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What's on your workbench?


81F

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A Country Halt platform with street lamps.  Powered by a P33 battery and latching reed switch secured under the platform. No external wires so the unit can be picked up and placed anywhere on the layout.  Lamps "on/off" by passing a neodymium magnet near the switch. So no drilling of the baseboard to thread through those pesky wires. And no grovelling under the layout 😀 !

I have also used this principle for coach lighting, though making room for the battery frequently calls for a bit of fettling.

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I recently converted my Class 43 HST Ringfield to DCC, Lights and TTS but wasn't that impressed with the performance of motor so I decided to swap it iout for a DVD motor.

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Note the use of the hi-tech cardboard tube as a motor adaptor.

 

The full write up can be seen here...

http://myweb.cytanet.com.cy/honnor/page19.html

Rob

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That 'artistic side' of me is still going.

I HAD a pristine and personally one of my favourite locomotives - a late-edition retooled Britannia 'Thomas Hardy'.

 

It was just too clean for general BR use, so out came the paint again.

I think I've hit the fine line of 'just enough' without getting too carried away ... and yet again, I think it looks pretty good.

 

Less 'earth and plants' on the wheels on this one - more black, less green and brown.

 

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Quite pleased with the outcome.

 

Al.

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Not super special, but adding the 'detail' to the Class 44 Scafell Pike received the other day.

All discs were solid and either white or darker yellow.

 

I tried the Tamiya brighter yellow I have, but it's still darker than that on the body - I'll live with that, for now anyway.

The opened up white discs I had to drill holes in - full size have the hole there for the lamp to shine through at night.

I remembered I had some Land Rover green paint, and painted the top (was yellow) closed disc with this - quite a good paint match.

The hoses were added as well - leaving them as is for now.

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Al.

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Set out a simple, large radius curved oval to check out the newer locomotives recently purchased.

Had a few problems with the Class 44, surprisingly - not anticipated, then I saw what was incorrect.

There are simple grooves in the motor / bogie cover on the chassis, and several wires weren't in these channels - once replaced, it's been fine ever since.

 

Just got it 'doing laps' both way for a while, then will rest it - running as expected - very nicely.

 

Al.

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Some time ago I asked a question about replacement chassis to allow me to run Dublo Tanker bodies with my. Tri-ang collection. I can’t now find that post but cheap n nasty Lima wagon chassis are the right size! I Got this from a Lima Homepride wagon, I just had to make a new sub-frame from a rectangle of black plasticard, cut 4 slots to take the Dublo tabs and then glue it together using the original Lima weight stuck in place. metal wheels and runs great for an item out of a junk box! I need some more now. Not as exciting as a loco on the workbench but still useful! It looks tattier on the photo than it actually is. 

 

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The Coronation 'City of Chester' was running badly - thought it may be some of the 15 layers of paint I've recently added to 'distress' ... then found a broken wire on the pony truck.

 

Quickly resoldered and it's running perfectly - smooth, quiet, and as fast as any of the others.

Ran her slow-to-medium for 30 minutes backwards and forwards, then increased, and slowed the speed - great.

Royal Scot - running OK, but seems slow - I'll have to work on this one.

 

Ran the limited edition 4472 Scottie - REALLY nice - half broken in I would say.

 

That Class 44 is still running very well, but smoother and a little faster - won't improve on that and doesn't need to - excellent.

 

Good afternoon's running.

 

Al.

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As my workbench is also my office I've been a bit negligent over the last year but recently took up the tools again and finished off a couple of R344 Track Cleaning wagons, one had/media/tinymce_upload/7612650ebd18a8b9f1a6f6ae41e62abc.JPG a broken floor but both needed some pin point bearings adding to correct the sloppy running. I've also finished off fitting LED lights and a decoder to my Class 91 Intercity Swallow, picture of me giving it a test on my home built Rolling Road.

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I've 'politely disagreed' with those supporting the dull-satin-look paint finish of most Hornby locos when 'pristine' - my point is if they're that 'clean' they should have a good sheen / near-gloss.

 

TOTALLY agreed they look much better with varying degrees of weathering, or 'distress' I believe it's called.

I've big 'L' plates, perhaps approaching 'P' but nowhere near the level of those practised in the art.

 

I've had a go at 'realistically discolouring' impractically clean yet matt locomotives in the last few weeks.

Here's a few more. Main things I'm looking for is a degree of carbon deposit from funnel area back - decreasing - and something around the wheels upwards, to some degree - that 'something' includes green and brown, not just black like the roof.

 

Most have come out well, others very well I think - for me.

 

2001 is 'only a Railroad' model - I've just added a little 'brass' here and there, and the draincocks - plus a tad of soot.

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Thomas Hardy is a fantastic locomotive - smooth, fast, powerful and quiet - and really is super-detailed - love the Brits - these ones not that stupid music competition!!

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I suppose I'm an 'LMS man' - this has always been a favourite!!

