PeteN92

It's funny you say that as today a lot of the mood board has been removed in order to paint the backscene white. Sculptamold was also added to the embankments and used to build up along the sides of the carriage siding entrance. This is in order to give me space to add the point rodding and walk ways. If almost looks like a terrible blizzard has hit Ilfracombe which reminds me of a picture I have of Blackmore vale caught in a snow drift on morthoe bank. Once all is dry I'll paint the ground a base coat of brown and then we shall look at adding scatter / flock and static grass. Cheers Pete

Celotex was cut to fit the spaces in the baseboard and where then glued in place and left to set overnight. I then gave it a layer of plaster bandage to create a solid smoother surface and am waiting for it to go hard and fully dry. This will then have another layer of sculptamold ontop to create the final surface before painting then adding ground cover, grass ect. To the embankments. Looking down the carriage headshunt. Towards the station ( the end of the platform had been moved for access) Cheers Pete

Today has involved the return of jigsaw. After having a look where the signal box will go it hit me that the original reason I had added the slope was because I had decided to build the signal box as per real life where the front of the box sits higher than the back. This meant that I need to cut a further slither of baseboard out essentially leaving the gradient as a bridge until the gaps are filled in with celotex. After cutting I was left with this precarious section I also decided at this point to create a fixing point at the end of the gradient rather than having it hanging in the air and eventually relying on the scenery to hold it in place. I used an offcut of timber and put it up flush against the side of the boards and the top left leg. I then marked where the ramp section would come to and cut a slot out creating a bracket. This was then screwed into both the top baseboard and the gradient baseboard from above to make everything solid. This photo gives you an idea of how the side of the box works with the landscape. Next I will cut a strip of celotex to go in the gap I've newly made and will carved into a slope. A section will also be created for the box to sit into. You can see I have also been working out where my rodding runs will be going and also recording on the final box placement. Due to size restraints I have had to move some of the rodding runs about and have realised that actually I could have left my self a little more space by the side of the rails near the main point work and leading to the carriage sidings. This is where a large amount of rodding seemed to continue. This will be rectified once I've added the plaster bandage and used sculptamold for the first time to rebuild the area up. So next up is adding the last of the celotex base for the embankments and then it's time to break out the plaster bandage. Cheers Pete

Problem solved the brushes had moved away from the commutator possibly due to having the soldering iron on a bit too long a quick adjustment and the new motor is back to life. Might see if the first one is suffering from the same issue . Cheers Pete

Cheers guys it's reading as nothing on the multi meter I'm now wondering if the brushes have moved. Where the windings come down onto the solder pads should the brushes be in contact above or below this disk that they sit on. Both motors seem to have the brushes below could this be the problem ? Cheers Pete

I have a Hornby m7 that has been an intermittent runner until recently on both DCC and DC. Now the motor has stopped working completely and when removing the motor and adding power to the motor contacts it seems dead. I ordered another motor and fitted everything. Working fine on DC and then re added the DCC and was working until I unsoldered the power leads to reverse them as the loco was going the wrong way. Now this motor appears dead too. When I take both motors apart nothing seems to be burnt out nothing appears to be shorting where if shouldn't. And nothing looks melted. I'm really at a loss as to what is going wrong and how it could happen twice. The only thing I cannot see is the contact point on the motor where the brushes touch if the motor tag strips got too hot could something fatal have happened at this point ? Cheers Pete

Cheers Nigel any drawings you have would be great to take a look at and compare. Cheers Pete

