The Yard - A small industrial layout in 7mm

Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
The fencing mounting and assembly jig became a handy drilling guide. I used brass rod in each end hole to keep it in position.

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Fencing was primed with Halfords grey primer, then painted with Vallejo acrylics and weathered with MIG Oilbrushers.
I was pleased with how this came out and now made a start on a shorter section to go alongside the siding in front of the gantry crane.

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Martin
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
I have now made and installed a shorter section in front of the crane. My intention is for this to look like the remnants of a fence cut away to gain access, the rest just left in place. I would like a much smaller section for the left hand end along with just a few individual posts and no wire. Unfortunately I have now run out of the mouldings, will have to take a look around at the Chatham show in a couple of weeks to see if a trader has some.

Pleased with how it has given some needed 'texture to the front of the layout. Very nearly there with what needs to be done on this layout and move on to other projects.

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Martin
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
For a while now I have wanted to increase the lighting span under the RSJ.
This meant routing four, just under one foot grooves for the LED strips.
Not so easy doing it retrospectively, this entailed clamping some offcuts of MDF to the RSJ to give the router something to sit on.

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The extra strips on one of the ends.

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I also added a new strip of LEDs along the back of the RSJ to light up the backscene and hopefully remove the shadow cast by RSJ edge with the original set up.

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Before without the extra rear light strip.

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It seems to have worked out ok, although I need to tighten the backscene, the workshop lights right above the layout are not helping by casting extra shadows and highlights. It looks much better in person than the photos.

Ultimately I may have to look into a different material to get it completely flat. May have to quiz Giles on what he used on Denton Brook.

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This can now be crossed off the list of things to do before Chatham.

Martin
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
For some while the Bedford TK has been missing the wipers and door mirrors. No idea where they went, or if we had them in the first place.
Looking back at an early photo it appears we only every had one wiper, one side light unit and no mirrors!

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It has long been on the ‘To Do’ list, so a start was made. Using two different gauges of nickle silver wire (0.9mm and 0.6mm), I filed them flat as far as I dare, then bent to shape as required. The blade frame was soldered to the arm. I stopped short of making an actual blade. This has been a job I don’t want to do again!

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They are still a bit chunky but thinner than the original plastic version.
Just need to fill the original over size holes in the body and drill new ones.

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Door mirrors next, not sure whether to do the single arm ones or the version that is more of a frame.

Martin
 
F

Frank1958

Member
Just had an enjoyable read through this thread, lovely stuff.
Hoping to get to Chatham if family plans allow, look forward to seeing this in the flesh if I get there.
Frank
 
J

John Walker

Active Member
Greengiant said:
I like the look of the frame ones, they would probably take any knocks better. Will have to remember they are there when driving in and out of the factory!
Martin
Click to expand...
I love your road vehicles, especially the Bedford TK. Do they originate from kits, and are they still available?
Regards
John Walker
 
J

John Walker

Active Member
Thanks Martin. That led me to lots of new options. My immediate want is a 2 axle tanker to sit on the platform at Hamworthy for refuelling an 04 diesel shunter in both 7mm and 3mm scales. I bought a Bedford TK brochure from the 60s on ebay last week. It includes a cab drawing with some dimensions. I thought I might use that to 3D print cabs in both scales but the curved shapes are not easy to draw.
Regards
John Walker
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
John Walker said:
Thanks Martin. That led me to lots of new options. My immediate want is a 2 axle tanker to sit on the platform at Hamworthy for refuelling an 04 diesel shunter in both 7mm and 3mm scales. I bought a Bedford TK brochure from the 60s on ebay last week. It includes a cab drawing with some dimensions. I thought I might use that to 3D print cabs in both scales but the curved shapes are not easy to draw.
Regards
John Walker
Click to expand...
Glad it was of use John.
I get a lot of info and photos from the Bedford lorries past & present page on FaceBook.
Martin
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
John Walker said:
Thanks Martin. That led me to lots of new options. My immediate want is a 2 axle tanker to sit on the platform at Hamworthy for refuelling an 04 diesel shunter in both 7mm and 3mm scales. I bought a Bedford TK brochure from the 60s on ebay last week. It includes a cab drawing with some dimensions. I thought I might use that to 3D print cabs in both scales but the curved shapes are not easy to draw.
Regards
John Walker
Click to expand...
Might be worth looking at the stuff @Arun Sharma has produced. I feel there maybe a tanker, or at least a chassis cab in his range?
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
Overall we had a good show at Chatham last weekend. Plenty of room and appropriately we were sited under a real gantry crane. The aisles were very wide which meant unloading from our vehicles was easy.


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We set up late Friday morning, did a running test in the afternoon and found the Bedford TK had melted the steering servo! Luckily we had a spare back at home and could replace the duff servo that evening.

Saturday started off with the crane hook playing up, luckily this was easily resolved by slackening off the pulley pivot bolt a touch, it was fine the rest of the weekend. Saturday afternoon the Morris had a rear wheel come loose on the axle leaving it with one wheel drive, unfortunately that meant it could not get round the slight gradient left hand end curve. Easily rectified that evening with a small dab of epoxy resin, I think I used superglue before.

