Well, it can't always work...

So I started to make the scenery: newspaper all around and in between the rails. After everything had dried, on goes the diesel, and it ran fine except for one little section of track on the end of the sector plate. I suspect I broke a wire when building and painting the scenery. Off came the newspaper, and yes, there was the broken wire. It was a choice of digging up all the scenery until I exposed enough wire to cut back to, or running a fresh wire under the sector plate to power the line directly. I opted for the latter. So, in theory what I needed to do was de-solder the wires on the track, run the fresh wire into place, and resolder. What happened was that the soldering iron was too hot and heated the rails, melting the sleepers and eventually causing the whole lot to fall of in mangled mess.

Well, I wasn't totally happy with the way it was stuck down anyway, and at least on something so small, it isn't too much to replace. It still slows me down a bit though which isn't helpful when I'm so close to the deadline...

Stuck.

I'm stuck. It's inevitable when working in a different country where things aren't always the same as you are used to: Sometimes there is an annoying delay while you hunt for bits. This time, the bits in question are electrical -an area I'm not too confident in. I've found a shop on the internet that sells what I'm after: plugs, and slider switches, which is a step forward in that I know what to ask for, (Thanks to Zabdiel for the Wiki tip) but lack of knowledge makes me a bit cautious about forking out €20 in one go, which is the minimum for an online purchase. I'm searching for a local electrical shop where I can have a good look at the components first.

Which is a bit frustrating, so let's talk about something more interesting. I've got a train ticket to go to a model railway and toy exhibition with Eldest Son this weekend, where I'll hopefully be able to meet Alexander Rainer, a German member of the Gnatterbox, who will be exhibiting an model railway in a shoe box. He wants me to take my mess car along for a visit. I just hope it fits on his model.

Meanwhile I'm still hoping to get this model done by May, after which we will go to visit my family in the UK. After we come back, I've got another idea for a project, which is just a few sketches and a vague idea at the moment. I'll give more details as I know them. It is another attempt at the Körschtalbahn, although Sägewerk Pfeifle will have to wait still longer until my boys desist from climbing up the furniture.

Supplies…

There’s been a hiatus in model making this week, what with work and now having a cold, and also because I was waiting for the plasticard and other stuff from www.architecturbedarf.de which finally came through yesterday, so I think I have enough plasticard to keep me going this winter, and on top of that I finally some fine styrene for making the handrails on Growler 1. If I have the courage to take a drill to the model to fit them is another matter.

I also have the H-section pieces and wood to make the sides and cross pieces on the "big" wood wagon so I can move forward with that too. You can see the cross pieces resting on the wagon in the picture above. Only problem is that when I ordered the track somewhere in the distant past, I forgot to order rail connectors of any kind, so that has to wait for the next trip to Esslingen and the model shop...

9 999 to go?

Thomas Edison was heard to say “If I find 10 000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward...” I’m trying to see my first attempt at a baseboard in this er… light.

Not counting my attempt last year, It’s about 15 years since I last built a baseboard, and that was in the days when everyone knew chipboard and pine were the way to go. As a result the baseboards I made could double up as armour plate in the event of a national emergency. This time around I'm going for cardboard- lighter, easier to work with for a non-carpenter, and above all, free.

For the first attempt, I planned to start with three sheets of cardboard glued together to make a solid base, and then to build up from there with a track bed and landscape. Unfortunately things didn’t go exactly as planned, and what I got was a fairly bendy slab of cardboard that looked like it was just waiting for some track to be glued onto it before warping hideously.

Attempt one will soon be consigned to the recycling pile and I’ll set to making a more solid version, with masses of cross bracing to discourage warping. The problem is that there’s a fairly shallow space between the shelf the KÖB is to be built on and the one above, which doesn’t leave a lot of space for a deep frame, so I’ll have to make up for this with lots of cross bracing, and then more cross bracing in between… I’ll keep you posted on this. Hopefully the second version will work a bit better so I can start thinking about track and wiring soon. If it looks like I'll have to make 9 998 more before I get it right, I think I’ll go back to the armour plating.

You can’t win ‘em all…

The roof is on, glued and has stayed in place. For a while it resisted the glue and one side stuck up like a geeky haircut, but I finally subdued it, only to find that I was 1mm short of the full width. Mercifully this doesn’t show so well on the pictures. I considered running the van with the messy side of the roof to the back of the layout, but decided against it: I'm thinking of having a couple of different numbers and this scheme would be totally useless if I can only have the van one way, and besides it would be too easy. Some salvage and bodging is in order before I can start painting…

The side that worked, roof flush against frame and guttering in the approved fashion

The side that didn’t: The gap will have to be filled with a piece of Plasticard or similar.

I was working today so I have tomorrow off in lieu. Hopefully I’ll manage some modelling time…

[Update: 27/06/2007 Finally fixed the guttering, now only door retails, steps, and railings to complete]

Wheels.

A while ago I ordered some bogies from Cambrian kits, and some wheels from Alan Gibson to run them on. Except that I ordered 14mm wheels and the bogie instructions said 12mm. So I went back and got some 12mm wheels. These arrived while we were away and as yesterday is a public holiday in Württemberg I set to in the afternoon.

Of course what I forgot is that Alan Gibson’s “standard” is “P4” (18.83mm gauge), not “00” (16.5mm gauge). Once I remembered this it explained why my newly built bogies bounced along the sleepers on my test track instead of purring along the rails in the traditional manner. Oh how jolly, I thought... or words to that approximate effect. Fortunately I’d kept the 14mm 00 gauge wheels, and it turns out that they do fit into the bogies quite nicely -and as an added advantage run on the rails- so I can go on with the project (Probably a container flat and a sliding door van)

Now I need to call and ask Alan very, very nicely if he needs twelve 18,83mm gauge wheel sets…