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RBTKraisee

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Everything posted by RBTKraisee

  1. Merry Christmas everyone! I hope 2024 brings happiness and success to you all! Ross.
  2. Hi Ben, There's nothing stopping RMWeb from contacting me about doing projects for them too, if they want! Ross.
  3. Ta daaa! The whole streamlined Coronation Scot train together in one place for the very first time! Ross.
  4. The 9th and final coach for the Coronation Scot rake - the RK Kitchen Car - is now just about finished, with only the roof pipes to do. I printed a pair of test coaches last night. Ross.
  5. Okay, that post didn't attract any negative comments! 😀 Above I'm showing a Consett 56-ton Iron Ore wagon that used to work on the Tyne. KR Models made one in OO and talked about making them in N, but have abandoned that project, so I figured the way was clear for me to go ahead. Below that are five of the nine coaches and the Streamlined Princess Coronation Scot loco that I've done for a newer Farish Duchess donor. I've actually done 8 of the coaches so far, with the 9th - the RK Kitchen Car - about 80% finished. I'm currently heavily into production, though doing it by 3D printing is awfully time-consuming! To get the windows to fit flush with the coaches took an arduous path. My attempts with 3D printing failed. A friend tried a laser cutter, but the thermal load on the acrylic as too much. So I ended up buying myself a small CNC mill and after a few false starts, I have now managed to figure out a fair process that results in really good quality cuts. Unfortunately, between the mill and the vacuum cleaner I need to cool the acrylic and suck up the debris, it is a REALLY loud process, so to avoid our neighbours getting really peeved at me, I need to build a sound proofed cabinet for all the gear to go in while it chunters along for about 4 straight days. I figure that the cabinet may as well be the big one I need to support my big layout in the spare room! 😀 So I'm buying all the wood this week and I'll make the cabinet ASAP - then I can install the sound deadening material and begin producing all the window panels for the CScot coaches. Permission to proceed with the cabinets only came from SWMBO (Deb) once I agreed to build her a potting table for the garden - which (aside from trimming with some bamboo which isn't due for delivery until the 20th) was finished last Thursday, so I now have the green light to proceed! Yay! Work will finally begin on my long-planned 4-track main-line plus 2-track branch-line hinged layout, and the cabinets will support an automated 45-line traversing fiddle yard allowing 120 inch long (3.05m). Heh, as Deb says; "Go big, or go home!" I am a happy camper! Once the CScot and Consett's ship my next project is to return to my N15 King Arthur, which was about 80% finished when I paused doing last year to go and make killer drones for Ukraine. The N15 only needs the photo-etched phosphor-bronze pickups to be made for the tender's bogies - not an easy task, but manageable. After that I want to get my APT-P finished. Then I'll look at what's next in the growing "wish list" that people have asked me to consider making! Busy times here. Ross.
  6. It's been well over a year since I last put an update on here, sorry guys! I got pulled away building drones to help in Ukraine and the model work just stopped and I just haven't got around to doing any updates to this thread since. I have some new bits coming, but they're products being made specifically for a different forum. I'm not sure if showing them here would be considered "bad form"? What do you guys think? Ross. Ahhh... I guess a quick tease can't hurt too much...
  7. Mike, I have sent you an email. Sorry it took me so long to log into RMW recently! Ross.
  8. Glad to have the site back up and running again! I've gone back and re-uploaded all of the images from the page 4 onwards. I'll come back at some point and do the other pages too, but time is pressing right now. I'm also going to re-write my very first post on this thread, to show off my 'wares'🙂 I'll try to keep it updated with the status of all my projects, past present and future, including showing what's actually available! In the meantime, a massive thanks go out to Steve Wright and Dave Cooper who run the amazing James Street N-gauge exhibition layout... I needed a Farish Duchess as a donor for the upcoming Streamlined Coronation Scot project and Steve very kindly agreed to sell me the blue Duchess of Norfolk model that graced the cover of Railway Modeller's September 2018 issue - so I've now got that famous loco in my very own collection!! 🤩 When I'm done test fitting her for the CScot, I'm going to return her to the original blue config as I want to enjoy having something from James Street here🙂 Big thanks Steve and Dave! Ross.
