Rods_of_Revolution

Use LEDs, bulbs get hot, hot enough to melt through plastic depending on the current. LEDs will stay cool and use less power. So I'd go for LEDs, if you have a look on eBay you can get LEDs at around 50-100 for £5. Looking great so far! Cheers, Jack

It often runs as a very short train, a 66 with 3 - 4 wagons is common. Neat little working to photograph, yet I am always in the wrong place at the right time and the right place at the wrong time! Cheers, Jack

Hi Jeremy, Yes, I think must I have almost every book John Vaughan and Maurice Dart have produced about China Clay. Between the pair of them they have done a cracking job of recording the railways of Cornwall. I am eternally grateful to them both! Kindest Regards, Jack

Sorry for the brief abscence! Thanks all for the kind words! Thanks for the link David, interestingly the TU-7T is the chassis I designed the Sentinel for, which means the wheelbase will be shorter than prototype but should still look ok. Paul, I will probably add the Sentinel in its more common configuration (without the exhaust pipe, air brake housing etc) to my Shapeways shop in the near future. Pete, my layout has currently stalled due to my indecisiveness, basically the track plan changes every 5 minutes, it's gone from a 2ft working diorama of a fictitious location to a scale model of Treviscoe Dries and back again. I really can't decide what to do; I am thinking I may just start building some "prototype inspired" buildings and then make the track fit them. I have just finished my respray of 37175 (Blog to follow), it'll work for '87 Cornwall and appease my appetite for something Scottish! Interestingly a rake of PRAs behind 37175 could be used prototypically in Scotland and Cornwall! Kindest Regards, Jack

What makes this Sentiel Cornish? It's a model of ECC's No.P403D "Denise". I built the model completely from photographs as I couldn't find a drawing anywhere. The things of note on the prototype are the huge exhaust pipe and the left hand walkway which is covered with some additional equipment (airbrake gear?) I've applied an undercoat to the 3D Print of the Sentinel, some clean up is required but the print is excellent overall. The handrails, despite being 0.32mm in diameter, came out beautifully. Next job is obtaining the chassis, hopefully the Japanese can help out with something this small! In addition to the Sentinel I have been working on my Polybulk, which although Farish will be producing their model soon I feel is worth while completing. Hopefully she won't look out of place next to her RTR sisters! The Y25s are my second attempt at bogies in the "Frosted Ultra Detail" material and after making alterations to the first design I have something that works quite well. I have used Parkside Dundas wheelsets; I don't know if they are the correct size but the wagon sits at the correct height, so that's good enough for me! Kindest Regards, Jack

Hi guys, thanks for the complements! A 3D Printed class 50 cab is something I have thought of, it's helpful that Farish have made the cab a seperate item. In fact I am suprised Farish themselves haven't made an updated cab unit to fit the old body. A new cab, with the new chassis and old body would make a half decent model. I will keep you posted if I make a cab print. I Shall add the PRAs to my Shapeways shop in the New Year, they will probably go into the Rail 3D Prints shop as this where most of my British N Scale stuff is going from now on. As for Ferry Van decals I am having some produced soon for the BR Bauxite ones and the Railfreight ones, so if you purchase any Ferry Vans drop me a PM here or at Shapeways and I am sure I can sort you out with some. Here is the sample artwork: Kindest Regards, Jack

Bit of an update on the PRA; Gave it a clean up and a bit of paint, just need to add the decals on some "cleaner patches" I will paint on and it will more or less be finished. The other PRAs are currently in primer, as is the Polybulk. Also in the photograph is 50149 which is currently undergoing weathering; Call it an act of Defiance (Get it?!) but I won't be attempting any cab rebuilding because I would probably struggle to make it any better. I also think the black window surrounds of the RfG livery help hide the errors with the windows, In addition to the weathering I have run a seam of slightly lighter yellow across the top of the nose to make it appear bigger than it is. Does it help? You tell me! I apologise for the poorer quality photographs; When I finish the models I will take them outside on my Machen diorama and take some quailty pictures (if I ever see the sun again....). Kindest Regards, Jack

Thanks Pete, I may drop Paul a line. It would add a bit of a variety to have nice clean one in the rake! Regards, Jack

Yes it is, as with anything new like this which is constantly being developed the only real way to see what is/isn't possible is to try it out. I have been designing models for printing for 3 years now and I am still learning new things with almost every print. Good luck with your prints! Cheers, Jack

