By popular demand...

Regular commenter Tom asked for more scenic progress, so here the digger has been at work preparing the level crossing. But seriously there has been some progress...

Firstly, the wendy house nears completion with the addition of finials and even a doorknob! There is a bell to go above the door yet and a sign at the other end attached to the gable saying 'ALLAN' - exit in Welsh!

Regular readers may also remember an experiment I had with 'bracken', this has been covered over with more appropriate material - flock that was chopped off the Faller trees. The area behind the bridge has also been sorted with a new ballast based footpath bed added.

Any post was there, perchance?

The post just arrived - firstly Pete of Backwoods miniatures has been very kind in sending me some extra parts to add to the Taliesin kit.  The kit was produced just before the engine appeared out of Boston Lodge, and as appears customary, the Blodge made some changes to that shown on the drawings.  These parts will help to put that right.  Thanks Pete.

Secondly some very useful bits arrived too - curtains and table lamps for the Pullman car, finials for the wendy house and grab handles for carriages.  The finials finally solve a long running problem with sourcing such things!  Hooray.

Colin

We have a box

Well, as promised, the sides were tidied up and put together into a box.  The banana sides caused by the lamination are clearly in evidence!

So, the next job was to cut a piece of 60 thou (yes a thick mumma!) as a floor and fettle it until it fits snuggly.  I'm really pleased with how this has turned out.  I have however been a bit hasty in putting this together, forgetting to drill holes for handles etc, but then there aren't many doors on this one anyway (there are just 2).

Most of the minor errors I've made won't be visible from afar and so I think I'm going to continue on with this construction method (once I've added the floor holding pieces, the bogie centres and a false roofline) to No. 124.  100 and 124 always run together, so its a bit pointless having one and not the other!

On the brass carriages front, Allen of Worsley works has today confirmed that a new model of 116 will soon be available - this carriage was altered last year to have equal window spacings, where before it had a separate first class section with different windows at one end.  With a fair wind, he may also be able to produce the SAR DZ wagons too.  If you want some - drop him an email to encourage him!  The WHR has 4 by the way, I think only 1 of which has been overhauled so far.

I've also started work on a replacement for van 5 - I had mistakenly bought an incorrect (1962) version of this kit and only after completing it did I realise that the window lines had changed.  The new kit is in bits below, the old one is on ebay here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=110347023745


and finally when I had a moment in between sorting No. 100 I converted two Talyllyn 3 bar slate wagons (rodney stenning kits) to resemble FR wooden framed slate waggons.  The painted one is how they will eventually look.

Happy days

Colin

100 progress

Further progress last night - the second side of 100 has had its top, bottom and side rails added and the door had its top edges started.  Today I have added all the verticals and hope to post later to say that both sides are ready - the horizontals are yet to be done.

I also fabricated the rear end, using the compass cutter to create the radiused top edge and cut out a window to represent that in the rear door.  

Colin

Much to blog about

PART ONE: Progress on FR carriage 100.

I am preparing to complete the second end, using a compass cutter to create the radius at the top.

The first side has had its second stage detail almost completed.  It's hard to take an image, so here's one which has had its contrast maxxed up in photoshop.  The banana bend is normal apparently, caused by the lamination.  Most of the strip is 15 thou by 20 thou.  It's not perfect, but for a first go I'm quite pleased with it.

PART TWO: Plans for second side of the layout - or what shall I use my 2 new 4ft x 2ft baseboards for?

I've been thinking about this a lot.  One of the new problems with Rhyd Ddu is that, with most FR stock (and any heritage WHHR trains) terminating at Beddgelert, I'm stuck with just being able to run WHR trains.  Luckily some of the timetabled trains do indeed pass at Rhyd Ddu, so that's something.  So, I was looking to make the second side of the layout into an area where the other stock I'm building could be used.  The obvious choice is therefore something south of Beddgelert.

One thought was Pen-y-Mount.  Here I could model all the mainline WHR trains (current WHR stock and the FR third set trains too).  Indeed the WHHR stock can also be used (whether they run past Pen-y-mount or not) and even the Cambrian if I chose to model Cae Pawb as well.  This could be the usual DMU stock, but also class 37s and even steam specials.

However, the flat crossing may be a problem: to quote from Brian Meldon on the 009 society forum:

"the ready made standard/009 crossings that I have seen have dead frogs...This makes it virtually imposable to achieve good running on the 009 track. The gap in the rail is also a problem as the 009 wheels will tend to drop down in to the space required for the standard gauge flanges. You could always build one yourself but even then the gap required for the standard gauge flanges can be a problem.

