SI NZ120ers: Chch Train Show next year

 DB wonders out loud (and not having thought this through):

I can't be the only dude sitting at home with no layout but would love to run some trains... 

Are there many active (or potentially activate-able) NZ120 modellers in the South Island?

The reason for asking is that Christchurch has a pretty big train show each year, and unfortunately, as we don't have a Trackgang layout handy down here*, maybe we could make an NZ120 modular layout for me to run my big coal train on? 

Obviously its too late for 2024's show coming up in October, but if there was any interest, it's something we could target for next year.

This would give interested folks a year to knock a module together and scenic it, and in 8-9 months, if enough progress has been made, we could make a plan for how it could be physically set up, and then apply for a spot on the floor.

The October 2025 show gives some impetus to do that on a relatively grand scale, and a deadline to work towards to make it happen. 

My thoughts are a layout with modules based on the Fremo120 standards for new builds, although I see no reason why MMW modules and almost any other existing module couldn't be attached in some temporary but reliable fashion** to join in:  

• DCC. Possibly with a straight DC operable branch hanging off Studholme if folks want to run DC trains) Or vice versa if DC participants outnumber DCC folks.
• 1200mm track height from floor
• Assuming there are not enough curves to make a traditional 'loop' roundy-round, we could have a long string of modules with a balloon loop at each end. I've started planning and procurement for one balloon end.
• All NZR eras/periods/epochs, diesel/steam/electric and geographies would be welcome.
• No TGV's please - slow to medium speed operation to... minimise derailments, respect other people's rolling stock and modules, and for a better look. 

During show hours, the layout is "for the punters not the operators" ...i.e. 

• Layout is set up and tested before the doors open rather than spending the first two hours having the public watch you building things and trying to figure out how to get a train to run. 
• During the open hours, there's always stuff going on, ideally a variety of different trains, train crossings, maybe the branchline is working or shunting, but there is always something running for the paying public to look at. 
• Minimal fuddling around (i.e. if there is any shunting, it shouldn't tie up the mainline).
• Using the most reliable stock (things that derail or don't run well get fixed, get cleaned or get relegated to the sidings)
• We fix problems and derailments quickly and get things moving again.
• It should be realistic, impressive, and show off NZ120's potential so more people join us for the next show. 

Then:

• We can play with the derailing trains, complicated shunting with timetables and car cards after the punters have left. Or on the branchline if there is one and there are plenty of operators. But ideally over a few ciders after the doors close. 

So ... I have Studholme slowly under construction (3.6m) and have plans for two more modules to match it (one plain Canterbury Plains flatland, and a similar one with a low bridge which might be a curved module). So that could be 6m of modules to start with. Plus my balloon loop.

Ideally there would be another few "single track open mainline" modules. Maybe some have a culvert, or a road crossing, or a curve, or a bridge, or a tunnel or a cutting or an embankment. There might be a few 45 or 90 degree curve modules for variety (or if we end up growing too long for the space available). 

Perhaps someone might build two or three of these as a Module Set for scenic consistency. 

And the other balloon loop. 

If we had enough "open space mainline modules", perhaps someone might make another small passing loop station (Staircase, Seacliff, Tawhai, Kekerengu...). 

Sooooooo...... Is anybody out there interested in coming to Chch in 2025 to run some trains on a decent sized layout and have a few laughs?   And would you be interested in building a module or more?  

Only CE CEs are tasting like theees! - 4

DB weighs things up...

So the four CEs are looking pretty decent, but being 3d prints, they are featherweights that won't track well, especially when they are placed ahead of seven metal Trackgang CBs. 

I saved a few large chunks of lead rendered surplus from our roof, despite it being widely regarded as unhealthy (I'm not going to eat it). But, I don't know whether we cashed this in on a scrap metal drive or maybe its is hiding in a corner of a shed, but they haven't been seen for a while. 

Anyhoo, the CEs are made with a nice slot underneath them that might take something straight and weighty. This slot is obviously really low, and a low centre of gravity usually helps things run nicely. 

So I bowled on up to one of our local engineering shops and wondered if they had any small steel square rod for sale, fully expecting them to say "no, you idiot, of course not". As is almost always the case when I ask such a stupid question, the answer is usually some form of "well, you could perhaps use ..."

