Fryers Lane

A forum for participants in the Standard Gauge Workbench.
mikeknowles
Posts: 72
Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 8:58 am

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby mikeknowles » Fri Oct 17, 2014 9:36 am

Serjt-Dave wrote:The new MERG servo mounts are 3D printed and in my mind not as nice as the old ones.

Dave


I'd agree with that.

Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:58 pm

Oops, an update of this thread is long overdue!

Below the baseboard dropper wires have been added, along with the electro-magnets for the AJ couplings. The first of the turnouts has been linked to the actuator and I've been stocking up on the parts required to wire the layout.
Over Christmas I built one of the lever frame kits from society stores (very nice) which I'll be using to control the turnouts. Also, a warehouse building has sprung up at the left hand end of the layout, with a decision made to extend this siding slightly inside the building and onto the fiddle yard beyond.
post-6677-0-06733800-1420927611.jpg


Most recently, I've been hacking about at the FTG Models SPA to narrow the underframe and fit sprung axleguards.
16316654396_84b3e9f2f4_o.jpg


Next on the to do list; connecting the dropper wires to a power feed, paint rails and sleepers and fit the other turnout actuators. Also need to make my mind up about fiddle yard design.
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jim s-w
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Re: Fryers Lane

Postby jim s-w » Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:07 pm

Good stuff mark

Re the SPA, wouldn't it be cheaper easier and a better end result just t build the Cambrian kit?

Cheers

Jim
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Sat Jan 24, 2015 9:40 pm

jim s-w wrote:Good stuff mark

Re the SPA, wouldn't it be cheaper easier and a better end result just t build the Cambrian kit?


Thanks Jim. For me the ready assembled, painted and lettered body offers a considerable time saving over the Cambrian route. I've probably put no more than a couple of hours into this one; ripping down the middle of the chassis with a cutting disc takes seconds and is strangely satisfying :o

Some of the detail is a bit chunkier than comparable Bachmann products, like their OCA, but having had a quick look at a couple of Cambrian SPAs I started some years ago I think I prefer the body on the FTG version - although I do have a slight niggling feeling that the body may also be slightly too wide.

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jim s-w
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Joined: Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:56 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby jim s-w » Sun Jan 25, 2015 3:25 pm

Hi Mark

Does it really though? I mean if you don't count drying times were only talking about sticking 5 bits of plastic together and spraying it with ford carnival red for the body. Must be something like 15 mins work. By the same logic it's really only a couple of hours to build the whole kit with all the extra bits that FTG have missed off (like brakes). The underframe you end up with is much closer to the real wagon and not so far out of proportion.

Cheers

Jim
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

chrisf

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby chrisf » Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:16 pm

Jim and Mark, you have demonstrated that there is more than one way to skin a cat!

Chris

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jim s-w
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Re: Fryers Lane

Postby jim s-w » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:17 pm

Quite. If the FTG models weren't so expensive I did quite fancy having a go at one myself. Cambrian give you both of their air braked wagon sole bars in each kit so I'm sure I must have enough spares somewhere.

Cheers

Jim
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:54 pm

I'm not averse to building a kit or two; for example all of my 16t minerals are kit build, despite the Bachmann RTR version of the same being as good as the kits I actually quite like building kits. However, partly because of the chaotic way that I prioritise my modelling time, I do end up with a lot of part built kits which get to rolling chassis stage, but are very slow to reach final completion - particularly painting and lettering. To some extent I'm trying get around this by using RTR stock as much as possible for this project and (as much as possible) avoiding repaints.

I don't think the cost difference between the FTG and Cambrian SPA is that great, once you add in the cost of replacement buffers (I'm happy enough with the FTG ones to not replace them, for now) a tin of paint and some transfers. There is something I don't like about the Cambrian underframe, I can't quite put my finger on it; just seems to lack depth. From what I can see of the examples on their website they seem to lack brake calipers too.

As Chris says above, "more than one way to skin a cat"; and it would be a boring world if we all did it the same way.

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jim s-w
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Re: Fryers Lane

Postby jim s-w » Mon Jan 26, 2015 1:46 pm

They do, in fact I don't think any of the RTR or kit guys have ever done brakes on any LWB air braked wagons. Does the below help at all?

Image

Image

It's not definitive but it does help make the underframe look less airy.

Cheers

Jim
Jim Smith-Wright

http://www.p4newstreet.com

Over thinking often leads to under doing!

Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Mon Jan 26, 2015 8:55 pm

Thanks Jim, that's really useful - next job on mine is to fit the couplings (AJs) so I'll give some consideration to how to leave enough room to add some of that detail.

Cheers,
Mark

Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:42 pm

Adding a new loco to the fleet; a Bachmann Class 20 in the process of being renumbered from 20090 to 20108:

16343547590_8e245f45fb_o.jpg


Some greenery has sprung up along the front edge of the layout too:
DSCF3736.JPG
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Colin Parks

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Colin Parks » Mon Feb 16, 2015 7:55 pm

Hi Mark,

The layout is looking good with all that stock on it. You must be getting close to having it operational.

All the best,

Colin

Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Mon Feb 16, 2015 8:26 pm

Thanks Colin.
I'm off work this week so the plan is to connect up the dropper wires to the power bus and get something moving under its own power. Need to clear the stock off so I can flip it over to get to the wires! Also on the to do list is to cut the ply for the two fiddle yard boards (spent some time this afternoon working out train lengths etc).

Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Sun Mar 01, 2015 10:30 pm

First loco ran along the layout this evening....
16499675298_e49a0d6983_o.jpg

Still need to wire the tandem; decided I'd try a "Frog Juicer" rather than switch the vee polarity with micro switches. I've also been gathering the component parts I need for the control panel.
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Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Wed Jan 18, 2017 6:44 am

I hadn't realised how long it had been since I updated this thread!

Since my last update the layout made its exhibition debut at Scaleforum in September 2015 and was out again almost exactly 12 months later at ExpoEM North in September 2016.

Since then, the layout has been in use as a glorified shelf and test track for a growing collection of stock that I'm building for a future project.
2016-12-28_10-03-56.jpg

2016-12-28_10-03-47.jpg

2017-01-16_02-08-56.jpg


However, last week I spent a little time shunting a few wagons in a short operating session, not something I do very often.
2017-01-17_03-29-03.jpg

2017-01-17_11-23-22.jpg


A very enjoyable and relaxing way to spend an hour, it's inspired me to get on with adding a few missing details too.
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Mark Forrest
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2011 6:44 pm

Re: Fryers Lane

Postby Mark Forrest » Mon May 01, 2023 7:55 am

Almost 10 years on from the initial build (where has that time gone?) Fryers Lane has undergone something of a rebuild, now outgrowing the SGW footprint.

It all started a couple of years ago when I started to build a shorter fiddle yard for the left end of the layout (so I could use it at home). After a bit of a false start I ended up replacing this with a scenic board, taking the length of the layout to 2.1m. In addition to this the depth of the layout was also increased, the combination of increased length and depth mean that the scenic area is now also double that of the original layout. At the right hand end, the existing 1.2m fiddle yard remains.

In this extended format, the layout recently made its exhibition debut at the RMweb SWAG member's day in Taunton.
IMG20230423093010.jpg
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