One way round this is to only use fine scale 00 wheels with tiny flanges and build your entire 00 track and all the 00 locos and rolling stock to this standard. 
On real railways the difference between narrow and standard gauge wheel flanges is quite small and crossings, like that installed at Porthmadog in the photo linked below, have very small flange gaps:
http://www.isengard.co.uk/images/JPEGS/S14_NF2-11-06Cambrian%20Crossing.jpg

This is not easily achievable in 4mm scale and certainly not using ready made crossings. A 90 degree crossing is not a good thing at all because both wheels will hit the gap at the same time, on the real railways these are normally avoided as is the case at Porthmadog, by being on a slight angle. At the other extreme crossings at acute angles will increase the length of the flange gap and the resultant hole." 

Ummmm...doesn't sound hopeful really.  I'm going to talk to a track guru first, but it seems a bit unlikely.  Also I'd need to build the unusual catch points and some method for running standard gauge trains at 90 degrees to the narrow gauge and then folding back to sit alongside the back of the baseboard on both sides.  It might make the baseboard impossibly wide?  

So, other possibilities...?  I still like the idea of 2 or 3 scenes on this side, with Tyler's curve and Plas halt a major contender for the first section, partly as the curve is correct.  The other contenders are:

- Tafarntrip and Garnedd tunnel (tunnel at end is useful for scenic break, bit boring?)

- Barlwyd Terrace near Tanygrisiau (river and rhodos are lovely here plus gentle curves)

- Aberglaslyn (obviously wonderful, but how to model to make the scale look right - the hills at the back are huge)

- Rhiw Goch (provides a passing place, but might also be a bit boring)

- Dduallt tank curve (a lovely gentle curve with interest (old tank))

- Nanmor bank and Nantmor cuttings (gradient, rock cuttings, road bridge)

- Nanmor river bridge and Hafod y Llyn loop (Hen Hafod).  -  see below.

PART THREE - Hen Hafod

and then yesterday came the announcement that the WHR will open to Beddgelert on 7th April and will be extended to a temporary terminus at Hen Hafod (old Hafod y Llyn and just short of the river bridge) on 21st May. 

The line will not now open to Porthmadog until after the summer peak season.  

So, the question now is what will happen to the third set of FR carriages?  Will they run on the FR as in 2008, or will they be used on the WHR.  If so, will they run a shuttle from Beddgelert, or Rhyd Ddu/Waunfawr or even Dinas/Caernarfon?  If so, then Rhyd Ddu will see the use of the FR stock after all!  

We'll have to wait until that becomes clear...

Colin

Second stage

This is part 2 and is a catch up to where I am now. Both sides have been completed to the initial stage, with the blanking panel added too. The front obs end has also been fabricated. Next stage is the rear end and then to start adding the beading etc

Colin

A plasticard project

Above is the result of my first foray into scratchbuilding carriages using plastic.  I have to say that I started off sceptical.  How could a carriage like this be strong enough?  Isn't it just really fiddly?  I had read a couple of articles in the model railway press on this subject and I still favoured etched brass.  

So why have I started exploring this method?  Well a few things - firstly getting drawings of three FR carriages (100, 102 and 124) was really difficult - even after contact with fairly high up FR people, I was only able to get a drawing of 124 (and was explicitly banned from passing it on to a commercial kit manufacturer), 100 and 102 are elusive to this day.  So that meant etched brass was probably out unless I drew my own drawings from known dimensions and photographs.  ouch!

Then I was contacted (about another matter actually - bogies) by Rob Waller and we got chatting...he (rather splendidly as mentioned previosuly) offered to give me a masterclass on his methods for building in plasticard.  However he lives in Scotland, so a face to face meeting was going to be a problem. Over a few weeks he wrote an 'e-masterclass' for me , covering all areas of this construction method from sides to floors, roofs etc.  Armed with this I thought I would give it a go (and frankly it would be rude not to at least have a go).  

The first carriage to be tackled is FR 100, similar to the old 100 (of which I had a drawing).  Only a few changes are necessary and Rob was again very helpful here.  

So, the image above shows my first carriage side.  A drawing is taped to the underside of a piece of glass and evergreen styrene strip has been used to build up the basic structure.  Next will come the beading on top which will give it more strength and the depth of detail necessary to look believable.  

I made a few mistakes with this first side, but what I quickly learnt was that most errors can be sorted pretty quickly and painlessly.  Hardly any error is a total disaster.  You also really only need minute drops of plastic weld (or mek) to join the pieces.  Any more and it seeps underneath and bonds the side to the glass!  But even if it does, that will be the inside face anyway, so who is going to see that?!

