The Rise of the Minitrains Bagnall

'Twas all hallows eve and something stirred,

Down at the workbench strange noises were heard,

Chopping the boiler, changing the face,

But details aplenty slowed down the pace,

It looks pretty battered like Frankenstein's worse, 

Let's hope it's not caught by the paintshop curse!

My 009 Minitrains Bagnall has had a little cosmetic work - the chimney has been rebuilt using a Meridian Models casting, smokebox door replaced with a drawing pin and home-made handle (handrail knob and wire), the boiler barrel bottom replaced with plastic tube and details from split pins, brass and phosphor bronze wire and nickle silver etch waste.

Colin

Kent's Mainline in Miniature

The first O9 model I ever really built was the Alphagraphix card kit of a Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway 'teak' coach. Probably not the best starting point as a 20-seat coach is a long item for a lot of 15" gauge railways.

Now imagine a train of 20-seat coaches, with an O9 RH&DR Pacific at the head... that is the vision of Jonas Sommer, German engineering student and RH&DR volunteer. Using CAD and 3D printing has resulted in stunning results.

Jonas shares his techniques and results via his Facebook page "Kent's Mainline in Miniature" - which you can access without logging in if that isn't your thing...

Colin

The Day we Caught the Train

"You and I should ride the coast and wind up in our favourite coats just miles away,
Roll a number,
Write another song like Jimmy heard the day he caught the train"

So the scooter has arrived at Shifting Sands... and of course parked up in the least photographically accessible place!

I think I will have to revisit the registration plate on the Harley using the method used on the scooter as it really looks lacking in comparison.

Colin

The Modern World

Shifting Sands is preparing for a one-man "Mod" invasion as I complete work on a 3D printed scooter I bought from Shapeways. This has proved to be something of a labour of love, the print actually snapped across the bottom of the front dash panel early on and despite being superglued back in position it went at least twice more during print preparation.

The last time was after the final coat of primer and I resolved to use Araldite to fix it in place, then hid the crack the best I could. Having almost given up I decided the quick way to a decent finish was to spray the using a Halfords 'Ford Meadow Green' aerosol and painting in the details afterwards rather than try and brush paint it all.

The only modification I have made to the print is to remove the folded-up stand and replace it with two pieces of wire bent around to use as a securing point on the layout. Plastic rod drilled out made new feet for the stand.

Registration and 'L' plates are printed on matte photo paper. The reg plates were created online from a plate generation site and reduced in size for printing. These are the full weight of the paper and marked around the cut edges with a black pen. The 'L' plates were carefully reduced in thickness by peeling off the back layer of the paper. Both are stuck in place using an acid-free glue stick. I need to add some weathering to complete the job but overall I'm a lot happier than I was with it!

Colin