A House in Your Hand

To some of you, the title of this post will seem familiar – most likely because like me, you supported Andy Vaughan’s project on Kickstarter (here).   Now I have no connection with Andy other than being one of the supporters as I thought the idea he had was a good one and deserved to be turned into reality.

Yesterday, my collection of etches arrived.  I had put in for the Village in a Box option along with the sheds as an extra so 11 packets arrived in a parcel with some 3mm MDF packets to protect from the posties along the way.  Worked a treat – no bent items in the set.

For those playing at home, I got 1x Kit 4, 8x Kit 7 and 1x Kit 9 along with 1x Kit 11.  I had suggested the Church (aka Kit 8) but the one Andy designed didn’t really suit any of my modelling plans.  To be honest, the rural nature of most of the kits didn’t really suit either but St Alban’s Priory’s row of terrace houses is in need of refreshing, the shop I have opposite them needs replacing owing to a broken roof and the original Manor House on the layout could do with a refresh too so I was able to find places for all of the Village in a Box options which I selected – I’m going to adapt my Kit 7s into a terrace as they seem a bit small for semi-detached to me and the 8 won’t fit unless I join them up!

Since I got them and I didn’t have any work to do last night (marking season at the school where I teach is going to hit this weekend!) I got stuck in and made up the two sheds.  Andy’s instructions are for using glue but I soldered mine.  No dramas were encountered and I’ll let the photos tell the story.

The kits all came in envelops with a picture of the finished examples on the outside.  The written instructions are generic and there is an exploded diagram on the obverse to show you what to do.  The kits are very simple and well thought out so using the pictures to build them shouldn’t cause too many problems.  The written part is a list of suggested tools, comments about safety (brass edges are sharp – that sort of stuff) and so on – nothing unusual or different about them for those with experience in the medium.

After about an hours work including cleaning it all up with my Dremel, this is what you have.  The door and windows are fairly flush – just the thickness of the brass behind.  To get them positioned correctly I tack soldered them from the front then turned it over to finish them off.  I didn’t fold up the box (as shown in the diagram under the finished model) until after this step.  I made sure it was square and then put a bead down each corner to maintain the rigidity.  Fitting the roof required a third hand because of angles but once I had two corners done, the rest was easy.  Barge boards are on the ends – they are quite small and I thought here we go but 3 out of the 4 went on with no trouble – naturally the one which was temperamental was the last!

I had only meant to do the one shed last night but since it went together so well and so quickly, I did the other one as well.  The window on the second has a fold up window sill with helped with the positioning of it.

Both kits have a couple of short comings – no guttering nor down pipes and I am pretty sure the brick one at least should have a chimney.  These are going to be added.  The timber one is going to become the fodder store on Swallow’s End (long time readers will remember this is my “stalled” 2mm Finescale Plank – however… stay tuned!) and I think the wood one might end up as a gangers hut or a coal office on same.

All things being equal I’ll get some brass bits and pieces on the weekend to put the guttering and what not on and then paint.

Now to start on the rest!

Inspiring Modelling

I mentioned in my Reboot post that Julia is one of my inspirations when it comes to my modelling.  Her work on Highclere is first class and I would love to get to see it in real life one day.  Got to save the airfare first I guess!

 

One of the other inspirations to my modelling is much closer to home.  He is one of the members of the N Gauge Gang who come to my place once a month to “get stuff done (although sometimes the stuff is talking!)”.  Ken and I have known each other for getting on 15 years and his modelling has been pretty eclectic during that time, as he got frustrated with British N, moved to US N, then changed scales completely and spent sometime doing 7mm QR Cane Trains.  He is now back in N and as a result has joined out little group.

 

His most recent project has been to create a small shunting layout based on a dock scene.  He has used a number of kits from the Scale Scenes range along with a few Metcalf buildings and done a great job. 

 

At the October meeting he brought it along – 900 x 300 I think is the all up measurement.  Unfortunately he didn’t bring the power pack so we could only look, rather than play.  Given that he is presently putting a pile of stock together with DGs the full on playing won’t be far away. 

 

A few photos to inspire you.  The 04 is in the Etched Pixels tramkit as the FQR shunter “Mavis”.

