Saturday, April 20, 2013

Luckily some clarity

After nearly a week of cortisone eye drops every two hours (except for sleep time) my vison cleared. I am now taking the eye drops four times a day for a month. It is a very scary thing when confronted with something that could have a real impact on the hobby and modelling.

After my vision improved I was able to do some modelling and managed to build two Uneek 5 tonne jib cranes for Bylong and Cassilis goods yards. The Bylong crane will have to be removeable for a while as it will be too interesting for my 3 year old grandson who likes the trains. He was visiting recently and while I wasn't looking he decided that the arm on the Bylong Home signal near the tunnel should point towards the tracks. He got a stern talking to and after a minute of quiet upset on his part I spoke to him softly and we got on with running the trains.

Since Bylong hadn't been run for a while I decided to give the track its six monthly clean with a track rubber. Well, I have to say that the latest Peco track rubber is rubbish. A hard old small piece of Peco track rubber will clean rail with about one third of the effort of the new version. The rubber seems to have very little abrasive in it even though it does twinkle like it has. I am going to see what else is available on the market including visiting a real stationary store looking for some ink rubbers. Many years ago I had a box of a dozen or so pale green abrasive ink rubbers and they were great. I wonder if they still exist in this modern age?

I found a bit of time to put together an IDR Castings MLV kit and it went together very well. This model gave me an opportunity to use the handrail jig from Keiran Ryan Models that I bought several years ago. All I can say is well done Keiran, a very useful tool. The MLV had many brake pipes and handrails to be accurately bent and the jig just made it so easy.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Ray,

Try a fleichmann track cleaner, not cheap but they work very well.

Anonymous said...

Ray,

Have you tried using CRC26 (the electronics spray)?
Place some on a piece of cork and rub it over the rails just like a Peco Rubber.
I have used it on my N Scale layout and the track stays clean for a good 12 months.
Graham

South Coast Rail said...

Ray,
Did you say to your grandson "Its Home for you?" and signal your intentions?

Bob

Ray P said...

Anonymous 1

I thanks, I will keep it in mind.

Anonymous 2

Yes, I have used CRC 2-26 since Bylong was first exhibited back in 1979. You must not use too much or too often as it will build up with dust and can evenually cause point blades to get sticky. I still use it occasionally at a couple of places on the main line where it can be tracked over most track.

Bob

:-)


Ray P