The Bristol Model Engineering and Hobbies Exhibition is one of those annual shows that I have never managed to visit. As the price of petrol has fallen (a bit) I decided to make the 220 miles round trip at the weekend. I am pleased to say it was a very worthwhile journey. The venue was the Thornbury Leisure Centre just north of Bristol, easy to get to as it is close to the M4/M5 junction and plenty of free parking once you arrive.
The exhibition uses all four of the main sports halls with further exhibits outside. From the free guide I reckon there were about 100 stands split roughly 60/40 clubs and societies to traders, a very good mix. Unlike some model engineering shows there was a wide variety of related hobbies from R/C planes and helicopters through trucks and cars to the more usual model trains and boats. I even saw a stand devoted to quilting and needlecraft complete with sowing machine.
The main hall
The halls were very spacious and well laid out, there seemed to be plenty of room to move about and even enough space to take photos despite there being plenty of visitors. The main hall had a spectators gallery, where the photo was taken from, which is adjacent to the restaurant so it was quite nice to recover from the journey with a coffee whilst getting an idea of the layout below.
Guild of Model Wheelwrights
The Guild of Model Wheelwrights had an extremely interesting and varied stand with many fine examples of their work on display. I was particulary impressed by the selection of farmyard machinery by Brian Young, two of his exhibits below (click on the image for a larger version), together with a fine artillery piece by J. Walford.
The “Get Windows 10” icon appeared on my desktop some time ago and about a week after the official release date
the upgrade downloaded itself onto the computer. I had played with the preview program on an old laptop so I was aware
that there could be problems so rather than run the upgrade on my main PC I did a trial run on the laptop.
The laptop originally had Windows 7 but then Linux and most recently the Windows 10 Insider Preview. I reloaded Windows 7
from the original recovery discs and used a downloaded ISO on a USB stick to upgrade to
Windows 10. Getting the ISO for the USB was straightforward just go to Download Windows 10,
select 32 or 64 bit and the media creation tool will make a bootable USB drive for you. The upgrade was surprisingly quick
and everything worked first time, the drivers all appeared to work and the serial number
from the old Windows 7 automatically activated the new install. I decided then to do a clean install on the laptop just to
see how that would go.
I formatted the drive and did a clean install from the USB stick. Everything installed first time without difficulty except
for one Intel chip driver which went astray but it was soon found and downloaded. Windows upgrade ran almost at once and found a couple of
updates and that was it. The laptop whilst old is still quite a good spec but I keep it mainly in case the newer desktop
suffers a major outage. I spent some time exploring all the settings which are easy to find from the start menu and quickly
discovered that Windows 10 wants to connect you to the world. Being a bit of a dinosaur I am not keen on “clouds” and
“social media” and being permanently “connected”, so I spent some time switching the modern era off!
Start Menu
Everything appeared in order and I quite like the look and feel of the new Windows so I played with the start menu and set
about customizing that. My version of customizing was basically to remove all the apps and leave just a few useful live
tiles like the weather and news but it is quite easy to add and remove programs. A program is dinosaur speak for an app.
You really do want to check all those option switches though, otherwise you could be supplying the neighbourhood with downloads
via any open WiFi networks about.
A Bit of a Pane
Once happy with the laptop I let the main PC upgrade from it′s downloaded file. I was still a bit wary as this is a slightly
more up to date desktop PC that came with Windows 8 but no media and no “product key”. All the software details are held in firmware (UEFI)
on the motherboard so you can′t do a clean install until an upgrade has been activated, then hopefully the details
are logged on Microsoft′s database somewhere. The upgrade from 8.1 went well and everything was working, all the old programs functioned
the desktop personalizations were all there and I was quite pleased. I was busily disallowing everything when Windows Update found some
new updates. I rebooted…
To cut a long story short No WiFi, well I could see my router but Windows kept saying “Cannot Connect To This Network”.
I can report that the Windows 10 trouble shooter is about as much use as a chocolate teapot, indeed as it was in previous incarnations.
I reloaded drivers searched the web (using the laptop) for updated drivers but nothing
wanted to work. Fortunately the Windows 10 installation had activated so I was semi confident that if I reset the PC it would remain as
a legitimate install. A reset basically leaves all your files and programs intact and reinstalls Windows. I took a deep breath and
pressed the button. The reset took much longer than the upgrade did. Windows came back replete with WiFi and then began the pain of reinstalling
all the programs. The reset doesn′t delete programs from the computer but they are no longer installed. Anyway I had some of the more useful
programs back in place when Windows Update tells me it wants to restart (you can′t turn it off but you can alter when it does restarts).
