Atso

That's it! Other than having to sort out the final board joint (excitement took over and I forgot about it!) Hadley Wood's scenic track is down! Now I need to add droppers through the brass sleepers but drill a 0.65mm hole through the sleepers and baseboard and soldering some 0.6mm brass wire into place. The front hidden loops will be finished next as we have just enough finetrax left to do it before tackling the remainder of the rear fiddle yard - 14 turnouts and around 30 feet of copper clad track left to build and lay!

Work continues on track laying with the entrance to the goods sidings now being in place and a 40cm length being all that is required to complete the Down main line. My thoughts are now turning to some of the structures that will inhabit the layout. Given that many these will have to be produced before I can create the ground contours, it seemed logical to begin with the tunnel mouths - thankfully near enough identical at each end. This drawing was created by importing a photo that was as near square on as possible into Gimp and scaling it, using the track gauge as my reference point, and using the measuring tool. Additional information was worked out from a second photo, my 1935 OS map and Google Maps (thankfully the tunnel mouths and one wing wall on each are original). I've still got some work to do before I'm happy with it, but it is a start.

I believe that this tangent has emerged, at least in part, from the following comment. I think that the following comments have demonstrated that certain 3D printing processes can already be used for low volume manufacturing, can turn around parts quickly and cheaply, produce components indistinguishable from other production techniques, have a good level of strength and can reach a good to excellent level of detail (even down to N gauge) - just maybe not all on one type of printer yet. Given that the tooling costs for a model would cost between £30,000 and £100,000+ for a plastic model (dependant on complexity) and, depending on scale (market size) would only have a run of 1,000 -10,000 units, I think that the economic argument for the future use of 3D printing for low volume production is looking quite sound once (a.) the processes have had a few more years to be refined, and (b) once the market has accepted the viability of the process for new releases.

Home injection moulding is actually a practice method as long as one accepts the limitations of what can be done at the more basic level (and the learning curve to be scaled). While my own efforts have not been successful (despite more than one attempt), I've seen the results of some very talented others using both home brewed and purchased equipment. There is an entire rake of 4 wheel coaches on Copenhagen Fields who's bodies were injection moulded 'flat pack' style and then assembled. A hand operated moulding press can be picked up new for around £1,500 and might be able to produce a nose end or a wagon side in 4mm scale. However, tooling is the biggest hurdle to overcome. Epoxy tooling is practical with a suitable bolster to contain the injection pressures; although at the expense of crisp detail, increased draft angles and a limited shot life. There is also the ethics question about using an existing moulding as a master for an epoxy tool. Will an ejection system be required? For smaller parts with limited detail probably not, but for anything more complicated, ejector pins and plate will likely be required. Alternatively, a CNC milling machine could create metal tools. For a whole 4mm scale diesel body, something much more substantial would be needed - both in terms of the machine and the tooling. Shot capacity, clamping force and tool strength become the essential factors here. A good knowledge of the plastic's flow characteristics, flow speed, shot temperature, tool cooling, effective gating and venting and spru design also become much more relevant. Obviously such a machine and tooling would cost a lot more than a more basic setup. Perfectly doable if you can invest the money and time to access and learn how to use the technology effectively. Resin casting is much cheaper and simpler to start achieving results; although a much slower (and messy) process than thermoplastic injection moulding.

Wow, that's amazing! What did you do about small motors back then????

I can imagine! Everything in view has either been scratch built or had code 40 rail hand threaded through the plastic sleepers. Not shown in this photo but the Up line (third from the left) was completed today and the pointwork on the curve in the second photo was done earlier this week. By the time the fiddle yard has been finished it will have consumed a scale 4.5 miles of copper clad track...

