richbrummitt

Hi Rich

 

Fantastic! Thats another milestone you have got to and amazingly fast too (compared to my standards that is!)

I thought I might get this far by April! On the positive I meet the requirements for GJLC entry now - just need to sort a few track gremlins and produce some cassettes.

 

Do I spot a pannier tank with a CH chassis in one of those?

 

Missy

Sshhh. No, it was the first chassis I got working well (4th time lucky). Here's a naked pic:

I'm still struggling with the reality that you have gone from bare boards to quite complete looking in approximately two days - good work.

The top looks a bit yellow (probably the lighting). My experience is that ballast is always darker once laid. I'd definitely try to go about re-colouring by flooding the ballast with watered down paint.

Ah yes, footboards. Not very considerate of the railways to have these, always giving trouble for us modellers .

Dean was especially inconsiderate in this respect with the mounting of his bogies.

These look superb though, and in 2FS too. The thin ones on the r/h van do look particularly good, although I can appreciate they must have been tricky.

Thank you. I keep having to re-fix them sometimes after handling. They stick out further than the fixing area is tall. What I should have done (and may still do) is have the hanger bend under the footboard and flatten it well in some pliers.

Looking forward to a shot of the full goods trains that these will allow you to make .

That would require a locomotive. Watch this space.

I have just spent some of my weekend threading up 3 metres of easitrac ( using the straight 500mm lengths of bullhead) and I did get quicker as I developed techniques - about 30 mins a 500mm length.

I found it was easier to do shorter lengths. My rail is off a coil and I was cutting 2-3 44'6" scale lengths.

I have also had a go at an easitrac turnout, and yes threading those tiny chairs ( and working out where the different ones go) is a bit of a pain. My first effort is not fantastic but it works and I have learned from it.

Fully de-burring the rail is paramount to easy chair threading. You have to make sure to get them the right way around too! (The fat part goes to the outside, the more sloped part inside.) I cut them from the sprue first and bagged them according to type so that I could have just the few chairs I needed for each piece of rail at once. I found that the easiest way to thread was to hold the chair down with a small file or the butt of a pair of tweezers on the base of the chair behind the chair jaws. That way it is held quite securely and you can ease the rail gently through the chair jaws up to the holding tool. After that it is easy to slide the chair down by hand and thread the next one.

I wonder whether I should try soldering one up, as it can't take any longer?

Are the association's copper sleepers the same depth as easitrac?

Probably quicker to solder, if you aren't scared Sleepers with chair plates are the same depth so I am told. I quite like the look of Easitrac compared to my previous soldered track.

Sorry Rich, didn't mean to hijack your thread!!

Look forward to seeing your layout develop.

 

Regards,

Chris

Don't worry. If you don't ask you may never know.

I have another like this with a 6 wheel u/f. I think the remainder have the later (relatively speaking) grab handles that form a continuous circuit and these will probably be easier to do. The side stanchions are well formed on the frets that I have assembled and went in with a small amount of force. I could foresee that maybe these could be bent during assembly and opening up slots in etches is not so easy. I hate building chassis because I struggle to align the outer overlays once they do not locate on the bearings and they always seem to take me ages unless they are simple like the swan neck linkage with one side brake blocks so maybe I am not the best person to ask. They are not beyond your reach though. I think I would rate it maybe a seven. There is a lot to do, but it's quite achievable. The thin foot boards on the right hand van have been re-attached more times than I can count so I'd recommend you fit the L shaped ones.

I recall a photo in Stephen Williams Branch Line Modelling books that shows the inside of an engine shed. The lower part of the walls was whitewashed.

I think leaving the pillars suggests a much larger shed, otherwise it might be assumed that only the near wall is cut away (like you are viewing with your back to it). At the present time I personally prefer the viewing from inside the shed. With it's small size it might be best described as a working diorama. The amount of detail that one day will be present inside will probably be more interesting than the wagon movements!

If you haven't read them already (or even just looked at the pictures) the GWR goods services books I think would be indispensable source material for you, especially part 2A. (I haven't bought part 2B yet)

Verry nice, BR or GWR.

Haha. That's the tidy bit. I daren't show you my workbenches (just out of shot to the left).

Andy, I didn't represent bridge rail in the sidings. Firstly because it's not available despite the fact large quantities could be used to construct fencing and cattle pens! Secondly after reading through source material again I suspect most of the yard was laid/re-laid after the conversion to standard gauge.

Something will move soon Missy (and you can guess what ). I've boxed the controller and started wiring in anticipation.

I wouldnt be that bothered if the layout is scrapped after its finished

I think there's a reasonable chance of a sensible offer it you were to place a 'For Sale' sign on it.

150 assorted hair clips, Rolson branded, from Maplins. About £2.99. I know them as R-clips from a teenage flirt with R/C cars. They are widely used for securing the thin lexan body shells. The cross drilled pins that they fit into were made on the lathe at work.

Richard, which buffer type is it? I'm pretty poor on buffer type identification and require a few of the type shown above.

It's the gwr type. I'm just finishing off another one that will be cut in half because it is the stop for the carriage shoot in the end of the platform where machinery and horses could be loaded.

Did you fit it to the rails before fixing to the sleepers?

Donw

Yes. This meant adding the plain chairs either side of the centre uprights before soldering to the stock rails. The other chairs where the rails is three+ rails width are slide chairs with the inner chair cut off and then slid under.

I'm pretty sure I saw a peco tank wagon kit in a box when I was clearing through my storage boxes at the weekend. You can have it if I find it.

As Nick says wooden clothes pegs are good. You can drill them to take a kebab skewer through a block of wood see here. Looks good so far. I would like one of those kits (the early styles) for myself You should persist in burning your fingers until you can hold the parts by hand to solder! This is not so easy on brass, but quite possible on nickel silver.

My temperature controlled iron was one of the best investments I ever made. I have the Antex TC-50 and also a 25W iron but I tend to use the 50W most of the time. Get a variety of tips too. I find that if you keep wiping clean regularly with a sponge and don't leave solder to sit on the iron that I don't need to use tip tinner/cleaner. The one I do use I got from Eileen's Emporium, but I've lost the lid off the container so can't tell you what it is.

I will make sure I bring it along to the Abingdon show this Saturday. I am doing a demo there pretty much all day so come and say hello.

I looked at the layout list for the show and wasn't sure it was worth the trip, but it is now!

I'd love to see this if I can find you at Abingdon on Saturday. I have to get some of those LEDs! I'm undecided whether my ground signals should be like this, or the earlier rotating can type of indicator that the GWR used initially.

Hello Rich

 

Welcome to RMWeb!

 

Missy

Thanks! I <3 your backscene.