Organising

The modeling room has been,for want of a better word, a tip for quite a while now.
At the moment I do my modeling and painting on 600mm shelves that were in place in the house when we brought it which are now surplus to requirements. Now, normally these just live on the floor when not the current project, which is a bit limiting as there is only so much floor to go round.
last weekend I knocked up a storage rack out of some old MDF bits, and smuggled it into the house while the wife was out this morning.

So there we have it. a selection of 6mm wargaming projects on the go at the moment, but plenty of space to add other projects to ignore at my leisure.


Some of you will be wondering why I didn't just buy something from a shop. Mostly its because I'm cheap, but more because I wanted something that fitted into the room without wasting any space. The lesser bit is because we don't have many options in terms of buying items like this in a shop.
However those living in civilised countries might be able to find something that fits the bill much better.

BP97 - Second Pass

Am_Fet slowly scribbles:

Long time readers of this blog will remember a little over a year ago the original BP97 bogie appeared on our shores from Brave Scotland.  MMW were the consulting engineers on the project and they did a sterling job with the prototype which was duly dispatched to DandruffVille for assembly.

The general consensus was that the bogie as provided was a tad too difficult to assemble with excessive etching "scolloping" marring the finish.

After last weekends visit into the hinterlands, I wandered home with an envelope containing all manner of etched goodness, including the MK II version of the BP97 bogie.  Now, for The Forks I'll need a fair few of these puppies to go under the S, T, Z, U and UGA wagons planned on the roster so I decided to take a personal interest.

So this is what I've got:

The big news here is that its now in 0.3mm Nickel Silver as opposed to brass, and it definitely shows.  The etching is crisp and straight with none of the "scalloping" in the earlier model.  The Nickel is slightly stiffer as well and should be able to hold fold directions better than the brass, which from all reports was a bit "loose".

So how did I get on?  Well....not too flash, actually......I had the beginnings of a cold and I couldn't find my tweezers...and to cap it all off once the iron had warmed up I found the bearing holes weren't big enough to accept the 2mm association bearings.  So rather than trying to butcher my way through while I wasn't feeling my best, I wisely put it back in its envelope and went back to running the KiwiRail radio system.

A visit to Cabbage is on the cards, I feel, to make use of his much better stocked tool box, which includes a tiny set of exquisite broaches.  Just the thing for getting bearings to behave.

Hopefully things can continue again later on in the week.

Take a letter, Miss Jones....

To:

The Proprietor,
Marks Model Works

Dear Sir,

Can you please redraw your 15' underframe (as designed to go under the J5) to 15'7" please.

I've tried lengthening it using manual means and I'm flummoxed.

Yours,

Cross-Eyed of Lower Hutt

Saturday morning

Annoymous writes;

"Completing stuff and not starting additional new layouts is a good policy. I'm in the process of completing a number of unfinished projects at present. It's a real buzz to have modelling projects completed rather than having lots of partly done work hanging over one creating a lingering long-term feeling of dissatisfaction."

 I thought I should examine this further. So, with out further addo, the Man-sion as it stands this morning.

I suppose its easiest if we start from left to right. On the desk out of shot are a collection of 1:105 scale models for the Fell museum in featherston. Visible on the desk is my WW2 early 1944 Russian army that I have been working on since 2007. Back left is Paekakariki, which has been absorbing/sucking time since 2009 (though given that its a 5/10 year project I'm not overly worried about it). Sitting on top of it are too many 1/2 finished projects to mention. OK, I'll try. Engine shed, turntable, more wagons for Fell museam, DCC controller sockets, module connecting tracks, Loco servicing depot, 2 signal boxes, railway station, various wagons. This is just the stuff that has actually been started....

