Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[chuffinghell]

52 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

It's worse. You've got to have post and wire fencing.  🥺

 

 

 

Very true, luckily I didn’t have to do very much and I don’t need to do anymore.

 

I don’t dislike post and wire fencing. What I meant was “I dislike making post and wire fencing the same as you dislike buses on bridges”

[stevel]

5 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Thanks for your input, @stevel, it's good to know that someone has been carrying out some independent experiments. I don't have a printer, but I'm sure that information might be useful and make more immediate sense to @chuffinghell

Only started printing last September, deliberately pushing the boundaries to see what was possible, and what was not. Finally getting some good results which I should share on here. Here is an example, of the GWR S5 fish wagon.

[Regularity]

2 minutes ago, stevel said:

Only started printing last September, deliberately pushing the boundaries to see what was possible, and what was not. Finally getting some good results which I should share on here. Here is an example, of the GWR S5 fish wagon.

That’s come out very well: nicely detailed without and ribbing.

[MrWolf]

7 minutes ago, chuffinghell said:

 

Very true, luckily I didn’t have to do very much and I don’t need to do anymore.

 

I don’t dislike post and wire fencing. What I meant was “I dislike making post and wire fencing the same as you dislike buses on bridges”

 

I'm with you on that one. I think that I prefer making the real thing.

[Winslow Boy]

The 2ay things are going I can see if it hasn't already happened, that somebody will set themselves up as a supplier of designs of rolling stock etc that can be downloaded by purchasers for them to print off. 

 

Eventually replacing the likes of Hornby etc and cutting out the middleman/person- whatever.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Winslow Boy

[MrWolf]

17 minutes ago, stevel said:

Only started printing last September, deliberately pushing the boundaries to see what was possible, and what was not. Finally getting some good results which I should share on here. Here is an example, of the GWR S5 fish wagon.

 

That does look good, the definition is very crisp. A couple of questions if I may.

Are you finding that printed buffers are up to the job?

Are you finding that the six wheelers will only go through long radius points if built rigid?

Mine derail at anything else, I didn't make them and was thinking either s floating centre axle / Cleminson arrangement or just be lazy in and machine off the centre flanges.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by MrWolf
Clarity

[MrWolf]

4 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

The 2ay things are going I can see if it hasn't already happened, that somebody will set themselves up as a supplier of designs of rolling stock etc that can be downloaded by purchasers for them to print off. 

 

Eventually replacing the likes of Hornby etc and cutting out the middleman/person- whatever.

 

Quite possible, in the same way that card kits can be bought, downloaded and printed on a conventional printer. The only downside for the manufacturer is that the customer could print off hundreds, unless there's a means of transmitting a single one use file?

[stevel]

1 minute ago, MrWolf said:

 

That does look good, the definition is very crisp.

Are you finding that printed buffers are up to the job?

Are you finding that the six wheelers will only go through long radius points if built rigid? Mine detail at anything else, I didn't make them and was thinking either s floating centre axle / Cleminson arrangement or just be lazy in and machine off the centre flanges.

Right now I am just printing, and experimenting with wagons etc. Don't have anywhere too run them yet, Will soon be starting on a small test bed, and we will see how they behave, P4 track maybe more forgiving than 00 I don't yet know, but I need to sort it, because of the six wheel coaches i need to run as well. I am trying out a floating centre axle with springs. I am not going to print the complete buffers, they are printed to take metal inserted heads.

[stevel]

17 minutes ago, Regularity said:

That’s come out very well: nicely detailed without and ribbing.

You can still see the print lines (ribbing) with the right light, but can't see them with a coat of primer.

[MrWolf]

Thanks, that's very useful to know. P4 might have tighter tolerances than 00, but it has the advantage of much gentler curves and finer flanges. I find that the old K's 6 wheel low Siphons (scale wheels) cope fine with Peco code 100 if the curves are sensible.

