Tullygrainey

The Stone Yard is getting dusted down for the Ulster Model Railway Club's show this coming weekend 23,24 August in Royal Belfast Academical Institution (RBAI). The track could do with a good clean but the nice thing about static grass is it never needs cutting. Times for the exhibition are 10am until 5pm on Saturday, 12noon until 4pm on Sunday. The loco fleet is also getting some overdue tlc. Mr & Mrs McQuillan still waiting for that train.

Yes John, the lower profile of Code 75 does give the impression of being wider, especially once the ballast goes down. This is the first time I've used it and I'd do so again. It's not any more fragile to work with than Code 100. The illustrated instruction sheet for the Wills points rodding gives a very clear indication of what all the bits do and how they connect together. Actually doing it is quite another story so there are a few fudges in there which no-one will notice I hope and suspect.

Thanks everyone. I'm hoping so David. I used a puffer bottle on The Stone Yard, which was perfectly adequate for the small amounts of grass in odd corners there but I've got a proper gadget for this one. Haven't tried it yet! The arrangement for using choc blocs, I picked up from someone else on RM Web though I've adapted it a bit. As regards modelling the prototype points rodding, DCC Concepts marketed a system of working points rodding which I think was in metal. It still seems to be available from Rails of Sheffield but I can find no mention of it now on the DCC Concepts website so they may have discontinued it. Model Railway Journal 260 in 2018 carried an article by someone building points rodding in 2mm from self-designed etches! I suspect witchcraft was involved

Work on Kilmore over this last week or so has focused on the track - points rodding (2 sorts), ballast and paint. Points rodding 1: In the interest of keeping it simple, I've avoided points motors and opted for simple rod operation using 2mm brass rod and some bits from choc-bloc electrical connectors. It works well on The Stone Yard and I hope it will here too. This is the basic arrangement... ... and here it is installed under the board. The rod exits through the back board and terminates in a wooden knob. To paint the sides of the rails, I used a method described by Chris Nevard in Model Rail - Halfords matt black and red oxide from rattle cans, sprayed at a low angle across the track until a satisfactory colour is achieved. Shouldn't work but it does a remarkably convincing job of representing old rust. Points rodding 2: Cosmetic representations of the real thing using Wills plastic kits, laid before the ballast went down. This was the hardest thing I've done in a long time. Fragile and nightmarishly fiddly to assemble. I broke a lot of bits, lost others to the carpet monster and some of the finished results are a bit approximate. Give me an etched brass coach kit with no instructions any day! Ballasting: Not my favourite activity. Placing the ballast is fairly satisfying - all that dusting it into place with a little paint brush whilst humming quietly to oneself - but gluing it down and then picking grit out of flange ways and points mechanisms isn't. And vacuuming up the stray particles only to find great chunks coming adrift because it wasn't glued down properly or you didn't leave it to dry for long enough. Then there's weathering the stuff... Anyway, here's the state of play to date... Grassy hillsides next. Pastoral landscape has been noticeably absent from my previous layouts so new ground to be explored, new mistakes to make. Alan

I have every confidence in you Patrick. It'll be grand!

Patron saint of inspired contraptions and ingenious contrivances

Ingenious Patrick. Have you been reading William Heath Robinson?

That’s shaping up really well John

Proper architectural modelling!

Getting better by the day Patrick. Nice colour balance

Delicate work, nicely done!

course you can!

It took a fair bit of juggling to get the cylinders mounted with sufficient clearance behind the crossheads. The front crankpin nuts are filed back to a sliver of their former selves. Each cylinder attaches with a bolt soldered to the chassis. It would probably be better to adopt the etched kit convention of mounting the cylinders on a saddle which sits across the frames. Haven't quite mastered that yet. Next time. However, the Countess sings quite sweetly. Trial run on the rolling road with direct power to the motor... IMG_3068.MOV ... and again with pickups. 31 swg phosphor bronze wire soldered to gapped copper clad strips. IMG_3083.MOV A short length of brass rod soldered to the bottom of the gearbox and bearing against the bottom chassis spacer will dissuade the motor from any inclination to jump around under power. A start on the running plate. 16 thou brass for this. Cutting out sections to clear the motor, gearbox and pickup mounts. Those piercing saw blades are mighty sharp. Best to count your fingers after a session with one. Buffer beams from double layers of 16 thou brass. 1.5mm square brass rod for the valances. The front chassis spacer slides under the tab behind the front buffer beam and the rear is secured with 10BA bolt into a captive nut. Nearly there. We'll leave the delicate bits like brakes and cab steps until after Patrick has worked his magic on the bodywork. Alan

Yes David. One of the attractions of modelling the BCDR too!

