murrayec

Hi David, looking very nice, I'm going to steal that side spring idea on the bogie for the Scot job. The list never gets smaller! even after your done.... Eoin

Yes, Dave I did think of that but a bit slow this morning and gave into doubt.... Eoin

Hey Fran Try acetone to remove it, if the coating is compatible with SG I'd say it would remove it... Did you see in one of my previous posts that there was problems with the Scot kit and subscribers had to undo their work- that's fine with glue but a different story with solder! so I recommend you hold off construction until your in possession of the full kit before you commence building- maybe you thought of this already... Eoin

Hi Wrennie No problem, you can borrow the set as they have to be used in pairs to get the hornblocks set at the ctrs of the coupler rods. Warbonnet No, this kit was clean brass. But I do not recommend gluing the main frames, in the build of the Scot I reckon some had problems with super-glue because regularly later on in the instructions they are advised in applying thick beads of glue to key chassis areas and epoxy to other areas- I'd say chassis were falling apart on subscribers and this was the remedy! A chassis should be soldered as its the main structure that is going to take the bangs and twists. Also as I was undoing what the client stuck with SG all that was needed was to get the point of a blade under the glue and suddenly the part popped off with the shock! Also there is very poor frame spacers in the kit, I'm going to add more.... JHB Cork harbour was the first place to have about 5, they were built 5 months before construction started in Dublin. Cork has the only tower that saw action- fighting off a band of Fenians in 1867. I'd say these could be seen from the railways as the rails came along? Wexford has two, and Rosslare Point had one which fell into the sea- no railway at that time! Drogheda had one Galway Bay had three River Shannon had three Donegal & Derry had two They all date between 1804 to 1818 when there was no railways, and I'm not sure which ones exist now and can be seen from the rails now...... Eoin

Hi wrennie there are very good offers going on here for that type of thing;- http://www.themobilityshop.ie/gmi-day-time-adult-diaper.html

So then, after a good clean up I started to look at the chassis, motor location, and suspension. The pictures show a dry assembly of the main frames, wheels, and motor plonked on top. The instructions have the motor on the centre drive axle, this is not the best location for a compensated chassis using the Mike Sharman 'Flexichas' system which I intend to use. Ideally I would like the motor on the rear drive axle so that it can be compensated with the pony truck but the rear frame spacer obstructs the gearbox! plus the compensation beam will have to come through the frame spacer!. I think a revised rear frame spacer is required, but main problem at the moment is the motor is to fat, it needs to swing a little and this wont happen wedged between the frames. More quiet thought to be done. Neither the bogie or pony carry any weight in the kit design, I intend to remedy this by including them in the compensation system so that they will be part of the loco and do the job of steering the chassis, every little bit helps! The bogie is a bit of a problem at the moment but in time a solution will present itself. I adjusted the front of the main frames for bogie wheel clearance as per an instructions 'mod' by removing 1mm around the arches but you can see in the photo the front of the frames are still a bit close, the splashers still have to be installed reducing the clearance further- more filing to be done. The coupling rods have been restored, as they will be required at this time to line up the hornblocks using chassis jigs, the two thickening parts had to be made again for one side, made from redundant etch frame. The kit provides white metal bolts to join the coupler rods!- how long would that last? so these parts will be steel riveted together instead. The Slater's brass hornblocks have been acquired, one is shown in the photos on front of the coupling rods.Very nice little brass castings with square slotted bearings and other little bits, 6 come in the pack. I'm now making up the chassis jigs- 3 of them to hold the hornblocks, and the bearings, with the coupling rods on the ends to solder the blocks in place and set the centres of the axles equal to centres of the rods....... Eoin

Hi Kirley Lovely stuff, I like the laminates, very neat. Have to agree with BTB- the Sulzer is deadly... I meant to buy a few Beets at the Blackrock Show! but settled on books n tools, Beets next time? Eoin

Hi Dave It looks brilliant, cant wait to see the video of the Daf truck running around on that- not to mention the cranes, the boat, containers and trains.... Great stuff Eoin

Hi dave182 It's hand made- foam, styrene, cardboard & etched brass, and a lot of work! Here is a sketch of the landscaping idea we have for the layout, the sketch is not to scale but this kind of thing allows one to calculate numbers and type, we reckon this is the minimum! interesting to see how that pans out;- Eoin

Hi Here is a way of doing it, the sketch is for the basic type coupler, but this idea works with slight modification to the shaft end to take the coupler of your choice. I have done one which takes Kadees also but cant find the sketch;- Eoin

.....and the crews hard at work Eoin

Hi All Yes it was an enjoyable weekend and great to meet everyone, and well done to the organisers I went out on a few occasions today to take some video of the show and layouts, but did not get around so well, with all the chatting and looking at stuff the camera work suffered... Here is a few stills from what I took Eoin....

