murrayec

Hi We did a refurb job in Ship Street for the OPW many moons ago, my boss decided to do the stairs the same way! The ladies refused to use the stairs until a carpet was installed- Architectural No No.... Eoin

Oh no its not....

Hi Test assembly was done tonight, all went OK but those gussets mentioned earlier are required, could not face switching on the iron- been soldering DART stuff all day! The front truck pivots on an axle bearing with a bolt down through a brass sleeve to hold the bottom clamping plate, the bolt will be the other way around on final assembly. A NS wire spring will push down on the truck and spring it centrally. This shows the bottom clamping plate which will have a joggle in it to keep it centred on the edge of the Spud. Articulation! And some shots with the bogie side pattern blue-tacked on Cant really run it until its beefed up Eoin

Test etching of the bogie frames and third axle trucks was done today;- Two brass .28mm sheets were prepared and artwork laser printed onto trannies, this caused a few irritations as the cheepo trannie film I have distorts with the heat of the printer, I got over this by printing each side artwork on separate sheets- seems to be less distortion in the middle of the sheet. This is the brass with Puretch processed on, UV'd and developed- worked out pretty well. Puretch is a photoresist that comes in sheet form sandwiched between sheets of mylar, peel one side off and squeegee the exposed side onto the brass with distilled water- in the dark room of course. After UV exposure the second sheet is removed and then pop it in the developer solution. Etching then took about 1 hour in 'Edinburgh Etch' - ferric chloride with a dash of citric acid, I found this idea online to enhance the ferric chloride action and make the ferric last longer. It cuts through fairly OK, a bit of a raggedy line but nothing a file cant clean up, the cusp has to be removed anyway. All filed and cleaned up ready for soldering. All soldered up and ready to pop in a pickle for the night. Some problems have come clear on assembly- might go for thicker brass sheet next time, I will add some gussets to this test to make the assembly more rigid! You can sort of see the lay of the land in the second photo- the spud sits in the frame which is clamped on through the spud, the clamp will be the pivot support and fixing for the truck out front! Looking forward to popping the spud in and giving it a wherrr.... Eoin

Lovely Kirley Great collection of stock and made by you own hands, proud man. I can see you were trying to get on the platform in the video.... Eoin

Hi DB Joe Yes both chassis will have two motors, its easier and more economical that way, and it has more power! Eoin

Hi A post to bring this up to date! The problem with the bogie side moulds is our atmosphere gets in the way! Thats why moulding guys use a centrifuge, but I have not acquired one yet. With recent problems casting the DART pantographs I tested the solution of making a very hefty pouring gate into the moulds- this works, the weight of the metal forces the air out! The moulds are scheduled to be remade Eoin

Yes DB JOE, they will be available pretty soon - €25.00 for a loco set kit, and €25.00 for a detailing pack kit which includes 4 ladders and piping. The Class C bogie sides are complete but I'm remaking the moulds with the A's above- I had a lot of trouble with the first moulds! There is info here for the Class C stuff;- http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/4121-Class-C-ECMCHAS-For-Silver-Fox-Kit?p=62234&viewfull=1#post62234 Eoin

Hi Broithe No not yet, the gorse is growing through the fence though, also we got CIE security signs and barbed wire for the top to hold the plastic bags.... Eoin

Hi We only did track maintenance today, those Hornby points were giving trouble again, some more packing to the check rail and in the frog well, all is running fine again. Discussed the ballast wagons, did coffee and chocolate cake also! I took a few shots of the gorse layer at the timber yard end;- Eoin & CM

Yes Noel The Beetle requires more head room by either raising the chassis or having a cut out in the chassis the size of the Beetle! This is a problem in a Class C with holes in the floor and not much floor left for other stuff, especially with two motors. The Class A is not so bad as its longer but this all happens under the cabs in both models. As far as I can remember the Beetle does not have the axle spacing for an A, the Spud does! The Spud fits nicely under the chassis and its more economical Eoin

Hi Kirley These photos are for you to see progress, I'm about to clean the bogie side patterns up and give them a paint to see if any filling is required. Then its on to making moulds and doing some test casting.... Sorry about the photo quality, the phone has gone funny n all dark Eoin

It was probably cast iron polished up, my historian chap tells me they made plates in brass n iron... Eoin

Hi Anyone reading the first few posts may be a bit confused by me referring to the Mainline model as a 'Jinty' - I hope you have worked things out by the time your reading this! Apalogies:) Eoin

