FrankS's Workbench - Fermoy Branch C.I.E.

[FrankS]

HI Guys,

 

Something to share with you to make up for all my questions .

I discovered how to get realistically finished and weathered containers for my Fermoy Branch C.I.E.

We all like something for nothing:D

 

What do you think of the OO scale 20’ and 40’ Containers in the photo?. These are printed on thin card (or paper) and strengthened with 2mm or 1/8” balsa wood.

Because the originals are produced from photographs all the weathering, rust, colour, logos comes with them, nothing for you to do but print out and assemble the “kits” !

And the BIG thing is they are FREE, Gratis and For Nowt !

 

NOTE: Because they were originally designed for N scale use there are certain steps you must do to have your printouts come out in OO scale, but nothing too complicated.

You can fit 2 OO scale 20’ Containers on a sheet of A4 in portrait format. Also you can print out one 40’ container on an A4 sheet in landscape format and (I think) you can JUST fit a 45’ container on an A4 sheet (still experimenting with 45 footers).

 

How to build FREE Containers for OO scale

On a PC Go to http://norbtach.no.funpic.de/

Scroll down the page until you come to :

Bouwplaten van 20 ft containers with 6 little symbols underneath

Click on one of these, you will get a page showing 30 container sides scaled for N.

Left click on the design you want and you’ll get 2 sides, roof & 2 ends. Right Click COPY IMAGE on this.

 

Then open a new page in MS Word.

Insert a 1 Column x 3 Row Table on this page.

Set the Width as 16.0cm. Don’t worry about the height, it will automatically adjust itself.

Put the cursor in row 1 and press PASTE ~ voila a correctly scaled kit for an OO Container.

Skip Row 2

Go back and select another container design, COPY and PASTE it into Row 3.

Now you have 2 kits ready to print. If you can print on thin card,so much the better, but ordinary paper will do.

 

Cut out and assemble the 2 kits. Holding with spring-type clothes pegs.

Cut the internal bracing from balsa wood sheet. I used 2mm thickness.

Cut 2 side pieces 31mm x 78mm. Glue to insides. Hold with clothes pegs for a couple of minutes

Cut 2 end pieces 31mm x 27mm (Width will vary depending on the thickness of the balsa you used for the side pieces.)

Glue the ends inside the side bracing and hold with clothes pegs.

Repeat as many times as you want. There are 6 pages of 20’ containers, 6 pages of 40 footers and 30 35’ Footers.

 

You will find that the containers are quite rigid. Weights could be added, glued to the inside sides.

40 footers will print out the same way 1 to a landscape page if you set the 1 x 1 table length to 26.0 cm (it may adjust itself to 26.19 but this doesn’t seem to make a difference.)

 

I “THINK” it will be possible to just squeeze a 45’ Hi Cube container onto a landscape sheet. I haven’t tried it yet or worked out a length for the table.

Give it a try, I think you’ll be pleased with the results. Because the designs are from actual photographs of the originals you get weathering by the real expert ~ Mother Nature & Co.

Hope this is useful to someone,

Cheers Frank Savery,

District Manager, Fermoy Branch, C.I.E.

[Broithe]

As you say, the colouring is excellent..

 

I like the shed, too.

[Guest hidden-agenda]

First class and the shed with the hay looks very very realistic.

[FrankS]

The Hay shed is just a straight out of the box Hornby Skaledale building.

[BosKonay]

Cracking!! Please start a layout thread and share more photos !!

[BabyGM]

great find

i might try them myself

[FrankS]

G'Day all from Sunny Tasmania - AND it's Mid-Winter here

 

Another "Cheap & Cheerful" suggestion.

Who said I'm cheap ???? Well, my wife, Bernadette actually, and she should know But, she doesn't count.

 

Re: The tension lock couplers,

Jeez, I hate these couplers, even in their latest incarnation as the Bachmann Mk. II Mini-Type they're still a pain in the bum. One day, when I pluck up the courage I'll replace them all with Kadee's, but until that day comes, you might be interested in a "cheap and cheerful" suggestion to make uncoupling a bit easier.

It just uses a fork from the sets of plastic picnic cutlery (I presume) you can buy in the pound/Euro shops, up top.

 

Just wrap some insulation tape around the prongs, and you'll find it's just at the right angle to lift the two hooks of coupled wagons. It works with the prongs cut-down to about half the length too !

 

Cheers,

FrankS.

[irishthump]

Hi, Frank.

 

Try this method: http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8094&st=15

 

I used it myself before I switched to Kadees. Takes a bit of work but it costs very little, and you can just add the modified couplers to locos and the end of a rake if you like.