Les Green

And in a moment of madness, the Lancashire Boilers inside the boiler house. These probably get the prize for the best detail that no one can see!

The boiler house painted and ready to go for weathering.

The corridor connections were designed so that we could minimise the distance between the coaches. The buffers were modified to be as as short as possible and the gap between the coach buffers was set to 3mm. On a curve of four foot radius meant the compressed connections could protrude 1mm from the buffers. Making the connections expand by 1-2mm allowed them to stay in contact at all times. They were designed on Autocad with all the correct size of Comet components included on the drawing. The above shows the connection in its compressed state with the end cover omitted. The two components, an inner piece and an outer piece were then printed. The following drawing shows the two components ready for sending to the printer. Once printed the two components were joined with a short section of B&Q draught excluder. The completed connection was then fixed to the coach end. The support arms are made from 1mm brass angle and the moving part made from a small 0.45mm diameter lace pin with a small spring glued onto the pin to keep it in place. This photo shows a test piece. It does need a bit of tidying up before it is painted, but this was effectively a proof of concept model. The final connections do look good and were worth the effort. They do stay in contact when the coaches traverse our curves. The coach connections of the outer coaches in the rake are fixed in the compressed position as our rakes do not change. Hope that helps!

A 3D printed model of the boiler house that will fit at the back of the layout. The tan coloured brickwork is brick plasticard, put there as the bricks failed to print as they were 0.1mm proud of the surface!! The model is made of 9 printed components, namely: The walls The roof The two doors The top slide for the doors The chimney The ventilator roof and ends The two ventilator sides Now for the painting.

Finally the Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train is completed. For the first time today it ran into the station hauled by Coronation Class locomotive 'City of Liverpool". The seven coach train is made up of seven Comet coach kits, Each coach has pickups so we can add lighting at a later date. The corridor connections are made up of two 3D printed components and remain in contact with the adjacent coach around any of the curves, Weathering is next as they are a bit too clean at the moment!

The wheels on the Claughton are standard Romford wheels with a brass etched boss, which was part of the DJH kit.

Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. After a delay due to fine weather cycling and five weeks in Australia the coaches are now painted. Next stage is to add windows, then think about final assembly.

Not a great deal going on with Lime Street over the summer (Summer??). Our group has been spread across the planet. Australia/Majorca/Canada/Greece. Although I did a bit of design work on a new building on a flight to Australia! We are a dedicated lot! The LNWR Claughton is now at work on the layout. Running needs to be improved as the tender derails now and again. Need to check wheel alignment. A few pictures of the Claughton. The distant shot was a trial for obtaining the best depth of field using Andy Yorks method he described in a video on RmWeb. (Thanks Andy - smoke next! )

Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. Coach bodies ready for the paint shop.

Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. Coach roofs ready for hole drilling for all the roof excrescences.

Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. The 3D prints for the coach interiors along with the curtains and blinds. The sleeper train arrives at Lime Street at about 6:30am. We assume that most of the blinds and curtains will be closed hence the empty compartments without seats or beds. I am not going to model components that are totally hidden. Call it weight saving!

Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. Seven underframes completed. Now to assemble the coach bodies.

Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. 14 bogies completed. Next will be the underframes.

The two small 3D printed hurts are now in position on either side of the signal box. One houses a camera that will show the trains departing the station from ground level.

Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. Sides and ends detailed. Next will be the bogies.

Very impressed with Deadman's Lane at the Preston show. Some very good detail work. Well done Mick and team!

Now for the Glasgow to Liverpool sleeper train. The 65ft Restaurant First will be converted to a Sleeper 3rd.

A couple of small huts the for the Signal Box at Lime Street Station. Both are 3D prints in two parts, the walls and the roof. They will be located either side of the box. The high chimney is, presumably, to lift the smoke above the windows of the signal box.

The last of the Claughtons lasted until 1947. All the others were scrapped around 1939. 6004 was the very last and would have been seen in the Liverpool area in our period. This one, from a DJH kit, will need a lot of weathering before it is in the correct state for our model. Though I think we will run it in this condition for a while!

The Lime Street operating team head towards the Tyneside Model Railway Exhibition in Newcastle!

A couple of small buildings to go on the platforms of Lime Street Station. The buildings were there in the early days, but we have no idea when they were demolished, or even, what their purpose was. The first has been fully painted and is ready to go on the layout, the second one is as it comes off the 3D printer.

The posts are now on my shop. I have contacted Shapeways and the Frosted Ultra Detail is now called Smooth Fine Detail Plastic. So all is well with the posts on my shop.

I I have put the post on my shop, but don't order anything yet. The material spec seems to have changed. I need to do a test print with the new material to see what it is like. Can't do that till August!

A possible new loco for Lime Street. It started life out as a Jidenco kit built to 00 gauge and in BR colours. Now stripped down and fitted with a Comet chassis to EM gauge. Watch this space!

And the view in the other direction...