And so they have something called machine key steel, available in various sizes. When I had this genius idea, I had failed to actually measure the CE's slot beforehand, so was left scrambling. I bought a 3mm and a 5mm square piece. The 5mm was accidentally perfect. 6mm would fit, but this would obviously hang 1mm lower, so I'm glad I ended up with the 5.

It's pretty tough stuff, and my hacksaw seemed to be fighting a losing battle, so I bought out the spinning wheel of death with one of those really skinny cutting wheels about 2cm across. Cuts were slowly eroded into the steel on all four surfaces until I could snap off each section. I aimed for four 52mm lengths.

Installing:

And as you can see, you can barely see the steel from normal viewing angles. I'll paint it black once the glue dries. Overall these are still a little lighter than a CB, but should be heavy enough for the job. Must weather the bogies too.

Studholme 8 - All together now...

 DB continues:

Buoyed by the success of last night's bracing post, I went down to Mitre 10 and bought some 50mm M6 bolts and wing nuts and an assortment of washers, which let me complete the module's two legs with their fold-in braces. These braces are screwed to the legs at one end (with a bigger hole in one of the two bits of wood for some swivel) and M6-bolted to a little tab on the module at the other end. The braces are all made from the same 18mm square 1.2m long sticks that were procured from Bunnings for legs and braces when this all started.

This enabled me to sit the Centre module on its legs for the first time, with feelings of joy and a sense of pride that I expect a father feels when their first child takes its first steps. 

Like that child, the module was a little wobbly. Perhaps a little too wobbly for my liking, but at least it didn't fall on its face, throw up or poop itself. 

This wobbliness likely stems from the braces being relatively short. So a new plan was hatched: detachable longer leg brace sticks that can be stored within the module. So I decided to add the longest brace that would fit (diagonally) under the module 'lid' of the South module, with the module legs folding up to keep the brace in place during transit. This brace would be bolted with M6s and wingnuts at both ends.

This was proceeding to plan rather swimmingly, all too good to be true when it dawned on me that (six months ago) I'd put this South module's leg at the inboard end of the module, where it would mate up with the centre one with its two leg sets and leaving none at the outer end where support was needed!! D'oh! And I'd made a really nice job of this one too - better than the funky North module leg. Maybe this was supposed to be the module with two leg sets and not the Center one.....

So the wooden dowel pivots were knocked out - always use the correct tool (as above, "dear, where's the hammer?"), the leg was repositioned to the correct 'outer' end, and the brace added. 

This single brace felt a lot stiffer than the twin wee braces on the middle section. So now for the acid test... the South module was plugged into the Centre module. 

More pride and joy! So much so that I decided to reattach the legs of the North module (which I'd never been that happy with, but hey, they work) and put a similar long detachable brace on it, wingnutted at both ends. 

Ooooo. Finally, Studholme is back together again, and with those two long braces on the ends, it's actually pretty solid. The two end modules with their single leg sets are nice and light too. It all looks a little skewiff in the picture above, but the adjustable feet at the ends of the legs have since been wound in and out to level things up.

As an aside, I remeasured the length of the three passing loops - they should be able to hold a 2.1m train each. That sounds like a lot until I went inside to measure a pair of DXs and some bogie coal wagons. That is a 15 wagon train plus two locos. Maybe 16. 

Which again, sounds fine, but I already have a few more bogie coal wagons than that, with bits for another six. C'est la vie, whatever that means. If this ever sees any action at a show, and if it turns out to be a little short for the trains that want to be run, a medium length four track section could be added later on between the Centre and North modules.

Studholme 7 - The quadpod

DB Says:

This blog post was started six months ago, but a other projects and a mental block have kept me from making much progress on the modules.

The first module that I started had some primer belatedly applied onto the bits that aren't tracks, and the single track arriving in from the north was cut square(ish) with the faceplate using an unruly dremel by your half-blind correspondent in the dark.