  9. So today I'm shipping a total of 16 orders, including the County models, 1923 Gresley Restaurant Triplet Set (RTS), and a bunch of my 3rd rail chairs. While a few are going to the US and Australia, most are heading to the UK I'm going to take a bit of time off next week, but next up is the N15 King Arthur re-shell over a Dapol B17 chassis, and my streamlined Coronation Scot is coming as soon as I receive a Farish Duchess that is coming from the UK. I've also made an initial start on the 1937 rake of 9 LMS coaches for the C-Scot, including 57ft BFK, BTK, FK and TO, together with 50ft RK and 65ft RFO. The BFK and RFO are first up. Ross.
  10. What if it were a custom chassis? What would the interest level be like? I'm just getting back into PE manufacturing after a 15 year hiatus, but I've no doubt I could make a suitable custom chassis and valve gear. The only issue on that front is that I'm based in Florida, so popping over to the NRM to take measurements of Duchess of Hamilton isn't so easy right now. My next trip to Blighty isn't likely to happen before August. It would be very helpful if I could find a source for accurate drawings. Ross.
  11. I design all my kits initially in 1:1 scale and then I re-scale and add the parts to fit a particular chassis. I'm already doing a C-Scot in N gauge, but I've been asked if I would do one in British O gauge 1:43.5, to fit a Heljan A3/A4 chassis, so I thought I should check with the wider O/7mm community to see if there is any interest in a limited production run of a signature premium kit and/or and RTR one. If a slightly different scale would be more popular, or equally popular, I don't think my original client would mind, so please let me know what you would be most interested in. For example, the C-Scot did a tour of the US, so a US O scale (1:48) variant might make sense as another product. If there's enough demand to cover the costs, I can make almost anything. Ross.
  12. Would there be any interest in a finescale very high quality (far better quality than Shapeways best - see my N gauge County here to see the print quality) 3D printed LMS Streamlined Coronation Scot, based on Heljan A3/A4 running gear, with new front bogie? It's too early to be certain, but I'm thinking a kit needing running gear might be around £200, and an RTR fully-painted version around £550-650. It would be followed by a full 9-coach rake of 1937 coaches, and maybe I could also do the 1939 streamlined 8-coach rake too. Opinions? Thoughts? Cheers, Ross.
  13. Thanks Matt! The County is starting to ship next week (taking orders now @ US$ 50 ea) but the N15 is probably still at least a month away from being finished, but I now have all the bits needed to make my own PE phosphor-bronze pickups to make the bogies in the tender work properly. I used to do large-scale PE work about 15 years ago and I expect it will take a few weeks of experimenting before I figure out the ideal process for doing it at this "desktop" scale But once I've got it, I'll be able to make my own custom pickups and nameplates. Ultimately I might even be able to make my own connecting rods and eventually even PE brass chassis so I can tackle some more unusual loco's out there. It's going to be fun! Oh, and I've decided to include a set of static plastic "running gear" for all my 3D printed loco's, so that they can put on display without it running. I've got about 20 of the County bodies here, and already about a dozen of the N15's from testing as I designed it, and I figure they might look great on a big engine shed diorama Ross.
  14. Specifically the newer Bachmann era Farish Duchess chassis, because I want to just plug a DCC chip in and not mess around with rewiring any electrics. Ross.
  15. And I've got quite a few other N gauge projects on too From top to bottom; Big water tower, LMS D1804 Ballast Hopper (precursor to Gannet/Trout), 3rd Rail Chairs for Code 40 rail on the side, or centerline, N15 King Arthur Loco & Tender with working dual-bogies, APT-P (Driving Trailer Second is the only unit so far, but I am working on the motor too) - and it tilts, And finally, very early in the process, but can you tell what it is yet? I'm doing the loco and the whole 1937 rake Ross.
