Timber

Hello - over the past few months I have become a fan of High Level gears. Until now I have been using the RoadRunner but in an attempt to try and rebuild my Albion Class locomotive with the correct boiler I tried out a LoLoader.....once again a wonderful product that did the job nicely. With the LoLoader you get an extra gear carriage that gives that little bit more flexibility and space something that just allowed me to squeeze the motor into the boiler.

Mike this is super work....one question why not use "pattern on path" in Fusion 360 for the rivets. it would save you alot of time possibly. But great to see 3D the 3D prints.

Hello - more progress on 3D printed driver wheels using the society tyres. Printed some 5'2" wheels for my Sharp Stewart 0-4-2 loco - i think that it is the B&M equivalent of the Cambrian Atlanta Class - (need to refit brakes and paint other wheels that are Gibsons). I now have prints for 5'2" 14 spoke PB plus 5'7" 16 spoke with a 12" IL throw and 17 spoke with a 10" IL throw. Clearly early days but the results are still encouraging. Next steps is to work out how to package on Shapeway so that I can reduce the price per wheel. Plus I have some Ultrascale tyres that I will have a look at.

track work looks fantastic

thanks for everyones help. Drawing 26238 is undoubtably an albion class drawing but there is something different between the drawing and early pictures on the albion class locomotive. The raised backend of the boiler to house the smokebox is only ~ two inches increase in radius than the main boiler.....but if you look at early photos the difference appears to be far greater.... probably 4 inches....this feature really defines part of the character of the locomotive so it is important. In the book "a pictorial record of GW absorbed engines" there is a diagram (page 60) that the GWR produced of the aquired locomotive or one of them......once again the boiler profile is more aligned to early photos than drawing 26238. We will probably never know but when I produced my revised model to the exect scale of drawing 26238 it did not look right....so i will change to improve the fit with the photos....... once again thanks for the collaberation.

hello - just fitted some 3D printed wheels to my Albion loco. First attempt - I am using the society tyres and Markit axles. Results were better than expected but by no means perfect. Next version is in production, I have modified some of the measurements and sent the prints off to Shapeway. The plastic outside diameter was smaller than the inside diameter of the tyre by a fraction of a mm but I managed to centre reasonably well. This will be fixed in next release models. The crank pins are temporary. I used the versatile plastic from Shapeway - just super glued into the tyre. It is possible to print in brass but will save this test until I have the exact model I need. Model is using gibson pickups off the drivers, nothing on the leading wheel. It needs the tender pickups to improve pickup but left off for this demo clip.

wheels look great - the geometry is complex but results look fantastic.

here is what is on the bench.....a saddle tank I am building based on B&M number 18. Saddle lifts off so that the motor can sit inside the boiler....made one once before but reworking with a 3D print.

Dont think so but i can loan you mine.....drop a note to the society secretary and she will give you my email details.....there are not many members who live in Bedford.....

My guidance having just put down the track on my first S Scale layout is be a little bit generous on the gauge, particularly if you are planning to use romford wheels. The society used to supply 4 track gauges for different curves. Green, blue, red, yellow and red, green being straight track red being the tightest curves. I laid all my track regardless of curve using the yellow and on the tighter curves I used the red. This may not be standard but it gave me a much better performance. My locos run on other peoples layouts, whoes owners have probably stuck to the rules (and better at laying track and building locos than me) so there is nothing wrong with Romford wheels (I they are great for S Scale) - just the extra track clearance does prevent any tight spots when things get slightly misaligned. If you look on Shapeway store someone is selling a three point S Scale track gauge. Not sure if it is any good - I did not use it but may be of some help.

Thanks Don....layouts look great! Interesting that the Cab was extended - I can add this detail.

hello - this thread is from a couple of years back but I am interested in following up. I am building an Albion in S scale....using the HMRS drawing 26238. I am not an expert in railway history or prototype matters but I have a question for those that may know. When the loco was rebuilt presumably the boiler diameter and general dimensions stayed the same....is this a reasonable assumption? Actually the loco I want to build is a B&M USK that I am told is the same as the albion - i am trying to build one in later life when it may have had a rebuild.....or two. At some point I want to share the etched model with some Cambrian S Scale modellers...who will probably want a later model. However, I am begining to lose confidence in the accuracy of the model verses the later rebuilds.....someone gave me a drawing that they had got from someehere of an Albion and the boiler appears to be larger than the 26238 drawing possibly 4'6" verses the 4' on my drawing. Any guidance on the type of changes that were applied in the rebuilds would be a help - thank you.

Whilst waiting for my cambrian coach 3D components to arrive from Shapeway I have gone back to my model of B&M USK. This is effectively the same locomotive as a Sharp Stewart Cambrian Albion (I think). I shared a model of this loco at the AGM but decided to rebuild following aquiring some better details on chimney and dome so I rebuilt the boiler and fittings. Also whilst looking at some of the wonderful models that other members shared at the AGM it occured to me that with a few minor changes I could accomodate a flywheel. Hence the rebuild. As someone in an earlier thread suggested the advancement in 3D printing opens up S Scale to a goup of modellers who may want to use 3D printing.

Here is what is on the work bench.....a small Cambrian Coach as per page 90 of Mike Loyd's excellent book on the Tanat Valley railway. Bit of work to do to finish - working on a 3D printed roof plus other parts. Will post a photo when complete....wheels are Alan Gibson. Artwork created using Microsoft Visio.

I joined the S Scale Society some three years ago. It is a wonderful society. Some of the societies that cater for the more popular scales have simply become membership groups, whereas the S Scale Society is a Society where regardless of your level of skill you are made to feel welcome and there is never a shortage of help. WRT wheels. Many members machine their own drivers. Using split axles. I do not have the skills or the patience to be able to do this so I use a variety of trade wheels. Markis make an S Scale axle for their range of 4mm driving wheels. It is not in their catalogue but if you phone up and ask then they will supply the wheels with these axles. They are also available through the society stores. These are their standard wheel profiles. Alen Gibson used to supply S Scale wheels. I understand that they were made using their EM tyres and work just fine, You can still get the wheels but will have to machine your own axles. Ultrascale will fit their wheels both drivers and others to S Scale axles. I use EM profile. I guess that the S4 profile would also work. They do not advertise this as a service but when I have requested S Scale they have been supplied with no fuss. As with all trade suppliers you are unlikely to find exactly what you were looking for but there is enough choice across the three above suppliers to get pretty close match. My preferenace is Markits. I like the way that they can quickly be removed for painting chassis etc and they are very robust. The only challenge I have found is that they can occasionally be a bit tight on the track gauge. I think that this is due to the fact that they are assembled as a pair and not machined as a pair. So a little bit of drift can cause tightness. To get around this I have laid may track at a gauge of 22.6mm. The society has four gauges depending on the radius. I used one of the wider gauges even for straight track (hence the 22.6mm). This works fine for all my wheel types. I 3D print all my loco boilers bodies and etch the chassis and other parts . I prefer to work in prototype size ft and Inches straight into the CAD programme and then scale down as I upload to Shapeways. This way i can move from the works drawing to the 3D programme without having to resize with the inevitable errors. That said the quality of the scratch building by other members is stunning and demonstrates that in many instances a computer cannot replicate the quality traditional engineering tools can bring. The attached photo, drivers are Markits, Tender chassis has Alan Gibson fitted.