Meanwhile in ludville

With all the computer design and laser cutting featured lately my work bench tools are starting to feel a bit unloved. However they have been used a bit, and tonight I arrived home to the hard won fruits of my loins (so to speak).
A while ago I made a master for an NZR non working coupler, and sent it off to be cast. They are now back, and I'm very impressed with the casting finish, and also that I can't quite believe that something I made could come out so well.

'what a load of old couplers'

So how do they work then. I designed the block at the back to fit into the Trackgang coupler pocket. When the block in glued to the chassis floor, the couplers should all wind up at the same height. And yes, this is indeed the case.


The hooks are made from 0.5mm brass wire. this is soldered in so that the top of the wire is level with the top of the coupler shank. I then bend the wire 2mm away from the coupler face making sure that it is slightly more than a 90 degree bend. A pair of pliers cuts the hook to length. To finish up I then squash it and file to shape.

The airbrake hose is bent to a spot roughly under the coupler.


The results won't win any awards any time soon, but they are a step towards a more prototypical look, and are finitely better than the old rapido couplers I've used previously.

Moana 7: Back from the dead - track, ballast

It's been a long time since I last posted anything here. I could run through a list of excuses but at the end of the day they are just excuses: the truth is I've been stuck, and I still am, on a certain point. Or turnout or switch if you prefer. But I'd rather not get into that now...

I forced myself into the trainroom at gunpoint yesterday as if I don't so something Moana will get covered in cobwebs. So, lets get trackside. And to do that I'll need some track.

The track was soldered up and sprayed from the side with a spraycan of browny metal primer (except the point's delicate bits - they will be done by hand later). I like to solder up track into lengths as it lessens the risk of electrical problems later on and gives nice smooth joins on curves. I usually do a max of 2 metres at once - you need to leave some fishplated gaps in there to allow for for the natural expansion of track and baseboards as the heat and humidity changes throughout the year. I hate soldering, but striking while the iron was hot, I also put in a feeder to the froggy bits on my Peco electrofrog point. This is the one gripe I have with these points - about half of them end up stalling your locos on the frog and blades over time unless you keep everything spotless. Even that doesn't solve the problem always, so this time I'm taking no chances.

Track was then glued onto the cork roadbed with contact glue thus:
And I even used some thin styrene on the outside and weight on the inside to provide some Ghetto Superelevation.

After that had set nicely, I came back today to ballast. I quite like ballasting - even though I'm crap at that as well - as even if you do nothing else scenerywise, it makes a layout look so much more 'complete'. Adding ballast after the scenery, means you have to be careful not to flick it into all the crevices of your nice bushes with the thick brush used for shaping it, so due care was taken, and Mr Lux paid a visit afterwards to clean up any escapees. I used fine buff coloured stuff from Woodland Scenics out of my collection of half used bags, mixing in some dark cinders through the cutting at the left end of the module where I want things to fade away into the darkness. I used the old diluted-PVA-with-a-squirt-of-liquid-soap to stick things down after wetting the ballast with alcohol (isopropyl, not Jim Beam).

Once that was done, I used dabbing fingertips to clear off the tops of the sleepers and a fingernail to clear out the rail sides. I don't like the 'chip of ballast stuck on the side of the rail' look.
I liked that cork roadbed until yesterday, but it was a bear to cover up with ballast today as the glue mix tends to drag everything downhill and leave the top cork edge exposed. I should have brushed on some thick PVA first, but even then the watery glue would probably have caused that to run downhill as well. Maybe the solution is to brush on PVA, apply some ballast to the slope and shoulder edges, let that set overnight and then do the rest of the ballasting the next day.

And now the Axis of Evil:
I think I want this point motorised, so I've installed an old point motor, but somewhat foolishly, its not connected up yet. This is what's been holding me up for the last month as I don't think I've ever powered a point before.

Both I and Han Solo have a bad feeling about this.

From the hip

On Saturday as we were tooling through the back blocks of north Canterbury (I don't believe there are any front blocks there), I commented to the lady of the house that since I was now busy with keeping the conveyance between 2 arbitrary lines, she was now in charge of spotting trains. 'Is that one there then' she replied.

Gadzooks, she was right. I tossed out several anchors, had a quick look to see if I now had anyone attached to my rear bumper, and skidded to a halt at the side of the road. 'Quick' I said, 'take a shot'.

'No, you do it' came the reply.

Why is it that despite millions of dollars in development, a digital camera has to decide when you push the 'on' button, that's really what you want it to do. It's like all the wee demons inside look up, put down the cuppa and hand of cards and saunter off to their action stations. Then when you push the button, the screen at the back goes blank, leaving you wondering while your intended subject thunders past, if you actually got the shot you wanted.

In this case it all panned out, much to my surprise.

'Look ma, its one of them shiny new ones.'

Layout Idea: Swanson Rd

Am_Fet writes: One of the real rail success stories over the past decade has been the revitilisation of the Auckland commuter service. Taking what was a creaking, antiquated system with museum quality rolling stock and a terminus station in the middle of nowhere and turning it into a growing, state of the art system has taken a lot of time, effort, and last but not least millions of dollars. Aucklanders can now travel to work in comfortable trains and be deposited right into the heart of the CBD. I've used the service several times while up on business and loved it.

