Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

The challenges continue to appear along the track for Himself with the 3mm scale 42XX.

The slide bars have been made up and attached to the cylinders and he's also soldered them to the bracket which connects to.....ah....that's interesting....

At first glance you wonder where the problem is, don't you.

The bracket is quite firmly held in position, with the bar along the top sitting in a slot in the top of the frames, and the cross head has been slipped onto the slide bars, with the connecting rod attached, and it all just squeezes past the bracket with a fag paper clearance.

So just the leading driving wheel to slip into place then.....ah.......

That helpful bar on the top of the bracket means the wheel no longer fits.

It's just a construction aid and will have to be sliced off with the cutting disc.

And what's supporting the slide bars and bracket then?

Answer: not a lot.

It's not so much of an issue with the 7mm version of the kit because the slide bars are a white metal casting, but a flimsy brass etch is quite a different proposition.

Unfortunately there are no suggestions about what to do here in the instructions, so Himself will have to make it up as he goes along.

I'm sure he's secretly enjoying it, even though that's not what he says every time I pop over to see how he's getting on.....

Repeat Business

I was intending to do a little work on the interior of Van 51 this weekend, but then a customer got in touch asking if I would sell him some castings for the seats for FR observation carriage 150?

(And at the end of January one never turns down the offer of extra income....)

When I made a set for Gwyrfai it took me the best part of a week but I got these done in a morning.

(It’s amazing what a financial incentive does, eh?)

It also helps that I prepared a second set of rubber moulds in advance so this was proper mass production, of sorts.

Backwoods To The Rescue

A solution has been found for the cross head conundrum on the GWR tank engine - and it took a Backwoods kit to make it happen!

Working with no instructions, and relying on his practicality, Himself has worked out how to assemble one of the cross heads and fashioned a piston from brass wire, and it bends in all the right places.

He still has to decide which of the slide bars to use.

This was the point where another problem with the kit was revealed - there was no rear cylinder cover in which to insert the non-existent piston.

However, some rooting around in old Backwoods kit boxes revealed some spare Fairlie cylinder covers, and would you believe they are a perfect fit for a 3mm scale 42XX!

Trouble In The Valleys

Himself is a man in need of a plan.

He reports that he was getting on well with the 3mm 2-8-0 GWR 42xx tank for the Engineering Consultant until progress ground to a halt.

Note to self: NOT a Prairie - doh!

He had the brakes attached, connecting rods made up and fitted (very fiddly) and all working.

But because the kit is shrunk from a 7mm version the cross heads and slide bars - which were white metal parts in 7mm - are too small to copy in 3mm and a common etch has been supplied in place without much guidance.

So he has some head scratching to do to find out how it goes together correctly.

As as aside, he says it makes putting together an NGG16 look like a walk in the park....

Sitting Upright

I’ve got the last of the chairs for Gwyrfai cast, and while the ladies of the house watched a movie I was informed I would find very boring I snuck into the workroom to glue them together.



The bucket seats have a four legged base to be fixed on the bottom and most of the armchairs get put back to back, and all need a front support added as well.

The slightly fiddly job now is to fix two short piece of styrene horizontally to represent the arm rests, and then that’s them done.

Carriage Cloning

While I continue plugging away with Gwyrfai my mind is turning to the other projects I could be taking on in 2020.

If I attempt to keep pace with Boston Lodge then I’ll need to knock out another WHR saloon.

The last one I made was 2047 and 2048 is already well under construction in Wales.

Unlike the Super Barns, for which I have resin casting moulds at the ready, I’m still making these from scratch in styrene.

The other major gap in our carriage roster is the replica of Ashbury tourist / bogie quarrymans carriage 22.

That’s an easy hit with a scratch aid kit from Worsley Works.

Plenty to be getting on with.

Steady Progress

Casting of the interior parts for Gwyrfai continues steadily.

I’ve managed to get a couple of sets cast each day.

The bucket seats for the front are almost done but I’ve got a way to go with the armchairs.

I need 16 in total and before they can be fitted I have to make the arms from pieces of styrene and glue them all on.