maridunian

I bought some Continental 4-wheeled 40' container flats from eBay to explore and experiment with. Although not commonplace in the UK, wagons of this type do operate specific services, such as Ford's "Channel Tunnel Express" (often called the "Blue Train"), whose 4' 8.5" wheelsets are swapped for 5' 3" sets when travelling into Spain. Leasing company STS also offered some 4-wheeled flats. The wagons were a couple of old Berliner Bahn container/stake cars (Eurocontainer & CTI) and a modern Tillig Container Carrier Lgs with a 20' Hapag-Lloyd Container. I bought the old wagons from a UK seller; the new Tillig came from ds-automodelle, and cost £16.27 with P&P £6.80. I upcycled the old containers, removing the old logos on a sheet of 1200 grit emery used wet, and respraying with rattlecan enamels. Transfers were a mixture of C-Rail Intermodal (2mm) and TL-Decals (1:120). The wagons look fine together: ... and the couplings engage: The old wagons are a single plastic moulding, apart from couplings and wheetsets. The new wagon has a plastic chassis and a diecast platform and solebars, which gives the wagon greater weight and rigidity than its predecessors. Only the diecast part is painted, which is disappointing. It also features Kinematic (NEM) coupling units and metal axle holders: I'll detail and weather old and new; at least one of the older ones will become a Transfesa/Ford example with the addition of siderails (connected with wheelset swapping, I believe) and side skirts. The other - well, although 40' container flats are rare in the UK, 30' examples were more common, using basically the same chassis as VBA (etc) vans, and many other wagons rebuilt on ex-van chasses. They measured 33' 6"over headstocks and had a wheelbase of 20' 9". By removing 13mm from the centre of an old 40' flat and 2mm from each end, I reckon you will get a chassis to suit a wide selection of UK wagons. If you're unhappy with the solebars, file/sand these down and add 10thou plasticard fascias cut to suit. Please do check my calculations before you get your own razor saws out though! So what was borrowed? Well, my 12mm (Tri-ang) track was originally laid for 3mm models! Mike

For something cheap enough to hack about, Zeuke/Berliner Bahn (the predecessors of Tillig) locos pop up on eBay and European dealers from time-to-time. Here's their historical range of steam engines. Mike

Certainly looks the part. VGA overall height is 3874mm (12' 8"). A Western's overall height is 3960mm (12' 11.75"). Does the model's central roof section come off? Between sanding away the roof ribbing and thinning the central roof section, you might be able to lose 1-2mm of height. Mike

What's the axle length of those wheelsets and the distance between the W-Irons? Fine Detail Plastic will bend a little, especially if warmed in water (below 70°C) first. Even so, if the W-Iron gap is more than a millimetre narrower than the axle, you should file grooves to lead the pinpoints into the axle boxes. Plastic axles in plastic axle boxes are likely to bind, so metal axles are preferable. Mike

I'll continue the Groundhog Day theme by mentioning this list again, where 45 UK outline TT:120 Shapeways prints can now be found. 😀 Mike

I'm sure there are plenty of Post-1957-quality-starved 12mm layouts that, with minimal scenic mods, are pretty much good to go... Mike

Seems quite similar to some of the Associated Octel wagons - https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/paulbartlettsrailwaywagonphotographs/h33f06928 Tank looks smaller, but it might just be that it's mounted on a larger wagon! Mike

Three variants are already available from Shapeways. I've skimmed through looking for TT:120 UK outline/Plausible European visitors and begun a list: https://www.shapeways.com/designer/maridunian/lists/uk-tt120 Like myself, I'm sure most existing designers of 3mm models will also be open to rescales, so hopefully the list can grow fairly quickly. Mike

A Shapeways print is also available: https://www.shapeways.com/product/DHQ36LEAZ/claas66-scalett-1-120 Mike

Interesting comments. The references to the early days of UK N Gauge (championed by Peco) struck a chord with me. In the early days there was very little British stock, so improvisation, conversion, scratch or kit building made it a maker's paradise. Obviously, most people didn't get beyond the early RTR from Minitrix and Farish, but I enjoyed slowly building (literally) a diverse collection of stock, most of which I still run. I dont think we should see this TT120 development as needing to be a clone of the current OO/N mass markets to succeed. For the foreseeable future it's going to be a niche for makers and/or improvisers (like 009,P4,EM, HOe etc). Mention has also been made of 3D printing, which I adopted a few years ago to produce better N Gauge models of non-commercially viable subjects than I could make with brass or plasticard. More recently, some TT3 modellers requested rescales of some of these designs and I added a few 'missing' models too. I've played about with a handful of my designs to try out TT120 and you can see the results in my Shapeways shop (https://www.shapeways.com/shops/maridunian-models). Mike

That's the Triang tank secured now with steel ropes (three twisted strands of multicore wire) and bracing stays (0.33mm handrail wire). Left, one of my anchor-mounted tanks, each mounted on my 17'6"x10' chassis. Mike

Sure, it's - https://www.shapeways.com/shops/maridunian-models Mike

Just completed a couple of models using my 3D printed 10'WB chasses. Left, a Triang tank and fittings, right, my anchor mount tanker kit. The Triang tank will get bracing rods and steel ropes once the varnish is on.

