Seems I'm really pretty slack about updating the blog ... just easier to put stuff on Facebook.
Layout:
Since my last post in July 2019, quite a bit has happened on the modelling front, if not the layout construction. At least, the shed is now nearly empty, and I've had a builder come and take a look at what will be needed to firstly make the former boat shed sound (termite damage) and weatherproof, so I can then use it to store stuff from the workshop and layout shed while they are being similarly treated. So with luck, by the end of this year - COVID-19 permitting - perhaps the layout shed will be ready to have some serious benchwork (re)started.
Modelling:
RUB set:
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| OFS compartments |
- is now a runner, interiors are complete and awaiting painting
- needs some minor exterior detailing finished e.g. some of the missing corridor connectors / corridor springs / buffing plates
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| SFS interior with additions |
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| RS interior |
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| Interiors of all the sitting cars |
AR Kits BCHs & FWHs:
- repaired damage FWH (dropped it at Wyee club), realised roof was "incorrectly oriented" ... subsequent research (thanks Al Cutmore & Brett Leahy) revealed that not all roofs / ladders were oriented the same way, so a sigh of relief was breathed!
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| The dropped FWH |
- added hand rails (phosphor bronze wire, soldered in a jig), brake piping & hoses, hopper door details etc
- current state: need to add the Keiran Ryan ladders then paint / repaint
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| Ozzy steps, 0.015" p-b wire for piping & handrails |
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| Ozzy steps, hopper door handles & brake hoses, styrene channel joining hopper doors, 0.020" p-b train pipe |
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| Ozzy detailing packaging header card being used to space the walkway planks closer together than I had when first built in 1985 |
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| 0.020" p-b- wire train pipe, Ozzy steps & door handles, 0.015" p-b wire hand rails |
Silvermaz RU:
- fiddled with the wheels & brakes to remove binding
- current state: awaiting decals from SJM
On Track Models SIUs:
- took the lid off, thought about putting a chip in, decided not to worry at the moment, reassembled
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| Yeah, nah. Had a non-sound chip looking for a home, but couldn't be bothered |
Auscision 48s:
- collected my four locos from Mark at DCC Solutions at the Rosehill exhibition, he'd done the Loksound installs for me (rendering the eBay speakers I had bought earlier surplus)
Wombat 30Ts:
- acquired 3001T (drum head smokebox) & 3090T (built-up smoke box) to add to saturated 3004T
- replaced the front bogie springs in all of them with ones sourced via Brian A, which don't fall into the slot
- re-oriented the front bogies on 3001T & 3090T so the slot faces the right way for improved clearance to cylinders on curves
- managed to cram a Loksound5 + one of the surplus eBay speakers from the 48s (cut down) into 3004T's tender
- realised that the other Loksound5s I had bought with 8-pin harnesses were no good for the superheated models ... which have 21-pin motherboards!
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| 3004T's six-wheel tender with body removed. The mounting pad for the motherboard is removed & discarded to create space |
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| The eBay speaker set up for surgery |
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| After the chop - with an original for comparison |
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| Ready to put the tender body back on |
HCX1187:
- I assembled this in the early 1990s, and Roy painted it
- recently taken out of storage, the floor was severely warped and the whitemetal bogies were less than ideal
- floor will be straightened, interior built and the bogies replaced with Casula Hobbies ones already in the stash
- current state: waiting for all the above work
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| Plan was to fix the couplers ... floor popped out! |
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| Warped floor, needs the hot water treatment, interior to be built and a better means of fastening to the body than araldite in the corners! |
TBC575:
- This Roy Howarth kitbash from many years ago had replacement axles, flushglaze and a roof mounting block added to get it to running condition
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| Fitting the roof block |
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| Flush glaze fitted |
Ixion 32:
- fitted Loksound 5 + a TCS micro speaker that I happened across at Casula Hobbies
- replaced lost fire iron bracket with one supplied gratis by Ixion - thanks Phil & Lindsay!
5711:
- fitted a Loksound 5 + speaker + a Marty Nash custom keep-alive
Auscision 4304:
- cleaned & lubed the mech
- replaced the perished rubber drive with a piece of silicone R/C aircraft fuel line
Fleet additions:
- two Wombat 30Ts mentioned above
- IDR 7101 - another great model from this stable!
