Lacathedrale

I found enough common parts on both etches I was able to align sequentially with tweezers and sweat togther - thank you anyway!

Sorry jim, it's the lower etch of the two, without the hinge

Flush with success of that wagon, I've decided to take on the association 2-366 4-shoe SR underframe (and obviously, the triple-pack SR Van bodies that go with them). All of my other kits to date have had solebars that fold over - so my technique has been to tin both sides, fold and squeeze with tweezers/parallel pliers to align and then press down and sweat together. Is this technique still the best option for the solebars in 2-366, which are completely separate pieces? (parts 3 and 4 in the following link: http://2mm.org.uk/products/instruction_sheets/pdf2-366_drwg.pdf )

Hi Jim, I don't think so - those have the buffer cylinder included too ( at least according to the diagram?) - the instructions say 2-441 but those don't appear to exist anymore. Maybe 2-068? Or maybe I just slice off the plastic moldings and use my existing cast RCH buffers and play completely ignorant instead of willfully.

Another RCH mineral wagon done - this time a 7-planker (shown middle, below). At some point I need to paint these - I'm thinking of an all-over dark grey, and then working backwards when I can source or find relevant private owner transfers. I'm quite pleased, I managed to get the etched axle boxes on without too much of a fuss. I did make a bit of a pigs ear of the brake lever but feel well equipped to deal with whatever's coming next. Loins sufficiently girded, I decided to tackle a trio of SR Vans, all on 10' wheelbase chassis: One thing that came out of my track laying is that there needs to be SOME weight in the wagons. The NEM standard for N is 0.2g per mm over buffers (see here: https://www.morop.eu/downloads/nem/de/nem302_d.pdf ) - I think it's fairly reasonable to settle on half a gram per foot - so roughly 10g and 8.5g for vans and open wagons respectively. I'm not looking to pull huge trains and I think the better running qualities will win out. Time will tell! Araldite? PVA? For the wagons I was going to glue underneath the chassis, around the solebars. EDIT: one thing I forgot to ask - looks like these are designed to take turned rather than cast buffers - no skin off my nose, but where can I source them?

Thanks chaps, I think I've got it - much appreciated!

Hi guys, I'm building a few of the association wagon chassis and I realise I'm about to come across the same problem that I had last time - I have NO IDEA how to bend the brake handles. I'm building 2-327 (9' WB chassis for a 5-plank open) and the instrucitons are here: http://2mm.org.uk/products/instruction_sheets/326-instr.gif but the isometric view makes it very hard to tell exactly what I'm meant to be bending and where. I can see some half edged divots on the inside of the brake handle which I gather are the points I need to bend, and I'm assuming that I have to bend in the middle out and then back (in relation to the track centre if the wagon was on track) - but otherwise I'm somewhat clueless! Any ideas or where I might find the info?

I know you've said this is just room lighting, but it really does pop like afternoon sunshine

Cool white is everywhere. A bit like how blue LEDs ended up on basically everything as soon as they were easy/cheap to produce. Color temperature is really important, that's why most modern OS'es and phones will trend orange/yellow when daylight ends.

Just as a heads up for anyone else taking as much inspiration and guidance from this series as me, Trespa offer sample sheets for free from their website. Given that I keep scorching the MDF work board I've been using so far, I was really pleased to see that. Sheets of 300mm square are £10 on ebay, but free is always better and hopefully will be more than big enough for these purposes.

I'm much happier with a subtle curve on the platform and carriage siding, prototype practise be damned. Here's a shot with it all laid and wired up.

Here's a video update, but if you'd prefer to read this is what I've been up to today: The long rolls of cork are not perfect thicknesses all the way through, so right at the baseboard join I've used card as a shim. I needed to lay cork on the station board in order that I can lay the flex across both boards and get a smooth alignment. In order that the rail joins are solid, I've removed a sleeper on either side of the join for each track, and have soldered them to the rail (I had to pack another card shim to bring them up to the correct height). I am planning to encase the whole edge in araldite to make it more firm, and will be using the PCB sleepers as electrical feeds by laying copper tape along the inside of the module joins and soldering a jumper onto the sleeper top, at the rear of the rail. 2EPB 6225 en route to West Croydon waits for a green signal on Platform 1 The plan has always been to solder up the two pointwork formations on the throat board, leaving expansion gaps between each and the board edge joins and each other and this has worked nicely, there's just enough flex for minor adjusments. On the station board, the flex will be fed from either end and unsoldered in the middle for expansion too. Despite a number of unsoldered connections, crocodile clips right up at the tip of the layout power everything without any issue at all (apart from the hateful trainset controller I'm using - no way to reset a short other than to stand around like a pillock for an indeterminate amount of time, it seems. Another EPB about to couple up with it's parner on Platform 2 to form a 4-EPB to London. (This picture no doubt take from a crane on the construction work where the old goods yard was sited) After the video concluded I shoved the flex around a little on the station board to introduce a curve and I think it's much nicer. As I said in the video I don't think this is particularly realistic because railways would want to build things as straight as possible, but it is more visually appealing. One thing I am always conscious of especially on narrower planks is when the track is totally perpendicular to the board edges, so it was important for me to avoid that. 33056 looking a little careworn on Platform 2 at the head of a BSK-SK-CK-BSK rake of Mk1's

Exquisite!

