The Chronicles of Canary Sidings - Eastern Eccentricity in EM

[James Spooner]

With the rain setting in hereabouts I have finally gritted my teeth and started on the chimneys. I don’t think there is any way of satisfactorily making these just by using embossed brick sheets so I have measured out the chimneys on 20 thou plasticard and am hand scribing the bricks. Horizontal courses all done and alternate courses for the vertical courses. Now to gird my loins and fill in the gaps. Classic FM is helping me retain some element of sanity through this process.

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

Done… Next step is to cut the two chimneys out, fit the blank fourth side (apparently the building is by the back scene so I don’t need to model the rear), tops and pots…

Nigel

 

[James Spooner]

More progress today on the house. I have finished the chimneys, added the false under-roof and glued the completed chimneys to the back of the house. Progress will stop for a week now as I disappear off to warmer climes but will need to pick up with a vengeance on my return, in order to meet @Herb Garden deadlines… In truth, it is just the roof, barge boards and guttering to do now.

Nigel

 

[Liver & Fry]

Time for an update I reckon!

Having put the main structure of the bodies together, attention turned to making some floor sections. I cut some plasticard to size and then added planks, using 2mm wide styrene strip:



So far so good:



But before these could be fitted to the vans proper, I needed to do some additional work to the lower bodysides by adding the groved plank (and opposing blanking plank) for the partition board.



Equally, I used the opportunity to add batons to the floor before putting them in the vans:



Originally I has used 1mm square rod but this was too chunky so I removed them and started over.

The floors have since been glued in to the vans, bringing us up to date:



- James

 

[Herb Garden]

The mill detailing is nearly finished so I took the chance to try it in situ.


Although the building itself is done it will need the bridge and some out buildings to set it in the scene. So I'm not out of the plasticard jungle yet


You start to get a feel for the scene though. Needs a backdrop etc though.


There's also the question of this hole on the facia. It was originally the opening for the second exit track but now that's no longer required Ive been thinking what to do with it... If it doesn't hinder the scene I might leave it as a viewing portal. Gives quite a nice vantage point don't you think?


Over on the other board there's not much progress to be seen....


But developments are in hand so watch this space!

 

[Suffolk Dave]

The surplus facial hole? It would be like looking through a window of a neighbouring building. Yeah, go for it!

 

[2mmEditor]

I've also been invited to join the party by building some rolling stock for Skeetsmere. This is my first foray into 4mm for quite some years (my own projects are in 2mm finescale), but has been enjoyable, I have to say. The first vehicle – a D&S etched kit for a Great Eastern sundry van – is now taking shape. It seems to run up and down happily on the workbench, but I don't actually have a length of EM track to test or pose it on.

This was the van as it stood this afternoon:



Being a 4mm novice I opted for the radical option of following the instructions, although since I'm gluing on all of the white metal castings, it isn't possible to actually do all of the steps in the indicated order. Despite being a novelty to me as a 2mm modeller (where generally accepted wisdom seems to be that 4-wheel vehicles don't need compensation), the rocking W-iron presented no problems. The biggest difficulty so far has been the J-hangers. In 2mm I've only ever done these as etches (beefed up with blobs of solder!) but here they are quite chunky castings which required some fettling. (And probably are still a bit crude when seen close up.) One of them came in two pieces; it looked more like a moulding failure than a breakage "in transit", since the two didn't really match up, but I think I've managed to bodge and re-combine them. The linkages that actually attach the J-hangers to the springs are thin etches that I have yet to glue on, although it isn't immediately clear that they will fit, particularly for the rocking W-iron where they might impede the movement of the spring.

The following photo was taken this evening to show that the last bits of soldering on the body are now complete: the door handles. I don't know how coach door handles are normally done in 4mm, and none were included in the kit, although the instructions did suggest filing them from a pin head, so this is what I did. (The shank is a bit hefty at 0.8mm but hopefully this doesn't show.)



The photo shows a patch on the second panel from the left where a small area has etched all the way through. There's just this one place where this has happened, and will require filling. The close-up also shows that I need to do a bit more cleaning up of solder around the windows. There are glazing bars to fit inside, but the instructions say that they weren't always present, and in any case might be better attached after glazing?

Anyhow, that's where things stand.

– Anthony

 

[Liver & Fry]

Quick update:

Made up the W-irons last night:



Will get these fitted in the coming days and then, once some GE axleboxes arrive, I'll crack on with detailing and brake gear etc.

- James

 

[James Spooner]

A holiday in Italy put a halt to progress on the house but now back in Blighty I have called the tilers in… Actually the rather lovely pantiles were 3D printed for @Herb Garden and he sent me some sheets to clad the roof. They do need some rather ginger and careful cutting as being resin they are quite fragile. I also had to file the tiles back to get a good fit for the rather fancy couple of tile courses by the eaves.

The ridge tiles were made from a strip of 3/32” Evergreen tube sanded down on one side to make it an upturned U. Strips of 10 thou by 20 thou plasticard strip were then welded to the upturned U and the whole superglued to the ridge.

Finally I have cut out and fitted the bargeboards and soffits. I think it is just guttering and painting to go now… A couple of photos at different stages this evening are attached.

Nigel

 

[Herb Garden]

So it's been a while between updates on what is happening at base. And more frightening is it's 3 weeks to Workshop Wise and then only another 3 to Workington. Yikes!

