Gas holder brickwork
Extension board scenery
Gasifier room equipment
Generator room equipment
Engine flywheels
Geoff & Laurence continued the gas holder brickwork, which received a dusting of talcum powder and some Pounce - a degreasing powder used by draughtsmen (Stephen showing his age and hoarding problem). The pounce was a slightly better colour, but didn't stay in the joints as well as the talc. Geoff gave it a light, spray coating of thinned matt varnish. It's a bit patchy, but the effect is there, which weathering will improve.
The extension board was brought out for its first airing for several weeks and Laurence started the application of papermache to the exposed foam slopes.
Stephen trimmed the scrubber pipe to allow the gasifier to be moved closer, and hence, make the generator room a little larger. A small sleeve was made to join the two pipes together. The fanlight in the end wall was amended to allow the building to be removed whilst leaving all of the equipment on the baseboard. The gasifier framework can now be glued down and the internal floor finished.
A layout dry run - Gasifier plant, engine base and motor, with the sketch layout. The motor (black unit above the engine), was sourced from a large box of motors, and was selected for its quiet running and integral gearbox. It will be housed in a hole in the floor behind the engine and, with a small rubber wheel, will drive the inner flywheel.
Geoff continued making the two flywheels, by milling out the metal around the spokes.
One of the spokes has been 'rounded' using a hand-held Dremmel with a grinding burr. Very nice.
Discussion on future work:
With 9 point actuators to make, it was decided to make a start. The prototype unit was offered into place and noted that 2-3mm could be trimmed off to keep the aluminium frame/plate within the depth of the baseboard. Stephen to provide a sheet of templates and some aluminium plate for next week.
The old stable building on the extension has been covered in brick paper. Although very nice, the rest of the layout is clad in embossed plastic. At the Epsom show, Geoff purchased a sheet of English garden wall bond plastic, which will be ideal for the estate wall. This makes it even more likely that the stable will be over clad in plastic, especially as the shallow arches can be made in plastic too.
