David Varley
Western Thunderer
Looking good so far, Ian 
2mm Modbury
- Thread starter Ian Smith
- Start date
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
A little more progress on Modbury Signal Box...
The gutters have been added from 0.030" plasticard that had a groove gouged out with the chuck end of a 0.9mm drill. The underside of the trough was rounded over by scraping with a hard-backed razor blade. A strip of the gutter was cut off the main sheet some 2mm wide, then the rear edge profiled to fit around the signal box corner framing (and in the case of the rear one the chimney stack). Once fitted to the box, gutter ends were added from 0.005" and once hardened these were trimmed back to the gutter profile.
The roof has also been "slated" with strips of self adhesive printer paper. The slates themselves were drawn up in CAD such that the strips of each alternate row had 1.5 x width slates drawn at each end. Each row of slates had a feint line drawn for the overlap distance (although that can't be seen in the photo).
Here are a couple of photos of the box as it is now - brick and stone work were given an all-over mortar colour before various brick and stone shades were wiped across the surface to pick out the bricks and stones (several passes with a fairly dry brush were needed to build up the colour).
The woodwork of the box was painted in Precision Paints Light & Dark Stone, although I found the Dark a little to dark so I let it down with a drop of white (a 5:1 ratio of Dark Stone to White).
The Locking Room door could do with another coat of chocolate (and a brass handle fitting). Similarly, the down pipes need to be manufactured, painted and fitted. The slates need painting, a representation of the box interior needs to be made and fitted (the roof is still removable!) before finally making and fitting the windows. The latter I had initially intended to include on my next etch, but I might try simply ruling the glazing bars on glazing material first.
PS please do not judge too harshly the paintwork of the model - it actually looks much better in normal size (the box is actually only 30mm long!) and the photos are over twice that size on my screen
Ian
The gutters have been added from 0.030" plasticard that had a groove gouged out with the chuck end of a 0.9mm drill. The underside of the trough was rounded over by scraping with a hard-backed razor blade. A strip of the gutter was cut off the main sheet some 2mm wide, then the rear edge profiled to fit around the signal box corner framing (and in the case of the rear one the chimney stack). Once fitted to the box, gutter ends were added from 0.005" and once hardened these were trimmed back to the gutter profile.
The roof has also been "slated" with strips of self adhesive printer paper. The slates themselves were drawn up in CAD such that the strips of each alternate row had 1.5 x width slates drawn at each end. Each row of slates had a feint line drawn for the overlap distance (although that can't be seen in the photo).
Here are a couple of photos of the box as it is now - brick and stone work were given an all-over mortar colour before various brick and stone shades were wiped across the surface to pick out the bricks and stones (several passes with a fairly dry brush were needed to build up the colour).
The woodwork of the box was painted in Precision Paints Light & Dark Stone, although I found the Dark a little to dark so I let it down with a drop of white (a 5:1 ratio of Dark Stone to White).
The Locking Room door could do with another coat of chocolate (and a brass handle fitting). Similarly, the down pipes need to be manufactured, painted and fitted. The slates need painting, a representation of the box interior needs to be made and fitted (the roof is still removable!) before finally making and fitting the windows. The latter I had initially intended to include on my next etch, but I might try simply ruling the glazing bars on glazing material first.
PS please do not judge too harshly the paintwork of the model - it actually looks much better in normal size (the box is actually only 30mm long!) and the photos are over twice that size on my screen
Ian
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
Very very nice Ian
John
John
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Seeing David's signal box on his thread reminds me that I have not posted anything on Modbury's signal box now it's virtually complete here (although my RMweb blog has been updated).
So here is the "finished" box. I still have to make and site a couple of fire buckets on the steps, and need a barrel under the downpipe.
Ian
So here is the "finished" box. I still have to make and site a couple of fire buckets on the steps, and need a barrel under the downpipe.
Ian
adrian
Flying Squad
That's beautifully finished, the paintwork is incredibly neat considering the size.
