murrayec

Looking great John

Eek is right! I generally stay away from screwfix I just found a few appropriate springs in the scraps box, they are now earmarked for a little project on the lathe. Thanks Eoin

I agree with George, do not buy the Microbox sets- every bit under .6mm is as blunt as hair-clips. Though drill bits from expo tools in the small sizes are excellent and generally come ten in a pack- a pack is the same price as the .3mm in Eileens For the best tungsten carbide and most economical I use CNC drill bits from Amazon, again a box of up to ten bits is the same price as one .3mm in Eileens, post is free in the UK and I use addresspal for €3.75 to here, here is an example of what you get;- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carbide-Dremel-Jewelry-Engraving-Circuit/dp/B072R2YP13/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1537461593&sr=8-4&keywords=cnc+drill+bits Borithe, post or send us a link to that set of punches? Eoin

Walker chassis bits. Some of the underframe parts were cleaned up and prepared for soldering- two diesel tanks and one set of bogie bolsters. This is the holding set-up for soldering the bolster parts together, there is a 1.5mm hole through the base parts, a 1.5mm aluminium rod is inserted to keep alignment and the clamp fingers hold it all together- leaving the hands free to do the soldering. The motor bogie drive shaft bearings were adjusted to improve the gear meshing to the axles, this was done by broaching out the holes after the bearings were removed, it needed about .3mm adjustment and the bearings were soldered back in- good mesh now. A top-hat axle bearing is soldered on the top of the bogie for pivot fixing to the chassis plate, the motor will hold the bogie in place? Underframe parts cleaned up and sat on chassis plate, the cut lines provide positioning and the parts will be eventually soldered on. The chassis plate and bogies assembled and motor installed The motor bogie pivots nicely in place and the motor holds it together as expected! with a bit of side tilt n all. You probably noticed the chassis plate is up-side-down! A test run will be next on the chassis, but I have to hold off as the axle gears have to be glued on and I'm not at the final axle length stage- I've made some mods to the bogie side frames so new parts need to be cut first. Eoin

Fooling the eye.... Eoin & CM

Don't forget the Fair is on this Sunday

There was a thread a while back on Youghal Station with some info that may help;- Eoin

Hi David These guys do a unit for just under £200.00 http://www.rosewarnejunction.me.uk/RAS_Sound_Systems.htm Kato unit;- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kato-22-101-Analog-Sound-locomotive/dp/B00QUMHMNK A dcc sound card, speaker, and a simple dcc controller would cost you around the same amount- wire it up and stick it in a mdf box and away you go! Another option is in the audio device systems, one can buy a small audio recorder like an mp3 player- they come with buttons for looping and playing sound files that one loads up from your computer. There are also apps for mobile phones for doing this, allied with a bluetooth speaker you could have a Rocking Railway Sound System- RRSS!! Eoin

Hi Colin I seem to remember that https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=weir park books and models had a packet of card enamel signs in their display box of card kits at recent shows, you could message Diarmuid on facebook to see if he still has it Eoin

Two searches in google turns up this https://www.google.com/search?q=irish+railway+enamel+signs&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwifi_HS3rDdAhXrDsAKHTxJB1kQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1280&bih=891 https://www.google.com/search?q=antique+irish+railway+enamel+signs&client=firefox-b&sa=X&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=2ahUKEwik--2e37DdAhVUecAKHaXhAsMQsAR6BAgGEAE&biw=1280&bih=891 You could also try the product names on the signs in the photos above of the station Eoin

Here is a mad one I came across;- http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2016/09/06/louis-brennan-torpedo-monorail/ It would have been like- on the back of a motorbike! Eoin

Hi Colin R Have a look here;- http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000040470 http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000331562/Map and in the other direction;- https://oldphotosofcork.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/crosshaven-railway-station.jpg Eoin

Some strange goings-on at Greystones today;- ...and a surprised n enthused bystander. Closetmodeller should be along shortly to explain this lot..... Eoin

Hi George Set yourself up with An Post's Addresspal- very handy for stuff they wont post abroad, but will send it to your UK address and you collect from your post office for €3.75 when it arrives... Eoin