There is a boat in the offing to be docked – not sure if cranes are going to make an appearance or if the ship’s derrick will do.

Incidentally, the 200th post on my blog!

A Quick Catch Up.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have tended to spend my modelling time actually modelling (assuming I have had the mojo for it – this has not always been the case!) rather than blogging about modelling.  Consequently there have been a number of things which have been mentioned on this blog but haven’t had the whole story shared. 

So what has been done?  Well I have had a look back over the posts of this year and noticed what I had mentioned and so the following list has been compiled:

• The makeover on St Alban’s Priory has been largely completed.  Still some stuff to do but having survived TMTEX as mentioned in the June post, I haven’t done anything else with it.  There are some photos to put up on it so I will get onto that later in the week and hopefully have the current state of play for viewing early next week.
• The LNWR D6 on Shapeways as mentioned in the June update has been fairly successful.  I found from my test print that the buffers were slightly in the wrong spot so I did a second rendering.  I haven’t had the second go printed yet – but someone has!  I haven’t heard any bad things about it so hopefully they were happy.  I will likewise put a more detailed post up about this too.
• 2mm Scale Association members will have read about our very successful 1st Australasian Gathering in Sydney in a recent Magazine.  We are having another one next year over the same weekend – third weekend in August – in Brisbane.  The Gathering was a very inspirational event and as a result of deciding to have it up here next year, two of us have bravely (rashly?) decided to have layouts!  So Swallow’s End has been dusted off and progress restarted.  More to come – particularly on the tar wagon.
• I have also been dabbling in Victorian Railways N Scale building a pair of Spirit Design Y class shunters.  There is a T in the offing but these (a pair again) are being built by a mate who is going to end up with one of the Ys.  Whilst this hasn’t been mentioned, there will be some story – although not quite as many photos as I had hoped! – to share.
• Lastly the local Area Group has been having its regular meetings and some of the modelling being done has been very inspiring in its own right.  We have decided to have a challenge next year – build a diorama in an archive box!  More on that to come too.

So not all doom and gloom and lack of progress – just a lack of sharing and recording. 

Reboot

I feel at times like this blog is a bit like the Batman movie franchise - keeps getting rebooted only to die a few months later due to lack of time, lack of enthusiasm or too much work getting in the road of posting.  After all with a finite amount of time in the week I have found that doing actual modelling has tended to be more interesting than blogging about the modelling - and there has been times when the actual modelling has been in short supply! 

 

Anyway, I had cause to go to the 2mm website today whilst at work (!) and I noticed in the blog feed at the bottom of the page a new blog I hadn't seen - Julias Modelopolis  Now I only know of one Julia who would be likely to have a blog linked to the 2mm site and I was intrigued to see it was like mine - a BlogSpot one rather than her previous postings on RM Web.

 

To cut a long story short, Julia is one of the 2mm modellers who most inspire me with my efforts - her Highclere Cattle Dock was the primary inspiration for my Swallow's End one (more of which can be found here for part one - other parts are easily found on the menu to the right once the page opens).  Now that she is back on BlogSpot the inspiration to get my blogging going again has likewise been found. 

 

Stay tuned.

Long time no blog – but stuff continues to happen

Well, maybe not in the scheme of things (see 2012 or 2013 for example) but  by the standards I have been trying to set this year…

So what has been happening?  Well, the May Area Group meeting came and went.  We did some spray painting of wagon kits which had been completed by members.  GWR and LMS Wagon Grey being the order of the day saw a variety of wagons get a coat of paint.  Hopefully in due course there will be photos of the finished articles.

Next up was getting ready for the Toowoomba Model Train Exhibition (TMTEX).  I haven’t taken St Alban’s Priory out since May 2008 so a bit of time was spent in finishing off the grass, trying to get the fences replaced (didn’t happen) and a few other bits and pieces (also which didn’t happen!!).  The main effort was wiring up the yard so that it was able to be shunted.  This sort of happened but I ended up with a broken point 48 hours before pack up.  No time to replace (ballasted section!) so we ran a truncated shunt service over the weekend. 

