There has been a bit of progress on my model of Clare in Suffolk over the last few weeks. The goods yard area around the cattle dock is coming on and I've planted the shunting signal which protects the exit from the yard (just in front on the J15)
Looking the other way and the castle mount is coming on with the start of some walls on in. These have been molded in sculptamold and I've had a go at painting lots of 'dots' to represent the stonework which seems to be lots of
Over the last week I been able to build up the road surface around the level crossing and but in the Sculptamold between the road and river. I also 3D printed some picket fencing and the wicket gates for the crossing and fastened these in place. The overall effect doesn't look too bad.
But then I looked back the the river and saw that what had initially looked like a perfect pour of Woodland scenics 'deep water' now looked horrible! I think the issue was that I poured on
So, here is the problem, cassettes are a great way to make a fiddle-yard but a complete pain if you want to make that fiddle-yard part of a continuous run. You need to be able to make the cassettes butt together tightly and align accurately but you also need to be able to get them in and out. If the ends of the fiddle-yard, where the cassettes join the main layout, are fixed at both ends then this is virtually impossible, either you will have a fit so loose that trains will derail or the cassett
My clever wife bought me a new 3D printer for Christmas (how did she guess what I wanted?)
I was a bit concerned because the box was shipped direct from China by FedEx via what appears to be a puddle at Cologne Airport. Creality customer service were very helpful and we decided it was worth trying to build it and just replace any bits if we found they had been damaged. In the end everything went together very easily ( about 30-45 minutes assembly to first print) and I managed t
This one really has been a long time coming! The Crownline kit has a 'checked' date on the box of 1997. I've had it 'in progress' for almost five years and most of the last two it has been in the naughty box threatening to be drop kicked out of the window. I'd left it socially isolating in south Cambridgeshire with one of my friends so long he was probably going to start charging rent. It looks like it I last mentioned it on this blog almost two years ago. The kit came back home in a socially di
So Phil asked 'Could your gadgetry print wagon bodies' and attached a photograph of a Cavan and Leitrim 3' gauge 4-plank coal wagon and a 2D drawing he'd made. Well I couldn't let that challenge go could I? Over the course of the festive season we have bounce various images and drawing back and forth as I hopefully got closer to the prototype. Photographs are somewhat elusive, I don't think many people who got to travel on the C&L bothered taking pictures of mundane old coal wagons. This one
I've started making a lathe for my model workshop. Boy does it have a lot of pieces! I've still got the gearing on the drive end to do and the bracket which holds the top set of pulley wheels. I'm not slavishly copying this photograph but trying to make something which looks lathe-like.
The main bed of the lathe worked out to be too big to print on the Anycubic photon in a single piece so, as it was a relatively simple shape and could be sanded easily, I printed it on my
In case my 16mm musings made folks fear I'd been loosing interest in the P4 I wanted to show you that I used the last few days to make some more uncouplers for Alex Jackson couplings. I thought I'd put some pictures on here to show what I'd been up to.
The uncoupling magnets are made from two 3D printed parts with a plastruct tube insert, that gives a freer sliding movement that just making the 3D printed 'plunger' fit directly in the hole. The printer is not particularly well tuned
I printed out the parts for my forge blower. There was some spare space on the build platform so I printed a few extra tools at the same time. I deliberately put the parts on twice and in a couple of different orientations to see which came out best. Splitting the blower into two halves allowed the bottom sides to be sanded and form the join.
You can just make out the Alcoso No4 text on the parts and, while you can't read the text, the builder's plate has some relief on it which mak
So I got the forge painted, like the original it is very black and difficult to photograph! If it was anything other than a forge I might have been tempted to pick out the lettering in paint but in reality it would never have been.
I did a quick google search for 'vintage belt drive forge blower UK' and found someone selling two on Ebay. I liked the note that said postage was not an option given the weight. Still they helpfully supplied a number of photographs and the key dimen
I had modeled the forge up as 8 separate parts to allow me to position them on the Anycubic Photon to get the quickest prints. The resulting jobs filled the print bed twice and at a .04mm layer height it took about 5 hours to print out the parts. The results weren't too bad, there was a bit of warping on the largest part (the main base of the forge) but it was fairly easy to conceal as the worse bits are under the base and not visible.
The top came out very nicely and I don't think
In my previous posting I had found this picture of a rather nice cast forge.
Some more digging on the internet and I found some references to Keith - Blackman Ltd of Farringdon Avenue London, manufacturers of smith's hearths and forge blowers - purveyors of complete installations for the smithy. I thought I'd try to model up something suitable for my workshop.
