Robert Shrives

"And that is the rub" It is just not possible to please most people some of the time... Oh the joys of 3mm! Mind you when you look at 4mm with a number of gauges and standards ending in P4 and even 7mm O gauge can mount 3 in scale 7 and even in Gauge one the scales differ so affecting gauge but this is often accommodated at track level. I would have suspected that a triang standards 12mm turnout would be the modal option. Society bullhead would seem the best option to make use of current resources. While it excludes FB points we should aim to make something to keep true to the aims of finding obscure scales and modelling them! I think my dream of a super triang point will just have to the nightmare maker for the committee. For my final ten penth rather than a crossover a double slip and matching diamond would allow complexties to dream of but have some common parts? A tandem turnout would add icing on a cake for fiddle yards and those freight yards of old. ( Easy to spend somebody else`s money!) Robert

Happily painted and rewheeled, pics show the home spun split pin and rod couplings and the right way up. Some more fiddling with silver and dark greys then glue containers on and add numbers, a drubble of coal and matt black/ dark matt greys inside the boxes. Along with oil containers and a orange container as a barrier then I can muster a good train for A or 141 haulage when the time comes. I am still on the out look for any good pics of the coal containers used. Robert

Agreed IFM , limited availability so a good find. From an era before designed thinner resin around windows shows from the angled low level pics - sort of T72 thickness armour ! Next game will be to file a zillion bits of clear plastic to flush glaze! at least the TPO is achievable. Have to add are the buffers a tad generous in the diameter department? lovely models regardless and thanks for showing. Robert

Hi Such is the broad church of the 3mm society that getting a single standard is not going to happen, hence the committee favouring a 14.2 turnout as one standard in place. Creating a turnout to Triang only equally "disenfranchises" a majority, however the 14.2 point opens a fine scale way for many with a big leap forward in the reliability stakes and thus was the right descision. What is fun to read on here , the I.O. 3mm forum and FB pages is the repeated " I was gifted a load of Triang TT, what can I get for it now and "wow" it still runs well like I remembered as a child." Thus it remains a great stepping stone into 3mm and as we have also read on here it shows up where the 3mm scale is very much a "have to make" scale -regardless of gauge/ track standard. But availabilty of parts is a two edged sword - cottage industry supply rates and limited range that is however by entrants measured against 2 , 4 and 7 mm ranges of detail and basic kits, knowing rtr is not on the menu. The fact that the society membership when quizzed about a Mk1 coach as a potential rtr project failed to grasp the potential good was a shock to me but a measure of the many pressures that on reflection affect members, with finance, choice of modelling already in hand, age and a million other factors in each persons case does mean that having a good support of Triang does offer the best way of getting new or changers into this happy backwater of the hobby and then gently showing alternative paths. Without the support of Triang style/ standard products to maintain and upgrade then getting 3mm modelling to survive another 50 years might well be a big problem, not compared to all the world problems of course but just looking in our little backyard! Gets coat and heads back to the bench- currently trying to sort mixed boxes of TT stuff so i might even find what I want.. Robert

RM articles very good and show our scale/gauge combination off very well and the cover photo does not give any clues away with signature 3mm signs. In fact none of the pictures used could be said to say 3mm. Which begs several questions.. Does the hobby aspire to visual conviction- yes for me and so sales and gauges are only relevant to making a convincing scene. If Mike had had a 30 foot shed would this be better or just bigger in 7mm ? Equally Rob Brown with his layout is a great showcase with his micro both masters of the task. Many a model seen in mags have conviction issues with track, couplings and scenic features that jar or shout NEM coupling pockets or peco points with the upstand on the tiebar or US sleeper spacing on your Ashburton evocation track. However the root of the hobby is to provide enjoyment, however achieved, for the model maker so to decry efforts is wrong and each to their own and if an anachronism spotted means you aspire not to repeat the feature then that has to be good for the hobby, surely? As 3mm modellers should we aim to hide our lights under bushells as we are such a niche band with perhpaps 600 souls involved? This model is 12mm gauge but looks good and clearly reads as a good runner and an inspiration to all scales - one of the reasons and purpose it get the accolade of "Railway of the month." Robert