Since posting the above I've had a rethink about the crossheads, or maybe that should be I actually gave it some thought. Instead of bolting the connecting rod behind the crosshead, the end is now slotted into the space between the front and rear faces of the crosshead and a 14BA bolt run through both, thus creating a bit more clearance and making it less likely that the con rods will clout the crankpins on the front wheels. Got there in the end.

The Countess's chassis got a coat of paint before the wheels went on. It rolls nicely under finger pressure with no tight spots. Rods next, then an hour or two spent chasing a tight spot which predictably appeared when the last crankpin nut was tightened down. Just when I thought I was home free! The outside cylinders/slidebars/crossheads are probably the trickiest part of this build, both making them and getting them to work properly. I'm half way through that battle. Each crosshead was cut from two thicknesses of 16 thou nickel silver to get front and back matching. This is the kit of parts half way through the process. Cylinders from 8mm outside diameter brass tube, slidebars from 1mm square brass rod. The bits of scrap etch soldered to the slidebars are there to keep them equidistant until they're soldered into the cylinders. Connecting rods have a 14BA bolt soldered into one end. These go through the crossheads. Piston rods are 1mm brass. they'll be trimmed to length eventually. Now to unite cylinders with chassis and get the whole caboodle working. If I recall, it needs three hands. Alan

That looks really well. A fine job on the lining. Can I ask what you used for that?

I'm a current member of the 7mm Narrow Gauge Association so I've just finished reading your original articles on the Association website. Inspirational stuff David! It's a great scale/format to work in, giving plenty of scope for flights of fancy as well as the considerable satisfaction to be derived from taking a ready-to-run model and making of it something completely new and original. You struck a very believable balance between prototypical reality and modelling imagination with that layout. And that oast house is a triumph of patience and perseverance, as well as a masterpiece to boot!

Didn’t notice the balance weights but the rods are certainly upside down

When you reflect on it, the range of materials and techniques available to us has expanded hugely over the last decade or two, perhaps giving the lie to the often voiced opinion that the hobby is in decline. Interesting, and exciting too, to speculate how things might continue to develop over the next decade or two. So long as it doesn't result in AI-driven 3D printers producing complete layouts in response to a sentence typed into a computer by the modeller. That would be the end of the hobby as we know it! Even then, I'd like to think there'd still be a few of us occupying our own little time warps, making stuff from raw materials.

Wonderful! Like your Irish layouts, it really projects a sense of place with its array of typical buildings. I think if I'd just seen the pictures unattributed, I'd have recognised it as your work.

Just perfect!

Some more progress on a chassis for the Countess of Antrim. Frames separated and ready to be assembled. Those funny triangles of brass shim are representations of the firebox, visible through the cutouts in the frames. I find getting the first frame spacer in straight and square is always a challenge requiring a number of goes and I haven't settled on a good way of doing it yet. It's all set squares and clothes pegs and verbal blandishments. Etched kits often have tabs and slots to help the parts go together accurately. No such refinement with these hand hacked bits! Spacers in, front, back and middle. Guard irons added. Ready for hornblocks. Poppy's jig does its stuff. Hornblocks in. Compensation beam fitted. A chassis sitting nice and level. Yay! The gearbox I chose for this one is a High Level HiFlier+. The etch is up to High Level's usual high standard - beautifully crisp - and goes together nicely, given bit of patience and care. The articulated final drive carriage means the motor can be pushed forward into the Countess's boiler leaving the cab free. A little jewel. IMG_2986.MOV

Looks good. Best of luck with this. I'll enjoy watching it develop.