TT100 Diesels

A great layout, in the Derbyshire Peaks, what's not to like! Less is more, I like that, so many places may just have a wagon or two dumped and empty lines everywhere else...... great observational modelling. Funny the prototype pics look like 'train set mode' 😉. And of course, we all like to run trains as well. Cheers TT100 Diesels

Wow, the logistics depot looks real crisp, and I love the fork lift bimbling up the ramp! Shame the TPWS grids did not work out era wise because they also look fab. There are still AWS magnets in the track, or do Westhill wagon works do them? Your overall layout progress seems to be coming on in leaps and bounds lately, keep up the great work. Cheers TT100 Diesels

Cheers for the kind words @Red Devil and @bradfordbuffer, the Bridgeton pic is fantastic, Glasgow suburban grot with spades of atmosphere. Someting like that would make a fantastic layout. Looking your way Red Devil, no pressure......😉. Sorry to drag you forward, but LL 37's what's not to like, and you can still have Birmingham Sulzers of both flavours in the mix! Back to my bench:- Decals now 100% finished. So its, varnish to protect them and weathering next. Cheers D. PS - Daisy sends her thanks for your concern Mr Buffer.

Just another bench update on existing work. "Collision" repairs completed on the met camm DTS. Need to blend some more weathering in, but thinking that may as well do that at the same time I start on 37403. Super pleased with the repairs and blend in, when comparing the repaired photo with the damaged end photo here. Ended up having to paint the whole front end yellow again to top of windscreen level, with lower strength yellow washes higher up the front to try to blend it in. 37403 "Isle of Mull". The transfers and nameplates arrived from Railtec. First side of the loco with the main decals and plates applied. Letting it all proper dry before turning over to do the other side. Trying to be super careful with these, they are the biggest transfers I have applied so far. So still plenty of scope for me to err, make a mess.....🤔. But hopefully if it all comes good, it should look the Eastfield westy's whatsits..😁. Cheers folks D.

Love the second tree especially the crackle bark effect. Crisp weathering on the wagons and also great paint and weathering on the fork truck. I have the same fork truck and found painting it a real challenge. Cheers TT 100

I am sure there are, but not in the public domain. It was meant to be a "secret" project with a launch at the 3mm society AGM, but Andy had a pre production one at his 4mm / EM demo stand at DEfine exhibition in Jan, so I got to see it in the flesh. And the latest chairmans bulletin has let the cat out the bag. I think that they were originally planning a launch announcement at the AGM but I can only summise that Javmar (Andy Clayton) wants to be set up pre meeting selling customer ready versions. Because he also runs a paint and weathering business, there should be an option to order them painted and weathered to customer spec. (But I expect most will sell unpainted as one piece "kits", i.e. customer to finish to taste). So, looks like the first proper commercial genuine rtr in 3mm again. And he plans to expand to do the Mk1 range, if they sell to move onto the MK 2 etc in time. This is the next "Lincoln Locos", if it does come to fruition (successful), it will represent another massive leap forwards for the scale 3mm. Cheers D. PS - Apologies for the thread creep Red Devil.

BG looking very tasty there....... I have seen pre production prototypes of Andy Clayton's BG in 3d print, it looks good, but be very interesting to see your BG side by side with a 3d print sales ready version. Cheers D.

Tales from High Peak Junction workshops, a.k.a. my workbench..... The met camm DTS front end repairs are nealy finished, meantime... Etched Park done a lash up with a class 104 DTS to keep the service running. Nothing more to report on 37403, its currently UVS waiting on the transfers and nameplates from Railtec. Back to the 08 poor running on my layout saga. Spent a lot of time on the match truck Conflat. Painted up the extra liquid lead now its set. Took ages over setting up the wheel backs pick ups so they are not too stiff and not too loose spring pressure, plus on the bar coupler hole, opened it out a bit so the coupling bar had a bit more slop so the conflat can more easily find its own level and not potentially off load the 08 end wheelset due to a too stiff coupler. Result, I am pleased to say. Test running has been good, best the 08 has run on my layout ( It did run ok on a billiard board flat test track at the recent Bingham 3mm meet ). The gubbins, decoder wire and micro connector twixt 08 and Conflat, all wheel pickups on the Conflat, liquid lead added to centre area to add more weight to aid current pickup. Thanks again to @bradfordbuffer for the prototype pics up thread of 08's with match trucks, at least I have got my justification now! And, on the layout. I even treated the Conflat to some stickers. Dug out my 3mm scale Woodhead transfers and found a random 'DBxxxxxx' number set, found a 'Derby' and a 'Match Truck', they will do and look the part. Just needs weathering now. I like the 'Derby' as the 08 is a DY allocated example. Got there in the end despite such previous setbacks as a wheel coming off the 08 and bonding in liquid lead on the Conflat foul of the wheel flange clearance area....🤔. Cheers D.

