chaz

I can take a hint Stephen! More good photographs of my models, so here are some notes to go with them.... photo 1 - 68824 (nice B & W, but too sharp for a train-spotter's box brownie!) - that ballast edge is much too neat! The brass chimney in this Walsworth Models kit was really obese! Everything about it looked oversize except, fortunately, the curve in the base that sits on the smokebox. Checking it against an accurate drawing of the prototype showed that an accurate GNR chimney was possible from what was there. Fortunately it had been drilled right through so I could solder it to a brass pin to chuck it up in a lathe. I then turned it down until it matched, as closely as I could judge, the prototype. I waved a gas torch over it to unsolder the pin (soldering irons are just not man enough for that job). photo 2 - the trio of wagons The ex-GWR 3 plank on the left was made from a Coopercraft kit. I can't remember whose wheels it runs on but I do remember using Peco buffers, with turned brass housings and steel rams, to replace the poor plastic ones provided in the kit. I put the axles in WEP compensators. The pig-iron wagon in the middle (what was that doing in this yard?) is from a Peco kit so naturally has their wheels and buffers. The kit uses nylon to get the axlebox springs to work as the real things do. The right hand wagon is a Parkside LMS 5 plank open. This has Parkside's floating axleboxes - a method that seems a bit crude but no matter, it works well. photo 3 - the wagons with timber load The centre wagon is a GWR 4 plank, from another Coopercraft kit. It also has Peco buffers. The LNER 6 planker on the right is from a Parkside kit. it was against the rules to rope up a load around the wagon buffers or to parts of the underframe and wagons were provided rope hooks to make this unnecessary - but it was done, and I have seen photos that prove it (lucky that, because my wagons don't have rope hooks) . When I prepared the wood for this load I used a red felt-tip to stain the ends. The wagon glimpsed on the left is a Coopercraft GWR match truck. These wagons had no means of securing a load and were intended for this type of role, protecting an overhanging load. photo 4 The white Insul-Meat van is one of Jim McGowan's Connoisseur range. It is an ex-NER vehicle and has a 9 foot wheelbase - so is not XP rated. It shouldn't really have the ladder and ice hatches as these would have been removed before the war but I liked these details - so Rule One again! The centre wagon is a Coopercraft 5 planker with a paper tarpaulin. I turned up a steel punch to make those rope grommets on the tarpaulin, although they were a real pain to glue in place! The other wagon is that GCR van again. I am pleased at how well the planking on the platform looks. photo 5 That crimson van (yes - it is BR crimson under the filth) is a WEP etched brass model, with door frames in white metal. It's one of my favourites as it has lots of nice, fine detail, although I'm not sure how late these Fruit C's lasted. The open wagon next to it has been fitted with Peco GWR self-contained buffers. photo 6 "Susan" is, as you say, a Peckett which I built it from an Agenoria brass kit. This went together very well. I compensated it by making one axle rock against a fixed rod and gave it an ABC gear-box and a small Mashima motor in it's firebox. That front coupling has a wire lifter raised by a memory wire mechanism. This lifts the loop on the wagon to uncouple when function button #7 on the DCC handset is pressed. The action is synchronised with a coupling-chain sound effect. photo 7 68891 - Ah, yes, I must have another go at fixing in the crew. More than a little tricky getting them in through the opening in the Doncaster cab - even worse trying to get the 10BA bolt sticking out of one of their feet through the hole in the floor so that the nut can be added! You can just about see the two vacuum brake cylinders behind the rear buffer beam which I turned up from aluminium rod - there being nothing provided in the kit. A real nightmare to build this loco but consequently one I am really proud of.

