April Forth and Clyde Area Group Meeting

The April meeting was attended by 10 members, in the form of Alisdair, Alistair, Alastair, James, Nigel, Andy, Simon, Graham, Stuart and Martin.

Work continued on Mearns Shed, with it's first trip out to the Perth Model Railway Show creeping ever closer, progress has continued at pace.  Alisdair had taken custody of the layout since the last meeting and had worked finalising the landform, and had ballasted the track, ready for the commencement of scenicing/further testing.

Alastair had brought along his first draft of the backscene.  The intention is to wait for the LED lighting to be added to the layout before finalising the backscene, but this shows the design intent!

Alisdair had also been working on some buildings for the layout, a newsagents that will sit at the top of the hill to draw the eyes away from the corner (not pictured), and the coaling stage.  This is seen below with a 1970s vintage Minitrix N Gauge Class 27, rewheeled to 2FS, being used as an overscale gauge of structures etc.

Alisdair based his model on a Highland Railway prototype, seen at Aviemore, with comments about representation and diversity on a layout that is mostly Caledonian in design.  He feverently denies any attempts to annoy Jim...

James continued work on the electronics that will control the layout - regular readers of the blog will know James is using a series of MERG kits to create a handset and base station for the layout, allowing DCC control.

 

Martin had brought along a tub of Vallejo European Mud, and spent a happy hour starting to colour and texture the landform.  This texture paint is something Martin usually uses on his 28mm scale (roughly 1/56th - 1/48th) wargaming projects, but was a relatively quick and easy way to provide a base layer to the landscape.  He has threatened to bring along other ground textures, flocks and static grasses next month to get some greenery on the board.

Graham had brought along his first compete test print of the engine shed.  This is a 3D printed model, which will, once painted, be fitted with etched windows of Jim's design.  The Building is based on the ex-Forfar shed, which is still in place, but sadly no-longer connected to the irons of any railway.

This photo shows the unpainted shed, posed in location next to the 3D printed Caledonian water cranes (thanks Alistair!) and behind a grounded van created by Richard from a plastic body available in Shop2.  The interior of the van is finely detailed with shelving and tools, all handcrafted by Richard.  This photo also shows the first layer of the ground cover.

Martin had taken a few test pieces of the shed away to try painting.  The first draft, sans-oil paint mortar wash or weathering, was well recieved.  Martin had based the painting on Google Earth views of the current state of Forfar shed, which is a bit more modern, and probably a bit more repaired than the shed would have been at the point it is being modelled.

Each of the lighter coloured bricks was picked out with a Kolinsky Sable 000 brush under optivisor maginification and passes muster from a usual viewing distance.  Graham, concerned for the amount of time it took to complete this, has proposed 3D printing a mask that can be placed over each section of the shed and airbrushed, or sponged to provide the lighter colours.  Watch this space.

Alisdair also took the time to show his Shark Brave Van, which may spend some time parked in the siding at the front of the layout.

This is an N Gauge Society kit, on a 2FS chassis.  Alisdair had filed back all the plastic moulded handrails and replaced them with wire, as well as narrowing the body of the van to make it closer to the true 1:152, rather than the 1:148ish of N Gauge.  Alisdair reports he'd also been working on some Stephen Harris Grampus wagons that will go nicely with this.  Painting isn't quite complete, Alisdair intends to rust up the ploughs.

Away from Mearns Shed, many of the other members were working hard at their own models.

Stuart had brought along his mill building and had set to work on adding roofing detail to some of the "secondary" buildings that make up the complex.

These are pre-coloured, pre-cut self-adhesive strips from York Modelmaking, laid from the bottom to the top of the roof to give the impression of slates and certainly look the part.  Stuart had brought along a number of reference books/photos and was asking for impressions on sky-lights and vents.  There was also a discussion about guttering and how to represent this in 2mm scale.

Simon continued working on the Signals and Telegraph infrastructure for Glenfinnan.  He had constructed a number of signals for the layout, including some Caledonian/NBR Stephens type drop-flap ground signals, which, even in 2FS include a dropping flap!

