Unklian's G3 workbench .

unklian

Western Thunderer
I am not really sure how to start off here, so I had a tidy up ( sorry if it looks a bit staged ) and tried to get as much into as few photos as I could. There is more, much more ( oh dear oh dear ! ) and much of it unfinished. But I guess that is what a workbench is all about.RIMG4019.JPG
RIMG4020.JPG
As you can see I like collecting wheels, as far as many of my projects get a lot of the time ....RIMG4021.JPG
This is the main whittling bench and small scale/ HO depository.
As far as work goes at the moment I am switching between the LNWR D88 van, left of main pic and the 0-4-0 chassis/boiler. I spent some time on the van today ( a Williams Models Kit ) as it was too wet to go outside and set up silver soldering the smokebox of the loco . Blinkin August weather !! Hope you all like, any questions please ask and I will do my best to answer. Not sure if I should start separate threads for anything or wether it is easier for me to jump from one thing to another like I do on the bench anyway !?

Cheers Ian
 

John Miller

Western Thunderer
As I'm sure you have already found there are many excellent build photos on this site - however, time and again I find myself spending more time looking at the background rather than the subject itself.

I couldn't identify the lathe - Atlas or Drummond maybe? .... :)
 

Mike W

Western Thunderer
Ian, you should be ashamed at having so many things on the go at once. Its, ... errrr, almost as bad as my workbench - and yes, I am ashamed!

One problem I have with photos is determining scale. I know the main vehicles are Gauge 3, but those continentals by the trams - HO?

Mike
 

unklian

Western Thunderer
Hello Chaps,

Jamie the 0-4-0 is my attempt to build a G3 loco as simply as possible and using commercial parts, mostly Roundhouse so far. I bought a Billy chassis kit and boiler kit. I made new frames from 1.5mm steel, new bearings new axles and shortened the Rhse chassis spacers. The wheels are from the Rhse Taliesin Fairlie loco. I have since altered or got to fit most of the other Rhse bits, with the end aim of getting it to look as much like a famous little Avonside called Trojan as possible . I will be the first to admit it wont be an accurate model, but hopefully it will look fairly realistic. I am not sure how it will perform as a steamer but that is all part of the experiment. I am watching your experiences with the Slo-motion device with great interest . And yes it is an SD1, but I think the other car you are looking at is a Jaguar XK8.
Billy 1.JPG
As Billy roughly assembled .
Trojan 3.JPG
First assembly with boiler too far back !
The workshop picture shows it as yesterday with bufferbeams and dry assembled smoke box, the chimney is a Williams Models Manning Wardle one.
RIMG4027.JPG
This morning the rain stopped just long enough for me to get the silver soldering clobber set up and to blast the smokebox. Hopefully get it all cleaned up soon.

John the lathe is my trusty Myford ML10, not a common machine these days but handy for most scales of model railway.
RIMG4028.JPG

Mike, there is no need to be ashamed of any thing we do model making wise, I am most ashamed of how many projects I have unfinished rather than all the ones I have started or left along the way ! The models on the bench/desk are all HO scale, I have at least confined my model railwaying to just two scales these days 1:22.5 and 1:87 .

More on the 0-4-0T soon , best Ian
 

jamiepage

Western Thunderer
Ian,
What a splendid idea. It should make a really interesting little loco, and I very much look forward to watching progress. My 0-6-0 needs a jolly good seeing to, which it will get tonight and tomorrow, to try to get past a snag with the stephenson's gear. The geometry is causing a few problems with one valve rod getting intermittently stuck. I probably need to more properly support the rear end of the rods rather than try to get away without. Anyway, there is room for the Slomo to fit, so that's something.
XK8, should have known. Had one for a while, and a SD1. The Marcos got away though- when I was young I couldn't afford one, and now I couldn't get in one.
Jamie
 

unklian

Western Thunderer
View attachment 47549 Trojan 12.JPG
The smokebox after its firing, a bit messy but got the solder in all the right places after three goes.Trojan 14.JPG
I even managed to add a blob to the door hinge to correct a casting fault/missing bit.
Trojan 15.JPG
Everything cleaned up and bolted firmly in place. Now I have to work out how to drill a hole for and fix the chimney with out wrecking things ! Might just fit the buffers while I think about that .
 
