because the earlier diagrams were quite different), to suit my modelling period, would only require the addition of bolections around the fixed windows and some new ends with a turn-under in addition to the details that need changing to make a better model, for example the quantity of roof furniture provided by Lima is excessive. With a couple of tweaks, and a new chassis, this body could be a really nice model, but here's how I went about making something a little different.
     
    First I removed the ends completely and cut back the sides so I could get to almost scale length for 2mm when the new ones were added from styrene sheet. The floor is cut back to allow a second thickness of sheet to be added inside the end at the bottom where the outer end piece will be filed to whisker thin in the next stage to form the turn-under.
     

     
    New ends were cut from styrene sheet and the curve of the roof profile filed out. The blue colour is where a permanent marker has been used to allow clear marking with a scriber to show the extent of the turn-under. The body nearest the camera already has this feature complete whilst the one behind still needs filing to shape. There are also
     

     
    The next stage was to add the bolections around the fixed windows. The photograph shows them in the process of being added. I worked carefully around a former made from steel adding 0.010" MicroRod with enough solvent to make it pliable but not enough to make it deform, stretch or break. Careful persuasion with a blunt cocktail stick to prod it around into shape, combined with a lot of patience, has given a result that I think will be acceptable from normal viewing distances once painted. I made the former from steel because I have some available. I did try a wooden effort first off but it failed miserably: the solvent managed to attach the MicroRod to the wood sufficiently well that the bolection was dragged into the window aperture and destroyed when I removed the former.
     

     
    a completed bolection on the other side
     

     
    the bolection in very cruel close up.
     

     
    Much easier after doing five of those was adding the interior. A few pieces of styrene sheet and a length of coach seating strip suitably modified for the groom. The seats were in two sections, so I made a cut and file job in the centre to represent this. You will also notice that I cut the partitions to the wrong width and then rather than cut them to the right width slipped a small piece of styrene in to make things good. It don't think this bodge will be very noticeable once the roof is in place.
     

     
    The floor was cut out to allow the windows to be added from underneath after the exterior paint is completed. After a question on Yahoo! groups I was pointed to a reference for the interior colour, which is similar if not the same as, light stone. A support structure was built up along the tops of the sides and along the centre of the vehicle for the roof with assorted styrene sheet. The roofs themselves were cut from 0.005" styrene sheet and whilst still flat locations marked and drilled for the roof vents and lamp tops.
     

     
    Further details have also been added: The gaps between the sheeting on the ends have been produced with a skrawker (a piece of hacksaw blade ground to have just one tooth), I thickened up the protrusions at the tops of the doors with styrene strip and I also used styrene strip to alter the rather odd rounded shape of the drop lights to something that looks more like it should.
     
    To be continued...
  12. richbrummitt

    Staying Focused

    By richbrummitt,

    From this post forward you will (I hope) notice a marked improvement in the quality of photographs. This is a result of a generous bonus from my employer this year and me treating myself to a camera so that I don't have to use a phone any more!
     
    I have been working on improving and back dating a pair of Lima horse boxes, at the same time as finishing a few other horse box kits from other companies. These were going to be the subject of the next post but as is usual I have got distracted onto another project. Thankfully it also belongs to my 'started but never finished' piles so I am at least reducing my work in progress!
     
    Long time followers will possibly remember previous posts about Graham Farish by Bachman Macaw Bs. They were bought way back here and I posted previously about progress on the models that form the subject of this post here. I finally finished the single wagon that also featured in that post more recently here. The pair with the long wood load, that effectively creates an articulated pair of bogie wagons, had been put to one side and still is not strictly finished because it doesn't have any couplings and will have to return to the 'wagons that are finished but still require couplings' pile with around a half dozen other vehicles facing the same predicament. My stock that has couplings currently has three links (or two in the case of my functional screw coupling representations) but I plan to use AJs and have to continue my trials with these, especially, discovering how to set and adjust them more easily.
     

     
    Unfortunately I am learning to use the camera and I get a lot of reject pictures. Fortunately the memory card is plenty big enough to take several and hope for a good one. I got one good one in this case.
     
