Ian Smith

Brilliant!! I'm now waiting for the next installment. All being well it will just be a mannequin that's fallen out of one of the crates and there won't be any scandal in Farthing after all :-)

Well, I have now finished the 3D model. Just need to send it to Shapeways or 3D Print UK to get an idea of the cost to print it up. The final model is shown below.

Thanks all for all of your suggestions and support. It is giving me the impetus to actually try to finish the design. I did submit the first version (without any detail) to 3D Print UK for a quote (just to get an idea as to whether this little project would be financially viable - normally I would build this sort of thing in plastic-card). Nick at 3D Print UK was very helpful, but did suggest that I make the gaps between the planks at 0.5mm, and indeed make even the framing much thicker. Clearly I have ignored his advice, the thought of a gap between the planks at a scale 3 inches seems absolutely ludicrous!! :-) Ian

Mikkel, I have always had a soft spot for the outside framed vans (and their brake van counterparts). Sketch-Up does seem a little quirky, and I too often lose my orientation, the "Zoom Extents" is always useful so that you can find everything again :-) This is my second attempt, having spoken to Richard Brummitt, he suggested that I model a quarter of the van then copy and mirror to build up the whole. I haven't done that - I only managed to work out how to mirror something last night!! What I have done is model the outside framing in the flat then pull it to shape to build up the depth. The end framing, the side framing and the door assembly were each built up as separate units and "Grouped" so I could manipulate them and move them into place. The only concern I have is the details, the gaps between the planks are only 0.1mm wide and 0.2mm deep (the latter Richard's suggestion). The strapping on the framing is also 0.1mm thick and the bolt heads 0.2mm square and 0.1mm deep. I do wonder if these items will be visible when printed. Ian

Having seen some of the great models that can be produced from 3D Printing, I have begun (for the second time) to produce the 3D model for a GWR Outside Framed Goods Van. These early vans were 15'6" long with a total body height of only 6'8". The earliest ones had wooden underframes, and they had a long life some ending up as Sand Vans. I am using Google Sketch-Up to do the modelling, and so far have put together the main body, and outside frames. I am now in the process of adding the iron-work strapping plates. Hopefully the screen shot below will show progress to date. All being well once complete I will get one printed up at Shapeways. Ian

Ian, The completed wagon looks pretty good to me. My 2mm Scale Association membership will hopefully be fulfilled quite soon, then I can start ordering modern components (the parts I'm using for my current projects all date from the mid '90s at the latest). I just hope you haven't emptied the shop :-) I have already bookmarked your blogs so that I can keep updated. :-) Regards, Ian

Richard, Absolutely Fantastic!! I can't think of anything else to say. Ian

A little more progress with the Metro Tank, this time with the Boiler and Smokebox. The Boiler itself is simply a length of 11/32" Round Brass Tube, cut slightly overlength (finished size 35.4mm long), and the ends sanded off so that they were perpendicular to the outside of the tube. This was done by carefully rubbing the end on a piece of emery, and every now and again checking against an engineers square on a flat piece of glass (tube standing on it's end and the square offered up to it, then rotate the tube through 45 degrees or so and check again to find the area to be sanded some more until the tube was at 90 dregrees to the glass in all planes). The other end of the tube was treated in a similar manner until I was happy with both the length of the Boiler Barrel and the ends being at 90 degrees to the length. The Smokebox was similarly formed from the same material and finished to a length of 5mm. Once I was satisfied with both length and ends of the Smokebox, a slit was sawn through it to allow it to open up sufficiently to fit around the Boiler Barrel. The Smokebox saddle was formed from a length of 5.5mm wide 10thou nickel. This was marked out so that I could fold it up into a 'U' shaped channel, with the bottom of the 'U' being 8mm long, the uprights of the 'U' were made about 3mm long. I scored the nickel across its width at the above points along its length, making sure that the scoring was perpedicular to the length. Once happy, I folded up the 'U' with the scoring on the outside of the bend (this gave me a reasonably sharp corner). The inside of the bends was then re-inforced with at fillet of 188 degree solder. The uprights of the 'U' of the Smokebox saddle were then sanded until the Smokebox was a good fit, and was supported at the correct height above the footplate. It was then a simple matter of fitting the 3 parts together - the inside of the Smokebox wrapper was tinned with solder, as was the outside of the boiler where it would sit. These two parts were assembled ensuring that the Smokebox wrapper aligned with the end of the Boiler Barrel before with plenty of flux the pair were sweated together. The Smokebox saddle was then positioned across the split in the Smokebox wrapper and tack soldered in place ensuring that it aligned with the rear of the wrapper (this gave an overhang at the front of about 0.5mm that was ultimately sanded back to the end of the Boiler and Smokebox). Once I was happy with the fit of the saddle, plenty of flux and solder was used to secure it (the excess solder made sure that any gaps between the Smokebox wrapper and saddle were filled). The next stage was to carefully sand back the saddle to front face of the Smokebox/Boiler assembly. The final stage was to clean off the excess solder from around the Smokebox, and blend the wrapper and saddle together by sanding away the excess solder at the joint with emery wrapped around the handle of an X-Acto knife handle (any suitably sized round object would have served though). The images below show the assembly as it is now, after it has been cleaned up. The next phase in this construction will be to mark out and drill the holes where the Dome and Safety Valve will sit, and drill the handrail holes. I intend to sweat the chimney in place on the Smokebox so that probably won't require a hole (although I may drill one to assist the siting of the chimney and also allow me to apply solder from within the Smokebox). Once I have made the tank sides and top, the lower half of the boiler in that area will also be removed. Ian