Middle far end of room is a collection of 25-28mm colonial war gaming terrain that I build for something different. Most of it has been used once. Back right is the collection of loco and wagon bits. More 1/2 started projects than a goblin could shake a stick at (unless you can find a goblin who is particularly adept at the art of shaking sticks). Further right is the work bench, with surprisingly few projects on it (possibly making it the cleanest surface in the room). A collection of war gaming armies (WW2 1944, 1980's central front, 15th century western Europe). Finally on the sofa there is a possible base for the smallest NZ120 layout yet, as seen at railex, and Wahio Forks, which is in the middle/start of a point blade replacement project as all the first attempts were not good enough for fine scale track. Oh, and in the Garage is my bush tram layout that needs work.

So, I feel that there is plenty there to create a lingering long-term feeling of dissatisfaction. Maybe lingering should be removed from the previous sentence?

As an addition to this post, I suppose I should 'unvail' my current reading pile.
(in no particular order)
The 4mm engine, a scratchbuilders guide.
landscape modeling.
Signaling in the age of steam.
The broad gauge of the GWR, BER, NDR and SDR.
Modeling the broad gauge.
Broad gauge broad sheet No 68
Broad gauge locomotives.
GWR 0-6-0 standard gauge locos

Not a shread of NZR reading material is there, though maybe a tip towards my next project (but in 2mm, of course). Maybe I should exchange it all for copies of Railfan in the hope that I can get back on track?

In Defence of Brass

Am_Fet writes:

Seeing as I am on leave this week (school holidays and my daughters ballet exams converging creating a need for Dad to become primary caregiver for a few hours a day), I made an effort to take an evening jaunt up to the wilds of Stokes Valley to see Cabbage.  Now, I know the warnings about entering "Snake Gully" after dark, but I thought this to be a mission of great import.

The reason was brass, or rather, our scales love/hate relationship with it.  To sum it up everyone loves the idea of it, but hardly anyone seems to want it when its available.  Its something Andrew Wells found when he started with his Fm/Da/Dc kits and Cabbage is finding it now with his UK/IA/IB wagons (and a little birdie tells me the OM and ZH arent too far away either).

So why the Apathy?

I think it comes down 2 things:

- REASON 1: Difficulty of working in brass

Lets face it, working in Plasticard or White Metal is easy; break out a knife, some files and slop some glue around and youre pretty much good to go.  But this brass stuff?  Cripes!  Doesnt respond to a scalpel, needs a hacksaw to cut, takes an age to file and to join it together, apparently I have to learn to "Solder" (Or as the Yanks say, "Sodor")!  Surely that will involve needing a soldering iron the size of a babies arm....and flux!  Nasty stuff.....can eat through your best trousers quick as look at them, not to mention skin!  Best wear asbestos gloves; actually, best wear a full flame retardant suit, those irons get hot!

REALITY CHECK!    Sure, all of those may be slightly true if you are panel beating in 9mm (and I have, trust me), but this is Nz120 we are talking about.  Most of what you'll see will be etched kits in brass so thin it can be sent through the post in envelopes.  Assembly will mostly consist of folds, and the only cutting you'll need to do can be achieved with scissors or a sharp scalpel cutting onto a piece of wood.  Cleaning up is the domain of needle files, so no big hassle there, cos youve already got some of those, havent you!  I read once that a good brass kit is as easy as folding up a card model, and if it has tabs and slots (most do), then you can even hold it together with a decent glue, meaning you dont even have to go close to a soldering iron.....

- REASON 2: Irrational Fear of Soldering

Once youve experienced soldering, you will never go back, trust me.  And again, because we are working in Nz120 you can consign those foot long soldering behemoths to the back of the cupboard, as all you'll need is a small 12v iron you can grab from Tricky Dickies.  And flux!  No longer the evils of "Duzall" that would eat through a perfectly good workbench in an afternoon....we've now got the joys of things like Phosphoric Acid that, although not quite in the "swig straight from the bottle to relieve halistosis" stakes, is fairly benign stuff.  I'm told even Coca Cola will do the same job at a pinch.

So the whole thing is pretty simple really......hold the bits together, slap some flux around then touch the iron with some solder on it to the joint, everything goes fizz and ....presto.  Solid as, and all in a few seconds.  Dont like it?  More flux, more iron to melt the solder and reposition....sounds easy and it is.