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
Agreed your work is always lovely Ian
John
John
David Varley
Western Thunderer
I particularly like the stonework but the rest of it's very nice too - good job Ian
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Thank you Adrian. The painting was made easier by having separate windows, the stonework was down first, followed by the brickwork. The raised framing was next followed by the planked areas. The roof is a separate item that just clips in place between the guttering (it will also allow me access to the interior so that I can fit levers and other details after Christmas). The downpipes, windows and open door upstairs were also added once everything else was done - annoyingly there is a bit of discolouration (which shows up mainly in the photos) around the downpipes fixings which needs to be addressed. Obviously it needs a little weathering too.
Thank you John.
Thank you David. Stone and brickwork were painted all over in mortar colour, then the bricks/stones picked out with a dry brush / side of brush technique. Odd areas of mortar had to be cleaned out afterwards with a toothpick, I'm hopeful that weathering will make it look a bit better.I particularly like the stonework but the rest of it's very nice too - good job Ian
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Bit of a bumper entry this one (2 RMweb entries in one) ...
Progress on Modbury over the Winter has been virtually non-existent, however now Spring is here it's time to crack on a bit...
A variety of twisted wire trees are underway, and point rodding is being added to the layout, but before the latter could be done I had to work out how much room there was available along the front of the Down platform as up to 3 rodding runs need to be accommodated. I therefore made a start on the Down platform, and once part constructed moved on to the Waiting Shelter that I wanted to position midway along its length.
The waiting shelter is based on the one that used to be at Bovey Tracey in Devon. This is an open fronted affair, with a fireplace at one end to provide a bit of comfort for the waiting passengers. A flat roofed extension at the other end provided a Gentleman's convenience. The prototype can be seen in the background of the following photo :
The original building was brick constructed which I feel complements (and provides variety to) the stone built main station building on the other platform. Once a scale CAD drawing had been produced based on a closer view of the derelict building, a start was made on construction in my preferred medium of plasticard. Construction is similar to the Signal Box built and described earlier in the thread. A core of 0.040" was built with over-sized windows onto which Slater's embossed plasticard was added (with windows the correct size cut out). The rebate formed around the inside of the window being to allow the glazing to be sited. The building has been built with a "cellar" to allow it to be sunk into the eventual platform surface.
The roof sub-structure has been made as a separate component that fits snuggly into the top of the 4 walls of the main structure. The gutters surrounding the hipped roof were made first by "scrawking" the half round profile with the tail end of a 0.85mm drill shank along the edge of some 0.030" plastic sheet, the outer profile of the guttering scraped off afterwards and the resultant gutter cut off with sufficient backing material to allow securing to the sub-roof. The chimney stack was built up by adding embossed sheet around a solid core, and once dry secured to the flat sub-roof. The hip roof was then built up by trial and error on the flat sub-roof.
The brickwork was painted in the same manner as employed on the Signal Box - an overall covering of mortar colour which once dry was dry brushed with various brick shades to pick out the embossed brickwork.
Image hopefully showing the construction of the hipped roof and guttering.
The next stage will be to paint the interior, fit benches therein (and chimney breast) before adding the slates to the roof and putting a flat roof on the gents (I also need to add the gents door and the brick arch above it!). General detailing can then commence by adding the noticeboards, enamel signs, etc before weathering and adding to the (hopefully by then) completed Down Platform.
The second entry ...
Over the last couple of weeks the various point rodding stools have all been manufactured and the remainder of the rodding runs installed on the layout. Yesterday I completed painting the rodding runs - the whole of the track area was sprayed Precision Paints "Sleeper Grime", and the rodding runs themselves painted with a slightly diluted PP "Vermillion". Red being a translucent type of colour anyway allows a degree of the Sleeper Grime to show through thus toning down the Vermillion a bit. I will eventually weather the rodding runs anyway by providing oil/grease colouring at all of the moving parts.
Overall view of the layout showing the painted rodding runs.
Slightly closer view of the rodding connection to the trap point and associated rotating point disc.
