tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10121621702116610162024-03-18T09:48:08.358+00:00Going LocoStuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-35129406134981267362024-02-06T17:01:00.000+00:002024-02-06T17:01:04.775+00:00New Year Update<p>It's been a busy few weeks on the railway front. First it was the SWOONs open day on the Saturday where I had my sales stand for <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">STModels</a> and then it was the annual committee meeting on the Sunday for the 009 Society which, in my role as 009 News Editor, I attend. The following weekend was the regular Wiltshire 009 Group meeting. Then it was the 2 day Southampton show where I was exhibiting Melin Dolrhyd as well as having the <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">STModels</a> sales stand. Last weekend it was the Alton show where I helped operate Garreg Wen for Matt Kean.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO6T_k1zY-bkTfkl89KVnpvBaBjOopA_g8sBJmd7X8i9j-24QO5_v66tD-3YwcABwmZDusj14sSRZ7-96C3UGCY7-3hLGJaEZ7EfcC0_iUHPDkGQx-6xbXxGI1iuuk4JL7IoBcPvuv9XxR-iM5K7KiBba3bZXwCzw7Oiy7NTH6vSs7qG3fyAYsLrPi-ug" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjO6T_k1zY-bkTfkl89KVnpvBaBjOopA_g8sBJmd7X8i9j-24QO5_v66tD-3YwcABwmZDusj14sSRZ7-96C3UGCY7-3hLGJaEZ7EfcC0_iUHPDkGQx-6xbXxGI1iuuk4JL7IoBcPvuv9XxR-iM5K7KiBba3bZXwCzw7Oiy7NTH6vSs7qG3fyAYsLrPi-ug" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All set up and ready for customers at Southampton</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">STmodels</a> continues to grow and I have done 3 commissions in the past month. The first was for some tank wheels, the second was for some Vale of Rheidol lattice fencing and lastly a request for Southern Railways 8 Wire Concrete fence posts. The last two are available to be bought on <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">STModels</a>.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdMq8A5r9-A_zupQmODomofE-kPyMF-IV3W6NQ8y-j0N6tK2fegRVqIrMMdd_nF5VGtppuMkvOtwBMaCT0zFquQ_QAv_zbdewRZv56QMZVh0XWrxc20hCP581Ccu033GOuyOTgaRlr9Vsk9gqWCceC7sEJkPQqEEJT0n3V7mgZgtFsXZrK133LDlX8TyM" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdMq8A5r9-A_zupQmODomofE-kPyMF-IV3W6NQ8y-j0N6tK2fegRVqIrMMdd_nF5VGtppuMkvOtwBMaCT0zFquQ_QAv_zbdewRZv56QMZVh0XWrxc20hCP581Ccu033GOuyOTgaRlr9Vsk9gqWCceC7sEJkPQqEEJT0n3V7mgZgtFsXZrK133LDlX8TyM" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southern Railways 8 Wire Concrete posts</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />The layout with no name has also progressed. It now has the track down, it's wired up and a small amount of scenery has been created. The points are planned to be operated by wire in tube and that has been installed but doesn't show up in the photo. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGo-z3hUD78KGb0kPla09XeUy9Qd1XajuMYTaIdYslekfy7pTdQWXR9yH25KlwtGQH2t8-Hli9yuGkt8gy7uDdaHvz_hRwv4GswJwTVlRpAQlDt-K2FHtLdbLyleOOOiCSEW-BVtkvxzMG7Een-6N1V5GoWZXxRTCTo0v0o6j4QkUwzapYo9sDCicw5gs" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGo-z3hUD78KGb0kPla09XeUy9Qd1XajuMYTaIdYslekfy7pTdQWXR9yH25KlwtGQH2t8-Hli9yuGkt8gy7uDdaHvz_hRwv4GswJwTVlRpAQlDt-K2FHtLdbLyleOOOiCSEW-BVtkvxzMG7Een-6N1V5GoWZXxRTCTo0v0o6j4QkUwzapYo9sDCicw5gs" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adding the backscene former</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>The track plan is roughly what was on the initial sketches on the notice board. In the end the actual positioning of the points was dictated by my stock. The points are positioned such that I can have a Bachmann Baldwin and one WD bogie in the headshunt whilst also having 3 WD bogies in the loop and being able to run round them. The section of track between the loop and the running line is long enough to hold a Baldwin without fouling the running line.</p><p>The most recent job has been to add the backscene former. This was created with a piece of timber across the back, down the sides and along the bottom to which a piece of 5mm ply was glued. It's added some much needed rigidity to the board. </p><p>The trouble is that it has given me a headache I hadn't envisaged. The layout was planned as something to take to shows that was simple, more easily transportable and more light hearted than Melin Dolrhyd. Keeping it simple was the mantra. The problem is that with it in the railway room against the wall I can't easily reach the point switches. The electrical section switches don't matter as they will always be on. I can just reach the point switches but have a habit of knocking trains off the track. I know I will want to 'play' with the layout and use it to test stock running through the points so it really needs to be useable in the railway room.</p><p>The only sensible thing to do is to change the point operation so that it can be operated from the front as well as the back. If I want to extend the mechanical operation in some way then I will have to break up that lovely curved front of the layout, that is if I could work out how to do it!</p><p>In the end I have to go back to point motors but I have decided to try servos - this layout was aimed at trying new things, after all. I am currently looking at an Arduino to drive the servos. I had already planned an Arduino Uno to operate a couple of working signals. All this means is I have to extend the system to handle the points as well.</p><p>In the stash I have an Arduino Mega, some Dingo servo mounts and some 9g servos. Time for a little experimentation!</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-58858801767868394632023-10-16T08:20:00.000+01:002023-10-16T08:20:12.309+01:00Another 3 months between posts!<p>Oh dear, the number of posts on this blog is definitely going down. Mind you, it is fair to say that a lot has happened in the last 3 months.</p><p>We finally moved house in August. We now live in Port Solent, which is a marina complex on the South Coast (well it would be on the coast, wouldn't it) and we are loving it. Here's the view 2 minutes from the house. On a summer's day it is glorious and the sunsets are something else. A kayak is on the buy list for next summer.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglPPZpP_X_eeagZT8pM0h_0PA5_OWUPJ1b5oa55LDiSLwqaxKE_mv2CUD8SV5xKqxOAJHe5xv9rYl4cXJQpjxWwHk00sCveTZqPavZ5rbTcGvZmVFjgem5-3bQC0ebC9WnuFtiidUqyI9jiZju4v2iztHNcOUh54ZnTbgITevBtmoHnKLPwozq1e7dyt0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglPPZpP_X_eeagZT8pM0h_0PA5_OWUPJ1b5oa55LDiSLwqaxKE_mv2CUD8SV5xKqxOAJHe5xv9rYl4cXJQpjxWwHk00sCveTZqPavZ5rbTcGvZmVFjgem5-3bQC0ebC9WnuFtiidUqyI9jiZju4v2iztHNcOUh54ZnTbgITevBtmoHnKLPwozq1e7dyt0" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I did start my business, <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">STModels</a>, and went to the 009 Open Day in Pewsey and also to the Welshpool Gala where I sold a few items and got the name out there a little. It will never be a big source of income but it was fun and I hope to fill a gap in the market for those who still like to build their own rolling stock. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As I already mentioned, I took Melin Dolrhyd to the Welshpool Gala, this time with Matt as my second operator. It was an extremely enjoyable few days and I hope to attend next year. Looking ahead, I have confirmed bookings for Melin Dolrhyd for the Southampton show in January and SW Herts show in May. Hopefully there will be more. I am also hoping to take my <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">STModels </a>trade stand to the 009 member's day in Ilton in January.</div><p></p><p>So what to personal modelling. A new house means a new modelling room. I have taken one of two rooms in the loft conversion for the railway room. There was another option in the house but this room has the best light and does have an 11 foot straight wall. Here's an early days picture as everything was being unpacked (come to think of it, it isn't much tidier 2 months later!).</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirQ5vrnvN6fB5TYkpadnwPw4ldiV3wqDiOftArOH3x7DEQbaujkeq8e1IDzGtPae4sD62RcX6ALNi825qViRdItPSnusNvd6XmqaEdIwnZNQpKqb5UWu9gaDpAehwBEkgfO_4YUJPDdhN2BB5tEKjQ7s2WjNHxjpRCSiSmVVjDl-xcj9Q81BG5fFI1kbo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirQ5vrnvN6fB5TYkpadnwPw4ldiV3wqDiOftArOH3x7DEQbaujkeq8e1IDzGtPae4sD62RcX6ALNi825qViRdItPSnusNvd6XmqaEdIwnZNQpKqb5UWu9gaDpAehwBEkgfO_4YUJPDdhN2BB5tEKjQ7s2WjNHxjpRCSiSmVVjDl-xcj9Q81BG5fFI1kbo" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Of course, nothing works out as expected. I have two bookcases and could only fit one under the eaves so that has reduced the 11ft run. I had expected to keep Melin Dolrhyd up here somewhere but the final stairs to the loft conversion are narrow and I cannot realistically get the main board up them so that has to find a home somewhere else in the house. I really like cameo layouts but they can be bulky and so need more storage and manoeuvring space.</p><p>In terms of actual modelling I have 2 areas of focus going forwards. The first is engines. Another good friend, Andy, has built my two Golden Arrow chassis for the Welshpool Beyer Peacocks, they now need finishing ahead of the next show. I also have a Sir Drefaldwyn, and another Sierra Leone locomotive to build. Joan also needs a rebuild and detailing. There may be another Welshpool preservation engine in the stash that I have forgotten but that's enough to be going on with! </p><p>The second area of focus is a new layout. Here's where the big problem lies. What do I do next? I had planned an Ashover based layout. I have a long term plan to do a Bowaters based layout and I am keen to do another Welshpool layout. The problem is that the motivation isn't there at this time to start something that uses multiple boards and handbuilt track and has a high degree of authenticity. Modelling something realistic takes time, a lot of it and I am just not enthused by the idea.</p><p>I recently went to the <a href="https://haylinglightrailway.wixsite.com/ehlr">Hayling Light Railway</a> 20th Gala and they had a small model railway exhibition where I saw an 009 layout that was a small roundy roundy layout which offered the potential to be a single board layout that can be chucked in the back of the car and taken to shows. It won't run most of my stock but it will run my Baldwins which were ready for Ashover and I do have a surprising number of 009 Society kits of RNAD vans and Hudson Toastrack coaches that can be quickly built and used. </p><p>It's going to be a complete anathema to what I would normally do but has the advantage of being able to be done relatively quickly. The rough plan is going to be something like this which will allow a train to run round whilst some shunting takes place.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_FTAB2f-tNoy9CdG2NASsctwGWF0Olf-kcCNa6nh7z9JI7x98_LLAPcckt_wIa6ilkDeGicArOnNMBuyaGA0pq8k6hrGNZ9nQ_-oYmjYlHFR9i-wMIJnR5ol--uQpBnLWhGibX9cTxOzQC-9O9MqeyieYxNXjUxzLtGGBb3BH8TDSAJbjzN3dhE6JBWE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1511" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj_FTAB2f-tNoy9CdG2NASsctwGWF0Olf-kcCNa6nh7z9JI7x98_LLAPcckt_wIa6ilkDeGicArOnNMBuyaGA0pq8k6hrGNZ9nQ_-oYmjYlHFR9i-wMIJnR5ol--uQpBnLWhGibX9cTxOzQC-9O9MqeyieYxNXjUxzLtGGBb3BH8TDSAJbjzN3dhE6JBWE" width="320" /></a></div><br />It's not realistic, how could it be with those curves on either side, but it will offer the opportunity to try a few things, play trains, and generally not take modelling too seriously over the winter. <p></p><p>I need to get on with it. I no longer have a garage and all woodwork needs to be done in the car port which will only get colder so timber was bought and cut this last week and a start has been made. Even though it is supposed to be a quick layout on a 4' by 2' board, I still couldn't bring myself to have a straight front!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTr3g6_xz5ieNjitRJP_x1epThF58ya-9yQcuy9J7H5vg1-igM11gbZ899_8sUZYdOf0lxXWSPUTWC5hIGW58CUH5WKA1Ui2Fz2DeagmCdQTZG3RpQtd6g_zBRVjakXIdcOuzxtjWiqOBjde33rJ6F-nIuossQnlCmJrn-MsWtuwC86_hwLq6fLCzc3fQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgTr3g6_xz5ieNjitRJP_x1epThF58ya-9yQcuy9J7H5vg1-igM11gbZ899_8sUZYdOf0lxXWSPUTWC5hIGW58CUH5WKA1Ui2Fz2DeagmCdQTZG3RpQtd6g_zBRVjakXIdcOuzxtjWiqOBjde33rJ6F-nIuossQnlCmJrn-MsWtuwC86_hwLq6fLCzc3fQ" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I have no idea for a name so answers on a postcard please!</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-5177764634560830242023-07-22T08:19:00.001+01:002023-07-22T08:50:58.061+01:00New Venture - STModels<p>It's been 3 months since the last post. What have I been doing? The simple answer is very little modelling mainly brought on by other activities. </p><p>I have two major activities currently ongoing. The first is moving house. We kicked this off in February and had hoped to have moved by now but it is still ongoing. Every room of the house has been gone through and unwanted/unused items have gone to other homes - that includes all the stuff I brought with me, just in case I need them, at the last move 9 years ago that I have not used - lesson to learn!</p><p>The second activity is I have been wanting to start my own business for quite a while and I now feel that my design skills are at the level where I can produce reliable parts that other people will find useful. To that end I can now announce that <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">STModels </a>is open for business. I am primarily focusing on the after detailing market but also have a range of general purpose items.</p><p>The biggest collection of items is for the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (WLLR), with the emphasis on helping the modeller complete the Worsley Works coaches and refurbish old Nine Lines wagon kits. For the coaches there are detailing kits that contain seats, vacuum cylinder, oil lamps and torpedo vents. There is also a roof in development as well as bogies to be able to make a complete coach. For the wagons, there are replacement solebars, brake levers, guards foot boards and brake shoes allowing the modeller to update as little or as much as they want. All these items are targeted at 4mm modelling. Obviously some of these items can be used for other railway lines.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs6FR2w6XEVgRqfmfAv69qVOH0cgS7iES2RWZIdwPnlaVaEtWUZ1MjevybdIM35T_o6T1K-WzIiWOi_qGOnsYGZX_99157PIIp1eyvRSmS29DaqxspGGHljLDX_y9ccmTTSEpdBIbEqpAh-Hu0poUTfHiqDCPO8MG-YnMSwH3qx6zCQVAu_kAAWZ4zivU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgs6FR2w6XEVgRqfmfAv69qVOH0cgS7iES2RWZIdwPnlaVaEtWUZ1MjevybdIM35T_o6T1K-WzIiWOi_qGOnsYGZX_99157PIIp1eyvRSmS29DaqxspGGHljLDX_y9ccmTTSEpdBIbEqpAh-Hu0poUTfHiqDCPO8MG-YnMSwH3qx6zCQVAu_kAAWZ4zivU" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJ9G5PPkf3jTO2esOGjY9NhI6SBe-RcwMHBkj9RHsnr0wFfSsCPqbGKB0BtBEXhSRl4yQoJNMPENgjRytOqIpiuE5jquDh66WkuT6VYUG-d2NP166K-5rPd33gIm1gS7KmCbAl1Wg2PG6eMPCaq252_PH16Qe8-ppZhF5ZdPxzgr2j3UTcW5XgRECb_zk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgJ9G5PPkf3jTO2esOGjY9NhI6SBe-RcwMHBkj9RHsnr0wFfSsCPqbGKB0BtBEXhSRl4yQoJNMPENgjRytOqIpiuE5jquDh66WkuT6VYUG-d2NP166K-5rPd33gIm1gS7KmCbAl1Wg2PG6eMPCaq252_PH16Qe8-ppZhF5ZdPxzgr2j3UTcW5XgRECb_zk" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghYJfpaJGQ7h6cACpwHTG9yA4HmU5VhKsHhZNDkuzVLr_Y_ATFsbHzKrf5egQ17IpaMhaJRIqbBC9qXz8NHTelNXh-FF06RZG1GSlRxNfu72wagU_fwavIYvyoe8p8nNyAav8fEObjxP9Cm9IqYeOIVWxUX1FcX93md-h7sYfU7ISDQWugC7iGPF7llI0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEghYJfpaJGQ7h6cACpwHTG9yA4HmU5VhKsHhZNDkuzVLr_Y_ATFsbHzKrf5egQ17IpaMhaJRIqbBC9qXz8NHTelNXh-FF06RZG1GSlRxNfu72wagU_fwavIYvyoe8p8nNyAav8fEObjxP9Cm9IqYeOIVWxUX1FcX93md-h7sYfU7ISDQWugC7iGPF7llI0" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcCYUkIbgEBhKoUgrhnew68iHZQ9ciYlPcUFaP4sGrgDI9oNgzNCVkoIC59g8zZr40ruOhRgIJoADtXQQgfk2ynWTZy8JaClDh7lFcwfBvTjuRx4qAtdnXD422ZjOsjIc0h_I7ERmsCS90kEUnBz9bEqIOC0vTSf95zXvlb0QSja1SFgrvPQojYfmuNjc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcCYUkIbgEBhKoUgrhnew68iHZQ9ciYlPcUFaP4sGrgDI9oNgzNCVkoIC59g8zZr40ruOhRgIJoADtXQQgfk2ynWTZy8JaClDh7lFcwfBvTjuRx4qAtdnXD422ZjOsjIc0h_I7ERmsCS90kEUnBz9bEqIOC0vTSf95zXvlb0QSja1SFgrvPQojYfmuNjc" width="320" /></a></div></div><p></p><p>The second biggest collection of items are general items such as milk churns, steel drums, barrels, pallets, etc. These items are available in several scales - 2mm (N), 2.5mm (TT:120), 3mm, 3.5mm (HO) and 4mm (OO). The nice thing about producing items in multiple scales is that if you want something smaller to go in the background to help force perspective or simply because space is tight then you can buy a smaller size right now.