fifteen minute modeller

fighting procrastination fifteen minutes at a time

Tag: swissmetre (Page 1 of 2)

Bouncing Box

27th December 2020 / / 0 Comments

In keeping with the small scale of operations at 15minmod towers, I was served up this great little video and two things sprang to mind. 1) Now that Unit would make a great little model; due to its size and uniformity. 2) at 3:13:00 there is a great little cameo layout idea. I have long thought that these little spots lend themselves to my restrictive space for modelling and the focus it allows is way more important to me. I never can resist the chance to noodle a bit and although it probably wouldn’t be that interesting in reality all these little scrappy are gathered together for patching together in a glorious multi faceted quilt of a railway.

Plan 25433989.23

So filing away for future ideas, I am lead to think that in these times of shortage, but an abundance of time it would be an ideal little 3D modelling project. Not having a 3d Printer won’t stop the fun of designing the build and yes I know there are places you can get things printed but as I try to stay focused on my current project when the mind wanders a craves sometimes different this is what I might turn to. The thought did also cross my mind about trying to create this in etched metal, as there are a number of variants of this that would lend well to filling out a sheet of nickel silver or Brass

BUT CONCENTRATE TOM!!!

Until next time..

Autumnal colour

31st October 2020 / / 0 Comments

Continuing the Swiss theme I just love the Swiss meter gauge lines and the diversity of these lines in the modern age where the motor vehicle seems to be king. The compactness of the locations and the street running fascinate. I particularly like the autumnal? tints in the video and the unusual time of year that’s no often captured.

But in this day and age we should all have more meter gauge lines in our lives..

https://youtu.be/jeLMdev-vSs

Behind the scenes

23rd October 2020 / / 2 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzxS0bY-C-I&feature=share

I came across this video the other day and what a great find for behind the scenes of the RhB freight movements. I’ve always been drawn to freight operations more so than passenger traffic and one of the reasons I love the RhB is that there is thriving freight. It is also replaceable, without having to model huge block trains or fall back on the bucolic branch line.

In this video, we get to see a lot of the infrastructure that is not usually in front of the camera. It is long but I feel it’s worth the effort of it for the value it gives. When I was going about my normal (railway hobby) life I thought that I often missed the peripheral information. It’s not just about the train, Loco in front of us and this just proves the point.

I guess I am a sucker for the small scale modern freight train.

HGem2/2 Loco
TPC HGem2/2

Swiss HGem2/2 locos – Swiss small scale shunter

7th November 2018 / / 0 Comments

“Swiss small scale locos HGem2/2”. Yet another rabbit hole to disappear down into, that’s what I muttered to my self as I came across yet another Flickr library whilst looking for something else! You may ask why this and not say a whole range of other locos, but something just grabbed me about its simplicity and strange beauty. Yes it’s not going to be everyones cup of tea and I have had the same feeling about many of the modern freight locomotives introduced into this country in the last decade. But one of the factors that draws me in is the notion that this would not be “too” difficult to reproduce in model form. Well that’s what I have in my head, along with a bunch of 3D printer reviews and photo-etching blog posts.

The bonus to this particular Swiss loco is that I have found some rather comprehensive dimensional drawings. Which is usually the hardest things to come by. With a wheelbase of 4250mm it would seem to me that it might fit on one of the Kato motorised chassis 11-103, just. And unless I have monetised it in a previous cull I have a feeling that there is one in the bits box that I got in Porthmadog many years ago.

It would seem that the builders definitely followed the KISS mantra for this design and I am guessing that the operations for these Swiss made HGem2/2’s are relatively light weight and seem to be used purely for MOW duties, although I maybe completely wrong. There are a few shots of multiple locos lined up due for delivery to other lines and so they are not exclusively built for TPC.

Finally some pics of the loco in the wild with the TPC and some pondering about construction.

https://hiveminer.com/User/ChristopheBerthoud/Recent

HGem2/2 Loco TPC HGem2/2

Until next time..

Punt da Rueun

Covered bridges

30th October 2018 / / 2 Comments

Whilst watching a video on YouTube, which annoyingly I can’t now find, I saw out of the window of the train a covered bridge. I don’t know why but I hadn’t thought about covered bridges in ??
Punt da Rueun
I first came across them when I became interested in American North Eastern railroading. But I never considered that I would come across one whilst riding along on the way to Disentis. This sparked off the interest in building one again. After watching the video and taking that screenshot I completely forgot to reference it so I couldn’t go back. But then with the power of the internet I could within a short space of time track down that same bridge. I came across this website that catalogues all of the covered bridges in Switzerland, a no small project. In order to make sure I cross checked the screen shot with Google Maps with their Street View.

Google Street View Rueun

Google’s Street View of Punt da Rueun

They opened out it to travelling across the RhB in ?? which is pretty amazing . Once I knew it was the one I wanted to model I started hunting the net for more info. And lo and behold it came up trumps! With a number of pictures from different angles and most importantly some dimensional drawings. I am pretty blown away at the speed and ease at which I found this information and am appreciative of Werner Minder‘s website for taking out the guesswork.

