Wednesday 10th April 2024

Worklist:

Check new extension drapes are OK.

Check faulty electrics on Worton Court.

Test the Land Rover on the stone yard road.

Review the stone blocks and discuss stone transportation generally.

Christine (Stephen's wife) had produced a new set of drapes for the 'extension', and as the full layout was still up, it was the perfect time to see how they fitted and decide where the Velcro strips were needed. A few alterations were required, but we will have a full set of drapes for the show.

The key job for this week was the electrics on the station boards. Some lights lights were working but others, and the two sound units weren't. The boards were dismantled and the two stations boards were clamped vertically onto the trestles. It is a bit of a mess, but some of this wiring is 50 years old!

After thorough testing, one loose wire was found and refitted, but then we found that some of the soldered joints and the attached wires were corroding and had broken. These wires were cut back or replaced, and resoldered. Once completed, everything was tested satisfactorily, to great relief. Whilst the underside was accessible, a survey of the many voltage regulators for the various features was carried out. Labels identifying each use and the output voltage of each were printed and fitted next to the units. This will make replacing a unit much easier in the future.

Stephen's motorised Land Rover was given its first proper run on the stonemasons yard. The gritted surface provided super grip and two loaded wagons were comfortably moved up and down. The two wagons were trial 2 plank versions of our standard wagons, specifically made for transporting large stone blocks. They also incorporated our 3D printed axle boxes. The stone is plaster filler, 'cast' into moulds of clingfilm draped over wood strips. They will need to be coloured to match the stone used generally on the layout.

We won't have time to create more of these wagons, but our 4/5 plank 'empties' will suffice.

The wagons and the way the stone loads were piled on was inspired by the photo below.

Wednesday 1st March 2023

Worklist:

Land Rover re-test.

Water tower.

Cottage interior.

Cottages footpath.

Factory sub-roof.

Stephen had worked on the Land Rover at home and now gave it another test run. It was better, but some adjustments were needed. The main problem was the fact that on the test rig at home, the road surface was level with the track surface. On the layout, the road surface was lower, meaning that the pickups were working harder, being depressed further and hitting the bodywork. The pickup arm extensions were trimmed shorter, to great effect. The vehicle smoothly ran up and down, comfortably pulling a couple of wagons. A repair and possible redesign of the coupling hook is needed.

Geoff gave the water tower columns a coat of black paint, then moved on to making the tank roof. This comprised an inverted 'T' section framework with 6 drop-in wooden panels covered in bitumen (he used masking tape for texture).

He then cleared a nearby scrub/grass area and created a very realistic loco ash pile.

Stephen made sure that having previously epoxied the nuts in place, the cottage holding down bolts could be un-done. The chimney breast was fitted into the derelict cottage. Following careful use of the PVA bottle, he then applied another layer of plaster to the building side of the footpath, to reduce the gap to a minimum.

Finally, he glued the remaining two sub-roof panels on the factory building. 

Brick bond choice for the two 'residential' buildings was discussed. Not having clad a 7mm building in brick plasticard before, Stephen explained his concern about how to form the correct brick bonding around the openings. Flemish and English bond would require the insertion of bats or closers, which would be fiddly to insert. It might be possible to omit them, with some cheating, so investigations will be undertaken. Sheets of the chosen brickwork and the factory corrugated iron would be ordered.

Brickwork details

Wednesday 1st February 2023

Worklist:

Water tank 3D print.

Paint the new stone face under the quarry tipping point.

Apply grass and shrubs to side of engine shed.

Form roof of loading dock building.

Add fixing brackets to hold cottages in place.

Make coal staithe beside engine shed.

Fit loading bay roof frame to building.

Check on water tank 3D print.

Review the motorised Land Rover progress.

After copious research on engine boiler capacities, Geoff had drawn a 3D representation of a cast iron water tank. This had been set printing earlier in the day.

In the workshop, Geoff set about painting the new stone undercroft in the quarry.

He then moved on to adding more electrostatic grass and scrub to the ground beside the engine shed.

Stephen started with the loading dock building roof. A steeper than planned roof sub-base was fitted, probably to be felted, but not confirmed yet. A nice gutter was formed across the roof. Note blocks being fixed to the loading dock roof to make the later fixing more solid.