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdxPh7TzdNtubo_1Iyen_b0VJNPw1tWTmEPXVJJWdgFXDMO3QQ58SX0zXUW3OXN6_KlpVYd2SZwJ9VTUO6e6YcKnndcLyS88mMy47Ra_Oqb7i1fNzpG4d6cl8GZSNMaY38iNGtGv036Q5Mu1edvoENA7tYfxQyEJWgmKbgBM1O3aMIUtBzCQViP34wtgc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjdxPh7TzdNtubo_1Iyen_b0VJNPw1tWTmEPXVJJWdgFXDMO3QQ58SX0zXUW3OXN6_KlpVYd2SZwJ9VTUO6e6YcKnndcLyS88mMy47Ra_Oqb7i1fNzpG4d6cl8GZSNMaY38iNGtGv036Q5Mu1edvoENA7tYfxQyEJWgmKbgBM1O3aMIUtBzCQViP34wtgc" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN11xPkECxRnsQiQSD5Zcld1pRtBgUOVMmZUx2q5wyFsthZV2K3Rw3UQ2EfaQtsex52v6GzLZIwiAzbTVVrMXEgMRF1iNstWZc7Sdh6FICOKGuUL8sUBsiDU_SaolRPG_4Pw8tLRN_1XtGENz_rvchje_FXVRMzA1WlozOpz5EmdEFteW3DKnxkaP-MBM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgN11xPkECxRnsQiQSD5Zcld1pRtBgUOVMmZUx2q5wyFsthZV2K3Rw3UQ2EfaQtsex52v6GzLZIwiAzbTVVrMXEgMRF1iNstWZc7Sdh6FICOKGuUL8sUBsiDU_SaolRPG_4Pw8tLRN_1XtGENz_rvchje_FXVRMzA1WlozOpz5EmdEFteW3DKnxkaP-MBM" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0F0uwHaW15mZuvXt9uzO66B8W2ihI6rsLII3O1S_i0ELPpKyOv5axMkRnn2gLezjRE8xjtScWlrgMDQRsfjlCU4qbh2gvYhwVQXH9itguonGK-PjcoEvWXXEX8lvaTcGrAwdWhthWEF0d9SYzIIWb49u6ulS13UvOlsjQPsHl4DwJrkIGl_CuLxq5n0E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0F0uwHaW15mZuvXt9uzO66B8W2ihI6rsLII3O1S_i0ELPpKyOv5axMkRnn2gLezjRE8xjtScWlrgMDQRsfjlCU4qbh2gvYhwVQXH9itguonGK-PjcoEvWXXEX8lvaTcGrAwdWhthWEF0d9SYzIIWb49u6ulS13UvOlsjQPsHl4DwJrkIGl_CuLxq5n0E" width="320" /></a></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0F0uwHaW15mZuvXt9uzO66B8W2ihI6rsLII3O1S_i0ELPpKyOv5axMkRnn2gLezjRE8xjtScWlrgMDQRsfjlCU4qbh2gvYhwVQXH9itguonGK-PjcoEvWXXEX8lvaTcGrAwdWhthWEF0d9SYzIIWb49u6ulS13UvOlsjQPsHl4DwJrkIGl_CuLxq5n0E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg0F0uwHaW15mZuvXt9uzO66B8W2ihI6rsLII3O1S_i0ELPpKyOv5axMkRnn2gLezjRE8xjtScWlrgMDQRsfjlCU4qbh2gvYhwVQXH9itguonGK-PjcoEvWXXEX8lvaTcGrAwdWhthWEF0d9SYzIIWb49u6ulS13UvOlsjQPsHl4DwJrkIGl_CuLxq5n0E" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh8u0lWE7QLy_uGU_0Jm94xV9IwOd3gAIfG3ZKHCxD0oRqjiaD8wBoI7sze6AzFGYBfNn6sROqYw_QV4ZA9OV81sLglHUHHYrQf9rgxOFaXRa8i0XMc2Vb1gcmEWqrOE0RXFPNQloo3jxn2_zU6sW5Zv0BOT3Q3gueufnuBBuNBiv3yzD6oaYYoBh2l3LQ" width="320" /></a></span></div><br /></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;">Other ranges include items for the Vale of Rheidol and Leek and Manifold railways. Only the former is on the <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">website</a> as it takes time to prepare an item for production. If you have items that you want to see produced then please contact me through the <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">website</a> and I will see what can be achieved.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Not only can you buy online using Paypal, you can buy in person, in 2 weeks time on Sat 5th August, at the 009 Wiltshire Group Day (see <a href="https://009society.com/news/exhibitions-events/">https://009society.com/news/exhibitions-events/</a>) where I will have a stand and I will aim to have as many items as possible available for you to see and purchase. I am also planning to take the stand to the Welshpool Gala (see <a href="https://wllr.org.uk/">https://wllr.org.uk/</a>) on 1st to 3rd September.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Please bookmark the <a href="https://stmodels.co.uk/">website</a> and, if you are on Facebook, please like my Facebook page at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/STModels3D">https://www.facebook.com/STModels3D</a> which is where most announcements will take place. If it makes sense then I will add a mailing list in the future.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Let me know if you see anything wrong. I am still taking photographs and adding them to the site but decided now is the right time to go public. Wish me luck!</div></div><p></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-81979269652814693742023-04-08T19:02:00.000+01:002023-04-08T19:02:20.388+01:00Refurbishing Old Wagons<p>I'm currently embarked on an exercise of getting some old Nine Lines Welshpool wagons ready for transfers and have also been looking closely at the detail and running qualities of my existing wagons. Several of my existing wagons do not run well. Van number 4 is a prime example. It used to sway sideways when running. Some of it was down to the wheels which were old and eccentric but some of it was down to bearing holes that were worn out.</p><p>The quick solution would be to drill (at a slight angle) and fit bearings but a close look at the underside of the wagon shows how crude is the original solebar and W Iron mould. I don't know if this has been improved now the range has been taken over by <a href="https://www.n-driveproductions.com/">N-Drive Productions</a> but I saw a challenge I wanted to meet. </p><p>You can see the W Iron on the picture below. It's just a flat piece of moulding.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhb2yIfMA2qIzKoUO32f7qcJQD-9Y5MVpx-ag77Sq0mj4H3pRiDhRd71f-ivJ3VSsCRadD_jJ1EB7FDB6GHLb_belay9VEAJlsejarl8DK4NJ7_AEKaTpS5PJqb1BuhAvtwSHhViO5Meloe6IuVj1JQfEmI7PgXATiegYu04gGwEB9I_zetF3iEWKOg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhb2yIfMA2qIzKoUO32f7qcJQD-9Y5MVpx-ag77Sq0mj4H3pRiDhRd71f-ivJ3VSsCRadD_jJ1EB7FDB6GHLb_belay9VEAJlsejarl8DK4NJ7_AEKaTpS5PJqb1BuhAvtwSHhViO5Meloe6IuVj1JQfEmI7PgXATiegYu04gGwEB9I_zetF3iEWKOg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The solebars easily came off using some blunt nosed pliers and I was able to apply myself to designing a replacement solebar. The book <a href="https://wildswanbooks.co.uk/Books/Welshpool-Llanfair-Light-Railway.htm">"The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway" by Glyn Williams</a> has some very good drawings that are hopefully reasonably accurate. They allowed me to create the following item.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7_7caE-Nt92P80e-9nxaPJ3JCpzOkRPFcoIcbucfm78bR3JXkZSktTEfL5CWh6v-KkvaagyunDhuBrXRZzbaicOJdkclbrAEJ9ZzXzPl_cqOxK0GeiXyeTzvLPaX6mR0731ZLu-QLMyR6iPoiwytdLGBMI6Hbo6SKQJJVyXIRIxezp3cCd1-LZjg6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="1473" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg7_7caE-Nt92P80e-9nxaPJ3JCpzOkRPFcoIcbucfm78bR3JXkZSktTEfL5CWh6v-KkvaagyunDhuBrXRZzbaicOJdkclbrAEJ9ZzXzPl_cqOxK0GeiXyeTzvLPaX6mR0731ZLu-QLMyR6iPoiwytdLGBMI6Hbo6SKQJJVyXIRIxezp3cCd1-LZjg6" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>It took a few versions but eventually I got an assembly I was happy with. The solebars are recessed to take the <a href="https://dundasmodels.co.uk/webstore/index.php/hikashop-menu-for-module-108/product/5509-n-gauge-brass-bearing-cups-20">Dundas DP09 Bearings</a> though the holes need drilling out. Getting resin to drain from horizontal holes is a real challenge! There's two versions, one with the brake lever bracket and one without.</p><p>Here's a picture of the van with the new solebars before painting.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMT7O7TbPeMKGCx6862RpaKdv4yEUW5jowkpmdcmUY8NhicLAJoqUuJbIaqwY05IB69pVnAKcbTnrZ48py1BHcbfN6Ip0bO5L7jem0BPqkpqyWb8y8Iu2XXwW-BtaDE4ktsrszhYBjQzxnVQk7NUchQQvhuMb9mQpLUppnF2wI_Spl0Y9v9e6-RcJ2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="3167" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgMT7O7TbPeMKGCx6862RpaKdv4yEUW5jowkpmdcmUY8NhicLAJoqUuJbIaqwY05IB69pVnAKcbTnrZ48py1BHcbfN6Ip0bO5L7jem0BPqkpqyWb8y8Iu2XXwW-BtaDE4ktsrszhYBjQzxnVQk7NUchQQvhuMb9mQpLUppnF2wI_Spl0Y9v9e6-RcJ2" width="317" /></a></div><br />The next stage was to design and print the brake lever and brake shoe. These wagons literally only had one brake shoe. Again, after a few versions I got to the right shape. Here is a picture of the van before painting the lever and shoe.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPKPfhJ_G1_WNAiCwcAhZa3mGt98qpDBG_ldhx3fYM6Tx88fyXV7-acI-Mzkn4amBhIME3SUEkEekmqfqRhwVRIjcjYvt6Yc3R7ynPEY-sKPFsv2gWdeJhbVexBxb4zzKqc_LQfWPspDj1OSFp_9N2CcEp7HrLNa3MaO_fWID357K7saWNzub8PaKo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2644" data-original-width="3433" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgPKPfhJ_G1_WNAiCwcAhZa3mGt98qpDBG_ldhx3fYM6Tx88fyXV7-acI-Mzkn4amBhIME3SUEkEekmqfqRhwVRIjcjYvt6Yc3R7ynPEY-sKPFsv2gWdeJhbVexBxb4zzKqc_LQfWPspDj1OSFp_9N2CcEp7HrLNa3MaO_fWID357K7saWNzub8PaKo" width="312" /></a></div><br />Finally, here is the finished version, all painted.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgizQqiRoyiAXyKDH41tgCrs1DTDFNjlJ-NCewWXrr3TcUlrx3zBRDKYgpqfWQeAEwsLripM54NzIUmu0DFPVaJVQygnFlARD0oGAmQmR_VGjeUv17kCIza39-temtgkFDBefrMM4zhBOGE8VxUkiXqMzVS5_pAuDLVpTu6vdSMJhIRzgfKbp4f4VAP" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3052" data-original-width="4235" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgizQqiRoyiAXyKDH41tgCrs1DTDFNjlJ-NCewWXrr3TcUlrx3zBRDKYgpqfWQeAEwsLripM54NzIUmu0DFPVaJVQygnFlARD0oGAmQmR_VGjeUv17kCIza39-temtgkFDBefrMM4zhBOGE8VxUkiXqMzVS5_pAuDLVpTu6vdSMJhIRzgfKbp4f4VAP" width="320" /></a></div><br />With the bearings and the latest Dundas/Mosskito wheels it runs a treat. Mind you, having looked at the photograph more closely I realise that I have forgotten the works and wagon plates but I designed and printed those a long time ago so it won't take long to resolve.<p></p><p>I now have a range of parts for refurbishing my other wagons so I guess I need to get my skates on and update them all. The big question for me is whether there is a market out there for these types of refurbishment kits. </p><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-79680976975083412452023-03-26T07:52:00.006+01:002023-03-26T07:52:50.918+01:00More Wagon Details<p>My good friend, Matt, is embarking on an epic Leek & Manifold (L&M) tale. As is the way with these things, there is much planning and even more stock building. Along the way has been a few requests for bits and pieces such as axle boxes and springs for the coach bogies as well as seats for the coaches.</p><p>His attention has now moved onto the transporter wagons. Having built the transporter wagons he needs suitable standard gauge wagons to be transported and this is where another good friend, Simon, comes in. He has produced a beautiful North Staffs open wagon and, as is Simon's way, it's to P4 gauge (necessary in this case in order to fit the transporter wagon) and it runs perfectly - so perfectly that it rolls straight off the transporter wagon.</p><p>In real life the standard gauge wagons all had hand brakes but the L&M also provided an arrangement of a pair of chocks connected by a pair of rods. These appeared to be of a variety of designs but the reality is that they were probably hand made so differed considerably. I've produced two versions. The first has the side bar protruding horizontally</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlT9Bb11c4PU6v1aBHoqJhKLPNJu_di2MarvguPBDgCdfcbLyGxc7FHtukO6H1HUJGnLie7Y_fuLzNmG-z49gaDMeMtQSv0khQzydMshcY0WU4lmLoOyzlfU043kJ7aCAF3DVLAofZYKaoY70xzzaaxRMwmrMF4YyOos-NpkZJn6Nb8F1tRGFYB6YS" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="920" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlT9Bb11c4PU6v1aBHoqJhKLPNJu_di2MarvguPBDgCdfcbLyGxc7FHtukO6H1HUJGnLie7Y_fuLzNmG-z49gaDMeMtQSv0khQzydMshcY0WU4lmLoOyzlfU043kJ7aCAF3DVLAofZYKaoY70xzzaaxRMwmrMF4YyOos-NpkZJn6Nb8F1tRGFYB6YS" width="303" /></a></div><br />The second has the side bar protruding up at an angle in order to clear a fold up girder that existed on the transporter wagons as part of handling standard gauge milk tank wagons.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTnmBqAI9-EY2FF3_9sa4cLdRMhsLaic1d8a-raSWX4CsbvKSVTE9Bni5Dko9oEvsd0OL5f6ANVdB7EjM4Rqtv95C68yWicwGjjCvg--sm_1CG3KL6vJfU-wiUTvrTIWkhPnRwTwgRIkiIRcXsxOs1iYowX3v6QBN0W7Ou-4WECDc9EL5l7oSLuPxT" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="545" data-original-width="725" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhTnmBqAI9-EY2FF3_9sa4cLdRMhsLaic1d8a-raSWX4CsbvKSVTE9Bni5Dko9oEvsd0OL5f6ANVdB7EjM4Rqtv95C68yWicwGjjCvg--sm_1CG3KL6vJfU-wiUTvrTIWkhPnRwTwgRIkiIRcXsxOs1iYowX3v6QBN0W7Ou-4WECDc9EL5l7oSLuPxT" width="319" /></a></div>As always, the pictures of the period are unclear and dimensions have to be guessed at. The method of locking the assembly onto the transporter wagon appears to consist of some vertical pieces of metal that slot into the wagon frame but these have not been modelled for simplicity. Here's a cruelly large photo of one of the chocks in place.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU8cDiwR15X_3qrIbjhSmdtOlRY4jq9umm7Gr9oEYxXu_RZ36QogXijTz-M-1Vn9LBlGqH2s10hPlpTwxdTU8iNG7Cgk9YybFsU3iAqnacPkEKPygGqDBbMvH1IMcPdFW7LNt7Ei63VBWCbGaddsq5wzejyrDNMYJQ3ZWJIyVs4Q-ewsdEuNPWSXvP" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgU8cDiwR15X_3qrIbjhSmdtOlRY4jq9umm7Gr9oEYxXu_RZ36QogXijTz-M-1Vn9LBlGqH2s10hPlpTwxdTU8iNG7Cgk9YybFsU3iAqnacPkEKPygGqDBbMvH1IMcPdFW7LNt7Ei63VBWCbGaddsq5wzejyrDNMYJQ3ZWJIyVs4Q-ewsdEuNPWSXvP" width="320" /></a></div><br />All in all it took 3 test prints and then one final print of the numbers that Matt wanted. Each print run takes less than an hour so it's less than a day's work to produce something that can be repeated on demand.<p></p><p>Interestingly, I did try the abs-like resin for this but I found the long thin rods required much more support than the usual resin so I settled on using my normal low odour resin to avoid countless support pips having to be removed.<br /> </p><p> </p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-84831088318025763312023-03-22T08:36:00.002+00:002023-03-22T08:36:16.484+00:00Printing Wagon Details<p>Another piece of work over the last few weeks has been designing and printing some wagon details. </p><p>I am finishing off some wagons pending transfers. In the process I am adding bearings to allow the stock to run more freely. This has sometimes necessitated cutting off the solebar to allow the bearings to be fitted and the solebars to go back on slightly further apart. This isn't an issue since 009 track is technically 1mm narrower than it should be for the Welshpool & Llanfair, so could be argued that it is putting the solebar back to the correct dimensions... </p><p>The process of removing the solebar did result in damage to the brake lever and the brake shoe. Looking around at how to replace them, I did consider the easy way of buying them but couldn't be sure that any on the market were of the correct length. That led me to deciding to print them. </p><p>Looking at the open wagon page in the Glyn Williams book revealed a couple of points I had previously missed. The first is that the brake lever doesn't lie flat against the solebar as I had been modelling them. It actually comes out at a fairly steep angle to the edge of the wagon. The second point I had missed is that the brake lever assembly is fixed to the wagon by a bracket that comes out from under the wagon and up the side of it.</p><p>It would make a complicated part but could it be printed?</p><p>This is what I was able to come up with. It has a thick spigot at the back of the ratchet assembly. this provides a good surface to glue the assembly onto the wagon. More importantly, it helps it hold a vertical shape.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQjf758fWxs97zJzVWyAJ3p5ENdRZdA6k78uKeImqIcXrOh3J2LyViwIvnK0s5rz63_QULvSwi9s9PcptgZKJaPhM76_009rpF1W4gzUI7TbKghyDKvp4KHz68UXZBGdXDiz3v6FySbpGXXJw2KOs2hFsiaF8TSOBAMjJGWQ38Y3dwOx8CzXVBB-n5/s780/Screenshot%202023-03-18%20094945.