TrainMan2001

I've begun work on Thomas' milk van, which he's said to take to Elsbridge every morning. It's based on the GWR Diagram O1 van. The sides are made from 0.5mm plastic card (fragile!) and I still need to do the framing. I also have been working on smokebox doors for Thomas. One is natural, and the others will be a trial for illustration-like faces. If you look at pictures in the railway series, where the engines are side on or close to it, the faces often appear to be non-existant. I hope it'll look somewhat unique. I also have a layout thread now, which is fittingly, Elsbridge:

A bit of an update: I got some of the track. I'll be spacing out the sleepers on the plain track to match the Peco points, and hopefully, once it's ballasted, painted, and weathered, the difference in sleeper size won't be quite so apparent (I think it's also partly an optical illusion). I also got the station building and a little yard office/shed thing cut out. I just need to figure out what I want the street side of the station to look like. I'm also thinking about adding a small building connected to the main building for bathrooms (the way the illustration is (see first post) makes it plausible, because it could just be hidden from view. It'll be kind of like the Peco Country Station in OO Scale. I'm thinking of getting 1mm thick cork do go over the board, then cutting out spaces for the points so the rails are the same height.

That looks great! Was it from Shapeways?

Hey everyone! After starting building projects and some coaches (coaches shown here), I figured not having a layout would be weird. I was able to make a track plan using some paper Peco points. I decided that I would do Elsbridge. Image from TTTE Wikipedia There is some operational interest: -It has a dairy, where milk is delivered from Ffarquhar (Or does that make it a creamery? Does it matter?) Which means I can have an incoming milk churn van and an outgoing tanker in the schedule. -It was the terminus of the line before the bridge across the River Els was built, so I'd assume it has some goods sidings that would remain operational. The layout era will be between Tank Engine Thomas Again and Toby the Tram Engine, so between 1925-1953. I don't think there were any significant changes except for who appears on the line, so it should be fine. I'll be trying to go as realistic as I can, but the faces will stay. I figure it'll be nice to see a face on something, and the people will probably be too small for that. Here's the track plan: The track to the dairy (where the tanker is) has potential to go through some changes. Also, the dairy will probably end up being "Off layout," or basically a floating building nexr to the board. I'm not going to bother with a backscene because I'd like to add this into a larger layout some day. If anyone has suggestions on things to add to the scene, especially around the yard area, I'm all ears. I'm not really sure what sorts of things go in around there. Thank you!

Over the past week or so, I made Annie and Clarabel's sides. A lot of illustrations show 8 roof vents on either side of their rooves, which I took to mean 8 compartments. So I lengthened them to 48 feet after staring at Thomas with two 44 foot paper cut-outs behind him and deciding they were too short. The windows were the worst things to cut out. Here are some pictures of the coaches and one of Thomas, because I think I've only mentioned him so far.

No, Hornby'll announce it next year, then say that they've been working on it since 2015.

Thanks Compound! I'm guessing that the train alarm gear is the piping that goes across the top and down the middle of the coaches?

I knocked together a quick 3D concept of the design for both coaches. Obviously, the finer details, such as the vents over the doors, door handles, nose, etc. are missing, but the general look of the coaches are there. I might move the doors for the luggage compartment at some point if needed. How do they look? They are to the 44 ft. length. There will be tumblehomes on the sides. Also, what sort of things are generically seen on the ends of non-corridor coaches? I think that one of the "Generic Pre-Grouping" coach threads said something about communication lines, and I know that steps and handrails are there, too. So, I guess, (for example) looking at the ends of the Hattons Genesis coaches, what are the separately fitted details called, and would they potentially be on bogie coaches too? I can build a coach body, so I'm not too worried about trying to put as much detail as I can in (I think I'll probably eventually detail Thomas as well, to look better alongside the coaches). Sorry for asking so many questions, but thanks for the advice you've given. -TM2001 Oh, and here's a picture of a coach body I built (the ends still need some filing).

Thanks for the reply and the plausible prototype@Compound2632! Additionally, I think that one of the Awdry's stated somewhere that Annie and Clarabel were turned into boogie coaches from either 4 or 6 wheel coaches. Theoretically, at least using 4 wheelers, that would allow them to be a bit shorter than 49 feet, correct?

That looks awesome! Nice weathering!

