Great Chesterford Junction Part Two

G`day Folks,
All the parts for the garage that are mounted on heavy and medium card have been cut out.
I have one more piece on light card to be cut out and then we are onto paper prints only.
The paper prints will be used to wrap some of the parts cut from heavy card, such as, fuel pumps, work bench, kiosk counter and tool box, as well as the inner and outer walls at both ends of the building



I guess the hard part is done now but still a way to go yet.
Gormo

 

I don`t know Gary,
My first impression was that the fuel pumps looked OK for the era, so I`ll probably just go with the kit supplied versions.
Gormo

 

Looks OK to me too Brian......thanks
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
The other night I had a call from Gary, who said he had some items for me and asked if he could pop in and drop them off.
On arrival he presented me with a selection of items that he had no further use for and he felt that I could do something with them.
This is all part of his house clear out in preparation for moving.
I was amazed and thankful that he brought with him some books about the steam era in the UK, a couple of brake vans, two Southern coaches, some track side signs, an Airfix 4F, a Lima Class 27 and a Hornby Class 29
The locos had been in storage for some time and were reluctant to run.......I felt Gary was quite embarrassed by this fact, because they had all been running well last time he used them, however I was happy to have them and looked forward to sorting them out and getting them going again.
The Lima Class 27 was fairly easy with a wheel clean and a quick lube without taking the body off and a good run has sorted that nicely, although it would benefit from a proper service.
The Airfix 4F had a seized motor bearing caused by dried lubricant, however even though I got the motor to run again whilst detached from the chassis, when re-installed it was horrible with severe cogging and it could barely make a lap of the layout. I persevered to no avail and decided in the end to convert it to a CD motor. The motor casing has been prepared for the new motor, however it requires an ultra thin CD motor 9mm thick as opposed to the standard 12mm. The 12mm version is too thick and fouls the middle axle on the tender whereas the 9mm variant will sit comfortably within the motor housing and will work really well. I have some 9mm motors on order so the 4F will have to wait a little bit.
That brings me to the Hornby Class 29......when we tested it on GCJ ,Gary noticed that when power was applied ,the armature would start to glow. After a couple of attempts and a noticeable burning smell we put it away pending closer investigation.
Today I decided to have a look at the Class 29. I took the motor apart. There appeared to be flat burnt areas on two of the windings on the armature and I could also see where the armature had scored the plastic near the bearing on the inside of the motor housing. This model has a three pole motor, so instead of trying to repair it , I thought the best way is just to convert it to CD motor drive.
Fortunately this model will accept the standard 12mm thick motor.
The body has been weathered by Gary`s expert hand



You can see on the motor housing, I`ve removed the main bearing and then drilled out the hole to allow the collar near the bearing on a CD motor to sit flush against the inner wall of the housing.



The motor sits perfectly in the new hole. The original pinion on the Hornby motor was 11 teeth, however it`s a loose fit on a 2mm shaft, but I found this nylon 10 tooth pinion works perfectly.
There is a very subtle change to the gear ratio.



The back of the original motor housing has been cored out to give additional support to the CD motor. This part originally held the carbon brushes for the motor.



The motor in place and gears fitted



The rear of the motor with modified back cover.
The face of the motor was Super glued to the inside face of the motor housing and then hot glue was added between the motor and the housing at the back to hold it securely.



Everything fitted back into the bogie



A couple of drops of INOX were applied to the gear stub axles before the gears were re-installed




Now back in the chassis and ready for soldering. The original pick up bogie wire will be shortened and then joined to the Black wire from the motor.
The Red wire from the motor will be joined to the Black wire grounded to the motor body.
Heat shrink tube was placed over the soldered joints.



And here we are ready for service on GCJ



I must say thank you again to Gary......a very generous friend.......
These locos will all run again and continue to be useful additions to GCJ
Here is a jerky phone video of the Class 27 and Class 29 doing laps on GCJ......both running very nicely and good at slow speeds.



Gormo

 

Thanks Andy,
Yes all the add ons that you mentioned are in the pipeline and will be done eventually.
Good luck with your modelling
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Meanwhile back at the ranch things are happening with my little garage build.
The double thickness end walls have received their brick papers.



All double thickness walls have been glued back to back
The side Kiosk has been assembled plus the guttering for both side walls.
The roof truss has been assembled and a new replacement roof has been made and lined underneath.






A view of the underside of the main roof



A closer view of the multi layer roof truss



Original roof on the right.....replacement roof on the left



Four main walls glued and held until tomorrow.
Once the roof support end gables and roof truss are fitted, the building will gain strength with the roof being fitted.



