7mm Parky's Workbench

[farnetti]

That's the vision sorted, so now just got to find out how to pick up and manipulate some of the pieces of these bogies from Mr Parkins. Won't even consider the soldering bit yet

Anyway, is are there others planning on going to the Bristol exhibition in 3 weeks ?

I am going to be there if you want to waste some time discussing BR1 bogies.

Ken

 

[Dog Star]

I am going to be there if you want to waste some time discussing BR1 bogies.

Now that sounds interesting, may others join in?

 

[SteadyRed]

Shame David doesn't make a kit for B4/5 & commonwealth bogies. The B1 bogies look superb.

 

[parky]

Yes the B1's are exquisite. I have everything cut, cleaned and bent up ready to assemble. I do like the fact that pieces slot into others and can then be clamped. No point posting progress of my B1's when farnetti has done so in such detail
7mm - MK1 Brake Goods | Western Thunder

I did start soldering up but have stopped now as my current methods are not a patch on Ken's virtual no-solder process. I think I will either send for a solder paste or at this late stage wait and get some at Bristol. Well that is weather dependant. We got home from Liverpool last night to an inch of snow up here on the hill

 

[parky]

Whilst looking at other things brass, I am after some info on the Class 37. Does anyone have access to the works drawings of a Class37 please ?

I want to try and sort out this odd shaped roof and reasoned if I could get the dimensions I can make an inner former for the brass. So really only the main roof radius and the transition curve into the bodyside. I presume I also need the centre of the arc to have a chance of getting them aligned

A web search is not getting very far other than end on shots, which I might be able to scale

 

[40126]

@Pugsley ?.

 

[Pugsley]

Nope, sorry.

 

[farnetti]

Now that sounds interesting, may others join in?

Hi Graham,

I think S7 have a stand there, many of the SW area group are going. In any case will no doubt spot the GB red hat from afar.

If Parky replies can make a specific time.

Ken

 

[parky]

Sounds good plan to me

I might know some of the SW group from my time living in Bristol

 

[parky]

Well I failed to get sorted and arrange to meet WT's at Bristol last weekend, though I did drop in and see Brian Daniels with his impressive 4TC. I only spent a bit on some Easi-Build wheelsets, but the event was good and I got my mind sorted as to what I do and don't want to model

So I came home and weakened by ordering a BFK from the MMP stable. Having made a start on the pair of MMP bogies the other week the draw of the 64' MK1 chassis in it's glorious detail was too much. It seems a shame to put the coach body on the top later

I seem to have fallen into the trap that everyone else has, of having many kits on the go at once. Once the MK1 chassis and bogies are done, I really must get the Summers hoppers finished as they are well over half done already

A bit of a delay though at the moment as the railway room needed a new ceiling. Whilst putting the first new piece of plasterboard up today the plaster started falling off the walls. So now another 10 sheets of plasterboard are required after the walls have been cleaned up. Then I can get the N gauge layout built alongside the O gauge kit building bench

Now that MMP 40ton bogie trolley does look nice. Oh don't go there get on with what you have to do

 

[parky]

It's been a long time and nothing to show here for it. I lost the Mojo for a bit, with other things in life going on

Meeting Peter (PAD) at Keighley was really useful as not only did the 12W coach get towed around by one of Peter's excellent locos, but with a bit of prompting on his thread to get my workbench thread updated. Got to do some of that gainful employment all week so will see what time is available outside of that to upload some build photos here

 

[parky]

And one down with 10 to go. Oh and a few other things to finish off in the background

 

[parky]

The final fittings on the hopper now done, ladders characteristic of the John Summers hoppers over the Tunstead ones



A bit of a production run whilst I was motivated to do the rest of the first batch of hoppers



Also I got a second Brake van finished as was typical in the day, top and tail

 

[parky]

To fill on some other things I have turned my hands to and not updated here

I wanted to have a go at building some track to see what the challenges were. Well with some Peco chairs holding some Marcway rail to Intenio sleepers, I then went one step further and looked at Templot and a simple turnout plan. Well a guy at the club ended up buying it off me for his home layout. Following that he went on to build his own points with my assistance. I went on to build this



This was designed for Richard Lambert and uploaded to Templot, so I admit to poaching it and not taking the time to learn Martin's excellent software system. The ability to select a blade length and radius and just print is such an asset to the hobby so much so I sent a donation in return
I have to admit I still have to glue the blades in place but I have been busy doing so much else as further updates will illustrate

 

[parky]

Another thing that has kept the soldering iron off in another direction has been exploring the mysteries of MERG and their technologies


A complete 5amp DCC system in a box for less that £200 with wireless control via a redundant mobile phone. As most of you wield a mean soldering iron and can follow well written instructions, I don't see any barriers to seeing more of these around

My setup does include one of those Raspberry Pi computers to run JMRI layout control software and advertise WiFi for the phone, but there are simpler options. I did it that way because that is my industry at present, but not beyond what can be found by your favourite search engine. I like it because it offers the ability to add another handset for almost nowt by re-using another redundant smart phone or even buying a new cheap one (must be all this living in Yorkshire)