  16. I've been under the weather a bit this last week. It's either a winter cold or I've managed to somehow contract "The Covids", even though we've been trying to isolate throughout. Thankfully it hasn't proven to be serious for Deb, Nick or myself, but it has targetted my tendency towards migraines, which have slowed everything down a bit. I'm off to take a test later today, but I'm hunkering down until I get negative results. Anyway, after a significant test period (which culminated last night in a rake of 15 coaches being comfortably pulled around my simple test loop on a 2% incline!) my N Gauge County - based on Dapol Hall running gear - is now finished and I'm staring to take orders. It's priced at US$ 50, which is about GB£ 37, plus shipping. As with my 3rd rail chairs, I'm trying to arrange a lower cost shipping solution involving one of the customers in the UK volunteering to receive a single box with everyone's jiffy bags inside, print and add the domestic shipping labels (which I will arrange and pay for from here) and then pop them in the post to everyone. It dropped shipping costs for the chairs from about £12 each down to £3, so it was worthwhile for everyone. I'm aiming to produce everything as soon as my tests go negative, and my current target is to ship everything sometime in the week starting the 14th. We'll see how close that gets Here are some beauty shots Ross.
  17. My latest print of the N15 included the tender body, chassis and the bogies and I'm really happy with the results to far The loco is also looking nice too. The smoke deflectors in particular have come out looking great. I might make them as PE kits eventually, but these versions came out surprisingly good, and using 25% Tenacious in the resin means they're quite strong, and are not brittle. Ross.
  18. I've been up to quite a bit The County has had a lot of attention, with corrections and a LOT of new detailing. It now fits the Dapol running gear very nicely indeed, and I've even briefly had it running on my test track with no hitches at all, although I am still awaiting the knurled inserts to allow me to bolt everything together using the Dapol Hall's bolts. On the detailing side I've been hyper-accurizing the cab end of the tender with all the different levers, pipes, toolboxes and measures that a Hawksworth tender would feature and I've now got the fire iron tunnel accurately modelled too! The lamp irons on both the loco and tender are finally the correct way around for GWR! The biggest change is one of the most difficult to see, actually. I learned today that the firebox actually tapers as it gets to the cab, not just vertically, which I had already modelled, but also laterally. Changing the CAD model was a really big job and took more than three hours to get everything right! But the model is now more accurate as a result, so it was worth it! Over on the N15 King Arthur project, I've now completed the tender, including the optional 3 cylinders on top of the water tank. The chassis and the superstructure fit together well and will take a Dapol tender motor in the usual way, driving the B17's locomotive wheelset via the standard Dapol driveshaft. I've still got to go back and detail the cab, but that shouldn't take too long. I do need the knurled inserts for this project too, so I can fit all the Dapol bits properly. The independently rotating bogies now looking pretty good too. I have to design the parts to accept my own phosphor bronze etchings (and design and make those too!) to make all the electrical pickups to enable all the wheels on the bogie to work electrically. I haven't yet bought any of the etching gear (a bit cash strapped after Xmas) but I have a long history with etchings, so I'm confident it won't take too long to get back up to speed when I do. Here is a CAD pics for it... Cheers and Happy New Year everyone! Ross.
  19. Thanks for the kind words! My Dapol Hall's boiler appears to be made entirely of metal (Cranmore Hall), although there appears to be a 'core' that might be removable - somehow! Rather than fuss with that I've just hollowed out the entire boiler area and I'm planning to glue as much small lead shot in there as will fit (or use Liquid Gravity). The Hall's tender also has a lump of metal attached to the underside, and once I get this on a test track to see how it performs, I'm thinking of how to arrange things so that can be moved over and simply clipped in place too, if needed. I've got to wait another couple of weeks for some brass knurled inserts to arrive from China to allow all the M1/M1.2 bolts from the Hall to be re-used on this before the County will be truly "finished" (and I also need to find someone with a spare set of cylinders from a Dapol Hall to replace my missing piston guide rail) so next up will be the N15, trying to get that to the same state as this all-but finished kit, and then I want to do more work on the APT-P. Ross.