To learn how easy soldering is, Find someone else who can solder......having someone guiding your initial attempts is the best way to start.  However, if you live out in Upper Golfballawao and the nearest soldering expert is at the local garage 150 miles away, leap in and have a go!  Really, what have you got to lose?  Apart from burning the house down of course....

Anyway, thats the end of todays sermon......to end up a bit of show and tell.  I filmed Cabbage putting together one of his UK kits from scratch to being ready to have a blob of glue or solder to hold it together to show the process, and from go to woe it was about 15 minutes (with a break while we tried to find another camera after the first card got full).  BTW, his workbench is off the family room and Marissa and Jo were watching "Distraction"....hence the background noise.  Oh, and the second camera seems louder and...well, different.  You have been warned.

Going bush

Well, after the wrapping up of my current project (well, the 10 hour day parts of it), there is a bit more energy for some modeling. in the previous week my modeling sum total has been to cut 6 rails. Tonight I managed to replace 4 of those rails before I ran out of fish plates.

I then turned to the bush tramway log bogies. The prototype was OK but I was not looking to burnt fingers with the next 5. From the depths of my brain muttered a distant voice 'use a jig'. having dismissed the possibilities of interpretive dance, I grabbed a bit of plywood and made the following item. This held the pre cut bits of brass in the correct orientation tightly enough for me to solder them together.

A little bit of solder and everything went together as planned. 5 times no less. That will be enough for 3 log wagons to start with, and I don't think that the Cb will haul many more. I still have to sort out how I'm going to couple them together.

Next will be to add the axle tubes. Maybe some sort of jig might do the job....

I've also been thinking about track I did have plans of hand laying code 40 rail. However a comment over at NZ120.org by Mr Trackgang gave me a bit of a rethink. He is correct in that there is a lack of NZ120 layouts on the show circuit (such as it is). 20 years ago I would have had a layout knocked up in a couple of weeks probably because my standards were a bit lower. I now think that I over think a lot of things, when I should just be making stuff. I'll now see if my inner finescaler can be tied to a chair in the broom cupboard out the back for a couple of months.

Saturday morning

Well, RMweb seems to be down or not responding (which seems to be a moderately common occurrence lately for me at least), so I suppose I'll have to write something myself instead.

I've been doing some thinking about the freemo end plates that Cabbage has come up with in terms of what one can actually do on them. All good fun with a pencil and paper. We must have a chat about standards at some point, or maybe I'll just declare what they are. I fear getting bogged down again in a discussion where eventually nothing happens short of wasting a lot of time.

Its also come to my attention that there have been sod all photos on here in the last couple of weeks, so here we go to alter that with 'whats on my workbench/layout'

First up, cast W10 or W11 wagons on the J underframes. I've simply removed the headstock's (to be replaced at a later date) to allow for the longer top



Another 3 J tops waiting for me to solder up the under frames. Also the R1 waiting for new bogies, and the Ugas (having had weight added) waiting for new lids.

This of course is all going to be held up by a load of wood to stack and fishing later in the day.

Ommmmmmmm.......

Am_Fet intones:

Ommmmmmmmmm...............

With all the preparations made for the worlds biggest leave pass (similar to a train control "work between 2 stations" warrant), I started getting a few things together to take with me. In the past at shows of this ilk, Cabbage (aka Marks Model Works, purveyor of fine 3/16ths Dubs A kits and 1880's exhibition layouts) and the VCC Models team have set up demonstration tables and merrily hacked, filed, soldered and muttered all within the scrutinizing eye of the viewing public. So, being the naive innocent little lamb that I am, I packed a few tools and started casting around for projects.

I already had a few IA's that still needed to be assembled before making their way to a new home in the Naki, plus I'd found a J5 etch that I was using as a bookmark in a train book.....so that was going north anyway to sit in the Head Druff's new train room.



With all the latest goings on in Taranaki I am starting to re-invigorate my interest in the milkies, so pulled back my old CAD OM drawings to see if anything could be done with them. A phone conversation with Mr Laser late on a Thursday afternoon confirmed if I could have a file to him early Friday he'd have it available to be picked up by stumps that night.