Nigel had brought along the start of a new controller, representing the brake and regulator for a steam locomotive, these components will be used on Cadhay Sidings, the exhibition layout often shown by the East of Scotland 4mm group - there is a driving position at the front of the layout.

Alistair had recieved a quanity of NB transfers for his 3D printed wagons and spent some time during the meeting applying these to his wagons

The transfers really do finish these wagons off wonderfully.

Finally, a cautionary tale of working in 2FS, titled "the carpet monster ate my component!"

The next meeting of the Forth and Clyde Area Group shall be Saturday 18th May - note the later than usual date, due to the Expo 2mm 2024, held in Derby (also open to non-members!).  We are a friendly bunch and welcome all comers, whether you're a visiting 2FS veteran from another area, someone who has just started their Finescale journey, and even, by invitation, someone considering getting into the Finest of Scales and want to see what we're all about.  Details are in the Association Newsletter which accompanies the magazine.

March Forth and Clyde Area Group Meeting

 The second Saturday of the month harkened the assembly of those stalwarts of the 2mm Scale Association who reside in the Central Belt of Scotland.  This month's meeting, despite clashing with Scotland vs. Italy in the Six Nations attracted some nine modellers, Alisdair, Alastair, Alistair, Jim, Graham, Andy, Stuart, Simon and Martin.

This correspondent unfortunately had a slight issue with his alarm clock and arrived late, missing some of the action, so what follows is a somewhat incomplete recollection of events.

The main hive of activities surrounded Mearns Shed, the Group layout.  With only four short months until it is booked to attend the Perth Model Railway show, (29th/30th June 10:00 - 17:00, Dewars Centre, Perth (Scotland)) work on the scenics is in full swing.  Alisdair and Jim are seen here carving polystyrene sheet to make up the basic landform.

The Glorious Leader has taken the layout home to glue down the groundform and give it a coat of lightweight plaster to make it look marginally less like sheets of polystyrene.  An offer of ground textures and static grass was made for the next meeting by a helpful spectator holding a camera.

The Glorious Leaders, seen here wearing the Official Optivisor of Office is working on a former for the embankment slopes.  Proof he does occasionally do some modelling at an Area Group Meeting...

Jim had brought along his latest creation, a Caledonian Railways 900 Class, known as a Dunalistair III.  It has graced this page since it was but flat etched sheet, and now it is presented in glorious technicolour.

Jim is still working on the lining, but the blue basecoat is in place.  This blue is a different shade to other Locos in Jim's collection, this being closer to the blue in which the SPRS' CR419 was in prior to her most recent makeover, as opposed to the darker shade in which CR828 which normally lives in Aviemore is painted.  This prompted a discussion on Caley Blue, and what colour it actually was, or wasn't - including mythbusting relating to Perth and St. Rollox having different paints etc.  This was only stopped later on by a discussion of NBR brown and cowpats...

Talking of the group layout... Alastair had brought along 3D prints of Caledonian style water cranes.  These have been painted and weathered ready for planting as the scenery allows.  Alastair had brought along his Class 03/04 chassis, started for the Loco Chassis day last September, and as yet unfinished.  Seen here with its 3D printed body, the loco nears completion.

Although not present in person, Richard had sent, via Martin, via Model Rail Scotland, his contribution to the layouts scenery.  A workers bothy and tool van,  The bothy is scratch built based on images provided of the sorts of building found around small steam sheds.  The tool van is an association kit, heavily modified - it has a fully detailed interior, which, sadly, is in shadow in the below photos.

Away from the Group Layout, Simon was working on an MSE/Wizard Models signal kit for his own layout Glenfinnan.  Seen here he's finished the post and arm, ready to start the process of painting and/or motorising it all.  Having built a similar one in 4mm, seeing this in 2mm is very impressive

Chris had brought along his 4F and his test track and was spending the meeting checking that the stay alives were functioning.  At one moment, with us all crowded around the loco, our Glorious Leader nearly had a heart attack, thinking he saw sparking inside the tender, only to discover that Chris had fitted an LED to the stay alive circuit to help with fault finding.  The flickering was caused by dirty track/wheels!

