justin1985

Hi there - I 3D printed the top part of the pagoda myself. I wrote this up in a thread on the "Railways of Scotland" forum here: I actually have a few spare from my experiments with different proportions, but they're very delicate, and the shape would make them disproportionately expensive to post to Melbourne! I'd be happy to share the STL file so you could have it printed by someone with a 3D printer locally to you though?

I suspect you'd have to ask the factory in China. I could well imagine that the Bachmann / Farish office in the UK sent off an identical specification for the two types, but in the intervening few years the factory had changed their paint supplier, or something like that. And the relationship between the UK importers/agents like Bachmann and the Chinese factories seems increasingly like "like it or lump it"

Hi Marilyn, I must have forgotten about your thread there (I'd already liked it) I found myself browsing the T Gauge website today and saw the 67 and had just the same thought that you've outlined of it being ideal for a Highland Main Line layout! Have you worked on your project anymore? I'm thinking quite seriously about buying some of their track, bare loco chassis, spare bogies, and spare wheels - and experimenting with what I can produce with my Photon 3D printer. I'm imagining it wouldn't be too difficult to do things like a cl.158 DMU, Mk.2 coaches, etc. using translucent 'black' resin and laser printed decals. Justin

Surely it is actually a variation on the Bavarian flag / shield? Bayerische Motoren Werke, after all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Bavaria#/media/File:Flag_of_Bavaria_(lozengy).svg

You're definitely correct. But, for me, I can't get away from wanting there to be *some* relief to a roof, even if it is over scale. Whether you include texture over scale to be able to include any texture at all, or leave it out for sake of scale fidelity, is definitely where modelling is a question of art rather than science - for me, at least. Flat might be closer to scale, but I can't help finding the way light reflects off a sheet of slate brick paper, or similar, spoils the illusion totally. I think roof surfaces have to be multi-faceted, if that makes sense? Slate roofs might look flat from a distance, but I've never noticed them reflecting light in a totally uniform way. Engraving a greyscale raster image of slates, rather than just lines, might be a go-er, if that is what you're getting at? i.e. engraving a very slight "shadow" just below each overlap, rather than a trench type line. I think this is the way MBZ produce their kits, including pantiles etc. Might be worth a try! J

Latest procrastination: I decided that now I've got the laser cutter, I'd try replacing the 160gsm card slates with 80gsm paper. I didn't have any black paper, so they're cut from terracotta coloured paper and painted with Vallejo "German Grey". No weathering yet, but I'll definitely give them some dry brushing. I just stuck them onto new roof panels, cut with 2mm spaced lines etched on, by dragging them through plain old cheap PVA. The alignment of the rows isn't perfect by any means, but good enough, I think. Pretty pleased with the result - the amount of relief looks much better than the 160gsm card. And the slight rounding off of the corners by the laser feels a bit more natural.

Do you have a plan of attack for the curved viaduct? I need to make a similar one as part of my side project in "finer Z", but I can't work out whether to produce the curve by making one face of each arch longer than its opposite number, or by making the piers wedge shaped and the arches regular. If that makes sense? Really looking forward to seeing this module progress

Just as cheap, but much simpler than an Arduino, for a single servo, is this little hack of one of the cheap "servo tester" units you can get on eBay for pennies:

Many thanks for all of the suggestions - plenty to experiment with! I just had a look through eBay guitar string listings, but its all a bit impenetrable, but it certainly seems difficult to find wound wires in the smaller sizes - even if the manufacturers tables suggest they do exist. Reading Pete Wright's article does seem to put paid to that idea though - a salutary reminder to look at prototype photos - the ribbing on the pipes does indeed seem to be invisible from "viewing distance". Who'd have thought an article on something so mundane could be so entertainingly written? I'll give Pete's method a try this evening. Great weathering on the BR van!

What do people use for 2mm vacuum pipes? I have a few very nice brass castings picked up from N Brass Locos. While they're not crazily expensive, they still feel a bit over the top to put on all vac fitted/piped wagons - but ideal for locos. I could 3D print some, but I can't help but think they'd be too brittle to survive for long - the end of a wagon is pretty exposed - especially to fingers when putting a wagon on/taking it off the track, sorting out couplings, etc. It strikes me that vacuum pipes would be a part that would really suit whitemetal. Does anyone make any? Or any other approaches to modelling them? J

