FINAL NEW FWLR LINE

[FWLR]

I will be building some more of those Little Vans Drew, but will mix them up a little I think, some with sliding doors and some without, but it will look like they can be opened. Also some more 2, 3 and 4 plank wagons. I really enjoy scratch building in wood and in my eyes they do look more realistic. I just keep the 3D printing for the ironwork mostly now, though I will attempt to print a loco at some point, but the wood is going to get 1st dibs...

[drewzero1]

That sounds great, Rod! The cute effect of one stubby van will surely be multiplied when there's a bunch of them in line. I'm starting to get back to the woodshop a bit since the baby is (sometimes) sleeping a bit better. I'd been relying too heavily (for my taste) on 3D printing because I could do nearly the whole process while holding her, unlike trying to use a bandsaw! Now I'm starting to be able to use wood a bit more and just print the chassis, wheels, and details. My 3-year-old asked Santa for his own 3D printer this year so we'll have to see how that works out for him...

[dudeface]

Santa's going to be broke after that one...

[drewzero1]

Santa's going to be broke after that one...

Haha! What he doesn't know is that "Santa" already got him a toy train set, so I think he'll be happy enough. It just so happens to be 32mm gauge, so in the summer he can run it around the NVT when we're out there playing together. I printed a little 3D printer ornament for the Christmas tree as well.

[FWLR]

a train for the 3 year old, brilliant way of getting them into it. I wish I had started a lot earlier than I did, early sixties for me, what time I wasted pursuing other so called hobbies, although I did enjoy some of them, beer and wine making ect ect....

[drewzero1]

It's good to change it up every now and then! I tend to swing between trains and fishkeeping, but there's always something new to learn either way. As long as you're having fun and learning it's never really wasted time at all. Besides, I know a guy who makes beer and he sure gets invited to a lot more parties than I do!

Like my son, I also had an early interest in trains which my parents were happy to indulge, so I can hardly help but pass it on. He's been giving me lots of suggestions for the garden railway, most recently insisting that my tiny van must have doors that open so he can load boxes inside.

[FWLR]

Hi guys,

I know not posted on my thread for some months, same old story like most of us... Anyway I received a Christmas present, a IP Engineering Footbridge.. .. so when did I Start this build, it was about the 4th of January.. It could have been worse, that's pretty good for me.

Anyway on to the build. After I opened the box I saw a lot of parts, a lot more than I usually get when I build a kit from someone and there were loads I can tell you. I laid them out, sorry I didn't take a photo of all the parts, read the instructions which were ok but they could have been a lot better, if someone with not to much experience of kit building would struggle I think.

Some of the parts..

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I started with the steps...Which took some holding straight, I did in the end just do one at a time with my 90deg angle and some small clamps up against them until they went off a bit which didn't take any time at all, but it did take a few days to do both of them because when I came to put the other side on, you guessed it, they were leaning, so it took a little bit of jiggling to get they on with a small toffee hammer just to persuade them ...

I am so sorry guys, I thought I had took a couple photos of the steps, but it seems I didn't..


Next was the walkway, this in it self was a little so and so to line up. It was the same as the steps but not has bad. There is a short length of board to hold them together underneath the walkway, but after putting the walkway dry onto the steps when I put it onto the bench and looked at it there was something that didn't look right with it. The short board in my mind should have been the full length of the walkway or two pieces so it didn't look like it was just bodged. I cut two more lengths on my little table bench saw and fitted them, they did make a huge difference to the appearance. Those little pieces that are in the first photo are glued to the side of the parts where the slots are.

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Then it was the towers to glue. Again I am so sorry about no photos...

The 5 main parts, they towers are glued to the steps..

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And put together dry on the bench.....

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If you notice there are holes in the sides of the steps and the walkway. The straight part of the walkway was ok to hide because there is two lengths of wood that are just the correct length to hide them, but the short steps don't have anything to hide them which I think is not brilliant of the manufacture really. I cut some thin plastic sheet and glued them on to hid them. It was pretty much the same with the long steps, but there are some pre-cut lengths to hide them but there are poorly made in my eye....

