January 2023 Forth and Clyde Area Group meeting

A showery, bright day for our first meeting of the year, at ESME's Almondell headquarters as usual.

Alisdair, Alastair, Alistair, Chris, Graham, Nigel, Andy, Miles, Simon and Martin attended. The demo layout was unboxed ...

and Alisdair made some high-precision holes for dropper wires, with the obligatory pair of observers to make sure he did not catch his fingers in the drill.

Alastair was making progress on his 3D North British wagon, fortified by a well-known (in Scotland at least) orange liquid - antifreeze perhaps, given the bracing temperature in the meeting room. Disappointed with distortions when printing the wagon as a single unit, Alastair has now opted to sprue the side and ends up and print vertically.

 Alistair was planning and sketching.

Andy continued to work on Finetrax points, which have caught the attention of several FCAG members.

Chris was working on his 4F. His next task is to install stay-alive capacitors, and he was deciding how these would be disposed along with the DCC chip in the available space.

Over Christmas he resurrected the cab interior fittings he had worked on earlier in the year, and finished them off. They're quite small.

Simon had a piece of Glenfinnan with him and was working on installing turnouts. Again, a can of the mystical orange liquid is within easy reach, bestowing a warmth which necessitates shortening of sleeves..

A clothes peg is a handy way to hold a dropper wire steady for soldering. I wish I'd thought of that when I did the same job recently ...

Association turnout operating units are much in evidence.

Martin was working on pointwork as well.

Over Christmas he worked on his J94 and produced a train of seven vehicles for it to haul. Where does he find the time ...

Miles had several interesting tools worthy of note. The bench hook at top left doubles as a sloping work surface. The cork bung (eBay) at top right and cork sanding block (bottom left) allow work to be brought up to a convenient height for working, jeweller-style, helpful if wrist action is restricted. The fine-grit filing sticks, bottom right, are from lolly sticks with 3M microfinishing film. The black anti-slip matting has one surface for work ...

 ... and the reverse side is ridged, handy to stop round items from rolling away. Miles sleeves his paintbrush handles to make them a consistent size for easy manipulation.

Graham had printed a Caledonian 65' 3rd class saloon roof from Jim Watt's CAD file ... the print is not perfect but a few more supports should sort out the sags on one edge. A work in progress.

Nigel was starting out on a wagon etch. He and Miles …puir Southrons baith … had nae mystical orange liquid. Instead, ever practical, Nigel had packed a small but efficient electric fire in his Mini, and deployed this between himself and Miles to take the edge off the afternoon chill.

There was some discussion of the market potential for 2mmSA branded electric bodywarmers, or for traditionalists, perhaps finescale fingerless mittens and hot water bottles. Please address messages of support to the Chairman.

We will move back to the second Saturday for next month's meeting. The group will also be manning the 2mmSA roadshow at the Glasgow show from 24-26 February. Orange liquid is available there from vending machines. If you are visiting the show, please be sure to stop by for a chat.