TFW’s workshop

Rubbish!

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
Afraid I stopped short of carving in the frogs in the bricks, more dereliction of duty.
nwlw20.jpg


With lath & plaster ceilings added
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Tim
 
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David Hall

Western Thunderer
Afraid I stopped short of carving in the frogs in the bricks, more dereliction of duty.
nwlw20.jpg


With lath & plaster ceilings added
htgxtu.jpg

Tim

Truly stunning modelling. I can't really find the words to describe how realistic this is, and all the more impressive for being in 2mm scale.
 
Any demolition site would have a bonfire

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
An architect friend of mine, John Burkett-Smith, suggested “that a bonfire on site would be almost inevitable, to burn laths and rotten and small timber. Just a volcano of unburnt bits and a crater of ashes in the centre. If it was against a wall, any bricks would be scorched reddish by the heat.”
So that’s what I did
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Adds a bit of colour.

Tim
 
Dereliction in context

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
The little dereliction scene can now be seen in context close to the wall on top of Gasworks Tunnel. Notice the cat on the hot tin roof.
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It’s interesting to compare the original site:
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With how it is now:
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Bill Stickers has been around and the Mission building has now been weathered into the style of the layout, but will need more backyard stuff.

Tim
 
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Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
I took the building group outside for a photo. The model is made for artificial lighting, but the outdoor light does pick up all sorts of subtlety in the brickwork.

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Still more tidying up / crack filling to do on the model. Needs someone to change the colour of the grass background: bit bright for London.

Tim
 

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
The scene around the top of Gasworks Tunnel is now looking suitably run down and I hope captures the atmosphere of London N1 in the 30s.
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Even with all the pollution, there is still some greenery, with ivy attacking quite vigorously. The tree next to it is at least 35 years old.
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Tom Knapp’s magnificently painted Paget Mission building is now well bedded-in and has a LFB Street Alarm in front of it, as well as bollards at the end to protect it from way-ward vehicles. It will needs some signs on it
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Meanwhile, the entrance to the KX Goods Yard is looking a bit more official.
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Tim
 
Hi tim,

It was great to meet you at 'Laurie's Lair' this afternoon. I have to say that the photos, while great, do not do justice to the model. I cannot believe how much detail you have got into a model of such a small scale. More power to your elbow.

Regards


Ian
 
Wear & tear

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
Prior to CF going to the Basingstoke show a few weeks ago, the Stirling 8’ single No 547 had a bit of work done on it to tighten up on clearances. As is well known, the Stirling singles don’t have any clearances, so any wear can have lively results, electrically. The drive wheel gear box had become a little loose in the frames and so some judicious packing and re-setting have solved that problem, whilst at the same time I re-trimmed the engine for ride height. Indeed, the two singles, No 21 the Ivatt 7’ rebuild, and No 547 performed near faultlessly for the duration of the show.


Unfortunately, the H1 class Baldwin 2-6-0 failed to proceed, whilst hauling 30 wagons at Basingstoke on the Saturday afternoon. A preliminary strip down at the show pointed at wear in the gear box. On examination at home, it became obvious that the worm wheel had worn out, with the worm also showing signs of some wear.

ipmhjk.jpg

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About ten years ago, the 1.5mm steel cross shaft that the worm wheel ran on had enlarged its bearing hole in the gear box sides, which were reamed out and the shaft replaced by a new 1.8mm diameter pivot steel shaft. The worm and small reduction gear were also replaced at the same time, even though they were not greatly worn. On rummaging through the spare gears pots they were found again and the worm gear rebored to fit the larger shaft. With it all back together again it ran smoothly and should be good for a few more miles.

1zpjtcz.jpg


This engine has probably done 300 miles since it’s introduction in 1996. One of the problems with old locos is remembering how they were made and assembled, there are 32 x 16 & 14 BA screws holding the Baldwin together: recent engines are far simpler.

Both engines will now go through the paint shops for a tidy up.


