I should have taken pics of the Merlin and Packard engines whilst I was at the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society down in Albion Park... Cheers, Gary.
Hello All, there was a programme on ABC TV some years ago regarding blokes who restored old Merlin engines, and at least one of them was British x RAF who actually worked on them during WW2, and he was of the view that the American Packard Merlins were better made with less parts than the RR originals. In Australia , the RAAF Merlins were usually from Packard in the US. Packard was an automotive manufacturer who also made their own engines, so they had both the engineering, and mass production experience, to be able meet Allied demands for Merlin engines. Whilst I am unaware of the numbers, the impression I gained was that the RAF did use a lot of Packard Merlins as RR factories could not, of themselves, meet the RAF demands. The Packard Merlin also enabled the P51D Mustangs and onwards to escort American bombers all the way to Berlin and back, which at that time was quite an achievement, and this meant that the Luftwaffe suffered catastrophic losses due to the USAAF being able to supply both aircraft and pilots in increasing numbers, whilst Germany's supply of pilots diminished . As a generalisation, US fighters both USN and USAAF, all had longer ranges than other comparable air forces, with the exception of Japan . The vastness of the Pacific made this a necessity, but an added advantage for European and Mediterranean operations. Nice photos of both the Mustang and the Spitfire, Regards, Echidna.
Variants of the Merlin engines were being used until quite recently as Meteors in the Centurion tanks and mk1&2 Mighty Antars (some still being run at shows) both of which I worked on in the Army, among other things they had twin magneto's, double platinum tipped spark plugs, armoured cabling and pressurised fuel systems that showed off their heritage ian vt
I have a soft spot for Spitfires. Bunny Brooks, a RR Merlin engineer and ex bomber pilot, a friend of the families, had one sitting on his Hoylake Petrol station Forecourt that he had renovated from scrap and was later seen in the 'Battle of Britain' film. I am very jealous of your airfield, Gormo!
Thanks Gary, Echidna, Ian & Timbersurf for the extra info about these wonderful planes and engines. I have a large print by Barrie A.F.Clark of a Spitfire coming out of the clouds. It would have to be my favorite aircraft of all time, don`t know why.????....I just like it......same reason I like certain cars and certain trains etc......it just rings my bell....floats my boat .....and I never tire of looking at it..... https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.c...4c10-699c-436c-d5c1-dd6b70a7c780/original.jpg Gormo
G`day Folks, A little bit of a deviation for me for a moment. I need a break from scenery. I have been finally sorting out the full electrics for Bamford branch terminus. I`ve had the basics working for quite some time but never really took it any further, always doing something else instead. So I`ve made up a testing panel for track plan, switches and a panel controller. The panel needs to lift up to allow full withdrawal of the sliding yard below it, so a simple hinged system seems to work. This is just a rough cut piece of 3mm MDF with track plan drawn on with texta. After having it in place, it became obvious that the final design does not need to be quite as long as the test panel....first thing learnt. The second thing is that the the final incarnation will need a frame to keep it rigid. This shows it in the up position, which will allow the yard to pull right out. With the panel down the yard can fully function, however if maintenance is required, I need to get it all the way out. There are still a couple more switches to go in to allow track sections in sidings to be isolated, however all that is fairly basic....no dramas. Tonight I have built the panel controller based on a design by John Rumming. He has produced an article in PDF form will fully details how to build a hand held analogue controller, complete with all the part numbers required from various suppliers. http://home.iprimus.com.au/nuggles58/Making A Basic DC Controller.pdf As I said John`s design is for a hand held. I have simply translated it to a circuit board which can be mounted behind the panel. I built a hand held some time back and that works quite well.......fairly nice smooth control for such a simple circuit. This is the hand held version And this is the revised version for the panel So there we are folks.......I will fit the controller to the panel, but I will also build a second controller in the hand held plug in version that will allow a bit of freedom to move about if required. Next stage is to test run it and sort out any bugs and then move onto designing a proper panel. More as it happens Gormo
Hi Gormo As a new member this is my first introduction to both you and your fantastic layout. I've just spent the last week reading your thread and watching videos. It's a great railway you are building. Thanks for sharing it with us.
