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Class 45xx 4567. Swindon (scrap). 26 April 1964
Originally uploaded by ricsrailpics
Nice example of the sort of run-down look I'll be aiming for with my 45xx (but with numberplates).
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
GWR Steam Locomotives on Flickr
I've set up a new Flickr group called "GWR Steam Locomotives" to collect together photos of, you guessed it, GWR steam locomotives! I thought this would come in useful as a resource, not only for myself, but other modellers (and of course anyone interested in the subject more generally).
There are currently somewhere in the region of 350 photos, ranging from old black & white photos from the 60s through to the present day and the preservation scene.
Check it out at http://www.flickr.com/groups/gwr-steam-locomotives/
You don't have to be signed up to Flickr or be a member of the group to view the photo pool (although you do need to have a Flickr account if you want to add photos, comments, or participate in discussions).
There are currently somewhere in the region of 350 photos, ranging from old black & white photos from the 60s through to the present day and the preservation scene.
Check it out at http://www.flickr.com/groups/gwr-steam-locomotives/
You don't have to be signed up to Flickr or be a member of the group to view the photo pool (although you do need to have a Flickr account if you want to add photos, comments, or participate in discussions).
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
More permanent way
Another 3 feet or so of trackwork have been completed between the weekend and this evening. The 45xx chassis has also gained brake blocks since I last posted and received its first coat of paint - or should that be grime? I'll post some pictures eventually, I promise! The Bachmann brake rigging is also being 'adjusted' to fit the wider chassis.
One thing I'm learning is that for me to actually make any progress at all, however slow, I need to plan ahead. Not just in terms of 'track needs finishing' etc. but breaking each job down into its smallest constituent parts and then tackling each of these one at a time as time permits. This way, even a spare half an hour is sufficient opportunity to complete a small task and is at least one small step towards completing a larger job. The more I am able to do this the more progress I think I will actually make as I will at least be doing something rather than just procrastinating, It's also more rewarding to work this way as each task, however small, once completed provides a sense of acheivement - which is important when on the face of it it's taken me longer than it takes some people to finish a whole layout just to get to the stage of a baseboard with a few feet of unfinished trackwork...!
One thing I'm learning is that for me to actually make any progress at all, however slow, I need to plan ahead. Not just in terms of 'track needs finishing' etc. but breaking each job down into its smallest constituent parts and then tackling each of these one at a time as time permits. This way, even a spare half an hour is sufficient opportunity to complete a small task and is at least one small step towards completing a larger job. The more I am able to do this the more progress I think I will actually make as I will at least be doing something rather than just procrastinating, It's also more rewarding to work this way as each task, however small, once completed provides a sense of acheivement - which is important when on the face of it it's taken me longer than it takes some people to finish a whole layout just to get to the stage of a baseboard with a few feet of unfinished trackwork...!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
New railway titles at The Works
I picked up some great bargains from 'The Works' a couple of weeks ago:
They've also got another old OPC re-release which I didn't buy but I'm tempted to - 'An Illustrated History of British Railways' Workshops' by Edgar Larkin, I think also priced at £8.99 (RRP £30).
As well as the 'Then and now' book for the GWR they've also got the LNER, Midland and Southern ones in stock. I'm not usually all that bothered by these sort of books but the GWR one at least is quite fascinating - many of the the old photos depicting stations across the BR(WR) mainly during the 50s and 60s are previously unpublished, and there is something rather intriguing about seeing how these locations look 40 or 50 years on.
- 'The Great Western at Swindon Works' Alan S.Peck. 278pp. Hardback. £8.99 (RRP £30)
- 'Around the Great Western Railway Then & Now' Laurence Walters. 256pp. Hardback. £8.99 (RRP £35)
- 'The Great Central from the Footplate' Robert Robotham & Frank Stratford. 112pp. Hardback £6.99 (RRP ??)
They've also got another old OPC re-release which I didn't buy but I'm tempted to - 'An Illustrated History of British Railways' Workshops' by Edgar Larkin, I think also priced at £8.99 (RRP £30).
As well as the 'Then and now' book for the GWR they've also got the LNER, Midland and Southern ones in stock. I'm not usually all that bothered by these sort of books but the GWR one at least is quite fascinating - many of the the old photos depicting stations across the BR(WR) mainly during the 50s and 60s are previously unpublished, and there is something rather intriguing about seeing how these locations look 40 or 50 years on.
Friday, May 15, 2009
More 45xx progress
The 45xx has been gradually progressing over the last week or so. The chassis now runs ok - simply tightening up the coupling rods sorted most of the issues!
The 'wheel arches' (what else do you call the spaces for the axles in a solid chassis block?!) required a bit of work with a round file to get all the wheels level and in full contact with the rails. Not sure if it was wonky out of the box or if it's something to do with the work I've done on the chassis.
