David's Workbench

[Tullygrainey]

Ah… I’d been wondering who this new bloke Colonel was

[Northroader]

[Galteemore]

But not if you’ve been handling white metal 

[Colonel]

More epalettes and braid, please!

[Colonel]

 Have got two shows coming up shortly: NPQ at Canterbury on 17-18th & Swillybegs at Southampton the week after, so time to check over both layouts and get everything ready.

 Swillybegs first, simply because the fiddle yard frame is still set up for that from its last outing at Tolworth. First job was to double check cassette alignment with the layout. A couple of adjustments needed, but otherwise, all seems ok. 

 Elsewhere, Railcar 10's trailer needs serious attention, having been dropped on the floor [by me] & the front end needs rebuilding.

 There may yet be time to do that, but as back up, have a couple of 'red vans' [repaints of my CVR stock, as per prototype], so have been fitting DG couplings to these. The Railcar was able to haul two of these, so it all works fine.

 My Swilly Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T has had a bit of a clean up, as repeated handling to get the chassis running nicely resulted in some of the weathering being rubbed off. Therefore some work with cotton buds and T-Cut has tidied it up and it now looks a lot smarter.

  Meanwhile, Northport Quay's sliding/rotating fiddle yard needs to replace the cassette table top, though the main work is on the coaster Acla, as its mast had to be dismantled owing the white metal base failing at the Aldershot show.

 A bit of judicious drilling out is indicated, then, once reassembled, it will all need re-rigging...

 

[Mol_PMB]

Lots of maintenance chores for the new year then! But I suppose it's good that some are an opportunity for a change or an improvement.

[Andy Cundick]

4 hours ago, Colonel said:

 Have got two shows coming up shortly: NPQ at Canterbury on 17-18th & Swillybegs at Southampton the week after, so time to check over both layouts and get everything ready.

 Swillybegs first, simply because the fiddle yard frame is still set up for that from its last outing at Tolworth. First job was to double check cassette alignment with the layout. A couple of adjustments needed, but otherwise, all seems ok. 

 Elsewhere, Railcar 10's trailer needs serious attention, having been dropped on the floor [by me] & the front end needs rebuilding.

 There may yet be time to do that, but as back up, have a couple of 'red vans' [repaints of my CVR stock, as per prototype], so have been fitting DG couplings to these. The Railcar was able to haul two of these, so it all works fine.

 My Swilly Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T has had a bit of a clean up, as repeated handling to get the chassis running nicely resulted in some of the weathering being rubbed off. Therefore some work with cotton buds and T-Cut has tidied it up and it now looks a lot smarter.

  Meanwhile, Northport Quay's sliding/rotating fiddle yard needs to replace the cassette table top, though the main work is on the coaster Acla, as its mast had to be dismantled owing the white metal base failing at the Aldershot show.

 A bit of judicious drilling out is indicated, then, once reassembled, it will all need re-rigging...

 

Looks like i'll see you at Southampton,i.ve got my broad gauge layout there first trip out so could be interesting Andy

[Patrick Davey]

The Swilly loco is jaw-dropping!  great to see it again!

[airfixfan]

Love the Swilly 4-6-2T off course

[leslie10646]

10 hours ago, Andy Cundick said:

Looks like i'll see you at Southampton,i.ve got my broad gauge layout there first trip out so could be interesting Andy

Your Broad Gauge - "first trip out" - a new layout!!!!??????

[Andy Cundick]

1 hour ago, leslie10646 said:

Your Broad Gauge - "first trip out" - a new layout!!!!??????

Afraid so on home turf this time Marlborough as it was in 1865, Andy

[Galteemore]

59 minutes ago, Andy Cundick said:

Afraid so on home turf this time Marlborough as it was in 1865, Andy

My home turf too - drove through it on Saturday! Look forward to seeing it some day 

[Colonel]

8 hours ago, airfixfan said:

Love the Swilly 4-6-2T off course

All down to those books I bought from the Donegal stand last time I was at Cultra!

[Colonel]

Managed to swap the layouts again this morning, so NPQ is now up & running again. Didn't take long to exchange the fiddle yard tops, so then had a look at Acla's mast & rigging. The former turned out fairly easy to repair: drilled out the white metal base to take a piece of 1/8th inch steel rod and added all the bits. The mast and boom are both brass tube.

