Garden Railway Forum

Looks very tidy, Philip. It seems tiny there against the track width.

That is a nice piece of printing!

Trevor

philipy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 16, 2022 7:32 am Graeme, the spring cone is 8mm long so I'd guess you'd be able to see it!

I could probably recognise that it was a link and pin coupler, but without my modelling glasses I'd be hard pressed to tell whether the spring was a volute or a stepped cone.......

The model has come up well. Just how big is that thing, I'm guessing about the size of a 20 HP Simplex?

Graeme

Thanks chaps.
Graeme, the body is 125 x 69mm

My bent frame Simplex measures 130 x 78mm, so very close.

Another question for those who know more than me (pretty much everyone). Do we think that the Colonel/Croesor/Ffestiniog would have repainted it into their std colours? If so what colour in ca.1930's?

Wow, just catching up here, that's looking fantastic! Love the detailed exploration of engine colours and couplings too...

My 7mm scale NG Assoc guide to the Ffestiniog says that "tractors" (as the FR called their IC locos) were green - I'll check when I 'm at home, but I don't think they specify a shade In my head it's a kind of municipal lawnmower colour, nothing flashy, somewhere between dark and mid green. That's the sort of colour I plan to repaint my model of Moelwyn, at some point...

Thanks Andrew.
I thought it would be green, but I can't decide between green and rusty contractor grey.
I rather fancy doing the grey and that's been my thought all the way through, but having got this far, as I've said before, I don't have any faith in my ability to get the rusty effect I would want.

Okey Doke...here she is!

I decided on green in the end, just so it wasn't too drab and 'samey'. The interior is still dirty grey-ish, on the basis that somebody did a quick tart up of the outside but couldn't be bothered with the bits that don't show. Even so, the rust is starting to reappear on the body. The flash is a bit cruel and has washed out the colour, which is a lot closer to Andrew's "Munipal lawnmower green" ( Actually Halfords "Garden Green" RAL6001)

Pulling power is adequate, she will take 3 loaded skips or 5 empties on a length of track laid on our dining room table.
I'll do some video tomorrow if it stops raining for long enough ( the weather is foul here today).

Certainly looks the biz!

Rik

philipy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 9:52 am Okey Doke...here she is!

I decided on green in the end, just so it wasn't too drab and 'samey'.

The model looks very neat now it is finished.

I thought you might have painted it pink, to match the pink carriage the WHR had around that time. Neither drab, nor 'samey'.........

One minor point, make sure that coupler pin has plenty of clearance above rail level, or the coupler won't survive it's first encounter with a turnout. Been down that road in HO, many years ago.

Graeme

Thanks chaps.
Graeme, yes, that coupler pin is long but it's only temporary. I pinched it off something else just to see what it would pull and I'll make a better one ( well, two I guess) with a crossbar to lift the actual drag point above the buffer face.

philipy wrote: ↑Sun Oct 23, 2022 12:29 pm Graeme, yes, that coupler pin is long but it's only temporary.

If you have a decent local hobby shop, check the model ship section. Manufacturers like Billing sell turned belaying pins in various sizes, which are the same shape as the pin for a link and pin coupler.

Not having a decent hobby shop within a bull's roar of here, I turn my own. For the fun of it, I keep telling myself......

Graeme

Decent "hobby shop"... wots one of dem?? Been a long time since I've seen one I'm afraid. We do have a local model railway shop but it specialises in Continental N Gauge, so is only useful very occasionally for styrene sheet and Humbrol paint (Yeuchh!), etc, and anyway its been closed for quite a few months due to illness.
For something like small Billing parts, or similar, it would have to be mail order and the postage for something like that would probably be several times the value of the item.

That looks splendid, well done! I like the colour, and the light weathering too.

I'm guessing that the pulling power of your model is roughly in line with the original. It has quite a "fun" look to it, I think, as though it wouldn't be out of place towing an open carriage or two at a pleasure gardens or something...

OK, as promised, herewith the video of this sardine can in operation.




Early on in Andrew's original thread, long before I had any thoughts of actually building it, tongue in cheek I said that making the roof go up and down would be an R/c challenge. So, when I actually started the project I thought I'd better put my money where my mouth is, and then Rik made a comment that it would also need a telescopic driver....

That is so clever Philip, looks a treat too! Can't wait for your next challenge, you make them look too easy.

I didn't realise you'd also motorised the roof (and driver).
That is impressive!

Rik

Brilliant!

Thanks guys.

Rik, this why I was talking to you about using the Tx22 inertia knob to control a continuous servo. That's what drives the roof up and down and also, via a linkage, bends the driver in half at the waist and then straightens him again. It caused my last remaining brain cell much damage working it all out!!!It also explains why a very simple model took over two months to build.