(As an aside - while Bachmann clearly don't go as far as putting any form of proper compensation on their models, there is plenty of vertical 'slop' in the way the wheelsets locate into the chassis, meaning that you have a sort of poor man's compensation as I pointed out before - which I think is fine at least for relatively slow running speeds and well-laid track.)
The 're-purposed' Bachmann pickups seem to be fine. One silly thing that's puzzling me at the moment is how to reconnect the wires from the pickups to the motor so they are still easily detachable if I need to take everything apart again. Ideally I need very small terminal blocks but not sure if you can get them small enough or where from... anyone got any suggestions?
I've made a start adding the brakes (the original mouldings were removed from the Bachmann baseplate before it was cut up for use in the new baseplate - if I'd just left them on they would have stuck out too far). I cut small strips of plasticard (1mm X 1mm x 5mm) and glued these (using Loctite 'All Plastics' superglue) almost vertically onto the baseplate sides where the brakes were to be located, overhanging the bottom edge by about 2mm. These are to attach the brake mouldings to so they're positioned the correct distance from the chassis and line up with the wheels.
Glueing the brake mouldings onto these strips is quite fiddly as you need to do it with the wheels in place to get them properly lined up. I marked in pencil on the chassis sides where the tops of the brake mouldings should come up to just as a visual reference to try to get them all the same height (some sort of jig might help here). The glue goes off almost immediately the two pieces touch so you have to try and line them up a millimetre or so away and then press down - quite tricky when you're working with tweezers and trying to avoid getting the glue everywhere - especially on the wheels! Again, maybe some sort of jig would come in handy but I'm not sure exactly what.
Once these are all on I can start thinking about painting the chassis and then putting it all back together!
The 'wheel arches' (what else do you call the spaces for the axles in a solid chassis block?!) required a bit of work with a round file to get all the wheels level and in full contact with the rails. Not sure if it was wonky out of the box or if it's something to do with the work I've done on the chassis.
(As an aside - while Bachmann clearly don't go as far as putting any form of proper compensation on their models, there is plenty of vertical 'slop' in the way the wheelsets locate into the chassis, meaning that you have a sort of poor man's compensation as I pointed out before - which I think is fine at least for relatively slow running speeds and well-laid track.)
The 're-purposed' Bachmann pickups seem to be fine. One silly thing that's puzzling me at the moment is how to reconnect the wires from the pickups to the motor so they are still easily detachable if I need to take everything apart again. Ideally I need very small terminal blocks but not sure if you can get them small enough or where from... anyone got any suggestions?
I've made a start adding the brakes (the original mouldings were removed from the Bachmann baseplate before it was cut up for use in the new baseplate - if I'd just left them on they would have stuck out too far). I cut small strips of plasticard (1mm X 1mm x 5mm) and glued these (using Loctite 'All Plastics' superglue) almost vertically onto the baseplate sides where the brakes were to be located, overhanging the bottom edge by about 2mm. These are to attach the brake mouldings to so they're positioned the correct distance from the chassis and line up with the wheels.
Glueing the brake mouldings onto these strips is quite fiddly as you need to do it with the wheels in place to get them properly lined up. I marked in pencil on the chassis sides where the tops of the brake mouldings should come up to just as a visual reference to try to get them all the same height (some sort of jig might help here). The glue goes off almost immediately the two pieces touch so you have to try and line them up a millimetre or so away and then press down - quite tricky when you're working with tweezers and trying to avoid getting the glue everywhere - especially on the wheels! Again, maybe some sort of jig would come in handy but I'm not sure exactly what.
Once these are all on I can start thinking about painting the chassis and then putting it all back together!
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Getting it ALL right??
I came across this in the FAQ on Jim McGeown's Connoisseur Models website last night:
It struck me that this is true for all aspects of modelling, not just soldering. Yes, maybe there are modellers out there who manage to achieve a perfect finish first time on every aspect of their work, even the bits no-one ever gets to see, but I'll content myself with bodging my way through and just making sure that the visible bits are tidied up to a decent standard!
Q: How do I achieve the crisp, square and beautiful solder joints with just a mere hint of solder showing that I see on the models built by the experts on the demonstration stands at shows?
Quick Answer: The experts don't achieve much better joints than you, they have just got good at cleaning up afterwards.
It struck me that this is true for all aspects of modelling, not just soldering. Yes, maybe there are modellers out there who manage to achieve a perfect finish first time on every aspect of their work, even the bits no-one ever gets to see, but I'll content myself with bodging my way through and just making sure that the visible bits are tidied up to a decent standard!
Monday, May 04, 2009
45xx progress
I suppose one of the few benefits of a wet bank holiday is the extra modelling time it affords!