So, a massive shout out to me man Rob, and hopefully within a short time I'll have a model of 100 to add to the collection.  After that it's 102 and 124, to be built the same way.  Then of the FR/WHR bogie carriages I only need to complete 26, 118, the new 116 and the new 2010 and 2100.  I expect to be able to get etched kits of 26 and 118.  The new 116 could be tackled either in brass or plastic...

I'm also hopeful that 2090 (in Boston Lodge at the moment) will come out looking similar enough that the kit I have in stock will still be OK and then we have the spectre of the new FR 103 (a wooden frame in the carriage works at the moment), the porthole bug box in a similar state at the moment (kit in stock) and eventually a replacement for FR 121, planned according to my sources.

All jolly good fun!

PS in the image it may not look like everything is square - that's partly the camera angle, partly shadow and partly the fact that parts aren't lying perfectly flat at the moment - with the extra details this will help flatten it out.  It's all square really!

Colin

weekend work

So, as predicted, this last weekend two new 4ft x 2ft boards have been constructed for the FR side of the layout using the wood I 'had' to purchase to enable the construction of Thomas' 'layout'.

I even found room in the centre of his 5ft x 3ft layout for an N gauge 'test track' for running in new mechanisms - this is powered by either connecting two croc clips to the 00 tracks and using Thomas' controller, or by clipping them direct to my DCC controller. Sorted.

TK maxx have been selling off Bachmann underground ernie stock cheap (Thomas loves this series) - so a model of 'Victoria' or 'Hammersmith & City' which was £35 was snapped up for just £5! bargain. They run well on the new layout, although H+C is marginally quicker than Victoria much to Thomas' amusement.

Colin

Wendy house nears completion

The roof is on, central tiles (obviously to be painted grey) added and all set up now ready for the soffits etc Nearly there. Colin

Where were you...?

When the first black president of the USA was sworn in?

Me, I was down Jewsons mate.

------------------

News update

Thomas' oval of OO track has taken a battering by being put up and taken down so many times, so we decided it was time to mount it on a baseboard.  Measuring it up, I needed a piece approx 4ft x 3ft.  Now that's a 'problem', because sheets of ply are sold in two sizes - 4ft x 2ft and 8ft x 4ft.  

Obviously, I needed the larger size.  Why Jewsons - well 8ft x 4ft won't fit in the car, but they offer a free cutting service (unlike travis perkins or the local homebase).  So what to do with the other 4ft x 5ft? Obvious really - get the guy (Alan) to cut it into two more 4ft x 2ft panels leaving a single 1ft x 4ft piece left over.  Got my drift yet?

What that means is that I now have 2 of the 3 baseboards that I need for part 2 of the masterplan - the FR side of the layout.  cool eh!  If I make do with the third baseboard being just a foot wide, then I have all of them.

Even better is that this weekend I have been tasked with building the 2x1 frame for Thomas' layout, well it would be rude not to do the frames for the other boards at the same time wouldn't it?  I might even build some more trestles!

OTHER NEWS

The bases for the Beddgelert end water tower that were found to be too wide, have been sawn off and the ballast replaced.  I just need to blend in the colours with the weathered ballast around it and it's done.  

The wendy house has had its internal partition added (with the hatch detail added) and the slate roof pieces have been cut from that far too thick and difficult to cut wills sheet.  Now all that is needed is for all the bits of the roof to be assembled.

I have given up waiting for drawings of the new 100 and 102 to appear and have found (thanks again to Rob Waller) that these vehicles are actually very similar to the old 100 (of which I have a 7mm to the ft drawing).  Now to shrink it in the photocopier and I can get on with that project. 

Colin

Giga post

Hi,

Lots of things have been happening, so here's a mega update. Firstly a good friend of my Dad allowed us to borrow his rolling bars and today we set about rolling the roofs of every carriage, planned carriage and loco roof I could find. I counted them later - 59 separate bits of brass! This is a massive step forward and, with the pre-cut strips from metalsmith too I have saved loads of time here.


As I alluded to in the last post, I am starting out on a project (with guidance from Rob Waller) to scratchbuild some Ffestiniog carriages from plasticard evergreen strip. Today at the Leamington model show I picked up some strips of the necessary sizes. I also found myself a compass cutter and some plastic weld (which could well be better than the mek pak I have used up to now). Game on.

So, the Leamington show then. I picked up a flyer a while ago from a local model railway shop. It had a map on the back of it, but frankly it was useless other than to tell you the approximate location - it didn't even tell you which junction on the A46 you needed (there are multiple junctions for Kenilworth/Lemaington! Looking at a road map, we headed for the National Agricultural centre (which had decent signage to it). Once in the site there was a bit of signage showing you where to park within the huge site, but we then struggled to find the entrance to the hall. A bit more thought would help here for those who are not used to the local area.

