Watering the stock

One of the problems with describing myself as semi-retired is that occasionally, one has to do some work. Having said that, even describing yourself as retired means that you still have to do some work but no one wants to pay you for your efforts. But I digress. The reason I do pick up work for which I receive remuneration is because my employer enters a period of intense activity requiring a lot of effort in a short space of time. This is a long winded way of saying that I haven't done too much model railway work on Philip's Creek over the past month or so because I have been busy working!

As a consequence, only a few small jobs have been completed recently. However, one of these is something iconic to any rural area in Australia and other parts of the world, the installation of a humble windmill and some supporting infrastructure.

A while ago, I purchased a white metal Sentinel Windmill kit. In fact, it was so long ago, I had forgotten that I had bought it and was looking to purchase another one. Fortunately, I found my original purchase just in time so there was not duplication.

The kit itself was not complicated but I decided I wanted to build a more common steel tower rather than the older style timber legs in the kit. This was a bit fiddly to get the bracing right but I think it turned out to be a passable representation. The Southern Cross logo was printed on a clear address label and affixed to both sides of the tail.

The tank was also something that I purchased some time ago and the stand was fabricated from styrene. Again, nothing very difficult.

The water trough proved to be a bit more challenging. I split a plastic drink straw in two, added some styrene ends together with some wire to simulate a float valve and then commenced to paint the trough. I was aware of the likely outcome if mineral based paint touched the straw so I used water based paints for everything except the clear gloss that simulated the water. I hoped that the water based paint would act as a seal and prevent contact between the plastic straw and the clear gloss. Sadly that was not to be and the water trough took on some very non prototypical curves. Take 2 and I had learnt my lesson. The fabrication was the same but this time I purchased some water based clear gloss!

As yet, I haven't yet fixed the windmill in place and, periodically, it gets moved to another location to see how it works. Hopefully, once it is finally located, it will fade into the background and just another inconspicuous 'prop', a small but very familiar part of the overall scene that the trains will pass through.

And now all I need to do is to buy some sheep for the paddock!

Modelling a chain wire fence

I must be a glutton for punishment! Not only have I been spending a lot of time stringing five strand barb wire fences but I have also been building a chain wire fence around the local colliery at Philip's Creek.

There are a number of articles on the internet as well as one in AMRM (June 2006) suggesting different methods, and the one that I have used is an amalgamation of several. Even so, a bit of experimentation and decision making was necessary before my methodology was finalised.

I suppose the first decision to make was whether to adopt a prefabricated approach where the fence is constructed 'off-site' and then placed on the layout; or to place the individual posts and then fix the simulated chain wire to these. I chose the prefabricated approach because I thought it would be easier to manage the construction as well as less chance of collateral damage to other scenic elements. I accepted that placing two fence 'modules' side by side creates an unrealistic double post arrangement.

The second decision to make concerned materials. Initially, I tried using thin round styrene but after assembling one section, I found that it lacked sufficient rigidity. I settled on 0.8mm dia brass wire for both the posts and the horizontal top and bottom runners. This wire is a little oversized for the vertical posts and significantly oversized for the horizontal members but when it is all in place on the layout, the scale difference is not really visible. Furthermore, it provides a fairly robust frame for later manipulation and placement.

It was also necessary decide on the material to simulate the chain wire mesh. A number of websites suggest the use of a fabric called tulle. Fortunately my wife had a few offcuts so I tried it out on one section. I thought that it looked more like oversized chicken wire rather than the diamond shape of the chain wire mesh. So I opted to use the other common solution, commercial nylon flywire. Again, this is oversized but it gives the overall appearance of a chain wire fence.

For the longer fencing runs, I created modules each of six panels. Other shorter sections of the fence were made to measure. Each module consisted on single top and bottom runners and the appropriate number of vertical posts. I appreciate that many fences replace the bottom runner with a tensioned wire but this is not universal and the lack of a bottom runner reduces the rigidity of the frame. Besides, it's easy to hide the bottom runner behind additional weeds and foliage.

