sound as a pound

For those of you who couldn’t hear it at expoNG, or who didn’t make it, here is a quick video of the sounds installed in Castell Caernarfon. 

It’s a Loksound micro programmed with the closest sound I could get (some standard gauge continental loco called a SNCB/NMBS HLD 59 - Cockerill Baldwin-Westinghouse 12 cyl – images here http://www.belrail.be/F/fiches/diesel/index.php?type=hld59&page=image). 

The Loksound code is 53411 if you want to copy this idea and can be downloaded here : http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/sounds/generation-3/loksound-v35/diesel/ 

It plugs into the 6 pin DCC socket on the chosen chassis – the new farish N gauge warship.   

CaCa (Kaka?)

So the 500th post comes early as Dad has reported progress on Castell Caernarfon (CaCa).  It certainly is living up to the nickname, like the footballer!  The yellow stripes are not finished - you can still see the pencil guide lines and they need to be more of a golden colour – this will be done on the second coat.  The silver and black bits round the cab windows are very fine and the larger than life photos show all the missing bits (!) – they will be touched up later.  The nameplates are now painted red too but they are too small to photograph. 

In other news 138's power bogies, including the footplate/buffer beam pieces, backhead and pony trucks have all been cleaned and de-greased ready for primer.

I’m mighty pleased!  The model definitely captures the look of the real thing!

 

Welcome, Gelert

Purchased on ebay late last night is this Paul Windle scratchbuilt model of Gelert, running on the WHHR.  This is a special engine for me as I have driven it(!) and thus although it looks very unlikely that Gelert would ever make it to Rhyd Ddu, I don't mind running it behind my models of the buffet car, 25 and the ex Vale of Rheidol van.

It's built on a Bachmann 0-6-0 chassis, modified to an outside framed 0-4-2.  The plastic has discoloured a little, as it has been left unpainted for a couple of years, but this should be no problem.  One other benefit for me is that the livery is very simple - very dark blue, no lining and matt black smokebox.  easy! 

Image of the real thing (thanks to flikr) are below:

The line-up

For the first time I was able this weekend to line up all my WHR Garratts.  In various stages of build here we see (from top) K1, 109, 143, 138, 87.
I have brought K1 back as Dad has not had time to work on the valve gear, so I’m going to have a go.  I built the body.
143 is materially complete, just needing varnish, a decoder, a driver etc
109 will wait for the launch of 109 next year.  The body was bought off ebay in this condition.  This has the chassis units I started off (wheels in etc) when they were to be used for 87.
87’s body is nearly there and I’ve left the two chassis with Dad to try and get them working – these were bought recently off ebay along with the body that will be 109.
138 is pretty much there and just awaits details on pipe runs etc once she is outshopped in red later this year.

NGG16

I’ve had a good look at the NGG16 now and I think the problem with the chassis is that the quartering is out.  I need to check with someone who has completed one of these engines though.  Thus I will take it with me next time I see Dad.
In other news, the replacement wheel for Tal has arrived and so work can recommence there.
Colin

Ngg16 arrived

Well my new NGG16 arrived today and generally I’m very happy.  It has been well put together and I’m lucky that it has got to a stage where detailing to suit my chosen prototype is still possible.  There’s a bit of errant solder to clean up, but this is nitpicking really.  The main issues I can see are one wheel that has come away from its tread and also the complete chassis runs great in forwards but sometimes gets stuck in reverse.  This shouldn’t be too taxing to sort out though.

Another NGG16

Purchased on ebay last night is another NGG16 for Rhyd Ddu.  This will be the 4th NGG16, and the 5th Garratt when you include K1.  The loco is partly built and appears to have been constructed to an excellent standard.  I will likely use the two chassis for No.87 and this body, plus the unbuilt chassis from my 87 kit will become No. 109 - Pete Waterman's NGG16 under overhaul at Crewe.  The fact that very little body detail is done is useful as I can then recreate the pipe runs etc when 109 appears out of the works.

This means I will be able to pass two trains of double headed NGG16s in the station - cool!

This will also mean that plans to sell Moel Tryfan, 4415, the Baldwin 590 and Gowrie will have to be accelerated.  Gowrie is still a kit and I will be constructing it tonight ready for sale.

In other news, I attended the Leamington/Warwick show on Saturday - good show, report to come on this blog.  I have also ordered a replacement wheel for Taliesin from alan gibson. 

Colin

Taliesin update

Did some minor work on Taliesin last night, but gave up in exasperation after fiddling around for ages. 
I did manage to glue on the chimney and attach the cylinder back covers.  I also tacked on one of the slidebars and got it running nicely until one of the retaining bushes fell off whilst I was testing it.  Getting that back on (behind the slidebars) proved to be impossible.  I gave up for some thought and now have a new idea.  But first I must ensure that the crankpins stay where they are and so I will be investing in some loctite 601 retainer.
Colin

various

Last night I gave 143’s front tank and roof another coat of satin black, painted the cab side number plates blue and added the cradle side plates too. I also patched up some areas where handling had caused paint to come off and weathered the smokebox slightly with thinned black paint. It is fair to say, that although it still requires conversion to DCC and the reattachment of its roof and top of its oil tank in the bunker, plus a final coat of satin varnish to blend the blacks together, the loco is pretty much ready to go.