Results: Not completely terrible, but also, not as perfect as had been expected. Might need an expansion gap added yet on one side and its rail pushed closer to the edge. Having said that its probably fine as long as the adjoining module isn't similarly afflicted. I suppose cutting it a bit long and filing/grinding it back would have been more sensible.

The other tracks remain extended beyond the layout edge so they can be glued down to the neighbouring module in due course and then cut.

Another disturbing development at the north module set end was disclosed by the arrival of a passing set square: 

I think this is because the track isn't perfectly in the centre of the module at the very end. It might need to be swerved out to the right at the bottom of the picture. Fortunately it's only lightly tacked down.

Also fortunately, I haven't drilled the holes at the outer ends of the module set yet. Measure 8 times, cut once I think the old saying goes. 

....Then things stalled for six months with the mental block.

This is because at least one of the three modules needs to have two sets of legs, ideally the middle one, which would give me a setup like this:

But fitting two sets of legs, folded/stacked on top of each other into a thin module was going to be tough to fit, and Then Mr Pythagoras gets in the way when it comes to the angled braces, which I wanted to have attached and foldable for transit, but they should ideally be as long as possible.

So after putting off this task for months, tonight I went down to the garage and hammered out a thinner set of legs that fold up OK.  I even have a 'rest' for the lower legs to sit on (so they won't crush the upper ones) and will add a little twisty-movable 'key thingy' into it so everything stays locked in place during transport. As these three modules are intended to be stacked, I don't want the legs crashing down onto the buildings and scenery of the module below it.

It works! (not enough hands to take a picture and hold the legs at 90 degrees).

I then mounted my first angle brace (below). Just need a thin bolt with a wingnut to complete that, and then I'll build more using this idea for the other three leg sets.

A few thoughts on my spindly legs. They seem solid enough, but the proof will be when this is set up and used. Too much pressure on the wrong place could be a problem, with the holes drilled for the hinge pegs obviously the weak spots. We shall see. The thin legs have kept the modules fairly light, although this centre one with two sets of legs is getting heftier than expected. Still, it's completely self contained (carrying legs, braces and all).

A little off the sides

In my last post I showed a picture of where I was up to with my EE set. Having a look at the painting on the headlight end I noticed one night last week., I noticed that if the silver line I had painted level with where the side met the roof, the paint line came down only about 2/3rds of the way down the light cowls. 

 

This didn't quite ring true in my memory and so I went back to photos of the real thing to check.

 

 Ok, so a quick look shows that the roof should be painted down to level with the top of the doors.

Easy enough fix.

 

 However it still didn't quite feel right and perusing my collection of pictures from trawling the web I discovered the truth...

 

The roof is actually curved right down to the top of the doors. The shiny strip above the doors appears to be a trick of the light or the cleaning machines they use very sporadically.

Out with the file and fortunately there is enough fat in the print to round things down  to where they should be.

This is my test shell and its proved to be a bit harder to fix my 3 other tops with their new ventilators in place, and I'm also wondering about the toxicity of the resin dust.

Only CE CEs are tasting like theees! - 3

 DB says:

The next step with the CEs was to seal up the decals and the laser printed paper "decals." 

I usually brush on clear varnish, but feared that might smear my red stripes, so did a light spray of Dullcote instead and this doesn't seem to have upset anything. Not sure what they put in that stuff, but best used outdoors due to the stink. Ask me how I already knew this, but never seem to learn.

The last big visible task is to insert some coal. I've never gotten around to doing this with any of my CBs or CWs in the past, although I did try an experiment with some of that builders expanding foam in a CB a long time ago thinking that would provide a light 'base' on which to apply a thin layer of coal. The problem being... it's hard to control as it expands...

So some sort of false floor is needed. The CE is more complicated because with its cylindrical cross section, any 'false floor' will be wider than the top opening, and then you have all those internal ribs to deal with. 

By trial and error I made up a false floor former for one side out of plasticard that reached inside from one curved inside surface to the ribs on the other side (then made three more using this as a master), and then a smaller piece to fit in the other side. Again using the 'master' to mark out where to cut the rib slots. 

These were stuck in place mainly with friction and using plenty of PVA used to plug up the worst of the remaining holes to prevent coal dropping under the false floor and being trapped there forever...

