D869

Interesting solution! I would not have thought of making the turnout drive turn through 270 degrees between the switch and the tiebar, but if it works then who cares? What tubing are you using?

Nice job Mark, especially the lining - it scrubs up pretty well with a lick of paint doesn't it?

Nice pic Pete. Station building and the mesh fence look good too. You live in Spain. Go get some Serrano ham. Probably a better bet over there.

Agreed - much neater than my messy efforts! I'm wondering if phosphor bronze might be a better bet than code 40 rail for springiness and electrical contact though? ...and shouldn't you be using those hinges to make some tools and jigs as was expounded in the 2mm mag on so many occasions?

Just found this project. Looks very interesting so I will follow progress with interest, having spent a good few hours hanging around the real place back around 2000 when the mail trains and the Bodmin goods still ran. On the mesh front, there is some wire mesh available from N Brass. Scale link might do some etched stuff but not sure if either will give you a fine enough mesh or the size of sheet that you want. Another option might be something fabric-based but I don't have any specific sources. The mesh that was used in the 1980s to kill static and glare from glass computer screens could be ideal for you but difficult to source. I guess that most offices would have chucked these out a long time ago.

That's interesting - I didn't know that. I guess it was using your Pentroller then? Was it on the iron core setting? I'm always interested to see how my stuff runs on different controllers. I use an old and slightly modified AMR handheld, mainly because we found these to produce excellent running with Farish mechanisms back when we were hawking Helsby, Tumill and Haddon around the exhibition circuit. The AMR is generally regarded as pretty crude and may or may not be safe for coreless motors so I am open to better options. The main reason I haven't over to the DCC side is that I tested both an inexpensive and a top-end Lenz decoder in a couple of my locos and the quality of control could not match what I get with the AMR. Fiddling with pulse shapes helped but I just couldn't get it to the same level so the decoders were removed and have been gathering dust in a drawer ever since. I guess that Pentrollers are now just as unavailable as AMR handelds so it's a slightly academic question.

I just read the question more carefully. The answer is quite a lot - that most of the original Farish chassis is intact, barring a few bits that I sawed off because they were in the way and one replacement (shorter) driveshaft. The bogie sideframes are mostly cosmetic - the only jobs they do are to provide some control over side and vertical play of the wheels and to provide a coupling mount. Replacing the mechanical bits would be a big piece of work... and the result would likely still have similar friction characteristics to the Farish original.

Sort of. 5 amp fuse wire coiled around a 1mm drill. The etch provides a spindle to mount them on, plus pads for top and bottom. While drawing the etch I did actually fathom out how the real suspension works and toyed briefly with the idea of providing for working equalising beams and moving axleboxes but common sense prevailed. Thanks. I think etched bodies have strengths and weaknesses for diesels - they really make near-flush glazing (without nasty lensing effects) easy and almost demand that you do something to model the cooling fans (with thanks to Pete Thorpe for the really fine mesh material) but recent mouldings definitely win when it comes to really fine detail around body openings and such like. Mounting all metal bodies on a cast split frame chassis also presents its challenges. Who do you think I am? Stephen Harris or something? Seriously, it is something that I would consider but this particular project has already accounted for a lot of modelling time. The loco is intended for hauling main line trains and the Farish chassis, suitably overhauled, while not quite in the same league as more recent pin point bearing chassis does that job well enough. The draw of other projects likely means that D604 will stay Farish powered for the foreseeable future.

Good luck with that one Mark - looks like quite a challenge so looking forward to seeing it painted and weathered. We also had a run on the GC a few weeks back behind an Ivatt... although the beer festival was the main point of the trip so for once I wasn;t taking that much notice of the motive power. Regards, Andy

Thank you all for the nice comments. Definitely something I would recommend to anyone designing their own etch - it's a lot cheaper and quicker to find mistakes using card than nickel silver. I have no doubt that there will be plenty more. A lovely layout. Looking forward to seeing it finished (as if any layout ever is) at Warley. Go for it. I'm guessing from your 'handle' that your interests lie on the other side of the pond, so the possibilities of 'train in the landscape' should really work well for you and the Association's wheel turning person (Gordon) has proved his ability to turn down wheels from US loco chassis. You should also check out North West Short Line for replacement rolling stock wheels, but try in small numbers first - some of their flanges are actually smaller than the 2mm finescale standard. They will run through 2mm pointwork, but are rather less tolerant of any gauge errors. Regards, Andy

