A.R.

Hi Michael, Thank you! It absolutely is one of your excellent kits, good spot- really enjoyable build! It's from a couple of years ago when I wasn't as used to soldering so I am not sure I fully did it justice but as you say I think it finishes off the model nicely! Cheers, Alex

Next up is (after about a year) a Bulleid Booster (coincidentally at pretty much the same time the EFE version was announced!). I am pleased with how this loco turned out as it did feel at some points like it may never be finished! It is DCC, and a mixture of laser cut brass and 3D printed parts, all to my own design. I used a Class 40 bogie and motor setup, heavily modified to fit. It also has full custom lighting boards too! More than happy to provide more info or more progress photos if people are interested! Cheers, Alex

Hello All, Apologies for the long break on updating this thread! However, I have been doing a number of projects recently, and thought it was time to put up some pictures here. These projects are now finished but I have included some in-progress pictures too! I will spread them out over a couple of posts. Firstly, I finished a tiny little gasworks loco (Beckton No25), which is laser cut brass and 3D printed. This was a challenge to get everything to fit and work, but it does have space for a decoder and stay alive (yet to be fitted!) Cheers, Alex

Great to see this poll, some very interesting items! It was great to see Beckton No25 listed - I am in the process of making a 4mm version but it would make an excellent RTR model too. Here's a picture of my (unfinished) version in case of interest! You'll note, it is absolutely tiny, but still has a coreless motor, DCC, NEM pockets and a stay alive! I have the number plate all painted ready to put on when complete Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Just a quick update on the GWR 1101. I have now completed all of the rivetting and added most of the brass details to the loco. I have now commenced painting and most of the block colours are now done. It does look a little bright, but this is mainly the lighting - plus, I will be weathering the loco which will tone it down further. Next up is finishing the chassis and getting it painted - I also need to order the motor/gearbox from High Level at some too so I can actually finish it! Look forward to hearing your thoughts. Cheers, Alex

Evening All, I have started on another project - a GWR Class 1101. Not Southern, but I saw a picture and thought it was a really interesting loco so decided to model it. I am building the chassis from scratch, and the I designed the body for 3D printing. Progress has been fairly quick and I now have a half done chassis and have begun detailing the bodyshell. I hand cut the chassis frames (including the spacers) from brass strip, fitted axle bushes and soldered it all together. I have also done one side of the motion (which is adapted from a 2MT valve gear etch). I have also modified some Gibson buffers to have bigger heads as the industrial ones never seem to be in stock! Next up is adding more brass details and rivets before painting etc. and also finishing the valve gear on the other side! I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Cheers, Alex

Very good point, I had half intended to do that and forgot to draw it on. I will be running the bay platform as an auto shuttle whilst I control the yard and mainlines but it would definitely be beneficial to have it all connected up! The drawing doesn't show it very well, but the bottom right corner is quite a tight fit becuase of how the boards fit in the shed but will definitely see what I can work in! Cheers, Alex

Hi, Thank you! I have done a quick sketch that gives an idea of the track plan although this will likely evolve. It is a very simple track layout, and plan is quite out of scale. I very much want the scenic section to be railway in a landscape - a rural location with a mainline, hence only a small yard etc. Let me know what you think, only half the track is down so I can still make changes! Cheers, Alex

Hi, No problem at all, here are a few of the build from just printed and primed shells to the complete thing: It is a very smooth runner with the little motor/gearbox combination. Cheers, Alex

