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

Skinnylinny
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Skinnylinny

Skinnylinny

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Ever have one of those evenings where nothing quite goes to plan? Last night, just as I was starting to get into the swing of laser cutting, the machine started making horrible grinding noises. After some emergency maintenance was carried out (by someone more qualified than me!) the cutter works but suddenly seems more powerful (after a beam focus) meaning that all my work was scorching and burning a lot. I'll go back to the machine in a bit once I'm a bit less grumpy with it, and hopefully I'll get some better results this time...

It's frustrating, because I only need to cut out a couple of rooves and some solebar overlays, and I'll have completed my first and second coaches... 

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Skinnylinny

Skinnylinny

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I've had that feeling against computers since Sunday, as so far they have collaborated in several locations to prevent work on Derwent, and time is now seriously running out.

I'm having good experiences with SketchUp just now - is there anything I can do to help?

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sem34090

sem34090

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Not much that I think you can help with I'm afraid, though I'll send you the file and see what you make of it. I fear the file may be corrupted, but as my desktop is away with someone to have a load of train sim content downloaded (we have an internet dongle - 20gb goes very quickly through TS downloads) until tomorrow, and my laptop now refuses to run sketchup I am now seriously pushing both my own and James' timescale.

 

I may also forward you details of what needs doing to the files.

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Skinnylinny

Skinnylinny

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Well, the first two (the D44 Brake 3rd and the D43 Third) kits are cut, sorted and bagged up. I had a long night fighting with the laser cutter, so probably won't be test-building tonight, but I hope to have the instructions and all the bits ready over the long weekend and have these built and ready for sale by the weekend after next. It's taken a surprising amount of work to modify these from one-off kits into something that can be churned out to some extent and should survive the Royal Mail! I still need to work out pricing, but they'll certainly be less than half the price of an equivalent etched kit (although, granted, there'll be a few extra bits to buy for mine...)

 

post-793-0-90491600-1522223846_thumb.jpg

 

Fresh off the laser cutter! And below, what you get in each kit: A common chassis kit in 1mm card, a thin card roof and chassis detailing sheet, the coach superstructure in 1mm card, and a sheet of beading and body detailing bits.

 

post-793-0-23981800-1522223752_thumb.jpg post-793-0-41174700-1522223765_thumb.jpg

 

Bits you will need to get elsewhere:

  • Stroudley buffers and lamps (if required) from 5&9 Models
  • 14mm Mansell wheels and pinpoint bearings
  • Grab handles (I like Roxey Mouldings' etched LB&SCR grab handles as they can be attached after painting and remain a nice shiny brass colour)
  • Couplings of your choice.
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Skinnylinny

Skinnylinny

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Ah, yes, of course! I've not been able to find any current suppliers of LB&SCR carriage lettering transfers. When I spoke to Mike Waldron (formerly of EB Models) last year about some LB&SCR wagon transfers, he intimated that he might be working on some lettering transfers for Stroudley/Billinton coaches "when time permits". I've just dropped him an email to ask if there's been any progress on these, but I'm aware he's retired from EB Models now, so it's probably not the top of his list of priorities!

[Edit: The Stroudley/Billinton lettering transfers are being worked on but there's no definite date just yet]

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Edwardian

Edwardian

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Linny, this is excellent news.  Well done!

 

If I interpret the pictures correctly, the Brake Third has the original full-width sheeted projections?

 

IIRC the old K's versions have the cut down, beaded ones.  Might you do these at some point?

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Skinnylinny

Skinnylinny

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How much do you plan for the kits to cost, and how much for a set of four? I may need to invest! Also, how are we to purchase these?

 

I'm still working out prices, but almost certainly £10 or under for a coach (compare £33 for a Roxey Mouldings etched one!). The plan is to sell through eBay to save having to set up an online shop, although if people want to buy direct through RMWeb PMs, paying through PayPal, I could probably manage that.

