plasticbasher

Thank you all very much for the suggestions. I've only quickly skimmed them, but will look properly before attempt No. 2 next weekend: Yes, I did level the build plate (all films were removed including the one on the LCD screen). Will read the instructions again. My resin shaking was probably nothing like enough and I certainly didn't then wait for the bubbles to dissipate. I have just bought a 5 litre container of IPA so I can clean things more effectively (I probably only had 150 -200ml to use last night). Thanks for the filtering advice! Temperature definitely wasn't something I'd paid much attention to (windows were open because of the resin smell and it wasn't exactly warm and dry yesterday. The print was a demo, so I would have hoped the supports were good enough....I will have a good look though. Mine also came with Chitubox and I'll check the support settings there. I would also like to find a source of the pre-cut FEP sheets as the one on my resin contain has a thumb nail scratch (guilty) and took a bit of a hammering in my amateur clean-up efforts. Yes, I recognise this is a bit of a learning process; the need for absolute cleanliness has been my first lesson..! Cheers, plasticbasher

Hi All, I have just got a Geeetech Alkaid 3D printer (the $99 / £99 3D resin printer of YouTube fame). I am using Geeetech 405nm UV resin. My first print was a failure and I cannot work out why. It was one of the pre-loaded "demo models" - a fantasy snake's body with a dragon's head, curled up a bit like a pretzel. In general I was pretty impressed with the print, but there are two whopping great flaws and one smaller, but obvious flaw: A significant section of body / neck behind the head came out flat and thin, like only one surface printed. Probably about twice the heads length. The last 10-15mm of tail didn't print at all. A section of the head by one of the eyes looks recessed (it's all there, but it's like someone cut it out and glued it back in 1 mm lower than the surrounding surface). I also have a Geeetech washer & UV hardener and the upper surface of the print was perfectly hard after 20 mins; I flipped the print over and despite having a further 25 mins under UV lights, it is still tacky to the touch. I suspect that I did not shake the resin anywhere near thoroughly enough. Does anyone think anything else might be going wrong? Cheers, plasticbasher

Thanks Pebbles. Done the above: No visible breaks in the wire. All solder connections to the commutator look sound under my naked eye (armature is as clean as I can get it). No short circuits (testing between each pole and the motor frame). Testing resistance between adjacent poles gives 5 ohm on one and 7 ohm on the other four; so I reckon there's my issue. I did contact Scalespeed, but they weren't interested in doing the rewinds on MRRC 5 pole armatures. Looking carefully at mine , the wire is not simply wound around each pole one at a time (like a three-pole X-03 / X04), but seems to be done in two "phases" around the adjacent pole on one direction and then around the adjacent pole in the other direction. Seemingly quite a bit more complex, so I guess requires a special jig or takes more time than they can justify for a viable price. I have been searching the internet as it seems perfectly viable to do myself by hand if I "acquire some knowledge". Certainly it appears the slot car community did it all the time in the 1960's & 70's and adjusting the wire thickness and number of turns was a big part of tuning the cars. So using the same principles, but in reverse (ie. aiming for more winds using thinner wire) will help "tune" a motor for model railway use (more torque and lower revs). Sadly most of the seemingly good DIY armature rewinding videos covering 5 pole rewinds on YouTube are from guys in India in their local Indian language and I am probably only grasping 10% each videos content at best. There is one I watched on armature winding principles late last night by an Indian electronics professor (in English language) and he made me wish I paid much, much more attention in school..! This may take a while before I feel ready, but I will win this one..! plasticbasher

Hi All, I have acquired an MRRC / Airfix 1001 motor (ie. a clone of the X03 / X04 units, but 5 pole) that is in excellent condition, other than it frequently refuses to start with the armature in a certain position. This suggests the armature windings have damage on at least one pole. I am looking for recommendations of a company that can rewind the armature. Cheers, plasticbasher

I believe it is the 1970's Airfix / GMR (then later Dapol) model, so at a guess is it probably a fundamentally pretty accurate model of a specific prototype. I bought two recently (one Hornby and the other Airfix). Other than paint finish and the Hornby one coming with modern metal wheelsets, they were identical. I hadn't realised how much shorter they are than the Mainline / Bachman Macaw H - which is, comparatively speaking, a giant. Replacing the big couplings with the Dapol style push fit ones works, but they protrude way beyond the bufferbeams (therefore I postulate Kadees must offer scope for a massive improvement).

I am pretty sure the same "scale-height" chassis is also used in the very first releases of the 4 wheel coaches in the late 70's and the "improved" LNER / BR 20t brake vans from the 1980's and 90's. The quick way to tell the good ones from the "bad" ones is the couplings: The over-tall chassis fitted to most of the coaches has moulded on tension lock couplings and a deeeeep solid buffer beam reaching down to the couplings. The scale height track cleaning coach (and brake van?) chassis has separately fitted (rivetted or screwed) couplings and a coupling hook moulded on the buffer beam.

