Nether Madder and Green Soudley Rly

[St Enodoc]

Day 12 of the actual work getting done. I've suffered another complete week with no-one turning up as the company is committed to other jobs - though when they are here I cannot fault the quality of their work at all. An additional problem has been sourcing an aluminium ridge piece for the 4 feet of extended roof. Such a shape (a very flat pitch) is no longer made as a standard fitting so the builders had to order a custom piece. Today two lads turned up and so the roof is finally and completely finished. A start was made on fitting the cosmetic beading around the holes cut to accept the light fittings and the reveal around one window was all neatly prettied up. A piece of plastic fascia has been added to the long side of the garage that faces into the garden, hiding the rather cruddy old (but sound) timber soffit that runs under that eave. This matches the white UPVC used elsewhere on the building. Such a small item really helps the overall look.

 

On Monday the second window and door reveals are to be completed and the rest of the light beading, plus the air-con/heating unit will have its input/exhaust hole cut in the wall and a condensate outlet cut as well.

 

And then...

 

FINISHED!

 

Will then scoot down to the DIY store and grab a few litres of white emulsion and a new roller and paint tray.

 

After slapping some paint around, probably by next weekend, my brain will switch fully into baseboard mode.

 

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Great stuff Martin - a railway room to be proud of.

 

Now, before you rush off buying, cutting and fixing bits of wood here's a suggestion.

 

Get some cheap lining paper and lay it on the floor, then mark out your layout plan full size. That will show up those areas where things don't look quite as good in real life as they do on paper - and trust me, there will be some! Once you've got things how you think they should be, leave it alone completely for a week then come back and see if it is still right. If not, repeat as necessary.

 

I know that this will seem extremely tedious but from my own experience it will be worth it in the long run (I know you've been reading my own topic - thanks for the likes! - and you will have seen that in mid-2016 I had to undo and change quite a lot of work that I'd already done. Not terminal, but annoying and resulting in a slightly less-than-optimal outcome).

[Nearholmer]

Very good idea.

The other option is masking tape, used to lay out the track plan. There is a fancy green type, called ‘frog tape’ I think, that curves much better than the cheap buff-coloured stuff and leaves no glue behind.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Martin S-C]

Thanks both of you, that's a really useful idea. I think I can draw the track plan direct on the floor as its only ply and will be covered later on.

On the subject of the SR van, apparently this is the one I need. Cambrian make a kit of it and ironically I'm pretty sure I have one in my Big Box Of Kits To Do.

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Martin S-C

[Martin S-C]

Question for those who know - what is the best (simplest?) way to draw out full scale curves on the floor (or sheet of lining paper), and how do I calculate transition curves?

 

Answers please on the back of a Turnout Template to:

Mathematical Numpty

Large Empty Hobbyroom

Peterborough

 

I suppose I could blow up my track plan to 1:1 scale and get it printed for me on A1 sheets...

[Stubby47]

A long piece of wood, with a hole for a pencil at one end and a hole for a bolt at the other. Stick the bolt through a square piece of wood, approx 12"x12", and you have a large set of drawing compasses.

[Stubby47]

Transition curves - draw your circles a couple of inches off the tangental straight bit and the open the curve by eye, joining the straight to the circle.

[Stubby47]

Also - mark the position of your compass centre so you can repeat the curve if required.

[runs as required]

One of my favourite old pre CAD drawing aids was a 'flexi curve' - a 400 mm length of softish plastic encasing a length of lead.

I found the pw goys accepted my drawings done without borrowing the mahoghany box of CCEs 'transition curves' which you had to sign away your life for..I seem to reme,ber using Stubby's method of using the given radius (in chains) drawn with a bar compass (the point made a hole in the tracing paper) then secretly getting out my flexicurve and filling in the gap.

dh

[Martin S-C]

a 400 mm length of softish plastic encasing a length of lead.

I was wondering if such things are still available today.

[chuffinghell]

As an apprentice in the drawing office (before CAD and programmable laser cutters) I used to have to tape multiple sheets of A1 paper together and then draw components full size with a 1.5mm thick line for the oxy-acetelene profile cutter which had a optical 'magic eye' which traced around the drawing

 

So the piece of wood with a nail in it is tried and tested

Edited November 6, 2018 by chuffinghell

[Stubby47]

I was wondering if such things are still available today.

 

Yep:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Helix-30cm-Flexible-Curve-U43010-Ruler-Drafting-Drawing-Tool-French-Curved/1630593891?iid=192193826000&var=492115713949

[Northroader]

I got one in W H Smiths some years back, possibly they’re still doing them. There are also “French Curves” a set of clear plastic shapes with transitional ellipses. They’re a draughtsmans aid, useful in smaller scale drawings, but probably not big enough when laying out track for a layout.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Northroader

[Joseph_Pestell]

French curves !!!

[chuffinghell]

French curves !!!