As the originator of the linked thread, I am flattered that you feel that my prints are of a suitable quality to be used as an example of how far 3D printing has come over the last few years. Thank you. Graham, I’m sorry that you feel that the 3D prints you've seen look awful. As I see it that is probably down to one of two (or both) factors: - The quality of the CAD - The machine and/or material chosen for printing All my models are printed to 1:148 scale and more recently for my own projects, printed almost exclusively on my own machine. With the machine properly dialled in, I can achieve an accuracy of better than 0.1mm which has proven sufficiently accurate to produce a completely free running (i.e. non-powered) 0-6-0 chassis which are combined with brass bearings to combat wear and tear. While I’m still working on the design of my first powered chassis, I have already seen that this is also possible by the work of others. No, my machine cannot be considered an item for mass producing models (I could in theory churn out c. 300 wagon bodies in a week), but for the £380 I paid for it new, it is an impressive and reliable bit of kit. There are already 3D printers out there than can print more models in one hit and considerably faster (round an hour) but only at c. 75% of the resolution I can do. This 'limited' mass production technology (i.e. less that 1,000-1,500 units) has already been proven in the aerospace industry as well as by Rails of Sheffield in 4mm scale. I would agree that we’re not quite there yet but I think it will be considerably under 10 years before this technology becomes a serious competitor for the volumes required. Also, the printer doesn’t have to print the actual model, there are other ways that 3D printing could prove useful to model railway manufacturers in the short to medium term - but not quite yet. However, I would not advocate trying to print ever component; as with everything, different materials have different strengths and weaknesses. I’ll leave you with a couple of examples of what budget 3D printers are now capable of. The J3s above have a free running unpowered chassis which use Peco driving wheels and coupling rods.

I've made a start on converting a second tender drive for use with the J6s. The first stage is to cut around 2mm out of the chassis between the leading two wheels. To do this I first tapped out the idler gears between these two wheelsets and then cut out the required section using a piercing saw. After the cuts were made, I tidied up the surfaces using a file before using epoxy to glue the pieces back together. I replaced the wheelsets and placed everything on a piece of plate glass and fiddled with the alignments. I then added a small piece of lead to stop the front section dropping forward, as it was a little nose heavy. I'll leave everything to set up for the next twenty four hours before drilling a tap hole and pinning everything together using a screw for additional strength. All this was achieved in about half an hour.

When I was there, it was mainly being used as workshops and storage. The tracks immediately leading to the shed had been lifted, although most of the approach lines seemed to still be in place.

Indeed I will Manna, but only one. This will share stopping services along with 3602 and some C1s, C2s, D2s, N2s and an N7. The other two J6s will be on goods turns.

Lovely stuff Manna, thanks for sharing. I visited Hornsey around 2009 but there wasn't much left of the station. However, the shed was still standing and I managed to blag a tour of the facilities off the site manager (I wasn't allowed in the shed though).

The only original feature of Hadley Wood station is the stairways to the original platforms, everything else is long gone I'm afraid. Oakleigh Park still has the wooden GNR platform buildings though. Below was grabbed from Google Street view.

Yet more (much needed) distractions from the C1s! A J6 which is most likely going to end up as 3602 which was a Hitchin loco for most of my modelling period, but moved to Hatfield in 1938. The donor loco was a J39 but with the wheelbase of the loco corrected to 7'3"-9' and the tender taken down to 6'3-6'3 (close, but not perfect for the 6'6"-6'6" of the prototype) by chopping up the chassis. This was done at the expense of one of the driven tender drive wheels but this doesn't seem to have had too much of a detrimental effect on haulage - certainly still within the requirements of it. I also have a body for 3591 which will be fitted with Ross Pop safety valves and the later R43 version of the Class A tender, which I am still designing.

I actually got to do some track laying myself today. Social distancing was once again observed as this was really a one person job. This was a special milestone for me as these few lengths of track represent the beginning of the scenic section! The Xuron box represents the entrance to the south tunnel and the lines to the left are the two storage loops at the front of the board which will be hidden under the embankment. Each loop will be able to hold three medium length formations with locos and will most likely end up housing the outer suburban services on the completed layout. The above photo shows that, despite the proximity to the hidden curves, stock on the innermost line will have just about straightened up when it becomes visible. Finally a similar viewpoint to the first photo of the prototype (credit unknown). The layout photo would have been taken just before the station building and road bridge. This view of the station was taken in the early 1950's and the signal box had been removed from the end of the right hand platform by this point. It is most likely that the goods yard has also been lifted by this time, but the but the entrance gate and coal merchant's office can still be seen to the right of the main station building. Hopefully the prototype shows how the front loops will be hidden once scenery has been added.

Andy, I completely agree with you regarding this comment, I was hoping to see live (or at least new footage) of these wonderful layouts. However, I can fully understand the extra work that would have probably had to go into achieving that and I am grateful to all those who contributed in any capacity. Many thanks to all. One thing I've been toying with is to place video cameras in strategic locations on Hadley Wood so that live feeds of operating sessions would be possible.

Today I got to see the layout in the flesh for the first time since lockdown began (social distancing observed). It's been great to see all the track I've been building in place on board three. Although looking down the layout from board one shows just how much more work is needed to finished the fiddle yard! Still, we are finally in a position to think about laying down the track on what will become the scenic side!

