murrayec

Hi Thanks all for comments and support Next step was to solder up the bogie truck and do the compensation thing These first photos are the truck soldered up, which involved soldering up the structure, sweat soldering the rivet detail sides to the truck structure and soldering in the front axle bearings. Then for the modifications, laid out in this photo shows- I opened up the bearing holes by 1.4mm top and bottom to form a slot, milled off the sides of the bearings, and cut 1x.5mm strips to form the horn guides that the bearings will run up and down in. On front of these is the 1mm brass wire compensation beam and a .5mm brass wire hook for the chassis centring spring to hook into, this will be soldered on just in front of the comp beam. This photo shows how the beam is bent up on the fixed axle so the axles will be level. Horn guides soldered in place and the bearing sides adjusted to a sliding fit in the slot and on the horn guides. Beam soldered on, axle n wheels bolted in, and testing the beam this way. and that way, works beautifully, just had to file small chamfers on the top and bottom of the inside flange of the bearing. Pony truck soldered up and wheels about to be installed. The driving wheel bearings and suspension horn guides were soldered in after I sorted out the odd ruler thing, the fixed bearings went in first then the rear horn guides with the chassis jigs were set up on the rulers (see previous post for photos) everything was adjusted to the datum marks, the coupler rods installed on the jig and then in with the soldering iron. The frames, horn guides and the jig take a lot of the heat away and the solder is reluctant to flow, just hang in there, eventually the solder will flow, next the same thing with the front horn guides. I soldered in .5mm brass wire to retain the bearing keepers, when the bearings are assembled in the guides the keepers are threaded onto the wires and the wires bent slightly to hold them in place. Eventually these will be soldered in but for the moment I need to be able to remove the bearings while constructing. This is a shot of the front axle from the underside, you can see the wires holding the assembly together, and the dinky little spring at the bottom. The same axle the right way up. The rear frame bolted on and the pony truck installed. The full chassis so far. After bolting up the drive wheels and coupler rods, heart in mouth I turned the wheels, rotates almost freely, a slight little bind in the motion but nothing major to lock it up- excellent. I'll return to that later when working on more of the motion gear. I'll just sit and look at it for a while.... Eoin

Weshty I'm glad you clarified that.... Eoin

Weshty Did I feel the earth move? Eoin

Hi David One of my modelling intentions is to inform people, I get to build what I want and then show it off, informing people that these things existed and this is how they were used. I have seen the pictures of your layout and the information you give the viewer is excellent, the viewer can get a fairly good idea of what existed and watching the layout- how they ran. Recently at the Blackrock Show I spent 3 days in a room with a bunch of very nice Northern chaps running their splendid club layout, they, obviously they had their workings time table off by heart, they were beavering away on doing their thing with hardly any communication between themselves, and at times it looked like nothing was happening and the viewers left the room! But they were doing something, setting up the locos, moving stock into readiness for a train and other things. What I noticed was- no interaction with the viewers was the problem, if they told the viewers what was happening I felt they would have held their audience a lot longer and the viewer would get a better idea of how trains ran. I have an N Gauge layout which sits on the coffee table, it's two outer loops with stations, fiddle yard and loco sheds off each loop, I run two passenger trains, 4 goods trains, and have 8 locos on the layout at the same time. The task is to set up trains from the yards and then run them out on the loops to eventually pulling in at the other station, then breaking down the trains into the yards and storing the locos in the sheds. There is endless possibilities and requires some concentration to achieve the goal set without hitches and within set times!! Train stuff. Well when my mates (not into trains) saw this they could not understand this, they saw a little train go around the loops and they had enough! No I said, here have a go at this- I set a task- move this to here, that to there, run that around the loop 4 times while taking that loco out of the shed and move them to there, when that is finished the 4th loop it comes in this station- well you get the picture- their hooked, now they keep hassling me to get the trains out for some fun Eoin

Hi DV A bat on a galloping horse would not know the difference between the Hornby Dublo and the Irish prototype, the die-cast one. The later plastic Hornby model is still suitable but not as close. One thing on the plastic one is that the human turning handles are a bit more discrete and may be left in place, whereas the die-cast handles need to be modified. http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4048&d=1353512393 Glenderg's photo above shows some of the mods he did, the main one is the addition of a boom arm n pulley system added on top of the boom for raising and lowering it, and of course the painting n decals.... Eoin

Hi DV n All Move to this thread to discuss the steam crane further;- http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/5040-Steam-crane?highlight=hornby+dublo+crane Eoin

Hi DC Its diecast metal with plastic wheels, looking at it tonight it could do with some metal removal to improve the detail, an upgrade to metal wheels and a coupler change. ... and- JHB I would consider black... Eoin