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="780" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQjf758fWxs97zJzVWyAJ3p5ENdRZdA6k78uKeImqIcXrOh3J2LyViwIvnK0s5rz63_QULvSwi9s9PcptgZKJaPhM76_009rpF1W4gzUI7TbKghyDKvp4KHz68UXZBGdXDiz3v6FySbpGXXJw2KOs2hFsiaF8TSOBAMjJGWQ38Y3dwOx8CzXVBB-n5/s320/Screenshot%202023-03-18%20094945.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">The piece of the bracket that comes out from under the wagon is very fine and I had to put a fine cut out in the inside right angle to prevent resin pooling there that would prevent it sitting flat on the wagon. the part is far too fragile to cut or file.</p><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCcz5wbkjYXqSQRgBB2eaOniki0w-MqHi3lOSa8XhZjCv0V830TPXJNSZ0IJ2JhlMEfuiANOhCx-KAz6Vkkz6ghWyUgIDR6BF2IoCLX9lZCeajf7RGD1vovQayFKRp-ofmv-DoOvuo_6Ciqw896A3-a2D_poLiM2KZ3JXZ3ToBO-YashxBPfTbrUmY/s1932/20230318_095913.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1517" data-original-width="1932" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCcz5wbkjYXqSQRgBB2eaOniki0w-MqHi3lOSa8XhZjCv0V830TPXJNSZ0IJ2JhlMEfuiANOhCx-KAz6Vkkz6ghWyUgIDR6BF2IoCLX9lZCeajf7RGD1vovQayFKRp-ofmv-DoOvuo_6Ciqw896A3-a2D_poLiM2KZ3JXZ3ToBO-YashxBPfTbrUmY/s320/20230318_095913.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The photo suffers from being blown up horribly but it's clear it can be printed and, once glued onto the wagon, is pretty strong.</span></p></div><p style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">I used a different resin for this print. Talking to someone demonstrating at the Southampton show recently, I learnt that he uses an abs-like resin for final prints as this is less brittle so more tolerant of knocks. I decided this would be a good part on which to try such a resin as it is a very vulnerable part, likely to get damaged with handling. The real drawback to abs-like resin is that it is not available in a low odour form so really does smell.</span></p><div><p style="text-align: left;">I know I am taking 3D printing to the limit here. On a few of the levers it managed to print the gap in the ratchet part of the assembly, despite being only 0.4mm wide.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZQpJ90gD7BW08eK0FiEmJTK_Mpl3ZcDQcJ3vM-U5CIbkPS2fsEbEN984TDiPLcy5Ye6mDBp0wfxP2B_v4DrKcb2qV5E2qLcL3pd6Jx59HaHfuCM6m90k3vgproJnfbWK-Q-DSJqUBDjhdoKSHY_y2TL7dpEaX7-CljrpgjrySes5No4PSq4exnbp/s1434/20230318_095653.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1351" data-original-width="1434" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZQpJ90gD7BW08eK0FiEmJTK_Mpl3ZcDQcJ3vM-U5CIbkPS2fsEbEN984TDiPLcy5Ye6mDBp0wfxP2B_v4DrKcb2qV5E2qLcL3pd6Jx59HaHfuCM6m90k3vgproJnfbWK-Q-DSJqUBDjhdoKSHY_y2TL7dpEaX7-CljrpgjrySes5No4PSq4exnbp/s320/20230318_095653.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: left;">The ones for the vans will have to be done at some point but this has pointed the way to a plentiful source of replacements. Then there is the brake shoes...</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p><br /><br /></p></div>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-18886907704425838032023-03-18T08:31:00.003+00:002023-03-20T16:05:18.788+00:00Basingstoke Show<p>Last weekend was the Basingstoke Show and I took Melin Dolrhyd. The new fiddle yard worked really well and my fellow operator declared that he liked it which is good from someone who prefers to keep their distance from technology.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsb9U7c3aL6SRgnwcckGP8GCsGCnD87OWQQicpsBj9Is4Fy-GFDLlZ5bfHJgprpaj8F2gi1S2bJ5E8NKFXCtLBfBtAX4TTJgXKtXqJuQOBBaAy0yxvDlvu5jHXSNKhkiplLbpdktNF1xMInFNL1Q7x3wzT29lVXUP1OkBCG0Ibfj2PEJVOfwsCYPp/s4624/20230311_085035.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihsb9U7c3aL6SRgnwcckGP8GCsGCnD87OWQQicpsBj9Is4Fy-GFDLlZ5bfHJgprpaj8F2gi1S2bJ5E8NKFXCtLBfBtAX4TTJgXKtXqJuQOBBaAy0yxvDlvu5jHXSNKhkiplLbpdktNF1xMInFNL1Q7x3wzT29lVXUP1OkBCG0Ibfj2PEJVOfwsCYPp/s320/20230311_085035.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>It's a very friendly show with a range of layouts and traders, though I understand that several traders dropped out on the day which is frustrating for the organisers and anyone who was coming specifically for those traders.</p><p>Sadly, "The Earl" failed to get going. The first hour of a show is always fraught with locos warming up and generally getting into a rhythm. "The Earl" never got into a rhythm. It stuttered it's way round the layout and no cleaning or fettling of pickups was making any difference so it was immediately retired and will have to be overhauled to get back into operation. It is over 30 years old and was made by the late Rod Alcock so it's fair for it to want some attention.</p><p>It meant that Dennis, from the Snailbeach Railway was called into service for the two days. I clearly need a couple more engines to ensure the layout only runs engines that have run on the WLLR.</p><p>The other noticeable issue was some of the stock on some of the points. There were a few derailments in the fiddle yard. One particular point was very noticeable.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0GlDoFiG0s74eIcQmu3WuRMNq19hWNOfeQw9hsbaICm2OKNAp5hjRHQ7XCdMHH0WhLebwGgyNhStcKtzGeIPQoI0p6-Rp1X1FAXO1zGqzM3mxIvx_iI9FzfO740aaKyLiBwSg97PI_hAcHupauiLm5qPI4ARBCnanf4rFvQecXUJtgRbvOL3OJ_y/s2576/20230313_121448.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0GlDoFiG0s74eIcQmu3WuRMNq19hWNOfeQw9hsbaICm2OKNAp5hjRHQ7XCdMHH0WhLebwGgyNhStcKtzGeIPQoI0p6-Rp1X1FAXO1zGqzM3mxIvx_iI9FzfO740aaKyLiBwSg97PI_hAcHupauiLm5qPI4ARBCnanf4rFvQecXUJtgRbvOL3OJ_y/s320/20230313_121448.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>When I got the layout home I set it up again in the lounge and ran stock in a variety of directions. Above is the point that was giving most trouble. As you can see, there is a huge offset on the join between the blade and the fixed rail. When going through the point from the toe, stock was hitting that join and the lighter wagons were bouncing off.</p><p>There was also a track offset between two boards which surprised me due to the number of alignment dowels and the track being soldered at the ends. It didn't cause any issues but I have now corrected it so that it shouldn't cause and issues in the future.</p><p>I have also embarked on an exercise of checking track and wheel geometry as well as coupling heights. Anything one can do to bring consistency has to help with good running. Thankfully, nearly all the problems occurred in the fiddle yard. The front of the layout was fine.</p><p>There were two other narrow gauge layouts at the show. The first was one the Basingstoke Group were refurbishing that they had obtained second hand. The second was "Sandy Shores" by Jamie Warne. This can best be described as a small sand dune shunting layout. It won the Chairman's Choice trophy. Jamie has kindly sent through some photos which are reproduced here. You can also follow his blog <a href="https://jamsmodelrailways.blogspot.com/">here</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5874EKHR7npSJlNUr_hrKvOkDJFTZm2NALp2ulADjy-5Ui5jXkWnqrI4Im2Z4ja9oz_WV393FMnsuHNt8B-yc8Oqf8HZTILINGqmwyHgrXoLj_pLUUvclxQO9LEARZag5znPNlwGwOmakPGrcdmWACum8sY04xlM8SAGBW0Y0RNfBKYCcFV06odu/s1598/SS%20after%20Basingstoke2%20(small).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1598" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5874EKHR7npSJlNUr_hrKvOkDJFTZm2NALp2ulADjy-5Ui5jXkWnqrI4Im2Z4ja9oz_WV393FMnsuHNt8B-yc8Oqf8HZTILINGqmwyHgrXoLj_pLUUvclxQO9LEARZag5znPNlwGwOmakPGrcdmWACum8sY04xlM8SAGBW0Y0RNfBKYCcFV06odu/s320/SS%20after%20Basingstoke2%20(small).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUetSzRIkzFfWPZy6dDRr7oweHyjvi4T2HqVB6cw65fJIehzL_bgCFmubEZoCNXgb-oiHJzK_dhH2haAKY5AKI5Jd8cKVq7z72x4DDOZfpJIvlk1nLDVZkrafE9Cz2R8dG1QEwhsGSr6VtX1YOhi7u12JId3DDBKxQ2M_Im_OQ_BAskEkj5Ce_BMo9/s1598/SS%20after%20Basingstoke5%20(small).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1598" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUetSzRIkzFfWPZy6dDRr7oweHyjvi4T2HqVB6cw65fJIehzL_bgCFmubEZoCNXgb-oiHJzK_dhH2haAKY5AKI5Jd8cKVq7z72x4DDOZfpJIvlk1nLDVZkrafE9Cz2R8dG1QEwhsGSr6VtX1YOhi7u12JId3DDBKxQ2M_Im_OQ_BAskEkj5Ce_BMo9/s320/SS%20after%20Basingstoke5%20(small).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54WFU5CvAOI-_1SgL2as5NdR8h4saSTeNEBKt9KZGBbgjk2yB8vKXmBDJrYD3Vw9YnP3QQKnrnB1jwuUtoc8wGE2Jzlv7JjDE6181tcq-BTGo6wU5n3QXIDtgpDpOSov3UW_UEjq9kmFUGK73VNo0K4EsjKFQMKk9lLxktB9GoeCCmw8PVpiX5qVH/s1598/SS%20after%20Basingstoke9%20(small).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1598" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54WFU5CvAOI-_1SgL2as5NdR8h4saSTeNEBKt9KZGBbgjk2yB8vKXmBDJrYD3Vw9YnP3QQKnrnB1jwuUtoc8wGE2Jzlv7JjDE6181tcq-BTGo6wU5n3QXIDtgpDpOSov3UW_UEjq9kmFUGK73VNo0K4EsjKFQMKk9lLxktB9GoeCCmw8PVpiX5qVH/s320/SS%20after%20Basingstoke9%20(small).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimReA2NVx6WTij3E-d6ZkX-UdWS_6gKFj65aWeklb31iFgKwHdTRIBCbCvZDy-A4aXDWgqIOjk4GP-HVF8uftUKxyDvicde76YURNCwirpkdMQQ7eAABMlWkbNbxCKdvu39cQUiqJpS5NK2zwCSfcJYNe9s8hVBmhyr-9W3LdzGpOc649KEqMj0OwG/s1598/SS%20after%20Basingstoke1%20(small).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1598" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimReA2NVx6WTij3E-d6ZkX-UdWS_6gKFj65aWeklb31iFgKwHdTRIBCbCvZDy-A4aXDWgqIOjk4GP-HVF8uftUKxyDvicde76YURNCwirpkdMQQ7eAABMlWkbNbxCKdvu39cQUiqJpS5NK2zwCSfcJYNe9s8hVBmhyr-9W3LdzGpOc649KEqMj0OwG/s320/SS%20after%20Basingstoke1%20(small).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-3189150664824343432023-02-11T10:11:00.003+00:002023-02-11T19:38:40.780+00:00Wagon Handrails<div>Warning - cruel photography alert!</div><div><br /></div>Another task awaiting me is adding handrails. As I said in the last post, I did the wagons with speed which meant several compromises, the most obvious being leaving on the plastic lumps that represented handrails. It's time to remove those and replace them with more representative wire.<div><br /></div><div>Conventional wisdom is to use brass rod of around 0.33mm diameter so this is what I did. The handrails on the brake van are an interesting shape. In real life they screw onto the side of the van facing into the opening and then turn outwards to make it easier for the guard to grab them. On the model the only way to fix handrails onto the model is to actually glue them into holes in the model. This makes for another bend in the handrail.</div><div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglF6ExB69miQfV1JKSeDPv5w5fXLkOHlb3A6ksJOnc_YZpSXSaY1D2Bm6mDmO5OQrF9rhYGwYBJYtY5Tw4Lf1kRT7ByQ_rytTTTo2ERcTobJ6Kwhv6YgNQzqlWy_jlPAeW4eLxd4vUoQiWiQszcqgGvB1s53UBRFFuu2q2pBFhcmR1pI-FmgV5tk9U" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglF6ExB69miQfV1JKSeDPv5w5fXLkOHlb3A6ksJOnc_YZpSXSaY1D2Bm6mDmO5OQrF9rhYGwYBJYtY5Tw4Lf1kRT7ByQ_rytTTTo2ERcTobJ6Kwhv6YgNQzqlWy_jlPAeW4eLxd4vUoQiWiQszcqgGvB1s53UBRFFuu2q2pBFhcmR1pI-FmgV5tk9U" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div>The picture above shows the handrails quite cleanly. It took me several goes with the finest snipe nosed pliers to get the bends close enough to each other.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3YXJrJDU2MCInRBrgw7HTvssCJjlayOlQz3RbiO4_ZnNZdW3aOLJYGWqxKQMUAQFg9gHsbYyX5LRBPhDriWK2oXUzAKU_BXU82N9dhehrBuDRduh8B2Z8GnElpDPz7uOWvCWv6iNnxF6GO_cvfRg2wpIyGn8ZgLAPyeR8DEp72xVnruXkbIp3zFW2" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3YXJrJDU2MCInRBrgw7HTvssCJjlayOlQz3RbiO4_ZnNZdW3aOLJYGWqxKQMUAQFg9gHsbYyX5LRBPhDriWK2oXUzAKU_BXU82N9dhehrBuDRduh8B2Z8GnElpDPz7uOWvCWv6iNnxF6GO_cvfRg2wpIyGn8ZgLAPyeR8DEp72xVnruXkbIp3zFW2" width="320" /></a></div>Here's another closer, very cruel, shot which shows that after painting the handrails are becoming quite chunky. I can't find the diameter of the real handrails anywhere but 0.33mm is 1" in real life. Add in the primer and topcoat then it is getting pretty thick and closer to 1.5"</div><div><br /></div><div>A search of the internet highlight that 0.3mm rod is available but then the next thickness is 0.2mm. That is small but also offered a challenge. I bought some 0.2mm rod in both nickel silver and brass. I also bought some Tamiya 0.2mm drills. I figured buying just one drill was asking for trouble - they are so small.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqRf4i452bg_sHStj1tgUsADq-6I5Lh4B8jZcpH1dM9mx6Rc51_xcDhGZTS8YI8xi8T1Bnroz7DVnZ0z23e9_kxCpeLYYZk3I_Bq9jEj_1lRvqOl8y0J24ZSxY0d6Er7kCi--vDNgeLHK0wnyZHvAwVda3HxG-LPO0z9p7x31qrtg_v3OOcLguZRwD" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiqRf4i452bg_sHStj1tgUsADq-6I5Lh4B8jZcpH1dM9mx6Rc51_xcDhGZTS8YI8xi8T1Bnroz7DVnZ0z23e9_kxCpeLYYZk3I_Bq9jEj_1lRvqOl8y0J24ZSxY0d6Er7kCi--vDNgeLHK0wnyZHvAwVda3HxG-LPO0z9p7x31qrtg_v3OOcLguZRwD" width="320" /></a></div><br />In real life, the handle of the covered van appears to be thinner than the brake van handles so I tackled that first. The handle is glued into two holes that were drilled and a small piece of flattened wire was glued on top and bottom to simulate the original fitting.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is so much finer and I really like it. I used the nickel silver wire just to have some more strength to cope with handling. The question then arose on how best to represent the brake van opening rail. The real thing is fundamentally a hook and eye, but could it be done in 4mm.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjORhSSmb6DhRo_nK2L6hzqGrw4JqmNc7Xk7tKy2Kp_To9JessIwrtgvXDSC8JbR528jIqVZm05z6iAsk79ffmEE69dDilpTDa_OA69YJOhDGhzK3N9-hdytulrdgFX0RIzs_EG60StFoKzCWwerCdKxX2oOckT2_hPUKsBtcb-8DmRmDKsnSNqPUOa" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjORhSSmb6DhRo_nK2L6hzqGrw4JqmNc7Xk7tKy2Kp_To9JessIwrtgvXDSC8JbR528jIqVZm05z6iAsk79ffmEE69dDilpTDa_OA69YJOhDGhzK3N9-hdytulrdgFX0RIzs_EG60StFoKzCWwerCdKxX2oOckT2_hPUKsBtcb-8DmRmDKsnSNqPUOa" width="320" /></a></div><br />The answer is "Yes". I had to wrap the wire round another piece of wire to create the loop and then had to drill the wagon at an angle but that doesn't show. At this point I broke one of the drills so I only managed 3 holes per drill which, at £6 a drill makes the holes very costly.</div><div><br /></div><div>A decision still needs to be made on what to do. I haven't found any 0.25mm wire rod yet so options are:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Revert to 0.33mm and accept they must be over scale</li><li>Try 0.3mm and maybe just use black primer to reduce the number of coats of paint</li><li>Carry on with 0.2mm and take the hit on drills</li><li>Consider using Metal Black instead of paint</li></ol></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm undecided, but if this was Facebook I would do a poll 😃</div><div><br /></div>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-16701683589391575082023-02-05T08:16:00.001+00:002023-02-05T08:16:21.503+00:00Wagon Roofs<p>Time for a more normal post about building models rather than computer gizmos! </p><p>Currently I have a batch of Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (WLLR) wagons in various states. Some were kits I built but hadn't finished. Others were found on the 009 Society second hand stall. The one thing they have in common is that they are unfinished. It's par for the course for me but they need to get done. I've commissioned a complete set of WLLR wagon transfers from Custom Model Decals. When I say complete, I mean only the ones from the Cambrian era and none of that Great Western stuff!</p><p>Unfortunately, in looking at these wagons it made me go and look at the ones I had finished and I knew I could do better. When I built the original wagons I did so with speed so that I could have something to run and get a feeling of achievement. Looking at them now there were some obvious things to fix. The first was the plastic handrails (well actually plastic blobs where handrails should be) and the second was the roofs.