Stuart was working on his Magnorail system.  This is a chain driven system used for driving cars, vans, busses and such through a scene.  On display here is the return loops and motors, whilst a length of the "chain" guide can be seen underneath.  Through the meeting, Stuart was fitting kerbs to the road surface which will live above this system.

Finally (and with apologies to those whose work I arrived too late to photograph...), Martin was working on a signal box.  This is a laser cut plywood kit from Pop Up Designs - a company Martin has been watching for some time, however, it was only a chance conversation at Model Rail Scotland with the proprietors that he learnt that their previously only 4mm range was now available in 7mm, and more usefully 2mm.

This is a Caledonian "Standard" Signal box as it was by the end of the meeting, still requiring details and steps.  One advantage to writing the blog is the ability to take another photo 24 hours later showing the complete model...

Martin has managed to mangle the staircase, however, this should be salvagable, but now the kit is complete, with the steps, the window cleaning platform and the various brackets the Caledonian Railway festooned their structures with now attached.  Just visible at the side of the shot are elements of the Ratio "Signal Box Interior" kit which will be used to detail the model - it might even be fitted with an LED or two.  The background shows another set of under-construction kits.  But more about these another time...

The next Forth and Clyde Area Group Meeting shall be Saturday 13th April at our usual haunt, Almondell Model Engineering Centre, near Livingston.  I say it every time, but we are a welcoming bunch, and accept visitors from other Area Groups who happen to be in the area, and may even accept the occasional visitor from other scales, gauges and societies.  Further information and contact details are in the Association Newsletter published alongside the Magazine.

February 2024 Forth and Clyde Area Group meeting

While the cat's away, the mice will play. The Association Chairman, who moonlights as our group organiser, had let it be known he'd miss our February meeting, being otherwise engaged in a pleasure-dome somewhere in the Highlanns of Skawlan.  He kindly sent us a list of do's and don'ts by e-mail instead. Nothing was said about diet however, so it was not long before some healthy snack options made their appearance, courtesy of Jim Watt. If they'd been brought out when the Chairman was around he'd have pulled rank and scoffed the lot, naturally, so this was a golden opportunity.

Jim had also brought along a treat of the nickel-silver variety to work on: his Caledonian 900 Class "Dunalistair III". The latest addition is the safety-valves.

Alastair W had been busy making designs with Solidworks and had printed a number of North British 16-ton mineral wagons.

The task of the day was to paint the buffers he'd printed. A squirt of black from a paint pen was applied using a sharpened matchstick.

One of the Chairman's edicts was to get a move on with a model of a Caledonian water crane in time for the forthcoming Glasgow show, where we plan to display "Mearns Shed" on our recruitment table as a conversation piece. Alastair had turned a scale drawing into a very nice print - here, the printing supports have been removed with the pips yet to be trimmed off with a sharp scalpel.

Chris had come intending to work on his Raithby 4F, but had inadvertently broken the pins off the mains plug of his soldering iron, thus he had to repair the damage first. 

The 4F itself was in better shape.

Stuart was working on installing the Magnorail roadway system on his layout. We are all intrigued to see how this turns out.

Graham had made small advances with the 3D printed brickwork for Mearns Shed, thanks to Martin Stewart who kindly shared his "recipe" for emphasized mortar courses to provide a better visual impression. The result is seen on the nearer of the two prints here; the other has the original, closer-to-scale courses which are practically invisible.

Simon was working on Foxhunter LNER fish van underframes from the Buchanan Kits etch.

The Chairman's instructions previously referred to were, basically, to extract the digit regarding the buildings and backscene for Mearns Shed. This led to a flurry of activity and discussion.

Alistair M took the chance to measure up the various items of scenery which will impinge on his backscene.

I had to skip the afternoon session so can't tell how most of these activities ended up! But at least they all started well. Normal service resumes next month, with the Chairman back to keep us in line.

