Wednesday 5th April 2023

Worklist:

Cladding to loading dock.

Grass and scrub to hillside.

Form an arch on the bridge.

Geoff wanted to work on the hillside scenics, so it made sense to bolt the bridge board in place to be able to work across the joint. He then removed, re-shaped and re-glued the bushes (third-hand rubberised horsehair from Cottesmore days), adding more greenery. 

Stephen continued to add corrugated iron to the loading dock building. In-between contact glue applications, he reassessed the door blanks he'd made, but they just didn't come up to scratch. Looking at the workshop building, Geoff's sliding doors were just what was needed. These were laser cut basswood and the frame/planking details were straight and crisp. Geoff couldn't find the drawing files, so he will recreate one to suit the dock doors and cut a set. (He said he'd have to work out how to use the laser, but it won't take him long).

Geoff moved on to the bridge 'tunnel'. This always sat directly in front of the backscene and had never been finished off to match the spectators side. He cut away the area where the tapered arch stones should have been and started to make the individual card arch stones. The joints will be filled with filler and everything painted and weathered.

A gap in the stonework abutting the bank will require more Slaters stone sheet, but we couldn't find any. Further searches are required, or the stonework will have to be replicated by hand, in plaster. Geoff has always had a bee in his bonnet about the inside of the tunnel. This time, he plans to 'do it properly' (whatever that means). 

 

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 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.