</p><p>Roofs are interesting in that how you model them depends on your view of weathering. Are you a person who models when rolling stock was new and in pristine condition, at the other end of life when all was <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">dilapidated </span>and worn out, or somewhere in-between. For a long time I have modelled in the pristine condition but I have been experimenting with light weathering. </p><p>Most of my wagons have been weathered using <a href="https://ak-interactive.com/product-category/paints/ak-weathering-pencils/">AK Weathering Pencils</a>. These are useful items, allowing you to crayon on the weathering and, if you get it wrong, just wipe it off with a damp finger. They are okay for using on roofs but not ideal and nothing I tried was particularly realistic.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRoMhZj7h8z0elnFTxqjn7Q3Hx3fnYujqmqZL6PYYl8O0dfir4xVUtE8hLfK8qTk8oSqv9p1muX-TidZFuoseLqOY4Ruud58jOSop2tx9WpPOFSuPCNgDsaP-u4ycr8M5jgReWJqunlXm3uKSceaiJsYZnup9vXGmGPOXERhfz7ISAAUdASjT31igZ" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1753" data-original-width="2831" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRoMhZj7h8z0elnFTxqjn7Q3Hx3fnYujqmqZL6PYYl8O0dfir4xVUtE8hLfK8qTk8oSqv9p1muX-TidZFuoseLqOY4Ruud58jOSop2tx9WpPOFSuPCNgDsaP-u4ycr8M5jgReWJqunlXm3uKSceaiJsYZnup9vXGmGPOXERhfz7ISAAUdASjT31igZ=w400-h248" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Brian Webber/ Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Recently I came across the above picture from The Llanfair Railway Journal. It shows one of the Pickering coaches part way through a deep clean. For some reason the original owners of the WLLR decided to paint the roofs of their stock white. It makes no sense really. Railways were dirty environments but maybe there was some reason I am not aware of.</p><p>Needless to say, roofs get dirty. All they do is sit outside in all weathers or are pulled behind locomotives that belch out soot and smoke. That has to land somewhere and usually it is on the roofs of vehicles behind. This is only one small view, and I wonder what the rest of the roof was like, but it is interesting to see how uniform is the greyness.</p><p>The question is then how best to recreate this in model form. I've had a few different attempts but the following is the technique that seems to be simplest for me to do and produces a reasonable result.</p><p>A brief aside is that for many years all my models were painted using spray cans from Halfords or Humbrol acrylics. I've a few paints from other manufacturers like Games Workshop but have always fallen back on good old Humbrol. Recently, I had cause to try some Vallejo paints after watching someone get very good results with them. I have to say I was hooked. The texture of the paints is excellent. Vallejo paints seem to be creamier and hold the paint particles in suspension better than Humbrol. The two paints used on the roofs are, therefore, Vallejo.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUQ-gp4DJ18WqX9KBQx-L1Hv9jfRP9WDdZWPNnS_cy68h_PuLxIX3sfAX-5VTRaldpODCuSuUKPLtSIkw0hW_13epo3ZcV_41qGPGDInQ3ZEU9Et0sstUclS304ikp_sGbGM42Q__jn96wMSHunXu_Nzo_hOjHOm8MYylkLa505vxQ7Q7PMGCI_TNw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2437" data-original-width="3250" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUQ-gp4DJ18WqX9KBQx-L1Hv9jfRP9WDdZWPNnS_cy68h_PuLxIX3sfAX-5VTRaldpODCuSuUKPLtSIkw0hW_13epo3ZcV_41qGPGDInQ3ZEU9Et0sstUclS304ikp_sGbGM42Q__jn96wMSHunXu_Nzo_hOjHOm8MYylkLa505vxQ7Q7PMGCI_TNw" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Firstly, I paint the roof in Ivory (70.918). For the effect I wanted to create, there was always going to be glimmers of the original roof colour coming through. It's hard to know from the black and white pictures just how white the original roofs were but we can assume if was fairly bright white. I thought that on a small model, using brilliant white would make it seem more plasticky so settled on ivory. This needs to be allowed to properly dry. For some people this would be 24 hours but I am happy to move onto the next stage after 30 minutes. <br /></div></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5R2nfw5Sfy9v4kH7K4EykTEZFUxa3Ty36g9DeW3VOSNJDmVQ_p__09VxhsDZosTf4lR9po1btijdMlCQslKz-H5SoTJEmoURItkopgybdihKO0xY-PhaWJ-Y7WaVJ8aOYKGlVUZ0MHFKuMZZeOabIAxxwQcyI0i0_CdJxBMExHA5WbQSHUr6wvk6U" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2437" data-original-width="3250" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi5R2nfw5Sfy9v4kH7K4EykTEZFUxa3Ty36g9DeW3VOSNJDmVQ_p__09VxhsDZosTf4lR9po1btijdMlCQslKz-H5SoTJEmoURItkopgybdihKO0xY-PhaWJ-Y7WaVJ8aOYKGlVUZ0MHFKuMZZeOabIAxxwQcyI0i0_CdJxBMExHA5WbQSHUr6wvk6U" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">After the coat of Ivory, I use some Dark Grey Wash (76.517). This gets sloshed on. Don't forget to do the edge of the roof as well. The great thing about acrylic washes is that whilst they are wet you can wipe them off with a damp cloth. If you get some where you shouldn't, removal is relatively simple.</div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrHTKBCdJdHlVlX9QRwsUxJ3rJ_HvHTudF0NifJdDLoUo867D8W3tVU8BiXCbb72etD0FF0jXYWap_HC-P1EsCo04x6xJYQuL2LXZd-7avFAtA5i8fgixd5bUo5QVnSiJ-lDHXIp4DIUqdUuPS-lZK1hABgv_YbaHDGaAi3wtMx1GfHDyZsn4LCptb" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2438" data-original-width="3250" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrHTKBCdJdHlVlX9QRwsUxJ3rJ_HvHTudF0NifJdDLoUo867D8W3tVU8BiXCbb72etD0FF0jXYWap_HC-P1EsCo04x6xJYQuL2LXZd-7avFAtA5i8fgixd5bUo5QVnSiJ-lDHXIp4DIUqdUuPS-lZK1hABgv_YbaHDGaAi3wtMx1GfHDyZsn4LCptb" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The next stage is to dab the wash off with a tissue or piece of kitchen paper. I happened to have some tissue lying on the bench so just picked it up and used it. In the picture above, the far half of the wagon roof has been dabbed, while the near half is waiting to be done. I use the same area of the tissue. I don't use a different area for each dab as that would probably remove too much of the wash. As you dab away the roof becomes a uniform, but mottled, colour. It's the mottling that I was looking to achieve. Again, let this dry and then repeat as many times as you want to do create the depth of weathering you are looking for.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizhLcd9_Be8nqM7x2KUlndk5EUgMxRUrLsw4i-ME8qkqZvySYtcfJ6y2_m9cRk_nloIhZRmlqCtGURPQQO6dxbhz7U3Q8gEFdFTl3IIHf-EKBYD9zSR9yqXuLHZyAItfwblXgygGJoOayKI_eCAh-JbH7xlFdH9YiZGu4xlQ1We_gUbXz81lhOCEU7" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2475" data-original-width="4296" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizhLcd9_Be8nqM7x2KUlndk5EUgMxRUrLsw4i-ME8qkqZvySYtcfJ6y2_m9cRk_nloIhZRmlqCtGURPQQO6dxbhz7U3Q8gEFdFTl3IIHf-EKBYD9zSR9yqXuLHZyAItfwblXgygGJoOayKI_eCAh-JbH7xlFdH9YiZGu4xlQ1We_gUbXz81lhOCEU7=w400-h230" width="400" /></a></div></div></div><p></p><p>Here are four WLLR wagons. From left to right they are</p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Plain roof in Ivory</li><li>After 1 wash</li><li>After 2 washes</li><li>After 3 washes</li></ol><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">It's likely that on faster lines the weathering would have a streaky feel to it but on a slow backwater like the WLLR I suspect it will be more from the soot falling onto the roofs so the dabbing technique works well. At this point I could take the weathering pencils to the roof and create some more effects but this will do me for now.</p><p style="text-align: left;">I haven't made my mind up how much weathering I want on my wagons. I usually say to people that Melin Dolrhyd is set around 1912. This was a sweet spot in the history of the line when the coaches were plain green and they had converted some of the open wagons to sheep wagons. Recently, I have been looking at the three etched coach kits and thinking it is time to build these in the earlier bronze and white livery which would potentially mean lighter weathering. On reflection, that is overthinking it. I will simply pick which colour I find most pleasing!</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-60926022409024661602023-01-27T11:53:00.005+00:002023-01-27T11:53:51.330+00:00Computers and Model Railways<p>No, I'm not converting the layout to DCC! The layout ran well at Maidenhead with the exception of the two oldest locomotives. My model of "Earl" and my friend's model of "Countess" were not happy with the 12" radius points. "Earl" would fight its way through the points but "Countess" would only operate on the straight track. this is due to them being 20+ years old and using wheels with deep flanges which hit the check rails on the curves. "Earl" was able to go further since it has flangeless centre drivers. Combined with the deep wheels are the outside frames which mean there is no scope for opening the back to back of them. This, hopefully, isn't the end of the world as I have replacements for "Earl" and "Countess" which are planned to be built in the coming months and they will use modern wheel sets. If that fails then I will have to resort to mainline points which are 18" radius but I hope not to go there since that will reduce the length of the sidings by 4" overall.</p><p>The only problems encountered at Maidenhead was operator error on setting the points with the occasional stutter over the frogs. The stuttering will be sorted with point motors with frog switches. In my last post I mentioned I was short of one MP1 point motor. The estimated delivery of mid December came and went and another good friend, Adrian, offered me one from his secret stash so I bought that and had enough to start.</p><p></p><p>The next issue was whether I could reduce the operator error? Get better operators would be the correct answer but that would mean I wasn't allowed to operate my own layout! Traditional operation would have a switch for each point which still leaves scope for not setting them correctly. They could be paired up so that each switch operates the corresponding point at the opposite end. That would reduce the errors but was never going to fully eliminate them. One answer was to operate the points using a push button for each track that, when pressed, would change all the necessary points to make that track the running line. It had to be done!</p><p>This is the finished result from above.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ5Yc_9k4xeT-9D7THEyzllXa-72U_sTG6beVfNILPJCuVOcd5ESOkarPQfFT2YLnaRVwLWHx7Y6mQuKu84AmNvTpx1byB4iNdfEv8ZdI7PsHvBXrNkzjaC3tcr4CDqQk6q7csy_HxDH_Ik-dIDF4dlxXk-FICAnwFiuBJDJtnAUe7ALHxq-2cDt2x" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1673" data-original-width="4481" height="119" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ5Yc_9k4xeT-9D7THEyzllXa-72U_sTG6beVfNILPJCuVOcd5ESOkarPQfFT2YLnaRVwLWHx7Y6mQuKu84AmNvTpx1byB4iNdfEv8ZdI7PsHvBXrNkzjaC3tcr4CDqQk6q7csy_HxDH_Ik-dIDF4dlxXk-FICAnwFiuBJDJtnAUe7ALHxq-2cDt2x" width="320" /></a></div><br />The five sidings match 5 push button switches top left. This is matched by 5 LEDs next to the switches. The LEDS flash while the points are changing and go solid green when the points are set. The location of the switches is such that when operating the layout from one side (whilst talking to visitors) I can reach them. The is a red LED below the 5 green ones which will flash if something goes wrong and blips every 5 seconds to say the system is working. <p></p><p>As an aside, have a look at the photo above and tell me where the baseboard side has gone. There is clearly some trick of the light taking place but I cannot see the baseboard side on the edge at the bottom of the picture - weird!</p><p>How did I do it, you may well ask. Well let me tell you. I have previously experimented with PIC controllers and briefly considered them but I would need to build a microprocessor board to make it work and the chance of failure would be high. I decided to take a look at the Raspberry Pi and Arduino group of educational systems. These are prebuilt microcontroller boards for which there are a variety of accessory cards, meaning there would be little extra circuitry to wire up. I didn't look too closely at the Raspberry Pi as when I looked at the Arduino it seemed to be ideal for the job.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiB4UNPkFrg0ohK7c24Dc2vpovW4wYkkDgaf1RdtQb6oc9JgjNM2tPwr58t3b83L7krvXaVq-qtxMsyikwOlgscePohz5ZA6WfbCuAZnknolDaMn1APLGYELCsyg4h8ThKGyDeY8TmZtUmPzQQkbooMiBB8ODui84k0FScUYilOFT1YuaP4aptocOhb" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4624" data-original-width="3468" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiB4UNPkFrg0ohK7c24Dc2vpovW4wYkkDgaf1RdtQb6oc9JgjNM2tPwr58t3b83L7krvXaVq-qtxMsyikwOlgscePohz5ZA6WfbCuAZnknolDaMn1APLGYELCsyg4h8ThKGyDeY8TmZtUmPzQQkbooMiBB8ODui84k0FScUYilOFT1YuaP4aptocOhb" width="180" /></a></div><br />Pictured above is the Arduino Uno by Keyestudio, wired up and fixed under the fiddle yard. The standard Uno features 14 digital input/output pins and 6 analog input pins. I also picked up the next variant, the Mega, which has many more inputs and outputs. The nice thing about these microcontrollers is that they use a standard USB connector to hook up to the computer, an off the shelf 9V power supply and they are programmed in 'C'. 'C; is the programming language I used most in my career, along with assembly language, so I felt at home straight away. The reality was that writing a program to flash the light on the PCB took me all of 10 minutes. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigIoCf6cPXTLbMToJKJxFYV6BOLjpaXNx40_eaNPXGX5ltzhTQL8qHDQx7SjG_ay7FVDPbPKTeYdC0JVNUebHttTGESJrcgi9_fpq6FFHVthpnJPp4M4qkEqwfWZ2hBWYB0e8Uus5Uawduv28QXHy_Baeoet8UeOBBakiA3FjMUiMfnYmFIKJozplF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4624" data-original-width="3468" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEigIoCf6cPXTLbMToJKJxFYV6BOLjpaXNx40_eaNPXGX5ltzhTQL8qHDQx7SjG_ay7FVDPbPKTeYdC0JVNUebHttTGESJrcgi9_fpq6FFHVthpnJPp4M4qkEqwfWZ2hBWYB0e8Uus5Uawduv28QXHy_Baeoet8UeOBBakiA3FjMUiMfnYmFIKJozplF" width="180" /></a></div><br />Once the microcontroller was decided on then I needed a way to drive the point motors. I bought a solid state relay board but then discovered that it could only switch mains AC so that went back. Instead, I bought an Elegoo 8 channel relay board, shown above. The wiring is a neat ribbon cable to the Arduino and the relays have screw terminals to drive the point motors. The photograph above shows the board with one point motor still to be wired up.<p></p><p>It might be at this point that those of a less nerdy disposition should skip the next few paragraphs down to the photo of the point motor.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1qYir7Z31YNX-kP12V3Uvt3qjmU-rAVY2XqSvdY8wO5mzRwXKIZ9jGUVvpy016kk_GAKNxXvzxhSqK9a8sO5xUBOWmnr4pj9xWbpz_CNHfzSQn-P6yd8SvK8q7qLq0HdCcShO5IMTfi0P5NrGtV9SZAisTmVzVoy6dcb21xx50aDh78RLiFmHkHwq" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4624" data-original-width="3468" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj1qYir7Z31YNX-kP12V3Uvt3qjmU-rAVY2XqSvdY8wO5mzRwXKIZ9jGUVvpy016kk_GAKNxXvzxhSqK9a8sO5xUBOWmnr4pj9xWbpz_CNHfzSQn-P6yd8SvK8q7qLq0HdCcShO5IMTfi0P5NrGtV9SZAisTmVzVoy6dcb21xx50aDh78RLiFmHkHwq" width="180" /></a></div><br />What remained was to connect the switches and the LEDs to the Arduino. The LEDs are simply driven from the remaining digital outputs (8 are used for the relays) They need a resistor inline to limit the customer so I used a small piece of strip board shown above. At this point I had run out of the digital inputs/outputs. I could have used the Arduino Mega but as there were unused analog inputs I used those. All it took was a pullup resistor on each input and each switch forces the respective input to zero.<p></p><p>The program was written in Arduino's latest Interactive Development Environment. After the initialisation sequence, the program looks for switch presses and changes the points accordingly. the biggest headache was considering how swiftly to change the point motors. I've got a 2A 9V supply driving the system which is more than enough to drive all point motors at once. However, every time a point motor changes, there will be a spike on the supply as the relay switches and as the point motor kicks in. It is theoretically possible that having all point motors go at once could cause a spike on the microcontroller. Separate power supplies for the motors compared to the microcontroller would help but this is an overkill. All I did was put a 0.2 second delay between each point motor change. This will mean there is a series of smaller spikes over the time taken for all point motors to change.