Tim
 
Busy at Kings Cross

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
We have CF fully erected at Keen House at the moment. To save effort when setting up at a show, the back scenes have been fettled so that they drop into place relatively easily and are held in place by catches and flush mounts. The joints have been sharpened up to be less obvious and a storm has developed over KX Goods Yard. The reason for this is that the lighting proscenium can cast a diagonal shadow on the sky, so it will help to disguise the problem. The other end was a little more tricky to access...





The back of York Way has also had some detail added so it will be ready for Five Arch signal box, which is currently being made in Belgium. There is a lot more ‘finishing’ & tidying to do in this area, although it is not readily visible from the front.


The most important innovation, that will revolutionise operation, has been to arrange imaging through the back scene of the Goods Yard throat, Mrs W’s yard ramp and the mainlines behind.

All achieved by using an iPad Pro, set up as seen. This fits onto a ledge fixed to the GY board and there is a small hole in the sky through which to capture the image. The screen is easily visible from a wide range of angles. If you look carefully at the picture of the backscene you can just see the hole.

Really good to have the layout up in the Club to work on in this way, it is relatively uncommon.

Tim
 

adrian

Flying Squad
Well it could be a low flying aeroplane, Adrian. We had discussed putting two wings and four engines around the hole to represent an HP42 ‘Heracles’ flying slowly towards the viewer, as seen in the video below:
In The Van
We have the van (in the corner of the showcase).
"yes we are receiving you quite well" - thanks for the link - testing 2 way radio communication 85 years ago - just what would they make of today's communications - not entirely convinced it's a step forward!! As the backscene is a static scene I still think a hot air balloon would be a more appropriate option. However rule 1 applies so it's only a suggestion from an interested outsider.
 
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Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
Agreed, but we already have an airship. In a strong headwind (as painted) an HP42 could apparently be very, very slow...

Tim
 

adrian

Flying Squad
In a strong headwind (as painted) an HP42 could apparently be very, very slow...
Very true _ I'll concede that point. Very valid - wikipedia states a cruise speed of 90kts which wouldn't surprise me with the configuration so a minimum speed around 50-60kts entirely possible. Which at that sort of distance it would appear to be stationary.
 
The Midland Roundhouse

Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
A prominent landmark in Kings Cross GY was the roundhouse, originally made for the Midland Railway. This was demolished in 1931, but it has always been in the plan to include it on the layout.
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It would sit behind the ‘elbow’ on York Way where there is quite an awkward patch of ground.
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There was never going to be enough room to model it ‘in the round’ and simply painting it onto the back scene would have been challenging. So I made a rough placeholder out of card, approximately painted to see if a silhouette structure would work.
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The effect was quite encouraging, but the colour saturation was too strong and the perspective would need to be worked out very carefully. A new card silhouette was made that was designed to be both semi-curved, but also painted to represent the cylinders, cones and frusta of this complicated building. Once painted it was fixed to a plywood former, giving a rather alarming shape when viewed from the wrong aspect.
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The painting is a bit impressionist in style but the shadowing is correct for our lighting. The ground will need to be made up around the sides of the building where the painted perspective kicks in.
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When viewed side on, the effect is quite distressing.
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From normal viewing distances the round house merges quite nicely into the haze. There will probably now be scope for representing Top Shed between the roundhouse and the saw tooth roofs of the St Pancras Goods Station, next to the NLR incline.
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Quite a fun days work.

Tim
 

LarryG

Western Thunderer
This building work would be amazing in any scale, but in 2mm scale it is stunning. Looking at that picture of the road viaduct and railway yard in the previous post, this is where 2mm comes into its own.
 
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Tim Watson

Western Thunderer
The ‘through the sky’ iPad viewing has been properly set up now on CF. It really does transform the operator’s view at the back.




Whilst at the same time, another film crew have been set to work on the top of the tunnel.



Maybe someone should write a book about filming the Ladykillers.

Tim
 
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