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Assembling what I can on the under frame until I figure out how the other pieces go together. Having folded up the W- irons and sweated the axle bearings into them there seemed to be a lot of side play when the wheels were in the axles, so much so that the wheels in the rocking W- iron were touching its base. I checked the axle lengths which are 26mm the correct length for EM. I could have squeezed the W- irons closer together but then they would not have been perpendicular to the underframe. My only solution is to turn up four brass washers to pack out the bearings from the W- irons. Another thing I had to do was turn a small Teflon guide for cantering the bearings in the holes of the w irons. The middle of the cast brass axleboxes are also going to need to be drilled so they fit over the axle bearings. It’s annoying when kit manufactures don’t design their kits to fit axle bearings properly, 2mm seems to be the standard outside dimension for axle bearings. Would be interested to know if anybody makes these washers for modellers who encounter the same issues.

I am trying to assemble the under frame for this kit and I have come to a stop with regards to the under frame. As you can see from the image I have posted , it is not the clearest of images on the instructions and there is quite a lot of detail to put together on the under frame. I am constructing it to the 456 diagram. It would be useful if any modellers out there have constructed one of these kits and could furnish me with a decent image of the under frame. Thanks.

I It’s been awhile since my last Zoom chat so I have decided to hold another one this Saturday. One at 11 am and one at 11.45 am with a five minute break for tea in between. This will be a general chat on what modellers have been up to during the lockdown with an invitation to show images or live videos of projects they have been working on. Please join us and select the links below if you want to join the meeting. Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Modellers Zoom Chat Time: Jan 16, 2021 11:00 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76861245639?pwd=Q0RyR3dFU1lvM1hDOVlaZEZ2YTgrUT09 Meeting ID: 768 6124 5639 Passcode: 4AXucu Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Modellers Zoom Chat Time: Jan 16, 2021 11:45 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79471600889?pwd=MlBpaGpUMGduQXp3TUtuK0pSdjhlQT09 Meeting ID: 794 7160 0889 Passcode: 4nHisJ

The watermark is a good idea but any modeller who knows what they are doing could erase the watermark by remeshing the topology of the model or simply load the stl file into the watermark software and give it a new watermark. The software doesn't recognize that it alraedy has a watermark. I would forget about offering the large scale stl files because no modeller is going to have a printer big enough to print them.

If you are going to offer 3D printed railway vehicles they need to be vehicles that aren't commercially available in the scales you are thinking of. The holy grail of 3D printing is being able to replicate the injection moulded process and the only machines that I have come across that are close to this are the Invisiontec machines and your not going to get one of those machines on your initial budget of £3000 and the print bed on them would only be any good up to 4mm scale. I can get my prints down to an injection moulded quality but that requires a lot of post processing involved. These prints then serve as a master to be resin cast by http://www.cmamoldform.co.uk/project/scale-models/

You don't need to split the locos into pieces for 4mm but in 35mm scale, what ever that is, you would probably have to print the locos in parts to fit it on the print bed. In 35mm scale I don't think it would be cost effective as each print alone would probably cost a couple of hundred pounds to print. There are printers out there can could do the job in 35mm but have you got a hundred thousand pounds to spend. If you have built the locos in Solidworks you need to design them as body shells and design the rest in Autocad for etching. I produce 3D printed loco bodies for a kit manufacturer as a one piece item to fit on the etched kit.

I have had a look at your Kickstarter page. Are the locos on the page 3D scanned images. Judging by the quality of the images even the best 3D printer in the world would give you poor results.

Good choice of printer. What resin are you using ? You wouldn't stand a chance of printing that on a FDM machine. I'm surprised modellers are still buying them when the price of DLP machines are so atractive and the quality so much better. I suspect the FDM machines will become obsolete in the near future. Let us see the results when its printed. Tom

Hi Tom That looks like a tall order,excuse the pun, to 3D print depending on what printer you have and gauge you are printing it in. I can print down to 10 microns on my Nova3D printer but haven't tried anything that challenging yet. The test will be to see if it prints straight, you will probably need supports for the brackets. Printing it vertically would give you the best results if you can do it with the least number of supports to remove.

