A. Bastow

Reading this thread has really made me want to build a Jumbo now. They are so, so nice. I will be watching this thread with great interest!

So it's been a few weeks in the making but here I think is the version that I will print over the next few days. It's designed to take an L&Y 10'6" chassis from association shop 2. The way it should work is that the plain chassis with bearings should sit perfectly inside the printed axleboxes. The axleboxes, springs and brackets actually hold up the rest of the body. I know the resin I use is sturdy but those parts are at the thickest 0.5mm. We'll see if it works. If it doesn't I can look at a way to use some scrap etch to help support it all. I'm sure I have spare bits enough to rig up the extra four brake shoes not present on the kit as well as enough for guard irons and handles, etc. I could use the banding strips from the association shop to fabricate or strengthen the footboards if I needed to. I'm not sure how many hours I've spent on this. Must be a good 8 hours or so - I'm no expert! Glad this one is at a printable stage!

Hi Chris. Last week the L&Y rail built buffer stop etches were WSL, which I think kind of snowballed to this current line of conversation. I’d like to echo others who have expressed their thanks to the people who make it all possible!

An etch artwork exchange would be highly welcomed and I laud it as a brilliant idea. I'd even be willing to purchase the artwork for the L&Y stuff on behalf of the association to get the whole idea off the ground.

Hi folks, Some more L&Y goodness these past few nights while other things were going off in the background. Partially done L&Y dia 61 20 ton brake van. Some interior "cab" detailing to do, such as doors and windows. I am undecided whether to model the chassis or not. If I did it would be 3d printed springs, irons, axleboxes and footboards. This would hopefully allow enough room to let an etched wagon chassis and pinpoint bearings just slide into it underneath. The other approach would be to find an 8-shoe fitted chassis that fits underneath perfectly along with appropriate leaf springs, but the likelihood of something fitting perfectly is not high! Would love to see what everyone else has been up to!

I must have been a bit over-enthusiastic then when extracting mine. That or my blade has gone blunt.

Nick, how did you extract it from the surrounding etch once complete? I bent mine to hell when I did one. I also didn't realise that they were WSL - might have to put an order in before they disappear!

More wagons this week. Not sure what this year’s SEQAG group challenge is but I have definitely met part of last year’s challenge to have six vehicles in a train. There’s another set identical to these either shown previously or not photographed. I suppose I should take a photo of the full train! The etched covered van is an LNWR one to dia 88 (association kit), the large covered van is to L&Y dia 62 as before, the smaller one is to L&Y dia 3, and the flat bed is again to L&Y dia 1. Next on the list is a David Eveleigh cattle van and horse box. Then after that I think I might have enough courage to attempt one of the Hunt loco kits.

Hi Andy, Do we have a list of Traders that will be present? Will the 2mm shops be there in some capacity? Will there be a bring and buy? Many thanks, Adam

Not posted for a while because most of my model making has either been digital recently or for other people. The fruit of this weeks’ labours is two completed L&Y wagons. The flatbed is from Masterclass models on Shapeways, to Dia. 80 on one of the association etches. The covered goods is to Dia. 62, of my own modelling efforts, again on an association etch. In addition I have almost finished one of the Scalefour Society lever frames. It’s wonky in places but it works and I’m happy with it!

The FiNetrax range I believe has the same “ready made” geometry as the 2mmSA pegged turnout kits. From memory they were developed together. The overall length might be different by a millimetre or two but nothing that couldn’t be adjusted for I think.

I have the following in my pile of shame that I wish to relieve myself of. To exchange; 3x etches for a generic 9ft wheelbase wagon 2x etches of suitable axle boxes for the above - a third will be needed to complete all three chassis. 1x GEM N/2mm Jinty body kit, virtually pristine. Wants; A Raithby 4F kit, as they have disappeared from the association shop. Many thanks in advance.

Progress! Love it when things work as intended. I showed off the drawings for some L&Y wagons the other day and I have now made a successful test print of the Dia.62 covered goods. The Dia.3 will be the next one, followed by the Dia.1. When I have proved that they work and fit on the association etches, I’ll get them listed on the 3d printing section of the 2mmSA website.

I did pay the extra for the Mars 3. Very happy with it so far. Each to their own I suppose! I was musing on the topic of print orientation earlier today in regard to printing wagon bodies etc. If I orient the body with the roof away from the build plate allowing space for open supports inside the print then I shouldn't have a problem with vacuum formation should I? The model would effectively turn into a bucket with a few ml of resin that I can recover at the end of the print run. Is this how everyone else does it, and are there reasons against doing it this way?