Into part 2 of the look back at the turntable build. Once the pit sides were completed, I painted and weathered it all, it was trickey enough doing it in situ without having to contend with a turntable bridge in place. Moving onto the bridge, the basic structural item was a piece of wood, shaped to fit. The runner wheelsets were simply wheelsets and axleboxes chopped out of a donor Triang TT wagon chassis. The flanges were removed from the plastic wheels and pins used as axles. The wheelset units were super glued in place. Once I was happy with the turntable centre point, a hole was drilled through to fit a bridge drive tube bearing, from brass tube. The turntable drive tube, also from brass tube fitted in and had a slot in the top to locate into a bridge drive key. The basis for the cosmetic deck plate was shaped plasticard, with reference to the prototype photos. A length of Peco HOm track was bonded in place. Most sleepers were cut out, retaining one in five to try to replicate the bridge deck "look". Its a bit representational, not a perfect copy mind. Rail power supply wires were soldered in at the centre and fed through the drive tube to under the baseboard. The bridge deck detailing comes on with plasticard sheet embossed with wooden planking used on the top, and plate girder construction on the bridge sides fashioned from Evergreen plastic 'L' section, again trying to follow the photos but again, simplified a bit to suit my skill level. The trickey bit was the hand rails. The stanchions were more 'L' section with a piece of 0.3mm rod bonded to the bottom, locating each into a pre drilled hole in the deck. Each stanchion had a 0.4mm hole drilled in two positions to allow 0.3mm rod to be threaded through to represent the handrails. An interesting shot, just shows how much the traction has come on since then, with the obligatory Triang TT Brush Type 2 engaged in running tests of the structure. That's it for downloads, to be continued, Cheers TT100 Diesels

Apologies to the 3mm peeps, were going a bit off topic, Yes 97406, having enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) your updates on Nifkins Bridge, I would tend to agree with you in that 4mm rtr is probably the 'sweet spot ' size wise for off the shelf fidelity, plus the huge range of super detailing products which you are using to kitbash / improve them further. Be nice if Shawplan et al shot down their stuff to 3mm as well, be able to use the products to improve on and turn out higher fidelity locos off the work bench. Back on topic, Latests from my work bench, finished the last of the 37/4 paint fettling and got big gloss varnish patches on where the large logo decals will be placed, still waiting for the post man with the decals though. The 08 runner truck with pick ups, mentioned up thread, that has moved on again, scraped the excess super glued in liquid lead out where the wheels go, so the wheels now fit in the chassis thankfully. Found an area in the centre of the chassis where some more liquid lead has been super glued in, to make up for what has been removed. Also set up a little operating session on the layout, the first in ages, then this: Got the met camm 2 car out and running it noticed the trailer car cab was damaged, then realised in a moment of horror what had happened. Two weeks ago at a 3mm East Mids area group meet, I was running stuff off my Crate Lane diorama on a test track. The met camm was circulating, the trailer car derailed and fell on to the floor. At the time, had a quick look and it appeared ok. Did not pick up the fact that there were two big cracks on the front end of the 3d print bodyshell, a bit of the solebar was chipped out and a white metal buffer was bent. Ooops.....🤔😢. Got some super glue in the cracks from behind to stabilise the breakage, ready for cosmetic repairs. So this is also now back on the work bench, and its not even properly finished yet, still procrastinating over the massive hand cut flush glazing project for the body side windows. Ho hum, Cheers D.

Thanks 97406, yes, starting out with what is to me museum quality models (Accurascale 37's) would be a nice weathering project. But in 3mm its a 'mountain' to climb, but have to say, Lincoln Locos certainly help give me a 'leg up' on the climb to the summit. And while the summit view may not be as 'crisp', it is still a great sense of achievement. Cheers TT100 Diesels PS - One of these days, I might just get hold of a nice rtr loco in another scale and try my hand at a weathering job. Something that can run on 12mm track perhaps.......

