froobyone

Hi I wanted to share some photos of NER signal box I designed and laser cut. It's based on two junctions boxes that were once in my home city of Hull. I had already designed one with left-hand stairs, but also wanted to have the right-hand stairs version. I decided to paint certain parts and was rather pleased how it turned out and figured I'd share it. Cheers

I've been wondering recently if my love of watches and love of railways is somehow connected. My appreciation of both started around the age of seven and has never abated. Having studied psychology for exactly zero minutes, I can only guess why. Perhaps it's something to do with precision. Or intricate machines. All I know is, when the new Kays catalogue arrived, I looked at the train sets and then the watches. A few years later, I may have perused some /other/ pages... but not before trains and watches. So, is it just me? Or do any of you have an interest in horology? Apologies if this has been discussed at length before and I've missed it in my absence, or equally likely, I've forgot I took part in the discussion. Best Daniel

Hey OK. In an unusual step for me, I've started planning. Whilst I've been away from railway modelling for about ten years, model trains have never been far from me as I had a selection of my rolling stock in one of my cabinets in my home office. Despite not having anywhere to run anything, I continued to purchase the odd model now and again and it served to balance my other cabinet which holds some of my Star Wars stuff. Thankfully, now I've been told I can build something new, those trains will finally get to go somewhere. I didn't have any ideas, so I had a look around the internet for some inspiration and I found a user submitted design that I've remade in SCARM and heavily modified. My criteria for the layout is wide and varied and is listed below. 1: A place to show off my kits in an in-context environment and also serve as an inspiration board to come up with new ideas for kits. 2: I want to have movement. So I'm planning a continuous run setup. One of my pet hates is seeing a consist on tight curves, so the plan is to hide all the curves under the scenery, apart from the eastern station approach. 3: Not only do I want an urban scene, but I also like to sit for several hours watching trains trundle through the countryside for no readily apparent reason. With that in mind and rather like Charles Dickens' biography of Dolly Parton, A Tail of Two Titties, this will be a dual sided board. One side housing the station and town, the other running through some low hills and a viaduct in the middle. 4: In the last ten years I have also acquired grandchildren. So I've designed something that is stupidly complicated in regards to freight operations that will give the two girls some interesting shunting problems. 5: Location. The area of operation I have in mind is around the Basingstoke area. Somewhere fictitious on the London to Southampton line. This will allow EMUs, freight and HSTs to run through. 6: Station buildings and canopy. I want the station to look like it continues straight, while it in fact curves out of view. That way I can have longish length rakes without seeing them hang out the back. 7: Parcels platform and office. 8: Light goods operations. 9: Stabling for locos, carriages and EMUs. The elephant in the room is the fact that due to space constraints, I am forced to use chicane points. I would love to use medium radius points, but I'd need considerable more space. It's really going to bug me, as it's going to look like a Hornby train set, but beyond compromising the design to something that isn't as much fun, I'm stuck. I still have no idea how this will fit into my office, have no budget for wood or track and I'm definitely not biting off more than I can chew in the same way Jaws didn't bite off more than he could chew when he ruined Chief Brody's afternoon... It's going to be a long road and probably won't have a lot of updates for a while. I need to sell one of my motorbikes to fund the entire thing and as we don't seem to be getting a summer this year, that won't be easy. Until next time. Best Daniel

I both 3D print and laser cut depending on needs. For me, laser cutting window frames gives me better results and frankly more accurate results, because you always get a little bloat with FDM printing. On one of my kits, I chose to model and then 3d print the staircase for a signal box, but on another signal box kit, I opted to laser cut the stairs. I'll add a couple of pics below. The xtool is a very pricey option for its bed size. As I've mentioned in another thread, you can puck up an Sainsmart LC-60A for under £400 and that ships with an air assist pump, is almost ready to run and has a bed size of 600mmx600mm. However, for less money, you can get a 10w laser that'll do 650mmx650mm. However, you will need an air assist pump and tubing to get clean burns. 10w just means you can do everything quicker. One issue that has to be addressed is location and venting. You really don't want one in your house. I ended up building a shed and putting a hydroponics tent inside and then venting outside with an inline fan. When I've got both my lasers burning, it gets tremendously smoky in there. I have seen small enclosures that might fit an xtool and you vent out of that to the outside. In the below photos, the windows frames are laser cut, as are the lever frames and telecoms shelf in the box. Hope this helps. Best Daniel

