Jump to content
 

2mm Andy

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,496

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by 2mm Andy

  1. 2mm Andy

    Jinty Jottings

    By 2mm Andy,

    For a little while I've wanted to build a 'simple' 2mm loco project - I have a couple of kits and etches for various 2mm locos, but I've never plucked-up the courage to finish any of them (apart from a chassis for a J72 loco that I built quite a few years ago now). Having almost got to the point of being able to run a train on my shunting plank layout, I decided to tackle one of the stored projects.
     
    A year or so ago I started a project to build a Jinty loco, and bought a Graham Farish 'Jinty' body from BR Lines and an etched chassis kit acquired from Bob Jones of Fence Houses Model Foundry. A set of gears, wheels, motor and bearings were purchased from the 2mm Scale Association shop, and castings for the chimney and dome from Nick Tilston at N Brass Loco. I stripped the paint from the Farish metal body (using a caustic soda solution with the necessary safety precautions) to reveal a rather nice casting (albeit with a few details that needed improving). Then other things got in the way and the bits languished in a box.
    I dug out the box from it's hiding place and had a good look at the body casting to see what needed improving. Then the butchery began!
     
    I am lucky to have a Proxxon MF70 milling machine. It's a small machine - light enough to use on a table top, and is ideal for 2mm work.

     
    First job was to mill out some of the inside of the body casting at the back to give more room for the motor. Then I thinned the splashers down to something approaching the correct width, and smoothed off the buffer beams (the Farish detail was rather heavy). The steps below the running plate were removed and cab doorways milled out. I removed the original dome (using a fretsaw and needle files) and drilled out for the cast spigot on the N Brass Loco dome. The chimney was carefully removed from the smokebox moulding and drilled out for the cast brass version. Having looked at photos of the full size locos, the chimney needs to be moved forward slightly.

     
    In the meantime, the frames were cut out of the etch, cleaned up and bearings soldered in. The photo below shows them assembled in a 2mm frame assembly jig.

     
    The frames are designed with extension pieces on each end which the frame assembly jig is assembled around, the whole lot being placed on a flat surface (plate glass or similar) while the frame spacers are soldered in. When everything is assembled and soldered-up, the extensions are cut off.
     
    Next job is to cut and gap some pcb for the frame spacers and assemble the frames. I also need to fill in the holes left in the footplate and splashers, then start detailing the body.
     
    Andy
  2. 2mm Andy

    A Grand Day Out

    By 2mm Andy,

    Hello,
     
    Well, my aim of posting one blog entry a week seems to have fallen by the wayside. I'll try and stick to this in the future - if only because it encourages me to do some modelling!
     
    Today I spent the day at the Thirsk show helping operate this marvellous layout.
     

     
    Yes, it is 2mm finescale! This is Mayfield Street, built by David Long. Today was it's debut on the exhibition circuit, and it performed really well. Thank you David for letting me loose on it!
     
    It has inspired me to try and make some more progress on my shunting plank. Last week I experienced some problems with the trackbed doing an impersonation of a British Rail sandwich (the edges curled up). With the aid of some powerful clamps and a not inconsiderable amount of PVA glue, I hope I have cured the problem. Needless to say I won't be using basswood for the trackbase again!
     
    Yesterday I finally started fitting the chairs to the stock rails on the first turnout - photos will hopefully follow later in the week when I've made some progress worthy of a photo or two.
     
    Andy
  3. 2mm Andy
    A package containing two mermaids was waiting for me when I got back from work last Thursday. In case you're wondering how the postman got two mythological creatures through the letterbox, I should point out that these were 2mm finescale kits for the GWR/BR 'mermaid' ballast hopper wagon. The photo below shows what you get for your money - a cast resin body, a nickel silver etch for the chassis (and body details) and a comprehensive set of instructions.
     

     
    As you would expect from a kit produced by Stephen Harris, these are impressive beasties, and I was tempted to start one of them straight away, but a nagging doubt about the pile of half-finished projects in the cupboard and on my modelling bench made me have second thoughts. With the weather forecast for the weekend sounding pretty dismal, I decided to set some time aside for some serious modelling and opened the gloat box. The results are below;
     

     
    The wagon on the left is an SNCF mineral wagon - acquired by British Railways from the French government in 1951. It is a 2mm Scale Association kit, comprising a set of plastic parts for the body and an etched underframe. Buffers are lost-wax cast brass. The rain stopped for just long-enough on Saturday afternoon to give the body a quick spray of Halfords primer.
     
