April 2023 Forth and Clyde Area Group Meeting

Throughout Central Scotland, the sound of scurrying feet could be heard last Saturday. "What could be causing such a commotion?" was the cry from the worried populace. Was the End of The World nigh? Truly scary times, what with the sky having mysteriously darkened the previous afternoon. However, thankfully, in due course the said populace was able to heave sighs of relief. (Point to ponder - why are sighs of relief always so heavy as to require heaving, as opposed to gently lifting?) 

Of course, those cognoscenti wot read this blog, will already have been aware that it was the second Saturday of the month, when the scurrying feet are sure to be those of the keen members of Forth and Clyde Area Group of the Two Millimetre Scale Association making their way to their monthly conventicle at Almondell.

This month, the numbers were slightly down, due, no doubt to the fashion of taking holidays around Easter time. For those errant members, such backsliding will result in a period using the Blunt Scalpel of Repentance at the next meeting. Yese have been warned! However, the Faithful were represented by only 2 Als, but two J's along with solitary examples of a Simon, a Nigel, an Andy and, back for a second time, Stuart, groping towards the light.

More home sledgehammer work had been undertaken over the preceding month, with nearly all the track on the Group demo layout laid:

 

Nigel and Jim duly got to work on making switches on the turnouts operational, by linking up the already installed Turnout Operation Units (Association 3D printed, for youse nosey wans) with double throw single pole switches by rod in tube. 

Successful, except for the one at the entrance to the coaling stage (the nearest on in the photo above), with the run proving too long and convoluted to allow satisfactory working. Thoughts will be garnered as to how to sort this out - probably involving a stretch of rod with crank. Once that is done, we can run stock over the track using the Hand of God, as leccy has yet to be introduced, to start checking the trackwork. The next stage will be wiring, after which we can get on with the full track check.

 

There was some discussion over the best way of attaching the backscene, which will have to be removable to allow the layout to be packed away. Not yet sorted out, but some ideas were starting to formulate. Inspired by this discussion, Al the Artist was sketching away at some possibilities for the backscene:

Meanwhile, Simon had brought along an American N Gauge train (whit!) to run on the ESME layout. It chuntered its way round very effectively nearly getting some words of admiration. At least the gauge is correct for scale, with it being American N. But, still, that sort of apostasy needs to be stamped out, before it gets hold of his soul...

However, he is not totally lost to perdition, as he had brought along (yet more) fish vans being built to the One True Scale which he was bringing to fruition:

New chap, Stuart, was progressing his mill building, which he had brought along last week. He was applying acrylic paint to it to simulate the millstone grit with which the prototype was constructed. It was coming up a treat with some subtle variations bringing it to life. Unfortunately, the subtlety doesn't show in the photo below:

 Andy, who is in the throes of converting his extant N gauge layout to 2FS, had brought along some lengths of Easitrak into which he was threading rails, using his Great Rail Threading Machine (patent pending) :

Lastly, although I have been trying not to reveal the shame of it, one of our members just sat at his table and got steaming with a piece on electric chips. (Ahhh! Piece on chips! Magic!)

Fear not though, gentle reader, for it was not the sort of steaming which is all too common in the West on a Saturday, but the creation of water vapour by magic, by means of a sort of electronic gizmo, apparently called a piezo-electric chip (must get my hearing checked), creating steam and the subsequent water vapour, from water drawn up via an absorbent cylinder in the bottle below:

Why this madness? Well, James is a two-timer who is also involved in the 4mm East of Scotland mob's magnum opus, Burntisland. Apparently, he is hoping to use it to bring some atmosphere to the loco roundhouse. Your scribe is amazed at the things some can do with volts.

Anyway, that's it until next month, when we will meet on the 13th May. That's only one week before the World Famous Scottish 2mm Association Mini-meet also being held at Almondell. An event not to be missed. Be there or be a equal sided rectangle.