Bluebell Model Railway

That's a bit disappointing I saw this on the photo and looked a bit unfinished not something I would be expecting from a high end model... Surely there is a way around the complex shape having seen various livery applications at factors... I am starting to have concerns...

As I said on the other topic.. Still work to do nice model looks elegant like the prototype. Running plate colour is off... Too red, also like to see more of the polished brass work on body itself as this is a key feature on this locomotive. Not bad but plenty to improve upon.

@John Tomlinson These are just bog standard Bachmann Bulleids... I haven't done anything to them.. OK apart from new bogies on some and the new NEM pockets I make. However the later releases from Bachmann featured a darker green for some odd reason... The lighter were older releases which were a lighter shade.

Thanks to Andy for the more official photos of the model. I've ordered the SECR version so most interested in that particular model... For me there's a few things I'm sure will be resolved and fixed in a future sample.. Things that stand out the darker red on the running plate / chassis is too red looks more brown in natural light... Some lining missing along the saddle and top of the frames.. The brass work is very dull Matt which is a shame hopefully can brighten that up a bit... Thr letters look yellow rather than gold spacing doesn't look quite right either... But certainly not bad for a 1st decorated sample. And yes the southern version is a bit pea green rather than olive green.

That will certainly add up to being rather expensive... I'll pass.

Good to see the bulleid carriages are on to tooling... Sadly a bit out my budget range.. So will be upgrading older versions.. I noticed a few are fitting Kadees as have I with an NEM pocket converter... Got it down to a 20 minute job.. OK not a coupling cam but its a simple job opening other coupling options.

This is looking promising... Like the look of it have one on order... Fingers crossed it can be produced to a great standard.

Yes I have a saturn it's a good printer certainly a step forward however I know of course others will soon be doing the same Anycubic is also now doing one which looks promising, lower price point.. Believe the saturn will be £599 when it gets to Amazon in November. However as I said else where... Screens are not cheap $250 and also non standard FEP sheets for the Vat is going to cost... So in reality best getting a few more Mars printers. I just got off the phone to a member of the IWSR, discussing various things, believe most of the events will be cancelled however this depends on government advise... So it changes weekly... But I imagine if they do it will limited on numbers... Think they can get away with steam days they aren't particularly busy.. The shapeways issue of layer lines are still there which is why I'm moving away from Shapeways as the costs are rising, meaning to stay competitive I have very little margin to work with in terms of profits... $40 over 4 - 5 months... Where I'm hitting 4 figures per month £60 resin costs... So no competition really... At the moment I'm not using shapeways at all only for large carriage chassis... Which in that material there isn't too many issues. Cheers Matt

As long as the idiots control themselves and we don't have another lock down... Hopefully yes... First trains will run on the 12th July, booking only via the website. So hopefully if things remain stable then should be running in October. Yes I expect hotels will be limited on capacity, I know there was a fair few issues last year one of the organisers Tim wasn't happy but apparently he does that every year... So who knows problem is I expect will be getting everyone to wear a mask... In September it's my hope to make body shells available when the bigger printer arrives, which is a fair bit quicker.. The SER shells took 36 hours to print.. And I have an Oldbury printing now been on 12 hours is at 50% so not really quick. Enough to produce body shells at numbers that is needed but hopefully in September I'll be in a position to do so. Cheers Matt

Hi Ray, I spoke to branchlines before I started designing this as they don't do one of these... They do a Saloon as you say but different to this one... Finding any drawings for 172 was challenging... I thought I had found a kit on a well known auction site but again that was different but similar to this.. So only one option which was to design my own. This particular carriage is awaiting restoration and was a bungalow I think from memory... Yes I'll be popping over to Havenstreet today... Should be open again on the 12th July they are probably better set up for the new way of life compared to some railways... Yes beer and buses and various events being cancelled will certainly hurt this year, pubs and railways although was talk of last year being the last then changed their minds again... Mainly due to complaints mainly due to misbehaving. Yes it's sad with no exhibitions I was invited to a couple this year with various bits and pieces which would of helped with a bit of advertising but sadly shall have to do it online instead. Hopefully some normality next year? Thanks for the kind words Cheers Matt

Saturn is 25% quicker, its bigger, z not so much, its faster due to its Monochrome LCD, however there is a cost associated with this LCD as they are not as common, $250 for a new one if it gets damaged however they are longer lasting, compared to the mars £25. Also due to its size FEP liner film supply is also costly as its not a standard size. Overall the beta test units seem good, hit Amazon in November, possibly around £599 those who pre ordered will get theirs in August, and September.

