Lacathedrale

Thank you all, I'll have to look up the intersect tool!

I am building up a model of an SR Dia. 1427 van for use in G1 - it's going pretty well, but the one thing which is flummoxing me is the brake lever handle. I know how it needs to look in plan and in profile, but I can't seem to figure out the order of operations to have it follow both - the following image shows the problem - it needs to joggle around the axleboxes by about 9mm: At this stage I'm considering just printing it in the flat and then bending it to shape with hot water - but I've seen lots of other brake gear designs which model the shoes, hangers, rods, lever, ratchet block all as a single insert that pops in behind the solebar and I would really like to mimick that if I can. I would normally consider using Loft, but the multiple profiles (and joggle) is in one axis while the path is in another, and the route between them seems anything but straightforward!

I agree with your latter point, @Izzy - I had a branch line terminus layout which got into the scenic stage but I just couldn't cope with constantly shuffling my trains off-stage for shunting or runaround moves: it completely killed any kind of immersion or suspension of disbelief. I guess that's just something you have to make peace with, in a confined space. My Edwardian layout, despite being about 15' long - has this problem to some degree too.

Spectacular work as always @MikeOxon! Is this going to be printed too? I'm planning out a garden railway in G1 and part of me is wondering if a little Gauge 3 track masquerading as Broad Gauge might be a useful addition somewhere :)

At Brighton, presumably the same work

I am so happy whenever I see a notification to this blog. You really should consider publishing this all - I would definitely buy one in a bound up copy! I continue to be amazed at what you've produced. Regarding your sketch of the boiler plate and yoke - are you able to expand a little on how you sort the alignment out in the axis that's not visible in the sketch? i.e. you are sketching a front profile and this is likely to end up at the very front or rear of your engine, based on where the model origin is. Do you do an offset extrusion? an 'Align' ? Do you create an offset plane?

Very observant of you 😜 Point taken, I’ll keep the gauge one stuff off this thread.

"Can ya guess what it is, yet?"

I have just been reliably informed that the G1MRA Fine profile wheels I've been using so far on my stock are quite niche when it comes to usage, and G1MRA Standard is what track and RTR companies use. Luckily I've only got to tweak a few parameters in my 3D model and I can pump out the new wheels for a few pence. From a rolling stock perspective the main difference is 0.5mm on the flange depth, and 1mm overall wheel width. It does unfortunately result in a much larger flangeway on turnouts - 3mm instead of 1.75mm - but frankly that kind of fastidiousness is not really appropriate for garden railways IMO! I can always run ScaleOne32 indoors if I am so inclined, I guess!

Just in case anyone things they come off the printer like that, they are typically in the form of a kit of parts, something like this: After printing the body, chassis, headstocks and wheels on the filament printer the brims are peeled and trimmed off. The wheels were reamed 3mm to accept the axles. (note, the spoked wheels are upside-down, they look a bit more detailed than that from the front side !!). The brake gear, axlebox-springs, and W-irons were printed on a resin printer, so are washed and cured. Everything gets a coat of primer: the wagon getting grey followed by a mixture of Heavy Bluegrey tempered with German Camo Black Brown (all paints are Vallejo acrylics) and everything below the solebar getting black primer and then a misting of neat Camo Black Brown. I painted the wagon interior with Light Brown, again moderated with Black Brown and Pale Sand to desaturate and darken slightly. The pivoting w-irons were reamed 8mm (in the red sleeve) and the roller bearings inserted, and the wheels mounted on 3mm silver steel axles cut to length. The pins shown outboard of the w-iron units are used to attach them to the wagon body. The Axlebox assemblies are attached using M1.4x4mm screws (you can just about see the teensy holes in the underside of the chassis) which self-tap into place, and the buffer housings are opened out to 2.5mm on the housing and 1.5mm through the headstock, and the sprung buffers inserted and bolted into place from behind. The hole in the drawplate and headstock is de-burred by twizzling a drill-bit in there, and the hooks inserted and spring/washer/retaining pin added. In this particular case for some reason there's not much lateral space for the pivoting W-iron assembly to move around, but the screw/bolt/pin arrangements mean I can take it apart and fettle it without risking damage to any components. As I've said I would probably err on using Slaters wheels going forward, but at (effectively) £18/pair it's a significant investment, so I think I'm going to sit on my hands until I've got a track and loco so I can validate the real world impact.

The last of the 'easy' G1-3D printed designs, an MR/LMS 3-Plank Drop-Side Wagon from the fold of Mr. N. Millier - unfortunately a link broke on the Walsall coupling hook, and there's a bit of a puzzling mis-fit on the brakes so they're just resting in place presently. I'm still umm'ing and arr'ing about whether to go with slaters or 3D printed wheels. For these I rounded over the axle ends in the lathe so they don't catch on the inside face of the axleboxes and that's helped a little but they're still not quite as smooth running even with the ball-races.

So I have been (not so quietly) amassing Gauge 1 freight stock: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/forums/topic/148665-williams-workbench-lbscr-lcdr-ser/?do=findComment&comment=5461007 I have a line on a couple of rolling restoration live steam locos - an LMS Black Five and a GWR County, and ordered a pair of battery RC loco kits: a Model Engineer's Laser LNER Y7, and a BR Class 33/0 - and I think this is indicative of what I want to achieve with my garden line: a continuous run and steaming-up bay for kettles, and some sidings for shunting with remote control.

If I had to have one set of coaches to get me by in G1 my gut feeling is BR(S) in green. Obviously they are distinctive designs, but if you squint they’re visually similar to pre-war Bulleids - at least in the sense of being green and smooth sided! My justification for this is that I have two groups of locomotives I’m interested in: SECR/GER/ELR which can both run with teak four wheelers, and SR/BR steam/BR diesel all of which can run with green smooth sided carriages without looking incongruous. Now to see how I can make that happen…

Absolutely spectacular @Phil Mason !