 

Linny, this is excellent news.  Well done!

 

If I interpret the pictures correctly, the Brake Third has the original full-width sheeted projections?

 

IIRC the old K's versions have the cut down, beaded ones.  Might you do these at some point?

 

Thank you.  :) Indeed you're right, I'm going for the sheeted projections rather than the beaded ones. I could be tempted to do the beaded ones but they'd need a bit of thinking to get the laminated card layers (necessary for the beading) to curve nicely. They'd likely be quite fiddly.

I'm also looking into producing the thirds with partial-height compartment dividers, and the longer, single quarterlight rather than two separate ones as per this drawing. I need to go for another dive into my Big Book of Stroudley Coaches!

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Edwardian

Edwardian

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I'm still working out prices, but almost certainly £10 or under for a coach (compare £33 for a Roxey Mouldings etched one!). The plan is to sell through eBay to save having to set up an online shop, although if people want to buy direct through RMWeb PMs, paying through PayPal, I could probably manage that.

 

 

Thank you.  :) Indeed you're right, I'm going for the sheeted projections rather than the beaded ones. I could be tempted to do the beaded ones but they'd need a bit of thinking to get the laminated card layers (necessary for the beading) to curve nicely. They'd likely be quite fiddly.

I'm also looking into producing the thirds with partial-height compartment dividers, and the longer, single quarterlight rather than two separate ones as per this drawing. I need to go for another dive into my Big Book of Stroudley Coaches!

 

Oh, the more the merrier!

 

The book includes Billinton block sets, too!

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sem34090

sem34090

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£10 or under?! WOW!

I'd best invest then, when I can, especially if under £10. I can manage that. If I can get three or more coaches for the price of a Roxey one then I'm in! I will most likely buy through Ebay in that case. I need to get wheels and buffers anyway, the same goes for transfers (though I may create these myself) and paint, but that should still bring the rake under £50 by some margin, and I can manage that. I thought the Smallbrook ones were reasonably priced, but these are much better for my purposes at any rate.

 

May I ask what other stock you've considered?

 

Also, I've had an idea with regards transfers and liveries. As I have the CAD, I can produce a liveried coach side, to cover the whole coach, split into the required sections. If I were to produce this to be cut by, say, a silhouette, then your kits could perhaps include a sheet of paper with the livery printed on, and cut, ready to be stuck to the model if the modeller desires. I have already done some LSWR and LBSCR stock, with quite pleasing results, so it may be something to consider.

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Skinnylinny

Skinnylinny

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Sadly pre-printed sides wouldn't work very well - the best way I've found so far of attaching the beading is to cover the whole side piece in a thin layer of neat PVA, then carefully lay the beading onto that and positioning it before pressing it down firmly. This means that there is a shiny layer of glue in any recessed panelling, The beading itself is too delicate to apply glue to, especially the end beading, which a quick check with my vernier calipers tells me has beading 0.35mm wide - roughly a scale inch. If you apply the glue to this, the very thin card soaks it up very quickly and becomes wet and floppy, making it next to impossible to get straight beading. This will all be covered in the instructions... :P

Gary (BlueLightning) has experimented with a Silhouette cutter and plasticard, but the CAD files I produced were made taking into account the laser beam width, so I think his beading has come out a little thicker than mine. I don't know whether paper (photographic paper) would cut down to this size accurately enough? You're welcome to try, but I'm trying to keep the cost of these kits as low as possible for now, to entice more people to try them out. Messing up a £10 card coach kit is less daunting than a £30 brass one, and most of us have had experience with PVA glue. To be honest, bits of the assembly (I'm thinking laminating the beading on) could probably be done with a Pritt Stick!

So far I've not considered much other stock - this was very much an experiment to see if the thing could be done. It looks like it can, but I want to get one product (I know this is four, but they share a lot of common parts!) completed before I start looking at more, otherwise I'll get distracted and make no progress with anything! :P

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