Coal was added and stuck down using isopropyl alcohol (to wet things) and then diluted PVA.

The coal I have is pretty chunky stuff from PECO. I must look out for some finer stuff for a topcoat next time I'm in the big smoke, as my CE prototype pics show very fine coal.

Remaining jobs include adding weight and painting the bogies. Now I'm kicking myself for getting rid of all that lead off our previous roof....

Modeling weekend

 Well first up tonight, some news. It appears Shapeways has gone bust and let go all its staff on Monday this week. It will be interesting to see what impact it will have on the wider modeling world. While the buisness model worked in the early days, widespread adoption of 3D printers has put the crimp in the printing market, coupled with insane UPS charges. The only good bit was the marketplace setup where people could sell there models from a cenral spot and not have to carry any stock themselves. It will be interesting to see what emerges from the rubble. Congrats to Lewis Holden for doing his part to break the company.

And now the interesting bit

Last weekend I spent 2 days poking the borax while doing a bit of modeling at Woodville railway station. Organised by VCC models, it was fun couple of days sitting round talking, modelmaking and stealing liberating other peoples tools. And the food was very good as well.

Plenty of old iconic modelers in this shot

We even had a surprise guest.

 Now I've never been to Pokaka and while I've been told its a great weekend I do have my doubts about being trapped in the middle of nowhere with a group of railway modelers. This weeekend for me was ideal in that I got to sleep in my own bed every night and not torch a pile of brownie points.

So what did I get up too? A few projects but one of the bigger ones was making some headway on my D+Dm+D set. I had to add the correct ventilators and do some work on the motor bogie. I've now thrown a base coat of paint on it all.

Once I have the windows sorted I will do the weathering and then sort out the undergubbins.

Only CE CEs are tasting like theees! - 2

 DB says: Instead of "working" today as intended, I ended up being distracted for most of the afternoon by the CEs.

The previous night, I applied a little paint with an airbrush, then started thinking about the distinctive 'signage'.

Halfway through that thinking, I figured the bogies should be applied, as doing that at the end might upset the delicate signs. Good job too, as after the holes were drilled and screws were screwed, the whole thing sat up too high, and three wagons in, I came to the inevitable conclusion that "this will not do". There's nothing that makes a model look more toylike. 

So bogies came off and it was out with the dremel sanding drum and knife to lower the bogie mounting points almost a mm and to make more clearance in the underframe for the wheels to swivel.

After re-attaching the bogies (I use self tapping metal screws as they tend to be easy to find in small sizes at engineering shops) things looked far better.

As my decal printer's Windows XP computer is on the blink, I wondered about other ways of attaching signage, especially the distinctive 'this way to unload' arrows.  I doodled a design up in PowerPoint, printed it out in plain laser paper and coloured it in with a yellow marker. This was later joined by wagon numbers for the CEs and also for my old CBs and CWs. Paper stuck on with PVA is neither fancy nor high tech, but its the impression that counts, and this isn't completely terrible. The yellow shade could be redder, but that might be fixable later.

Then I found some white decal paper  - soon to be cut into strips - some plain white, some with red stripes. These are for the reflectorised strips at the bottom of the wagon

Ta-da, with signage:

There should be one more arrangement of plain white stripes in the shape of an arrow, but I'm not sure my OCD can be bothered.

A real pain was that the Crayola red obviously isn't waterproof, so the first dozen stripey bits lost most of their red in the water dish. I learned to carefully place them 'on' the water, and carefully retrieve them with tweezers without getting them wet. Then waiting until the retrieved pieces separated and could be applied. That all took some time, as I had 24 of the red stripey bits to do in addition to the sixteen plain white strips which went on quite quickly. 

Plug Of The Day is for that Tamiya decal cement I bought a while back for the reversed DSJ fern. It's subsequently been used for sticking down a decal-side of one of my RFL wagons that had curled away from the plastic container, and now for these fiddly little side stripes with the red angles, some of which kept curling off the wagon until they were glued down. Unsurprisingly, putting decals onto a gritty finish isn't a great mix. And this glue didn't seem to upset the red marker either, but has ebnough tack to work quickly, and is thin enough to get behind decals. A nice find.