Fusion360 isn't generally that demanding to run compared to some other software. It's coolest feature though, is the timeline, which records every individual step in your design and lets you "hop" back and alter any previous step. Changes then filter through all of the subsequent stages - REALLY helpful - but also doing this was the only thing that would make my old laptop struggle. It's really difficult to talk about computer processor specifications these days because the way they're named. Is a 9th generation Intel i3 faster than an 8th Gen i5? Who knows! My old laptop (MacBook Pro from 2015 - dual core 5th generation Intel i5 2.7ghz with 8gb RAM) generally did well with Fusion, but often ground to a halt when making changes via the timeline. My replacement 2020 MacBook Pro (quad core 8th generation Intel i5 1.4Ghz with 8gb RAM) hasn't had any issues like that. I'd say the most important thing is at least 8Gb RAM, and if you stick with a processor described as i5 and not too old, you should be good! Definitely worth considering refurbished. Tier1Online have a good reputation for refurbished ex-corporate laptops and desktops. J

Inspirational work - looks really great. I'm sure I read someone saying that engraving as a raster makes for a more "organic" looking result, even if the design is just straight lines. I can't imagine it would make much difference in my scale though - nonetheless on the list of things to try out! I'm pretty sure this is basically the same as "Finnboard" ? https://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Item/Finnboard/ITM6531 Great agricultural hall building there - I imagine using the powders for the mortar kind of fills the lines a bit doesn't it? Working in 2mm scale, the main attraction of engraving the bricks, over brick paper, is more the fact you can include arches and headers etc seamlessly, I think. Cheers Justin

I've been mulling over an idea of a small tram diorama in N and I'd like to include a city gatehouse that has a large clock on it. It would be really cool to have the clock work! Has anyone ever seen a specific clock mechanism for models? Or maybe something like a cheap watch stripped down to its mechanism? A quick search around online only ever seems to come up with variations on the ubiquitous AA battery based quartz mechanism, which would definitely be too big.

Great work there Ralph! Are those buildings in 4mm scale? Reading through the Emblazer thread (only got as far as about 2018!) has been a real inspiration and lots of the things that you guys have picked up on seem very relevant. As far as I can tell, the Ortur machine and the Emblazer 1 have essentially the same guts - just a big difference in build quality and price! One of the things I'm trying to decide is whether to go down the route of engraving bricks in 2mm scale, or whether to just use brickpaper. The kerf width on this laser is a bit on the thick side for 2mm bricks! One project I do have in mind is a stone viaduct though, and I think engraving that would definitely be a goer. I'm wondering whether a raster stone texture might give a more pleasing result than overly regular CAD drawn blocks. This is really helpful! I'd been aware that lighter colours = bad, darker colours = good, but I already had a large stock of white 160gsm and 200gsm in the house. The only other card I have in is 160gsm in black (which actually doesn't cut as easily as I had expected - apparently because it is slightly textured, according to Ortur tech support, when I queried the cutting speed), or light blue, which I haven't tried yet. Good to know blue isn't a good bet - thinking about it, I guess blue reflect the wavelength of the laser because it is similar? I'll try getting hold of some mid grey and buff! Where do you get the poplar ply? I only recall seeing birch, even at the 4D Modelshop. Cheers Justin

I'll probably post a separate thread once I get a bit further with some building projects, but just to share the fact I've been getting some very good results with the Ortur laser now I've had time to experiment with the settings in Lightburn. These signal box windows (green painted ones) are N scale - the glazing bars are designed to be 0.3mm wide! Brassmasters N gauge etched windows are next to it for comparison. There seems to be a fundamental limitation that cuts in one direction will always be finer than in the other. On these cheaper diode lasers the light focuses to a small bar shape, rather than a perfect round point. So cutting in the X direction will always cut a slightly wider line than in the Y. Hence the horizontal glazing bars are thicker than the vertical ones! Things I had to work out through experimentation: Focal distance needed to be quite a bit closer than quoted in instructions - about 28mm rather than 50mm. This laser basically needs power at 100% the whole time when cutting (rather than engraving). Speed and number of passes is a fine balance. The machine doesn't seem accurate enough to rely on registration being 100% between multiple passes, especially on a larger project. So I've been going for quite slow cuts that work in single passes, as much as possible. Normal 160gsm card (used for these windows) cuts nicely at 300mm/min. LightBurn is WAY better than LaserGRBL! But it's settings need a lot of experimentation for different machines. Counterintuitively, it seemed like turning OFF a lot of its optimization settings, like "minimise direction change" and "minimise travel distance" actually helped avoid distortions around the tiny window bars. Overall, I'm increasingly pleased with it - definitely an improvement on the Silhouette! Justin

