Alex's Workbench

[ChrisGreaves]

Definitely a lot simpler and potentially easier to make compared to my original drawing.

A general principle in Engineering and in Programming is to look at a design and then eliminate something.
Devil's Advocate is the traditional expression.
Best of all, this exercise (of contemplating the dismissal or change of a feature) can be done lying in bed waiting to go to sleep, during a boring movie or opera, in the doctor's waiting-room, or as a passenger in a car on a long holiday trip!
Cheers, Chris

[GeraldH]

You have some interesting projects on the go, it's nice to see the old models being refurbished and improved. I'm looking forward to seeing how things progress .

[AJFE 2488]

Have been very lax in posting updates due to starting a new job as a Mechanical Engineering Technician at my local Heritage Railway earlier this year, concentrating on Uni and also working on my layout "Stourford" but here goes.

I have done a fair bit of work on the coaling stage and gotten the main structure built up. As mentoned before, this is based on the dimensions from the Scalescenes kit but made from styrene sheets rather than cardboard. Here is what it looks like so far in situ on my layout:




As seen, the walls are 4 layers thick with 2 sheets of 1mm thick sandwiched between an outer and inner layer of brick sheets. Windows and archways are from the Will's Industrial Windows kit but looking at it again, they're larger than the ideal size and would ahve been better off getting some smaller ones.



The floor is made up of 2 lots of 1mm thick sheet stuck together with the top one shorter than the bottom to provide a platform. Having walked inside Didcot's coaling stage, the platform could do with being a bit deeper to bring it a bit higher to the coal wagon bottoms so I guess thats highlighted an prototypical dimension issue with Scalescenes kit. However this means that I won't have too much to cut through to put a slot in for the automaton pin in due course.



Looking underneath, the floor is currently supported on the walls by some spare I Beam styrene I had left over from making a bridge for a Warhammer 40,000 display board I did years ago for Armies on Parade at my local store (got a gold medal for my efforts so well chuffed with that). The floor isn't glued in place yet as I need to cut out the previously mentioned slot and fit the yet to built automaton mechanism. Also need to trim back the outer platform to the correct length as it currently hits the cab roof on some of my models whilst testing the layout. Looking at fitting an internal brick wall on the inside to hide the mechanism from view, especially if I start exhibiting it and have viewers taking a closer look.

So next jobs will be building the automaton mechanism and the coaling figure, fitting and testing them, redress the platform and fit the outer canopy.

[aleopardstail]

Nicely done, have seen a fair few model buildings, and the warhammer crowd are terrible for it, where the walls are waaaay to thin to look credible, nice to have a bit of surface detailing

[Phred]

Looking good.
I've been tempted to (more or less) replicate the Didcot coaling stage but never got around to it, so I'll be following this build with interest.

[AJFE 2488]

Micro update as I've been very busy with my degree, work and my layout so haven't made much progress. Have however been buying bits and pieces from Fleabay and Exhibitions so these are all contributing to my projects. On a whim, I have purchased an angled gearbox+motor assembly which is small enough to fit underneath the floor in the coaling stage. I should be able to attach this to the structure and fit the mechanism system to it for the coaling automation. So very slowly progressing with it.

Have ended up with a decent sized collection of kits for coaches, buildings and locos so will be kept busy doing this in the future when time allows. Speaking of locos, I've gotten hold of a K's14xx kit for a nice bargain and luckily it's still in its wrapping and includes everything.


Should be a nice and easy project to work on and will be putting a fair amount of detailing enhancements on it where I see fit, especially with the cab. The wheels I am dubious about as I had a same brand kit for a Mogul whose wheels broke into pieces upon assembly so will be getting these changed just incase. The motor has been taken out of the packaging at the time of writing, tested and works fine but again, might possibly change for something modern if needs be. Will be fitting for DCC operation in line with everything.else I'm doing and may possibly invest in DCC sound if funds allow.

[Mountain]

You have an interesting locomotive to build. The 14xx/48xx locos are not easy to get the weight right (As in having enough weight above the driving wheels) so this will be interesting. Hope you have every success!