TurboSnail

I'm working on it! And on a way of getting them made more professionally, so we'll see how that goes...

I've managed to persuade my printer to make something without warping this time, though it has come out a bit stripy instead. Hopefully this disappears under a layer of paint. Anyway, the test build is going... well, not ok exactly, but it's working now. I had to adjust the solebars quite a bit to get the axle spacing right, even though I copied the dimensions off a previous kit that worked fine. Some investigation to do there. In the process of doing that, I managed to snap one of them in half, but fortunately I think it has repaired ok. And yes, that does say 'SER' on the axleboxes... in 0.1mm thick text!

I only spent an hour modelling yesterday, but that's all the time it took to make this little loading platform. Just as well really, as I might have to remake it now - I think the ramps are too steep to be realistic. Oh well, that can wait for another day, this one will do for now.

Buildings are coming along ok now, I'm starting to get the hang of plasticard. Here we have the storage hut for the west end of the layout, and a loading platform for the east end. Waiting on a delivery of more plasticard before I tackle the rest. I know the platform ends are too steep, but it was a bit late to sort it by the time I noticed. It'll do for now, and I can always make another one later down the line. It took less than an hour, so it's not too much of a hardship! I've got a backscene on order, and I'm trying to work up the courage to spend vast amounts of money on track. We're slowly getting there!

I'm much happier with the little storeroom now it's a bit less bright. To achieve this, I tried giving it a very light spray of dark grey from a long distance away, which served to just tone it down enough without obscuring any of the colours. Then a coat of matt varnish and it's job done for this one, ready to go on the layout. If/when I ever get round to building it...

Thanks for that Chris, I've had another go and you can see the results appearing in a new post about now! The brick colour is less uniform in real life, I think the camera compresses it quite a bit to save memory.

I've had a go at weathering this building on one of the non-visible sides, and none of the approaches I've used so far are really viable. I've tried a black wash (makes the mortar lines far too dark), a brown wash (ditto), black weathering powder (just turned all the bricks black, no matter how lightly I tried to apply it) and brown weathering powder (the only semi-success, as I've used it around the bottom of the building to look like rising damp). I'm happy with the roof, which was a mix of spray paint and weathering powder. The doors need repainting though, the gloss black I used hasn't given the desired effect. So the question is, does the building need any more weathering? Sometimes I look at it and think it's alright, other times it seems too light. And if it does need more weathering, what techniques might work better than what I've already tried?

Did a 15 hour day at work yesterday, so not much modelling got done. Instead, a decision needs to be made! I've been trying to get away from entirely 3D printed chassis for a few of my locos, there are other materials better suited to making frames that I'd like to get into. I have a few different designs already done, but I've also got a couple of old projects that need the chassis' redoing as I'd like to have them finished and able to run... So, which of these locos should I finalise first? We have the Furness Sharp Stewart, and the AEC Shunter. Read on for the explanation below... The Sharp did run, and very well at that, until it recently developed an issue with the material warping over time. This could be fixed with some adjustment, but given it took a lot of adjustment to get it running in the first place, I'm inclined to make another chassis that is easier to set up and more robust. I'd like to keep the High Level gearbox though, that works brilliantly with the high-revving motor, so it was really smooth before it developed a tight spot. Secondly, the AEC shunter. This uses a 4-wheel drive system that I'd like to keep the concept of - however, the 3D printed gears are rubbish (used out of necessity rather than choice), and I'd like to add a flywheel. This should be a simpler project as I'd essentially just be replacing the main chassis block with something a bit more sturdy.

This is one of the tactics I've tried, and unfortunately it hasn't worked so far

I've been having lots of issues with my 3D printer again lately, namely that everything seems to be warping a lot more than it used to, despite everything sticking to the build plate better. This is the reason I haven't shown the SER brake yet, and the reason that the 3-plank isn't quite ready yet. Here's the result - not great, certainly not sale-able. I am, however, exploring a couple of options to get these produced professionally, at which point I could get more made at higher quality than I could manage on my own machine. We'll see where that leads!

The colliery will need occasional deliveries of machinery and supplies, so I've modelled what is described as a heavy goods open. Of SER design to carry 10 tons, about 100 made, likely for paper reels and beer traffic, although given the low sides and tonnage also probably used for machinery and castings etc. Later classified as SR diagram 1346. I've got the wheels on order (Gibson 12mm Mansell, a little bit undersized but the closest available), so now it just needs printing. Let's see if I can persuade my printer to make something without warping for a change... Once I've found a way of printing these reliably, I'll make them available to buy like my other wagons.

More on buildings today, this time on one I built a while ago. Same construction as the other buildings I'm making for the layout though. I've modified the roof to be sloping rather than flat, as I think that makes it look a bit older, somehow. It had previously been sprayed with Humbrol desert tan to make the mortar colour, and last night it got the brick colours added. This was done using pencil crayons, in a few different reddy, browny colours, and a small amount of black. Painted the platform and the door too, although I think the door needs another going over. It's ok, but I'm not 100% happy yet, so I'll try weathering it a bit with some powder and maybe a thin wash to darken the overall tone. Wish me luck!

I stated a while back that I'd like to start showing more real-life stuff, rather than just CAD, so in an attempt to do that, I've started building some of the buildings for the eastern end of Guilford Colliery. I've mostly finished the store, the only building at the western end, so the next smallest building is this one, with just the end poking out of the backscene, shown next to the mockup I made last week. There's something very therapeutic about assembling a very sturdy little building, making sure all the edges are nice and square, sometimes literally just watching glue dry. Anyway, the building is fairly plain, with just the vent and the door in the end (I can never get completely away from 3D printing, can I?), now I'm just waiting for a delivery of plasticard so I can clad it. I've only got some plain bond stuff left, and I never thought I'd be the type of person to be picky about what brick bond I'm using, but here we are - maybe I'm just learning to do things properly now...

It takes a very long time to get a loco ready for production... so I sped it up. Even so, this is probably about a third of the total time spent, the rest going on modifications, additional tiny details, checking, research, measuring and so on. Hopefully it'll all be worth it when we see the finished models!

I though 3-way points were relatively rare in real life, due to the additional complexity? I'm learning new things all the time (and will have to give the person who told me that a ticking off!)