After over a year away it is time to return to the blog. A lot has happened during the last couple of years which has got in the way but I'm to be back in a position where I can share what I've been building. 

Progress on my scalefour model of Clare has continued slowly. The most noticeable progress being on the area around the level crossing. Thanks to some help from members of this forum I was able to get some plans of the '1865 standard' crossing keeper's cottage. Like all standards they varied a fair bit between the locations and so my model is a representation rather than a slavish attempt to model the cottage at Ashen Road. (In fact my crossing keepers' cottage is on the wrong side of the road).

The gates are now controlled via a small ground frame, an arduino and a pair of stepper motors. I still need to paint the tie-rods and add some rather strange 'targets' which were above the gates and acted as a stop signal for the rail traffic. The picket fencing is a 3d print.

Other activities have included continuing with the J17 I was working on. There isn't much of the original PDK kit left apart from the locomotive frames and the footplate. The cab has been redrawn and etched by PPD, the firebox/boiler/smokebox/chimney/dome/splashers/sandboxes/lubricator and tender are all 3D prints. I'm very happy with how it has come out, it still needs some glazing in the cab, some coal in the tender and a load of weathering. This was a steam brake only locomotive and as a freight only engine they were not in the best cosmetic condition by the late 1950's.

One of the more unusual features of this build is that I have represented the internal valve gear with a couple of 3D prints. Modelling up something to represent the valve gear was a fun exercise, obviously this is all cosmetic and almost entirely hidden behind the sandboxes. It is one of those things where you can't see them but you can see the absence of them. I've printed this in two parts which go either side of a frame spacer. The cylinders were slightly inclined upwards towards the front with the valves underneath them. The cams and valve rods are designed to slot over the axles so that the wheels can still be removed if required.

Some railway companies painted their inside motion bright red, I opted for oily black with a little bit of red visible where the dirty might have been rubbed off when oiling round.

I've been drawing up the brass components as I've built this and I am considering building a second J17 as the vacuum fitted version. I'm also wondering about a short run kit if there would be interest.

I'll write up some of the other projects from the last year if anyone reads any of this.

David