Train spotting at Finsbury Square

[Mallard60022]

1 hour ago, 31A said:

So having got that far, I sprayed the whole thing with Halfords Grey Etching Primer, and thought about how to get the rods to cross the lines.

 

In the past I have done this by breaking the rodding runs, and making the bit in the 'four foot' from pieces of 0.5mm square section plastic rod, in order to avoid the risk of short circuits by running metal rodding under the rails, and also having to cut through the web of the Peco track.  You can see this at the bottom of one of the above pictures where I had done a section already, but I've never been very happy with it.  No matter how carefully I've tried to line up the bits, it always seems obvious that the rodding isn't continuous, although it may look better or worse depending on the point of view.

 

So I decided I should try and run the new rodding continuously across the lines.  I dug out the ballast from the sleeper bays and cut away the webbing between the sleepers, and insulated the underneath of the rails by glueing tiny pieces of black paper to the foot of the rail.  This was probably the most fiddly bit!  I tacked the paper in place with Evo Stick, then applied lashings of Cyano.

 

Then, I realised I wouldn't be able to solder up the rollers / stools / rods 'off site' as I wouldn't be able to thread them under the rails of I did.  Also, these runs would be either single or at most two rods, and I didn't think my method of making the rollers would be very easy if I was chasing tiny bits of wire / PCB around with a soldering iron.  So, I had a rummage and found I had some T Section Plastruct (2.4mm x 2.4mm) in stock, and set about using that to make the rollers.

 

To try and be consistent, I made a drilling jig from a bit of scrap tin, a bit like a big Peco rail joiner that would slide along the foot of the T Section, with holes in for a 0.55mm drill.  The holes are as close together as I thought I could get away with; nominally about 1mm apart.

 

 

The most I would need for this stage would be a double run of rods (and most are single runs), but the jig can be used for multiple runs by sliding it along and putting a spare drill bit through the last hole to hold it in place while drilling the next two.

 

 

Then I parted the rollers off from the styrene, and reduced the height slightly above the drilled holes.  This brought it very close to the height of the abortive Brassmasters rollers.

 

Then I sprayed some more lengths of the rodding wire with primer, and passed them through underneath the rails, and threaded the plastic rollers on as required.  It's surprising how much of the wire this uses up!

 

 

Cyano proved to be good at sticking the plastic rollers to the cork underlay, even if some look as though they're standing in puddles at the moment - this will be tidied up later.  I didn't represent stools on these sections; I think where rodding crosses the lines, the rollers are set lower, flush with the ballast.

 

 

In the above picture, I think the continuous rodding crossing the two left hand roads looks a lot better than the 'discontinuous' rodding on the right, even if it isn't always very straight - lining up the sleepers so that point rodding could run straight across wasn't really a consideration when I laid the track!

 

The main run of rodding on the right which I had completed previously, has now been toned down with some weathering (cranks painted black) and fixed down.

 

Patience of all Saints mate. Excellent work. 

P

[Wheatley]

That looks spot on ! I used the Wills stuff last time out, it's ok but very vulnerable to damage. I've got a load of Brassmasters bits for Newton Stewart so I'll be checking back here :-)

[31A]

Just now, Wheatley said:

That looks spot on ! I used the Wills stuff last time out, it's ok but very vulnerable to damage. I've got a load of Brassmasters bits for Newton Stewart so I'll be checking back here :-)

 

Many thanks Stuart, glad you like it.  I think the Wills stuff would be OK if the rodding layout was quite simple (apart from the vulnerability) but if you wanted to use it for runs involving multiples of rods the over scale proportions would become apparent.

 

I should perhaps have said, the cranks I used were also from Brassmasters, on another etch, and I was perfectly happy with them.

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, 31A said:

 

Thank you, Paul!  Maybe if I'd thought about it some more I might have come up with a plausible arrangement but I didn't really want to get into too much complication, particularly as the front of the box isn't really visible from normal viewing angles.  The rodding that I have done is really quite simplified; don't ask about FPLs, for example!

 

11 hours ago, Neil said:

I like that a lot. I've often felt that understatement works well in the context of models. In the real world our eye's wouldn't be drawn to point rodding but we would be sort of aware that it was there. Your representation works a treat Steve.

 

9 hours ago, 31A said:

Thanks Neil - a classic case of 'less is more'!

 

You've started me on a train of thought (dangerous!) that suggests not modelling the individual rods at all but running a corrugated strip along the run (rather like an elongated Kit-Kat), making it wider or narrower as required. Worth a trial, I think.

[31A]

8 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

 

 

 

You've started me on a train of thought (dangerous!) that suggests not modelling the individual rods at all but running a corrugated strip along the run (rather like an elongated Kit-Kat), making it wider or narrower as required. Worth a trial, I think.

