Paul's workbench

[jwealleans]

I'm very glad you specified what that was for... I was on the point of having to go and wash my mind out.

[Pebbles]

Maybe I did not express myself clearly. The point is to use a reversed Gibson top hat bush on the Romford type crankpin. It could be secured with a small dab of glue. Should you wish to remove it could be fairly easily done with a hot iron.

[nzpaul]

I'm very glad you specified what that was for... I was on the point of having to go and wash my mind out.

Haha. One should be more careful slipping double ender....sorry....double entendres into the conversation, could be open to misinterpretation.

Maybe I did not express myself clearly. The point is to use a reversed Gibson top hat bush on the Romford type crankpin. It could be secured with a small dab of glue. Should you wish to remove it could be fairly easily done with a hot iron.

Ah, sorry. I read Gibson crank pin reversed and immediately assumed fitting the screw from the rod side. It has still got me thinking about trying that idea though.

Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
Nearly a year and a half after starting construction, the Judith Edge V4 is ready to head off to its home. Despite being in black livery it's still a very smart looking engine. As requested, the finish is toned down although I wouldn't go so far a to say I've weathered it. The owner (Mike) provided an ESU Lockpilot decoder and 8 pin socket, all installed in the tender and there's a 4 pin plug connection between loco and tender. The decoder required significant alteration of the motor control parameters to work properly but the end result is excellent.
Just to recap, it has a Mitsumi motor and High Level Roadrunner gearbox, Markits driving wheels with Gibson tender and bogie wheels. The chassis is built rigid as I had dramas with the compensation so abandoned it early on.

Link to a short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO4Iwn1xwws

Paul

[Dave]

Very nice Paul, I'm sure Mike will be very pleased with it. Pity
it was not ready in time for Mike to bring it to the UK when he came over.

[will5210]

Very nice!

[nzpaul]

Thank you gents.
I'm not sure if Mike would trust the laugage handlers to get it there in one piece though. If current rumours are correct, Mike might be back in the UK next year, so it could become a flying V4 yet.

Paul

[nzpaul]

Hi All
A couple of NBR locos on the go at the moment. The rebuild of A GEM J36 and assembly of a 52F N15. The two are perhaps polar opposites on the kit spectrum. The J36 was gifted to me by the gentleman for whom I built the V4. Its condition was more or less similar to the last GEM J36 I had a go at, assembled but hobbled with a Ks mk2 motor and very old Romford wheels, 20mm on one side and 21mm on the other. I can't imagine any circumstance where that lot could have been successful.
The main frames consist of brass sides attached to white metal spacers, the frames were true, so I decided to revitalise them with a set of Scalelink wheels and drive provided by a Mitsumi 1519 motor coupled to a 40:1 gear set. An initial tight spot was ironed out thanks to a tip from Dave (of Dave's C & W Works fame), a spot of toothpaste run in the gear set for 20 minutes or so, cleaned up oiled and what do you know, pretty smooth now. Here's a short video of post toothpaste testing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOe3fY1UJXA
Work has now progressed to chassis detail and stripping the body in preparation for a makeover.

The N15 kit is in very early in the build, but even at this stage it has been readily apparent that Mr Stanger has put a great deal of thought into it. The etches are superb and so far everything has gone together with relative ease. The instruction set is nothing like I've seen before, leaving no doubt as to how the kit is supposed to go together.
When complete, this will join the V4 on the Aberdeen Ferryhill layout.

Paul

[Dave]

The NBR seems to be of interest from us modellers, your loco my wagons.

[Hatfield Shed]

...Romford wheels, 20mm on one side and 21mm on the other. I can't imagine any circumstance where that lot could have been successful...

Considering the wheels alone; given significantly more sideplay, it should run very nicely on a 338mm centreline radius circle - with the larger wheels on the outside rail of course...

[Atlantic 3279]

I'm reminded of trying to build my Little Engines J11 kit some years ago. Pre-owned, but un-started, the kit came with 6 Romford/Markits driving wheels already added to the box, 3 visibly insulate, 3 plain (but with proper n/s tyres). They all looked the same size, at a glance, so I used them, initially, until I got to the point of scratching my head trying to work out why, despite careful, accurate assembly, the loco was leaning to one side by far more than the amount that would be sorted out by a quick rub with file...

Yes, 3 x 20mm wheels, and 3 x 21mm! Why?

And for good measure, I'd also had a bit of struggle getting the solder to flow properly with the iron at usual settings when building up the basics of the whitemetal body, as well as finding it hard work to file or scrape off stray solder. I had carelessly picked up the 145C solder instead of the 73C variety. Still, it all worked out well in the end.

[nzpaul]

The NBR seems to be of interest from us modellers, your loco my wagons.

As it should be Dave, especially to a NER man, given the interfaces at Berwick and Carlisle.

Considering the wheels alone; given significantly more sideplay, it should run very nicely on a 338mm centreline radius circle - with the larger wheels on the outside rail of course...

Somebody had to do the maths.....set it up to turn left and run it in Nascar.

I'm reminded of trying to build my Little Engines J11 kit some years ago. Pre-owned, but un-started, the kit came with 6 Romford/Markits driving wheels already added to the box, 3 visibly insulate, 3 plain (but with proper n/s tyres). They all looked the same size, at a glance, so I used them, initially, until I got to the point of scratching my head trying to work out why, despite careful, accurate assembly, the loco was leaning to one side by far more than the amount that would be sorted out by a quick rub with file...

Yes, 3 x 20mm wheels, and 3 x 21mm! Why?

And for good measure, I'd also had a bit of struggle getting the solder to flow properly with the iron at usual settings when building up the basics of the whitemetal body, as well as finding it hard work to file or scrape off stray solder. I had carelessly picked up the 145C solder instead of the 73C variety. Still, it all worked out well in the end.

The bloke putting the kits together didn't like railway modellers perhaps, trolling I think it's called these days.
The wrong solder can lead to some nervous moments, get the iron hot enough to flow the solder and move fast enough to avoid the white metal evaporating. It can be done, but not recommended for beginners.

Paul

[Danby Wiske]

...get the iron hot enough to flow the solder and move fast enough to avoid the white metal evaporating.

Blimey that's hot! Was your iron designed by Oppenheimer?

[nzpaul]

...get the iron hot enough to flow the solder and move fast enough to avoid the white metal evaporating.

Blimey that's hot! Was your iron designed by Oppenheimer?

Ha, as hot as a Mexican's lunch box.... doesn't split atoms to the best of my knowledge.

[nzpaul]

Something that may be mildly interesting to some. I've had these horrible little plastic car kits for years and whilst having the life drained away from me by TVs offerings, I decided to see what could be done with the kits instead. The origin of them is a mystery, but my guess is that they have probably come from Christmas crackers or something similar. The scaling seems to be arranged so they all end up roughly the same size as opposed to the same scale. The Bugatti scales out at about 1:72, whereas the Bentley 3 litre is more like 1:80, both usable as long as they're not close together. The unpainted one is, I think, a Morris Oxford Bullnose. The Bentley and Bugatti each took around 2 or 3 hours to complete, painted with Tamiya and Citadel acrylic paints and a great deal more entertaining than Coronation St.

Paul