Each length of wire was longer than required so that it could be cut to size later. I notched both the horizontal and vertical members to allow them to sit flush and then each joint was soldered. The basic frame is shown opposite just prior to gluing the mesh to the frame. I found superglue was best for this activity.

Once the glue had dried, surplus mesh was cut away and the wire trimmed to length. I used elasticised cotton to create the three strands of barb wire that frequently tops this type of fence. Often this part of the fence is bent forward and this would be a simple matter to do once the module was completed. However, I preferred to leave the barb wire section in the vertical plane.





Once completed, each module received a coat of grey primer followed by a wash of silver and reddy brown.

Gates were fashioned in a similar manner but with an added diagonal brace on each panel. For my model, each gate was fitted in the open position.

The final photo shows most of the fence and gates in place. The bottom of each post can be pushed into the ground and then glued in place . Once the fixed panels are in place, the gates are glued into their desired position.

In reality, after spending a fair bit of time over the last few month building fences of various types, they almost seem to disappear into the scene as if they had always been there and there is little to show for this labour. I suppose, that is the consequence of 'modelling the ordinary'!


Additional Information

In response to Col's request the following three photos show more distant views of the chain wire fence. The tulle material has been used on the first nine fence panels counting from the left.

 

Jinxed - Bringing the 45 class into service

There are times in this hobby when things just don't go right and one feels that a jinx has been placed on a certain model or piece of equipment. I had this feeling as I was attempting to bring my Auscision 45 class into service.

As I mentioned in my previous post, both outstanding orders for Alco locomotives recently arrived in the space of three days. The two locomotives were given a bit of exercise on a test track using DC prior to the fitting of DCC decoders. I haven't yet made the jump to sound so I anticipated that both decoder fits would be fairly simple.

As events transpired, I was able to purchase a decoder for the 48 class first and so this determined the order of the work. Fitting the eight pin decoder to the locomotive was very simple and that locomotive was quickly on the painting table for its weathering before entering service.

The focus then turned to the 45 class. I purchased a TCS non sound decoder with the appropriate twenty one pin connection and settled down to install it. The body came off reasonably easily but the dummy plug as a little difficult to remove. It finally came off with a bit of wiggling. However, as this was happening, I bumped one of the air tanks on the side of the locomotive and it separated from the chassis. I wasn't too worried; I had read that they were very fragile and I knew that it could be repaired. I put the air tank aside the time being.

Now it was time to fit the decoder. Something didn't seem right and my first attempt to fit the decoder failed. I stuffed up! There is no other way to describe it. I had put the decoder upside down. When it didn't operate on the programming track, I removed it and attempted to restore the DC plug to check all was still ok. As I was doing this, I realised that I had bent one of the pins, the number one pin as it turns out. I attempted to straighten the pin when suddenly, the pin and surrounding plastic separated from the now 20 pin connector as shown in the adjoining photo.

At this point in time, a lot of things went through my mind, most of which are unprintable but a paraphrase of the slogan from George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' seems appropriate:

"Eight Pins Good, Twenty One Pins Bad!"

As I pondered how to fix this, I decided that the best solution was probably to 'hot wire' the connection for the missing pin directly onto the decoder. The trouble was that I couldn't determine which wire was connected to the missing pin. About 30 minutes fiddling with a multimeter seemed to confirm that the wires on the circuit board were connected to other pins.


I sought advice from Hobbyland at Hornsby and their guidance was that it was a spare. So with some trepidation I returned home, inserted the decoder into the now 20 pin connector and....it worked!

Great, that was fixed and it was time to do a temporary refix of the body just to make sure nothing was fouling. Somehow, something snagged and there was an audible twang as one of the front handrails launched itself into space. It has yet to be recovered. More choice words!


A new handrail was fashioned from brass wire and fitted to the locomotive. Similarly, the dislodged air tank was also reaffixed to the chassis. The final photograph show 4512 now part way through the weathering process. The replaced front handrail is the closest to the camera, slightly misshapen and missing a brace.

So, all's well that ends well, but I can't escape the feeling that there was something more to it than just a simple unfortunate coincidence of random events. Only time will tell.