I have been hard at work throughout January wiring up the LED's to the mimic panel. This proved to be a bigger job than expected as again I had to account for the mix of cobalt IP anolog and IP digital motors. A further complication came from the double slips needing to have wires run from the frogs and the 3 way point being wired to show the route set. All in all this meant that a considerable amount of wiring had to be run from the motors back to control panel. I had previously chosen not to do this job as I had feared it was going to be this extensive. But now it is all done and working after a couple of calls to DCC concepts who were very helpful when I had a few head scratching moments. After all was wired up I only had one short after playing around with the frog wires so I was pretty impressed. All I would say is that the control box is now very stuffed full of wires. I ended up moving the switches for the doubles slips around as well as the opposite end of the point sets the route and this was becoming confusing when the LED was the other side. I have also started work on the dock on the short spur in the goods yard. This was made from pieces of my old mega cattle dock from the previous layout. This will need some more fettling and then painting before gluing into place. At the moment it has a habit of getting knocked off the board. Across from here will be the goods yard crane which I have had a few more thoughts about and will probably 3d print something closer to the real thing as the various kits available cut it close in my opinion. Today I set about getting the goods in advanced store mostly complete as it has sat without a roof for a while in primer. I added in the last two asbestos roof panels then used plasticard scored and glued down for the ridge tiles. the building was then giving a wash of thinned down paint and some dry brushing to the roof to add some green mossy tones as well as other dirt. I also decided to add a LED inside which will eventually light up the building this has been left as a job to do another time. To finish the store I need to find some SR spear fencing to go along the edge. Add some posters on the walls and put the signage on the doors. Its now looking much more complete than before anyways. Another project I have been working on is dropping the carriage head shunt. Although Ilfracombe is on a plateau so it lends itself to flat baseboards there is still a slope at the station end and of course the real site is the start of the steep gradient up to Morthoe bank. I decided when I first started this would be too much of an ask to put the gradient in as it was already a tight curve into the fiddle yard. However I have dropped the headshunt line down to create the illusion of a height change. Many photos of the real location look as if the headshunt slopes down but the reality is the running lines are on the way up. Lots of messing about with different height shims and gradients have taken place in order to ensure that locos can still get up and down the slope. The only locos I am now having trouble with are my M7's which of course in model form have no where near as much power as their real counterparts. Even with the DCC concepts plates and magnets installed there is wheel slip galore once we get up to 4 coach trains. Fortunately that just means checking which locos are shunting what stock. I have also added the celotex to the middle board sloping section at the back and will soon add some to the section I have just completed before bringing out the plaster bandages again. So there has been some progress I promise and tonight I've decided to sit down and build some scale model scenery kits which should be nice and therapeutic. Cheers Pete

Hi Russel its good to see you back at it with your project I had taken a look at your thread many years ago and had feared the project stalled like many on RMWEB. Feel free to send me a PM and we can speak further. Cheers David I was made aware of the article on the Ilfracombe facebook site and have got myself a digital copy on pocketmags. I've yet to give it a good read and believe there is a part two coming up in the next mag. Although I haven't updated in a while due to moving back to my parents among other things, there has been progress on Ilfracombe. A lot of time has been spent recently organising stock, practice running my timetables (playing trains) as well as wiring up my control panel for LEDS which took a long time I will update with some photos soon. Cheers Pete

Hi Paul where did you get your sound fitted version from ? Cheers Pete

I saw that Dapol tweeted that some of thier staff are now returning to site so pinged them off an email asking if there is any update on the DCC sound fitted model. Here is their reply: The models are being fitted in the UK by our service provider, once they are ready they will be sent out to stockists. We are currently waiting for an update from our service provider. Good to know that they are still in the way just a little more patience needed. Cheers Pete

All working correctly now thanks for your help guys Cheers Pete

Right so swapping the power leads round have got them to light up, however the sequence is now all back to front between the panel and the routes set. Swapping over the leads from the switches to the bottom of the LEDs in the panel seem to make no difference In curing this. Pete

I'm following this diagram from Brian Lambert on how to wire up a 3 way point onto the frontier panel. I'm using blue LEDs with a DC forward current of 30mA DC forward voltage of 2.1 volts And am running them through a 12v power supply. The LEDs will not light however if I stick my test bulb before the resistors everything is changing correctly. Doing my resistor calculations it's says I should be using a 330 ohm resistor for 1 led. If my understanding is correct this circuit has 3 leds in parallel so I should be using a 110ohm resister before each led. When I add in what should be the correct resistor my test bulb will then light very dimly after the resister showing there is power flowing but the LEDs will still not work . I have even tried dropping the resistors down further to get the test bulb to be brighter but again nothing lighting on the LEDs . I have tested the LEDs with a button battery and confirm none of them have blown. Any ideas ? Cheers Pete

