Jump to content

TS's lockdown diary

A blog by TurboSnail in RMweb Blogs

entries
100
comments
165
views
1,768

About this blog

A brief summary each day of the often limited modelling I've been up to in the last 24 hours. Keeping light hearted and hopefully keeping myself amused!

Entries in this blog

Sort By

Day 75: SER d1346 test build finished!

That's that done, a few modifications I have to make now, mainly the underframe locating points were a bit too wide - still trying to work out why, as I pinched the dimensions from another kit that worked. Anyway, it's turned out rather well. I thought I would just be using this one to test the dimensions, then scrap it and make another to use on the layout, as this one has some fairly pronounced print layer lines - however, now it's painted, you can't really see them so it's earned

June 6, 2020

0

Day 74: 16" Bagnall plans

Normally when I make a loco for Hardy's Hobbies, I modify the CAD slightly and produce a unique version for myself. Usually different chimneys, buffers, riveting etc. but this time, I've printed a standard version, and am going to have a crack at modifying it the old fashioned way. As such, I've got myself some replacement buffers and steps, some detailing bits and so on. I'm also going to scratchbuild a new roof for it. This should be more fun than doing the mods in CAD!

June 5, 2020

0

Day 73: back under control

While I fiddle around with my own controller design, I needed a conventional one to test locos with, so I'd know if any issues were down to the loco or due to my programming. So @AVS1998 very kindly sent me one (in return for a few custom 3D printed bits) and now I can see how various chassis are performing. The Manning Wardle works beautifully - though being an RTR chassis, I'd expect it to... The standard Hornby 0-4-0 regearing project runs quite nicely, nice and slow and controlla

June 4, 2020

0

Day 72: backscene

The layout backscene has arrived! Well, actually it arrived yesterday and I was planning to get it in place straight away - however, a day later and I'm still thinking about how to do it, without making as much of a mess of it as I did with the last backscene I did. Until I decide, it's just sat on the floor, straightening itself out after being packaged in a tube. The actual design was very kindly done by @Corbs. Going for a subtle, grey cloudy effect (which looks better in person t

June 3, 2020

0

Day 71: railway artwork/track planning

I live in a tiny flat, where the walls are all plain white, which coupled with the grey carpet made the place feel a little... sterile, maybe? Possibly not the right word, but certainly not very homely. So I've finally got round to getting some pictures on the walls, which of course are railway-themed. The main one is the 1907 OS map of a certain harbour (internet points available if you can ID it) - which leads me on to the point I actually wanted to make in this blog post, which is that I've f

June 2, 2020

3

Day 70: SER low-side open progress

I've managed to persuade my printer to make something without warping this time, though it has come out a bit stripy instead. Hopefully this disappears under a layer of paint. Anyway, the test build is going... well, not ok exactly, but it's working now. I had to adjust the solebars quite a bit to get the axle spacing right, even though I copied the dimensions off a previous kit that worked fine. Some investigation to do there. In the process of doing that, I managed to snap one of them in half,

June 1, 2020

2

Day 69: even more building stuff

I only spent an hour modelling yesterday, but that's all the time it took to make this little loading platform. Just as well really, as I might have to remake it now - I think the ramps are too steep to be realistic. Oh well, that can wait for another day, this one will do for now.

May 31, 2020

0

Day 68: weathering experiment success

I'm much happier with the little storeroom now it's a bit less bright. To achieve this, I tried giving it a very light spray of dark grey from a long distance away, which served to just tone it down enough without obscuring any of the colours. Then a coat of matt varnish and it's job done for this one, ready to go on the layout. If/when I ever get round to building it...

May 30, 2020

0

Day 67: weathering buildings - advice needed

I've had a go at weathering this building on one of the non-visible sides, and none of the approaches I've used so far are really viable. I've tried a black wash (makes the mortar lines far too dark), a brown wash (ditto), black weathering powder (just turned all the bricks black, no matter how lightly I tried to apply it) and brown weathering powder (the only semi-success, as I've used it around the bottom of the building to look like rising damp). I'm happy with the roof, which was

May 29, 2020

3

Day 66: next project chassis choices

Did a 15 hour day at work yesterday, so not much modelling got done. Instead, a decision needs to be made! I've been trying to get away from entirely 3D printed chassis for a few of my locos, there are other materials better suited to making frames that I'd like to get into. I have a few different designs already done, but I've also got a couple of old projects that need the chassis' redoing as I'd like to have them finished and able to run... So, which of these locos should I finali

May 28, 2020

2

Day 65: more printing issues

I've been having lots of issues with my 3D printer again lately, namely that everything seems to be warping a lot more than it used to, despite everything sticking to the build plate better. This is the reason I haven't shown the SER brake yet, and the reason that the 3-plank isn't quite ready yet. Here's the result - not great, certainly not sale-able. I am, however, exploring a couple of options to get these produced professionally, at which point I could get more made at higher quality than I

May 27, 2020

2

Day 64: SER low-sided heavy open

The colliery will need occasional deliveries of machinery and supplies, so I've modelled what is described as a heavy goods open. Of SER design to carry 10 tons, about 100 made, likely for paper reels and beer traffic, although given the low sides and tonnage also probably used for machinery and castings etc. Later classified as SR diagram 1346. I've got the wheels on order (Gibson 12mm Mansell, a little bit undersized but the closest available), so now it just needs printing. Let's

May 26, 2020

1

Day 63: colouring in

More on buildings today, this time on one I built a while ago. Same construction as the other buildings I'm making for the layout though. I've modified the roof to be sloping rather than flat, as I think that makes it look a bit older, somehow. It had previously been sprayed with Humbrol desert tan to make the mortar colour, and last night it got the brick colours added. This was done using pencil crayons, in a few different reddy, browny colours, and a small amount of black. Painted the platfor

