esngblog

Currently on the workbench….

An ex-GWR bullion van, dating back to Churchward’s days.  In reality, it only ran from Paddington to Bristol (I think).  It lasted long enough to be repainted from crimson to maroon, and was withdrawn in the mid-1960’s.  Not my modelling area, really, but I saw this brass kit at a show, and fell for it.  It’s an early brass etch, sold by Kemp Models, and shot down from a 4mm etch.  It only has doors on one side, perhaps for obvious reasons!

The camera is, of course, cruel, and especially shows where I’ve creased the tumblehome in the thin brass.  But it was fun to build and good soldering practice.  The bogies provided were terrible, so I’ve invested in these very nice etched ones.  All on nickel-silver – that is easier to solder as it conducts less heat.  All those layers of detail will be a challenge, and some will probably go on with superglue.

Hopefully, there’ll be a completed picture soon.

It’s been good to get news that two ESNG members have been busy

Peter writes….

Good Afternoon

Hope everyone is keeping safe and well, although there seems to be some people who have no regards at all for the other people as the wife and I saw by the amount of rubbish left in two of our local parks yesterday.

Anyway, I thought I would just show that I have not been sitting around doing nothing whilst being in lockdown. The tram layout I am currently building is awaiting some street furniture which is on order. It’s in the garage at the moment, hence the stuff all round including the tumble dryer.

Unfortunately, when I took the photos, I had a power failure which turned to be a broken wire.

Note the high quality control panel bottom left of the third photo!

Incidentally, my club dashboard is currently undergoing some modifications including rebuilding part of the platforms. It can just be seen in the second photograph. Once satisfied, I will post a photo or two.

Kind regards

Peter

And Brian has also been busy…

Dear All,

Here’s the Tudela Veguin project (based on a Spanish station and major cement works) I’ve been working on this for some months now pre-lockdown and onwards.

You wondered where the toilet rolls went – some of them are featured 🙂 I’ve also had to eat a lot of Magnum ice creams for the cardboard …..

I know it’s not up to your high standards, but it’s been absorbing.

Enjoy, Cheers,

Brian

With the usual videos as evidence.

I also know that Mr Atfield has been building things at a rapid rate, but they will remain a mystery unless he enters the electronic age….

I did also notice on Brian’s YouTube channel, a video of the trains to the coast as lockdown rather crumbles…..

A burst of action has just about completed the Warwells and Warflats.  I realised that I needed to fit a coupling to join with Rapido’s at each end of the rake of wagons.  A little length of brass wire did a good job.

I was getting fed up making my own couplings, and had a bright idea – a permanent coupling between pairs of wagons.  A little fettling with some scrap brass (probably from an etched ‘O’ gauge kit of my father’s) and a coping saw, then a dip in brass black made three of this little item.  It screws into the bogie pivots instead of a retaining washer, and works fine.

And this is where I had got to last night.  Just a few odds and ends to do….

So project nearly complete!  I need to replace one home made coupling that works, but is too short.  Handwheels need to be white, and the bogies could do with a touch of dirty black.  And if I am brave, I have the transfers for the lettering on the wagons.  But for now, they’ll go into their box, together with the two Gresley coaches and an SR bogie brake van that complete the train.

Lessons learnt?  I think #1 item was how hard it is to fit Rapido/Dapol couplings, NEM or otherwise, to kits.  I am minded to have another go at making DG/B&B couplings again.  #2 is just how useful a set of magnifying glasses are.  And lastly #3, how much nicer brass is to work with than plastic.

Some real progress with the Warwells, at last.  Here are the first three, rolling and coupled, loaded with Cromwell tanks.

But it’s been a real game getting there.  I started by using the NGS diamond frame bogies with Farish wheels.  But I have been most unimpressed with the NGS product.  It needed a washer of Plasticard to get the correct ride height for the wagon.  And when I fitted the wheels, the pin-point bearings wouldn’t turn freely, even with a little work to the bearing holes.  It got close to throw it at the wall time….

Next, the fixing pin for the bogies is almost impossible to glue into place without seizing up the bogie pivot.  This was solved by cutting the top off the pivot and using it as washer, with a small screw retaining the bogie.  One solution, I guess!

And finally, the coupling boxes, NGS NEM or Farish original, clashed with the jacks at the end of the wagon, and although I knew this was a problem, they also protruded a long way past the buffers (think recent Dapol Siphon G with NEM couplers.)  I tried cutting back and resticking the NEM adaptor to the shortened bogie, but this didn’t really work, as no glue seemed to hold to the NGS bogie material.

So I abandoned the NGS bogies, and went back to the Farish spares that I had in stock.  Less well detailed, but the pin-points run perfectly.

And as for the couplings, I abandoned the standard N gauge coupler and built my own hook and loop system.  This is based on the coupler that Iain Rice uses in 4mm scale, called the ‘Imprecise’ coupler, as the dimensions aren’t critical.  I think that I could have used slightly thicker wire, and for every coupling built, one ended up lost on the floor, but they finally came together.

All this can be seen in the photos below.  One more Warwell and three Warflats to do….

And an excellent post from Chris Morris on NGF Facebook.  It really sums up the best in railway modelling, and I wish that I would learn some of these lessons!

Thought for the day.

Building a working and fully scenic model railway is a great achievement. The builder has to use many very different skills to get there. Anyone who has got there should be pleased with themselves and enjoy the achievement. There will always be things that you wish you had done better and things that you know are wrong but don’t let this spoil enjoying what you have done.

We all learn from building a layout and we can try to do better next time. Its very nice when others are enthusiastic about the work you have done; in fact one of the best feelings. If some folk point out faults then listen and either disregard the comment because it is unimportant to you or, if you think it is valid, try to improve. Don’t be too critical of your own work though. It’s amazing how you, as the builder, know where faults are but those viewing it just don’t notice.

There will always be layouts that are better than the one you have just built but don’t beat yourself up. A lot of the very best layouts are a group activity where members of the group have different skills. On some other great layouts the owner/builder may have paid for a specialist to do some of the work. I’ve heard this described as “cheque book modelling”. Whilst I do everything myself on my layouts I see nothing wrong with buying in expertise if you need it or simply don’t have the time to do it yourself.

So in conclusion, enjoy your modelling, be pleased with what you have achieved and think about what you might do better next time.