rdr

To me P4 is all about the look of the track, you're not going to see the wheelsets to judge how fine the flanges are or tell if the thickness is spot on, but you will see how accurate the track looks, and how pleasing it is to the eye. If you're going to modify wheelsets and build your own track, then why go to all that effort and still make it narrow gauge with the wrong sized flangeways and blade gaps. We who model in P4, can't accept OO track or even EM, but is that your mindset, do you look at OO track and say "ew that's just not right". If so then P4 is for you, if not then stick with OO. Modellers have proven you can make a length of OO track look wonderful, but it all fails when a point is introduced into the mix.

Thanks for this thread.

whenever i see a strange number, i answer in an authorative voice " National Fraud Helpline, what company are you calling from", if they don't hang up immediately and try to carry on, i say "you have been transferred from (insert phone number) What company are you calling from !". As it happens my friend works for a bank and rang me from their business line which got the same treatment, he was crying laughing, and said that's a real gem.

You'll love making the point, and yes all plastic looks great. I love the way in templot you can just add a slight curve in a point to get the sidings or routes exactly right, and vary the angle or length of it to make it fit perfectly. No need to buy templates if you design the layout in Templot. Curves are there in most track station/yard formations, it's straights that are the rarity. Track normally fits the terrain. I have about 200 versions of my layout saved in Templot, a slight alteration there, a touch of curve there, a longer point just by there, would a slip be better in place of those points, a three way point could save me a bit of space. So many ways to improve and you could replicate a plan of the place you wish to model exactly. This is the second layout i've built and i would never use flexi, it just doesn't look right, and it doesn't have the cant on the rail. I'm trying to use my 3d printer to print the track for this new layout, as the cost of track parts is quite high. Bit of a steep learning curve but worth the effort.

As you've said the 2mm difference doesn't bother you so go ahead and make your track by hand to oo gauge with code 75 rail, it's really easy to do, and is quite relaxing. Templot will give you an accurate plan with all the sleeper placings and rail positions, whether you use C&L or Exactoscale track parts it's your choice, or even print your own with a 3d printer. Start off with a rough plan or a photo, and see what you can draw up in Templot. Once you get the jist of it Templot is pretty easy to use and gives amazing results. When you've got exactly what you want, have the whole plan printed on a big printer, stick the plan down on the baseboard and just lay the track on top of the plan, it really is that simple. Everything is aligned perfectly and i guarantee it will look great.....even in "oo". PS. do not use flexitrack, it's isn't that good. Build your own, it looks so much better.

a quiet place, really quiet.

don't you need water to keep electricity cool

first off there are several methods of 3D printing, FDM, SLA, DLP, ect. All have different results and in the hobby level considerably different costs. FDM is probably the oldest system where a line of plastic is extruded and placed onto a bed in specific places to make the product. It is inherantly slow and leaves a visible array of lines that will need considerable work to be smooth. SLA is probably just as slow as FDM, as a laser is fired into a medium and a spot is cured each time eventually making a product. DLP is usually the faster 3D printing process as it exposes a layer of resin the size of the screen in one go. FDM machines are relatively cheap, SLA machines tend to be costly, and DLP is a bit more expensive than FDM increasing in price with screen size. Raw material costs are very low but in each method of printing there is a certain amount of post printing work to be done. It is time consuming to 3D print, and on a commercial basis not very efficient. To print a coach you may need a fairly large printer and for a good finish i would recommend the DLP resin printer. There are DLP printers with 10" screens that would probably be big enough to print a MK1 coach in 4mm scale, but beware you need a good understanding of CAD programs to draw the part originally. Hope this helps.

i bought the standard Photon, as i'm making a mod for it to take out all the levelling issues. I was thinking of upgrading the firmware to use the new file system, but a lot of owners are having issues with the new firmware.

One thing i noticed when i first started printing multiple items on the plate, if you space them out about 5mm apart the resin clears a lot better. What printer do you have ?

Hi Mark, i've kept the option of chairs alone as well, there's always a place where one or two need to be juggled and when used on points. I'm going to mix a bit of flex in the resin to get over the brittleness, have you tried this ?