Today I have made a start on ballasting the remainder of the trackwork, probably managing about 4 1/2 foot all told. The ballast is a light coloured granular material that I picked up at an exhibition a couple of years ago, it has no branding on the resealable bag so I have no idea what it is or who the seller was! It is being attached in the time honoured fashion of wetting by spraying a mist of car windscreen wash over the dry ballast (to break down surface tension) then dropping diluted PVA over it all.
The Newton Abbot end of the layout.
The Plymouth end of the layout showing the now weathered road over bridge temporarily plonked in place.
Hopefully I will manage to get the rest of the layout ballasted over the next week. Once the track has been ballasted, I have some even finer material to stick down in the 6' and along the edges of the ballast to represent the cess.
Thanks for looking, Ian
Progress on Modbury over the Winter has been virtually non-existent, however now Spring is here it's time to crack on a bit...
A variety of twisted wire trees are underway, and point rodding is being added to the layout, but before the latter could be done I had to work out how much room there was available along the front of the Down platform as up to 3 rodding runs need to be accommodated. I therefore made a start on the Down platform, and once part constructed moved on to the Waiting Shelter that I wanted to position midway along its length.
The waiting shelter is based on the one that used to be at Bovey Tracey in Devon. This is an open fronted affair, with a fireplace at one end to provide a bit of comfort for the waiting passengers. A flat roofed extension at the other end provided a Gentleman's convenience. The prototype can be seen in the background of the following photo :
The original building was brick constructed which I feel complements (and provides variety to) the stone built main station building on the other platform. Once a scale CAD drawing had been produced based on a closer view of the derelict building, a start was made on construction in my preferred medium of plasticard. Construction is similar to the Signal Box built and described earlier in the thread. A core of 0.040" was built with over-sized windows onto which Slater's embossed plasticard was added (with windows the correct size cut out). The rebate formed around the inside of the window being to allow the glazing to be sited. The building has been built with a "cellar" to allow it to be sunk into the eventual platform surface.
The roof sub-structure has been made as a separate component that fits snuggly into the top of the 4 walls of the main structure. The gutters surrounding the hipped roof were made first by "scrawking" the half round profile with the tail end of a 0.85mm drill shank along the edge of some 0.030" plastic sheet, the outer profile of the guttering scraped off afterwards and the resultant gutter cut off with sufficient backing material to allow securing to the sub-roof. The chimney stack was built up by adding embossed sheet around a solid core, and once dry secured to the flat sub-roof. The hip roof was then built up by trial and error on the flat sub-roof.
The brickwork was painted in the same manner as employed on the Signal Box - an overall covering of mortar colour which once dry was dry brushed with various brick shades to pick out the embossed brickwork.
Image hopefully showing the construction of the hipped roof and guttering.
The next stage will be to paint the interior, fit benches therein (and chimney breast) before adding the slates to the roof and putting a flat roof on the gents (I also need to add the gents door and the brick arch above it!). General detailing can then commence by adding the noticeboards, enamel signs, etc before weathering and adding to the (hopefully by then) completed Down Platform.
The second entry ...
Over the last couple of weeks the various point rodding stools have all been manufactured and the remainder of the rodding runs installed on the layout. Yesterday I completed painting the rodding runs - the whole of the track area was sprayed Precision Paints "Sleeper Grime", and the rodding runs themselves painted with a slightly diluted PP "Vermillion". Red being a translucent type of colour anyway allows a degree of the Sleeper Grime to show through thus toning down the Vermillion a bit. I will eventually weather the rodding runs anyway by providing oil/grease colouring at all of the moving parts.
Overall view of the layout showing the painted rodding runs.
Slightly closer view of the rodding connection to the trap point and associated rotating point disc.
Today I have made a start on ballasting the remainder of the trackwork, probably managing about 4 1/2 foot all told. The ballast is a light coloured granular material that I picked up at an exhibition a couple of years ago, it has no branding on the resealable bag so I have no idea what it is or who the seller was! It is being attached in the time honoured fashion of wetting by spraying a mist of car windscreen wash over the dry ballast (to break down surface tension) then dropping diluted PVA over it all.
