PorkyP

Just to show I've not given up, a bit more on the cardboard try out, it's being a useful exercise to show me how NOT to assemble the metal one at least!

  I'm looking at the lathe too which will need a bit of improvised jury rig (a home made leadscrew bodge) to get the saddle going, the agent for Europe uk whatever area seems a, erm, difficult to person deal with unfortunately, i only need a few tiny parts for fecks sake, I emailed USA where they're made with no luck as yet either.. Not the end of the world, but annoying if you just want a few small bits worth $10 tops!

Plus a sniffer dog...and me rosary....

Jaysus, I can just see meself falling off one of those..

53 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

Looks like something that was paired with or adapted from a steam wagon or WW1 era truck.

Dunno if it's me but it looks like you can just see sprockets on those big discs behind the wheels, so likely chain drive axle set off one of those trucks like you say..

The old bridge a lot better for taking photies of the trains too..!.

I prefer the station foot bridge that was there before the aliens arrived with their plastic version..

8 hours ago, DiveController said:

I didn't see this until now. So it looks like that GS flat wagon is equipped with some sore of roller system to allow the trailer to be slid (sideways) over the platform before being drawn down the ramp? I'm just looking at the pulley behind the trailer and I'm not sure of that is compatible with end loading the flat?

 

Interesting upsidedown looking tow ball type coupling on that trailer too....the wheels look kind of familiar from somewhere...

The A frame part looks like it's been fabricated later on and added..( having bodged a few similar things meself..! )

52 minutes ago, murrayec said:

PP

There was a plan to build a port in the West near Achill back in the steam days, but the ship would have to have big steam paddles on the sides and the containers made of wood

Eoin

...With 6 million sides of ol' blind horses hides, in the hold of the Irish Rover..! 

Now if you could combine that Silver River fella with the IOM narra gauge steam railway , in some 'what if ?' fantasy layout..! 

That looks brilliant, I'd be getting it all out and havin a play with it !

The Taig lathe arrived, they're surprisingly hefty for a small model making lathe, certainly going to be better for the jobs I'd be doing than the watch / clock maker type one i had before... so getting rid of that one worked out for the best really....I'll need to sort a few bits out on it, the carraige wheel and gear is missing, and I'll have to bodge a motor for which I've got a few victims in line!.... quite a handy extra tho are the riser blocks so you can turn bigger stuff than the standard machine as supplied, you could just about turn a 6 inch wheel in there if you really needed!  Be fun to do stuff with a lathe again too.

Cheers fellas, I'll check out Jim Read, and also see what's around in thin wood, (may even have some usable bits of 'junk' at work! )....some very effective weathering possibilities there with your base being real wood and in a bigger scale..

Now if I could only recruit some 'little people' and set them up in a miniature workshop...

I saw an amazing pic of a Brit southern loco made from card, must have been treated with layers of something as it looked like metal!...I could use plastic card, but I really prefer the idea of metal, being as I've done a lot of metal working in 12in to the foot scale!.. and it makes it more of a real proper engineering job somehow.

Wagons, particularly Irish types, I reckon card would be good for, if you could find a really decent card to work with, in some ways it's more like wood than plastic is!..I've also thought with scratch building wagons, in larger scale, why not use the real wood itself! ..Stuff like I remember as a kid as cigar boxes would be about right ( i didn't smoke cigars when I was a young 'un btw! )

I was gutted when IRM seemed to have suddenly died..( I even had a quick word with St Patrick as he's also the patron saint of engineers ! )  anyways, whoever fixed it..Top Man.!

As to cardboard btw, as you can see I've only been using rough bits off envelopes and stuff, what's a good card to use for models ?....I ask because after playing with this,( i know its only a rough) I would like to try some card scratch building of wagons, (even the Alphagraphix kits would need a decent backing) and would need a type of card that doesn't tear up and go fuzzy..just a thought.

Following the good advice earlier, I've been making a cardboard mock up sticking photocopies on to card to cut out etc, it's been interesting, card's a bit less rigid than metal so harder to keep all square, but I'll persevere as it'll be good practice for the real thing..and the big scale is great to work with!... I know it probably looks a bit like a kid has done it tho..!