Oddly as each day progressed the sound equipped narrow gauge locos started to fail. They behaved like they were losing power, but when pushed the sound would restart then the loco would fail again. They are identical SoundTraxx Tsunami chips with same make stay-alive's in two of them the third is all Bachmann sound chip with no keep alive. Two have eight wheel pick-up. I checked all pick-ups and they were fine.

If they were taken off the track for about 15 mins, they would be fine for a while then fail again. However if I was able to get them back running and turn the sound off they ran fine.

It seems like the sound part is overloading things, unfortunately the sound auto starts on first track power up. I think I may have found a CV ref on the SoundTraxx website that can disable the auto sound start, but have yet to test it out.

If that fails I will take out the sound chips, although at home they sound great, at a show you can hardly hear them, so is there any point in having sound installed?

We have a small list of tweaks we would like to do before the next outing, but we are getting very picky now.

Two shows left this year, Rapido Railex at Maidstone in September and the National Festival of Railway Modelling at the NEC in November.

Martin
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
A new lorry arrived at The Yard, a Ford Thames, it has a much larger bed than the Bedford so can take the loads normally reserved for the TK. The Bedford turned up with a selection of drive motors for the conversion.

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It was not long before the staff had the Thames stripped down, just four screws and it breaks down to these parts. The load was trickier, it had been glued in on the rear edge. I broke the rear guard rails trying to lever it out. Not a problem because the rails are coming off anyway.

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They were shocked to find it was lefthand drive, that will mean a bit of extra work making it righthand drive.

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Bearings and gears are on order for the RC conversion. Quite a bit of metal needs to be milled from the chassis casting to make room for the steering and drive units. We are hoping to make the drive unit a standalone item that can be set up on the bench, then attached to the chassis with a couple of bolts. This project needs to be completed ideally by early September.

Martin
 
Pencarrow

Pencarrow

Western Thunderer
Greengiant said:
A new lorry arrived at The Yard, a Ford Thames, it has a much larger bed than the Bedford so can take the loads normally reserved for the TK. The Bedford turned up with a selection of drive motors for the conversion.

View attachment 221106View attachment 221105
It was not long before the staff had the Thames stripped down, just four screws and it breaks down to these parts. The load was trickier, it had been glued in on the rear edge. I broke the rear guard rails trying to lever it out. Not a problem because the rails are coming off anyway.

View attachment 221107View attachment 221103
They were shocked to find it was lefthand drive, that will mean a bit of extra work making it righthand drive.

View attachment 221108View attachment 221104
Bearings and gears are on order for the RC conversion. Quite a bit of metal needs to be milled from the chassis casting to make room for the steering and drive units. We are hoping to make the drive unit a standalone item that can be set up on the bench, then attached to the chassis with a couple of bolts. This project needs to be completed ideally by early September.

Martin
Click to expand...

Interesting to hear about your experiences operating at Chatham dockyard. Friends and I did a show there over a dozen years ago and had a really bad weekend with locos steadily becoming erratic and then failing.

We found it was accumulated dirt on the wheels, pickups and motor contacts. The dirt came from the very, very dusty dockyard floor and was disturbed both by the crowds and the breeze running through the building.

We had to clean the track every hour and had a full time loco cleaning clinic running. Other exhibitors also had similar issues. We were strongly advised to cover the layout with plastic sheeting that evening. This was to keep the dust, bird poo and rain from a leaking roof off the layout.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
I’m sorry I missed the show, we were returning from hols, or I’d certainly have been there.

I have heard of disasters at the Chatham show, but it’s always one I like to visit, if possible.
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
Pencarrow said:
Interesting to hear about your experiences operating at Chatham dockyard. Friends and I did a show there over a dozen years ago and had a really bad weekend with locos steadily becoming erratic and then failing.

We found it was accumulated dirt on the wheels, pickups and motor contacts. The dirt came from the very, very dusty dockyard floor and was disturbed both by the crowds and the breeze running through the building.

We had to clean the track every hour and had a full time loco cleaning clinic running. Other exhibitors also had similar issues. We were strongly advised to cover the layout with plastic sheeting that evening. This was to keep the dust, bird poo and rain from a leaking roof off the layout.
Click to expand...
It was not as dusty as in days of old at Chatham. I did have a sheet that covers the whole layout for overnight. I never cleaned the track all weekend. It just had a wipe of graphite the week prior to the show. I suspect my problem is sound chips overloading.
Martin
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
simond said:
I’m sorry I missed the show, we were returning from hols, or I’d certainly have been there.

I have heard of disasters at the Chatham show, but it’s always one I like to visit, if possible.
Click to expand...
I think it has the chance to be like the Chatham shows of old. I guess it depends if the numbers stack up for the club.
Our next outing is in September at Rapido Railex in Maidstone. Slightly odd in being a Friday/Saturday show.
Martin
 
Greengiant

Greengiant

Western Thunderer
We came to the conclusion the front road is probably a little too rough and can hinder the smooth control of the lorries depending on your exact route.

Decision made, it was out with the pot of filler.

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Over the next few days it was sanded and filled a number of times, until finally some base colour could be added.

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Once dry for a day, a top covering was applied and stuck down with Modge Podge, plenty was put on and pressed and left to dry. This will then be hoovered off and brushed for testing with the lorries.


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A layer was applied to the rear of each fiddle yard, these ones will be sprayed black and then weathered.


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Martin
 
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