Hey all. I've slowly been working my way back into forum life after a very long break. The last few years have been spent travelling around the world as a 3D specialist, but all that came to a close in December last year, when the company that developed the software I use, decided to cease its development. What's worse, is that I actually worked for the company in question! My whole team, both here and in the USA were laid off. That left me at an unexpected crossroads. As a specialist (in 3d footwear development) I've sort of painted myself into a corner. I was the only person in the world doing the specific work I was doing. Which is cool to say in a pub, not so cool when there's no one else who can use those skills, now the software is end of life. So I decided to invest some of my redundancy package into cnc lasers and other associated equipment, to design and produce laser cut railway related model kits. No, I can't give you a link, because I've been a member here for years and I'm not getting banned for breaking forum rules three minutes after coming back. The upshot of all this. A little silver lining if you will, is my girlfiend (sic) thinks I should build a new layout that I can use to pose my kits on for the ebay pics etc. I'm not going to argue with that. First time I've ever been told to build a layout so I'm jumping at the chance. I don't even know what yet. I'm a blue diesel guy, as anyone whoever saw Hullbridge will attest, so it'll more than likely be sometime in the late eighties, because I also like Intercity Executive. All I know is it'll be called Woodburn, because everyone love a pun... Not sure whether to do urban or country. Station or goods. End to end or roundy -hidden fiddle -roundy. I even floated the idea for a roundy with two different locations on either side, or two seasons. I just don't know. I don't want o bite off more than I can chew, because that's exactly what I'm likely to do and then get swamped. So I have to be cautious and do some proper planning, which is exactly what I'm unlikely to do. and hopefully this layout thread won't get archived into oblivion like Hullbridge :) Weird not having any pics in the thread and obviously I don't have an image in my head that I could even AI an image with, so here's some HSTs I posed on the old Hullbridge layout as it was dismantled and a photo of a couple of my shops. Nice to be back Daniel

Hi all. Long time no post. I was always fond of this shot from the now dismantled Hullbridge layout. Depth of field is a tad too shallow, but that's the problem with shooting in daylight without ND filters. Best Daniel

I know Sainsmart do a router CNC machine that can also be fitted with their laser units. I have one of their laser cnc setups, an LC-60A and it's a good machine. The Sainsmart you can find on Amazon. I also have a 10w laser machine that can be purchased with a z axis rotary unit, but I don't have any info on the router as I opted not to buy it. This machine can be found on Ebay listed as 80000MW CNC 6565 Laser Engraving Machine. Hope this helps. Daniel

I've been absent from the forum for a while, due to being away from modelling, but pop in now and again. I almost fainted when I saw Robertsbridge mentioned. I grew up there in the 70s and spent many happy hours walking the old track bed, sometimes as far as Bodiam. As luck would have it, I was doing some research on the old goods shed at Robertsbridge last month, with a eye on producing it as a laser cut kit, but that research also got me up to speed with the RVR again and their progress over the years. Seeing this bit of news made my day! I'm glad I popped on! Thanks

Quick vid I shot on completion night. You can kind of see the flashing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fMa-J7J638

Much humbled by your comments guys. -and trust me, it means so much more coming from railway modellers, because the bar is already set very high. I'll see what I can do about some vid footage. It'll probably be easier just to pop something on my youtube page. Although that will expose me to the world as a nerd instead of the super cool mag headset wearing frood that I'm universally known as. Nah, everyone knows that I'm a nerd. I'm internationally recognised for a song about Eve Online, which is spaceship spreadsheets for nerds. Oh well. I'll post something when I sort it. Thanks again. Dan

