Llwyndrissi Halt.

[Mountain]

Yes, but if I buy them they will be too perfect and show up my homemade ones that I have on the other locos.

You do yourself a great injustice. You put many of us to shame with your modelling.

Glencairn

You are kind. My modelling is a little crude but it works for me. Consistency is key.

I do like the challenge of making all I can myself if I can, just to see if I can do it.

[glencairn]

You are kind. My modelling is a little crude but it works for me. Consistency is key.

I do like the challenge of making all I can myself if I can, just to see if I can do it.

And that is what you like doing. We are all our biggest critic. So long as you do not 'beat yourself up' about it. Keep it fun it will reward you in the end.

Glencairn

[joshv8]

An interesting little loco. Any idea of the make?
Cheers
Josh

[Mountain]

An interesting little loco. Any idea of the make?
Cheers
Josh

Kleinbahn. Made in Austria. (Had to get my glasses and magnifying glass to read that).

[glencairn]

Kleinbahn. Made in Austria. (Had to get my glasses and magnifying glass to read that).

An interesting Company. I have a model of a 45t crane from them. I could read the makers name okay. It is on the box.

Glencairn

[joshv8]

Haha thanks for enlightening us. It's definetely a quirky little loco. I suppose prototypically it was a small shunter somewhere?

Cheers,
Josh

[Mountain]

Haha thanks for enlightening us. It's definetely a quirky little loco. I suppose prototypically it was a small shunter somewhere?

Cheers,
Josh

I assume so? I am a bit out of my depth at locos from other countries though I find them interesting.

As a model it is interesting. The worm is part of the main shaft that the motor is attached to and are not separate items and the worm coil spacing is more like a woodscrew than a model loco worm. It works fine. Is actually nice and smooth as a drive mechanism. The worm drives a cog which is on a short shaft which drives another cog and through several cogs on the side of the chassis it then drives a cog on the side of one of the wheels of each of its two axles. It works well.
The motor itself which is in the cab reminds me of a half sized Hornby Ringfield or Lima pancake design though the magnets do not surround the armature like they do on those designs, with the main difference being is that the motor is mounted crossways in the cab as the worm shaft is the motor shaft which is quite long. The wood screw like worm and the shaft is well balanced and is at its bearing ends precision made. The worm itself is metal but the rest of the gears are all the nylon type plastic that most models use these days.

[Mountain]

Making wheels.

I am always looking for ideas and at times I find useful youtube videos that others have made, so I thought I would share those ideas for those of you who enjoy these sorts of things to have a go and copy.

I do not reccomend using a craft knife in such a way as a safer way is to spin the wheel and sand it down instead, even if it takes linger to do. Go easy and stay safe. Googles if needed and take it easy.
Use a modellers lathe if you have one... Even a very cheap one is safer then doing it freehand...

But onto the short film... Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/oYfJo8uFyus

[Bufferstop]

The worm turned into the end of the armature shaft is reminiscent of the Hornby Dublo ringfield motors, which had an armature shaft long enough to put the ringfield magnet in the cab. I think there were two sizes of ringfield which were 1/2" and 5/8" if my memory is behaving itself. It gave the locos fantastic torque, but was far too visible unless there was a tender cab available. By comparison the Triang ringfiled was a bit of a joke.

[JohnnyRock55]

A really impressive piece of track construction from scratch. I'm very tempted to construct a small exhibition layout in either EM or P4. I visited a local model railway club recently and watched some members constructing lengths of P4 tack. The scale difference is incredible. My only worry is the huge expense of converting existing stock to these wheel gauges.

[Mountain]

