Moria15

Apparently motorbogies.com is part of hollywood foundry which has closed. I have no idea what the current status is because the website says copyright2022 but I was advised on another thread they are closed. I wonder if someone here knows deffinatively whether they still trade? Graham

DCKits are still advertising them. Graham

Not sure if any of you contemplating this scale have seen motorbogies.com. They have multiple manufacturers that can make any wheelbase bogie with any size wheels on them with multpile fixing types and even if it's not on their standard list they are estimating delivery at 10 - 12 weeks max. I found it a fascinating and thought provoking read, especially comparing it to what is available on the 3d printed websites. The Bullant bogies are already spaced and setup for TT1:120 specifically, but most of the manufacturers there do 12mm gauge bogies. Regards Graham

Theres also this if you want a proper sailing ship on your layout by Airfix which is 1:120 HMS Endeavour but also suitable as a trading ship. By other manufacturers there is also a Cutty Sark, and some smaller ships as well. 1:120 is a popular shipbuilding scale. Number of wooden kits as well from all periods. Graham

Was it Graham Farish that produced the little tank engine in GE Blue that had red connecting rods that would ping across the room at the slightest opportunity because they weren't fully attatched to the wheels? I remember spending hours searching for those con-rods and putting them back, at least once per operating session :) Graham

Been thinking about this a lot. What I would like to see, to get us up and running so to speak, is a standard wheelbase (well as standard as you can get) motorised chasis for a tender. I think that this would enable many locomotives to be built as the wheelsets for locos etc are freely available. The tenders will be big enough to dcc and probably be fitted with sound and stay alive (if it can be done in "N" then it can be done in TT1:120) and then 3d print manufacturers could provide an appropriate wheelbase chassis for their locos that all you would need to add are bearings, pickups and wheels, and the tenders could be printed to fit on that chassis. I know this doesn't help with tank engines, but I believe it would seriously enhance options for the first few years. Am thinking a standard 7'6" x 7'6" tender chassis with motor mount would cover pretty much the majority of GWR and LMS tender classes (sorry not up on SR or LNER 6 wheel tenders) Graham

You could always plonk a Corgi 1:120 loco on it for display purposes :) Graham

You can alsorun with things like scalescenes 4mm buildings and just print them at 63% and you have an instant 1:120 kit. However, I understand that card/paper kits are not everyones cup of tea :) Graam

Not sure we are even at Mallard yet... it seems to me we are more likely at the Rainhill trials waiting to see what is likely to be available... but thats the pessemist in me :) Graham

Of course, it has yet to be proven fully one way or the other.. however.. this is a pic from an exhibition I went to where Mimaki were exhibiting which I certainly found impressive as they were straight off the printer with no post-processing. This is not like injection moulded plastic where you can only inject one colour at a time and then put the bits together :) Graham

Yes, because as with paper printers, you use a base resin, which can be white or transparent (kinda like Inkjet or Laser Decal sheets), so printing in 3DColour white is not an issue :) Of course, this also means, that if you use clear resin, you can print completely flush glazing as well :) Graham

Actually, that's not quite true. The new generation of full colour 3D printers actually can print in full colour down to a resoultion of 0.2mm. Whilst currently, they are a little outside the price range of the home enthusiast, it won't be long, as we saw with the move from black and white home printers to full colour printers some years ago. A couple of years ago, the multicolour 3D printer was developed... now we have printers like the Mimaki 3DUJ553 which uses a technique to blend resin and ink to achieve a max number of over 10 million colours knoown as a full colour printer. This was released in 2017 and is currently around $200,000... however, there are other options now, down to aout $30,000 and the price is decreasing. I would say give it a couple of years :) Graham

