Wednesday 18th March 2020

Worklist:
Point motors.
Figure painting.
Extension wiring.

It was touch and go whether we would meet today, and we only decided to do so late on the previous day. Discussions over tea were naturally focused on the Coronavirus and the impact it was having on the three of us, our families and friends - nothing serious so far, just inconvenience. We also agreed that although no formal notice had been received from the organisers, the likelihood of the Eastleigh show going ahead was 'zero'.

In the workshop, we again went our separate ways - Laurence continued with figure painting, Geoff (once he found them) continued to assemble the point motors and Stephen finished the leads for the adaptor and extension boards.

Over lunch, we again discussed the dangers of the virus and the governments recommendations. It was impossible to justify any further meetings and it was an easy decision to make it the last meeting for the foreseeable future.

Stephen had spent many hours since the previous week trying to work out the full wiring arrangement for the switch box and associated leads. The eureka moment only occurred the previous day and now, using the the resulting diagram, he was able to discuss and plan the layout of the box and the connections to it. He assembled all necessary components and bagged them up as homework. Laurence too, collected his figures in preparation for finishing them at home. Geoff will no doubt finish the point motors, but Laurence and Stephen issued stern warnings about him progressing the layout too far on his own.

Stephen will continue to develop some 3D printable items and Geoff will continue to experiment with the printer and send resulting items by post, so more blog posts may appear, but the date of the next meeting is anyone's guess.


It's a schematic with a load of working-out sketches thrown in, but it should allow the box to be built...... hopefully.

Wednesday 11th March 2020

Worklist:
Review new wagon and crane.
Point motors.
People.
Loom cables.

After the usual cuppa and chat, Stephen produced a 2-plank wagon he'd made using his underframe units that Geoff had 3D printed the previous week. The use of these wagons in connection with stone block transportation had come to light during earlier investigations. Instead of laser-cut bodywork, 2mm plywood had been used, together with self-adhesive detailing left over from the main wagon exercise a few years earlier. Although initially just a trial, a few more are likely to be produced, although the axle box details will be refined a little.

The 2-plank wagon sides expose more of the stone blocks, which makes the load more interesting.

Stephen had also been busy with a Mikes Models jib crane which was now almost complete, including a circular stone plinth. The cast-in wires were a bit of a problem with the other jib crane in the quarry siding, as they were easily bent and difficult to straighten. However, during research, Stephen had discovered that in real life, the two ties (cast-in wires in the model) were in fact circular steel components. After experimentation, it was decided that pieces of rigid 1/16" brass tube will be slipped over the wire before final assembly, to both increase the girth and form a straight, rigid member.

The three then went in different directions for the rest of the day. Stephen's first job was to correct his wiring mistake discovered the previous week (fiddleyard section switch feeds reversed). He then moved on to progressing the electrical connections to the new boards from the future switching box - 4 off, 3-core leads with 5-pin DIN plugs. Geoff then found some small diameter spiral wrap that finished them nicely.

 

Laurence and Geoff went through a box of figures, separating suitable items, which Laurence then worked on cleaning up.

Geoff went back to the point motors, testing a selection of 'SG90' servos he had left over from various projects. Since our first batch of point motors were purchased, there now seems to be a wide range of clones on the market of varied specification and performance. The task of finding the three required for the new boards proved exasperating. Geoff eventually had to resort to using some reserved for his own 4mm railway project.

A more serious topic of discussion was the Eastleigh exhibition. Geoff confirmed he had booked the hotel accommodation, but with the number of events being cancelled due to the Corona virus, the viability of the show was surely in doubt? We can only wait and see.

Wednesday 4th March 2020

Worklist:
Set the layout up for a running session to check that everything is ok for the Eastleigh show in April.
Investigate the 'massing' of the buildings on the masons yard board.
Review Stephen's homework - pallets, stones and jib crane.

We were pleased to welcome Chris Holmes again for the session. Just like the Littlehampton show, Chris will be a guest operator at Eastleigh. We still had Chris's stock that he lent to us for the Burton show, so, after a good clean-up of the layout and track, it got a good workout. The usual point failed to work first time and needed the usual tweak to get it going. The LED track indicator on the mainline was, as expected, very visible through the bridges, from down the layout, but a piece of black card seemed to solve the problem. Maybe a touch of black paint will be needed. The best one was when the two main sections on the fiddleyard were eventually found to have been cross-wired when Stephen installed the new switching unit!!! All-in-all, it was a very satisfactory session.

In parallel, Stephen set-up the masons yard on a side bench and used some corrugated cardboard to mock-up the quarry line tunnel. Together with a few stone blocks, a part-built 7mm Mikes Models jib crane was introduced to the scene. As the jib height is fixed, its position relative to track and storage areas was very important. The swing and range of the jib was experimented with, in different locations.

He then added more cardboard to represent the buildings that had been sketched on the board. The heights were over-estimated to allow discussions on roof shapes, gutters etc.

The yard and road layout changed as we tried to squeeze things in, but when Geoff suggested reducing the floor size of the main building, moving it back towards the fiddleyard, it seemed to fall into place.

We had originally determined the main building size based on the need to hide hands exchanging wagon loads, but having subsequently built an extra siding on the fiddleyard, the front of the building could be moved back. From a book on quarries, we'd seen a detail where a small track or path emanating from a tall building went over the railway via an arch. This was also mocked-up to form a visual end to the layout, just before the fiddleyard. The buildings along the back wall were also discussed and again, the idea of different levels and possibly building on top of the tunnel were considered. The overall design is far from complete and will need to be developed fully, in due course, but it was an excellent start.


The stones had first been attempted using plaster of Paris in moulds made of crinkled tin foil, but they simply weren't realistic. A search online produced several photographs of mainly south coast quarry railways that offered a different stone finish all together. One photo in particular had a mainline yard at Corsham, between Bath and Chippenham, that was very inspiring.

The shapes and sizes of stone suggested a different, much smoother mould - clingfilm. Lengths of wood in pairs of different thicknesses were laid on the bench and clingfilm laid across them. A wet mix of one-coat plaster was made-up and poured into the spaces. Once this had started to firm-up, the wood was removed and a wet knife used to cut the stones to size. Occasionally, the plaster would lift and crack revealing a wonderful texture. The pieces were left to start drying, but the temptation to roughen up smooth clingfilm surfaces with coarse sandpaper was impossible to deny. Surfaces were also smoothed with fingers or the back of a knife.

Once drying-out was pretty much finished, white and some occasional ochre weathering powders were brushed over the blocks. The white was quickly replaced with talcum powder for economy reasons, without any issues. The scrapings and breakages also dried beautifully and will be used for debris all over the board.

The Mikes Models jib crane on the workbench.

Stephen had also cleaned-up and painted the slightly 'beefed-up' pallets that Geoff had printed the previous week. Pallets with different slat spacing were tried out and the variety worked well.

Stephen had produced a 3D file of a wagon underframe side to make some more wagons - particularly 2-plank, as inspired by the Corsham photo. These had been printed during the day and Stephen will see what can be made from them.