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alanbuttler
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Posts posted by alanbuttler
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Hi guys - I'm looking at making a model of the Didcot engine hoist for the Intentio lifting shop kit - did someone mention they have a drawing from GWJ? I've got a collection of them so hopefully have the right issue. Cheers!
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20 hours ago, Neal Ball said:
The Accurascale Manors must be getting very close now….
The crew (from Modelu) have just been announced:
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I have a slight quibble… shouldn’t the fireman have a grease top hat for GWR days? Otherwise they look very good.
Morning everyone, thanks for the comments and thoughts about the new Accurascale crews! The final GWR fireman figure which we'll be producing will have the GWR style grease top. Here are the pre-production samples:
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Hi Everyone! We are running a sale this weekend to mark the Queen's Jubilee use the code JUBILEE70 to get 15% off sitewide until midnight Monday!
Remember to enter your discount code at checkout!www.modelu3d.co.uk
We're really excited to announce another first for in the hobby for Modelu, with a new collaboration with super detail specialists, Accurascale. Beginning with the Deltic, we've teamed up to create highly realistic bespoke crews using the latest full colour 3d printing.
Priced at £9.95 for a 3D printed in full colour driver and second man in full 1969 issue BR uniform (with earlier uniform pack to follow!), these packs will be available exclusively from Accurascale and expected be in stock in mid June. Thanks to Kevin Dare at Didcot and the team from Accurascale who hepled us to produce these super figures.
The Deltics are just the beginning...!
Our first release of new Shed Staff is now available! Created with the assistance of Evan Bradshaw of the 'Blinged by Bewdley' cleaners tea, these new poses depict many roles of a shed's staff including: Ash men (x2), Firelighter/Steam Raiser (x1), Cleaners (x5), Driver inspecting (x1), Fitter (x1), and a couple of cleaners having a break. Available individually, or in two bundles at 20% off the individual product price.
Our next release will include fitters, inspectors, boilersmiths, and senior shed staff. Look out for them later in the summer!These pictures perfectly illustrate what we strive to acheive at Modelu Our new shed staff, expertly painted by Dan Evason, positioned on Michael Hickling's Larkrise layout. We've now teamed up with Dan at Tunnel Lane Model Railways, who offers a professional painting service for our Modelu figures. For more information see the Modelu website
Thanks to the wealth of responses to our Modelu New Product Survey, we are happy to announce the first of a new range of animals. In order to bring an as yet unavailable level of accuracy to scale animals, we have commissioned the skills of a digital sculptor to help us create the specific breeds and poses you have requested.
These will include domestic pets, working horses, livestock, birds, and wildlife. Our initial release features a pair of very loyal border collies - the pack includes 2 collies, one standing and one seated. See them on the website here.
To help us commence our next animal projects we are proposing something a little different, detailed below!Of the almost 2000 detailed responses we had to our recent Modelu New Product Survey, over 1300 of you responded to our Livestock & Wildlife question. Our initial focus will be on traditional UK livestock breeds, working horses, domestic animals, and UK wildlife. But, with so many to chose from, even if we limit our attention to the popular ones, it makes it quite a challenge to know where to start, and to also know what people will buy.
What we are planning is a kickstarter/crowd funding style system whereby we launch a number of prospective projects, and interested customers can pre-order models in their chosen scale. Once we reach a target number of pre-orders, we can then light a fire under the project and commission our digital sculptor to get to work. This is where the 'Steam Raiser' idea comes in!
There are some finer details to work out, such as:rewards for 'steam raisers' who help us get enough interest in the product to put it into development and production
how to communicate progress updates to backers
setting timescale expectations once project has been funded
We'll have more information later this month and will plan to go ahead with the following initial projects:
Chevoit Sheep
Suffolk Sheep (including Rams)
Shorthorn Cattle
Sussex Cattle (including Bullocks)
Suffolk Punch Horses (with tack, etc)
Seagulls
Rabbits
This gives us an exciting oppourtunity to design and produce exactly what people need, especially where an alternative product doesn't already exist.
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Looking forward to this :-) I took quite a few photos inside the shed when I was last at Aber if of interest
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Good morning everyone! I hope you are enjoying this slightly damp (in Bristol at least) bank holiday weekend. These last few months have been quite a transition period for myself and Modelu, with a house move and a workshop move taking up much of our time.
