Fen End Pit

I was able to roll out one row of stones and then butt up the second row against it. There was a little bit of manual scribing to join the two rows together but it was surprising easy. Sculptamold is wonderful stuff for this kind of work, you had about 10 minutes of working time which was perfectly adequate. David

Who's wheels are you using and which quartering jig? If the answer is Alan Gibson do you get different behavior with the crankpin bosses loose and tighted? can you detect that one pin is binding when it sticks? Try wiggling each end of each rod along the boss and see which if any is stuck. Just how tight is everything? Obviously it needs to be tight but not so tight that things bind up. Your approach of making it roll as a 2-4-0 first is a good one. Good luck and don't get disheartened.. David

Nice progress, I look forward to seeing more of this. 16mm is a nice scale for scenic modelling David

I had the opportunity over the last few weeks to model up a batch of Cavan and Leitrim four wheel vans. These started out as rather odd wagons, with an external wooden frame and a central section of roof left open to be covered with a tarpaulin. Apparently they doubled up as both general goods vans and cattle wagons depending on weather it was cattle market day! As with all things C&L they were rebuilt over the years and the appearance in later years depended very strongly on who was in the workshop during the rebuild - it seems no two are the same. I've printed these at .03mm layer resolution on my Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K, print time was about 5 hours for the 3 wagons, I could have got 4 on the plate bed if I hadn't added another little project. I think this is called getting the maximum out of one print run. I've not done any clean up on these other than to remove the support structure, the bottom etches will need a bit of tidying up with a file. For reference these wagons as in 4mm scale for 3' narrow gauge and each wagon is ~ 62mm x 30mm x 32mm First up with have a van with full external framing, full length centre doors and sun roof. Next we have one with a drop down section and diagonal bracing on the centre doors. Finally we have a later rebuild with a lowered complete roof, planked centre doors and the original ventilation planks replaced. These will be delivered to the chassis workshop soon to be married with some etched chassis. This has been a fun little project and I look forward to seeing what the C&L (North Essex division) makes of them. At the same time I also drew up the back-head detail for my J17, this came out pretty well only I didn't allow enough space for the rear wheels (doh!). I think I'll probably add a few more pipe runs but I'm struggling to find any pictures of J17 back-heads. I'm very impressed with the Phrozen Aqua-Grey 4K resin, it does appear to print very nicely. David

Mary had a little lamb the doctors were astounded and everywhere that Mary went by gynecologists she was surrounded. sorry..

Very impressive, Couple of suggestions :- could the sleeper 'sprue' be made slightly thinner than the sleepers to aid cutting? Also ultimately the ability to specify key direction would be ideal so you could knock the keys in with the primary direction of travel on the line or have them alternate for single lines. Are you finding any problems with the brittleness of the resin? David

Over the last month PPD have been kept busy with a couple of projects. I've been helping my friends at Brassmasters with a potential EasiChas project. As I mentioned a couple of months back the cab windows provided for the J17 in the PDK kit I'm building didn't seem to match the GERS drawing very well. I received the replacement etches from PPD and will see how they go together over the next week or so. The second project has been considerably more complex. Following on from the Easichas for the Hornby J15 i thought I'd try to apply the same principles to the Bachmann Ivatt 2MT. This is very much a work in progress and at this point I'm still at the 'can I get these bits to fit together well enough for me to keep going with the build and find the next set of problems with the etch?' stage. So far I have made the Easichas overlay fit and got the basic drive assembled. This utilizes the original chassis block, motor and gear tower. I've spotted several mistakes, mostly in the form of 'that hole needs moving by .5mm' but nothing too catastrophic. I over compensated for the lack of clearance between coupling and connecting rod so the cylinders, which are currently too far apart, can be moved back to a more scale spacing. I was quite pleased with the way the cross head folded up and soldered together. Using a similar principle to the brakes on my J15 these etchings can be tinned, concertinaed together and soldered up before removing from outer frame. There are some minor tweaks to make but not bad for a first attempt. The replacement tender chassis etch also folded up easily. Obviously I still have to assemble the valve gear, brakes, cylinders etc but it is coming along. Wish me luck as I make my second attempt of Walschaerts valve gear. This time I have will not have the advantage of etches from Dave Bradwell or his helpful advise on the Scalefour Forum. If this doesn't fit together I have only myself to blame! David

