Gaiety N2 - pony truck

If you remember the pony truck was missing a wheel. Rather than take the sensible option of just fitting a pair of 12mm wagon wheels (Romford would suit) I decided to turn up a pair from brass. I started by turning two discs to the correct width and flange diameter, drilled 3.8mm for the insulating bush. These were then mounted on a mandrel and a step turned for the tread, leaving .1mm on the dia.;

With my compound slide set to 3 degrees the cone angle was turned on the tread;

After which I profiled the flange using a graver and my watchmakers tool rest, working by eye. Then the recess in the front of the wheel could be turned, to match the original wheel;

Job done;

I chose to blacken the wheels, and I was going to paint the inner face but I like the finish as it is so I've left them in blackened brass. I turned new stepped axles from 3mm silver steel. The original axle was 2.5mm, and a sloppy fit in the pony truck which is drilled, badly, 3.2mm(ish). I could have fitted bushes to the truck, drilled after fitting, and I may yet go back to that idea.

Here's the wheels fitted, with the old wheel and the fixing rivet;

Insulating bushes are turned from Acetal, and I probably should have sourced a length of red to match the old bushes.

The pony really is crude, just a bent piece of metal, surprising really as the company made decent quality die castings;

Here's the truck fitted, with the tension lock coupling attached;

I don't think the new wheels look too out of place.

Pick-ups next, then testing.

Paul.

SM32 Harvest Trucks - finishing off

For the finish I used Citadel's Agrax Earthshade (used to be Devlan Mud), applied in a couple of washes, to give the waggons a dirty peat-stained look.

The ironwork is my usual Vallejo Grey-Black.

Couplings are made from 1mm brass rod soldered to pads made from scrap etch then chemically blackened.

And that's it for these two. A nice simple project, and a nod towards Brian and his Saltford Models range which gave me so much pleasure back when I modelled in 16mm. They're also a good counterpoint to my 006 work being less exacting and a lot more chunky!

I don't have a garden railway (apart from the occasional temporary line using plastic Faller track) so I might just use them for storing pine cones and pin badges;

A couple more are planned in due course.

Paul.

A first 006 diesel - finishing touches

Glazing is one of the last jobs that I do one a build, and it's a job that I need to be in the right mood for, and that mood fell this week. I've used some thin clear material, sold alongside plasticard, cut oversize and filed to fit. This can be a tedious job, with plenty of waste, but it's the only way that I like to glaze when the cab is made from thicker than scale material, such as plasticard, whitemetal or resin. Glazing is held in place with Klear floor varnish.

The results are, I think, worth the effort.

I reckon that the bonnet has worked well, it's Matchbox toy origins aren't obvious and the shape suits a small loco. I'm also very pleased with the couplings, machined from solid brass and inspired by those fitted to Hudson Hunslet locos.

I was unsure about the red colour scheme at first, and I thought that it would clash with the green engine, but toning the green down with washes has worked and I think the green suits the type of small Lister/Petter/Ruston type of engine that this size of loco would have been fitted with. I've used the same grey-black on the frames and roof that I've used with my 006 waggons, which I hope will help blend the train together.

I'm quite pleased with the cab, those window frames were an experiment, one that I feel worked well and one that I'd like to repeat in brass. The general proportions of the body are quite pleasing and I think typical of a small narrow gauge diesel.

Numberplates are from Light Railway Stores, I plan to number all future 006 diesels in the order that I build them. Steam locos will be named after birds.

The only aspect that I'm unsure about is the wheel size and wheelbase, the latter was a result of motor placement and loco length based on the bonnet. A shorter wheelbase with smaller wheels would perhaps be more in keeping with the general size of the loco.

As a first 006 loco I feel it to be a success, this was only supposed to be a quick build (well, 13 months is quick for me) to get a feel for 6mm gauge and to try out a few new techniques. 

Paul.

Gaiety N2 - driving wheels

Removing the couplings rods was a lot easier than expected, the rivets holding the rods in place were simply levered out using a small screwdriver and a pair of fine tweezers;

These could then be cleaned up and labelled R and L. The rods look like they were stamped out from sheet judging by the way the rear is burred, and the holes are sloppy on the rivets.

I removed the rearmost wheels with a GW Models wheel puller, and again labelled them L and R;

I'm not sure if it is necessary to label each part, but it seems to be good practice.

After removing the remains of the rear insulating bushes everything was thoroughly cleaned, first with Muc-Off (a degreaser used by mountain bikers) then with soapy water and rinsed under the tap before being left out in the hot sun to dry;

New insulating bushes were turned from Acetal rod and fitted;

And the chassis re-assembled;

Quartering was done by eye.