The Newton Abbot end of the layout.
The Plymouth end of the layout showing the now weathered road over bridge temporarily plonked in place.
Hopefully I will manage to get the rest of the layout ballasted over the next week. Once the track has been ballasted, I have some even finer material to stick down in the 6' and along the edges of the ballast to represent the cess.
Thanks for looking, Ian
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Over the last few weeks I have been beavering away on Modbury to get a little more done in time for it's second public appearance at the 2mm Association's "Supermeet" on the 25th June at Tutbury (near Burton upon Trent).
I had set myself quite a list of things that I wanted to get done earlier in the year :
This really only left the painting of the backscenes as the one major item on my list, so over the last week or so I have had a go at tackling that.
I don't really like photo backscenes very much, and wanted to produce something bespoke, so before I actually started I contacted John Birkett-Smith (of Ashburton & Totnes fame). I have admired his backscenes on these two layouts for some time and in my opinion they really capture the rolling South Devon countryside, and I was intrigued to know what colours he had used to produce his artwork. John has been really helpful, and provided not only a list of colours, but also some more general advice on how to go about the task in hand.
From the off I ought to state that I do not consider myself to be an artist, and I have never used acrylic paints before, and I think that a degree of practice is required with this medium as in my view it can be more difficult to use than either oils or watercolours. The reason I say that is really down to the drying time of the paint, they do dry out incredibly quickly both on the palette and on the painting! Another "problem" I have is that the paint seems to dry to a darker shade than it looks on the palette (although I am using them straight from the tube and not diluting them).
With the above in mind, the first attempt at a couple of sections of my back scene left me very disappointed :
Initial effort at mixing a "distant" green was a horrible muddy colour!
A re-paint with another "bluer" shade. It was too blue (even if it doesn't look it in the photo), and also showed that I had drawn my fields far too small, meaning that it would be difficult to reconcile the full scale 3D model with what had been painted.
At the other end of the layout, slightly larger fields, and a "greener" shade of green. This time probably too green!
So from what I learned from the above was that I needed fields somewhat larger, also more "yellowy" greens, and I had to be able to keep the paints workable for a bit longer before they dried out too much. Luckily, I had a fine "spray mister" that I had rescued from something SWMBO had discarded, so moistening the palette occasionally helped in my subsequent efforts.
The whole of my previous attempt was obliterated with a couple of coats of white, and in desperation I over painted the wheeler up to the horizon line with a yellowy mix of green as I hoped that having some colour in this section would help because I didn't have a completely blank canvas as it were. In retrospect, this was a little too dark, but at least with acrylics (at least straight from the tube) you can over-paint what was there before.
So to my final "work of art" (apologies for the grainy nature of some of the photos) ...
Eventually this wooded area will have 3D trees in front of it, the painting just to provide some depth.
In between doing all of this I have also been progressing the down waiting room building, and the platform on which it will sit. Also the Up and Down Starter signals have been built although the Up Starter still needs it's under board operating mechanism installing. Unfortunately, I haven't photographed those yet.
Thanks for looking,
Ian
I had set myself quite a list of things that I wanted to get done earlier in the year :
- Complete all of the trackwork
- Ballast all of the trackwork
- Install all of the point rodding
- Paint the backscenes
- Etc, etc.
This really only left the painting of the backscenes as the one major item on my list, so over the last week or so I have had a go at tackling that.
I don't really like photo backscenes very much, and wanted to produce something bespoke, so before I actually started I contacted John Birkett-Smith (of Ashburton & Totnes fame). I have admired his backscenes on these two layouts for some time and in my opinion they really capture the rolling South Devon countryside, and I was intrigued to know what colours he had used to produce his artwork. John has been really helpful, and provided not only a list of colours, but also some more general advice on how to go about the task in hand.