    As mentioned in the previous posts the wagons are representative of J21 so don't match the diagram of those pictured in the photograph that inspired the model in Russell Freight Wagons and Loads... After several attempts to cut down the wood I had to a smaller section I admitted defeat and acquired some 3mm square strip. This gives a scale section of 18" square and three lengths of approximately 90' scale length were cut and fixed with 16BA screws through the bolsters with the head recessed into the underside of the wagons. The nuts are held captive in the wood and in theory it is possible to separate the wagons, even now the chains are attached. I hope the need will never arise though. The chains are produced by cutting the fine etched container securing chains from N Brass Locos up to suit and soldering carefully to join into with Fleetline fine chain in a similar manner to that used on the load on the other wagon I have from the same source. Although it still requires the couplings to complete it does have a screw link coupling (one from an etched brass fret, and not a working one) fixed between the wagons.
     
    The wagons in the background are Mathieson. They have been re-wheeled and the couplings have been replaced. Weathering has been started and they await loading and some more variation in tone, especially to the underframe.
  13. richbrummitt
    Apologies for anyone who's been holding their breath: this entry has been a while because I keep getting distracted any time I come on rmweb and run out of time before I get to updating this. Sorry.
     
    This expands on a thread in the 3D Printing and CAD group on my experiment in 3D printing model railway items. I have a job that uses a 3D CAD system extensively so I have a 'leg up' (as one person kindly put it) on the skills required to create a file for printing. Having used similar technology for prototypes in this job I was somewhat sceptical about what could be achieved when asking for much smaller details on much smaller models. I chose a passenger cattle box (BEETLE) as a prototype because it has many different types of feature on the body; layering, planking, louvres, strapping, panels &c. Here it is when it first arrived from Shapeways in FUD (frosted ultra detail).
     

     
    There is a small hole where some of the louvre has broken away during the cleaning process. Below in black after a quick blast from the aerosol, which may make it a bit easier to see the detail (possibly not?).
     

     
    The smallest details are 0.1mm - the width between the planks on the ends. The layers are multiples of 0.125mm so that it matches up with etched construction, which in 2mm scale is almost always in 0.010" material and so matches with half etch.
     
    I was pleased with the outcome and so I continued to make the chassis. I was (un)fortunate enough to have a fair few Siphon underframes spare from test etches and mistakes that I cut and shut to 16'0" wheelbase with the aid of a chassis assembly jig from the association 2-312 RCH W irons fret. The brake blocks fold up from the W irons in this case so I was off to a good start. It still left a lot of bits to find. These vehicles are particularly busy underneath because they have central steps plus one at each corner, door bangers under the doors for the beasts, vacuum cylinder, and the longitudinal gas cylinder for lighting the drovers compartment!
     
    As can be seen I included the headstocks in the body. The solebars were added from nickel silver strip with wire soldered along the base to represent the bulb. The steps were made as previously on the milk brake with some extra holes in the jig
     

     
    The central footboards are very short, like on a horsebox. The brass wire holds the brass angle down in the jig to leave as many hands free as possible for orienting the stirrups (nickel silver wire), holding the soldering iron &c.
     

     
    This is what the component parts look like before assembly, and after cleaning up. There's no 1p, but the cutting mat should give an idea of size.
     
    Parts from various other sources were added until all the prominent items were present. The gas cylinder was mounted on a wireform as previously for the milk brake. There was a particularly scary moment soldering the door bangers in place once the whitemetal castings for the axle boxes and springs had been added where these could not be fitted afterwards.
     

     
    Here a top and bottom view of the chassis and a further picture of the bodies test fitted on them.
     

     
    Not the clearest photograph I'm afraid. It was at this point I realised that I had missed some items off the bodies. A pair of T stanchions from the ends and the water tank in the roof that was present on the early ones. (The models are meant to represent a pair from the first batch of diagram W7.)
     
    Now these details are added and the handrails and headstock details fitted they are ready for some more paint.
     

     
    I'm not sure what colour they should be? I thought they would have been lake in the early 20's but Atkins et al. GWR goods wagons 3rd Ed. seems to suggest that they would still have been grey until the grouping. Hmmm.
  14. 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.
  15. richbrummitt

    Thinking of TOU

    By richbrummitt,

    Work is ongoing on the station platform. The construction method comprising a 5mm foam board core edged with PECO brick platform mouldings seems to be working well. The ramps have been made with some creative slotting and mitres from the straight pieces to produce the desired angle for the length of slope.
     
    I have also taken some time re-organising the mess in my area of the hobby room. The milling machine has been set up and tried out, although running and cutting at 20,000rpm is quite noisy.
     
