Wednesday 26th April

Worklist:
Workshop windows
Gasifier gantry reassembly
Gasifier reassembly
Crane details

Geoff had created an enclosure for the laser cutter complete with extract fan. The sloping front will be fitted with an orange perspex front cover, which will protect users against stray laser light instead of having to wear goggles. In the meantime, a sheet of cardboard over the front would suffice.

He had also prepared a drawing of the new workshop window openings and designed the frames. A pair were cut out and we were amazed at the quality, especially the <1mm wide opening lights. They were supposed to be just an etch, but as one went right through, so an open light might be 'on the cards'. The window reveal brickwork was completed, the acrylic glazing cut out and shaped, and the frames stuck on. On one, sanding sealer was tried, which appeared to work well.

Stephen had brought a small (8mm dia) neodymium magnet and prepared a wood block to fix the magnet up/inside the arch top of the gasifier opening. The reason for this is that the lights were all fixed to a single, removable board at a time when the coke bucket beam had fallen out. The beam goes into a hole in the back wall and was glued to the underside of the arch. With the magnet in place, the steel beam now 'snaps' into place and can be removed when required.

Now that the gasifier area is fully resolved, Stephen fixed all of the equipment down properly. The flue from the gasifier to the cleaning vessels had been cut, so this was repaired and two washers glued over the join to represent pipe flanges.

After the matter was discussed at his last meeting, Laurence reappraised the crane winder size and agreed it was too big. It was made smaller and all crane detailing parts sprayed with grey primer.

By chance, one of the figures that Laurence brought for the exercise looked uncannily like John. That is, the hair on the front did - not the bun on the back of the lady, which will have to be reshaped. The clothes will also have to be altered if we are going to 'plant' him somewhere, which would be nice.

Finally, for all those who contacted us about the lack of Laurence's happy features appearing lately....

Wednesday 19th April

Worklist:
Fiddle yard re-railer
Generator room window
Sheep

Laurence on holiday yet again ....

Stephen had fabricated a Hornby-type re-railer for the fiddleyard. It was carefully designed to suit the angles used instead of rail, but a) it didn't fit between the sides and b) it was too steep to control the bogie coaches used for testing.

A short discussion on the problem/options led to Geoff suggesting an infill strip that would allow the vehicles to be 'dragged' across the base to align the wheels. A sheet of foamed plastic, erroneously purchased years before, was just the right material and thickness. The band-saw produced perfect strips that were cleaned-up and the ends tapered. A initial test proved successful so Stephen went into full production. Impact adhesive was used to fix the strips down. They worked incredibly well - even John's compensated bogie coach dropped unerringly into place. So simple yet so effective.

Geoff had been testing different ways of sticking the card window frame sheets onto clear acrylic and had settled on using the matt varnish spray, but waiting until it was almost dry before assembling. With the glazing complete and the opening light 'notched' and in place, the whole assembly was fitted into the brickwork. A length of plastic rod was glued around the brick/window junction to secure the frame. Wow!

The test window panels were destined for the bin, but instead, were cut up and 'augmented' to form some clutter.

Stephen glued down the sheep he'd painted the previous week. The first 'figures' introduced on the layout.

Wednesday 12th April

Worklist:
Generator room windows
Crane details
Sheep

The assembly of the new windows occupied a fair amount of time. The issue was cutting the acrylic sheet neatly. At one point, fixing the 'opener' shut was considered, but it's such a nice detail that Geoff persevered. The acrylic sheet was first cut to the opening shape. It's not straight or parallel and needed lots of fettling. The opener panel was cut out after drilling the corners and filing the main panel - not as difficult as anticipated. A new piece was cut for the opener. The card window frames were spray-painted white gloss, to firm them up. Later, 3M Sprayfix was tested to glue the opener frame to the glass, but it immediately melted the paint, which spread over the glass. (The excess was carefully removed with a scalpel). Spray varnish was then tried to stick the main window frame to its glazing, which worked better, but not perfect.

A lining of white plasticard was glued into the rear of the opening reveals to form a solid stop to locate the frame. We are still undecided what to do with the brickwork. Stephen re-glued sections of the arch lining that had broken free. It's very old and crumbly, but total replacement is out of the question. Paint was mooted, with no response.

Geoff had produced artwork for the control panel, together with new dado rail strips and some more floor grilles.

Stephen finally got around to painting the sheep. After Googling photos, a cream base coat was applied followed by white faces and legs, and brown hooves. Dirt was applied to all 'relevant' areas. We haven't decided if paint blobs on their backs are appropriate, given the 60's theme. Would they be ownership marks or lamb numbers (Yes, we've all been watching Countryfile).

Laurence's crane took a major step forwards with the completion of the base winding unit. There was discussion about the scale size of the unit, which will be resolved next week when he will bring figures to set-against the winder.

Stephen's ladders from last week, duly painted.

Wednesday 5th April

Worklist:
Inspect the new toy
Review the generator room interior
Review new bits & pieces
Crane detailing

After the break, getting stuck into the layout again was 'side'lined' by the demo of Geoff's new toy...

The A3 laser cutter had arrived a few weeks previous, but this was the first week we actually saw it in action.

It cuts cardboard and plywood, so suitable materials are still being sought. Two experiments resulting in items for the layout were the generator room window cut from thick paper.

The central 'opening' frame will be assembled open.

Placed on the outside, to review the effect.

And the batteries for the same room, cut from 5mm plywood. They are a bit on the 'well done' side as multiple passes were used, but this can be controlled better, with usage.

'The Swede' sanding plywood batteries!

There's still a lot of experimentation with materials, cutting settings, software (drawing package and translation programs), but some bits had been produced, and it showed that the potential is enormous.

Geoff had also moved the generator room wall and floor finishes along. Designed in Visio and printed on gloss paper, the walls had white glazed tiles with red skirting and dado. Geoff wants to carry out some mods before it's all stuck down. The back wall will mainly be covered by the control panel and stacks of batteries, which continue up onto the balcony. The effect is great.

We even had the engine sound unit running.

Laurence continued with his crane and almost reached a stage requiring spray-paint.

Stephen brought along a new bogie flat wagon to compliment the railcar. These and a small wagon for ballast top-ups, will make a neat maintenance train.

Jubilee track load

Stephen had also produced a pair of ladders - one fixed and one extending. Although the previous ladder made for the water tank was 'OK', these had the rungs fitted 'properly'. They've been painted and are ready for fitting around the workshop.