TMTEX is rapidly replacing the Brisbane Train Show as the best in South East Queensland – and from an exhibitors point of view, it has been the top one for sometime.  The Darling Downs Model Railroad Club lets us camp in the exhibition hall which tends to mean late nights chatting with fellow modellers or tinkering with layouts.  All good fun.

Since TMTEX I have been working hard at my actual job!  Nevertheless I have managed to get up to speed with Autodesk Inventor (which as it happens I have had to learn for my job!) and the result is I have been having a go at drawing 3D wagons with a view to at some stage printing and seeing what happens.

So… ta da… my first effort is a LNWR D2 (or D6 – the axle boxes changed) Two Plank Open:

People with access to LNWR Wagons Vol 1 by the LNWR Society can have a look at page 73 (I am aiming at the D6 personally) and see what you think.  The bolt heads haven’t been added yet and I need to also put the inside groove on the ends – to match the green line on the side.  Any comments/thoughts/criticisms welcome.

Lastly, the 2mm Scale Association Australasian Gathering has been taking up some time – members of the 2mmSA will have been able to read the news in the latest Magazine and via the VAG.  Hopefully there will be art to display here in the near future.

Atso-Cad LNER N2 from Shapeways

As I have mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I obtained one of the Atso-Cad Shapeways 3D prints for an N2 along with a bunch of other stuff.  Now none of the things I purchased were anything which I was in a position to complete straight away – the locos needed chassis and the wagons likewise – the N2 was the closest and, being a little impatient, I didn’t wait and got stuck in.

The picture above shows what you got for your money from Shapeways.  The bit at the front provides the pipes for the condensing apparatus which was fitted to those locos which were shedded in the London region to enable them to work in various underground sections.  If you don’t need these, then three holes – which can be seen on the forward part of the tank side – will need filling with milliput or similar.

So being impatient, I hit the body with some grey primer to see how it looked.  Not bad really.  You can see the stepping on the boiler and the tank sides but it is fairly fine in real life and doesn’t take a lot of effort to sort out.  From here, I did some light sanding with various grades of wet and dry, gave the whole lot a scrub with some Jif and an old tooth brush and then primed again to see how it was travelling.

As I was pretty happy with the look of it following the second priming coat, I started to add the detail.  The first bit of the condensing pipe work was put on the tanks but the hand rails have to be done before the second bit so I got on with those.  25 holes later… 

Handrails are one of these things that tend to end up being a bit over scale and these I expect are no exception – I used 0.2mm wire in etched knobs – but to leave them off would be worse I feel.  In this case, the tank hand rail is on the side – some locos had hand rails on the top of the tank and a couple of pictures I found had them in both spots.  The location also moved around depending on the period – and within periods.  Photo references are a must if you are wanting to be spot on for a particular loco.  As I hadn’t picked a number, I went with the holes Steve had allowed for in the print.  The knobs were fixed with super glue.

According to Shapeways, FUD can withstand temperatures up to around the 80C mark – I solder at 375.  However, I felt that a quick in and out with possibly a higher than normal temperature to ensure a quick bond would work and so it proved.  I did the hand rails with the iron at 400 and had no dramas with melting.  A couple of knobs needed to be reglued but I am not sure if that was a result of the heat or a result of not having stuck them in properly the first time. 

Having completed the hand rails the last bit of pipe work was stuck in, the whole lot primed again – which has had the effect that the sides are very much losing the stepping under normal viewing although I noticed in the photo that the bunker side in particular is still showing.

The primer was left to dry for a day and a half before I sprayed it with gloss black.  I still hadn’t decided if I was going LNER or BR but in either case a black loco was the go – I use rattle cans for basic colours and whilst I have LNER Green from Precision Paints, I wasn’t setting up for painting one small loco – the other couple of things I want to paint LNER Green haven’t got to the painting stage yet.

The gloss black was left for 48 hours and then the really fun job of transfers started.

I used Fox for this one and settled on BR mixed traffic as I didn’t have the means to do any LNER – other than the lettering.  The Fox system involves putting a black transfer over the red/white one to separate the lines but having done a trial I wasn’t impressed with the look so removed it.  One of those cases where, to me at least, the right way looked wrong, but the wrong way looks right.  The number chosen was picked for two reasons – one, the loco was based at Hatfield, which is the other end of the GNR branch from St Alban’s and, while I don’t have a picture of an N2 at St Alban’s, it is at least plausible that this loco made it down the branch at some point.  The second reason was it used 5 different digits!