    The wagon on the right is a GW shunters truck. It is a Masterclass Models nickel silver etch, and builds up into a nice model, although it was a bit fiddly to build in places (mainly due to the shape of the prototype). This one is waiting for a coat of etch primer when the weather improves.
     
    Although it doesn't look a lot for a weekend's work, I haven't actually spent more than about 4 hours at the workbench, and most of that was on the shunter's truck. A fair amount of time was also spent sorting out the next few projects to be finished. I've only scratched the surface of the gloat box, so the mermaids will have to wait a little while longer!
     
    Andy
  4. 2mm Andy

    Inspiration

    By 2mm Andy,

    Eeek! Nearly 3 months have passed since the last blog update, and I don't have a lot of modelling to show for all that time! A few projects have been rumbling along slowly - a Chivers tube wagon has made it through the paint shop and transfers have been added (I'm hoping I can sort out that rather obvious carrier film on the transfers). Some fairly savage weathering and some couplings are all that is required now.
     

     
    The layout has also chuntered along - the dodgy crossing has been replaced with a new one, a buffer stop has appeared, point blades are being made, and a backscene has been started. Photos will follow.
     
    Saturday saw the 2011 RMweb members day at Stafford, and I was privileged to be present with Bryn and Pixie (aka the 'mashup boys' ) as part of the 2mm demo, next to Highclere, which Missy and Mitziblue had brought up from the wilds of Oxfordshire. I hadn't been to a members day before, so wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was really impressed and enjoyed the day immensely. I will leave the photographs to others as there are plenty of superb photos in the various galleries and threads.
     
    On Sunday the North East Area Group of the 2mm Scale Association had a day out to the Tanfield Railway. Our esteemed group leader had arranged to hire a carriage which was attached to the regular passenger train, and we spent a few pleasant hours trundling up and down a surprisingly beautiful and atmospheric part of the countryside with a tasty buffet lunch and liquid refreshment. Note the reserved sign on the carriage window!
     




     
    Of course no visit to a preserved railway would be complete without a visit to the engine shed and a wander around the sidings of stock waiting patiently to be restored.
     


     
    It was a bit of a shock to the system to go back to work today! Anyway, I feel fully inspired to get on with some modelling (and I promise not to leave the next update quite so long!).
     
    Andy
  5. 2mm Andy

    Busy with Bogies

    By 2mm Andy,

    I've not updated the blog for a while, mainly because there hasn't been much progress to report (the weather has been too nice for modelling!)
     
    The bits for the 02 arrived from the 2mm shop last week. Unfortunately swapping the spur gear hasn't improved the running much, and following a comment on an earlier blog entry, I checked the stub axles to make sure they were running true. There was a slight wobble on one axle, so to be on the safe side, I removed all of them and threaded some plain axle steel through to see if that cured the problem - it didn't! I really want to get the chassis working properly, but it's irritating when I can't pin down the root cause! I have set the chassis aside and will have a good look at it when I have a spare evening (and a stiff drink handy! )
     
    Yesterday I spent a day on the 2mm Roadshow stand at York Model Railway Show. As well as being my local show, it's usually one of the better 'non-specialist' shows, and this year was no exception.
     
    I usually take along a few projects to fiddle with - mainly as a talking point when people want to come and have a chat. Getting anything done is regarded as a bonus, and on some of the best days at shows I have come away with very little done at all! Yesterday's projects were a coach bogie and a station seat.
     

     
    Pennies come in very handy when photographing 2mm models!
     

     
    Both are for a forthcoming project that I will say a bit more about in due course.
     
    Another project moving forwards steadily is a bogie bolster E.
     

     
    This is being built from a Stephen Harris kit, and will form part of a freight train that I've promised to build for a friend to run on his rather large 2mm layout 'Fence Houses' (more details here). The debut public outing for the layout will be at the Blyth show in late August. I think I'd better get my skates on!
     
    Andy
  6. 2mm Andy
    Well, the last couple of weeks have thrown up a few problems.
     
    The 02 is currently on the 'naughty step' pending the arrival of some replacement bits from the 2mm loco shop. Having checked the mesh of the gears earlier and not found any problems, I was fairly confident that adding the wheels would be fairly straightforward - how wrong can you be!?
     