I've not had a problem using multi-cored wire from old Cat-5 cabling with CBUS myself. It is great to move on from the CBUS test plank to actual implementation on layout where all the advantages of using a LCB actually come into their own. Well done. David

That'll be when Edinburgh is back in part of the EU. (runs for cover) David

I've been doing a number of projects over the last month. More on the etches for the 4mm J17 and also playing with the electronics for my level crossing. Meanwhile as a more practical modeling activity I've made a start on the shed which is my 16mm photo plank project. The sides of the shed were laser cut in 6mm and 3mm ply. I've deliberately made the back wall in two parts to give me some reasonable thickness for the wall. I have just sanded the outside and have the option to produce an outer shell in the event that I want to include the shed as part of a layout in future. The insides of the walls were covered in Sculptamold, a layer about 3mm thick. I've been really impressed by how Sculptamold sticks to the ply surface. After about 10 minutes of going off I rolled the surface texture with my 3D printed rolling tool. This came from the Thingiverse. I modified the original 'crazy pavement' version, doubling the diameter. This means that the stones became longer and more suitable for a stone wall. I also modified the shapes slightly adding a couple of extra lines with model filler. I turned the tool over so the pattern repeat isn't too visible, I also added some additional lines with a scribing tool while the Scupltamold was still green. Finally I used a stiff old toothbrush to add just a little more texture to the stone surface. The effect I'm after is going to be a weathered whitewash inside for the building like this at Threlkeld. The shed includes a inspection pit (which isn't full depth and will probably be covered with timber) and a wagon turn table which would allow a wagon (or loco) to be turned and moved off the running line. I had cut some ply to form the inset for the track but having seen how well the Sculptamold worked on the walls I think I may just use it on the floor. I'm thinking I want to go for a 'rustic concrete' effect - something that looks patched up and laid at different times. I'm thinking that maybe there were original pads installed for the heavy tools (power hammer, lathe etc) and then the rest of the floor was concreted later. The door lintels just had some scrap ply inserted when I added the Sculptamold, I intend to add proper lintels either of timber or maybe a modern replacement RSJ. The window lintels are just carved stone (I think I need to make these more pronounced). The windows are only a scale 5' wide which I think is narrow enough to cope with just a stone lintel. It has made a nice diversion from CAD and MERG electronics. David

try Abe books https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30582396978&searchurl=an%3Dgeoff%2Bkent%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3D4mm%2Bwagon&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title13 £13.33 David

That is coming along very nicely - and your fingers only show slight signs of damage! David

I found some of the drawings are on flickr. Hope that helps. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaytilston/3263186180 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaytilston/3263195550/in/photostream/ If you go through the whole photo-stream there are some nice detail photographs too. David

Over the last week I been able to build up the road surface around the level crossing and but in the Sculptamold between the road and river. I also 3D printed some picket fencing and the wicket gates for the crossing and fastened these in place. The overall effect doesn't look too bad. But then I looked back the the river and saw that what had initially looked like a perfect pour of Woodland scenics 'deep water' now looked horrible! I think the issue was that I poured one layer, realised I didn't have enough resin, ordered some more and pour a second layer about 2 weeks later. There appeared to be a layer of grey algae spreading between the two layers. As is there had been 'something on top of the first layer which has reacted, over time with the bottom of the second. I've decided I couldn't live with it so the whole load had to come up, fortunately without too much damage. I now have a quandary - I don't think I have enough resin left to do the job in one.. I think I'm going to need to take out a 2nd mortgage to buy another lot of resin to ensure that I can complete the job in one go. I managed to remove the bridge girders without damage and I think I can clean up the abutment enough in-situ. To add to the frustrations I have now got a bit stuck with the J20. I thought I'd attach the cab to the foot plate and made a start on etches. The cab front was missing any beading around the windows and lacked a distinctive grill for ventilation. On closer inspection it also became clear that the windows were a completely different shape to the drawings and photographs. If they had been a little too small it would have been easy but no, they are a little too tall and trying to fill the gap is a non-starter as if I solder a piece of brass in it will only fall out when I try to solder the front and sides together. The cab sides also have windows which extend 1mm too low and the holes for the handrails are too low as well. So it is a dive into CAD to draw new parts for the cab.... grrrrrrr David

