Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by gormo, Dec 5, 2015.

  1. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    G`day Folks,
    My search for a suitable cheap plastic building has achieved no results at this point in time.
    I fear I may have to construct something myself..........not a problem really, but I was looking for an easy way out.
    That`s the thing with this hobby, nothing is really easy.........you just have to bite the bullet and do it yourself a lot of the time.
    So .........off to the drawing board.....:avatar:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
    jakesdad13 likes this.
  2. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

    Messages:
    4,535
    Likes Received:
    2,071
    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2015
    Something went wrong with my earlier post. What I wanted to say was.
    How about a laser cut building such as Lcut or Petite Properties for example, clad with Scalescenes paper?

    Cheers, Pete.
     
  3. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    Not to worry Pete,
    I removed the first post, just so we don`t clog up the forum with unnecessary posts..:thumbs:
    Yes I am open to all and any commercial buildings, but finding the right one here in Oz is the problem. I was out at my local model shop the other day, and they specialize in UK model trains. It`s like an Aladdin`s cave for me.
    Anyway......nothing suitable in any form was found. There are another one or two places I can try, but I don`t think it`s worth too much running about or even getting it posted from overseas.?
    I`ve got it planted in my scone now that I am going to build a building and that in itself is becoming an attractive prospect.......the fun of scratch building.
    Thanks for your suggestion.:thumbs:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
    jakesdad13 and Andy_Sollis like this.
  4. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    G`day Folks,
    I have started designing a building to fit over the lifter on my second lift off section behind Little Bardfield.
    I have chosen a prototype building from Bircham Windmill in Norfolk. Two reasons for this.
    1 I like the buildings at Bircham Windmill
    2 I actually went there for a visit 30 years ago, so it`s a bit of nostalgia kicking in there from happy days long ago.
    At this stage I`m modelling the main house building, which is quite different to most proprietary cottage models. The house is actually too long for the site that I want to put it on, so I have compressed it somewhat to make it fit. The house is rendered white on three sides, yet is brick coloured on the fourth side. The high point on the roof is off center which gives an interesting pitch to the roof resulting in the wall on one side being slightly taller than the wall on the opposite side.
    So it will be an interesting building and a bit challenging to build......but that`s the fun of it.
    The windows in the building are not set very deeply into the walls, so to get close to the same sort of look to the building, I will be creating the walls from two layers of 1mm card.
    You can see in the drawing below, that I have created a side wall and an end wall, each with two parts to it. The openings in the inner sections are 4mm wider and 4mm higher than the correct size openings in the outer sections.
    This will allow me to fit the windows inside the larger openings and hard up behind the outer wall openings and consequently the windows will only be sitting back 1mm from the outside edge.
    Normally I would use 2mm card and only have one layer, but the windows would look too deeply set into the walls and would not accurately reflect the situation in the real building.
    There are two main chimneys which will be made from 3 layers of 2mm card glued one on top of the other to give a solid block of card that will be wrapped in an appropriate brick paper.


    Screenshot from 2021-03-30 20-51-35.png


    Here are the other two walls. The end wall in this case is a mirror image of the other end wall, whereas on the real building there is a single story low set brick building projecting out from this wall. The low set building connects directly to the mill itself and looks like it was a later addition.


    Screenshot from 2021-03-30 20-50-09.png

    So my mill scene will not be a faithful reproduction of Bircham Windmill, but rather a scene something like it. I do not have the space to do it justice, so I will fudge it until it looks good enough.
    These drawings above will be printed out and glued to 1mm card and then the card will be cut following the guide lines and then the two components to each wall will be glued together and have heavy weights sat upon them until the glue dries.
    I will probably paint on the white render, with slight distressing, and the brick will be done with Scalescenes brick paper. The roof tiles will be done with Scalescenes Pantiles. Doors and windows will be created by Gormo.
    So we are at the very beginning and lots more drawing required..........but at least it`s starting to happen.
    :tophat:Gormo
     
    jakesdad13 and Davoetype like this.
  5. jakesdad13

    jakesdad13 Staff Member Moderator

    Messages:
    4,535
    Likes Received:
    2,071
    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2015
    That is a very interesting looking building, I'm sure it will test the Gormo skills but be very satisfying to construct. I shall look forward to seeing it progress!

    Cheers, Pete.
     
  6. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    Thanks Pete,
    Yes a fair bit of work getting all the parts together initially. I was resizing windows last night......still have more to do.....plus one end of the building was modified slightly to add a raised section.
    I still need to draw up the doors and also there`s a third chimney to be looked at seriously.
    As you say....it`s an interesting building...... and more complex than it first appears.
    Once I have all my parts sorted it will crack on, and of course, as Murphy`s law would have it, I`ve just run out of printer ink........:facepalm:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
    jakesdad13 likes this.
  7. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    On another topic,
    My Hornby Dublo City of London had a coupling breakage yesterday. The coupling was on the tender.
    The hook on it simply failed as per the pic below.


    DSC01049.JPG

    So to remove the broken ( original ) coupling, the tender top was removed ( one screw ) ,and then we are presented with a die cast chassis which has the coupling attached with a brass rivet.
    I put the tender on the drill press and drilled out the rivet.
    Then added a small Bachmann tension lock coupling. The coupling had to be trimmed to give clearance for the wheels and also a nut spacer was added between the coupling and the chassis to get the coupling to sit at the correct height. I used a suitable screw to cut a thread into the die cast metal to secure the screw.