I have taken some shots, but these are on my SLR and will take some time to download as I’m in Newcastle for the next 2 days and then will be moving house.

I also painted my FR hearse waggon’s body black and added black strapping to another FR covered van.

87’s front tank also had its wooden tank top boarding repainted in humbrol acrylic ‘natural wood’. I will mask this off before repainting these in what I expect to be a blue livery, if Boston Lodge rumours prove to be correct.

On the layout, I added some filler to one of the baseboard sides, where after planning, parts of the plywood had come away. This has tidied it up nicely ready for the house move.

PS I still can’t get the smokebox door off 87’s somkebox, ready for the smoke unit’s installation – it protests and I don't want to snap or damage the white metal casting!

Update

Today I have:

- Started adding chassis details to Upnor Castle, as the kit contains nothing below the running plate.

- Added recessed doors for Conway Castle from plasticard - the kit is of the earlier form of Conway which has doors flush with the body sides.

- Sprayed the roof and front tank of 143 satin black.

- Corrected a slight error with one of the legs of the water tank at the Waunfawr end of the layout.

- Removed the chimney and drilled a 2mm hole (to be widened to 3.6mm later) through it in order to prepare for the installation in NGG16 No. 87 of a seuthe smoke generator, to be powered via a decoder aux function. More info here (by the way gaugemaster is my mail order supplier of choice given their excellent postage policy). The seuthe 21 is just 3.5mm wide and 24mm high and so it fits in the NGG16 smokebox (just). However I will have to remove the smokebox door to install it - one step forward, one back. To see one in action check out this video.

- Cut off the trailing shaft on the replacement mashima motor and installed the worm. I tested it at every stage and this time, no mishaps!

- Purchased the new DVD on weathering available here.

Colin

'won' on ebay

Recently ebay has been a bit of a joke with 009 items - far too often hugely inflated prices are paid for items. However I'm pretty pleased with these two:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220495397218&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_975

and

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220495398186&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_975

You may note that neither has a chassis(!), but this should not be a major issue.

For Linda, I will use the outside frames it sports to fabricate some similar ones for Blanche, and after considering how good the tender motor might be, I will then probably get a bullant with extended axles and use meridian flycranks. I will however need the rods and valve gear, but I think parkside will supply these for a small charge.

Beddgelert is more interesting, I have a mostly complete but not painted kit. I will reuse that chassis and sell the body. Buying this puts me ahead with my painting backlog. I may also convert the minitrix 2-6-2 to outside frames to take account of the frames, cylinders and hornblocks present on this example.

Castell Caernarfon update

Tonight (as promised) the footsteps (6 in all) were soldered on, a somewhat fiddly affair frankly, but it's done now. Also the handrail loops for the footsteps were fabricated using the natty Bedford bending jig and these are stored ready - drilling of 0.5mm holes for them is required first before these can be added.

I painted and loaded up 5 FR ballast waggons and one FR 2 ton slate, cos they needed doing and I also dug out the instructions for Taliesin and made a start cleaning up the final components ready for work to resume on this asap.

Now it's time for bed.

Colin

Diesel update

Given the impending arrival of my loksound decoder for Castell Caernarfon, I decided to do an hour or so on it last night, including soldering up the bonnet handrails with handrail knobs and 0.45mm wire(left removable for ease of painting!) and tidying up some of the detailing. The steps and other handrails still need doing, but this shouldn't take long (tonight?).

I also soldered up 3 boxes for Upnor, these sit on the running plate and were duly installed. Many photos were studied and a method for fixing the bullant to the body was arrived at using a 10BA captive nut or two. I also soldered up the very fiddly footsteps, but have yet to install them.

Colin

Good and Bad

Good: Work last night consisted of creating two new tabs for the front tank, adding captive nuts and then accurately soldering these onto the tank. This has been completed and now means that this tank will be removable to access the motor etc rather than soldered to its running plate.

Bad: I then started playing around with the gearboxes and added the worms to the motors. Unfortunately on testing the motors I found one to be dead. Stupidly I didn't test them before starting work so I may have killed it during worm installation or when cutting off the trailing shaft. I have thus ordered a new one.

I have also decided to complete taliesin's chassis before attempting the much harder ngg16. However there is still much pipework to be done on the ngg16 body and this will keep me busy anyway!

I also need to get nant gwernol ready for handover to its new owner and also to rearrange the garage as we are moving house soon.

Colin

and more...

