Sasquatch

It’s been a while since I posted last, nice weather is to blame! Now that the rain has returned progress on the next N1 conversion is back underway😃 Things ground to a halt after the cut to the main weight went squiffy and only today I made it into town to buy more metal cutting discs for the angle grinder! That done, I had to mend the chassis just the same as the first build, where the screw mounting spigot had broken off. Again, a suitable hole was drilled through the main frame and into the bottom wheel retaining plate and an inch long #3 screw inserted. I’m really looking forward to this one, if the chassis runs as well on the layout as it does on the test track it will be a little gem! Rolling the boiler section was a bit easier than the last one. Three pieces of 10thou. styrene sheet are used, cut over length. The first is taped to the drill bit and bobbin sleeve then rolled down tight, marked and cut, then rolled back up and held in place by tape. This process is repeated twice with the super glue applied tapping each one down and allowing the glue to set. The next step is to fit the new boiler to the body. I used my vernier gauge to get the smoke box the exact length. Same thing with the boiler length checking that the footplate is totally flat!!! Wheel arches were made the same way but with just two layers That’s where I’m at for now. More as it comes together. Squatch

Quite! The glossy look is growing on me. Just rolled the boiler for the next one too😃

All my spare time today has been spent tinkering with the chassis for the next N1. I must have screwed the bottom plate back on at least 20 times after attending to several probable issues. This was purchased used from Hattons (we can refer to them by name now!). So, I'm not sure if the mass of sticky goo applied to the drive mechanism was factory applied. The tooling for this model dates back to Palitoy/Mainline. The only improvements Hornby have made are to fit a can motor with brass worm and main drive gear. The tooling is showing its age. I cleaned off quite a bit of flash from certain parts of the main chassis and wheel retainer plate. There had been an attempt at a minor repair where the longer main weight screw had been over tightened, this needed redoing as the repair had failed. I installed a longer screw which now screws directly into the under plate. The quartering was a little out and has been corrected. The main weight wasn't true, the fix involved filing the underside flat which in turn straightened out the slight twist to the chassis. The final driver gear had some flash and I carefully trimmed that off. The center wheel set was out of gauge. That too has been corrected. One of the brake shoes was fouling one of the front wheels on curves where the flange edge was catching on it. Interestingly, the Airfix chassis bottom on the one I've just finished had the same problem. Unbelievable that thousands of these have left the factories over the years with the same fault. (I'm certain that this isn't coincidental). I also addressed the wheel slop by filing the axle pockets slightly and inserting .010 plastic card. What's plaguing me now is that after all that I still haven't cured the kick. It's not as bad but very frustrating none-the -less! However, I do have a simple solution! On my way to the garage to get the soldering iron I had the idea of swapping the chassis out for the one in the black N2 which I'm retaining for the Yorkshire pullman services (And because I like N2s also). That way I'll have a real sweet running N1 for the regular services! 😁 I'll take pictures of all the steps on the next body conversion which should make an interesting post having gained experience. If anyone's interested that is? Squatch

Great to have you visit the other day my friend😀. It was nice to actually have the trains running this time. The weather is on the change which means I'll be able to get cracking with some new baseboards and hopefully next time you come we'll be able to really get the layout working properly. I'll be glad when the day arrives when I don't have to deal with firewood! The other day I was chopping "madrone" and mis-judged my aim with the axe. A sizable chunk flew off the chopping stump and landed on my big toe joint. Corner first😩. That put a hold on the Queensbury scenic push! Anyway, I was looking back over your thread and must admit to not paying attention last time I checked in. This is a very interesting triplet of wagons and very well constructed I should add. Brake van #35 is very intriguing, no doubt it's a kit but a very good choice for the BBR. I've got a thing for a more obscure brake van type! The 6 plank is one of my favorites. A real appealing classic. Which brings us to the refrigerator. Not your common type. I suspect that the BBR haven't the funds to construct their own and why should they without any outgoing traffic! So chilled goods had to brought in in other company's vans. The LMS were alone in building unfitted fridge vans. The other big four companies went to the extent of painting theirs in white and cream. This livery, to my eye never looks good on models unless it's heavily weathered. I left a book of LMS stock by Essary back in Belgium. If I ever get over there, I'll retrieve it for you, it has O scale drawings! Again, a great model! How about a fresh milled lumber load for that bolster wagon🤣. As long as it's not b....y madrone!!!! Regards Shaun.