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unklian

Western Thunderer
It has been rather quiet around my work bench recently, the main job being drilling rail ends and making fishplates for the garden line. I hesitate to call it a railway as it is just a circle of Gauge 3 track so far, but even that has taken a while.RIMG4131.JPG
A freshly ballasted bit

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Crossing the bottom of the garden on the last bit of track to be laid

RIMG4135.JPG
The obligatory 'plan view from the bedroom window', and yes that is it one 7foot 6 t0 8foot ish circle. The peg in the middle of the grass marks the centre roughly. It is a small garden probably too small for Gauge 3 really , about 15 feet wide and 25 feet long . Apart from the track and the ballast it has been made with found or free materials. It has also been planned for so long that most of the trees and plants were placed out of the way when they were planted. The rather pink fresh ballast will turn grey like the other areas fairly quickly .
I will have a go at making some points over the winter I hope, and end up pulling half of it up again to fit them I expect .:)
 

jamiepage

Western Thunderer
Excellent. There is a great deal of character in that first shot of the track disappearing round the curve.
PS What is the ballast, please?
 
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unklian

Western Thunderer
Jamie, it is Wickes 'Granular sub base' which is basically crushed granite varying in size from about an inch down to dust. I put it through a garden sieve with about a 5mm hole.RIMG3968.JPG The big stuff goes in the hole first, levelled off with some of the fine stuff, the track goes down and more fine is poured over it, and then it is poked and brushed about with an old paint brush until it looks like the picture. After a few months of rain and weather it looks like this : RIMG3950.JPG And it kind of sets a bit like very weak concrete, so it holds the track a bit and doesn't wash away too quickly.
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Ian
How did you manage to keep the track from straightening itself out once curved? I've often thought of a simple circle myself.....mmmmm.

Jon
 

unklian

Western Thunderer
Thank you all.
Jon the track was pre curved by drawing the rail through gloved hands until I had bent each piece to close to the curve I needed. I used Mr Barkers rail in 6 foot lengths, the inner rail being shortened by about 2 inches, the ends were then drilled for fishplates using a jig I bought from the states. I then assembled the sleepers onto the precurved rails. Each panel was tweeked around a bit to match a radius profile and then laid on the levelled ballast. Further bending about ensued to get the right clearances from some of the existing fixed surroundings. The result is anything but a perfect circle, but I have managed to get the curves smooth enough that my stock goes round without any untoward lurching. Using proper fish plates has helped get the joints to line up nicely, but boy was making and fitting them tedious. I did buy some from the states along with the drilling jig, but Norm's Model Supply seems to have disappeared without trace ? Finally the circle didn't work out to be an exact number of 6 and 3 foot lengths, of course, the last bit being about 2 1/2 inches long :rolleyes: RIMG4122.JPG RIMG4123.JPG
 

Jon Nazareth

Western Thunderer
Ian
It must have been difficult to get the sub-base level enough for the track to sit on squarely. I expect there was a lot of raking and tamping going on :)

Jon
 

ceejaydee

Western Thunderer
I like that circle of G3 track rather a lot.
I've had a lot of fun with my simple oval of LGB track and have been considering changing it for something larger in diameter for a while.
Must be pleasant to watch the 14/48xx amble round with a few wagons in tow :thumbs:
 

unklian

Western Thunderer
Been getting back to an old project for which there are no buffers of the correct type. So I did some patterns for LBSC self contained buffer body and the backing/reinforcing plate. Will be cast in whitemetal and fitted with Mr Williams heads. The brass bit is replaced with a PTFE bit in the mould, saves a lot of bother drilling .
RIMG4151.JPG
 

unklian

Western Thunderer
Thank you Jon they are principally for the LBSC diagram 16 and 17 bolster wagons . They also appeared on all sorts of wagons on the Isle of Wight mainly ex I W R. One of my favourites the Isle of Wight :thumbs:
 
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