The Southern MD contingent got together on 1 Jan 2025. What better way to start the year.
A quorum was quickly declared with three attendees.
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| All the tools, none of the skills. |
The first item on the agenda was looking at stuff, chatting and pondering.
The second, and primary item, involved bringing the Waihao Forks module out into the sun for the first time in a few years. Its a really impressive wee piece, with a lovely CNC cut ovoid shape, hand laid code 40 track that was completed by Trackmaster RB about 15 years ago and wired and adjusted by MG around 2016. Time and relocations had resulted in some damage to the ends, so it was decided to add Fremo120 ends for connectivity and protection, 30cm across.
Damaged code 40 track sections at the ends were replaced with Peco code 55, which looks a little Cold War in comparison to the filigree handlaid stuff, but we needed to extend the tracks out over the new endpieces, didn't have any spare code 40 handy, nor anyone who could deftly work a soldering iron to the standard required.
This worked out OK. Peco code 55 is of course the same height as code 80 but with two track webs - one visible, and one buried in the sleepers, which is why the stuff is pretty sturdy.
This pic from a precious MD post on track. For the transition to code 40, bottom web of the Peco track was filed off, leaving a much finer piece of track with a web on the bottom. A fishplate was added to this remaining web, and the top of the rails filed down a smidge to match the height of the code 40.
Some of the sleepers were removed and replaced with a thin PCB one to help with the height change. Sounds a bit dodgy, but wagons rolled very smoothly through this. It will all be ballasted over to hide the worst of the chunky bits.
The ends were soldered down to EB's ModelTech rail aligners (copper clad PCB sleeper module joiners with little notches to facilitate alignment).
The meeting adjourned for a late lunch at a nearby hostelry.
After sustenance had been taken, work continued on the end pieces, and on freeing up and repairing two turnouts. This required freeing up the rodding and reattaching point blades to the throwbars. One was successfully resuscitated, and one remains a work in progress.
Among a few other projects tackled, MH brought along "The Grassinator" so we all had our first attempts at static grassing a small test section of DB's Studholme. The first task required was to perform surgery on a donor power adaptor to get the right voltage and polarity into the beast. Our results were mixed, being three men who just decided to crack into it rather than reading the instructions first. This is a topic that we will revisit in a future post. Once we have read the instructions.
But a success for The Forks, which is looking rather nice.
2 comments:
Working with code 40 rail is one of the hardest modeling jobs I have attempted (well, successfully).
Which point blades went?
"One remains a work in progress." Meaning it was the first one I attempted and made an absolute pigs ear of it. From memory the 2 that let go were both in the crossover, and it wasnt until after a burger, a ginger beer and a ponder that I realised a better way of weilding the iron and thats why the second one works.
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