Jump to content

TS's lockdown diary

A blog by TurboSnail in RMweb Blogs

entries
100
comments
165
views
1,762

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 46: new Hardy's Hobbies kits

I've been spring cleaning today, only minor modelling progress! So instead, here's a few new loco kits I did the CAD work for, a couple of variants of Manning Wardle H, and a Hudswell contractors loco. All fit the Hornby Peckett W4 chassis (which reminds me - I need to get a couple more of those when finances allow!). Early and curved cab versions of the Manning Wardle H - the curved cab version is my personal one, with a few tweaks so it's unique. Needs the chassis painting, lining

May 8, 2020

1

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 91: Ford Railbus finally finished

This mostly completed railbus has been sat around on my workbench for absolutely ages, just waiting for figures to add to the interior. Painting people is another task I don't particularly enjoy, so I did a whole batch in one go for this and two other locos. Then stuck the roof on, which is loaded up with lead to try and keep the unpowered front wheels turning. This works on the whole, so I'm happy to call it done and it can take it's place on the layout (once the layout is eventually done) as t

June 22, 2020

7

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 7: livery help request

Not much modelling done today - busy running the printer and packing up kits in the hope that I can get outside tomorrow to the Post Office. Planning to tie it in with a food run and picking stuff up from the office. So instead, a request for help. I'm trying to decide on a livery for my freelance coal wagons and have done a few in slightly different styles. Personally, I think I prefer no. 21 so far, I think it suits the 1910-ish time period best. Any comments? Think I should probab

March 30, 2020

10

Day 94: LCDR Martley F

Another project that's been stalled for ages is this Martley F Class, also known as the Second Sondes class. It was printed long enough ago that I was still using the orange resin, but has been sat awaiting a chassis before I build up the body any further. I never attempted building the original chassis design, as it was a long, 3D printed one, so would probably end up at warp city - this needs a redesign! I've got a couple of ideas for the frames, so this might be a good loco to try them out on

June 25, 2020

2

Day 88: which SE&CR wagon livery is correct?

So, no big question then. I've been struggling for a while to find a decent colour for the early SECR wagon livery - I've previously been using the darker grey here (though it looks a bit darker than it is in reality). However, the Illustrated History of Southern Wagons III suggests the shade was lighter earlier, before being made darker with the switch to the later Wainwright lettering. Other sources don't acknowledge a colour change at all, so it's all a bit confusing! The lighter shade I've u

June 19, 2020

6

Day 79: SER brake progress (at last)

I've finally managed to print an SER brake without too much warping - there's still a bit, but much less noticable now. So here it is in primer. I've already broken off and re-attached one of the buffers, so I'll have to be more careful with the rest of it. Next job is to fit all the handrails, which is not going to be fun as there are a lot of them...

June 10, 2020

9

Day 35: Hornby 0-4-0 mod

Started putting together a mod for the Hornby 0-4-0 chassis to make it fit a much smaller motor, and hopefully make it slower as well. It seems ok so far, all fits, but not that smooth. Partly as I don't have the proper gears for it yet, so have substituted 3D printed ones. If this works, then there are a couple of potential bodykits I could make for it that wouldn't have been possible otherwise, with the big motor in the way.

April 27, 2020

1

Day 36: basic 3D print setup

A few people have asked me what sort of setup I have for 3D printing (and costs), so I've done a basic video on it. This isn't necessary the best (or even the right) way of doing it, but it works well for me!

April 28, 2020

2

Day 4: printing kits and horrible resin

Today's modelling has mostly been taking a quick break from work throughout the day to monitor, set off and clean up 3D prints. Making a batch of ballast wagons for a customer, each pair takes 8 hours to print! And I only have 1 printer. So it's a slow process, checking on it every couple of hours to make sure it's all still working fine. I also changed out the IPA cleaning fluid after about a month of use (a horrible job). As an experiment, I left the old stuff on a windowsill for about 10 minu

March 27, 2020

2

Day 37: new Hardy's Hobbies kit

For those who don't follow all my other various threads (and who can blame you), I do lots of CAD work for the Hardy's Hobbies range of industrial loco kits alongside my own loco and wagon kits. They've just announced another one, their first non-steam loco, this Howard 8-ton shunter (it might be a 10 ton or a 12 ton, I can't find a definitive answer online, and can't get out to do proper research!). It's a development of my version of the kit, but has the advantage of using the Ruston 48DS chas

April 29, 2020

0

Day 19: Finished prototype Ruston! + video

I've now finished the Ruston works no. 177530, the prototype that would eventually become the 48DS. The loco was built in 1936, then was sold to Heinz, during whose ownership it was slightly modified (hence the two versions in yesterday's post). I've put together a basic video showing the build and the removal of the DCC socket that was needed to make it fit. Hopefully my voice isn't too soporific! If you'd like a set of prints to do this conversion, have a look at ts3dmodels.blogspo