</p><p>In order to simplify the brain cells required to understand the program I have two constants in the program, STRAIGHT and CURVED. These apply to the point movement. I also set the standard that the normally closed contacts on the relay card drive the points to the STRAIGHT direction. </p><p>The startup sequence is also interesting. If you configure the point motor input/outputs as outputs then the outputs are immediately driven low which causes all the relays to fire at once. I discovered that you can write the outputs high before you configure them and this value is latched internally and used on configuration so none of the relays fire on power up.</p><p>The power up issue still occurs if the points are left in random positions when you turn the power off. Thankfully there can never be all the points in the CURVED way at once. Whilst each switch only changes the minimum number of points needed to achieve the goal of a particular track, the switch for the middle track drives all the points to the STRAIGHT position so it can also serve as an end of day switch to put everything to a known state.</p><p>I did put in a 6th LED which blips every 5 seconds just to say the system is still working. It will also flash more vigorously if it gets a weird input from the switches but I realised I wrote the software in such a way that it doesn't look for anything other than the 5 individual switch presses.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDnOSW2DwhAlNnkhwh-6v1NZi5g2WF3ed1D8u2x5s-l9PxHrb_bolygX8PXI44xAhWDpDAFZhREZilkSgy5cKq9n6JB7VgMOuBuQb6qt7-TqGK8Uwwg3MSi3R1X9-Yg4JTsb-b-RqV4eRVP7-j4BOOSQMvCMiKXMor4RYcQs5YyFSWCavL4wW-zyte" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2887" data-original-width="3871" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjDnOSW2DwhAlNnkhwh-6v1NZi5g2WF3ed1D8u2x5s-l9PxHrb_bolygX8PXI44xAhWDpDAFZhREZilkSgy5cKq9n6JB7VgMOuBuQb6qt7-TqGK8Uwwg3MSi3R1X9-Yg4JTsb-b-RqV4eRVP7-j4BOOSQMvCMiKXMor4RYcQs5YyFSWCavL4wW-zyte" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The point motors themselves were mounted on a small square of 9mm ply using M2.5 screws as shown above. I wired in each point motor and then held it roughly in place and fired it in both directions to find the optimum place. Once satisfied, I drew round the block of ply and used the hot glue gun to stick the block to the underside of the baseboard. Once done, I felt the position wasn't optimal. The rod that drives the point was hard against the point at each face. The MP1s have an adjustable throw and I had set them all to the smallest one, 3mm, but it was still too much. Peco points have a throw of just over 2mm. I solved this by removing the point motor and using two pieces of 9mm ply instead of just the one. This meant there was some slop at each end but the point always moves. If you ever get the position wrong, the MP1 has adjustments in all 3 dimensions. It really is a clever piece of kit.</p><p>With a computer controlled system like this, you do have to ask yourself what you would do if it went wrong. If it isn't a simple wire falling out then the "at an exhibition" option is to drop out the point motors (most of them you can just drop out the control rod) and also disconnect the frog wires. At that point it reverts to the manual operation that was used at Maidenhead.</p><p>There it is. Approximately £40 of expenditure and a few extra hours to wire it up and debug the program. It gets its first outing at the Basingstoke show in March - a 2 day show that will give it a good test!</p><p>And to cap it all. I finished the fiddle yard yesterday and within an hour I got n email saying my MP1 point motors, ordered in November, have finally shipped!</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-73653444949736659772022-12-06T16:05:00.006+00:002022-12-06T16:05:47.036+00:00Enginering Works Complete<p>Long post alert! The last few weeks have seen some significant activity to get the layout working again. Mostly it went well but there was one setback...</p><p>In my last post I said it was time to get on with the ballasting. I decided to use my usual Woodland Scenics but using the medium rather than fine versions. The more I looked at the pictures of the trackbed the more I realised I had been incorrectly using the fine size and the individual stones were larger than I had imagined. I mixed up some light grey and grey to give it tone and put it down. I stuck it down with watered down PVA with the obligatory liquid soap but I did have misgivings on how it looked. It was really too bright and I had made the mix 50:50 and it would probably be better at 80:20. I tried toning it down but that made it worse....</p><p>I was going to live with it until I went to Warley and I was perusing the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/attwoodaggregates/">Attwood Aggregates</a> stand. I was taken by the way real stone has variety of colour built in. I took a couple of bags, one greyish one for this layout and another more sandy coloured one for the Ashover layout. I took up the fresh ballast and, needless to say, it went down a lot easier. I don't know if it is because it is natural and not fabricated but it didn't shift when I applied the PVA.</p><p>Here's a couple of shots of the ballast including some taken using the macro lens on the phone:</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhT2-biSPBDlEgR09V1qDalRxkn7F1cTW12A_lpt21yRjjUjz2UOGUpOMmhRjKdSfZdUCJGqNR20TRcvpm6kLnApMC9UIkZtI_xe3opEjhdVv3NESgKY8QBdW7maZD7Q2agVd_qBH4cUUEA-1ASInTHmy2orr17eRv8FgpNLc_iPynh-Fsm0XIwNxvv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhT2-biSPBDlEgR09V1qDalRxkn7F1cTW12A_lpt21yRjjUjz2UOGUpOMmhRjKdSfZdUCJGqNR20TRcvpm6kLnApMC9UIkZtI_xe3opEjhdVv3NESgKY8QBdW7maZD7Q2agVd_qBH4cUUEA-1ASInTHmy2orr17eRv8FgpNLc_iPynh-Fsm0XIwNxvv" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizmRc_DPVWd52RXX0DpotNm7ZTzU1NWAKVQzECEWxy_c1DApHhyIhfgYAxS-ZpjnK_TI0plACb5YByKSMH8ZXHxHE02-OQGyP5I99btbFzsLagAscsdE3lsBPAdKB6jbDDblJGM6FBX3Lsgd7PCj4UlJPHwrMTwx6c6f8lcKpyGN7GLLUE88OkXhmy" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizmRc_DPVWd52RXX0DpotNm7ZTzU1NWAKVQzECEWxy_c1DApHhyIhfgYAxS-ZpjnK_TI0plACb5YByKSMH8ZXHxHE02-OQGyP5I99btbFzsLagAscsdE3lsBPAdKB6jbDDblJGM6FBX3Lsgd7PCj4UlJPHwrMTwx6c6f8lcKpyGN7GLLUE88OkXhmy" width="320" /></a></div></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirgZjjw-6sJUDGkSYyhitxZpTt1KYcwWxmyupR5hveb6XdIMr4HaSYa3W4pUtaMJc88KmZSY0mgns16HvpLgyfRnOMvHV7tvYDvrEDUN5RjBSzRlJ9qW7nh2xTUkJzrWXlnX38bgn-mhbkKgb2YP47pAO6lfJromeVwlECicLaEvCEsjzW2zPpg07l" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirgZjjw-6sJUDGkSYyhitxZpTt1KYcwWxmyupR5hveb6XdIMr4HaSYa3W4pUtaMJc88KmZSY0mgns16HvpLgyfRnOMvHV7tvYDvrEDUN5RjBSzRlJ9qW7nh2xTUkJzrWXlnX38bgn-mhbkKgb2YP47pAO6lfJromeVwlECicLaEvCEsjzW2zPpg07l" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjw4n2b_0Jaw-2MU-GDXf5IPY46tffetKcvaod18vd0c42uYCp8rBADegrx6FaTDu2Esgmir0uAsxIKjPUQ0zZyNnkfb7So_p54f0hzJvwLKSkAlqWCbToZCvzfwYIg6fzHy4B3ZorZZP7dzs8iX44zOMgW9zIRKupavpR9YDCd-nn85ULArKxqAQUE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjw4n2b_0Jaw-2MU-GDXf5IPY46tffetKcvaod18vd0c42uYCp8rBADegrx6FaTDu2Esgmir0uAsxIKjPUQ0zZyNnkfb7So_p54f0hzJvwLKSkAlqWCbToZCvzfwYIg6fzHy4B3ZorZZP7dzs8iX44zOMgW9zIRKupavpR9YDCd-nn85ULArKxqAQUE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCgwdnD7hSeLLkvKuo37-H_vx1NShct7o4rNqKNdueclDugtO4R3sYR7lBQqEMZeZJr84YILddl98vZEbalurf3o3kqmiQLC7c6z2kw4iT8AUuCTFxrQO_wlCf99g8qJL9R-4wxy5EIEIWxy3wCw1V4dju2lKWGZPao7fM2ipjfJRc2yIBlJ_XCDig" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1932" data-original-width="2576" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCgwdnD7hSeLLkvKuo37-H_vx1NShct7o4rNqKNdueclDugtO4R3sYR7lBQqEMZeZJr84YILddl98vZEbalurf3o3kqmiQLC7c6z2kw4iT8AUuCTFxrQO_wlCf99g8qJL9R-4wxy5EIEIWxy3wCw1V4dju2lKWGZPao7fM2ipjfJRc2yIBlJ_XCDig" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div>The other big change that I decided to do at the same time was to replace the traverser. The traverser is a great bit of kit but as others will testify, modifying a layout once complete is rarely a wise move which leads to compromises and bodges. My bodge was that the traverser was 48" long but it had to fit into a 51" space. This necessitated some bridging timbers which, combined with some rather mediocre track laying my yours truly, meant that reliability was often an issue with derailments at the joins. Theoretically there really should have been no derailments on a layout that has not points!<p></p><p>If you have followed the blog from the beginning then you'll know that the driver for the traverser was that my original 4 road fiddle yard was connected via 9" radius curves which my newly built coaching stock woudl not go round. I still had that fiddle yard with its dowels to connect to the back of the layout so I dismantled it and used it's front and rear faces along with new sides and top to create the fiddle yard below. </p><p>The yard now 5 roads with the centre one straight. What I have discovered with this layout is that running tends to consist of running the same train round several times whilst talking to visitors and only changing the train occasionally. Hence, the desire to have a straight track to limit the chance of derailments. Last year I invested in a Morley controller which can be seen in the photo below. There is a carefully cut hoel under the controller to take the cabling.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfQP2L3xWBPXO4RtKlpekizc9VQNmpQAAXEpSPrUR2cVL2D_ikjBk3Aa0KTfBUoGINlJkhw3BBW18d899-JPnOFKKpFZ_1NnHX82MHumakcCZCpBw17YwgNLGrrE9kt11Crya9FBLfqMQCdtm4L2owUl_v-CwoMPY58hAP1aPBqxK8-kaXHYHfi78i" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4624" data-original-width="3468" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgfQP2L3xWBPXO4RtKlpekizc9VQNmpQAAXEpSPrUR2cVL2D_ikjBk3Aa0KTfBUoGINlJkhw3BBW18d899-JPnOFKKpFZ_1NnHX82MHumakcCZCpBw17YwgNLGrrE9kt11Crya9FBLfqMQCdtm4L2owUl_v-CwoMPY58hAP1aPBqxK8-kaXHYHfi78i" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I then had to relay the track on the end boards since the levels had all changed. I took the opportunity to take this very slowly and carefully to ensure good transitions at the baseboard joins. I've found I can put up the main board, fiddle yard and one end board in the room which is how I have been working the last couple of weeks. First is a photo of the underside with the wiring in place and tag strips ready for the necessary point motor wiring. I need one more MP1 point motor and they are in short supply currently. For now it works fine without them.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhMOqAbgePreUXm28pdevlvPF42e8Mbn2FwizzQQqdhxrgGiu81vUjP-1gXSWbSs1sGN79iceRhnrrVaYmXZ_sStiGwsalkA-1V8h9BlLDNxtbDn-81hhAsNLrxIaMoB-T2ZNX-H8LfME5eOZHqJloDBjXXKar-GUicrJ6DJ4-1vWf1zno4o1k4wy8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1636" data-original-width="4449" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhMOqAbgePreUXm28pdevlvPF42e8Mbn2FwizzQQqdhxrgGiu81vUjP-1gXSWbSs1sGN79iceRhnrrVaYmXZ_sStiGwsalkA-1V8h9BlLDNxtbDn-81hhAsNLrxIaMoB-T2ZNX-H8LfME5eOZHqJloDBjXXKar-GUicrJ6DJ4-1vWf1zno4o1k4wy8" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here is the completed fiddle yard complete with test track. since Melin Dolryhd only needs one controller it seemed sensible to use the second controller as a test track. The track is wired up and the buffer stops are my own 3D designed and printed coupling height gauges. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivN1n9HFIQEeUM74ib1sDYC9jO8OdJyv6FeWEeORUCe2ogsyyyAON0VIkVwT5wT63vLcvOdUtV7RtbwaA4TXD3MZ5Fl8cW4cIhWfNQDOQsQbbRdJg1FDuCsTRIENMzwXdZRR00fRF9uO-YfDgRdEmPLEIfv91KG00rZ_kVMkn2K1i9ghe3gjBl67pa" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEivN1n9HFIQEeUM74ib1sDYC9jO8OdJyv6FeWEeORUCe2ogsyyyAON0VIkVwT5wT63vLcvOdUtV7RtbwaA4TXD3MZ5Fl8cW4cIhWfNQDOQsQbbRdJg1FDuCsTRIENMzwXdZRR00fRF9uO-YfDgRdEmPLEIfv91KG00rZ_kVMkn2K1i9ghe3gjBl67pa" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So the engineering works are complete and the layout is ready to go to Maidenhead Show the first week of January. Actually I need to redo the curtains but they will get sorted the week before the show when the layout gets erected in the lounge for a quick check.</div><p></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-47924487143762059052022-11-19T15:22:00.003+00:002022-11-19T15:22:23.044+00:00Relaying the track<p>After removing all the old ballast and track I then had to carefully remove any leftover impact adhesive from the old track. Once that was removed it was a case of smoothing it off with a wooden block and some medium grade sandpaper and it was ready to go.</p><p>Then it was a case of cutting up the sleepers with a razor saw. The early Cartwright and Russel book on the WLLR states that the sleepers were 6' x 9" x 4.5" at 3' spacing. That meant they should be 24mm on the model but as the track gauge is 1mm smaller than it should be, I decided to cut them to 23mm to keep the visible ratio correct. I used a razor saw and the wooden ones were easy but the fibreglas ones were hard work. Thankfully I only needed 6 - two at each end and two at the track join.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhX29bU-7wc45nxm1TSKz9h1TN85buLcTCVAlL9_lC5bLwr4K9iGiFyKGJ2V5tPIXt2ylzeskhGGy5HJG4DgIGupGH2HNDnwi2L8EA4Vz_fPSokPtDdS-IBgGoCH7gBsw5cRTzxnZ2HZcSw_7k5ljeE8wLjGOf91wVZRcKxDjCOCZMsWQOJgoi29JR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjhX29bU-7wc45nxm1TSKz9h1TN85buLcTCVAlL9_lC5bLwr4K9iGiFyKGJ2V5tPIXt2ylzeskhGGy5HJG4DgIGupGH2HNDnwi2L8EA4Vz_fPSokPtDdS-IBgGoCH7gBsw5cRTzxnZ2HZcSw_7k5ljeE8wLjGOf91wVZRcKxDjCOCZMsWQOJgoi29JR" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p>I then went over the trackbed and marked out 12mm spacing and a line of where the far rail should be. the expectation was that I would lay the far rail first and then lay the second rail spaced off that. The first rail was glued to the sleepers with impact adhesive, doing around 12 sleepers worth a time. Once glued and aligned it was weighted down with a metal block.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMPk1K34rRlXpitI1_284ldV10kRycmlRJasII8UUy1leXWFPDFdPogZsk6X0mKDzuvJUdYn22PppK3FOgx4gXPsqhFBglhhAOMca_1JxkapBNFO8vdC2rjvmCxnx-nAhEJZTktbSbFB-Vph6sSi58p-MFzVSngz4T4Yz5t-dN1pNI-lCMLHR-NOCp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMPk1K34rRlXpitI1_284ldV10kRycmlRJasII8UUy1leXWFPDFdPogZsk6X0mKDzuvJUdYn22PppK3FOgx4gXPsqhFBglhhAOMca_1JxkapBNFO8vdC2rjvmCxnx-nAhEJZTktbSbFB-Vph6sSi58p-MFzVSngz4T4Yz5t-dN1pNI-lCMLHR-NOCp" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;"> After that the second rail could be glued down and spaced off the first rail using the 3 point gauges which were themselves held down with the metal block. Again, I could do about 12 sleepers at a time, and chose to leave the weight on for around an hour before moving to the next section.</p></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEin9XWsuTFs4xfXEi2yQhENvXfyMYhEuUhojrG8RHF523Rs5u3M6rcL7EyHdwvOnu0CA0xqt1h6Pugu7F86qwiOPE-Zr1WEoo5-2w_WN-h-a95XJ0hetx4J_Tg1jH2I2JG-fbLsabRR7MqqmYlmvV9ePvPVrcTi996ykHlfSKrfcZDfGCcl4BqblwKX" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEin9XWsuTFs4xfXEi2yQhENvXfyMYhEuUhojrG8RHF523Rs5u3M6rcL7EyHdwvOnu0CA0xqt1h6Pugu7F86qwiOPE-Zr1WEoo5-2w_WN-h-a95XJ0hetx4J_Tg1jH2I2JG-fbLsabRR7MqqmYlmvV9ePvPVrcTi996ykHlfSKrfcZDfGCcl4BqblwKX" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Eventually, once it was all down, I just had to solder the track to the copper clad strip, reconnect the wires and run the first train.