I made a new baseplate along the same lines as the previous one (as it had been hacked about a bit). I used the Bachmann pickups (I ordered a couple of the baseplates direct from Bachmann specifically for butchering). I cut the middle section out of each pickup strip (to prevent any interference with the centre axle) making two short strips for each side - one with a single wheel contact and one with two contacts. These were araldited into place with the wheel contacts protruding through the existing locating holes in the sideframe mouldings. I needed to electrically re-connect the two pickup strips on each side so, to avoid fouling the centre axle again, I drilled small holes adjacent to each section of pickup strip and then bent a length of thin copper wire so that the ends were flat on top of each piece of strip, passed down through the baseplate and ran along the underside, one wire on each side obviously. I should have said that before aralditing in place the top surface of each pickup strip was tinned with Carrs 188 degree solder paint; the ends of the copper wires were also tinned. Then the wires were soldered to the pickups using Carrs Speedy solder (with just a drop of flux). At the same time, thin sheathed wires were soldered on, to connect to the motor.
Once all this was done I temporarily fitted the gearbox and motor, connected the wires, and checked it all worked. Bingo! However, a couple of issues presented themselves. The middle wheelsets had too much vertical movement so that it was possible for the gearwheel on the axle to disengage with the gearbox. A couple of slivers of 0.5mm plasticard added to the top surface of the baseplate immediately under the centre axle quickly fixed this, still allowing sufficient movement (to act as a poor man's compensation) but ensuring the gears stayed interlocked. Also, and more mysterious, it wasn't actually moving! The chassis was remaining stationary while the centre wheels simply slipped, unless I applied some downward pressure in which case it did move, which suggests it was to do with the lack of weight from the body - although the unaltered Bachmann chassis ran perfectly well without the body...... hmmmmm, one to investigate further!
Anyway, putting that aside for another day, I did a bit of tidying up of my cosmetic sideframes using some Humbrol filler to get rid of a few gaps along the top edge and added some 'packing' along the bottom edges using strips of plasticard (which will be filed and sanded once fully hardended) to ensure there is as little gap as possible when the baseplate fitting is attached.
I'll get there eventually!!
I made a new baseplate along the same lines as the previous one (as it had been hacked about a bit). I used the Bachmann pickups (I ordered a couple of the baseplates direct from Bachmann specifically for butchering). I cut the middle section out of each pickup strip (to prevent any interference with the centre axle) making two short strips for each side - one with a single wheel contact and one with two contacts. These were araldited into place with the wheel contacts protruding through the existing locating holes in the sideframe mouldings. I needed to electrically re-connect the two pickup strips on each side so, to avoid fouling the centre axle again, I drilled small holes adjacent to each section of pickup strip and then bent a length of thin copper wire so that the ends were flat on top of each piece of strip, passed down through the baseplate and ran along the underside, one wire on each side obviously. I should have said that before aralditing in place the top surface of each pickup strip was tinned with Carrs 188 degree solder paint; the ends of the copper wires were also tinned. Then the wires were soldered to the pickups using Carrs Speedy solder (with just a drop of flux). At the same time, thin sheathed wires were soldered on, to connect to the motor.
Once all this was done I temporarily fitted the gearbox and motor, connected the wires, and checked it all worked. Bingo! However, a couple of issues presented themselves. The middle wheelsets had too much vertical movement so that it was possible for the gearwheel on the axle to disengage with the gearbox. A couple of slivers of 0.5mm plasticard added to the top surface of the baseplate immediately under the centre axle quickly fixed this, still allowing sufficient movement (to act as a poor man's compensation) but ensuring the gears stayed interlocked. Also, and more mysterious, it wasn't actually moving! The chassis was remaining stationary while the centre wheels simply slipped, unless I applied some downward pressure in which case it did move, which suggests it was to do with the lack of weight from the body - although the unaltered Bachmann chassis ran perfectly well without the body...... hmmmmm, one to investigate further!
Anyway, putting that aside for another day, I did a bit of tidying up of my cosmetic sideframes using some Humbrol filler to get rid of a few gaps along the top edge and added some 'packing' along the bottom edges using strips of plasticard (which will be filed and sanded once fully hardended) to ensure there is as little gap as possible when the baseplate fitting is attached.
I'll get there eventually!!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Catch up
I realise that this blog has been a bit quiet of late - sorry readers, so time for a bit of an update on what's been going on.
It was my birthday this week - a great opportunity (as if I ever needed an excuse!) to splash out on a few modelling-related items. I finally completed my Model Railway Journal collection, a long-held ambition, so I'm now the proud owner of all 190 issues spanning from 1984 to the present - a veritable goldmine of inspiration and information if ever there was one! Also, Part 1 of Geoff Kent's "The 4mm Wagon" (recently reprinted), and John Hayes' "The 4mm Coal Wagon" - both published by Wild Swan and excellent books by all accounts, which my initial flicking-through seems to confirm.