 

Yes, that's probably worth a try.  There were places where the solder at the rollers filled the gaps between the rods (despite my efforts to stop it doing that), but when the rodding run was painted and weathered the darker weathering paint tended to sink into the grooves which remained anyway, and has disguised the fact that the gaps have been filled.  Maybe deeply scribed grooves in 20 thou Pasticard would work; it would probably be easier and certainly cheaper if you've got a lot to do.  If the rodding is on a curve though, it might be quite difficult to scribe parallel curves round the bend?

[31A]

So moving on, the rodding to the north of the box remained to be done.  Fewer rods were needed on this side, and being encouraged by the results of using the T section plastic for the rollers, I carried on using it.  The rollers in the cess are carried on stools made from sleeper-sized strips of black 60 thou Plasticard.

 

 

 

 I'm quite pleased with this bit and think the T section plastic would be the way to go if I need to do any more.  Although whether it turns out to be as robust as the soldered section remains to be seen.

 

On this section, I've included compensating cranks in the single run leading to Points 26 at the northernmost end of the layout.

 

In a couple of places the rods crossing the lines had to pass through double slips so rather than 'dig out' at these points for a continuous run I reverted to using separate sections of square styrene in the 'four foot' at these points.

 

 

 

Whereas the wires had been sprayed with Halfords grey primer, the rollers needed to be brush painted and I wasn't sure the Halfords grey was quite right for galvanised steel rodding anyway, so I've used Humbrol #28 light grey for the rollers and carried on brushing that thinly over the rodding, before weathering it.  Now I need to cover the area with a layer of ground cover ballast / muck.

 

And this gives rise to the next question; signal wires...  I've got some pulley wheels from the MSE / Wizard etches and can put them on the ground, but how far would people go with the wires themselves?  I'm inclined to just do some posts along the cess and wheels on the ground at places where the wires would go across the lines, but ignore the actual wires themselves, but what do people think?

 

[Graham T]

I wouldn't try to do the wires.  Also, I got some of the etched pulley wheels and found them to be very flat looking.  So I managed to get some 3D printed ones, which are available in both single and double wheels - they look much better I think.

[31A]

Just now, Graham T said:

I wouldn't try to do the wires.  Also, I got some of the etched pulley wheels and found them to be very flat looking.  So I managed to get some 3D printed ones, which are available in both single and double wheels - they look much better I think.

 

Thank you, that's interesting - do you know where you got the 3D printed ones from?

 

I see Brassmasters also do some brass signal wire wheels which are designed to be soldered up from two pieces so presumably would show more relief, but I've only got the MSE ones.

[Graham T]

I'll see if I can find the packaging.  Here's a comparison shot of the 3D and the etched item (sorry about the poor photo).

 

[Graham T]

Here you go:  https://3dprintingcorner.co.uk/product/1-76-signal-pulley-wheel-10/

[31A]

9 minutes ago, Graham T said:

Here you go:  https://3dprintingcorner.co.uk/product/1-76-signal-pulley-wheel-10/

 

Thank you Graham (and for the photo), they do look a lot better don't they, and no need to fiddle about making your own brackets etc. either.

[Wheatley]

Agreed about not bothering with the wires, they're hard enough to see in real life, especially when there's only one or two, I tripped over plenty ! The posts with a representation of the pulley blocks should look ok.

 

More noticeable where there's a concentration of them, either EZ Line if they do it thin enough or fishing line with a black Sharpie marker run along it might do. 

[31A]

Thanks Stuart, that's something to think about.  I might just have a go at some wires where there's a bunch of them together in the cess on the signal box side.  I did buy some stainless steel wire that Wizard sells for signal wires but haven't used it yet.  EZ Line might be better, it would presumably stay taught.

 

[Wheatley]

EZ Line is ideal for anything that needs to stay tight but stretch a bit if caught accidentally. Aircraft and ship modellers use it for aerials etc. 

[73c]

Would this be any good?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203168936282?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

[31A]

45 minutes ago, 73c said:

Would this be any good?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203168936282?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

Thank you, could well be - they look good.  I have ordered some of the wheels that @Graham T suggested earlier, and when they come I will think again about the signal wires.  I've got in mind that in some busy places the wires were carried from things that looked like small gantries, with the pulleys suspended from the cross piece, so I'm going to try and find out a bit more about them.

[31A]

Thanks everyone for all the "Likes" etc.  While I wait for the 3D printed signal wire wheels to arrive, and work up enthusiasm to throw ballast-related muck all over my nicely working layout, I cast around for some other small projects to be getting on with, and my eyes fell on a Bachmann box.

 

I blame @great northern for this, and maybe a bit of lockdown madness, as about 2 years ago he put up some nice pictures of WD 2-8-0s on Peterborough North, and I was impressed by their brutal if austere elegance and simplicity.  I've never had a model of one and neither do I really need one, but a look on Hatton's Pre Loved pages soon came up with 90274 at a reasonable price.  Here she is on shed in August 2020; the gaffers don't seem impressed and have turned their backs on it.

