On SRman's Workbench

Discussion in 'Workshop Benches' started by SRman, Feb 27, 2016.

  1. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    With the chassis being metal where the decoder was scheduled to reside, I added a layer of Kapton tape to insulate it and ensure there was no possible way of any wiring coming into contact with the bare metal. One other thing occurs to me though: the ESU decoders aren't wrapped, whereas the Zimo ones are, adding an extra layer of protection.
     
  2. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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  3. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

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    Looking good, it definitely improves the look of the loco, well done. :tophat::thumbs:

    Cheer's, Pete.
     
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  4. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    I have two Wickham trolleys from Bachmann, and both are a little light-footed, particularly noticeable on gradients such as they encountered on my friend, Doug's figure-8 layout. I decided to experiment a bit with some thin sheet lead. The first test uses slightly thicker lead than I had intended, but I may panel-beat it out a bit further to do the job properly.

    Anyway, what I have done is to glue a couple of rectangles of the lead into the roof of the trolley, to add weight over the unpowered wheels to improve electrical pickup a little. Then, I used a larger rectangle bent to represent a tarpaulin over the rather unconvincing fake ballast load. First impressions are good, although it does need some refinement, and I definitely need to use thinner lead for the future. The photos show the unpainted result, as it is now. Painting it once I am happy with the final shape will improve the look even more. The main thing is that it has vastly improved the traction of the powered wheels.

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    Wickham Trolley with Lead Load Cover - 2 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    Wickham Trolley with Lead Load Cover - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
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  5. Kimbo

    Kimbo Staff Member Moderator

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    Great tip there saman :thumbup: I saw one running for the first time at the Perth show last week, they look like a very tiny thing to work on.

    Kim
     
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  6. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    They are a bit like working on a wrist watch - all the parts are tiny, fiddly, and depend on each other to stay in place! Move one bit and several others will fall out. :avatar::avatar:

    If I do what I intend with the other Wickham trolley I have, it will involve drilling and cutting out the ballast load and replacing it with sleepers and more subtle lead bits, but will require the motor to be tied down, probably with some wire.
     
  7. Echidna

    Echidna Full Member

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    Dear SRman, I would not be overly concerned at the Sturgeon wagon having kinked or slightly misaligned hand rails, photos of the prototype by Paul Bartlett
    ( www.paulbartlett.zenfolio.com ) seems to indicate that as being a common affliction . In latter days, the wagon sides disappeared completely, probably due to the increased used of heavy machinery for loading and unloading. As an aside, modern large , heavy machinery is the main reason why track occupation these days results in a whole sections of line closed to rail traffic altogether. The large machines need a lot of room to move around , and this necessitates complete line closure. Your kits have come up well , especially as this kit is known to be difficult and fiddly. Excellent ! best wishes and regards, Echidna.
     
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  8. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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  9. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Jeffrey Lynn
    Just now
    I did two more name/number/works plate fittings today with the Narrow Planet etched plates. Featured this time are Hatton's Andrew Barclay 14" 0-4-0ST No. 14, 'Avril' (ex-Caledonian Railway livery), with large works plates added, and Hornby Sentinel 0-4-0 diesel No 12, 'Alberta'. I have added a little weathering to both, and managed to dislodge a little of the lining on the other side of the Sentinel, which I'll have to fix again before varnishing it.

    The 16" Andrew Barclay No. 15, and Janus No. 16 from yesterday are also in the pics.

    [​IMG]
    P_20180714_190705_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180714_190613_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180714_190629_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180714_190644_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180714_190808_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180714_190726_vHDR_Auto by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
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  10. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    For the recent exhibition at Caulfield, I had a couple of Parkside Palvan kits in reserve, but didn't get the chance to build them there, so they have been a quick diversion over the last few days at home.

    They aren't finished yet, with a coat of varnish required to protect the transfers needed. The paint is patchy but that really doesn't matter once they are varnished and subsequently weathered. The photos show them at various stages to date.

    Note, I only had one 'proper' set of transfers for Palvans, so made up the second one but it is still missing the actual 'PALVAN' lettering. That can always be added at a later time.

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    P_20180829_111226_vHDR_On cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180830_092915_vHDR_On cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180902_160901_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180902_160854_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
  11. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    I did a little powder weathering on the two Palvans this morning. On one I used grey and dark earth coloured powders, while on the other, I used dirty black and dark rust. As you can see, the effects are quite different. I think the paler one may need a little dirty black worked into the crevices too.

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    P_20180904_105407_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180904_105419_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


    The loco is a Heljan class 07 diesel shunter, D2990. While it has a very slight tight spot at extremely slow speeds, it runs very smoothly at all other speeds. It too needs a little weathering, but I haven't figured out what will be the best effects or methods yet.
     
  12. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    After a long wait, the Electra Railway Graphics (ERG) vinyls have arrived for the Bratchell class 455/9 kit I was building in South West Trains livery.

    While there is still work to do and some adjustments to make with paint, I am happy with the effect on the first Driving Trailer Standard (DTS). Putting these on and trimming slightly to compensate for the odd discrepancy is time consuming, with the use of a hair dryer set on hot to help settle the vinyls over raised detail and form it around corners, so the other three coaches are going to be done over the next couple of months (because of other commitments I have in the next few weeks).

    Anyway, here are photos of the work so far, with, as I said, more blending in and touching up to do. The first couple are a little blurred because they were taken rather hastily.

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    P_20180913_121926_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180913_121935_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180913_191324_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180913_191332_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
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  13. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Coming back to the class 455/9, the unit will be numbered (45)5907.

