Garden Railway Forum

Next step was painting the assembled parts. Let me digress on the subject of painting. I hate it. I always have trouble with painted parts. I always try to touch them to see if they are dry before they are actually dry. Also, I live in a remote area and no store here has etching primer. Eventually I...

Now the next thing to do is probably continue building, but I don't know anyone who would be able to resist a steam test at this point. ./myff/1006842/100_0916.JPG Surprisingly,(to me) it ran pretty well just with the "rough set-up" as described in the manual. Later, I would adjust the val...

Next step was to solder together the body panels. A lot of the bending, but not all, is done at the factory. It is very easy because the sheets consist of two panels bonded together. wherever there is a fold, the line of the fold is etched into one layer. When the fold is made this etched line close...

Here is the next step: the valve gear. Despite all the tiny screws that love to roll away and hide in the carpet, this is actually pretty easy. The instructions are very clear. They show how to roughly set up valve timing, and then how to fine tune it once the boiler is on. The boiler in these pictu...

First step: assemble and paint frame. I decided to paint the insides red, as I like how that looks. ./myff/1006797/100_0857.JPG Next was to install the wheels, and mount the cylinders. I painted the insides of the wheels first. ./myff/1006799/100_0862.JPG Then I attached the connecting rods and the ...

(..encouraged, he goes ahead to post countless pictures.) Please ignore the date at the bottom of the pictures.. Every time I put batteries in the camera, it resets the clock, and I can't be bothered to reset it. I ordered four kits: Chassis, Boiler, Body, and Tender. THe tender is not really for th...

I'm in the process of putting the finishing touches on a Roundhouse "Billy" with the four-wheel tender. It was a sheer pleasure to assemble, not only because the parts all fit utterly perfectly, but now I have a nice model which as far as I'm concerned basically guarantees that I will some...

Oh good. I was hoping to sell some forested land over here in Canada, and I was wondering how to bring it up. Is this an appropriate place?

I actually rather like the colour, and what "James-Buzz" said.

I've got those little lamps too. I like them. I got a red one for the tail end too. I've been watching this thread to get ideas for decorating "Billy". Nice work! ./myff/1006578/100_0947.JPG I expect those magnets would work fairly well, I've got some "rare earth magnets" and the...

Good grief Pendo those are excellent pictures. The one of "Countess" and the brake standing at the platform in "technochrome" looks like the real thing if it wasn't for the pressure gauge peeking out of the locomotive spectacle! What type of model is "countess"? Is it A...

Their VoR matchwood stuff is laser cut, so should be pretty good. To be honest, I think the summer coach looks just like something I would like to see on a little scenic railway. I think I'll order one. If it's a bit oversize so much the better, it's going on 45mm track behind a Roundhouse engine.

Mike, how do you find the steaming performance with the chuff pipe? That chimney is quite narrow, and the chuff pipe obstructs quite a bit of it. Obviously it works, but do you find the burner performance any different, or that more exhaust is escaping out the drain at the bottom of the smokebox ra...

Mike, how do you find the steaming performance with the chuff pipe? That chimney is quite narrow, and the chuff pipe obstructs quite a bit of it. Obviously it works, but do you find the burner performance any different, or that more exhaust is escaping out the drain at the bottom of the smokebox rat...

OK thanks guys, but for a guy who can't be bothered with "scale", how do the coaches look otherwise? I'm just looking for something to chain to the backside of the Billy that won't look ridiculous.

I've become rather enamoured of a VoR "summer coach" someone is building here. I looked at them on IP's website and they look great there too. I think one of those might look nice behind my Roundhouse "Billy". I've also noticed that they have some coaches that are specifically me...

As for the cylinder covers, they are only cosmetic, but I just ordered some for my engine. I have seen the cylinders painted and they look pretty good, but I am worried that they are very oily if it's been run, and it would be difficult to do a proper job etching/masking/priming/painting them withou...

If it's that old, and there isn't any foreign substance in between the cylinder and the port face, perhaps the trunnion springs have lost their temper and aren't as "springy" as they used to be? It doesn't seem to me that after 24 years the port faces would need lapping, but I'm new, I mig...

I have a magazine which shows how to build a "skype" phone out of one of those old bakelite rotary phones. If I find one, that is what I will do. I don't think a Watt's governor would be all that difficult to build. It wouldn't need to have the same degree of precision or "fiddliness&...

I've heard of guys dressing up port faces with some gritty tooth-paste on a piece of glass. That way it's absolutely flat, and doesn't remove much material. Is it a new engine? Maybe it just wants a good break-in period.