jdb82

Hi All, I'm looking for some information on what the brake rigging/linkages under the loco would look like on a Manning Wardle Old Class i locomotive. I have drawings for what you can see on the outside of the loco around the brake blocks, but can't seem to find anything about what's underneath the loco. Any knowledge/pictures/diagrams/photos of your own models etc would be appreciated :-) Thanks, John

I'll send you a message so as not to hijack Mudmagnet's thread :-)

I had a similar problem with temperature. If you don't mind drilling two or three holes in the cover (which actually drills very nicely), you can make yourself a temperature controlled little heater. I got all the bits cheaply from Amazon - it seems to be very effective; I've not had any prints fail due to temperature (I think!), just dodgy supports. I printed a few parts this weekend when it was only 4 degrees in the garage. I can provide a list of Amazon links if you are interested.

Resurrecting this thread now I actually have a 3D printer of my own. A while ago, (see first post) I had a play with Fusion 360 to model a few bits for a Manning Wardle Old Class i. After a few pieces of helpful advice, I got them looking like they should and had them printed in different materials by Shapeways & Xometry. Now I've got my own printer - an Elegoo Mars Pro - I've printed them myself. Just though I'd post them here for interest sake Apologies for the poor lighting on the photos.....a light box is next on my list of things to make.

From a quick Google search it looks like pewter melts at about 230oC, so a little higher than WM, by around 100oC-ish.

Pewter could be an option, although I was really aiming for something with a higher melting point.

First a bit of context: I'm part way through producing (very slowly) the CAD artwork for a set of etches for a Manning Wardle Old Class i in 7mm scale. Having done the chassis and part of the bodywork, I'm thinking about the castings. I have drawn some of these up in Fusion already, and have 3D printed them. I do like metal though, and have long since wanted to get into casting. I have a mini tabletop furness on the slow boat from China, and have plans to build my own burnout furnace. Traditionally, castings have been produced in either white metal or brass. I find the quality of white metal to not always be the best, not to mention the fact I'm terrified of melting the things when soldering. I much prefer brass, but from a casting point of view, brass produces some fairly unpleasant fumes when molten. So now to the question: are there any reasons other metals are not used? They need to be 'solderable', but why not use something like copper? Price maybe? Aluminium bronze could be an option as it's copper based, with the addition of between 9-14% aluminium. Would the aluminium prevent it from taking solder? Not sure if viscosity when molten is a consideration - I guess the thinner the better for detail! On the other hand, there may be a very good reason why white metal and brass has dominated for so long! Any suggestions warmly welcomed, but bear in mind I'm not a metallurgist (yet)!!

Slightly larger than 00 gauge, but I've been following the build of a 5" gauge model of Lion. If you are keen on Lion, it might be of some interest to you :-) https://youtu.be/tdBjm5D6jxY There's 50-something videos about the build so far, so many happy hours of watching!

This is coming together very nicely Simon! I've been quietly following this for a while now and can't wait to see it finished. Very much admire the way you've battled your way through all the issues with the kit. Looking forwards to the valve gear

I've just started using my Mars Pro, and printed my first print with it yesterday (the standard 'rook' test piece that comes with it). Being a rookie at this too, I'm not in much of a position to give advice......however one thing that I read, and that makes a lot of sense, is the temperature in which you are trying to print. My printer is in the garage as I don't have space in the house, and therefore at this time of year, it's pretty cold. I have made a little temperature controlled heating unit which I bolted through the lid. How effective it is will be established over time, but on yesterdays evidence, it seemed to work pretty well. I can send you the links to all the bits I used if you want them.

So due to the topsey-turvey way my mind works, I'm now wondering, if blown up etches from smaller scales don't work, could reduced etches from a larger scale work any better? Having only built 2 kits myself (I keep promising myself I'll do more, but life gets i the way!), I'm not in much of a position to answer it myself!

They look great! As they were free, would you mind sharing where you found the stl file from? I fancy printing some of them myself :-)

Very nicely done Tim. I have been quietly following this thread in the background and love your work on the buildings, but have very much enjoyed seeing you branch out your skills into brass kits. I've only built 2 brass locos so far, and haven't had much time over the last couple of years (young daughter to blame!) to get to the modelling bench to finish painting the second one. Seeing you produce a cute little loco of such quality has made me want to make time to get back to my bench again.

Fusion works great on a Mac and seems to run without having to think too hard - that being said I only tend to model individual components of locos rather than the entire body! The only gripe I have with Fusion on a MacBook (laptop) is navigating round the model on the mouse trackpad is a little clumsy. Or maybe I'm the clumsy one......not sure which!

I scratch built the shed and coal gantry many years ago in N Gauge, but that was pre-digital photos.....I'll see if I can dig out some old 'proper' photos later. I had a look to see if there were any suitable kits around at the time, but didn't find any then - however we are talking 25 years ago now!

Time consuming for sure, but looks good though!

I bought a copy of The Chronicles of Boulton's Sidings a few months ago. Spoilt for choice for victorian locos in there!

That's looking like a really nice model! I'm currently (paused at the moment) building an L class, and am part way through designing some etches for an old i-class. Love a good Manning Wardle!

Sounds like good advice - thanks!

Adam, I've just been catching up with this thread - your models are superb! I've still got my L plates on when it comes to the CAD element of this at the moment, but I'm making progress. I intend (alright....been intending for a while without actually doing anything about it) to print parts for my 7mm scale models and then cast them into brass or bronze. The Mars Pro is on my shopping list, but I didn't think this was available (in the UK at least) yet? Can I ask where you got yours from? John

Looking good Tim! I built my first brass loco about 3 years ago. I made loads of mistakes and as you say, learning how to rectify them is part of the fun :-)

Impressive! I've been on the verge of pressing the "Buy Now" button for a Mars for a little while now, but it has been put on the back burner due to a house move. Having got settled in, I'll soon be ready to go again. I'm looking at producing castable masters for small parts on small industrial locos at 7mm scale. Would you mind me asking what diameter the pulley wheels are? 3mm or so?

Haha! Clearly our minds work in similar ways :-) Although I was thinking more along the lines of a large, well insulated cabin with a windows and power. There must be at lease 3 or 4 meters between the end of the garage and the end of the garden!

If there was an award for the best travelled loco before it's even been finished Bamburgh would win it by a mile. Having been conceived in Brunei, brought back to the UK last summer, spent time at my parents house, and more recently in our rented house, Bamburgh is now on the move again. We have finally completed on buying a place which we are moving into in a couple of weeks time. Yep, that means she's being packed up again, although this time we are only going 5 minutes down the road. Been a busy year with all the moving country/house. A young daughter, a new job, lots of house renovations and a wife who bizarrely wants to see me occasionally (??!!), are not things that lead to speedy modelling! I didn't take any photos, but I have been playing around with making my own transfers for the lining. Need a bit more practice not getting them all twisted up as I take them out of the water, but things are looking promising. I had had the loco stripped down for painting, but decided the best way not to loose parts in the move was to attach them to where they should be, so built it up again before packing. Don't look too closely at the can interior. It was going quite well until I attacked it with cream gloss, without really having the right brush.....I now have quite a lot of remedial work to do. You live and learn as they say..... I have been allocated a small part of the smallest room for my workbench, although I do have a 28ft garage to expand into when needed :-)

The chassis and wheels have been given waft of black with the airbrush last night. Highly unexciting, but just to prove I'm doing something! Didn't take any photos of the cab, but just need to paint the top half of the cab walls (interior) an off-white and then give everything a generous layer of soot before stating the green livery outside.