Hi David If you haven't seen this its worth it, video of Drumshambo to Arigna! Its a closed group so don't know if the link will work! The group is 'Rail Thing - Rails of Ireland' Eoin

Hi David Thanks for that, I'm off to the shops for my own bottle.... Eoin

Hi All Here are a few photos of the current progress on 18 DART sets, this includes Orders 20 to 34. The shots are of one of the sets chassis and body components, all sets are at this stage with a few in the high numbers still awaiting their bogie etches to be completed. Next stage is to start assembling the sets which will be done 4 sets at a time. Eoin

Hi All Great show last Sunday, very well attended again.... Next show;-

Hi David 'Birchwood Casey Gun Blue' Does it work on solder? I've been using Carrs- two types;- one for solder and other for brass. It's not great, it comes out very flaky and when dry it's a powder on the surface, buffing it up leaves a mottled finish! I can live with it but it would be nice to find a better product. Eoin

Yes, I spent some time going through the whole thing- box of bits and mags, before committing to doing it. The only things that seem to be missing is the whitemetal wash-out plugs on the sides of the cab and electrical pick-up plunger yokes! There is a few other minor issues I have noticed- the tender axle bearings are way over size, and some of the parts the client played around with will have to be re-made- that's the fun bit of doing a project like this. As Nelson says- 'this subscription was some time back' so there are a few guys who posted up their builds on the web which is great info for having the go! Last thing- it's such a pity some of the bits are plastic..... Eoin

Hi All Here is a project for a client that hits the bench every so often;- It's a 'Build Your Own O-Gauge Model And Discover The History of Rail' magazine type thing- it's actually a DJH kit re-worked for issue through the post so some items were made in plastic- like boiler, fire box, tender body, and the footplate in some lightweight alloy metal. The client subscribed to the system and got stuck in as the issues arrived (fatal mistake), shortly in the issue mistakes were encountered and modifications made requiring the builder to go backwards and redo stuff with parts that came in later issues. He also had a frustrating time trying to get issues that did not arrive and in the early stages people did not understand that this was to be a display model only, there was discontent, so the publisher for an extra charge agreed to issue a motor, gearbox, and instructions on how to make it run. Frustrated and annoyed with the publisher and the tiny parts he gave up and asked me to assist. I recommend avoiding these publications systems for purchasing a model kit, you will pay nearly twice the cost of a kit on its own from a model shop! The magazine recommends epoxy and super-glue to put the kit together and when I received it it was in a pretty bad state. The client had never done this type of build before and neglected to remove cusps from all the parts and must have used a whole box of super-glue on the parts he did stick together. The chassis were rolling and the cab was constructed in a fashion! but there was not a square angle anywhere and the wheels were glued in by the break shoes.... anyway it was a bit of a mess. I avoid super-glue and epoxy on brass kits unless its absolute necessary, so I set about to dismantle it with acetone for SG and hot soldering iron for the epoxy. I first attacked the cab and spent considerable time getting all the parts salvaged, cusp removed, cleaned up, and then soldered it back together again. The cab is now looking very smart and it is at a point in the work to hold off on it until I get the main chassis sorted, I'm currently still cleaning the parts of SG as you can see in the shot of the main frames. I'm installing Slaters sprung horn-blocks in the chassis as a loco of this size without suspension has no chance staying on a track...... that will be the next instalment Eoin

and I'm playing about with acids to blacken my etched brass Dart boige frames- while researching on the web I found a guy that claims vinegar in a water and something? mix will blacken brass! I did try malt vinegar on its own which dulled the brass in about 4 days, I must get the stuff he mentioned and try again... so stay away from vinegar unless it for your chips Eoin

.....I used to use diluted sulphuric acid which is deadly at doing the job- but its deadly so I gave that up. I'm now using 'Pickling Compound' by PRO-CRAFT (can get it at a jewellery supplies outlet), its Sodium Bisulfate granules that you mix with water. A 1.14kg tin has lasted me 20 years and its not half empty yet, I make up about 2 pints of water with 12oz of the stuff for a week solution, most supplier have options Here is a link to a small jar but you should get bigger;- https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/248366953/pre-po-pickle-compound-3oz-45100 Eoin

Hi David Its a bit stronger than that- back in a sec. as I whip out the can.... Eoin

Hi einstine and welcome Have you checked out the OS Website for maps (they have old ones) of your target? If you are travelling at the speed of light on a train and your looking back at the town clock, and the clock hands don't move.... what puzzles me is where are you going, and where did all the track come from?? .....could not resist! Welcome Eoin

Hi Thanks all for comments Yes BosKonay, foam is the business, such an easy, light & economical material to play around with. Allied with computer drawings to print out accurate templates on mass almost anything is possible Though Woodies don't do the pink stuff any more.... Eoin