Commenting on the last two main photo update posts, this is astonishingly good modelling. The 3d print 700 is awesome, what a great project. Stock line up in the new yard is awesome, the variety of stock shouts ''third rail land", it could be Grove Park berthing sidings..... 2nd pic down, this, have to say it grabbed me by the throat, stunning is not a strong enough word, got to be my railway modelling photo of the year. Are you sure its not the real thing? And finally, just perfect..... FCC 319 and a Networker. It's funny really, I like probably a lot on here am very loco centric. But, lovely models of units that in real life did not warrant a second glance are the stars of the show, no doubt a lot of modelling input to get them to look as good as this. I have been very impressed by your modelling further up thread when I discovered it, but these latest updates are just outstanding. Cheers TT100 Diesels

Very nice work indeed. I am no tree expert but I would day that there is a bit of an 'oak tree vibe' going on. Like the way the roots sit on the DAS clay. Cheers TT100 Diesels

Hi, as always, thanks for the interest, and as a rather belated answer to @97406, not a 40 but another EE nose job, I currently have a 37/4 in the oven rising nicely, there are some build pics on the 3mm scale workbench thread. But I am turning tables on locos for this post, in fact its another occasional retrospective on the layout build, this time the turntable. When first on with the track laying back in late 2015 / early 2016, I had decided I just had to have a turntable, as they are a lovely operational feature, and I was going for a leftover steam infrastructure vibe. So all well and good, but not much in the form of readily available turntables except the old Triang TT 3 job which is a bit too 'train set' for my needs and Peco do an HOm table, but its a bit short and very continental looking. So, I figured that if I wanted one, I would just have to build it myself. So before that, it was a case of finding one to copy. So I went to look at the table at Barrow Hill round house, but did not like the look of it, so ended up selecting this one at Peak Rail at Rowsley South. The bridge is a renovated example that was originally from Mold Junction shed. 31270 looks on in the background. I took a whole set of photos, so I had something to work to. So, had to start somewhere, so how about cutting a hole in he baseboard for a turntable pit. Another square piece of baseboard material was cut out and screwed in place. Having completed the turntable, I realised that this was a big mistake, it would have made the construction much more straightforward by constructing it as an off layout free standing module and integrating it into the baseboards when it was finished. Lesson learnt! The entire build was pretty much trial and error, slowly feeling my way along. I had never attempted a scratch build of anything before, let alone something as ambitious as a turntable. The next step was to make an annular construction that needed to be 6mm deep to support the bridge rail. So decided to cut two rings from 3mm thick hardboard, with a compass cutter, that was jolly hard work! Once a decent groove was made, it was possible to get in with a stanley knife and follow the groove, a bit quicker than relying on the compass cutter alone. This gives the bridge rail support structure in situ. Bit more done, bridge rail in place, a length of code 75 FB rail soldered to cut down pcb sleepers. The hardboard rings had been bonded in place, and faced off with 0.6mm mounting card. Plastic embossed brick was then bonded to the lower face. The upper section was also a mount card / plastic embossed brick item, made to drop into the turntable pit above the bridge support rail, seen here ready to fit into the pit. Note the maintenance access 'cut out', would never have thought to model that without having proto photos to refer to. That's it for photo upload so call it a day for part 1. To be continued...... Cheers TT100 Diesels

37403 update, finished the buffer beam detailing, they are quite crowded now, did not bother to include the white pipes (MU ops control air) and was defeated by the actual jumper cables for the ETH and MU as they both run from buffer beam outlets to nose end receptacles. So I decided to omit the cabling due to the requirement to remove the body. All the plugs, sockets and receptacles are represented though. It was fun to do, had to paint up and fit as I went along, only viable way of getting all the painting done on the detail. So, body was reunited with the chassis. A few pix General view, base colour scheme essentially complete, the doorway handrails have been painted since. Get a feel for the "busy" buffer beam area from this low angle shot. But doing ETH and MU jumper cables would be trickey. Can't believe how I continue to motor on with this build, they usually span months! Cheers D.

Good for you gc4946, it takes courage to show a razor saw to a lovely rtr coach, but kudos to you for getting on with it. And now you have created a unique model, well done. And I have to say, its more than I have done, I kitbash but have never actually done a cut and shut yet.😟 Cheers TT100 Diesels

As I started this thread asking questions, and found the answers useful in the actual job in hand, here are a couple of pictures of the 37/4 straight out of the paint shop, before decals and weathering. General view of the four main livery elements. It destined to be 37403 "Isle of Mull" Thanks again for the replies up thread, Cheers TT100 Diesels

Hi Mallaig 1983, This final version of the sea really "pops", it looks the biz. It was well worth the effort of all the trial and error in your earlier posts. I have played about with woodland scenics resin water effects but not convinced. Its not as good as what you have achieved here. Cheers TT100 Diesels

Just like to say that these are a wonderful photo set of a truly stunning piece of modelling. So evocative, almost like browsing through the Foxline books, you have absolutely nailed it. May I ask, is there any chance this might be at the midlands area group meet up in Derby in September? Cheers TT100 Diesels

Hi Ritchie, I don't have any experience of modelling compensation into bogies and running gear, but conventional wisdom seems to imply that the finer the scale, the more likely compensation will be necessary to avoid derailments, unless you can make sure your track is billiard board level due to shallower rail profile and less deep flanges. If you are on the e-group, I would suggest asking there as well, no doubt quite a few 14.2 modellers will have practical experience of compensation as applied to 3mm scale running gear. Hope this helps Cheers D.