The idea of a model based on this system came from a long gestation; lets face it, the colour scheme on the DC and DBR locos is fantastic, and those refurbished SA/SD sets really are ...something on a stick (whoops, might be children reading).







What really reounded it off was a competition being held in The Mother Country to celebrate "Minories", Cyril Freezers plan for a simple, inner city terminus station that had first been published 50 years previously. It obviously still has some appeal....just do a search on the interweb and numerous hits come up of layouts built using this simple plan:



Seems one of my heroes, Ian Rice (Guest at next years convention), was really taken with it and produced his own version, albeit with a slightly more rural feel:



And here is how it looks in Pommy 4mm:





Right then, so here is the plan: Swanson Rd is a suburban terminal somewhere out west (or south) with a fairly intensive rush hour peak that slows down during the day. Commuters are served by DC hauled SA/SD sets as well as those strange looking Perth ADB and ADC Railcars. If you really want to stretch the imagination, a Silver Fern could terminate here from its morning run into the city, then start its evening trip out from here as well.



What has made all this possible is the technological gains the hobby has made over the last few years. Many people have pointed out that most NZ passenger rolling stock could be made up of a wrapper that folds over a set of formers to create the shape. And that sounds like a job for etching to me, either in brass or styrene.

So whos up for it? Hell, talk nicely to the boys in the Waihaorunga Creek Workshops and throw a few chocolate fish our way and we might even do the artwork for you...

BTW, the pics are from the VCC, so they could be from either MRK, Goobah or Skippy....or maybe they are the same person?

Magazine review time

I'm back from my travels, and arrived home to find the local rag in the letter box along with a stack of bills. I also managed to (finally) pick up a copy of last months Railfan. So whats in them.

The journal has another picture of the Troop station featured in several previous issues. Unfortunately its not in this one. There is an article on 50' steel guards vans, but without a plan (bugger). A further article on jigs to make steam locos run smoothly (I'd always thought a finger running behind did the job). There's 6 pages on a nice wee N scale layout that is only 2' by 4' with some very good modeling work. A 2 page spread on CCW 56' car kits that are no longer available. Then there's 10 pages with plans of station platform trolleys and (hopefully) a final set of railway station track plans for the Nelson section. This, along with the 2 modelers groups pages still has me asking questions about its value. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to be running off to the workbench now to build some platform trolleys to put on my model of Glenope station. There are so photo's that demonstrate how far ahead of us mere mortals Alec Fenton is (but we are at least in the hunt).
The pages I found most interesting were the 50's focus, especially the inside cover with some west coast steam piccies. Down points were the complete lack of rolling stock plans, or any Nz120 content.

The Railfan starts with the normal collection of updates on the prototype and preservation. I do find these interesting reads. There is an article on 60' car vans, with a plan, so one up on the journal. There's a big retrospective on preserved steam on the mainline over the last 2 years. A stack of god photo's, but for some reason these runs just lack something for me. Maybe its the collection of tank cars that the locos have to tow to have enough water, or possibly the blue carriages that have to make up the train. There are then articles on the Tokoroa branch (BOP) and the Waikaia branch (Southland) with some good photo's. The Wab shots on the Tokoroa branch do have a stack of modeling potential. The only hic-cup for me is the photo essay article(which still does have some redeeming features).

For you non members the prices from your news agent are $12 for the local rag and $13 for the Railfan. Personally I'd go for the Railfan first, but only cos I model kettles.

A Bad Influence, Part II

Am_Fet writes: Apparently it started with a telephone conversation, where I was thinking aloud to Cabbage about how to do a ZH in Nz120. "By having an inner laminate to the bulkheads that was smaller all round than the width of the styrene, you could then use these to form the doors", I stated. "Hmmmmm....", he replied sagely, and thats where I thought things would be left.

However, by lunchtime the next day the man had drawn it all up in CAD having spent a night tossing and turning while the idea ran through his mind. Not just that, but by tea time the cutting template had been done....it was picked up from the etchers Thursday and the first prototype was declared complete Saturday morning.

So here it is: A ZH in 1.0 mm styrene in Nz120:



The body is formed around a series of bulkheads secured to a spine running the length of the wagon. The ends are laminated up from 3 layers. The doors in the prototype did have a groove cut for the fold lines with the holes for the handles burnt through.



The underframe is also etched up from 1mm styrene with a complete set of truss rods and slots for the upper bits to attach securely to the floor.



The prototype has thrown up a few issues, such as the laser destroying some of the finer details on the ends, and the doors needing a bit of a redesign. However, all of these have been changed and the Mk II model is at the etchers now to see what happens.

So, The Waihaorunga Creek Workshops strikes again! Like the IA, this will eventually be offered out to the masses...so watch this space!

On Tour; Timaruveing

Last night I was fortunate enough to visit Barry Fitzgerald in Timaru. Barry is a member of the one track minds modular group in Christchurch, and his modules also form part of his home layout as well. Barry's skill area lies in his scenery making. His re-creation of the limestone country found in the back blocks of Caterbury and North Otago is absolutely spot on. Unfortunately there are no pictures to show this due to a cock up on the camera organising front. The guilty have been disciplined and it may yet prove possible to rectify this.

There was also a plan to go out to Pleasant Point but this has been defeated by the very cold weather plus the fact I can't be arsed today.

Meanwhile, head on over to Nz120.org and have your say on a possible new modular layout system.