The week started with tidying up after the return from Stafford, storing Frecclesham and moving on to more work on Cwm Carno and Ty’n y Coedcae. Also Luke brought down Queen’s Wharf in its completed form as submitted to the PECO Rail200 Competition.
The components for the Cwm Carno exchange sidings sector plate turned up and a quick pre-assembly revealed that while a couple will need to be remade the overall structure is satisfactory.
September / October Read More »
On Monday the attendance was good with preparations on Frecclesham ahead of Stafford proceeding, more wiggly tin tomfoolery, this time in 7mm/ft, a wagon turntable for Queen’s Wharf and a few bits and pieces on Cwmcarno.
Tuesday evening was a Zoom session and we covered a range of topics. Initial discussion was about corrugated iron in 7mm scale following on from the previously seen form tool. (see previous post) Paul W talked us through his recent work on his 78xxx chassis with modifications to cylinders, crossheads and hornblocks, with provision of extra support for details. A ‘working’ Wakefield lubricator was discussed. Steve B’s Cambrian theme for this session featured interlopers – DMUs, Hymeks and EE type 3s, Southern 4-4-0s on Tal-y-llyn Railway specials, Royal trains, Radio Cruise and ex-LNER locos. Finally LBH had some photos and maps of the Clee Hill mineral railway and its rope-worked inclines.
Friday only two of us made it to the club with Luke working on the wagon turntables on Queen’s Wharf, and trialing various ballasting techniques.
Monday and just a handful of us were present. Paul🏅🏅made the ‘halo’ for Cwm Carno (see Tuesday) Tuesday saw some significant Cwm Carno progress. TAFKATYS arrived with some supports for Cwm Carno. The legs were recycled from end protectors of LMJ baseboards – it was good quality plywood. New beams connect the legs and are very sturdy. The layout was tried in place easily and the upper section (halo) which will have a fascia and LED lights temporarily held up in place. Once the fascia is attached the halo will be far more rigid.
With Cwm Carno on the move we decided to check it will fit into the transport – no, they were not lining it up to throw it into the Range Rover. Moving around inside is possible as long as you rotate the board.
Some more track was laid on Cwm Carno on Friday. There is now a connection from the main line into the exchange sidings.
Elsewhere Luke tested a 3D printed chassis for an early mechanical shunter and consulted on the turntables for Queen’s Wharf. The Wizard continued with Usk having moved on to the boiler and some revision of the design of Cwm Carno’s terraces took place.
Week ending 17 August Read More »
Having taken receipt of the the last two LMJ boards Wagonman put all three together as a start of the process of conversion into its new guise.
Modellers abhor a vacuum!
The space made available by the LMJ board’s removal was quickly invaded by LBH.
Paul🏅🏅 has assembled and painted a pair of shelves for Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae to hold coffee and the NCE Powercab.
Our Wizard is getting on nicely with the tender of B&MR ‘Usk’ (or ‘Wye’)
And to finish the Monday report a start has been made on the laying the track work on Cwm-carno, and following some helpful comments from sharp eyed readers of the entry on the Scalefour forum.
Tuesday was the first in July so we met on-line with a range of presentations. Mr C started us off with pictures gleaned from the internet showing LNWR 4 cylinder compound freight engines and 2-4-0s. Mike E had some pics of incredibly small shunting engines from Italy, though built in Germany. Steve Bell had yet more photos of the Cambrian lines, fascinating as usual, while Rod’s selection was from South Wales. Luke updated us on his latest project which utilises the baseboard for the Peco 200 challenge. Called Queen’s Wharf it is based on Towyn on the Talyllyn Railway. Finally Paul W showed us his scratch-built improvements to the tender of his 78xxx in 7mm.
On Friday there was a significant step forward on Cwmcarno with the first turnout to be laid. After careful siting and marking the position on Monday, the Evostic was applied and the main turnout stuck down and weighted in place with pieces of steel. We can now get on with laying the mainline through the station.
The second turnout in the view will have to be laid later as it needs aligning with this main turnout and exchange sidings crossover which has now been started.
Turnouts for the exchange sidings started.
Week Ending 5th July Read More »
The Peco200 bug hasn’t affected everyone, but both Luke and LBH have decided to have a go. Both are being built to a scale of 7mm/ft and the available footprint is footprint is 750mm x 305mm.
Luke plan makes great use of the very limited space available combining both narrow gauge (16.5mm) and standard gauge (33mm) sections.
The design has its basis in the transfer facility at Tywyn on the Talyllyn Railway and rejoices in the name of Queen’s Wharf.
LBH’s use of the baseboard is much more modest as he is using his board as a test bed for 3d-printed COT (Chairs On Timber) track work. So far no more has been done than obtain the printed base.
The plan is to add some of the ScaleSeven Ready-to-Lay track when it becomes available.
Elsewhere, Mr Chairman was working on the turnouts for Cwm-Carno and Andrew J on scenery for Lyne Road.
Wagonman has made good progress on his GWR GBV side we saw it last month. The roof is loose and yet to be attached to the body.
Little construction work remains beyond adding the whitemetal fittings.
Mike E continues with the Depot for his Hogwash and Balony short line.
Discussions covered the colouring for the walls and the most likely prototype roofing material.
A delayed update on the Hogwash and Balony follows;
At the start of June Mike E confessed to a tracklaying error that led to the destruction seen in the 1st pic. The sweeping curves of the replacements show a great improvement.
Elsewhere on the line the tracks span the hog-wash on a typical wooden trestle structure seen in the later photos.
This is all built from basswood sections.
Peco200 mania, etc. Read More »