Next is the stable building and the first floor section above the passageway.

And the roof: I used a total of three roof mouldings. The idea is to cut both end panels off one moulding (which will be used in the centre) and one end off the other two (careful to leave ridge tiles on one side of the joints and not the other). Then a bit of right angle section (cut short enough to fit inside the building's walls was used to brace the joins (see the third photo below).

Thanks for the comments and feedback. The Airfix Waterloo farmhouse: obviously a bit collectable now! So a bit beyond my self-imposed cost limit. However I bought a job lot of broken, partially assembled and incomplete buildings on eBay last week for about £15 all in. At first glance you might tell me I was robbed, but I'm quite happy with it; there is 80% of an part-built Airfix / Dapol engine shed in there, the key components of several buildings which I think are fairly sizeable Continental (ie. Faller, Pola etc) N Gauge warehouse buildings, loads of railings from Hornby elevated track sections, some plastistrip and plastic-rod sections. On topic, there is what I suspect is some kind of wooden building from something like a Wild West play-set. The building may have been more toy than model and probably something like 1-50th scale, but the wood effect planked walls are nicely done and already finding a new life as a random shed and lean to outside toilet (see photo's). I will try and use them to come up with something similar in general outline to the Airfix Farmhouse stables...so @BernardTPM: thanks for the "lead"..! @TangoOscarMike: I'm getting there! Diagonal bracing...hmm...I shall Google some Tudor building pictures... Yes...erm...width and height...erm...short answer is no!!!! Without greater modification, the base buildings are simply too small for such ostentatious luxuries..! I am starting with the roof, where I will use dimensions for the middle section of the first floor to fill the gap I create between the two halves. I've decided this is more of your fictional "budget" Country Inn, where the horses got stabled, but the Stagecoaches had to be left out the front. So the passageway is definitely too small for a wagon but I believe large enough to lead a (1:76 scale) horse through comfortably. Symmetry - having mocked up again tonight for the photo's, I fear your right. But I've already cut, trimmed and glued the roof together and am loathe to try again. I'll see what I can do with the remnants of the third kit I bought for it's roof... To start - here are the little buildings made from the walls of what I assume was a toy structure of some kind. One is a nondescript shed and the other is a lean-to outside toilet. I plan to use the rest of the "wooden" wall pieces to create a wooden stable block. Back wall of the shed and the doors are offcuts of plain plasticard engraved with planks using a (Tamiya branded) Olfa scribing knife. My first use...what a great tool..!

Won't be much more progress for a little while, as I have run out of plastic solvent! Current plan is: A third roof is coming in the post (actually, it's an entire kit). When that and the solvent arrives, I will start working on the "arch", middle section of the first floor and joining the three roof sections into one unit. I need to cut holes in both first floors for the staircases. I will make a base with an accurately cut floor glued to it for each structure to slip over. A bar, rudimentary tables and a stair case will attach to the floor. The floor should stop the inward bowing of the ground floor walls. I want to do a porch of some kind around one of the front doors and maybe a lean-to structure somewhere else to break up the uniformity of the building (what were toilets typically like on 200+ year old pubs in the 1930's?). Also I guess I should make up some old stables, as it is a country inn somewhere rural and bucolic - again what might they have looked like by the 1930's? Then I will spray the lot with Halfords black primer (to prevent light bleed, just in case I ever fit interior lighting in the future before adding any further details and finishing it.

Finally views of the interior ground floor walls:

Interior view of both structures (notice the crude outlines of doors...simply rectangles of very thin plasticard, but that is all you will need once the windows are in place):

And this will become the right-hand building (note the single medium size window on the first floor, again at what will become the outer end). Was thinking the ground floor could be a carvery / restaurant rather than a bar.

This will become the left-hand half of the new larger building (note the single small window at the "outer" end). The bar will be in the rear lefthand corner of the building as you look at it, hence all windows in that corner have been filled in:

A bit more progress today. Completed filling in all the windows that I wanted to "delete": 1. Remove window ledge. 2. Cut piece of 1mm thick plasticard to fit aperture. 3. Glue in place (with solvent) slightly recessed to match adjacent wall sections. 4. Make up timber framing to match rest of building (0.25mm x 1.5mm plastic strip). Where I have replaced windows, to prevent the replacement sections of "wall" falling out I have reinforced somewhat excessively by adding inner walls from more 1mm thick plasticard. This is mostly at the ends. I have also made first floor interior walls in the second structure (a mirror image of what I did in the first structure above).