Jeez.. I was getting worried that the forum had died, I've sure missed it!..seems like ages,

...anyway funny you should put up a pic or two of your unimat, I've been looking around on fleabay etc for small lathes, and just got a slightly battered one of those Peatol /Taig things ( its not arrived yet) , I remember these from back in the 80s, a lot of lads in the states like them and do all kinds of mad stuff on them.  It will no doubt need a bit of TLC but should do me for wheels and axles and odd stuff anyway.  I haven't done anything on a lathe for donkeys years, I've possibly still got a few tool bits etc hiding somewhere !

Sounds good! ....I'll also likely get rid of all the 00 gauge BR stuff I've got left, and go totally 7mm Irish NG with an occasional bit of 'supersize' madness like the subject of this thread..

That's going to be 7mm scale I guess ?

17 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Great stuff. I’m starting out in scratch building a loco fairly soon and so gradually reading around. Simon Bolton’s stuff is very accessible and well illustrated. I use Biblio, Wordery and ABE Books as sources for comparing prices and buying books, also using Amazon as a general tool for seeing what’s out there, reading reviews etc. 

What loco are you thinking of doing, out of interest..?

Hopefully the 2 books don't just say the same stuff over again,  but I thought the tank loco book was worth having as well ...as my real interest is Irish narra gauge, so it's all tank engines really !   

I've certainly seen the Simon Bolton book when I've been looking around, looks like it'd be good.. I'll do my usual thing and try to find a used  bargain copy !

Ok got that now too...! ( the first one that is...)

Ps you fellas will be the ruin of me, I've got the other one now too..!  Still i guess  €25 for both books isn't too bad !

You're spendin' all me cash yer divil..!  Just got the Ian Rice chassis book off evilbay anyway, 7.50 GBP seemed a reasonable price .....bookshelves?.I've already got railway books piled up high on a table beside me, ( occasionally the dog or the cat, knocks the whole lot on the floor...)

I still fancy my chances at wheel making, as there's really nothing I've seen so far that looks the part at all...what's annoying is I just missed a little lathe on ebay that went for about 50 quid !

I take your points Eoin, ...I've already been thinking about just getting rid of all my 00 stuff and doing bigger things, it was 7mm I was first heading towards, in fact I've got a body only white metal kit of the same typeT&D loco that I was going to copy as it's in bits, (2 for  1 kinda thing!) hence the drawings I was fiddlin' with, and hence the error that made me think it'd be good fun to build the bigger ( 10mm as it turned out) engine.  

As I've mentioned, I've been doing engineering type stuff in me real life, welding and the like ( even some on the real railway) and building old cars, so making stuff with metal is something I've always done really. But, I've never tried building a loco from scratch so it's a learning curve like they say, and its likely to begin as a simplified build....I have to say it's great that you fellas are being so helpful, for which I'm really grateful ! I was thinking, if i did make this loco run able, it might be easier, to start with, just to ensure all the motion and stuff runs ok, and push it with a motorised wagon or something, .....tho I've only had one 'tender drive' loco in the past which I thought  was Crap!

A slight snag with Richie's drawings btw is I can't do A3 printing, the Mrs only has a little machine that does A4 and there's no where I could easily get it done..

I just checked out the Walsall industries stuff, very nice to be sure, I saw they even do so called T&D drivers!  however these are 45mm diameter so way too big at my 10mm scale for this one!  

I certainly wouldn't object to the 32 mm gauge business, like you say it's only a mm each side..! As it's a bit of a rogue model anyway I'd be tweaking the build to suit as it progresses..

I've had a look at Slater's wheels, there's nothing that obviously fits with ten spokes, calculating up from 7mm you'd be looking at wheels quoted to be maybe 4ft 2ins or something, (in 7mm) pity they don't just give a straight mm size as well. These locos have inside frames and the wheels are quite visible. I'll probably experiment with my mad idea of making wheels, I'll try a couple, if I make a pig's ear of it, then I've only lost a few slices of steel...!

I hadn't thought of a layout particularly, this big loco build idea came about accidentally like I mentioned at the start!...I was planning a 'little' 7mm Cavan & Leitrim set up and have an Alphagrapix Ballyconnell station which I was thinking of maybe  butchering into a Ballinamore template !