Reboot and… no WiFi, the air is now turning a somewhat deep shade of blue.
Belated Brainwave
One more go, this time a clean install of Windows 10. Fortunately the computer has an SSD, which I added, for the operating system
and all the programs, data and photos are on another drive. This makes it a little easier as the SSD can be repartitioned
and formatted without losing anything useful. You can probably tell where this is going by now, a clean install of Windows 10 and
everything is working, one update later and the WiFi disappears. I now have no idea how to get this going save a long ethernet cable
up the stairs when the somewhat addled brain remembers that I have an unused USB WiFi adaptor in the workshop. Five minutes
rummaging later I have a TP-Link TL-WN822N 300MBPS WiFi adaptor plugged in and working. There is an upside to this as the TP-Link
adaptor is much faster than the built in Lenovo card and I can now get in the region of 90 Mbits/s over WiFi which aint half bad.
Another hour resetting switches and installing programs and everything is working as it should be.
So eventually with everything back to normal I have checked all my old software and am pleased to report that Geomagic Design works so that
I can produce drawings. XAMPP works so that I can test bits of the website without the need to upload files. I have yet to reinstall Adobe
Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements as Adobe always loads a stack of unrequired sneaky software that wants to run all the time.
I have been playing with the GIMP which is a free image processing program which seems to do most things I need albeit a little differently. I
usually have a few browsers loaded for testing purposes and the new Microsoft Edge seems to work happily alongside the others although it
hasn′t seen much use yet. Libre Office provides for all my office type needs and works as does Notepad++ which I use for editing the
website.
The Other PC
I have another PC in the workshop which is useful for checking drawings and looking up the odd bit of data when working on a project.
Just to keep all the computers singing from the same songsheet I upgraded this as well. I used the same USB stick to upgrade rather
than a clean install. The workshop PC is connected to the interweb but being some way from the house the WiFi signal has to
crawl across the garden to get there, so the USB was much quicker than downloading about 3GB of data. This was an upgrade from
Windows 7 and everything went smoothly. All my old settings were retained, all the old programs worked even the screen background
and taskbar layout remained as they were in Windows 7. I must say I was quite impressed especially as the WiFi remained working and that′s
how it should have been for my other desktop PC. Still I suppose with a million and one possible variations of hardware, software, drivers amd devices
something is bound to go awry with such a massive worldwide software extravaganza, it’s just annoying that it was on my system.
I still had to spend quite sometime though finding all those switches and disconnecting myself from modernity.
Some of Those Switches!
All in all the upgrade was OK spoilt only by the WiFi driver problem, at least I assume it′s a driver I haven′t got
to the bottom of that yet. I expect that at some stage a new driver will appear and the system will connect again but I am not really bothered
as the new WiFi adaptor is much quicker.
My first thoughts on Windows 10 are that it is an improvement over 8.1. I like the style and the return of the start menu suits me much better than the Metro tiles of 8.1. Windows 10 seems stable thus far and my old software works without problem. My only real dislikes are the way it wants to connect and be online all the time and I would like an option to remove the lock and login screens which are a bit unnecessary as I am the only user. Just remember to go through all those option switches (yes, I know I am repeating myself).
Have I turned Cortana on? I think not, I have enough trouble with a mouse and keyboard without the damn thing talking to me.
I have added two new pages detailing the construction of my version of Elmer’s Standby Engine (No. 19). Elmer Verburg designed many small engines and published his designs in a book “Elmer′s Engines” in 1989. The book is out of print but I have seen copies available through Amazon for £200.00 up. Fortunately most of the book is available online from john-tom.com.
Elmers Metric Standby Engine
All of the original engines are designed with imperial measurements and the Standby Engine is quite small so I up-scaled it and redrew the plans using metric measurements. I slightly altered a few bits but essentially it follows the original, just a bit bigger. The re-drawn plans are available in the article as a PDF and can be printed onto 4 A4 sheets. I got a bit carried away with the photos and there are about 70 of them so I split the build over two pages so that download time isn′t too slow. I also experimented with HTML5 video for the first time and added a short clip at the end showing the engine running. The two new pages are in the Models tab of the menu which has, to say the least, been sparsley populated since I first set up the website.