New Staff Member
We've also said good by to Nicola who has gone on to work in project management, and it has been quite a challenge to replace her. I'm now very pleased to say that Chris Schiller will be joining us at the end of this month, bringing many years of customer service experience and a passion for all things railway, from 1:1 to N gauge.
Product Development
With our workshop move complete, and Chris on the way, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into a summer of product development. We've so many ideas waiting in the wings, not to mention all the amazing feedback from the Modelu product survey. We'll be putting the data together from the survey into a series of focused new product releases in the coming months. First in the queue are a large number of scans we captured in April, thanks to Steve Ashton and Evan Bradshaw, both who brought their kit and knowledge to Modelu HQ for a number of scan captures. From Steve we haves surveyors, walkers, bird watchers and more. From Evan we have a comprehensive collection of loco shed staff, featuring many of the roles on shed such as cleaners, ash men, firelighters, coal men, fitters. We also captured new crew poses for the Kato/Peco Small England.
In addtion to new products, we've many exciting collaborations with other manufacturers cooking away, more of which to come later this year!
Modelu May Bank Holiday Sale
This weekend we have a 15% discount off all products until midnight Monday 2nd. Head to the website, use the code MAYDAY22 and grab yourself a bargain! This is a particularly good time to take advantage of our product bundles which are already 20% cheaper than the individual product prices.
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Hi all,
Here is a summary of our latest releases over the last couple of months :-)
Chris Cox visited our stand at the SVR O Gauge Get Together and had himself 3D scanned in two positions, to simulate pushing a heavy load. Chris' idea has proved popular in our Modelu Modellers group, so with Chris' permission we've added them to the range! The figures are suitable for many uses, such as pushing canal lock gates, or a turntable! https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/industry/1870-1947-ind/workmen-early-20th-century/
During the SVR O Gauge Get Together, Dai Price visited our stand. During the weekend he was rostered as the SVR's Duty Traction Inspector, so what better a chance than to capture and add him to the range. You can't get more authentic than that! https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/railway-and-lineside/1948-1968-rl/shed-staff/
Thanks to Nick Willcox, our range of 1950s/60s photographers has been expanded to include two new poses. Nick wears the familiar attire of shed bashers towards the end of steam, posed with his Kodak Brownie 127 and Ian Allan ABC spotters book. https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/town-and-country/1948-1968-tc/photographers-1948-1968-tc/
The first of our new products recently captured at Didcot Railway Centre are now available. These include many items you'd find lying around the shed, such as fire bars, loco brake blocks, and various oil feeders and flare lamps. We also 3D scanned the blacksmiths forge, anvil and leg vice. We've much more still to come later this month, including fitters benches and vices, packing press, fitters cupboards, buffer beam trolley, clinker shovels and fire irons, and jacks! https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/detailing-components/loco-shed-details/
Thanks to Nick and Dougie at the SVR, we have a new range of Creamery workers. These include workers moving milk churns, lab technicians testing milk, farmer and farmhand, and a chap having a ciggy break. We also scanned the churns themselves which are now available in packs. https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/industry/1948-1968-ind/creamery-workers/
A new range of Graffiti Artists / Vandals (delete as appropriate!) are now available. https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/town-and-country/1998-present-tc/general-public/
We have two new seated passenger packs suitable for modern image layouts. These packs include 5 seated figures at 20% off the individual figure price. For more information see the website https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/town-and-country/1998-present-tc/seated-people-1998-present-tc/
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10 hours ago, Mikkel said:
Thanks Alan, I'm not sure you need to go to the trouble as I think that one might fit as it is, if I cut away the case. Although arguably that's quite a confident pose for a tree climber
I suppose these are more typical poses:
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-young-boy-tree-sitting-branch-sunny-day-image61722279
https://www.colourbox.com/image/a-young-boy-sitting-on-an-apple-tree-image-1057478
Let me see what I can do :-)
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15 minutes ago, Mikkel said:
You didn't happen to scan Teddy sitting in a tree watching trains, did you? I suppose not.