    What is taking considerable time without tangible results is devising a revised TOU (turnout operating unit). The Easitrac TOU is a very clever design, but did not fit with my chosen track bed of 20mm of plywood and the design I implemented, whilst working at present, is non-adjustable and will be imopssible to maintain. I need a new solution before I can progress much further scenically because there is little point in continuing without a solid basis for a model railway in the trackwork.
     
    With the track laid the options are more limited. I need something that works with the loose heel switches and that can be installed from above and/or from the sides. It would be preferable to fit within the channels already routed at 2.5mm deep, 2mm below the base of the sleepering (although I could open up the area between the sleepers to produce a 4.5mm deep trench directly under the track. I also want for any tie bar to appear like the real thing. Quite a tall ask, I know.
     
    I keep coming back to the idea of an angled plate shaped like the operating rod in the vertical and soldered to a moving sleeper below the baseboard. I haven't solved how this can reliably link to the loose heels because I need to allow for rotation in the joint the switch rails whilst restraining them in the longitudinal direction. Unfortunatly, until I have a complete solution, anything I do further is building on inadequate foundations.
  16. richbrummitt
    The track bed for the back siding is now raised up and I've cut some foam board to fix the platform edging to. I think I might have overcooked it and made it a bit too high. What follows are a few pictures from different angles, some of which will be similar enough to those presented previously.
     

     

     
    Above: A couple of views looking approximately south over the east end of the platform.
     
    Below: Another view looking east similar to some of the photographs from the last entry. Apologies for the shakes.
     

     
    The platform surface will actually sit on the lip in the top of the platform face/edge mouldings. I fixed the edging to the foam board with a glue gun. It was quick, convenient, and didn't seem to have any ill effect on either substrate. At the moment all the platform construction is removable.
     
    What is that vehicle that I've used for gradient testing? It was what was being worked on at the bench; one of my longest standing works in progress. I make no apology for it being another milk van (I have some strange fascination with NPCS). This time an O13 from a Blacksmith (ex-Mallard) reduction. They were introduced in 1921 so would be almost brand new in service for my time period. There are a number of things still to do but that list is getting shorter.
     

  17. richbrummitt
    I've started work moving the layout forward again. Here's a photograph of progress since I got back from Peterborough. Progress has gone backwards to move forwards. I've printed out and mocked up the main railway buildings, the station and signal box. I want to get these started, and they can be worked on and completed before being incorporated into the layout when it is ready. That bit is all fine so far. You will see that a large chunk of the rear siding has been removed.
     

     
    It seems fashionable to tear up the track if you have a 2mm layout. Julia did it on Highclere to improve the foundations of what I am sure will be a superb layout in all respects when finished. Others have followed in an effort to improve running. Unfortunately I am in a different category. I got it wrong!
     

     
     
    Have a look at the following images that I have showing the actual yard area. Yes, all the photos are from the Oxford end because the location is in a pretty tight spot between the Asylum (now flats) and a pair of semi-detached houses, with the best vantage point being the road bridge at the end of the platform.
     

     

     

     
    They all show the siding next to the wall at a higher elevation than the rest of the area. I'm sure the wall was pre-existing (the siding was added later anyway) and therefore the ground level could not and in case there was no need for it to) be lowered. This was going to create a problem for me with a siding on an incline and I tried to keep all the track on the same level. I hoped that the viewer could be deceived with an alternate ground contour. You will see from the next pictures of how the ground on the model would be, and how ridiculous it would appear.
     

     

     
    I concluded therefore that the siding had to come up nearly three scale feet to be closer to platform level, unless any reader has an alternative idea based on the evidence and circumstances?
  18. richbrummitt
    For the first time in several months I had very very little on this weekend. Apart from a plan to get the first BBQ of the year in, that got rained off both days and is rescheduled for this weekend ), and a short visit to some of our significant others family I had a good chunk of time to use. Like many modellers I have more than one stash of stuff that I'd like to make one day. There are others that I would like to start soon. I have further stashes of stuff that I bought that is likely to remain wherever I put it. There is also the shelf of stuff that I started, plus the workbench(es) and finally there is a box of stuff that I consider finished. The latter has around a dozen wagons in it and I'd like to get more of the stuff from the shelf of stuff that I started, plus the workbench(es) into this box. Persistant readers will have probably concluded that I am easily distracted due to the lack of consecutive, or even subsequent, posts on any one subject.
     