    DSC01054.JPG



    DSC01055.JPG



    DSC01052.JPG


    All is working well and the City of London runs again.....:thumbs:
    The new coupling sits behind the buffer ends so the connection to the coaches is much closer, but with enough clearance to work well.
    I`m considering shortening the draw bar between tender and loco too, but there are more pressing matters to attend to on Little Bardfield.


    DSC01050.JPG



    :tophat:Gormo
     
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2021
    jakesdad13 and Andy_Sollis like this.
  8. Chris M

    Chris M If 2 wrongs don't make it right ... try 3 Full Member

    Messages:
    156
    Likes Received:
    182
    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2019
    Hi Gormo,

    Glad to see the Gormo Engineering Department is on the job and up to the task. Great to see her running again and so well.

    Hornby Dublo spanned 1938–1963 so this locomotive is AT LEAST 58 years old. Barring a serious accident (impact, fire, flood, earthquake etc) it makes me wonder what the ultimate life of these models is? The City of London will definitely outlive us and probably the next generation or two.

    Sobering thought :scratchchin: ... don't you think?

    Chris
     
    jakesdad13 likes this.
  9. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    Yes that is a sobering thought Chris, however that is the way of things.
    Man`s great achievements have stood for many, many centuries in some cases and have been admired by many generations.
    Ultimately, we are just a blip on the radar, but we must accept that and put it to the back of our minds and accept what we have and make the most of life in the time we have.
    I feel City of London has a couple of hundred years left in her, if future owners are willing to keep her going.
    :thumbs::tophat:Gormo
     
    Andy_Sollis likes this.
  10. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    A view normally only seen by visitors to Gormo`s train room

    IMG_20210406_193337resized.jpg

    :tophat:Gormo
     
  11. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    Wish I had a bend in the wall so I could do this.......:scratchchin:

    IMG20210407155523resized.jpg


    Obviously......this is done using the Panorama setting on my camera. That`s why we have significant distortion of the image. The software has done it`s best to stitch it all together, but it`s bent my train room wall in the process. I do rather like the bent wall though...........you could have good circular fiddle yard loops in behind there...?
    :avatar:
    :tophat:Gormo
     
    jakesdad13, Davoetype and Andy_Sollis like this.
  12. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015


    :tophat:Gormo
     
    Chris Doroszenko and jakesdad13 like this.
  13. Sol

    Sol Full Member

    Messages:
    631
    Likes Received:
    146
    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2016
    Thanks Gormo for the tour.
     
  14. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    7,316
    Likes Received:
    3,847
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    Excellent. I just want to know how you keep the shed so clean ! :scratchchin::avatar::avatar:

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  15. Davoetype

    Davoetype Full Member

    Messages:
    745
    Likes Received:
    373
    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2016
    Thanks Gormo and certainly brings back fond memories of my visit. I like the reminder to yourself to Check Alignment. I have now put such a sticker on my DCC controller " Check right of way" as I have lost count of the number of times at the start of a play session when I have failed this basic procedure with the obvious consequences.

    Cheers

    and happy modelling

    Richard
     
  16. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    No worries Sol
    Cheers Gormo
     
  17. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    G'day Richard
    Glad you enjoyed the tour
    The alignment tape was actually put on the board to physically check the alignment and also to remind me to do it
    The boards and the track were lined up correctly first and then the tape was put in position across the boards and then the tape was cut through the gap.
    I knew then that if the tape was perfectly aligned that the track would be perfectly aligned as well so I can check the both of them and with having check alignment written on the tape it was also a reminder to do that
    Cheers Gormo
     
    jakesdad13 and Davoetype like this.
  18. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    G'day Gary
    My shed goes through phases
    When I am working on a project I tend to get stuff everywhere and it becomes quite a mess in there
    When the project is finished I clean up the shed so the shed you have seen on the last video was in the cleaned up phase
    When I present the shed or the train room on a video I always like to have it reasonably neat and tidy
    That also applies to when visitors are coming so I look forward to you coming over for a session in the near future
    I am a long way from home at the moment dealing with some very complex family issues so please excuse any delayed responses from me
    :tophat:Gormo
     
    Gary and jakesdad13 like this.
  19. gormo

    gormo Staff Member Administrator

    Messages:
    5,991
    Likes Received:
    4,140
    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2015
    G`day Folks,
    I have been off the radar for over a month now due to a very serious family relationship situation involving our daughter.
    Unfortunately, she lives almost a thousand kilometers away from us, which makes things even more difficult for us.
    It`s times like this that you wish your loved ones were close by, but it is not so in this case.
    We have spent almost three weeks away from home trying to help our daughter and thankfully, day by day, she`s coming along.
    Now that we are back home, we are in touch with her by phone, almost on a daily basis, with words of encouragement and we will visit her again very soon.
    So I am finding it quite difficult to raise any enthusiasm for my railway, although when I`m out in the railway room I am distracted for a little while.
    I have done some small repairs and minor modifications, basically just to keep the railway operational, but the creative mojo has been allowed to flow down the plug hole.
    This post in itself is a small step in the right direction to pick myself up and press on with some projects..........so gradually,hopefully, I`ll be back
    :tophat:Gormo
     
  20. steve

    steve Full Member

    Messages:
    131
    Likes Received:
    73
    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2018
    Hi Gormo.
    Pleased to see you back.
    I hope you posting does help you, and in turn your ability to help and support your family.
    All the best
    Steve
     

Share This Page