No meeting on Monday as many of us were occupied elsewhere with it being a Bank Holiday
Tuesday saw more run-throughs and tweaking of the ABB timetable prior to Scaleforum. This exposed some maintenance needs on the stock, some of which is thirty years old, including this coach bogie.
Friday saw more timetable run-throughs on ABB and this ex-GWR 28xx was unearthed from the stock intended for LMJ.
It ran pretty well and hopefully will be able to make an appearance at Scaleforum.
Monday, and after wheel cleaning and track cleaning last Friday it was time to get the stock onto ABB. The fiddle yard is looking quite full.
Tuesday evening was enlivened by this delicious home made orange and almond cake from Luke, which, as you can see was very well received.
Friday morning saw the latest Scalefour News flop onto the front doormat with a view of ABB on the cover. Only four weeks to go now until we take ABB to Scaleforum.
In the evening Luke was preparing his Pos Siyntio for the forthcoming Open Day, Fred and LBH were grappling with a misbehaving 0-6-0 tank mechanism and Mr Chairman was readying stock for ABB.
On ABB in the train seen above the long parcels van is not well suited to the formation. It is tail traffic which moves to the shortish bay behind and it’s a bit too long for that, its colour is too different to the other coaches, but worst the corridor connections make uncoupling with a Dingham loop unreliable. The replacement is shorter without corridor connections, though we might opt for an even dirtier version.
The Dog Days of 2024 are upon us and things are a tad quiet at the club before we do into a jam-packed Autumn with the club being involved in four exhibitions plus an Open Day – put a note of 10 November in your diaries.
Rhobat and Fred are working together to produce a satisfactory bunker on Rhobat’s BR Class J. The first step is to create a mock-up using the rough cut pieces shown here.
Tuesday and Luke’s shunting plank has been erected on the new legs. After a bit of electrical soldering work we did some trial running.
Also the fence in front of the semis on ABB has been fixed with ground built up around it.
Friday and preparation of ABB continues. While the track and cassettes were being cleaned, the loco roster were in for wheel cleaning. Selecting 1954 as the time period does mean there are a lot of black engines and the picture is a bit reminiscent of Barry scrapyard.
Meanwhile Wagonman is preparing some GWR 9ft coach bogies in 7mm scale. The four of them are supposed to be identical. However, the pairs come from two different manufacturers and in the closer shot you can see that there are differences.
LBH rolled the second boiler for the B&MR Class 36. In the horizontal view you can see one of three temporary straps that were put in place while the internal gusset, seen in the end view, was soldered in place.
Monday and the wall and fence in front of the semis has been tried in place. It looks best at this level so there will be a bit of filling in of the ground to do. I should have made the walls deeper.
Freshly returned from a Missenden Modellers week, LBH has actually cleared space on his workbench so that his work tray can fit in. How long will it remain this tidy??
Tuesday we were meeting on Zoom. We started with discussions on the new test track and entries for next year’s exhibitions.
Later Steve Bell described the George Bennie Railway in Milngarvie outside Glasgow. It was a prototype, powered by electricity and though abandoned pre-war was not removed until the 1950’s. A kind of halfway towards a guided aeroplane, or maybe HS 0.5?
Friday was a quiet evening in the clubrooms, Andrew and Luke working on their respective layouts and Fred preparing to kick off a build of an A4.
LBH did a little on his ADR 14 with is getting close to needing a coat of paint.
Monday and the quest for a Barry Class G continues with a Midland 0-4-4T as another possible candidate. You can make a comparison between the two in the picture.
In case you’re wondering what the Barry Class G looks like, to save you googling it here’s a pic.
Work has resumed on some fencing for in front of the semis on ABB. The view in the pic is from the back. The fencing has been attached to the front brickwork and brass wire glued in to help locate the assembly in position.
Tuesday and the inner face of brickwork now has been trimmed to match the step down in the fence and then stuck on. Some primer next, then attempt to install it.