    When I tried to fit the axle gear (having checked that all the other gears ran freely), the whole drivetrain was very reluctant to move at all. I tried replacing the 21t axle gear with an 18t gear I had handy, and this meshed very loosely, so an order was dispatched to shop for a 20t gear (this being the intermediate size available). I suspect the error was in my marking out of the frames - hopefully the replacement gear will solve the problem, but if it doesn't, new sideframes may be the order of the day... Still, it's all good practice!
     
    Then I managed to snag a couple of rails on the layout when I dropped a pile of ironing on it! I have spent this evening replacing the rails and re-threading the chairs. I hope to solder-up two replacement crossing vees for the ones I wasn't happy with, then I need to sort out the point blades and tie bar (and figure out a way to make it all work).
     

     
    At least my enthusiasm levels are good, even if I have the anti-midas touch at the moment!
     

     
    Andy
  7. 2mm Andy
    I've made a bit of progress on the '02', although it doesn't look vastly different from the last set of photos I took!
     

     
    The bonnet and cab roof have been soldered in place (which has the advantage of making the body much stronger) and a start made on adding all the little details.
     
    Buffers (from Nick Tilston at 'N Brass Loco') have been soldered into place, and the engine cover door handles have been added from bits of bent 0.3mm wire. The handrails on the front footsteps have been added (more 0.3mm wire), and the fuel tank filler caps added from some 2mm crankpin washers out of the bits box. The radiator front and sides have been filled to try and reproduce the smooth curve (the grey primer paint is to help me see where more filler is needed). There are more handrails to add to the engine covers, cab and the big handrail at the very back of the loco, plus the loco lights, engine exhaust, etc.
     
    Aside from the 02, I've started looking at the next likely loco project. I bought a Farish 04 not long after they were released, and sent the wheels away for turning down to 2mm standards. Because of the tight clearances behind the footsteps, I asked the wheel turner to thin the wheels down (accepting that some of the spoke detail would be lost in the process) to minimise the risk of the coupling rods and crankpins clouting the steps. The body was also detailed with bufferbeam overlays from 5 thou plasticard and some light weathering applied. It has never run very well, and a while ago I decided to bite the bullet and make a replacement chassis. The frames will be from the Worsley Works etch for the 04, with pcb frame spacers and a Nigel Lawton motor. Apart from removing the frames from the etch, I haven't done much yet - pretty much the first job will be to design the gearbox in AutoCAD and get an order in to the 2mm shop for the necessary gears.
     

     
    And just to prove the Jinty hasn't been forgotten, one last photo. On my way home from the Narrow Gauge North exhibition, I called in at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and the Vintage Carriage Trust museum to buy some magazine back issues. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the loco in service was 47279. I couldn't miss the opportunity to get some useful photos of the tank tops and boiler fittings from the footbridge high up alongside the loco! Hopefully I'll get back to working on this project soon.
     

     
    Andy
  8. 2mm Andy
    (or the sweet smell of success singed fingernails!)
     
    Pete asked last time about progress on the body of the shunter. At that time I had only cut a few parts from the etch and formed things like the cab steps and the funny little boxes in front of the cab. I wasn't sure how much I could assemble without needing to check the fit of the motor and gearbox, so it didn't seem sensible to progress too far too fast.
     
    After a fairly stressful week at work, I decided to celebrate on Friday by escaping work a bit earlier than usual and popping into town to purchase the small drills I forgot to get last weekend at the Watford show. The first job upon getting back home was to fit the 'Simpson' springs - these are short lengths of straightened N gauge coupling spring wire, soldered at one end with the other end set across the middle of the axle bearing hole (the axle hole having been enlarged to 1.6mm from the nominal 1.5mm normally used in 2FS chassis). Despite this going against 'conventional' chassis construction advice and rules, this works really well.
     
    I then had a go at milling some frame spacers. My first attempt was in brass, but this was an unmitigated disaster (I definitely need to brush up on my techniques for milling brass) so I started again using an offcut of 'Tufnol' - much easier to mill! After a bit of fiddling and filing to get the spacers to clear the gears and muffs of the gearbox, these were drilled for 12BA bolts to hold the frames and spacers together. Next mistake - I read the wrong line of the data charts and drilled the holes to clearance diameter, not tapping diameter! . I should have packed-up the modelling and done something easier at this point, but I decided to press-on and see what other disasters awaited!
     