After buying a model of Thomas in N Gauge, I think I'm ready to make coaches for him to pull. I'll be making Annie and Clarabel to suit how they were drawn by Dalby, and I've identified a length of ~44 ft. to be a fair match to Thomas' length in the TV series. I did have a question though. Annie and Clarabel are shown throughout the Railway Series as not having panelling. We also know that Thomas received them in 1925, and that they were considered old (hence 44 ft. being as acceptable as 48 ft. to me). Would it be untypical of a (likely) pre-grouping carriage to not have prominent panelling? Images from TTTE Wikipedia I know that GWR auto-trailers and Wisbech and Upwell coached don't appear to have prominent panelling. I'm just wondering because, although I'm keeping the faces, I'd like to get things to be plausible and realistic otherwise. Thanks for any advice you can give! -TM2001

Today I primed my brakevan so I can repaint it, because the color Bachmann chose was really strange. The primer is kind of speckled on the sides, but I might leave it that way so that when I paint it, whatever doesn't stick will look like some weathering. I'm going to weather it anyway, so it'll hopefully just add to the effect. I also re-primed and painted the last Thomas face, which means they're all ready for eyebrows.

https://www.walthers.com/thundering-rails-santa-fe Here's a link because I can't get a picture. This was my first electric train set! I got it for Christmas when I was 8 and I would play with it on the basement floor a lot! The locomotive didn't die until I was 13 and the rear truck (bogie) broke. I still have the two tank cars, stock car, and the caboose (although the corner of the roof is missing). Eventually I need to get around to changing the couplings on those.

I worked a little bit on one of the faces today, giving it eyebrows made from electrical tape. They're so small it was kind of hard to cut, so I'm wondering how difficult more complex eyebrows will be. Luckily these faces appear to be small enough to fit the smaller boiler on my 3D model (they're around 0.75mm smaller than the Bachmann boiler, and the new boiler has a diameter of 17.76 compared to 18.5).

All this talk about the rule of thirds makes me glad my prototype normally runs shorter trains!

It's been a while, but I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with this project (which is now back to making a "mini" TV replica)! After forcing myself to learn how to do 3D modelling, using Tinkercad after seeing @chuffinghell use it to excellent effect, I present this: Finally having the correct measurements, I was finally able to make an accurate 4mm Scale Thomas! Well, a scratch aid. There are some things I know I can do, so I left certain things out, such as the water filler caps and the taper on the funnel and dome. The nice thing is, the model is much closer to the correct height next to the Great Western style van now (I measured the height of the van and put a box with that height behind Thomas; I didn't get a picture of that). Here's how he looks in the show (image from TTTE Wikia): Compared to the Bachmann model: The model should have enough room to work with a High Level Slimliner Gearbox driven by the middle axle. The inner mounts will be made of plasticard (since that's not visible, it won't matter as much how nicely I can cut) and the chassis is intended to be made of brass. There's a lot of open space inside for extra weight (I might only run DC, or non-fancy DCC). I did a test upload to ShapeWays to see what the price would be. In the "Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic," the price would be over the $100 mark.... I don't think so. I think I'll choose "White Premium Versatile Plastic," which puts the price at just under $50. I'm expecting to have to do some cleaning of the parts anyway, so having a little more work isn't bad. Most people choose the "Natural" option for the plastic, which is why it's usually grainy, so hopefully it won't be as bad in "Premium." Although I have seen people make great models with the "Natural" option regardless. It does feel good to have actually finished a project (or at least this part)!

Thanks! I was able to figure it out.

Do you have any pictures of the loco?

Thanks!

Seeing as I can't cut plasticard as straight as I would like, but having seen some great examples of 3D printing used, I decided to have a go at 3D modelling. It's actually a fair bit easier than I thought it would be! However, I do have a couple of questions for those who use tinkercad: 1) Is there a way to get a smoother finish to the boiler? I used the Cylinder option to make it. 2) How do you get an even arc for a roof? This is what I'm hoping to achieve: Image from TTTE Wikia Thanks for any help you can provide!

In terms of manufacturers getting things wrong and needing to look closer at the prototype... Maybe ignorance is bliss? Although now I think I understand the mindset of making so many models. Finally being armed with the knowledge of exactly what I got wrong is opening the world of scratchbuilding to me entirely, and now I keep thinking of all of the models I could do 'correctly.' Of course, I'm going to need better tools, but it's nice to finally be able to see something I did and know it's (going to be) correct! Although I'll never tell anyone using (or modifying) a Bachmann Thomas what's wrong with it. I'm even thinking of using (correct for my prototype) 18mm track and 3-link couplings. I guess my point is that, no matter how "unnecessary" building something might be by today's standards, it can probably always be improved upon in some way. -Kenyon Although now I'm not sure if I fall into the category of "serious modeller" or simply "someone who's too picky to open a box for his trainset."

So, this is a (really weird) question for people who have a permanent layout in their homes. Do you have to remove spiders/webs from the buildings? If so, how often do you have to do it? Just a thought that popped into my mind a couple days ago. Thanks for any help you can give!

But I was going to fourth it... In all seriousness, though, I think your wagons look great! I haven't been sure how I felt about 3D printed wagons for a long time, but yours really make me want to try a couple!

That looks great!

Hmmm... I feel like I have to keep taking back what I say, so this'll be a double development with the Gauge 1 version, since I now have the necessary measurements. Although, I guess now it'll be "Scratchbuilding Thomas the Tank Engine."