I've broken it down into a number of pieces so i can try and print the individual part
I made some progress on the workbench today. I 3D printed a range of bolt heads to add to the timber to hold it all together. I just drilled tiny .7mm holes and stuck them in place. Good(ish) weather meant for a nice afternoon walk and I was able to find a bit of twig which I used to make a log on which to mount the anvil.
I've continued to make more tools for the bench, the range of difference size files and tongs is increasing nicely. From my pictures of old forges it
Everyone needs a workbench, my real one is generally cluttered with a PC, cutting mat, soldering iron and more tins of adhesive and paint than is good for your health.
My 16mm workshop needs a workbench so I purchased some timber from Ely's wonderful City Cycles and went searching on the internet for images of 'vintage workbench UK'
I am quite pleased with the result which looks pretty good to me covered in tools.
I think I'm probably going to 3d p
So I've been thinking about a little 16mm project to keep up my narrow gauge interest while I can't take Fen End Pit out. I don't mean to distract too much from the construction of Clare but just have something extra to work on when I fancy a change.
One of my favourite places to visit is the Thelkeld Quarry Museum and I have long thought that the engine shed is full of modelling potential but I've not been sure how I could use its inspiration.
What I have be
Thanks for all the comments and ideas on this project both on and off this forum. I'm getting the ideas to jell now, trying to balance all the features I want with practical considerations such as size and construction effort.
I was originally considering something which would give me a couple of options, on the left we had the inside of the shed/workshop and then on the right we had the outside of the building with the gable end. This idea would be about 3' x ~1'6". The Thelkeld she
I found pictures of a couple of interesting wagon loads on the Stour Valley line at Clare and Sudbury.
I asked on the Scalefour Forum what these might be, wondering if the round tank might be a septic tank. In the end the consensus of opinion was that the cylindrical tank was probably a pressure vessel being installed as some kind of industrial plant. I decided to have a go and make them as wagon loads. I modeled these up and printed them out. I also modeled up a Fibre-glass se
A trip to Thelkeld gave an opportunity to get some more inspiration for my 16mm photo-plank. It was a rather windy and rainy day and being out-of-season trains were being operated by a Hudson diesel giving Sir Tom a rest.
The shed doors were shut against the wind and the sky 'somewhat overcast'.
A request in the office and the helpful folk were more than happy to let me take a look inside. Before going in I took a look at the inspection pit which is covered over by
Several years ago there was a conversation at Scaleforum (you know the one, I suggested to Brassmasters that they should produce an Easichas kit for a Hornby J15, they said great, go on and do the artwork then), now there is a kit available for purchase.
The kit follows the usual Easichas principles utilising the existing Hornby motor and drive and providing new fold-up side frames and hornblocks to give springing on all axles. The kit can be built to either EM or P4 gauge. Replaceme
I recently purchased a copy of Roy Link's new Crowsnest Chronicles book. An very good read full of inspirational modeling. This finally inspired me to get my, not quite completed, Slater's 16mm Simplex kit out of the cupboard where it has been languishing for a year or more. I'd been frustrated by not managing to get the cooling fan to work with the DCC decoder. The loco also had rather a lot of emotional baggage attached as I'd bought it as a present to me shortly after receiving a nasty shock
During the 1950's a grain loader was built on loading dock. Lorries (or tractors and trailers) were reversed down the dock and the grain tipped into the shed through the large doors. A vertical auger lifted the grain up to slide down the chute into the waiting wagon.
It looks to me that the construction was of corrugated asbestos with a box section rather than corrugated iron, the section looks too big for that. I tried drawing up a template to try and judge the size.
This little pair of gates for my cattle dock was pushing the Anycubic photon but I thought it was worth a punt even though I thought it unlikely that it would come out. I'm rather happy with the result, particularly as I needed 3 pairs which were identical. I wasn't exactly looking forward to having to make 3 out of scrap etch and wire and that would definitely have taken more than the hour these took to print.
In place they look like they would have kept the cows in.
I've been musing over the cattle pens for a few weeks now. The pen was at the end of the loading dock and, by the late 1950's was out of use and blocked by the construction of a grain loading facility.
The posts of the pen appeared to be disused rail so I opted the 3D print the posts. This was a lot easier than the prospect of breaking multiple drill bits trying to drill eight holes in 20 posts. Each of the posts is 19mm tall.
Cutting, bending and threading th
Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to get the valve gear completed and also add some cosmetic pieces like the drain cocks and drain cock linkage and the balance weights on the wheels. I also managed to complete the tender chassis thanks to an order for the wheels from Alan Gibson (thanks Colin for the excellent service).
The loco has done a few miles on my DCC Concepts rolling road (to which I added a 3D printed block to support the bogie, looks better than a p