     
    Having assembled the frames with bolts, everything looked OK, so I started enlarging the etched footplate in the kit to fit the gearbox and motor arrangement I had designed (see previous blog posting). I got carried away then, and decided to form the engine cover, adding the engine cover doors and panels before soldering the layers of the radiator together and adding them to the front of the engine covers. An piece of scrap etch was cut to fit inside the end of the engine covers and the radiator assembly soldered to this. There were a few choice words when, trying to tweak one of the doors into position, I lingered too long with the iron and the whole lot disintegrated into a heap of bits of nickel silver! Half-an-hour later, having put the whole lot back together again, I moved on to the step/bufferbeam assemblies, which is where the subtitle of this blog post is most appropriate. Several scorched/melted fingernails later, I had two sets of steps and bufferbeams in place, although the joints need tidying-up as I think there are some minor errors with the etch. After all that, the body looked like this:
     

     
    One last photo - just to check everything fits OK of course!
     

     
    There is a bit more work to do on the body - the engine cover needs fixing in place and there are a whole load of small details to add. The chassis needs painting before final assembly, and I've also got to work out a way of fixing the chassis to the body. Plenty to keep me occupied I think!
     
    And whilst conducting a bit of research to identify how some of the more awkward bits of the etch were supposed to be fitted, I found a rather good video here. The Class 02 loco is at 6 minutes 53 seconds. Catchy music as well!
     
    Andy
     
    EDIT : Photo added to give a better idea of scale;
     

  9. 2mm Andy

    A 2mm Workhorse

    By 2mm Andy,

    or "yet another part-complete loco!"
     
    At the excellent 2mm Golden Jubilee Expo in Oxford last July, I bought one of the Worsley Works etches for an 02 shunter. Of course, I then put the packet in the cupboard and forgot about it while I got on with some other modelling. The real things look like this:
     

     
    Anyway, after a few months, the kit came to the top of the pile again and I decided to make a start on it. The etch comes complete with a simple etched chassis which i decided to discard in favour of using milled pcb frames with brass spacers and with an integral gearbox.
     
    The chassis outline was drawn up on AutoCAD using the dimensions taken from the etch parts and with a gearbox design courtesy of Missy. I decided to use a Nigel Lawton 'midi-motor' (this seems shorter (and substantially cheaper!) than the Faulhaber 0816 which was the motor I'd originally intended to fit. By playing around on CAD, I got to a design which I felt would work and which would allow me to use the footplate from the original etch with minor modifications hacking.
     

     
    Two small pieces of 0.5mm pcb were then set up on my Proxxon mill, the axle/gear positions drilled and the frame outline milled out.
     
    After reaming out the holes to take the bearings (phosphor bronze soldered in from the inside of the frames), I bolted up the frames with temporary spacers and gears on turned plastic muffs supported by a selection of handy drill bits to see if it would work....
     

     
    ... and it did B) !
     
    The frame spacers in the photo are a terrible bodge - milled brass blocks (to get some weight low down in the mechanism) will be used, tapped and screwed to the side frames, and the main frames gapped around these to prevent the whole lot shorting out. I intend using the 'Simpson' springing method to improve the current pick-up, but for now progress has stalled while I order some drills and other bits (which I forget to get at the weekend when I was at the Watford show ). There is still plenty of work to do, but I think the hard bit has been done.
     
    And after this one, there are another 3 shunting locos to do!
     
    Andy
  10. 2mm Andy

    Splodge, Zap, Sizzle

    By 2mm Andy,

    Over the Christmas hols I have had an opportunity to 'play' with a resistance soldering unit. Up until now all my 2mm scale etched kits have been assembled using my trusty 25w Antex iron and Carr's solder paste, and while it give good results, I do seem to spend a lot of time scraping solder off places where it shouldn't be, despite the solder paste being very easy to apply in small amounts just where you want it.
     
    Whilst the RSU (purchased by my dad from the Swanage Model Company stand at Guildex) took a little bit of time to get used to, I found it an incredibly useful tool to put heat exactly where I needed it, and being able to use the probe to hold parts in place before/after heating was very handy. It's definitely not a panacea - there are jobs where it is far easier to use a normal iron, but it does give a very clean finish and makes fitting overlays and strapping very easy indeed.
     
