The Heybridge Railway, 1889 to 1913
- Thread starter Richard Gawler
- Start date
Richard Gawler
Western Thunderer
Chains are heavy and my model chain ought to sag when the hook is unloaded.
I have made a lighter hook by cutting down another Meccano 57b. This version weighs about 1.2 grams compared to 3.8 grams for the complete cast hook and 0.8 grams for the kit hook.
1.2 grams is enough to hold the vertical chain taught and let the rest sag.
I have made a lighter hook by cutting down another Meccano 57b. This version weighs about 1.2 grams compared to 3.8 grams for the complete cast hook and 0.8 grams for the kit hook.
1.2 grams is enough to hold the vertical chain taught and let the rest sag.
Richard Gawler
Western Thunderer
And that’s a wrap - will do just fine until your Skytrex yard crane kit arrives
Yes, it is time to call a halt. The Peco model looks pleasant and unassuming; few observers will notice the mistakes; and I will gain little by adding fresh detail.
All modelling needs compromises, and the Peco LK-735 yard crane seems to have more than its fair share. I have altered the model to improve on some, but I left it too late to improve on others.
Here is a list of details I know about this kit, to try to wrap up the last 35 posts in a coherent sort of way:
1. The use of a rolled steel joist (H beam I think) for the jib is unusual on this sort of crane, and I have used a length of maple instead.
2. The crane seems very large for a hand-operated machine and I have shortened the jib to a scale 24 feet.
3. The model takes its two jib stays onto spigots below the top pulley leaving the top part of the jib looking vulnerable to bending under load, and I have fitted longer stays reaching to the spindle of the pulley.
4. The supplied hook resembles something cut out of flat sheet material not a forging, and I have put a modified Meccano hook in its place.
and . . .
5. The model includes a peculiar “flanged area with a hole” near the foot of the jib stays and I haven’t found out what this represents.
6. The kit omits intermediate rollers to support a cable or chain between drum and top pulley, though these are straightforward to add.
7. The teeth on the gears are very coarse.
8. The mechanism seems unlikely to represent any prototype: the large gear wheel provides no mechanical advantage; the reduction ratio for the cranking handle is too small; and the effect of the brake (on the spindle of the winding drum) will be minimal.
Item 8 is of course the killer.
The model would look better and gain some mechanical credibility if the winding drum was on the spindle with the large gear. This would need alterations to other parts and I would want to prepare for this at the very beginning of the build. This arrangement needs some rollers hung between the jib stays (like the Ruthin crane), which I made and fitted but subsequently removed.
This should sit very happily on a layout until I decide I want something better, perhaps the Skytrex model.
Osgood
Western Thunderer
I just checked this out following your post and yes he does!
A LNWR type - stone base not included …….
magmouse
Active Member
Thanks, Richard for the summary - very useful to have your experience with this kit in one place. Because it may be useful in the future, and because it is delightful, I’ll just leave this here:
goodnessgracious.co.uk
There are a couple more pictures in the sequence at the same website, too.
Nick.
Weymouth Dorset cargo ship unloading port hoist stone harbour
goodnessgracious.co.uk
There are a couple more pictures in the sequence at the same website, too.
Nick.
Phil O
Western Thunderer
garethashenden
Western Thunderer
Would the jib have remained unpainted though? I would think that would quickly lead to degradation of the wood.
Richard Gawler
Western Thunderer
If we suppose the jib is of oak, perhaps elm or ash, these woods will last for years exposed to the elements as long as they are not buried in the ground. Indeed English elm was used for lock gates and their sills. From the photos I have seen, I think the application of white paint is a 20th century thing, and I have seen no other paint on timber jibs.
If you think the jib should be painted (in 1894), please do suggest some evidence to support this. I can then think it through, but the bare wood finish, intended to replicate oak, does fit in with my ideas for a newly-constructed railway.
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Richard Gawler
Western Thunderer
There is a wealth of life and activity to see in these photos at Weymouth. Also one of the photos shows the sort of post and steel rail fencing I want to make.
Weymouth Dorset cargo ship unloading soldiers port harbour
This is 1900 but suits me for the 1890s.
( Diversion : easy concrete using talc on paint )
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Richard Gawler
Western Thunderer
I admire this work a great deal, but in spite of the detailed recipe I ended up with a perfect rendition of Peach. So I have gone back to a method which has worked for me before.
This is Johnson's baby powder sprinkled onto wet gloss enamel paint and then left to dry out. The idea is from a book by Gordon Gravett, "Modelling Grassland, and Landscape Detailing" where the author repeatedly suggests ways of laying something granular onto something sticky.
I laid the paint rather thick (horizontal surface) and this brings some texture to the result. If I lay the paint more thinly I get a finer-looking result with a more even appearance, less blotchiness. The talc is white so the final colour is a muted version of the original paint. The paint is an old tin of Humbrol gloss, slightly stodgy and the talc soaks up a great deal of the wetness straight away.
Obviously this doesn't have the finesse of Dave's work but it has given me a result for this building floor.
Compact waiting shelter . . part 2 plinth
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Richard Gawler
Western Thunderer
The waiting shelter has reached the lighting table on its way from workbench to layout.
The plinth is hardwood strips glued onto a card base and faced with embossed styrene. I cut notches all around the top and filled then with mortar colour to complete the bricks. I simply could not do this in a smaller scale. 7 mm scale lets me choose the compromises I want to make, smaller scales force them onto me.
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The building is a light sliding fit into its plinth. I can fix it later with one or two shims.
The plinth is hardwood strips glued onto a card base and faced with embossed styrene. I cut notches all around the top and filled then with mortar colour to complete the bricks. I simply could not do this in a smaller scale. 7 mm scale lets me choose the compromises I want to make, smaller scales force them onto me.
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The building is a light sliding fit into its plinth. I can fix it later with one or two shims.