Last Week, It Rained Alcos

Ok, the title is a bit of an exaggeration but with the arrival of two Alcos (the 48 and the 45) in one week, it seemed certainly seemed like it.

First to come was the overdue Trainorama 48 class. It is about six years since the locomotive was ordered, so it has been a long wait. A glitch in their database meant that I had to wait a little longer before my order was dispatched. This was cleared up just before the Australia Day long weekend and the model arrived last Wednesday. Because I had chased them about the delay, I knew when it was dispatched and was awaiting its arrival.

The 45 class was totally different. I was aware that the models had arrived in Australia but had no idea when I should expect my particular order. Consequently, on last Friday, the arrival of a note from Australia Post telling me that I had a parcel waiting came as a surprise.

Thus in the space of three days, my Alco fleet has increased by 50%.

Interestingly, my reaction to the arrival of both locomotives was a bit 'ho hum'. Both were put on the work bench until other priorities were addressed, and time allowed me to unbox and place each on the layout. I suppose, I had waited so long for the orders, the 48 in particular, another few hours wouldn't make too much difference. From the comments on other blogs and chat rooms, it seems my reaction was not unique.

Both models look great and others have provided interesting photos so I won't duplicate their effort. For example, Bob at  South Coast Rail has some great photos of each locomotive. ( http://southcoastrail.blogspot.com.au/)

To date, I have done some limited test running using DC. When I get time, I'll run both locomotive on a test track for a while before fitting decoders and weathering. What I did notice was that when running on DC, the 45 class was considerably faster than the 48 so double-heading will be interesting. I understand that this can be addressed with the fine tuning of each locomotive once the DCC chip has been fitted. However, it's not something I have tackled before, so another learning experience coming up!

Take 2 - A KP mail van - the Hawksmoor version

Well that was a bit of a mistake!. I had thrown a few photos as the start of a post on my recently completed KP Mail Van and inadvertently hit the publish button rather than just saving the draft. My humble apologies to those who opened that version. Now to start again, this time with a bit more content.

Last June, I recently purchased a Hawksmoor KP Mail Van kit and finally got around to assembling it just before Christmas. This is a very basic kit that is a recasting of the original MRC kit, this time in polyurethane. It required the addition bogies, couplers and other detail parts.

I used an article in AMRM August 1997 by Garry Kahler that included a plan and elevations to provide some key dimensions and basic information. The kit was close to the dimensions in the article but to get the couplers at the correct high, I had to use the high set kadee version, plus some shims on the bogies.

The kit went together easily although a fair bit of filing and sanding was necessary to make it fit.  As usual, I used masking tape strips on the roof and added replacement roof vents. Other added detail is shown on these two photos. As usual, soldering the underframe truss was a bit of a challenge.










The only problem that I couldn't overcome was the shape of the end walls and the very visible intersection of the side walls. No amount of filling or filing could hide this. However, I am consoled by the fact that the van will usually be marshalled between other cars and the ends will be obscured. 

With the completion of this kit, that's probably about the last of the mail train consist I have been slowly assembling over past few years. 

It's probably about time that I focused on other facilities for Philip's Creek.

 
 

Using Elasticised Cotton for Fences - Some Lessons Learnt

Around the end of 2013, there was discussion in Ray Pilgrim's Bylong blog concerning the used of elasticised or stretchy thread as a solution for power lines and fencing wire. After Ray's posts had been published, I purchased a roll of this product, but never let it be said that things happen quickly on Philip's Creek. It took me another year before I finally motivated myself to try the thread, not so much for power lines but rather as fencing wire.

In part, my lethargy was due to the frustrations expressed in an earlier post when I attempted to do the same thing with very fine wire. (http://philipscreek.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/a-waste-of-time.html. The elasticised thread was certainly easier to use than wire and as such, didn't trigger quite the same reaction as previously. However, it did reconfirm the lesson that I learnt previously, do the fencing early - the sooner the better after the basic landscaping has been applied and most definitely before power poles have been added. On parts of my layout this was not the case and there has been a power and telegraph pole repair program running in parallel with the fencing. On the newer section of Philip's Creek, there is nothing taller than the fence posts, so the work is a little easier.