Has anyone heard when the sound fitted versions are due ? Cheers Pete

Although it seems great as a cheap alternative I found that the paperclips where forever catching and falling off and also the process of modifying the couplings often left them not pivoting as smooth as before I had started this led to unreliable coupling and uncoupling. I have since then embarked on the more costly option of fitting everything with Kadee couplings. I am in the process of 3D printing any NEM pockets that older stock may need. You can see on my other topic on how I've recently done some for my Light Pacific tenders. I have also been designing a few other 3d printed pieces in order to modify the Peco turntable to look a bit more like the one at Ilfracombe. There was a lot of frame work coming out from the turntable bridge which in fact extended to the edge of the well and then dropped down to the wheels that ran on the runners. This structure aslo led to the Ilfracombe turntable having a revolving handrail that moved with the turntable. Now I wont be modifying how the table works mechanically as its already been enough trouble getting it working as it is but I will modify how it looks to fake it. I will be designing the supports that go out from the turntable deck and then hope to build the supporting structure around the outside which will be able to glide around the inside of the well. I may also then be able to have the moving handrails but we shall see how fancy I can get. First up was a wheel that appears at the end of the bridge Then the centre support, this took a couple of prints to get right as firstly its just a tad longer than the length of my printer's print area. And secondly I found it did not have adequate support material and wasn't at enough of an angle to get a good quality print. A before and after of my measurements and sketches The first strut tacked in place and the wheel being glued in place to the deck. I have since printed the opposite side support and now need to design and printed another 12 or so supports before fitting it all together. Cheers Pete

Having now amassed a large collection of Bulleid Light pacifics I have found that I have managed to get a wide variety of variations on the model as Hornby have tweaked the design since release. The most modern examples of course have the dcc socket in the tender with the plug and socket with solid draw bar connecting loco to tender. Others have the older plug and hole tender connection. Some of these models are DCC ready and have the 8 pin socket in the front and some are not DCC ready at all and I have had to hardwire in decoders. Many of these variations are simple fixes after a little practice. What is a pain however is that older models do not have NEM pockets mainly on the tenders. This is a problem where I am converting all my locos to Kadee couplings and I don't necessary want the couplings to be a permanent change. I have therefore decided to modify the chassis plate on the tender and the design a 3d printed replacement NEM pocket. First off remove the plate that holds on the coupling and then using sharp knife slice off the moulding and stump where the old mounting was. I then use a needle file to smooth the surface down to a flat. I took some measurements from the model using my electronic callipers and drew out a design for the pocket on sketch up free. I also use a plain NEM pocket that I have been messing around with, to gauge the height of the Kadee coupling and adjusted to the correct height. 1 Hour later and one coupling pocket has printed and cured. I snapped off the minimal support material and its looking good. Kadee 19 inserted for demonstration purposes and its looking like that will be about right. Some testing will take place to ensure that it is the correct length Kadee for the job. The pocket however fits nice and snug over the chassis of the tender and the Kadee itself is nice and snug within the pocket. One final check using the Kadee height gauge and it looks spot on to me. Time to print a few more off and modify the the rest. Although most of my light pacifics have front pockets cast into the bogies there is one or two locos who do not have this. For those locos I will have to design slim line pocket to ensure that the bogie does not foul the body work. I shall leave this until next time...... Cheers Pete

Guess that answers if the Dapol collectors club one was produced it looks very nice and gives a further variant when trying to renumber locos.

Has Dapol made the shades of gwr green and br green different at all or is it just a trick of the lining? If they are the same it will be easier making an unlined loco in br livery. Cheers Pete

Does anyone who's got there hands on one already know if the outside steam pipes are a separately fitted part. Could they be removed and not leave lots of work to fill the gaps left. Also does anyone know if the Dapol collectors club model of 6308 was actually produced and is available? Cheers Pete

I've also now painted and glued on the 3d printed base to the wind break. The last thing to go on will be the acetate windows. I will be making the canopy in this area from scratch probably using the 3d printer again to help make some things easier. Cheers Pete