The lengths of wood for the long steps sides. You can see that they don't match up and also the short pieces that are put along the sides of the steps don't line up either. I had to file them open a bit to fit on the side and consequently they don't look anywhere near great.

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I did eventually get the Footbridge built and painted, that also took a little time to get somewhat decent because the heat that is used to cut the pieces must have been turned up a little bit to high, you can see on the parts that some are almost black, so getting the paint to cover them was a heck of a job, I had to make sure that the coats I had applied went hard enough for another coat to be put on.

Thats all of the photos I can put on the thread, do have an issue with trying to put more on, other members can, but I can't, it's not a problem it just means I have to put more post on with some more photos......

[FWLR]

This is the manufactures site photo of the Footbridge...You can see even theirs leave the slots where the steps are fitted. Doesn't look great does it.

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The painted Footbridge..

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I made some false lights for the bridge, I thought it needed something else to give it a little bit of individuality....I also gave it a small amount of weathering, I don't think I have gone to far, but I hope you members will tell me honestly if it is, I can always tone it down a bit can't I until the real weather gets to it....

PS. This is the underneath Footbridge were I put the extra 2 lengths.

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[Peter Butler]

That sounds more like a challenge than a pleasurable experience Rod, and I bet it wasn't cheap either!

[philipy]

You've done a cracking job on what sounds like a fairly duff kit, Rod.

[FWLR]

It certainly was a challenge Peter and Anne wasn’t that happy about how poorly they are made, with postage and packaging she told me it was well over £100+.

It’s surprising how they can make their products when they have a photo of the product look good for advertising though isn’t it. I took extra care over building it and I couldn’t get it any better, although there are better builders than me out there and they would probably have made a better job, but I don’t see how they could get those step sides to fit any better than I did. But who knows

[Phil.P]

There does seem to be a marked difference between your kit and the example..
I wonder if pressure to get everything cut and sent out for Christmas, meant running the laser faster, at a higher output?

I have had trouble painting over 'char' on laser-cut kits, and have not found an answer to the problem?
Some manufacturers say to sand it off, but if you do, the parts end up undersize.

I think you have made a very good job of this. I doubt I would have had the patience.

Well done!

Phil.P

[-steves-]

Looking at the kit I would think that it has not had air assist running while the laser was cutting. Air assist tends to reduce the burn/charring to a minimum. Having recently aquired a laser cutter I now know how essential air assist is a what a major impact it has to the final results.

[drewzero1]

Looks good Rod. The small controller is looking on with me and really likes bridges, here is his response:

Seeing it go from the pile of sticks to the finished product, I'm not sure I could've put it better myself!

[FWLR]

Thank you for all those kind response's, they are very much appreciated. I did want to be able to take the long steps apart because of the size of it, it would be need a huge box of some kind to store it over the winter months, but because the long steps don't meet with the top rails on the walkway I have had to glue them together and now it's very solid...

This is before I glued the long steps. Sorry about the out of focus....

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I know that the sides of the long steps a square because I put my metal engineers square long them.

Haven't got a clue why they didn't meet. I was going to put the lamp posts there to keep them square, but they just made it really much too hard to get the walkway on, so that's why I put them where they are.

[FWLR]

You've done a cracking job on what sounds like a fairly duff kit, Rod.

Thank you Philip, to be completely honest it is a bit duff. I did find a old Garden Railway magazine March 2023 and inside is a write up by Mark Thatcher, who many know is a regular contributor, I think he writes for the magazine, that’s why I think he got one too build that was a little bit better and easier to build. You will see on the first and last page that there is no ugly slots that you can see. Makes one think

Anyway even though it took me some months, my own doing with babysitting and other things to have to do, I am fairly happy with it and Anne said “if I wasn’t so much of a perfectionist I would have got it finished a lot sooner” In a way so is right to a point, but I don’t think I am, I just like to see a build that looks right and it upsets me a little bit when we all work hard to get a build which makes us feel good about ourselves.