[MrWolf]

Typical of sod's law, some more pictures of GWR number 23 have turned up, from when she was number 15 on the M&SWJR.

 

 

Below is one of two similar Beyer Peacocks supplied to Egypt c1911.

 

 

The brake gear etc is quite clear in this picture. Note the rear sandboxes look very much like those fitted to later GWR engines.

[Winslow Boy]

8 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Quite possible, in the same way that card kits can be bought, downloaded and printed on a conventional printer. The only downside for the manufacturer is that the customer could print off hundreds, unless there's a means of transmitting a single one use file?

 

That would probably be reflected in the price I think either that or something like what the various software packages have where they need a code to unlock and stop working after a certain amount of time. Definitely an business opportunity I think. What the 'big boys' reaction would be I don't know? Would they follow suit or see it was a passing fad?

 

So if you and Chris decide to set yourself up I'd like 10% of whatever you make please as it was my idea.

[BroadLeaves]

People of all stripes will still pay for convenience. While the price is coming down, for some people the cost of the printer and the resin is still more than they spend overall on rolling stock. Once you start getting into coaches rather than wagons, then glazing becomes an issue. I've never seen any 3D printed clear plastic, but maybe it's possible?

Never say never, but I think the RTR manufacturers are safe for a while. 3D printing the wagon is just the start. It still needs wheels and more importantly, at the very least painting and for most people, livery application too. Those require some significant skill and cost to get a result on a par with modern production techniques.

Don't get me wrong, I think the things that @chuffinghell and @stevel (and, I'm sure others on here) have produced are absolutely amazing, but they need a level of skill and dedication that most people simply don't have.

[MrWolf]

You have a point there, but with simple four wheeled wagons in RTR form hitting the £40 mark, I think that those who have less disposable income, or different priorities will always turn our hands to building our own. 

In our case, we're a good way off poor, but to put it into perspective, £40 buys all the weekly shopping for two of us and the house.

Nobody is born a skilled anything. Skills are learnt and practised, it's the only way to get good at anything.

Dedication is often born out of necessity, particularly if you want something that you can't afford straight off the shelf. That was what pushed me to learn the skills necessary to restore vintage vehicles.

I can understand that not everyone wants to do that and is happy to buy everything, it's nice to be in a position to do so, but there's plenty of people who can't so they develop and hone their skills to do so.

 

A good way to do that is by building the cheaper kits.

 

[Captain Kernow]

On 23/05/2022 at 18:47, MrWolf said:

Strange that the mortar hardly shows up in these photos. I do need to blend in the base of the building to the ground.

Anyone know a neat way to do it?

I've done the old cling film trick in the surrounding plaster or DAS landscape and it has generally served me OK.

 

 

Due to it's size and weight, the plastercast Townstreet goodshed is the only removable building on this scenic board. Weeds etc. have yet to be added on the far side (at the time of the photo, it was waiting for me to paint the granite setts, which I subsequently did).

 

Sometime, though, you might want to put a building on an already-completed ground surface (one is entitled to change one's plans!), under which circumstances I have a marked reluctance to disturb the existing ground surface too much.

 

Plant and weed growth, long grass etc. can help in such situations, especially where there is a slight gap between the bottom of the new building and the existing ground.

 

I've also come to the conclusion that you can over-do the grass and weeds etc., as the real railway, even towards the end would have an annual spray of weedkiller (although not necessarily right at the end of the line's life, immediately prior to closure).

 

I've recently added a weighbridge building and weighbridge to Callow Lane, where there was before no weighbridge (sorry, no photos at the moment because I am currently under the yoke of a horrible non-Covid virus at the moment).

 

I tend to glue all my buildings in position now, to minimise faffing about at shows etc..

 

The weighbridge office has now been glued in position and some green stuff put in place.

 

Where there are still (deliberate) gaps, I am going to mix some PolyFilla tinted with 'ground' colour to match what's already there and carefully apply that between the gap with a fine paintbrush.

