Yr Hen Felin & Yr Orsaf Newydd

[gilfachphil]

With huge thanks to Dinah and Trevor for a very happy day yesterday:-

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‘I can’t look, it’s a very long way down’

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Phil

[gilfachphil]

Yr Hen Felin will be at the Swansea Railway Modellers Group Open Day next Sunday, 18th Sept, in their clubrooms at SA5 8NJ between 10am and 4pm.

Please come and say 'Hello' if you are around.

Phil

[SimonWood]

Love the shot of the Hunslet on the viaduct!

[gilfachphil]

Not the best picture perhaps but here’s the layout at the Swansea MRG open day yesterday

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Trefor was driven a bit too fast, derailed and seems to have had his back to back altered!

Phil

[philipy]

The trains and the buildings are looking good, but I think you need to practice a bit harder on your backscene painting!

[gilfachphil]

Yes,

I've even got some nice new black cloth somewhere for the tables, to hide the things underneath, but thought warts and all was good. I did slightly regret being against the dark blue cupboard with space rockets, but we were in the Art Room area. I don't think those details affected the enjoyment of those members of the public, young and young at heart, who ran the layout though!

Phil

[gilfachphil]

I have done some more work on the Hunslet and took these photos in bright late afternoon sun yesterday

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I have some instruments printed for the panel above the control desk, which is missing here. I need advice or a source of suitable controls to mount on the desk before fitting it in place.
Phil

[Peter Butler]

That's a very nice job there Phil, you should feel well pleased with it.

[gilfachphil]

Thanks Peter, I am.

[Old Man Aaron]

Great result there; brilliant bit of work that trestle is, too.

Cambrian's Simplex detailing pack might be a start for controls?

If it's of any help, here's the vaguely-representative interior I knocked up for my Accy Baguley a few years back. Many of the handles are bent HO/OO track nails. The handbrake wheel is a steering wheel from a 1/24 car kit. I think the larger handles started out as shock absorbers from the car. And the gauges are HO scale oil drums, recessed into the control panels.

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[gilfachphil]

Thanks Aaron,

for the comments, suggestion and for your picture which is also very useful.

Not my trestle of course.

Phil

[Peter Butler]

Some years ago I added gauges to a steam loco model I made by converting small scale (N or 00) wheels....

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By removing the plastic centres and filling with clear epoxy resin, a gauge can easily be represented. If you need more detail, an image of any instrument could be inset....

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[LNR]

I did the same for the sawmill boiler, lateral thinking!

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Grant.

[gilfachphil]

I really must get down to doing something about using these excellent suggestions for detailing the cab of the Hunslett.

I am minded that Clara too has long been waiting for some attention.

Happy Christmas to all.

Phil

[gilfachphil]

Clara has finally seen some work bringing her very nearly to completion and last Sunday she had a maiden run,
(https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... &start=225 Page 16) a trip up to Tanygrisiau light engine and a second one with a Jerry Irwin cattle wagon. Running initally was a little uneven due to a slight binding in a con rod somewhere but by the end of the second round trip she was running much more smoothly.

She last appeared here on September 8th 2022, other railway modelling things have taken place in the interim (O gauge). The Boot Lane kit is said to be able to accommodate 4 AA cells, and indeed it is possible to get four in:-

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however this leaves very little space for the rest of the electronics. I have used two of the new Micron MR603 receivers in my recent loco builds but these need more voltage than 4 cells provide and so I originally bought the smaller Deltang one with booster from Andy Rutter. It is hiding underneath the cells in the picture above. I could not get it to work to my satisfaction, the motor ran noisily on its output though on pure DC it was fine. Andy very kindly allowed me to exchange that for one off his MR603 receivers. I substituted 6 AAA cells in two groups of three which could just fit into the smokebox and be clear of the motor. The receiver has been placed in the tank and two leads with tiny plugs and sockets are used to make the connections so the tank can be fully removed when necessary.

This now gave me a running loco which worked fairly happily along four feet of track. I now had the impetus to get on with finishing her off, boosted by the invitation to the Railway in the Valley of the Mill.

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This picture shows the smaller cells, the recharging socket and under the right most piece of masking tape one of the two tiny sockets, the yellow wire is attached to the second one tucked beside the cells. You can also see how the riveting was carried out. When I bought the kit last June I had a very helpful chat with one of the guys on the Boot Lane stand who gave hints about this operation. Lengths of Tamiya 6mm masking tape were placed on a shiny sheet of metal, a ruler was aligned with them and marks made by a fine permanent ink marker at 5mm spacings. For the fire box I trimmed the tape to half width with a very sharp scalpel, for the tank I used the full width. Small dots of PVA were placed alongside the marks and a piece of nail art lifted from the board with point of scalpel and placed beside the tape in the glue. It was left to set hard. When peeling the tape away a few of the rivets came with it where the glue had gone onto the surface of the tape. Tape was replaced and another try had, etc.!

Once all the rivets were stuck satisfactorily (I very much hope they stay that way), the wheels and connecting and piston rods were removed (there is a very clever plate holding them to the chassis so they are easily removed) masking as necessary carried out and the loco body sprayed with several more coats of black, the tank obviously had several coats of ...

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Gauge glasses were added and a touch of gilding pastes used on the whistles and regulator handle, name and works plates are provided.

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Here seen arriving at Dduallt with cattle wagon.

Phil

[SimonWood]

She looked great and definitely benefited from running in - a very nifty little loco and a lovely build.

[Old Man Aaron]

Real tidy.

[ge_rik]

That does look good! I'd be inclined to use 3 x 14500 (AA sized) or maybe even only two li-ion cells, but I know some are wary of using li-ion.
Thanks for the tip about getting the rivets evenly spaced on a curved surface. Another great idea filed away!

Rik

[gilfachphil]

Thanks Rik,

I have no experience of Lithium ion batteries but certainly two AA size would have been much easier to accommodate and 7.4 volts would be plenty. I am wary of LiPos but are Li ion different or is there still a need for specific charging different to Nimh?

I claim no credit for the masking tape Idea, I was given it at the 2022 Garden Railway Show in Peterborough and have merely shared it.

Phil

[ge_rik]

..... I am wary of LiPos but are Li ion different or is there still a need for specific charging different to Nimh?
Phil

Hi Phil
Yes - lithium cells of whichever format need to be carefully charged and protected to ensure they don't over discharge. So saying, as long as they protection circuitry and are charged properly they are non problematic. I've been using them safely for ten years or so - and most battery powered electronic gadgetry uses them.

Rik