- Mansfield 2nd run 3801
- Ordered three Casula Z19s
- Auscision 42201 - part of Australian Modeller's COVID-19 stimulus package
- Auscision 44207 - as above
- SDS Set 97 end platform cars - as above
- two SDS SKBs - as above
- SDS Dairy Farmers' BMT 1960s pack - as above
- two 10-packs of Phoenix Reproductions L type non-air hoppers - as above
- Old Buggers Commonwealth Oil Corp "Dreadnought" bogie waggon (to build)
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| 7101 shunting refrigerator cars at Porkingham Smallgoods on Upper Hunter |
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| 44207 with an Up goods at Woongarrah on Upper Hunter |
#Coronachallenge:
- once I had started working from home in March, and with the Beyond Bitumen event postponed and my employer asking me to take some more leave, I responded to a Facebook challenge to try to start & complete a project before returning to full-time work at the office
- I picked an independent, blank-end FR - all I had to start with was the pair of sides, of unknown manufacture, acquired some years ago from Roy, and some photos from Brian Ayling of FR994 abandoned in a pine forest at Isabella
- scratch built floor, match board ends & interior
- spliced two Camco FO roofs (thanks Nathan C for donor roof)
- detailed with Ozzy bits, phosphor-bronze wire, Evergreen styrene sections etc
- currently aprox 90% complete, needs truss rods / remaining underfloor detail, and roof vents to be fitted - trying to delay return to the office in order to complete it!
- I've also invested in a lot of tools, detailing parts etc during the "lock-down", from a variety of sources including Casula Hobbies, Barnes Hobbies, Frontline, and some others - I hope that our suppliers have seen an upturn in business during the otherwise difficult times, as modelers seek to remain productive
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| Starting point - 5th April 2020 |
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| Repairs were necessary to some window frames |
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| Sanding the locating lugs (meant for the Camco FO) off the udnerside of the roof. Sanding tables made from A4 size sheets of sand paper glued to 3mm MDF, and kept under weight for a few days for the PVA glue to go off |
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| Bonding the first side to the styrene floor |
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| Cut & shut on two Camco FO roofs |
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| Splice plates under the joint for strength |
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| Styrene channel added for solebars |
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| Once the precise carriage number was settled on, the appropriate-sized lavatory window sections could be fitted |
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| Making a start on the match board ends, using Evergreen N scale 3 1/2" car siding, which is aprox 1 3/4" in HO scale |
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| Compartment corridor walls |
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| Corridor walls with sliding doors fitted, in differing positions for each compartment |
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| Compartments fitted to false floor |
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| Milling off the sharp edge moulded onto the side, I assume this was intended to be blended into a scratch built roof originally |
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| Covering up the match board sides with 0.005" styrene. Superglue used to avoid melting the thin styrene. |
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| First layer done., top letterboard is 0.010", before the bottom letterboard was added |
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| With the bottom letterboard in place, an extra strip of 0.005" was added on the top letterboard to hide any gaps |
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| Collision bars in place |
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| Remnant step brackets & bottom steps in place, water tank filler (0.020" p-b wire, risder soldered to horizontal fillers & wriggled into place through holes in the collision posts) & overflow (0.015" p-b wire) added |
Exhibitions:
- attended Our Town (Broadmeadow, August), Homebush (October, mixed reviews), Wagga Wagga (November, great weekend away catching up with mates ... Rodney, Macca, Rory, Josh, Mr X et al), Forrestville (March, may not bother next year, but was great to meet Peter B and chat about his Narellan layout)
- took my portable U-drive layout to work for a fund-raiser supporting Steptember
- Joined in the NMRA Lake Macquarie layout tour in September with mates from my club Chris L, Brian S & Brian A, saw some great layouts across a broad spectrum of interest
- Participated in the NMRA "virtual conference" via Facebook live
- great initiative, no cost, and open to non-members ... I was so impressed I joined the NMRA!
General gunzelling:
- enjoyed a couple of trips on the Blue Zephyr to Werris Creek with my old mates from the Grumpy Gunzels
- did some "trains in snow" cading with Paul H during the cold snap in August
- a few trips in the Short North / Hunter / Lower North Coast
area for R&R
- spent a couple of hours at Hill Top in October, helping the THNSW "Wednesday Warriors" re-erect the station sign
- with Roy, spent a very enjoyable weekend visiting our old mate Glenn in Tamworth & operating his layout, complete with 44 class control stand
- did some Rosehill Line expeditions for the last of the Race Trains, and the last day of operation
- a work trip to NZ gave me an opportunity to gunzel the North Island Main Trunk line for a few days
- hobby promotion ... gave each of my nephews a train for Christmas ... gave my brother-in-law the track and my sister the pair of controllers ;-)
- with help from Roy, prepped the Gunzel412 car for Beyond Bitumen 2020, but alas, it was postponed until November due to COVID-19
I think that will suffice for now - stop procrastinating over the 43 class decoder job & crack on with it!
Cheers,
Lindsay
