Scalefour Forum

Way back in April 2014, Colin Parks suggested an interesting method for weathering wagon chassis and it has taken me until now to get around to trying it! Colin suggested spraying the chassis in a track brown colour and then misting over that with a black once dry. the idea is to leave the base colo...

Lovely stuff Jim. Lot of inspiration there.

John.

I have been slowly beavering away at the WD since I last posted but modelling time seems to be at a premium at present. Anyway, having achieved a smooth running chassis, I moved on to assemble the brake hanger brackets, the crossheads and slidebars and the connecting rods. I doubt that any further p...

Hi Iain,

Lovely stuff as always. I love the bare wood effect, something I can't seem to get right. Do tell us more.

John.

Hi Will, I don't find the springing units particularly difficult to set up. I have a J68 and a J39 fitted with this springing method and both run very nicely. Setting them up is just a matter of being methodical and making slight adjustments until you get there but it really sounds worse than it is....

Things have been quiet wagon wise of late. The only wagon I have built lately is one of Bill Bedford's Toad Es and a couple of photos are attached. It was a fairly simple build using Exactoscale wheels and parallel axles as per my usual specification. I had to use brass wire instead of some of the h...

Its been a while since I have posted anything so an update seems like a good idea. Work on the WD continues, although not at the pace I would like. Too many distractions, I'm afraid. The sprung hornblocks that I described in my last posting proved unworkable. I should really have sprung the wheels f...

As things are starting to come together we have now started to meet fortnightly instead of monthly. At last Monday evening's meeting, work continued on building our test track. Work on the North Elmham project continues with Denis Larkin having Templotted the track layout and he is currently buildin...

Thanks Terry and Alan. I have decided not to bang my head against this particular wall and will contact Hornby with a view to sending it back for replacement. One less job to do.

Thanks to all for your replies, especially John for attaching the full story from the RMWeb. A sorry tale indeed. Two possible solutions present themselves. I think I'll make up a plate and epoxy and pin it in place. If that fails, the other solution would mean losing the lighting functions, which I...

I suppose I could solder it!

Is it possible to solder mazak castings? I have never had reason to try in the past but I find myself with a broken Class 31 chassis and its a repair or bin situation! I guess the preferred option is obvious.

John.

We had a very productive meeting this time around, discussing the final format for our proposed layout. Denis turned up with full size Templot plans in both a straight and elliptical format and much discussion was had. We opted for the elliptical format, despute the compromises involved for a number...

Hi Tony, A couple of questions relating to the early part of your thread. Firstly, is your recommended double sided tape relatively low tack? I have experienced problems lifting finished points from double sided tape in the past and have used pritt stick as a far from ideal alternative. Secondly, yo...

Hi Tony,

That's a great idea and just the type of thing we need to see on the forum. There's a lot of modellers out there who will find it very useful and I shall follow it with great interest. Good luck.

John.

I've have been puzzling over a slight problem with the WD chassis for a little while now. Other projects have provided ample distraction since I last worked on it but they are, more or less, out of the way now, so I thought that I had better get back to it and try to push it along. If you look at th...

Having missed the report on our December meeting I thought one on the January meeting might not go amiss. In December we had discussed layout ideas and it was agreed to give North Elmham, on the Dereham to Wells line, a go. This time around, Denis Perkins, our resident Templot expert, turned up with...

Thanks Gordon, looks like I might have to give them a ring.

John.

Thanks Joe,

I'm afraid that heat is out of the question in this instance. I'm trying to separate some Exactoscale wheels from their axles so things could get expensive if heat gets involved!

Its certainly not the weather here for cycling, happy or otherwise!!! Still, there will be other days.

John.

Can anyone assist with this? I want to break some joints that I made using Loctite 603. I have heard that Loctite sell an appropriate solvent for the job but can't find it on their website or anywhere else for that matter. It may well be that I'm stuck with things the way they are (excuse the pun) i...

Hi Jim,

Love the weathering. You've made a lovely job of that and turned it into something rather special.

John.

A little late perhaps but I thought a quick update on our meeting was overdue. We did indeed discuss a group layout and several prototype locations were covered, all in North Norfolk. I have looked at them since the meeting, listing the pros and cons of each and now I need to circulate those finding...

This month's Area Group meeting will be held on 15th at Tim Horn's workshop in Fakenham, starting at 8pm. There is a rumour that a group layout will be discussed! Members are invited to bring along a current project or a problematic one so that we can get our heads together and hopefully sort any pr...

Last night's October meeting was held at Tim Horn's workshop with a good turnout to see Yours Truly give a tutorial on basic airbrushing techniques. I brought a few models along that needed priming and used them to demonstrate the various techniques. Members were then encouraged to have a go themsel...

Hi Tim, I understand what you're saying. I do enjoy building etched kits and I have plenty to be going on with. It is nice however, just once in a while, to produce something just a little quicker. The finished article looks the part, which is the main thing. The kit has a simple etched sprung sub-f...