From the off I ought to state that I do not consider myself to be an artist, and I have never used acrylic paints before, and I think that a degree of practice is required with this medium as in my view it can be more difficult to use than either oils or watercolours. The reason I say that is really down to the drying time of the paint, they do dry out incredibly quickly both on the palette and on the painting! Another "problem" I have is that the paint seems to dry to a darker shade than it looks on the palette (although I am using them straight from the tube and not diluting them).
With the above in mind, the first attempt at a couple of sections of my back scene left me very disappointed :
Initial effort at mixing a "distant" green was a horrible muddy colour!
A re-paint with another "bluer" shade. It was too blue (even if it doesn't look it in the photo), and also showed that I had drawn my fields far too small, meaning that it would be difficult to reconcile the full scale 3D model with what had been painted.
At the other end of the layout, slightly larger fields, and a "greener" shade of green. This time probably too green!
So from what I learned from the above was that I needed fields somewhat larger, also more "yellowy" greens, and I had to be able to keep the paints workable for a bit longer before they dried out too much. Luckily, I had a fine "spray mister" that I had rescued from something SWMBO had discarded, so moistening the palette occasionally helped in my subsequent efforts.
The whole of my previous attempt was obliterated with a couple of coats of white, and in desperation I over painted the wheeler up to the horizon line with a yellowy mix of green as I hoped that having some colour in this section would help because I didn't have a completely blank canvas as it were. In retrospect, this was a little too dark, but at least with acrylics (at least straight from the tube) you can over-paint what was there before.
So to my final "work of art" (apologies for the grainy nature of some of the photos) ...
Eventually this wooded area will have 3D trees in front of it, the painting just to provide some depth.
In between doing all of this I have also been progressing the down waiting room building, and the platform on which it will sit. Also the Up and Down Starter signals have been built although the Up Starter still needs it's under board operating mechanism installing. Unfortunately, I haven't photographed those yet.
Thanks for looking,
Ian
adrian
Flying Squad
That's looking very impressive - I know you say you aren't an artist but I'd disagree. The
I'm hoping to get down to Tutbury so look forward to seeing this in the flesh.
Len Cattley
Western Thunderer
I'm the same as Adrian, I had to take another look I thought you had put trees in there. Wish I could paint like that.
Len
Len
john lewsey
Western Thunderer
Wow
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
I'm the same as Adrian, I had to take another look I thought you had put trees in there. Wish I could paint like that.
Len
Thank you gentlemen for your kind comments!
As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been progressing the Down Waiting Shelter building over the last couple of weeks too. A couple of photos follow :
The is still a fair bit of work to do to complete the building; chimney pot and down pipes need to be added, internal detail needs to be made and installed, etc and there are a couple of places that need the paintwork touching up.
In the end I went for an open air gents, although not shown in the photos there is a urinal in there, and the modesty screen needs to be made and added.
The enamel signs have been inkjet printed on photo paper that has had some of the backing removed to thin them down, the raw white edges being touched up with a rusty brown coloured felt pen. I decided to print my own because I wanted to be sure that the ones fitted would be suitable for a 1906 period. Checking period photos, I was able to ascertain what would be suitable, then searching the internet for colour pictures of said signs - In doing this I was able to find this site (Advertising Antiques - Old Advertising & Enamel Sign Collector's Homepage) which was extremely helpful as the supporting text for some signs also included their sizes. The quality isn't perhaps as good as it could be as most were simply "grabbed" from my screen, but once I had a few signs, they were cropped and imported into Inkscape where they were reduced to scale size before printing.
Ian
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
A few weeks ago, virginmedia announced that they were no longer going to provide a web hosting service for their customers. A result was that my personal website documenting and showcasing the methods used to build Modbury was lost.
