Giles

The crane now works.... it's easier to drive when you're not trying to video with the other hand...... There's a couple of small details to add, but it's basically there...

Bless you Chris! Of course the Garratt will be running - it's my favourite loco!!!! I'm afraid we'll have an over-kill of working cranes, one way and another!

My recollection is that the three later locos has this type of brake gear, and only the Vivian had the larger 'lever'.

i got the hoist motors mounted...... It turns out the gearbox spacers are like hollow stays, and I was able to tap them 10BA without drilling. A mountinng plate was made to hold them in the correct relative positions, and then soldered on to the base frame. The whole lot was then painted matt black.

i got the hoist motors mounted...... It turns out the gearbox spacers are like hollow stays, and I was able to tap them 10BA without drilling. A mountinng plate was made to hold them in the correct relative positions, and then soldered on to the base frame. The whole lot was then painted matt black.

Guest Keen No. 12 was definitely lined.... What colours I don't know - I only have black and white pictures...... Regarding the 4mm Backwoods kit, of course the hind bunker is only correct for the Vivian, as I believe subsequent locos had increased coal capacity and decreased water capacity (it shows it the rivet lines on the tank sides) Best Giles

Ive remotored the slew, so it's a nice speed now, and yesterday a pair of flip motors finally arrived! I've turned a pair of drums for them, and now they just need fitting (somehow!) and we're done.

The two flip motors have finally arrived! (the second set I ordered... not the first..) They'e not brilliant motors, as they start at a 'high' speed, but that's ok for this application. However, they wouldn't do for propulsion. I spent an hour turning up a couple of drums from brass which are just epoxied onto the output shaft. I now need to mount the blighters into the crane! https://i.imgur.com/a9z0DAQ.jpg

Here you go.... about 7.25min. http://youtu.be/YVTQhpkAITo?list=FLltSSfdrM_cI8bDpVx_GkvQ

for heaven's sake...... Photobucket, now Flickr.....!

.....I believe you can buy proper cars nowadays - that don't rust very much and are really quite reliable. I can't quite afford them myself - but they may be worth a try?

Very good to see it running well...! Congratulations. (you might want to keep an eye on the assembly - I think the expansion link has been put on backwards)

The sparrows in Geenford are getting a bit bigger and more colourful recently.... Sparrows in Greenford by giles favell, on Flickr

that really is an impressive beast!!!!!!!

I'm afraid I'm still actually using my E1, which of course is much more basic (and therefore doesn't suffer from dome of these problems.... I have yet to fire up the E2,,,, Regarding those contacts, I'm afraid that if I run into the same issue, I shall simply by-pass the contacts, as the lid will stay down, and frankly, I'm not likely to forget to lower the lid (the E1 doesn't even have one!)

bless you! I laser cut them - in three parts - centre section body and head, and two wings. After glueing, they were dressed to 3D curves with a small needle file, Eachbird takes about 10 minutes plus painting.

A few of these have invaded Denton Brook... IMG_1145 by giles favell, on Flickr

Thanks Dave! Trouble is, the birds are taking over.... IMG_2554 by giles favell, on Flickr IMG_1145 by giles favell, on Flickr

four garratts indeed.......! that's why I did mine as the fifth! Oddities they are indeed, but of course one of the things about industrials is their charm - and we do get seduced quite easily!

Denton Brook is being prepped gently for Warley IMG_2523 by giles favell, on Flickr IMG_2520 by giles favell, on Flickr IMG_2544 by giles favell, on Flickr

Denton Brook being prepped for Warley IMG_2523 by giles favell, on Flickr

IMG_2544 by giles favell, on Flickr

A rotton situation to have to deal with - you have my every sympathy, and I greatly respect your position and thoughts. All I can say is that both Steve and Nikki have been delightful on all the occasions I have met them, their work is frankly industry-leading, and raises the bar for all the other manufacturers, and I look forward to buying more locos from them just so long as he bank-account holds out......

Borrowing on from theatre scenery, which in turn has borrowed from industry, the optimum material is likely to be IDENDEN. It is a thixotropic PVA based compound which is sold as fire-protection for lagging etc., but in theatre we use it for scrimming carved foam sculptures and scenery - both to fire protect them and to give them an unbreakable, paintable shell. Being PVA based, you can pre-colour it, or you can paint it afterwards. We would normally lay butter-muslin or similar over the foam, and then stipple this stuff into it, or sometimes just paint straight over the foam. You can create texture, you can water it down, and it dries in the same way as PVA, always remaining flexible. I always use this technique for my scenery, but I cheat, and instead of using IDENDEN, I use the readymix polyfiller, and put a large quantity of PVA into it, so it becomes a paste. This bulks the PVA out and gives texture, and gives a bomb-proof, crack-proof scenic shell. Available in white, grey and black if my memory serves..... The stuff isn't cheap, but iitt certainly does a good job.

well, that trackwork looks superb....