woodbine

I bought some Ambis Tram Track TT4 while ago to model a short cosmetic section of track, but can find no explanation or comprehensible instructions anywhere, either in the packet, the Ambis website, on here or elsewhere on the internet. And it has me completely baffled. Can anybody point me to an answer?

I would imagine the 18" gauge would have been chosen for at least its ability to cope with sharp curves, which in turn would preclude a 6 wheel loco, so there probably are no prototypes.

Some pics here of a preserved Class 27, including fall plate. http://www.docbrown.info/docspics/ArchiveSteam/loco52322.htm

From the Barton Wright and tender, but the fall plate looks very like the one in the drawing above.

You may disagree, but in your post #4 there is your own example of the tricky bits of a plastic-sleepered single slip soldered up as a unit, presumably because you found it advantageous to do it that way. I think as long as we reassure the OP that he will not outrun his competence by having a go, then there are a range of techniques, at least one of which he will get along with.

Very true that plastic chairs on their own can't hold the tricky bits. By that method I really mean not using a) rivets, which I tried on a test piece and hated, plus it nearly drives you insane adding the cosmetic half chairs afterwards, and b) copperclad sleepers, again because of the chairs. In a turnout there are inevitably small sections that chairs won't suffice for, but these can be pre-assembled onto bits of fret-waste on the bench and then epoxied in place. Shown here (upside down of course), where the substrate has been added to coincide with sleeper positions. In a slip the principle is the same, the complicated bits are electrically a unit, so they can be soldered as a unit and then epoxied into place.

Just dive in. I spent a couple of years unnecessarily stressing about starting track-work. Ply sleepers and plastic C&L chairs, EM Gauge. I decided to bite the bullet and laid out the plan without the benefit of Templot but with the aid of Rice's book. It was obvious to me that the easiest way was to start directly on the baseboard at the double slip and work outwards to the three-way tandem and then the single slip, then the plain turnouts, and finally the plain track. If I'd done it the other way round everything would certainly have gone pear-shaped somewhere. All this and fabricating my own common crossings and switch blades. In the event, the double slip was not as hard as you'd imagine, even for me as a complete beginner, with patience, and everything after that was a doddle compared to assembling an average brass kit. The point being that as you've already proved to yourself that you have the skill and patience required for a turnout, none of the rest is as hard as you think it's going to be.

I use the 10L Really Useful Boxes, and cut 10mm thick foam into 36mm wide strips, glued with clear UHU. Lay these lengthways starting with an upright, then a flat against it, then an upright against that etc. I then use the leftover bits to make slightly wedge-shaped movable inserts to separate the stock This conservation products supplier, Conservation by Design, recommends and sells nitrogen blown foam for museum conservation, Plastozote, and the prices are very good but you have to buy a quantity. Either club together, or the same product is available elsewhere but dearer. http://www.conservation-by-design.com/category.aspx?id=369

Burntisland has working coal hoist and wagon turntable. http://www.burntisland.net/Burntisland-1883/23%20-%20Coal%20hoist%20(AH).html

Burntisland has working coal hoist and wagon turntable. http://www.burntisland.net/Burntisland-1883/23%20-%20Coal%20hoist%20(AH).html

Ah, bonjour M. Rue! I started a drawing in EM but was put off by the cost of etching. I'd be happy to complete and hand it over, and will pursue this, but I have some rather pressing tasks outside the hobby at the moment, an urgent, complicated and expensive roof repair being one of them, an academic paper another.

I see on Shapeways that there is someone making working wagon turntables for sale, looks very interesting. https://www.shapeways.com/shops/recreation21?section=wagon+turntables&s=0&page[number]=1&page[limit]=48&page[order]=asc They don't do one like mine, and I can't see any dimensions on there. I just need the cosmetic overlay bit, and this sounds like an economical way to get it, if they're less than a fiver a pop.

So etching, 3d and laser would all be effective in material terms, but what about the relative costs, assuming own-produced artwork?

I need three of these 13'6" L&Y wagon turntables (4mm non-working), I can't see an obvious way to scratch-build a master, or I would just scratch-build three of them. I can cope with the artwork but suspect that etching for just three off would be uneconomical unless the cost could be recouped by sales. How would laser or 3d printing compare?

Maybe from a gingerbread house?

Since the upper parts are complete, I decided to prime them, partly in order to see how well or badly I've finished it. Halfords seems to be the weapon of choice, so off to the shop to get some, and for good measure I got Etching Primer. Out into the garden with it all and here are front and back views. The problem with the garden in mid-October is that it isn't terribly warm, and although it looks OK from a distance, there is a definite orange peel look to it, or it may be my ham fist to blame. Also evident is the crude finishing around the dome. Brass dome next time perhaps. It also pointed up the boiler bands, which had looked acceptable to me before the primer went on, but the chasm on either side looks even worse in real life than it does in the photos, emphasising the already overscale bands. In future I will do all I can to get a smooth boiler effect and apply the banding simply with transfers. In the meantime I decided that it was unacceptable, and broke out the Miliput, applying generous quantities to the various gaps with a stailess steel modelling tool. Then painstakingly, using various sharp small screwdrivers and bits of nickel silver fret waste, trimmed it off and smoothed it down, wetting the tools with spit to achieve a nice finish. I believe I read somewhere that you can't add another coat of etching primer, as it etches the first coat off again so I delved into the cupboard and applied a thin coat of ordinary primer, to get a uniform finish. Again, it was cold and a bit blowy, so I'm not very pleased with the finish close up but trust it will be OK under a top coat. Maybe that is a good finish for primer, I don't know. Anyway, now that it's in works grey I've only to complete the tender chassis and that will be in the next post.