Luke has had the privilege of wielding Thor’s hammer to persuade the T nuts into these wooden blocks. They are to take the adjustable feet for a set of legs. Then he used it again to get the blocks into the ends of the legs themselves. The modified legs are the further set. With a little adjustment the baseboard was level.
With ABB set to go to Scaleforum as soon as next month, it was time to get it erected in the layout room. Of course we chose the bit where the floor is not completely level so some packing was required.
Monday and a select few at the club. Rhobat continues with the Barry class J fitting a replacement cab and bunker. The first version was rather flimsy and a poor fit but the new one is a bit better. It’s not yet glued in place.
Tuesday was a quiet evening. Away from the clubroom I have been painting the doors and windows for the terrace, adding variation in colours. Some of them need toning down.
TAFKATYS’s latest offering is an ex-NER J23 in 0 gauge based on a Gladiator kit.
Also on display this week we had a lovely Black 5 that The Welsh wizard has for sale and a Saint belonging to Don. Yes, we know the tender is wrong.
First up this blog is this poster print of York that has been bequeathed to the club by Rowena, the widow of our founder member, club stalwart and Secretary, Tony Bennett.
York held special place in Tony’s affections having spent his student days there.
The Wizard is still working on the Rhymney Goods Brake Van in Scaleseven
Andrew N has recently completed his second Pontnewynydd break van in P4, the first, on the left is from an ancient Falcon Brass kit, the one on the right is a recent product from the 247 Developments stable. Here is the story of the latest build.
Tuesday and more work on the doors and windows for the terrace. The green door has come out very dark because of the red primer. Perhaps the white primed one would have been better. The white of the window frames is too stark, so the second frame has been overpainted with light grey, thought it’s come out looking cream.
Last seen back in mid-May as basically a flat pack the GWR Hawksworth autocoach has been put together by Wagonman. There’s a lot of detail on both ends because of the autogear. Windows, couplings and paint will come next.
Friday
Work on the terrace continues with the pavement to the front. The grey primer is being overpainted with a white / grey acrylic mix. The laser cut edges to the flags made it easier to run the paint up to the edges.
And LBH almost finished a wagon – in this case a NDR (aka A(N&SW)DRCo) two-plank example with the help of Bernie’s paint job. Just couplings remaining to be fitted.
Not many model photos from Monday, despite a good attendance.
TAFKATYS has made some progress on the Goods Shed for Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae and it is seen here in situ. Don’t be misled by the cerise hue; it’s an effect of the light passing through the curtains during a rare spell of sunshine.
A review of period images of south Wales’ pubs, principally here showed that rendered pubs were generally painted a very pale colour, probably while with the lowest 3-4 foot being a dark colour, probably black. Hence the repainting we see here and the mock up of the finishing,
The regular reader will notice the name change, chose to reference the Abergavenny location and its association with Crawshay Bailey, Junior.
Mike E brought along a whitemetal kit for a Midland 2P – a typical S & D loco. it was something unearthed from a cupboard. You can see the date on the wonderful instructions. Mike claims probably bought it about 20 years ago.
On Tuesday Mr Chairman continued to battle with the 4MT. A new hole has been drilled in a more convenient spot for the wires and leaving space for the connecting plug and socket. (under the centre axle)
But bits keep coming adrift. The black locating tab by the rear axle came off and resisted both butanone and superglue. It’ll have to be araldite next.
By Friday the low level light black paint had been applied, but it’ll need to be toned down before we’re finished.
And the lean-to, which will eventually be at the other end of the terrace, gained corrugated-iron roof.
For the row of houses a start has been made on some of the details. The chip shop frontage has been put together and awaits priming.
The ‘fret’ to the right are the parts for doors and windows of a single house. The door is three layers and the windows two. The glazing will be two separate pieces attached to the back, and I haven’t worked out yet how to do an open window.
The wiring is nearly complete on the 4MT with a plug attached to the tender sub-chassis. Having done some fiddly soldering in there I was keen to give it a test run. I thought trying to get the last two wires in (from the tender pickups) was pushing my luck. The test was successful, it still runs smoothly.
