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Great Southern Railway (Fictitious) - Signalling the changes...


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It has been pointed out that I have still not actually put up a photo of the finished SER D-ended wagon, so here it is! No further modelling progress to report at the moment.1324051036_Dendedwagon.png.88dd8a99fa7c4fb7c13201fdb6a3c221.png

 

The CAD work has now been updated to include all the end strapping details, and so it's just a case of actually painting up and sticking the three bits together again. This one will probably have most of its ends hidden under a tarpaulin - never throw away anything you can make a useful model from!
 

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I dare say they will be!

No sooner have I made a comment about not having made any modelling progress, than an opportunity to have much more modelling time appeared.

Three months ago (minus a week), I started work at a new employer, on a three-month trial period. Unfortunately, this morning, I was summoned to the CEO's office, and informed that it was felt that I'm "not a good fit for the company" and given my one-week's notice. Or rather, officially given my week's notice, before being escorted to collect my belongings and out of the building, as per company policy.

I'm... rather stunned, honestly.

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Perth was a good show, and I saw some lovely layouts (including one based on the Great Southern Railways of Ireland - almost! - and Rolvenden in P4, which was absolutely stunning. Was lovely to have a good chat with Caley Jim, too.

I managed to pick myself up what I think was a bit of a bargain - an unboxed Hornby GWR shunter's truck for £4. Sure, it was missing a tension-lock, hook, but...

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I have plans... First, lop off the Dean-Churchward brake lever. Next, fire up the CAD software, draw up a quick sketch, and set a test print going...

1156017702_GSRBrakeVan.png.0ea0d0751d0d154dce8d64af62138047.png

 

If this works, I'll add further detailing such as strapping, bolts, and planking...

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So the test-print worked, and fits on the chassis (although I made a slight error and drew the vehicle at 35mm width instead of 31.5mm... so a quick tweak of the CAD and some additional detailing, and I've set another test print going. I realised this morning that this will be the first completely-new piece of rolling stock for the Great Southern Railway, with all other models having been bashed-about RTR or static models.

 

230927797_GSRBrakeVanTestPrint1.jpg.0492287dc720b31da4fbb5880f85fad7.jpg

The updated version of the CAD is seen below. Hopefully, it should come out with less warping on the roof - I realised that I completely forgot to add any supports to the test print, which is why it's more than a little warped. I'm having to adjust to a new piece of slicing firmware (called ChiTuBox) in order to use the latest version of the printer firmware, and it seems to handle supports a little differently, so I'm having to re-learn that aspect. I'm getting there.

237225109_GSRBrakeVan2.png.4470811ebf4fbb14afce476442353999.png

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On 30/06/2019 at 12:46, Skinnylinny said:

....... Was lovely to have a good chat with Caley Jim, too.

What Linny fails to mention is that he brought along a 'discussion piece's, in the form of the previous night's product from his 3D printer. A 2mm scale version of his SECR wagon! All 4 of us on the 2MM SA stand were most impressed at the level of detail and the finish. Several lines of thought were set in motion and much discussion followed! :D

 

Jim 

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20 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

So the test-print worked, and fits on the chassis (although I made a slight error and drew the vehicle at 35mm width instead of 31.5mm... so a quick tweak of the CAD and some additional detailing, and I've set another test print going. I realised this morning that this will be the first completely-new piece of rolling stock for the Great Southern Railway, with all other models having been bashed-about RTR or static models.

 

230927797_GSRBrakeVanTestPrint1.jpg.0492287dc720b31da4fbb5880f85fad7.jpg

The updated version of the CAD is seen below. Hopefully, it should come out with less warping on the roof - I realised that I completely forgot to add any supports to the test print, which is why it's more than a little warped. I'm having to adjust to a new piece of slicing firmware (called ChiTuBox) in order to use the latest version of the printer firmware, and it seems to handle supports a little differently, so I'm having to re-learn that aspect. I'm getting there.

237225109_GSRBrakeVan2.png.4470811ebf4fbb14afce476442353999.png

 

Ingenious.  Look forward to seeing it assembled and painted. 

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Well, I added one to the collection of wagons for Linton. I know that pre-pooling, foreign wagons would be very much in the minority, but I still want to have one wagon of as many pre-grouping companies as possible "behind the scenes" - I like the idea of offering any visitors to Linton a (relatively) "local" wagon to their home to shunt.