Anchoring of the cottages was then discussed with aluminium angle pieces at three points being the chosen solution. Second hand point motor mounts were used. Bolt holes were drilled through the angles and baseboard (over the through line), before epoxy glue fixed the angles to the buildings. Short M6 bolts and nuts will hold them down long-term.

Geoff moved onto constructing a coal staithe beside the shed; made from hardwood sawn to sleeper size and glued in place. Ends for the staithes in the same material will follow next week.

Fixing the cottages down will allow the scenery in front to be tackled - path, doorsteps, grass, shrubs etc. The loading bay roof constructed last week was glued and clamped onto the building shell.

Unfortunately, the water tank print failed. It didn't adhere to the grid of support points and resulted in a pile of sludge. Geoff will modify the arrangement and try again.

Stephen had successfully assembled the gearbox and rear axle unit on the Land Rover. Testing at home could only go so far, so a run on the actual layout would show if it worked. As at home, a 5v phone charger power unit was clipped onto the end of the siding rails and the car set down over the track. After cleaning out the rear flangeway slot (where the vehicle guides ran), the car trundled along nicely. After a few stutters, Geoff suggested pick-ups at the rear as well as the front, which will be considered. It now needs a big block of something on the front to house a towing hook, to couple up with Kadee couplings on the wagons.

A very productive day!

Wednesday 25th January 2023

Worklist:

Make axle converter shaft for Land Rover.

Make sub-roof panels for factories.

Tidy-up re-flocked siding.

Recreate area under lorry tipping point.

Stephen had been progressing his Land Rover shunting vehicle at home and now needed a favour. The Corgi car axles are 2mm dia. and the output shaft in the gearbox is 1/8". Geoff kindly offered to make a brass transition axle to accommodate both requirements.

Stephen then moved onto the factory roofs, cutting laminated grey card sheets to size. At the same time, checks were undertaken to ensure that all panels had right-angle leading edges to ensure that the corrugated cladding could be correctly applied. He then moved on to making the substructure for the loading bay roof. For this he used offcuts of some 2mm MDF strips that Geoff had thrown away. These came from packing case sides, which were soon found to be an excellent replacement for thick cardboard, as they were solid and flat, but easy to cut with a craft knife.

Geoff started with the shed siding, taking time to remove excess flock and plaster.

The water tank, swivelling engine feed pipe and underground tank feed pipe were discussed and confirmed again. Geoff moved on to the lorry tipping point on the quarry edge. He was keen to create a solid edge and was planning to use sleepers. Stephen suggested a rock face, using the same mould used for the engine siding area. The mould was partially filled with plaster and left to dry. After lunch, the old face was cut away and sections of the cast rock fettled and fitted into place. Additional wet plaster filled the gaps. Geoff is still concerned about how the rock angles can be accommodated with the surface debris to be re fitted to the perspex. He will try and reconcile this query next week.

Geoff also started to introduce troughs and dents in the adjacent road surface.

Wednesday 18th January 2023

Worklist:

Continue with scenery - grass and stones.

Continue with the factory building.

Investigate a Land Rover conversion.

The first job was to run a fine saw through the joint between the two boards. There was only a tiny bit of glue to be cut and both boards were free. 

Geoff then got to work extending the grass areas using electrostatic and hand applied grass. This time, fine brown grit was sprinkled over the glued areas (as seen on TV). We'll review the effect after the excess has been hoovered off next week.

He also added more stones to the dumping area.

Geoff's LWB Land Rover (Oxford) is slightly larger than Stephen's Corgi model, but it might work in our favour as the Oxford version does look big between the factory buildings.

The engine shed siding suddenly became overgrown with grass and weeds. Paraphrasing Geoff's own words "It'll be interesting to get the track usable again!"

Stephen was pleased with the solidity of the factory roof structure constructed from the previous week. He filled in the rear areas to provide support for the rear roof edges. He then checked and adjusted the alignment of valleys, ridges etc. to ensure that each roof plane was flat.

A roof gutters had been laminated from thin card and was now loosely fitted. A hopper and downpipe will go on the front, in due course.

Stephen's Land Rovers had arrived and he had stripped one to bare metal. He'd also cut-away areas of the body and the chassis to facilitate a motor and gearbox. 

He'd had a problem getting the Branchline's gearbox kit square. Geoff talked him through remedial work and how to make the final connection between motor drive and axle. Maybe a job for next week.