My understanding was that Roger Chivers who designed the kits retired, and his sons took on retailing them for several years (as "Slimrails" I think?) But recently they decided to call it a day. Unfortunately that probably means no future prospects for these kits - perhaps unless the moulds end up being bought by the NGS, who seem to increasingly be the only people distributing N gauge kits. They've absorbed various other plastic kit ranges as producers have retired etc - including Parkwood and some of the old TPM kits (the bogie iron ore tippler has just been reintroduced as an NGS kit). I know what you mean, plus most of the kits are perpetually out of stock, or disappear within days when they do come into stock! But, in terms of plastic kits, they are practically the only options in N, other than the basic PECO snap together kits, which aren't exactly modern. BH Enterprises do a small range of etched kits that might be interesting, they're mainly shot down from 1980s vintage 4mm kits - John Grey I think? So they tend to take a bit of work to assemble! Another option would be to look at what's available on Shapeways - perhaps finishing and painting a 3D print is basically the modern equivalent to kit building for a lot of N gauge wagons, especially? Justin Justin

Many thanks all - great ideas here - and I think I've got a much clearer idea of how the gearing works now! I remembered you'd come up with a custom power bogie for a Priory Road project @Izzy - I'd forgotten you'd done two different approaches! The power bogie definitely looks really promising, especially, as you say, with a good quality DCC decoder. A ready made combined bogie carcass, essentially to Izzy's design, seems like it could be a relatively simple candidate for 3D printing. Obviously it would require iteration and tweaking for tolerances, so Shapeways would definitely be a terrible idea for this reason. However a home Photon type printers should be suitable. I had a quick look at Micro Antriebe and they seem to offer acetal versions of their M0.4 gears in appropriate sizes for around £4 each, which doesn't seem outrageous (although I'm sure it would indeed add up - it looks like the Farish cl.33 bogie has 6 gears each). Although didn't the Association seem to have some sort of falling out with Micro Antriebe? I seem to recall that they're no longer the source of Association gears for some reason? Personally I did manage to get two of the Farish 101 power twins back when they were in the bargain-bucket, which should sort me out for the four sets of Worsley etches for GE section EMUs that I have, should I ever actually get around to building a 1990s era project (which would be in Finetrax N - but far too many other things on the go already now!). What got me thinking about other solutions was discussing @Lacathedrale 's Caterham idea, which would need inter-war Southern EMUs - and seems like a really nice plan! But as we've all noticed, Farish DMUs and even US Bachmann diesels (I did think and look - most now in the £110 region) are no longer bargain bucket material, which makes chopping them up not seem quite as obvious as it used to! Justin

I'll never deny my ignorance in mechanical matters! Where is the weight carried from chassis to bogie in the first design? Is it through the whole rectangular surface of the top of the bogie, if its not through the worm/gear interface? I've never fiddled with a commercial chassis with this question in mind, but I seem to recall the bogies seeming to have quite a lot of free movement in all directions about the interface with the worm? The clips in the circular hole clearly don't carry any of the weight, they just guide the movement. I was half wondering about using spare gears sold for Farish, which seem pretty standard and not too hard to get hold of - its the worm/worm gear that seems a puzzle to source. Justin

I've been chatting with @Lacathedrale and giving this a bit more thought. I was reminded of @Izzy 's post about his Cl.15 diesel built using Bachmann USA spare part bogies: This made me think - it seems like there are basically two commercial design approaches in N scale diesels: Worm mounted on a rigid longitudinal shaft. Bogie retained by clips, but the gear that meshes with the worm seems to effectively act as the main pivot itself - doesn't it? This seems to be how Izzy's Bachmann Fairbanks-Morse bogie works. Presumably this means the mesh between the worm and its gear is VERY loose? It also seems like the gear that meshes with the worm is always straight, rather than helical cut? I imagine this means that the cut of the worm itself is different from the ones we tend to use in 2mm? Is there a proper terminology for all this? Worm mounted as part of the bogie assembly and driven by a universal joint. This seems much more familiar to a normal 2mmFS chassis design (basically the same as a tender steam loco) , and I'm sure I've seen this approach in plenty of Farish chassis. As Nigel says, providing a satisfactory bogie pivot on a scratch build is a bit of a challenge. Basically I'm wondering whether there is the possibility of a 3D-printed pivot/clip/bogie frame type assembly to help reduce the dependence on RTR donors for this kind of project. Perhaps replicating the design of Izzy's Bachmann USA example, if suitable gears/worms are available? (I wonder whether hobby robotics might be a source of suitable gears etc?) Justin