Tommy and tanks - good combination. Just remember rule #1 - It's your railway - enjoy it. David

Hi Mike I put them up on the thingiverse originally. They are quite tricky to print. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3616864 David

I'd spent a fair amount of time trying to solder up a belpaire firebox and despite many attempts I really wasn't that happy with the results. So, as much as an intellectual exercise as with any practical expectation of success, I thought I'd try and model the firebox, boiler and smokebox up in CAD and try to print it. This is very much a 'work in progress' but the results are rather encouraging. The layer lines at a .03mm layer height are virtually invisible to my eye and will disappear even further under a coat of paint. I was astonished by how well the rivets around the smokebox came out and how cleanly the holes for handrail knobs have been printed. I printed the chimney and dome as separate pieces (and haven't cleaned the bottom of the dome off properly hence the poor fit). In terms of the actual model I think the smokebox door needs a slightly more pronounces curve to is and I believe I can probably add the sandboxes to the 3D print. I might just add the dome and chimney to the model rather than have them as separate pieces. I think a lot of the other issues are related to getting the printing support right, I'm wondering about modeling a support base in CAD rather than adding on in Chitubox. I was pleased enough with the results to dismantle the etched splashers on the my current footplate so I could match the 3D printed part with the etch - I think the footplate and cab are still best made from brass. Bear in mind that the holes left in the foot plate from the original splashers are over-size and I'll need to fill them to make them the same size as the 3D printed parts. When press down the gap between the 3D printed part and the footplate around the front splashers disappears. So I'm very much encouraged to keep going this route. I will solder up the cab and print the rest of the super-structure with a few tweaks and then see how it all looks. This was printed on a Phrozen Mini 4K at .03 layer height using 'The Technology Outlets' premier Low odour grey resin. Having read the latest MRJ I would like to refute the idea that this 'Dreadful 3D printing' kills craftsmanship.. It just takes a different sort of craftsmanship, just in the same way that photo-etching brass didn't kill craftsmanship when it meant we no longer had to cut everything else out by hand with a piecing saw. Please let me know what you think. David

I've been working on and off on making a level crossing for some years now. I've bounced between the electronic and purely mechanical option but finally come back to the electronics using an Ardiuno to drive a pair of stepper motors with simple micro-switches to detect the limit of travel. There is a 3D printed unit under each gate which can actually drive the gate nearly 100 degrees, this allows some over-travel in each direction to take account of the back-lash on the gates caused by there being a little bit of movement in the joiners which couple of top of the stepper motor with the bottom of the gate. I've obviously got a lot more bedding in to do and also some additional bits like the red targets on the gates and some small wicket gates. But for now it is working reliably and that is a good step forward. I've put a short video on Youtube to show it moving.

I think most people use totally over the top sizes of timber. Lots of diagonal bracing is the critical thing. David

I, like many others have been using MERG CBUS for years. This is a CAN bus system and works really well to simplify wiring on my layout. I only every have a DCC bus to the track and CAN bus to every board. Control panels just have four wires to the layout (12v power and CAN). David

I modeled up the alternative battery box which had the peaked roof rather than just a flat top. I also completed the second chassis, which had a couple of little modifications over the first version. This time I added the spring tags onto the High Level hornblocks and added supports for a length of sprung steel wire. The result is that the axles are now properly sprung. As the sprung wire connects electrically to the hornblocks and the wheels I used it to feed power up to the motor. I've also managed to finish the coupling rods on this one, fixing the crank pins in place and covering them with the 3d printed covers. This locomotive has a wheelbase of only 32mm and an overall length of 90mm. I plan to use some thin solder to make the wires from the connector into battery box and the control console. I'll reprint the chassis for the first loco and complete the pair. David

