Atso

Well at the moment I'm still slowly designing stuff to etch and saving to get it made. In the meantime, I've been looking at what I can do with some bits and pieces that have been sitting around for awhile now. Therefore, I decided to turn my attention back to the J6s I was building a few years back. The problem for me with my original efforts was that the J39 donor loco chassis was too long in both the loco and tender and spoiled the overall look of the J6 for me. I've been contemplating a solution to this problem for some time but lacked the courage to go for it. First of all, the donor chassis placed over some scaled down drawings for Isinglass Models. As can be seen, the front coupled wheelbase of the loco is too long (1.545mm) and the LNER tender is huge compared to the GNR one; some surgery was going to be required. I started with the loco chassis and disassembled the whole thing. I then used epoxy glue to permanently bond the two chassis halfs together (being careful not to get glue into the recesses for the wheel bearings) and reassembled the basic block. Once everything had set, I made a 'Z' cut between the front and middle wheels, carefully cutting around the retaining screw, and filed around 1.5mm from the pieces. I found a set of B1 coupling rods and fitted these to the J39 driving wheels and test fitted everything together. Once I was happy that the chassis parts were the right length, I elongated the front screw hole in the keeper plate and screwed everything together before carefully introducing epoxy to join the two chassis halves together. I test ran the chassis along a piece of track to ensure that there was no binding and left it overnight to harden. The next morning, I drilled two 1mm holes into the block and pinned everything together with a couple of 1.2mm self tapping screws. Once I was happy with that the two sides of the chassis were picking up off of all wheels, I cut the heads off the screws and filed them flush with the top of the chassis. Below is a comparison photo of the altered chassis with an unaltered one. I also had a play with the tender to see if I could somehow make it fit into a GNR tender body. By losing the DCC stuff and some modest trimming, I managed to get it to fit. However, all but one of the J6's had tenders with an equal wheelbase and, having gone to all the effort with the loco chassis, I decided to see if I could do anything with the tender drive. Some time ago, a very talented friend of mine built me a tender drive which was powered on the rear two axles only. This works surprisingly well (and hauls twelve Gresleys on the level), so I thought I'd have a go at replicating this. I stripped the idler gears from between the front and middle axle holes and cut the chassis, shortened it and epoxied it back together. When everything has hardened in the morning, I'll fit another screw to pin the two halves together. Below is where things stand as of tonight.

Ok, I've varnished the Dapol brake composite. I used a mix consisting of one third Tamiya clear red and two thirds gloss clear. This gave the coach a lovely deep red tint which was probably a little too much for an N Gauge coach. I then gave the coach a very light coat of thinned clear yellow which gave me a colour I was happy with - and changes depending on the lighting conditions. Before: After: Now that the first side is under a protective coat, I've 'teaked' the other side.

Sadly, as much as I'd like to blame that on auto-correct, it is more of a case of fingers typing on keyboard without brain being engaged! The correct colour is yellow ochre, however I quite like the idea of a yellow marine mammal; think of it as an environmentally friendly version of a certain submarine that is referenced in a well known song. However, I wouldn't have thought living in a yellow orca would be particularly pleasant or long.

I thought I'd share my n gauge 'teaking' efforts using a variation of Mike's technique. The following bodies have been painted with a base coat and then 'teaked' using Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna and Yellow Orca oil paints. Simply blob tiny amounts of these paints onto each panel and meld together using a brush. The above coaches used Tamiya Desert Yellow as a base coat. I'll be experimenting with some tinted varnish to make the colours a little richer. This one was painted over a Humbrol Natural Wood basecoat. I think it provides an interesting contrast to the two coach bodies above it. This old Minitrix coach was painted straight over the light tan plastic. I think this one is the one I'm happiest with but I'll have to mask the windows before varnishing (try as I might, I cannot convince them to come out!).