Hello All, After a number of years without a layout, and a focus on designing and building locomotives, I finally have the opportunity to build a continuous-run layout. Housed in a shed, it is an 00 gauge layout that measures approx. 12ftx8ft so, although it's not massive, it does provide a decent size scenic section and fiddle yard. Set in the south of England in the BR Southern Region years (loosely!), it will feature a two track mainline with a mid-size country station with a small bay platform and small yard with a few sidings. The boards are partly open-framed and partly standard full boards, with the aim being for the station/yard to be on the level and for landscape to then drop away to take the railway on an embankment. There will also be a small narrow gauge line incorporated to serve a small quarry tucked away at one side of the layout. Although these are the key design philosophies, I am content to let the layout develop and change as I progress. I am currently at the stage of all the boards being built and installed and the very first track (Peco Code 75 Bullhead) having been laid (and the first board joint also complete). I have also started building some signals (that are lit and will function) and some large Scots Pines that will be crucial to the landscape! Here are some quick pictures to get you up to date: I really look forward to keeping this thread up to date with progress and hearing your thoughts, suggestions and (hopefully constructive) criticisms! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, After a bit of time away, I thought it would be good to give a quick update on some projects I have completed recently, and kickstart this thread again for upcoming projects. I have also started a new layout which I will create a seperate thread for in the layout section of the forum. This is a real mix of weathering projects, kitbuilds, 3D printed designs and scratchbuilds. All run well, apart from the 009 that needs a new chassis. This is a freelance 009 loco made entirely from scratch. It just needs a better chassis... This is a Hornby Railroad 9F that has been fitted with lights, sound and my own water vapour steam generator.... This is the BR never-was 2-8-2 which I think I have posted before. Scratchbuilt chassis and heavily modified body BR Class 28 designed by me and 3D printed. I have made two of these as they often ran in pairs, although only one is currently powered Class 89 made from a SilverFox resin kit and lovely Judith Edge pantograph. DCC fitted with lights An old design of colliery locomotive. This is entirely 3D printed, including the chassis, tender etc. Only the wheels, axles and crankpins were bought plus a very small integrated motor/gearbox. I have many pictures of this build and can post more detail if people are interested This is the finally completed Maunsell 4-8-0 in a rather splendid fictional SR livery. Just needs a light weathering and it can pull a rake of pullmans in spectacular fashion! A Hornby Q1 weathered by me. Finally, I have weathered my rake of Pullmans...here is just one that will help form the Bournemouth Belle. That gives a quick summary of what I have been up to, and for most of the projects I have more pictures so if there are particular ones that are of interest, I am more than happy to post some more detail! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Apologies for not posting in a while! I did eventually finish these locos and am really pleased with how they came out! They are both cosmetically completed, but only one is currently fitted with a motor - they look good as a powered and dummy pair though! I ended up getting the windows laser cut and it has worked really well! I won't post anything else on this thread, and will update my main workbench thread with some other projects that I have completed recently to keep it all in one place but thought it would be nice to round this thread of with some complete pictures! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Just a quick update! I have now finished the underframe details (I restarted them as I wasn't pleased with the first iteration!). These have been sent to get printed now and should arrive soon. I have also added these to the overall CAD drawing and I created a render so you can see how the finished locos will look! I am hoping the buffers arrive soon as I always these make locos look a lot more "finished"! I look forward to your comments! Cheers, Alex

Hi @rka I use FreeCAD for all my CAD drawings. Its the best free software I can find and has served me well for a while. I then use a separate online rendering tool. Hope that helps! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, @jessy1692 Apologies, I forgot to acknowledge your good spot of the steps being misaligned - something I had completely missed! It's a bit late to change them now, so they can remain as a point of interest, but thank you for pointing it out! I would be interested to see your Class 28, so feel free to upload pictures of it here if you'd like. I mentioned a few posts ago about laser cut windows for these locos. As I have now started to detail the cab ends, I test fitted some of the windows and, to my delight (after a tiny bit of sanding), they slotted straight in. These have been laser cut to drawings I made from the original CAD out of 1mm clear acrylic. There are tiny lugs in the window frames as part of the design that allows the windows to sit at the correct depth (see CAD picture below). I will admit, they are not 100% perfect but I think for homemade glazing, they go a good way to achieving a similar result to modern RTR flush glazing! It also highlights one of the key benefits of using CAD and how this can be used to create other parts. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this, and whether anyone knows if this has been used before as a way of doing glazing. Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Thanks @jessy1692 and @Halvarras for the discussion! Interesting to hear about those very low priced motor bogies - I will definitely remember those for future projects. For these locos, I am actually using the Western bogie and wheels (that have been ground down in a drill to a more suitable flange depth) and then a replacement motor kit which, I believe, are based around old CD drive motors. I have used one before on a Class 70 I made (using the same method as these Class 28s) and it has worked really well. I will hopefully have some more updates soon and I need to start thinking about what livery to paint these in (probably BR green). Cheers, Alex