With the drier weather, a chance to apply matt varnish without getting white 'blooms' of water vapour locked in. That's the Hudswell just about done now, just need to be brave enough to pierce the buffer beams for couplings. Mike

So here's the Nasmyth Wilson 0-8-0 more-or-less finished. I'll be painting the chassis and wheels to complete, then adding some couplings. Mike

Thank you Ian. An even easier conversion would be a North British 0-6-0DH like the example below. Similarly thicken the footplate, file out windows, add deeper buffer beams and reposition the buffers. Fill/file radiator and ventilation grills to taste. The jackshaft was at the cab end, but that could be omitted and shrouds fitted if shuffling wheelsets were found to be too tricky. Mike this example

Thanks Ian I should have given more detail throughout, but was unsure of the interest here. Apologies. The V36 has axle, axle, jackshaft, axle: NB No pin nor coupling rod hole for wheelset 2. Pins are push fit into soft plastic wheel inserts. With the bottom plate removed (two small bolts into captive brass nuts) we see this rearrangement for mine (cab at left): With coupling pins out, the non-geared jackshaft is lifted out and swapped for the forward wheelset. That's it really. I added a 40thou plastic card footplate, which raises the overall height, but also allows proper height buffers. (I think at least one of the Middleton HCs has buffer beams that rise above the footplate?). A 20thou cab back sheet allowed portholes to be drilled. The original roof was severely filed down to a better profile, then covered in 10thou plasticard. Windows filed out to suit. Bonnet filed rounder (not really enough) at top and shortened 5mm at front. This meant forfeiting a ballast weight, which I accepted. I had originally thought I'd make an 0-6-0 model with no jackshaft, so cut an additional axle slot just forward of the existing second wheel set, but changed my mind. All this all has been an exploration for me. These continental models have been around a long time and if they were simple to re-use in TT3, they obviously would have been. You'll see from my online shop that industrial railways and freight are my interests so a new body-swap project in a new scale has been fascinating. Mike

Here we are, my more or less finished, pseudo Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0DM. Couplings, larger buffer heads and matt varnish still to be added. Mike

Just thought I'd report that my 3mm 3D printed Nasmyth is approaching completion: I've made the print available from Shapeways. Mike

I'm in the process of converting a V36 into a small UK-ish 0-4-0 - see the "On your, 3mm Workbench" thread. I've also produced a 3D printed body-shell of a Nasmyth Wilson 0-8-0 industrial shunter which fits the Berliner Bahn/Zeuke DR92/BR81 chassis. https://www.shapeways.com/product/2LF5D9NGJ/tt-3mm-nasmyth-wilson-0-8-0t My examples were bought from eBay with minor body damage but both locos run well. Mike

Another coat of primer applied - different brand with a satin finish... That's smooth enough for me! Mike

Hi - yes, as Robert says, these are the ladders included in the print. They can be filed or sanded a little thinner, but with obvious consequences for strength. I offer replacements in Versatile Plastic (Nylon) which will need a few coats of primer and rubbing down (400 Grit), but it's tough enough for layout models that might collide with something Mazak-chassis'd. Mike

Here's the first coat of primer applied. The layering produced by the printing process is most pronounced on the side tanks. I've started to remove primer from the ridges, stroking across the surface with a scalpel blade. You could sand (800 grit), but retaining a flat surface is tricky. After a few minutes gentle scraping you can see we're getting towards a smooth surface. Once I've checked over the whole surface I'll reprime lightly, avoiding build up around fine details by masking these off. Mike

That's my Class A TTA more or less done. Markings mostly Cambridge Custom Transfers (Esso 35T Class A sheet) with generic numerals and home printed Hazchems. Mike

Meanwhile, back in the 20th century, my vaguely Hudswell Clarke-ish shunter is coming along thanks to razor saws, files, plasticard, a whitemetal chimney (!), Emery paper, etc, etc. New buffer beam facings to add next with properly spaced and sized buffers at the right height. Plus couplings... Mike