With my etched N Gauge 51' stock nearing completion, I thought I'd try some experiments with teak effects on some Maroon Dapol Gresleys. While I was in Pickering a couple of months back, I spent some time studying one of the teaks that is undergoing restoration. I noticed that the unvarnished teak was a very light earthy colour and thoughts I'd try and recreate this and get the final effect using some red/orange tinted varnish. The lighter coaches were sprayed with Tamiya Desert Yellow as a base coat, while the darker coach was sprayed with Humbrol Natural Wood. The "teak" was created using Windsor and Newton oil paints, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna and Yellow Orca. I applied tiny dots of the paint to each panel using a OO brush and then melded them together. Small additional amounts were then used to create various grain effects. I'll have to leave this to dry out properly for a few days now before applying the varnish.

Happy birthday Tony!

It's been awhile since I last posted, but things have still be moving forward on my N gauge 51' Gresley's. I discovered that the 2mm Association sells and etch for the battery boxes (not supplied on the third brake etch!), voltage regulator and "v" hangers. I also purchased some turned brass vacuum brake cylinders at the same time. This left the dynamo being the only under frame component unaccounted for. I ended up turning these, using needle files, out of 2mm brass rod in my minidrill. Once turned, I cross drilled a 1mm hole through the dynamo and soldered a piece of 1mm brass rod into place. Some cutting and filing saw the results tidied up and the 1mm rod flattened. This was then bent into shape and soldered to the under frame, along with the other components. You may have noticed that I've only fitted battery boxes to one side of each coach. Information differs as to whether this had battery boxes on both sides, but the photos available to me suggests that they didn't. The second of the brake thirds' basic body has now been constructed, but it is lagging behind the other coaches at the moment.

A visit to Scale Forum in Stoke Mandeville yesterday provided me with the opportunity to buy some bits and pieces. Following Tim Watson's advice, I purchased some 4mm scale long handrail knobs to represent the queen posts for the turnbuckle underframe. The underframe is 10 thou guitar string while the buckles are bits of phosphor bronze wire, wrapped around a 0.8mm rod and then soldered before cutting off the excess wire. These were then squashed to make them oval and soldered to the guitar wire. It looks reasonably effective in reality but a bit messy in the photos. I may revisit these but will leave it a couple of days before I decide. The 'V' hangers are 0.6mm brass wire, bent to shape and then filed flat before drilling a 0.3mm hole (yes, I broke two drill bits!) to eventually take a wire to represent the linkage. Again crude, but doesn't look too bad in reality.

Great start Jesse! I can't wait to see it finished.

I spent a bit of time building up my first ever DG couplings today. Nowhere near as difficult as I first feared. Having built up a few of the DG couplings, I thought I should test them. Please ignore the wobbly coach, that's because my finger was resting on it! I think I need to make the steel wire a little longer to better work with the magnets, but otherwise an encouraging start.

The 8'6 Gresley bogies arrived on Saturday and so I built and fitted the first pair today. I've still got the footboards to make up and fit, but they can wait until another day.

Lovely work on the GC brake third! Interesting to see that you've used 3D printed bogie side frames. I've been working on my N gauge 51' carriages and built the first pair of 8'6 bogies today (minus footboards). These were made up from 2mm Association etches, but fitted with their N gauge wheelsets. Here is the current state of my four compartment brake third.

The first of the 8'6 Gresley bogie etches got assembled today and fitted to the brake third body.

Further to Chris pointing out about the issue with using a 3D printed roof, I've removed the roof profile from the center partition. Having already soldered some strengthening pieces in place, I took a pair of etch scissors to the offending section and snipped it out. I then used a marker pen to cover the tops of the surfaces so that I could see where I was filing and filed the remains flush with the top of the coach sides. The etches for the bogies arrived from the 2mm Association yesterday (fast service as always). Sorry about the out of focus photo. These look the same as the 8' versions that I have previously built and, as they went together very well, I'm really looking forward to building these.