<div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9lwa8L2a6gpKd8tg-r8dOXIlhETVlgI23LSrSLySRoWAse1WG2BwfQgE5gP1jTr5BPP_wNC3X8fbNPPeP7sowOpW4eHx76XdHcjr2VecaEQRkQB-75C0yVTDbWEuv1albIDdDTSAG4c4agXXpKHP1hr3rO-PhdPivY01HLwvBydeknbmV633znSS3" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi9lwa8L2a6gpKd8tg-r8dOXIlhETVlgI23LSrSLySRoWAse1WG2BwfQgE5gP1jTr5BPP_wNC3X8fbNPPeP7sowOpW4eHx76XdHcjr2VecaEQRkQB-75C0yVTDbWEuv1albIDdDTSAG4c4agXXpKHP1hr3rO-PhdPivY01HLwvBydeknbmV633znSS3" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9ZPVCZuwhdGf3EfpQzScKsF4q2YkOa6cE2GboVhyjsRpvFu230gAEzFApfc-UZEbIsSG2TLA-pu1zq4sjiAxcyf2aPx8n3WAi96K_JKpICENLpxGd4hqGG8vK3HkpHK8cnm1HfGyhK-y7s5ElaZ1h3IQkUCcCm471ktQmEnTNrwM-K9YRhpAezgzI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg9ZPVCZuwhdGf3EfpQzScKsF4q2YkOa6cE2GboVhyjsRpvFu230gAEzFApfc-UZEbIsSG2TLA-pu1zq4sjiAxcyf2aPx8n3WAi96K_JKpICENLpxGd4hqGG8vK3HkpHK8cnm1HfGyhK-y7s5ElaZ1h3IQkUCcCm471ktQmEnTNrwM-K9YRhpAezgzI" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">The impact adhesive is a messy way of laying track and I am not sure I would continue to do it the same way for a larger layout. that said, it was all made a lot harder by being an afterthough and having to work within the fascia.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Onto the ballasting, a job that very few people like...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p></p></div>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-63065095808895785312022-11-16T12:51:00.003+00:002022-11-16T12:51:22.432+00:00Time for a refresh<p>When I was exhibiting Melin Dolrhyd at the Welshpool Gala this year, I was very taken with Martyn Harrison's Castle Caereinion - see the post <a href="http://going-loco.blogspot.com/2022/09/return-to-welshpool.html">http://going-loco.blogspot.com/2022/09/return-to-welshpool.html</a> What I really liked was his code 40 track and how it gave a much more light railway feel to the layout. Peco crazy track is excellent for building reliable track quickly but there is no getting away from how chunky it is.</p><p>There were really two questions to solve:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Would my stock run over it?</li><li>Was it worth the effort?</li></ul><p></p><p>To satisfy the first question I had to first obtain some track and also obtain some track gauges. I ordered some code 40 rail from the <a href="http://www.2mm.org.uk/">2mm Association</a> and some track gauges from <a href="https://www.handlaidtrack.com/">FastTracks</a> in the U.S. I already had some suitable sleeper material from the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/3mmpublic/3mm-society">3mm Society</a>. Once I had all the parts I built a short test track on foamboard. I already had a similar test track with Peco crazy track and was able to compare the two.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQXOxw37N-YF8AwddVjIpJW4dHWdcPxLmF8IJyNBVjtbRlA1OtX1Uw7Y1Y9c-23W-T7or23mKs_4i7InFkCEp67AGs-X9ml6l_13qM-VDsdTIJ8BproKNtHPPua3jZU6a2TaiEeSV5-__R2iEq1eFBmQ1jiA2Csb1wzrMl_pgUf95RJO_og1nL-crF/s4624/20221116_122350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQXOxw37N-YF8AwddVjIpJW4dHWdcPxLmF8IJyNBVjtbRlA1OtX1Uw7Y1Y9c-23W-T7or23mKs_4i7InFkCEp67AGs-X9ml6l_13qM-VDsdTIJ8BproKNtHPPua3jZU6a2TaiEeSV5-__R2iEq1eFBmQ1jiA2Csb1wzrMl_pgUf95RJO_og1nL-crF/s320/20221116_122350.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Peco on the left and scratchbuilt code 40 on the right. The difference between the two is huge! The track is simply stuck down to the wooden sleepers using impact adhesive. In real life the WLLR pinned the track down. There were no chairs. I was able to run all my stock along the track and none of them bounced on the sleepers, not even the oldest engine in the fleet.</p><p>That leaves the question of whether it is worth it. I came away from the Welshpool Gala energised by the show but dissatisfied with the operation of Melin Dolrhyd. The front of the layout was fine but the traverser was not as successful as I had expected. Much of this can be put down to having to make a 4ft traverser fit in a space which is just over 4' 3" long. There were packing pieces and packing pieces and the traverser never seemed to be level across all the tracks. Derailments were more frequent than they should have been for what is essentially a straight piece of track. The traverser is an excellent piece of kit but is overkill on Melin Dolrhyd and suffers from the curse of being a modification to an original design which didn't plan for it.</p><p>Taking on board my dissatisfaction with the running I decided it was worth the effort of replacing the track on the front along with replacing the traverser on the back. I'll cover the rear of the layout in another post.</p><p>Once the decision was made, I ordered some 1m lengths of track from <a href="https://www.clfinescale.co.uk/">C&L Finescale</a> along with some roller gauge and they arrived on Friday. I popped across to the <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/3mmpublic/3mm-society">3mm Society</a> West Byfleet meeting on Saturday to pick up some deeper sleeper material which meant I had all the materials necessary to start, so start I did.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCJL_W80XOrd4auNSAOH2Aml6gERdpRos-Uvd_CICds0JcREQWmiIy9bhX1ghB_yo2FHJ3Os0wxMCfIgzjkrixSH8d0MFkOivR6UzEbxpsxO5_f_Uul1BdXzrGXLAa29pkj6V4gqfSiYjL8XUAgra1GCGVkzPbCdSHNHorjQly0r6lVgqmkXu0s12/s4624/20221115_123212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrCJL_W80XOrd4auNSAOH2Aml6gERdpRos-Uvd_CICds0JcREQWmiIy9bhX1ghB_yo2FHJ3Os0wxMCfIgzjkrixSH8d0MFkOivR6UzEbxpsxO5_f_Uul1BdXzrGXLAa29pkj6V4gqfSiYjL8XUAgra1GCGVkzPbCdSHNHorjQly0r6lVgqmkXu0s12/s320/20221115_123212.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The ballast had been stuck down with the usual pva mix and the track itself was originally stuck down with impact adhesive. I used a dropper to wet the track and then worked away at the ballast with the screwdriver I use for almost every task where I don't use a scalpel. The track itself lifted relatively easily. The track bed is foamboard so I was worried that the card cover would soak and tear off, but it has stayed so far.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqx35arysypM6tnVKmcxszqROLQdtXivrZYbyoF_iWoEMsy5aLw8RNLTjaXfz7-B9MLzyqy0s2X3a9L58iupEAmW-3bgYm4FsepLZqS2UDCLJimVh3xvk6Sm3YMeANp28QoxTXWLEWTJe5dDw5X3FOsxC0oP4070ZFcwhnqAENoygl-oxp4mgWDQN/s4624/20221116_101625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqx35arysypM6tnVKmcxszqROLQdtXivrZYbyoF_iWoEMsy5aLw8RNLTjaXfz7-B9MLzyqy0s2X3a9L58iupEAmW-3bgYm4FsepLZqS2UDCLJimVh3xvk6Sm3YMeANp28QoxTXWLEWTJe5dDw5X3FOsxC0oP4070ZFcwhnqAENoygl-oxp4mgWDQN/s320/20221116_101625.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>In fact it all came off quite easily with the exception of one of the baseboard joins where the card did tear off. In the next post I'll cover preparing it all and laying the track.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-61245587078591686952022-11-05T10:18:00.001+00:002022-11-05T10:18:27.014+00:00A Little Bit of Publicity<p> At the 009 Society local group meeting last weekend I was indebted to one of the members, Derek, who pointed out that Melin Dolrhyd was featured inside the recently published issue of Narrow Gauge World and there is also a photo of Melin Dolrhyd on the cover.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsY_yYhsMwRhdS5K1rtiqS8zn03Pdbc9UpoID8SWB7eqM6D-WuuE10jeft_mseRKiQKKwrGFfzkV09bAKD42cjSOcyHMudJ_5C9olED6jVZPnAAAmX3yOiB91ENd8FIau37nB2Oox8nf6Y4BRgrF5u2ArP96bi2JtZZTlpmaxiNC10i9oOxhaZr_k/s3506/NG%20World%20Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3506" data-original-width="2481" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsY_yYhsMwRhdS5K1rtiqS8zn03Pdbc9UpoID8SWB7eqM6D-WuuE10jeft_mseRKiQKKwrGFfzkV09bAKD42cjSOcyHMudJ_5C9olED6jVZPnAAAmX3yOiB91ENd8FIau37nB2Oox8nf6Y4BRgrF5u2ArP96bi2JtZZTlpmaxiNC10i9oOxhaZr_k/s320/NG%20World%20Cover.jpg" width="226" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOB56C-hwEMo0DRkfNuFw5BCXwFqrYLqkdrQyWOK8_aY5XW2wc85RtFo6XF3xLHznElOPXVe8x2kEyX27wrDBF6bcg_YbEaPVB9IjvLSL-uAcoh1saTk17NRY5YyXOjlXKEpkozoLIgzEN4jyUgyudsxgecLs0I1OP-GZ6YWAWajJU_6bjZaOgCPL/s3472/NG%20World%20Left%20Page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3472" data-original-width="2421" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLOB56C-hwEMo0DRkfNuFw5BCXwFqrYLqkdrQyWOK8_aY5XW2wc85RtFo6XF3xLHznElOPXVe8x2kEyX27wrDBF6bcg_YbEaPVB9IjvLSL-uAcoh1saTk17NRY5YyXOjlXKEpkozoLIgzEN4jyUgyudsxgecLs0I1OP-GZ6YWAWajJU_6bjZaOgCPL/s320/NG%20World%20Left%20Page.jpg" width="223" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLN67FCEsOZ6cdHCBSX8KHPFv3jHwFbdefTfx89quiNzimqMZG_TKUu52pNqh6J8j_5l-IfExCsA4tdW6ReyL0DLms6fPGRDepl0hVlEjb8thkAL0lbLwTd2QC8Tz593Nn9W8d6YoDlSCAYC2fJOCBJOIU2M8WfNky2FTxHKRzO-6rWh01R75-0t53/s3467/NG%20World%20Right%20Page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3467" data-original-width="2375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLN67FCEsOZ6cdHCBSX8KHPFv3jHwFbdefTfx89quiNzimqMZG_TKUu52pNqh6J8j_5l-IfExCsA4tdW6ReyL0DLms6fPGRDepl0hVlEjb8thkAL0lbLwTd2QC8Tz593Nn9W8d6YoDlSCAYC2fJOCBJOIU2M8WfNky2FTxHKRzO-6rWh01R75-0t53/s320/NG%20World%20Right%20Page.jpg" width="219" /></a></div></div><br /><p>It's not a magazine I usually look at so I was very grateful for the heads up. The article covers the Welshpool Gala and the presence of three Welshpool themed layouts at the Gala. Andrew Charman did the photos and has taken a pleasing angle of the layout with an original train. I'm not sure where the words came from but they do remind me I need to get on and build the engines I have waiting for the layout.</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-49995824906605474712022-10-16T09:38:00.005+01:002022-10-16T09:38:55.097+01:00Coaches 2, 3 and 4<p>Why the strange title? Very simply, back in April this year I posted that I had completed the first of 4 Ashover coaches. Now I can say that I have almost finished the rest.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzb3bskR6_UEjtuluMzzPIudYOkGk1RDoRze0pGrkUf1CjRFrAqENsAzekZmIxJZwcRnxrAyEjOkvWHmIwV7IDpkpmXpRpLDvNMNQ_g9ouH1pjmS2rjdL5ev1ROk7AfDYEfby6jVoqgVCwqnrSkHkt3GxXMZJujh9wukI1tHrwREJyNtjxHimqOjZ/s4624/20221015_165732-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1928" data-original-width="4624" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPzb3bskR6_UEjtuluMzzPIudYOkGk1RDoRze0pGrkUf1CjRFrAqENsAzekZmIxJZwcRnxrAyEjOkvWHmIwV7IDpkpmXpRpLDvNMNQ_g9ouH1pjmS2rjdL5ev1ROk7AfDYEfby6jVoqgVCwqnrSkHkt3GxXMZJujh9wukI1tHrwREJyNtjxHimqOjZ/w400-h166/20221015_165732-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>The main tasks done since the last update is the lining has been finished on them all. After I took forever to line one side of a coach, my good firend Matt Kean offered to line the rest and finished them off over several evenings - something that would have taken me a few weeks.</p><p>I also had to make the rest of the roofs. These are 10 thou brass, 0.35mm brass wire soldered on for rain strips and my own 3D designed and printed torpedo vents glued on. The roofs are simply sprayed with Halfords grey primer and then liberally coated in Humbrol dark grey wash which is then dabbed off with kitchen paper.</p><p>Lastly, I glazed all the coaches. This was a tedious job. I found some old Wills packets that had suitable clear plastic that wasn't scratched or cloudy. This was cut into strips (and it is tough to cut) and then stuck in with Kristal Klear. I like using Kristal Klear because it isn't runny and if it gets onto the visible part of the glazing (and it always does), it can be teased away with a cocktail stick as it dries into a rubbery consistency. The first coach took well over the hour but by the time I was onto the last one I had it down to 40 minutes. There is a lot to be said for doing tasks in bulk.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwn7UzjunhSNHuqTqtyI6DX5AHWxdLS5KD4o11bYVk4rKgYT2deq_t3wQ0Bv3NRYarZhwSKcchvj9sIKQYqdGWwZ1snihNjYjFHCZAKEly68sCFQXRMeqgMdxu-Ns7wERSWEN2UnMavmtb-DVCyPoR6jgChttp-ZWT30oZps4q5K0egy-9ORVUh5r/s4501/20221015_170722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2441" data-original-width="4501" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwn7UzjunhSNHuqTqtyI6DX5AHWxdLS5KD4o11bYVk4rKgYT2deq_t3wQ0Bv3NRYarZhwSKcchvj9sIKQYqdGWwZ1snihNjYjFHCZAKEly68sCFQXRMeqgMdxu-Ns7wERSWEN2UnMavmtb-DVCyPoR6jgChttp-ZWT30oZps4q5K0egy-9ORVUh5r/s320/20221015_170722.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Here's a close-up of coach number 2. The roof isn't stuck down as I need to add some people. There is one last job to do which is to fettle the bogies. When I test ran the coaches round Melin Dolrhyd I discovered that they didn't get round the 12" curves without derailing. Unfortunately I had not been sufficiently careful when assembling the bracke stanchion with the result that they angle inwards limiting the amount of swing on the bogies.</p><p>The goal is to get these really finished this week ahead of starting a major update to Melin Dolryhd. More on that when the post man delivers the necessary bits!</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-11327314874457921542022-09-08T10:21:00.002+01:002022-09-08T10:21:57.407+01:00Return to Welshpool<p>That was an excellent weekend at the Welshpool & Llanfair Gala. The trains were good, the models were good and the company was excellent. Melin Dolrhyd provoked much discussion about the state of the mill now and how it looks a bit of a mess compared to the idyllic scene I have created. Martin Rich did an excellent job of looking after us and provisionally I have an invite to return next year.</p><p>There were some excellent other narrow gauge layouts there as well. the layout that interested me most was Martyn Harrison's "Castle Caereinion". What caught my attention the most was the hand built track using Code 40 rail from the 2mm Association. It seriously makes me think about replacing the track on Melin Dolrhyd. After all I only have a 4' 3" stretch of plain track to change...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdD8jhRqQ5gWwGvltm7ogg_RbrrtnKedHgAPuJrPgiJXb5Z0BPcEz3SCWnZm8A_waYuCc7mwXIap6FMecwGW2POLJA3EHo1KIhEMaU9ceGlLk1IETuei2wTDKmyhHzj5f1BCynrZAcJykLF8qS_po3Gs7iNum8SNWjMJZmvIYuE76RMNNki9FqMXFc/s4608/20220903_112441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdD8jhRqQ5gWwGvltm7ogg_RbrrtnKedHgAPuJrPgiJXb5Z0BPcEz3SCWnZm8A_waYuCc7mwXIap6FMecwGW2POLJA3EHo1KIhEMaU9ceGlLk1IETuei2wTDKmyhHzj5f1BCynrZAcJykLF8qS_po3Gs7iNum8SNWjMJZmvIYuE76RMNNki9FqMXFc/s320/20220903_112441.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The other item that caught me thinking about what else I need to do is that my model of Joan is undetailed and looks very poor compared to Martyn's version. I know I did mine quickly as spare stock for the layout but it is time to revisit it.</p><p>The layout on the other side of me was Peter Cullen's "Welford Coppice" - a small quarry layout that includes both OO and OO9. Very well modelled.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCROr-jY8YLbUI6YCGviQWvSHqCrIf_aEBdKfhsSCYqnWEbh173Ac4-gQFoNeHhTM_I9b_WCr5_TECHbUOQCJXRTKf2diBabOSnvKHyg-PC7-LnanEkNkm8VFXGZbkIolsu11-3f7UDY3tIkHyz7yg8l5y0C4ERzOkTxV1COdOoa6HbtjVOv_TKnel/s4608/20220903_100342.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCROr-jY8YLbUI6YCGviQWvSHqCrIf_aEBdKfhsSCYqnWEbh173Ac4-gQFoNeHhTM_I9b_WCr5_TECHbUOQCJXRTKf2diBabOSnvKHyg-PC7-LnanEkNkm8VFXGZbkIolsu11-3f7UDY3tIkHyz7yg8l5y0C4ERzOkTxV1COdOoa6HbtjVOv_TKnel/s320/20220903_100342.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Mark Holland's "Spirit of Welshpool" was also in attendance supported by the Sussex Downs 009 Group. Having walked through Welshpool on Saturday morning on my way to breakfast I can attest that he has captured the essence of the railway.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OnFIyLy0jlZEk_jx-pk22Z7kkGtUu1wtCQQ0LM7DfvCARz7FfmqzRY0O__i4cM2vctSA9AutPFudnYlEokAXtbJdtqdbramlKJbuIrc10LghoD9ZQJqc9nqr6JKJnk1-JoK1jUcjBBoyvuNnbzUA0LTTDckV6AerNwtlstr5vzxmakMSbs6CIPq9/s4608/20220903_131217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-OnFIyLy0jlZEk_jx-pk22Z7kkGtUu1wtCQQ0LM7DfvCARz7FfmqzRY0O__i4cM2vctSA9AutPFudnYlEokAXtbJdtqdbramlKJbuIrc10LghoD9ZQJqc9nqr6JKJnk1-JoK1jUcjBBoyvuNnbzUA0LTTDckV6AerNwtlstr5vzxmakMSbs6CIPq9/s320/20220903_131217.