I have now found a new home for my website, and purchased a domain to point to it. The website can be found here : www.modbury2fs.co.uk
Ian
I have now found a new home for my website, and purchased a domain to point to it. The website can be found here : www.modbury2fs.co.uk
Ian
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
After a few months of doing other things, I have once again started work on my 3rd loco (a GWR Buffalo 1076 class in saddle tank form). Previously, I had formed the saddle tank (http://www.rmweb.co....6-class-in-2fs/) and there the project had stalled for no other reason than I wanted to progress Modbury for the 2mm Association's Supermeet last month.
Picking up the reigns again, I have made a start on the chassis. Once again I have decided to provide the engine with a milled solid brass (albeit split framed) chassis. To achieve this, a length of 1mm thick brass is bolted to a main chassis block some 6mm thick the bolts being secured in insulating material in the main block. Once the pair are united at their extremities (outside the finished size of the chassis), the various holes for fixing bolts, axles and gear shafts are drilled through before the shape of the chassis is milled away.
For this loco, I will be using some etched coupling rods of 14.5mm x 16.5mm wheelbase that I have done my own artwork for (they are of the "fish bellied" profile which unfortunately the Association do not provide). Until my own rods are ready I will be using Association ones as a jig to drill the axle holes and to test the final chassis build.
Axle centre line and chassis extremities marked, first axle hole spotted with 0.5mm drill and peg inserted
Coupling rods being used as jig to drill other 2 axle holes 0.5mm spaced from the peg of the first axle
All 3 axle holes drilled. They are subsequently opened up to 2.4mm to house Association phosphor bronze bearings
Axle holes for the gears drilled, chassis block milled to shape, and Association phosphor bronze bearings soldered in place
Because the Buffalo class had outside frames, Association wheels with extended axles were purchased, unfortunately the wheels do not come with Fly Cranks so these had to be manufactured. A sheet of 0.018" nickel silver was used to fabricate the cranks, a 0.7mm hole drilled in a piece of the material for the spigot on the extended axle, and a 0.5mm hole was drilled 0.080" (about 2mm) from that hole. A little jig was made with a 0.7mm peg in it onto which the piece of nickel silver sheet was hung and the 0.5mm hole drilled 0.080" away from it. The crank was then filed around these two holes.
First crank made and a start made on filing out second one
First crank being used as a pattern to finish off the filing of the subsequent cranks
Full set of 6 cranks
Wheel, fabricated fly crank and Association flanged crankpin
Set of wheels complete with their fly cranks and crankpins and remainder of spigot filed off
Completed chassis, albeit with the extensions still in place - these will be cut off once all of the machining has been complete (the worm housing still needs to be made and bolt holes drilled and tapped)
Finally a short video of the chassis being pushed along
There is still a bit to do, not least of which will be a full strip down so that it can be painted!
Ian
Picking up the reigns again, I have made a start on the chassis. Once again I have decided to provide the engine with a milled solid brass (albeit split framed) chassis. To achieve this, a length of 1mm thick brass is bolted to a main chassis block some 6mm thick the bolts being secured in insulating material in the main block. Once the pair are united at their extremities (outside the finished size of the chassis), the various holes for fixing bolts, axles and gear shafts are drilled through before the shape of the chassis is milled away.
For this loco, I will be using some etched coupling rods of 14.5mm x 16.5mm wheelbase that I have done my own artwork for (they are of the "fish bellied" profile which unfortunately the Association do not provide). Until my own rods are ready I will be using Association ones as a jig to drill the axle holes and to test the final chassis build.
Axle centre line and chassis extremities marked, first axle hole spotted with 0.5mm drill and peg inserted
Coupling rods being used as jig to drill other 2 axle holes 0.5mm spaced from the peg of the first axle
All 3 axle holes drilled. They are subsequently opened up to 2.4mm to house Association phosphor bronze bearings
Axle holes for the gears drilled, chassis block milled to shape, and Association phosphor bronze bearings soldered in place
Because the Buffalo class had outside frames, Association wheels with extended axles were purchased, unfortunately the wheels do not come with Fly Cranks so these had to be manufactured. A sheet of 0.018" nickel silver was used to fabricate the cranks, a 0.7mm hole drilled in a piece of the material for the spigot on the extended axle, and a 0.5mm hole was drilled 0.080" (about 2mm) from that hole. A little jig was made with a 0.7mm peg in it onto which the piece of nickel silver sheet was hung and the 0.5mm hole drilled 0.080" away from it. The crank was then filed around these two holes.