In the end I did 2. The first was a standard OM in 0.5mm styrene designed in a similar fashion to the IA with etched girders and slots in the decks for them to go into.



The second was a bit more....ground breaking.

The wagon spine was made from 4.5mm acrylic and consisted of 2 cuts; the first was the side view with the drop centre, the second (after the piece was rotated 90 degrees in the machine) was to provide the slot in the top. The decks were then added in 0.5mm styrene.



The real proof of the pudding was in the making....and oddly enough the single piece spine was a lot easier to finish (by a factor of 1000%!) and it only took 5 minutes. In fact, I gave up on the styrene one as it proved impossible to put together. There is a bit of "twist" in the acrylic due to the heat of the laser, but I am informed that a quick reapplication of heat will allow it to be bent back into shape...not that I cared, this was just a prototype, goddammitt!



Thanks to Cabbage, it even got a lick of paint...

So here we are. The boys were really enthusiastic when they saw it, as it opens up a whole lot of new ideas....such as locomotive chassis for split axles (large block of acrylic, cut the side elevation for frame shape and axle holes, then rotate and cut slots for the gears).

As for me, I suppose I'll have to finally get the tank supports underway in 2mm acrylic as well as starting to beg Cabbage to turn up some SS tube on his lathe. Luckily he's already provided a sketch on how the cradles should go together.



Seeing as I need around 12 of the puppies the incentive is there to make the assembly as easy as possible....

Pick up line

At the monthly support group meeting I had a chat with teach about putting some more pickups on some of his S scale steam locos. Several of his locos have the archaic 'one side of loco, other side of tender' system, which I think was invented as a medieval form of torture.

So yesterday I sat down with the first victim, an Online J. A first examination revealed a split frame mech, which was a pleasant surprise pick up wise. However since I was there 'we' decided to fit some more pickups to the tender anyway.
The first step was to solder some phosphor bronze spring wire to some thin PCB strips (well OK, sleepers). I then through a series of origami moves managed to fit the damn things and get them to work (well, rub without seizing the wheels up). Unfortunately we didn't have any thin flexible wire on hand (it was at home) so a full test was out of the question.

I should have got a photo....

One thing I did notice was just how much space there is on an S scale model to fit these sort of things. They are absolutely huge. I'm now looking forward to have a crack at some of the other locos.

DCCed

Well a wee while ago I asked for info on where to get cheap decoders.
Steve came up with the goods (what a useful chappie he is) and suggested the Digitrax DN135D from Southern Digital. Its just a simple 3 function decoder, but hey, I'm a simple chap, and I don't want no sound or flashing lights (remote uncoupling though...). I orders a couple of decoders on the 22nd, and they arrived at home last night, so 8 days. Total cost was 2 decoders at $15.20 each and $8 for the postage, which translates to $54 in the local peso. From what I've seen of local prices, this is quite a saving.

So, onto the fun. First onto the dissection table is 1410. Now being of an older vintage, the old atlas SD-9 has absolutely no DCC readiness whatsoever. I did manage to find how to on the net and that sort of helped. So, cut off the motor tags, shorten the decoder wires and solder away. The first problem arose when it suggested that I could reroute the wires up beside the motor. 'OK fine' I thought, and after 1/2 an hour of stuffing and testing decided that these clowns were talking bollocks. I then went back to my fall back position and drilled a couple of holes in the frame next to the motor terminals. The wires were then lead out and connected to the decoder. This still shorted out, but worked when the motor was out of the frame. I kept checking my soldering but couldn't see what the problem was, and eventually just taped over the offending terminals. I'd just got the whole thing back together and squeezed the top back on. A test revealed no movement, which was traced back to the motor wire which had broken just inside the hole in the frame. Back apart everything went, and new stronger wires were soldered in. This time with everything back together it worked. One down and only 2 hrs on the clock.

