Saturday 23 May 2020

Latest Update from Weddin Jct

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:

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

SFS interior with additions


RS interior
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!
    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
Ozzy steps, 0.015" p-b wire for piping & handrails
Ozzy steps, hopper door handles & brake hoses, styrene channel joining hopper doors, 0.020" p-b train pipe
Ozzy detailing packaging header card being used to space the walkway planks closer together than I had when first built in 1985
0.020" p-b- wire train pipe, Ozzy steps & door handles, 0.015" p-b wire hand rails
 Silvermaz RU:
  • went to town with Keiran Ryan details, Austrains details etc on one that I had started at Liverpool 2018 while demonstrating basic kit building on Keiran's clinic stand
  • current state: in primer, awaiting painting
Keiran Ryan handbrake details, Sydney Hobbies (??) hopper doors, some of the Austrains brake details visible
Austrains shunter's steps, 0.5mm enameled copper wire grab irons, styrene roof steps, 0.015" p-b wire uncoupler lever, styrene quad vent, Ozzy brake hose
Austrains brake details
 Hawksmoor SHG:
  • decided the BHG was going to be an SHG after all
  • got the basic kit to an acceptable level of assembly (the kit is still pretty rough out of the box, being remastered from an original Protype white metal kit, with attendant loss of detail)
  • added interior and underfloor detail, buffers, end steps
  • fitted SDS bogies
  • Rustoleum pressure-pack primer applied
  • current state: in primer, with Roy for painting
Scratch built steps, Ozzy brake hoses
Scratch built interior. The screw for mounting the roof forms the stove flue pipe
Scratch built brake lever, Ozzy generator, brake hoses & buffers, 0.020" p-b wire train pipe
Stephen Johnson HG:
  • fiddled with the wheels & brakes to remove binding
  • current state: awaiting decals from SJM
On Track Models SIUs:
  • acquired three two-packs
  • fixed problem with bogie screw head fouling centre axle on a couple of cars
    • solution is to very carefully file down the screw head, leaving enough of the Philips recess intact to be able to remove the screw if needed
The axles float in the bogies, rather than having pinpoint bearings - far from ideal
The damage to the axle is evident
The offending screw after some filing
Austrains 8027:
  • took the lid off, thought about putting a chip in, decided not to worry at the moment, reassembled
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!

3004T's six-wheel tender with body removed. The mounting pad for the motherboard is removed & discarded to create space
The eBay speaker set up for surgery
After the chop - with an original for comparison
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
Plan was to fix the couplers ... floor popped out!
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

Fitting the roof block
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:
  • this Berg's FMTA purchase had its missing front bogie side frame replaced with one fabricated from brass strip, and performed well on Stockinbingal at the Wagga exhibition
Bogie out for attention with axles flapping in the breeze
The brass strip marked out and centre-drilled for the new bogie sideframe
Sideframe drilled & filed to shape
Ready to add a piece of 0.015" p-b wire to strengthen the joint to the bogie.
In fact, due to a lack of soldering skill resulting in no bond of wire to bogie, the wire ended up as a fulcrum, and this side frame is now "compensated" to a degree!
Bogie ready to go back under the locomotive
Refitted, ready for traffic
Auscision FP7 Pay Bus:
  • fitted a Loksound 5 + speaker + a Marty Nash custom keep-alive

Auscision 4304:
  • fitted a Loksound 5 + speaker
    • tried to split up the lighting functions with mixed results, possibly because the logic-level outputs need a transistor to amplify the current ... and maybe also need to check the active level - which was what I thought I might do when I sat down this afternoon, but decided to do a blog post first
  • current state: needs the wiring / chip install sorted out ... should be priority for this weekend
Ready to start identifying things to cut
"Before" - important, in case you need a reference after you start changing things around!
Trying to read the markings on the PCBs - can be aided by a phone cam pic to zoom in! This is the rear lighting PCB
Front lighting PCB
Berg's 3120T:
  • 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)
7101 shunting refrigerator cars at Porkingham Smallgoods on Upper Hunter
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
Starting point - 5th April 2020
Repairs were necessary to some window frames
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
Bonding the first side to the styrene floor
Cut & shut on two Camco FO roofs
Splice plates under the joint for strength
Styrene channel added for solebars
Once the precise carriage number was settled on, the appropriate-sized lavatory window sections could be fitted
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
Compartment corridor walls
Corridor walls with sliding doors fitted, in differing positions for each compartment
Compartments fitted to false floor
Milling off the sharp edge moulded onto the side, I assume this was intended to be blended into a scratch built roof originally
Covering up the match board sides with 0.005" styrene. Superglue used to avoid melting the thin styrene.
First layer done., top letterboard is 0.010", before the bottom letterboard was added
With the bottom letterboard in place, an extra strip of 0.005" was added on the top letterboard to hide any gaps
Collision bars in place
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