That's superb @bradfordbuffer, cheers for the close ups, there is not a lot of room on the real loco, my model is going to tight around the buffer beam. Just took a massive deep breath and removed the masking tape off the blue livery element..... Well, have to say I am super pleased with the result, especially as it took about 10 coats of rail blue wash. So was just a bit apprehensive. Can't wait for the decals and nameplate pack now. Meanwhile, its faffing about on buffer beam detailing. Cheers D.

Thanks @03060, that is very kind. Yes, WHL and Kyle have come to the fore with me too ! And doing 403, well its just a massive celebrity machine, especially so in its second life from the twenty teens with DRS et al. One of my pics I am working off, 406 and 410 at Queen St. Solid inspiration ! While I am on, a little work bench update to whet the appetite if I may be allowed. Massive progress, onto the fourth and final base livery element. 5 washes applied so far, colour starting to build up (note, its a better tone in reality, blame the tablet cam). Funny, looking at the pic noted a bit of orange over paint just to the right of the MU socket ! Its a cruel close up, shows a lot more rough livery interfaces etc, looks better in the flesh with my ageing eyes (honest). And not forgetting the chassis, done the ETH and MU plugs and sockets, because so much will end up crammed in, I decided on a fit a bit, paint, fit a bit more etc..... I have to apologies for taking over the 3mm workbench thread at the mo but I am genuinely excited about how this loco build is shaping up. It's my first LL Blue build, and its great fun. Cheers D.

I really like the TT120 British outline stuff coming to market, its lovely. But as @fezza has said, it is quite small, and having seen it myself do tend to agree. Sure my TT100 stuff (3mm) requires modelling input , but at the end if the day, It has more presence or heft if you like. And when comparing the "ideal size" that sits between OO and N, TT100 wins for me for British outline. However, as @britishcolumbian says, the continental and American outline stuff is bigger in TT120 due to the bigger prototype loading gauge so in terms of presence, I think it "looks" closer to 3mm. The point made about mixing TT120 British and continental outline models is to me up to the individual. Depends what ones take is on a rule 1 sliding scale with serious authentic looking layout at one end and fun train set at the other. No right or wrong as long as one is gaining some enjoyment out of it. The interesting question for me is if I were starting out afresh. What to go for, OO, 3mm, TT120 or N ? So many pros and cons for each choice, I really don't know, but we are spoiled for choice. Cheers TT100 Diesels

You are quite correct Phil. But on my 37 they would need to be further forward to clear the bogie transom, or I could remove material from the bogie transom (there is a risk as its 3d print). The other issue for the model which I forgot to mention just up thread is that its going to need a wire loop coupler. Probably coming off the bogie transom between the ploughs and bent to suit. Being bogie mounted is better "coupling wise" than off the fixed body (buffebeam). If it were to be a TMD layout queen, with no couplers, perhaps buffer beam mounted ploughs would work. Cheers D.

Hi Phil, Better pic of your 26 than mine up thread, and great pix of 401. LL 37's just 'pop' 👍. Re mini ploughs, on 37's they are all hung off the underside of the buffer beam. Probably are on most / all other classes but can't say for certain. As for my model of 403, I mounted them onto the bogie transom as it was a very handy and easy and logical way to do it on a model. They sit in about the correct position as if hung from the buffer beam. I did it like this as the transom was thicker and projects forward more than the real locos. So two problems, if modelling them off the buffer beam, first the model transom likely to foul them om bogie rotation and the fixings would be harder to model and the whole set up more fragile. The bonus feature of bogie mounting on this particular model is that the buffer beam pipes etc can be fitted and will not be fouled by the ploughs. At least it looked that way when I did the development mock ups. Hope that still comes to pass when I get to the fitting them stage 🤔. Your 26 ploughs look more to scale thickness I must say, but my plasticard ones don't look too bad, and they will also get weathered. Plonked the body back on the chassis and took this shot. Pleases my eye anyway! Cheers D.