Work on the superstructure of the tender has concluded. First, the stanchions (made out of waste etch), axleboxes, toolboxes, brake stanchion (made from bits), and steps. And a shot from the rear showing the handrail and lamp-holders, and the buffers raised to match the height of the buffers at the front. It's costing me a fortune in solder! Plenty of tidying, scraping and scratching was done after these piccys and before the primer. In the meantime I was having fun with the chassis, which I'll show in another post, and the whole thing now has a coat of primer, also in another post.

Although adapted from a Kitson design of engine originally for the Taff Vale Rly (incidentally London Road Models are producing the bits to convert this kit to a Taff Vale original http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/115226-london-road-models-new-releases/&do=findComment&comment=2447468 ), they came from a variety of manufacturers including Kitson's, Sharp Stewart, Vulcan Foundry, and the L&Y's own works at Miles Platting, in several lots from each maker. Within the brief they all had detail differences to splashers, rivetting or not to firebox wrappers etc, and the tenders also displayed many differences, including many different rivet patterns. This included flush rivets, which were later replaced by snap heads. The tenders soon became detached from their engines as they had different overhaul intervals. Looking at sources and photographs it seems that almost anything goes.

Of course, then I had to stick them on, along a 1mm wide half etched line. Time to break open the Blu-tack again. Soldered the rear piece first, then tacked the flares at each end before running along, in case heat expansion pushed it beyond the end. Rather too much solder slopping around, this was the side I'd first attempted before leather came to the rescue and straightened it out again, but it's still a bit crumpled and let the solder dribble. It does, however, show how well the leather shapes the curve. Has anyone ever seen this technique used elsewhere, or do I get to keep all the royalties? Here's the other side, less solder, just to show how much I'd improved my technique It's ruining my files, but I'm told paint sticks well to solder....

Tender Flares, a new way? I wasn't looking forward to this, but I've found a very neat way of bending them. The etches are very narrow and only half etch thick, almost like foil. I looked elsewhere on RMweb for ideas, and they all involved forming around bending bars, but these are so narrow, and deceptively resistant to change, that I was making a pig's ear of it with my fingers and knew I needed another approach. Eventually I thought of this. An offcut piece of 1/8th inch leather of the sort you may be able to cadge from a leathercraft worker just happened to be in my cupboard. A very small dab of clear glue to hold the flare to the leather while you position a bar of your choice against it in the vice (1/8" steel knitting needle, etc). Tighten very hard and the flare is pressed into shape very cleanly. You may have to do "centre, top, bottom". Job done!

The tender. The tender provided with the kit is representative of how they were in later life; by the turn of the century the change was well under way. Originally the sides only extended forward level with the coal hole, with two stanchions beyond that: I cut them back to the original. The coal holes varied, and some had Sharp Stewart Patent combined weather plate, toolbox and water fillers, which I fancied but couldn't easily make - anyway, London Road Models do one with a 4-4-0 so I'll do one of those when the time comes. I made a variant coal hole. The kit comes with front and rear coal plates and a central water pickup thing, none of which I wanted, so I made two round water fillers for the front out of 2mm bearings, and cut down the toolbox to fit. First off though I made the tank minus the flares, (forgot to take photos), turned it over and fitted the frames, which was a bit of a guessing game without tabs, slots or half etched lines to go by. Buffer first, measured from the far end by the frame sides, leaving room for the drawbar. Then one frame, checked for verticality. This shot also gives an upside down view of the altered coal hole and cut back sides. held up with Blutack, and leaving room for the stub of the buffers Finally the drawbar. The nuts for attaching the chassis are meant to include one towards the middle, but as I had already started a compensated chassis I knew that it would be obscured by the compensation pivot and beam, so I left it out and will rely on the front nut. I haven't at this stage decided how I'm doing the draw-bar.

So to conclude the mechanical aspect of the frames, here's the brakes fitted. The guard irons are not shaped yet, I just bent them up out of the way of the track for the test run. The paintwork suffered quite a bit during the Loctite incident! Here's the pickups, twisted up out of .35mm PB wire and soldered on with multicore. Twisting PB to just the right shape is harder than doing it with brass, being springier by its nature,which of course is why it's suitable for the job. Patience was required. By this time I had (re)-Loctited the brass gear to the axle. Now the trial run. https://youtu.be/DXwL87KGuTA Apart from the paint that concludes the chassis. Next up is the tender.

I forgot to add that it needs a hefty zap from the 25w iron to release the Loctite, then pull like mad before it cools down again.

What I was meaning was rather than us poor souls having to acquire expensive kit and techniques for a mere handful of wheels, couldn't Gibsons offer to do it for us? I expect it would be relatively trivial to do if the right setup was available, surely?