Hi Yes, it was an enjoyable show, lots came & loads of Christmas well wishes... I picked up my Christmas train and it is red- I knew wrennie had red ones!!- though destined to be made yellow sometime... Oh yes! and some cast cannon to protect her.. Eoin

Hi all Don't forget the Bray Show is on this Sunday, the last show of 2015 and a chance to get that Christmas train! I think wrennie has some red ones!... Happy Christmas Eoin

Hi JHB A J15 ooooooh! I have one of those kits and all the bits, I regularly look at it up on the shelf! but I have to finish my A's, C's & 121's first.... not enough free time for me with the green things! Eoin

Hi JHB That's OK- Maedb is obviously on your mind after taking possession of that lovely model- it's on mine to, I have an OO kit on the 'list to get sometime soon' Eoin

Hi Dave Yes a bit of a touch up on the wheels as mentioned above, and some bits of paint on the cab to show up the lights and other detail- wouldn't go a miss- actually compulsory Eoin

Hi I picked up a few Tesco trucks last week Just to clarify on the scale as the discussion was never resolved- these are cheap and great on a layout if you keep them away from OO stuff as they are more akin to HO Some shots up against a Oxford Daf and 40' container! (keep in mind I have always suspected Oxford are at 1:74 or 1:72!!) Eoin

Hi So got a bit more done on the Scot' After a lot of quiet thinking, sketches and research I eventually abandoned the Flexichas idea on this build! It required a rather complex beam system for which this chassis did not lend itself to the idea- mainly the back end with its separate frame bolted onto the main frames under the cab, a nightmare trying to come up with a solution. So I decided to leave the motor on the middle drive axle (fixed axle) and put suspension on the others, the bogie & pony will be weighted and have guide wire springs back to the chassis which will help to centre them! The bogie will also have compensation on its rear axle..... Done.... I got stuck in, first was to cut out for the horn guides in the frames, make the chassis jigs and get all the bits ready The coupler rods were sweated together on a little 2.6mm dia aluminium rod jig and the parts were then steel riveted together The frames, frame spacers n all were soldered up, then a test fit of the horn guides, bearings and chassis jigs went without any trouble The coupler rods were then hung on the ends of the jig to set the axle centres from the central fixed axle All fits lovely, didn't have to file a thing! This is a set-up 'a la Rice' to check a few datum points on the frames, and to set the axle heights to tack solder the horn guides- suddenly I had an error, I measured, measured, and measured again- still out!! .... click- those brand new shiny rulers bought for this purpose are different sizes, 8.9mm and 9.2mm- just because they are by the same manufacture doesn't mean they're the same..... Eoin

Excellent David Great to see this process. lovely little bits.... Eoin

Hi Broithe Mods already, I'm impressed... Eoin

A bridge to Far....

Hi CM Here is that link to Timber Train photos, they are bogie wagons but it's the colours we are what we are interested in, oh and the ladder;- http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3135-Detail-pictiures-of-log-wagons-at-Kildare-21-April?p=49498&viewfull=1#post49498 Eoin

Hi This appeared in the press a month ago, its the usual press release stuff but interesting to see dates given- if they plan to start in summer 2016 a planning application for an extension should go in around now or after Christmas- planning takes 3 months and longer if there are objections;- Eoin

Hi The Fry Model project is headed by Fingal Co Co, but a separate group runs the show as far as I understand it. The group is made up of FCC counsellors and business operators in the area, and now I'm sure friends of the Casino restoration project are involved... Maybe someone local to Malahide may have more, or more correct info? Eoin

Hi All Myles met with Nora Owen at a government breakfast about 2 weeks ago, he discussed the Fry Model with her and she told him design consultants had been employed and a design was in the mix. What design stage they are at was unclear, I checked the Fingal Co Co planning register- no planning application to build the extension has been made! I check this on a weekly basis, because we can voice our opinions & observations in the planning application stage of the project, which this seems to be the only avenue of influence open to us at the moment! Eoin

OK so The truck left the depo this evening with a delivery of;- 2 no. Loo's for the timber yard. 6 no. Barrels of forklift fuel. 4 no. Barrels of oil. Should see you in Greystones at 10.30 in the morning!! Eoin

Hi Controller Yes Wrennie is correct- the only CV one can change on the Select is the loco number. Shunting mode = is controlled by a function button on your select, which one can depend on the type of chip that's installed- check the instructions for the chip! or just try from function 3 up wards.... Bending the pins is not major as long it's not missing, if the chip plugs into the socket you can bet its connected. Do the Wrennie meet if you can- he'll fix or break it if he can!! Eoin

Looking good CM Though we must do something with the timber wagon uprights- less of and a bit of white paint, I think Love the logs, did you model them yourself?..... Eoin

Hi Here is an idea based off the flicker photo from above;- Not sure about the closing idea, but it would seem logical to close the vent on the outside so water cant get in? Eoin