Chuffnell Regis

[MrWolf]

Do you have a filter/ water trap on your compressor just before the offtake for the hose? Or a drain plug in your tank? If so it may need emptying and cleaning as that looks like water vapour in the air supply. 

[Graham T]

No, it was from a rattle can, which is why I'm somewhat confused!  Maybe I got slightly too close when spraying the RHS?

[Andy Keane]

Slightly closer when you used the gun perhaps?

[Graham T]

11 minutes ago, Andy Keane said:

Slightly closer when you used the gun perhaps?

 

That's the only thing I could think of, yes...  Anyway, repair work continues.  As seems to be the norm with Chuffnell R, it's one step forward followed swiftly be a few in the opposite direction!

Edited July 4, 2022 by Graham T

[Graham T]

I've managed to salvage the paintwork, I think.  The varnish sprayers have been taken around the back of the engine shed and shot 😀

 

For something a little more soothing on the nerves I decided to start fitting three-links to the wagons...  This has actually been surprisingly straightforward, so far.  The hooks are a bit over-scale I imagine, they're certainly bigger than the ones that Hornby had fitted.  I did try drilling the original hooks to accept the links, but there just wasn't enough plastic to work with, so they had to be removed and then a slot cut for the Smiths hook.  There isn't enough space under the chassis for the full assembly with spring and split-pin, so the hook has been shortened and then just glued into place.

 

 

[MrWolf]

You've had the varnish sprayers taken round the back of the shed and shot?

 

Wow, everyone's thread seems to be getting a bit fiery this afternoon!

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by MrWolf
Stupid autocorrect

[Graham T]

Have to keep the staff on their toes, Mr W!

[Graham T]

I got four wagons fitted with three-links this afternoon.  My earlier comment about it being fairly straightforward obviously tempted fate, because shortly after that one of the links, and also a cut-off hook, pinged off the tweezers and disappeared into a parallel dimension.  But all in all it wasn't too painful a process.  I also made myself a shunter's pole out of a long piece of dowel and a bent paperclip, and that seems to work quite well.  The Toad got a Modelu tail lamp too, which actually slips nicely onto the lamp iron provided by Oxford Rail.

 

So it was time for a bit of playing testing, and something of a red letter day - the first (short) train ran at Chuffnell R with some more or less scale couplings on it 🙂  Everything coupled together with no swearing at all, and then the train trundled off over the river into the distance.  I even managed to reverse it all the way back into the sidings without any engine stalling, derailments, unwanted uncoupling, or buffer locking.  I think I'll quit for the day now while I'm still ahead!

 

 

 

[MrWolf]

If ever you feel that you're not getting anywhere with the layout, go back and look at the third picture. It's genuinely inspiring.

 

As for couplings, I use a plastic tray about A3 size with sides about 50mm deep to work on / in whilst dealing with fiddly little #####s like couplings and bearings. I don't know what it started life as, Miss R found it somewhere and dubbed it the Ping Tray.

[Graham T]

Thanks Rob.  I must say, the Wolf/RRH combo does come up with some lovely turns of phrase.  First the Profanium, and now the Ping Tray - love it!

[MrWolf]

Psychologists have a number of theories around invented language and words, which do actually dovetail with our, er... quirks.

We've come up with all sorts of downhome words and phrases, a good number of which probably wouldn't make sense in isolation or out of context, then there's others which are probably best not repeated in public!

 

One of my oldest schoolfriends who unfortunately died recently, came up with one of the daftest, which combined onomatopoeia.

If we were chiselling rusted up nuts off something, he would stick out his hand and say "kangstick". You would then pass over a suitably large hammer.

[Graham T]

It's often about knowing the right size of hammer to use.  Both when dealing with mechanical devices, and people...

[MrWolf]

I have assembled quite a collection of hammers over the years.

Woodworking, engineering, tinsmithing and building. But somehow you can only find the one that you actually needed after the job is done.

[aardvark]

3 hours ago, MrWolf said:

But somehow you can only find the one that you actually needed after the job is done.

 

Or shortly after you've bought a replacement.

 

[Nick C]

9 hours ago, Graham T said:

It's often about knowing the right size of hammer to use.  Both when dealing with mechanical devices, and people...

Like the old story of the engineer who get called out to fix a machine in a factory. He takes one look at it, pulls a hammer out of his tool bag, reaches in, and hits the machine, which then starts working. He reports back to the customer, and presents a bill of £500.

 

The customer fumes: "£500? All you did is hit it with a hammer".

 

So the engineer presents him instead with an itemised bill:

• Hitting with a hammer: £10
• Knowing where to hit, and how hard: £490

[Graham T]

This may be my dodgy memory (!) but I seem to recall chatting to a chap many years ago who had worked briefly on V-bomber avionics.  The recognised fix for a commonly encountered snag with one of the gyroscopes was to gently tap the appropriate spot on the casing with a hammer!

[Graham T]

I've tried some weathering on 2732 (no hammers required, not yet anyway).  A couple of black washes over the loco itself and buffer beams, then a wash of frame dirt below the footplate, and a bit of dry brushing on the cab steps and handrails.  I don't think I will add any more.  I'm trying for a hard-worked, but still well cared for look.  Not sure if I might have overdone it even with this little amount?

 

 

[MrWolf]

That looks about right for a goods engine on an ordinary working day to me. Not clean but not dirty either.

 

[Graham T]

Thanks Rob, that was the sort of look I was going for.  An almost invisible workhorse 🙂

[longchap]

41 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Not sure if I might have overdone it even with this little amount?

 

 

 

Not overdone at all Graham, the insignia is still perfectly visible!

 

Good job 🙂

[MrWolf]

59 minutes ago, Graham T said:

This may be my dodgy memory (!) but I seem to recall chatting to a chap many years ago who had worked briefly on V-bomber avionics.  The recognised fix for a commonly encountered snag with one of the gyroscopes was to gently tap the appropriate spot on the casing with a hammer!

 

There was a similar thing with the last of the Vauxhall Victor's from '72-'79. You would remove the distributor, place a 1/4" ball bearing atop the hole for the oil pump pick up and give it a "tap with a light hammer" (swung from somewhere behind your head). This seated the ball over the hole enough to stop the oil running back into the sump overnight, which resulted in the valve gear clattering like a washing machine full of nails until the pump had re-primed itself next morning.

Considering that it was a bit of a lash up that was originally going to be a fancy OHC V8 to replace the old six which had it's origins in 30s America and scuppered by the state of the British economy, they were actually pretty tough.

[Graham T]

24 minutes ago, longchap said:

 

Not overdone at all Graham, the insignia is still perfectly visible!

 

Good job 🙂

 

Merci mon ami!

[Graham T]

I can't do the brake rodding on 2732 until I receive some bits and pieces from the UK, so have been working on the guttering and assorted pipework for the cottages instead.  Painfully slow work, but it's getting there...

 

[aardvark]

I like the weathering on the brickwork, but you might have missed a bit. 🙃

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by aardvark

[Graham T]

Bl**dy colonials 😉