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Blair Hobson's "Ostrovia" was also there. This is an HOe layout which runs stock from different countries over the day.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrV2So1IOfQ82WVG7uMvWD6J9_PhDf9W_Ln6nXtXGjpK7nLvgwsqszWcsi0VzUsQEpI_cOKxkwdSrd0wQG4X7hnUn_R-3uXlhWeRKgKitMo-H9wjTUGp4cnTBwVDUbDDcWKWmAgmIFqohPe2zCH_ngb6vVxnAuyyYM1xrLFFzJha_5xHAe5JIHHWWf/s4608/20220903_120501.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrV2So1IOfQ82WVG7uMvWD6J9_PhDf9W_Ln6nXtXGjpK7nLvgwsqszWcsi0VzUsQEpI_cOKxkwdSrd0wQG4X7hnUn_R-3uXlhWeRKgKitMo-H9wjTUGp4cnTBwVDUbDDcWKWmAgmIFqohPe2zCH_ngb6vVxnAuyyYM1xrLFFzJha_5xHAe5JIHHWWf/s320/20220903_120501.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>To round off the 009 Society presence, we had Julien Webb and Steve Mann from the West Midlands Narrow Gauge Group flying the flag, modelling, talking and encouraging people to join.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsUXPXZnZxdp3VZRsqy0L5wivCK6L3FTELHoPxIQONHCTHN-ccyzm8oM0RkNnIFKHbFwGIwgiL4mRpr8UnWFYw7SOTpcbRC8xWbowy0T9T7Mu33XJDtrxZurpAAN4d92i_8t0K9xWlqQeceDdx8Gu-u4BhMgLEjogMS3-0ekPBieyphbJCCbzAocB/s4608/20220903_100128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnsUXPXZnZxdp3VZRsqy0L5wivCK6L3FTELHoPxIQONHCTHN-ccyzm8oM0RkNnIFKHbFwGIwgiL4mRpr8UnWFYw7SOTpcbRC8xWbowy0T9T7Mu33XJDtrxZurpAAN4d92i_8t0K9xWlqQeceDdx8Gu-u4BhMgLEjogMS3-0ekPBieyphbJCCbzAocB/s320/20220903_100128.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>There were layouts in other scales but I didn't photograph them all. Dave Gauntlet of "Banwy Models" had a small display case showing his various 3D prints whcih look superb. I already have 2 bolster wagons from him partially finished.</p><p>Outside the shed the trains were running and there were busses, classic cars and various steam vehicles. Below is a taste of some of the items of transport that were around over the Gala Weekend including "Premier" from the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway which I finally managed to see at 5pm on the Sunday!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWemuRZsqqsoaVHtFhlGq_BXwFiIgUrewQ7IrQZ_mfj8KeZbelDcvJQAxr78f7ACGU2gXrDLnuk8O6-cA0Pco2ZnS9trty1X3Q9fjGAMWIO7vNeICFybv49v26-w5mwTFGvWpByHWfWewRLTyGNSV1yv1FsboO0aNTrbnEccXLMDF-wuGvphY9CEHA/s4608/20220901_150756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWemuRZsqqsoaVHtFhlGq_BXwFiIgUrewQ7IrQZ_mfj8KeZbelDcvJQAxr78f7ACGU2gXrDLnuk8O6-cA0Pco2ZnS9trty1X3Q9fjGAMWIO7vNeICFybv49v26-w5mwTFGvWpByHWfWewRLTyGNSV1yv1FsboO0aNTrbnEccXLMDF-wuGvphY9CEHA/s320/20220901_150756.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAg1MXAlznBumSyZx3Pr818ovzZjylDp5S7p6ZVonD-HRm_LtB965QARCUFJJTOi6cg8bUnlYJpjxCetbRjH80o92GI05NRddUw9KgsJhH8r40rwNj9cZvafewht3UG7ZTNCSuoIbMTYvVPLeTbU0pWjJFTNc7JPaHN9qq8EHF9Tge36BaNgwUyZW/s4608/20220901_150819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAg1MXAlznBumSyZx3Pr818ovzZjylDp5S7p6ZVonD-HRm_LtB965QARCUFJJTOi6cg8bUnlYJpjxCetbRjH80o92GI05NRddUw9KgsJhH8r40rwNj9cZvafewht3UG7ZTNCSuoIbMTYvVPLeTbU0pWjJFTNc7JPaHN9qq8EHF9Tge36BaNgwUyZW/s320/20220901_150819.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEienny-9N68D1P-ehgrv98TMVnWck27otcSRTv3o0eCMqdSJgYhehY5D6-D_ZgjebUN-656yfnxaz5SDcOVN0UFt0CrXXHG7lMCXTykza8rHEfREOT872hEUH0Q3NkDmDL3B8FFPu3D5JLAIC-4H9E87NmYk5_nYBZNV8uXBECZqurDeyO_CUVFiQHl/s4608/20220901_162853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEienny-9N68D1P-ehgrv98TMVnWck27otcSRTv3o0eCMqdSJgYhehY5D6-D_ZgjebUN-656yfnxaz5SDcOVN0UFt0CrXXHG7lMCXTykza8rHEfREOT872hEUH0Q3NkDmDL3B8FFPu3D5JLAIC-4H9E87NmYk5_nYBZNV8uXBECZqurDeyO_CUVFiQHl/s320/20220901_162853.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHq56veZICgB06ymL8ypt7ngKwxnwoNK4uqG5M86VX7xmUDeJD9GeML2fTsHw71see1qUajp3ULmImUERR3y2nEOs-1gBZv436gMfGvA2K8WKvPKJEBDD-CNQcS_OnGaARi3aIqj69GriTSlK-TYrCJhPuLBWizPr2NG6pBkZGmggwltuPNn304nyI/s4608/20220902_105455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHq56veZICgB06ymL8ypt7ngKwxnwoNK4uqG5M86VX7xmUDeJD9GeML2fTsHw71see1qUajp3ULmImUERR3y2nEOs-1gBZv436gMfGvA2K8WKvPKJEBDD-CNQcS_OnGaARi3aIqj69GriTSlK-TYrCJhPuLBWizPr2NG6pBkZGmggwltuPNn304nyI/s320/20220902_105455.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5MJPR1oyJWbC24ItQZLgxwRMlngz5Y6z2JpBM0_wrfajkRprCS9b9bjmZKXBY_j9zrOlx6kLbz4hy1C7z0LNMabhJN-_b4V6iMv8xTTakkzKdsO6hNfihxc4BAYKQLKe6VpEOykTCY_F7NY6VWaQli3fRZFg2E-EgrZkEtiMb5tc7UtxMJ03XBKPB/s4608/20220902_122202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5MJPR1oyJWbC24ItQZLgxwRMlngz5Y6z2JpBM0_wrfajkRprCS9b9bjmZKXBY_j9zrOlx6kLbz4hy1C7z0LNMabhJN-_b4V6iMv8xTTakkzKdsO6hNfihxc4BAYKQLKe6VpEOykTCY_F7NY6VWaQli3fRZFg2E-EgrZkEtiMb5tc7UtxMJ03XBKPB/s320/20220902_122202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pOc3Ra-yl38XKrN_Pu-VO2Gtl59mHcNd3z5iBL8Hpw0zi-bVC1syOVZ0Pe7yFvI3oBel3nXbVwWRRLtq-h2MdfH7Gg8RBRqjWEa4BZhNzPqmWGYfiUg9l5o5PtvbDNi6UT1mTPUsG9eDV8_XvfA0XkPC27BOUs3MFMJycg_kdoA3pRGYLx4uMzVC/s4608/20220902_151219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pOc3Ra-yl38XKrN_Pu-VO2Gtl59mHcNd3z5iBL8Hpw0zi-bVC1syOVZ0Pe7yFvI3oBel3nXbVwWRRLtq-h2MdfH7Gg8RBRqjWEa4BZhNzPqmWGYfiUg9l5o5PtvbDNi6UT1mTPUsG9eDV8_XvfA0XkPC27BOUs3MFMJycg_kdoA3pRGYLx4uMzVC/s320/20220902_151219.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EYNgKYuhJIUhjlD6mTthOt3Y3ACrF7f5ga9vOdzueQkr7y-coXcy7s6bFuDA_8YOgljVWWk9FV2PewweUlfdw4r4hGtyBo0hJeKSwWjCv6nMzdncIBAFti8_FkP2aMyrI2QTxlvCjxBYKWmUsOToHzmLPYgftnDM_okNq_UXEGjAHoCbZq3Q-fwn/s4608/20220902_151229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EYNgKYuhJIUhjlD6mTthOt3Y3ACrF7f5ga9vOdzueQkr7y-coXcy7s6bFuDA_8YOgljVWWk9FV2PewweUlfdw4r4hGtyBo0hJeKSwWjCv6nMzdncIBAFti8_FkP2aMyrI2QTxlvCjxBYKWmUsOToHzmLPYgftnDM_okNq_UXEGjAHoCbZq3Q-fwn/s320/20220902_151229.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKu2Y3i6HKK3HY6jhbeUJJFK93FaZknkxsVHabySvPs47vPEt9O_YviTi8I0VMJsQxW-W4q0qNMry5ORDJkjMmxEy1kRB0O2U56ChBEZ1gyHnz2KbYQVAH-pp9NgTKhrTAsdIbaY-GVVuhvvesX4M2PXLamvejATWEJjE0m_zvlXRjugl8giFK5h9K/s320/20220903_160010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJy46D0hOVlmEROTD0Z8PKZLzSfzcjLmnZaQalhZw40nCblNc11N672oo98QFumk4av5khcU7CxpaM4F5nR8EhRuBATTgaIb1ayFc7z50zJdgG8QS0fguKaR5ATfQDvBFVJGQ42kXt3gUWCY8iP0l1H2SpBHvCB4Kn_YPzxu8waucLciVC0Y5q3kuh/s4608/20220903_160034.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJy46D0hOVlmEROTD0Z8PKZLzSfzcjLmnZaQalhZw40nCblNc11N672oo98QFumk4av5khcU7CxpaM4F5nR8EhRuBATTgaIb1ayFc7z50zJdgG8QS0fguKaR5ATfQDvBFVJGQ42kXt3gUWCY8iP0l1H2SpBHvCB4Kn_YPzxu8waucLciVC0Y5q3kuh/s320/20220903_160034.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibLon6LdwEVrwMbuxszxTw5xyZwtngTdfMQnNPgTSoSQb7NIG3pjlCUCGDx3cZ5zT5aXIBzrYz9rMiruf2fURGoKzg0CD5ZtA-RSoISBDUMfMMsTLLH8OSHdYznWh4WCMsZe7lFXMeGO_WQc2DNWhTVSlLavKo97EKOq3vWRx0XMPm3iaN3hD-lHrF/s4608/20220903_160053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibLon6LdwEVrwMbuxszxTw5xyZwtngTdfMQnNPgTSoSQb7NIG3pjlCUCGDx3cZ5zT5aXIBzrYz9rMiruf2fURGoKzg0CD5ZtA-RSoISBDUMfMMsTLLH8OSHdYznWh4WCMsZe7lFXMeGO_WQc2DNWhTVSlLavKo97EKOq3vWRx0XMPm3iaN3hD-lHrF/s320/20220903_160053.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTNfB5UCzeOFPfVHDh8PEk-RB8klfd5Le7Eqcv5o51U82TaMLA8ZuDlXulL93epNizQbB-u3cZfc2muTdcyfgNKKubFiw2iLA5cZm9zxBBnFqZuFMGIbk4kp4wpZRY4OFjBq18MYKsm2UkX-_VHJE6wDpo3gPJ5Eaog_VQPCJQyYRqMmhMBFbTvTs/s4608/20220904_170058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvTNfB5UCzeOFPfVHDh8PEk-RB8klfd5Le7Eqcv5o51U82TaMLA8ZuDlXulL93epNizQbB-u3cZfc2muTdcyfgNKKubFiw2iLA5cZm9zxBBnFqZuFMGIbk4kp4wpZRY4OFjBq18MYKsm2UkX-_VHJE6wDpo3gPJ5Eaog_VQPCJQyYRqMmhMBFbTvTs/s320/20220904_170058.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1Op5d3ZejZsmM7VoJE0oWGRg2Z--M1J-mVBiJHdwIt1u3pAgDHT9OSbPWloMClx-BhBDPiSczF7zhncj7t3EB090xyQQMRz6T3aF5XyyFJ1ZYgGR2WoMWalhzS3x7X6yiDzcvVm2fX1QIDUuT3MC31K_rlQ4B84ZpTPeMn_nEv3eyoAerNbsr1GX/s4608/20220904_173606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq1Op5d3ZejZsmM7VoJE0oWGRg2Z--M1J-mVBiJHdwIt1u3pAgDHT9OSbPWloMClx-BhBDPiSczF7zhncj7t3EB090xyQQMRz6T3aF5XyyFJ1ZYgGR2WoMWalhzS3x7X6yiDzcvVm2fX1QIDUuT3MC31K_rlQ4B84ZpTPeMn_nEv3eyoAerNbsr1GX/s320/20220904_173606.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-30631450777113972692022-07-22T20:44:00.001+01:002022-07-22T20:44:04.026+01:00The Exhibition<p>When I first had the idea of building Melin Dolrhyd I had the vague thought that it would be nice to exhibit it at the Welshpool Railway itself and, all being well, Melin Dolrhyd is set to appear at the Welshpool Gala, this coming September. There are a some details on the <a href="https://wllr.org.uk/annual-gala-2022/">WLLR website</a> and some more on the <a href="https://009society.com/news/exhibitions-events">009 Diary</a>. The gala itself takes place from Friday 2nd September to Sunday 4th September.</p><p>There is a list of ideas for the layout, most of which are around adding detailing and building stock. There isn't enough time to build the two Golden Arrow engines I have for the layout but there is sufficient time to finish a collection of half built stock.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKRukYst8HbU3-8q0KGIAKg0rCYQ61tY28RZ7V8gOMrRx7-Q_JPX0r5k2JLpr_STtPeVNd80epKDu3bA62MasUiPPk3rZ2pFcvOhNMol9OB0jkqsrTSPRpl7S3GtIG6w1qOv4_SA_RQLF9PZHo2JoGbDG05SwcovSKUUZ7yEh0ZvaPPXnS13tu7eAt/s4608/20220722_202837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKRukYst8HbU3-8q0KGIAKg0rCYQ61tY28RZ7V8gOMrRx7-Q_JPX0r5k2JLpr_STtPeVNd80epKDu3bA62MasUiPPk3rZ2pFcvOhNMol9OB0jkqsrTSPRpl7S3GtIG6w1qOv4_SA_RQLF9PZHo2JoGbDG05SwcovSKUUZ7yEh0ZvaPPXnS13tu7eAt/s320/20220722_202837.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>In the front are 13 incomplete wagons which range from one that needs surgery to correct warped solebars to the brake van that is just missing transfers. I've started a discussion with Custom Model Decals about producing some transfers which, with a following wind, should be available in time. At the back are 6 completed wagons that have no stock box to go in. That is another job that needs doing!</p><p>It's 7 weeks till the show so that ought to be enough time even though I am not the fastest worker. Let's see...</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-89961771263093200222022-04-30T19:20:00.004+01:002022-05-01T07:13:04.173+01:00Fixing up WD wagons<p> I've been acquiring WD wagons for my Ashover based layout. I picked up a job lot of them from a good friend but also picked up some from the 009 Society Sales Stand at Narrow Gauge South. Some are Bachmann and some are Dundas. They all need their couplings changing and several of them are missing their brake stanchions.</p><p>My choice of coupling is the Greenwich coupling but I have to confess a desire to switch to DG for a shunting layout so that I have the remote uncoupling capability. For now I am going to ignore that itch and focus on converting stock to Greenwich. The locomotives and the wagons all have the standard Bachmann coupling in an NEM socket. Now I know you can get a variant of the Greenwich coupling that is suitable for NEM sockets but I decided it should not be that hard to print an adpator.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayV39Re-gCeXC4DZiYRuSkkwruX9-wiAHbRn1Prij5gcoMZHwZhEOR3YovU3Tvn4RTdJGGVo5bDfH-X1okRvQw-GVzl9aqP1sNL4S3qZw7aaGvS9WYLad5-3goL149yFZb8gDhIIg0ksGcGjwqojjgobRB-82rUkK_g2vuQYk2B5du0yoS7o0wqPq/s624/NEM%20Greenwich%20Adapter.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="624" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayV39Re-gCeXC4DZiYRuSkkwruX9-wiAHbRn1Prij5gcoMZHwZhEOR3YovU3Tvn4RTdJGGVo5bDfH-X1okRvQw-GVzl9aqP1sNL4S3qZw7aaGvS9WYLad5-3goL149yFZb8gDhIIg0ksGcGjwqojjgobRB-82rUkK_g2vuQYk2B5du0yoS7o0wqPq/s320/NEM%20Greenwich%20Adapter.png" width="320" /></a></p><p>Here it is. My version of an NEM socket to Greenwish adpator. All you have to do is take a regular Greenwich coupling, cut of the tang as far as you decide and smooth off the edges. It simply pushes in and then, when you push the adaptor into the socket that helps hold the coupling tighter. They are quick and easy to print and you can get a large number on a build plate.</p><p>The brake stanchion is not so simple. I did think about asking Dundas Models for some of their sprues but I do have a thing for trying to do things myself. I considered what would be the best material to use. The answer was brass, to provide the strength. However, cutting out parts and folding them and soldering them didn't appeal so I experimented with 3D printing. </p><p>The real life stanchion is a vertical piece of angle iron with fixings to support the rod of the brake wheel. There is also a traingular plate used to bolt the assembly to the bogie. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbV8BTTVXPZtoczT9il5abRBwsydsITsGbsHd4dgOKFIPwR_815PF7dDY18WonW5cA5VBdqDGNnUc7KBKxOVcO-JiDKQB4CX4P-Hj5ARyw3lmEZqXJLfvQHn8-rWJrKq-WtDqnplfI3OCYG6B_E5dr1LIYEAsVQl8kraoQQ9EX5e0lFnYvPmw5O5Al/s769/WD%20Brake%20Stanchion.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbV8BTTVXPZtoczT9il5abRBwsydsITsGbsHd4dgOKFIPwR_815PF7dDY18WonW5cA5VBdqDGNnUc7KBKxOVcO-JiDKQB4CX4P-Hj5ARyw3lmEZqXJLfvQHn8-rWJrKq-WtDqnplfI3OCYG6B_E5dr1LIYEAsVQl8kraoQQ9EX5e0lFnYvPmw5O5Al/s320/WD%20Brake%20Stanchion.png" width="219" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRJbaPs80kHs0i3Iv0uKS00ytNClE0JXbVNPyA01Yqq92BIoQG_lnVQON8OQ5phFkjj8an1KC7B7zNk-kkqApDmXlsz-UeziNjQOH32_mFoSj64iux2St8hNA7Ns30AnkaR140JzP-DJQXoPHekaMW6-lxp5aUlUTxHz3cZp6A8RR0qmgJdrFix-V/s564/WD%20Brake%20Stanchion%20Cage.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="296" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDRJbaPs80kHs0i3Iv0uKS00ytNClE0JXbVNPyA01Yqq92BIoQG_lnVQON8OQ5phFkjj8an1KC7B7zNk-kkqApDmXlsz-UeziNjQOH32_mFoSj64iux2St8hNA7Ns30AnkaR140JzP-DJQXoPHekaMW6-lxp5aUlUTxHz3cZp6A8RR0qmgJdrFix-V/s320/WD%20Brake%20Stanchion%20Cage.png" width="168" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> I'm still refining this. I had some concerns about strength but it seems to be okay. On the right is the stanchion in the support asembly needed for printing. I could try and add more detail but it's not going to show, except on the screen.<p></p><p>I'll post a picture of an updated wagon when I have this finalised.</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-73640166704932172172022-04-06T20:42:00.002+01:002022-04-06T20:42:08.662+01:00Coach No 1<p>Nailsea has been and gone. It was a good show and the layout and stock mostly behaved itself. I did have to return a borrowed engine in a completley dead state but it turned out to be a broken wire. Not something I could fix at the show when I was operating all day. It was great to see friends and to see some quality layouts and be inspired to get on with my own modelling.</p><p>I've been lining my first Ashover coach since forever. It's just tedious and the transfers were not always sticking. I had to take advice from Matt who is the master at lining and eventually I developed a technique that worked sufficiently well. It's still tedious and there are 41 individual transfers on each side since I split the long lines into 3 parts.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_rB9ZRrCFCdi-SZs77HUNpDJA6t7o4GMInkM5OdY1kHMkBP-86pQytuU6h_udjk8o_EbsBONCNXaqmJr1cLbPrNTFiHuiuv1wrNDRxiiEvMTSoseYn5vRbT1p-kQY9d30t4ysThbj46pfH5FV3q3P4pvUoWUgY8CcBNd3umCcjcfTCiYU3zOiq1H/s4608/20220406_201731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3456" data-original-width="4608" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_rB9ZRrCFCdi-SZs77HUNpDJA6t7o4GMInkM5OdY1kHMkBP-86pQytuU6h_udjk8o_EbsBONCNXaqmJr1cLbPrNTFiHuiuv1wrNDRxiiEvMTSoseYn5vRbT1p-kQY9d30t4ysThbj46pfH5FV3q3P4pvUoWUgY8CcBNd3umCcjcfTCiYU3zOiq1H/w320-h240/20220406_201731.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The lining itself is <a href="https://www.fox-transfers.co.uk/lining-in-off-33495">Fox transfers FG1292 Off white/Straw</a> and I expect one sheet to be enough for all 4 coaches. The lettering and Carriage numbering I commisionned from <a href="https://custom-model-decals.com/">Custom Model Decals</a> and they have gone on really well. Finally today I put on a coat of <a href="https://shop.thearmypainter.com/eu/cp3027s">Army Painter Satin Varnish</a> to seal the transfers on. I wasn't going to do that today since the weather was foul and I spray in the garden but there was a good break with some sunshine so it got done.