The entry price was a bit steep I thought (£5) and the secondhand stall was really disappointing - secondhand prices at close to the normal price of a kit new! Why risk second hand? Maybe that's ebay's fault - pushing up secondhand values?

On the narrow gauge front, the wonderful Fallgate was there (images below). This was its last show at the hands of its creator and it will be for sale in the next 009 news. A price of about £1,100 (stock is included and valaued at £700 which won't be separated from the layout) was noted. A super little layout if you can afford that kind of wonga in these 'crunched' times.

Trade support was good - squires, modelex, green scene, rural railways, castle trains, classic train and motor bus, C+L finescale, books, DVDs etc etc Other layouts were generally good, Hungerford stood out.

Back at home, the wendy house has had its sills added and has been put together into a basic 'box'. This gave me the opportunity to take some shots of the layout fully erected (even including the triangular piece) and with some new features added. I have also completed the ramp at the far end of the platform and painted it.

I also trial fitted the Beddgelert end tank. The bases didn't look right and now, having looked at photos of the real thing, I find that the bases are much slimmer than they are shown to be on the CAD drawings. So, the actual as-built on the ground is very different to the plans I have - oh well. I'll have to take a saw to them (ensuring that the legs of the water ower are central on the bases and then reballast around them.

Colin

Further progress

The wendy house is fast coming together.  All sides have now been laminated (30 thou backing on 40 thou board/batten and they are now ready to be butt joined together.  

The ends have been cut out to fit around the door / window and the roofline has been cut ready. Sills need completing and the internal partition cut out before it can be all put together.

Below is the progress last night, the sides just propped up against each other.

Colin

More on the wendy house

Hi,

All the sides of the wendy house station shelter have now been cut out of board/batten and the two front pieces have had their windows added.  I've also started to add the small windows sills too.  The brass door (glued to the plasticard using the wonderful G-S hypo cement) has had a frame added in plasticard strip and the two shelter ends have also been cut out ready - they need shaping to go around the door and end window yet.  

I also made 5 more FR 2 ton slate waggons tonight.

On the cutting mat is some of the brass as delivered from metalsmith this morning - 5m in total of strips 28, 27, 26 or 25mm wide.  Now all I need to do is cut each to the correct length and run them through some rolling bars (I have a plan for this) before they can be soldered on.  Game on!

I also have a plan for modelling the elusive FR brake observation saloons - more on this soon - I am indebted to Rob Waller (of 'Dduallt' and soon 'Bron Hebog' fame) for his time in giving me some fantastic advice (a masterclass) in the construction of carriages from plasticard.  It is fair to say that he has (through some considerable practice given the number of carriagess he has modelled) mastered this technique and I hope to borrow some of this best practice to have a go myself.  Watch this space. 

Colin

Wendy House and Merddin update

Hi,

Firstly, I have been doing more work on the 'wendy house' station shelter for Rhyd Ddu.  The sides will be laminated from 30 thou plasticard and evergreen board / batten.  This is the setup used by Geoff Taylor, so I thought it sounded sensible.  

However the windows need to be flush with the outer surface, so they are a friction fit against the board/batten sheet with the 30 thou sheet just acting as a stiffener.  Basically the board/batten window aperture is cut smaller and then filed to ensure a snug fit.  

The apertures for the windows in the 30 thou sheet need not be so accurate however and indeed need to be slightly larger than the window itself to avoid showing through. 

The back has been completed in board/batten as a trial and the 30 thou plasticard bases for the other sides have also been cut out (tonight).  The door has been glued to the 30 thou base layer and will have a frame added around asap (thin evergreen strip).  The next job is to complete the board and batten for the sides and ends and then think about the roof - I will be using wills slate sheet for that plus ridge tiles.

Meanwhile at the Gloucestershire works, Dad has completed a necessary alteration to Merddin.  

To enable extra space for the motion, the cylinders have been packed out from the frames. Backwoods do encourage this and apparently this issue was tackled on Taliesin by including this packing within the kit (although it does mean that the kit is not quite to scale).  I would always prefer a slightly out of scale engine though if it means it runs better!  

Images below, the white packing will of course be painted black.  The engine is in the early stages of painting.

Colin

250 not out

Hi,

This is my 250th post on this blog (wow!). However recent progress has been hampered by very cold weather, christmas and colds etc.

