Gondor's Grumblings

[Gondor]

Slight moan about Parcel2Go.com who are connected to EVRi who used to be Hermes. Received an email times at 11:40am letting me know that my parcle will be delivered today between 08:00 and 20:00, not exactly timely for an early morning delivery are they  Good job I know the local driver with them and the fact that he usually delivers to me after 14:00.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Had an enjoyable afternoon and part of the evening gluing pieces of wood together to produce



The Wing Jig that I recently received. The fit of parts is excellent and very precise. I made a mess with PVA getting all over the place but the main thing was that all the surfaces that count are glue free. Theoretically there will be no excuse for odd angled wings or tail surfaces as there are graduations of the Jig surface so that the selected arms can be aligned properly and equally distanced.
Just realised that in the draw for the supports I have four fuselage supports which have shaped notches in them which look as if elastic bands could fit through them thus holding the fuselage in place.

Gondor

[NARSES2]

I've not seen a piece of kit like that before. Looks a little more precise then the books I tend to use

[Gondor]

Some of the builds I am following on Britmodeller had the biulders using this so I had a look at the item and decided to buy it. It's by EBMA Hobbies

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

I've got some of their stuff too, paint pit holders and two large work trays with tool holders, and I'd agree 100% with Alastair, it's really good stuff and very well thought out. 

[Gondor]

I bought a set of shelves and draws from a company off Amazon, not doing that again as it was warped and difficult to get to go together. I can see me buying more stuff such as paint pot holders for some of the newer paint I have to replace the piece of junk I got. Live and learn and find out new stuff as you go.

Gondor

[Gondor]

So I decided on a day out today, to Perth Scotland in fact. The very same venue that other than for Covid I have made an annual visit to for the Scottish Nationals. Today however was for a different reason, a Model Rail Show, well that's what the banner said anyway...



Talked to some nice guys that build 4mm, or as I think of it as 3,2,1 which stands for Three Inches to One Millimeter  But I could be wrong 

There were lots of interesting displays there, though how most of them were transported around the country without involving a fleet of vans is beyond me, but then again maybe they are? 

A couple of displays caught my eye



The above is a Round House  Yes I know its obvious as it's round and looks like a house  The interesting thing was what happend inside was visible outside



There was a miniature camera set up that showed onto monitors what was happening inside so you don't accidentally try either driving an engine onto track that already has an engine or try driving an engine from some track that doesn't have an engine on it, it also means that the punters can see what's going on as well.



Two pictures of a set up that the gentleman who I talked with for most of my time at the show built. The electronics were hidden in the banking at the front so if he needed to get at them it was easy to do so. A colleague of his told me that the Engine I was looking to build was actually available as a kit which I have looked up and found to be just shy of a hundred notes, that would be a buy for when I get my bonus next year, saying that I am hoping to get hold of some drawings and scratch build one myself which could be lots of fun, or not.



Not a great shot of this display, the problem being that the darn things are so long it's not easy to get them into a picture in one go!

I did see this little guy as well.



It's amazing what can be made these days dependant on the technology you own.

Bumped into a couple of people that normally frequent the What-if stand at various shows in Scotland and had a chat with them.

The entrance fee was quite high being a tenner although both halls were well stocked with stalls and there was a train in the main hall for kids to ride on, of all ages, although it just went along the side of the hall and back.

I had a good time though my feet hurt from being on them for most of the time.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

4 mm - 1ft railway modelling is what we in the UK call '00 Gauge'. Sur le Continent they model 3.5 - 1 ft and call it 'HO Gauge' but it uses the same track as we do for 00 Gauge.

Yes, I know it makes no sense, but that's the way it is, and if I went on for long and explained why this craziness had come about you'd agree that it is (or rather was...) sensible at the time.

There's also 3 mm - 1ft, called TT Gauge over here, and I think over there too, and the same is true of N Gauge (2 mm - 1 ft, almost....) but that's 1/148 scale on the UK  and 1/160th in Europe and America.