Bridge Plans

Bridge Plans © http://www.swiss-timber-bridges.ch

The next question is what to build it in? My first inclination is to use Plasticard due to the stability and sizes of stock that can be found to match the prototype. Then I got to thinking maybe a natural material would suit it better and the thought of building it in a wood grew on me. The downside would be the possible warpage due to climatic conditions. As I have not built that kind of medium I am a somewhat of a disadvantage. But looking at the stock and prices of basswood it seems to even out the choices.

A brief check at a place I used to love pottering around after work when I lived in London shows that probably for a couple of sheets of basswood would probably do it. I would need to work out a proper cutting sheet though. The seeds have been sown and I am not trying to uncover one of the three cutting mats I own that have not surfaced since the house move. I can guarantee that if I go and buy another the other will apart out of the wood work to taunt me.. I have a box of fresh 10A scalpel blades just need to decide how I’m going to take this forward.

Till next time..

Paper planning

18th October 2018 / / 0 Comments

I have finally got the plan printed out after bartering some advice and placed on the floor as you can see here and it has not disappointed me with outlining where things work and don’t work. Before I get into more of the detail I just want to reiterate the fact that this is NOT the final product Continue reading

??Reference Material – RhB metre gauge, Switzerland

3rd October 2018 / / 0 Comments

There is some great footage of operations on the new tunnel construction at Preda on the RhB. A couple of new found channels that I have added to my watch list. Now with HD content and the ability to not only see things in great detail but also to grab ref pictures from these videos it makes researching a current prototypical location a doddle. In this first video I particularly like the attention to the unglamorous. It’s so easy to see the trains going by but as I’ve said previously it’s the stuff away from this I’m interested in. In the future this will probably by of most interest to historians.

Up next is some footage of everyday movements showing many different consists that could be modelled. Great quality too.

I have realised that I can create a playlist on YouTube specifically for my RhB viewage. I just need a way of cataloguing this ever growing backlog of material but then I can’t complain about watching footage of the Rätische Bahn.

One day I hope to go to Switzerland and take my own reference footage.

Until next time..

Layout design drawing (1)

17th September 2018 / / 0 Comments

In a brief lull in this mornings schedule and a cheeky fumble on YouTube I came across this video of recent traffic movements with some interesting lash ups. It lead me to doodle up something that’s been in the back of my mind for some time and originally was going to be a narrow gauge logging layout. However in this iteration it is transported to the Swiss Alps and is a fictional RhB location. It’s certainly not the first time this noodling has come up and I’ve a couple of posts about this but I thought I would use the blog as a bit of a scrapbook to look back on long after the paper has been chucked or the digital doodle has settled to the bottom of the pile. I may mock this up at some point..

Until next time..

Pressure valve(s)

16th September 2018 / / 0 Comments

Some times life throws curve balls and things don’t go according to plan, see last weeks post, and it seems as though I’m running in treacle. I did go upstairs and sit down at the modelling table but I just felt I wasn’t doing something that I wanted to be doing and just doing it for the sake of doing something. Maybe this is important but ultimately one has to feel like one is enjoying it. So this last week I have tinkered with a number of kits but I’ve been distracted by a number of things not least the gogglebox in this case Youtube. I started off looking for some info on soldering white metal kits and went down the rabbit hole of home casting. I have a 009 narrow gauge kit that I told a friend I would build and without too much exaggeration it is probably a year since I made that commitment. Now the fly in the ointment is that it must be decades since I last took a soldering iron to one of these stress inducing box of bits. I remember the first time I endeavoured to join even to bits of white metal together and ended up with a pool of molten gloop. This didn’t inspire courage or progress in this particular brand of model building and since that day I haven’t touched said white metal in any shape or form. However not one to shirk ones duties I decided to look up “effective white metal soldering” on the Toob to see if I could take the box of bits given to me and turn it into a reasonable rendering of a Bagnall loco. After watching these videos I decided the best course of action would be to get a sacrificial goat and test out my skills before committing to turn friends prized possession into another pool of crud.

Now some of the inactivity was down to the fact that next weekend I’ll be going away for a bit of a jolly to Wales to stay with friends and as is custom we will go an visit a railway of some shape. They are pretty much a cats swing from just about any railway related attraction in Wales and so quite often going down there provides a dilemma to which we should visit. Next weekend there’s a Gala at the SVR but I’m not totally sure of the itinerary yet.

So what of the fifteen minutes a day? Well I am in the process of building another baseboard to put a micro layout on and that will be the focus of my efforts for coming weeks until I can get room sorted out. Oh yes and then there’s the white metal kit and a track plan for that.

I’ll leave you with another sneaky peak at another stock roster for the up and coming layout on the last run home..

Until next time..

« Older posts

© 2025 fifteen minute modeller

Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