    I built both of the 2mmSA GWR opens soon after they were released. One was finished fully lettered and loaded with an unusual (I thought) wood load, as previously seen in the post 'Wagons Also Spin'. The other languished on the shelf with the base colour, but no lettering. It was an ideal candidate for finishing off because it only required the livery completing, weathering and the couplings added. The lettering was a struggle. Thinking about a load, and flicking through some reference material I decided on a load of hay. This could be fully sheeted (two tarpaulins) and the wagon would virtually disappear, and the lettering wouldn't matter.
     

     
    I dug out an ancient email with a picture of a GWR sheet laid out flat attached to it and looked for a suitable item to pair it with. (Until I find a font that matches the GWR tarpaulin numbers then I'm a bit stuck for making any others!) Saturday morning was spent printing onto Rizlas, which is not as hard as it sounds. Print the sheet to scale size, then using the gummed edge of the Rizla stick it to the page so that the remainder covers the print, reinsert the page and print again. This time it should print onto the Rizla. I used the draft setting to get a faded look to begin with. The 'hay' is a suitably shaped chunk of expanded polystyrene (the same pink stuff I've been using as terraform for the layout). As long as you don't get them too wet when weathering (or use water fast inks) you should be fine. Now using small amounts of superglue and careful shaping with fingers and tweezers the load can be wrapped up in the sheets. Looking at photographs of the real thing will help to get it looking right. I only wish I'd removed most of the strapping, because the sheets seem to take their form, and the sheets lay quite flat over the wagon sides in the photos I looked at.
     
    Here's another view of 77046 from the other side. It's a GWR 5 plank open with DC1 brakes. The tarpaulins are pre-grouping GWR and LNWR styles. I read somewhere that they went grey in service (both letters and sheet) as they wore out, but I had to stop myself before the whole lot became a washed out grey. I also tried to keep the two tarpaulins a slightly different shade so they didn't merge. The couplings have only just been added and need a lick of colour.
     

     
    Sunday was spent cutting about 200 pieces of indentically sized bits of wood in a jig I made last week, but (as they say on the end of TTTE) that's another story.
  19. richbrummitt

    What Have I Done?

    By richbrummitt,

    Oh dear. I had a day out on the 2mm association stand with Littlemore today and the conversation went something like:
     
    "Are you going to exhibit your layout then?"
    "Yes."
    "When do you plan to have it ready for?"
    "If I have it in a somewhat presentable state within a couple of years I'll be reasonably happy."
    "Would you come to such and such exhibition?"
    "Er..." "When is it?" "I'm not sure I want to commit to anything right now."
    "Usually January."
    "Oh, okay."
    "Shall we say January 2014 then?"
    "Yes, provisionally..."
     
    This really isn't very far away and I haven't done anything on the layout since the golden jubilee expo last year so I've got a lot of work to do before this deadline! I have recently come around to the idea that I can make stock at any time but need a layout to play with them on. I have sufficient items that, although not correct to the time period I wish to present, could just about scrape through a weekend exhibiting.
     
    First up is re-designing the switch operation. Although it worked I had doubts about it's long term robustness and the pitfalls of adjustability. This was realised when I tried to re-attach the switch rail that some scrote managed to detach whilst the layout enjoyed a day out at Alexander Palace earlier this year. It is back on in the right place relative to the other rails, but not throwing properly. The difficulty will be doing this with the track in place on a 7/8" thick trackbed of plywood!
     
    I've also decided that the rear siding should not be at the same level as the rest of the of track. Looking at pictures in the three books covering the line it is clear that the gradient here increases to almost platform level. The whole siding therefore needs to be inclined so that the stops are three scale feet higher than they currently are. This worries me a bit because free rolling wagons will not tend to stay where they are put, but it looks really odd trying to cheat the ground level here to keep the rails level.
     
    Also to be sorted out before finishing the trackbed will be the installation of (hopefully working) ground signals. These will be the rotating can type indicator signals.
     