In the previous installment the etches for the D600 bogies had just arrived in the post leaving me wondering whether I could actually build a bogie from them... Thankfully it turns out that I can Some of you will have seen the partially completed bogie at the AGM on Saturday (and a jolly good day it was too). I had hoped to have two bogies built, painted and on the loco before Saturday, but the etches arrived rather later than I had planned so it was too big an ask. Instead D604 had to go on show (again) with its class 47 bogies but the competition judge still liked it enough to award it a pot, as did the assembled members. I'm now glad that I was talked into entering it - thanks Chris. I'm now progressing at a rather less hurried pace. The first bogie is almost fully assembled. Here's a picture of it sitting near a photo of a rather bigger version. I was worried about a lot of the issues in the various 'how to' guides - mainly whether the thing would actually prove possible to build. Actually most of the things I was worrying about turned out just fine. Partly this may have been because I printed the most critical artwork out at double size and stuck it to some 0.5mm card so that I could mock up the parts and test things out in three dimensions before sending the artwork off to PPD... The main things that went wrong were those things that I didn't think about while drawing the artwork. I made the classic finescale mistake of scaling chassis components from the prototype and forgetting that our wheels need rather more clearance than the prototype ones, particularly to avoid short circuits. This was solved by building the sideframes using five layers instead of the six I had drawn. Then for some unknown reason while designing the front end of the bogie I temporarily forgot about the big lump of Farish plastic that was going to be sat in the middle of the bogie and put some bits of metal where the plastic would be and had to resort to chopping bits off the etch to rectify the problem. My test with the card didn't pick these problems up because I didn't have a twice real size Farish bogie to try it on. Finally, a photo of it under D604. Sorry about the flash bounce (and the slightly non-level body) but at least you can see all of the springy bits this way. You can also see that the Farish bogie wheelbase is just a tad short. I knew about this beforehand and compensated by doing the etch to 2mm scale rather than 'N', but I didn't want to mess up the dimensions any further. It's been a lot of work to get this far, but I'm rather pleased with the results. Update: I've been puzzling about the space between the back of the bogie and the battery boxes. There is stuff going on in there on the prototype but no detail is visible in most photos. The rear air cylinders were also 'whereabouts unknown' - I was pretty sure that they should be there somewhere because they were present on the EM2 version of the Ivatt bogie and also on the 2 axle variant used on the class 22. I think that I've now figured out what's going on - the back end is not (as I guessed when drawing the etch) a mirror of the front. The air cylinders sit on top of the transom facing backwards and tucked well underneath the body. They are just visible in the NBL factory photo if you look very hard. They should hide the retaining clip nicely. There is also a vertical rocker shaft outboard of these that I'll represent with some brass rod.

Thanks Martin.

A few pics from the AGM yesterday. Sorry I didn't get a pic of each layout - I never have quite got out of the frugal habits learned when using film in the camera. I'm sure there's a layout down there somewhere. Tucking (and Fulling) Mill (careful now) D6309 visits north Somerset - nothing wrong with that. Umm... not quite so sure about class 41s in this part of the world.

He did indeed. And a good day was had by all as far as I could see. I've usually managed OK cutting the axleboxes off the etch but I agree that space is at a premium. I usually use my X-Acto knife for this because it's beefier that the Swann Morton. I also keep a stone nearby because it needs regular sharpening while being abused in this way. Probably my worst problems are that I often bend the retaining strap at the bottom of the hornguides while cutting the axlebox tags. Occasionally I also manage to solder the etch frame to the bogie while doing the axleboxes too, but it's not too difficult to undo. Chris pointed out what he meant about my axleboxes on the NPCS bogie etch and he's right. It will make life slightly trickier for two layers of the axleboxes but it's not a major problem. It's certainly a big learning experience for me doing my first etch. The in/out balance for the gloat box was definitely heavily in the 'IN' direction. Between AGM acquisitions and the recent arrival of some tank wagon kits from Stephen Harris, I now need a bigger box. Regards, Andy

Hi Pete, Progress looks good. Do you intend the magnets to be moveable so that they uncouple when you want them to and not otherwise? Regards, Andy

That's good news. One suggestion (if I may) - I put the fold-up steps on the first detail overlay layer with a full thickness outline (sans folding bit) on the layer behind. I reckon that this will be stronger - these steps have just a single skinny support. It also allowed me to do something to try to convince the viewer that the step support is bolted or riveted to the face of the bogie sideframe. I'm planning to be there and I've promised to bring my diminutive layout 'South Yard', so if you look for the smallest layout then I'll probably be nearby. More stuff to build!

Hi David, I don't have any objections to making them available but I'd rather it was done via the Association if they are willing. I'll hopefully have a chat to some of the relevant folks at the AGM tomorrow. On the other hand, Mr Higgs might decide to do them, which would probably avoid any issues arising from my lack of etching experience. Whatever happens, I'd definitely wait until I've actually tried assembling them before going any further. Regards, Andy

Yes, plus Hawksworth and Collett full brakes. I soldered mine a layer at a time with electronic solder and Carrs Green Label. It works that way too. I don't have an RSU so trying to solder several layers at once seems a bit risky. Good luck. This is my first stab too, so I'm finding that some... err... adjustments are needed during assembly. Hope so. You can't have too many diesel hydraulics. Regards, Andy

Hi Mark - nice work. Always like to see old (but good) models upgraded to modern standards. Regards, Andy

Are you bringing it on Saturday?... please.

Thanks Pete. It didn't make much sense price-wise to get less than an A4 sheet etched so I needed to fill up the remaining space. Not easy in 2mm scale if you're not building a viaduct. The extras are mainly a few signalling bits and bobs that MSE don't do - mostly for St Ruth and some experimental 'spectacles' to try to make the Farish and Trix D800 look more like... a D800. The D800 etches each have several copies with small variations because I don't know what will work best (if any of them work at all). Regards, Andy

Hi Chris, Having built several of your bogies, I hope that I understand how they overlay and I've tried to get it right on my etches, but I'm sure that I will find out when I try to assemble them... which won't be for a while because those big D600 bogies are calling. I think I emailed you a few months back about the NPCS bogies but perhaps it didn't reach you. There's also at least one other variant - long springs and small footsteps (seen on slip coaches IIRC), but I reckon you could produce that by hacking a few bits off the Association kit. Regards, Andy

Hi Chris, They are certainly inspired by your work for the 2mm Association but they are not the same bogies that the Association sells. They are the short spring, small step variant used for NPCS. The artwork is my own work but I'm happy to give you credit for the ideas. I was hoping that these might become available without any effort on my part but it didn't happen. The last straw was the basic bogie skeletons being discontinued which rather scuppered my plan to use these with plastikard details. Regards, Andy

Look what the postie just brought from PPD. Now I just need to see if I can actually build a bogie from a kit that I designed myself

Hi Julia, Useful info thanks. How much of the Tomix chassis is left though? I've never heard of 'Mikroantriebe' - can you tell us a bit more about them? Regards, Andy