( Diversion : 'Lady Marion' with train, SM32 garden railway )
New
RichardG
Western Thunderer
The last month has seen me build a lighting rig for Heybridge Basin but little modelling. This trend continued today by taking Lady Marion to the club track. A beautiful day here in Essex.
The garden railway was set out by a retired bridge engineer using a traditional theodolite and with assistants placing sticks in the ground.
The "baseboard" is so level, Lady Marion hauls eight wagons without difficulty. This is two more than she can manage at NEEGOG, which is a bit up and downy.
Lower level shot to lessen the impact of the track.
The MW manages a scale 15mph maximum (timed at home) and a lap here takes five minutes or so. Enough time to forget the train has passed before it reappears.
A frame from a video to illustrate "scale and gauge"
I wondered if my stock would pick up some real-world smuts to start the weathering but I've found only a blade of grass so far.
The Peco SM32 points are very good with Slater's FS 7mm wheels, yes there is a wheel drop at the crossings but the trains stay on the track. This is the first time I have brought my Heybridge Railway wagons here so I will call this successful test running as well as playing trains
The garden railway was set out by a retired bridge engineer using a traditional theodolite and with assistants placing sticks in the ground.
The "baseboard" is so level, Lady Marion hauls eight wagons without difficulty. This is two more than she can manage at NEEGOG, which is a bit up and downy.
Lower level shot to lessen the impact of the track.
The MW manages a scale 15mph maximum (timed at home) and a lap here takes five minutes or so. Enough time to forget the train has passed before it reappears.
A frame from a video to illustrate "scale and gauge"
I wondered if my stock would pick up some real-world smuts to start the weathering but I've found only a blade of grass so far.
The Peco SM32 points are very good with Slater's FS 7mm wheels, yes there is a wheel drop at the crossings but the trains stay on the track. This is the first time I have brought my Heybridge Railway wagons here so I will call this successful test running as well as playing trains
LT&SR horse box (1878) . . part 3 using solder paste and a RSU
New
RichardG
Western Thunderer
I have taken myself back to the LT&SR horsebox (Gladiator), with some more sessions with the RSU.
I am evolving a "method" by which I tin the strapping while it is still on the fret, using solder paint and the iron. Then apply solder paste to the bare body side using a cocktail stick. Finally fix the two together using the RSU.
I am finding the half-etched strapping and other detail parts rather intricate, a bit too intricate to be honest. However I do think I would not be able to build this kit without the borrowed RSU. It is difficult to judge a suitable amount of the solder paste, maybe there is a better way.
I have manipulated these photos to ephasise the solder, but at least things are fairly straight and neat. The paint will hide an awful lot of mistakes.
The second side is underway
RichardG
Western Thunderer
The four sides have fitted together really well without needing any adjustments.
Along the way I have added the hinges for the groom's doors (scrap etch) and some latch pins and hinge pins from scraps of wire. The instructions suggest about twenty of these bits of wire . . . I have done the ones I can cope with.
I have just found a piece of strapping in the bottom of the ultrasonic bath. So the bath has caught some inadequate soldering, better now than after painting.
RichardG
Western Thunderer
Up until now I have done all of the RSU activity with the sides clamped flat onto a steel plate which completes the electrical circuit. This approach is no longer practical so I have given the model a temporary "ground terminal" on the mounting plate for the brake cylinder.
I did wonder if the current flowing through the mounting plate would melt the solder holding the plate into place but this has not happened. The heat gets generated in the spot of maximum electrical resistance, which is always in the next solder joint about to be created.
The ironwork for the hinges on the main doors (the horse access ramps) should be thicker at the bottom. I have added pieces of brass strip to represent this. I found this straightforward, and in a way it makes the model "mine". It was certainly much easier than trying to represent the hinge pins and get them all in a straight line.
The sharp-eyed will see I forgot which "safe place" I chose for the loose bit of strapping, and I had to improvise a replacement. I expect I will find the original when I am building the next model. Bolt-head counters will just have to look away.
The soldering on the inner vee brackets is with the RSU, I really couldn't ask for a neater result. The RSU is so easy to use too. This work is with the solder paste and no pre-tinning nor additional flux. The solder in the paste melts, tucks itself into the join and settles into a neat blob.
The outer vee brackets needed a transverse bit of wire to align them. The ground terminal got in the way so I had to turn it round.
RichardG
Western Thunderer
At the moment I am happy with the ring terminal. It has plenty of contact area (unlike a croc clip!), it cannot fall off and it fits the bolt on the steel work plate too.
It is rather nice having the model tethered like this. It stays on the bench, and I cannot use the bench for much else, so I am focused