Atso

Hi, Re the Garratt; would it be possible to use a double ended motor mounted centrally and drive both chassis via the cardan shaft? The motor could be slung underneath the boiler - sorry I don't have a copy of your book but looking at the LNER Garrett it should be possible to hide a motor under the boiler... On making a drawbar for the rebuilt Jubilee, I'd use a piece of 40thou plastikard with two holds drilled at each end. Two pieces of brass (or other metal) wire could be glued to the drawbar to provide current between the loco and tender split pins... Just some thoughts...

The Farish B1 seems to use a pin very similar to the pin used to connected the V2 loco and tender via the pony truck. I think that the two may be compatible just a question if the wheel base is right... To answer you question about the metal used on older Farish loco bodies, I think (don't quote me here) that it is Zamak but don't ask me where I got this information as I can't remember! The minitrix A3 isn't that accurate being stretched to fit the German 4-6-2 chassis. Also the cab isn't right... Is it better than the Farish A3? Well the boiler isn't hughly oversized and the detail is crisper... In conclusion to this rambling hurry up someone and produce an up to date version quick!

Hi interesting bits here. I've got a B17 'chassis' as well - just deciding if I'm going to make a streamliner out of it or one for the original B17's with GER tender. Interesting to hear your thoughts about the V2. I think that a B1 would provide better wheels and drive than the V2 chassis but what is wrong with the V2 body? The Farish V2 uses a plastic body for the loco which could have the boiler skirts removed by careful drilling and filing. The minitrix A3 suffers from having a boiler skirt as well and the rear pony is nothing like an A3's! Personally I would use a B1 for the tender drive and wheels, the V1 for the loco body and valve gear and the Dapol B17 for the tender top! I think that would produce the ultimate V2 in N gauge!

Hi Matt, Looking good! Like you I use Halfords paints, their VW Brilliant Organge makes a great base coat for repainting Dapol's Gresley's in teak! Keep up the good work. Steve

Hey missy, Nice to see you again this year. Elvis really does look the business - if only I could build models to the same standards you do!

Hi John, sounds like your friend has bought s Solidscape printer. I've hear very good things about this and plan on using one for my own kit project. Most of the problems with 3D printing is getting suitable resolution and fine build layers. This then creates more work finishing the print to make a usable master. Solidscape claim to be albe to obtain a resolution in excess of 4000dpi and a build layer of only half a thou at its finest settings. Obviously cost per print is somewhat expensive but having viewed some of the prints this type of machine can produce personally, I firmly believe that you'll get what you pay for. As a side note, I think 'print' would be the correct term for this machine as it deposits the wax layers in a very similar way to a inkjet printer. Maybe your friend may consider doing modelling prints as a side business as well?

Hi Chris, Good stuff with the D16 mate! Have you thought about using an old Patriot tender drive and a spare B12 tender top for a drive unit? I seem to remember reading that this worked quite well for someone else. Good luck and look forward to seeing this as it progresses. Cheers, Steve

Hi there, I'm not 100% sure but your J11's tender looks like a GNR unequal wheelbase tender rather than a GCR one. As far as I'm aware Robinson tenders wheels were equally spaced and had no cut out at the front of the tender body. Hope this helps Steve

Awsome stuff there Hollywood! I think that despite the extra costs involved that this is the way to go!!! B)

If you look at the top right hand corner you'll see a link 'Get a Quote' you can then upload your models in a similar way to Shapeways and get costings.

Hey Simon, looking good. Is that cab printed in strong white and flexible? If so you've done a good job sanding it down, I always seem to over-do it! Geoff, Some interesting stuff there and also interesting about the injection moulding process - I'm going to have to investigate this further now.... Also thanks for the link to Fineline, I'm sure the growing community of 3D railway modellers will find this another usful resource! I've just checked it out and although the price is around 5-8 times that of Shapeways the quality (as you said) appears to be much much higher. Do you have any pictures of detailed items you've had produced using Finelines? Cheers Steve

Hi Jim, When I was researching 3D printing, I found that it is possible to print a steel injection moulding tool using a form of SLS with very fine steel powered rather than nylon sintered using a laser. The resulting print could be blasted and polished to around 99% perfection. Obviously at the moment the technology is somewhat pricey (around ??2000 for a small mould) but I'm sure within a few years this would be the way to get low cost tooling made.

Hi Missy, very effective sacks there and the goods shed doesn't look too bad either!!! It was really nice to meet you at St. Albans the other week and I must say that, while your models look exceptional in the pictures you post they really don't do your models justice when I got to see some of them in the flesh! B) On a side note, I'm I right in thinking that you did some work using a Craft Robo cutter a while back? If so how did it go and do you still have the machine?

