TurboSnail

Thanks! That means a lot knowing your meticulous eye for detail Is the Peckett cab a more modern design? I'd thought it was an earlier one, the inspiration being the B1 Class and the X Class of the 1880s/90s. Though I suppose the early W4s would have been contemporaries. I'm rather a fan of grey too, which is entirely down to the SECR livery and inheriting a Bachmann N in that scheme. I've got a couple more SECR locos in the works with that livery, despite it fitting neither of my layout's two running periods (1912ish and 1947ish)! As for the lettering (al

You glad I spent so long nagging you about the Pug chassis?

The Channel Steel fleet is coming together nicely, I need to build a couple more of the wagons but I'm happy the design works now (transfers kindly provided by @Corbs). Still need to think of some kind of mini diorama or shelf layout for these to run on... maybe I should have thought about that before building them! The Peckett can make occasional appearances on my main layout but I'd like to reserve the Pugbash for something a bit different. I'll go and brainstorm some ideas

The track is finally down, still need to add some electrical feed points but at least it's progress. I think the next step is to get the wiring and points working, and I think I've got the wiring plan sorted now. Then I can move on to scenery, which starts by adding some filler to blend in the edges of the cork areas, then have a go at painting/weathering the track. That's not something I've ever done before so will be 'interesting'. Finally ballasting, which I'd like to have a go at doing with actual shingle, but still haven't worked out how that would be done either! One step at a time, Tom.

Looking forward to seeing how it turns out! The big scale-link gears should help add some weight, you could also consider cast buffers and boiler fittings as a way of adding more, along with a metal crew. Maybe hollowing out the cylinders too as the motion can't be made to move. I've got my overtype engine (pics on the previous page) running now and it'll manage up to three wagons depending on their weight - yours looks like there might be a bit more space to add weight under the cab roof etc. so you might be able to get a bit more tractive effort there.

A little progress update on another project! This is just testing with a 9V battery, yet to test slow speed running. The chassis needs a little tweaking, then I need to print a new body as this one has a few print quality issues. Then to really test my sanity and see if I can get the motion working...

It's one I've designed myself, it's not available yet as I need to finish building it and checking it works properly, but I'm hoping to make it available to buy soon.

The first test print of a Ruston overtype loco is promising - the body itself hasn't come out that well and needs re-printing, but it fits the chassis and all the details seem to have worked. Some of the moving parts will be re-made in more appropriate materials once I've checked all the sizing is ok.

After neglecting the layout for a while (too many exciting locos to work on!), I've started laying track. I'm giving myself way too many headaches with the wiring though, it shouldn't be this difficult for me to work out... I'm putting power feed points on most of the rails (marked in red on the diagram) and have the switching points to do frog switching for me, but still need to work out what feeds I need to connect to what - it's these pesky three-way points and the run-round loop that are giving me grief - I think I'll need to set up the points either end of the loop to switch simultaneousl

I'll upgrade when and if I can then - but the Photon is still churning out fine prints for my own use (though having said that, I'm getting a lot of glitches lately). We'll see if a certain overhyped tech-related day of discounts in the near future can bring one down into my price range!

Certainly am - with my printer and the resins I use, bending the frames to get the wheels in results in either a) bent frames with loose wheels or b) broken frames. Other people with different setups may have different experiences! The other advantage is, several times I've been asked for just the bodies as people want to use etched axleboxes or different chassis bits, I think it's slightly easier to modify a separate part like that.

In my experience, not much - my wagons go for £9, or less for multiple orders, which at first seems like a healthy margin but I've already had to increase that a couple of times as I learn more about the costs of power, resin, failed prints, decent quality FEP, PPE, IPA, kitchen roll and more... it adds up quick! There is another cost it's worth thinking about too. The reason I'm not advertising kits much at the moment is mainly as the small but steady flow of orders I get (a couple a month at the moment) is do-able. Any more than that would take up time that I really need to unwin

Based on a H Class? Or a Q or an R1, there were a few pretty similar ones, though the pagoda cab suggests H. Like the livery, looks very smart. Here's another Wrenn R1 bash with it!

It's based off a Ruston and Proctor design, but simplified a little to remove the secondary gearing, as I'm not quite mad enough to try and get that to work. Unfortunately that compensation method doesn't work for me with the way I'm driving it, but I've got a couple of other ideas to keep it in line. Will keep it in mind for a couple of my other locos though. What pickups did you have in mind? They'd have to be a very light touch to allow unpowered wheels to turn, unless the loco is very heavy at that point. You could always add another drive belt between the axles if

I do like a good tiny engine - I've got a traction engine on the go at the moment too, as well as Manning Wardle Class B and Hunslet 22hp models being built (slowly). Make sure you think about places to add weight while designing it, it'll make the running so much nicer (there's nothing quite as disappointing as finishing a loco you're really proud of and having it run horribly, don't ask me how I know...) Word of warning on the chassis front - 3D printed chassis are a bit of a nightmare to get right - if you're lucky they can work fine, but the tiniest amount of warping (that would be