David, It wasn't aimed at you in particular, it just seemed timely - I had already started turning parts for the Metro (it takes a little time so I had been unable to finish the parts in one evening - I was doing the turning in the kitchen with the vice attached to an old chair that I use for all manner of things, and the process isn't the quietest operation :-) ). Since our discussion on here had gone along the lines of replacing parts on the 517 I thought it would be useful to put a blog together to hopefully describe how I made the turnings for my loco. I'm not entirely satisfied with my safety valve so I think another attempt is in order. I hope you manage to produce some useful parts, it really is quite satisfying to see something that you have made yourself from a lump of metal :-) Ian

Mikkel, Absolutely fantastic as usual!! I made a couple of early tarpaulins which can be seen in the following blog entry (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/834/entry-6895-trefallion-wagons-and-vans/), I found some very thin paper (no idea what gsm), which I coloured with a black bullet nosed permanent marker (came out dark grey). The writing was added in white ink using my rotring pen (0.25mm nib) and a small paint brush to fill out the GW. I don't think they are perfect by any means, and these days I would be inclined to try to print some up on an inkjet printer (these were made in the late 1980's when most people were still using dot-matrix printers). I look forward to future installments - I think that the "tales of Farthing" just breathe life into what is otherwise "just" a very good model. Ian

David, I've put an entry in my blog to show the safety valve and dome that I've turned up in my electric drill. Hopefully it will give you a bit of confidence to have a go yourself - a turned brass item looks so much better than a bras painted one in my opinion. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1009/entry-8832-2mmfs-boiler-fittings-without-a-lathe/#commentsStart Ian

Jerry, I remember seeing a photo of the station building in one (or on the cover) of the 2mm Scale Association magazines many years ago - I'd have thought you'd have finished it all by now . Seriously though, that looks like it will be a really exciting project and I look forward to seeing updates however infrequently they come. The overall roof looks exquisite. Ian

A little more progress with the Metro Tank. I have now made some of the boiler fittings (Dome and Safety Valve cover). Unfortunately, I do not possess or have access to a lathe so these have been turned up in an electric drill using needle files. To produce the parts, I used an electric drill, a vice (big enough to hold the drill), various needle files, wet and dry emery paper, and a vernier caliper. The material used is 1/4" round bar, chosen because the widest point on the Dome (the larger of the two parts) was about 1/4" diameter in 2mm scale. I mounted the electric drill in a vice and made sure that it was stable and wouldn't move. A short length of brass bar (about 2") was mounted in the chuck and the whole piece blackened with a permanent marker - this allowed me to mark the top and bottom of the part to be turned up (I also marked the extent of the narrowed portions so that I didn't take off too much material). The drill mounted in the vice, the turning of the dome is well underway. Illustration of how I held the file so that if it snagged in anyway there was no danger of the handle of the file from going into my hand or wrist. You should also ensure that you have no loose fitting clothes or hair that could get caught in the spinning drill too!!! After the parts have been turned to shape, they were separated from the bar, then the flat bottom of the parts were filed and sanded to shape so that they would sit comfortably on the eventual boiler - to complete this, a piece of emery was wrapped around a boiler diameter sized piece of brass tube and the base of the part rubbed back and forth until a satisfactory fit was achieved. The parts were offered up to a piece of boiler sized tube on a regular basis to ensure that they would sit vertical and snuggly. The completed parts along with the mandatory coin to illustrate the finished articles (the top hat shaped piece will eventually form the vacuum cylinder below one of Richard Brummitt's GWR Siphon kits. Ian

David, I bought a lcouple of engths of 1/4" round bar from Eileen's Emporium - I bought one brass and one copper (for the chimney). I haven't tried turning the chimney yet. It takes a while but I think acceptable results are possible. The only difficulty will be shaping the base of the parts to fit snuggly on the boiler barrel of smokebox - with a lathe you would normally fly-cut these. Ian

