Skinnylinny Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 (edited) All of the kit instructions are now available on my website for perusal, along with some basic CAD images of what the completed coaches will look like when built. Not the most professional-looking, but it'll do for now! Tomorrow evening I'm hoping to start cutting out some kits ready to sell to you lot! Edited April 8, 2018 by Skinnylinny 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8, 2018 I know you've got your hands full at the moment Linny, but will there eventually be 7mm scale kits available too? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 I'll see what I can do, Annie. They'd need a little bit of a re-work but it should be possible to convert these to 7mm. It would be much easier to just make the bodies available as I don't have any coarse O wheels available to work with at the moment. The NWR milk van is awaiting a chassis from Progress Products but should be able to get onto that shortly after the chassis arrives. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 8, 2018 I know you've got your hands full at the moment Linny, but will there eventually be 7mm scale kits available too? The 4mm kits look great Linny. Like Annie I’d be in the market for a couple of the 4-wheelers in 7mm too at some point - not sure how they’d find their way to Cumbria for use on a light railway, but I reckon they’d do nicely :-) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 I suspect that in 7mm they'd need to be a mix of laser-cut card and laser-cut wood, as I don't think 1mm card would be strong enough for the chassis, while 2mm MDF wouldn't allow the flex needed to form the tumblehome. I'll definitely have a play around once I've got settled with my Stroudleys (which sounds like a bad reality TV program, "Settled with the Stroudleys") 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8, 2018 I think initially Linny just the coach bodies in card would be fine; - or at least for me anyway as I have suitable coarse scale 'O' underframes to hand that could be adapted. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NeilHB Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 8, 2018 Card bodies would also be fine with me Linny - I’d be scratchbuilding the chassis to suit anyway. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 8, 2018 A different business model might be to sell the drawings and the instructions, with purchasers making their own arrangements for cutting, otherwise you may end up with your hobby becoming cutting and designing panelled coach bodies for other people, in a parallel with the late Trevor Charlton. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8, 2018 Some folk won't have access to laser cutting machines though Simon. I live waaaaaaaay out in the rural countryside and I'm housebound as well so I would really need to have a proper kit. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 8, 2018 Author Share Posted April 8, 2018 (edited) A different business model might be to sell the drawings and the instructions, with purchasers making their own arrangements for cutting, otherwise you may end up with your hobby becoming cutting and designing panelled coach bodies for other people, in a parallel with the late Trevor Charlton. I'm usually at the Hacklab about once a week anyway, so cutting a few kits during that evening while doing other things isn't that time-consuming. I can leave the machine to do the work as long as I'm about just in case the workpiece catches fire. I'll probably produce them in batches anyway, as that will reduce the amount of time spent setting up the machine for each job. I'm aware that some people have Silhouette cutters (generally a decent laser cutter big enough and powerful enough to produce much of use will set you back somewhere in the order of £500-2000) but I have to admit I've not been quite so impressed with the Silhouette when it comes to really fine beading. Besides, if I do the cutting, I'm not opening myself up to complaints of "Your file doesn't work with my machine!" - I can't provide technical support for machines I don't own and have no experience with. I have made the files available to one or two trusted individuals to try with Silhouette cutters, and generally the files were either not as good as what I could produce on this machine, or needed tweaking to cut at all. I don't mind spending a bit of time drawing up files - I spend a fair amount of time travelling by train which is perfect for CAD work - an hour or two of uninterrupted time to work - but not so ideal for actual physical building. Edited April 8, 2018 by Skinnylinny 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 8, 2018 Some folk won't have access to laser cutting machines though Simon. I live waaaaaaaay out in the rural countryside and I'm housebound as well so I would really need to have a proper kit.There are an increasing number of people who have these devices: chances are you know one. I don’t know how much work is involved in turning this into something which could instruct a cutter such as a cameo or cricut, but that is another option. You might say that this is an expensive way to produce things, but given that you are in NZ, it might be cheaper to buy a cutter and raw materials. It won’t long before these sorts of machines are found in many homes, and there will be people selling designs and not products. It’s happening already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted April 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 8, 2018 I actually own a cutter Simon, but with the cognitive deficits I'm afflicted with due to narcolepsy I can't use it. Anyone want to buy a brand new hardly ever been used Silhouette cutter? - coz I've got one going cheap Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 9, 2018 Author Share Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) Well, it's nearly half past eleven, and that's me nearly halfway through my first batch of coaches. I'm planning on producing coaches in batches of four (which uses a known number of whole sheets of card, making my life easier), although the first batch of brake coaches is