Next up 1431. This had a decoder in it ages ago which let all the smoke out one day (which is an important component of any electrical device). The wires were still there so it was relatively easy to connect up the decoder. A minor hassle was that the decoder would not fit quite where I wanted it to go. This was eventually sorted and Da number 2 rumbled into life and down the track, where it promptly collided with Da no 1. I had forgotten just how much fun DCC could be

So, at the end of a long annoying evening I have 2 DCCed locos.

'!@#$%^&*()'

I'm not looking forward to the Ed's as the Kato Mikado chassis is known to be a sod to do, though maybe that's if its still a steam loco.

Opening it up

I've been on the lookout for some small coils to try out my DCC uncoupling idea for a few months now. I'm looking for a coil thats about 5mm long and up to 6-7mm in diameter. Last week I discovered something promising; A relay in a 14 pin integrated circuit box. I ordered some and they arrived today.

Well, the size looked good, but how to find out just how big it is? Using my most delicate hammer I then attempted to prise the coil out of its plastic coffin.

"It looks like its going to be a bit long..."

Round and Round

After a number of email discussions we wondered if there was a viable alternative to "near enough is good enough" when it came to loco wheels.

Kato's SD90Mac has N scale 44 inch wheels (in theory), which in NZ120 scale out to 839mm, somewhat short of the 940mm needed for loco wheels (excluding the DA/DB/DBR/DC). Although of course the massive flanges help the illusion.

So after some research on the Northwest Shortline website I came up with the following options:
HO scale 28" wheels scale out to 991mm in NZ120, oversize by 0.46mm at scale size.
The closest size to ideal would be 27" (HO), 946mm in NZ120 which don't exist.
26" (HO) works out to 914mm in NZ120, undersized by 0.18mm at scale size.

The 26" wheels were the closest option, but only available with 2mm shouldered axles in /64 finescale.
I ordered some 28" /64 wheels which according to the ordering page had 1.5mm pointed axles, quite crucial for what I wanted.
However when they turned up they had 2mm axles, so I probably should have ordered the 26" wheels after all.

I also ordered a set of Kato SD90Mac wheelsets.
Briefly, the Kato wheels were disassembled and the plastic gear was modified to take the NWSL wheels. Since the gear has an outside diameter of only 2.4mm it was first given an "outer" of brass tube to give it a bit of strength and then drilled out to 2mm. Had I got wheels with 1.5mm axles I may not have needed to strengthen it first.

The NWSL wheels were intended as wagon wheels, so one wheel on each axle is insulated. This was removed, then the axle was cut short to make it a "half axle", these were then "pushed" into the modified Kato gear. Two wheelsets are needed to make one replacement loco wheelset so it's not an overly cheap option.





Some points we have discussed since doing this include:

The flanges look great but track work will have to be perfect if /64 is to be practical, it may be that we need to move to /72 for reliability.

We need to see if NWSL will sell us wheels in kitset form, that is with no insulated wheels included.

The pinpoints are obviously somewhat larger than the N scale originals and may not fit into existing N scale bogies easily. However following the close enough doesn't have to be good enough theory, that is not the intention...

Not quite heating stuff

In the latest care package from Woodworks as well as the 179C solder I ordered, were also samples of 145C and 100C. Now in the vast collection of tools here at Chateau Dandruff (counted by a local careless saw miller on the fingers of one hand), one of the ones I'm missing is a temperature controlled soldering iron. Now, not wanting to waste money on something that I probably won't use enough to justify the cost ( A set of files might even be pushing it), I came up with the following dodge based on something I had seen a long time ago.

The heat at the iron end is still enough to melt the run of the mill electronic solder, at the other end it just gets hot enough to melt the 100C stuff, with the 145C melting 2-3cm back. By contrast, Trackgang metal melts about 3cm from the right end (total length of the device is abut 10cm).

Now, you are all going to tell me its rubbish and I should buy a proper temperature controlled unit, but I simply can't afford it. This seems like a reasonable compromise. It won't be as easy to use, but it will work.

