murrayec

Hi David Very nice write-up on your creation in the Gauge O Guild Gazette this month, and thumbs up on plugging IRM forum to Eoin

Hi tommy These chaps may be able to help in sourcing drawings, they hold a lot of drawings for Irish, not sure if they have much NCC stuff but worth a try;- http://www.irrs.ie/ These chaps have a lot of narrow gauge drawings in published booklets and in an archive, you may have to be a member to purchase? but you can view the lists on the site , they cover a lot of Irish Narrow Gauge Lines and may have what your looking for;- https://www.7mmnga.org.uk/ Worsley Works do a few stock kits;- http://www.worsleyworks.co.uk/NG/NG_Irish_BL_BC.htm and another link that may help;- https://www.facebook.com/Ballymena-and-Larne-Railway-Society-1086502761360581/ Good luck Eoin

Here is a pic of a Worsley Works 6 wheeler lav;-

Total agree with John I have reclaimed a fair few brass and white metal kits for people- the Flying Scot on my work bench is one example (though the first attempt by the owner was with super-glue which made the de-construction a bit easier) I have two J15 brass kits and a white metal 121 being reclaimed at the moment- well when time allows! SSM kit's are superb, I would recommend if your starting to do brass kits for the first time- first have a go at SSM's telephone kiosk, then a Wickham Inspection Van, and then on to what you want- S or V! Brass kits do need a bit of working out, they do not go together like an modern Airfix model- check 6 times & solder once! and get a copy of Ian Rice's book 'Etched Loco Construction' Wild Swan Publications, or George Dent's Modelling books- Kit Building Vol 1 & 2- Loco Construction, and Rolling Stock Construction- both have a healthy serving of brass kit building and more. Noel;- here is a spanner! what happens if your sat nav battery runs out? a good navigator would know the workings of a sextant! I believe the modeller should apply the same rule..... Eoin

......and here is Macha with body back on, ready to go back to its crew for painting and finishing.

Completed the second set of valve gear for Macha...... This is the gear coming together, a small brass tube was used to remove the wobble in the steam valve rod, two were made to tighten up the mechanism so that the combination lever would miss the cross head- it worked! Nearly all the gear ready to go on Front steam rod housing installed in steam chest and combining link had a little kink added for more clearance Counter-sunk screws installed in chassis detail parts...... and it's complete! Now the test run with both sides erected?? Excellent it runs fine, all the gear does what it's supposed! but we have a wobbly wheel at the back end causing a bit of a stutter- the whole assembly will be coming apart again for painting so hopefully the wheel can be sorted then. Job is complete When I get the body back on I'll post a few photos Eoin

oops lads! sorry about that- cant be adding a percentage to a ratio, my convoluted calculation needed another step- 1 / .864 = 1.157 then 43.5 x 1.157 = 50.3 = 1:50 But jhb stick with Ken's maths, it's simpler and I just had to much chocolate cake after dinner...... Eoin

It's easy jhb Track = 32mm divide by 37mm (Irish Scale Gauge O Track) = .864 so add .86 to 43.5 (UK Gauge O Scale) = 1:44.3 = Irish Gauge O Model scale..... Eoin

Hi jhb ...so then I reckon 1:44.3 would be your model scale? Eoin

Hi jhb You'll have to make the track! Best to look at David Holman's threads on Gauge O layouts in spot-on Irish gauge, also he could advise on best approach.... Eoin

Hi Broithe Yes filing cabinets are the one;- Lidl A4 plastic filing cabinet for €10.00 built into a plywood frame on wheels, stores plastic sheet in drawers with slots on top for styrene section and scanner. Wheels in under the bench. This one is again an A4 document storage unit used for tools and modelling stock, these are expensive to buy new but can be found second-hand at better rate. This is Lidl again, deeper A4 drawers, is metal and is on wheels, comes in at around €40.00, I use it for tools and modelling stock also. I worked out the size of the cabinet I will require if I put all the tins and glues in trays- 1m tall with 16 trays! .....well 6 made another 10 to go! Eoin

Paint Tinlet, Jar, glue, and other things storage trays;- In a small workshop like mine as the tins & jars mount up it gets rather difficult to store them and the worst is to access them if in boxes, inevitably the tin your looking for is at the bottom which means all the others have to come out first! These trays made in 3.2mm mdf make the job a breeze, cut to take all sizes, all I do is select the right tray, pop the lid & I'm off painting, the tin stays in the tray so nice and stable, cant be knocked over. Trays can be assigned the most used paints or by colour range, their stackable so handy to store away and I plan to make a container to store the stack.... thats for another day! Eoin

Looking good jhb I would support an extension to this layout, but no address to submit 'Comments & Observations' has been given for the Chief Domestic Officer so therefore I argue that planning permission should be granted by default! Eoin

Nice David I like the display height, it's looking at trains at the right height- side on, and not down onto roofs!! I hope you will consider supplying a small step ladder for the younger viewer? - there was a chap who came to the shows here, he brought his grandchild and a step ladder under arm, when they came to a layout to view the ladder was erected and the boy elevated to view, best bit was- the ladder was placed a safe distance from the layout- out of arms reach! I've not seen him recently, reckon the kid has grown up and now has extended legs! Eoin

Hi jhb Their from Des in SSM In fairness to the chap who recommended Humbrol 27 said it was the starting point he would then weather & dirty it up. We plan to do the same to the J10..... I have been practising;- Eoin

Hi FFT The above text is a cut n paste job from the original discussion on another forum- if you click on the link in the text, the context of the '3 foot GM' will be revealed Eoin

Hi Guys A chap on here in the J10 thread advised to use Humbrol 27 'Matt Sea Grey' Eoin

Excellent work Ken Best way to do projects, all together! each process assists in each project, and repetition makes the work better... I have Mr Bolton's book on building 0-6-0 J15 (British), excellent info. The tank loco one is on my to get list Eoin

Hi All Apologies for not having next months flyer at the Fair yesterday- two patrons were disappointed as they are collecting the flyers! Date is now confirmed;- I will also bring along flyers for this Fair, so that those two chaps will be able to complete the set! Eoin

We had a boat, not the size your talking! it had a Volvo Penta Diesel- if you ran the engine for any considerable time and one was sitting down, one got 'white Bum' you know like 'White Finger' using a B&D mouse sander... Eoin

Yes Borithe the main problem with steam loco design, - build it big and hefty, replace it when it comes loose, and no need to change the existing design 'because it works'. This is the design ethos that got steam a bad name... Motor bikes got smoother when the Japs got involved with their lightweight engineering and more modern ways of thinking! I have a few British made 'Thumpers' - a 1961 BSA C15T 250cc single is the worst- at about 30mph the vibrations make it difficult to hold the bars, above that it smooths out again, then close to 60mph about as fast as I dared to go- your vision blurs, there is a brand new Alpha big end bearing kit installed n all! Eoin

Hi KMCE It's quartered, the chap who built the chassis has the left side leading The wheel balance weights are essential on large wheels to counter-balance the weight of the crankpin boss cast in the wheel, the crankpin, and the motions. The inside cylinder is far ahead of the outside ones because the drive is taken from the front axle and the radius rod driving the valve needs to be as long as possible to set up the correct motion angles with the combining and anchor links to control lap and lead to the valve ports..... Eoin

Spot on Broithe Could not have said it better myself, a bit of an engineer in yeah... Eoin

Hi all Don't forget the Train & Model Fair is on this coming Sunday Eoin