The next time the FCAG comes together will be at Model Rail Scotland on 23-25 February at the Scottish Event Campus by the bonnie banks of the Clyde in Glasgow ... if you're visiting, do stop by the 2mm Scale Association at Stand B26 to say hello.

January 2024 Forth and Clyde Area Group Meeting

At a Top Secret location, deep in the heartlands of Scotland, it was the first meeting of the year for the Forth and Clyde Area Group..  To mark a new start to the year and perhaps some resolutions to advance the various projects and railways of the Group, we had twelve in attendence, Alisdair, Alistair, Alastair, Graham, Simon, Jim, James, Nigel, Andy, Chris, Stuart and I, your humble scribe, Martin.

There was no theme to this months gathering, however it was announced our wee layout - Mearns Shed - has been promised, dead or alive, for the Finescale Zone at the Perth Model Railway Exhibition, less than six short months away and so the Glorious Leader, a Alisdair has started to insist we call him, spent a bit of time instructing us all to remove various appendages from various orifices so that the layout is fit and ready to be viewed by the General Public.

Various elements of how we'll exhibit the layout were discussed - the plan is to have a box which accompanies the layout to have it at a decent viewing/operating height - The Glorious Leader had brought along a crate that apparently belongs to the Group, it was brought along and set up to test the height and stability - here Andy and Alisdair assess the height.  The crate also contained a DC controller and some black curtains, both of which may prove useful!

Stuart had brought along one of his baseboards.  Stuart has been wrking on the mill building at the front at previous area group meetings and now we can see it in situ.  The viaduct at the back is the next challenge for his building technique.  For those just joining us, the mill buildings are made from 1mm Acrylic sheet, cut to size and glued to shape, the outer faces are made from 1.5mm mountboard, cut to shape, windows excised and coloured with a mix of acrylic paint and weathering powder.

The mill isn't quite complete, but it's an impressive feature - this board measures 4' x 3' and dominates the foreground here.  This is the central board of Stuart's railway, another 4' section will be added at each side, before a loop round to a rear fiddle yard. There will also be rail served sidings in front and to the side of the mill, and a canal in front of the mill with lochs leading off to the left hand side of the image.

Stuart was in the process of sizing up part of the board to include the Magnorail system so he can have busses running behind the mill.  Stuart had brought along two packs of the Magnorail and was showing us how it all goes together.  

Stuart is an N Gauge modeller, but plans to operate with Code 40 rail, and intends to keep things as close to finescale as he can without fully converting.  I include this comment not to disparage Stuart or his layout - I'm blown away by the detail and complexity of the Mill to the extent that I currently have some sheets of mount board running through the Cricut as I write this update to see if I can replicate Stuart's techniques for my own nascent layout.  Rather to show that our Association (because for all the jokes about the benevolent dictatorship of the Glorious Leader, it is *our* association), is a broad church, and that we can both teach and learn to/from our course-scale comrades.

Graham took the admonition of the Glorious Leader to heart and was busy in a 3D drawing program, tinkering with the design for the Shed itself.  Graham intends to 3D Print the shed in a series of sections and combine them to create the whole.  Some test prints have previously been discussed on this blog - Graham had brought these along to discuss the mortar courses, however the project had stalled at this point, as many do, and he was using the Area Group meeting to go back to the project.  I didn't quite catch the conversation here, but I was assured it related to 3D CAD software...

Alastair is one who normally uses the session to work on his various 3D print designs, however today we caught him doing some "Proper modelling", working on a turnout for his intended layout.  By the end of the session Alastair had completed this turnout, now having two complete, hand built turnouts.

Jim was working on his new project, a Caledonian Railways 900 Class, better known as the Dunalastair III Class, these are express passenger locomotives, this one from Jim's own etches.  Readers of RMWeb, might have seen Jim's progress to date, and his recent issues with the brass tube for the boiler and issues with his stay alive circuit.  The boiler issue had been machined by Tim of Copenhagen Fields fame, but Jim had found issues bending the tube to form the firebox sides - Nigel came to the rescue with his Resistance Soldering Unit (more in a moment), and between Nigel and James, progress was made on the stay alive circuitry

The Dunalisdair III in its small scale glory. The level of detail on this wee beastie is something that has to be seen to be truly believed.