The N1 came up too glossy. Maybe I'll tone it down a little with some weathering powders. One thing is for sure. Those tins of paint need marking up! It's not the first time I've done that, coaching stock has been sprayed wagon bauxite before!! About two thirds of my freight stock is kit built. As you saw, the private owner stock mostly isn't being RTR. In the past if you wanted LNER stock you had to build it. Parkside market quite a comprehensive range of LNER and I've been hooked on their kits since I was a teenager. Having made up almost 2 of all those (or more), I started getting into scratch-building which can be very rewarding. Next it will be coaching stock. There's nine 61' Kirk Gresley coaches, a triplet restaurant and a GE quint set in my kits box along with 4 Ratio clerestories. What's more is that Phoenix the paint people are starting to reintroduce the old Kirk range. Trouble for my wallet, I fear. Believe it or not we still have quite a bit of snow! We're both fed up with it already and are looking forward to the warmer weather and seeing it all melt. I did enjoy having you visit the other week you're always welcome (you know that). It's about time I came over to the coast to see Boxer Bay Railway. Regards Shaun

I wonder how long it’s been since anyone took a photograph of an N1 on passenger duty at Queensbury. A typical 1950s Halifax to Keighley train, 69443 with a pair of 52’ Thompson suburban coaches😁 I’m not too happy with the paint job (used the wrong rattle can!) As much detail has been included in true Sasquatch style. White cab interior, tiny grab handles, crew etc. The rear spectacle plates have scribed bars. Front coupling is a Bachman long type with the wings cut off, fixed into a hole drilled through the plastic bottom part of the under frame via a suitable length screw! On the whole I’m very pleased with it. Squatch

Number one in primer and with more details. (I was lucky enough to have the sun come out). The primer has revealed a few gaps and blemishes that will be attended to prior to the satin black. This one will be plain black with lion-on-wheel crest. Number 2. Already underway. I’m going to cast another dome and fix it in place with a screw because it’s the wrong sort. That way it can be replaced if ever I manage to source an tall round topped one! This version will be lined out, ex-Stratford works style. I’ve yet to settle on which numbers. Number 1 will possibly be 69443 as appears on page 57 of Bradford Railways in Colour vol. 2. Willow herb publishing. Thank you Alan Whitaker😀 Squatch.

That’s wrong Owning up to one’s mistakes is the mature thing to do. During Great Northern days, Queensbury’s passenger services were in the charge of C12s! This however is a model and one GNR green N1 would make a great addition to the collection one day. Besides, apart from the Hattons rake of Genisis 6 wheelers I don’t have any other GNR stock and the layout depicts the post war austerity period. I was looking at the Hornby chassis for the next N1 conversion and think the problem might be too much slop! Further investigation with the fine calipers and a calculator will be carried out this morning. I’m off my feet after shoveling snow for over an hour yesterday and had a bit of an accident chopping firewood🫤 Squatch looking at the price of the Finecast C12 now.

Nearly done with all the fine embellishments Managed to scrounge together enough handrail knobs without pinching stuff from my other N2 donor which means all that I need for the next one is a chimney. That’s if I can get the chassis running sweetly, it has a kick to every wheel revolution that I can’t seem to cure.

Don’t hold your breath… It’s taken 5 years to get around to the first one!😧

You’re right there Seeing as passenger trains were timed to arrive at Queensbury 3 at once I Reccon that I need 9… 3 Great Northern… 3 LNER 3 BR 😎

It’s time to reveal what Sasquatch has been up to in the snow. (We’ve had 10” in total and two power cuts). Apart from leaving huge footprints 👣 all over the place, all my spare time has gone into this. Something much needed and inspired by Manna. This engine was given up for scrap. The other day I had a go at reviving the chassis with a sophisticated tune up which was mostly a success, it runs quite smoothly but is a bit noisy. It says AIRFIX on the bottom so I really can’t expect to much! No doubt I’m not the first to try this conversion. The big advantage working in my favor is that I have the Little Engines kit to work from. The damaged body had been refinished so I’d raided all the fittings including the roof for other projects. However it will work for this experiment. I began by hacking away all the unwanted body parts with a razor saw and Stanley knife until it looked like this. Next, 10mm was removed from the main weight with my sawzall. Drastic modeling🫣 Now on to the rebuild. Finding a suitable boiler was a challenge, after searching around the workshop I came back to the table with the small hard rubber collar from my bobbin sander and a 1/4” drill bit. This was roughly .060” under size so three wrappings with 10thou. styrene sheet will be close enough. A bit tricky that, I used super glue for this and stuck with that medium throughout the rest of the conversion! A choice of chimneys is provided in the Little Engines kit so I scrounged the taller one. The biggest obstacle then is a dome. The only idea I had was to cast a copy of the white metal one. I poked it into a block of plasticine and poured in some two part casting resin. When dry I wrapped the bobbin and bit with sand paper and sanded it to fit the top of the boiler. The rest of the build was all very straight forward. The tank fronts of the N2 were cut-n-shut removing 10mm to gain the N1 profile. Other differences are a shorter smoke box, different sand boxes,!rear splashers, shorter footplate and of course the GN cab. Boiler bands are from electrical tape. All that I need to do now is rob another N2 of all the embellishments. Hummm. What to do with another incomplete N2. Spose I do need at least 3 N1s for the layout!😁 Squatch.