Right. Are we sitting comfortably? Then let's begin. First order of business was de-bagging. Once I was in just my underpants I could start with removing all the parts from the magazine bags This took more time than I initially imagined. I was thinking, crikey, if this is how long it takes just taking the stuff out... Little did I know there would be a further three months of Falcon in my life. If you've ever idly wondered what 100 A4 plastics bags look like... So de-bagging complete and environment irrevocably harmed, it was time to make my build space. I knew this was going to be a fairly epic build and I'd spent the last couple of years buying all the things I thought I'd need (I was wrong, I needed more). The calm before the storm. I had decided up front to build the model in the order that the magazines were published. I figured that would guarantee I wouldn't build something that shouldn't be built yet. The only flaw in this, was a steady build up of parts and sprues that were to be used later -that I had to watch like a hawk, lest they disappear into the ether where all small parts go. The first order of business was the internal spaces provided with the model. Specifically the main hold and the cockpit. Now at this stage of the journey, I was planning on keeping the internals as an out-of-the-box build. Honestly, I planned on keeping it standard. Well, that escalated, as we will see later. Hold area put safely aside, it was time to work on the lower-hull sub-frame. A little side-note: I started the build in earnest in February when I had a couple of days off work. So I hit it hard at the beginning, spending all four days in the build room. I can honestly say, that it was four of the happiest days of my life. The metal frame was like playing with Meccano again and the resin hull parts were like the best fitting Airfix kit you ever saw. It was simply a beautiful time. I fully regressed to being that 10 year kid watching The Empire Strikes Back for the first time and the joy of building my favourite ship. It was sublime. None of the joy is evident in the photo. I left the joy filter on by mistake. So the hull assembly continued for the next couple of hours and I ended up with this. I also fitted the motorised landing ramp and associated lighting. Next I gathered all the lower-hull plating. That's a lot of resin. and a lot of very tiny screws... I ended up doing so much screwing (stop it) that I had a blister the size of the third moon of the Yavin system on my palm. It started to get really difficult to fix anything to anything. A quick search on Amazon netted me a small electric screwdriver and 2.5 million different bits. (I used one). Sorted. Woah. We're halfway there. Ahhh, Falcon on a chair.. You're welcome. There are two greebly cut outs underneath and I have a secret penchant for greebly goodness. The attention to detail was superb. Most of the greebles were individually fitted. Unpainted. (the grubbyness is a factory applied "weathering" for people who lack painting skills/have a life). I wasn't going to stand for that, so a mix of Metal Cote and powders netted me some proper grubby greebles. Side 1. Side 2. In position. (temporarily. That part wouldn't be fitted until last weekend...) I then built the gun turret internals. These look naff all ike the studio set, but the filming miniature didn't even have this, so +1 for us I guess. It also came with an LED Seriously too bright. Oh well, at least the TIE pilots will be able to see who they're shooting at. It was then time for more Meccano while I assembled the top-hull framing. This was made so much easier with the electronic screwdriver. I was three days into the build at this point and I was thinking (and stupidly telling people) that I'd have the thing finished by next weekend. Wrong. There are a bunch of greebly cut-outs on the top hull and I'm going to add them to the thread here, as opposed to liberally scattering them throughout the post like dandelion seeds. Unpainted. So that's them out of the way. I then started on the front mandibles and I came across this little basta -nice attention to detail. Seriously, why? My eyes are old. I compel anyone to actually see that on the model. Jokes aside though, it's good that they don't give shi -really care about the details. and so to the day that became know as "The day of mandibles". Many many tiny things superglued into many many tiny holes. Luckily I had a mag headset. It was a bonus that they were good for those tiny greebles as I'd originally got them because I look so damn cool... Things were progressing quite well and she was starting to look very Falcony. It was only a couple of weeks later when I reached issue 90 and as I was building it in chunks of ten issues at a time, it felt like I was on the final stretch. Wrong. Well, remember back in the day, at the top of this post when I said I'd planned to keep the internals standard? There was one part of it that left me feeling a bit itchy. This little door-to-nowhere. On the full-size set, this of course leads to the room where Leia and Han kiss for the first time. "My hands are dirty" "Well my hands are dirty too" I just couldn't let it be a hole in the wall, because a) it would bug the shiz out