Sasquatch

Excellent job! How on earth did you manage to line it up so perfectly?

Regards Shaun

P.S. Really enjoyed the videos BTW.

Hi Ray.

Been reading some of your very clear and informative blogs.  I have caught all the rats and found where they were getting in and sealed that up. Our critter guy explained that they will only occupy a house if there is a food source. The soy wiring that I used for some rewiring projects! Luckily there wasn't much damage to the wiring and we baited the traps with crunchy peanut butter which they find irresistible.   The Gophers caused much more damage to the back yard made worse by the dogs trying to dig them out. (Turns out they preferred garlic).

Anyway if your poppy seed ballast has held fast for 9 years I'm convinced to give it a go. I particularly like the wall paper paste idea.

Shaun

Hi Ray. (Long time no chat eh).

Nice tidy job on the ballasting. However be aware of using anything edible for modeling purposes for obvious reasons. We're currently having problems with rats eating electrical cables because soy has been used in the insulation! Very dangerous situation and I'm sure the manufactures will be facing some very serious lawsuits. (Blows me away how one can fail an electrical inspection when missing a couple of fixings within 6"-8" of an electrical outlet but soy insulated wiring is available from most DIY stores).

Regards Shaun. Now craving a tuna Vienna roll for some reason.  

Splendid job!

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us Andy, what a fascinating subject. The building in photo 11 is what caught my eye I've been thinking of getting one of the kit variety for printing out windows and doors and other architectural components.

Squatch

This topic has been moved to here and is being completed at last...

I used a hole punch! The kind for snap ring files. A little over scale but better than something not perfectly round.

The junction signal on Dunster was made from two Ratio kits. One an old round post style the other was the working kind with the clear lenses. I drilled out the post sections and used filament wire to supply the power. This would work for the ground dolls. It was very fiddly to solder up and lower voltage bulbs would be needed.   

In hind sight fiber optic would be the better choice. Look at the picture showing the rear and the wires to the bulb stand out. Mind you those signals are 8-9mm high and photographed in super macro!   

Will try to redo the video. It was rather late and I needed to get to bed!

Duncan, that was my original idea to use fiber optic. To get the light to shine out of the lamp I'm guessing it would need cutting at an angle on the end.

A real b####r to get that camera to behave in such a small space.

It used to be a border collie in a past life, very clever but stubborn!

Great stuff Ray! This is the best use of a layout corner I've come across. That Station building looks great and probably a collectors item worth a pretty penny now!

Don't we all miss Mikes Models, their stuff was good.

I'd quite like a Dukedog for Dunster but my budget for this month is going on a J11 and a Bachmann pannier and Lima J50 for a detail mix and match job.

I can see that you've been blogging like a freak over the holidays and I,ve got much catching up to do!

Regards Shaun.

Hi Chris,

Yes, it works very well too! I cut all three on my chop saw at once, that way they are equal in length.

All my boards have a male and female end.  

The Dunster boards have a lip added on the underside also, which helps with assembly.

Regards Shaun  

Yes Truffy, all edges recieve a good rounding off with sand paper grade 150 on a block! 

Thanks for asking as I negleted to point that out.

Whoops! Such a long post I neglected to include the cutting list. 

#        Des.                                       RIP.               Crosscut.                                               Notes.

1   x   Top                                        12"                  @48"

2   x   Side rail                                   3"                  @48"

6   x   Cross member                        3"                  @12" less two thicknesses                  Drill 3 for wire holes & 3 for bolts.

Edit.

Note if two boards the same are required double # ! 

Ingenious method of polarity change over and why use a motor when nearly always the real thing was manually opperated. Turning your locomotives by hand is much more prototypical.

Great job!

regards Shaun.

Like the track plan a lot! That maws ballast is looking good too.

I have used the Minories track plan by C.J. also for my terminus Avon Park.

Keep these fantastic blogs coming Ray, I enjoy them very much!

Regards Shaun.

Nice clean woodwork Dave. Looking forward to watching your layout progress, I paticularly like the 1/7th scale mockup idea, something I could be getting on with while all my machines  (father in law comes to me with all his projects) reside in what is to be the dream layout building.

Regards Shaun.

Great blog as usual Ray.

Had the same problem with my Hornby 4Fand managed to glue the crumbled bottom plate back together. It runs fine. I've an Airfix one some where too, which is awaiting a Finecast nickel silver chassi and repaint.

The Bachmann one does look like the ducks nuts though!

Regards Shaun.  

Great step by step build Mikkel. Those rivet transfers like to adhere to varnish. Took me quite a few builds until settling with a spay of primer, then varnish before applying the rivets and then spay painting. Come to think of it I prefer to punch them!

Looking farward to seeing this finished.

The last layout sagged but lucky I'm a cabinet maker and can over come this problem.

My gt.gt.grandfather's sir name was Law I believe, that would have been my grans grandfather on her fathers side. Definately Southern days but I've no idea which box.

Might have been found trainspotting in the yard entrance near the top of Lovers walk myself in the late seventies.  

We've a Brighton here in Oregon, it's so small you could fit it under Brighton station roof!! 

Regards Shaun.

I am very intrigued to see someone attempting anything Brightoian, as my great, great grandfather was a signal man at Brighton for most of his life.

I found 6mm ply is too thin for a baseboard top  unless you aim to cross brace every 4 inches or so.

Base boards can be made to fit together by tacking on one extra end frame to one end and setting the other back, kind of male and female. It's easy to do, makes for simple assembly of layouts at exhibitions and does away with the need for alignment  fixings.

Regards Shaun.

.  

Hi Dave

I'm a big fan of industrial railways set in the North of England and this is terrific!

Any more pictures showing recent progress?

I have been catching up on your very informative blogs in my spare moments and just read this one.
Of my two 14xxs (one Dapol, one Hornby) both are OK runners. I too seem to remember stretching one of the rear axle springs, which I don't recall.
On inspection all rubber bands are absent! Wonders never cease.
Way back the eager young sales man at Kemp Models of Hove, home of Perseverance at the time sold me a chassis kit and Airfix body. Alas my soldering skills at age 20 were naff to say the least.
I might just fit the front Dapol axle to the middle of the Hornby chassis and swap bodies when changing periods. I'll try

Nice tidy soldering! use a wire stripper and only take off about 6mm of insulation, tin the wire ends and conections first. Use a fine tip soldering Iron. It goes quick once you get the hang of it.

Hope this helps.