Precision engineering

 Another post from the being at home collection.

Today I did another small job on the Johnston. The center wheel on the loco needs to be smaller as on the real thing its actually the jackshaft drive.

Now given the complete lack of anything other than a power drill for turning round objets, the wheel assembly was split and chucked up. I then clamped the drill between my knees, squeezed to fire it up and then went carefully with the file.

One side done

Both sides done

 

The wheelset was then installed back in the chassis

Should do the job. Unforunately due to the design there was only enough traction tire whels to do one wheelset. on the other hand there were several later Johnston locos which were 0-6-0's ( including a tank loco I think) in case I want to make another one.

Ds part III-ish

 Some time off this week (enforced unfortunately, running repairs to the sausage casing) has eventually allowed me to do a bit more work on the Ds. Wle waiting from wheels and motors to turn up I've been haing a look at the collection of photos I've assembled off the wibbly wobbly woo. One thing that has become obvious to me is that theres a bit more under the skirts that has been provided for with the package of RP parts.

 

As we can see theres a whole stack of springing thats missing from the frames. The counterweights in the kit are also completely the wrong shape but thats for another day.

A quick hunt through the bits boxes threw up some brass square tube. Out with the files and saw and we were away using the accurate mk1 eyeball for measurement.

The frame was then marked out with an aproximation of where the spring dodads should go

 

It was then just a simple case threading some wire throught the holes and a bit of soldering.

I've left the wires long and I'll cut them to lenght when the wheels are in the frame and the frame spacers are soldered in. A bit big (probably would have worked for HO scale) but they will do.

And what does the inner finescaler think? I dunno. I haven't heard from him since I refused to paint the correct unit collars and cuffs on 6mm Napoleonic figures last year during the first lockdown.

It lives!!!

 I've been doings some bits on the Johnston loco. The worm gear assembly was attached to the bogie after a bit of filing and some superglue and it all held together (though I'll strengthen it with something harder). Now, those of you who were paying attention and have memories longer than a goldfish will recall I was planning to put the motor in the tender as there's no space in the loco. This was incorect. The connector is a short piece of plastic wire insulation secured with a drop of superglue.

I then touched the wires to a 9V battery while holding the bits together. After a couple of stutters to my suprise it sprang into vibrationy motion. 

So, it goes which makes the rest a bit easier. I now have to build a top maximising the weight, rather similar to the Cb.

New Wheels

In the post this week I recieved some wheels from Dundas models. The old ones are gone and the new ones are far nicer. Pity there's no spoked ones.

So left to right we have Greenwich 6.2mm, Mosskito 6.2mm and Mosskito 8mm (for the DS).

Now for the review. Good points are that they are all NMRA compliant for back-to-back, flange depth and wheel width. Bad points are that they are still on 15mm axles. Also note that they are are only insulated on one side so care should be exercised when using metal bogies in metal underframes. However it is an easy way to arrange for extra power pickup.

Unfortunately I ordered the wrong gauge for the 8mm wheels (which were on OOn3 length axles but to OOn3 gauge, not OO9). So another $20 before I get to play with the DS mechanism.

The DS kit; On with the chassis

 Another "first in a long time" moment today.

I fired up the soldering iron and did a small job on the Ds. I've made a start on the etched brass chassis

A long time ago I purchased some bits from the 2mm association with the deluded notion that I was going to build an F with them. Fast forward to last week and I dug everything out just to see what I had. First job was to solder in the bearings. The holes in the sideframes had to be opened out a fraction for a snug fit. I then applied some solder paste around the edge of the holes, inserted the bearings and applied the iron.

Just as tidy as I ever was

I put the flanges on the inside of the frames to stop the wheels shorting on the frames which will be electrically dead.

From the other side I will have to do a bit of careful cleaning up with a file.

Note that as I mentioned here, the frames are for a standard gauge BR shunter. The plan from here is to do some frame spacers to take into account the wider than prototype wheels, then go from there. All seat of the pants stuff and no computers involved.

Back in the saddle

 Hmm, nearly 3 years away. So what did I miss.

Its been that long that I can't remember why I stopped updating the blog. I have done virtually no railway modeling over that time, apart from a few bits and pieces on the On30 layout. I have done a fair bit of painting/modeling for my wargaming interests. Theres a pile of terrain done for 28mm steampunk skirmish and I'm almost done with my Germany 1813 project (which has involved painting a few thousand figures). I've also started painting 10mm DBA 15th century eastern european armies.

Anyway recenty I went to Railex in Palmy. I've been to a couple of gaming conventions in the last year but this was the first Model railway show. I offered to give Grant a hand with his new layout, 3 Mile Bush.

Now this is another Grant Morrel magnus opus. He is phenominaly good at observing scenes and his bush modeling is up there with the best. He's also really good at engaging with the crowd, whch might explain his laissez faire approach to crowd control. Now when I operate a layout I tend to concentrate on the driving. Having to also attemp to do crowd control while engaging with the punters is a bit beyond me, especially in the mornings. So my 4 hr stint was not earth shattering.and I managed to run locos through stop blocks several times.

The Tauranga group was down with their NZ120 layout and I brought along some of my old models. The twinset railcar had been in the box 8 years without a run. A tweak to the internals and it was off like a Swiss watch.

The Ed's also got a leg stretch on the Saturday night, and I resisted offfers to sell them. It's the effort to replace them that makes them irreplaceable.