Not to worry, I'll see if I can modify one of the two sitting poses. Although now that I know his name that suddenly seems an unpleasant thing to do!
I could adapt the scan if him sitting on the case if that works :-)
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Thanks to Dawn and Teddy who we scanned at the recent Severn Valley O Gauge Get Together, we have a number of new figures available suitable for the 1940s. You can see them on the website here - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/town-and-country/1870-1947-tc/
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On 28/09/2021 at 11:32, The Stationmaster said:
Did you do any of them in the way full churns were moved (i.e. at an angle and 'spun' along the ground by the person moving them?). I used to love watching that at my grandparents farm especially when the Jobs lorry driver was loading them as fast as he could manage.
We scanned one posed as 'spinning' a full churn, and one lifting an empty :-)
Thanks so much for the positive comments gents, it was great fun creating this set. I'm making plans to create more themed sets like these, such as coal merchants etc.
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On 18/09/2021 at 16:58, Siberian Snooper said:
Very nice Alan, what are the chances of getting them, with the older style conical churns?
I've CAD for the conical churns as well so shouldn't be too much of a problem :-)
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Hi all,
We had our first exhibition since Covid a couple of weeks ago at the Severn Valley Railway O Gauge Get Together. It was a great weekend and we were also able to capture a sack full of new poses for the range. For anyone modelling creameries, we have a whole host of new figures and milk churns coming out in the next couple of weeks. These depict a lab technician testing the milk, farmer and farm hand, creamery workers moving churns and two poses of a porter and a creamery worker sneaking a ciggy break. We've also scanned the churns and will have them with lids on and off.
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1950/60s Photographers
Thanks to Jamie Green and his collection of vintage cameras, we have 4 new period photographer poses in the range. These include 2x Box Brownie photters, one Leica and one Kodak.
Signalmen & Guards
Jamie was the first ever figure in the Modelu range, way back in 2015. As a signalman at the SVR as his past time, and as a signalman for Network Rail as his job, he brought a wealth of experience to the poses and uniform. It was great to revisit the poses some 6 years later, with our new scanner and improved printing methods. The results are 3 new signalmen and 2 new guards.
AEC Railcar Crew & Passengers
Thanks to Ben Jones at Heljan who kindly provided us 4mm and 7mm railcars, we now have drivers for BR and GWR periods and passengers to suit. Scanned at Didcot with access to their Railcar, the drivers have been modified to drop-fit into the railcar cabs. Each pack includes 5 passengers from the Pendon range.
Graff Artist / Vandal!
Something a little more contempoary and very Bristol, we have a graffiti artist/vandal in the range.
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It's been an absolute age since I updated this thread with what we've been up to, so here is a summary of our new products and developments over the last few months.
- January 2021 moved into new larger premises in Easton Business Centre, Bristol
- February 2021 our baby daughter, Margot was born
- March 2021 purchased a new super high resolution scanner
- April 2021 celebrated 6 years in business
- May 2021 implemented new monthly product launches
- June 2021 an intern from the University of the West of England (UWE) joined us for an 8 week paid internship
Signalbox Interior Details & Point Rodding Cranks
The first of our new products for 2021 were the results of a scanning session at Bridgnorth and Radstock South (at Didcot). These included signalbox interior details and GWR point rodding cranks. BR cranks were added in the Spring.
https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/detailing-components/signal-box-interior/
Modern Day Policemen
Thanks to Modelu customer Jamie Evonston, we were able to add 6 new modern day Police officers to the range. One can be seen used in Hornby Magazine this month in an article by Dan Evason.
https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/trade-and-services/police/
BR 1970s Crews and Depot Staff
Thanks to Jack Walker and Nick Willcox at the SVR, we have a number of 1970s loco crew and depot staff to add to the range. These include fitters, crews at rest, new drivers, shunters and second men.
https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/finescale-figures/railway-and-lineside/1969-1997-rl/
Edwardian Passengers
At long last, thanks to Thomas Macey and volunteers at Didcot Railway Centre, we now have 5 new seated Edwardians and 10 standing Edwardian passengers. These are the first scans captued with the new scanner and are the highest detail figures we have produced.
