Scalefour Forum

Somewhat over engineered.

I have mixed feelings about ply. I have used Baltic birch - 12mm for trackbed and 18mm for the chassis. It is light and very strong. Unfortunately will chip a bit in the CNC machine if you use the wrong bit! The boards I’ve made have been done with sturdy stuff and is assembled as to be bomb proof w...

Progress has been slow over the last few months. Work can be annoying sometimes.... Anyway- a shell of smoothon two part resin now covers the foam. The stuff is light and solid as a rock. 5F2AFF07-4203-4A31-88EC-288FA8B3964C.jpeg F375030B-324F-46BB-8D50-9B01D1EF3F33.jpeg 5F2AFF07-4203-4A31-88EC-288F...

Will L wrote:You will of course remember to fit a cosmetic fish plate at each cut!

Obsessive compulsive disorder is a lot of fun. The chairs will also be oriented appropriately.....

Not yet sir, but the notch is palpable, so I am more than convinced they will. Lining up should be OK, in that I have cheated - the end pieces of rail and longer than the 60ft - allowing someone leeway to “catch up” on bends etc. I am yet to assemble them - I did a small batch in case it is a pain i...

D12062C9-2D50-4888-B34A-F301F5C39D4A.jpeg The jig is 18mm mdf with grooves cut into it to ensure the rail stood the right way up. (Nice in theory) Cutting the notches in the rail leaves a mark in the mdf, so one has a guide for future rail cutting. The rail is C&L steel bullhead. (Which is by t...

BTW - here are the laser settings. (Vector cutting full power at 50% speed). I think if I picked up the speed we would have a finer line.

Once the char is cleaned up the line is tiny, but there.

Having looked at many examples of track panels at Scaleforum, and visiting some magnificent home layouts, I had concluded attempts to notch rail every 60ft or 45ft were fairly pointless considering the scale we work in. However some idle chit chat in out laser room at our local communal workspace ha...

How tricky is it to remove the centres from new RTR locos? I've never tried, but some recent offerings look quite good - seems a shame to chuck 'em out.
Just thinking about it, it might be tricky for a hack like me to ensure concentric wheels in the end.....

This gizmo is pricey but is fantastic:

https://www.handlaidtrack.com/tl-0004

So ugly it’s beautiful. Love the shunter riding along on the footboard!

On the subject of rivets - a brief side bar: In securing the rivets, does one give the back a sturdy thwack with a hammer (ala Iain Rice), or is the preference a rivet punch? I see a variety of jewellery punches available, but they all seem to be a significant investment..... largely in shipping cos...

I’m safe and sound back home on the Prairies, and thankful for the wide roads and open spaces. I had a wonderful time in the UK, and thank you all for your wonderful hospitality! I imagine if you lot weren’t such courteous drivers, those narrow little roads would be death traps! I did find a book in...

While continuing my visit to the UK with my customary visit to Swanage, I took this photo for you diesel types - just in case you wanted to weather your diesels ever....

I would second that on the small diesel layouts. The track work on Clackmannan goods was astounding. Fantastic attention to detail.

Good day all. This may seem like a dumb question to most of you. I gather tarmac/ asphalt was an early twentieth century invention. As far as I can tell the roads around Swanage were tarred in the twenties. (?) So the obvious question is - what were the road surfaces in the twenties? What were stati...

Thank you Ralph for taking the time to explain your methods to me. The mill is even more impressive “in the flesh” than I imagined! My projects seem tiny by comparison.
You have certainly given me some ideas to try.

What a magnificent model! Well done good sir.

With some tweaking that could become a Drummond 700 pre superheating.....

Gents - is there a bring and buy table again this year?
I have a few brass loco kits that I will never get to....

Thanks for the kind words Flymo and Julian. The figures are indeed brush painted. My wife and I have been doing them over the last few weeks as my work schedule hasn’t allowed me the time to work on the big project (i.e. the layout itself.) she has a great eye for colour and is a very neat painter. ...

Some idle doodling done last week:



I still need to do the faces - but I prefer oil washes for that...

Tackling the last of the rough jobs - fascia boards. Now that I have the basic contour of the landscape, I could shape the ply accordingly. Bending around corners requires some soaking and plenty of clamps..... 2E3CB8CC-7418-4374-A4C8-BB703C0F6F34.jpeg 3B617692-F98B-4549-9485-16F4AFA0CA3A.jpeg BF4C1...

Some details- ashpit with stone walls, service pit in brick (can’t really be seen -in the shed, but I was playing with Corel. I suppose I should have tried to do Flemish bond, but I was having fun drawing little bricks..... 00C9B80F-0C0D-42C9-89C1-341EBC095AD5.jpeg EB59A57D-29F5-40B6-9987-BA8F3A27C8...

Greetings all. I fear my understanding of steam operation might be lacking a tad. I am scratching the old head regarding the MPD at Swanage. Alongside the coal dock and water tower is a loco pit between the rails. Whenever I am there it seems relatively clean, but I gather ash and coals were dumped ...