Well we have entered the 21st century with a bang when it comes to modelling all aspects of model railways, the 3d resin printer has got a firm hold of small scale (pun intended) production in model railways. Whether or not your computer literate the 3d resin printer can be a help over a wide range of items in the modelling world, from aspect lights to zebra crossings. My interest in 3d printing comes from a P4 background and track production, which most modellers never have to consider, you're the lucky ones. C&L, Exactoscale, produce great track parts that look fantastic and do the job perfectly, so why am i looking to produce track parts with a 3d printer. Well it's the old factor of cost, and on a moderate sized layout the cost of producing your own P4 track is quite high. I have about 22 metres of scenic track and a further 24 metres of fiddle yard track. To produce track parts you need a rendering of the type of chairs you require in a format the printer likes to see, now this is where the computer rears it's ugly head, and is the main stumbling block for the average modeller. There are several chairs required for track production, from running chairs for plain track to specialised chairs for pointwork, and several models of each type of chair depending on the region you want to model in. I've gone for possibly the most common chair for bullhead track the BR S1 chair. Next is the printer itself, which can be a minefield for some but a walk in the park for others. There is definitly a steep learning curve with these printers, as they are a combination of mechanical controlled movement with the alchemy of resins, and fluid motion. There are also several ways to print on a 3d printer and each have their own unique inherant problems, which can be very frustrating for the beginner. If you print a model and use a raft that supports the model away from the print plate, then you bypass most of the problems with alignment of the plate. But if your plan is to print directly to the build plate then alignment of the plate is essential and must be accurate, or you will have problems. I am producing a mod for this printer to get over the problems associated with printing directly to the build plate. Getting on to the printing, here's a sample of what can be made. PS. sorry for the poor quality of the photo, it's taken from my phone.

It is a first off prototype and no attempt has been made to distress the sleeper at all. The good thing about 3d printing, if you can draw it, the printer will print it. Flat surfaces tend to be very flat and smooth, so it's a pretty easy task to get a finish on there.

i can print 30 sleepers in 22 minutes, if you go for thin sleepers instead of full thickness it's only 15 minutes. Gauge is spot on, 18.83mm

don't you just love resin printers

Hi Tom, if you fancy computer control there are ways to introduce dcc at a much lower cost if you have the ability to dabble in electronics

i've had some amazing deals at auctions, but i've seen many horror stories, far more bad experiences than good.

i ended up using toolstations basic spray glue, which worked well

that's a good idea

I wasn't all that fussed on the dual tracks in, so here's the single track version which i prefer. Also gone is the siding leading to the buildings, and i've left the hidden dmu storage tracks drawn that are inside the buildings and are fed from the traverser. This is a handy way of storing several trains in one long 3m traverser road and being able to pick and choose which one i need at any point in time. This works by feeding them into these storage roads to free up the ones behind, also the two sidings below hold the replacement locos for the container trains return trip. My next obstacle is fixing the paper trackplan to the baseboards. My first thought is spray glue, as i've tried wallpaper paste and pva but this tends to warp the ply a bit. Any ideas guys, the ply board is only 6mm so i have to be pretty gentle with it.

Boards are up on temporary legs and the track plan placed on top with a couple of trains to show the scale and the sweeping station curve. One of the traverser boards has been left off to be able to shift the boards around work on them.

cb radio for many years in the AM days, repairing them when there was no one else to do it. Went to amatuer radio as a natural progression and literally immediately lost interest, so boring.

Some improvements and progress on Intermodal. Here is the plan taken from Templot, which is an amazing piece of software and so well supported by Martin Wynne. Added to the plan are board outlines with buildings, dock, traversers, hatched areas, crane tracks, fences and access gate, station building, platform, access ramp and a road bridge crossing the lines to form a scenic barrier. Storage lines have been removed for clarity. As the weather has improved and the construction of the baseboards has evolved a bit further, the layout has also evolved with new and old ideas and many changes, for the better i hope. An idea was floated at one point to have the dock open to the sea, but it didn't work out to be very practical due to many factors. So the old dock came back and has opened up a few ideas including a closed car ferry terminal and workshop area. The freight/container traffic has been given a dedicated line which gives a bit more room due to the removal of the access point, and the container yard area has been developed to include an old now defunct car ferry terminal that used the dock. This has been reclaimed to form a small service area for container wagons with the customs offices and storage shed converted for this use, such is progress. Technically the design of the traverser mechanisms have altered, scrapping the idea of belts in favour of long acme screws and sprung nuts. These are used extensively in 3d printers and hold tolerances really well, an important point for matching the track to the traverser on each road. Stepper motors will drive the traversers to maintain rigity and accuracy from four places along it's 3 metre length. Next week the trackwork will start with 3d printed track parts closely following the C&L principles of track construction, all track will be completely hand built.

watch the postage though, they used to be high.