G`day Dublo, Thanks for your comments and welcome aboard the forum. I have to remind myself from time to time just how far I`ve come with the build because at times the project seems too big. It seems like I`ll never get there, but really that`s just me. If I were to drive things a bit harder, it would happen more quickly, however I have to remind myself that this is a lifetime hobby and life itself has priority over my hobby..........so bit by bit building the layout will have to do. I hope you enjoy the forum........people seem to be adopting us at quite a rate lately, so we must be doing something right..?? If you ever have any questions or need help with something, just pop the question on the forum and there always seems to be someone who will have a solution. I guess that`s the benefit of growing membership, it also increases the knowledge and experience bank. Gormo
Gormo, this scene here looks terrific ! Have you considered using an electric shaver and shaving an airfield into the long grass to represent a trodden runway...?? Using forced perspective, the shaved area could be broad at the front (next to Spitfire) and narrows down towards the wall/back scene... Cheers, Gary.
No I hadn`t Gary........but that`s a good idea.......whether I`m brave enough or not to attack my grass is another thing... I think it`s all about getting the shape of the forced perspective to look right. In other words, not having it taper in too quickly, because it may look odd from certain angles. I think testing with paper cut outs first to try and visualize it may be the way to go. I`ve got a pair of hair clippers that would do the job and they have the various comb attachments for various lengths, so I`ve got the gear but have I got the guts to do it..........that is the question... Gormo
Just think you are 18 years of age and your mowing a cricket pitch in your back lawn... Cheers, Gary.
G`day Folks, Moving right along but in a different direction once again. I`m jumpin` about like an Ant on a hot brick !!!! Some time back I was gifted some used unwanted model railway bits and pieces from a family connection who no longer had any use for them. The folks are down sizing and moving interstate, so any items surplus to needs will be discarded, and after a lifetime in the one house, they have to be ruthless in their approach to what to keep and what to throw away. So I finished up with a couple of locos and some coaches and wagons and a bunch of track and odds and sods. All of this was once a small model railway which was intended to become an empire, however it never really got off the ground, although I reckon some fun was had with it when first purchased. Some of the track consists of a handful of old points. They are Lifelike brand, made of what appears to be brass, small radius, pretty solid for there age, but unfortunately not really appropriate for the scenic areas of my railway. However that said, they are perfectly good for hidden areas. I have been considering this project for a wee while now and the arrival of the points has finally prompted me into doing something about it. The project is to add a passing loop on the branch line between GCJ and Little Bardfield, out in my workshop on the incline section up to Little Bardfield. The idea is to add even more complexity to the running of the railway, but also a bit more realistic operation. Because the track is out of view when you are in the train room, I needed to build in some degree of automatic / safe operation because it`s possible to have two trains running towards each other on the same single track, Gomez Addams style, which could possibly have disastrous results........depending on how you look at it.......it could be fun...???? So the solution is really quite simple......The are two points which are permanently set, one in the straight ahead direction and the other set to turn the train off onto the loop. The tie bars on both points are fitted with a soft spring which not only keeps them in position, but also allows a train to push the point blades across into position, even though they are set against direction of travel. The effect is, that a train travels on the UP line along the left hand loop and returns along the DOWN line on the right hand loop. No point motors or supervision required at this point. This is the lower point on the loop set for an UP train The spring is a G string from a guitar. Very light pressure applied to keep the point in the straight ahead position. Here we see the other end with point permanently set to take the DOWN loop. Very simple spring method set and shown below. Of course the electricals have not yet been sorted, so a certain degree of complexity will be added once that is fully functional. The plan is to isolate both loop sections, possibly with a push button set up, and then of course there will be shared controllers on this section. So in effect, the trains will automatically stop in either direction until told to carry on forward. The section will also need train detection which will display on a panel in the train room. I think you may get a better idea of it from the video below More as it happens Gormo
Looks great Gormo, but you might want something under the baseboard after the last point by the doorway, just in case something does derail on the way back. Looks like a long drop to the floor. Ed
Good point Ed.... All this time the railway has been running, I`ve never had a derailment on that section, however by now adding a set of points just near the " leap of death " , I am tempting fate.........it`s only a matter of time and it will happen..!!! I have some right angled aluminium section that I will add to the bridge and I think some 3mm MDF acting as a barrier to come up near the point, will bring that area back from certain disaster. I`ll do it today.....stay tuned..... Gormo
G`day Folks, Based on Ed`s observations and advice in post # 1498, I have added safety barriers to my sections of track crossing doorways in the workshop. Still waiting for glue to dry on some sections, but I will leave it clamped overnight. This pic below is the most at risk section, the narrow bridge across the outer door just after the set of points. It`s well protected now Well thanks Ed for pointing out the risks.....you were right of course and I felt best to act upon it right away. More as it happens Gormo