Wednesday, May 23, 2018

A Bit of a Catch Up - Some Actual Modelling!

I have been a bit busy of late so here is a few things I have been working on.

Firstly I have completed the Laser Rail Bits timber trestle bridge and fitted it with my 3D printed 1 1/2 inch square nut/bolts with 3 inch square washers and the bridge came out very nice. I followed the instructions and stained the timber with a Raven Oil and methylated spirits mixture. I did find that I had to make the mixture a bit stronger than in the instructions though, possibly more dense timber. I also noticed that the line drawing of a trestle in the instructions seemed to be incorrect in regard to how the diagonal timbers would go onto the piles. I will contact Rod Kelly of Laser Rail Bits about this.

As Rod had already laser marked the square nut/bolt/washers on the timber so it was an easy task to drill a 0.6 mm hole and insert the 3D printed ones.

Laser Rail Bits timber trestle bridge with 3D printed nut/bolt/washers
Close up of nut/bolt/washers on trestle bridge
Next, I have been back working on the Werris Creek station building for Ron Cunningham. The downpipes on the North West platform side of the building had me bluffed as sometimes can happen with a model. I was put off by the complicated way that that pairs of the downpipes came down from the 'scuppers' joined together then went through a water filter, emerged from the water filter then went down through the platform awning. The water filters are Rail Central parts available from Casula Hobbies. Anyway, as can happen, once I started it only took about three hours to cut the 1 mm Evergreen plastic rod and fabricate them.





Signals Branch 3D printed 48 inch single flourescent light as on the prototype

Tamworth platform side

North West platform side showing upper floor awning against the western sun.
One aspect of the awnings is that all the nice window, door and downpipe detail is virtually hidden! Oh well.

I still have a few more things to add to the building but these will be done once the handling of the building is basically over to prevent damage. There are two flag poles coming out at a 45 degree angle from the upper floor on the Tamworth side, some double flourescent lights projecting out in several places as well as a couple of 'stink pipes' that come above the top of the building.

The next thing to do is to work on the brick platform faces, these will be made from Slaters brick sheets and it will be next to impossible to connect them without a join showing.

Items still to be done will be station signs, the signal box, small cast iron signs for Station Master, Men, Ladies, etc. and the surface of the platform.

The last thing I have done recently was to present at the Modelling the Railways of NSW 35 where I gave a talk on practical information on 3D printing. The talk seemed to go over well and I had about 60 attendees over three sessions. A good day in all.

Here is a sneaky photo taken by Zane Maber.


That's about it although I have been doing a lot of stuffing about with my two 3D printers as well.

FDM 3D printed mounting for three PMG key switches for Bylong signalling
DLP 3D printed Cheap Signal Box - Learning about support placement
Til next time then......

14 comments:

South Coast Rail said...

Beautiful work as always Ray,
Bob

Ray P said...

Thanks Bob

Model Trains and Things said...

PMG switches ... I haven't seen those for donkey's years ... about the time I chucked out all the ones I had hoarded :(

Ray P said...

Well, that was a mistake. They are worth keeping as they have many contacts for switching multiple things and the contacts themselves never give trouble as they were so well made.

Anonymous said...

Great work as usual Ray. Regarding the Slaters brick sheets have you thought about cutting around the mortar lines on the sheet to create a staggered join instead of just a straight butt joint? Tedious but may give a better finish. Graham

DavidV said...

Lovely stuff Ray. Yes, it is a pity that a lot of detail is hidden by the awnings but I guess that's not the point really. On the other hand it's a pity about the flouro lights ;-)

Unknown said...

Lovely work. Are the windows and corbel mouldings all 3D printed too?

Ray P said...

Anon, yes I certainly have thought about cutting around the brick courses and will probably try it but until I do.....

Ray P said...

David V, "pity about the flouro lights"? I assume you mean they can't be seen, which is true but they are there aren't they :-)

I made them to be lit with a 0603 SMD Cool White LED but the awnings have to be removable to be able to install and remove the building from the platform so the wiring became a problem.

Ray P said...

Ben, yes the windows, doors, corbels, etc. are 3D printed, they are on my Shapeways Signals Branch shop along with other parts I used on the building.

https://www.shapeways.com/shops/signalsbranch?section=HO+Werris+Creek+Station&s=0

If you search my Bylong blog for Werris Creek you will find more information.

http://bylong.blogspot.com.au/search?q=Werris+Creek

Peter said...

Hi Ray,
Great post on Warris Creek and the Laser cut Trestle Bridge. Both models look great. After seeing your write up on the Trestle, I think I will need to consider taking the same path for the Timber Trestle that I would like to eventually place on my Tumbarumba layout.

Regards
Peter B

BOLIVIA said...

Hi Ray
The colour of the timbers on the bridge looks good.So what is Raven oil,and where would one look for it.
The stations coming along nice too.
You will soon need some plumbing ,soil and waste pipes.
Rohan

Brad H. said...

Hi Ray,

You have really mastered the 3D modelling facet of the hobby. That said, glad there is still a place for those ex-PMG switches. Have you written up anything about how you intend to use those switches and how you have wired them up?
Thanks.
regards,
Brad

Ray P said...

Brad

No I haven't as they are actually quite simple, they just have lots of double pole double throw contacts. I will be using on set of contacts to input to a NCE Mini Panel which will then send the command to throw a Tam Valley Singlet servo to change the signal. At the same time another set will input a to an NCE AIU and then into JMRI where it will chow the signal state on the PC monitor.
There would still be spare contacts to switch LEDs etc. if necessary.
PMG key switches are great if a little large.

Ray P