I already have examples (albeit not all of them plausible for appearing on Linton, but that can be solved later) from: CR (Caledonian), Cam. Rys (Cambrian), GWR, HR, LBSCR, LNWR, LSWR, NBR, SER, SECR and, of course, GSR.

From the recently re-released range of Slaters 00 wagon kits, I have acquired a D299 open for a princely £9. Unfortunately, I forgot to make the modifications mentioned in Compound2632's thread, so the solebars stick out under the bufferbeams and the numberplates on the solebar are currently in the wrong place, which should be easily repaired. I'm not sure if it'll get rebuilt or replaced at some point - unfortunately a tarpaulin might hide poorly-done lettering but won't hide the solebars! Speaking of, it still needs lettering, but it is good to have these kits back on the market. I understand the MR open-ended brake van can be bashed into a passable SECR brake van, so might have to have a go, and I head that the 4mm carriages may be coming up for re-release soon...

D299.png.d006f9b92416724c8bbad539c6af2559.png

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7 minutes ago, Skinnylinny said:

Well, I added one to the collection of wagons for Linton. I know that pre-pooling, foreign wagons would be very much in the minority, but I still want to have one wagon of as many pre-grouping companies as possible "behind the scenes" - I like the idea of offering any visitors to Linton a (relatively) "local" wagon to their home to shunt.
 

 

Well, as you know I contend that there's a D299 to be spotted in every pre-grouping goods yard photo!

 

Re. SER brake vans based on the Midland design, that's the 6-wheel version, not the 4-wheel 10 ton brake van Slaters do. There was a rash of kit-bashes a year or more ago, using, I think, the Parkside late Midland/early LMS brake van as a starting point.

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That's helpful, thank you! Ah well, anyone want a Slaters MR brake van kit? :P

 

The D299 is now lettered up and drying out, awaiting a coat of matt varnish and a load of some sort. The number plates have been removed from their incorrect position on the solebar and replaced with the transfer in what is hopefully the right place. 

 

20190707_154452.jpg.631848f30dc17ca4a2bc10eeba2f9ca1.jpg

 

I've also started repainting my Oxford Adams Radial. Bought for only £40 at an exhibition, it runs ok. I'm choosing to keep the chimney as is, given Drummond's dislike of stovepipe chimneys, though have yet to decide which member of the class she shall become. Either way, I never did like Adams pea green on these locomotives, so... 

 

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20190707_154830.jpg.4cf1d9ba7cccf11d75c048fb34492f59.jpg

 

Much better! As a start, at least... 

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Hurrah! At long last, things are happening with the laser cutter. Tomorrow morning work will start on installing a fume extraction chimney, which will hopefully allow me and others to use the cutter at more reasonable hours of the day. 

 

The new blower arrived yesterday so I had to test that it will be strong enough. Video to be seen here:

 

https://usercontent.irccloud-cdn.com/file/Gn5wIkRK/IMG_2961.MP4

 

Also, having built and painted Killian"s lovely Jenny Lind, I realised that there's a distinct lack of suitable coaching stock. 

 

For a quick evening project, this hasn't turned out too shabby - it's based on a pre-Craven type 2A and while it's not hugely accurate I think it gives the feel. Now, if I can figure out how to do footboards and steps... 

 

20190707_231538.jpg.1b2b2b7a5c7ad1f52521f01d7f3fff98.jpg

Edited by Skinnylinny
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On 01/07/2019 at 11:02, Skinnylinny said:

I'm having to adjust to a new piece of slicing firmware (called ChiTuBox) in order to use the latest version of the printer firmware, and it seems to handle supports a little differently, so I'm having to re-learn that aspect. I'm getting there.

 

You only need to use ChiTuBox if you want to use the anti-aliasing feature. The original Photon Slicer will still work even with the new firmware, it just will not enable anti-aliasing. Another option is to add the supports in the Photon Slicer, save the resulting file as a stl file then import into ChiTuBox for final slicing with AA.

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Marvellous coach there, Linny!