 Rigging proved a lot more fiddly, not least because I couldn't remember how it went, but finally found some photos of the model and also the rigging from the derrick, which I'd saved. It's  elasticated thread, so has plenty of give. One day, I hope to do a proper job on it given that a] Vic 96 resides in Chatham Maritime and b] Gordon Gravett's efforts on a similar vessel put me to shame and his are 4mm and 2mm scale!!

 

[Colonel]

  A real watershed moment this afternoon, when I finally got the Swilly Kerr Stuart 4-6-2T working with a full chassis. At Tolworth, it was running as a 4-6-0, because it was unable to negotiate the crossover at the station end. The dodge wasn't really noticeable because of the outside frames and the loco actually ran ok in this form, but it obviously wasn't right & this was an itch that needed scratching.

  Turned out there were several issues...

 The pony truck was a bit light, so have added more lead weights to it. The pivot plate was slightly too long & was fouling the brake linkage near the buffer beam - probably the main reason the truck kept derailing. So, soldered on a piece of nickel silver to the plate and re-drilled it for the 8ba bolt. At the same time added a couple of spacers above the plate, so it sits horizontally.

 

 As you can see, high-tech it ain't! 

 A further problem was that the truck was still marginal when reversing out of the train shed, but ok on all the other points. Hence decided to check the gauge at the derailment point, which it turned out was right where the point blades meet the stock rail. The solution was to file down the outside point blade, gaining an extra half millimetre and [fingers crossed] solving the problem. All the other locos and stock are either shorter wheel base or bogies, so the point hadn't been a problem until the 4-6-2T came along. Time will tell if I've really succeeded, though the Southampton show in two weeks time should be a good test.

 A couple of other things are the Donegal railcar trailer has been repaired,,,

... and a new road vehicle has been acquired. This little Austin Seven van was on a second hand stall at a recent local show. A Corgi Classic, its livery is for Birmingham Gas Corporation  - not a problem, I thought, as the transfers will soon come off. Except they won't. Not sure what they are, but nothing I have will touch them & I really don't want to do a full sand down & repaint. Hence decided to make simple logos on the laptop that could be printed off & stuck over the Birmingham logos. Have gone for a fictitious 'Donegal Gas Company' on the basis that before 'natural gas', town gas was manufactured [from coal] in almost every town across both islands. Probably committing heresy, so by all means make suggestions.

 Finally, for now, the little cabin for the ground frame on my new 0 gauge layout has been finished. For such a small model, it seems to have taken ages - much of it waiting for paint to dry! Have also mocked up the dairy buildings, from foam board, though with two layouts at two different shows over the next fortnight, not much is happening here at present.

 

[Tullygrainey]

A lot of modelling challenges arrived together on that 4-6-2T chassis David - bogies, pony trucks, six-coupled wheels, outside frames and cranks! Plenty of variables to keep the problem-solving gene exercised. I hope you've nailed them all now. 

[Galteemore]

Is there anything more maddening than trying to get a brass loco to work? Always seems to be a gremlin somewhere. Great work on both projects . 

 

 

[Tullygrainey]

2 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

Is there anything more maddening than trying to get a brass loco to work? Always seems to be a gremlin somewhere. Great work on both projects . 

 

 

I do wonder sometimes why we do it but then... when it works, I remember why.

[Colonel]

On 24/3/2024 at 5:36 PM, David Holman said:

Managed to fit in a bit of work on the railcar this week & and giving it to Mark before I go any further, so he can look at creating a chassis.

 Nothing to fancy in the construction. The sides are being built around 1mm clear acrylic sheet, overlaid both inside and out with 20thou plasticard. A fair bit of car body filler will be needed to create some of the curves and to deal with where my over enthusiastic use of MEK solvent has caused blemishes.

 One additional thing I'm doing for Mark is building a short piece of 21mm gauge test track. This is just a piece of plywood with two three foot radius reverse curves. If the railcar can negotiate these, it should be fine on my layout. Needless to say, this item is not finished yet!

 

[Colonel]

Remember this [see above]? Well done if you do, because I barely can! March 24th 2024, when I last reported on Donegal Railcar Number 7 [or 8], so nearly two years ago. Well, on Tuesday evening, finally got my 3D printed motor bogie, so can at last get back to it.

 The bogie is certainly a neat job, though the less said about the bodywork the better as much of the plastic had delaminated, so very much a case of having to start again.

  So, have spent the last couple afternoons revisiting Roger Cromblehome's suggestions for building the rest of the chassis. Could have used something like a press stud to mount the bogie to the body and then pivot the front pony, but the body overhangs rather a lot at both ends, so Roger's idea of building it a bit like a six wheeled coach seems to make sense.