So this is the state of play at the moment – the buffer beams have been painted red and the whole lot coated with gloss clear to seal the transfers in.  Next problem is a chassis.

Steve Da Costa suggests putting the loco on a modified Farish Std 3 Tank chassis.  I have a Std 3 (well had is probably the more accurate description now) and so I pulled it apart and made a start on hacking the chassis.  Pretty soon in, I found that the biggest issue was the wheel spacing was wrong – and the biggest glaring error to me was the Std 3 has its wheels more symmetrically spaced than an N2.

So no wheels at present – I am considering using the parts to make a chassis with new connecting rods but a better solution would be an etched chassis.  As it happens, I am hoping Steve releases his J50 soon to the general punter and it has the same wheel base and spacing (albeit with wheels one foot smaller in diameter) as the N2 so an etched chassis would work for both potentially.  The sticking point there will be that while I can get wheels from the 2mm Scale Association this won’t help for an N gauge layout.

It is a cracking little kit and highly recommended – I have a Langley one from 20 years ago and this really shows it up for the compromise that it is.  An LNER and GNR (!) pair will follow, once I work out a suitable chassis arrangement.

South East Queensland Area Group Meeting–12 April 2014

No photos this month – too busy!

The usual monthly meeting took place at your humble correspondent's shed last Saturday with 6 starters and one late comer in attendance.  There wasn’t a theme to this month with everyone working on various projects.

Kicking off – I was working on my Atso-Cad designed N2 (which should be the subject of it’s own blog post hopefully next week, weather willing).  I am still in a bit of a bind when it comes to the chassis for it – more of which anon.

Ken (a returning member – he had N some years ago then dallied with Suger Cane Trains and Trams but is now back) was building a Scalescenes Factory/Warehouse (T026).  He has actually combined two kits to get the size he is wanting but was commenting on the number of windows he had to cut out!  This prompted a discussion on obtaining the windows themselves (OHTs are pretty old school now with data projectors so sources are drying up) and how they could be made to be different colours (currently they coming in any colour you like, so long as you like black).

Anthony made a start on something a little different – a rolling stock kit.  He has obtained a couple of the Etched Pixels LMS Fish-X kits to go on the N Gauge Society Stove R chassis.  Compared with the 2mm Scale Association ones, these are a doddle to build and hopefully we will see them close to completion next month.

David had managed this month to bring along the various parts to the 2mm SA quartering jig but still failed to achieve success owing to bending a couple of things which he didn’t have replacements for.  However, he was able to make a start on his Shapeways GWR Cattle Wagons with a view to painting them at our next meeting.

Barbara and Don continued working on their collection on wagon kits with some progress being made on their NGS kits which I had made examples of last month. 

Ben, coming late (but in time for a feed…) didn’t actually get anything done but fortunately did bring with him his ultrasonic cleaner which will make the sorting of chassis for Cattle Wagons, bodies for Cattle Wagons and assorted other kits which I hope to do in the next few weeks a bit easier.

Shapeways

For a while now I have been keeping an eye on Shapeways and the various offerings for the N Gauge/Scale or 2mm Modeller thereon.  The Eye was moved into action once I got to see a finished product – Ben’s Atso-Cad Patriot which I wrote about briefly here (scroll down to about halfway) and I recently took delivery of a collection of models – and yes, I know I have a lot in the UFO pile already!

First up was my own Patriot – destined to be 5504 “Royal Signals” (my mother and both her parents worked in various incarnations of the Royal Australian Signal Corps during the 1960s and WWII respectively) although I am not sure if it will be LMS Crimson or BR Green at this stage (might just get another one and do two although not necessarily of the same loco!).

I took advantage of Steve’s other work to purchase his N2 kit.  I have one of the Langley examples – I seem to remember working on it back in 1996 so it has been around a while.  It has always looked the part to my eyes which have had their bias based on the photos in Haresnape’s “Gresley Locomotives” but Steve’s effort is much nicer.  It is designed to go on a Farish Std 3 Tank chassis which requires a bit of hacking and so forth.  I have made a bit of a start on this one so there will be more information coming later in the week.