Wickham Trolley Crew Pack
Another long overdue product, the Wickham Trolley crew pack has proved really popular. Not just for the Bachmann model, Ellis Clark have an O gauge one on the way! Includes driver, 2 passengers and detail pack.
Loco Shed Bundle
The first in a new range of product bundles, the Loco Shed bundle includes our Loco Shed Staff pack and many popular items for detailing your loco depot. The combined pack retails at 15% off the individual product price.
https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product-category/product-bundles/
Brass Band Figures
Thanks to the Kingswood and East Bristol Brass Band we have 6 new band figures in the range. These were certainly some of the most challenging scans we ever undertaken, but the results are great!
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On 30/07/2021 at 14:56, ScRSG said:
The point rodding has undergone a bit of a setback regarding the use of the Modelu rodding stools. As it was necessary to use the track colour to weather the track before the rods themselves could be put in place, this resulted in the 0.4mm square wire to no longer fit in the stools because of the coating of paint. Remedies were considered such as running an Xacto saw blade through each rodding stool to allow the wire to sit, but this was going to be a ludicrously tiresome exercise considering the number of stools in place. After some discussion regarding these stools, including their durability on an exhibition layout, and the methods of fixing the rods in the stools it was decided that, regrettably, these stools were not the answer for us. One of our members, vitalspark of this parish, did some research using the DCC Concepts rodding stools and we believe that these will provide a satisfactory solution to the problem
Sorry to hear the Modelu stools didn't work out. I'll have to review the design to take into account painting as I'm sure many customers must hit this same issue. If you haven't already made the the swtich to DCC Concepts, Drop me an email alan.buttler@modelu3d.co.uk and I'll see what I can do to replace or part refund your order.
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Barmouth 1958.
58xx Class 0-4-2T No 5801 basks in the warm July sun prior to working its next duty.
4mm scale Diorama by Dan Evason of Tunnel Lane Model Railways for Modelu
Photograph taken with Lumix G9 & 30mm Macro, Helicon focus stacked and processed in Lightroom, smoke added with Smoke brush in Photoshop
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Barmouth 1958.
58xx Class 0-4-2T No 5801 basks in the warm July sun prior to working its next duty.
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A cold start to the day at Pensyflog, Porthmadog.
Diorama by Dan Evason of Tunnel Lane Model Railways for Modelu
Figures by Modelu
Shed by Severn Models
Fencing by Scale Model Scenery
Dapol 4mm Mogul
Natural light
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On 01/01/2021 at 13:03, Jodeson said:
In late October I ordered a number of Modelu HO figures, when received they were on the sprues, not what I had expected and no mention made on their website that this would be their condition. I contacted Modelu who offered either for me to return the figures for a) them to remove them from the sprues and send them back or b) a refund. I opted for a refund and the figures were posted in early November. To date no refund has been made despite reminders.
Hi David,
My sincere apologies for missing your email reminder, I've just refunded the full amount including postage. Apologies for the inconvenience caused.
Alan
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Modelu Modellers Photo Comp reminder
Free Crew Detail Pack with every Loco Crew pack for rest of December
25% off Passenger Packs for rest of December
New Fitters https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-11
New Signal Box Interior details including Tyer's Token Instruments, Cupboards and Train Register Desk - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-12/
New Father Christmas Figure - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-13/
Prototype Sugg's Rochester Lamps - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-14/
Regarding lamps, I've not forgetten the other requests, I've not had time to get to grips with producing the fold up glazing with the silhouette cutter, so in the meantime I'll be working through some globe style lamps. These will unfortunatley be opaque until I can find a solution for a clear lamp body.
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Hi All,
I've been running an Advent Calendar promo over on our social media pages, here is an update of the new products and promos so far:
Modelu Modellers Photo of the year competitio - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-01/
New Shed Staff, Workman and Loco crews at rest figure packs - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-02/
New GWR Stove, Kettle and Coal Scuttle, scanned at Radstock North, Didcot - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-03/
New Cafe Interior Details - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-04/
20% Discount off scan reprints for December - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-05/
New Loco Shed Details including Sand box fillers, Hydralite Jacks and 25L oil drums - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-06/
New Binman and Dust bins - https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/2020-12-07/
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Morning all, I've some development news to share as we've quite a few new bits in the pipeline after a very busy few weeks getting through the order backlog.