Progress with this layout has pottered on very slowly, I must admit. The main job at the moment is the whole range of distillery buildings, all but one in a similar dressed stone finish. I'm using Slaters embossed plasticard, but painting all that expanse of weathered stone has been a good reason to procrastinate! I have done some experiments using plenty of washes and drybrushing with Vallejo acrylics. I think, finally, I'm getting close to the quite characteristic dark (but not monochrome) stone and relatively bright contrasting mortar that you can see in the Flickr album linked at the beginning of the thread in the top left of this wall (will be hidden so using as test bed). Any thoughts? The other recent bit of progress has been cutting out the walls for the warehouse buildings. The silhouette cutter's best effort at scoring the plasticard was no way near enough for these complex shapes, so it was still an awful lot of effort cutting! Window sills and headers are the next stage. Limonene as a solvent has been effective in building up the laminations (embossed + 2 layers 0.5mm plain - bottom one with recesses for the etched windows). Once I've got the buildings all at least assembled, if not finished, I'll turn to sorting out the ground surfaces and things. The fiddle yard really needs sorting out properly too! J

There was a range of about half a dozen types of hut produced under the Loch Tat name - all very nice in solid resin. Much more detailed than the plaster Ten Commandments models. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing them on sale from BH Enterprises most recently. They're definitely separate from the Ten Commandments range. Justin

Looks excellent Ian! How did you design it? I've always found its really difficult to introduce "random" elements like imperfect tiles and roof sag to a 3D model using CAD type tools. (Have used Fusion360 and AutoCAD). Did you use something more gaming focused like Blender for a more "sculpting" type approach? Justin

Well, I went for it and got the 15w (4.5w) version of the smaller original "Master" machine. It cost £150 including delivery from Gearbest. I followed some advice NOT to use the DHL shipping option, and it arrived within just about 10 days via "SprintPack" - strangely using a Royal Mail tracking number throughout. No customs charge was applied - perhaps a lighter touch during the pandemic? After some initial confusion from speed settings being quoted in mm/minute but the LightBurn software defaulting to input in mm/second (!) I've got some pretty good results on various types of card and thin ply. 160gsm card cuts nice and cleanly with a relatively slow speed. As expected with a diode laser, the black cuts in one pass, whereas white requires about 3 (because much of the light is reflected). I've also had good results cutting greyboard (back of notepad) and oiled manilla (which I'd seen recommended in another laser cutting thread). They do all need several passes at low speeds though - upto 7 or 8 passes. Clearly there is no getting away from the fact it is a low powered machine. I don't know how much difference the 20w version would be - I doubt much. However when I was talking to Ortur customer service (very helpful - they helped me realise I was mistaking mm/min and mm/sec speeds!) they mentioned they are planning to "release a LU2-1 laser module in July, which it's specialized in paper cut". This sounds promising - I don't know if it will just be more powerful, or perhaps a different wavelength? Hopefully it will work as an upgrade for the existing machines. At the end of the day, I had in mind to buy this machine as a replacement for the Silhouette cutter without all the issues of trying to prise card off the carrier without ripping, and with sharper corners to small shapes. It definitely seems to fill that bill! The cutting area of this original "Master" model is definitely limiting too - around 150*160mm, but is generally OK for me working in 2mm scale. The physically larger Master 2 might be much more useful for modellers working in 4mm or above. I need to carry on experimenting with different materials, and I need to tackle combining engraving (brick courses and maybe score lines) on the same job as cutting. This seems simple with the LightBurn software - just a matter of getting the right combination of speed/power/passes values. J

To perhaps cheekily extend your analogy a step further, this is exactly why a lot of top restaurants publish recipe books of their signature dishes. The recipe book allows the dedicated home cook to emulate the restaurant dish, but perhaps most who buy it will just end up using it as a coffee table book. At the end of the day, selling a recipe book is unlikely to dent the number of people visiting the restaurant, and in fact is more likely to act as extra publicity.

I don't think anyone was suggesting this though? The point was that now a reasonable number of modellers have their own 3D printers (usually for printing their own designs, I think) we'd love the chance to buy STLs of files that are currently on Shapeways to print ourselves, for our own layouts, because we'd get better results. I know a handful of small businesses do offer home printed resin prints commercially, but as you rightly say, that is probably more trouble than it's worth in the long run! Better to leave selling physical prints to the busineses that are set up for it. But for those who prefer to roll their own, a site like Cults3D (it was only the first Google hit, there may be better ones out there!) seem to be the ideal solution, surely?