More as it happens
Gormo

 

Cracking on today.....it`s time to get this thing finished.
All four walls were successfully glued overnight and then the guttering was added to the top of the side walls, followed by the internal end gables that support the roof.
The centre roof truss was then added followed by the roof.
The kiosk was then glued to the side of the building.



Then put the car hoist together



The main doors could then be applied along with the door track directly above them.



The side doors were also fitted.



The fuel pumps were then assembled and glued to the building



The kiosk counter and workshop work bench and tool box were also installed



Then moved onto the ridge capping and the capping for the end walls



Then all the signs were added and some of my own making to personalize the garage for the railway.



A flash photograph to light the interior to show the hoist



And finally a shot to show approximately where it will sit. The pavement will be fixed down later when I make a new base for this area



So some thought now required on how I will proceed with a base plate for this area. The polystyrene in this area is removable so that track underneath can be accessed, however this piece requires me to take off the hill above my tunnels first. I was in discussion with Gary about this the other night and he came up with a simple solution so that`s probably how I will move forward.
Stay tuned.
Gormo

 

Thanks Brian,
I found a new sign and replaced the original.......all good now.
Today I have been working on the area where the garage will sit, and possibly another building..?
I have removed the original scenic material that remained in the garage area to give me a flat base to work on once again.
The grey triangular section is removable so that I can gain access to hidden tracks below.
The issue with the way I`ve designed this area is that in order to remove the triangular section, I first have to remove the hill with the overlapping mound and tree shown on the left.
This is no great chore, but there has to be a better way to do it.



This is the area I need easy access to. The brackets support the triangular removable section



The solution I have come up with , is to dispense with the triangular lift out section all together and replace it with this larger 3mm ply plate.
This is all just sitting in place at the moment, because the thin, vertical lower section needs to be glued to the large flat top section.
The pencil lines were used to mark distances from the edge to the wall. I could then join the dots and mark out and cut the curve to match the wall.
You can see that this method still does not solve the overhanging mound and tree issue, however the other night when Gary and I were discussing it, he suggested that I cut off the offending overhanging piece and then glue that piece to the new base plate.......simple really and obvious, but I had not thought of that.....



So after working out the best line to take, it was out with the hacksaw and then slowly and carefully removed one tree and associated mound.



The new base plate was then taken to the workshop and securely clamped down, and the narrow vertical edge was glued and clamped in place and will sit there for about twenty four hours.



The end of the hill was then given a coat of Artist`s Acrylic Burnt Umber



And the same was applied to removed section.



This removed section now technically sits 3mm higher than it used to, so I may have to remove some material from it`s base to bring it back in line with the hill, or just disguise the fact with foliage.?
More as it happens
Gormo
PS....the new sign and others

 

G`day Gary,
I think the hot wire might be a bit tricky with such a thin slice to be removed and the rasp might be a tad too aggressive.
My inclination is to sand it on a flat surface and gradually bring it down to correct height.
We`ll see how it goes.....
Gormo

 

G`day folks,
Still working today,
The new base plate was successfully glued overnight



The base of the removed mound was sanded on a flat surface to bring it`s height down to match the neighboring hill it was separated from



The base plate was then painted Matt Black on the edge to match the surrounding fascia, and Burnt Umber on top to give it a more Earthy feel.






The mound was glued permanently to the base plate



Earlier in the day I added a gravel path between the board crossing and the cobbled path behind the terraces.
Once the glue on the gravel path had some time to settle, I added some static grass either side of it.
The grass was done at this late stage because it`s boundary is determined by the base plate






Now I`m working on some protective fencing and a gate to secure the board crossing.
Gormo

 

G`day Folks,
Sorted out the fencing for the board crossing, .......well one side of the tracks anyway.....
The fencing is some cut down platform fencing and the gate was designed on my drawing program, printed, glued to card and cut out and parts of it painted .



I need to add some signs with all the usual warnings etc.



I`ve also started modifying a Railway Scenics free download kit.




I`ve basically doubled the size of the kit using most of the parts from the kit foregoing the double layers of card required down to single layers.
The size of the model will make it quite robust when built in the modified form, with most of the parts gaining extra strength when glued to the roof.
Parts are cut out and some have been skinned with a Scalescenes paper TX07
I`m sorry Railway Scenics, but the brick texture included in the kit is of a very poor standard.
Anyhow we`ll see how it goes.



This kit will be placed on the new section next to the terrace cottages on one side, and BG`s garage on the other side.
The other side of the BG`s garage will see a small group of industrial units which will need to be scratch built.
More as it happens
Gormo