    The first photo shows an etched nickel silver coke hopper wagon from a 2mm Scale Association kit - the RSU was used to add the strapping on the sides and corners. The chassis and hopper internals were assembled using a normal soldering iron (whilst demonstrating at the Warley show this year). Still to add are the gussets and end verticals.
     

     
    The second photo shows the cabin for a Southern Rly 25t brake van. This is a Stephen Harris designed kit, commissioned by David Long. As is usual with Stephen's kits, the design is very well thought through and it's been a pleasure to build. There is plenty more work to do on this van and this will probably feature in a second blog entry when it's nearer to completion.
     

     
    Santa brought me a 2mm scale D49 loco kit this Christmas which will be added to the pile of unbuilt kits, so I've got plenty to get going at next year. I feel a New Year resolution coming on!
     
    Andy
  11. 2mm Andy

    A Brief Recap....

    By 2mm Andy,

    Evening all!
     
    It seems like a very long time ago that I posted details of a little 2FS layout, designed as a shunting plank, but also intended to give me experience of using the newly introduced Easitrac components. After my last post featuring the layout here in early August, I wired-up some of the track, and the part-complete layout appeared on the 2mm Roadshow stand at the N Gauge Show at Leamington Spa in September, with a Farish class 24 loco converted to 2FS running up and down on the few inches of track available. Then the layout got plonked on a shelf in my spare room and was forgotten about while I got on with some DIY projects.
     
    The photo below shows the current state of play (with evidence of the DIY in the background!).

     
    I've had to remove the rails from part of the track as they got snagged while I was moving the layout, and the turnout blades need filing and fitting, along with some sort of turnout operating unit. Now that the dark winter evenings are here (not to mention the sizeable amount of snow!) I hope to get cracking again soon. I have a pile of Catfish and Dogfish wagon kits waiting to be built and the Class 24 is crying out for some detailing and weathering.
     
    Lastly, I've decided on a name - 'Carreg'. According to a Welsh dictionary, it means 'stone'. Confirmation of this from any Welsh speakers would be appreciated!
     
    Hopefully the next update won't be far away, and there may be a couple of interesting diversions coming along soon as well!
     
    Andy
  12. 2mm Andy

    A bit of S & M....

    By 2mm Andy,

    No! Not that sort! - this sort of S&M;
     

     
    I made reference in my first blog posting to my 2mm Golden Jubilee Layout Challenge entry which never made it as far as the Expo at Oxford. I’ve been asked if I would post a bit more information on it, so here goes….
     
    The original idea came from Roger Carpenter’s book on the Criggion Branch of the S&M (published by Wild Swan) – idly re-reading this one Sunday afternoon just after the GJLC had been announced rekindled my enthusiasm for this delightfully decrepit and obscure backwater of the railway system and so a plan was hatched….
     

     
    The location was based on Llandrinio Road – a simple wayside station just short of the terminus (and quarry) at Criggion, but with a slightly altered track plan to try and give a bit more operational interest (basically the siding was reversed and extended 'off-scene' to allow it to be used a part of a run-round loop).
     
    The Criggion branch was a real backwater of the railway network. It served a roadstone quarry, which possessed it’s own shunting locomotive – a vertical boilered Sentinel - to shunt the quarry traffic. Passenger services were in the hands of the infamous petrol railbuses and the bizarre and delightful ‘Gazelle’, which operated with a former horse-tram as a passenger coach. There was a severe weight restriction on the branch line due to a bridge at Melverley which was in poor condition.
     
    In my 2mm world, I assumed that the line was taken over by British Railways Western Region and the bridge strengthened to gain access to the quarry traffic. It's all a bit implausible, but I didn't feel quite up to the challenge of building some suitable stock to a deadline as well as the layout. In the event, things didn't quite go to plan....
     
    The boards are for the most part birch plywood and of fairly standard construction. The scenic part of the layout is one board, and the backscene is integral with the board. The fiddle yards bolt onto each end of the main board and the whole lot drops onto the top of the legs. These and the shelves beneath the baseboards are Ikea ‘Ivar’ shelves, with metal diagonal bracing from the same source. Adjustable feet have been fitted to the bottom of the legs to allow for uneven floors and supports for lighting and a fascia fit onto the back of the legs.
     

     
    The layout baseboards were almost complete by the summer of 2009 so I offered to take it to the 2mm AGM at Bedford in October 2009. Most of my spare time then promptly disappeared and a few evenings before the event I just about managed to lay enough track to get something moving on the layout – albeit only over about 6â€!
     