Spent Sunday afternoon at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre just outside Aylesbury. The centre covers about 25 acres and has something for everyone. Part of the site is used by the Vale of Aylesbury Model Engineering Society (VAMES) who have several permanent layouts in different scales from garden railways 32mm up to 7¼”. There is plenty of free parking at the site and a very good refreshments area serving snacks and hot meals. There is of course a gift shop ready to lighten your wallet for the usual selection of must have memorabilia.
There are several “special event” weekends throughout the year and this weekend there was a model traction engine rally organised I think by VAMES. There were quite a few engines about steaming merrily from the main car park along the road to the model railway area about ½ mile. Unfortunately the weather was less than kind and there were very few visitors about to take rides and a few exhibitors dropped the fire and packed up early. Apparently Saturday was much better both weather and visitor wise. Still there were some fine examples on display.
Neatly parked for a photo opportunity three 4″ scale models. Two Foster′s “Lilian” and “Lesley” and a Ruston & Proctor steam tractor. The Ruston looks to be a different scale but the original was only some 12′ long, probably one of the smallest traction engines made.
Racing for home Swanscombe & BeattieNo.30585 well tank “Beattie”
Providing nostalgic rides for the day were the 2-4-0 Beyer Peacock well tank No.30585 “Beattie” and the 0-4-0 Andrew Barclay saddle tank No.699 “Swanscombe”. It is possible that I have misidentified 30585 as it seems to have been regularly moved about, refitted, renumbered and re-liveried over the years.
GWR Castle Class No. 5080 “Defiant”
Seeking refuge from the wind and squally showers, the main visitor centre building is light and airy and houses a large display area set up like a couple of platforms, the very pleasant restaurant with plenty of seating, the gift shop, toilets and play areas for the the kids. I assume this building was once an engine shed as one of the current displays is a full size loco and tender a GWR castle class engine No.5080 “Defiant” (ex Ogmore Castle). There is a traverser at the rear of the building which explains how the engine and carriage displays can be brought in and out.
foden steam wagonthrough the picnic area
Back outside the VAMES area was fairly quiet but still a couple of engines running and the Foden steam wagon had made it’s way there from the car park. The ground level tracks make their way past a pleasant wooded area set out with picnic tables but no one was brave enough to try outdoor dining today.
There are plenty of static displays outside, London Underground District Line stock, South African Railways 3′ guage loco. The 6989 Wightwick Hall Restoration Group are based here and depending on what they are doing at the time you can view their progress on the loco. Also based at the centre are the 7200 Trust restoring one of GWR′s 2-8-0 heavy freight tank locomotives.
buffer depot “Romneys” and weather
The centre also has a museum in the “Buffer Depot” with many interesting displays of rolling stock, equipment and small artifacts. A full size W.H. Smith bookstall set up as it was on the platform at Chalfont and Latimer Station. Just outside the museum are a number of remaining “Romney” huts which were built on site by the Ministry of Food around 1941 as food stores, one of a number of such stores just outside London.
A good day out despite the weather, well worth a visit if you have an interest in railway history and preservation or just like train rides.
I was recently marking out a part to be machined using my version of a surface plate namely an old piece of plate glass. I have had this for ages and it normally sits unused in a dusty corner of the workshop (actually all the corners are probably dusty and some with added cobwebs). I was having particular difficulty seeing the the surface due to reflected light and the transparency and once I had finished decided to look at buying a new surface plate. I was surprised to find that small granite surface plates can be obtained at quite reasonable prices. For example Axminster provide a 300mm x 200mm granite plate for about £40.00. If however you want a real precision job a Mitutoyo plate the same size can be had for £234.00.
However as this would probably end up sitting in the same corner of the workshop and only be used on rare occasions I decided to investigate alternatives. I have read in a few places that bits of granite kitchen worktop can be used to good effect and also that Tesco, Argos and the like, sell small granite worktop savers at reasonable prices.
Granite Surface Plate
As I happened to be passing Argos I went in and found a 400mm x 300mm granite worktop saver for £8.00. At that price it had to be worth a go and if nothing else would be big enough to tape a sheet of abrasive paper to for flatening plane irons and similar jobs. Once home and unpacked I cleaned it up and checked it with a couple of straight edges. There appear to be no obvious highs or lows and the surface appears evenly ground and polished. I think with my limited ability to test for flatness it will suit my skill level and suffice until I need something more accurate. The only minor downside is that it is very shiny, I think a matt finish is normal on surface plate. I may be able to cut the glare with some abrasive cleaner but that could make it less flat.