of me and b) nosey people would be able to peer into the superstructure and that's private! So I opted to build a little room to go behind the door. Some plasticard and some parts from a donor 1/32 Mig29 (I say donor, the Fulcrum didn't agree to any of it). and lo and room is formed. It was impossible to create a screen likeness due to space constraints, but it's enough to fill in the space. Once in place, it stops peering. However, there was a problem. Once I started scratch-building I kinda got a liking to it and this is where the out-of-the-box idea went out-of-the-window. Now I could chronicle those changes with pictures, but I think you've suffered enough pictures already. Instead I'll post the before and after pics and then explain the bits you can't see. (It's got computers in it. It's exciting). So before. and after While I was at it, because if you're going to do something, you might as well do something that's actually beyond your skill level/experience I added lighting, fibre optics and programmed three Arduinos to run three separate systems. Two running Neopixels and one running multiple LEDS. o.O Having never used an Arduino before, the learning slope required a carabiner and a sturdy rope. I spent at least a week trying to write code in a language I barely understood to make Neopixels do things only I required them to do. (Specifically flash specific colours at different intervals. whilst others remained static). I needed the flashing for the nav console in the hold and then the cockpit back wall. I'd seen a number of people who had added fibre to the consoles, but all their flashing leds flashed in sync and it just didn't look right. It looked a bit festive if you know what I mean. This is one of the Arduinos running a scratch-built fibre box for the cockpit. Which is connected to this The piece behind the cockpit wall hold the kit-supplied back-light that illuminates that back wall. Thus.. Minus the fibre lights, because I can't upload a fancy video. Enough electronics! Back to modelling. I made start at painting some of the add on details. Base coat and panel wash, pre-cleanup. I also started on the landing gear. Again, I planned on keeping it standard but hey. Once you start modding... The kit didn't come with landing gear doors, so I spent a good couple of hours cutting plasticard, cutting my finger, cutting more plasticard, wiping blood off plasticard until finally I had something that was passable at most. Then my stupid brain piped up with "Hey, you know you've got a 3D printer right? -and you're a 3D modeller for a living?" Cheers brain. You tell me that now when I'm at the end and only have half a finger left. Sooo another hour or so later, after modelling some doors in 3D... and a few more hours of 3D printing... and an hour of weathering... and the top string of a bass guitar... Then it was a case of installing them press-fit so she could stand on her own seven feet for the first time. I was a good day. Once all that was done, there was no more putting off the bit I was dreading the most. Painting. The reason I struggle with painting is a) I'm colourblind and b) I'm shi -not very good. Oh well, It's got to be done and boy was there a lot of it. So many layers. Like Photoshop. but without an undo... I started with some airbrushed pre-shading. Then I airbrushed Vallejo Aged White,(Acryllics.....Dry on the nozzle much?) Then the panel shades. Then the panel wash, for which I used oil paints thinned with odourless turps. Finally damage and light airbrush work. and relax. All this took a couple of weekends and all I was thinking was "You've got to do the top next and it has to be BETTER because that's the bit people will see". I swear I was obsessing over bits on the lower hull that literally no one will ever lay eyes on. To give myself a break from hull work, I started on the engine greebles. This was a mix of Acrylic base, enamel washes, oil paint streaking and rust and weathering powder dirt. I couldn't put it off any longer and made a start on the top hull. Pre-shading first. Base coat. Panel colours. Panel wash and streaking. Almost there. I just had to work out where all the electronics were going to live before screwing the top on permanently. I mean, they sort of fit right? I'd also added red marker lights to the docking rings. The build was coming to an end. All that was needed was the final buttoning up of the two halves of hull, adding the sidewalls, cockpit and engine diffuser, Just as I could see the finish line and after I thought all the potential disasters were behind me, I glued my right hand together, glued my other hand to the Falcon, dropped a 500ml container of dirty paint water on the carpet and realised that my fancy LED marker light actually fouled the frame and wouldn't fit. I honestly rage quit three times that day. Thankfully, I got back on the horse and pushed through to the end. Now the bit that you've all been waiting for (look at me, pretending people are reading this) and the bit that most people are going to fast-forward to. I present the Deagostini Millenium Falcon. Built by and swore at by Daniel Cook. and because why not? Thank you for joining me on my journey, I hope you marginally enjoyed the ride. Dan

