Scalefour Forum

Polyimide film, such as Kapton tape, is widely used for both insulation and thermal protection in PCB production, especially in the aerospace industry. It was even used to plug a hole in the International Space Station! It is available in various widths and although a lot more expensive than PVC ins...

An interesting topic! Colour rendering in film emulsions and it's variation is a complex subject, made more difficult by our own colour perception. Kodachrome was a fairly consistent emulsion by the 1970s but even so there was variation between batches - large users for commercial purpose (such as N...

I agree Ralph, I was nervous about the ongoing delay too but the pre-release offer was too good to ignore! It was also important for a succesful release that it was truly reliable. I had been following their story since the original Emblaser was released and it sounded like the development team were...

Very encouraging results, Ralph. I took delivery of the Emblaser 2 about a year ago and was quite impressed with my initial experience, using MDF, despite the clunky Laserweb package. I have downloaded Lightburn but due to office space contraints have yet to get very far with it, however it looks to...

+1

Just brilliant Jeremy, superb engineering.
For me, this is what our side of the hobby is all about!

David

Nice work Craig, hope you can bring them along to the next group meeting in February. Doug, regarding sprung buffers: My clear preference too is to have them sprung if possible but it's not always the case of course, especially with the self-contained variety. I suspect that we can get away with hav...

Doug, BCS Auto paints in Sydney can supply automotive paint in smaller quantities and can ship 35mL bottles (for small repairs) by ordinary post, larger quantities (500mL or more) by road. They have formulae going back to the 1950s and claim to be able to match anything. You can also arrange to coll...

Very eloquently said, Russ.

I too am glad to see you back!

David

Following on from this, has anyone any long term experience of what these chairs are like once they are installed? Are we finding that they have a finite life? If so, and the problem is also endemic to current production, then track built now could have a limited life span. Philip, I have recently ...

A great article, Mark - and much needed. It nicely complements Howard Bolton's recent articles.
As usual, the Snooze is well worth the wait...

David Murrell

Jim,

I think beauty is in eyes of the beholder! I find the Grange well-proportioned and balanced, more so than either a Manor or Hall. I prefer Churchward & Collett tenders to those that followed. And I find Dukes and Dukedogs the essence of graceful perfection...

Each to their own!

David

Craig, it looks like the giant Echidna is lying in wait for the next barrow-man to come by.

Very nice work, both of you!

This may or may not help. A small gasworks in 1939: stourport_gas_works_1939.jpg usage required attribution: © http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw061731 Martin. Very interesting photo (and link) Martin! As a kid in the mid 1960s, we lived a short distance from Stourport. I remember the pow...

I would like to add my thanks to Terry and his team for such an excellent weekend - I was enthralled right up to the final minutes, when I reluctantly dragged myself away from a fascinating discussion with Steve Duckworth on the art and science of chassis construction. Congratulations to all, especi...

If you do make use of car parking space in the hospital, please make sure that you get one of our permits, otherwise you may get clamped or fined. :( If the available space is full it may be easier to find a spot on local roads but please do not block entrances. So where do we get these permits fro...

Danny, I'll be leaving Sydney on September 2nd, so perhaps might take advantage of your offer too - can I pick mine up at Scaleforum please?

David

... and while on the subject of modern English usage, how about "train station" instead of "railway station" - am I alone on this, or does it grate with others as well?

David

21C141 wrote:
I did see a resistance soldering iron demo at Worley earlier this year and was well impressed. Hopefully one should be dropping down the chimney in the next few days.

Just watch out - the transformer is very heavy!

David

I agree with Andrew - I usually use resistance soldering for these sort of details as well. I usually tin with 145 solder first, seems to hold better on small details because it forms a better fillet, possibly. But you do need to be careful how much power you use - practice with a similar piece of s...

Craig, It's a pity we didn't meet as planned this weekend - I could have shown you a potential solution using the BB RCH 1907 units that I have fitted to a Colin Waite P7 Carriage Truck underframe. They are packed out to increase depth and, as with the horsebox, just fit within the headstocks. I had...

Like many others, I started off chassis building (25 years ago) with Perseverance and I think got acceptable running, but only after quite a bit of fiddling in some cases. They weren't called "Perseverance" for nothing! After a few Finney/Mitchell kits I built a couple of scratchbuilt chas...

Try using Loctite 480 - this is supposed to be ideal for use with ABS, and seems to do the job well. Keep it in the fridge as it's a little expensive IIRC, but mine is now three years old and still ok.

David

No worries Mike, I knew you would see my post eventually! 8-) This is very interesting - I have been looking at various ways of using a computer interface to handle interlocking and semi-automatic dispatch of trains from a large fiddleyard. I want this to interface with a fairly authenic (operationa...

Mike, these instruments look very interesting - can you tell us more about their inner workings?

David Murrell

Nicely described Will! I echo your sentiments about the GW wheel press - wouldn't be without it. There's another little trick you can use to avoid the Loctite spreading up the axle to the bearings - yes, it's happened to me too! Firstly, degrease the axle ends and wheel hubs with IPA (Isopropyl alco...