First crank made and a start made on filing out second one
First crank being used as a pattern to finish off the filing of the subsequent cranks
Full set of 6 cranks
Wheel, fabricated fly crank and Association flanged crankpin
Set of wheels complete with their fly cranks and crankpins and remainder of spigot filed off
Completed chassis, albeit with the extensions still in place - these will be cut off once all of the machining has been complete (the worm housing still needs to be made and bolt holes drilled and tapped)
Finally a short video of the chassis being pushed along
There is still a bit to do, not least of which will be a full strip down so that it can be painted!
Ian
adrian
Flying Squad
Very impressive - how do you do the split chassis insulation? You talk about insulating material in the main block for the screws, is this tufnol bar glued in or something similar? Also the position of the bushes for the gear pinions - do you use a jig to mark out the centre points or is it just done by eye?
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Adrian,
To provide insulation across the chassis, thin insulating material is sandwiched between the 1mm thick and 6mm thick sections of the chassis. The insulating material in the main block for the bolt fixings is tufnol or nylon (2 are the former and the middle one nylon as I ran out of tufnol bar). While whole chassis block is together the fixing points are initially drilled 1mm, the 1mm thick section removed and the fixing holes in the main block opened out to 2.3mm to accommodate the tufnol plugs which are araldited in place. Once secure the excess araldite is pared off, the 1mm section bolted back on (hence the fixings outside the extremities of the finished chassis). The 1mm dia holes in the 1mm section are used to position the 1mm drill to drill out the tufnol plugs which are then tapped 12BA. The 1mm holes in the 1mm thick section of the chassis are then opened out to 12BA clearance and countersunk.
For positioning the gear centres, I produced a CAD drawing of my chassis (before I started work) :
All of the milling and drilling operations were carried out on my Peatol lathe with either ER16 collets or Jacobs drill chuck on headstock and work held in vice on vertical slide. The centre-to-centre distance of the gears was taken from the published M0.3 data in the 2mm Association's Yearbook (taking into account the recommended 0.1mm clearance). It was then a simple matter to use the vertical /cross slide to move the work the required distances from a datum point - the rear driven axle. Although I did have to convert the metric measurements on my drawing to imperial measurements for the lathe.
The only other thing I had to do was reduce the diameter of the muff that the 18T gear sits on because at full size it interferes with the gear wheel (I knew it would as my CAD drawing shows - the muff diameter is the blue circle, the outside diameter of gears is in red), so before putting in the chassis the muff was reduced in a mini drill with files (after the 18T gear had been put on).
I hope that answers your questions.
Ian
adrian
Flying Squad
It does thank you, I can understand how it works now. I'm currently in the planning stage for the coal tank chassis and being cognisant of Jerry's advice of getting as much weight in as possible I can see the attraction of a solid brass chassis so I'm just weighing up the different solutions.
Ian Smith
Western Thunderer
Adrian,
I have little experience of building locos in 2FS, my existing saddle tank (my 1st engine) is a conversion from a Farish 57xx on an Association chassis. My 2nd one, my Metro tank, has a chassis built by the solid brass chassis method employed by Nigel Ashton in his Manor chassis (and others). His scratch build of a Cambrian 0-6-0 was detailed in 3 issues of the Association magazine a few years ago. I decided that it was the way to go for the small engines that I will be building as all tank engines will have open cabs so space for weight will be at a premium. Obviously having the ability to do light milling operations on my Peatol lathe is a great enabler!
For reference, here is couple of photos of my Metro chassis (the second one illustrating the dog clutch arrangement that I used to keep the motor and gearbox separate as the motor is captive within the boiler/smokebox - the 1st photo shows the Mk I version) :
Ian