Darwinian

20 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

The firebox was too wide, particularly at running plate level. I thought it ruined the look of what could have been a very nice model.

That and the chassis block intruding into the under boiler space in front of the firebox are probably it's weakest structural aspects. I can live with it on mine as it's not really a Valley's branch loco but I like them. Hopefully Dapol will get it right, we will have to wait to see. Compensated chassis sounds like an improvement too. On my gradients the Hornby model is on 4 wheels at times! Although to be fair so is my Bachmann Robinson ROD.🤫

On 20/04/2023 at 17:46, lezz01 said:

It's looking very good Neal.

I too am struggling with coupling rods on my 3F conversion. The problem I have is the thickness of the rods from Lanarkshire Models. As built they are a tad too thick for Gibson short crank pin bushes and the longer one's are just too long. I don't really want to thin them down so that means reducing the length of the long bushes and the problem with that is how to hold them as they are tiny.

Regards Lez.

Drill a suitably sized hole in a piece or laminated pieces of etch fret waste equal to the thickness of your connecting rods. Place crank pin bush, flange down, onto a hard surface. Slip you the newly made "gauge" over it and file down until you almost reach the gauge.

23 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

The mechanics of this signal are the difficult bit, brightness of an LED is much easier to fix.

Voltage = current x resistance (Ohms law)

Brightness depends on current, so if an LED is too bright, just increase  the value of resistor in its feed until you get your desired light level.

True, but I've never really understood the characteristics of LEDs enough to know that I won't end up below the threshold current with the LED not illuminating. 

At the end of the day I just prefer using the fibre optics and having all the electrics below the baseboard. Personal preference (or laziness) on my part.

On 17/03/2023 at 13:33, Stephen Freeman said:

Bending fibre optic cable can be done with limitations. A much sharper bend can be had with the application of heat in the form of an adjacent (but not touching) hot soldering iron, the greater the sacrificial length the sharper the bend, gravity is your friend here. However in this case I don't think a sharper bend would be sharp enough. Have you thought about a very small LED (0402 size) in the base of the lamp and fibre optic thereafter. The fine wires for the LED would be easier to bend and hide.

The issue with these elevated discs is that the shaft the lamp is on has to rotate in the bracket mounting it to the post. Hence feeding fibre optic up through the shaft. Doesn't leave anywhere to mount an LED below and I'm not sure the leads would appreciate being repeatedly twisted through 90deg.

I know you and others prefer LEDs in the lamps but for me personally they look too bright. When I were a lad we had a semaphore distant signal at the end of the garden and my memory is that the lamp flame was invisible on all but the murkiest of days. So for me most of the time it will be a case of "I know the lamp is lit even if I cannot see it". Unless I turn the layout lighting off that is.

On 16/03/2023 at 23:25, DLT said:

Just discovered this topic, I have a somersault in the to-do list, so I will be studying.

Many thanks,

Dave.T

Thanks, don't hold your breath, these get worked on when I am in the right mood, they are very fiddly.

My wife and I went to the show on Monday morning arriving just as the early queue had gone. On the way from the car park she commented “I Hope I’m not going to be bored”.

We left about 2:00pm with big smiles on our faces and might have stayed longer if we didn’t have to drive back to Norfolk. The variety, artistry and simple friendliness of the exhibits/ exhibitors was simply superb.

Congratulations and thanks to all who contributed in whatever way to such a wonderful show.

1 hour ago, andytrains said:

Bring back the 1970's BR sandwich!

 

(Hat, coat, door).

Yes it will taste as fresh now as it did then.

On 28/03/2023 at 17:12, Ian Hargrave said:

 
So candid opinion sought please….I have an OR 6 wheel Toad. Toad or turkey ? 

There was an article in MRJ on correcting the OR 4 wheeler’s errors. I bought one to try and it was pretty straightforward to do. The windows/hatch are easy. The difficulty is the lack of sheeting on the cabin and veranda ends of the version with side sheets. I used very thin brass sheet inserts and resin printed rivets. The handrails are better replaced in wire too but at least you don’t have to pare them off like the ratio moulded ones. It was only when I’d finished the painting that I realised I’d forgotten to correct the door to the veranda 🤫

Thanks but I have to admit I’m not relishing trying to drill the vertical holes through the baseboards nor wiring them up. Still got to build the rest too 😳

It's been a while and the signals are taking some effort. However a first attempt somersault has been linked up to the servo and much to my surprise it works. Although possibly not quite as smoothly as it could. I just need to glue the lamp case on over the fibre-optic "flame" and then attach the LED holder/connector to the other end.

Well an unequal crank has sorted the operational issue even if it isn't prototypical. I had hoped the fibre-optic could be bent around closer to the support bracket but this was the best I could do so I will paint it to look like part of the support for the lamp assembly.

The Elevated rotating disc so far:

This hasn't worked. The elevated rotating disc linkage I have made only rotates the disc by 45 degrees when it needs to be 90 degrees.

Can any one suggest how I can gain the extra movement. The movement of the balance arm cannot be increased. Do I need to put an unequal crank on the post?

Here's the first attempt set up.

3 hours ago, drmditch said:

Re: 'Passenger Luggage in Advance'

This service was still available in the early 1970s,

Very good for an undergraduate travelling from Essex to Durham, and saved having to try to lug stuff from North Road Station to South Bailey.

