Ian Smith

Very impressive. Really can't add to the positive comments that have gone before. Ian

Very nice. I'll have to take alook at the Matheison range. Are they to 1:148 or 1:152 ? Ian

A couple of images of one of the wagons now fitted with Colin Waite W-Irons, brake gear "mackled up" from Colin Waite 10'0" wheelbase brake gear (I wanted to save the 9'0" parts) as the wheelbase of the wagons is 8'6". The springs are 2mm SA RCH etched springs and axleboxes but I elected to replace the oil boxes with some home made plastic grease boxes. Just got to paint it now :-) Ian

The book in question is : Private Owner Wagons from the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Ltd, K Montague, OPC, 1981, ISBN 86093 124 2 It contains predominantly images of PO wagons manufactured by the company, and about 6 engineering drawings of various wagon types. I also have in my collection the Hudson series of books on PO wagons - all excellent reference works! Ian

Following a thoroughly enjoyable day out at the RM Web members day on Saturday - many thanks especially to Julia (Missy) for taking time out to talk to me. Anyway, I came away inspired and spurred on to get some more modelling done. Luckily, the TV content on Saturday evening wasn't my cup of tea (but was very fortunately wifey's), so out came sheets of plasticard, scalpel, and blown up drawing of a 14' 6" over headstocks dumb buffered open coal wagon (courtesy of a book on the Gloucester Carriage and Wagon Works). Taking measurements from the drawing, the planking for the sides and ends for 2 wagons were "Skrawked" out on a 0.020" sheet of plasticard (both inside and outside), a floor was produced from the same source, and the drop doors similarly scribed. Finally the sets of components were welded together to form the basic wagon bodies and left overnight to harden thoroughly (a piece of plasticard slightly wider than the internal width was inserted between the sides to hopefully prevent them bowing inwards). Sunday afternoon saw wifey out visiting (since I was out on Saturday ), so between watching the British GP, I begain forming the corner strapping plates for the 2 wagons from a 2mm wide strip of 0.005" plasticard. The bolt detail being embossed into the strip with a pin mounted in a pin vice, using a scrap piece of side and end planking material to get the bolt positions in the right places and in the right pattern (2 bolt heads per plank offset diagonally). The plates were carefully fitted to the sides and ends again using solvent. The narrower plates around the drop doors were produced in the same fashion as the corner plates and fitted to the sides of the wagons (extra care has to be exercised when producing the bolt heads on this very narrow material as it will easily deform into a banana shape laterally - the indentations will always cause it to deform longtitudinally, which can easily be straightened - the lateral deformity is much more difficult to rectify and it is probably best to discard and start again). Hinges for the drop doors were formed by welding 0.010" rod onto small pieces of 0.005" which were subsequently trimmed down to size before fitting in place on the bottom rail of the sides (below the bottom plank). The door strapping was formed in the same manner as the narrow plates above and carefully fitted to the door and over the previously fixed hinge - this was generally a 2 stage approach, fitting the strap to the door down to the hinge, and when dry using solvent to soften the plastic strip strap to form it over the hinge and when dry trimming to length. The internal strapping was simply strips of 0.005" plasticard without the bolt-head / nut detail (life is just too short ). Once all of this was dry - one advantage of building 2 identical wagons at the same time is that one can be drying whilst working on the other one - a strip of 0.040" was fitted as a headstock, and the vertical end stanchions formed and fitted from a thinned down 0.040" x 0.040" strip of plastic (the thinning down was done simply by scraping the scalpel blade along the length to remove a really thin shaving until I was happy with the dimensions - the real wagon's end stanchions were about 4.5" square so 0.030" would have been better if I had some ). The dumb buffers themselves were formed by welding 2 strips of 0.040" together, and after drying thinned (to square them up) as above before cutting into lengths a little more than needed so that there was sufficient excess length to allow them to be trued square on the ends. Once welded to the headstocks and thorughly dry they were carefully sanded to length, and the slight chamfer sanded on their ends. I now have to wait for the 8' 6" underframes and Split Spoke wheels to come from the 2mm Scale Association shop before I can complete them (although the underframes will need shortening to suit the already fitted (over thick) headstocks, so I may well end up just using the Association Axleguards and make the solebars myself.) I intend finishing one loaded and the other empty, probably in a ficticious livery to suit a coal merchant local to my imaginary station (when I get around to building a layout ). Ian

Incredible Jerry!! I'm completely in awe. I assume that the large G clamps in the background were used to hold it all together while soldering ;-) Ian

Richard, The horseboxes look very good, I look forward to seeing the net installment. I really must try to finish a few of my own projects - particularly an engine (work on my Metro tank has stalled - struggling to get the flipping thing to run properly), so I have moved my attention to the GWR 57xx Pannier conversion to 1501 class Saddle Tank a la John Birkett-Smith. Once progress is sufficient I will start blogging that. Ian

Will, The whole thing looks fantstic. I particularly like the 813 and Toplights. The background of trees gives the whole a lovely backdrop. I can imagine the birds singing as I sit on the banks of the Severn with my picnic waiting for the silence to be broken by the next piercing whistle :-) Ian

Lovely modelling!! The weathering is just right, very subtle.

