Wednesday 1st February

Worklist:
Weathering paintwork to line-side fence
More grass
Paint wire fence
Water supply ducting
Water tank
Crane detailing

After the previous weeks running session, it was catch-up day, with each reminding themselves what jobs they had on-the-go.

Geoff mixed up slightly different batches of acrylic paint and 'weathered' the line-side fence. He then applied more grass around the fence post bases, to hide any glue remains. However, the grass, while acceptable, just wasn't standing up as the demo, which was still baffling. Laurence reported that boosting the power supply from a 9v battery to 12v transformer had been described in a current magazine as far more successful, but Geoff was sceptical. An approach to the manufacturer/supplier was mooted.

Geoff had always been critical of an adjacent point, where a section of rail had been used to hold the tie-bar of a point down (a common failure of John's pointwork). "One bit of rail just isn't prototypical", so some more were added nearby.

Grass fibres standing up well on this occasion.

What happened to the fishplates?

Stephen's task for the day was to take the shine off the wire fencing had recently installed. A delicately applied coat of mid-grey acrylic did the job, albeit slowly.

Painted wires on the left - shiny original finish on the right.

He then moved on to progressing the timber trunking for the water supply to the gasifier equipment. Serendipity raised it's head when the previously assembled timber unit broke while the timber board joints were being scribed. The two pieces were much easier to work with and were re-glued when finished. Support timbers were cut to size ready for assembly - next week. Geoff took the opportunity to glue the water tank itself onto the brick base. This is one of John's original scratchbuilt features and is beautifully detailed. From the back, half of the original base can be seen - the other half used to be on the next board, and the tank swivelled into place to disguise the board joint. Now we are using a fence and scrub.

Laurence continued to work on the yard crane. To recap - it is a white-cast metal kit of a steam powered crane, but is short of operational (rotation) details. A large gear wheel has been made and the winding mechanism is reaching an exciting stage....

A work session without us foraging on the floor for something Laurence had dropped was rare, and this week was no exception. The spur gear that engaged on the base gear (seen above), nose-dived onto the floor - "2mm dia. and steel" - shouldn't be a problem. All tried to find it on hands and knees, then a large magnet was swept over the whole area. We decided to break for lunch and try later. As we stood up, there it was, on the workbench - 4mm dia. brass. Say no more!

TO DO - As the layout inches towards 'completion', the outstanding items get discussed more. Two buildings need finishing - the main warehouse and the workshop. Some electrics serving on the gasifier building have been damaged and need to be repaired. The Tangye engine sound unit has been wiped and needs refreshing. Stephen now has the sound track on his phone, in readiness.