Sunday morning

Well, there was going to be a post about me completing some wagons and making progress on my Ew here this morning, but I got nailed by a lack of glue in the house.

So, instead here is a link to a guy who has built a portableish modeling bench. Personally I think he owns way too many tools, but then maybe I don't own enough?

All Quiet on the Western Front

Am_Fet writes:

Like Chateau Druff, things seem to be very quiet also in the Waihaorunga Creek Workshops. Not too sure the reason why....maybe its the long cold winter nights that are starting to close in, or the fact the work has just got 33% busier than it was. CAD time and enthusiasm seem to both be MIA at the moment, but at least a few things have been stirring in the South of the North over the last few weeks:

- In a fit of absolute madness, Cabbage has sent away for a 1:7 point kit and accessories from fasttracks (http://www.handlaidtrack.com). His rational? "I wasnt too sure if their products would be useful for Sn3½, so I ordered the N one to see what it was like as I know the Waihaorunga Creek boys could use it". So in preparation for the arrival of this piece of Code 55 goodness, I drew up an overlay of the template available on the website with the sleeper spacings of a standard 1:7½ turnout from the guild plans



I'm not too sure how we are going to marry it together, as the PCB sleepers (in red) are an integral part of the assembly jig and holds everything in place while it is removed and placed on the layout. Maybe we need to replace them one at a time after the wooden laser etched sleeper pack is glued on...who knows. With a 6-8 week shipping time, we wont be finding out the answer anytime soon.

- Production times are creeping up on us again, and in reality its because we dont want to overload our Mr Laser with meaningless trivialities when he could be making lots more money from those more wealthy (Despite him trying to get the well paying stuff out of the way quickly so he can get to our "fun" projects). However, we've pitched an idea to him that he has leaped at: Namely us "renting" the business for a day one weekend and having him and all 4 of his lasers at our disposal - might finally mean the ZH and ZG finally get finished, I can get stuff to those who are waiting and I can start on another project, namely:

- After the J was finally finished and the shell shock wore off, I started casting about for the next "impossible" project....so I'm now toying with either a 44' Car or a 43' Birdcage carriage. Initial drawings in 0.4mm ply with 0.25 mylar strapping for the fine moldings show it might be possible:



In idle moments at work I'm designing the celestory roof in my head and how to make it part of the structure....

But thats not all....we're also playing with Code 64 and 72 wheels (on order from the States), CNC axles (in discussions with a lathe owner), Type 18 bogie frames (Drawings care of KiwiBonds to complete), 2mm Acrylic locomotive frames (prototype on my workbench)....but it really is all still in the "Suck it and see" phase. When will any of it be finished? Who knows....None of us are in love with the hobby enough at the moment to want to push it. Most of these projects are just noodling along, especially the wheels and track one....we want to make sure we can do the undergubbins accurately first before starting on the matching tops. BTW, this is what a /64 wheel on a CNC shouldered axle (perfect back to back) would look like in a scale Type 18 bogie...



There is a lot more really, but again, we arent pushing these things....its just not the season for that sort of carry on....

Hints and tips time.

Posting a wee bit late today. The lady of the house is at home ill, so guess who has to run around catering....

Anyhoo, today I'm having a closer look at the assembly of the laser cut J sheep wagon, as its not an easy prospect. Since I've assembled 2 now I'm appointing myself the world expert until someone else does 3 :v).

First up this time around I decided to paint as I went as some areas are impossible to paint after assembly. The first tricky job is to place the horizontal slats in place. this is easy enough using a door as the template. However, what it doesn't day in the current set of instructions is anything about the horizontal position.

(sorry about the pictures, I had plenty of light, but the camera didn't seem to think so)

As you can see here (sort of), the planking should sit level with the outside of the last upright post, with no overlap. The inside end piece will eventually slot in here.

Here I've painted and weathered the floor by drybrushing with my Iraqi sand colour (and a dust with a wee bit of white to cap it off). I wasn't happy with the first one in that I couldn't get into the crevasses that appear when the cross beams are added.