 So, what I currently have is a bit like a dragster! Blocks pf plasticard have been added to each end of the bogie, with at the front a mounting for a strip of brass which has section of brass tube at the end to take the front pony wheels. The plate at the back serves as a mounting point for the bodywork. A similar hole can be seen on the front block for the same purpose.

 The base for the body is seen below. The hole near the front of this takes the bolt for the second pivot. Overall, this means that both the bogie and pony can wiggle/pivot separately, with the overall movement being less that half the amount the pony would move on its own.

 So, now need to start the body again and then work out how to weight and balance the whole thing. At least it goes through the points ok at the moment, but time will tell.

 

[Colonel]

 A lot of effort for not much progress in the last few days and Maggie Coulter's goat seems less than impressed too.

  However, at least I now have [fingers crossed] a working chassis, so as the old saying goes, the rest is just cosmetic. 

  Clear photographs of the prototype, especially things like details on the front pony are few and far between, so I'm relying as much on pictures of models as the real thing and the former look like their builders have been making assumptions too.

  So, I've made a  basic frame for the front pony out of L section brass strip, with two plates each holding a top hat bearing for the wheels soldered to this. The unit has been soldered to to the brass chassis plate and then all the details [note the white metal spring/axlebox casting] will be glued in place.

  The next photo shows how articulated nature of the chassis works on a 3' radius reverse curve, while the third picture shows the underside.

 That's probably it for the next week or so, as I have a host of other stuff that needs doing, but hopefully things might then progress better after that.

[Galteemore]

Excellent - it’s a particularly fiendish chassis ! 

[Mol_PMB]

34 minutes ago, Colonel said:

Maggie Coulter's goat seems less than impressed too.

Well Maggie's not going to get any coals for her fire from that contraption!

But the model chassis seems a very promising start and if it runs well and goes round the curves then that's the most important thing.

 

 

[Colonel]

 A bit of gentle modelling at last - and very cathartic too.

 Looking at what I might do, decided that adding some detail to the bogie and power truck might be a good idea and so it proved. Fiddly, but nothing too dramatic, just bits of plasticard and some white metal castings I found in the spares box.

The front pony is a complex affair and available photos aren't all that clear on detail. As you can see above & below, there's a cast axle box/spring unit, with strapping  hangers fabricated from plastic strip, while the 'splashers' are likewise 10thou. Eventually will need to work out how to add the front coupling and starting handle: the former looks like it was hinged to go up and back to allow access to the latter. The guard irons could still do with a bit of tweaking.

 The power bogie has also had details added. The prototype was chain drive, but this is barely visible, so simply added cosmetic outer frames from plastic sheet, then, like the pony truck, white metal axle/spring castings together with bits of plastic to represent  hangers & what look like shock absorbers.

 

[Mol_PMB]

Now this is looking very nice indeed, even if the prototypes were a bit ungainly!

I'm glad you have rediscovered the modelling mojo and are producing such excellent results.

[Galteemore]

Looks very good indeed ! Love the lurking Swilly loco at the back 

[Tullygrainey]

1 hour ago, Colonel said:

 A bit of gentle modelling at last - and very cathartic too.

 Looking at what I might do, decided that adding some detail to the bogie and power truck might be a good idea and so it proved. Fiddly, but nothing too dramatic, just bits of plasticard and some white metal castings I found in the spares box.

The front pony is a complex affair and available photos aren't all that clear on detail. As you can see above & below, there's a cast axle box/spring unit, with strapping  hangers fabricated from plastic strip, while the 'splashers' are likewise 10thou. Eventually will need to work out how to add the front coupling and starting handle: the former looks like it was hinged to go up and back to allow access to the latter. The guard irons could still do with a bit of tweaking.

 The power bogie has also had details added. The prototype was chain drive, but this is barely visible, so simply added cosmetic outer frames from plastic sheet, then, like the pony truck, white metal axle/spring castings together with bits of plastic to represent  hangers & what look like shock absorbers.

 

Nice to see this one back on the bench. I've just been re-reading the March 2024 posts where you started on it. 

[Colonel]

Slow, but steady progress on the railcar. It is an interesting project, but quite challenging in terms of working out what individual parts and sections might be, with repeated reference to drawings and photos.

