Garden Railway Forum

Seen at the Stoneleigh show and much admired, kits for WLLR open wagons and vans 3D printed to outstanding quality and at very reasonable prices. The kits are pre-coloured so no need to paint the iron work etc.

Visit www.woodleigh-eng.co.uk for more

Phil

Must be a good quality printer to produce a really smooth multi coloured print like that.
The price is tempting too.

Rik

The guy behind the firm is a young IT professional who knows how to get the very best out of his printers. The quality of finish is what you have always wanted to see in 3D prints. These are as good as any resin prints I have seen and are, I think, PLA.

Phil

The number of kits has gone up since when I saw this thread earlier today and this evening when I check the site again! (There's now a W&LLR box van that wasn't there earlier..)

Amazing detail on the axleboxes!

Simon,

I bought an open wagon and a box van so they can be seen at our next meeting, either complete or as the kit of parts depending on my getting on with building them,

Phil

Apart from adding the rain covers above the doorways and transfers to the box van here are the two vehicles behind Clara and with a 16Mills brake van this afternoon:-
I'm glad I made the open first, it made doing the box van easier.

I would highly recommend these kits,

Phil

I also purchased one each of the open waggon and box van. They really are beautiful models, and ironically I found the box van easier to build than the open waggon!
Do heed the caveat about finishing with a matte lacquer - the colours will otherwise deteriorate if used outside!

Tried running my two wagons on The Railway in the Valley of the Mill last week and had trouble with them derailing at various places. Trevor measured the wheel flanges and found they were only around 1.5mm whereas the 16mm standard is 2.

Lo and behold:-

https://woodleigh-eng.co.uk/blogs/news

The first item here solves the problem!

He also has more new products,

Phil

gilfachphil wrote: Sun May 25, 2025 11:21 am Tried running my two wagons on The Railway in the Valley of the Mill last week and had trouble with them derailing at various places. Trevor measured the wheel flanges and found they were only around 1.5mm whereas the 16mm standard is 2.

Lo and behold:-

https://woodleigh-eng.co.uk/blogs/news

The first item here solves the problem!

He also has more new products,

Phil

I wonder if they'll supply just the wheels to those of us who have purchased the original kits? An email to Joe is called for I think.

Yes, he's sending me some.

gilfachphil wrote: Mon May 26, 2025 2:24 pm Yes, he's sending me some.

Yes, likewise here.

Woops!

Ran the two wagons outside this afternoon. One of the van doors was open so I tried to close it only to realise that the side of the van had bowed inwards :-
I did spray the van with a clear sealer as per the instructions, though a different one from that suggested but from the same manufacturer, which was advised for outdoor use.

Phil

I think that's just temperature related Phil. Hopefully you can get it back into shape. And I'm now going to make sure mine are okay in my rolling stock store!

Thanks Phil,

I expect you are right, the inward bowing is greater on one side than the other, presumably one that got more direct sun and so hotter.

Because of the way I glued the kit together, using copious amounts of solvent weld internally on the corner seams and attaching the roof I think disassembly is out of the question. I will leave it as is for now and hope to show it to Joe at a future exhibition, perhaps LLanfair which I think he may be attending. The wagons probably don't look too bad from a normal viewing distnace but the doors no longer slide.

The open wagon has also deformed a bit but not as much.

A question arises as to whether the material he uses to print the kits is really suitable for outdoor use? It is a great shame since the quality of the prints is outstanding.

Phil

Let me just remind you of what happened to my L&B, 3D printed crane after taking it to a garden railway meeting in hot weather... Fortunately, the crane part was replaced FOC, but although I asked at the time, I was not told what material was used.

You can soften the plastic with a hot air gun or hair dryer and then manipulate it. However, it's really tricky to get back into shape and you run the risk of making it worse. The best success I've had is to rest the offending part on the heated bed of a 3D printer, but it sounds like that's not possible.

Which solvent did you use?

Rik

Depending on which material is involved, it may be moisture dependant as well as temperature dependant. PLA filament and water washable resin ( and possibly others?) are both hygroscopic and can both absorb and release moisture depending on the atmospheric moisture content and the temperature. So bowing can be due to either or both effects.

ge_rik wrote: Sat Jun 21, 2025 6:43 am You can soften the plastic with a hot air gun or hair dryer and then manipulate it. However, it's really tricky to get back into shape and you run the risk of making it worse. The best success I've had is to rest the offending part on the heated bed of a 3D printer, but it sounds like that's not possible.

Which solvent did you use?

Rik

EMA Plastic Weld

I sent Joe of Woodleigh an email yesterday including pictures of the problems with the van. He has replied promptly and said he will send me replacement kits free of charge. He states the material they are printed in is PLA, an industry standard for 3D printing, but best not exposed to strong sunlight.

Excellent customer service,

Phil