Week ending 17th November

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Monday was a quiet afternoon with the few present feeling ‘Open-Dayed-out’.

Tuesday saw more activity. Luke started on a ‘proper’ 7mm model with this GW Lowmac wagon from Connoisseur Models, ably assisted by Wagonman.

LBH was having a good grind at the goods shed for Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae, shaping blocks in the wall.

AndrewJ got on with the fiddley task of getting the signal box for Lyne Road neat and square.

Mr Chairman made a bit more progress with the early wagons.

By Friday there were two wagons to display on Llanastr.

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Pictures from an Exhibition

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To everyone’s surprise Llanastr was the first layout to arrive. (it wasn’t always thus – see here)
Saturday afternoon and set up starts.
and went smoothly.
Luke organised the day and managed some operation time as well.
It brought someone to their knees!
Mike E’s American N scale Roundhouse caught many eyes.
Andrew Smith’s 3d-printed kits of Victorian period wagons in the three major scales garnered a lot of interest.
Morgan’s Shaftesbury Road was well received on its first outing.
Albyn’s Bishops Castle layout attracted a lot of interest.
Proving that we like fiddle yards more than layouts!
Here are some of Andrew’s wagons that Bernie had prepared earlier.
Fiddle Yards can be scenic too as Albyn demonstrates on his Bishops Castle layout.
The tables are turned on Ian of Penbits, as Bryan and Mike man his stand.
Morgan operating Shaftesbury Road
Fred, The Welsh Wizard, and Julian and Susan of Taff Vale Models get a few rare moments of respite.
The EMGS stand with its delightful demo piece .

Some feedback from visitors:
* A very pleasant excursion. Plenty of people to chat with and some interesting layouts and models on display.
* Yes, I enjoyed my visit too. A broad range of scales and settings!
* Cracking day out!
* Shame I was on a limited timescale but enjoyed it. Maybe the 7mm narrow gauge a bit too much…

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Week ending 10th November

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This Monday saw some more progress on the short wagon. The buffers have been glued in place and the couplings attached. Unfortunately all the handling necessary to do this has dislodged the end handrail. Next it’s on to axleboxes – they are a bit skinny to fit well around the bearings and careful opening out will be necessary.

Further 3D small wagons have been started, though a couple needed some hot water to successfully straighten out the sides.

Tuesday was a Zoom meeting. Mike E took us for an enjoyable trip along the model ‘Amberdale’ using material from the book of the layout written by its creator. The quality of the scenic work and its photography was hugely atmospheric, the result of 62 years of work. We also viewed developments with the Jubilee layout, now named Cwm Carno (temporarily). A 1/8th scale baseboard produced by LBH was explained. The paper mock-up of it included levels and gradients. Luke produced a spreadsheet that will help organise which layouts are erected in the rooms.

Friday was occupied with preparation for the Open Day.

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Week ending 3rd November

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Monday was a little quiet this week and not much in front of the camera.

Nevertheless LBH installed some plasticard floors in the short wheelbase S7 wagons

A few more attended on Tuesday; Fred working on a DJH kit for a D95xx BR(WR) 0-6-0 Diesel Hydraulic, Luke fettling the chassis of TR’s Dolgoch, LBH fettled the old wagons a bit and

Wagonman is making great progress with his ex-SR U class mogul from a David Andrews kit. Moving on from the tender, and having previously assembled the footplate and valences, he annealed the firebox and cab roof to make bending the complex curves easier. This shows the state of progress.

And Luke and LBH discussed plans for the Open Day and the development of the design for the S4 Jubilee Layout

By Friday the 4mm short wheelbase wagon had been primed, showing the detail more clearly. Not surprisingly the correct pattern buffer heads and rams are not readily available. An attempt was made with a standard buffer head and some 2mm brass tube. It needs gluing in properly. Cutting and fettling the short piece of brass required some time on the floor looking for the ones that escaped.

Week ending 3rd November Read More »

Week ending 27th October

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During the week we erected Frecclesham in the Layout Room to check that all was working satisfactorily prior to the Open Day. Thankfully it was.

At the start of the week work started on this and other 3D printed small wagons in 4mm. Below is one of the prototypes.

As 3D prints they arrive with support structure as below. They clean up pretty easily though carefull filing is needed to finish off. They are small, the material is light and adding extra weight for an empty wagon will be a bit of a problem

The hand rails on the ends do not always print well, so some 0.33 NS wire has been used.

Also on Friday Luke was putting together DG couplings for his shunting plank. The Dinorwic quarry wagons are some of the latest releases from Bachmann.

Not to be outdone, LBH is also building some short wheelbase Welsh wagons, this time in Scaleseven.

They are from the same source, Andrew Smith (eBay 3D printolutions) and are in development.