HO Scale 40% Sale
For all our HO modellers, this weekend we are having a 40% sale on 1:87/HO scale whilst stocks last. View our website to see what is on offer.
Modelu Printed Catalogue
The new printed Autumn 2020 Modelu catalogue is back in stock. 100 full colour pages of Modelu products, customer images and more.
Catalogues are available to order for £8 plus postage, with a free downloadable PDF version on the website.
New Spruing Method
We've been upgrading our processes at Modelu HQ and have improved the way our figures are sprued. The new spruing method makes trimming figures very simple, just using fingers or tweezers for fine supports. This short video shows 4mm and 7mm scale figures with the new support structures being trimmed away. Note that the bed of supports under the feet provides a smoother base so the figure stands up without any need for sanding. All new stock will be produced with this method from now on.
3D Scanning at Didcot and the SVR
We've been out and about with the 3D scanner, thanks to Thomas Macey at Didcot and Nick Willcox at the SVR. New items in the pipeline from these sessions include buffer beam details, signal box interior kit, more yard details, point rodding details and more. Our next session is on Monday at the diesel depot in Kidderminster.
New Architectural Fittings including chimney pots and guttering
Modelu's range of architectural details has been expanded to include guttering and square pipe fittings. This system of components is designed to work with the existing range of rainwater goods and comprises of half round and ogee profile guttering, stop ends, outlets and corners. Square fittings for 3" and 4" pipe diameters now include rain water hoppers, bends, offsets, branches and shoes. See the website for more information.
Dan Evason has used a number of the new products to great effect on this diorama commission, based on the Barton Road Crossing of the Bristol Avonside wharf branch.Available MId-November - Cafe Interior Details
Our new range of café interiors is coming soon, including this deli counter, vending machine, arcade game and much more. Thanks to Dan Evason for bringing these prototype prints to life.
Available December - Point Rodding Components
Our range of scale point rodding rollers were one of our first products that really made use of high-resolution 3D printing. That was 5 years ago and beyond adding new designs to the range not much else had changed, until now! We are currently working on scale cranks, compensators and other items available as static components in December. Scales available will be 4mm, 7mm and 1/32nd. Longer term we'll be looking at options for working point rodding.
Development Workbench
The volume of orders during lockdown had made it a challenge to find time for product development, but that is set to change with our extra production capacity. Sadly due to covid restrictions a number of scanning sessions have had to be postponed, including another Ragged Victorian event and scanning Edwardian passengers.
Over the winter months we'll be working on the following new products:- Platform lamps (Finally...!)
- Signal Box Interior
- Modern Passengers standing & seated
- 1960s & 1970s diesel crews
- More yard details
Thanks for reading!
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Modelu are operating from home, posting daily with free post on all UK orders
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On 23/03/2020 at 14:16, Hal Nail said:
No, on the website, shop, click on fine scale figures and I get a pop up "download complete". There isnt a download that does anything but this shouldnt happen anyway - in explorer I then see the figures to select
Ordered fine using explorer but you might want to look into why its not working in Opera (which filters out ads so it might be clashing there?).
Edit - its only actually fine scale figures doing this from the main icon and if I use the drop downs on the left instead, its only actually 1948 - 68 footplate crew that does it.
Cheers
Ian (I must start putting my name on posts!)
Hi Ian,
It appears my hosting company moved me to a new server on Friday evening and this has caused some issues like the one you had experienced. I had the same today trying to access the whole site - it is hopefully now solved, if you have any further oddities then a browser cache reset (F5) or (CTRL & F5) should sort it.
Cheers
Alan
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Modelu's range of architectural details has been expanded to include guttering and square pipe fittings. This system of components is designed to work with the existing range of rainwater goods and comprises of half round and ogee profile guttering, stop ends, outlets and corners. Square fittings for 3" and 4" pipe diameters now include rain water hoppers, bends, offsets, branches and shoes. See the 
GWR Engine Hoist drawings
in UK Prototype Questions
Posted
Hi guys, thanks for the info. We best get to Didcot with the tape measure 😀 yes will be in 4mm and 7mm