Stephen, Thanks for posting your excellent close up photographs, I love the loco portraits. If you have any more close ups like these please post them. Just in case anyone is interested here are some details of the models you captured... 68824 - as you rightly state was a J52. The prototype was not built at Doncaster but by Robert Stephenson, in 1899. It was shedded at Hornsey from autumn 1953 until spring 1959 so I'm stretching a point to run it with some of my diesels - but I invoke rule 1! The model was built from a Walsworth Models etched brass kit - the less said about the accuracy or ease of build of this the better. It has a compensated chassis, with axles 1 and 2 supported in rocking beams, an ABC gearbox with a Canon motor, and an ESU Loksound chip, with a sound project from South West Digital. When I compensated the chassis (it was originally built rigid, before I knew better) I bought a set of very nice machined, jointed coupling rods from Keykits. They look really nice, don't they? 68891 was a J50/1 - one of the original GNR engines with the small coal bunker and a coal cage. Like the saddle tank this loco' had vacuum brakes. The J50s replaced the J52s in the London area and were, in their turn, replaced by the standard BR 350HP 0-6-0 diesel shunters that later became class 08. These weren't replaced, their jobs just disappeared! This model was built from some (!) of an ACE kit. I certainly would not recommend this to someone who had never built an etched brass loco', suffice it to say I replaced a substantial part of the kit with parts cut from sheet brass - this being easier than trying to use the supplied bits. It also has a compensated chassis, with axles 1 and 2 supported in hornblocks controlled by a single, central rocking beam. It too has an ESU Loksound chip, but with a sound project downloaded from the ESU website to make it sound different to the saddle tank. The van you photographed is a model of a GCR 10 tonner. It is from Jim McGowan's excellent Connoisseur range. I have built several of his kits, locos and wagons, and have found them to be well thought-out and accurate. I must say your photograph has really shown off the grimy finish on this wagon. Chaz

Sue, my wife took a number of pictures at the Wimborne show. I rather liked this one, very atmospheric. The sun had come out and was streaming in through the windows behind the layout giving rise to this dramatic effect. You can almost smell the soot and hot oil drifting from that tired old J50/1. Of course that platform needs some sack trucks, barrows or trolleys, and piles of crates etc, not to mention a recumbent porter grabbing a quick gasper.....and whoever cleaned the windows of the foreman's office last did a really good job! Chaz

Three photos, taken at Wimborne yesterday, by my wife. In the picture above the operator in the middle distance is Peter. He has spent a lot of time on various bits of the layout and is also my logistics coordinator (Oh alright - van driver!). Dock Green was the only layout at the show with sound, and this proved to be a very effective magnet. Somebody, who looked like they might walk passed, suddenly gave his full attention when my Sulzer type 2 caught his ear. "Ah, that's my kind of loco" I heard him say. It was nice to see the younger generation taking such an interest. Staring at the camera is my other "team member" Dave. He also models in 7mm (pre-group SDJR). That's me further back. At this point direct sunlight was making a bit of a nonsense of the layout lighting.

Thank you Stephen. "even better 'in the flesh' than in the photos" - Maybe that's because you can take in the whole thing whereas the photos are always selective - "if I crop it there you won't see the baseboard edge/unfinished bit". "everything run so smoothly" - I am pleased that that is how it looked. From behind the scenes I was conscious of a few stalls and derailments. Also the couplings on some of the stock were misbehaving. But I am a perfectionist - I'm not happy with any glitches - still, I did think that it performed well enough for a first outing. I have a list for attention...

Thank you Simon. I look forward to that day myself!

A tease for the spotters amongst you....(combines ready!) Locos running on Dock Green at Wimborne tomorrow.... 11135 68824 68891 D5052 D8025 "Susan" - Peckett industrial - 0-4-0ST (and a spare engine - just in case - D5330) Chaz

Thanks for that comment, Martin. Wimborne is tomorrow, so the layout is all loaded into a Pitter's van ready to go. I am looking forward to operating it for the first time myself as it is just too big to erect in the house (although we did squeeze it into the kitchen for testing when Sue was away on holiday in Scotland.....) I will post further progress as it happens - those stone setts are my next big job (in fact the last big job - I hope!). Chaz

Thanks for the comment, I hope to see you there (tomorrow!) Stephen. if you do go, make yourself known and we can have a chat. Dock Green will have 3 operators - I'm the one with the salt & pepper beard.... Chaz

With the Wimborne show getting close I wanted to get the canal into a more realistic state so I spent some time this week working on it. Putting in the cutting walls meant a lot of cutting and fitting around the bridge girders. I realised when I was doing this that it was going to be very difficult to put in the towpath and the opposite ledge unless these were in one piece as most of the modelled length is under low bridges. I decided to use timber as the edging, but it was important that it didn't look like one enormously long strip. To avoid this unrealistic look I cut "joints" in the top and outer face with a junior hacksaw. I then attacked the corners and faces with a scalpel, shaving bits off so that the one long piece started to look like several shorter pieces butted together. I stained the timber with my usual very dilute drawing ink. By varying the tone each side of the "joints" I added to the illusion of separate timbers. The following photos show the canal from different angles. Like most of Dock Green it's still unfinished; it needs some detail work, the walls need weathering and I will add grass and weeds here and there. Those wide grey margins on the top edge of the cutting will be dealt with later - there should obviously be fences, railings or walls along the edge. The next photo shows the narrow ledge at the base of the wall on the left. It's too narrow to be a path, although the local children might well have played "dare" on it. In due course there will be lots of weeds etc along this as well. That grounded van body - an ancient Great Eastern van - is probably a store (parafin for lamps?). Maybe it should have a padlock on the door? The last snap is a view from the operator's side of the layout, giving just a glimpse of water. As we are away on holiday next week that's the last change before the Wimborne show. In fact the layout is now all neatly stacked and ready to be loaded into the van. Chaz