Julia, The amount of time and effort are really worth while, the result is fantastic. The only thing that surprises me is that it's only cosmetic and you haven't made it functional !! ;-) Ian

Gareth, I am aware that Mathieson market something similar, but I am an old school kind of guy that thinks why pay for something that I can make myself in a little time :-) I may add a secondary set of 3 links on one of the end loops to represent the ones that hang down (but Jerry might really think I need to be institutionalised then!!) Jerry, Bonkers I may be but when I look at your work I feel inspired to try to do the best I can, and Richard Brummitt seems to use 3 links in anger!! At least mine are cosmetic and serve the purpose of saving DG's :-) Seriously though, thank all for the encouraging comments. Ian

Jon, I have drawn all of my wagons in 2mm scale size from published drawings (cross checking with photographs). In all honesty it never occurred to me to do otherwise, when I drew the first one I was (and still am) very new to 3D drawing and wasn't sure what I could or couldn't do with Sketch-Up. In theory, it might be possible to draw objects in full size, then scale them down before producing an STL file for Shapeways (although I think Shapeways also accept .DAE (I think that's the file type) files directly from Sketch-Up). One thing I have done is to draw the odd detail item twice or 4 times the size of the rest of the drawing then scale it back down to 2mm scale before attaching it to the rest of the "model". This is especially useful when drawing round objects as the minimum round object that can be drawn in Sketch-Up is 1mm diameter. Hope this (and Richard's comments) help. Ian

In 7mm I would be inclined to use Plumbers Hemp (if you can get any!!) for straw. I have a hank of the stuff somewhere in the loft that I will eventually put to use in a corn field somewhere. The wagons look fantastic by the way. Ian

From the photo's you can't tell there is anything wrong with any part of the model. I would certainly be inclined to try to rescue the situation. All this talk of ripping stuff up and starting again is not conducive to those who haven't even started laying track yet!! Mind you I intend really pushing the boat out and build Brunel's Baulk Road track in 2mmFS when I start - so far I have made a few parts for a point (switch blades, crossing nose), but need to finalise the track plan and get some boards built. Ian

In my 2mm scale stock box I now have almost 10 wagons. I had decided at an early stage to make use of the DG couplings to allow hands free shunting (my P4 stock makes use of 3-Link and screw couplings to hold everything together, being much heavier I don't tend to lift everything off the rails (too often) when shunting), however what I intend to do in 2mmFS is to have my models permanently joined in groups of 2 or 3 wagons with DG couplings at the outer ends of the groups. To achieve this I need some other (more realistic) joining method, and to this end I have decided to knock up some 3-Link couplings. Because the models are to be permanently connected into small groups, I decided not to bother with a hook as such, effectively making 5 link couplings instead, the outer pair of "links" actually being a loop-on-a-stick which can be secured into the headstock of the wagon. Clearly, to make links this small and all the same size I decided to make a little jig first. This is simply a piece of 1.53mm square brass bar the end of which I have filed a flat on to leave an end that is 0.7mm thick (by 1.5mm wide) and about 4mm long. The original idea was to drill a hole of 0.3mm dia into the resulting step on the end of the bar to take the tail of some 0.3mm brass wire that the links will be made from, unfortunately I snapped my last drill in the process! The jig was completed by filing the corners off the 0.7mm,1.5mm spigot on the end of the bar so that the wire could be wrapped around snuggly and have nice rounded ends on the resultant coil. In the end I trapped the wire and jig in the end of my hand vice and wrapped the wire around until I had gone around about 6 times, the result is a little coil of links that were separated from each other whilst still on the jig with a knife down the long side of the coils. When I slid them off the end of the jig I managed to find enough to make a little chain of 3 - the others are embedded in the dining room carpet somewhere!! The photo below shows the jig and the chain of links with the end loops formed by wrapping a single coil around a 0.75mm drill shank. A 5 minute dip in Carr's Acidip (and a rinse) before a couple of minutes in Carr's Metal Black (for Brass) results in the finished article shown in the final photo. I just need to obtain some more 0.3mm drills so that I can attach the little devil between a pair of wagons now (I just need to put it somewhere safe until I do!!) I should add that I have stretched the links between a pair of wagons and am happy that there will be a gap between the wagon buffers to allow them to negotiate curves (obviously with the end loops having a fixing tail I can adjust the distance quite easily anyway). Ian

