njee20

Even did the unit number, solid effort to their social media team!

Apparently Mercedes have called a meeting at 2pm with Toto and James Allison; we shall see. I'd be surprised, as much for the collaborations they have off the track.

Forgive me quoting an older (and only tangentially related) post, but Alton is somewhat anomalous! I live in Billingshurst, in deepest, darkest Sussex. An anytime return to Clapham is £42. A pair of singles (peak/off peak) is £34. An anytime return to Alton, changing at Clapham, is £28.80. A return from Horsham, two stations up the line, is also £28.80, but a pair of singles is £42. No one stands a chance... then there's the fact that a return to London Terminals is £52, whilst an anytime return to Potters Bar, via London and including the tube, is £36.

I'm super conflicted on these! My heart tells me I'd like 20 Hanson ones, but in reality given I've got 'my' 3D printed ones I probably wouldn't unless the price was lower than is realistic. I'd probably have one or two though, as I really like them!

I went orange for my pairing, following the same logic!

"Digit"-ally, ie with your finger.

Weird reading that, I've got 20 BYAs and they run brilliantly. Sticking some washers/shims under the bogies will solve it. Yes you probably shouldn't have to, but hey.

Yes, I literally just point a heat gun on high power at the vat for a minute or so! I usually then give it a mix with a gloved finger to test the viscosity. I then point it at the build plate to make sure that’s not too cold. Seems to work. This was a 16 hour print last week, in a garage hovering around 5 degrees, the exothermic reaction is enough to keep it warm, this even has a 4 second rest-after-retract time to avoid surface blooming.

I’ve messed around with 3D printed track, originally just using the DXF output from Templot and adding Finetrax ‘chairs’ (I’m using FB, so they’re sort of clips, but not really!). I couldn’t decide if it was an improvement over just building on copper clad; given each formation was unique. For me the biggest benefit of hand building point work is having longer, flowing formations, rather than any benefit in running or actually even having the reduced rail section, so I’m probably anomalous (and committing heresy admitting that here!). I’ve flirted with the plug track and it’s very neat, the problem in 2mm being just how fine everything is. I’m certain it’s doable, but the long term durability will be questionable IMO. I think resin printing the chairs is probably a better solution, FDM will be just too coarse. I did run a B6 (IIRC) turnout out and it printed perfectly, but without having tweaked any settings the code 40 rail wouldn’t fit. But we digress!

This makes no sense to me. What you have there is a rake of EWS/DB wagons. Removing the logos doesn’t change that. Don’t paint them green, no. Weather the wagons. Paint the whole thing brown and then just wipe some of the data panels. If you don’t want to do that then remove the logo with some thinners/T-Cut/fibre glass pen. What will they represent once you’ve done that? Why not paint them pink, add yellow spots and say they’re Mr Blobby rail…?

AFAIK they’ve not had any other logos, they transferred from RfD to EWS (and therefore DB). A small number have been painted DB red, with DB logos, others are still green (some may still be black too, they’re too dirty to tell!). If the logos mean they ‘conflict’ with some other stock (whatever that means) then I’d suggest they’re the wrong wagons, not that they have the wrong logos…

Superb Dave, that's looking brilliant! Funnily I was thinking earlier that my Mercig 90 actually still stands up to my new Farish ones, I think yours still look good!

Surely you can see the difference between a group of people sending photos around on WhatsApp saying “this guy’s dodgy” and a registered company sharing data with the Government…?

Two months ago you are told: Given it’s still open why would there be any change? Revolution aren’t in the business of withholding information. Sure you’ll find out when there’s something to say…

Reporting for duty! Hopefully a good season, basically it depends whether Merc can actually sort their stuff out I think...

Continuing with models… Maersk have a model of the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller in the lobby of their head office. I’d guess it’s 1:160 from the containers on it, possibly slightly smaller. Annoyingly the light is always terrible to get photos, but it’s stunning! They’ve got myriad other models in the bowels of the office too, but that one definitely takes the biscuit!

When originally crafting the range Wayne did ask on the n gauge forum whether people wanted tighter 0.85mm flangeways or wider flangeways to support nearly all RTR models without adjustment. I do recall it was quite close, but wider flangeways won out. I’m not convinced the market for N is big enough to build a range to suit people like the OP, those who value smooth running over all else, but don’t necessarily want to go 2FS. On the Venn diagram of track fidelity I think that’s a very small intersection!

Yes, Siraya is expensive here too. I paid £90 for a litre of Tenacious back in 2020, and that’s now down to £56 when I bought some earlier this year. Fast has stuck resolutely around £40/litre, and whilst it’s good I struggle to justify that for ‘regular’ use. However as I said, literally in the last couple of months I’ve picked some up for less than £30/litre, which makes it far more viable.

I think the ‘good’ resins have been around for a while, but they’ve become more accessible recently. I find Sunlu ABS-Like good as my ‘normal’, with Siraya Fast now reaching more sensible prices in the UK (<£30/litre for the last few I bought) I use that quite regularly, with Siraya Tenacious used to make softer bits like bogies and NEM pockets where the ABS-like isn’t quite enough on its own. I used to use Anycubic grey and actually found it fine, but they changed the formula about a year ago, and it became awful!

Looks like he’s deleted his account, which seems random. I was going to say that I think people here are receptive to hearing (and learning from) what works for others, but passing your opinion off as fact is likely to get people’s backs up.

So you say you need to buy quality resin, and then use about the cheapest resin going…? 🤨 I personally think settings and process make a bigger difference than the specific resin, within reason. I’ll certainly take a lot of your ‘advice’ with a pinch of salt. Washing under warm running water concerns me; you need to catch that water to ensure it’s not going back into the water system. Glad your processes work for you, but I’m not sure you’re a beacon of authority on the subject.

Yep, fewest for me in 25 years (when I was 12!), 1,205 miles. Definitely the least fit and the heaviest I’ve ever been, too. Ought do something about it really. Maybe one last ride this year!

Should’ve waited an hour before asking! 😁 lovely job.

Stunning work, Guy! How are you painting the sleepers? The colour looks great for concrete.

The broad crux is that people care about different things. Plenty of people out there are happy with Kato Unitrack. Many will say you can make it look realistic. I disagree with them, but all power to them. People don’t necessarily actually accept the atrocities you seem concerned with, they’re just not bothered/don’t notice them. Other people may find issue with your signalling not being prototypical, your train formations being unrealistic or your double yellow lines being out of scale. You may not know this, or care. If you seek fidelity as a key element then mass produced RTR track work, expressly designed to work with literally every item of stock from the last 60 years, probably isn’t the best choice. But then I find it odd using Peco track, as I think the points look poor compared to the real thing. Ironically I’m not bothered about stock bumping through them so much. I’m a bit confused though, as you talk about derailments, but your primary grievance appears to be about items bumping through pointwork. Finetrax would seem to be a good option for you.