"One of the problems with servos driven by the MERG Servo4 circuits is that these are designed to switch off after a couple of seconds." Yes, you are right. However if you programme the Servo4's to be constantly on the servos do make an (admittedly fairly quiet) noise. I preferred to fix the point so that the servos fall silent. Chaz

I got really fed up with cutting and drilling bits of MDF for those (essential but very boring) end plates so as a bit of a break, last night, I returned to the goods platform office and superglued in the etched brass windows and door. This job has been "on the bench" for quite a while. Here's the office in place on the platform. I haven't fixed the office in position as I might add an interior at some time in the future, and some working lights - but as you can see their absence is not at all obvious... ...in the gloom under the goods platform canopy. Chaz

Boring but necessary.... I spent some of yesterday and all of today fitting the MDF end plates that are going to make Dock Green safe in the back of a van. The first photo shows one of the baseboards with its two end plates fitted. These are attached with 6mm bolts into pronged T nuts in the frame ends and project about 12mm on each side. I did this so that any projecting bits, like the overlapping backs of the retaining walls, are protected. This shows all four of the baseboards linked up in pairs, as they will be in the van, with the top surfaces facing inwards for protection. More 6mm bolts and T nuts fix the end plates together. The hand holes in the end boards don't quite line up but that doesn't matter, I don't intend to move the linked pairs of boards - they're just too heavy (the MDF end boards add quite a bit of weight). The boards will be carried to and fro singly, and linked up in the van. The narrow strips of MDF screwed to the outside of the end boards prevent the baseboards being pushed too close together and damaging the layout details. Chaz

No problem Martyn. It's on Sunday 21st Oct. It opens to the public at 10am and closes (I think) at 4pm. Dock Green will be there as a work in progress (as there's no chance that I can finish it in the time remaining. I've been a couple of times as a spectator and, like you, found it a good day out. See you there? Chaz

Sounds right, Don. I thought the coats I had put on were thin but obviously not thin enough! I will just have to wait until the surface feels completely dry before doing anything else to it. Still, there are plenty of other jobs to get on with on Dock Green..... Chaz

Discovered a bit of a hitch this morning. I removed the "water" from the canal so that I could give the undersides of the bridges a coat of dark grey paint. The varnish I used (B & Q own-brand) which has had at least four coats is still very slightly tacky to the touch - not enough to make dust stick, but enough to make me wait before adding further coats. I think I am just going to have to leave it and return to it later to add further coats. I will need to glue the cutting walls and the towpath in place in the next couple of days ready for the Wimborne show so further work will have to be undertaken in situ. Not ideal. Chaz

Yes, SS. Something of the sort might do, or I might just stop the setts and ballast the track to just beyond the magnet - there will have to be a transition somewhere near anyway.

Peter, have a look at post #101 on page 5 of this topic, where you will see the technique tried out on a test piece. The only difference on the layout will be the vastly bigger area to be covered. I think I'm going to end up dreaming setts! Chaz

Yesterday I made a start on the stone setts. First step was to glue foamboard to the baseboard on either side of the track with PVA. I also glued some rectangles of card between the sleepers, to economise on the DAS. Next stage was to apply some DAS. I worked on fairly small areas, starting by painting the foamboard surface with PVA and then adding the DAS. I thumbed it into place and then used a wooden modelling tool to level it, checking the level with a piece of plastic sheet pressed against the rail tops (I later switched to a steel rule). The most important thing, for me, is to keep the DAS just a little below rail level so that it has no effect on the running. Made some progress, getting all the area to the right of the siding dealt with. It will take rather longer to scribe the setts, which I will start doing as soon as the first section has dried and hardened. I did try marking up the sett pattern in some just applied (and therefore still soft) DAS, but I didn't like this - too difficult to get a neat result - so I smoothed it out again and will wait for it to dry. In the photo above you can make out that the DAS dries from the outside edges, lightening in colour as it does so. Three sleepers in from the end of the baseboard you can just see the hole which contains an uncoupling magnet. I will need to leave a gap in the setts in the four foot as they would otherwise foul the iron wire tail on the couplings and prevent the un-coupling action working. Chaz