 

 

 

It can't have been pre loved very much, as it seemed to be brand new, albeit a bit stiff.  I took it to bits and stripped the solidified grease from the working bits, including the plungers on the sprung axles (I wish they still did those), oiled round and put together again and now it's a very good runner.

 

After that I put it back in its box, until a couple of days ago, when I took it out again for another look.  I suppose it's a typical Bachmann product of the time, solid and well engineered, and captures the look really well albeit slightly simplified in detailing.  Not much wrong with it; obviously needs some heavy weathering to make it look anything like realistic, but I thought of a few other things that could be done quite easily to improve it.  The drawing in the Railway Modeller June 1983 was really useful, as were the articles in MRJs 118 and 119.

 

The water feed pipes that come up from below the running plate and disappear beneath the boiler cladding are conspicuously absent. To add these, I plotted the positions at which they passed through the running plate, and drilled through from beneath.  Then with the drill bit extended in the pin vice, carried on drilling into the boiler at an oblique angle at the point where the pipe disappears behind the riveted cover plate.  The feed pipes themselves then, are lengths of 0.7mm brass rod.

 

 

On the tender, the fire iron rack on the fireman's side is conspicuously absent; the nice little etch from 247 Developments takes care of this.  Also missing are the steps on the tender buffer beam which allow gymnastic firemen to somehow climb on top.  I knocked these up from some short lengths of 1mm x 1mm brass angle, and some 0.75mm N/S strip.  I couldn't think of a way to 'peg' these to the buffer beam, so we'll have to rely on the cyano doing its stuff.  While I was at it, I made some proper lamp irons from the same N/S strip, so that I can hang lamps onto the tender as necessary.

 

 

 

The real 90274  was a Rose Grove loco for most of its life which is a bit of a stretch for Finsbury Square really, but I've identified a March one with a similar number so probably the next thing to do is to get some of the digits off the cab side.

 

[Graham T]

Nice loco.  I always had a soft spot for the 8F, but really couldn't justify one for my layout.  But a SDJR 7F?  Hmmm...

[St Enodoc]

On 16/07/2022 at 18:05, 31A said:

If the rodding is on a curve though, it might be quite difficult to scribe parallel curves round the bend?

I've thought of a theoretical way to do that. Cut the strips (say .020" styrene) first, then use a piece of hacksaw blade of suitable pitch to score the marks. You could arrange for a small lip to guide the blade.

 

If this works at all, then it should do for both straights and curves.

[31A]

3 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

I've thought of a theoretical way to do that. Cut the strips (say .020" styrene) first, then use a piece of hacksaw blade of suitable pitch to score the marks. You could arrange for a small lip to guide the blade.

 

If this works at all, then it should do for both straights and curves.

 

That does sound like an interesting plan.  I think I've done most of the multiple rodding runs that I need to do for now, but it sounds like the sort of thing that might be worth exploring for your layout....

[St Enodoc]

11 minutes ago, 31A said:

 

That does sound like an interesting plan.  I think I've done most of the multiple rodding runs that I need to do for now, but it sounds like the sort of thing that might be worth exploring for your layout....

Don't hold your breath...

[31A]

What to do when you can't sleep in a heat wave.  Start playing with some bits of plasticard.

 

I'd wanted to make some 'steam age' equipment cases like these:

 

 

I thought I'd seen some drawings somewhere but couldn't find them.  So I made my own drawings by counting bricks and guesstimating, and came up with these.

 

 

I didn't want to glue them to the back of the 'box in case I do eventually come up with some proper drawings, so they've got their own stand which can eventually be covered by ground cover.

 

 

 

 

[TrevorP1]

1 hour ago, 31A said:

What to do when you can't sleep in a heat wave.  Start playing with some bits of plasticard.

 

I'd wanted to make some 'steam age' equipment cases like these:

 

 

I thought I'd seen some drawings somewhere but couldn't find them.  So I made my own drawings by counting bricks and guesstimating, and came up with these.

 

 

I didn't want to glue them to the back of the 'box in case I do eventually come up with some proper drawings, so they've got their own stand which can eventually be covered by ground cover.

 

 

 

 

 

Something I'll need to do soon. Excellent idea duly pinched! 

[31A]

1 hour ago, TrevorP1 said:

 

Something I'll need to do soon. Excellent idea duly pinched! 

 

Thank you Trevor, you're welcome!  For what it's worth, here is the 'guesstimated" sketch I made - hope you can read it.  The legs were from 1.5mm square styrene.

 

[TrevorP1]

1 hour ago, 31A said:

 

Thank you Trevor, you're welcome!  For what it's worth, here is the 'guesstimated" sketch I made - hope you can read it.  The legs were from 1.5mm square styrene.

 

 

 

Thank you Steve. Much appreciated!