Atso

Excellent idea and one which will hopefully result in less time spent cleaning the model... Interesting to see the similarities to an injection moulded kit here.

Great modelling there! I like the saddle tank good use of FUD as well as a Terrier chassis! Did you do any post finishing work on the tank? The finish looks pretty smooth for a 3D print!

Hi Joseph, The basic structure can be scaled down as you suggest, however the wall thicknesses etc would all need to be adjusted manually to allow the resultant print to survive. I've done this in the past and on that particular CAD model spent almost as much time making it printable again after scaling as it would've taken me to design it from scratch...

Hi Andrew, The N1 looks excellent (I've got one to do in N at some point!). Mark has beaten me to it regarding the orientation of the model... I would recommend using FUD for some of the smaller items such as the chimney and smoke box door while taking advantage of Prime Grey for the main body.

Excellent work! I've got one to do in N gauge at some unspecified point in the future so getting a lot of inspiration from you model!

Re shorting out the wheels, could you etch a backing piece to the profile of the spokes and somehow get that to make electrical contact with both the tire and the axle? Some form of alignment could be printed onto the wheel center to ensure all lines up as it should... Alternatively, etch the entire wheel and solder up in layers - something I was thinking about a few years back but never got pass the armchair stage!

A quicker way of covering the wire trunks is to cover them with superglue and dip into talc. The mixture goes hard almost instantly and nicely hides the fact the trees are not made of wood!

It sounds like a design error to me too. In theory the printing process is accurate enough to ensure interference fits should work as designed. I tried laser cutting some wheel centers a little while back (never did make tyres for them though) and a 0.1mm interference fit was fine for the axles... The nice thing about 3D printing is that if you make a mistake its a case of modifying the design and re-printing - only the cost of the original prints is lost and not the cost of any tooling.

Hi Missy, They look good. Have you printed them in FUD or another material? I always wanted to print some wheels but didn't think FUD was strong enough and the other materials were not fine enough. Depending on how you get on I'll have to rethink that.... Also did you turn your own tyres?

Fantastic work Tom. Can't wait to see the fully finished version! Love the track work as well, I'm now very tempted to have a go with Easy Track for my new layout!

I would recommend that Frosted Ultra Detail is your friend here. The White Detail material is very coarse when compared and will struggle to print details below 0.3mm. Also the print depth of FUD is finer than either of the other two requiring less post printing clean up and smoothing.

Great layout! I remember seeing this layout over the last ten years or so and hope to see it again in a couple of weeks. Exceptionally good modelling here and it sets the standard to aspire to! CF MRC I've sent you a PM.

Simon, excellent work so far. I'm not a fan of Thompson locos (hence my modelling period is firmly set in the Gresley era) but I can appreciate a good project when I see one! Mr King has outdone himself with this kit and you've done a great job of applying it to a rather expensive rtr model. Re the valve gear: I think it looks more than acceptable. Does the comet V2 gear look better? Yes but looking at your locomotive as a whole I don't think your approach detracts from it at all. Personally I would be more worried about matching the blackening of the gear to that of the coupling rods. 10/10 for effort, keep up the great work. Although I don't often post yours is a must read blog and source of inspiration for me!

Why are you relettering Silver Fox as an LMS loco? The LMS never possessed any A4's (being an LNER loco).

Looking good there! Those bogies really to look the business!

Wow those look great! Looks like Shapeways has got the FUD issues largely sorted going on these - this is good as I've got some more stuff to order before the end of the year! Keep up the good work!

Some great looking models there Simon! Quick question about the O1, is it a kit or scratch build? If its a kit who's is it, I've never seen one modelled in N gauge before.

Heres a possible 4th solution http://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4369&hilit=split+axle

Nice work and good reference to one of my favourite films! Bet you didn't do it in 6 minutes though but yes you can cook!!!!

Looks like you've got a good selection to keep you busy! I've got a second hand Robinson L1 (GCR) to build at some point. It looks like most of the parts are there but its so badly assembled its untrue! Thinking of putting this on top of a Pannier or Jinty chassis as it looks better than the GP tank chassis suggested by Langley... Looking forward to seeing how you tackle the N brass kit, looking at the picture you've posted it should be a corker!!!

Looking very good there! B) Makes me think about some other 6 wheelers that made their way into LNER stock...

Hi Matt, Yes that's the picture! I'm hoping that it is slightly shorter as then I think I've got a suitable tender for my B12s! Look forward to seeing pictures! Thanks

Has anyone got one the Colin's Cauliflowers yet. If so any chance of some pictures? The tender looks to be of a new design with a shorter wheelbase, is this the case?

Looking good Will. I've never got on with Sketchup, nice to see what can be done with it! The windows appear to be solid, have you thought about modelling them open and glaze afterwards? I've just got some bits for Shapeways in FUD it looks very good although you can still see some of the build lines - its still a big step up for them.

Wow, Ultra detail! Could this be what we've all been waiting for from Shapeways!? I've just had some 'cheap' SLA's made up of which the quality reflects the price I paid (but better than SWF and detail materials!). Looking at Shapeways new material it looks like I could have got 6 models for the price I paid for three... and Shapeways's quality looks better!