    After that, the enthusiasm just dried up. The boards suffered a bit of cosmetic damage in the car on the way back from Bedford to York, and were unceremoniously dumped in the spare room at home. After a few months I put them back together (they took up less space assembled and the shelf space beneath was useful!) and used them as storage space for all my unfinished 2mm stock (and the space below for modelling tools and equipment).
     
    I learnt a few things from taking the layout to Bedford (which was the first time I’ve every exhibited a layout in any form), namely that layouts are a lot of hassle to dismantle and move, especially when car parking is awkward/non-existent, and that having the fiddleyard at each end is too awkward for one person to operate. I suppose that's why I'm building a one-person shunting plank now!
     
    One day the enthusiasm will return and it will emerge (and I'll have to find a home for all those part-built wagons) - anyone for a Diamond Jubilee Layout Challenge?!
    Andy
  13. 2mm Andy

    Midland Meanderings

    By 2mm Andy,

    The weekend began at an ungodly hour on Saturday morning - I was helping on the 2mm Scale Association stand at the International N Gauge Show, and it meant getting up early in time to set up the stand before the show opened. This is the first time I've been to this exhibition, and it was well worth the 2.5 hour journey from York. I took the shunting plank layout (which had been wired up the night before!) and had a class 24 running up and down 6 inches of track (I had to chose between the wiring and making the point blades, so the only bit of track available was the siding) most of the day. In between playing trains and talking to the visitors, I managed to get a wagon part-assembled (and then found that the chassis I'd made didn't fit the body!) It was nice to see a few friends from RMWeb at the exhibition.
     
    Apart from admiring the latest releases from the likes of Farish and Dapol, a few new goodies from the smaller manufacturers came home with me. Nick Tilston of N Brass Loco had some Ross Pop Safety Valves available - just the things to replace the cast mazak "stumps" on the Jinty. He also had a turned brass air reservoir which looks as though it will fit on either the 04 shunter or the 02, so one of those was duly acquired.
     
    On my way back to York on Sunday I paid a visit to the Midland Railway Centre. It's been a few years since my last visit here, and some impressive progress had been made since then on a number of fronts. The Midland-style station at Swanwick Junction is almost complete, with the main building now weathertight and the footbridge just waiting for it's staircases. Some approaching stormclouds made for a rather nice photo.

    In the museum, the rake of private owner wagons had grown with this impressive example of restoration.

    At Butterley station I found a Blue Pullman!

    This is one of the saddest sights I have seen for some time on a preserved railway. This is one of the original Pullman coaches that were shipped across from America in the 1870s to run on the Midland Railway . Looking at the state of the roof and bodysides, I doubt if restoration of this coach is still possible, and I wonder how long it will be before the whole thing collapses. It's neighbour (which I didn't photograph) is in slightly better condition, and a third is in the museum at Swanwick, also in unrestored condition (but at least it's under cover).
     
    Having booked the week off work, I'm off for a few days walking/sightseeing in North Wales tomorrow - hopefully to sample the delights of the Welsh Highland and/or the Ffestiniog railways. I may even find some time to fit in a bit of modelling in the evenings!
     
    Andy
  14. 2mm Andy
    Tracklaying is progressing very slowly at the moment (too many distractions on my part rather than any fault of the Easitrac system), so rather than boring everyone with even more photos of half-finished turnouts, I thought I'd find something else to blog.
     
    Having a tidy-up of my folders and files on the computer at the weekend, I came across a photo of a North Eastern Railway brake van that I took a few years ago. The van is one of the very few wagons I can claim to have finished, and I was experimenting with photographing 2FS models (mostly with little or no success).
     

     
    A while ago, ace kit designer and fellow North East Area Group member Bob Jones produced a 2mm scale kit for a North Eastern Diagram P4 hopper wagon. Having built the brake van, I decided that I ought to build some wagons to go with it, and so a pile of etches were duly acquired from Bob, with the vague promise that they'd be available for running on Bob's Fence Houses layout in due course. So far I've build the grand total of 1 wagon (although another is on the way). The second photo is of both wagon and brake van on some part completed track (wonder where that would be then!).
     

     
    Anyway, better get back to the sleeper chopping!
     
    Andy
     
     
  15. 2mm Andy
    Another week, another panic as I realise how little progress I've made in the last week!
     
