7mm Pencarrow - Cornish BR(S)

[Pencarrow]

So the good lady is off to Scotland for a few days with work. Based on the destruction and mayhem she's returned to on previous occasions this year, she seems slightly concerned. Wonder why?

But, in my defence, I'm currently in rebuilding mode rather than full on destruction. Honest.

A joyous recent job was cutting the tread nosings off the 13 treads to they were flush with the risers. Once again the DeWalt Multitool came into its own. Having done that it was time fit the riser cladding and to try out the jig I made a few weeks back. This is used to record the width of the riser and the side angles.



The jig is locked off and then dimensions transferred to the riser blank.


Progress was quite swift for a change.


Untill all 13 were done. And yes, every riser was different.


They all need further undercoat and gloss coats to finish but in the meantime there's 13 oak treads to sand and finish.

Trial fit of the landing tread was satisfyingly neat. I won't fix that one in place just yet, until the new landing carpet is fitted, as it presents a bit of a trip hazard.


At some point abnormal service will resume and some trains may be worked on.

 

[Pencarrow]

Not all went smoothly though (shocked face). The very top riser to the landing and the landing floor / tread interface needed rebuilding. All far too beaten up, split, not flat, and generally out of line. Couldn't be easy could it?

Riser and tread removed, exposing the randomly aligned top floor joist. Some minor profile trimming with the router sorted level issues out. However I did make the mistake of not turning on the dust extractor. Oh dear.


Turned out ok though, and a much better foundation for the cladding.


I wish I had known/ realised how badly built and aligned the original staircase carcass was back in March. Would have saved much trouble and replaced the whole thing with a new one. I suspect the (long suffering) good lady coming home to no stairs may have resulted in divorce though...

 

[Phil O]

Craftsmanship ain't wot it use to be!!!

 

[Pencarrow]

Craftsmanship ain't wot it use to be!!!

Craftsmanship when this house was built didn't involve any form of tape measure or spirit level. It did however include lots and lots of 6" and 9" nails!

 

[michael mott]

That top step would pass building code inspection today it is a colossal trip hazard.
Nice work on the risers and tread though.
Michael

 

[Pencarrow]

Bit of a landmark moment with the stair treads finally fitted and bedded in.



Slightly nerve-wracking trimming all the treads to size, for fear of cutting too much off, and of course everyone was different. But here the accuracy of the track saw combined with the measuring jig I made the task much easier. I did remember to number each step and tread, and tick each off as it was cut.

What is shocking is just how much area all the trimmed bits takes up when gathered together (and the photo isn't all of it). The shocking bit being the cost of the scrap bits. Well, being a modeller, I've kept the larger bits in the "it will come in useful someday" pile.



I'm now going to have a bit of a tidy to get the house respectable again as the next 3 weekends are going to be a tad busy. Who knows I may even get to do some modelling in the week?

 

[David Waite]

That’s a lovely job you have done on the stair case , it is surprising how much waste one ends up with
at the end including the saw dust, all my waste off cuts end up keeping us warm in the fire place.
David

 

[Pencarrow]

That’s a lovely job you have done on the stair case , it is surprising how much waste one ends up with
at the end including the saw dust, all my waste off cuts end up keeping us warm in the fire place.
David

Thanks David, it's been at times a labour of love and certainly played hell with the knees! Next job is replacing the hall carpet with a wooden floor, which will mean replacing the skirting boards. Undoubtedly I'll find a load of hidden issues including loose plaster...

The existing skirting is in loads of mismatched shortish sections as the house has had doors moved and boarded up.

Keeps me out of mischief?

 

[chigley]

I think the tape sets it of really well, i'll get my coat

 

[Pencarrow]

I think the tape sets it of really well, i'll get my coat

Coat is already speeding through the door ahead of you!

 

[David Waite]

With a wooden floor in the hall way you will have to remove you shoes if you want to sneak away into the
train room or you will be heard, put a order in for some gripping socks for your birthday or a carpet runner.
David.

 

[Pencarrow]

A nice long weekend up in Manchester with friends.

The purpose of the visit was to see The Killers, supported by Travis, up at the new Co-op Arena. Great night out and very croaky the following day after all the singing.



The following day was trains, beer, trains and beer.

First train out of Bury heading north was a big blue box with far too many wheels. It was ok though, soon changed on to something nicer.







I hadn't done the 'new' line south of Bury before and it was nice to do the whole line. 34092 just chuffed along with a light load of 5 coaches.

 

[Pencarrow]

And in the continuing period of no DIY and no modelling, but lots of music concerts....

Last night was my first visit to the 'new' Wembley stadium to see Green Day. Probably a bit on the heavy side to be everyone's cup of tea, but I band I've wanted to see live ever since hearing the Bullet in a Bible concert recorded at MK Bowl.

So, two birds with one stone...









Amazing how quickly 70,000+ people were able to leave the stadium and that we were able to get back to the hotel near Euston for midnight using public transport.

 

[simond]

Saw them at Wembley for the Donald Trump American Idiot concert

 

[Pencarrow]

Saw them at Wembley for the Donald Trump American Idiot concert

They played all of Dookie (30yrs old) and American Idiot (20yrs old) and a heep of other tunes. 37 or so tracks in all! Came on after playing the Emperor's March from Star Wars...

 

[NHY 581]

That stage looks very Pannier ish..........

Just saying....

 

[Pencarrow]

View attachment 218666

That stage looks very Pannier ish..........

Just saying....

What, on fire??

 

[Pencarrow]

At the final music weekend, Kasabian's home-coming concert at Victoria Park on Leicester. The evening started with rain, a short set by Everything Everything, then the Kaiser Chiefs - who initially had to compete with news of the last bit of the England game, extra time and then penalties.

The local mobile data network was overloaded in the park so news spread like a ripple through the 55,000 strong crowd from those who got a bit of signal. Cheering completely out of sync with the concert going on - weird!

Anyway, Kasabian absolutely got the crowd going. I strongly suspect that the footy, alcohol fuelled crowd helped. Downside though was the high number of very, very drunk 'ladies' in the crowd who, could hardly stand in the last stages of the concert and we're a bit of a nuisance falling over all the time.

With my concert season now finished, I'm planning some modelling this weekend...





Trains of the wrong persuasion on Sunday though...

 

[Pencarrow]

And in other news...

Had confirmation today that I'll be demonstrating at this year's G0G event at Stafford in September. The demonstration will be making plasticard buildings. Best get back into it, find all the tools and remember what on earth I was doing on various projects....

 

[Pencarrow]

In preparation for me demonstrating at the G0G event in two weeks time I've made a start on the project I'll be working on. It's the signal box for Pencarrow.



Why start now? First, in show conditions, it's very difficult to concentrate and focus on deciding how you're going to build something and then marking out the parts accurately. Second, someone sitting, thinking, scratching his head isn't very interesting for the punters...

This is one of three buildings that I have a scale drawing for. I think I bought it from the SRG (can't remember the exact name). The drawing for this building came out as 10mm:1' scale. Probably going on 10 years ago I scanned it, reduced the scale to 7mm and made a quick and dirty mock up from card. I'm working from this rather than the drawings as it's so much easier...

The first steps are to work out the overall dimensions, take off 2mm all around for the stone cladding and then take off the thickness of the plasticard sheet used from the side to allow from the butt joints. Hopefully the building will then be the right size when built up...

Initial fag packet workings: