BG John

An Arduino should work. They can handle up to six servos. You can get them for a few quid. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arduino-UNO-R3-ATMEGA328-CH340G-Development-board-Microcontroller-w-Data-Cable/253240204926

Probably due the novelty of a day without rain in West Wales!

It appears there are now 365 1st Aprils in every year!

That's what I understood. So the slicer would have to be set up for the specific printer. Other consumer goods, like washing machines, don't seem so complicated! I got PyCAM working thanks, but it's not quite right yet. I'll respond when I know what to say next!

Haytor Granite Tramway. I may have something older, but can't think of anything at the moment. Next, another line that doesn't/didn't use conventional rails.

Is there any difference in the way you control analogue and digital? They may perform differently, but if you replace one with the other without changing the software that controls it, will both produce the same end result? I think that's the important question.

I see it's in pre 1904 livery, except for the white painted handrails, that are some futuristic idea. If Didcot can't get it right, there's no hope for Oxford!!

Will trains have to stop in the middle of the channel for customs inspection, when we let Europe go floating off on its own?

I think I'll be downloading 3rd party files for upgrading my printer (not an Aldi one)! I'll also download some that I can mess around with to suit my needs. But most of what I produce will come out of some combination of Inkscape and OpenSCAM, with maybe FreeCAD as well if I need to get into it. But then there's not much "ordinary" or "normal" about me . I'm just curious to know what market they're aimed at. Maybe there will be lots on eBay after Christmas, when people find out what's involved!

As a consumer item sold by a supermarket, surely you should be able to plug in an SD card, and a perfectly finished print pops out instantly! They do it on Star Trek (but without the SD card!) .

I'm curious to know how "ordinary" users are expected to use them. There are many many thousands of designs for just about everything imaginable available to download, scattered all over the web. They almost all come as STL files, that need running through a slicer program to prepare for printing. Are "ordinary" users expected to handle this bit themselves, or is it somehow built into the Aldi machines, so the STL file can be copied to an SD card, plugged into the printer, and every print comes out perfectly? The more I read up on 3D printing, the more I see it as a process that needs a lot of skill, patience, and a fair bit of failure and frustration. Not what modern consumers expect from the stuff they buy. And that's before considering the more skilled level that Aldi say is needed for using the USB connection. The world of 3D CAD, slicers, printer control software etc., isn't for the faint hearted! I know I'm complicating things by trying to get software together that I can use for my Silhouette Portrait, CNC milling machine and a 3D printer (as I'm a masochist ), but none of it is that straightforward. Or do kids learn all this stuff at school, so they can teach the rest of the family? I'm not sure they're much use for railway modelling unless you can get your head round all this stuff.

The currently released AA1 is the fully planked version, which is how they were built. The sheeted ones haven't appeared yet. So what we're currently looking at is the vans from when they were built until they started to be sheeted. The fully planked version isn't a model for the grouping or nationalisation era. They're coming later. To be correct, they need the original, or early years, features and liveries. Anything else is wrong, and anyone looking to buy them for a later period is looking at the wrong version, and needs to wait until Oxford release them. Why this early version has 16" GW lettering, and wrong physical features, like ends that are nothing like how they were built, ought to be the current discussion, otherwise it causes confusion. If we get all that out of the way before the other versions are released it will save a lot of confusion. No doubt I'll be going over all the same ground when my fully planked AA3s land in my letterbox, with excruciating detail of faults that aren't necessarily relevant to post WW1 modellers, but are very relevant for the first couple of decades of their lives .

It's not difficult when we wander off topic and turn it into a general 3D printer discussion .

You build your Moreburton, and I'll build my broad gauge Ashampstead .

I'm tempted to add Ashampstead to my growing to-do list. Mixing Ashburton and Moretonhampstead seems more practical!

Obviously not! Oh well, more bad language and tearing out of hair trying to work it out for myself then .

How am I supposed to do that when I'm not buying one? The Aldi is for RTR/RTP modellers. "Real" modellers build them from kits, and hope to do a bit of kitbashing to it .

If you really need to save space, you could cut the layout off at the end of the trainshed, and hide a traverser under it, like I'm doing on my broad gauge layout. You might not like the idea, but it would save quite a bit of length, and might be a better compromise than losing something elsewhere.

Apart from not having a brake van on goods trains, what's the alternative if you model the period this van covers (or can be adapted/corrected to cover)?

There are analog and digital versions of the SG-90 http://www.towerpro.com.tw/product-category/servos-parts/micro-servo/ . As there are also loads of fakes, I bet most of them are analog though. I don't know if it does make a difference, but thought it might. Where are the experts?

I've got Repetier installed and working now. It includes Cura, Slic3r and Slic3r Prusa Edition. Presumably Repetier will work with the Aldi printer as I think it's Prusa i3 based.

Thanks. That's very useful. It does look easier than later photos suggest. I suppose the panelled window/door needs to open, and an arm appear to attach, or remove, the lamp, when the van changes direction! I suppose you don't have any other photos of what became AA3s from when they first appeared, until about 1905, or AA1s as built, do you? Next comment! The early drawings I've seen seem to show two rain strips on each side of the roof, but I can't see any on the side view of No 56975 that Oxford originally used for advertising this model (with cast plates which is what got me so excited!). there are none on the model. So did the guard get his head wet when he poked it out of the side of the veranda?

I haven't managed to get my head round installing Repetier-Host yet, so haven't got Slic3r available to try. There are times when Windows is easier than Linux, not many, but this is one of them! I don't know if this is relevant to the Aldi printer though .

Are they analog or digital? Hobby King seem to have both with a similar model number, 15718 and 15718B. I was trying to make sense of the difference, and I think the digital ones need more power, but I'm not sure if they need to be controlled differently. If there is a different, does the Peco switch handle digital servos, if that's what you've got?

I suppose the Oxford CAD image they published early on should have set off alarm bells! http://oxfordrail.com/76/picture_library/OR76TOA003.JPG