April 11, 2020

2

Day 98: un-warping 3D prints

I've been trying out a technique several people have told me to try, one which I haven't managed to get working in the past. For some reason, it now seems to work - don't know what I was doing wrong before, but at least it's another technique to add to the arsenal. It involves boiling water, and dipping the warped part of the print in for a few seconds. Then bend it to shape (with something heatproof) and hold until it cools down again. It's not perfect, you do end up with a slightly

June 29, 2020

1

Day 99: laser cutting experiments

One of the potential solutions to the chassis issue for my 3D printed locos was to make frames from something else, with spacers - one of the materials tried is this laser cut Delrin - stable, low friction and pretty strong, and relatively cheap. However, it hasn't cut particularly well and is susceptible to warping, so I think this is a non-starter. Definitely worth an experiment though, and it provided the inspiration to try another method, which I think has worked well. There's al

June 30, 2020

2

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 43: Hornby 0-4-0 regearing test

So a few days ago, I mentioned how the original version of this mod wasn't working properly... well, now it is! Having tightened everything up, and given it a bit of oil, it's working. It's not hugely slower than the original, but it will get tamed when the heavier bodywork is put back on, the plastic chassis is very light on its own. But you can see from the old motor mount just how much smaller this motor is, which will allow me to build some less chunky locos on it. Now the question is, do I

May 5, 2020

3

Day 85: scary jobs

I've come to the conclusion that the job I hate the most while modelling is removing lead weight from previously finished locos. It's difficult, potentially poisonous and there's a big risk of breaking the loco, as the lead/glue is often stronger than the loco itself. So far, I've had to attempt this with three locos - the only one that's survived is this one, so maybe I'm getting better at it. Incidentally, the reason for doing this is that I'm fitting a new chassis to a different

June 16, 2020

5

Day 87: trying Revell paints

Some experimenting with Revell paints this time - and overall, it's pretty positive. I've been using the enamels for the black on the Bagnall and the grey, brown and black on the ballast wagon (though the ironwork is done with a Sharpie!). All done with a brush, I don't own an airbrush. The paints seem fairly thin, but give good coverage, everything here has one coat only, though I need to recoat the black in a few areas where the primer got oversprayed with the main body blue. The next one to t

June 18, 2020

3

Day 49: SER brake van CAD complete

The CAD drawing stage of this project is over, and it's ready to go to print! Before anyone points it out, there are brakes, I just haven't bothered to add them to the virtual assembly! I'll need to do a bit of maintenance on my printer first to try and make it behave itself. Is there anything else I'm missing off this model? I hope not, the number of features and rivets etc. is making it run in the lowest graphic settings possible, and my processor still feels like it might melt!

May 11, 2020

5

Day 20: Electrickery - making a controller

I've got my science hat on today (it glows, and there are many bells and whistles) and am having a stab at making a controller. I haven't got one here and it's irritating trying to test locos with just a 9V battery. So, the plan is to make something that I can use for testing, which means adding a degree of automation to shuttle a loco back and forth along a short length of track. That means Arduino. So I've had a play around with a new Nano Every on a breadboard with a PWM motor dri

April 12, 2020

2

Day 3: Wagon liveries

Just some wagon painting and transfers this time, on a couple of kits that I've had lying around for a while. The paint is Halfords Ford Polar Grey, and don't tell anyone this, but I've cheated with the ironwork and coloured it in with a Sharpie. I'm still trying to work out a final 'Kent Coal' livery, hence why all the wagons are a little bit different! Hopefully for tomorrow, I'll have the wagons fully painted and the rest of the transfers done. Stats: Pasta stock

March 26, 2020

3

Day 77: Bagnall modding underway

I've realised that adding handrails might be one of my least favourite modelling jobs - but at least it's over now, and I'll admit it does add a lot to the visual effect of the loco. I've also added replacement steps and buffers, which I managed to attach without gumming up the spring this time! I doubt that the springyness will survive painting though...

June 8, 2020

6

Day 44: compound gears = slower?

Following on from yesterday, I've assembled the mount and motor unit, with the new compound gear. The previous version had a 3:1 gear ratio, multiplied by whatever the original Hornby gear ratio is. The revised version is 4.6:1, so it should make a noticable difference. This motor also has a rear shaft for a flywheel! Now I need to find a loco to put it in...

May 6, 2020

3

Day 33: things to do with O gauge that are difficult in OO

With that rather unwieldy title looming over this post, I thought I'd revisit the O gauge plan from a few days ago, copied again below. Why would I bother making this layout as a minimum space O gauge, if I could fit more in the same space in OO? This question was nagging me, so I thought about what I could add that would increase the reliability, interest and fun factor of the layout. Firstly, I love tiny locos. Manning Wardle Class B/C, small Rustons, Planets etc. Short, fixed wheelba

April 25, 2020

3

×

×

Create New...