I know I said I wasn't going to make much more progress until a boat from China delivered some tiny bevel gears but I got a bit bored waiting. I decided to see if I could actually print some. Turns out you can, I'm not sure how hard wearing they will be but it is at least a prove of concept. Given that current issues with the Suez Canal (blocked by container ship which has run aground - probably the weigh of all those tiny bevel gears it was carrying!) it was probably a good idea not to wait. I put a little bit of video on Youtube . I've started the printing for another, a couple of slight modifications to the chassis only. I've put a Lenz DCC chip and Power-1 in it which actually makes the little motor quite controllable. I'm now going to work on a different design of battery box (some were fitted with a peaked roof rather than flat top) and also the headlight which was sometimes fitted on a stalk . David

I'd have to model the bottle myself, MakeHuman has various add-in objects to carry but, while they have 'sword', 'axe' and 'baseball bat' there isn't 'bottle of mild'. Do you have suitable reference material? David

Commercial 16mm scale figures tend to be a bit cartoonish and rather limited in terms of style and pose. My tiny new locomotive requires the driver to tuck his knees in to be able to fit in the tiny foot plate, in a mine he'd probably also be fairly hunched to avoid bang his head. I found myself following the same route as Mike Trice in the 3D Printed Passengers thread. Makehuman is an impressive bit of free software and is not too difficult to use. It is obviously intended mostly for the creation of 'game assets' for computer gamers and features a full range of figure and clothing options aimed at the 'sexy super hero' market. Still there are some clothing options of a more 'traditional' nature and you can create figures that won't look like extras from a Game of Thrones. There are times when some of the options, particularly those around the female form, feel 'NSFW' (Not suitable for Work) but we will pass over those... Without too much difficulty I created a fairly average looking man in fairly standard work-wear. Once created the figure is exported in a format which includes the 'rigging' which is the technical name given to the bone structure which can be moved around to pose the figure. Action now turns to Blender, another free application but this time a tool with so many options and possibilities that it is quite impenetrable at times. I had to watch a lot of Youtube tutorials to make any progress at all and still get horribly lost in the interface much of the time. However after quite a bit of swearing I was able to import an .STL file of the assembly for my narrow gauge locomotive. This would give me a reference to pose the figure around. The man was imported next and then scaled to be ~6' tall. The rigging can be seen in the screenshot as he is standing in the default pose from MakeHuman. Each of the rigs can be moved to give a suitable pose. It doesn't appear though as if the 'bones' are limited to human movement (knees can bend up for example) but after a bit of work I was able to position him seated, with legs pulled into the foot plate and his right hand on the throttle. The models have no solid form so it is perfectly possible to stick his foot through the floor. I found that the resolution of the model in blender was a bit lacking for 16mm scale so I also used the 'subdivide polygons' option in Blender to smooth the surface (basically it creates more triangles over the surface. Once happy with the pose the man was exported from Blender as another STL and loaded into Chitubox for slicing for the 3D printer. At this stage I decided he'd benefit from a hard hat so found one on the thingyverse and positioned it on his head. I printed him out and the result was pretty good. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the area at the top of his thighs were there was an unrealistic crease. I'm sure I could have fixed this in Blender but sometimes filler is so much less hassle! I'm not great at figure painting but I'm quite pleased for a first attempt. He still needs some better skin tone and facial features picking out. I will probably have a second go at the posing too, I thought I positioned his left hand to rest on his knee but I was obviously a bit off there. I'm also tempted to edit the model to add a hole though his body which would allow wires for a light on his helmet to pass down and then out through the post of the seat. It could be rather fun to give him and the locomotive separate lights, probably not much use on Fen End Pit but vital if we were to ever go underground. I hope this gives others encouragement to try modeling their own figures. David