    In the last few days I've managed to do a bit more work on the turnouts. These, as with the plain track, use Easitrac components. I'd previously stuck the turnout timbering down, so first job was to cut some rail (nickel silver code 40 bullhead) and start threading chairs.
     

    (Photo courtesy Mick Simpson)
     
    The chairs are tiny, but can be threaded onto the rail fairly easily if the rail end is slightly chamfered (I did lose a couple to the carpet gremlins though ). Anyway, after threading enough of the 3 types of chair (plain, check and slide) into position, the 'straight' stock rail was stuck down using MEK following the Templot plan underneath.
     
    Next, I made a start assembling the crossing. There are a number of jigs available to assist with this;
     

     
    As can be seen, the crossing vee has been assembled upside down in the RH jig (having been filed and soldered-up in the other jig on the left) and the wing rails added. The three shallow slots are to locate three strips of nickel silver which will be soldered to the underside of the rails to keep everything in place. Being a bit of a skinflint, I use bits of etch surround from wagon kits for these.
     

     
    Here you can see the completed crossing laid in place on the sleepering. It's only loosely held at this stage - the plain chairs have yet to be added at each end to allow it to be fixed down. This is my second attempt at the crossing here - I wasn't 100% happy with this one or it's predecessor, so a third one is currently being made up in the same way. One thing I have found with 2mm modelling is that if you're not totally happy with something, it is best to remake it before you go any further. It only costs pence to solder up the crossings, but trying to correct one that had been fixed in position would be very frustrating!
     

     
    One last photo brings the story up to date. Over the next week I hope to carry on with the trackwork and make a start on the wiring.
     
    Andy
  16. 2mm Andy
    Hello,
     
    Things are moving! Admittedly I still have to push them with my finger (does this make it digital control ?!), but there is now track on the layout, and, with the aid of a 9V battery, trains have been run .
     

     
    As I mentioned in my first posting on this blog, I used Templot to generate a track plan. This was printed, cut out and stuck down onto the trackbed, then given a couple of coats of shellac to try and stop it crinkling-up.
     
    First up for tracklaying was the headshunt for the loop. The sleeper spacing on the Templot plan varies - the sleepers at the ends of each track panel are more closely spaced than the standard Easitrac moulding, so first job was to cut the mouldings to fit the plan. It wasn't necessary to cut every sleeper - those in the middle of each panel on the plan are fine as they are. The rails were then threaded in and enough of the Easitrac glue spread on the plan to allow about 5 or 6 sleepers to be fixed down. The glue dries quite quickly, so it's best to do a small area each time. The glue gives you enough time to sight along the rails and adjust the sleepers to follow the plan and get a smooth curve, but dries quickly enough that you don't have to worry about the track being moved or knocked out of alignment. I weighted the track down with a couple of offcuts of brass bar.
     
    Every so often I added a brass sleeper to provide power feeds. These were cut using a piercing saw and slid onto the rails like the other sleepers. I will drill a hole in the trackbase below the rail to feed the wire through and solder to the brass tags below each rail. The gaps in the sleeper were filled with a small strip of paper glued in with superglue - I have no idea whether this will work, but it seems OK so far.
     

     
    Once the plain track on the headshunt and siding was done, I moved on to look at the turnouts (I'll leave the plain track on the loop and main line until the turnouts are complete so I can make sure the track follows a nice smooth curve).
     
    These are being built using the sleeper strip method - being curved, they don't match the geometry of the milled turnout bases. Progress so far has been limited to the cutting and laying of the sleeper strip to match the plan (apart from the two visible in the photo which I moved slightly), again using the Easitrac glue.
     

     
    I hope to start adding the stock rails and soldering-up the crossing unit this week. For this I'll be using the natty tufnol jigs available from the 2mm Scale Association.
     
    So there we have it - my first real bit of Easitrac. Much nicer than soldering titchy little chairplates to PCB sleepers!
     
    Andy
  17. 2mm Andy

    Framed!

    By 2mm Andy,

    Since my last posting I've actually started construction rather than just doodling, so I thought it was worth producing a quick update. This is the current view of the baseboard (apologies for the distracting background! )
     

     
    The board is pretty conventional - a PSE softwood frame with a birch ply fiddle yard surface. The next job is to work out levels and cut and fit the risers that will support the trackbed. I've also started making the cassettes from aluminium angle (I remembered to buy 'raw' aluminium this time, rather than the anodised stuff, which doesn't conduct electricity terribly well ).
     