Agreed ! I had wondered if it was too much a task to create a "mainline" turnout in the style of Triang or at least to triang b track sleepering geometry so it/ they could be simply be added to the catalogue T. xxxx with a turnout the length of a double straight. Certainly however a 12mm gauge point to Society sleepering style would please many but as Wayne has found it then creates an unstoppable rush of demands for a "standard 3 waycompounddoubleoutside slipturnout with traps" combined for a tenner price tag. The problem is how to describe the turnout as modelers refer in equal amounts to the radius of the curved leg but others the crossing angle and the real ones can have differing crossing angles for the same radius, so whatever is made cannot ever satisfy the market. Peco overcame this with giving vague notation as med and long radius to its points thus muddying even more. I would not want to be in Wayne`s shoes, but he has tod a welcome path for many- a big thanks is due to him for having the eye to move on from his firstNgauge work - some I have here in my flat. happy modelling in 3mm! Robert

Certainly a Crosville one, the Porthmadog based one on the Ffestiniog Harbour station sub depot ... SNL 578/ SNL579 as regular inmates. Also Shrink ray a critical part of project, allowing Farish ones to be used at back of layout ( small= far away Father Ted.) I wonder who will be first to chop up into the 140 or the family of horrors - the 4 wheel narrow bodied railbuses that were created in the name of research - I guess into how roughly can a passenger vehicle ride and the passengers survive! Robert

Two picks of some progress with Ballina coal container traffic as routed on Western Corridor to and from Foynes. IFM 3D print bodies and Provincal wagons 20 foot container flat. Kaydees on end and a simple pin and loop between the rest. Wagons need just a bit more work on brake dangly bits but all will push and pull through 2nd rad Hornby set track reverse curves . Just need some good pics of containers for identifying nos and any gen on actual wagon numbers to allow a bit of factual stuff . Digs on interweb, books and vids do not have the clarity of wagons so open to offers ! This pic shows most of rake and a lima Mk2 in NIR livery looking for a hunslet in rtr...

Hi The small team of casting elves who met pre covid were working through a production plan with some new items but Covid restrictions put paid to the casting work- but from what I have read good news soon. The big problem is that the shop keeper is retiring end of this year and while members happy to buy no one has yet signed on the dotted line for replacing the good gentleman. Many reasons no doubt ,mine being in full time work and flat tennancy ( even if i had room) does not allow trading to take place. Also by my choice I am not a car driver so the ability to transport and go to meet ups is limited by what I can trolley about, if I could get time off shift work. I am sure a solution will be found by having folk take on parts of the shop as is done in the 2mmfs association. If you can do 3D printing then I recon you have most of what you need, bar time of course !! robert

Hi Welcome to the joys of being one of around 600 3mm soc members and possibly only 1000 in the "western world" - as 1:120 also available in Eastern Europe/ former USSR countries but no idea of numbers but seemingly well supported by models of that age. As a result all models post Triang and aimed at a standard gauge market UK are cottage industries and so often one or limited batches and not off shelf for ever items as was i the case with the simple Triang ranges ( typing this makes it sound like current oo modelling supply pattern! ) Thus 3mm is defo a build your our own with help or single soul scratch building. Research will thus show much that has gone before but you will have to correspond with each person - such a fun in the modern world of instant demand gratification putting a stamp on an envelope and providing an s.a.e for a reply and waiting for a reply. I look forward to a 14.2 fine scale model as much as been done in the past and seen at warley model show ( others available of course!) The society took long ago a view that it should supply builder parts and second hand and currently the committee is vexed that getting the next keepers is proving not that easy. So if these do continue then the next few years should see stocks replenished but prices will surely rise. I am sure you have checked out Worsley works for brass kits but supplies limited and Allen is not getting younger. The bright light has to be the 3D printed points and 3D printed technologies now available and that might be your way forward. Shapeways does have a good set of designs available to buy. http://www.rue-d-etropal.com/ would be a good place to start. 1/101 versions(3mm/ft) 1069 listed alone. But these are not shake the box creations a lot of work remains, but that is the joy of 3mm and railway modelling. Robert

William, These are printed bases with integral chairs and a rail formed common crossing, pics show that bit well. These are available via Society with a price saving but will be available direct. A while back Wayne had stopped web sales to allow time to work on projects so might not be available on the web at this time. Certainly a good move by all concerned and my experience in 9mm is these are as good as it gets for a kit. Robert

