Garden Railway Forum

Power and control now fitted. 14D03 (63).JPG And it works – first up and down the three foot of track I have at home, and then down to the FBGR to test the running. 14D03 (72).JPG The gearing is a little noisy, but I am hoping that a couple of hours of running will cure this, in the mean time I am a...

Thanks for comments. Having comments / praise on this Forum, the only one I contribute to, is sufficient ego massage for me – I did send off a couple of items for MONTY a couple of years ago and managed to get a ‘commendation’ for one of them – so ‘been there done that’. The glazing material used is...

First Assembly and testing. Well all the basic stuff done so far seems to have gone together quite well, it was time to test the rolling chassis (without the motor or controls). 14D03 (67).JPG 14D03 (69).JPG 14D03 (68).JPG And then down to the FBGR to test it round all the bends and through all the ...

The Main Frame is done. Basically just a sheet of 2mm thick Plasticard for the ‘footplate’ with lots of bits fixed to it. 14D03 (59).JPG 14D03 (56).JPG 14D03 (60).JPG 14D03 (54).JPG Although I have made provision for all the power and controls, none are fitted as yet - space has been allotted to fit...

The thought that this bit of the roof was going to be ‘challenging’ did mean that I had put off doing the Railcar for a few years, all the time hopefully gaining a little more experience with the material. In the end this is only my second attempt. However, while it may not look too bad as bare plas...

I have never done any aeroplanes, but have done a few 16mm coach roofs.

JOhn

The Roof is done.
The shape over the driving cab involved a lot of thin layers and a lot of sanding down between to get rid of ridges – hopefully it will look all right when it gets painted.

Next the Main Frame / Chassis.

JOhn

I must work a little differently to you Peter. I have a small ‘hobby’ type drill (Dremmell) hanging under the corner of my work table, but rarely use it, preferring to take my time with cutting/whittling to near the final shape and then sanding/filing to the finish as required – so I would not consi...

Dear Invicta280, I don’t think I use anything special in the tool department: - Digital calliper – accurate measurement and marking/scoring where to cut, Swan Morton scalpel with No.10A blade, Small files – they will never wear out on plastic, Small drills – they will never wear out on the plastic, ...

Main bodywork now made. 14D03 (39).JPG 14D03 (42).JPG 14D03 (43).JPG 14D03 (45).JPG Mostly Plasticard of course. Brandbright Door Handles – I tried to make these in Plasticard, but they turned out too brittle. Steel mesh is from an old flour strainer – old (or even new) kitchenware can be a good sou...

Bonnet now made. This is just large enough to be able to fit in a block of 6 AA sized batteries – nice to get them out of the way and not cluttering up the underside. 14D03 (31).JPG 14D03 (30).JPG All from Plasticard except the bonnet handles of copper wire. Next will be the main bodywork. JOhn

After wishing, hoping and planning for a Railcar on the FBGR, it is finally going to happen. I have been looking out for information for some years and have even had a couple of false starts where I made a couple of bits, found a problem and then went on to something else. I’ve started now, but ther...

A complete conversion chart for model paints can be found here :-

http://www.paint4models.com/

JOhn

A few Christmases ago, this yard crane kit from POLA G was received as a present. 13D01 (62).jpg At last I have got round to building the kit, but not quite following all the instructions. The kit itself consists of a number of different coloured plastic components, all numbered in frames, with diag...

How I make rivets heads (taken from my 'FBGR Loco No.5'): Take a piece of plasticard rod, the size to suit the diameter of rivet head required (there are three different sizes used on this loco). Round or dome the end of the rod by spinning it in the fingers against a fine file. I then cut the rivet...

Wheels sent back – there was nothing wrong with them (except the size).

Railcar project how held up until I can source some suitable wheels.

JOhn.

I have just been measuring up some wheels that I bought this month from a 16mm supplier with an apparently good reputation. What I ordered was four 26mm diameter steel wheels plain disc - what I got was four 22mm diameter steel wheels (they were 26mm diameter over the outside of the flanges) – but t...

Thanks for the kind comments. This building is now firmly screwed down in position on the FBGR, so there is no prospect of it travelling to anywhere. I think that the weathering has come out very well (always a surprise to me), sometimes it is a case of less is more. Now I wait and see what the weat...

Dear Derek, Everything is plastic. For downpipes and gutters I use rod/tube (mostly Evergreen sections but sometime Plastistrut, as available at my local model shops), with the gutter made by splitting bits of 20-25mm long tube in half and then joining them end to end. Joints and brackets are made w...

Thank you Bazzer42. The bricks (and slates) are all individually applied, there are several thousand of them (0.5mm thick sheet for the bricks, 0.75mm thick sheet for slates). The main walls are 1.5mm thick sheet, reinforced with 25mm deep 1.5mm thick ribs in line with the openings, both vertically ...