Thanks for the positive comments chaps. I have now started to make some 3 link couplings to join some of my wagons into pairs - another blog entry coming on I think :-) Ian

Lovely modelling Tom, I suspect the grey looks lighter in the photos than in reality (assuming flash was used when taking the picture). I can only Dukedog's sentiments! Ian

Unfortunately, due to a variety of reasons I have not ordered the previously drawn models from Shapeways yet. One of the reasons for this is that I have decided that I don't need any more of the Outside Framed Vans that I were originally forming part of that order. I have however almost finished 2 of the Vans, attempting to complete them in GWR Red Livery with the 5" G.W.R lettering. The one with the roughly printed side I have decided to finish off as a grounded body, the images below hopefully will allow the reader to discern the variable results of the 3D Printing process between the 2 sides of this van (the roof of this van is 0.010" plasticard) : Good Side : Bad Side : The other van that is almost complete now (apart from the less than 1mm high lettering), and can be seen in the image below. Because I had initially drawn up the van as a body only, I have constructed the solebars and headstocks from plasticard strips (with rod welded on to give the impression of the bulb section solebars). The Buffers and Springs/Axleboxes are the last of my stock of Cast White Metal items that the 2mm Association made available years ago, and the W Irons and brake gear are from Colin Waite etches from the same source. The roof is 0.006" nickel silver sheet gently rolled into an arced profile on the mouse mat. Because I now have all of the Oustide Framed Goods Vans that I think I'll need, I decided that I would make up the rest of my ultimate order with Shapeways with some of the Cattle Wagons that I will eventually need. To this end I have now drawn up one of the Large (18'6" over headstocks, 11'0" wheel base) W1 / W5 diagram wagons, and also one of the Small (13'9" over headstocks, 8'6" wheel base) W3 diagram wagons. Google Sketch-Up screen shots of these can be seen below : W1/W5 Cattle Wagon : W3 Cattle Wagon : The image from below illustrates the recesses I have drawn into all of the models to help aligh the 2mmSA RCH W Irons (part no. 2-312), and also a similar recess for the V hanger. Ian

Lovely!! The 517 class is one of my favourites too (but then I'm rather fond of most of the GWR small tank engines) :-)

Fan-flipping-tastic!!

Hi Will, Very impressive. I am pleased that the process has left a reasonably strong structure with all of those holes (windows) in it - it gives me greater confidence that my Brake Van and Cattle Wagon described in my blog will be OK. Ian

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Truly inspirational!

Noel, Yes, 0.3mm is on the very margins of what may be possible. In fact I really don't know if any of the spring detail will actually come out in printing, which is why I'm not going to make anything available publicly until I've seen what I get back. I did think long and hard about what I could do to beef up the whole of the spring detail, but decided in the end that if they don't turn out then it won't be the end of the world - I'll just have to put in an order with Shop 2 :-) The thing was that I really didn't want something that will be clearly over-scale either so I've drawn it up as near as I can to look realistic, half-expecting to have some failures (which is also why I've put a couple more on the sprues than I need!) Ian

Missy, I am using Netfabb Studio (which I've just discovered to my disappointment cannot merge separate .STL files into a new one! - You need the full blooded version for that :-( ), but like you I am using it to check the STL files that I am exporting from a different package. To get an STL file from Netfabb Studio, use Part>Export Part>as STL (ASCII) from the main menu. Dazzler Fan, Shapeways can accept STL file straight from Sketchup and indeed the DAE files (which don't need an extra Sketchup plugin) too, however I found that a couple of my earlier models had detail bits missing (bolt heads) that I thought may have been a result of the SketchUp plugin. I downloaded a copy of Netfabb just to check the STL files (and repair them as necessary - the STL files I'm getting out of Sketchup always need to be repaired according to Netfabb), however I still get the occasional missing elements (but this could be down to whatever Shapeways use to generate the 3D image that you can see on their website), however just to be on the safe side I end up redrawing the offending part and going through the process of repairing it again in Netfabb and then uploading it again (as a new file to Shapeways - uploading as a revision to the initial version doesn't seem to generate a re-rendered image so I can't tell if my redraw was successful). Someone will probably tell me that if the STL file is OK in Netfabb then it will be OK in print - I'm just wary! As an example, the original set of Springs with J hangers had the J hangers completely separate from the Spring when viewed on the Shapeways image - so I decided to re-draw the connecting link and revised the J hangers in the process. I really don't think I am qualified to produce a tutorial on anything to do with SketchUp! :-) I originally tried to draw it as a J shaped cylinder but had to give up and draw it in octagonal format - the U shaped piece was somewhat challenging :-) - but since it's only 0.3mm across I decided that if it works the subterfuge wouldn't be noticable ;-) Ian