On the modelling front progress has been embarrassingly slow, as ever. The trackwork is still not complete, although it's getting there thanks to the occasional half hour of putting chairs on rails, soldering droppers, etc.
I got the 45xx (or bits of 45xx) out of its box again for the first time in months the other day, still unsure what to do about the pick-ups. Then a ridiculously simple and onbious solution occurred to me: cut the pick-up strips off the original baseplate and just re-attach them to the new baseplate I made. Problem solved. Why have I been trying to think of clever solutions all this time and missed the most obvious - and simple - solution?! So hopefully some real progress can be made on the motive power front at last. (And that might encourage me to get the track finished too!)
After the apparent success of my Model Railway Journal Index website (still keep meaning to write in to the magazine in the hope of spreading the word a little more widely among MRJ readers), I've been mulling a few ideas for a further modelling related website that might be of use (to me as much as anyone else). The idea that has been simmering for a while is a searchable directory of modelling components, tools, kits, parts, etc. with details of where each can be obtained from, and some sort of description/comparison of each. In essence, I see it working like this: if you needed to get hold of, for example, 4mm axleboxes for a P4 wagon conversion you were doing, and didn't know where to start looking, or what different options were available, you'd be able to go to the site, search for '4mm axleboxes', and see in one place a list of all the different types available and where to get them from, with a brief description of each, so you could make an informed decision about what to go for. It could possibly also include some sort of rating or review mechanism to provide user feedback on the pros and cons of each, although to work well this would depend on a large enough number of people actually using the site and submitting feedback. In fact, to even get up and running, the site would depend on users submitting information about what is actually available out there, as my own knowledge, even with the aid of MRJ's 'Small Suppliers Forum' and the donkey-work of trawling around websites etc, is fairly limited (hence the need for something like this). Anyway, it might all come to nothing but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else thought it was a good (or a crazy) idea!
Still trying to decide whether or not to make the trip down to Aylesbury next month for Railex. The line-up of layouts looks amazing but it might be a bit of a struggle to make it that particular weekend which would be a shame...
It was my birthday this week - a great opportunity (as if I ever needed an excuse!) to splash out on a few modelling-related items. I finally completed my Model Railway Journal collection, a long-held ambition, so I'm now the proud owner of all 190 issues spanning from 1984 to the present - a veritable goldmine of inspiration and information if ever there was one! Also, Part 1 of Geoff Kent's "The 4mm Wagon" (recently reprinted), and John Hayes' "The 4mm Coal Wagon" - both published by Wild Swan and excellent books by all accounts, which my initial flicking-through seems to confirm.
On the modelling front progress has been embarrassingly slow, as ever. The trackwork is still not complete, although it's getting there thanks to the occasional half hour of putting chairs on rails, soldering droppers, etc.
I got the 45xx (or bits of 45xx) out of its box again for the first time in months the other day, still unsure what to do about the pick-ups. Then a ridiculously simple and onbious solution occurred to me: cut the pick-up strips off the original baseplate and just re-attach them to the new baseplate I made. Problem solved. Why have I been trying to think of clever solutions all this time and missed the most obvious - and simple - solution?! So hopefully some real progress can be made on the motive power front at last. (And that might encourage me to get the track finished too!)
After the apparent success of my Model Railway Journal Index website (still keep meaning to write in to the magazine in the hope of spreading the word a little more widely among MRJ readers), I've been mulling a few ideas for a further modelling related website that might be of use (to me as much as anyone else). The idea that has been simmering for a while is a searchable directory of modelling components, tools, kits, parts, etc. with details of where each can be obtained from, and some sort of description/comparison of each. In essence, I see it working like this: if you needed to get hold of, for example, 4mm axleboxes for a P4 wagon conversion you were doing, and didn't know where to start looking, or what different options were available, you'd be able to go to the site, search for '4mm axleboxes', and see in one place a list of all the different types available and where to get them from, with a brief description of each, so you could make an informed decision about what to go for. It could possibly also include some sort of rating or review mechanism to provide user feedback on the pros and cons of each, although to work well this would depend on a large enough number of people actually using the site and submitting feedback. In fact, to even get up and running, the site would depend on users submitting information about what is actually available out there, as my own knowledge, even with the aid of MRJ's 'Small Suppliers Forum' and the donkey-work of trawling around websites etc, is fairly limited (hence the need for something like this). Anyway, it might all come to nothing but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else thought it was a good (or a crazy) idea!
Still trying to decide whether or not to make the trip down to Aylesbury next month for Railex. The line-up of layouts looks amazing but it might be a bit of a struggle to make it that particular weekend which would be a shame...
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