Posts

Let's try another approach

-
Image
Little Shunters Second Scratch Build   What did I learn from my first scratch build 🤓 Body frame was not square Tanks supports were inconsistent  Styrene welding was poor Styrene cuts not square Superglue and thin styrene don't like each other Thin styrene is going to warp Taking these above lessons learnt into consideration, my goal was to improve the quality of the next model. Jig 2.0 I popped down to Bunnings and bought some dressed pine and balsa wood and decided to come up with an idea of reusing the length but committed to a standard width for my scratch built rollingstock, plus added a working space as my last build I kept losing my styrene pieces on the floor. I also decided to cut an aluminum key for the coupler sections which was a guess as I had not bought any couplers at this stage. Model Output and learnings Using my lessons learnt above, things were improving, this styrene build was stronger, like it was one piece, so that was a positive. It started to look a l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Let's have a go!

-
Image
Little Shunters First Scratch Build Being a generation X kid, I have had to work across Imperial and Metric all my life and got into trouble enough times either passing the wrong socket or wrench over.  I decided to create a excel spreadsheet where I could simply enter the real-world sizes into the calculator and through the magic of excel formulas everything would calculate into the right HO size for both measurement systems.  Armed with the knowledge from my previous post  Where do I go now?  and  how to cut and use styrene  I got to work  measuring three times and cutting once. All of a sudden, I had a heap of styrene bits all over the desk and so back to measuring again to recheck, we will call this rookie mistake number one . After I sorted out all my styrene into groups, I got to welding each piece together, now this where old school modelers can have a laugh as my pieces started to fall over and break apart, w elding the styrene turned into an e...
Post a Comment
Read more

I need a prototype

-
Image
Yarraman here we come Going to QLD State Archives kept seeming like the right step and option, but it constrained me to during the weekdays and working full time I am time poor. I thought surely QLD has a Tank Wagon laying around and the Ipswich Museum was the first place that came to mind, but I thought I would do some more googling and don't ask me how I found this news article  Historic Tanker Returns To Yarraman - southburnett.com.au  where a local group had rescued one of the old QR wagons. I gave the Mrs. the heads up we were going on a road trip. We packed the car with a picnic and full tank of diesel and off we went. When I found the Yarraman site, I was like resident expert, explaining QLD history to my lovely wife. I was that excited I had forgot to get my phone as I got out the car, so back to the car and I snapped away as many photos I could.  While I couldn't get up close enough as the tanker is locked behind a fence. It was enough for me to start roughly gue...
Read more

Where do I go now?

-
Let's make a phone call Returning from the Brissy Model Rail show I realised like everything in life this was not going to be simple. One of the new words I come across at the show was "Cottage Industry" at the time I did not understand what this meant but this became clear later in my journey.  A couple weeks after the show, I picked up the phone and called  PGC Scale Models and spoke to nice gentleman who asked me heaps of questions and I provided my backstory. He advised his models were available, but I would need to wait a couple months due to other various commitments and explained to me the QR scene was a small cottage industry compared to the other markets, but things are possible and encouraged me to keep at my goal. He politely asked me to send him an email, and he would be in touch with details of his available models and some other information to possibly help me. Back to the drawing board Still a little confused and unsure where to start, I was determined to g...
Read more

Oh dear, I need help....

-
Image
This period was a little blurry, I wasn't sure how, what, where and when to get started with my journey. I was in a team meeting with my manager and was going through a rough time outside of work with my beloved father-in-law who was ill at the time and my manager attuned to this, decided to switch the meeting up and shift the focus onto us as individuals moving away from corporate discussions.  I had previously mentioned to the team  So how did I get here  and my manager asked how things were progressing, and I mentioned I had "blocker" this is what we call items that stop us from producing outputs for software releases. He mentioned had I thought about going to a train show to break the ic e on the topic which I had no idea these existed, it turned out there was going to be one up at Bundy. 23 March – 24 March 2024 Bundaberg Multiplex Sports & Convention Centre Civic Avenue Bundaberg West Unfortunately, due to personal reasons I did not make this event. What's t...
Read more

Where does one start?

-
Being in the Information Technology and software domain, I have methodologies to help guide practice to achieve goals and I wasn't sure how to start this process with a model railway layout. Sure, I could just go into a shop and buy a heap of stuff I didn't know what I was buying and then end up realizing I have bought the wrong thing or never actually use it properly, so I was little stumped where to start. Going to the library is a little time consuming these days as most local libraries are more like community hubs and sometimes information is not available in their catalogues resulting in a blind book purchase. The Queensland State Archives was a consideration, but that would have been a bit of day trip and time off work to try and coordinate, and I would need to renew my passport to travel 😁. So, I turned to everybody's trusted source Google,  quickly I become overwhelmed with the number of possibilities, acronyms, forums and videos of various viewpoints. Then I remem...
Read more

So how did I get here....

-
My youngest came to me one day and said "Dad, you need a hobby!". At first I wasn't sold, and replied, "I already have a hobby, I play computer games" to which I was advised that's not a hobby. But when I sat down and considered this idea over cup of coffee, I thought wow, all the kids are grown up now and maybe it is time to carve out some time just for me and focus on something I can use to relax outside of work and have fun at the same time outside of having a few drinks and watching footy. So off to Google I went. After googling around for a couple weeks, I stumbled upon model rail as a topic and was hooked instantly and down the rabbit hole I went. When I decided to announce I had found my new hobby, I think it may have backfired as I think the youngest had hoped I would take up something else to get me out of the house on weekends instead of my fortress of solitude where my gaming console lives. All jokes aside, the family have been my biggest support...
Read more