{"id":3322,"date":"2021-12-12T20:16:11","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T20:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ngtrains-com.stackstaging.com\/blog\/?p=3322"},"modified":"2021-12-12T20:16:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-12T20:16:11","slug":"an-outbreak-of-modelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ngtrains.com\/blog\/an-outbreak-of-modelling\/","title":{"rendered":"An Outbreak of Modelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>T<\/strong><\/span>he last fifteen weeks have been a complete pain in the leg (and elsewhere).<\/p>\n

I<\/strong><\/span>n short my already wonky right leg decided to get even more wonky and started with an outbreak of cellulitis but not satisfied with that amount of pain added a couple of abscesses for effect. Those abscesses leaked goo, added massive pain and defied attempts to get them to heal. The result was fifteen weeks in compression bandages that were really uncomfortable and came with instructions to rest with the leg elevated. Practically, everything became harder and took longer to do, all with added pain. Just sitting at a desk became something that hurt and couldn\u2019t be done for more than half an hour or so. It took ages for the wounds to start to heal. With dressings to be changed two or three times a week we seemed to be constantly at the doctors!<\/p>\n

I<\/span><\/strong>n an odd twist having a reaction to my Covid booster, spending two days shivering under the duvet followed by two days of absolutely no energy probably helped as it was four days of rest and inactivity for the leg.<\/p>\n

A<\/strong><\/span>t last, whilst still with some healing to do, I have escaped the compression bandages. There has to be easier ways to meet lots of nurses!<\/p>\n

W<\/strong><\/span>hat this has meant for most of the fifteen weeks is NO MODELLING!<\/strong> With everything taking so long and with being self employed it has taken all my time and effort to keep the retail side of the business going with any spare effort spent on packing kits or parts. A little design with CAD has happened as the leg allowed but no actual building stuff – until now!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>T<\/span><\/strong>ime to build two of my own kits for the Townsend Hook loco. Typically, for a kit of my own production I don’t have one so I am doing two, one for a customer and one for me.<\/p>\n

I<\/span><\/strong>t starts life as a 3D print off my own printer and appears at this jaunty angle and on a lattice of supports. It actually prints upside down hanging from the build platform. The angle is all to do with getting the prints with as little striation of layers showing as possible. After a lot of experimenting the prints now have virtually no lines on them.<\/p>\n

T<\/strong><\/span>ypically though, I am using up a couple of seconds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>T<\/span><\/strong>hese do need just a small amount of treatment.<\/p>\n

T<\/strong><\/span>hey have had a little bit of filler on top of a spray with a primer. The trick with, and why fillers come in different colours, is to use a contrasting colour so that you can see when you get the edges feathering in as you get it flat.<\/p>\n

T<\/strong><\/span>he other trick is to have some wet and dry paper glued to a rigid surface so you are sanding it flat. Here I have made some small T pieces out of some offcuts of scale lumber. The sanding is done wet and then rinsed off.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>T<\/strong><\/span>he main body colours were then spray painted using acrylic paints. I made some T shaped sticks to hold the models whilst they were sprayed. Those sticks were held in my coils of copper wire when I hadn’t got hold of them.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong><\/span>praying does give a superb finish but the spraying is over in moments and all the time is spent either cleaning the airbrush or masking the model. It makes sense to save up the spraying because you can flush the airbrush between colours and then only give it the full strip down clean at the end of the session.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>N<\/strong><\/span>ext\u00a0 job\u00a0 was to make up the pipework from the last wax brass castings and copper wire. The castings were fitted with brass spigots to go into holes in the body and, as much as possible, the copper pipes bent to shape.<\/p>\n

A<\/strong><\/span>ll the parts were silver soldered together. Harder to do but it gives a stronger joint than soft solder and is less likely to come apart with the bending and tweaking of the pipe runs needed to get it all into place on the model.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>W<\/strong><\/span>hen done all the brass and copper were given a dip in acid dip to clean them before they were brushed with metal black. Once the metal black had dried they were given a little polish. The aim being to remove the metal black where access was easy leaving the black in the hard to get to bits as if its been half heartedly cleaned.<\/p>\n

T<\/span><\/strong>he resin firebox was then assembled with the resin regulator handle, a piece of fibre optic as the gauge glass and a copper wire drain pipe.<\/p>\n

T<\/span><\/strong>he turret was then glued in place and the plain black of the firebox was weathered with a rust wash and then some white highlights to bring out the detail. Once dried the firebox was glued in place on the loco.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>T<\/span><\/strong>he plumbing was then assembled on the outside of the loco and the cab pipework formed to shape and connected to it.<\/p>\n

O<\/strong><\/span>ther bits of detail such as the safety valves, whistle and tank fillers has already been chemically blackened and fitted to the loco.<\/p>\n

A<\/span><\/strong>lso being prepared at this stage were the cab roof, roof stays and supports and the smokebox door and dart. Here I encountered some brass rod that for some reason wouldn’t chemically blacken despite several cleans and abrading.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A<\/span><\/strong> bunch of additional detailing in the cab was done at this time. The reverser and brake handle were blackened and then painted as required before being stuck in place. A pressure gauge and tail pipe were added as was a pipe to the whistle. Some foam was stuffed in the bunkers to fill them before PVA glue was painted on an sprinkled with coal.<\/p>\n

T<\/strong><\/span>he driver was added at this point with a wire through his foot and the floor to reinforce the joint. A little bit of touching up in the cab was done whilst it was still accessible.<\/p>\n

T<\/span><\/strong>he roof was then added, first glued to the cab and then the rear support rods slid into place and glued. At this point it was time to set it aside for the night to give all the various bits time to dry. Next will be to sort its chassis and electronics out before weathering it all as an assembled unit.<\/p>\n

F<\/strong><\/span>or my first days proper modelling for a long while I found it both satisfying and tiring but time has flown past with constant podcasts for entertainment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>S<\/span><\/strong>o the fiddly electronics start. The chassis as it comes has a 6 pin socket for a decoder but this points into the smokebox, doesn’t have keep alive or speaker connection whilst taking up too much space.<\/p>\n

I<\/span><\/strong>nstead, I’ve gone for an installation from scratch using a Next 18 decoder and a keep alive unit. It has a ZIMP decoder in it which at the moment thinks its Lyd.<\/p>\n

I<\/span><\/strong> hope to fit a larger speaker but won’t know for sure if this is possible until I try to put it all together.<\/p>\n

T<\/strong><\/span>he next job is to tidy and shorten the wiring to make it all tidier and then try and fit it all in the body now that I have proved it all works as it should. At the moment it hasn’t got very much keep alive but it has enough to prevent any stuttering and misbehaving from the sound.\u00a0 Here is a test run of it on the rolling road. The chuff rate and so on haven’t been set yet so it does sound like its going like the clappers.<\/p>\n