Having worked on repairing my Lister thoughts have turned to building a new locomotive for Fen End Pit. I'd rather taken a fancy to the tiny battery electric locomotives built by the likes of Wingrove and Rogers and I thought that one of these engines might be worth trying to 3D print. A recent video in the 'Lawrie goes Loco' series on Youtube also rather drove my project along. There are some superb plans available on Flickr from J. Tilston. I purchased a number of his drawings on CD which used to be sold under the 'Industrial Narrow Gauge Illustrated' name back in the early 2000's. I tried to contact the email address a few weeks back to see if any more were ever produced but have got no reply. Does anyone know what happened to them? The drawings allowed my to produce a, hopefully reasonably accurate, 3D model of the loco broken down into parts which I thought I could print on my resin Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K. To give you some idea of the diminutive size of this little critter the 'footplate' was designed to fold up reducing the total length of the locomotive to four feet so it could be lowered down a mine shaft. The wheelbase is the same as a gauge, 32mm in my 16mm:1' scale. The wheels match the diameter of O gauge lowmac wheels. The first attempt to print all the bits took just under 3 hours and came out pretty well - the seat failed to print because I had not really got the supports right and some minor changes were made to the model to sort out the fit and clearances. I painted the battery box from this batch of printing as it came out well enough to use. I'll probably make some spares of this part and also the slightly different version with a 'peaked roof'. The main chassis is printed in a single part and includes recesses into which four 'High Level' etched hornblock guides can be installed. These were fitted after the assembly of the coupling rods and jigged using the 'rod with a taper on each end' jigs for 1/8" axles I use for Scalefour locomotive construction. I'm still undecided as to whether I'm going to need to work out a method of springing the axles or adding a compensation beam on the front axle or whether this will be unnecessary. The O Gauge lowmac wheels obviously don't have crank pins for coupling rods and are also rather skinny so I tried printing some overlays to go on the front of the wheels. These included a 1.75mm hole in the centre for the end of the axle and a hole into which an Alan Gibson crank pin bolt would self-tap. The actual front edge of the wheel overhangs the rail by quite a margin so I'm hoping I can stick the overlay in place, fill the gap between the overlay and the wheel itself and get away with it! The rods are just held in place by some wire insulation at the moment. I've 3D printed the coupling rods and bushed the holes in them with some brass tube. I suspect that in the end I might resort to getting these etched though. They are surprisingly strong in resin but I think metal would be a better choice for long term use. Ultimately the crank pin bolts will be cut short, proper crank pin nuts installed and then the crank pin covers stuck over them. These covers printed rather well given that they are only about 6mm in diameter, you can see the bolts and the grease nipple quite clearly. Again, for this test I just used a .05mm layer height, I will probably reprint at .03 for the final version. The wheels (or more accurately the overlays) were quartered by eye and the loco seems to roll along quite happily without binding. The plan for motorizing is to try an N20 type motor for the first time, I've got a pair of the '100 rpm' versions but I'm waiting on a slow boat from China for some bevel gears. The motor is intended to sit in a cradle built into the chassis and there is a cover which will (hopefully) hide the gears from Fen End Pit's sand and make the unit look more like the actual motor which was installed between the frames. (Picture below was version 1) of the frame print before some minor tweaks were added. Work on this project will probably pause now until the bevel gears arrive but I'm happy with the progress so far. I am still working on how to manage the power pick up as this locomotive will be powered from the rails as per the rest of Fen End Pit's locomotives. Fitting a DCC chip and stay-alive won't be an issue was the battery box is a very convenient space for them. I'm tempted to try and work out how to split the axles, I think I need to work out how to make some 1/8" internal diameter plastic 'muffs' to go around the axles. This would allow me to just connect some wires to the horn-guides and add some Brassmaster's shorting etches to the back of the wheels. For now, here are some pictures of the parts, loosely assembled into the shape of the completed locomotive. I will admit that I am really rather looking forward to seeing if I can actually make this run. I'm sure it will involve more work and printing - I can see the parts which don't make it being added the end of the Fen End Pit scrap siding, slowly disappearing under the undergrowth... David