More progress:

• The smokebox saddle and riveted flanges above them are now in place
• Both motors have had their trailing ends cut off using a cutting disc
• The 2mm axles for the gearboxes have been cut to length
• The roof has had its hatch soldered on and small microstrip pieces added to represent the rails it runs along
• The whistle has been added after much drilling into the boiler
• All the nickel silver valve gear parts have been cut from their fret
• The cab and smokebox have been securely soldered onto the cradle, whereas previously it was just the back of the cab fixed on.
• I have tested whether there is room for a small flywheel and found there is not
• I am considering investing the proceeds from the sale of Nant Gwernol into a digital sound chip for the Funkey. I need to find a good approximation for the horn...any ideas from standard gauge engines???

Colin

NGG16 No. 87 update

No images today, but more progress:

• The cab side handrails and smokebox door wheel were added
• The gearboxes have had their bearings installed and have been bent to shape and tested for binding. The 20T gears have had their moulded sections removed as per the instructions. Next I need to cut the 2mm shaft to length, but I have run out of cutting discs!
• All 4 pony trucks were bent to shape and soldered (however I bent two of them the wrong way and on trying to correct this one snapped off. After 30 mins of messing about I decided to add a new piece of brass as a strengthener and I think I have retrieved the situation). These then had the cosmetic bearings and fronts added.
• The cab roof had extra filler added and two pieces of plastic microstrip to represent the cab roof ventilator sliding bars.
• The front tank has two extra pieces of microstrip added to represent the wooden tank top boards as per the prototype.
• The two smokebox supports had their cutouts filled in (as per the prototype) and are ready for installation.

Colin

NGG16s

Dad came over on Sunday and we swapped tanks. 143 thus now looks a bit like this. Its roof is also being modified and the sun visors have been removed. One issue remains - how to fix the front tank, as the tabs broke off (long ago when Dad was constructing it) and I may need to recreate these with L shaped pieces drilled to accept the captive nuts. The tank top detail on the front tank has also been added.

On No. 87 the firebox wrapper was annealed, bent and soldered on. After that the boiler was joined to the cab and the lower firebox and then that assembly was joined to the cradle. I have also drilled out and fixed the chimney, dome, safety valves, turbogenerator etc.

12 tiny flycranks were cut out of their frets (using a piercing saw), cleaned up, tapped to 14BA and crankpins have been screwed in. Also the wheels have been pushed onto their axles, although I have stupidly done them all, when one axles needs to be part of the gearbox. That wheel will have to come off again, but I think this will be ok.

The tanks I created have gone to Cheltenham with Dad and will become NGG16 No. 138 in red, lined with straw and black.

Oh and Nant Gwernol's sold.

Colin

More NGG16 progress

The first of the two engine units has had its bearings filed down and other details added. The cab rood has had the ventilators filled as these are not present on the WHR locos.

The buffer beams have had their cow (sheep!) catchers added, a very fiddly job. The pivots were also added, including two 12BA captive nuts and and the fallplate was also soldered on.

and the cab has moved forward with the fitting of the ashpan and its tiny doors plus the assembly of the backhead.

On the tanks for 138, further fittings have been added and the tank top details for the front tank are now being attended to. I have also noted a difference in the rear of the bunker (no coal chute, but a wider opening instead which I need to sort. These should be ready for the family visit on Sunday, so I can swap these tanks with Dad (who has 143's tanks).

Colin

NGG16 news

Here is an amend to the backwoods kit. The early NGG16s (like No. 87 which was of the first batch) had no window in the back of the cab and it was also smaller. Thus I had to chop about the cab, add some brass from behind and add filler. The filler is yet to dry, after which it will be filed back, but you get the idea below.


The boiler cradle was also put together, the sides were laminated, a central spine added and then two tanks added underneath.
Also details on the tanks (which are for 138) are being added - here the sandbox pipes and lamp irons are on.
and the same on the front tank, but with two grab handles added too.

Colin

NGG16 progress

What does an NGG16 look like without its tanks??

The 'new' tanks for 138 are approaching completion, seen here after the sand boxes were added. Since this was taken the filler cap on the front tank has also been added.

So, I thought it was time to remove the tanks from the black Garratt and test fit my new ones (which are actually going on the model in Cheltenham, the tanks from that are to be painted black and will go on this model).

I also continued work on the rest of No. 87, adding the 12 bearings to the frames as below and adding the valances to the running boards of both bogies.

Now that I've got the tanks off that will be No. 87s I've had a chance to consider what changes will be necessary. The bunker is frankly identical, with just a few rivets to remove (if I can be that bothered).

In other news, the bunker has already appeared painted - see this link.

The front tank has however put the cat amongst the pigeons.... compare this from 138 with this from 87! The side facing the smokebox is totally different. arrrggghhhh!!! Not sure yet what can be done as it i so different. I will probably just have to make something up that approximates it, but it's an unwelcome surprise!

Colin