The left rear driver had a pronounced wobble, so the chassis was stripped again and the offending wheel removed. I turned up another bush, but left it undrilled. Then the wheel was mounted in a chuck and the bush drilled in situ;

With everything re-assembled yet again there's still a wobble, not as bad as before but still irritating. I suspect the axle might be slightly bent, this was the wheel that was hanging off when I bought the loco. However, the chassis runs ok with the motor refitted so I'll live with it for now although I may come back to it later.

I have tested the chassis on a length of Peco's finest with leads attached to the brush holders, it runs ok for its age although it's better running forwards than reverse. But as it doesn't have a front coupling and I'm not into shunting I'm not too worried.

Here's the chassis re-united with the body;

The next jobs are to refit the pick-ups and sort out the pony truck.

Paul.

Roxey Mouldings 'Minnie'

This is a model of the tiny electric loco built for the Hellingly Hospital railway, used to pull coal wagons up to the hospital on its own branch from the main line.

The model is a Roxey Mouldings whitemetal kit sitting on a Tenshodo Spud power bogie. Spuds are used under a number of small industrial loco kits, being small, cheap and reliable although they do need some weight over them to tame their running.

I built this in 2009. The kit went together pretty well from what I remember, but care is needed when assembling the main body to get it square, one side on mine is a little off, but it's difficult to spot.

The trolley pole is a dummy, unsprung and without a shoe to act on an overhead wire.

I used Revel Aqua Color 331 'Purple Red' as the main body colour, sprayed over Hycote auto primer. A coat of Phoenix Precision satin airbrushing varnish seals the deal. Buffer heads are Vallejo Oily Steel, the bell Humbrol Brass, the lamp a mix of Revel white with a touch of steel and finished with a coat of gloss varnish. The interior is Revel Stone Grey above waist height and black below.

It can't be seen in the photos but there is an electrical panel inside the cab, between two windows, made from styrene off-cuts.

I modified the spud, converting it to EM and fitting driving rods;

To do this I removed the original wheelsets and stripped them down to remove the spur gears. Then new axles were cut from 2mm dia. silver steel, 21mm long. These had the gears fitted along with new wheels, I've used Gibson 10mm discs but any wagon wheels that fit a 2mm axle will work.

To convert the wheels to rod drive I drilled through one of the moulded holes in each wheel to suit a Gibson 4M42A crankpin. Coupling rods are made from 3mm x 1.5mm brass strip. I used Gibson 4M67/2 2mm bore washers to space the wheels out for EM. The wheelsets once assembled just drop into the bogie, but as this is rod drive care, and no small amount of adjustment, is needed for a smooth running loco. The bogie is held captive by a screw inside the cab.

This was a nice interesting build, built with no layout in mind but rather just for the joy of making a nice loco. It's a shelf queen, and to take these photos meant removing the loco from my display cabinet for the first time in at least 5 years.

Paul.

Gaiety N2 - stripping and cleaning the motor

There's a lot of old grease and much around the motor and gears which needed removing. But first I removed the pony truck, which is held in place by a large rivet with a split end, closing the split allows the rivet to be removed and the pony truck just drops out;

I'll return to that later.

The motor/gearbox assembly is held in place from underneath with two brass screws which can be accessed when the wheels are removed;

The motor removed;

The motor brushes were removed for cleaning;

The two sides are held together by 10BA screws, the lower ones being countersunk;

Note the contrate gear, unusual in the model railway world.

The unit stripped and cleaned;

For cleaning I used lighter fluid and cotton buds on the whole, although the spur gear attached to the right hand side did have a squirt of Muc-Off and a rinse under the tap.

Here it is cleaned and re-assembled;

Note that there's a screw missing at the top right, above the brushes. The screw holes in the sides don't line up with the hole in the upper motor casting, I suspect that it's always been missing. Since taking the photo above I've used a 12BA screw to take the place of the missing one. I also noted that the unit has been stripped down before.

I lubricated it with clock oil, making sure to soak the felt pads, there's one hidden away at the non-brush end of the motor that can't be accessed without removing one side. I haven't removed the spur gear from the motor shaft, I believe that these can wear and can be removed, reversed and refitted, mine has little appreciable wear so I left it alone. As a rule I prefer to do as little to old motors as possible, they can be quite temperamental when disturbed. At the moment the motor is clamped into a vice and spinning away.