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I've mentioned before, through teenage footplate rides at Bressingham, this was always a favourite - albeit with blinkers now ...

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I do realise that once the paint - at least Humbrol acrylic - is on, there's no going back, so I try to moderate spraying .... mmmhhh !!  I'll have to be careful I reckon - enjoying this too much!!

Al.

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On my bench is a Canon printer, scanner, etc being dismantled to scavenge any usefull bits. It decided to stop feeding paper then when it did it scrunged it up, so after a frustrating hour or two trying to fix, then finding a broken bit of plastic rattling around inside it was destined for the bin.

 

The new one is a dream, with intuitive software and some measure of intelligence, which the previous one was lacking.

 

Now maybe I can get on with train things.

Rob

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Are there any useful bits?

Normally the rubber rollers need replacing which resolves many 'paper feed issues', but if there's 'a broken bit of plastic' ... its a tad more ominous - glad the 'situation' was resolved.

 

Having stated what I did first, in watching 'that model railway challenge programme' I suppose dismantling the printer could be your challenge to see where the bits'b'pieces could be applied to your layout!!

 

Al.

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A couple of hefty slow running motors that may do for a TT and a much smaller scanner bed motor.

 

Many LEDs and tactile button switches, ribbon cable and lengths of thin wire, tiny plugs and sockets, small wheels, gears and pullies.

 

Plenty of odd shapped bits of plastic that could be used for wagon loads or cameo dross.

 

Plate of glass that will be usefull for checking locos, wagons, etc are flat and true.

 

The challenge is getting it apart.

 

Now retraining the mind from destroy printer mode back into solder SMD led mode.

 

Rob

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Rule Britannia .... at least that's how it's seemed for the last few days - quite frustrating!!

 

I've painted up the Westinghouse pump, bent some Gauge 9 wire to try to match the piping, and installed onto front footplate, in front of the smokebox door.

 

Had a few more problems with the steps than I've had in the past, but seem to be holding, whilst still having the sprung buffers.

 

Found out I'd not replaced the little plastic Walschaert's valve gear mounting block properly, and had - temporarily, fortunately - bent the running plate above the RHS cylinders - now resolved ... I hope ... phew.

 

There's some 'brightwork' still showing on the pump but that is how it is.

I've left the piano wire 'pipe' bright for now.

 

Cylinder draincocks due anytime.

 

Not perfect, but a fair attempt I think!!

 

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Al.

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Brit now has front lamps and yellowed bearing covers on the pony and tender covers.

I have high voltage warning transfers which I'm going to apply tomorrow - with luck.

 

I have a spare wheel / axle set - one with the speedo mount, and have spacers and - hopefully - a speedo cable for a Brit (difficult to locate but one vendor seemed to accept the purchase and hasn't refunded yet ....).

 

Intention is to try and make it as is now, as close as reasonably possible for an 'amateur 'L plate' modeller.

 

Al.

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A bit more work on 70000 Britannia tonight ....

The other day I 'dotted' the bearing covers - seem OK - Tamiya yellow paint.

 

Today I received the Hornby 75000 detail pack with the cylinder draincocks +/- same as Brit's originals - not available anywhere ... now fitted.

 

Also, I fitted the front lamps - painted silver spots where the lenses are - probably - and also fitted the high voltage warning transfers, and lightly varnished over the top.

 

Some photos show a larger diameter pipe coming out of the front of the Westinghouse pump, just inside the blinker, to just behind the lamp, but the latest ones don't so I've not done anything there.

 

I do have one thing left to do .... more in a few days .... I hope - parts already arrived!!

 

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Al.

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This is the thing, and fair question !!

 

I need to find a way of doing it well - ideally the red lines need to be the same thickness - perhaps 0.5 mm - totally straight, horizontal, and should line up.

 

If I can do that, then YES, I want to.

 

The 'dots' have been increased closer to the full cover and are more consistent with each other - a couple were obviously ovoid at best, almost semi-circular.

I seem to have an 'annoying artistic tendency' just after 23:00, when I should be in bed so the sooner all of this is sorted out, the better!!

(I know, with 'the collection' it'll never be sorted out, so get used to it!!!)

 

I did receive the speedo cables ordered - 2, just in case - and already have the appropriate wheels, and spacers - so next on the agenda is to see if I can 'upgrade' to a Brit with speedo cable ... as the 1:1.

 

Al.

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Fitted a pair of Alan Gibson Stanier draincocks to one of the Coronations received last month - Princess Alice.

Laid a simple track and decided to 'break in' the new locos - including Britannia, finally.

 

A quick test indicated it should run as well as Thomas Hardy, which is excellent.

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 Not sure if this is workbench or kitchen sink, but I have just stripped down two Triang Mk1 composites and giving the parts a gentle wash in warm soapy water as they looked decidedly grubby.

 

The parts are looking almost like new but will wait until tomorrow to reassemble so as not to trap any moisture in.

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