Phil Mason

Well done to get it all square. All I've ever managed is a couple of lopsided diesel loco bodies in brass. If it's black lettering, it should be easy enough. If you could PM me the picture you have, I might have something. Phil

Cab roofs and glazing bars in place. Lots of filing and shaping to do but I'll leave it to harden further overnight. I think it's starting to look a bit growly now. I'm constantly checking dimensions against the drawings. The basic principle being "If it's too big, file a bit off. If it's too small, stick a bit on!" Thanks for everybody's interest so far. I hope it might inspire others to have a go. Phil

N gauge MRA 3mm bogie sideframes and roof 'blobs' for TT cl76. The hollow body shell was cast professionally because I can't do that but I thought the roof detail might not work well if part of the body. I hope I'm forgiven for not sending this as a personal message but I can't emphasise enough how easy resin casting is and how useful it is for anybody with a 3mm 'workbench' who wants to make more than one of the same item. It should, therefore, be of interest to other people. Phil

Sylmasta, if I may answer for Mr Edge. You can get a starter kit with full instructions etc. Its dead easy to do small items. A big thing that's hollow (like a loco shell) needs more skill and experience. Small 2D things are simple. The only time I did a 3D item it worked OK but, effectively, you need two moulds (both halves) therefore twice as much rubber as well as wasted resin. So my 3D items (N gauge wagons, wagon loads etc) have used the 2D method. That is fine by inverting the mould and filling resin from the bottom. Being a cheapskate, I look round for cheaper resin and moulding rubber than Sylmasta but maybe to the detriment of quality. You also need to raid your kids Lego and Plasticene! That's my 10p worth as a rank amateur. Michael may well have a more professional answer. I cast the snow ploughs on High Peak using the 2D method and (at the risk of getting chucked off for going off topic) a rake of N gauge MRAs. Phil

Starting to look a bit more tractor like. Cant rail grilles on and bonnets restored. Phil

Yes, Michael, I think there are some nice models out there based on your body. I should've employed your method for the ends because they fell off anyway. I also found after re-measuring that the ends were too narrow so they'll have to be done again. This can be a hazard with scratch building - two steps forward and one back but it's always easier the second time and it's the advantage over kits where you're stuck with what you've got. I've managed to create a rebate for the cant rail grilles. This should have been done before adding the roof, of course. Phil

Thanks, Bradford. I'm not actually sure you can see though them on a real 37 but the grilles seemed the right size and roughly correct spacing. Here's a real one: The effect is probably better on the 26s I did sone time ago: If anybody is interested, what I've done is build up the sides in layers. The outer skin is 10 thou, with the brass bits (also about 10 thou) sandwiched between that and a 60 thou base. In the case of the 37, the door recesses have been a problem so the base layer was only 20 thou with a 40 thou layer on top where the doors aren't (if you see what I mean?). The doors are therefore recessed by 40 plus 2x 10 thou which equals 60 thou or 6in in real life. I think that looks about right. I just love 3mm, where 1inch scales to 10 thou and 1cm equates to 0.1mm. To quite Paul Whitehouse on The Fast Show, "Brilliant!" Phil

The Triang coach roof is much closer in profile to the nose ends, so I think they've gone on OK. Phil

I've finally got round to some work on the body (after decorating three rooms to keep the boss happy!). I'm still unsure if this is going to work at all. Certainly I'll have to revisit the chassis to allow the bogies to swivel but at least the body side vents are in. The cant rail ones are also going to be a problem. Being shy of boiling 40 thou wrapped and tied round a bit of broom handle, I took the easy option and used a Triang coach roof out of the scrap box. The roof space was needed to accommodate the motor which prevented a flat false roof like I've done when using the Taurus chassis. The roof profile is clearly wrong at this stage but hopefully that will be rectified as work progresses. Phil

Just about finished (weathering needs further work and, maybe, the odd wonky decal). Sorry to hijack the thread but it's just to show the alternative to a 3D print.

Would love to see the type 2 taking a suck of gas at Bluish MPD this Easter at York if you can make it, Pete? I've finished my dalliance with N gauge for the mo, so back to worK on the 37. P.