With the printer sitting forlorn in the spare bedroom for a week, I have been reacquainting myself with Fusion 360 so I actually have something to print. A veritable cornucopia of L&Y wagons ensues (to Diagrams 1, 3, 62, 69 and 71) along with an experiment at mounting DG couplers on a 3d printed replacement to sit in the NEM pocket. The Dia. 3 has been in progress for many months but is now complete (I posted a picture of the first print last week). I know Masterclass Models has a Dia. 1 on the shapeways shop, (I do have a few) but I wanted to be able to produce them at will, hence why I redrew it. Both of these are intended to fit the LNWR 9' WB chassis from the 2mmSA shop. The Dias. 62, 69 and 71 are all intended to fit the 12' WB LYR chassis that the association does. The hole on the coupler replacement is to allow something like a split pin to be put in place through it and the DG, hopefully holding everything in place. Not bad for a week's hobbying!

Hi Steve, Does the loft function not provide the correct shape from say the starting plane all the way through to the end plane or does it not follow it right? Do you need to do it this way for it to have the right profile? Some more insights as to where people start with these models would be great as I might be doing things back to front. With the LNWR full brake that I did, I decided that it was better to start with a general shell outline and sculpt into shape from there, but for the wagons that I have done I start by building the detail up from the start. Mainly the wagons are done differently to get the separation between the planks and the metal banding. Maybe I should do a wagon as a shell first and "carve" out the detail using different methods...

The print looked ok as soon as it was finished and directly after curing. I did leave the supports on for curing and removed them afterward. Should I have removed them beforehand? I'll have to be a bit more careful in future, with my first few prints I expected some failures!

I set the print up with the roof facing the plate but canted at an angle at which I had hoped the resin would drain. - looks like I'll have to put a hole in the roof for filling later. The wagon was cured for about 4 minutes, but everything from the print plate was cured together.

So my 3d printer arrived and I successfully set it up and got the test model printed. Got a few designs readied in the slicer and printed them off, washed and then cured. I come to them the next day to find the flat bed wagons have bowed and that there are dimples on the roof of the box van (aside from the scarring left from the supports). I am assuming that the dimpling is due to the inside being hollow and not allowing the resin to drain out during printing - would I be better off just making these solid on the inside to avoid this? Or multiple parts where the roof is a separate piece? As to the flat bed truck, should I have left it on the supports overnight? Did I wash it for too long? Is exposure time in the curing machine a factor? Should I just make an insert to hold it in shape while it cures? The photographs are not kind to my work but they do show it rather well. Many thanks in advance!

These responses have surprised me somewhat, but that’s why I asked those in the know! So a “2k” printer is fine, biggest print bed I can afford and think about a wash and cure machine. Cracking! Thanks folks!

Hi all, So I will be taking the plunge and actually buying a 3d printer, rather than strong-arming friends and politely asking acquaintances to provide printing services for me. I have been eyeing up the new Elegoo Mars 3, which has a 4k resolution screen. So the question is, do I really need a 4k resolution printer or are the 2k ones such as the Elegoo Mars 2 (which produces excellent prints) good enough for the job? Could I save some cash by buying a 2k printer or should I shell out that bit more for the extra resolution? Ta, Adam

Hi all. Apart from the L&Y class 28 (pictures in the any question answered thread) I have also been working on some L&Y coaches. I was undecided how to achieve the detail so I did two versions. One where the doors in the coach sides were fully etched through on all sides, allowing the side itself to be the half etched bit and the beading along the side of the coach is captured as un-etched. There is also a strengthener layer to fold in place behind, which helps location on the chassis. The other is where I left the beading and door outlines as un-etched, thinking that it will look right when built. Here is the first example with the fully etched door outline. It doesn’t look pretty, but this is from the very first etched sheet I have designed so I expected some errors and things to learn from. The coach floor and chassis look the part but I think that the artwork needs a tweak. The truss rods should really be separate. I was in two minds about the footboards but seeing them in the picture actually helps complete the look. Some doors are like loose teeth, another thing to correct going forward. Plenty learned! Constructive criticism is very much welcome!

I can show you what it looked like on Sunday! At the moment it's in bits again. I think all the little niggly bits need taking back to the etch design and reworking to make a successfully powered model. For the moment though it'll look good, finished off as a loco that can be shunted around.

Many thanks for this Nick, and those who are un-named who may have worked on this project. Am I correct in thinking that with this I couldn’t drive an additional gear? For instance if this apparatus won’t fit inside the firebox to drive the main axle. Cheers!

Hi Jim, all, I have managed to produce a working loco! Tender and loco chassis are wired together now, with weights and clean wheels and the pickup is good. The lashing to one side or the other was due mostly to the universal joint. I had to file away gently at the ball on either end of the removable shaft so they provided a loose "friction free" fit. I acquired some aluminium oxide from work and I lapped the gears as well. The whole thing now needs a good clean and then I can think about detailing the body, fixing couplers on and making a coal load to hide the top of the motor. Many thanks for the help! Adam