Tullygrainey

Great to see NPQ again and looking so good too. Everything just fits and there’s real depth in that back scene which grounds the whole thing in a believable context. I’m sure I hear seagulls…

The running quality on Ballyconnell Rd is very evident in that video. The locos are silky smooth and all the rolling stock is rock-steady. No wobbles or lurching. The gold standard.

It does indeed. In fact I think it has enough bits now to build its own locomotive

I enjoyed looking at my pristine new boiler for a while, then gritted my teeth and cut a lump out of it. Scary but necessary to provide clearance for the motor. I half expected it to spring apart but thankfully it didn't. Tanks and bunker were next. The Hold & Fold tool came in handy for some of the bending. Handrails added in 0.33mm brass rod. One of my least favourite tasks - a real fiddle and I never get them entirely straight. The beading on the tank and bunker tops was done with 0.7mm brass rod. A bit of 2mm steel rod helped get the bends smooth. Took ages but really improved the look of the parts. The shell is loosely assembled in this pic. There are 3 sub-assemblies that bolt together: running plate boiler/smokebox cab/tanks/bunker The 14BA captive nuts are all in place. The boiler bands are leftovers from a London Road Models kit. The Belpaire firebox is going to be a challenge Alan

The rolling bars work well and I managed to produce an acceptable tube at the second attempt. Very satisfying. I now have a rectangle, a cube and a cylinder. I think we can do something with this... Rolling along, Alan

The jig is home-made David, from offcuts of good quality MDF (possibly ex-Ikea, can't remember) and threaded inserts. I made it fairly recently but it's already earning its keep.

Thank you GM. Yes, GW rolling bars. I treated myself to these recently but this is the first time I've used them. Can't see how you could produce a reasonable cylinder without them or something similar. Rolling brass using a dowel rod on your thigh never seemed like a viable option to me Thank you John. The organisation grew out of the frustration of never being able to find anything and spending more time looking than making. It still ends up looking like a tip though, even with the simplest job.

The piercing saw has been in play again to produce a flatpack for No. 29's cab... ... then the tricky job of tacking it all together while keeping it square. Clamps, bolts, clothes pegs, engineer's squares, bits of wood and verbal blandishments all play their part in the process. Once the first corner is done, it seems to get easier... ... and eventually we got there. It has 2 captive nuts (14BA) so it can be bolted to the running plate Now for the boiler. A new toy and a new skill to learn... Onward with trepidation Alan

I have to keep reminding myself how small and delicate these things are. Exceptional modelling! Beautiful too.

Thanks Ken. Yes, that’s exactly what happened. I’ve made similar mistakes before too so you’d think I might learn

Have had to make some adjustments to the running plate since the last post. The captive nut at the front was in the wrong place and had to go - it would’ve been visible in front of the smokebox. Furthermore, the whole thing had somehow become 3mm too long. I’ve ordered a new ruler.

We have a footplate. 15 thou brass with a double thickness for the buffer beams. Valances are 1.5mm x 1.5mm brass angle. The next stages will involve curves Onward and upward (hopefully) Alan

Rugger and rowlocks!! And muck too. They don't fix much, those words, but they do at least reduce the likelihood of a resort to the big hammer. Sorry to hear about your tribulations David but you seem to be getting the measure of them. Hang in there. All the best.

That little loco has real charm. Lovely work.

That's coming together very nicely David. Five hours well spent I'd say. Undoing and redoing is all part of the fun experience. Splasher tops are a pig aren't they! I've found that fitting them straight and true is only half the battle. Making sure the wheels don't short inside them later is the other part of the task. The small details are a trial too. I've seen tiny bits on etches which left me thinking "They're having a laugh. How could anyone see that never mind fit it?!" Please keep posting this build. I'm really enjoying it. Cheers, Alan P.S. Aloe Vera sap is very soothing for singed fingers. I keep a plant on the window sill

After a succession of one step forward, two back and some quite frankly grumpy behaviour, I’ve got this far. There was the adventure with the crankpins that unscrewed themselves and fouled the chassis, meaning the wheels had to come off again. Then there were a number of failed attempts to devise pickups. Not to mention the stutter which had no obvious cause. There was a point when the big hammer almost came into play before sense prevailed and I realised it was way past my bedtime, it is after all only a hobby and these things are better deferred until after at least one breakfast. Anyway, it runs tolerably well now. From what I’ve read, there are two main approaches to mounting bogies. The late Iain Rice, whose published guidance I have consistently relied on, favoured a pivoted arm, sideways control and even on occasion, compensation beams. Guy Williams, the other scratch-building guru, advised a central pivot in a slot below axle level, plenty of weight in the bogie and leaving it to take care of itself. The latter sounded easier (it wasn’t) but that’s what I ended up doing. My bogie has a central frame - an open topped box with a slot in the bottom to allow swivelling and sideways movement. It’s also full of lead. The side frames which carry the wheels are pivoted midway between the axles so the wheels can ride the bumps (what do you mean, your track doesn’t have any bumps?). The whole device is mounted on a vertical shaft attached to the chassis. This has a soldered washer above and a plate below the bogie frame to control up and down movement and stop it tilting. It’s taken a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing but it seems to work ok and hasn’t shown any tendency to derail so far. I’m going to lie down now.... Alan

Thanks David. Really useful info. You make it sound very easy. A rolling chassis in three hours is brilliant. My current efforts to get that far, admittedly in 4mm which can be fiddly and eyesight-challenging, has taken 3 weeks! Mind you, half of that is probably looking for lost tools and searching for the bits the carpet monster has stolen You're tempting me toward 7mm. Alan

There's a fair bit of that around here too! I seem to get through a lot of fibreglass pencils

So I keep telling myself

As an inveterate user of those Wills sheet, I should have recognised them! Water tower looks great. I like the idea of watercolour paper render. Will steal that at the first opportunity

A bit more progress with Number 29. Some nice wheels from Alan Gibson... Then, some paint on the frames, gearbox in, wheels on and quartered using my trusty G.W. Models wheel press and quartering jig. A great little device that takes some of the agony out of a tricky job. Wouldn't be without it now. Rods held on temporarily with bits of wire insulation. We have a chassis that rolls under finger power without any tight spots. That's a relief! Motor in and under power, it shuffles along very nicely. chassisrun.MOV Now, about that bogie.... Still travelling hopefully, Alan

Lovely stuff as always David. The scribed stonework on that engine shed and the signal box is spot-on. And I'm a fan of your painted street scene backdrops. There's a coherence to all your work which creates not just a layout but an atmosphere. Inspiring.

Plenty to keep you busy there David! Good luck with the project(s). Look forward to seeing the results.

Probably BCDR Patrick but who knows. If we ever make it to the painting stage, that'll be the time to decide

No. 29's chassis is now assembled. it needed a fair bit of adjustment to the spacers to get it sitting straight and level, working on a glass plate. The frames are long on this one and a bit too floppy for comfort. They might have been better made in beefier plate. However, now the spacers are in, it's rigid enough, I think. I used my Poppy Woodtech chassis jig for the first time to fit the hornblocks, using the fixed rear axle bearings as the datum and working forwards, one axle at a time. Was all thumbs with it at first but once I'd got the hang of it (that is, read the instructions), it worked a treat. The long axles help minimise the errors. Some pretty sloppy soldering around those hornblocks. It was tidied up later, honest. Compensation beam fitted with its pivot tube... ...and slotted into place in the chassis. The 1mm brass wire it pivots on is soldered to the chassis at one end, being careful not to solder the whole thing up solid. Gearbox and wheels next and I'm still pondering how best to mount the rear bogie. I have a plan. (cunning? Not sure, yet) Alan