James and Jim ponder the intricacies of the stay alive circuitry that Jim will fit into the tender of the locomotive.

As mentioned above, Nigel had brought along his Resistance Soldering Unit, and was assembling buffer stops, and gave a demonstration on how it works.  If you excuse the dodgy photography, Nigel had set up some scrap etch and showed how to make it glow red hot.  Then how to solder with it...

Nigel's unit is from London Road Models, and retails at £245.  Whilst this is significantly more than either of the soldering irons I've bought (which together come to about £50...) Nigel did demonstrate it's ubiquity and usefulness for those doing a lot of soldering.  At about the price of a DCC Sound locomotive, it's food for thought.

Simon was working on some British Railways Mk1 Carriage Battery boxes.  Someone who will remain nameless had sold him a Farish RMB at the Scottish Minimeet last year which had apparently come without a battery box.  Despite searching high and low, the offending part could not be found and so one of the association etches had been procured as an apology.

Simon had also brought along his Christmas present, a Metro-Cammell Lightweight DMU (latterly BR Class 101).  Simon had been busy, adding drivers, passengers and weathering the loco.  He described a photograph from Mallaig of a unit sitting in the bay platform that he had used as reference to weather the loco.  It was certainly looking the part.

Chris was working on his Midland/LMS Fowler 4F, or specifically detailing the tender.  This is the now unavailable Mike Raithby etch and is certainly looking lovely.

Alistair was planning the painted backscene for Mearns Shed.  He'd constructed a 5mm =1" model of the model from foamboard to help him visualise the scenery and the required shapes and textures.  This will allow Alistair to paint the appropriate shades and features onto the backscene.

On the subject of Mearns Shed, although not photographed, the Glorious Leader (Alisdair), was working on ash pits for the layout.  The holes for these were cut around this time last year and have been awaiting filling since then.  By the end of the session, at least one was done, proving that Alisdair can do some work at an Area Group meeting...

An ongoing house move has removed Andy from his projects and tools, and as such he spent some time talking to each of us, discussing our projects and techniques on show.

James, who sat opposite me for most of the meeting, making my absence of knowledge as to what he was doing inexcusable, was working on some circuitry as well as assisting Jim with his stay alive problems.  James have brought along donuts, which kept us fuelled as we modelled and worked.

Now, unless I've miscounted, that just leaves me (Martin), who remarked to several people "I need to remember to photograph my wee project at the meeting because I don't think I've remembered to since I became Junior Assistant Press Intern".  Then promptly forgot to take any photographs...

Back at the last Perth model railway show, I had displayed some 16T mineral wagons behind the Glorious Leader's Black 5 (in Lieu of me having any 2mm locos...), and had been admonished from using a 1/506 Brake Van at the rear of this formation as these wouldn't have run with unfitted wagons.  As such, I'd picked up some of the last, now discontinued LMS Brake Van etches from the Association.  I'd started a 16T variant at a previous meeting, but had found my 25W iron wasn't cutting the mustard with the brass etched kit.  

Now equipped with a 50W iron, I returned to the van, and by the end of the session had completed most of the structure and attached the W Irons.  The eagle eyed reader will notice the above photograph also has handrails fitted - this was done after returning home.  The roof is still to be soldered on, but 3D printed axle boxes are planned, and as such, the running boards will also need glued on.  The plan is to have this finished for Model Rail Scotland so it can be displayed alongside my Mineral Wagons.  Maybe by Perth I'll have a loco to put them behind.  Notice I didn't mention which year...

Our next Area Group Meeting shall be Saturday 10th February at the Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers premises at Almondale.  Further details are within the Association Newsletter.  Whether you're one of the people named in this article, a member of the Association who's in the area, or someone curious to see what we do, please get in touch.  We've mostly stopped biting...