Giles' misc. Work bench.

2020-10-30_02-02-54 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-10-30_02-15-04 by giles favell, on Flickr

After the normal rub down with 2000 grid wet and dry, followed by a buffing, most of the weathering and aging is with water soluble oils around seams and edges of panels , which stains the paint. Rubbing it off also works a little bit over the entire loco, which unifies the paintwork - blends it all together.....

 

Lovely work Giles, I hope you're going to put a crew in the cab?

Mike

 

Already done Mike!

 

I've been playing around with couplings, because on both Denton Brook and The End of The Line I used pin and link couplings on the narrow gauge, and I should like a little more flexibility on the next layout. However, for various practical reasons, I don't want to hack about the existing locos trying to fit more conventional couplings.

I thought I would experiment with magnetic couplings, and see how that went. I had some 2mm dia x 1mm magnets, so I milled up some housings from brass, fitted dual N/S magnets and tried those. They worked well, but we're rather strong, as the coach would motor towards the loco when at a distance of 3mm or so - which was not what I was looking for.

I then bought some 1mm dia x 1mm magnets, and printed a set of couplings for those - assuming they would be too weak - however they're fine




Next - uncoupling - for run-round, rather than trying to split a train.



The mechanism is a Scotch block, rising just inside the rail, acting on the wheel flange

2020-11-16_05-21-02 by giles favell, on Flickr


2020-11-17_08-41-16 by giles favell, on Flickr

2020-11-17_08-41-42 by giles favell, on Flickr

 

Very well thought out solution Giles, you are to be applauded in the way you've addressed this " problem" using the magnetic couplings.

I have often wondered about the practicalities of uncoupling magnets in this situation without using an un-prototypical method and you have managed to find an excellent and very discreet solution, well done.

Grahame

 

Yes, but I'm still waiting for the radio controlled shuntin' 'orse...

 

Very nicely executed!

Michael

 

Further abstract thoughts.....

It's Simon's fault really - he wants his Shunting 'orse, but you've got to start somewhere. The little 4mm bicycles are quite fun, but we've seen them now - but what about people? Not that I necessarily want a person striding across the layout- but it's fun to think about how it might be done...... I considered parallel belts or chains similar to the bikes, but actually it gets quite complicated when it gets to two feet stopping and starting in opposition. I settled on a tractor under the baseboard geared to the walking pace, so that one foot was static relative to the ground, whilst the other advances at twice the speed..

This is a concept model/prototype really, but such things spark ideas and other strange things..... (and yes - one could do a Shunting 'orse like this....)

 

“You put your left foot in..
Your right foot in..
You do the hokey-cokey...
& that’s what it’s all about...”

Pretty amazing Giles. I think he needs to lean forwards a little.

Tim

 

I agree with Tim - he looks a bit Donald Trump.

I was also wondering about articulating the knee joints if that were possible, and adding a bit more complex crank work underneath. Easy to say.

Jim.

 

Giles,

Half way there!

I do recall a project, it may have been in INGMR, of a guy pushing a NG wagon along. The mech was in the wagon and his lower legs were jointed so he did actually push with his feet (and occasionally slipped), think it was 16mm scale.

this does look promising for the Shedman nipping off to the bothy with his paper for his mid morning brew...

 

With a workable 2x2 you could always cheat until the 4x4 development is finished:

 

I've made and fitted new cams giving a slightly shorter step which helps a little...... this is probably about as good as this little device is going to get (working on this principle).

The machine underneath is a duplex cam at 180 degrees, with horizontal cam followers. A drive wheel on the end of the cam shaft (sized to give the correct road speed) drives large road wheels at the back.

 

Something else I've been working up. I should have liked it if someone had wanted to produce it commercially, but that doesn't seem likely.

 

Winding back a bit.......



The Peckett I built up recently has one compromise which I couldn't particularly help. The steam dome. It's a very good white-metal casting, which cleans up nicely, and of course should be brass. Now I have made brass domes in the past (some 0 gauge kits are carrying castings from patterns I made long ago) but it is a faff, and I wanted to use the actual kit on this loco, otherwise I would end up throwing too much of it away, and actually it's a very decent kit as they go..... I therefore painted it, taking trouble to read the paint instructions for a change, and it didn't look too bad...







My Christmas present from Di has been a simple electroplating kit, comprising of a decent power supply, chemicals for copper, silver and gold plating - in small quantities, leads and copper and graphite anode. This was all a complete surprise may I say!



I have another Peckett kit, for which I have already cut frames and rods, and I thought that the dome might make a suitable experiment for plating!



I cleaned it up and polished it, and set up the kit, and in three minutes had copper plated the dome....







This was it after two minutes of buffing with a kitchen towel (no polish)



I then set things up for gold plating (24 carat, no less!) and, zapped in for about five minutes







And hey presto, a 'brass' dome....... and a successful experiment!

 

Simple electroplating kit

Simple electroplating kit by giles favell, on Flickr

This is the kit. The little square beaker is the tank, and the graphite plate (anode) is still in the gold solution.

 

Love that Giles!
Well done Di.
The walking man also is yet another masterpiece from the G Favell stable.
Best Christmas Wishes and for the New Year,
Neil.

 

The reason for copper plating /polishing first being to minimise the thickness of gold required to give an adequate cover?

 

Cheers Neil - Happy Christmas to you!

Apparently the gold will only plate onto a limited number of metals, whereas copper is much more forgiving..