    The only thing that I have done recently is scale plans for the station building and a type 5 signal box cut them out and mock up to see what the major buildings will look like in place. I can safely say that this blog is about to get more concerned with the subject of it's title, and less of my dithering about making miscellaneous wagons.
  20. richbrummitt

    Int Milk Brillyant

    By richbrummitt,

    I guess some of you might have been wondering how the kit design was going. If not then maybe you will be interested enough to read on anyway. I've now built enough to know that all the permutations will work and only some very very minor changes will be needed before I reach a final version. Here's the proof
     

     
    Left to Right: Diagram O4, Diagram O6 (O5 with end door conversion), Diagram O1. I stopped building when I ran out of parts. Everything else will need to be begged bought or otherwise obtained to complete.
     

     
    A close up of diagram O1. I had to file the chassis a bit to fit between the tabs for the solebar, but everything else went together well enough. Also in the picture is the tail end of the milk train; part of a milk brake van (also under construction and at the point where the parts run out) converted from pharmacy cars after WWI and allocated diagram O13. It is a Blacksmith kit.
     

     
    O6 showing the end doors. According to my main source of reference (the excellent work by Slinn and Clarke) there were not many of these built, but I couldn't resist doing the end doors as an extra. I have still to build the O5 kit as intended, but I was able to check it worked on the way to making this model. The filled in planks are missing from the sides. An oversight on my part that is easily fixed. I also need to make sure there are enough lamp irons for this version. It has different side ones compared to diagram O5 because of the end doors.
     

     
    O4. The same subject as in the original post about these items though now the roof profile is corrected, the fill ins for livery are present. All I am going to change here is the same as for all the others. That is, to give the springs a little more material where they meet the hanger because they are rather spindly for my liking and a probable weak point. This is the only vehicle here built with a cleminson chassis. The others have my own design with a sliding centre axle that will be provided. Any of them can be built by either method. Also in this picture is another brake van from a Blacksmith kit. The dean bogies are something I've been working on for a few kits. Fitting the spring hangers will require removal of the footboards. More on this one another time.
     
    Hopefully next time you see the siphons they will be finished. I keep telling myself that I must finish things.
  21. richbrummitt
    Things continue with the siphons. I have the second test etches and the previous corrections have turned out a pair of decent (IMO) kits. The other items that I added to the sheet second time around remain to be built because I am now out of top hat bearings. An order is into the association shop but I needed something else to do.
     
    What I thought would be some quick wagons turn out to take rather more effort. I bought a few Mathieson Models wagons at the 2010 Expo in kit form to paint up with the liveries of the line's merchants. There are some good pictures of various merchants wagons in the Lingard book that covers the line. Since then I have bought several more, and a few of the coloured wagons. In town at the weekend I spied some in the cabinet of the local model shop and now have three more! I already had some early RCH wagons built up awaiting a similar treatment to that proposed for the 'kits'. I now have quite a collection of wagons requiring painting and weathering, or just weathering. Sticking to private owner wagons here is a selection.
     

     
    L-R: Association 1907 RCH body kit on 9' RCH chassis; 1907 RCH body on 8'6" chassis; Mathieson wagon kit with association split spoke wheels on 14mm axles and coupling hooks added; 2 off Mathieson wagon with a little weathering already started, wheels and details as before; Mathieson wagon out of the box.
     
    The Mathieson wagon is pretty good. The body is fine, much thinner than anything else available RTR in N and therefore pretty good for size. The chassis is a little flat on the axlebox detail (a compromise due to the width criteria being met and still fitting in N gauge wheels, I guess) but quite passable. When fitting 2FS wheelsets you need to thin the back of the brake shoes to avoid problems with the wheels rubbing and resultant poor running. The weathering that has been done so far to the Bradbury and Brodsworth vehicles has been with a scratch brush to scar the lettering, followed by a some mucky colour applied with a cotton bud. It needs some more depth to the dirty colours and for the effect to extend onto the chassis.
  22. richbrummitt

    Trigger Happy

    By richbrummitt,

    A little update regarding my RSU woes: I got hold of aforementioned Carr's solder paste and have successfully constructed a couple of RCH wagon underframes without the problems encountered previously. It amazes me how little solder paste is required to produce a solid joint. My only issue now is the dispensing of the paste from the syringe. Even the most gentle momentary squeezing, it seems, will produce a string of the stuff oozing out of the nozzle after I put it down. I've taken to leaving it on the corner of the tinfoil and using it for scraping up in small quantities for applying detail parts but it is still a little frustrating.
  23. 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.
  24. richbrummitt

    So Far So Bad

    By richbrummitt,

    The gingerbread man caught me in one. I've been working on some etch artwork for 6 wheeled siphons on and off since 2005. I got them pretty much finished for hatching and sending to be etched in 2007 and then didn't get around to it (like most other things in the hobby room...). Finally I pulled my finger out, bit the bullet, got around to it, or whatever and sent off the PPD (usual disclaimer, no connection &c.) for them to be turned into something that might just make up into a model.
     