Now we move to the hardest bit of the whole thing (putting the wires in are a doddle compared to this) the easiest way I've found to do this is as follows

First join the 2 ends to a side as it says in the instructions. They don't have to be particularly square at the moment, just well glued.

Next we glue in the inner ends, making sure that the details are facing outwards. These should fit into the slots we left earlier...

Adding the floors is the most fiddly bit. I start of by gluing the lower floor ( the one without the slat detail) into position just by applying PVA to the indentations on the sides. DO NOT attempt to glue the ends to the floor as it could really bit you in the butt later, leading to contributions the the swear jar and disapproving looks from the local vicar. The floor should sit down on the bottom horizontal frame post.

The floor can just sit hanging down a bit. PVA is reasonably flexible for an hour or so after it 'sticks' but before it 'sets'

The upper floor can now be fitted in, again just gluing the indentations into the side posts. let it set a bit while standing in vertical.

The second side is then fitted into place. you don't need 4 arms, just a sharpish tool to maneuver everything into place until it clicks in. Again just apply glue into the indentations on the sides of the floors.

And there you have it, a semi complete wagon only requiring doors and bracing to complete it (oh, and a chassis as well...)

Finally, here is a line up of the various attempts to model J sheep wagons.


The first one is a resin cast version that I made 20 years ago. This was quite impressive for its time casting wise, but somehow muggins got the dimensions wrong and it was too big. The second is the Mk II version features a few months back, with some detail to be added (and the doors corrected). Finally we have the finished product, which scaled up would not look out of place on an S scale layout.

On points

(Sorry, I just couldn't bring myself to write a punny title today)

Yesterday I spent a pleasant afternoon sitting at a desk while the sun shone outside completing the S scale crossover that I have been working on (I think its sort of like detention but while getting feed and with cups of tea). Unlike previous work sessions, I remembered the digital camera and so can now shed some light on this dark art.

Here's where I got up to previously.


The 2 outside rails have been filed where the point blades come in to contact and the throwbar end. The frog has also been positioned with the aid of various track gauges. Note that this is being built as a crossover unit and all the other rails have been soldered into place.


Here is a close up of the frog area. Things to note are that one should not solder all the sleepers at this point as you may/will have to make adjustments later.


Here is the second point where I have shaped and installed the point blades. Note that these are one piece including the wing rails. It takes a bit of careful measurement to get it all right. The ends are created by cutting through the rail web (the bit at the bottom) on both sides at the correct spot and then carefully bending in a vice to get the correct angle. Also one of the check rails on the outside has also been positioned. To solder these in I used a 'dodge' that a local modeler has come up with. Make a piece of brass about 40mm long that is the correct width for the flangeways (NMRA standard). To solder the guard/check rails into place just drop this into position and push the guard rail up next to it. then just solder the guard rail into place. Its a piece of cake.


Here's the frog end of the point with everything soldered in. At this point the fun really starts as you get to run a wagon through to see if there are any tight spots etc. On one point it revealed that the guard rails were quite tight even though the back to back and there was a fair bit of bumping at the nose of the frog. Further investigation revealed that the wagon I had been using had old English finescale wheels from about 30 years ago. A switch to a wagon with North yard wheels then showed that all the problems were with the 1st wagon (I may have had to move the outer running rail in a wee bit, but this was not too hard).


Making the throwbar. 2 0.6mm holes have to be drilled 14.25-14.5mm apart. this made my inner finescaler quite happy, but the rest of me rather worried. The holes were drilled with a pin vise, with a drill selected with a micrometer from the many on offer. They were expanded slightly at the bottom to allow the pins that are to be soldered onto the point blades in. These are then bent to shape over a razor blade and cut short.


The whole thing installed and working. This is a fiddly job. First the web needs to be filed out so that the pin can lie flat against the rail. Then with a minimum of flux solder the pins to the inside of the point blade. I cut out a thin piece of paper and inserted it into the gap between the point blades and the throwbar ad this seemed to work well (ie I didn't solder it solid). Check again with a wagon to see if it all works OK.