Judging by the quality of the print printing the side at .4mm thickness was pushing the bounds of the printer. If the wagon is going to be a loaded one of have a sheet over it then I would think about redesigning the wagon so that the sides and floor could be printer flat and assembled like a kit. I don’t do much 2mm printing but here is a loco I did the artwork for and printed on my printer.

Here is a Midland Railway A Class I have done ready to go to my printer and an image of one of my prints done for a client who is producing Cambrian etched loco kits.

What did they charge for doing the artwork. Here is one of my locos that I did the cad work on ready for the printer and some printed items from my printer.

I have the four volumes on Midland locos and volume three Irwell Press book on Midland locos, so not short on reference material. There was quite a variety in the builds on these depending on what period you are modelling. I'm doing a pre 1906 build with a half cab so I will need to alter the kit to suit. I will be adding 3D printed parts to the build and will probably dispense of most of the castings as they are not very good. I have a turned Johnson chimney and will turn the safety valve and whistle. I might regret it when it comes to the painting and lining but the whole build going to be a learning process for me.

Getting back into the hang of this soldering now. Decided to use the liquid flux instead of the paste as it seems to give better results. The boiler has now been soldered at the seam (fig.5) 5. which got me thinking how I was going to do this as it can be a bit tricky making sure the seam comes together correctly and then holding it to solder. There were two methods I had in mind, one was the traditional way of doing it with a soldering iron and soldering at the seam or resistance soldering. In the end I opted for resistance soldering by sweating a tined piece of nickel silver to the inside of the seam. I felt this would give me a stronger joint. In order to do this I needed to turn a piece of brass (fig.3) 3. that was just under the inside boiler diameter. This was clamped on the vice with the etched boiler inserted over the brass with the tined nickel silver under the seam. A piece of paper was inserted under the nickel silver, the seamed closed and resistance soldered (fig.4). 4. I was happy with the results and the joint is holding. The kit came with an etched riveted smoke box rapper (fig.1) 1. that needed rolling. I wanted a Johnson smoke box without the rivets so I filed them off then turned the part using the non riveted side as the outside. It would have been a lot easier if the rivets had been press out ones then there would have been no filing involved. To accompany the smokebox I needed a Johnson smokebox door which did not come with the kit and so I had to turn one (fig.6). 6. Not so difficult as I thought it would be and all it required was a large HSS toolbit to shape the end of the correct diameter bar. The toolbit was packed up on the cross slide until it was the correct height then held by hand to turn the radius (fig.2). 2. Having done these jobs I would be interested to know what modellers preferences are to solder paste as apposed to tinning when it comes to resistance soldering and anything they may have done differently to the way I have done it.

Having started to put together this kit I realised my soldering skills were a bit scratchy as can be seen in (fig).1 1. The solder joint for the footplate and valances is not as clean as I had hoped but it has done the job. The one problem I was having was getting solder to stick to the tip of the soldering iron, I’m using 60/40 Tin/lead alloy and telex soldering flux. It turned out that the tip was dirty and needed retinning and with the help of some useful Youtube videos on how to do this I now have a fully functional soldering iron tip. The most tricky part was soldering the valance to the footplate that did not come right to the edge of the footplate. I used a piece of card that I wedged between the side of the valance and the aluminium angle to insure that there would be a step between the valance and footplate. Bending up the splashers to form a right angle on the footplate was not as easy as I thought it would be and this would have been made easier if I had done this before adding the valances but it would have made adding the valances more difficult. Now that I had sorted out my soldering tip I added the 8BA nuts to the footplate and the solder flowed the way I wanted it to. Now as you can see the nut at the smokebox end needs to be moved over slightly to accommodate the smoke box front tab but by judging the size of the nut I will have to shave a bit off the tab for it to fit (fig.2). 2. For the next I will probably embark on is assembling the boiler but haven’t decided how I am going to solder the seam; do I just solder the bottom of the seam or cut a thin strip of brass and resistance solder over the seam inside the boiler. I think the second method would give a stronger joint. The next job would be attaching the smoke box inner and outer wrappers, (fig.3) 3. & drawing numbers 25&27 to the boiler. Do I just solder the bottom of the inner wrapper to the boiler or try and solder all the way round the rapper ? How do I solder the smoke box wrapper, (fig.4), 4. onto the inner rapper? I am modelling a Johnson loco that did not have rivet detail on the smoke box although the kit is for a Johnson loco there are etched rivet details on the wrapper. I suspect these can be sanded down before the wrapper is rolled.