I wasn't aware that Peco had announced a radius for their small points yet? I know they said that the minimum radius in that TableTop plan was 12" thus limiting it to small locos and 4 wheel carriages, but that doesn't mean the points will be that radius, and even if they are, why is this an issue? N gauge can happily run on 9" radius, in fact even smaller if you only allow small locos and 4 wheel stock, so 12" in 1:120 is larger "in proportion" than N minimum radius ? Everybody has their own standards that they want to run to, and personally, I think Peco have done the right thing, and made it suitable for all that might be interested in this scale. Yes a TableTop layout that is roundy roundy will inevitably need compromises, but the track gauge doesn't need to be one of them. After all, you could use HoM peco track which is 20" radius (I believe) if you were prepared to compromise on rail height. Personally, for a Branch Line Terminus, I hope they go bigger than 3' radius as even a B5.5/B6 is pretty damn tight, even though it looks huge based on the compromises we are already adjusted to in modelling :) Graham

Keith, thank you for your thoughts, because some are very like my own. I come from the days when you got the new annual catalogues from manufacturers and if you were lucky, there were 2 new locos for a year, and you either liked it or lumped it, or more likely there was one new model and you had a choice of Green or Maroon :) . Scratchbuilding seemed harder then, fewer people doing it and if you wern't in a group, then there was no internet to help you out.. you either sank or swam on your own. I remember saving up 2 years worth of Christmas and Birthday present money to get my first Peco Jubilee in N -Gauge at (I believe) £7-10-0 For the first time, however, there is a scale/gauge combination where the gauge is correct to scale. This may not be much to many but it's always been an issue for me. Now, most people have become innured to this because there has been no alternative (And I am talking ready to run, not specialist society). In fact, I have even heard people at exhibitions say the track is to wide when looking at an EM/P4 layout becaue they have been indoctrinated into seeing the railways as portrayed by the models. For some years, I modelled in 009.. not because it was 4mm in a minimum space, but because the track, even though course, was the right width for the model on top of it. I currently operate in N gauge, yeah, track bugs me, but at my time of life, whilst I would love to be doing things in 2mm finescale, time, eyesight and general mobility are against me these days. I can't go 4mm standard gauge in any form due to lack of space. Like you, I stay out of the Trade Forums whenever possible due to all the angst displayed, not because it annoys me.. everyone has the right to their opinions, whether right or wrong, it's just to me as an old fart, I find the discussions about the latest stock rather tiresome, when there is such a plethora of things available and I can't quite see why people complain about a bodyshell being 1mm too long when their track gauge is 2.5mm to narrow :) (Well I can, but it seems rather irrational/irrelevant to me) Regards Graham

Agree.. as per the Heljan and Peco tagline.. no compromise.. ie the first RTR scale/gauge where the track is the right width under the models. For those of us used to modelling in N gauge, that extra inch on a class 31 can mean an awful lot, especially when you get into DCC, sound and stay alives :) don't forget.. CJ Freezers origional plan for Minories was for TT.. I just looked up the origional plans and it was for 60" x 8" excluding fiddle yard. Main line terminus, almost made for Class 31's in 5 foot length :) Graham

Agreed Side by side would be good, but simply looking at the video or the website and comparing it to the plans you can print off for HoM show the differences very clearly :) Also the fact that a medium radius TT1:120 is 36" radius with an exit angle of11.25 degrees rather than a radius on HoM mediums of 20" radius with an angle off of 10 degrees speaks volumes :) Now, being completely obtuse in my own way, I now have to experiment to see if 18mm wheelsets for EM will run on a 17.83 gauge track rather than 18mm gauge track (and fit the TT1:120 clearances) to get Broad gauge working and see how it looks and if it's worth reducing the broad gauge down by a mil or so ... but I'm probably out on my own on that one :) If the 18mm wheelsets work on 17.83 mm gauge without needing adjustment with a lump hammer , then doing the 3d printed baulk road will be easy and just slot the rail in for whichever gauge is best :) Graham