    I have made a little further progress on adding the vinyls, this time to the Motor Brake Standard Open (MBSO), and in matching the blue on the Driving Trailer. There is some work involved in finishing these off and correcting a few errors in the vinyls, but overall the vinyl overlays take a lot of the hard work out of adding the livery elements and details.

    Note that the DTS is not sitting properly on its chassis in the pics, hence the slight lean.

    [​IMG]P_20180916_135806_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180916_135758_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr


    Also on the workbench are a couple of positively ancient Airfix cattle wagons, built when I was teenager. They had crudely added Triang metal couplings, and had lost the odd buffer, but otherwise were basically intact. The first thing was to replace the old plastic wheels with metal ones, but they didn't want to roll freely at all, so I drilled out the axle boxes and put brass bearings in, with little improvement. Next, I tried reducing the length of the axles slightly, using a drill and file to turn them down a bit; this was a little better but they are still stiffer than is really desirable.

    I replaced the missing buffers with approximations from the spares boxes (a few real wagons could, and did run sometimes with odd buffers). I replaced a missing coupling with a Parkside NEM adapter and Bachmann coupling, something I'll do with the rest of the couplings if or when I can get the wagons to run properly.

    The photos show them in pretty well the finish I achieved when I built them all those years ago. Also in the photos are the two Parkside Palvans I built a week or two ago, with just a tad more weathering applied.

    [​IMG]
    P_20180916_135814_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20180916_135831_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
  14. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    I have another rather unexpected addition to my industrial loco stud. I bought a quite old Jouef SNCF outside framed 0-6-0 diesel shunter, which runs smoothly enough at low speeds but had a little bit of dry-bearing shriek (easily fixed with a bit of oil and some running).

    It came in a dark green with yellow stripes, but I have been painting it into a fictional scheme more in keeping with some of my other industrials; French blue with white bands, and red buffer beams, coupling rods, cranks and radiator grille.

    I cleaned up the glazing with some T-cut while I had it apart. I have also removed the side railings to ease painting, but I think it may look a little more Anglicised if I leave those off.

    Once I am happy with the running, I'll have to shoehorn a decoder into it. I'll also have to do something about the couplings, as this one pre-dates the change to NEM pockets.

    [​IMG]
    P_20181023_101134_vHDR_On cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

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    P_20181023_101149_vHDR_On cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr
     
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  15. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    My latest experiment with sound is to try out a Soundtraxx Econami decoder with UK diesel sounds. I have fitted it to a Bachmann Ivatt 10001 diesel, with a 28mm round speaker. This particular speaker is only rated at 1w but I have the volume turned down; even so, it emits the occasional pop, so I will need to fit a better speaker once I can find one of the right size. The Econami decoder is rated for 8 ohm 2 watt speakers. I do have a few suitably rated speakers but they are all too deep to fit the Bachmann body/chassis clearances.

    The sound from this decoder is not too bad. I tried out each of the sound sets in turn: class 20 (default), class 31, class 37, class 47, class 66 and Derby Lightweight DMU. The last one sounds good but seems to lack any gear changes so immediately fails on that score - I won't be buying any of these decoders to fit into any of my DMUs. The rest are good, but for 10000/10001, I couldn't decide between the class 31 and the class 37 sounds, with both having 12 cylinder EE Co engines, whereas the Ivatt duo had early versions of the 16 cylinder engines. Both sets of sounds are reasonable substitutes for a type that has no prototype recordings to work from. I think the class 31 horn sounds fit my idea of what 10001 should sound like - one tone only needed.

    Anyway, so far I think the Econami is promising as a lower priced sound decoder, with more features and adaptability than the even less expensive Hornby TTS decoders.

    I will strongly consider buying two more diesel versions, to fit into my Heljan Lion (8-pin - class 47 sounds but different horns), and the other Bachmann Ivatt (10000) in my stocks to enable easy operation as a matched pair.
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2018
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  16. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Hi Jeff,

    It would be interesting to hear the loco and the Soundtraxx Econami sound profile, as I believe the sound is a generic diesel sound for British locos. No doubt you'll post up a video once you have sourced the correct speaker.

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  17. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    The different sound sets are selected using a CV, so each set of engine sounds is different and behaves differently - even the 31 and 37 are different, albeit the real things do use the same engines but with certain differences in equipment and control gear. 10001 with class 66 sounds just didn't seem quite right to me!

    :avatar: :avatar::avatar:
     
  18. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Nice. :thumbs:
    Funnily enough, I read what you wrote but what I should have written was 'I believed that the decoder was loaded with a generic British diesel sound...'! :facepalm:

    Nice to know that there are a few different loco sounds on that particular decoder. I do like the Soundtraxx Tsunami 2 decoders for the Alcos, EMDs, GE and Baldwin locos, very nice.

    Soundtraxx Tsunami sound files : https://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami2/tsu2steamsound.php

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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  19. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    I will try to do a recording soon, Gary. At present I have a few jobs to do on the layout, and was just discussing with SWMBO as to the assistance I will require to do these jobs:

    1. Add a hinged prop to the lifting section so it doesn't need to be held open - this will also require a little bit of strip wood to prevent the loose end from slipping accidentally

    2. Add a couple of strip wood retainers for the wires passing over the Underground tracks, on the underside of the lifting section

    3. Transfer each of the six pairs of wires on the rotary multi-pole switch for the programming track to a new switch - the old one partially seized preventing me from selecting the DC controller. This needs an extra pair of hands to hold the switches while I desolder then resolder each of the wires in turn.

    Then, I have to find where the cats have hidden my compact video camera!
     
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  20. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    Maybe you can get the cat to help you with the de-soldering ! :avatar::avatar:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
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