richbrummitt

Thanks Mikkel, You really brightened my day. The video was great in concept. Many of the shots, expescially the stills are too short in my opinion. I think the same amount of content in 170%-200% of the length would have meant that more could be taken in. I felt sometimes like the images were flashing in front of me rather than me being able to look at them. If I could have played it more slowly, maybe -1.4x, I would have done.

You might need some chairplates to match the height of the copperclad sleepering to the Easitrac?

I very nearly bought a T gauge set yesterday. In my head I was thinking 'it won't take long, it's tiny: it can't take long' Deep inside though I knew that it would. Back on topic though: I would make the checkrail below rail height so that when you clean the rail you don't shine the check rail. You'll probably use chairplates to match the height of the existing easitrac (?) so just solder the check rail directly to the copperclad. You shouldn't really be able to realise the height difference when viewing because of the gap for the wheel.

I have copies of all the books mentioned thus far. My A,B,H&T are separate volumes. I believe they are first re-prints, ie. second edition.

Which book is that? I don't recognise it. I know there is one book on GWR wagons that I do not have on my shelf I was told by a railway bookseller. He described it as 'difficult to get hold of and quite pricey'.

I actually have some smiths tarps, but I can't find them.

@buffalo, They happen to be green king size papers because the shop only sold green in king size. @pixie, the coupling links are made from 0.3mm n/s wire.

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.

I've seen that suggestion too. I'm not sure though. I looked hard and found pictures of, I think, three out of the four as four wheelers. That left the first (iirc) as just a diagram in the Russel books on coaches. There may well have been a coach with the same dimensions as a six wheeler, or they may have been 'upgraded' at some point? I believe that David has me down for a prairie chassis, when they are available. Not my first choice of locomotive, but closer than period to anything I have working to date. The challenge with the dean bogie as I see it is the hangers for the springs. I don't want to cut them like so often seen on models - allowing curves to be easily negotiated.

I've been building a set of the four wheel coaches (available as a set of four only) from Worsley Works on to some 18' coach underframes that I got from David Eveleigh. I suspect that the further your time period slips the more likely it would be that 6 wheel stock was the norm, interspersed with 8 wheel stock. One thing I've been puzzling for a long time is how to make a decent Dean style bogie for the Worsley Works and Blacksmith 2mm body kits. I'll be keeping an eye on this too.

Maybe perpetual tea break is the pose to go for?

Either your photography is as good as those people who do the pictures in kebab shops or you've got some skills Chris (I suspect the latter). It's easy to put yourself down, especially when the pictured models in MRJ and similar all looks so damn fine. The best planning is often done in hindsight. Especially when learning. I'd start the chassis and see how you go. If it doesn't work and it's a pain to fix you'll probably already have realised how you should have done it. At that point start over and do better, like you have with the baseboard. It took me four goes on my first chassis, but I learned a huge amount in the process. I find the hardest bit is understanding how much space you have in the body and where it is relative to everything that needs to fit beneath.

@ most: The bogies are 2-387 castings on 2-400 stretchers. Only real early ones seem to have round top axle boxes (2-386) (and those would have adjustable truss rods rather than angle). There is barely any material around the hole in the stretchers once opened up to the size of the plastic block on the underside of the wagon so I sweated a scrap of n/s over the underside of the stretchers for strength. The block was filed down quite a bit so that the bogies don't fall around when the wagon is picked up, much like you would do with the brass top hats as the intended mounting for the range of wagon bogies. @ Andy: Yes, that's some load. The final one will look marginally smaller, but the same 90' length. @ -missy-: I had forgotten about the point rodding, but I think I know where it is. It's LSWR not GWR though, which is why I wasn't going to use it. I'll be at Ally Pally on SUNDAY and will try to remember them if you will be there? @ devondynosaur118. The 2FS bogies look much nicer than the Ultima ones because they have more depth. The B-set coaches should look real good when built, and they are different diagrams to the Dapol ones iirc.

I thought you were avoiding me? hahaha. I didn't get to Newbury until about three, and I was at Watford on Sunday for most of the day. Sundays are usually a better day for me. I still owe you that tank wagon kit I promised. No. Even if I have blue sky thinking it's just toy trains. They're there to be enjoyed.

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.

It's not established but it's an exhibition layout, with no soldered track and it works pretty well. (Being scenically incomplete I have only been to GJ at Oxford - there is a long way to go before I have enough stock and scenic completed for a proper exhibition). The biggest problem is with the cassettes, where the problems are entirely because I made them in a hurry and didn't take nearly enough care.

I never saw a furry one of our thingies though To add something to the discussion: I would use the 64dp (or M0.3) gears for a first attempt. They are more forgiving. a 30:1 worm and something like 14T/18T is what I have in at least one of my pannier tanks. Don't, whatever you do, use two of the same gears together. It is impossible to work out whether a tight spot is in the gearing or the wheels/coupling rods if you do. I started a 2-6-2T with an 18T/18T gear pair and cannot find the fault. This is possibly a more valid reason not to use gears that are multiples i.e. (14T/28T) but I can't think why right now. I guess my brain is having the day off. There is, somewhere on the archive cd (sorry dvd, mine's an old school 1st edition), an article by the late Pete Wright about making what he described as a cannon gearbox, where the spur gears come first. Iirc it was in the magazine around the time I joined, so look around 2003. The 14T gear might be pitch adjusted so that the diameter is large enough for it to have a hole large enough to fit over the not furry item with the same name as a lady hand warmer without the material getting thin. If so it has to be considered as a 15T gear for centre distance calculations because it has an enlarged diameter (equivalent to a 15T gear).

That Manor is quite nice (a compliment from someone who believes that the Churchward era was best). The width of the driving wheels is not offensive and it could look pretty good with spoked tender wheels, some cylinders (instead of a flap of plastic) and a new pony truck. It was however very black

So it is. Thank you. I build chassis in a different order now, but I wouldn't like to live without my temperature controlled solder station.

I'm pleased to see this for two reasons. It's better to fix it now before you get futher scenically because you risk damaging something all the time. Enjoyment of an otherwise excellent model would always have been plagued by something that with a little care and attention can be brought up to the same high standard.

Thanks for a mention. I'm glad something that I wrote is helpful to someone. I honestly don't know where the article is though; maybe you could point it out for me please? I do remember buying and building it, before it was in the shop listings. My brother has it now.

I was trying to work out if Newbury was still on next weekend. It seemed to have disappeared off the ukmodelshops web site list of events. I should be able to come see you.

So, the pictures of the baseboard frames are where?

In my case the car is as important as the railway. I use the car every day (20,000 miles/year) , whereas I've transported the layout twice (accounting for <100 miles of the c.50,100 that are on the odometer).

I like. The trees are looking good. Not so many people go for autumn so it's nice to see. Top mark from me.