I've just finished watching your contribution and, as always, enjoyed it immensely. My own lockdown efforts seem to have managed to progress more projects (or start them!), rather than finishing much. Such is my way but everything will be finished eventually. My proudest achievement has been to finally get my first C1 Atlantic hauling more than five coaches after a year sitting in a box. This involved a bit of a redesign of my conversion bits for the Dapol Hall donor chassis to make everything more stable. The result, twelve coaches without a hint of wheelslip and fourteen (below) with a little wheelslip on the curves. As twelve coaches will be the maximum length on Hadley Wood, I'm satisfied with this. Feeling a bit more positive about the viability of an 4-4-2 in N gauge, I made a start on the next two. Below is the current progress as they progress through the paint shop. I made some more progress on building four of the carriages for my representation of the five carriage Cambridge Buffet Express. These still need to be finished and I have no excuse now that I have the last few items needed. I repainted a Dapol A4 from Garter Blue into a 'loose' (Tony, I know, I know!) representation of Silver Link. I'm also in the process of refining my design for an ex-GNR Class A tender to go with my J6 body. The Graham Farish J39 tender drive has had it's wheelbase shortened, as has the loco chassis to fit the bodies. Finally, while I'm not able to access the layout (or my usual workbench!), progress has been made on Hadley Wood. I've been building the track and my father has been laying it. I finally got to see the layout for the first time since March today and offer the following 'snaps' of it. This view shows the bulk of what my father has laid down. While this final view from the other end shows most of the progress to date - there is still a lot to do to finish the fiddle yard!

That Dean's Goods is stunning Ian and a pleasure to watch. Very nicely done sir!

I've been working on a further two C1 Atlantics recently. This were printed at 20 microns layer thickness with 8 seconds exposure and are now in the advanced painting and lining stage. Off the printer this morning is the test print for an ex-GNR Class A tender to go with the J6 body I designed a few years back. I've got a couple of bits to modify to make it a better fit on the modified Farish tender drive unit.

Work progressed last night when I painted in the 'white' corners on the rear of the tender. The black will be added later today or tomorrow morning, depending how the days goes. I think my ability to get consistent corners is improving. I've also been sorting out the 'split frame' pickups for the tender frames and Cartazzi truck. Some Markits 1.5mm inside diameter gearbox bearings were epoxied into place and left for 24 hours to complete set. I then soldered wires to bridge the bearings with them left overlength at the front for the eventual fitting of magnets which will provide the electrical connection to the loco's steel frames. In order to not weaken the epoxy, quick work with the soldering iron is essential. Once the wires were in place, some more epoxy was added to keep them from being accidentally caught and damager. This is not how I would tackle this for a set of visible frames. As these will be painted black and hidden behind the outer frames, I can get away with such an untidy arrangement here. The next job is to fit stub axles to the tender wheels and electrically join them to the tyres.

The repair looks good to me Tony! As per the comments of others, I would recommend wearing a mask when creating resin dust. I like to use sanding sticks with a little water to keep the dust down.

Thanks Geoff. There really are a lot of lines for LNER green livery, but not as many as for some of the pre grouping liveries! The red lining needs a little tidying up in places - it's actually Humbrol 20 and not red at all. I've also just noticed that the front frame of 3286 isn't lined so I'll have to correct that tomorrow... Your current batch of commission looks to be coming along nicely. I'm intrigued, just what noises are you inflicting on these folk???

Good evening Tony, I can only echo Mike's comments about using a razor saw, files and sanding sticks on 3D printed models. Using cutters tends to put additional stresses on the resin parts, especially when the cutters 'clip' together which often causes breakages. I do find that the material thickness also plays a part and tend to keep things a little thicker and use various ploys to disguise these. My C1s are progressing with the first side of lining on the tenders now complete. Both the new locos now have their identities and are awaiting final detailing.

The lining out of the tenders has begun. As usual, my ability to cleaning paint in the black line left a bit to be desired, as evidenced by the bottom right hand corner here (which turned out to be my best attempt!). Cleaning up the paint using a fine brush and a little white spirit quickly improves things though... Both of the new locos now have their identities. With the bufferbeam numbers being added this morning. The rear of the tender bodies have now had their straight lining applied. I'll start adding in the corners tomorrow.

Hi Jerry, I do very much include you (and quite a few others) in the company of people who have both mentored and inspired me to try and tackle new things. I've seen your painting and think it is a very good standard.