Another carriage body designed a few months ago, SER - South Eastern Railway Family/First Saloon 172, Not many measurements or drawings available for this particular carriage so working from photo's of what's left and some helpful measurements and pointers by Bluebell C&W team I managed to create a CAD model. This was printed on a development printer which isn't exactly fast taking 36 hours to print. I designed 2 shells an earlier and a later version where the side windows moved to the back of the carriage. Early version 1) Later version 2)

Interesting thread, I have had Elegoo Mars since November 2018, was one of the first ones to get one, mainly for feedback and some development notes and to be fair it hasn't missed a beat, over 2,000 prints and not 1 failure. Have a couple of others including a development Saturn, which looks to be good printer 3 times the size, Z axis a little disappointing and thought the z rails could be improved as it's not as robust as another printer I own. Hopefully improved the Z calibration also. Saturn maybe 4k but actually is slightly lower resolution than the Mars but it's only small. But looks promising I expect mono lcds are the next generation Anycubic announced one a week later about the same size.. details a bit limited at present.

Thanks Les I will touch base with them and have a look. Thank you.

I managed to pick one of the Kernow O2's from a well known auction site a little while ago, it was a pre production model, and wasn't motorised.... I have a suitable motor, but I wondered if anyone knows a suitable alternative for a worm for the motor, as there's obviously no spares.

It was a cut an shut but nothing isle of wight related as it was I think 2ft longer than what ran on the island... and not very suitable for making it in to anything iow related.

Hello, Fair dos, I will wait a bit longer on the D, of course its still very early on its development road. Of course there will be good feedback and bad... Especially if your going to make bold claims you have to back them up... I think we can all see its been developed from a 7mm version but as mentioned before... But as I stated how has the br version changed so much... From being reasonably correct to what rails have in OO.. Just surprised me.

Hi Andy, I to have 643 on order... I'll stick with it as it won't be that number for long. But yes I am concerned that a model that was supposed to be pedigree has errors not on all but some especially BR... Having just seen Miss Kirks photos confirms that the photos have been updated.. And it still has errors.. Which is a damn shame. Dapols putting together of the models when I saw the first tooling of the cab, and tanks and saw the rear of the cab was seperate did raise an eye brow especially lining up with the rest of the cab.. No payment has been taken from me but my order was very late on.. As I waited to see the final samples... Take that back.. £84 has been charged so I'm guessing terrier... It makes me question if I should carry on with my SECR D class Order...

The pages, and photo's Rails have sent out recently show the newly delivered models and they have it.... also each model that had been delivered were updated I think with extra photos. It would be odd to update a page and show pre pro models and not the production ones.

Good thing I already 3D print them then haha. Will have to check they fit this one. It's just details they missed out I don't get how... When Dapol have done it correctly on their 7mm and N gauge versions. But I agree I would of expect this to have been sorted from prototypes to production... Hopefully they can revisit it like Hornby has in some areas.

I am looking forward to receiving miy order, obviously will be a few days till they start processing orders.. But I am still surprised looking at that BR version 32661, how many areas are just not right, when there's so many photos of this particular loco... Like the coal rails, which are right on the O gauge and N gauge versions but OO I have no idea what's going on there. I thought this was supposed to be a pedigree terrier from Rails?

I too prefer the paper copy with DVD, sadly we don't have fast internet, and it never displays well on my portable device... I was slightly confused as I saw various adverts saying free dvd with this content... then I saw others saying digital content... when I purchased the mag (paper version) the description also mention extra content but wasn't clear if it did or didn't have a dvd.