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Pavilion End at the Pavilion End

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The Cardiff Model Show took place on the 19th and 20th October at Sophia Gardens Cricket Ground. We took the Chairman’s layout Pavilion End so that it could finally be at the . . . . . , well to be accurate in cricket terms, deep backward square leg.

Here’s the classic shot of the layout from the driver’s viewpoint. The coal train is departing now that the arriving train is in the platform. The pannier tank 5750 has propelled the District Inspector’s saloon up the branch and will now wait for a path back down to the main line.

At the back of the layout is the factory. Here the works shunter is delivering a new piece of equipment to the boiler house. A remarkably clean Iowerth Pritchard is having his morning tea and will leave the unloading to others inside.

Back at the platform the branch B-set has arrived.

Pannier 3603 has pushed the brake van right through the platform to get it behind the full coal wagons. The loco will next return to the front of the train and push it onto the brake van ready to carefully descend the valley.

Yes, the water crane is looking a bit droopy.

Finally a couple of shots of the cricket team itself. Late withdrawals have left just seven players, but it’s too late to cancel. Can they win with just seven? Yes, it can be done, ask Mr. Chairman. (Beware – a ball by ball account lasts 55 mins)

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Week ending 20th October

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Monday was a quiet afternoon following the trip to Statfold Barn. To keep himself amused Mr. Chairman painted up some 4mm figures to go on ABB. One point noted at Scaleforum was that some locos did not have a crew on the footplate, or even a cab floor. Some of those in the picture are not true enginemen but in the cab of a tank engine are you going to notice?

Tuesday was better attended and Wagonman brought along the latest project – a SR U class mogul from a David Andrews kit. As you can see the tender went together well. This will be one of those engines that ran on the MSWJ line wandering south down to Andover and eventually Southampton.

Turning to narrow gauge, Luke has worked on a couple of purchases. The tiny diesel has had new pickups and after a bit of fettling and track cleaning began to run very well. The Talyllyn loco, Dolgoch, has been stripped ready for a repaint, though there is still work to do. Both of these are to 7mm scale running on 00 track.

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Orfe Quay and Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae at Warley at Statfold 

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Two members’ layouts were at the Warley at Statfold show; Bernie’s Orfe Quay and LBH’s Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

Orfe Quay

A general view of Orfe Quay

The Metro tank also ran on Hadley Town. 
Built by the late Vic Halliwell, it had run on the layout many years ago, soon after Paul Jones built it. 

Bernie would like to thank Alastair for all his help, together with Pete Rigby and Michael Sykes of EMGS for their help at the end.

Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae

Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae erected and ready for operation.

On loan from the Tanat Valley, GWR 2-4-0T No 1179 approaches Rhyd-y-Gwern halt with a short rake of B&MR four-wheel coaches.

A Victory class, a Minerva product, wheels reprofiled for Scaleseven but awaiting a repaint, eases a short freight through Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae in the Caerphilly direction. 
1197 again, this time with a close-coupled GWR set
Some TVR stock, painted by Dave Studley and borrowed from Wagonman

And some even stopped to look!

Thanks to the volunteer operators, Luke, Rob, Rhobat, Andrew J and Alastair. for operating and their compsany on a great weekend,

Fiji

As well as having show halls, Statfold also has the real thing. A special train for exhibitors was organised.

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Week ending 13th October

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Monday saw five of us at the club; Andrew J was working on Lyne Road, creating a bank at the back of the station area; Rhobat contemplating repainting the whitemetal GWR ex-Barry Class G 0-4-4T we saw back in w/e 15 September while Mr Chairman, Paul🏅🏅and LBH preparing Tŷ’n-y-Coedcae for its trip to Warley at Statfold on Friday. Switchblades were freed up and electromagnet switch cabling corrected. But nothing found its way to the camera.

Tuesday was busy with further preparation for Warley at Statfold. Which meant that Friday’s attendance was just a few of us with again little to report. But here are some pics from the show over the weekend.

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Members at Missenden

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Four of the club members attended the Missenden Abbey Railway Modellers’ weekend at Missenden Abbey, two of us working in 4mm/ft and two in Scaleseven.

After many tears years LBH is getting close with his S7 Brecon & Merthyr 0-6-2T

Keeping the South Wales pre-grouping theme, TVR class V kit was unwrapped and started. Here the valance is being soldered in place, the tiny clothes pegs are really useful here.

On the etch with the cab side you can see the lack of locating tabs and there are obviously then, no matching slots. By trial positioning, measuring and marking the cab was formed, turning out to be nice and square. Help from the tutor on our course was necessary for the bending of metal though.

Back in the 29 September post there is a picture of a 3D printed tank being inspected. In fact it fitted onto the brasswork pretty well, though some material had to be cut away from around the smokebox

4mm scale found an ADR railcar chassis with motor and radio control fitted, and the start of a kit for a Sharp Stewart 0-6-0. Can you spot the coupling rod that had been overheated by an RSU?

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