Way back in the days of Swallow Street (RM Webers from Mark III might remember this essay into 3rd Rail BR Blue while I was out in Longreach – there was a cheeky baby who crawled under the layout at one stage and had a lovely time playing with the wiring – said kid is now at school and recently turned 5!) I obtained the BHE kit for the Class 128 parcels railcar. (I also got the 129 kit – neither have made it much beyond an initial inspection of the contents.)  Again, those who frequent the various Forums maybe aware that a 128 was made available on Shapeways with the intended chassis being the Dapol 121/122 chassis.  When I get around to getting another 121/122, this will move up the pile.

2mm Scale Association VAG members will be familiar with the tale of Ian Smith’s GWR Cattle Wagons – I was lucky enough to have put both types – the W1/5 and W3 – into my shopping cart prior to Ian being told that there were flaws and Shapeways didn’t want to print them.  So I figured the worst that would happen was they’d be rejected.  They weren’t and printed very nicely in FUD.  Again, a bit of a start has been made here too so an fuller comment will be forthcoming soon.

Lastly I got some bits and pieces – some various lengths of permanent coupling for Dapol NEM sockets – principally for my HST but also to see about the Teaks I have.  With a bit of work they fit the Bachfar Mk1s too.  Details to come.  I also got a set of the Atso LNER bogies.

All in all, very impressed with the service and the finish.  About the only thing which had me scratching my head with the whole process from order to delivery was why it took UPS from the 18th of March to the 21st to get from Holland to Sydney, Australia via America but then from the 21st to the 26th to get the 800kms from Sydney to my place!!!  

South East Queensland Area Group Meeting – 8 March 2014

Our monthly meeting took place last Saturday with members working on their own projects – or attempting to!  David had planned on have a go with his recently purchased quartering jig but found he had left a couple of critical things at home – like the chassis he was working on.  In the end, he added to the potential pile of UFOs by searching around the 2mm Scale Association Shop and Shapeways looking for bits and pieces.

Graeme returned after missing last month, away at a BRMA committee meeting.  He  was seen in possession of a Chivers GWR Python kit and enthusing over Ben’s latest purchase – the new Jinty.  All agreed the latest Jinty makes the old one look exactly that – old.  Quite a few are likely to be heading down under considering there are 5 of the group who model the LMS in general terms and all can justify at least one.

Ben was working on some Chivers Horseboxes, finishing off the painting on them.  While he was working on that, your correspondent got out the un-made NGS Kit 47 and 48 from the UFO draw.  These are ex-Parkwood kits which have been released by the NGS with transfers and so forth in the box.  Similar to the old Jinty, they are showing their age but provide something a little different in a train so worth it if you are a NGS member – and as they are very basic, 5 parts to the kit, a pretty good entry to the art of kit building.

Anthony and Greg spent some time working on one of Anthony’s locos which wasn’t running well.  Initial thoughts turned towards the track laying (bear in mind this was done 15 years ago and all my locos run happily…) but eventually it was found some back to backs needed sorting and then things worked ok.  Anthony also brought along his model of Conwy Castle – or the current progress.  Readers of his blog on RM Web will doubtless know all about it – everyone else can find it here. 

Don and Barbara were working on something that looked like a scratch build but I am afraid I didn’t get a closer look so can’t comment!! Sorry!  Barbara is interested in finding out what the loco was on 1E25 on Monday 7 June 1971 (1600 Edinburgh Waverley to Kings Cross arriving 2157 – best bet so far is a Deltic but which one would be nice.  Possibilities  are 9009 and 9020 as they seemed to be on KX-Ed and vice versa turns then).  If you know or have a photo, can you please get in touch.

St Alban’s Priory – before the makeover

I found these pictures whilst cleaning up the external hard drive and thought, given the work which is currently taking place on the layout, they were worth sharing to show what it used to look like.  The photos have been taken at various shows and in my shed over the years from 2003-2008 and give a pretty good idea what it all looked like.  I have been getting some more work done, but it has been a bit slow over the last couple of weeks but hopefully there will be a new instalment at the weekend – in the meanwhile, enjoy.