Thanks JohnnyRock55 for your encouraging words.
I do admit that I am not a finescale modeller at all so my track is not going to win any awards. I am more of almost a coarse scale narrow gauger the way I model. (Maybe somewhere inbetween?)
EM or P4? A big decision. Due to EM being slightly more popular and giving one a small amount of extra space to fit wheels inside bogies etc, I think EM may be the one I would opt for if I decided between the two though P4 is accurate... But we are only talking of a fraction of a mm here.
I have been informed by quite a few EM gauge modellers, that many locos and rolling stock can just have their existing wheels widened on their axles and they work fine. Yes, there will be some that require a lot more, but one deals with that as one gets there. Wagons and coaches should be the easiest to convert as foe most of them it just involves moving their wheels on their axles.
What I do reccomend if one wants to try to make ones own track is to start by taking existing track and re-sleepering it just to get the hang of the soldering etc. (Don't forget to either file or cut a small slit in the copper part of each sleeper so one does not have an electrical short). One may need to place a piece of thin card under the PCB style sleeper to solder if most of the track has plastic sleepers as plastic is normally thicker then the PCB so the track sits higher. Once all the new sleepers are on the track the track will sit slightly lower on the board. By starting with the odd piece of track like this, one can do it and keep the same gauge.
Of course, if one is altering the gauge then a set of those gauge things is going to be needed. I could do with some myself. Never have bought any as yet as I have just matched things up by eye using existing track I know as a guide, or I just cut out a few plastic sleepers at a time and replaced them with my wider PCB sleepers so the gauge width is the same.
With points, everyone has their preferred methods. I personally like to start with the V of the frog though not always. As my points are short and the rails themselves are standard Peco code 100 so the rails are not quite as flexible than if I had used thinner and lower profile code 75 for example, this means that due to the shortness of the point blades I had to find a way for the blades to pivot. I did this by using short (Cut in half) Peco railjoiners. If using thinner more flexible rail on longer larger radius points then one does not really need to pivot the blades as such as the rails flex will do that but one may need to check that the point tie bar (The bit that joins the point blades to each other where one either fits a point solenoid to or some other form of point control to) may need to be able to flex. It may be ok to solder it but there again, if it needs flex one will soon find out as it will be hard to move if it needs to have its freedom of movement. I origionally tried to construct without adding pivot points to the blades but I found that my points needed it, but they are small.

I did try to add fancy curvey bits on one of the points just as something noven and different but I soon found that the locos did not like it so I had to move the rails a little to form a more traditional point. The great thing with soldering rails to PCB sleepers is one does have the ability to re-heat them and move them as long as the re-heating process does not lift the copper from its fibre base if one has overdone the heat! The ability to move rails if needed really teaches one how to make track as one can try things to see if it works. It is an experimental learning curve which is interesting and fun where one learns just as much from ones mistakes as one does from successes so nothing is wasted, and in general, the good thing is with making ones own track is that mistakes are correctable and also not going to cost a lot even if one can't correct them and needs to start again. Track offcuts become point checkrails etc. It does save money once one has got the hang of it.
The only downside is it does take time to make track. A point an evening or a point a day when one starts off. The material costs are cheap compared to buying points though, and ones own points are personal... This in itself makes it worth while.
Finally, I may add that when one starts to build ones own track, one realizes one can build to suit ones own location. Factory made track is limited to pre-existing sizes and shapes.
So I do want to encourage everyone to give it a try because it opens up possibilities that one did not have before. If one can handle a soldering iron one is half way there! (Beginners. Why not start by rescuing broken points that have parted from their sleepers by soldering on PCB type sleepers and go from there?)

[Mountain]

Though I have lots of unfinished projects on my hands in 7mm NG, somehow I have been tempted into buying two kits (Via a friend who has access to Paypal).

Now not having tried any 3D kits before, I happened to see this...

https://youtu.be/ixL0myqHx4U

Which was very tempting!

The kits did not take that long to arrive even though I had to wait for them to print them. I find them interesting. Both kits are the same as I ordered two.
I partly assembled one to get an idea of size and while I am not knocking the kits, I will be doing some work to bring these to look the part with my other stock. (Don't worry... I know what I am doing as I do realize that altering one part will mean altering many!)
Take a look at the photos next to my unfinished and much altered Smallbrook Studeo Cadera which itself stands about 2mm taller then it was supposed to. The height and width of the doors are rather large on the new kit, or are they just small on the Smallbrook Kit? The body width is slightly wider but that is fine. Anyway. Time to get to work to add my own personal touch to these interesting kits.
(I apologize to the kit designer for wanting to do my own thing, though I do do this to most things I make).

[Mountain]

I have become side tracked by Gnomies! I need to take a picture or two to show what I am talking about. Hang on... I will take a photo....

These little Gnomy things are not easy to come by as since they are no longer made they are in demand. They come in various forms which I only have a few, and they are ideal for people like me. They are basically friction drive toys so the railway items wheels will need changing along with a way to motorize them, but aren't they lovely!
Now you can see the sense in my plan to slightly reduce the height of the 3D kit above by around 2mm so it will blend in better with the rest of my stock. The Smallbrook loco kits blend in better as though they are slightly larger than Gnomies, they do look the part so give a reasonably consistent look.

[Mountain]

I have been concentrating on the shed. I am not too good with heights, and paint smells can effect me, but at least this is outside and not in an enclosed space so as long as I only paint a few square feet a day and ideally have a breeze so the fumes avoid me... Slow process I know but I am getting there!

[Mountain]

And what do I do with the ancient garden railway remains? (I can just see Gnomies and other 7mm NG trains trundle along..).