BTP use What 3 words - I guess as it works with the public these days who cannot read maps and see world through a phone screen. So for fatalities say getting clear up teams, incident officers and taxi serviced crew movements it has a good use compared to saying MP 117 , 24 chain , access gate on downside on relief lines near signal OL33312. Which unless you speak "Railway" is pretty much as good as government clear speak on parties! So I would expect use to increase as a way of getting more done. Robert

Deed done, look very good Robert

I have now seen some development pics for lazer cut glazing for a Hornby MK2A so progress soon. Robert

Does Smallbrook junction on the IOW count? Robert

When the time comes I have to say the 9mm double slip on my bench is a lovely piece of work and hopefully the society work and sales will help the range develop... Just for fun I wonder what a triang standard "high speed turnout would look like length say that of a standard double straight? ( Gets coat and runs stage left... ) Robert

https://irishrailwaymodels.co.uk/collections/accessories/products/fertiliser-pallet-loads-6-pallets-of-fertiliser-bags would seem the next step - great modelling , I have some where some MIR side etches but sat long enough for the rtr one to overtake. Robert

I have used the resin model to do the abortive NIR DBSO purchase, now preserved on the Downpatrick and County Down Railway, it never had a revenue trip on NIR! , It has bits of a GM cab desk installed as well. Part painted but due to lifting paint is due to be stripped . Robert

I have a 117 created by much the same as yours but a cut and shut mix for the TCL, I also made a DTS for fun. These were shown to Dapol MD at an open day and once finished shown more recently to Joel. This set the ball rolling - possibly slowly but at least the common tooling items were shown. But three bodies and roof and all new chassis sides as body steps wrong, new interior for TCL and MS if really keen and exhausts needed so a big investment chunk. Still Hope is a good place to live! Great model and well observed details Robert

As an offtopics aside the pic taken at BHM looking through the window. The seats were a bit of a problem with top headrest falling out easily and the steel strip designed to locate them was razor sharp edged. Sadly the "nare-do-wells" soon found the head rests fitted through the top windows.

Mine ran ok but a Warley open day so noise not obvious above the show noise level. What was said to be at work by former RR staff, controllers was that the upper light blue was rather too vivid, I recall it faded quickly but hopefully some weathering and plasticard car for the front end will make for an improved model. Robert

That looks very clear and a simple way to make up the tiebar. I will use it when the 21mm version (?) comes out ... (just saying!) Thanks. Robert

My Model rail Scotland 320 arrived by private courier today and is excellent, the manual makes a good read and I look forward to testing. The manual does helpfully suggest checking bogie swing and cable tightness - but of course who reads the manual... A bit soon I guess but hopefully the lovely BSI on NEM mount will be a bagged spares sales . I look forward to buying a 4 car set to power the 3D print 325 so might have some bodies later on ... or a dummy 456? Brilliant choice and chassis opens up lots of other prototypes - 150001 or perhaps a dalliance with Irish 450... to join in the IRM cross the seas developments. Thanks to the design team and the Chinese workforce who have taken a kit and made us an rtr model. Robert

Just to put here as part of a record of the layout. Modern two car dmus with headlamps and second vehicle bogies with pickups bought an interesting operational headache. A set stopped just short of the bufferstops meant the second vehicle wiring connected the always live pointwork to the bufferstop section so it was always running! A joy of DC... However with a bit of thought and thanks to David`s clear wiring work it was possible to move just two wires and cut one fishplate to cure. It is now possible to have a two car unit in the platform and have a freight arrive in the loop or have a railcar/ light engine come in on top of the twin. I have ordered from Rails of Shefield a pair of the Peco vary gauge loco lifts to see if I can make an easy lift out unit to make fiddle yard more flexible. If it works and a third one for quick hand free turning of locos with one end detailed bufferbeams then hopefully even more enjoyable to operate. Robert

I am looking forward to perhaps seeing some spare tenders of CKD models being available in time to allow cut and shut messing to produce other locos. If this is a gradual move into Scottish locos the wish list for HR engines will be a big one I am sure. a Ben, Loch, 0-4-4 tank and one of the 4-4-0 tanks intended for South America - very pretty locos. Some even got LMS "red" so lots to go at. While discussion on coaches has centered so far on generics and LMS transfers in I would think that early wagons and vans could come from many sources but a Highland brake or road van will be on the list. Robert