Progress on scratch build here: I made a rod for my own back by using three different donor chassis. The tipping bodies have been moulded in resin. More work required on the 'loads'. And 'loads' of decals to add, some from Railtec, some printed on ink jet decal sheet. Total cost for the set will be about £30, proving there's still a place for scratch building! Phil

Enlarged, I can see a few bubbles from the mould - thought it was OK! Because the resin is very brittle, they'll probably pop off with a touch of a craft knife. One next to left hand brake cylinder, for example. Like I said before, people don't really look 'down below', so they'll probably be OK. Phil

Chassis now complete but I'm going to have to shave more off the bogies because they will foul the body going round corners. It may not even work at all - that's the danger of 'workbench' blogs. You get to see the failures as well as success! Great article on cl20s in MT, by the way everybody. Dave sets a very high bar to try and follow. Phil

With some more hacking at the chassis, I've got the width down to 22mm, sufficiently narrow to fit the (as yet unmade) body. That concludes my work bench for 2023. May you all make some wonderful models in 2024! Phil

I've thinned down the resin cast dummy sideframes and taken off as much material as I dare from the donor chassis whilst maintaining its strength. The overall width is just about right. With a bit of paint and some more junk chopped off the donor, it's looking a bit more like a 37 bogie. I've still no idea if this whole thing will work out. That's the beauty of modelling - a voyage of discovery as you solve problems and develop new skills. Phil

Not perfect but they'll do. There are two or three small bubbles. I should have done what Mike suggested but the resulting lumps are easily removed from the casts. The pic is not very clear, I'm afraid. Phil

Good advice, Mike. I'm getting lazy, as well as impatient, in my old age. Also, I think I beat up the mixture a bit too much and got some air in. I should have 'folded in' the catalyst like my grandma would do with the flour in her cakes... This rubber is some cheap stuff off the net, it's not as good as Sylmasta. Phil.

Here it goes in the mould. I'm unsure if all the bubbles are worrying or not. Bubbles aren't good, but I'd sooner have them riding to the top than stuck on the model. We'll see tomorrow! It's great to see some modelling being done but there's some great modelling being done! Thanks for sharing, everybody. I love the blue 'rats' - coming on nice. As is the power bogie in the Thumper chassis, something I've not done but I ought to learn. We've s 123/4 Transpennine unit somewhere that needs motorising... Phil

Mmm, wouldn't date a railway modeller. It'd do my head in! However, I do get some ads for quite racy underwear popping up. No idea what's going on there. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I thought I'd better get the Colin Marsden Locomotives Illustrated for the cl37 project. Before getting finger happy on the 'net I thought I'd better check my own book shelf. Lo and behold: Doh! Didn't know I had it. Anyway, there are no decent bogie pictures in it. But that's taught me something: "don't fuss too much about bogies". They are dirty and black and down below and nobody is too fussed about them. With the above in mind, here's my attempt before mass production by the resin casting technique. I'm casting them for four reasons: 1. I can't be bothered to make more than one. 2. Any mistakes I make will be less obvious because both bogies will be the same. 3. If I ever do another 37, I won't need to do the bogies again and 4. If anybody else thinks my efforts are up to their standards and would like sone side frames I can do them. Phil

Maybe I'm missing something here, but the only bits of the Berlinerbahnen loco I'm using are motor, gears driveshafts and wheels. If I replaced the wheels as well I'd have nothing left! Anyway, thanks for your interest guys, it's provided me with a bit of incentive to get cracking on the cl 37 bogies. Phil PS Who's this random bloke twittering on about his train set in a little box when I'm trying to type? Very annoying!

This is what I should be doing but all I've done so far is stretch the chassis Oh dear, I've done it now. Maybe 'going public' will give me the incentive to crack on with TT 'growlage'? Phil

I've always been convinced that the normal Gaugemaster controllers are significantly better than Duette/Clipper on N gauge. I've no idea why that shouldn't be the case on 3mm but to be honest, I've never tried because the Duette works reasonably well on most 3mm (Roco, Piko Tillig etc). So whether the 'Combi' is different from the other Gaugemasters, I don't know. Meanwhile, I had meant to post a pic of my completed 08 as a (inferior) comparison but I can't find one and it wouldn't be on my bench anyway. But I did find these which were on my bench at the time of the phot. Afraid I'm distracted with N gauge (boo hiss!) at present but I really must get back to the best scale ever for toy trains, 1:100! I was reminded to make the 'scale wars' comment because I've just received some alphabet decals from the States in 0.06", 0.08" and 0.10". It truck me that, of course, these are 6in, 8in and 10in in 3mm. Pity I don't rate the transfers. Phil

I can do better than that. I should have the drawings (plans) I made. It was all balsa pkasticard, etc. I've scratch built sinter plant, and other bits to go with it. Here are some snaps but I'll dig something better out later.