</p><p>I also finished off the roof. I previously sprayed it with primer before I had put on the rain strip on each side so I stripped it back with and soldered on some 0.3mm dia brass wire. A quick spray with Halfords primer and then a liberal coatning of Humbrol Dark Grey Wash which is then dabbed away with a tissue to leave a mottled appearance.</p><p>One confession. I've only done one side! That's good enough but won't do for the planned layout since the Ashover Railway had triangles at each end so both sides will be seen at different times.</p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-41235329214882704152022-03-22T20:58:00.002+00:002022-03-22T20:58:41.772+00:00First Outing of the Year<p>Progress on Ashover models has slowed to a crawl. There is news to report but that will have to wait for another post. This weekend I am taking Melin Dolrhyd out for its first exhibition this year.</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA5unc8dpwNIOgO0N5gBa-hNv67QYSgBph1QC2bf_CkhVaLmk9uXvAcFokC7Or1qohcXBSfqCXv2jcjArhriia_NIrwuOt2Ys6qxkRG8P-k5jybQQFEHijS2cWieK8bm1aGUKQyQWEDk2_ANrPAWB4iSLjlvnghKso10F5Xjr7Vvv6dZJS1K2zAhZX/s3862/20220321_185939-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1492" data-original-width="3862" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA5unc8dpwNIOgO0N5gBa-hNv67QYSgBph1QC2bf_CkhVaLmk9uXvAcFokC7Or1qohcXBSfqCXv2jcjArhriia_NIrwuOt2Ys6qxkRG8P-k5jybQQFEHijS2cWieK8bm1aGUKQyQWEDk2_ANrPAWB4iSLjlvnghKso10F5Xjr7Vvv6dZJS1K2zAhZX/w400-h155/20220321_185939-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>I will be at Nailsea Exhibition on Saturday and Sunday. I've checked the engines still run and am digging out all the extra bits I need to take for the layout. I've been thinking what can go wrong and trying to ensure I have enough bits to effect the more likely repairs that could be needed. It will also be the first time with the new car. I did buy the car to fit the layout but I never actually tried putting the layout in it...</p><p>If you are down near Nailsea then do pop in and say hello. Nailsea Club do have a <a href="https://www.nailsea-district-mrc.co.uk/">website </a>but it is lacking in detail due to some technical issues. If you want to see details on the exhibition itself I suggest you check out the <a href="https://ukmodelshops.co.uk/event/23145-NailseaDistrictModelRailwayClub_Exhibition">UK Model Shop</a> entry.</p><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-9040873139633593642021-12-28T09:20:00.007+00:002021-12-28T15:25:03.438+00:00War Department (WD) Bogies<p> Tryng to make this a quickie I have taken a leaf out of Matt's book and have been trying to build in bulk. To that end I have spent some time each day working on the bogies for the coaches and for the two wagons that fell into my shopping cart at the same time.</p><p>The bogies are very straightforward. First there is the matter of cleaning off the flash, of which there is a reasonable amount. Once done it was a case of adding the brake blocks, slightly tedious to have to glue 24 of the same thing but you get into a rhythm.</p><p>The next phase is to organise couplings. I use Greenwich couplings and these can be easily fitted by cutting and filing a groove in the top of the bogie (one has a very fetching matching groove in the underside. Don't ask!). Once done, I file off the paint from the underside tail of the coupling and then superglue them in. I usually do build Greenwich coupling in bulk and discovered that I did not have a sufficient supply for this project so there was a temporary diversion when I spent spare time on Christmas Day folding and building the couplings. Now that is definitely an item best built in bulk! </p><p>Lastly, the brake assembly needs putting together. Here I fought the tempation to 'improve' it and lost. The pillar is fine and was glued on as is but the shaft on the brake wheel is just too long and the plastic shaft too fragile. I replaced the shaft with some brass wire. I also drilled out the handwheel to take the wire. They were superglued together and, once dry, I cut away some of the brake wheel shaft. This assembly was then glued to the pillar. It's definitely better to have less of a blob under the wheel but some of them are not as level as they should be.</p><p>After that it was a case of painting. I elected to hand paint so I didn't get paint in the axle boxes nor the rubbing plate but that meant tediously painting them first with primer (Humbrol Number 1). This struggled in a couple of palces to stick and I realised I had not washed the parts to remove any moulding remover but it wasn't too bad so I persevered. The topcoat was with a Games Workshop "Base Corvus Black". This is a good contenter for a colour that isn't too black but neither is it obviously grey. Again, this was tedious to put on. </p><p>Here they are, a collection of bogies sat on the diorama, just!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgi8jyr1Or-D_lwVhPx0GFtOQbN9T57Rtdk0qopAS1jaWNfUzSe4yDb1MNM9RQuguc7jV5R3KDBfd4H3Dl9Jnp_ThYLOZwLEputjRNYiZX3mV9CFNRMaxrFmbEx8loOmSof2yWaWVDkjcnxJgFe7_e5wKlcNtJ53BqB5_G4KgkeF4EdL_fiKYGieE8t=s4459" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="4459" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgi8jyr1Or-D_lwVhPx0GFtOQbN9T57Rtdk0qopAS1jaWNfUzSe4yDb1MNM9RQuguc7jV5R3KDBfd4H3Dl9Jnp_ThYLOZwLEputjRNYiZX3mV9CFNRMaxrFmbEx8loOmSof2yWaWVDkjcnxJgFe7_e5wKlcNtJ53BqB5_G4KgkeF4EdL_fiKYGieE8t=w400-h138" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-57580134059376672882021-12-05T11:00:00.003+00:002021-12-05T11:00:20.105+00:00Ashover Temptation<p> I recently helped out at the Great British Model Railway Show, operating <a href="http://richardholder.org.uk/clydach.htm">The Clydach Railway</a> by Richard Holder. Next to the layout was another exquisite layout by David Wright based around the Ashover Railway. I did a bit of research and decided that this could really form the basis of a quickie layout for the simple reason that the stock is all available as plastic kits and the engines are mostly available as ready to run from Bachmann.</p><p>More research and more spending has resulted in the necessary books, engine and kits arriving over a period of a few weeks - "another parcel for you" was a repeated refrain in our house!</p><p>I've made a start on the Meridian coaches. The kits have been around for a few years and are very popular. Studying them closely I realised I didn't like how the chassis was formed and so, despite the desire for it to be a quickie, I took the opportunity to extend my 3D printing learning by producing my own chassis.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3lc7tG5v7PAzVotpXapwFOScQQuUDSgZzQEEL-fdNhGiEM_sTC1DSkn5gv4WgQkkOeAbKxn5RzvGMtvkuVVz114bOOXDMRLK7TCC-uGGho2r-F22K3fn_Bemvw6qPohHwdN2cQwrc2g/s2048/20211205_103957.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE3lc7tG5v7PAzVotpXapwFOScQQuUDSgZzQEEL-fdNhGiEM_sTC1DSkn5gv4WgQkkOeAbKxn5RzvGMtvkuVVz114bOOXDMRLK7TCC-uGGho2r-F22K3fn_Bemvw6qPohHwdN2cQwrc2g/s320/20211205_103957.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>In the picture you can see two Meridian Ashover coaches. The left one is from many years ago and sits on N gauge bogies. The right coach is the Meridian kit with my own chassis sat on the WD bogies that are provided. The locomotive is "Bridget", the excellent Baldwin from Bachmann.<br /><p>Hopefully, that will get me back on track to it being a quickie!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-11761576293813926772021-11-20T08:00:00.000+00:002021-11-20T08:00:37.724+00:00Butterley Pulp Wagons<p>There are a couple of ideas running at the moment for the next layout. I'm pretty sure what will get done next so more on that when I finally make a decision. For now, it is back to the plan to produce a layout based on the Bowaters Paper Mill system.</p><p>In real life, they had hundreds of what were known as pulp wagons. These were large flat wagons with vertical ends. Two forms existed, the earlier wooden version and the later steel variant. If you want to see examples then some are preserved on the <a href="http://www.sklr.net/">Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway</a>. There is a good Flickr group <a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/41338882@N00/pool/">here </a>to see their photos.</p><p>There are two kits on the market for the steel wagon ut availability is mixed and I do want quite a few. It made sense to try my hand at printing them. I've struggled with flat surfaces not being flat with the printer and it took me many attempts to make this work but eventually, I found an orientation that worked. The base and the ends are printed separately. In the picture below you can see the parts glued together and sprayed in primer. The stays between the vertical panels are 0.3mm dia brass wire.</p><p>This is definitely good enough for now so bogies need to be designed and then the whole design will probably need tweaking to make it robust and repeatable.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyJNp8p9hBT6b6AILilNT2Sy0FZS-R7Kz-DNwlKcFtsr6i4yturn_xMfr5-iGvgRwGZqPVTyrbDYot31FNMqiXtNgPtTMuLFojuARxNrX8aG3Orqz1oIW2h0oBH1BBk5fRex5xSx0JZw/s1000/Pulp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="1000" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyJNp8p9hBT6b6AILilNT2Sy0FZS-R7Kz-DNwlKcFtsr6i4yturn_xMfr5-iGvgRwGZqPVTyrbDYot31FNMqiXtNgPtTMuLFojuARxNrX8aG3Orqz1oIW2h0oBH1BBk5fRex5xSx0JZw/w400-h286/Pulp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-14484536000206981622021-11-12T19:22:00.000+00:002021-11-12T19:22:46.448+00:00In the news<p>Quite a while ago I was asked to write an article for <a href="https://peco-uk.com/pages/railway-modeller#RM-2">Railway Modeller</a>. I'll cut a long story short and say that there was recently a request to get it finished as there was only one week till the deadline. Needless to say, it got sorted and I am pleased to see that my layout, Melin Dolrhyd, is in this month's Railway Modeller, available at all shops that sell it and, let's face it, only real shops sell railway items!</p><p>Chris Ford has done a great job with the text and Andrew Burnham produced some excellent photos so thanks to them and the rest of the team at Peco. There are some other excellent articles in the issue but forgive me for being biased and just giving a taster of mine...</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYh8GeCadh63VLO6Qr0KD9JPFe3ekzwv0Dr6we87j2k1sLivXXm3aCeMh6Lom9RXa6Xv-3GVCu-XpVeSdeAg8cePr6GZwIzkmizMJAzqwbDhii8xRBhMUizh3ADxyZkG5HvIndxo7Ioo/s480/Screenshot+2021-11-12+191613.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="480" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYh8GeCadh63VLO6Qr0KD9JPFe3ekzwv0Dr6we87j2k1sLivXXm3aCeMh6Lom9RXa6Xv-3GVCu-XpVeSdeAg8cePr6GZwIzkmizMJAzqwbDhii8xRBhMUizh3ADxyZkG5HvIndxo7Ioo/w400-h351/Screenshot+2021-11-12+191613.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1012162170211661016.post-45756076106352091262021-11-06T21:05:00.003+00:002021-11-06T21:05:49.316+00:00Another Long Absence<p>I was rightly chastised recently that I had not posted anything on this blog for far too long so time to catch up. The primary reason for the absence has been that I decided I wasn't busy enough and needed a fresh challenge so I have taken on being editor of 009 News, the magazine of the <a href="https://009society.com/">009 Society</a>.</p><p>Chris Ford had done a great job and done it for over 4 years which is a marathon stint. The one thing you realise about the role is that it is relentless. The magazine has to go out every month so as soon as you've finished one, it's time to start the next, so all credit to Chris for the 50+ issues that he produced. </p><p>Being edtor has eaten into my modelling time. It took a few issues to master the desk top publishing program and to develop a process for the articles but now it is reasonably organised and I don't have to take so long each month.</p><p>Here's the covers from the 7 issues I have done so far. If anything takes your fancy to read then the <a href="https://009society.com/">009 Society</a> has all the back issues available on the website so join the Society and read as much as you want about narrow gauge modelling.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtETgtISRwAQTQRQErTeHUY7Kp34w4ILS5Rotes4ZrxZVQgEoUS_A-n1QppBFTK8GHOzv_P2Y5nsFNYLgpAp6H44NKswyJWpCJnCw02bm6BrGCbXEeJ0CiNCnk86EWpN_1vryYxPkt2E/s1167/202105.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1167" data-original-width="831" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtETgtISRwAQTQRQErTeHUY7Kp34w4ILS5Rotes4ZrxZVQgEoUS_A-n1QppBFTK8GHOzv_P2Y5nsFNYLgpAp6H44NKswyJWpCJnCw02bm6BrGCbXEeJ0CiNCnk86EWpN_1vryYxPkt2E/w143-h200/202105.png" width="143" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohONcoaSlUJJs-AhrVJsrKVPUJ6LW13X4g85pft5xd1PSbQfDRWAxssXVWE_7hqNdTnzInaeOL8n1txv6wyiU5tKEVPk4V7RPZv6cXYZeOgy-yPOMoVT2UUvyYqrsZWKr-ASqe5FszbI/s1168/202106.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="833" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiohONcoaSlUJJs-AhrVJsrKVPUJ6LW13X4g85pft5xd1PSbQfDRWAxssXVWE_7hqNdTnzInaeOL8n1txv6wyiU5tKEVPk4V7RPZv6cXYZeOgy-yPOMoVT2UUvyYqrsZWKr-ASqe5FszbI/w143-h200/202106.png" width="143" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7licNn12XwNE8r7CKr8bJvoRO8wzxJXCoX2t_RjTfgauAWzTxWC9mCPMBzA3urzphmwdybV9JXCtSueTEupsD46jqj3JnxB66ZyTGy8TPtfeW-fztulROu5oSxsC2aGFKThbQEC8hspU/s1169/202107.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1169" data-original-width="830" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7licNn12XwNE8r7CKr8bJvoRO8wzxJXCoX2t_RjTfgauAWzTxWC9mCPMBzA3urzphmwdybV9JXCtSueTEupsD46jqj3JnxB66ZyTGy8TPtfeW-fztulROu5oSxsC2aGFKThbQEC8hspU/w142-h200/202107.png" width="142" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF3u8Zr1iEDIMZJuarFlMRyy7mMZRTk5g46DeB1IjsoAImnNvYfR8WmJBDOndqjjEq5sE7f8FeutRjCK50BNB4OkyjGkNgyevx_cALbBcugORZox4vTS0R9ISSS3bL_5pJk8MT_OMHzzg/s1170/202108.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1170" data-original-width="830" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF3u8Zr1iEDIMZJuarFlMRyy7mMZRTk5g46DeB1IjsoAImnNvYfR8WmJBDOndqjjEq5sE7f8FeutRjCK50BNB4OkyjGkNgyevx_cALbBcugORZox4vTS0R9ISSS3bL_5pJk8MT_OMHzzg/w142-h200/202108.png" width="142" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijrmnKviUusVeWbwaVBOlYQil1SJ_AYc72CGRTm8If6EHfCoVQ59cES9D8Psn7067XHMLMoSpwmo1hxztIM9x6lt3fNyF2vnrV36K5oqy7o_gld5A4w3miqaAWNCy1Ta_wNsXtVXQxXcI/s1168/202109.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="833" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijrmnKviUusVeWbwaVBOlYQil1SJ_AYc72CGRTm8If6EHfCoVQ59cES9D8Psn7067XHMLMoSpwmo1hxztIM9x6lt3fNyF2vnrV36K5oqy7o_gld5A4w3miqaAWNCy1Ta_wNsXtVXQxXcI/w143-h200/202109.png" width="143" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMPd4EIiqoG5h7VeC_sfeoC5ekv5JNPYSbXT95CHjFsHPjhZ-n8iEFvqD_FBsJpJNjFx9hM_Lp4LQBKFDuVE4jcuEqMTyXs9JEjsTRpdNJqDhnMaU0Y3SBmNc9qr50VnITkTeEFI9LoU/s1168/202110.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="831" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMPd4EIiqoG5h7VeC_sfeoC5ekv5JNPYSbXT95CHjFsHPjhZ-n8iEFvqD_FBsJpJNjFx9hM_Lp4LQBKFDuVE4jcuEqMTyXs9JEjsTRpdNJqDhnMaU0Y3SBmNc9qr50VnITkTeEFI9LoU/w143-h200/202110.png" width="143" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uOH4_t6HdEpT37OA6pbnlOzhfpHbUBwIEuWL1XZUKZXxmIRKIK3NQkfcFHyk5JmIK0qTzQ1GtVlVPxZplP3TFlPQryKMEqfi0-JgJVEdzSEPM1kwjYDJOxPQzBCZ_haBFWZTDu0Rzjo/s1168/202111.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="830" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uOH4_t6HdEpT37OA6pbnlOzhfpHbUBwIEuWL1XZUKZXxmIRKIK3NQkfcFHyk5JmIK0qTzQ1GtVlVPxZplP3TFlPQryKMEqfi0-JgJVEdzSEPM1kwjYDJOxPQzBCZ_haBFWZTDu0Rzjo/w142-h200/202111.png" width="142" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Stuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03383986321462523001noreply@blogger.com1