  20. Took a few days off over Xmas to try to recharge the ol' batteries and I'll take a few more off this week too, but could resist doing a little work I've test printed and adjusted the County model twice today and I *think* I've got a candidate now, that is very close to completion. Four final design adjustments are still needed; the first one is to add the rear steps and sand tank again. I split them out into separate parts a while back and never quite finished the design of the new bits - the steps & tank are the same, but the bit that attaches them to the loco body still needs correct fitting. I also need to reduce the size of the pins on the rear buffers - which are also now separated - I think I put in the diameter figure as the radius by mistake, so they're twice as thick as they ought to be - you can see how much bigger they are compared to the front ones in the pic below. Another issue is that when I removed the locomotive from the supporting structure of this print, it broke off one of the clips underneath that will hold the Dapol cylinders in place, so that needs a little bit of strengthening before it will be ready. And finally, one of the chimneys keeps printing slightly inaccurately! The supports holding it fail and it ends up with an unplanned curvature on what would be the upper surface - which isn't right. I've tried multiple different approaches, but I'm just going to have to reorient it for printing in a different plane, and we'll see if that fixes the issue! Anyway, I should be able to fix all those in about an hour, probably tomorrow and then I think this will be essentially done. The next problem is that my Dapol Hall "donor" broke one of the guide rails on the cylinders so I can't safely run it with the piston rod operating on that side. DCC Supplies say they can't help me so I've put some Wanted ads out in the hope that someone has a spare one in a bits box somewhere!! It should all still run in testing, and should do perfectly fine as there's nowhere it could really foul on this model. But I never quite want to release anything if there is still a "variable" that I haven't been able to nail down completely - and this is a small one that will niggle me until it can be resoled properly. I note that 2mm society does have separate guide rails available for brass chassis builders. That's a worst case option if I can't find a genuine Dapol part, because with shipping to Florida and the fee to join the society, a single replacement £1 guide rail looks like it will cost well over £40! While I try to resolve that, the Dapol B17 arrived on Xmas eve, so I can start working on integrating that into my N15 King Arthur designs now, and I also got (in really surprisingly fast shipping time from Japan) the Tomytec TM-18 chassis to power my APT-P too. I'm not sure yet, but to make it tilt properly I think I'm going to modify the main frame - probably print a completely new one - because I want the power car to tilt like all the other cars, and this chassis doesn't tilt - yet! Ross.
  21. I *finally* got my Dapol Hall body off the darned running gear!! Now that it is detached, the running gear all fits snugly under the County's body I've got some bits still to fix (not just the distortion around the rear steps), and I'm awaiting delivery of some brass inserts from China to allow me to use the normal Dapol bolts to secure everything, but I think it's coming along well. I have to finish designing the tender still, and I'll need to experiment on positioning the Dapol motor perfectly, so I can use the existing plastic driveshaft. And the electronics will be a complex integration effort to ensure I have pickup from all the wheels except the bogie, but I am happy with the progress so far. While I wait the couple of weeks for the brass inserts to arrive I'm going to get on with the tender, start on the N15 and continue with my APT-P. All good! Ross.
  22. I would also like to extend VERY big thank you to both Graham Muzpratt (Graham_Muz) and Kit Spackman (Mr_Tilt) here on the forum for their help so far in nailing down drawings and other reference material for my next two projects after the County;, an N gauge N15 "King Arthur" and the N gauge APT-P that I have started showing above. Thanks guys, your help is so very much appreciated! Ross.
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