Yes, I remember family holidays from Camberley to the West Country around then. BR sent a van to pick up our trunk (one of those rectangular ones with wooden hoops around) a week in advance of us travelling. 2 adults and 2 children plus a large suitcase travel down by train (2nd class). Picked up trunk at the destination station and taxi to holiday property.

Coming back the trunk was left at the station when we left and delivered back to our door about a week later.

Small parts painting day. Hit on the idea of using cocktail sticks to hold them and then stick them into an old eraser to dry.

While doing this I also looked at the etch for the discs/balance arms for the rotating ground signal and realised I should have attached the balance arm and its bracket before fitting the lamp holding ring to the top of the rotating tube. Doh!

While on the topic of the disc signals does anyone have any recommendations for attaching the disc to the lamp body. I was planning on soldering it on with 125 solder and then fitting a tiny disc of red lens material onto the front of the disc.

When the Covid pandemic began I had been retired for three years, my children were setting off for Uni and life had become rather quiet for my wife and I and I was feeling rather isolated from social contact.  I'd always wondered what volunteering would be like so once things started to reopen (with my wife's encouragement) I contacted the North Norfolk Railway to see if they needed volunteers with no railway/engineering background. After some initial discussions by e-mail I was invited to a socially distanced look around the loco and carriage workshops, and later to Sheringham station to see what platform staff did. I decided that I wanted to have public facing, role and be part of a small team each day so chose to train as a member of platform staff. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences as part of the team looking after passengers and visitors, dispatching trains, emptying bins and generally keeping the station I'm assigned to looking smart .

I now volunteer for duty at any of the three station on the NNR and because I work part time during the week I make it a fairly regular Sunday commitment. I will be back again at Sheringham for the  half term Sunday's and would be happy to chat to anyone who happens to be there. There does seem to be the opportunity to move to other roles if I wanted to. Certainly moving on to travelling ticket inspector or guard is just a question of doing the training. Volunteering has certainly helped me regain my confidence and enjoy my retirement.

To anyone considering volunteering I'd say go along and try it. You can always say "not interested" or move on if you stop enjoying it.

Adrian

It was actually just about warm enough (10 degrees Celsius) to venture into the shed this afternoon. After adding the safety cage and platform to the elevated rotating disc signal I decided it was time to tackle a rotating ground disc (Wizard MSE kit).

I drilled out the cast base unit to take the microbore tube and then drilled out clearance for a thick washer in the base. Tube of various telescopic sizes then produced this set of parts. The microbore tube is a sliding fit in the next size up tube under the baseplate and is held up by the washer inside the signal body.

The lamp case is drilled out (not very accurately from below, might have to do another) and fits onto the top of the microbore tube. When it's been painted a crank will be attached to this tube to allow a servo to rotate the signal.

A fibre optic filament can be be fed up into the lamp and will in due course terminate in an LED housing at the bottom of the microbore tube. So the signal will be able to rotate, be lit and there is no friction/wear on the fibre optic filament itself.

Here are the parts fitted together with an overlong fibre optic filament being illuminated by having the LED light on my phone held at the end.

This is one of the sources I’ve been looking through.

http://www.victorianrailways.net/signaling/discpage/discnew.html

Thanks again Mike. I'll probably settle on white for "clear" then as that's easier to model!

The Rhymney signals were provided by Makenzie and Holland who also provided similar signals to the New South Wales (IIRC) railway in Australia. There are quite a few pictures of preserved examples of their rotating discs so I have been working on the assumption that the Rhymney ones would have been similar.

Thanks Mike. The Rhymney signals I’m modelling were elevated discs so I presume not true running signals. As I’m modelling 1929 (ish) would that mean a white light showing to indicate the clear when the red/disc/lens rotate away?

Something I’m not totally clear of is how/if the clear indication was illuminated. The disc shows red at on and moves to side on for off but was there a green (blue) lens on the lamp too. Presumably a clear lens on the back of the lamp acts as the tell tale.

Well the MERG servo controls have been successfully completed so suitably encouraged I’ve moved on to try a raised rotating disc signal.

Here are the main components. Fibre optic is sleeved in micro bore brass tube so that it doesn’t get worn by the rotating lamp support that fits over it. This does mean the support for the lamp

is rather over sturdy but it will have to do.

Just to make it interesting this signal is on the incline so setting up the servo mount should be “fun”.

Too cold in the ages to so much at the moment and I want to paint the sun assemblies of both signals before I get much further.

Problem solved, thanks for the responses.

I had and some of the S.R. ones they make are close but not quite right. I will have to assess whether they might be adapted.

I couldn’t see any GWR type.

Oh this looks right up my street! Looking forward to seeing the miners trains, I’ve held off doing one for Cwmhir.

Must sort out the Rhymney style signals first.Then there’s a GWR rebuilt Taff A class in the to do box and .........

Does anyone know of a source (other than Brassmasters) for 4mm scale etched luggage van window grills?

I need to represent  four double doors worth of these in my D27 Brake Third but have used all the etches I had. 

I don’t have an issue with the Brassmasters product but they have a minimum mail

order value and I won’t use That many!

Alternatively how else do people do them?