However, 4 more trees have been planted on the layout and whilst on horticultural issues, I have been playing with some lovely busch plastic flowers which will adorn the flower beds on the station platform and around the steps from the car park. Below is a shot of the constituent parts of the busch kit:

I have also some good news on the carriage roof front. Metalsmith Ltd http://www.metalsmith.co.uk/ have quoted me for pre-cut long strips of brass. A survey of the carriages found that only 4 widths are required ranging from 25 to 28mm. The brass will be provided at the correct width, just requiring me to cut (with tin snips) to create the right length on a carriage by carriage basis. I need over 5m of brass though! This will save a massive amount of cutting, which without a guillotine would have been a 'score to cut' method (which is very easy to mess up if the steel rule slips even just a little and takes ages too). Happy days.

The latest edition of Model Rail features a good article (although please note that the back to back measurement for 009 should be 7.3mm not 9mm) from Darren Sherwood-Jones on the construction of his Backwoods NGG16 Beyer-Garratt. I have been in contact with him and he is planning a WHR layout too. Maybe he'll start a blog? If you're a member of the rmweb forum (simple registration if not) then some more details are here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=22209&p=342021&hilit=whr+ngg16#p342021

Certain carriages remain a problem, particularly FR 100/102/124 and WHR 2010/2100. Potentially 2090 could come out of the works (where it is at the mo) looking different, but luckily I spotted this issue and haven't done much on the current kit anyway. I am preparing to draw my own drawings of these as various FR sources have shown that no official final 'as built' drawings exist.

Anyway, Happy New Year (quite an eventful year I suspect what with the opening of the WHR to Beddgelert at Easter and then Porthmadog in July, plus I expect to become a father once again in March!).

Colin

tower of strength?

Tonight I have test assembled the more difficult (Beddgelert end) water tower. This has been modelled directly from the WHRCL plans and so is to scale. It consists of a girder section framework to hold the tanks and 4 circular hollow section pillars (well I have actually lined them with strong wire to add strength). This structure is more concerning as the Waunfawr end version has 6 pillars (why you ask - well trains run underneath this one!).

Below is a photo - I'm pleased to say that even in this state (base not affixed to the ground, no extra strapping for the sides etc) it holds the weight of the brass tank. However it is flimsy enough to concern and I may now swap this tank to the Waunfawr end tower and build the second tank with a plasticard top to reduce the weight a bit.

Colin

The roofing challenge

Here is one big roofing challenge... This is a selection (!!!) of the carriages that now need roofs.

Now this is going to take a while, scoring and cutting out 10 thou brass sheet, then bending it, soldering them on...

So, I'm starting to think about how I can fast forward this process? Bending bars and guillotines seem way too expensive though (at least £100 each!). Anyone got any ideas?

Colin

Meanwhile, on t'other layout

As you can see, some gentle progress on 'Nant Gwernol' (I need a new name really!)... Some trees (woodland scenics) have been added, the rockface background base has been added (plaster rocks next), the area around the chapel has been surfaced and the hut has been added, plus general scenics too. It's amazing what 10 mins here and there can do for a small layout!

Colin

Tree-mendous!

Hi,

Recent work (despite the garage getting pretty cold!) has focused on arboriculture...

Whilst my men (bachmann PW workers) are surveying the track, a copse of pines has been placed in the far corner. This is really there in reality and also forms a nice scenic break for viewing the layout.

Note: my camera flash makes some of these trees look a funny colour - don't worry they aren't that garish really!


At the far end two trees have been added (again they really do exist in reality) to 'hide' the exit to the hidden sidings.

In the station area two copses of larch/spruce have been added, more low level detail is to come too (including clearing up the wood shavings from drilling the holes for the trees to be planted in).

Further away from the station, is a mixed copse of trees and conifers.

an end to end overview.

The trees are a mixture of Faller HO (thinned down considerably with cutters), anita decor handmade, woodland scenics premium and bachmann scenescapes.

Colin

Bull Ant

Hi,

I've been worrying for a while about the performance of ibertren chassis on Rhyd Ddu. I just don't think they're up to the job - huge flanges (that can be turned down in a lathe - but I don't have one!) and hard (but not impossible) to convert to DCC.  The only locos in the stud that use this chassis style are: Blanche (already built and painted and I'm loathed to fiddle!) and Conway Castle.  

That's why it's going to be time to replace the ibertren put aside for Conway with this baby.  http://motorbogies.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=84

Or for more details: http://motorbogies.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_13_7&products_id=84

It comes with a 31:1 reduction gearbox and nice little mashima can and a flywheel - it's all good.  The wheelbase is perfect (well 0.5mm too long!) and the wheels are much larger than the ibertren, making it more like the real thing too.

Dad has one of these for his 3mm DMU and it performs mega, so bring it on!

Colin