Hi interesting stuff there. I take it these are being printed using shapeways? I've used this company myself for a couple of years getting a feel for what is possible using 3D printing. N gauge requires alot of though in the design phase in order to produce something that can be cleaned up without destroying the print but I would gather this isn't so much of an issue cleaning up a 4 or 7mm part. Recently I've tried SLA (laser cured resin) somewhat more expensive (around 10 times the cost!) but the initial results are much finer and therefore less cleaning up involved. As a comparision I've attached a picture of my LNER K3 body which was printed using SLA - the loco is in grey primer while the tender is in it's 'raw' state. What CAD program are you using? I've found that the basic version of Alibre Design is a good entry point into 3D modelling and able to produce most shapes with a little thought. Looking good and I'm watching with interest what you produce next.

I know it's been awhile since my last post but life the universe (aka wife) and everying have managed to take priority over some real work! Anyway, I've finished cleaning up the tender body for the K3 and have invested in some silicone rubber and casting resin to attempt to make some copies. I was lucky enough to catch Jon Hall doing a casting demonstration at the St. Albans exhibition a couple of years ago and by and large I have been trying to replicate his techniques. However I have still be having trouble ensuring that my castings a bubble free which has resulted in numerous rejects - although I seem to be getting better quality with each cast. Not much of an update I know but maybe some pictures of my castings may be of interest to someone.

Al, I've built it to fit the V2 chassis and I'm sure that you could lower it the same way as you've lowered you're V2s. Unfortunately if I lower the body any further I would need to have the chassis block protruding out of the boiler - not very prototypical. The chassis would need some modest filing at the front end to accept the body anyway to achieve a perfect fit.

Would I consider marketing this as a kit? Having thought about it - it would really depend on the level of interest here. Anyone interested please let me know...

Hi guys. Jo SLS is Shapeways Strong White and Flexible material. SLA is a laser cured resin which costs around ten times the cost of white detail. So far the body seems to be far far smoother than anything I've ordered from Shapeways and the other tender body has been produced to assess if the finish justifies the costs involved - so far looking good.

I arrived home today to find two packages. The first contained an LNER Group Standard Tender printed using SLS - the steel K3 body will take a while longer yet. The second package contained my SLA prints of both the body and tender. For some reason the SLA tender body will not fit onto the Farish chassis while the SLS version fits perfectly (some modest filing needed here). The K3 body is absolutely great! A lovely surface finish which I'll prime sometime tomorrow - The SLS GST has already recieved a coating of primer. Pictures below.

Hi guys and thanks for the comments. As for the CAD package, I'm using Alibre Design. I initially got this as a free demo online and later upgraded to the full standard version when it was on offer for $99. I've spent the last year or so teaching myself how to use the software and gotten the occasional bits printed as test subjects. I'm now confident with most of the features that the software offers. EWSJO I've tried blender but didn't get on with it, much prefer Alibre (just personal preference) good luck and I hope to see some of your models in the near future. Bundeena, most rapid prototyping machines build up the models layer by layer and therefore the produced model will have a stepped effect normally between 0.2 and 0.5mm in height. This needs to be removed by careful priming and rubbing down. The trick here is not to remove detail in the process. I've got the K3 being produced in two materials, one in stainless steel and one using an SLA machine in resin. SLA is the process that many of the RTR manufactures use to produce the initial test models for evaluation before proceeding to the production stages. Intrestingly the SLA model is costing me more than the steel model (you're looking at over ??100 for one of these models). On the up side the SLA model is being printed to a far finer resolution than the steel model at 0.05mm against 0.2mm. Both sound very fine but once you've painted them in primer the stepping effect really does stand out. As for ensuring that the chassis fits under the body no 3D scanning here (I can't afford it!) so lots of carefull measurements of the chassis with my calipers and fingers crossed that I got the measurements right! I've had confirmation that I should have the SLA model either tomorrow or by Wednesday so I'll post some pictures within the next few days...

With the K3 body order and due to be delivered any day now I've turned my attention to another locomotive body. This is to be based on the Farish 4F chassis with some minor modifications. Both the models shown have been designed using Isinglass Models drawings and photographic evidence from the RCTS green series of books. I've still got some work to do on the body and the condensing pipes to design but the bulk of the work is now complete - not bad for two days worth of work I think!

Following a period of building some loco bodies out of cardboard I've returned to my CAD work and have some models pending from the printers. I am hopeful that I will be able to successfully clean up the resultant prints (having spent a lot of time experimenting getting the best out of my existing prints - as well as making some BIG mistakes as well!). My current work is mainly concentrating on a K3 body which is designed to be a direct fit onto Farish V2 chassis (with rear pony removed!). I have two of these on order - one is being printed in plastic and the other in stainless steal! One problem with 3D printing is being able to remove the print lines. This is a side effect of the way the items are manufactured layer by layer and preserving small details during clean up is difficult. This is why I have order a print in steal as hopefully the finer details will survive some rougher handling during the clean up operation. I find 3D designing more satisfying that my scratch building efforts and hope that I will be able to create a good enough master to cast from.

Hi Alan, The Gresley looks great! What are you doing about the bogies though?