murrayec

Hi All Next Fair is coming up in a week n halfs time;-

Hi This mornings project was to make the smaller applicator, I found a 170ml pill jar with a screw on lid (medical buzz again!) which works with the 40mm pipe. The outlet is 40mm and will give more accurate placement of grass around objects on a layout. I also recessed the switch a bit and used flush counter-sunk screws to insulate the fingers a bit better from zaps when switching the unit on n off..... Eoin

Hi All Here are some photos of the first layers of scenic going down;- Dyed sawdust with PVA was spread out over the grass areas, this covered that loud flock we used previously around the timber yard and Southern Track, it looks a lot better now. A layer of 2 types of contrasting fine flock was added for highlights and variation in the base layer- more will be added as the sawdust dries. Up close shows the sawdust works really well, you can also see the fine contrasting flock throughout. Next in this area is the brambles and static grass in scrub n overgrown fashion. This area is the pond/swamp thing, harking to the Murrough and the Reed Beds on down towards Wicklow Town, so it will be some reeds n brown water for this area. We've only got the bridge up and the council is already digging a hole in it! And the Greystones Permanent Way Inspector out closing the gate! Eoin & CM

Hi Possibly some of the only original surviving tram tracks, in the Dalkey Tram Yard, they also have the back-end stairs of a tram (not sure if its original)sticking out of the restaurant building- but could not get in to take a shot, twas all locked up!! Eoin

Tony I thought you were punning! It still works if you sold them over the tinternet... Eoin

Excellent Kirley Every time I see those trains I think of Flash Gordon and Emperor Ming! I think its the star and the moulded headlight on the front, thats the connection.... Eoin

Have a look here;- https://www.google.ie/search?q=dublin+trams&client=firefox-b&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPne-vuvPOAhXmDcAKHa5zC7YQsAQIUA&biw=1261&bih=883 Eoin

Hi All Thanks for the great comments, I get all excited myself when stuff comes together on the bench, but when posting it up and hearing others great comments is the icing on the top... Thanks Eoin

.....and that rivet shot The furnace bracket epoxied on. The white metal splashers were cleaned up and epoxied on after they were lined up with the wheels when the position of the footplate was settled on- one can spy the under side of them in this shot. It's now looking like a loco Eoin

....and then we did a bit of work on the footplate, cleaned down of cyano, straightened up, and filed down to fit around the motor- about 1.5mm had to be taken off each side. Drilling out various holes- this one is one of the 4 deep lugs that the chassis mounting screws turn into, this has to be done on a machine- no way by hand, the footplate is die-cast akin to mild steel and even a bit dicey with a freehand pistol drill. The boiler rivet detail was done with small brass rivets, pop it in and a drop of cyano under and done, the instructions would have you messing with .5mm wire, gluing in, chopping off, filing little domes on each one!! See next post for photo!! They look very well The boiler was cleaned down of cyano with fibre pen and acetone- it's ok on this plastic. The moulding lines were removed with the fibre pen, this works very well I reckon a better way than in the instructions- with files, masking tape and sandpaper. I decided to have the boiler detachable from the footplate, mainly for painting n decal reasons and made up a brass bracket from etch leftover, two 2mm holes drilled through the footplate and bolted on. The furnace end will be epoxied on to the wings of the bracket, and then the whole can be unbolted n removed- the front is bolted on as per the kit. All the white metal castings for the boiler were cleaned up, the chimney and dome were the worst. The chimney was drilled out to open it up- nothing worse than a solid one on a model. A corresponding hole done on the smokebox. The snifting valve, brass rivet detail under, and the chimney are epoxied on now but the safety valves and dome will be stuck on after painting n decals are done. Next few shots are of the front buffer beam and buffers being soldered together after all cusps were removed and parts cleaned with fibre pen. I decided to have the buffers and mounting shanks removable for painting so the beam was used initially as a jig to solder the shank assembly with paper between to protect against soldering the whole. 7mm brass wire for the rivets was trimmed and pushed through the paper into the beam jig and all was soldered- the paper worked. The smokebox door was damaged in transit and required a bit of flattening and filing on the surround to straighten things up, a bit of filling will be done at the painting stage. All holes were drilled and the brass handrail was installed- 140 deg solder thinning on the brass and 70 deg lead solder to stick it to the white metal. The dart is missing from the kit- I'll make one up in brass at a later stage. and.......

Don't know about yours, but our guys keep things very neat... Eoin

Hi All Don't forget next Sunday in Bray....

