For our August meeting the group decided to do something different. The five of us converged on Long Wittenham to sample the wonders of Pendon.

For many of us it was our first visit and we were suitably awed at the quality of modelling.  I can't believe there is many a modeller who could leave there without being inspired to push their modelling just a little further. We had planned to go on to the Didcot Railway centre but we spent so long at Pendon that we ran out of time.

The group watching the Vale scene.

If you haven't been before now is a good time to go as they have a special exhibition devoted to Guy Williams. Check the website for opening times as they are not open all the time.

The coupling rods were straightened and re-attached. A little thought revealed that the two larger pins are for the centre wheels.

I thinned the brake rods down so that they cleared the wheels.  The following photograph shows a comparison between the thinned side (at the bottom) and the original plastic at the top.

Assembling the chassis revealed that the brake shoes were touching the wheels in a few places. I repositioned them by briefly applying the tip of a soldering iron to the base and bending the shoes slightly forward. (I was not paying close enough attention when doing one and managed to melt the plastic where the brake rods are attached - this I still have to rectify).

The wheels have a tendency to turn on the axles if you give them a slight twist.  Surprisingly, this seems not to be the problem it appears, probably because all the wheels are fully geared. However one wheel gripped even less and was found to turn while the chassis was running causing the wheels to lock up. I fixed this with some "engineering adhesive" (a loctite-type liquid I purchased from Eileen's Emporium some years ago). This refused to bite at first but after a couple of days it had gripped the wheel sufficiently.

The chassis then ran (up against a stop block) for a couple of hours without problem. I may take it to the next Wealden group meeting to give it a chance to stretch its legs on Nigel's portable test track.

I re-soldered the chip with shorter wires (including re-soldering one wire where it attaches to the chip to allow it to bend at right angles) and the chip is now less obtrusive in the cab - if you squint it could well be a fireman hunched over his shovel though this is not going to pass any close up photography tests!

The only matters left outstanding are the repainting of the wheel rims and the fact that the body is refusing to sit snugly against the chassis for some reason, but that is something for another time.

This has been a very quick and easy conversion,  thanks in part to the extensive help I received from fellow members of the Wealden Area Group.

At our group meeting on Saturday Nigel kindly turned the wheels of the Terrier down to finescale standards.

There wasn't much to come off but the result is certainly worth it.

You can see from the above picture how flimsy the Dapol coupling rods are! The chassis is fully geared so the rods just go along for the ride which was lucky because the Dapol wheels slipped on their axles during the above process and needed re-quartering.  In this case it is sufficient to get them close enough.

As well as straightening the coupling rods (again) I also need to reduce the height of the crank pins on one side which you will see refused to go in to the wheel as much as they did on the other side. Getting the pins in was difficult until Guy showed me a trick for holding small items using double sided tape stuck to the end of a pointed object.

When set to 9.42mm gauge the wheels just foul the plastic brake rods which will need to be filed, but only a little as they do a good job of keeping the wheels central without having to add any washers.

It looks as if the body will escape without any surgery. I have reassembled the chassis and found it impossible so far to get the front pickups in contact with the wheels - it is necessary to spring them out of the way when re-fitting the wheels and this is enough to make them lose contact. I will have to think about this...

I have also added a chip (CT DCX74z) which, although it replaced the resistor board, now intrudes quite noticeably into the cab.  I may have a go at re-soldering the wires to the motor in a neater fashion which may save me a bit of space.

I've been asked how I got the Dapol Terrier to pieces and as it is easier to explain these things in pictures I thought I would put a few here:

1. The body is separated from the underframe by releasing four clips on the underside of the footplate.

The body (already removed) is attached to the footplate here.

2. The footplate is connected to the rest of the underframe by (1) a clip underneath the resistor board and (2) two clips either side of the worm gear. Unclip the first from above then gently splay out the footplate near the worm gear to release the others.

The clips that hold the underframe to the footplate. There is another clip on the other side of the worm gear.

This is where the clips identified in the above picture attach to the footplate.

3. The brake gear is clipped to the wheel block at the front and back where indicated. Gently(!) bend the front and back of the combined unit and the brake gear will come away. If you did it gently you won't need to extricate the wheel block from the dog bowl.  At least the wheels don't just drop out.

Gently spring the underframe apart at the points shown to release the brake gear.

A quick update: The crank pinks are a push fit and can be removed by teasing them gently out of the hole. The coupling rods are very thin so take care not to damage them doing this.

The wheels simply un-clip from the frame with a small amount of upward force.

More after our appointment with the lathe at Saturday's area group meeting.

I picked up one of the lovely new Terriers which Dapol have just released and I am contemplating the best way to convert it to 9.42mm gauge.

As you can see from the above I have already dismantled it.  The resistor block will be discarded and a DCX74z chip put in its place.

Nigel has kindly offered to do some flange reduction at our next meeting though there doesn't appear to be much that could be removed.  The wheels look pretty close to the 2mm standard (apart from the tyre width which is far too thick) and I am wondering whether pushing them out to 9.42mm gauge would be sufficient.

At present the wheels do not want to drop out of the frames - presumably the gears are keeping them in place? I wonder what the best method for adjusting the back to back would be?

The chunky plastic brake rods are going to foul the wheels when re-gauged and will probably be sliced off to be replaced with brass strip.

My inability to work successfully with wood led me to search for something more in keeping with my limited skills.  Foam Board is a light weight board that is used extensively for promotional signs. It consists of a dense foam layer sandwiched between two layers of card . It is both light and strong and can be cut with a knife and a straight edge.

It also has some downsides: The lightness of the board means it is susceptible to damage and in its unpainted state it dislikes water (something I have already found out for myself).

The harbour board.

The maximum length of foam board I could readily obtain was 1016mm so I decided to make this the length of each board. Using the computer I calculated that six boards 6 inches wide arranged as 6 sides of a decagon would just come in within the layout spec.  However lack of storage for this many boards together with the prospect of completing them by 2010 resulted in the plan being scaled down to just three boards with the prospect of adding more at a later date if space permits.

The boards are designed in two sections: The main board on which the layout is built and the fascia that covers it and will contain the lighting and backscene. The two are simply held together with bulldog clips - more than adequate for foam board. The removable fascia allows easy access to the layout when working on it.

The under side of the harbour board.

The side and cross pieces are glued together but also screwed to keep them attached while the glue dries. To the top of this is added a solid foam board layer which is held solely by glue.

One difficulty I had was with the end pieces of each board which had to be angled at 18 degrees. In the end I copped out and used some 2 x 1 timber cut with a mitre saw to the required angle. The timber also allowed me to use pattern maker's dowels for alignment of the boards.

The fascia showing the gap at the end where it straddles to main board.

Oh yes!

The newest area group in the Association has decided it would be fun to write about what we are doing for the benefit (or amusement) of others.

I am building a small layout for the Golden Jubilee Layout Challenge. The base boards have been built from foam board and I am close to completing the track for the first of the three boards.

This is the track plan:

The layout depicts the Isle of Selmesey Railway in its earliest days when it was merely a goods line that ran from the port at Inchaven to the Town of Michelford.