I think most modellers would agree that they have kits that are gathering dust and waiting for the fairies to magically put them together in the middle of the night. Unfortunately this will never happen and unless you have deep pockets to pay to get a professional modeller to build them for you they will end up on eBay or you do it yourself. My only etch build has been a 51L LNWR carriage truck and box van and I was pleased enough with the results to think about tackling a loco. As I plan to build a joint GWR and MR layout my kits are a representation of those two companies. A good loco kit to start with I have been told is the Craftsman Models MR/LMS 1F 0-6-0T which I will embark on. I will add some 3D printed detailing to the loco that does not come with the kit which might also replace some of the castings that could be improved on. The Johnson boiler backhead did not come with the kit and I will either use an existing 3D printed one that I developed for a Cambrian loco or design one for the loco. No doubt along the way I will make a few mistakes and viewers will point out better ways of assembling parts of the kit and constructive criticism will be welcomed. If I can do a reasonable job then hopefully other first timers will not be put off assembling those etched kits languishing in their cupboards. The first part of the build will be the superstructure then the chassis.

I am in the middle of scratch building a GWR goods shed and using Precision paint Dark Stone for the sliding doors. As you can see from the image the paint is not matt but gloss although it says matt on the tin. I gave the paint a good stir before I applied it to the door. The GWR may have used a gloss paint when new but I suspect it lost its gloss after a few years. I have read that you can add talcum powder to paint to make it matt. I would like to know if any other modellers have experienced this and what their solution was or is it just a question of buying another can of paint.

Read the sad news in the Sunday Times today which seems to be another nail in the coffin for small shops that have anything to do with our hobby. Another great transport book shop nearby was Motor Books in Cecil Court that also seems to have closed. That isn't me by the way.

Here are the links to tomorrows meetings, 11am - 11.40 and 11.50 - 12.30. Part 2 3D printing. Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Tom Clarke's Zoom Meeting Time: Oct 17, 2020 11:00 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78201463163?pwd=QkhKVkdhN0dad1FGT0t1UUZpdlpHdz09 Meeting ID: 782 0146 3163 Passcode: 6tk0Cd Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Thomas Clarke's Zoom Meeting Time: Oct 17, 2020 11:45 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79459039350?pwd=Yy8xRHE5aVpSYnIrN25pbHhLbVR3Zz09 Meeting ID: 794 5903 9350 Passcode: 0N9dbH

Here is the you tube link to the discussion on 3D printing that took place on the 10th of October that is available to RMweb subscribers. The discussion itself became quite focused on the technical aspects of 3D printing which hopefully will have not dissuaded any modellers from purchasing a 3D printer. I will hold another session on 3D printing that will deal less with the technical aspects of 3d printing and more with the outcomes and experiences modellers have experienced using 3D printing. Bring you 3D printed models to the computer and share your stories behind them. https://youtu.be/K9simDpBuDI

Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Thomas Clarke's Zoom Meeting Time: Oct 10, 2020 11:45 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79659207710?pwd=TFh3Mk9ZL05BZ1BZTGo0T3crVHp1UT09 Meeting ID: 796 5920 7710 Passcode: 1iC8Pu

Here is the link to Saturdays meeting on 3D printing. Thomas Clarke is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Thomas Clarke's Zoom Meeting Time: Oct 10, 2020 11:00 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78182139913?pwd=OVNWbXd3MVNZOTREWjF2WDE3YkxoZz09 Meeting ID: 781 8213 9913 Passcode: 5WyHP7

That's Cardiff Wales not Cardiff USA.

Zoom talk on 3D printing takes place this Saturday at 11am. Link will be posted here on Friday for those who want to join in with the discussion. If you have a webcam bring your 3D printed item to the computer or share images of it on your screen.