Amputation! Out with the scalpel and razor saws after dinner, nothing to difficult except for the coal bunker- a hefty bit of plastic to create the overhang, so that took time as I wanted to keep a nice line on the back. All the plastic bits besides the front sandbox and bunker were heat glued on and popped off very easy, the metal bits were glued with cyano so acetone was popped on and a good yank removed them.... Eoin

Hi Yes Kirley its from axle to axle The Mainline model is 6'7'' at front and 7'0'' at rear, buffer to buffer is 28'6'' Eoin

Hi Peter Sorry to hear that did not work out, it removes paint very well for me! Things which may be different- my can of MMO is about 20 years old! I've not stripped a GF coach yet I've only done Hornby n Triang n Bachmann OO stuff! Did you try it on a 'fresh' coach and not your test one? Eoin

Hi Guys I was a bit confused by John's post, but now it's all straightened out- The Mainline model above was offered to CM as a 'Jinty' when I was asked about making it Irish, a Jinty being a model I looked at before for converting, so I said yes go for it. When scanning it I did think it looked a bit odd but not being up on British stuff I just ploughed ahead and looked more at what its going to be. That said, it will cease to be a 'Jinty' or a 'J72' it's going to be our version of a J10 Yes Kirley I have that drawing, interesting to see the front sandboxes are not on the drawing, the 3Fs & 4Fs I do know a bit about, my favourite British locos, I bought plans for a 3.5inch 4F live steam model which is on the list to do before I die.... actually that will be after all the other stuff I'm doing! I collected about 6 Bachmann Jintys and 3 4F to do Irish things with but could not bring myself to the point of chopping them up... Now I'm wandering off... jhb- good to know Senior saw polished plates as I do like a bit of 'Brass' on a loco- 617 will have brass numerals n rim Eoin

Thanks guys for the comments Yes Kirley I do make mistakes, the trick is not to advertise them Eoin

Hi jhb Thanks Yes grey it will be, including rims n rods... The photo shows bright colour to the number plate! was this polished brass with black background? Eoin Edit; I see you said light yellow, oops

Hi With the need for a small steam loco to run on Closetmodeller's Greystones Layout to pull a RPSI or IRRS type excursion train, we looked for an easy and inexpensive conversion. I had previously earmarked the Jinty 0-6-0 as a relative easy conversion to an Irish type tank loco- the Inchicore Class J10 or a J11. At the Wexford Show a Mainline Jinty was offered for €10.00, so CM splashed out and our 0-6-0 Tank Loco was secured and travelled off to the workshops. This will be its story..... The J10 is easier to do as its cab needs very little work, the main work is in-around the front splashers and snadboxes, most of the other bits are pretty close. So with that and some other minor fettling- handrails, coal bunker, valance & front steps, valves, and roof top whistles, its going to be a J10 The tanks are little a bit short, but not sure yet if I'll go at that! The plan is worked out, this I did by scanning the loco side and setting up a drawing to have a pattern to work to for sizing the bits and working out what gets in the way! According to Mr Clements 5 of these were built for shunting around North Wall Goods Yard, a photo exists of 617 (Pioneer) taken in 1938 at Broadstone, so 617 it will be...... Eoin

Hi David Stunning shot, lovely locos, and love the buildings in the background, as Weshty might say 'there's depth, depth!' It will be lovely when complete Eoin

Hi Peter Mr Muscle Oven works brilliantly, pop the coach body in a plastic bag, spray it with a good coat of MMO and leave it sit for about an hour, take it out and wash it down with a toothbrush. It may need a second go to remove paint in lines and arises. Give it a good clean afterwards- best to use dilute washing soda and rinse in loads of water... Stay away from acetone! it will do awful damage to soft plastics- you say you got a goo on it? I'd say that's melted plastic IPA needs a good soaking for about 6 to 12 hours and there is a slight risk of damage to soft plastics again Only use Brasso for polishing your candlesticks! Eoin

Hi jhb I will post up a few photos in a 'Jinty Conversion to J10' thread very soon, the plan has been struck but not implemented yet... Eoin

Hi In model world, a Jinty is perfect for conversion to a Inchicore Class J10 or J11, the J10 is slightly easier as it does not have a curve to the front of roof. I'm currently doing a Gauge OO conversion for the Greystones layout, this will also be done for my Gauge N layout..... Eoin