    I also spent two fantastic days at the 2mm Golden Jubilee Expo in Oxford. It was great to see so much top quality 2mm modelling in one place, and to meet friends old and new. I've attached a few photos from the weekend.
     
    The fiddle yard on Fence Houses - one of the few layouts where a 50 wagon freight train looks small

     
    Witney Euston - fantastic winter scenery

     
    Highclere (left) and Wansbeck Road (right) - two superb examples of 2mm modelling

     
    I also came away with a few goodies - I suspect this little lot will keep me quiet for a while!

     
    thanks,
     
    Andy
  18. 2mm Andy
    Hello,
     
    It's been a bit of an odd weekend - it was so hot yesterday that I hardly made any progress on the layout and I was struggling to get any enthusiasm for modelling . This morning I popped up to the Hartlepool exhibition and got a top-up of modelling enthusiasm (and some electrical bits and pieces for the layout), so this evening I cut and glued the thin timber trackbed down onto the ply baseboard surface.
     

     
    It didn't go exactly to plan (I spotted a problem with the alignment of the cassettes which meant an alteration to the Templot plan), but it's now time for tracklaying! I'm waiting for a few bits from the 2mm Scale Association shop, but I can make a start on the first bits of plain track, and of course the cassettes still need building.
     
    Away from the layout, the blue class 24 loco has been chipped, and the plans for the class 02 diesel shunter are coming on (thanks Missy ) - I hope to start milling a set of frames for this later in the week (when I've unearthed the Proxxon milling machine from it's slumbers). Then there's the pile of Stephen Harris wagon etches to build.....I can see myself being busy for the foreseeable future!
     
    Andy
  19. 2mm Andy
    Hello,
     
    Apart from spending a few days helping on the 2mm Scale Association stand at exhibitions, I've not done any serious modelling for over six months, and not had any enthusiasm for doing any either. My abortive 2mm Golden Jubilee Layout Challenge entry has been sitting unloved and gathering dust in the spare room, and I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to get things moving again, but a day at the recent DEMU Showcase seems to have done the trick, and in a slightly unexpected way.
     
    I started off in 2mm scale about 6 or 7 years ago, with the aim of modelling a portion of the North Eastern Railway circa WW1. Eventually the constant flow of tasty kits and parts for BR-era models persuaded me that I perhaps I should move forwards in time 40-odd years to take advantage of these. Now I'm finding that the early British Rail period is becoming more and more interesting!
     
    So now I've started work on a small shunting plank/diorama. The base is an 80cm long 'floating' shelf from a well known high street DIY chain. Whilst browsing a few months ago I noticed that these were on special offer, and thinking that one would make a nice base for a small layout, I bought a gloss black one. The shelf will form a display base, with the actual baseboard sitting on top of it. This will allow me to make all the wiring accessible yet be tucked out of sight.
     
    Over the last few evenings I've learned the basics of Templot and come up with a track plan.
     

     
    It's a bit rough around the edges, but having printed it out full size and played trains on it, I think it works OK. The templot plan shows the scenic area only - both tracks on the left hand side will lead through a scenic break to a cassette fiddle yard, which will act as the other half of the run-round loop. The headshunt is bottom right with a siding top right.
     

     
    Scenery-wise, I haven't yet decided exactly what will be happening. I'm a big fan of Neil Rushby's modelling, particularly his Shell Island and Abergwynant layouts (which very have similar track plans to my little shunting plank), but rather than create a model of someone else's model, I'd like to try and base it on a prototype. As you can see from the photos, the blue Farish Class 24 will be the mainstay of the stock, and a small selection of minerals and ballast hoppers will for the majority of the freight stock, so a small quarry branchline in Mid/North Wales seems likely - shades of the Blodwell Quarry branch perhaps?
     
    The next stage is to build the timber framework supporting the trackbase (which will be fixed to the shelf), then it will be time to lay some track (Easitrac of course!). With the 2mm GJ Expo coming up soon which will give me a good dose of inspiration (and probably some more kits and bits to build!), and the long summer evenings, I hope to make reasonable progress and post occasional updates on here (although I'm by no means a fast modeller).
     
    thanks,
     
    Andy
×
×
  • Create New...