More Magnets

I recently bought these over the internet:

No, not gold bullion, but neodymium magnets! These are just 10mm x 3.5mm x 2.5mm, so quite small. However they are incredibly strong - it takes a lot of force to separate them from this cluster. The poles are on the largest faces, conveniently, as you have probably guessed I plan to use them in pairs for uncoupling.

A quick test on the workbench (below) suggest they will be plenty strong enough for this, even when placed outside the rails. In fact I plan on replacing some of the cupboard-catch magnets on Awngate with these placed under the track from below, probably under the rails, spaced apart with steel washers. Experimentation to follow!

Putting up the shed

The shed is progressing well, although for such a simple structure assembly has been quite fiddly. The sides have been chamfered where they fit together, recesses cut for the windows, a false ceiling (with access hole) and a plain back end have been cut, and the whole lot assembled. Strips of Wills brickwork have been added to the base of the walls for the plinth, again carefully chamfered at the corners, although since half of this will  be buried under floor or surrounding ground, I don't know why I bothered!

As seen in the last post the plain (inner) side of the rear side wall was scribed to represent the boarding, now the timber framework has been added from plastic strip. The window was added into the recess first, so the edges of the oversize frame are hidden (I didn't bother with the second window as it won't be seen). The brick sheet has also been doubled up to complete the plinth on the inside.

So here it is in place on the layout, which shows why I went to the trouble of finishing the inside of that wall - even once the (open) doors are in place it will be visible. Potential for interior detail in due course!

Needless to say the inside of the front wall has not had the same treatment! The near front window will be fitted after painting, the far one has been boarded up - again, why bother if it won't be visible?

Flat-Pack Shed

I've spent a happy while looking through books for inspiration for the style of the loco shed, I've settled on wooden boarding with a small brick plinth. This seems most likely for the style and age of the line, and is consistent with the good shed and the Wantage inspiration. Anyway, there is plenty of brick around on the model already! I'm still undecided on a slate or corrugated iron roof.

So to work, I had a couple of sheets of Wills wood boarding which should just do it. This stuff is 2-3mm thick so a pain to work, straight lines can be scored and snapped (with a lot of scoring) but window openings are a pain to cut out with a knife. The trick is to drill a hole or two, then pass a fretsaw blade through. As you can see my portable workbench has a special V-shaped support to help with this!

So two walls and an end are ready, the other end will be plain plastic. The back wall (top) has had it's inside scored to represent the inside of the boarding. Window openings have been recessed from behind so they are not so deeply set - I changed my mind about the windows as the curved-top ones in the last post wouldn't look right in a wooden structure, so I'll be using Wills ones.