Some nice pictures of the layout, but it can't be a class 20! It's painted in the original green without even the disfiguring yellow panels so it's probably pre-1962 and has to be an English Electric type 1 (and when it gets it's numbers it should have a "D" prefix). Chaz

I used Tortoises on the 7mm layout in my roof, Don, but the escalating price had me seeking a cheaper option for Dock Green. All my Tortoises twitch when the layout is powered up and I assume that it's because the motors relax when turned off and move slightly. I did consider using memory wire (I use it to operate the signals on the roof layout) but I decided against it as it would involve making up my own mechanisms and I needed nine. I didn't find many problems with setting up servos. Using MERG Servo4 drivers (guess how many servos each one will do!) is straightforward, although you do have to be a MERG member to buy them. The free-to-download software makes setting the limits of travel, orientation and speed a simple task. All the problems I have had are not the fault of the servos - they have been the result of mistakes made when the track was laid, or painted, or ballasted. The servo settings seem totally stable - once they are set they stay set. I don't expect the servos to be affected by temperature changes - I think the only component that might well expand would be the steel operating wire, but if this gets slightly longer I can't see it mattering. However I will be taking the laptop and connecting cable to the first exhibition, just in case. Chaz

One of the faults found yesterday.... one servo not moving the point blades quite far enough and causing some vehicles to derail in the facing direction - will need the programmed setting adjusting slightly Just spent most of the morning putting this right. When you use servos to throw points you have to remove the centre spring from Peco turnouts. One of the problems with servos driven by the MERG Servo4 circuits is that these are designed to switch off after a couple of seconds. This is good as it means that the servos go silent, but it also means that if the servo is not set correctly, overdriving the blades, when it relaxes the springiness of the blades backdrives the servo, and the points can spring away slightly from the stock rails. I had a frustrating time trying to get the blades on the problem point to sit correctly - whatever I did they sprang away when the servo relaxed. Eventually, having failed to find any setting that would cure the problem, I removed the servo and the point still did it. If the blades were pushed over by hand they would not stay seated nicely against the stock rails. The bloke who laid the track (wasn't me guv) had soldered feed wires to the underneath of the blades near the pivots. The wires were a snug fit in the holes through the trackbed and it was the inherent springiness in the very short length of wire above the baseboard top that was causing the problem. Some very careful work (I wanted to avoid damaging the point and the wire) with small drills and a scalpel converted these holes into slots so that the wires could move from side to side with the blades. Problem solved. it's often said that mistakes are expensive - in this case it didn't cost money, but time. Chaz

Except that the coffee was in the fridge too. Still we made up for the coffee drought in the restaurant. regarding your comments about testing with the stock you are quite right. That Sulzer type 2, which has masses of gubbins projecting down on the bogies, and the brake vans (footboards) were having arguements with the screws fixing the brass into the cassettes. I will devote a day to moving all the screws further away from the flangeway, tedious - but it will solve the problem. The idea of not being able to run certain stock because of a mistake I made is an anathema to me - don't reject the stock, fix the mistake! Chaz

Erm, no, no excuse needed - especially when the chef's special for that lunchtime was canaloni with cod and parma ham - gorgeous! But thanks for the positive comments - appreciated. Chaz

Today Peter and I spent the day setting up the Dock Green baseboards and then testing as many aspects of operating as possible. As you can see the layout filled the kitchen (the only room large enough for all four boards). It was just possible to get in and out through the door at the far end, but guess who forgot to get the milk out of the 'fridge? NO TEA! We didn't bother to fit any of scenic features as the emphasis was on operation. Features checked included the running of the locos, point switching and the cassette system. As we couldn't get to the cooker we had to go to the local Italian Restaurant for lunch. YUM! We ran locos over the whole layout, both towing and propelling wagons and at varying speeds. All the possible routes through points and on and off the cassettes were tried. We also tried out the uncoupling mechanisms. I was expecting to have a long list of things to fix but in fact remarkably few problems arose. A short circuit caused by a wiring mistake - traced quickly and eradicated one point moving the wrong way when switched - servo quickly reprogrammed so that the action is now correct one servo not moving the point blades quite far enough and causing some vehicles to derail in the facing direction - will need the programmed setting adjusting slightly two crossings causing certain locos to stall - these will be looked at, cleaned and packed if necessary. The transition piece that joins the entry/exit track to the cassettes needs packing to eliminate a couple of awkward height mismatches. So maybe a day or so to correct these faults, otherwise a huge relief that we can go to Wimborne with a working layout. Chaz