Whilst I was sorting the motor I cleaned the body and main chassis casting under the tap with a toothbrush and hand soap. The next job will be to sort out the driving wheels, which I fear will not be easy.

Paul.

Gaiety N2 - what have I bought now!

Browsing around a local charity shop I came across this;

I had no idea what it was, the diecast body suggested Hornby Dublo but somehow I had my doubts.

The loco is in a bit of a state, one driving wheel was hanging off, I suspect a broken insulating bush, and the pony truck only has one wheel;

Still, for £8 I couldn't resist it. Under the body is stamped JVM and B'ham, which lead to a bit of searching and I found out that I have a Gaiety N2, produced in the 50s. There's more information here.

Here's the underside;

Note the label - "I need a little TLC!"

To remove the chassis you unscrew the buffers;

The front buffers still have the 'pips' left from being parted off.

Here's the chassis, both sides;

Note the pick-ups. The driving wheels are pretty good, much better than anything Tri-ang came up with, but the pony wheel is a bit coarse.

Gears;

An interesting arrangement!

Unscrewing the two large brass screws allows the wheelset to be dropped out;

Whilst the wheels were out of the chassis I decided to see if the motor would turn over, I don't want to try it with the wheels in place as I know that at least one insulating bush needs replacing;

I used my 'dual fuel' controller, first just on the 9v battery which didn't have enough 'oomph' so I plugged it in to a 12v wall-wart, this did work and proved that the motor will run.

Finally, here's the underside of the body;

My plans for this are to clean the body with soapy water leaving the paint as it is, sort out the driving wheels which will mean turning at least one insulating bush, cleaning up and oiling the motor and geartrain, and turning up a new pair of pony wheels, using the original one for a pattern and making the new from brass, which would I feel suit the age of the model.

Paul.

SM32 Harvest Trucks - wheels and bearings

I'm using 20mm dia. Binnie wheels for these waggons along with Binnie axles. As I couldn't decide between straight and curly spoked I bought a pack of each, and fitted straight to one waggon and curly to the other. But first I needed to knock up some bearings;

These are made from 3.5mm brass tube, into which the 3mm dia. Binnie axles fit quite nicely. They're cut to 7.5mm long and are soldered to some 1/4" x .010" brass strip, a rare job for my RSU. On the right in the above photo can be seen a spare probe for the RSU with a curve filed into the end, used to hold the tube in place whilst it's being soldered.

Each bearing has a pad made from .040" styrene epoxied to it. A bit more epoxy marries the bearings to the chassis together. The easiest way to get everything lined up was to assemble the wheelsets and fit them one axle at a time, checking everything for square then letting the glue set before fitting the second axle.

Here's the underside of one wagon with the wheels in place;

The undersides of both waggons;

And side by side;

Wheelbase is 40mm.

Next I need to fit couplings and start thinking about the finish.

Paul.

SM32 Harvest Trucks - building the bodies

Someone recently scanned the instruction sheet for the long-unavailable Saltford Models harvest trucks and posted them online. These were a 16mm/SM32 kit for a simple but rugged waggon designed in the main for helping with the fruit harvest in your garden, carrying plums etc. The inspiration for the kit was some rough peat wagons used at Ashcott, near Glastonbury, locally made with plank bodies and a wooden underframe. I never built any when the kits were available even though I built a few other Saltford 16mm kits at the time. Now however I'm going to put that right.

As designed the bodies would have been made from plasticard, however I've mine made mine from 'craft sticks' from The Works, which cost a pound a packet. These are 114mm long, so the first job was to cut 7mm from each end to cut away the rounded ends and give me a pile of straight planks 100mm long. This sets the body length, it should be 115mm according to the drawing but hey, 100mm is still good. Wood glue holds everything together.

Using lolly sticks is quite good fun, and also a chance to use my NWSL Chopper, a tool that I rarely use but when I do need it I'm glad that I've got it.

Chassis rails are cut from '9 x 9mm' pine strip, which is actually 8 x 8.5mm. The drawing shows these to be 10mm longer than the body, again I've done my own thing by making them 20mm longer. They are spaced so the outer faces are 24mm apart.

Ironwork would have been cast from whitemetal in the original kit. I've used .030" styrene cut into 3mm wide strips with .040" Evergreen rod for bolt head detail.

I'm not sure how to finish these. I've been playing with Citadel's 'Devlan Mud' wash, applied over several washes, which looks like it will give me the dirty peat stained look that I want;

Comments and suggestions welcome!

Wheels and bearings next.

Paul.