Fitting Out

Front fittings on the Decauville 042T

Since its outing to ExpoNG last weekend, the Weidknecht Decauville has acquired its smokebox door fittings and cylinder appendages. I thought I'd lost the lamp bracket, which is one of the problems about painting something dark brown over all: what once was shiny brass disappeared into the background.

The next thing to do is to fit the brake gear and vacuum pipes, and this brings the whole enterprise nearly to an end. It will be nice to have not only a complete engine but one that is in its finished colours. Probably the longest bit of work remaining is attaching John's couplings (Zamzoodled) which means that I'll probably soon be returning to my 4-wheel toastrack carriage so that they match.

Bits 'n' Pieces



Hang on t' brass, lad!

The insignificant objects in the picture are significant in my modelling. On the right is a valve wheel off the 'small dome' of my 042T Weidknecht Decauville. It has appeared before, which in a way is why it appears again now: I decided I was unhappy with the amount of solder defacing it and its 3 companions. So at ExpoNG last year I loitered at the Meridian Models stand and bought myself a Meriparts bag of assorted wheels. Last weekend the original offenders were removed and replaced with what I hope are a better testament to my soldering abilities.

The object on the left is, or was intended to be, a replacement crank for the same loco. It is 4.5mm long and links a rod from the loco cab to the steam dome. Again I was unhappy with the huge blob of solder that was my initial effort at fixing it. The picture shows my first attempt at crafting a replacement crank, fashioned from a spare bit of fret. As I was holding it in a pair of tweezers and bring the soldering iron towards it: 'ping'! It was lost.

From the depths of somewhere rose a calmness that threw me: I didn't swear. I simply picked up the brass fret and made another part which as it turns out was better than this one. This one, by the way, turned up as I was cleaning off my workbench in preparation for visitors (one of the problems of modelling in the spare bedroom).

The significance for my modelling is that I've tended previously to depend solely on kits as they are. When I've spoiled a part in the past, it has either been disregarded or the entire kit given up on. When I eventually finish this loco, I may be a step nearer tackling a scratch-build than I expected.

Conventional Wisdom



Monkey Island, 1908

John invited me to help out with an 014 stand at the 2011 7mm Narrow Gauge Association Convention and AGM at Burton on Trent last weekend. We had much interest: he at his end of the table with his DCC-operated L&B couplings and a 'garnet' or 'gaggle' of Garrat K1 engines, and me at my end with my expletive-ridden attempts at making plain track.

K1 Appreciation

I took along a diorama of Monkey Island, Barnstaple, which I’d made for the purpose. As the track base I was making slots in to a channel, there were a few comments about the canal scene! The trees on the model are rescued from the 0-16,5 Barnstaple Town that Steve and I had ... so were out in public for the first time in 17 years.

Some visitors to our stand were just getting into, or returning to, the hobby. These are good targets for persuading to model in 014, as they usually don’t carry any baggage – such as a hundreds of pounds worth of 0-16,5 motive power they don't want to re-wheel.

My track-building was so-so, but I learned a lot. A diarama is better for learning on than a full-fledged layout.

We were invited to return to the 2012 Convention, although we suggested that every other year would work better. Maybe next time I’ll actually have a layout rather than a diorama to display.

Ah well, back to the Weidknecht Decauville ...

Switching Tracks

Earlier this week, I transformed my test track into a DCC service track. Inspired by Nigel Burkin (2008), A Practical Introduction to Digital Command Control for Railway Modellers, Ramsbury: Crowood, I simply inserted a centre-off DPDT switch and an extra cable. The original cable is now the program cable, and the extra one the DCC power cable. Both are fitted with plugs to fit my ZTC 511 control system.

The next task will be to actually fit a decoder to one of my locos, and I’ve chosen the Weidknecht Decauville because of its run-in RTR chassis.

Une Petite Loco

I decided just over a week ago to dust down my boxed rpi kit for an 042 T Weidknecht-Decauville, having bought it from the late Mike South some time back. It has always struck me that the kit was largely RTR, based solely on the fact that the chassis was complete. However I suddenly realized that there was a bag of bits in the box, some of which didn't mean anything to me.

A quick call for help on the 7mm NGA Yahoo! Group, and within hours Eric Fresné of Voie Libre had provided me with the instructions. My French is not brilliant, but once I'd realized that BabelFish and Google Translate were more of a hindrance than a help (neither could cope with 'portemine' - a pin-vice), I got stuck in. In fact as Eric had done before me I found that there were errors in the original (despite sneers from the distaff side that it was more likely to be my translation that was wrong).

Two 0.6mm drills have been consumed so far, having only been obtained earlier in the week from Pennyfarthing Tools in Salisbury (local Aladdin's Cave). And more by luck than judgement only one small part has been lost in the tufts of the carpet, ironically given that at the said Pennyfarthing Tools someone had talked about losing small items, and I'd confessed that I was still to get around to making a jeweller's apron!

Poor photograph I know, but the work so far is here ...

Somewhere near Cheddar ...

Thinking about the layout overnight, I wondered what the rocky outcrop would look like. A quick Google revealed that the limestone in the Cheddar region of the Mendips, where Steve's fictional quarry is set, dips by 20 degrees to the South East. Hence the layers of polystyrene on the face into which the tunnel portal will be set. There's a lot of plaster to be applied yet, but we think the result will work okay.

A Tunnel Too Far?

Well 40 hours or so later, here's the tunnel portal to date. Painted as described earlier, I roughened it with a little Tamiya weathering paint (sand and green), some Woodland Scenics dark green foliage, and Modelmates soot black. I may add a small amount of ink to highlight the coping mortar, and perhaps some green/yellow blemishes. It also needs some 'furniture' - a number plate, and perhaps some cabling. I'll be putting the tunnel in situ this weekend.

I'm not sure I want to go through all this again, but my next major modelling effort will be the L&B company offices. This comprises at least 10 times the amount of brickwork. Deep joy!