eight, as they will likely be the most popular, being needed at each end of the train.I've made a small modification to the brake 3rd coach, to make assembling the ducket accurately easier, so I'll need to modify the instructions accordingly.If I'm awake enough by the time I've finished this large batch, there'll be more photos. Meanwhile, the first order has been placed, packaged and will be being sent out tomorrow. Linny's Laser Cut Card Coaches is open for business! *yawns* Edited April 9, 2018 by Skinnylinny 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 10, 2018 Author Share Posted April 10, 2018 Well, I got a little distracted last night, and it got to 3:30am before I noticed the time and decided to call it a night. However, the first batch of kits is now available to order, either by sending me a PM on here or through the contact form on my website.I've decided to offer the kits to the readers of this thread a week or so before I put them on eBay as a way to say thank you to everyone who's been so supportive of this project. Once again, the coaches available are: 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 11, 2018 Author Share Posted April 11, 2018 A quiet night down at the model railway club last night, but a pleasant surprise as one of the members brought in a coach kit he'd built, which he thought might be of interest to me... I'd passed on a kit for the Stroudley 3rd to him, after he expressed an interest in what I was building at the workbench. The buffers are Bachmann sprung ones, and the kit has been modified to accept scale coupling hooks. Door ventilators are still to be fitted (I hadn't written the instructions when I gave him the kit, so he wasn't sure what they were!) but it's exciting (and in some ways humbling) to see my own work being built by someone else. And a very fine job he's made of it too! 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurboSnail Posted April 11, 2018 Share Posted April 11, 2018 A quiet night down at the model railway club last night, but a pleasant surprise as one of the members brought in a coach kit he'd built, which he thought might be of interest to me... What are the running qualities like? Sure it's easy enough to add weight to. Incidentally, Budgie on the P Class page has just posted "I would love a set or three of SECR livery 4-wheelers. Who can we persuade to make them?". Not that you have enough to do already... 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 13, 2018 Author Share Posted April 13, 2018 (edited) It runs rather well - without much weight it seems to mostly hold the track, and with the pinpoint bearings it rolls very freely. I'd expect with more weight added it'll be a very sweet runner.I'm taking a short break from coaches (specifically the bogie ones) while I play around with a few ideas. In the meantime, this LBSCR D81 horsebox has made an appearance on the virtual workbench. The prototype of a side shows that the thing can be assembled although my usual method of "smear everything with PVA glue!" doesn't work so well so this was assembled carefully with superglue applied with a piece of wire. I still need to engrave the ventilators on the top doors, but this shows that planking can be engraved well enough, as can door frames on future models... This kit of parts took a lot of supervision of the laser cutter with several parts needing to be cut twice, simply due to the large number of very thin parts. I don't know if this one will make it to general availability. It would certainly need a lot of work. Edited April 16, 2018 by Skinnylinny 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted April 13, 2018 Share Posted April 13, 2018 The question is, as always: 'Ah Much d'yer wan' fer won? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 13, 2018 Author Share Posted April 13, 2018 Haha I don't know if this one will be for general sale - the thinner parts are really pushing the cutter to its limits - the beading on the top doors took four attempts to cut out properly! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Shame... Is there any way you could make it, perhaps with a couple of compromises, so that it can be offered for sale? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skinnylinny Posted April 14, 2018 Author Share Posted April 14, 2018 I'll look into it definitely. This has lots of tiny fiddly parts but doesn't need a tumblehome forming, so you can build up the sides in the flat. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sem34090 Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 I will have to get one! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 Can I enter an appeal for a version with all dimensions increased by the ratio 7/4? The parts might be less fragile in that size. Kevin 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BlueLightning Posted April 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 14, 2018 (edited) I just want to take a moment to publicly praise the service delivered by "Linny's Laser-cut coaches"! These arrived with me very quickly, and very professionally packed, and are excellent quality! The photos on here really do not do the kits justice! Well done Linny!! Gary Edited April 14, 2018 by BlueLightning 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted April 14, 2018 Share Posted April 14, 2018 (edited) Shame... Is there any way you could make it, perhaps with a couple of compromises, so that it can be offered for sale? May I suggest finding a Triang horsebox sem, like the one I turned into a luggage van for my light railway train? Might be enough as while it's not identical it does look similar. I just want to take a moment to publicly praise the service delivered by "Linny's Laser-cut coaches"! 2018-04-13 14.39.26.jpg These arrived with me very quickly, and very professionally packed, and are excellent quality! The photos on here really do not do the kits justice! Well done Linny!! Gary Good to see they turned out great! Good luck Linny! Hope your little business does well! Edited April 14, 2018 by RedGemAlchemist 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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