Nice find David I'd like one of them, but reckon they are very rare Eoin

The date for the Sept Train & Model Fair

Hi Peter I'm still bogged down with the printer guy for getting the colour right- it's on going, but slowly. The motor bogie is been worked on, I reckon I have it mastered! if you look at the Walker thread in Irish Models- its the same bogie system but slightly bigger for the Walker. This should have it's first test run at the weekend. Eoin

Springs On! Made up little .4mm NS coil springs for the suspension on the bogie sides. Lying a bit sideways at the moment! These are the components for the bogie front with the guard iron brackets and chain hooks. Fitted up and ready for soldering, three .4mm NS wire bars will be soldered across the brackets. and now that a set of sides are complete it's time to test fit to the bogie?? As suspected earlier, the hornblocks stick out further than intended and the pre-cut axles stick out only a smidge- not enough to get the crank weights on, the weights are .6mm laminates which means the axles need another 1.2mm. New axles will have to be cut, or, but its time to decide to proceed on this way or go back to cutting revised parts. There are other other issues that new cut parts would resolve... It's a cute little mechanism though and loads of fun doing! Eoin

I built one of the bogie frame sides as a test of the cut-out parts, some mods will be required as things did not work out as expected from the drawing, mainly allowing tolerance for the fold lines- the drawing will be adjusted! This is the main frame, horn blocks, spring hanger brackets and sand box folded up ready for soldering. All soldered, the hornblocks have worked out a bit fat, because of the reverse fold line, I calculated the tolerance for the bend the wrong way round! The sand box has a little 4mm scale steel valve rivet soldered in for the cap, and the leaf springs cleaned up ready for soldering. Leaf springs soldered on, a 1mm brass tube is soldered to the end of the springs to create the bracket connection to the hanger rods, these rods are removable to install the lower coil springs- thats next... One can see the hornblocks protrude out beyond the springs and the lower bracket, they should be flush with the spring! I will complete out the other side and assemble the frames on the bogie and see how these work out, it will push out the crank weights n rods a little bit but it may not be a problem with the overall appearance. Eoin

Looks great John, I like the inside valve gear. Eoin

I have been working on the bogoies over the last few days, the cnc half cut folding lines in the parts were not deep enough and this caused a few problems folding and getting things straight! Here are a few photos of progress;- Axles and drive shaft were cut and sized from 1.5mm piano wire, and a pair of chassis jigs were made to get the crank weights and rods to line up. Folding, jigging, and soldering up both bogie frames required some fettling as mentioned above, but eventually they came together. This is the motor bogie with it's running parts, the axles are sleeved with brass tube to bring them up to 2mm dia for the Tenshodo gear set. and this is the first test assembly, everything worked out OK, except for the gear meshing- it's just a tad loose and will need a bit of adjustment, I reckon it will run but there is a chance the plastic gears could be stripped so I will de-solder the drive shaft bearings and adjust the holes to get it just right. It's a nice little unit and I'm looking forward to giving it a test run..... Eoin

Hi Guys Don't forget the Fair this coming Sunday. Eoin

Hi Colin R That's sad to hear, I thought something was wrong all right, I got no reply from my follow-up emails... so left him alone. Eoin

So you thought I'd forgotten the Walker! No word back from the supplier on bogie parts since March?? so I decided to fabricate my own- based on the rubber band drive idea I'm working on for the N 141..... The drawing was completed for the bogie frames, bogie bolsters, motor system, fuel tanks, bogie sides, cranks, and crank counter weights- all to be cnc cut from .3mm NS sheet;- A close up of the parts, all the cutting worked out fine with a 1mm end mill and the half cut done with an 45deg engraving tool for the fold lines;- The chassis plate was cut out of .7mm PCB board with engraved lines to position the fuel tanks and bogie bolsters when soldering on, one of those D shapes will be pressed out for the motor pulley drive to go through to drive the bogie ;- All the parts removed from the sheet and on the right is the motor bogie frame cleaned up and about to be folded, soldered and wheeled- though need to make a few long axles as we have outside cranks. There are 110 parts to make up the wheeled motor bogie with side-frame details, I have only cut out parts for one set of side-frames, if all goes together OK! I will be making moulds from these for casting white metal sides;- So a bit of processing over the week end........ Eoin