Hi All, I have managed to get the second loco up to the same stage as the first now, with the exception of a new motor (the old one has been removed, but I have yet to order the replacement). I have also managed to spray the underframes/bogies black, as well as fitting the NEM coupling pockets. This has really highlighted the details on the bogies such as the springs, and I am pleased with how the locos are slowly coming together. I have also started to add handrails to one of the locos. The next major step is to fit all the pick ups, as well as to continue the detailing. I am about to order some brass parts, including sprung buffers from Markits, as well as some vaccum pipes and other small details that will help bring the locos to life. I have also been working on the underframe details, which like most of the project, will be 3D printed. This is a snapshot from CAD showing current progress - I still need to add a lot of the detail and make sure it will all fit. I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Just a quick update, mainly on the chassis. This has now been finished for the first loco, given a coat of black paint and the fixings to the body sorted. You can see the two brass screws that hold the body shell in place on the third photo, leaving plenty of space for adding weight! All that remains to be done on chassis number one is for the pickups to be fitted, wiring these to the motor and then adding the aforementioned weight. I am pleased with how this has come out given some fairly extensive modification from the original (cutting a large section out of the middle, reducing the width and adjusting the motor bogie mounts!). Work is now beginning on the second loco, and you can see the main parts spread out on my workbench. Still a lot of work to do on these parts but I will keep you all updated! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Thanks for the interest and comments! @rka I did look at getting a Heljan Class 28 but I could only find second hand, expensive ones! So, this, plus the fact I enjoy the (many) challenges of designing and making my own models, led me down the road of deciding to design my own. I think both bodyshells, all the bogie sides and the two 2-axle bogies cost me about £30 to get printed, in resin. I will then be adding brass/metal details to this to improve the detailing which will add a fair amount to the cost! @Halvarras No worries about the slightly off-topic discussion, always interested to hear anecdotes! I have to say, 3D prints certainly don't always come out straight or level so I know how that builder must have felt trying to work out how to making everything align! I have made a little more progress and now have the bogies sorted for one loco, so took the opportunity to put it on my photo diorama. You can see here that the bogies are still not painted, and this contrasts with the smooth grey finish of the loco body. I am also yet to fit pickups and wire them up to the motor, another job for the to-do list. I also put a black and white filter on one to get a feel for how it will look once finished. I would like to get the second loco to this same stage and then get them both up and running prior to doing more of the details, painting and fitting windows etc. I also need to design the underframe detail and sort the fixings of the bodyshells to the chassis frame. Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Thanks for the interest and comments! Really interesting to hear about the ride quality (thanks @313201), and @Halvarras ‘s story of a slightly different build of the same prototype. With regards to the windows, thanks for pointing it out and for the book recommendation @uax6but, unfortunately, I had already ordered the prints by that point so I couldn't make the changes! Progress on the Class 28s has been good, and I now have most of the required 3D prints. Firstly, I have the body shells and these came in two parts, the centre with one end and then a separate end due to printer space limitations. Therefore, the first thing was to join these two together with superglue and then fill the gaps and sand back. I did this with both body shells and then once sanded smooth, gave them both a thin layer of primer to identify any issues. This was just done with my new airbrush. I am pleased with how little any of the print lines shows and most of the surfaces are very smooth. The next 3D prints were the bogie sides. I designed these and then got them printed, measuring to make sure they would fit the donor bogie centres. These came out very well and, again, the printing lines are almost invisible with nice, crisp detail. Note: these parts have yet to be painted, hence the difference in colour to the body shells. Here I have roughly put the parts together to get an idea of what the model will look like and I am pleased with the overall proportions. Finally, I have actually designed some windows and had these laser cut out fo clear acrylic so that they fit perfectly into the window apertures. I will cover these at a later date in a different post! Next up is to start to put the bogies together and get some primer on the bogies! I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, Having always been intrigued by the BR Class 28 with its Co-Bo wheel arrangement, I decided to try and make my own. The idea was to design the body shell, 2-axle bogie and bogie sides in CAD for 3D printing in resin and then use a modified Lima chassis with a motor upgrade. My plan is to build two locos at the same time, as they seemed to run in pairs relatively frequently! The Lima Class 52 Western was the best starting place with the most accurate dimensions between the wheel centres on the 3-wheel bogie. I decided to start with one loco and make sure the idea worked, before investing in the second, so I bought a second hand loco on an auction site and set to work on the chassis frame. This was shortened in places to bring the overall dimensions in line with those of the Class 28 and a new mounting hole drilled for the 2 axle bogie. This was then filled and sanded, followed by a coat of paint (note, this isn't the final colour of the chassis, it will get a final coat of black but the lighter colour made it easier to see any blemishes at the filling stage). Following this, I turned the old Lima wheels down to a more accetable width, painted them and then lined the wheels as per the prototype. I also replaced the old Lima motor and checked all was working! The next stage was to set about designing the actual loco. Here you can see the final designs of the body shell and bogie sides. I also redesigned the 2-wheel bogie in order to get the correct wheel spacing, whilst still allowing use of the Class 52 wheels and mounting method. I will upload some higher resolution CAD pictures tomorrow, but this gives you an idea of the design. I will keep you all updated as the project progresses and I look forward to hearing your initial thoughts! Cheers, Alex

Hi All, I am in the process of designing a loco for 3D printing that requires a Lima Class 31 as a donor chassis. Therefore, as I haven't got hold of one quite yet, I wondered if anyone could provide a few measurements of the chassis that I can base my design around? I only need basic dimensions (width, length, height). A huge thank you in advance! Cheers, Alex

Hi, Thanks for the reply and the information, it's very helpful. Just to ask a couple of follow up questions: what's the point of the coil spring, especially if it's under compression in normal conditions? And is the leafspring fixed to the bogie frame anywhere? Cheers, Alex

Hi All, I wondered if someone could advise me on leafsprings. I understand a leafspring but note many on diesel or electric loco bogies have coil springs also attached. On the drawing below, I assume that as the axlebox rises up, the leafspring bends upwards, pivotting on its anchor points to the bogie frame at the two points in green. Therefore, my question is how do the coil springs come into it, where are they "anchored" so to speak and how do they contribute to the suspension system overall? (Please excuse the crude drawing!) Any help would be greatly appreciated. Kindest regards, Alex

Hi All, A quick update on the small 0-4-0. I am making this completely from scratch, with only the buffers, bearings and springs for the hornblocks being bought. I have made the rest from brass of various sizes and thicknesses. I really enjoyed making the hornblocks, and it took some trial and error but I think I got there in the end. It is far from perfect (and far from finished) but I think it has quite a lot of character and I look forward to hearing your thoughts! Cheers, Alex