Not I hasten to add a passing Native American but the server software that empowers a good deal of the interweb. Well the new site has been up for a couple of weeks with no major problems detected. I have however had some trouble trying to implement some of the Google Page Insight suggestions to improve the site speed and efficiency. This is mainly aimed at getting the site in a suitable state to use Google Adsense. As you can see I have put ads on the site and the main hope is that these will generate enough income to pay for the hosting. I don’t anticipate much in the way of posh cars or exotic hoidays!
Cache Control
One of the things suggested is to “Leverage Caching”, what they mean is turn caching on. A bit of reading explains that pages cached locally by your browser make for quicker loading times. Unless told otherwise a browser like Firefox or Chrome will download the page and it’s content fresh every time you want to view it. If you set a few commands in your Apache .htaccess file you can tell browsers to save things locally and use them on subsequent visits to the page. There are a couple of different commands to do this one being Mod_Expires, which basically tells the browser how long to keep a file before downloading a fresh copy The other being Mod_Headers which does a similar job but with more options. I am a complete novice in this area and had to read a lot before I got a rough idea what to do. I think I have things set up with some fairly short term cache directives at the moment until I have finished playing with the site.
Whilst setting directives with the .htaccess file is OK for static files – images, css, script files and the like, it will not work for the php files which are of course generated dynamically. To affect caching for these files I discovered that you need to put a header directive at the top of each file that looks something like < ?php header('Cache-Control: max-age=604800'); ?> which must be the very first line on the page. This tells Apache to send HTML headers that allow caching for up to 7 days. In case you were wondering HTML headers are nothing to do with the page that appears in your browser window, they are rather part of the interchange that goes on transparently between your browser and the server (something else I learnt).
Compression
Editing .htaccess in Notepad++
Having got caching sorted the next thing Google suggested was compressing pages using GZIP. Apparently all modern browsers are set up to ask for compressed pages, it’s in those HTML headers. The browser asks the server to send a page and says oh if you have it Gzipped I am quite happy to accept that, thankyou. Apache dutifully replies and if it can, squeezes the page before it goes, thus reducing the amount of data flying over the interweb. By this time I am an expert on rewriting the .htaccess file and duly add some Mod_Deflate instructions that are the standard way of telling Apache to GZIP everything it outputs. A quick test and… Nothing and definitely not ZIP. More reading and it transpires that my hosting company, 1 and 1, do not enable Mod_Deflate on their servers. Scratch head and send e-mail to Tech Support who reply quickly and apologetically saying I can use Zlib. Lots more reading.
Zlib is part of PHP and has, in my view, very poor documentation. Eventually I found out how to enable it using a php.ini file and switched it on. A quick check with Firefox Element Inspector showed that it was working. A more detailed look showed that it was working but the caching headers seemed to have switched themselves off. Now I am confused (it doesn’t take much), looking at Google Page Insights also showed I was getting 404 (page not found) errors, now I am really confused. Turn compression (Zlib) off and everything is working again. I did a few tests just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things but with Zlib on pages, except the home page, were still being served OK but with a 404 response and with the wrong HTML headers. I turned Zlib off and e-mailed Tech Support again, this time they seem to have headed for the hills! A couple of days reading, most of which was way over my head, I found one comment in the PHP documentation that suggested there was some vague bug where if you called Zlib with its standard zlib.output_compression = on it could corrupt headers but if you enabled zlib with a buffer size zlib.output_compression = 4096 it would work. I tried this without much hope but to my surprise it seems to have worked. I now have HTML headers with cache control set, Gzipped output for PHP and no 404 errors. Result!. I still need to sort out compressing CSS and JS but these files are already minified so they are not going to get much smaller.
Security
Whilst fighting Apache’s .htaccess I thought it would be a good idea to add some of the WordPress recommended security fixes. This meant playing with Mod_Rewrite. Now I have used this before and never understood it. as far as I can see Mod_Rewrite uses a language that is entirely written in punctuation marks and makes no sense whatsoever. I therefore resort to the time honoured method of finding something similar on the interweb and tweaking it until it works or explodes completely. This isn’t the best approach as Mod_Rewrite is very powerful and a slight error could have a myriad of unseen consequences. At this moment in time I seem fortuitously to have hit the right buttons. There are many articles regarding WordPress security so I wont go into detail save suggesting
An article in Smashing Magazine and the WordPress Codex.
There is still a slight problem with Google having some spurious links recorded but I think these came about when I was in the process of changing the domain name and I had three seperate domain names all pointing at the same site. Not a good idea, hopefully the duff links will drop off soon. I have no doubt that there are still some gremlins lurking in the works somewhere but they will eventually be tamed as per the Apache.