So where to start?


The mill is almost complete. I'm not sure if the addition of the hoist on the outside adds to the look or not but it is prototypical of another of these buildings from the same river system.


The fiddle yard has been sagging since it was first constructed to be able to use it, a visit to the garage was in order and some suitable braces were glued in place.


It now hangs nicely in place and level.


This has allowed the exit track to be relayed across the river Skeet.


Although it is lacking some support.


Talking of support the bridge deck has been rebuilt and is just awaiting the abutments.


Power can has now been applied to the layout and the servo programming can now be tweaked to make the point throws more gentle. I've built myself this merg programming box to help as last time trying to do it via a pc program involved yelling instructions to @Liver & Fry at the other end of the room.

Power on has allowed the return of the bucks to the layout and test running has been going on.


Work continues on the ballasting and covering up of the polystyrene finally!

6 weeks to go!

 

[AJC]

That's... some hoist. Too big, I'd say based on the mill pictures I've seen - consider the size of the average lucam/lucarne (the spelling varies quite a bit) which wouldn't accommodate something that big - and the chain is certainly better employed anchoring something displacing a thousand tons or so.

Adam

 

[AJC]

That's... some hoist. Too big, I'd say based on the mill pictures I've seen - consider the size of the average lucam/lucarne (the spelling varies quite a bit) which wouldn't accommodate something that big - and the chain is certainly better employed anchoring something displacing a thousand tons or so.

Adam

I should have said that you’ve already got a lucarne: that would have housed the hoist. You don’t actually need two - well, maybe a small sack hoist over those doors? There’s still a few of these in Covent Garden which I see multiple times a week, they’re not big.



Adam

 

[Herb Garden]

That's... some hoist. Too big, I'd say based on the mill pictures I've seen - consider the size of the average lucam/lucarne (the spelling varies quite a bit) which wouldn't accommodate something that big - and the chain is certainly better employed anchoring something displacing a thousand tons or so.

Adam

Oh Adam,

I wish you had said nothing.... But now you've said it I can't stop seeing it.... Yep you are right it's a bit too sledgehammer to crack a nut....

It might have to be modified. At least you said it before I painted it....


Further test running this morning with 151 allowed for some more B&W photography.... You wouldn't believe how many people comment on the lack of front coupling rods negatively but I was prototypical!

But what's that lurking in the background... Answers on a post card please....

 

[AJC]

Oh Adam,

I wish you had said nothing.... But now you've said it I can't stop seeing it.... Yep you are right it's a bit too sledgehammer to crack a nut....

It might have to be modified. At least you said it before I painted it....

I’m sorry, the idea is right, but what you’ve added would be pretty substantial in 7mm and is overkill in this application. If you can wait until tomorrow, I can snap a couple in situ in Tonbridge (or in Covent Garden later in the week) if that would help? The limitation in this application would have been handling capacity - what a couple of men could shift up top. A couple of sacks at a time is enough.

The black and white shots are lovely, and the temporary 2-4-0 is a fine cute thing.

Adam

 

[Herb Garden]

but what you’ve added would be pretty substantial in 7mm

Maybe I should build a 7mm version of the same layout next?


The black and white shots do look good but the shelving brackets do give it away a bit....

 

[Liver & Fry]

It's been a week since my last update and in that time we have successfully lost the number 1.

Come again? Well, I'll explain...

Last weekend, a discussion amongst some GERS members led to an interesting revelation. The D&S kit represents a GE 'large' cattle van, with a wooden underframe, introduced in 1910; or at face value, a Dia.71.

However, the Dia.71 vans were 18ft 7in in length, or 74.33mm in 4mm scale

The cattle van that the D&S kit creates is approximately 77mm long, or 19ft 3in in prototypical measurements. The instructions also refer to a brake arrangement that differs from the Dia.71 (if you follow the lore of Tatlow).

But you know what these features of length and brake arrangement do match? The Dia.7, built between 1900 and 1909. The catch? Dia.7 had steel underframes...

Following some mildly panicked discussions between myself and @Herb Garden a solution was identified; sand off the underframe and build a new one using 'Herb Garden' kit components from the Dia.17 open wagons (see here for my build of these: Liver & Fry's workbench ).

So, along with the GE axleboxes, I am now awaiting the underframe components to get this project back on the go. In the meantime, I have done the relevant prep work by removing the underframe from both vans:



It's a minor hiccup, but I should still be good to meet the deadline in two and a half weeks!

- James

 

[James Spooner]

And in other news, unless @Herb Garden tells me otherwise (as in I’ve forgotten to add some critical part!), construction of Skeetsmere House is finished, with just the painting to be done. I have painted the gutters, down pipes and barge boarding but need to let that dry now. A couple of photos attached.

Nigel

 

[Alan]

A lovely piece of work.

 

[James Spooner]

A lovely piece of work.

Thanks Alan.

 

[James Spooner]

Some more painting carried out today…. Unusually for pantiles, these are almost black (actually a mix of Vallejo German Grey and Prussian Blue). @Herb Garden had to send me photos of some real examples so I could get my mind around it. A couple of photos attached. The chimneys need another coat (or two; I’m putting it on quite thinly to avoid losing the brick scribing) then mortaring.

Nigel