 Have carried on with the bonnet/front pony truck area: the relationship between the two needs care to ensure one doesn't foul the other on  points and curves. The bonnet is 80thou plastic sheet, including the radiator grill, where all I've done to represent this is score multiple vertical lines with a craft knife. The curved top of the bonnet is down to some judicious filing and sanding.

 Had to get my Chopper out  to do the louvres on the sides of the bonnet and before anybody starts getting worried, it is the item below - a razor blade in a small guillotine affair I bought many years ago from Northwest Shortline. It is ideal for making multiple pieces of the same length - in this case 20thou square mircrostrip.

 Photos of the railcar in the late 1940s seem to suggest that these side panels were done away with, leaving the engine block largely exposed, apart from what looks like a tarpaulin draped over the top. Much as I hate doing louvres, in this case it seemed easier than trying to produce an engine block and associated gubbins...

 In later life, the railcars gained a front coupling and more poring over photos shows this was a hefty item that looks like it could be hinged up or down to allow access to the starting handle. I won't be using this coupling, but it still needed making, so more plastic strip to create an approximation.

 In the course of all this, I'd gradually realised that I was going to need to do the interior sooner rather than later, including painting it all, because the glazing is a key part of the rest of the body work.

 The floor is slightly higher than on the real thing, but hopefully this won't notice. The seats are more plasticard and I've  included the driver's one too, together with a few basic controls.

 

[Colonel]

 Got the bit between my teeth over the last few days, as the two pictures of my workbench show. A lot of stuff has been used!

  Equally, it's all fairly basic: craft knife, pencil, ruler, solvent, a few files and [a lot] of plastic sheet and strip.

 This time, the work has been on the upper coach body. Thinking ahead for once [and thanks to David Jenkinson & his excellent book 'Carriage Modelling Made Easy'], I'd left a 5mm deep slot between the inner and outer skins, for the 1mm acrylic glazing strips to sit in. However, plasticard doesn't weld very well to acrylic, so have used 'Glue & Glaze' [special PVA] for much of the work.

 The glazing bars are 40x20 for the vertical and 60x20 for the horizontal top strip. Took a while to do this, mainly because inners and outers are needed. Bit of a faff to paint too... The front & rear doors came next - these are 20 thou inner & outer skins on 1mm acrylic again. This left the rear end, which involves some complex curves and the only way around this was to use thicker plastic in the corners, plus car body filler, which was then filed & sanded to shape. While still on the micro strip, I added the bodyside beading from 20x20 and 40x20.

 Took the body down to the club last night, to do a bit of fettling & regular operator John got us wondering whether the finished model would fit on Swillybegs turntable. Railcar 10 certainly does - though folk at shows often wonder - and I hadn't thought the new model would be a problem. However, though about the same wheel base, there is that substantial rear overhang, so this morning, fitted the power bogie and gave it a test. It does go round [just], but once the rear coupling is fitted, it will be very tight. The answer is simple enough - turn the railcar the other way, though this is complicated by the fact that the motor/gearbox really doesn't like going in reverse, so a new one will be needed eventually. The photos below hopefully show what I mean.

 

 And so to the roof. This turned out better than I'd thought and is essentially a block of laminated plastic sheet [5 layers of 2mm], cut, filed and sanded to shape. A fair bit more shaping to do, but it sits well enough, thanks to some 60 thou square strips welded across the underside, that slot inside the window frames. Am intending to epoxy some steel wire to the tops of the window frames and then embed some small, rare earth, magnets into the underside of the roof to hold it in place.

 The pictures below show progress thus far and will help me to improve the profile to something matching the prototypes. Have had it running on the layout and it negotiates the pointwork nicely. The solid roof gives a nice amount of weight, though it may need a bit more in the chassis too.

 

[Galteemore]

Wow. Even unpainted the quality and detail just shines out 

[Tullygrainey]

Just brilliant. Love it!

[Mol_PMB]

Stunning! Just shows what a lot of skill and a bit of time can achieve. 
You now need to add an extra lever and interlocking in the signalbox so that the turntable cannot be used when a train is signalled on the adjacent line… 

[Colonel]

No signal box, but there is a ground frame on the platform. Will need to add another set of rodding...

[Galteemore]

With some of the incompetent fools who get their hands on operating that layout it’s probably wise to take precautions 

[Mayner]

Nice to see some traditional scratchbuilding methods, relatively quick way to build an unusual model. GSR/CIE had the same issue with Woolwich Moguls fouling the Mayo Line loading gauge while being turned at Athlone Shed. Apparently the staff for the Athlone West-Knockcrockery section was required to unlock the table.