It's also VERY noticable if you look at the HOM track and the new tt1:120 track, the difference in clearance on point blades and checkrails is obvious. Peco have categorically stated that the track is to UK sleeper spacing and is as close to finescale clearances as they can manage (Railway Modeller) given mass production with a rail size (code 55 in effect) which is scale size for UK prototype. (Actually, I could have an argument on that, but won't for now :) ) We are about 10 days into this... we have a range of track and one new manufacturer already signed up and various 3D printing groups almost falling over themselves to rescale a lot of their products for a whole new market and other companies such as Worsley Works happy to resize their etches etc.... I have my personal suspicions (and they can only be that) that more announcements are coming. I can't help feeling that perhaps Kato and Hornby/Arnold/Corgi and litterally waiting in the wings to announce, but over time to keep the hype up :) In the meantime, I'm building my first Scalescenes building to TT1:120 to look at the size by doing a simple scaling from the 4mm one. So far, I have found that little extra in size is making this a lot easier than the N-gauge version :) Graham

Personally, I think the idea of TT:120 is an inspiration. As an old and eyesight loosing retiree that currently models in N-gauge, that extra .54mm to the foot is actually a huge boost to be able to work with. However, it's not so much more that it severely restricts what can be built in space I have available for layouts. I love the tagline by Heljan of no compromise. I see the development of TT:120 as being a new start, with modern production and manufacturing of an equivalent of a ready to run 2mm finescale or P4 giving the options for all to be as fastideous as they want to be but in a scale/gauge combo that starts at being accurate. Personally, I'm not a diesel person.. However.. I WILL be buying a 31 in order to support the new scale and also using it to get a feel for the sizes involved. Obviously for some years, this may well be more of a modellers scale than a RTR scale, but this Heljan announcement is, I believe, a great start. I think the next couple of months may bring some interesting announcements from other quarters as well :) Graham

I'm not convinced (at this stage) that TT:120 is initially designed for newcommers. I can't see enough being available for some years to make it into a starter entry level, and even then I think it would need settrack or something similar. I may be wrong, and maybe someone like Hornby or Kato will go the whole hog, but who knows. I do notice however, how quiet this thread has become since the Heljan announcement :) Graham

We already have the T-shirt.. what else is needed? <innocent smile> Graham

Arnold and Corgi both have a large presence in 1:120 and both are part of Hornby. Graham

Well one thing that has me intrigued is the colour scheme Peco has used on their buildings... on their trial mini layout, they have used GWR colours, but on their actual adverts for all their buildings they are using a bright red for the woodwork. Makes you wonder :) Graham

I know.. but lets face it, we are one week into the announcement, this thread has reached 27 pages, and frankly, there seems to be the current mindset of I want it "NOW" appearing everywhere. I remember the days when I had to save 2 years worth of Christmas and Birthday present money to be able to afford a new loco for my model railway as opposed to... why isn't it on the shelf today :) I would say that the interest in this announcement by Peco (as judged by the number of replies in such a short space of time) has exceeded any annual OO announcement of what may be coming and would be a huge boost for Peco.. after all.. interest does not mean acceptance but awareness and there is no bad publicity :) Graham

Not sure why this is relevant... there is nobody alive now that was alive when the Broad Gauge ran and yet people model it and there is a flourishing society supporting it. We also now have the internet.. anybody can easily look up information which years ago, they would have had to spend days digging through the archives at Kew to find. Live steam in 1:240th was being built in 1973. 2mm finescale predates OO. Many scale/gauge combinations have come and gone in that time, and many people still model to their own scale/gauge combination. Not every scale needs full commercial support to continue... 009 for many many years was a scale that only really survived because Peco made track for it and the cottage industry supplied kits.. it's only recently that 009 has become a ready to run scale. To my knowledge, P4 still only has one ready to run loco available and yet the Scalefour society still has quite a few members supported by a full cottage industry and only recently got some track :) Graham

Kinda like the major manufacturers do each year with OO? Yeah.. never going to happen :) Graham