OK, here we are. Two years ago I started collecting the Diagostini part-work build of the iconic Millennium Falcon. Having initially been sceptical that it was nought but a cheap cash-in on the upcoming (at the time) Force Awakens. However, after doing a little research it became apparent that this model was in fact a replica of the filming miniature used for the Empire Strikes Back and furthermore, Steve Dymszo (the guy behind the very rare Master Replicas version of the same model, that fetches upwards of £4000 if one every comes up for sale) was providing technical assistance with the whole thing. That was the gold seal for me and I promptly subscribed. I had intended to build it as the monthly parcels arrived, but soon tired of only being able to go so far before having to wait another 4 weeks. So I opted to wait, a long agonising two years. When the final parcel arrived I had to spend a good few hours sorting through each magazine, putting them in order (and making sure I did in fact have every one. I did) and then de-bagging all the parts bags and putting them in some semblance of order. This is how it looked. Daunting. Just going to quickly post this to see if my image linking worked and if it did, I shall continue tomorrow. Frooby

Hi all. Necroing this thread after two and a bit years because I've spent the last three months building the Falcon and I'll be posting pics shortly. (I know no one remembers this...) Frooby

Final update for a bit, while I wait for the next delivery. Last step for the moment, cutting back the powders. Right, that's all for now. See you for the next installment. Peace.

Hiya. Yeah, I'm being mindful of matching it all up. This one is more of a test piece as I have a duplicate now. Having never used powders before, I wanted to give them a go without risking ruining the main model. As for lighting, it already comes with a backlighting setup for the cockpit, which I was planning on supplementing with some blue and red LEDs powering some FO. You can get small flasher boards that will give them different flash frequencies. I think it will look much better as you say. Thanks

Greetings. Thanks for all the amusing posts. Had a good chuckle. So, meanwhile in space above Tatooine. Or rather, on my workbench in Hull. Which, doesn't sound quite as exciting. Some weathering. Initial "pin" washes with a mix of oil paints. Run into all the cracks and crevices and then rubbed back when dry. At this stage, it's all still wet and nasty looking. While that was drying, I primered up the cast metal Quad-Cannons. Nasty looking cast line there. Have to get my nail files out, I mean man files. So after waiting the requisite twenty-four hours for the oils to go off and the primer to cure, it was time to add some weathering powders. Smoke on the quads Rust and dirt to the armour plating. I haven't touched it with the airbrush yet, so that will be the next stage. Thanks for reading. Peace.

Well, rather than wait for the subscription parts to arrive, I succumed to the quick, more seductive method of buying the first edition from an actual shop. I know right, too eager. Yoda would be grumpy. But hey, I'm not trying to curry Yoda's favour. It's that Hutt I need to sweeten. Hey, even I get boarded sometimes... It has the added benefit of giving me something to practice weathering on and working with cast metal, which is new to me. The magazine that was included, though derided by some on some of the more focused Falcon forums (for focused read "high level nerdyness", up to level 6* sometimes). -is actually pretty nice. Some great detail shots of the turret pits, which will come in handy should I have to scratch build them. (Please don't make me scratch build them. Please don't make me scratch build them). The mag also covers some details about Tatooine and some of the townships. Which went some way towards finally convincing my sceptical girlfriend that all of the events in Star Wars are real. How could it not be? They have a map of Tatooine, look, there's Mos Eisley. You will never find a more wretched hive... Anyway, I've rambled. The magazine though, is just fluff, an aperitif, if you will, before the main course, the main reason I've come straight home and headed to the build room. The little bits of recognisable FALCON! (If you've seen the Lego movie, then SPACESHIP!) But wait, before we get to that, we have to mention the second awesome addition. A 1:1 blueprint of the model. Oh my, it looks nice on the bench. Daunting but nice. Larger than I can actually visualise displayed anywhere in my house and still have a girlfriend, but nice. It's blue, it's printed, it has to be a blueprint! On to the sexy stuff. What you get. This has little cut outs so it can be back-lit for unimaginable awesomeness. Mmmm, quad-cannons. Sorry, just having a moment. So this build thread consists entirely of building the quads and not documenting that act in any way whatsoever. I need to re-read what the rules for a build-thread are, because so far, this is a built thread... I may mess with some weathering oils at the weekend. I'll post the results is they look awesome. If they don't I'll edit this post to not reflect any of what I just said. You won't know the difference, I'll just wave my hand in a mystical and knowing way and you'll let me, the kid and these droids on our way... Oh and X-WING! Bonus! Peace. * Level 6 is an arbitrary number that I made up. There is no such thing as a level 6 nerd. It only goes up to level 5, as you all know.

