Out with the Iron

 A quiet afternoon due to rubbish weather allowed me some time pottering with the Johnston A and it was time to start cutting brass. I'm going to build the tops from as much metal as possible to get weight into the model. 3D printing scores huge points for detail and accuracy, but theres just not enough weight in it to be usefull for very small locos.

First was the boiler which was cut to length and then opened up to give the firebox and also to go over the gear tower. I then cut a couple of pieces of brass 6mm by 2mm for the sides of the footplate. The top of the footplate was cut from brass shim with a sharp knife. I then discovered that the way the mech was set up meant that I was going to have to make the footplate part of it. I was also only going to be able to solder one side to the shim and the other would have to be glued in situ.

And heres where we are up to (with the Cb for a size comparison). The boiler is a bit smaller than the photo makes it look. I've also cut out the cab sides after sweating some brass together.

Saturday morning

 For the first time in a very long time I'm up before 10am on a Saturday. I've even started on the Johnson A boiler and am about to have a fosick through the brass dump to see if I can do a footplate and cab sheeting.

 Another (pleasurable)  task I've been going through is to go through my Railfan Collection compliling a very rough content system. I finally completed the set a month ago (thanks to Ann and Floyd of the Railway Enthusiasts Society) and sat down to go through them. I'm not blessed with my brothers "photograpic" memory and a hunt for a picture I know I've seen degenerates into a desperate search through a variety of books and the inevitable sidetracks which just makes the whole process either longer or grinding to a halt. I refuset to touch a spreadsheet system as I'm a much more analog kind of guy and so I came up with....Post-its.

 

Stuck on the cover with articles of interest written on and space to add more notes as required. Also colour coded by month of issue. The whole process has been pleasurable in that I've reaquainted myself with the 25 year collection of articles and photos and am reminded just what an amazine resource it actually is.

I have noticed that there are 2 missing so will have to go back into "der room" for a hunt. they rare probably buried under a pile of The Linesider.

Housing

Back in 2017 I reviewed a 3D print of a NZ Railways house. This week I've had a go at finishing it. Starting off with a coat of paint on the walls and a bit of weathering. I wasn't sure what colour to choose so went with something suitably drab and ugly (with a red door). The foundation just got painted as concrete.

Next was a better roof. A long time ago I used Peco N scale plastic roofing as a mold for tinfoil to make enough corrugated iron for the roof of the Dunedin railway station. This time round I had a far smaller area and a few more choices. JTT has a wide selection of plastic sheets (which I think are for architectural models) and as I couldn't decide I purchased the N scale and 1:100 sheets. I should have gone with my gut as I thought the N scale sheet would give the look that I wanted (anyone want larger scale cottugated sheets?). Some carefull measuring gave me a sabot to fit over the top of the printed roof (with a hole for the chimney).

Almost glued it before I remembered to take the picture.

I then painted the roof the same colour as the framing (ie I had no idea what else to do). It also got a weather including rust stains.

I'm just trying to find some adequate clear plastic in "der room" stash to use for windows and I can seal everything up. It needs a few more details and I'm buggered if I can think of a way to do guttering.

I'm now tempted to buy another couple to create a small town street scene.

How many boxes over is that?

 I've been kicking this around over the last few days with a collection of wise asses men.

Could you model narrow gauge in NZ120 using Z scale mechanisms?

I get notifications from one of the Japanese model shops as their bits can be quite interesting. One was for a Z scale mech which is dirt cheap (and I didn't think Z scale was a Japanese thing). 6.5mm is 2'7" in TT so close enough to 2'6".

Dimensions are ....tiny.

And what to do with it?

Well, a powered small steam loco is out I think. However a powered wagon pushing the train round would work.

And so we come to the Takaka Tramway, one of the very few narrow gauge lines in New Zealand. Built to move wood and farm product down the valley to the wharf at Waitapu.

Plenty of space to hide a motor. A better option would be in the carriage the line had which would look OK attached to the loco all the time.

The loco itself is not much but was aparently described as "colourful". It could sit on a free bogie with side skirts to cover up the lack of wagly bits (and taking me back to my modeling of 40 years ago).

The wagons are not much either.

 The scenes worth modeling include the main street which is quite plain.

 

A look in the bits tonight gives me 5 x 1m pieces of code 40 rail (more finger cuts I guess) and enough PCB sleepers to manage (though if any readers are members of the 2mm Society I'd be interested in a shopping expedition). There's not alot of pointwork to build (yah!).

Its also been pointed out that N scale (the US version at 1:160, why ) 3'6" scales to 6.7mm which is good enough for for Z guage track. I do wonder if anyone (apart from Mr G) has had a crack at this? Its not something I recollect having seen anywhere.