May 25, 2020

0

Day 62: building buildings

I stated a while back that I'd like to start showing more real-life stuff, rather than just CAD, so in an attempt to do that, I've started building some of the buildings for the eastern end of Guilford Colliery. I've mostly finished the store, the only building at the western end, so the next smallest building is this one, with just the end poking out of the backscene, shown next to the mockup I made last week. There's something very therapeutic about assembling a very sturdy little

May 24, 2020

0

Day 61: Bagnall building timelapse

It takes a very long time to get a loco ready for production... so I sped it up. Even so, this is probably about a third of the total time spent, the rest going on modifications, additional tiny details, checking, research, measuring and so on. Hopefully it'll all be worth it when we see the finished models!

May 23, 2020

0

Day 60: unorthodox technique practice

Erm... maybe I'm using this as an excuse to mess about with some of the toys I never had as a child? Whatever, I bought a cheap Nerf gun, with the intention of using it for weathering practice, along with a few painting techniques and trying out some new things with the Dremel, stuff that I'm too scared to try on a wagon that I care about. So what techniques have we learned so far? When cutting with the Dremel, it's worth clamping a ruler or something to the object to act as a gui

May 22, 2020

1

Day 59: Shunting puzzle thoughts

I didn't do any actual modelling as such yesterday (it was too hot for anything involving moving about and soldering), instead I had a think about some of the challenges I can do on my layout. The main challenge is the classic inglenook, using the headshunt at position 1 (that fits 5 wagons) and the sidings at 2 and the through line at 3. The sidings at 2 can hold up to 4 wagons, possible 5 small ones if I want to increase the difficulty that way. Then additional challenges can be ad

May 21, 2020

6

Day 58: SER brake testing

Well, I nearly missed a day! Today's effort was trial fitting some of the SER d1553 brake bits. The solebars and underframe have come out well, and fit, but the body on this one is a little bit warped, so I'm not going to build it up into a full test. I need to check the coupling height first, then I'll reprint and have another go. Shame, but hopefully worth it for the layout. 3d printing is very frustrating at times!

May 20, 2020

0

Day 57: more Hunslet testing

I got back from work at 3am this morning, so naturally, not a lot of modelling got done. All I really have to show is the Hunslet chassis running in. It's held upside down from a 9v battery, still a little bit noisy after about an hour each way, but considering the gears I've used, I don't think it's too bad. A couple of the wheels are a tad wonky, but I think that's mainly due to them being assembled and disassembled so many times by now, as they're re-used from the Mk1.

May 19, 2020

0

Day 56: tiny Hunslet 22hp 4wDM 'Sweet Pea', only done properly this time

Some may remember a while ago I made a kit for Hunslet 22hp 4wDM 1786, also known as 'Courage' or 'Sweet Pea'. However, the Mk1 was a bit too fast to really be usable, and eventually got broken while trying to modify it to reduce the speed. Now I've worked up the 'Courage' to have another go at it (sorry), and the Mk2 is underway, and works! The pickups are a bit crude, but work, and it's much slower than last time, although I've only managed to test it with a 9v battery so far. Time to get the

May 18, 2020

4

Day 55: Bagnall 16" kit - soon to be released

A new kit for Hardy's Hobbies, announced today; I've been working on this one for a while. It's been a joy to do, as the chassis (a Hornby B2) is an almost perfect match, and none of the dimensions have needed to be compromised to make it fit. This leaves plenty of space to add strengthening, and lots of spaces to add weight - coupled with the already good chassis, this one should run beautifully. However, I always make unique versions of the Hardy's kits to run on my own layout, so

May 17, 2020

2

Day 54: Cardboard Aided Design

I'm taking a break from CAD, to do some CAD... Plans always look great on Anyrail, but I wanted to check how it looked in real, 3D life before committing to plasticard, so I've mocked up a few of the layout buildings in cardboard. And it turns out, this was a good idea, as a few things have been tweaked. Not massively, but enough that the originally planned version would have irritated me had I rushed in without checking. Plus, messing about with cardboard is just good o

May 16, 2020

0

Day 53: compound geared 0-4-0 (video)

Well, it sort of works... I think I've got a bit more adjustment to do on this, it runs well in one direction, but is a bit chattery and vibrate-y in the other direction (are those real words?). I don't really know the reason for this at the moment, but it might be something to do with the meshing of the gears - they're 3d printed, so nowhere near as precisely made as proper hobbed brass or plastic ones. I hope to address this once lockdown is over, and get a source of better ones.

May 15, 2020

3

Day 52: bendy board

Slight flaw in the baseboard I've made - the front centre is warped upwards by about 5mm relative to the ends. While not a massive issue, this is supposed to be a shunting layout, so any wagons running away of their own accord will not be a good thing. I think this has happened from being stored poorly, as well as being lightly built to facilitate house moves and so on. If I'd built the front a bit deeper, I'd have got away with it. To try and counteract this, I bought some aluminium

May 14, 2020

2

Day 51: irritatingly close to success

Ah, the joys of 3D printing. The first test of the SER brake van (diag. 1553) looks to have come out ok at first glance - but a closer inspection shows that the print lifted from the print head on one side, meaning the footplate is warped up in one corner. Throw out, try again! This is probably an issue with the print head levelling, which I triple-check before starting every print these days, as it's been so unreliable. Looks like I'll have to have another go.

May 13, 2020

2

×

×

Create New...