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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

Day 50: reflective waffling

I've made it to 50 days of modelling! I certainly wasn't expecting to get this far, but it's been a good challenge so far to get some progress done every day, no matter how small. Times have been tough for me personally (though related to work, not directly as a result of lockdown or isolation) and a bit of creativity each evening has helped keep me sane, so in an odd way, it couldn't have come at a better time. The blog runs a day or two behind real life in the event that I miss a couple of day

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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!

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 48: 30hp Planet build/test video

I showed the (almost) complete loco in yesterday's post, last night I finished editing up a video of how I built it, so if you're interested please do take a look. It's exactly the sort of project I needed - a lot of what I've done lately has been fiddly to set up, or used expensive parts, or just taken a long time to do, this one was refreshingly simple and quick, probably done in under an hour if you don't count painting time.     

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 47: mini Planet loco

Nearly finished on this project - a flight of fancy, based on a larger version of the early narrow-gauge 20hp Planet locos. Needs weathering, but otherwise done, fits the chassis well too. It's been a nice, fun project where I haven't had to worry about how accurate I'm being, it probably won't see heavy service once the layout is built, but worth it for that left-field option.  

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 45: slow progress

I finally plucked up the courage to paint the footplate and other black sections of this loco by hand - it's come out alright, I suppose. I had to go back over some of the lower frames to cover up the overpainting, but hopefully that will hide behind some weathering later on. It'll probably be another couple of weeks before I can face doing that!   I need to pick an appropriate colour for the dumb buffers too - any suggestions?  

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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...  

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 42: controller testing

PCB now assembled, and it seems to be working! Once I remembered to alter the code (some things are in slightly different places than they were on the breadboard prototype), the PWM control seems to be working ok. The throttle is a little bit unreactive, though I can solve that with more code (fun!) and by using a proper power supply instead of the fairly flat 9v cell I was testing with.    

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 41: controller PCBs

Along with the measuring thing that turned up yesterday were the PCBs for my prototype controller. The quality is pretty good for cheap Chinese-made boards, although I've noticed a few errors already! This was only ever supposed to be a prototype to run my test track though, I'll do an updated version when I get round to needing a controller for the layout.   So now I'll have to find my SMD soldering tip and crack on. And think of some kind of case to put it in...  

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 40: measuring thingy

The measuring thingys that I posted a few days back have turned up, and it looks like I've actually got the measurements right! This is one of those things that does jobs that other tools could do much better - but is handy to have around to call on at a moments notice. I've already found the axle/wire identifier useful for trying to find the 1.5mm wire that I know I have somewhere...   I expect it will come into its own when I get round to making buildings, that's what the scale ruler

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 39: more Hornby re-gearing ideas

I had a bit of difficulty with the previous version of the Hornby 0-4-0 regearing project, in that the gears were a little too close to the chassis and some flex in the mounting allowed the bracket to move a bit, causing tight spots in the mechanism. It was also a little speedy. So, everyone knows that when you have a problem to solve, the easiest way is to make it more complicated, no? I've test printed a new version with an additional compound gear in the train, and hopefully this version will

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 38: more brake van work

Some more progress on the SER brake van, I'm now into the slow and fiddly bits, specifically the frames and brake gear. I have to decide at this point how it will be assembled, and I've gone for separate solebars and separate brake shoes. I think this will be the easiest way of assembling it and removing from the printed support material. The roof is also separate, there's not a lot of interior detail going on (just the partition), but that's easier to scratchbuild than to try and do in CAD (and

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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!    

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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.  

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 34: SER d1553 brake (WIP)

Among many other things I've got on the go at the moment (many, many things) is this SER brake, later SR diagram 1553. Variants covered diagrams 1552 to 1557. I needed a brake van that had plausibly been relegated to lesser used branch lines by about 1910, and this one seemed the ideal candidate as they were pretty widespread and numerous.    CAD progress is good, I have wheels in stock and the other bits needed, so hopefully it'll be a good project. Not looking forward to doing the br

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 32: SECR tenders (in N this time!)

Fresh off the printer, a quartet of SECR tenders for a customer. These are from my OO scale F1 and B1 kits, resized to N. This is a bit more complex than just multiplying by half, as all the walls need thickening up to make them strong enough to print properly. Still, I think they've come out well enough!     Stats: Print time: 3hrs 40min - much quicker to print in N gauge! Cumulative pushup counter: 3925

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 31: fanciful plans

I didn't finish work until 1am last night, so not much modelling got done...   So instead I'm revisiting an old plan for a micro O gauge layout. The Peco track version shown is 1350x350mm, but I reckon I could make this smaller by making my own track - it's only planned for tiny industrial locos and wagons, so with tighter curves could be under 1220mm long, and hence fitting on a standard bit of ply. The aim was to make an O gauge layout fit the sort of space you'd get a OO gauge micro

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 30: backscene 'learning experiences'

Making the most of the good weather, by painting the backscene outside. The first stage is painting the whole thing white, and I've already managed to cock this up in at least two ways. Firstly, by trying to paint it with a spray can - this hardly stuck at all, and would have taken several cans to get any decent coverage. So a tin of all-surface matt white was acquired instead. Second problem, insufficient sanding before application. This left some rather obvious woodgrain in a couple of places,

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 29: unorthodox component choices

I should probably explain my choice of components for the controller a little bit. It's a mix of SMD and through-hole, normally you'd go one way or the other, but I felt in this instance it'd be better to compromise. As such all the resistors, caps and LEDs are SMD to reduce the number of holes in the PCB, hopefully making it look neater. The same goes for the 2x 15-pin headers holding the Arduino on. The rest (switches, terminal blocks etc.) are through-hole, as that's what is readily available

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 28: More controller testing - with locos!

A bit more development on the controller concept - PCBs have been ordered, so I'm doing some more work on the software. It's now set up to respond to the throttle using centre-off (so no clicking a reversing switch every few seconds while shunting) and it seems reasonably smooth. I had to incorporate a bit of a dead zone in the centre otherwise it was a bit twitchy - it seems pretty smooth now. I've also wired in a light-dependant resistor, which stops power to the track when it senses dark - fo

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 27: Supporting 3d prints (video)

A more detailed look at supporting all the models I printed yesterday - I've been asked by several people for a bit more detail on this, so here it is... A bit of a marathon, this video!       Stats: Success rate of these models: 90% (two small failures) Cumulative pushup counter: 3175

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

Day 26: Printing bits for scratchbuilding/bashing

Following a request from a friend, I put together a print full of stuff that might be useful for scratchbuilding and bashing - lots of chimneys, springs, domes, a backhead etc.  Plus some steampunk bits... Hopefully it's all of some use! I've been thinking about providing the various bits of all the loco kits I make as spares, so if that's something you'd be interested in, do drop me a message.     Stats: Successful controller automation tests: 5 (everything worked! Yay

TurboSnail

TurboSnail

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