 

I usually use plastic or brass angle for the footboards, to give the board a bit of rigidity. The problem being that most angled materials have both sides the same width, which rather spoils the illusion. But at least in plastic, it is possible to trim most of the backboard off while keeping just enough to stop the running board flexing.  Here's an early attempt where I didn't cut quite enough off the backboard side, but at least it shows the basic idea:

1981546779_Bachmanncoachrunningboards01.jpg.682d37eaa290f0835926ad6cb5bf7068.jpg

 

On this example I used staples for the (cosmetic) running board brackets - the running board was actually glued onto the axle boxes.  1339714109_Bachmanncoachrunningboards02.jpg.26e0cbd1e26d72dffc7046ba060b2ec7.jpg

 

BTW somewhere on an old memory stick I should have a SketchUp file of some running boards and brackets I did later for the Bachmann coaches.

 

Brilliant news about the laser cutter! If I can add to @Northroader's comment, I reckon that coach would look pretty good in 3.5 mm as well.

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3 hours ago, MikeTrice said:

You only need to use ChiTuBox if you want to use the anti-aliasing feature. The original Photon Slicer will still work even with the new firmware, it just will not enable anti-aliasing. Another option is to add the supports in the Photon Slicer, save the resulting file as a stl file then import into ChiTuBox for final slicing with AA.

 

That's very useful to know, thank you! The ChiTuBox slicer seems better at not putting auto-generated supports through solid walls of the model, but I've yet to have anything printed using the ChiTuBox supports actually stick to the supports. I'll have another go with the Photon slicer soon.

 

3 hours ago, Ian Simpson said:

Marvellous coach there, Linny!

 

I usually use plastic or brass angle for the footboards, to give the board a bit of rigidity. The problem being that most angled materials have both sides the same width, which rather spoils the illusion. But at least in plastic, it is possible to trim most of the backboard off while keeping just enough to stop the running board flexing.  Here's an early attempt where I didn't cut quite enough off the backboard side, but at least it shows the basic idea:

 

On this example I used staples for the (cosmetic) running board brackets - the running board was actually glued onto the axle boxes. 

 

BTW somewhere on an old memory stick I should have a SketchUp file of some running boards and brackets I did later for the Bachmann coaches.

 

Brilliant news about the laser cutter! If I can add to @Northroader's comment, I reckon that coach would look pretty good in 3.5 mm as well.

 

Staples and plastic angle sounds like the way to go, thank you. I'd be interested in seeing those running boards if you happen across the file - I've got seven or so of those Prussia carriages kicking around. The main reason I drew this coach up is because the Prussia coaches are so small, even in 3.5mm scale, that they look ridiculous in 4mm (although that being said, they're not too far off for some of the other early London & Brighton Railway coaches...)

I think she's already looking much better with a coat of paint. From research I've been able to work out that the likely livery was lake, but other than that this is pure conjecture:

883225965_2ACarriage.jpg.88674ee071914616aee51bfc2bd4f1a6.jpg

 

Meanwhile, there's a bloke abseiling down the building fitting a chimney for the laser cutter... There's still a bit of internal plumbing to be done, but it's looking promising...

 

Chimney.jpg.e4053b85470b35923450c7d247d39623.jpg

 

Edited by Skinnylinny
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On 07/07/2019 at 15:50, Skinnylinny said:

That's helpful, thank you! Ah well, anyone want a Slaters MR brake van kit? :P

 

I made an Isle of Wight Central Railway brake van from the Slater's MR kit. Made easier by the fact that the real thing was originally a Midland van! (Subsequently rebuild into double veranda form by the SR, which was how I modelled it)

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2 hours ago, Nick C said:

 

I made an Isle of Wight Central Railway brake van from the Slater's MR kit. Made easier by the fact that the real thing was originally a Midland van! (Subsequently rebuild into double veranda form by the SR, which was how I modelled it)

 

Also the Wemyss Private Railway. There seems to have been a bit of a second-hand trade in Midland rolling stock in the first decade or so of the last century.

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Thanks, Michael! I think they look even better painted and with roofs fitted! 

 

20190709_203703.jpg.30f93afe09f53bd85b4432c7f0c01c03.jpg

 

Work has started on the purple - brown lining on the Adams Radial too - enamel paint is making this necessarily slow going. 

 

20190709_203720.jpg.27f455d4f633c0fe7100d84ef047d368.jpg

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