By the way, the fence posts are combination of a special order of split timber posts from Kerroby Models mixed with some scratch built posts made by splitting a match in two.

At this time, I have competed some fencing around the local church and school and am now working on the fencing of the rail easement on the new and less cluttered section of the layout.








So what have I learnt from this exercise?

Firstly, this thread snags or catches very easily. The thread is very fine and seems to catch on almost anything from grass to rocks, power poles and certainly edges of buildings. Because it is very fine, it is difficult to see and its elasticity means that sometimes, you are not aware of a snag until the tension becomes so great that the thread pulls out back off the needle. It becomes a matter of judgement as to how much loose thread you want hanging around and getting snagged compared with how many times you want to tie off and start again. The photo opposite shows a point where one length was tied off and another started. Although it is fairly obvious in the close up photo, it is difficult to detect from a reasonable viewing distance. The white thread on the grey post also helps.

Secondly, make sure you have a fair amount of thread on the loose side of the needle eye. I lost count of the number of times that the needle was pulled through a fence post only to find that the end of the thread was left a centimetre or two back.

Super glue is your friend. I found that a touch of super glue on the thread as it looped around a corner fence post or bracing pole was sufficient to hold the thread in place after a short setting period. The photo opposite shows two strands in place, each with a loop around the corner post that has been glued in place.





The thread that I purchased was white. There had been some commentary in the earlier articles suggesting that a black thread was available but was not as good. However, I found that it was not easy to paint and the best solution was to run a black permanent marking pen along each strand of 'wire' once it was in place. This has worked well for most of the fence line but colouring in the vicinity of the fence posts is a bit sparse. More work is needed here.

Unless you have brilliant young eyes, some form of magnification is a must.

Finally, there is the question of how much tension should be applied to each fencing wire. I only applied a relatively light tension, sufficient to given the appearance of a well tensioned fence but, hopefully, not too much that it will lose its elasticity very quickly. I do expect some sagging over time but it should be with realistic limits.

Notwithstanding, the small dent that I have made in this project so far, there is still plenty to do, probably still about 2-3m of fences yet to be strung. No rest for the wicked!

Seeing Blue - an unexpected outbreak of mould?

Having written a few lines about why things are seen in my last post, I have been hoisted on my own petard by the recent discovery of a strange change in colour of some parts of one building on Philip's Creek that I have only just noticed.

A few days ago, I was stringing wire to a few fences ( actually the elasticised cotton thread) in close proximity to the Philips Creek Primary School when I saw that parts of the chimney and fascia were now a blue grey colour. We have had some unsettled weather in Sydney over the past few weeks and for 10 weeks prior to that, I was away, so I'm not really sure when the problem emerged. I do know that it wasn't there is 2011 and the third photo demonstrates. However, we have had periods of high humidity in other years without this type of problem emerging so I not sure that weather has been a determining factor.

The other curious thing about this occurrence is that it has not spread across the whole model. The two faces of the chimney and fascia that are not visible to the camera in the first photo remain unaffected. You can get an indication from one of the faces of the chimney in photo 2. There has probably been a reaction with the paint or the weathering powder used, but again, these covered the entire building, and yet, only two sides have been affected. Similarly, as far as I can tell, no other building or rolling stock items has shown signs of contamination.

Well, what to do about it? I tried three methods of removal, each applied with a cotton bud. The results of the first, isocol alcohol, can be seen on the top of the chimney in the first photo. The second, cloudy ammonia, and the third, exit mould, gave similar outcomes, not surprisingly, a bleached white surface.

The visible mould has now been removed and I will repaint fascia once I am convinced that the problem will not return. However, I have decided to build another chimney around the original one. It will be painted and weathered before installation. Hopefully, that will see a return the original structure shown in the 2011 photo.

On a very different note, as the festive season approaches rapidly, I would like to acknowledge all those readers who have assisted me with comments, advice, information or materials associated with the various posts in 2014.  Thank  you all for your contributions and input.

Finally, to all readers, have a very Merry Christmas and a great 2015.