I realised after the above photos that there was no way I could have the very long gradients I wanted on the sidings, so they're a bit more steep. I've finally got the cork glued down however, this time using kids PVA instead of Diall decorators PVA. I was making life very hard for myself by using the latter as it's got almost no tackiness and takes ages to go off. Kids glue had it all down within half an hour and no faffing. I am hoping if all goes well that I will have the rest of the track down tomorrow morning, and then maybe, finally, I can run a train! It's only taken a year, three failed planks and four different scales to get there

So I realised that it was a bit wasteful to order Tim Horn baseboards, when I could get some quality 6mm birch plywood cut to the exact sizes I require and fix with pins and PVA. I'm just very 'done' with a million countersunk holes and screws. Overall I think I'm just bored of baseboards! Anyway, I do have some 4mm ply that I could potentially use for a sub-roadbed but I decided to hold off until the 6mm stuff is cut and I can go and pick it up. I've got a nice 3D model of the prospective layout, included below. The station arrangement is based on Skelmansthorpe, where the platform was truncated in the inter-war years and then only used for parcels traffic by the post-war era. The rest of the layout is influenced by Hepton Wharf's canalside goods shed and the use of a crossing gate to turn the through station into a terminus. Not sure what to do over the track on the left, maybe just a road and a hillside rising up behind. I decided it was probably time to get started on some rolling stock again, so broke open the Jinty conversion pack that I got from the society about 6mo ago. The chassis jig came out really well, and the first half of the chassis going together nicely. Unfortunately I don't have broaches up to the 2.5mm required so I will need to order them, and I managed to ping away my last 0.3mm drillbit that I need to get the brake rigging holes prepared. Rather than rush things, I'm going to shelve it and figure something else to do - maybe some more wagons?

Right well I'm not actually hoping to have to do wire and tube, but I'm glad it works too.

Ah, so definitely using cranks or wire-in-tube rather than rod-with-bends?

The canal will be right up against the front edge of the layout, so no need for it to rise back up | ==|============== `---( )-- | \ |================= \----( )---###--|--O Where ( ) are the tubes, ### is the slide switch and 'o' is the handle on the front of the wire. I guess if I make sure to include a join after the first tube (using something like a single chocolate block connector) then I could always retrofit other methods, right?

I'm looking to use slide switches and push/pull rods for turnouts under a layout, but at the front of the layout I was planning to include a canal which will obviously be below the level of the track. Can I introduce a pair of 45 degree kinks into the turnout control rodding for it to pass under the canal at the front of the layout, but rise up to the roadbed on the rear without introducing mechanical issues, as long as both sides are in guide tubes? Seems reasonable to me - but I think if it's going to be a problem I'd just fill in the canal! I know that I can probably use wire-in-tube or servos, but given the choice I'd like to use what I have to hand.

That's a good shout - I've got 0.45mm nickel silver for pickup wipers in 4mm and I'm ordering some 0.3mm brass for the brake gear on my loco chassis. Thank you! I've found that a bunch of the rail strips I've ordered are >0.55mm wide so they don't fit into the roller gauges, which was quite frustrating to find out after soldering a stock rail all the way through a turnout - but I think I can use them fine on Easitrac bases for plain track and a judicious use of a button gauge and triangle gauge got me through. I'm so happy that I double-checked the B2B on my wagons and added a bit of weight when using them for testing - just those small tweaks was enough to turn an ""unusuable"" turnout into something that just required a few tweaks, and the use of a four-graded nail file/buffer to smooth the railhead has worked wonderfully.

David Hyde's videos on Sprat and Winkle was enough to convince me to give them a try, for sure. I would recommend checking them out on YT as he's quite exhaustive.

Paul, I am so sorry - thank you for linking me - I was expecting to see the 'i' next to the item name, but it is there as clear as day.

Hi chaps, with the warning that Store 3 was going to close up for Jan and Feb, I thought it might be appropriate to get a project for the new year (I confess I probably have enough to keep me going, but you never know) - to get a 2FS Class 08 I see that the association has a chassis and wheels listed - but basically nothing else. I appreciate this may be another step further than the chassis-kit I have for my Jinty, but it would be great to get equipped for it so i can start as soon as I feel ready. From the store I think these are a given: 3-681 Farish 08 Chassis 3-007 *3 (4'6" spoked outside crank wheels) Then at this point I'm somewhat adrift - I know I need muffs, gears (3-364?) /gearboxes, crankpins (3-107 and 3-109?) and a motor (3-253?) but I would hope for some guidance or advice if at all possible. Does anyone have instructions for this chassis kit which might elaborate? As an alternate thought, maybe it would be easier to simply send the wheels to be reprofiled?

Hello sir, I am not yet (wasn't?) comfortable enough to precisely align scrap etch on the jig so that it falls between PCB sleepers - so if I misjudged the vee/wingrail assembly would be raised up ontop of the PCB sleepers, where the rest of the track is soldered directly to it. Am I missing something obvious? Hi Jim, the slide guage I've got is exactly that - a piece of rail bent into a sledge shape and covered in red felt-tipped pen ink - but maybe smaller L-shapes would be useful as you have shown here - since it would need to nestle in on the vee-side of the wing rail's knuckle, while the other part of the wing rail is hard up against a straight edge on the other side of the vee?

My last turnout is halfway done - I'm so pleased. I managed to lay this final vee really nicely eventually, but while I was doing it I had a question - how do I use the roller gauges around the vee? Somehow the following arrangement just slotted in (presumably because there's a notch in that middle ring?) I could not see any obvious way to ensure the knuckle of the wingrail lines up with the tip of the vee other than just being very bloody careful: I couldn't see how to repeat the process the other way around, so I ended up using a slide gauge and tweezers to hold it aligned on the vee side to solder, then flipped the slide gauge into the other flangeway to align the switchblade end and double checked with another roller gauge. It worked out OK as mentioned, probably my best vee so far - but there has to be a better way! # My next set of track work is definitely going to use etched chairplates - either the laurie adams ones, or a versaline system - so I can assemble the vee in the assembly jig.