Giles' misc. Work bench.

Giles

Western Thunderer
Radio Control for Model Railways

I'm pleased to say that the book I've been writing has very kindly been published by Wild Swan. It's more of my workshop diary than anything I suppose, and many of the models will be familiar to people here, although not necessarily the detail, and certainly not in one place. The book is more focussed towards the conversion of vehicles, cranes and such to work on model railways, rather than converting stock locomotives - but does include a section on locomotives, and my own scratch-built RC locos.



Radio Control For Model Railways



It will be of interest to some, though certainly not all, and of course is a constantly developing area.....
 

Simon

Flying Squad
Thank you Giles for mentioning the "new arrival", I am very pleased to have had the privilege of publishing it for you!

It came in on Thursday and the printers and designer have done full justice to all your hard work.

And it has kept me pretty busy since then....

Here is a view of the cover:

H_RadioControl_300.jpg

£24.95 plus P&P, £4.25 within UK from me (Titfield Thunderbolt) as Giles has linked to.

112 pages, all printed in full colour on art paper and produced as a sewn soft back with gloss laminated card covers, to match the other Wild Swan modelling titles. I'm really pleased with the way it has come out and it is absolutely full of information and tales of "how to do it", as you would expect.

It will also be available from any of your favourite railway book sellers, copies are already winging their way to the wholesaler.

Thank you Giles.

Simon
 

Giles

Western Thunderer
I love a good model - in any size - and I've had a soft spot for the WD Baldwins from my youth. I built a 0-16.5 Wrightlines kit nigh on 35 years ago, so when Bachmann produced a 009 version a couple of years back, I acquired one as a matter of principle. Yesterday I dug it out of the cupboard and had a good look at it. It was the Ashover 'Bridget' varient - clean and black, but it was on offer at the time. I can never resist 'setting to' when I get my hands on things - even if I'm not planning to build an 009 layout in the next few weeks........

First thing was to rub it down and polish it (counter-intuitive, I know) using 3000 grit W&D, and get rid of the printed name plates using a wipe of brasso and a cock-tail stick cut to a chisel edge, which seems to provide enough grunt to work away at the print, but leave the paint untouched (certainly in this instance). I then gave it a polish panel by panel with a wipe over of brasso followed by a cotton bud for buffing. Weathering was using water soluble oils brushed on over seams, top and bottom edges etc. and wiped off with a kitchen towel vertically, and often floated into inaccessible areas. This was followed with powders.
Brasswork and copperwork was overpainted with brass (and copper)mixed with gunmetal-metalcote to darken it down. More, and more subtle work could most certainly be done!!!

I replaced the couplings which really do stick out with ones made from nickel-silver which are much shorter, and added a whistle cord, and that has been it.

My point in posting this is simply to say - what an extraordinarily good loco from Bachmann! I find it wonderful how much the RTR stuff has come on, and how fortunate we all are to have this sort of thing available..!



 

Giles

Western Thunderer
Thank you Gents.


The loco being so nice I thought I'd have a play with something for it to pull. I've built some 0-14 wooden side tippers, and thought it might be possible in 009, with the benefit of a printer (A Mars 2 Pro). The result is these. Wheels are on order, but they're otherwise complete and working.

2022-02-19_12-00-01

They are weighted, and with a coat of primer followed by talc in their innards tip beautifully.
I think they will run in rakes, chained together, the end wagons having sort of add on adaptors for standard couplings which I'm printing out at the moment.

2022-02-19_11-59-35

The first prototype had a raised hinge, which was a little too prominent, so I dropped it down a little. The lower hinge looks much better, but of course the side doesn't open quite as much. It will be a limiting factor as to what can be carried and tipped without causing a blockage!
 
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