For my birthday, my lovely girlfriend was strong-armed into getting me a Resin 3D Printer. After doing some research I decided that a good entry one would be the Elgoo Mars which at the time was selling for under £200. This type of 3D uses a vat of resin and cures the layers via a UV light. The model attaches onto the build plate and the 3D print is slowly layer by layer pulled out of the vat of resin until the print is complete and your left with your object upside down. This is known as SLA which stands for Stereolithography apparatus. This differs from PLA printing where you use a spool of material, that is heated up and built onto the build plate, by a nozzle in layers. First off you need to have a file to print. These are known as STL files as that is the file format the 3D printer recognises. These can either be sourced online via sites such as thingiverse.com where creators upload their designs, some for free and some paid for. Alternatively, you can learn to draw and design things yourself, like I have done to create bespoke items. Take for example this canopy support at Ilfracombe. I first look and see how the various components could be broken up. The brackets will be one, the fluted base another, and finally the column. I use Sketchup Free online as I don’t have to pay anything for it and there is plenty of videos on YouTube so you can learn the basics and work with the limitations of the free version. There is other software such as fusion 3d however they are paid for. If you were going to design something really complex you might need these but so far, I have got away with using the free version of sketchup. All the components drawn into sketchup. I’ve added slots and supports for everything to fit together rather than just gluing it all together with butt joints. Scaling can be tricky, but I use a scale ruler to try and work out sizes and once printed you can eyeball it to see if it looks right. The software does allow you to be very precise however so if you have dimensions for the thing you are drawing you can just draw using them at full size and scale the model at the end of the process. It is important to note that at this stage the software sees your drawing as several lines and faces. Once you are happy with what you have you either need to group them into individual components or as a group. This avoids complications later in the process where the slicing software or 3d printer can get confused. Sketchup then allows you to export the file as an .STL file to your computer. We now use a programme that comes with the 3D printer but is also a free programme that you can download without purchasing called CHITUBOX. This programme lets you prepare the file you have creating for 3D printing by letting you add support material to aid your print in coming out without any defects and edit your 3D model. When importing your model into the software it sees the design as a solid object and will print it as such. Somethings this would be a massive waste of resin and would make the object awfully expensive and heavy to print with a much higher chance of failure. The software therefore allows you to hollow out your model if you want and add drain holes for the liquid resin inside the model to drain out. The model as drawn now in the slicing software. First up the components need angling around 30 degrees as this allows more support structures to attach to the model and will ensure a more accurate print. The software allows you to add light medium and heavy supports. And will automatically do this for you. Bear in mind light will leave less marks when you come to remove the material however the heavier supports will support the model more therefore ensuring you do not get a failed print. In this situation I used medium auto supports. Auto- support is a good tool when getting started however its not perfect see here where it has missed the corner of the bracket. You may get a warped corner, so I manually add in a light support where the green line is to ensure this does not happen. Once happy with the supports its time for the software to doing some slicing. This is where it works out how it will print each layer of the model. As you can see by these screenshots, we first have the base layer which will stick onto the build plate. This layer is exposed much longer than the others to ensure it adheres properly. On another layer we see where it is creating the supports as well as the actual model. And finally, near one of the last few layers we see the model being completed. On the right you also get an indication of how long the print will take and the cost estimate. You can add in the cost of the resin you are using, and it therefore works this out for you. All that is left to do is to save the sliced file onto the memory stick provided with the Elgoo Mars and you are ready for printing. So, you just stick your memory stick into the back of the 3D printer, select your file, click print, and off it goes. Now its time to wait and see. This shows the model upside down on the build plate once printing has completed. You then get your rubber gloves and mask on as the resin is not great for your lungs or your skin. The build plate unscrews from the machine and you use the included scraper to detach the print and drop it into a tub of 99% isopropyl alcohol. This washes off all the remaining wet resin. Next dunk the model in a water bath to ensure that all the remains of the resin are gone. At this point the model is still not fully cured so be careful when handling. Finally, you need to cure the model this can be done naturally by leaving it in the sun therefore soaking up the UV rays or I use my mums UV nail curing light. A couple of minutes and the model is all cured. You can then gently pull the model / use the sprue cutters to remove your print from the support material and then clean up any marks by sanding or a small file. It has taken a couple of adjustments to the design to get everything printing perfect and all the parts fitting together but that is the joy of having your own 3D printer. Previously I have designed parts and sent away to have the printed only to find that they have had some error when printing that could not be adjusted. In the background you can see that I have also 3D printed the concrete plinth to the wind break at Ilfracombe. I hope this article allows people to get an idea of the process that is involved and encourage others to have a go. My next plan involves using a camera to 3D scan objects and people in the same vein as Modelu and then I will be able to print them too. Cheers Pete

Yes I appreciate that's how it used to be but the world we are in now is a very different place where runs seem shorter of models, and people therefore can miss out. Both Hornby and Bachmann have learnt to move with the times and even though Dapol seem to give some updates it's not at the same level. Pete

I think what is probably the biggest problem is that Dapol haven't shown any of the finished samples especially after they delayed the models and sent them back. Rather than everyone pouring over old photos it would probably encourage more people to commit if we saw the finished product that we expect to get. I know I'll need a couple of these but I'm holding off on a pre-order as currently we don't know exactly what we are getting. Pete

Very atmospheric shot there David, sounds like you are getting on well with the wiring now. You must be looking forward to running some trains soon. Pete