Staying alive in N…
09012 lacks details and ‘Dick Hardy’ nameplates (on order) but already looks the part in her InterCity Mainline colours. She is the latest in a parade of Farish model and another fitted with sound and stay alive…
The photos aren’t great, but show which colour of the Farish wires go where - hopefully explanatory. It’s about an hours job, or a few more gentle evenings if you take your time. The results are game changing, about twenty seconds of power when removed from the rails! The Zimo decoder is neat too, with its braking feature making the ‘play value’ of these small shunters even greater!
Staying alive in more than the obvious way too… in terms of the model itself there is still lots to do but I’m in my happy place working on these diminutive wonders. Chris summed it up better than I could…
Stay alive? Yes, completely necessary in my opinion in this short wheelbase model. Not as difficult as it might sound either, there is some surgery but nothing beyond hand tools!
Once you’ve stripped down the model and removed the shell, pop off the cab and using a razor saw cut down the slot between the cab interior detail and the bonnet, ideally on the edge of the interior so a lip is left on the bonnet to help attach the cab to later. Then use the razor saw to cut up, vertically inside the ends of the bonnet to the top edge, and with pliers, snap out the piece that remains.
The Lais stay alive (their small cube fits beautifully, even better if you peel off the heat shrink and paint it black) is a two wire affair. The Train-o-matic Next18 socket pad helps here, as it provides a ground and positive pad. I remove the Farish board and resolder the wires with a swift dab of my iron to the new board - using a pair of tweezers to hold the wire. A pair of locking tweezers or pliers helps hold the socket pad still as you add more to it.
I love how these 08’s have become a steadying pulse.
13 and counting. Until next time, more soon…
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I too am a fan of the little 08. I’ve been attempting to build one in 2mmFS for far too long, it’s a very long story indeed, but it may get over the line soon. If it doesn’t I think I’ll be either abandoning the scale for N in order to finish a small layout, or abandoning that too and going to 4 or even 7 mil. One thing about Gronks is that they look great in most scales.
ReplyDeleteDick Hardy is a great favourite with me too. I have copies of much of his evocative writing in the various magazines and his books. Incidentally, he lived nearby for a while during his Merseyside years.
Looking forward to seeing #13 grow up.