We had a big snowstorm which meant the power went out. Freezing cold in the garage, I had to find something else to do. All will be revealed and I know that you in particular will enjoy this. Regards Shaun

The mojo has returned 😎 Following a great afternoon on Sunday when Felix of Boxer Bay Railway fame came for a visit and receiving a fantastic parcel the morning after from Terry from down under (better known as manna on these pages) my enthusiasm has regained all its zest. Luckily all the trains behaved for Felix and I managed to turn the pig sty into something resembling a layout home. Work in progress involves getting Queensbury finished, I’ve started with the infills around the station buildings and goods sidings. Also embedded the new farmhouse and added the a saddle back in her sty 🐷 I’m looking for ideas for something a bit out of the ordinary to put in the shed. Any suggestions would be welcome. Here’s a few layout images and it is about time we had some trains on here. Lastly. I will leave what manna has sent over for another post as it’s not quite ready just yet Squatch

Forgot to thank you for the offer! I obviously made a better job of the ‘E’s, ‘H’s & ‘V’s !😀 Oh, and the ‘I’s😁

Wow you’ve got good eyesight😁Found those in the scrap box. From a Heljan kit or some such. The pub was a cost free exercise. Pettite properties sent me a free kit and everything else is scraps. The “D”s will do. Regards Shaun

Quite romantic feeling that A4 with the blood and custard Mk1s. Bit like a nice cosy warm pub. A couple of winter ales would go down a real treat! Squatch

Thank you. Unbelievably much time gets wasted. The mojo is waning at the moment. Too much fun can get boring! This week I had to clear out one end of the barn so that I could get the truck in there. Some one backed into it with a JCB! And it needed an oil change. Just getting the oil filter off took all my energy and a whole afternoon. It’s back on the road now but I don’t feel like modeling much today. Brilliant! Thanks for posting that. The lighting is just wonderful. There’s something very captivating about a well lit evening train. Knowing that the passengers are all cosy on there and the crew are warm and enjoying the job. Same feeling you get when ships pass at night! Well I get it!! There’s not many trains in Oregon. Haven’t been on one in donkeys years. The pick up goods passes through Rogue River and stops at the “coffee caboose” for a latte. Last time I saw it, it only had two box cars and a tanker on😄 Regards Shaun

Those Mailcoach Coronation sets are a bit of a challenge mate. Assembly is quite straight forward, same as any Kirk coach but painting around all those windows will take a month of Sundays! The other way is to use “Maskol” and air brush but I think painting on the maskol will be even more interesting to say the least. Either way, I shall look forward to seeing how you get on. The V2 looks nice. Always been a firm favorite just what a loco should look like 👍 Regards from the soaking wet Pacific North West, Shaun

Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth spending so much time modeling the odd interior. Then when a new visitor comes to see the layout and my wife dims the lights and I flip the switch that lights up Goathland, we always get the same reaction. “Wow”! That I find very encouraging. First a little test lighting circuit before I fire up the soldering iron. Actually I need to finish rebuilding the front of my truck after someone backed into it with a JCB. Added a counter etc., more bits-n-bobs from the scrap box and a bench grinder made from sprue scraps not that you can see it. Squatch

The Ratio guttering is the best money can buy, of course I'd use it but would need to remortgage the house to provide 1/76 rainwater management for Grim-up-North, Mr's Sasquatch is getting fed up with Wheatabix! Mind you the cereal stuff comes with the soffits built in! Having found some grey paper which made ideal flashing I was upset after inadvertently chucking it away while clearing out the modeling closet, so am on the lookout for a sheet of grey paper now. Impressive model making as ever. Looking forward to seeing the painting completed, always my favorite part. Regards Shaun

Sounds like a lot of fun, and I know that you will be busy but... Might it be possible to get a few quick pictures of that please Baz? Regards Shaun

Was wondering just the other day where you'd got to Jeff. You know, we haven't seen the moon since before Christmas, (it's very damp and extremely cloudy but at least we've escaped any flooding). Aren't those Chinese up there stealing all the cheese, shame because "I do like a bit of gorgonzola"!😁 (Cheesy grin emoji) I'm looking forward to seeing the layout and any progress, when you're ready of course. And, well done with getting published, that's always a good feeling of accomplishment, Bravo! Regards Shaun.

Attempting to make the reins for this dray nearly got the better of me. After discarding the tape that just didn't look at all right, I tried expanding some spare plastic sprue. Chinese, English, American, Polish, Danish and Czech plastic all didn't work either breaking or disintegrating. So, I looked for something else. The thinnest wire at .18mm came from multi strand ISDN cable. This was way too fiddly and wouldn't bend the way I wanted it to and ended up in the trash as well. Although at .3mm this beading wire looks a bit thick but seems pretty good to my eye. I did use a tiny bit of the ISDN wire, making a loop which is glued in a hole on RH Thompson's lap into which I inserted all four reins and fastened them with super glue and baking soda. They've been painted with dark burnt umber.\ That dry it went straight into service! Sussex even. Squatch.

Always looking for a fresh idea!