 

you beat me to it! we used those in the drawing office too

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0027VSH6Y/ref=asc_df_B0027VSH6Y56696678/?tag=googshopuk-21&creative=22110&creativeASIN=B0027VSH6Y&linkCode=df0&hvadid=208017549758&hvpos=1o5&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9034173765531338589&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046443&hvtargid=pla-422909951901&th=1&psc=1

Edited November 6, 2018 by chuffinghell

[Northroader]

Calm down and take a cold shower, we’re not talking about Brigitte..

[Zomboid]

Calm down and take a cold shower, we’re not talking about Brigitte..

C2614B9C-D13F-4A98-BBD5-D748EC5DD833.jpeg

Mods! Censor this filth...

[Martin S-C]

I would need some pretty big French curves if I'm going to lay them out on my hobby room floor!

Erm. Ah.

 

I need to focus on what hobby I will be enjoying in said room.

The flexi-rule looks like it would be useful. I think I've seen the length of wood and pencil used with a screw at the pivot end. You just pre-drill a variety of holes at different radii and insert your screw into the hole you need at that particular place. It marks your floor or paper by virtue of doing its thing.

And yes, the double entendres in there are quite striking aren't they?

[Northroader]

Laying out a transitional curve, you can get a long flexible lath, fix it down aligned to the start and finish of where you want to be, then let it take up its own line in the middle. It will need some fiddling to get the length you’re using right, and checking that the tightest curve in the middle isn’t below your minimum radius. Then when your train goes through, it won’t go into a state of shock as it goes from tangent to curve instantly, there won’t be a huge throw over of the couplings as it does this, likewise the bogies, your love life will be improved, and next doors cat will crap in its own garden forever afterwards.

[DonB]

I recall from way back, probably the mid to late 50s, that there was a discussion / proposal, in a stray copy of Model Railroader that came my way, that the American NMRA should produce a set of standards (or guidlines?)for transition curves.... any member of the British chapter able to say whether it ever came to fruition ?? I think that complex Maths was involved !

 

More sensibly, if you have a local print outlet take them your file which is to scale and get a corner printed on A1paper. Their printer should "do the maths" for you. You may find that your lines are also increased in thickness, depending on how your CAD program is configured. Bear in mind that whatever you draw at ground level will need to be duplicated on the baseboards. altering a file is the easy option.

A quote for the whole file might be off-putting! But the thought of the strain on and pain in the knees covering the whole area of your splendid Train room hardly bears thinking about!

Edited November 6, 2018 by DonB

[runs as required]

Sadly I'm far too old to get excited by such banter :-( about French Curves ed.).

 

I chucked my set of French curves away over 50 years ago once I got shewn a Flexi curve. You needed to spend a lot of time working between the three styrene forms - and their faces - before you found a transition that your eye would accept. Much less erasing needed with a Fexi curve.

 

Of course an entirely different approach is to lay off a sequence of offsets at right angles from a base line  -  at say 75 mm intervals -  mark off the lengths  and connect up the chord sequence and ...hey presto - the curve appears

I remember doing this backwards on a meander of a stream around our campsite up behind Harlech for a Scout's mapping badge. Good fun, but a bad choice to camp because a few days laer we got terminally swamped in a flash flood out of the Rhinog mountains.

 

PS

DCC Concepts at Settle do a 4mm scale ruler (they just sent me this flyer a day or so ago)

 

dh

Edited November 6, 2018 by runs as required

[tebee]

I use a trammel - https://www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/trammel-heads/what-are-trammel-heads/

 

Picked mine up for £2 at a car boot years ago - looking on ebay they are an horrendous price now, but I'm sure Lidl or someone did a cheap plastic version - I may even have one of this version  somewhere too..

 

In my case I transfer the resulting curve onto a piece blue foam, cut that out 2 inches wide and use that to mark the track out .

 

For Transition curves, I'm sure someone did a downloadable  leaflet about how to lay them out  - EM gauge society ?

[St Enodoc]

A long piece of wood, with a hole for a pencil at one end and a hole for a bolt at the other. Stick the bolt through a square piece of wood, approx 12"x12", and you have a large set of drawing compasses.

 

Use this to make some templates at different radii. Much easier than trying to set out every curve individually from its centre.

 

Transition curves - draw your circles a couple of inches off the tangental straight bit and the open the curve by eye, joining the straight to the circle.

 

A couple of inches might be a bit much. Between half an inch and an inch should do the trick without making the transitions too long. 

[St Enodoc]

Use this to make some templates at different radii. Much easier than trying to set out every curve individually from its centre.

 

 

A couple of inches might be a bit much. Between half an inch and an inch should do the trick without making the transitions too long. 

How long is too long?

 

In model form a good rule of thumb is to make the transition (from straight to circular curve) about the length of two bogie coaches.

[RedGemAlchemist]

How long is too long?

Ask a woman.

[tebee]

OK this is the EM gauge society booklet I mentioned earlier - having looked at it it's fairly technical  

 

http://www.emgs.org/wp-content/uploads/MANUAL_1_2_2_1_pages_all.pdf