I'm still alive

No progress to report on this project but I think I can see light at the end of the decorating tunnel. I've booked most of next week as holiday so should have most of the rooms finished by the end of the week.

Adding to the above madness I've been honoured by my girlfriend. She has decided that she can put up with me and there is a lot to put up with :-). I am very happy. We are in the process of trying to reoganising and package two houses into one. Not an easy task especially as we have made the crazy decision to move into the smallest house. As mine is not very big I'm loosing the garage to storage boxes. Hope to have a little space left for baseboard construction. The rest of this month is going to be interesting.

On top of all this my Mum ends up in hospital with a broken leg.

The above, highlighting my lack of time (or is that mis-management of spare time) combinded with loosing space, has started me to rethink my P4 project. I can now see that Grogley Junction is a couple years away from being started. Boscarne Wharf might now be a tad too big for my current situation. Too soon for a final desision on that but I am becoming more interested in micro/shunting puzzle layouts. At least as a starter to practice P4 skills. The important thing is I get something started soon and stop thinking about it.

More to follow soon when life settles down to some sort of normality.

Scaleforum 2009

After reading the 'Scaleforum Weekender 2009' that came with 'Scalefour News' this week I could not see how I could miss this exhibition. To see Bodmin again will be worth the journey, let alone the other layouts and traders that are attending. Discussed the trip with my partner and discovered she wants to attend a conference in London on the Saturday so this sealed the trip. Booked train tickets this evening to travel down together.

This will be my first visit to Scaleforum and will my first trip to London by train for many years. Sounds a little naff but I am quite excited. A wants list will have to be drawn up to make sure I spend wisely. Let's just hope I can find a little bit of time to do some modelling before then ......

Class 25 on a china clay train at Par in 1976

Decorating is progressing steadily. Two rooms done another nearly finished, just hoping I don't have to start decorating the outside.

Previous posting was probably showing some of my frustration that I've no spare time for either hobby at the moment. Both comments that were left were correct. I was over complicating things, I have to concentrate on getting this house ready for sale or re-letting. Also a class 25 fitted with sound would be nice. Could not resist a quick search on the net for info on class 25's in Cornwall. Found a few photos, the one below were taken in 1976 so a little later than I am thinking but still nice shots.

I like the weathering on the front of this loco.

Clay wagons were not all white!! Nice

It looks like the top of the axle boxes have been weathered with clay dust but the bottoms are black, unless that is a shadow effect. I will have to learn some subtle weathering techniques to achieve anything like the above finish on my proposed fleet of wagons.

More photos of Class 25's can be found on this excellent reference site here.

Onwards and upwards and back to the decorating tomorrow.

A7 point kit

Where has this week gone...? It doesn't feel like over a week since I started this point kit. This weekend being first opportunity to pick this kit up again since the 18th. Thought I would put up a few more photos showing progress.... mainly for anyone who does not know these kits, or is hesitant about having a go.

This is what you get in the kit.

I had already started to solder a wire dropper onto the V before taking this photo. As with the previous kit I found the instructions to be daunting, along with seeing all the small chair components. When seeing the kit laid in the above photo there doesn't seem much to it.

I was not happy with using the plastic sleepers on the first kit. This must be something to do with reading Ian Rice's books on track construction and his use of ply and rivet construction, also due to my early results in staining wooden sleepers. I have been very pleased with the stained plywood sleepers and think I will find it very difficult in achieving the same result using plastic. So picking up from my last blog on this point kit I discarded the plastic sleepers.

I have purchased Templot software to help design the track plans for these projects and find it an intriguing piece of software. I thought I'd build this kit over a Templot template using wooden sleepers.

Above photo shows the V in place and so far so good. The plastic chairs seem to be sticking to the wooden sleepers well.

Apart from the sleeper spacing and overall length being different between Templot and the kit, there is also a difference where the V to closure rails end and start. I only realised this once the V was fixed. Don't think this will affect the points operation just the visual look. It was not until later that I spotted Martin's comments attached to my previous blog and read the form entries on this link to RMWeb.

This photo is showing the closure rails going in place.

Next day (Sunday morning) and daylight.... switch assembled.

At this point other events took control of the day. Not sure when I'll get back to this kit but hope to finish it during this next week. I've taken note of a comment re the check rail. It is thought that making the check rail live improves running though the point, something I hadn't thought of with these kits. Coming from Paxolin sleeper construction this was never a problem.

Being new to P4 standards (I really consider myself a novice to railway modelling - full stop), the questions that have been thrown up regarding these kits accurate are beyond me for the moment. Using these kits as supplied enables anyone to make a very functional P4 turnout that certainly looks the part. Exactoscale have got to be commended in bringing P4 standards closer to the masses. Beautifully made they give anyone, with a modicum of kit building experience, the capabilities of building P4 track. I need to finish the kit before deciding which standard to follow, Templot (reality) or Exatoscale (functionlity). In the end there will be few people that will be able to notice the difference. It will all be down to me accepting any inaccuracies.

57xx coupling rods

Some Bill Bedford coupling rods for a 57xx arrived in the post this morning. Now I've got no excuse to complete the conversion. That's if I can work out how to put these coupling rods together!!!

I've found some assembly instructions for a NER E1 here on Bill Bedford's web site . This kit looks to have similar coupling rods to the 57xx so may be able to use these instructions as a guide.

Ultrascale order but more to the point

My Ultrascale order has arrived : P4 wheel conversion packs for a Bachmann Pannier and a Class 29. Hmmm ........ which one to tackle first.

While I am now excited by the thought of quickly having a P4 loco, I am also bathing in the success of the B7 point kit. So this evening I've made a start on the A7 kit but using wooden sleepers.

Templot template PVA'd to 3/16th balsa with the pre-stained sleepers.

Templot's sleeper spacing or the length of the point does not match the P4 Track Company's kit. Not sure that this will cause too much of a problem. I hope to be using Templot to build other points and the rest of the track so this should be a good starting point .... sorry about the pun.

All ready for tomorrow night...!

More posts will follow along with photographs hopefully in the next few days......

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Sorry .... just noticed that posting date for this blog was wrong not sure how I manage to post this before I'd started doing it!! Amended posting date to 18/06/09 (20/06/09).

At last I've built it

Last night I finally finished my first B7 P4 Track Company point kit. I'm really pleased with the result and the crossing V seems to be OK. Ran a couple of wagons through the crossing V with no problems, nice and smooth. I still feel the V is out of specification but this does show that there are some tolerences within P4. Next test will be a six coupled loco.



I only broke one fishplate and lost one very small part chair component from the switch assembly. I also seemed to be two slide chairs and three S1 chairs short. Replaced most with spares that come on the sprues but had to resort to some C & L S1 chairs to finish the job. There are a few chairs that may need tweaking in the future but at the moment I am just pleased I've got this far.



Next task it to work out how to weather the sleepers to match the wooden ones I'm producing for the plain track. My first attempt is not good need to rethink colours and how to apply the paint. I also need to think about how to operate the point. Tortoise motors seem to be the favoured option and I've purchased a pack of P4 Track Companies base plates. Just need to purchased some motors.

Overall I think these kits are superb and more will be purchased, just a shame that the sleepers are plastic and not wooden.