Your head will hurt but get used to it, that's railway modelling for you. 

[NARSES2]

Is the Round House the one at Camden ? If so it's still there (I see it every time I go in and out of Kings Cross) and being used as a concert venue.

As for paint pot holders ? I use a load of 3 tier plastic drawers I got in Poundland years ago. The drawers are perfect size for holding Humbrol/Xtracolor/Colourcoat tins upright and Xtracrylic and the like laying on their sides. I can keep my paints stored by "nationality" that way.

[Gondor]

Is the Round House the one at Camden ? If so it's still there (I see it every time I go in and out of Kings Cross) and being used as a concert venue.

As for paint pot holders ? I use a load of 3 tier plastic drawers I got in Poundland years ago. The drawers are perfect size for holding Humbrol/Xtracolor/Colourcoat tins upright and Xtracrylic and the like laying on their sides. I can keep my paints stored by "nationality" that way.

I think it may have been Burnt Island, I simply liked the technology going into it. Talking about technology, most of the train controlers I saw were keypads I think, a far cry from what I had with my train set roughly half a century ago. Everything must be digital I would imagine. Is each engine coded so that you can select it and then control it?

Gondor

[zenrat]

4 mm - 1ft railway modelling is what we in the UK call '00 Gauge'. Sur le Continent they model 3.5 - 1 ft and call it 'HO Gauge' but it uses the same track as we do for 00 Gauge.

Yes, I know it makes no sense, but that's the way it is, and if I went on for long and explained why this craziness had come about you'd agree that it is (or rather was...) sensible at the time.

There's also 3 mm - 1ft, called TT Gauge over here, and I think over there too, and the same is true of N Gauge (2 mm - 1 ft, almost....) but that's 1/148 scale on the UK  and 1/160th in Europe and America.

Your head will hurt but get used to it, that's railway modelling for you. 

3" to 1mm works out at 1/76.2...

[PR19_Kit]

Talking about technology, most of the train controlers I saw were keypads I think, a far cry from what I had with my train set roughly half a century ago. Everything must be digital I would imagine. Is each engine coded so that you can select it and then control it?

It doesn't HAVE to be digital, no. There are two options, DC and DCC, the former being what you're used to with a rotating type dial to give you the speed and direction (sometimes a switch for direction) and the latter having any number of ways to control things, from the keypads you mention to full-on 'cabs' to control the train, and some systems can be run from your phone!

Yes, each loco does need a decoder added and to b e programmed so it, and only it, follows your control signals. You can run any number of trains on the same track with DCC, so long as they don't hit each other of course. You can even add decoders to the points and signals to control them digitally too.

It can all get VERY expensive!

3" to 1mm works out at 1/76.2...

Close enough for Government work. 

[Gondor]

3" to 1mm works out at 1/76.2...

Close enough for Government work. 

My thoughts exactly.

A question that I hope someone can answer. The GER Class A55 Decapod that I am looking at had, according to Wikipedia, drive wheels of four-foot-six-inches in diameter. I take it that is not includeing the flange on those wheels that had them.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Yes, standard railway wheel sizes are from rim to rim, where it touches down on  the railhead.

[Gondor]

First day back at work after my eye op. And no that's not me trying to talk Yorkshire with a bad accent 

My job is to align parts of a monochromator. These units take a single (mono) wavelength of light (chromate) and find out what the item in the sample chamber either emits or absorbs from that light. So when aligning each unit I have an output that is shone onto a wall so I can tell if the mirrors that I am aligning are aligned and the light is in focus. Things were going well as usual until I saw an odd effect in the top half of the image, a white square of light. I eventually found out that what I was seeing was the shadows of the paint on the wall partly due to the fact that the light is not shone at the wall at 90^o so I see the highs and lows of the paint surface 
Looking forward to getting my eye test on the eights of next month so I get back on the road.

Gondor