Popular Post justin1985 Posted August 1, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted August 1, 2020 I've ended up buying quite a few things during that lockdown that are a bit of a distraction from my main modelling projects! I ended up giving in to curiosity and buying a T Gauge loco and circuit of track to have a play around with. One of the things I noticed was that T mechanisms run on 4.5V ... Which seemed ideal to power using a USB phone charger (5v), rather than buying one of the "official" battery/mains controllers. I got some of the dirt cheap PWM circuits from eBay, a DPDT switch, and stripped a USB cable. Result was pretty good, although the slightly larger circuit (with red knob) seemed to work much better at controlling the T Gauge mechanism at slower speeds - perhaps it has a different frequency for its PWM? The other thing I wanted to experiment with was 3D printing coaches and wagons. There is quite a good range of vinyl sides for generic clear plastic coach and multiple unit bodies out there, as well as a few Shapeways prints of bodies. But I wondered if I could do better using my Anycubic Photon UV resin printer, which seems to get more or less line-less prints since I fitted the Z axis upgrade. My first design is a Mk2E coach, to see if modelling the shape a little more realistically helps - I think the answer is yes! This is a test print where I did one side with some 0.1mm relief window frames, and the other side without. When I get the chance I'll laser print some full side waterslide decals and compare the results. Pretty pleased, considering the coach is only 4.5cm long! TGauge.com sell both plastic wheels and generic coach bogies with metal wheels, which are quite short wheelbase (which seems characteristic for Japan?). So I also tried printing a B4 bogie to suit the plastic wheels. This will need a bit of tweaking to the design to improve running tolerances as the wheel faces rub, but it seems like a promising start Justin 12 1 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMatthewson Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 Neat! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin1985 Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 Here's some progress with BR Mk2 Intercity coach test piece - the side in the first picture has some raised relief under the laser decal (unfortunately the decal is a bit distorted at the left hand side because I touched it when still wet with Microsol). The other side has no relief. I kind of think the raised relief looks better, even if it's over scale. What do you think? I left it on the print supports to hold it! I'll improve the design of the underframe details, add buffers, which I'd forgotten, and then I think it will be ready to make some final models! This test model was sprayed white and the decal was laser printed on clear film, with black rectangles traced from the CAD of the model to represent the windows. In reality the windows are heavily tinted, so I think this works well. I did also print a set of decals with clear windows, and a separate white layer, to keep transparent windows, but I don't think it would add much - especially as the "black" resin I used is not as translucent as I thought. I might try that approach with clear resin if I end up modelling any prototypes that had non-tinted windows though (like Mk1s). It's certainly been fun experimenting with T Gauge 4 1 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted August 10, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 10, 2020 Awesome, great job! I'd idly wondered about messing about in T with my printer, that looks great! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 I'd agree, the raised relief does look better if over scale. It makes it look more like a 3d model than just a 'box with decals on'. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidMatthewson Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 4 hours ago, justin1985 said: Here's some progress with BR Mk2 Intercity coach.... Fantastic workmanship! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin1985 Posted August 16, 2020 Author Share Posted August 16, 2020 I've got the Mk2 coach design ready to a point where I'm satisfied with it now. Here are two of the FO finished in Intercity livery, and another as a (NatEx era) Caledonian Sleeper lounge car (other side has two windows "plated"). I'm happy with the bogies now, even though it does seem to perhaps sit a bit high still. The next thing is to figure out a way of close coupling. The stock Arnold clone pushes the coaches a very long way apart, even with the coupling pocket printed as close to the axles as possible. I'm thinking along the lines of a tiny magnet (ordered some 1x0.5mm) inside the corridor connection, covered with a curved section to act as a pivot ... Justin 7 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marly51 Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 I’m very impressed with the detail you have achieved, Justin! Are you planning to create a scenic layout? Marlyn 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin1985 Posted October 14, 2020 Author Share Posted October 14, 2020 6 hours ago, Marly51 said: I’m very impressed with the detail you have achieved, Justin! Are you planning to create a scenic layout? Marlyn Many thanks Marlyn! Longer term I'd definitely like to put together a scenic layout, perhaps with Culloden viaduct as a focus. It would just be "watching trains go by" though, perhaps with some kind of automatic shuttle for trains to alternate. I got stumped on coming up with a coupling that got the coaches reasonably close together without locking the bogies together too solidly to negotiate curves, then got distracted back to my projects in 2mm scale. I've just come up with a new design for a pivoting 1mm magnet coupler (similar to the "Hunt" couplers available in N) which I'll try printing soon though. If I can get that sorted, I'll move on to the other coaches for the ScotRail sleeper! Justin 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marly51 Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 I’ll be fascinated to see your progress, Justin. Another Forum member has just sent me a copy of the drawings of Carrbridge Station, so I am going to have a go at producing a model which is still hopefully recognisable in such a small scale! We’ll see!!! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin1985 Posted October 28, 2020 Author Share Posted October 28, 2020 I've been playing around for a while with designs for a coupling that brings T gauge stock a bit closer together. I think I finally got something I'm happy with in the form of what's basically a magnet in a pocket with a stick with pip that fits a T gauge style coupler pocket. However, now I can run a train, it does show up the fact the cl.67 really struggles to haul them on curves (fine on straight track). I'm not at all sure whether the plastic wheel flanges might be striking the fishplates, whether the couplings are constraining rotation too much, or whether the curves are just too tight for the design. T was never going to be easy! It also shows up the fact that the RTR cl.67 must be a bit over scale, at least in height, seeing as I designed the mk.2s directly to scale at 1:450! All fun to experiment with anyway! J 2 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satan's Goldfish Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 Ref scale; before you mentioned the 67 being larger, I looked at your pic of the mk2 on the curve and thought it looked under scale compared to the track. Which is odd if you're spot on with the 1:450. Brilliant work though, hope you can resolve the discrepancy. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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