Well only when all else fails - and they're always useful at the end of a project to explain why you have so many bits left in the box Ian

David, The Metro Tank that I am attempting to build is my first foray into scratchbuilding in metal. Many, many years ago I knocked up a GWR 39xx (2-6-2) to fit on an old Hornby Jinty chassis in plastic, I thought it was quite passable (I was a teenager at the time). I have scratchbuilt wagons in plastic though, and I managed to make a reasonable 4 wheel PBV in card/gummed paper (2mm scale), but that got lost a long while ago. One thing I will say about metalworking in 2mm is that because the parts are pretty small, the waste when a part goes wrong doesn't break the bank. I have part turned the dome and safety valve for my Metro, using files and a drill (I don't possess a lathe), although my brother is an engineer so I ought to ask him to knock me some parts up at work really :-) I am hoping to build a 1501 saddle tank at some point a la John Birkett-Smith (http://www.small-but-perfectly-formed.blogspot.com/2009/08/locomotives.html). Kindly helped by Jerry Clifford donating a 57xx Farish body, I just need the time. Ian

David, I looked at the 517 kit on the Dean Sidings stand at Leamington. I decided that it would need far to much work to be a viable option for me. As I saw it, for me, I would need to remove the whole of the cab / bunker assembly, remove the belpair firebox, give some attention to the boiler bands, remove and replace the boiler fittings with turned brass items, and probably replace the trailing wheel axlebox casting. For this amount of work, I felt that I really couldn't justify the price tag (I think it was getting on for £40). I will however watch with eager anticipation to see how you get on with your model, and look forward to seeing the completed model (I might then revise my opinion of the kit - don't get me wrong I think that for anyone who wants a 517 as something different to the 48xx/14xx the kit would be a good starting point, but for me it offered too much work and I think I would rather try to scratchbuild). I do think that the 1701 class would be a better option for me, and I look forward to seeing your progress with that one too. Ian

Following on from my previous blog entry, I have again ventured into the world on Templot (it becomes easier each time ). This time I have taken on board some of my own thoughts and input from others. I have put the whole visible section on a 10'0" constant radius curve. I have also narrowed the gap between the running line and loop (i'm not sure about this change). The revised plan can be seen in the photo's below (again with some stock on to give me a better idea of what the plan would look like). The platform is 18" long, and I think that it might not be long enough (the whole fits in about 4'6"), and to increase the length will probably mean having 2 boards rather than the one I had hoped to have. Having looked at the revised plan over a couple of days, I am now wondering if it would be better if the curve went the other way so that the loop and sidings would be on the outside of the bend, as this would give more room in the yard area. Ian

Nick, I think that in 2mm people tend to use blobs of solder to represent the chairs in soldered construction :-) I think that the option of having a siding or two in baulk road would be visually interesting, I think I could fabricate plain trackwork in baulk road reasonably easily - it's the turnouts that I think will be the challenge :-) - but if I could I think that the different style of trackwork would definitely make it less of a run of the mill GWR branch line. I think a few more hours playing with Templot to introduce some curviture are needed, and then a few hours with my soldering iron to see what I can achieve in the way of baulk road track! Ian

That seems to settle it - I'll try to bend the plan :-) NthDegree, The turnouts will all be soldered construction, I have a 3 way and another couple of turnouts that I made donkeys years ago in 2mmFS (that won't be used on this layout) - it really wasn't difficult (although my eye-sight has degraded over the last 15-20 years since they were made :-) ). I would probably use soldered construction for the plain trackwork too - however having said all that I might bite the bullet and model it all in Brunel's Baulk Road (although I would have to see if I can work out how to model it effectively with some test pieces first though). The whole idea for this layout is to keep the plan simple, but still offer a little operating interest, and exploit the space possibilities of 2mmFS so that the whole plan doesn't look like a quart has been squeezed into a pint pot. (For you youngsters those are both liquid measurements from the good old days :-) ) Ian

Nick, That's right up my street, I really do like broad gauge trackwork simply because it is so different. When the loft gets a bit warmer I'll have to try to do a bit more to my Trefallion layout. I did even think about trying to model baulk road in 2mmFS :-) Ian

Thanks Guys. The reason for putting the platform on the same side of the running line is two fold, firstly I think that access to the platform is normally in the same location as the goods yard in small stations, and secondly, the viewing side will be from the non-platform side - that way you won't notice that the little people don't actually get on or off the coaches :-) I think in reality that the greater gap between the running line and the loop is probably justified, as the 6' is almost certainly the minimum between adjacent running lines (i.e. double track lines). Having looked at the plan with stock on it, I think putting a bend throughout the section where the loop is might be quite attractive too (as originally drawn it is straight from one end to t'other.) Ian

