Monthly Archives: September 2014

Stanier 8F footplate modifications

Posted on by

I have to say that I feel a little foolish about this, but as a warning to others ….  See if you could/would have made the same error.

Footplate etch

Original Footplate etch

The frames of my model 8F in Scale Seven I have decided to make at 29mm outside width (see previous posts).  The nice etch of the main footplate made by Modern Outline Kits is for their Finescale construction, so the inside edges of the footplate would be too narrow for my model, and would hang over the insides of the frames.

Footplate etch with extra rivetsIt might not matter too much, but I thought this should be easily corrected, so I decided to re-form the line of rivets which runs parallel to the inside edge, then cut back the edge wherever it shows.  I don’t have a rivet-forming tool which can precisely measure out and positon the rivets, but by careful measuring and scratching marks on the underside of the footplate, I seem to have managed a reasonable job.  I also scratched on the footplate the width of the frames, ready to cut back the inside edges.

So far so good.  I thought.

Footplate modified

Footplate modified

Next I cut back the frame edges, carefully cutting (piercing saw)  and filing straight edges.

Trial fit to frames: mistake exposed: what width should I have made the distance across the inside edges of the footplate?

NOT 29mm!

It should have been 29mm less twice the thickness of the frames – 27.5mm.  So the footplate now ended just outside of the frames!  This would look even worse than the overhang which I had decided to remove.  What can I now do?

Footplate corrected.

Footplate corrected.

I found some 0.7mm nickel-silver wire which I had left over from a previous project, and carefully soldered it along the inside of the frames.  Look carefully at the last picture (click to enlarge any of the pictures) and you might be able to spot the differences!

Oh, well!

OK. John, you had your chance.

Posted on by

John and I have both posted entries about my recent visit to England.

These photo.s were in fact taken by John, but I will use them because he has not, a week later.

Small Mark and David on Dalegarth Station platform

 

First, a picture of mark and myself on Dalegarth Station.

I had just walked up to Burnmoor Tarn from Eskdale.  In the rain and wind: I was soaked.  It was a wonderful walk.  However an event occurred which made me feel old.  I was stopped by a young Indian-origin lady who was out walking on her own, and clearly a little lost.  She asked me where I was going, and was pleased to hear that I was heading for Burnmoor Tarn, as that was on her way over to Wasdale, where she was to meet someone, and she had started out then turned back when she realised that she didn’t know where she was.  Fine, I could help, and put her right.  I was walking a lot faster than her however, and met her on my way back from the tarn, and provided more guidance.  Only later did I realise that I was probably safe and reassurring for her to approach because I probably looked like some gnarled old man out for a walk on his home ground.  In some ways a regrettably accurate description, even if I now life in a different hemisphere!

Small David and the Black Five at Carlisle

The second picture was taken when John and I went for a ride behind a steam engine over the Settle-Carlisle Railway.

It was a great day out, through beautiful scenery.  What more need I say?

 

 

England, including l’Enclume on 23rd August

Posted on by

I have been to visit England again, a year since my last visit.  This time, for amusement, I went purely as an Australian – I did not use a British passport at any time.  Actually this was a spur-of-the-minute decision taken at Manchester airport when I arrived.  The queue for EU and British entrants was about half-an-hour long, whereas as an Australian I only had three people in front of me!

Small Station Hotel from the Rly Stn

 

I went straight up to Cark with Mark and John.  It really is a lovely place which they have there, as a retreat from Manchester and the South.

 

 

I did some fellwalking whilst I was there (walking up to Burnmoor Tarn, in between Eskdale and Wasdale), and took some friends to l’Enclume again (see my entry from 24th August last year).  L’Enclume was declared the Best Restaurant in the UK recently by the Good Food Guide.  Perhaps as a consequence the price had gone up by a third since last year!

Valley venison, charcoal, oil and mustard

Valley venison, charcoal, oil and mustard

White turnip, maran egg and nasturtium leaves

White turnip, maran egg and nasturtium leaves

Three Pea and Crab Sacks (the sacks are ceramic)

Three Pea and Crab Sacks (the sacks are ceramic)

Iced blueberries, sheeps' milk ice-cream and apple marigold

Iced blueberries, sheeps’ milk ice-cream and apple marigold

 

 

It was very good, again.

 

We had some lovely English sparkling wine: Nyetimber and Ridgeview, particularly the former. I even searched out these two afterwards.  Nyetimber is even sold in supermarkets.  Mark accompanied me to Ridgeview winery (they are both near to Mark’s house in Oxted).  They are expensive, however: even the very best sparkling wine in Australia (Arras Grand Vintage) cost significantly less.

I have to say that the event at l’Enclume was not quite the same, though. I guess it’s just that I had done it before and the surpirise and delight of the twenty courses was less.  £120 per head is also very expensive, even for 20 courses at the best restaurant in England.

I didn’t see several of the friends whom I would like to have visited: David and Amaryllis (on holiday in Italy), Steve and Christine (on duty and too busy), the Robinson family (just too little time).  I did get to see Tim Elsworth, who is living in London, and we had a very good day together.

Small The Cheshire Chees - Old Brewery BitterIt ended with an excellent indian meal and a pint of Samuel Smiths Old Brewery Bitter, in the Cheshire Cheese, a pub. on Fleet Street.

 

 

Small Mark on the TGV to BarcelonaMark and I then caught the Eurostar to Paris, followed by the TGV down to Barcelona (where I went to the European Cardiology Congress).

 

 

 

 

Barcelona was wonderful, again.  I think the combination of beautiful seafood, amazing buildings, vibrant culture, is hard to beat.  Mark, John and I stayed in an apartment hired for me to stay in during the conference, in the Old City part of Barcelona.  Mark and John went exploring whilst I went to the conference (which was very useful, and good).  We ate out in the evenings together.