Hi All Here are a few shots of the first test of the applicator on some scrap MDF- sawdust flock with 2mm static grass and 6mm static grass tufts, and a few rocks for flavour.... The unit works great, though the dispenser head is a bit large- if a smaller container was used there would be more control. But very happy with the results and will work with it as is.. Eoin

Underwear being installed;- Eoin & CM

Hi I have one in my display DART for the shows, it's been running for 4 months now without any difficulties so I have placed an order for 10 of them.... One thing I noticed is when powered off the function settings are stored- the Hornby chip doesn't do that! Eoin

Hi Here is an extract from the Ground Floor drawing above, I calculate the extension area at 133sqm and have indicated a 'Layout' (toned light brown) in the centre of this area with less than adequate public circulation! The layout area in this configuration would be 56sqm/620sqft - not ideal as the public would be on top of the layout with the lack of circulation- no barrier space. Items in my opinion lacking in the proposal; Due consideration not given on the extension design in relation to the width of a Gauge O layout, mainly the width of the extension to provide good Layout space with good viewing aspect to all sides of the layout, decent public circulation and barrier space. No consideration given to the running of a layout- 'Workshop and Storage Facility', this will be required for the running/setup of trains and construction/maintenance of all running parts of the Layout. And especially the care and maintenance of the Fry Models- this could also be a feature of the museum? Poor consideration given to the extension design, this should be an integral part of the museum visiting experience and should also be in more architectural agreement with the Casino House design- as the Casino is not to far off a railway scene in gone by years and so it is with the Fry Models. They should capitalise on this and bring the new building into the Railway Layout and compliment the Casino House design. Poor consideration given to public facilities, the layout seems to indicate outside toilets- I cant believe this is the intention, so I must be reading the drawing incorrectly. I hope! Poor consideration given for staff facilities. One also has to consider that these layout drawings were prepared for the Part 8 public notice of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 - 2015- and may go through design reviews/revisions before construction. Eoin

Hi Darragh O'Brien posted up the following link on Facebook;- https://consult.fingal.ie/en/consultation/proposed-refurbishment-and-extension-casino-building-protected-structure-and-associated This is the Part 8 public notice of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 - 2015 for the Casino/Fry project. There are pdf drawings on this page and the Ground Floor Plan (see below)indicates an extension to the dwelling, to house the Fry collection. The area would not be big enough to house the existing layout but could provide space for a smaller layout!! Please note;- there is a button on the page if you want to lodge a submission on the information proposed, note that your submission should be based on the information proposed only, if one goes into a rant about all that has gone by, your submission may not be valid- so stick to referring to the proposal as much as possible- me thinks.... Eoin

Hi The above notice appeared on the 'Fry Model Railway for Malahide' facebook page today and TD Darragh O'Brien posted shortly after;- ''Hi this has been clarified today. The council have confirmed verbally that the exhibition will include working models. The plans and design for the Fry Model railway exhibition itself are due for out in October. Myself and Cllr. Eoghan O'Brien have also sought written confirmation of this and once we have it we will send it to you.......'' What this actually means is not clear, and the notice is credited to Joe Gunning on the facebook page and not Paddy Kilduff? There is nothing posted on the Fingal Co Co website! Old Blarney The chap left the money for the Fry Model and a larger sum for the restoration of the Casino House. It is tied to the two projects proceeding and that the Fry Model is housed in the Casino, as far as I know the Council went through legal discussions last year with the man's estate for verification. There is a post back in this thread on this Eoin

That's correct- I installed the system last night to take a look at the software to see, I miss read their sales text! Though you do get a lot of sound projects on the instillation disk which has plenty of diesel locos that can be edited for uploading to a decoder. Eoin

Hi In this months Railway Modeller- Rails of Sheffield are advertising an ESU decoder with Class 20 sounds for £89.50. With the LokProgrammer one imports the sound project from the decoder, then changes or adds sounds to the project and then writes the project to the decoder..... Eoin

Hi This may help also; http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3869-Soldering-Tips-by-murrayec?p=59978&viewfull=1#post59978 Eoin

What the LokProgrammer can do: Change the sound saved on the decoder. Setting of all digital parameters of the Loksound decoder such as address of the loco, operation speed, maximum speed, braking deceleration, brightness of bulbs etc; you can set all options with your computer very easily - no cumbersome entering of CVs (configuration variables) with your command station. Rearrange your sounds and transfer it to the LokSound decoder. You can use all sounds that can be downloaded to your computer hard disk. Sound can be allocated to different events. Additional sounds can be activated via function buttons. Sound With the LokProgrammer you can erase the sound data of any LokSound decoder as many times as you wish, and replace it with a different sound. To this end we offer on our homepage more than 200 different, fully matching sounds of various prototypes and locos for downloading on your computer. Also you can edit just parts of a sound project: You don’t like the decoder’swhistle? Just replace it with one of the many others. Suitable sources beside those offered by us, are in Windows *.wav format available. Sound – even voice or music is no problem for our decoders. With the LokProgrammer’s aid you use the entire flexibility and functionality offered by LokSound decoders.

and at Sean's table