 

We'll see how it all turns out in due course!

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Captain Kernow

[Regularity]

32 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

Nobody is born a skilled anything. Skills are learnt and practised, it's the only way to get good at anything.

Dedication is often born out of necessity, particularly if you want something that you can't afford straight off the shelf.

Hear hear!

[Regularity]

7 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

although not necessarily right at the end of the line's life, immediately prior to closure

One would hope not, although I suspect it did happen…

 

A slightly cynical doctor I worked with in the 90s noticed that hospitals usually got a repaint just before becoming NHS trusts. Meant the expenditure wasn’t going to come out of the new organisation’s budget…

[BroadLeaves]

3 hours ago, MrWolf said:

but with simple four wheeled wagons in RTR form hitting the £40 mark,

You must be shopping in the expensive part of town! I was thinking of this sort of thing:

https://uk.Hornby.com/products/6-plank-wagon-burnyeat-brown-co-era-2-r60025

for £19.49, compared to 

https://peco-uk.com/collections/wagon-van-and-underframe-kits/products/rch-1923-design-7-plank-coal-wagon

which is just £7.24 cheaper. Once you've costed in the paint and glue (which, certainly, can be used for multiple kits once you've bought them), the savings are even less.

Sure, if you want to build a kit because you enjoy it, or you want something that is unique to you, then those are entirely valid reasons for doing so. I'm just not seeing a huge financial benefit in building from a kit, and there's a lot of people who wouldn't want to go to that effort just to save £7.

[Captain Kernow]

30 minutes ago, BroadLeaves said:

You must be shopping in the expensive part of town! I was thinking of this sort of thing:

https://uk.Hornby.com/products/6-plank-wagon-burnyeat-brown-co-era-2-r60025

for £19.49, compared to 

https://peco-uk.com/collections/wagon-van-and-underframe-kits/products/rch-1923-design-7-plank-coal-wagon

which is just £7.24 cheaper. Once you've costed in the paint and glue (which, certainly, can be used for multiple kits once you've bought them), the savings are even less.

Sure, if you want to build a kit because you enjoy it, or you want something that is unique to you, then those are entirely valid reasons for doing so. I'm just not seeing a huge financial benefit in building from a kit, and there's a lot of people who wouldn't want to go to that effort just to save £7.

Well, I'd certainly go for the 'Peco' product (which is really a Parkside kit) over the Hornby equivalent each and every time - probably cheaper and much more enjoyable to assemble, plus the knowledge that it's much more likely to be an accurate model of your chosen wagon.

 

[Captain Kernow]

I bought one of these the other day - https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/71484/907010-Rapido-D1355-7-plank-open---BR-noS28942

 

Really superb detail. Will assess it's suitability for conversion to P4 in due course, but hopefully straightforward, as there are only two brakeshoes to thin down!

 

[MrWolf]

What do most people do when they have bought RTR though? Paint the bits that it wasn't viable for the manufacturer to do, weather it, change the numbers, add a load or a sheet, change the wheels, change the couplings add brake details etc.

So you kind of end up with one of those Slater's / Powsides kits that has had the sides and frames stuck together.

An RTR iron mink or GWR 4 plank is about £28 with the kind of details being put into kits and the homespun.

 

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, MrWolf said:

What do most people do when they have bought RTR though? Paint the bits that it wasn't viable for the manufacturer to do, weather it, change the numbers, add a load or a sheet, change the wheels, change the couplings add brake details etc.

 

Most? D'y'think?

[MrWolf]

1 minute ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Most? D'y'think?

 

Maybe just the majority of people on here.

[Compound2632]

28 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

Maybe just the majority of people on here.

 

Well, in this little corner.

[PaulaDoesTrains]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

What do most people do when they have bought RTR though?

 

 

I put it on the layout and have fun shunting it around with one of my fleet of Class 08s :)