Further to Chris pointing out about the issue with using a 3D printed roof, I've removed the roof profile from the center partition. Having already soldered some strengthening pieces in place, I took a pair of etch scissors to the offending section and snipped it out. I then used a marker pen to cover the tops of the surfaces so that I could see where I was filing and filed the remains flush with the top of the coach sides.

I spent a bit of time correcting the wobbles on the brake third this morning. I also decided to make up the compartments out of 0.25mm nickel silver sheet and soldered these into place to strengthen the body. While this adds a bit of weight, it really isn't much so I think I'll use this method going forward. Here is the current state of the brake third. Chris H has pointed out elsewhere that I'll need to remove the roof profile from the center bulkhead if I want to fit anything other than an etched/sheet metal roof. Some surgery is required mes thinks.

Thanks for that Tim, I was looking at 2mm scale handrail knobs but hadn't thought of 4mm scale ones. I was thinking of using 10thou guitar wire for the truss rods but have a couple of thicknesses of phosphor bronze as well. I'll be in touch during the week.

Thanks Chris, I hadn't thought of that. I think some careful surgery is in order...

Thanks Mark. I'll be using 2mm Association Gresley bogies so, based on past experience, I'm sure that they'll be free running. I've now put together the brake third body. There are a few construction wobbles on this one, but I hope that a bit of work with the soldering iron tomorrow morning will put these right.

Hello Tony and everyone, Following on from my N Gauge Worsley Works full third, I put together a brake third over the last couple of days. There are a couple of annoying construction wobbles on this one, but nothing a few wafts with the solder iron won't fix. I've quite enjoyed putting these together and certainly think that etched carriages are the way to go for me over 3D printing; I just need to make sure I keep the weight down and ensure that the bogies are free running. Pictured is pretty much everything that comes on the Worsley etch. I'd like to model these with the earlier truss rods but that will require a bit of lateral thinking as they'll have to be scratchbuilt.

Thanks Craig. At the moment I'm concentrating on my own bits (along with finishing a couple of commissions) so it'll be a little while yet before anything new is made available. The Worsley Works brake third scratch aid got assembled today. There are a couple of minor wobbles, which are annoying. I'll waft the soldering iron over them tomorrow to remedy these.

The full third had a couple of bearings soldered onto the underside of the floorpan today. The holes were then opened up from 1.5mm to 1.6mm and tapped to accept M2 screws. I found a couple of bogies (2mm Association for a full brake) as temporary substitutes for the ones on order and added these to get a feel for how the coach will eventually look. It needed a couple of packing washers to bring the ride height to roughly the same height as a Dapol Gresley. Encouraged by this, I also made a light start on one of the brake thirds.

A bit of a diversion into real life modelling to give me a break from designing the N1. It's the Worsley Works etch (that I started at the beginning of the year!) which needs bogies, roof, etc to complete. I think I'll have another go at sorting out the bufferbeam but I'm quite happy with how my first attempt at building an etched coach is going. I think the biggest challenge is going to be keeping the weight down!

If I may return the topic to carriages for a moment, I would like to share my progress with an N gauge 51' Third from the Worsley Works scratch aid etches. I think that the buffer beam will receive some more attention to get it square, but so far I'm please with how my first etched coach is coming together. I'll probably 3D print the roof and battery boxes, but the bogies will come from 2mm Association etches. I think I'll be making the compartments out of plastic to try and keep the overall weight down.

Needing a break from designing the N1's chassis, I looked about for a suitable unfinished project to do a bit more on. I found a Worsley Works 51' Third that I'd started building just after Christmas and decided to do a bit more on it. I've more or less sorted out the fact that the floorpan is slightly longer than the body (probably my fault). I've also soldered the body and frames together as well as adding some strengtheners from 0.25mm nickel silver sheet. My plan is to 3D print the roof and attach this using magnets. I'll be sourcing some bogies from the 2mm Association and truss bars from Ultima Models. Battery boxes will be 3D printed and the partitions will likely be made out of plastic to keep the weight down.