September saw us busy on both Evercreech New and Halsdon Road. Halsdon Road’s long overdue appearance at Taunton Raile-Ex was again postponed, and will now happen in 2022. The plan was to do a single update for the whole Autumn, but there was too much going on over that period for one post!
The 7mm scale D16/3 Claude Hamilton continues to progress with John reported that the cab roof had been rolled and riveted using a rivet punch that he had converted from a leather punch.
The finished cab roof. Milled brass angle is used for the rain strips and milled ‘U’ section for the ventilator slides. This has been modelled open. John claims: “62578 was a Melton Constable engine, and it is always dry and sunny in North Norfolk. No, it does not open and close!” The inside of the roof had a T section stiffener inside. This is again from T section brass which was soldered to some scrap brass before being shaped then unsoldered before fitting.
Not to be outdone, having completed the tender Allan H has started on the loco body for his Fowler 4F to run on “Evercreech New”.
Changing tack entirely, Jim has dug out some of his recent N Gauge purchases to see what scope there was to replace the wheelsets with finescale ones readily available to members of the 2mm Scale Association – rather than have the N scale ones turned down in a lathe. The majority of the recent purchases have been various types of bogie container wagons, which have 5.25mm diameter wheels. However, something slightly different was a pair of KUA nuclear flask wagons, designed to carry fuel to and from Sellafield and Rosyth and Devonport for our nuclear submarine fleet.
They are impressive beasts and will look good on “Bungham Lane”, assuming it is ever built! Although the model makers, Revolution Trains, tend to use axle lengths that do not correspond with the Association’s standards, I found 16 axles that were suitable, and the result is above.
Pete C has been beavering away with various EM Gauge projects, including replacing the pony wheels on his Ivatt Mogul. Pete says: “They came from John Meakin and are Sharman wheels, Mike Sharman being an RAF aircraft engineer used 3/32” axles. The bogie bearings were for 2mm axles, so I had to make a couple of bushes on the Unimat, my Unimat came via Peter Bedding who was his commanding officer on Vulcans. Luckily I successfully made 2 bushes first time and fitted them with a smear of Loctite retainer:”
A Weltrol wagon now has trestles.
Also our featured image a 40 year old Mainline Warship now has new windscreens, the old glazing having yellowed: What a splendid model this was for its time – as long as it either has two motor bogies or a replacement mechanism…
Finally, for Peter B’s P4 magnum opus depicting Market Bosworth, an exquisite Johnson Class 1400 2-4-0.
Yeovil Model Railway Group (YMRG) 