As far as I know it's 1:43 scale. That X-Wing cutaway is a thing of beauty. I was looking at it recently on Amazon. But that £500 price tag made me wince a little. Those Master Replicas Falcons fetch big money now don't they. Only 2000 ever made I think. This new Falcon has the potential to be even better, with the added interior details modelled. I have no idea where it will be displayed either. But I plan to recreate the Bespin landing platform, replete with flood lights. It's going to be an exciting build, that's for sure.

Let me set the table. I was seven years old when Star Wars hit the cinema. Seven. Scientists have long known that the perfect age to see a sci-fi space opera is seven. I can attest to that. Star Wars changed my world. It changed my dreams, my playtime at school, my play time at home, who I wanted to be when I grew up and what I wanted to fly. The last two obviously being Han Solo and the Millenium Falcon. From 77 to 80, Star Wars was all I knew, then, everything changed again, because the Empire Struck Back. Which to this day, for me, is the greatest film of all time. I still get a shiver down my spine when Vader tells Luke what happened to his father! Then The Jedi Returned (ok, we had to stomach Ewoks in that one, but I'd still rather have Ewoks than Jar Jar (very rude word) Binks. Then Star Wars was supposed to fade away, consigned to childhood memories as I grew from boy to man. Only it didn't fade. It slept, it waited. Suddenly, in my 20's, I had spare income and free time and as well as starting my fledgling model railway building, I discovered scale model kits of the Star Wars ships. So I made them all. From the AT-ST (Scout Walker) to the Star Destroyer. and I bloody loved it. Fast forward another 20 years. New Star Wars films on the way. New additions to the collection, some 8" Kotobukiya figurines, a nice new half a metre X-Wing and a few assorted bits. And then I hit insanity. I see that DeAgostini are making a 1:1 replica of the studio model of the Millenium Falcon. Empire Strikes Back variant. It comes in at 800mm long, features lighting, movable stuff, resin casts, metal casts and even comes pre painted. All sounds good so far right? Well, it takes two years to build at a cost of over £900. You would have to be insane to do that right? Well then there's a good chance that I'm insane, because I've only gone and subscribed to it and I've never been happier. The reason I bring it up here, is because I not only plan to make a build thread on this very forum (In Wheeltappers, obviously) but I'm also going to 3D scan all the pieces at work and I'm going to create a virtual 3d model of it too. Thought some people might find it interesting. May the force be with you. http://www.buildmillenniumfalcon.com/#issues

Some greats models there. The superb aircraft of M Graf prompted me to share a couple of my hobbies. My expoits in the realms of fixed and rotary winged craft. Hope I haven't posted these before and for those easily offended, don't click my other vids. Enjoy.

He's good, but I bet he can't put a Rowntrees Fruit Pastel in his mouth without chewing it..

Both vids are close to my own heart. Stunning. Thanks for sharing.

As nice as nostalgia is. I really don't see the old ways as being something that should be missed/coveted. I'm only alive today through sheer luck and at any number of points in my life, it could have gone either way. I was a BMX rider as were my friends and they would knock themselves unconcious a lot because we didn't have helmets or pads. Motorcyclist were killed regularly due to not having to wear helmets, people were flung out of cars due to not having to wear seat belts. Girls at my school were grabbed by "wrong-uns" on more than one occasion. One of my teachers was caught having a relationship with one of the girls from my year. Kids were born addicted to nicotine and poorly because the mother had been drinking gin all the way through. I for one would rather live today, it's a safe place, where I know my loved ones have got a better chance for survial. Sorry, just my view and people are entitled to theirs too.

Stormtrooper "So, how come you're waiting for a train with us?" Scout trooper "Flipping Ewoks nicked my bike again." Stormtrooper "I hate Ewoks." Scout Trooper "So so does every person in the galaxy." Stormtrooper "Worse than Jar Jar?" Scout Trooper "I would say on a par with Jar Jar..."

Great clip. Must....resist....temptation...to link to... my R1.....video... Unsure of the statute of limitations on road traffic stuff.