Over recent days, I have been thinking about the type of layout that I eventually want to build. As I already have the beginings of a GWR BLT in P4, I wanted something a little different but still a GWR branch line theme (I have a fondness of tank and small tender engines), I also want something that could be built in a reasonably short space of time, and hopefully even exhibit. However, I did not want another BLT, so my thoughts have wandered towards a through station of some sort - I even considered a length of plain track with perhaps a viaduct or something as a focal point (but I really do want something that could hold a viewers attention for more than a couple of minutes). For many years I have harboured thoughts of building Gara Bridge station on the Kingsbridge branch, but a look at the plan indicates that I would need quite a lengthy space (even in 2mmFS) - and I really wanted to keep the scenic section to less than 5 feet long by no more than 15" deep. A look at the other through stations on the line (Loddiswell and Avonwick) have a very simple track plan (and anyway Avonwick has already been modelled in 2mmFS). Although I think that modelling an actual location would be very rewarding, I still personally prefer an imaginary location so that I would not be limited to specific stock prototypes and traffic. To this end, I have downloaded a beta copy of Templot (thankyou Martin Wynne!!), and spent a couple of evenings trying to understand how to draw a plan with it The results can be seen in the photos below, I have even placed the stock I have on the plan to get an idea of the lengths for the sidings etc. The idea is that the single platform will be met immediately after exitting the overbridge, a couple of sidings will run behind the platform in a small goods yard, and a loop will allow a small amount of shunting to take place. I am thinking that towards the non-platform end of the loop will be an overbridge so that the line can exit the visible section on an embankment (hopefully strategically placed trees will disguise the exit). The turnouts on the main line are 12'0" GWR switches with 1:7 crossings, the Y turnout is a 1:6 as is the turnout to the long back road. I think I still need to juggle the plan a little - the 6'0" between the main line and the loop is actually 10'0" (so may be a little too big a gap - thoughts??), and the siding behind the platform needs to be moved closer to the platform. Once I am happy with the plan I intend to mock up some buildings to get a real impression of what a finished layout might look like. Ian

Thank you for you words of encouragement. It just made sense to make the cut out at a later stage - the footplate will only have about 1mm of material outside the hole, and being only 10thou thick I thought it be very flimsy and prone to bending. Ian

Work has begun in earnest on my GWR Metro Tank, I chose this prototype for a number of reasons : I had the wheels for a GWR 0-4-2 / 2-4-0 (originally i purchased the wheels from the 2mmSA in the late '80s for a Langley 14xx which never got off the ground) Metro Tanks have both sets of drivers within the side tanks (there are no awkward splashers to make and ensure they don't short out on the wheels) I have a love of GWR small tank engines I now have a roIling chassis built (this can be seen in an earlier post on the Gear box that I've made http://www.rmweb.co....gwr-metro-tank/), so a start was made on the footplate - this is simply a rectangular piece of 10thou nickel silver that has been narrowed at the front (the full width of the rectangle will be used to space out the tank sides - on my chosen prototype the tanks over hang the footplate). The buffer beams were cut from 10thou nickel silver, and the front one soldered to the underside of the footplate leaving a very small overhang. The footplate valances (no idea what the real name is) are again 10thou nickel, 2 pieces sweated together with low melt solder and carefully fretted out and filed to shape - the rear step upright section was made long enough so that I could fold the bottom 0.75mm or so up at 90 degrees to form the bottom step (to aid this a slight V was filed across the step section at the fold line, and once the bend made was re-inforced with a small amount of 188 degree solder. Once the V had been filed the two pieces were separated. One valance was carefully positioned and tack soldered before completing the join once I was happy with the positioning, then the following side was added and finally the rear buffer beam. The last thing to be done was to add the upper step which was fabricated from some 6 thou nickel strip which was folded into an L section, and an overlong piece soldered in place on the step upright, once I was happy with the positioning, the step was carefully filed back to the right size. The photos below show progress so far. As can be seen I have kept the footplate whole until I had completed the soldering of the bits that would give it strength - I now have to fret out the area bounded by the 4 holes as this area will ultimately fit over the 4 drivers. The next item I want to construct is the bunker and cab floor - the cab floor was a raised section above the footplate, and I will form the bunker sides and back around this so that the whole bunker/cab floor assembly is a separate unit which I will bolt onto the footplate. That's my theory at the moment as I will then be able to get into the cab from the rear to add the firebox backplate and detail (as the model will have an open cab). Forgot to add a coin in the photo, but the footplate is 51mm long Ian