The handrails are 0.35mm thick, the wheel on top is 0.3mm. They are fragile, though they have a certain ammount flex in them to absorb the odd "finger twang" prior to being glued to the underframe. The wheel is round (strong shape) with crossmembers inside so can be printed at 0.3mm. Obviously the thicker you can make the parts the better the chances are they will print without problems. If you want them to survive the production process make sure they have as much support as possible especially for any long strait sections. The fact the handrails, ladders etc are printed in situ with the PRA helps support them so they are less likely to break. Kindest Regards, Jack

Yes it is a bit nerve-racking! I actually came across it by accident a couple of months ago whilst washing the wax away; the Frosted Ultra Detail material is heatproof to 80 degrees C and I intended to boil the kettle and leave it a few minutes to cool down. Due to me leaving the room for 10mins and someone else reboiling the kettle to make a brew I ended up pouring near-boiling water on my models. I as I looked into the bowl expecting to see plastic blobs, to my surprise, I saw some ladders bending themselves strait. Since then this is my standard proceedure for warped models. The wagon will be in generic clay grey/brown/white (I don't think I have ever seen a factory finish photograph, so i don't really know the correct colour!) with the cover being red. I have some artwork for the decals drawn up which I will get printed after Christmas. Kindest Regards, Jack

My N Scale PRAs arrived today! I have given the one in the foreground a dusting of primer so I can better see the detail; I have also mounted it upon the Peco chassis I am using, which although isn't technically correct is getting used because I have lots knocking about. The one in the background is as they arrived from Shapeways. The steps, handrails and ladders arrived warped (as normal) so I did my usual trick of dropping them in near boiling water out the kettle and they, as if by magic, return to the correct shape. I can only assume they have some sort of material "memory". Next steps will be carefully smoothing, followed by painting, decals and weathering. Kindest Regards, Jack

A nice little explaination, thanks!

It looks ok to me as most of the print flaws are out of sight, certainly once painted and weathered it'll look great! The quaility at Shapeways seems to have slipped since the company grew in size a few months ago. Some of the models that their quailty control allow to be shipped to customers is diabolical; They are taking on more and more orders and not enough competent staff to cope with it. It's the same across all areas of the company as I get models rejected that anyone who'd been properly trained wouldn't have flagged up as unprintable. I couldn't believe it when a model that had been printed previously for customers over 50 times was rejected as "unprintable". Of course once I contacted support they were ever so sorry and sorted it out, but still, having a model rejected that is printable makes me as a designer look bad. I hope they get their act together! Your project is progressing nicely, keep it up! Kindest Regards, Jack

I'm not a OO modeller but I keep seeing reference to the Bachmann Polybulks as "Bulk Grain Bogie Hopper" and that they are correct period-wise "1971-1994", this to me implies that they will be hatched top ones rather than swing top. I could well be wrong as I'm an N man so I don't pay very close attention to things twice the size! Though if you are after a clay related train then I'm sure you could justify Dapol (not so)Silver Bullets, as these worked t'up north from Cornwall in the period, I think the last train was in July 1995, so a Loadhaul Grid could have ended up on them if the Transrail tractors came off in the Midlands for some reason, this is assuming you're not modelling Cornwall, as Martyn says a 56 isn't the sort of traction which turned up in Cornwall. That said during 1990 56013 made her way to Cornwall for a very very brief time, so a Coal Sector 56013 on a rake of CDAs would prototypical for a 1990 layout. Cheers, Jack

I had something similar happen when I was doing Machen, the ballast was all done and the glue was just drying, then during a moment of idiocy I dragged the arm of my fleece over it and dredged half the ballast up. You know what damp ballast is like, there's no way you can try and put it back in place as it just clumps together. So had to strip it and start again! I'm sure if you have another go at it Pete you'll get it right and it'll look cracking! Actually, perhaps cracking isn't an appropriate adjective after what just happened, but you get my point! Kindest Regards, Jack

I'd go with Mona Lott!

Nice little diorama! Certainly a productive way of experimenting! Cheers, Jack

That print has come out nicely, stepping never really bothers me as smoothing it takes much less time than cutting 101 bits of Evergreen strip to build it from scratch.

I had a look at these at StormEx yesterday and they are a nice little piece of engineering! It was also good to have a chat! Cheers, Jack

It's really effective in the dark with the lights on, it has a very distinctive silhouette! Great job Jo! I saw the Irons last night in Cardiff, they're in top form as always Cheers, Jack

Not a different spelling but "Patney and Chirton" station on the Berks/Hants line was originally called "Patney Bridge" but after confusion regarding "Putney Bridge" station in London it was changed to "Patney and Chirton".

When I did the plaster for the inset track at my clay facility I was surprised at how little rail actually needed to protrude and how little flange space was needed. I guess it is one of the advantages to more modern stock as the wheel profile is a lot finer. Looking good! Kindest Regards, Jack