natterjack

A little off topic but on my current TT120 scratch build of a UK outline 4-6-0 I've opted for a tender mounted motor to ensure sufficient weight over the drivers for lengthy trains with an element of compensation to aid adhesion and current flow.

I'll leave that for you to debate amongst yourselves.

It has been mentioned before that this is the European market preference- quite the reverse to that of the UK. UK outline Hornby TT120 were to have them but initial buyer market research brought about the change.

Hi Rekoboy, thanks to your tip for direct contact I now have a package of bits and pieces en route from Peho.

Nope, just the sales hype - personally, I'm happy enough with my 7mm Loveless interpretation.

You pays your money and makes your choice- BTW you cannot (yet) get an Accurascale Deltic Prototype and it would appear the Hornby one will be accurater (sic) than the Kitmaster/Dapol and Bachmann options in OO.

I thought that was implied in my comment- clearly not.

Again, just another observation but Hornby are likely to have their body sides between 0.5 and 1mm thick with the interior width filled to the maximum with metal chassis and mechanism. For a body swap project, you'd need to take account of this, especially whether to print as a single unit or as a kit of parts best oriented for thin wall printing. Slightly off topic, my solution for the GT3 I'm building is a combination of 3d printing and thin panel etching (might have a powered chassis in time for Christmas).

Don't forget that Hornby have more than model railways, plastic construction kits and diecast ranges for examples, all of which will now have to demonstrate their respective profitabilities- its not all just about OO, HO, N and TT120.

Sink or swim?

Thanks very much for that; having noted the UK does not appear on the peho-kkk drop down countries list I'd assumed a 'brexit effect'. I'll send Peter Horn an email and see where I get.

Likewise.

Hi Rekoboy Can you suggest any sources for Peho bits and pieces that will post to the UK at reasonable rates of P&P? I'd like to buy some of their TT wired magnetic couplers and 'swivel' NEM pockets.

Out of interest, how do you go about the cleaning? I have in my mind a soft paint brush with an adjacent vacuum cleaner sucking away the air borne dust.

Stlll falling for that one? If the projected Heljan line up and preparation were to be believed they would have beaten Hornby to the market with their own products. Even with the Hornby 2-3 year production plan fairly clear to see there is no mention of TT120 in the Heljan 2024 catalogue.

Just a thought that your couplings cut-out looks a bit too wide; you need space for the buffers- talking of which, can I suggest you have a look through the N Brass Locos website as a number of their N Gauge parts are eminently suitable for TT120 including buffers, hoses,dummy couplings, air horns, wipers etc etc. https://www.nbrasslocos.co.uk/fitall.html No connection beyond being a very satisfied customer.

A company with the existing cad work for a modern wagon or two for the Class 66? Good long term bulk sale potential without delving into new mechanisms and electronics.

I wonder whether to some extent this might be a reflection of 'club purchasing' and 'domestic layouts' where I suspect the former is predominately 4mm?

Points taken, but the Hornby launch does appear to be reflected by a resurgence of TT120 manufacture by a number of European Continental manufacturers, including items of North American prototypes. The business model for TT120, essentially providing a product addressing manipulative practicability within available space, applies to a great many urban situations worldwide. It is worth reiterating that Hornby already had production of HO, TT120 and N within the group (Arnold etc) when planning their 'miniature' UK outline venture.

At the moment- this and the Class 50 both struck me as rather low priced, so I pre-ordered both!

Sorry but I just don't get this line of thinking. Hornby are a mass producer and need mass markets. Smaller and niche producers will always be able to produce models to better specs than the mass market wallet will afford- just how much of the Hornby range do you realistically expect Accurascale (and other smaller producers) to compete with). The TT120 move remains a perfectly sensible one viz a viz the increasingly competitive environment of RTR OO. Where Hornby are scoring beyond all others in OO is in 'passenger trains' such as the forthcoming LNER Coronation sets which will readily translate to the Silver Jubilee and tourist stock and I really hope these eventually appear in 120 scale. That said, they did 'let go' of the Blue Pullman to Bachmann.

Sorry, but that is certainly not my experience- PM me if you want a pointer or two. To give you an example, I have in the past few weeks commissioned prints to my drawings for bespoke TT120 wheels and quartering assembly jigs for a total cost of @£30 and that included test samples- so my next order for the wheels alone will be less than a tenner including P&P. This particular printer advertises in the model railway press and has helped me out over the past 4 or 5 years. I doubt the resulting working relationship would be so easily achieved with Shapeways.

3D print producers are even advertising their services on ebay; there are already a plethora of options to Shapeways and probably one or two local to you, wherever you may be. My tip is to go to those with the gear best suited to your needs- just as you would for a 2D printing service.

My thumbs-up are to encourage this topic to come to some sort of resolution as to how designers can even hope to be recompensed for multiple use of files (stl at present). We are in similar 'royalties territory' to the issues recently interrupting Hollywood and those yet to be fully resolved in the music business, audio books etc.

Hmm. In the medium to longer term I see 'small scale' 3D printing progressing as a domestic interest for the enthusiast and as a somewhat localised community/geographic business resource. I am already seeing post and packaging costs beginning to exceed those of the production I am outsourcing. If I'm right, the writing would be on the wall for the present Shapeways model. The trick for any designer is to work out how to safely market files into this environment. In the context of model railways there is very little that could be successfully copyrighted beyond something like a patented mechanism- after all nearly all source material is in the public domain. The issue is one that has faced creative artists since the year dot.