    Working as a design engineer I'm used to the idea that most of the time things don't work out on the first shot. Even if you've got it right in theory there will be something that means it is better a different way when you have the parts off the tool. I was beside myself with excitement when they turned up because they looked the part, everything looked as it should and being the first time I'd tried to do this I was very pleased with what I believed could be a good result. So far so good.
     
    I spent much of the day forcing this into shape rather than building it.
     

     
    It's a bit rough and ready and not all the detail parts are. You will see witnesses for where the strapping is to fit and the lamp irons are still on the fret. There will also be two things that should be obviously wrong when you compare this to photographs of a siphon to diagram to O4. I made a mistake and a guess that doesn't look right. There are also a host of other things that need to be changed to make this into a kit that is build-able without using a pin hammer to make some of the fold lines, cutting parts up because they cannot be formed correctly or binning whole parts where something else works better assembled another way in addition to various fettling operations to make the additional clearance that needs to (and can) be made where parts fit together. These latter things I will only learn from experience of designing my own kits and something I expected. I am not too disheartened.
     
    I have covered all the 6 wheeled low roof siphons diagrams O1-O4 with two frets, except for the rebuild of 1777 with louvred sides. When I can I will try the other fret, which can create O1 thru O3 depending on the choice of end framing, because the underframes are slightly different and having made a list of things to sort out I want to do another one to try out the changes by modifying the fret and seeing that the issues are addressed.
     
    Don't hold your breath. The timescales have been pretty protracted thus far and although I don't anticipate spending another four years doing nothing with this I can't promise anything firm yet.
  25. richbrummitt
    No pictures today because I don't know where I last left the cable and they aren't very interesting anyway, just a pile of mangled nickel silver underframe parts that were looking lost on my bench.
     
    Those that read the 2mm VAG might have noticed that I decided to concoct my own RSU from a leftover car battery charger. I rewound the secondary coils to give three outputs similar to the commercial units (Don't ask me for any more details because I'm not electrically qualified and the moderators will likely remove such things to protect everyone legally in case you get hurt.) and adapted a spare soldering iron for the hand piece. A few connectors and a foot pedal have been added and tonight waiting on the doormat was the last piece of the puzzle - carbon rod. Total spend so far is around £50. Potential saving is therefore around £100.
     
    Having turned it on and played around with the settings I've managed to not solder anything satisfactorily. I can peel the parts away from each other afterwards. I've cleaned with a scratch brush, used flux, not used flux, used real solder as well as paste. It's not that I'm short of power either because The tip will easily get red hot on the high settings and I've fused parts together such that some of an overlay was left behind on the other part, but I am always able to peel them away. I tried my usual temperature controlled iron as well and suffered the same outcome. Often the material is deforming before the joint gives way, but I have been unable to make a soldered joint that could not be separated by my own hands yet this evening. Should I be dissatisfied
     
    The good news is that it should work and I haven't killed or maimed myself. The bad news is that I appear to have become totally inept when it comes to soldering and this is a massive pain because I also received a delivery from PPD today and feel unable to make a start if I can't solder properly. I may well have to look for a volunteer to do a test build. (Pre-requisites will be experience building small scale etched kits, preferably with an interest in GWR or NPCS.) Whilst waiting for my ability to rejoin me I will have to return to some Mathieson models wagons that I have been working on.
     
    Please help...
     
    Updated 23/07/11:
     
    I've tried some brass cleaned up with a nail file type abrasive stick until extra shiny. Solder appears to flow quite nicely. Force a knife through the joint with not too much effort and this is what it looks like. Both parts nicely tinned but not shiny unless you re-flow the solder. I used cored solder not paste because I thought this could be one of my problems.
     

     
    Everything is plenty hot when you grab a hold of it afterwards. I have a bunch of nickel silver parts in the bin in a similar condition. I even tried buffing the tinned parts adding flux and going for it again. Same result. Still scratching head. I have however managed to solder up a kit today, but didn't use this contraption.
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