Scalefour Forum

Recently we in the Grampian (North East Scotland) group have introduced workshops to supplement our usual monthly meetings. What a good idea! We might think about that for our Area Group. Regarding the Hornby Black Five - I converted mine using Gibson Wheels, retaining the Hornby valve gear etc. an...

I love the way that even the cardboard mock-ups have that golden Cotswold stone feel about them - it all contributes to the strong sense of place, genius loci or topophilia (erudition comes cheap on Wikipedia :x ). If there is to be a Preservation Society I'll be among the first to join! Incidentall...

It can be great fun shuffling a few wagons around. John Especially with some appropriate sounds - engines chuffing, whistling and clanking, safety valves popping, buffers clanging, pigeons cooing, workers shouting instructions - as long as they cannot be heard from the next exhibit (with due defere...

Lovely buildings, Rob. Can you tell us more about the origin of them?

Ian

The LNWR Society will have a stand at S4um. One of the LNWRS members attending has some knowledge of building a model of Liverpool Lime Street. I'll ask him to be prepared should anyone be interested in Ian's idea. Jol Not THE model of Lime Street as featured in http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/ind...

Natalie Graham wrote:But he threw his out and never finished it.

I did ask if he'd put it in the 3D photocopier* and blow it up 200% but no...

* = 1 X scanner + 1 X 3D printer

Time for some grist for the mill. The original loco depot serving Lime St station was tiny - just four roads radiating from a small turntable. They served a small oblong shed over which was a large water tank. There also appears to have been small wooden coaling platform: locos were manually coaled....

Jol Wilkinson wrote:And is it a workbench (as on here) or a workshop (as on RMweb)?

Jol

or challenge?!

mea culpa

It's a workbench and I'll edit out any reference by me of workshops or challenges.

Thanks, Jol

Paul each participating layout must contain at least two working points Given the work involved it would seem reasonable to regard one three-way point or one slip [single or double] as the equivalent of two points. It may not be relevant in the end, but saving space in the design may be important t...

This all started when I posted the following on a thread started by Terry Benthall, with the title “What would encourage you to go the Scaleforum?” “The 1883 challenge produced a multitude of miniature layouts (and spawned an enormous one - Burntisland). I wonder whether another challenge, but to bu...

Tim, Keith, thanks for your advice. I've just looked at the C&L web site. I had no idea that there were so many options now - it's a long time since I built any track other than PCB-based, which was hidden under "snow" on Royston Vasey and roadway on Humber Dock. And the next question ...

It would probably work. Boxes with easily removable covers would cope with the derailmant issues, if they happen, and allow for track cleaning. Why not build a box with some track inside and put it outside now and see what happens? Terry Bendall Well, it looks like I'll be tilling new ground but wi...

Jol Wilkinson wrote:Does this count?

Oops, I forgot to add the rest of the layout to this board.

Taken some time ago so London Road is a bit further on now.

Jol

No!!

One of Barry Norman's designs in his Wild Swan "Designing a Layout" book - Tiviot Dale - calls for hidden trackwork running outside the shed in weatherproof boxes. It looks as though I might need to have my layout in a shed when we move house and I am wondering whether Barry Norman's propo...

Is the date for Scalefour North 2014 confirmed yet? I cannot find it anywhere on the S4 site.

Ian

(Edit - just confirmed by email from the organiser that it has been changed, due to availability of the hall issues, to 12/13 April 2014.)

I find that most of the crud on wheels is fairly solid and can best be removed using a screwdriver or etch kit waste as a scraper. To make the locos' wheels turn I have a simple device made of a couple of short rail lengths soldered to pcb to provide the power. For removing oily stuff, including on ...

Terry Bendall wrote:The owner is Paul Tasker and as David says he does not have a web site or e-mail address.
Terry Bendall

Is he not the kind of trader whom the Society ought to support by offering a page on their web site as a "hosted trader"?

Ian

A suggestion that I had from Bill Bedford for connecting shorting wires to the axle is to solder them to a brass washer (whcih we might well be using anyway) between the wheel and hornblock. There is more than sufficent electrical contact between the washer and axle for conductivity. I recently did...

I remember reading of someone who had hammered a blunt chisel or screwdriver into each sleeper to lengthen them. This was said to represent the track of a derailed wagon, if done in a nice straight line.

Ian

Just one thing to add here - I am not sure that the etches themselves were the key thing about Mike's article - I am sure some arm twisting could be brought to bear to get hold of the etches - but the really interesting idea for me was the use of the press tool to make the two close-together folds ...

Howard, thanks for your full explanations - I'm going to be doing a lot of reading of old Snoozes! Under-baseboard operation works for me on most of my layouts as they are small dioramas which are easy to invert. On these I have tried several systems but so far had found nothing better than the old ...

I was very impressed by the article on Slattocks Junction Stretcher Bars in Snooze 182. I confess that at a first scan I thought that all the photographs were of the real thing, rather than a model! Two things occur to me. 1) I like the idea of making a realistic stretcher bar strong enough to be us...

A small plug for a local exhibition - I will be with Humber Dock at Spennymoor next weekend, together with several other layouts and traders. It's not on the scale or ambition of ExpoEM or Scaleforum but worth a visit if you are in the area. See http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/7071...

Thanks Nigel, I will have to find out if the local model shop to me has any of the TCS KA's in stock. That sounds like a good idea if only a) I can find a local model shop and b) if the chap behind the counter has a clue what a TCS KA is! :) Can anyone advise on sources of TCS KA and flywheels on t...

Hi Ian, I'm not sure what qualifies as 'corners' but I just tried a couple of 16T minerals with rigid buffers on an 18" radius curve and while they would not couple they would make it around, just, sprung buffers would have helped. 24" radius should be safer as long as the wagons aren't w...