Since I haven't updated this topic since 2014... its about time I did... Hornby Stepney, 655 (A1), R3780 So my next victim, being a preservation modeller, as that's all I can remember, and haven't been on this earth for to long, so I wanted to get hold of Stepney having sold off my old modified Dapol version. Of course Horn have released Stepney in it's A1 condition... which for me needs to be A1x. So a number of areas needed attention some for the brave rather than the not so confident modeller... but Im a bit daring... so what needs changing... -Smokebox flush rivet, or riveted depending on era -Smokebox door (longer straps) -Lamp irons -Remove Westinghouse pump -Splasher changed -Sandboxes -Additional pipe work -Dome moved forwards -Brake blocks -Bunker rails -Etched plates -Special extras Firstly design, as I am fortunate to have a 3D printer, I designed the parts I required like the smoke-box, bunker, and also the sandboxes, as well as smaller detail parts. So these were designed, supported and printed in black resin. I have these parts available in kits if people are interested in doing this crazy conversion. Before the cutting starts I will start with the simple bits, the ones you can unscrew and refit, luckily Hornby released a limited supply of spares, I purchased a later keeper plate with the correct brake blocks fitted to the BR version. So nice and simple... The Cab, depending what model you are making, my terrier shouldn't have a Westinghouse air pump, so needs to be removed. Some acetone to soften the glue and it came off. Some excess glue was around to 2 holes this required flatting back, and the holes filling with 2mm plastic rod, and again flatted back to be flush with the surface. If you have the improved engine green, the paint colour isn't quite correct it's too yellow and now paint matched it. Taking the Cab to B&Q they could scan the colour, and reproduce it for £2. This matched perfectly! While working on the cab, the bunker rails were added small amount of fettling, and a small amount of super glue. Detail parts are removed from the body shell, saving parts from the smoke-box like lubrication pots on the front for reuse later. The handrails are carefully removed and stored, and the cab comes off quite easily. The smoke box, this is the scary bit for any modeller, and must be done carefully, remove the chimney you may need a small amount of acetone to soften the glue, removing the box I would advise leaving margin with the rest of the plastic to be filed off. For mine I did use a disc cutter on a dremel, however I would advise a very fine razor saw. Remove the spasher / sandbox separately to clean up and remove the sandbox part. The splashers are filed down to create the half moon shaped splasher, you will need a small amount of plasticard with a thickness of 0.5mm (20 thou) this is slightly curved to match the splasher, and glued in place, some filler is used and lightly sanded back, the top will be painted black. The smoke-box is assembled with door in place, and detail from the smoke-box, handrails, lamp iron, and oil pots, and a new turned brass dart are fitted to the model, and checked for fit, and also offered up to the boiler barrel. The boiler, again depending on your skill level or depending on your prototype you can opt out of this part if you're not feeling brave... For preservation version the dome was in the wrong place, so it needed to be moved approx 3mm forwards. Using a pencil I marked where I was going to cut. I used a sharp craft knife to cut along the marks, this went quite well... I removed around 3mm more forward of the dome, and replaced it with a piece of plasticard behind the dome. I chose to leave the safety valves in place in case I damaged them when trying to remove them. The area was levelled using filled, and very fine wet and dry sand paper, and using the B&Q paint finished off. Moving the dome forward means extra room for the additional boiler fittings. Using 0.7mm copper wire, and O gauge handrail knobs, which would create the valves on top of the boiler. I marked out the position according to photo's, worth noting terrier's had various positions of these fittings, especially on the IOW versions, so make sure and check. The 2 closest the dome are 13mm from the front of the cab. With the other 1 being 11.5mm. The handrail knobs require drilling from the side to fit 0.45mm brass wire these will locate in to the empty holes on the front of the cab. The copper wire is shaped as per a photograph and a small hole (0.75mm) drilled in the running plate for the wire to locate. The brass parts where cleaned, then chemically blackened. The smoke-box and top of the splashers are painted in black this covers over the modifications to the spasher and hides the print lines on the smoke-box and the door. Details, these are optional depending on what terrier you are converting. Mine requires the extended lamp irons on the front and rear. These are available from RT models and require bending in to shape and light soldering. A small hole is required to fix them in place. When soldered you can chemically blacken them and paint them, and glue them in place with a glue of your choice, I used some araldite. The last main pipe, This runs from the cab, to the smoke-box, made from 0.8mm brass, I have also added a 0.8mm washer where the pipe joins the smoke-box, the hole for this is indented on the smoke-box. The brass rod needs to be shaped, and checked along the way, the cab on Hornby's model has various holes for additional detail. Once shaped, you can chemically blacken the brass then paint. Adding the new sandboxes, they are fitted to the underside of the running plate, I've painted the blood red as it seems to match the running plate sides. The pipe work 0.5mm brass wire, bent to shape using photos as a reference. Re-assembly, now back on the way to going back together, etched plates from EB models arrived required painting, if you're unsure how to paint etched plates view my video. Add these to the bucker sides over the number if yours is LBSCR improved engine green. I attach these with varnish not glue. Chimney Optional, To do all this work I opted to splash out, and go for a 3D printed in metal chimney cap, be warned it is not cheap costing £16-20 at the time of writing, simply order from Shapeways, await delivery, first step to remove the painted cap this is done with a cutting disc or razor saw, this leaves an opening, Evergreen plastic tube 2.5mm inserted in to Chimney which centres the cap. small amount of super glue fixes this in place. Re-fit the chimney with superglue in to the recess. The finished article..... More images on FlickR here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmG676VN

Have seen people posting about this for a while... Here and Facebook... Can always hope... A better motor would be nice... Spares would be nicer but one can dream. Guess it depends on what else they are working on and is their demand..

You asked @LB&SCR 337? hehe I'm not entirely surprised they didn't, there's lots of little variations on the preserved models... same with the Isle of Wight ones... why no preservation ones well that's because of different boiler fittings being in different places compared to their toolings, Sadly the 7mm version of Fenchurch isn't as preserved it's in it's original A1 condition rather than a bit of A1 and A1X preserved condition.