It might look busy but all the components are far bigger than a lot of the detail parts in loco kits and the MERG instructions are spot on, if you follow them to the letter. Some basic tests as you go along and it just works. If you want a thread purely on building something like this then let me know and I will put something together. Also at £16 a year MERG membership is a bargain

Going on from there also on a MERG them are some more boards that I have built

It all looks a bit complex but essentially the yellow and blue wire connecting the two boards are the communication wires which can be metres apart. Once you have configured it you can press a button on the left and the servo on the right operate and vice versa. If you want to know how well it performs then see if you can pay a visit to Pete Watermans layout as they use it in a big way. Again the boards are £10-15 each for a number of channels so fits in with my learnings in Yorkshire as an 'incomer'. I will never be naturalised as I am Lancastrian

 

[parky]

Well welcome to the new year of 2019 and some time to get the Mojo back over the holidays. I thought it time I cleared the workbench of those almost done items. So now we have two of Jim's brake vans and two of Warren's Summers hoppers ready for the better weather and the spray can



The Heljan Class 40 finally has it's body fastened back on now that I have removed the plastic mount that I put in for the Zimo 699 decoder. The fan controller was fouling the decoder so once I have fathomed out which terminals to use for the fan that will be getting wired in again. I was hoping to call in at the Digitrains stand at Bristol for advice but they are not listed to attend so must make time to ring them

The Duchess has now got to the front of the queue and based on several excellent threads from Peter (PAD) and others it's time to get this built. After looking over it and giving it a clean I decided to go back to a kit of parts. My building skills have improved since I part built it, so I can now hopefully put it together cleaner and with less visible solder like the experts on here. Well I can hope



So now the tender has got all it's brake gear it didn't have earlier and I even improved it like through chassis rod for brake hangers and sleeved spacers to step the shoes out. I want to get the detail added while the sheet is in the flat as so many on here do and then assemble the complete component
So now we are back up with the main superstructure awaiting the fitting of the coal hopper once the rear bulkhead is fastened in place

I decided to go back to the safety flux and washing with just a lanolin free soap. As others have found the limescale removers take the Zinc away and leave you with a coppery pink. The second hopper ended up like that, so lesson learnt

Time to logon for work so will see what time I have later to do the next phase

 

[P A D]

Hi Parky,
Sorry I don't remember your name from when we met at Keighley some weeks ago. If you need any help with any aspects of the build, give me a shout and if I can help I will.

I took minde to Keighley last weekend and although she ran well, it's clear that if you want it to pull a realistic load, then it needs more weight. You might want to consider that before you are too far on.

With mine I intend to make some sort of small cloth tube sealed at one end. I can feed that into the boiler via the firebox end, then pour in lead shot till it's full then stitch up the open end. That's the theory anyway.

I searched for liquid lead and found it for about £8/500grams. I bought 3kg from a skuba diving store for 20 quid delivered, so £3.30/500 grams. I've got the Duchess, an A3 and a BR 4MT tank to "fatten" up so that's quite a saving. On the A4 I have some lead sheeting that I can cut to size, fold and glue inside the resin casing so that's an easy one to add weight to.

Good luck with the Duchess and keep the photos coming.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[simond]

Peter,

Having had the awful experience of lead shot and PVA, I searched for an alternative. Casting resin seems to work very well with the lead shot, of which I had a 2.5 litre plastic bottle full from the local gunsmith, so might be worthy of consideration. A simple mould from plasticene is all you need to create custom weights.

OTOH, your “lead sock” will be easier to wangle into the boiler.

Atb
Simon

 

[parky]

Hi Peter, thanks for the offer of guidance I will post up pictures and you can keep an eye on proceedings

The bunker is looking to be a challenge as you found and I might resort to splitting it down into parts as you did. I don't seem to be able to find a datum point to work to for getting the sides in. Fitting the central flat and slope is good enough but getting the sides to fit and then the side slopes in is not. One piece at a time looks to be the way

 

[P A D]

Parky,
I think in the end I had a bit of a gap at the front edges of the sides of the bunker, but covered these with some waste etch strips. I'll check it tomorrow.

By the way I have lots of photos of both DoS and CoB, and provided you ignore the preservation features on DoS, are useful references. CoB is in BR condition but is of course a de-streamlined version, but apart from the split running plate it's still a very good detail reference. If you need anything on that let me know and I will post any photos that may assist.

Simon,
Thanks for the comments on lead shot and PVA. It's because of the issues that occur when PVA breaks down liberating acetic acid, that I thought I'd try a dry approach, particularly as the Duchess is painted. I'm thinking that with a fabric tube, the lead will be retained, will settle to the shape of the boiler and can be easily removed in the future if desired. I'll post some pics on my own thread when I get around to doing it.

As to lead shot, according to the DCC concepts website, it is becoming more difficult to get hold of due to restrictions on selling it by gun shops. Don't know about that, as it seems readily available from various sellers on ebay for use as divers pouch weights. The stuff I've bought is about 2mm diameter so should be just fine and is less than half the cost of liquid lead.

Sorry for the hijack Parky.

Cheers,
Peter