I'm not waiting on my order of track and sleepers from Woodworks to see if I can step it up and scale it down. I think that the coarser clearances will make life a bit easier for me. The inner finescale is very excited to the point (haha) where I'm going to have to calm him down with the application of high strength beer I think.

On my workbench

Today's photo comes from the workbench. Its something I've been plugging away at slowly for a while now.


The mech started life as an Sd40-2 bogie. If i was to place it the other way the wheelbase would be correct for an F, but I like the idea of an empty cab. I added Sd-70 wheels to get the right diameter. The brass frames are for pickup and to hold the axles in the correct place (this is normally done by the outside pickup thingies). The micro motor is from Nigel Lawton. Its a small 6v job with a resistor connected. I just soldered the wires onto the frames. The top is from plasticard and paper at the moment, I'll build a real one out of brass at some point. Still not sure if it will run, and I need to remove the pinpoints and add spoked inserts to the wheels. Oh, plus all the detail bits.

So whats on everyone elses workbench?

Negative reinforcement

There are things I like, and things I don't like. I freely admit to liking Brussel sprouts, strong Belgian beer with flavors best described as 'horse blanket' and raw oysters. After a bit of experience over the weekend, I'm now very sure I don't really like making models in S scale (this doesn't seem to extend to track work, but that's more scale independent). I've been building an ablutions block for a local modelers Reefton layout. He gave me some rough dimensions and an indication of 2 sides of it. I then knocked up a plan and got to it.

It was my first introduction to stripwood, and I've discovered that we don't really get along that well. Its a nice wee model, but I can't use any of the dodges I regularly employ in the chosen scale, and if I was going to build a detailed model it would be in 9mm.

Its nice to have your own personal preferences confirmed, even if its like being beaten with a mallet.

Making trees

See, its possible to write a blog heading without any song references or bad puns. It did take all my restraint to do it though. To become a fully qualified Blog title writer, one must first buy a copy of a book with a title like '2000 one and two liners', memorize them all, then sit down and listen to a selection of Goon shows. Only then may he be considered ready to start the training. I also seem to remember something with peanut butter sandwiches, curry pizza and wine but its all a bit hazy now.

Anyway, before I start off on a ramble so beloved of others in the local rag, today's topics is 5 minute trees. I recall reading somewhere about using seed heads from Buddlia shrubs. Now, it so happens that I have one of these sitting round out on the deck doing nothing but waiting for me to water it.

'Feed me, Seymor!'

Apparently they are also common out in the bush round Nelson, and probably other places, though how someone gets out there to water them all is beyond me. When the seed head have lost their colour (or gone from purple to brown) they can be cut off (preferably when the lady of the house is not around). Try to take ones that are reasonably straight, and over 2" (a scale 20') long. Trim the bits from the bottom up for about 10mm to give a decent trunk. Liberally spray paint them green using cheapy paint from a hardware megastore.

'Mmmmm, spray fumes...'

Normally I hold them in one hand and spray with the other, but the special effects budget doesn't spring for a 3rd hand to hold a camera.
To finish up roll them in some woodland scenics ground foam of an appropriate colour.

Leave to dry, and there you have it; a simple thin straight pine-like tree.

'The work of whole minutes'

It is possible to use other plants for armatures. One thats probably easiest for any Kiwi to get is gorse. This does however have a downside if one ever has to reach past it to get at something on the layout. The pine trees at Cass claimed many an unsuspecting victim (well, one in particular who seemed to do it on a regular basis). Best to trim the spiky points off first.

The only other problem with making trees is that regardless of how many you make, the miniature landscape swallows them up, utters a quiet burp, and demands more to satisfy your eyes. I remember John Rappard making 400 trees for his home layout, that just vanished into a small section of it. If you didn't look hard you wouldn't know they were there.

(Oh, and please, no questions on the colour of the woodlands scenics foam. I have absolutely no idea. I just go into the shop and buy the colours I want without really looking at the labels. Bad practice I know)