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 15th February 2023

Worklist:

Progress water tank and coal staithe.

Progress fit-out of derelict cottage.

Test the Land Rover after mods.

Infill area around water tank and start cottages footpath.

Review alternative factory windows.

Geoff had a minor injury following last weeks meeting that prohibited work on the water valve. However, he was now able to continue with the less fiddly aspects of the water tank, making and fitting the timber tank bearers and the staithe ends. Once dry, these were weathered/painted. The pipework and fittings will have to wait a little while.

Stephen worked on the end/derelict cottage, making a chimney breast and fitting a timber floor, all of which will be visible through the hole in the roof. 

Whilst glue dried, Stephen set up the Land Rover for a run following the fitting of rear pick-ups. At home, he'd made-up a controller using some components bought many years ago and undertaken some successful testing. However, the movement was now very hesitant and close inspection showed that the rear axle had almost parted from the final gear. Superglue was applied, but not carefully enough. Some time was expended rectifying the problem, but with limited success. A knocking noise had also started, so it was boxed up for further investigation at home.

As Geoff finished weathering the tank and stathes timbers, Stephen made up some plaster and infilled the ground area around the tank. With some left over plaster, he applied an initial layer around the cottages, levelling out the footpath. It will be reviewed next week to assess how to finish the footpath.

The quarry spoil heap was given a few more granules of debris. We won't know until it is fully dry and the cling film can be removed if the exercise has been successful, but it is looking good. (The pile of stones are mounted on the removeable perspex 'water' and cover the junction with the static quarry edge).

Stephen had produced some alternative factory window layouts. In hindsight, those currently fixed to the shells looked a little too big, so the slightly smaller options were discussed and the smallest windows preferred. An option to have the first floor windows the same size as the ground floor was discarded.

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 4th January 2023

Worklist:

Continue work on the quarry water insert.

Check assembly of the loading dock building adjacent the factory.

Cosmetic work on the engine shed area.

Discuss development of alternative 'shunting engines' into factory.

Check how the cottages survived being glued together.

Locate cottages on base and create path around the top cottage.

Discuss loading dock building construction.

Discuss additional features beside engine shed.

Geoff got to work on the removeable perspex sheet for the water, adding more paint for the weed and silt next to where the lorries tip waste (LHS). Painting on the top and bottom surfaces can give a feeling of depth. He also gave the bottom of the sheet a light rub-down with very fine emery paper to obscure the timber framework below. Reeds will be glued on the edge of the perspex and the surrounding ground to hide the join when the sheet is slid into place. A coat of resin will then be applied.

Stephen checked that the loading dock polyboard panels glued together before Christmas could be released from the tunnel structure, which they could. He also worked on cutting and forming more panels to support the corrugated roof panels.

Geoff moved on to adding texture to the trackwork in the engine shed siding. A loose mix of plaster and paint was daubed on the pristine ballast and then over-dusted with fine (OO) ballast.

Over Christmas, Geoff had circulated an article on shunting tractors and emails had bounced back and forth with different ideas. However, over lunch, Geoff's tractor arrived in the post - a 1922 Fordson. The tractor was secured to its base with triangular security screws so it was not until he got to the workshop could the underside and wheels be examined closely. It would be a tight fit to get a motor and gearbox into the rear space. Maybe a cab of some sort would hide some of it (not unreasonable). Stephen declared that he was bidding on some s/h short wheelbase Land Rovers. These should be much easier to fit a drive unit. Geoff had a long wheelbase land rover model which looked worryingly big.

Land rover and loading dock base.

Stephen was pleased how solid the full row of cottages had become. Dropping them into place showed that the hillside at the top was obscuring the path around the last cottage. Paper mache and foam were carved away, and new layers of newspaper glued in place to reinstate the path.

A long discussion took place about the materials to be used for the non-factory buildings. The managers house would be brick. The adjacent office - stone. Geoff preferred stone for the loading dock, but Stephen had always envisaged CI, to stay in keeping with the factory. Both agreed on a canopy, but disagreed on construction.....

 

Note the base for the loading dock.

Engine shed siding: Geoff outlined ideas for a simple coaling stage against the stone wall, with sleepers for the ends and the floor. There was also room for a rectangular water tank on the ledge above, with a feed pipe from higher up.

Maybe something like....