A couple of locos ready for testing

[3 minutes of fame]

I have a rule that I won't start one project until I have cleared the backlog of others, particularly larger and more expensive things like locos. As the current Mrs Three Minutes of Fame was out for much of today, I had a chance to finish these two to the stage that I could take them for a run.

This is my Glyn loco, built from 3D files downloaded from here. It's fitted with a couple of motors, and a radio control, and has shown itself to be a powerful little loco. More pics in the Glyn Valley thread in 3D printing - https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 29#p174429

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And this is a little IP Engineering Mary kit, bought last weekend from a model show, and just too cute to leave on the shelf too long. Pictured here on some Locoremote 3D printed track. (And yes, it will negotiate the curves!)

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Some more detailing to do on both of them, but I think I now have the right to crack on with this..

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[drewzero1]

Beautiful models, and that's pretty impressive that it can negotiate the curves on the LocoRemote track. I have a feeling the Fairlie might have some trouble if it tried a stunt like that. I've got a fair set of that track for playing inside, but only a small subset of my stock will tolerate it.... and only one locomotive, which was built on a skip chassis.

I noticed a few micro layouts in the videos from the Peterborough show this year that appeared to use LR track, and very nicely scenicked.

[-steves-]

The two finished kits look great

What kit is the fairlie, or is it a scratch build?

As for the micro layouts, I believe one of the micro layouts was Mark Sayer who is quite a prominent poster on FB and I know him quite well. He prints most of his own locos now, all done on a resin printer. They look good but I am not sure how brittle they would be as I have had a few brittle resin issues myself.

[3 minutes of fame]

Yes, it would be quite impressive if the Fairlie could traverse that track, it would probably meet itself coming back though!

I've printed off some of the less extreme curves, and I can certainly see a use case for them. I am going to redesign the point, to make it less toy like, but I do see a micro layout in the offing..

Regarding the Fairlie, it's a blow up of an 0-16.5 design, and will have a scratch built chassis with a couple of PDF Models motor gearboxes. It's printed on a modified Ender 3V2 printer, which minimises the lining effect, and uses Simplify 3d commercial software with surface ironing to give a really good finish. The model has a few gremlins in terms of poor geometry, which I've had to fix, but there's a few areas it's been easier to fill post print. I'm about 45 hours into the print so far, with around another 15 to go, to do the roof and cylinder blocks. It will be about 1.2Kgs of filament once all is printed, plus a CNC machined chassis and detailing parts.

I have printed a lot of stuff in resin, including loco bodies, and the choice of resin is key. I remove supports to delicate areas pre final curing, while the model is still warm from the hot water rinse. This helps to reduce the likelihood of breaking small parts while removing the supports. I would say that a typical resin model is no more fragile than a similar kit built or scratch built design, but direct sunlight might make it more brittle over time, as photo polymers are not particularly stable! I use Sunlu standard resin, as it seems to over the best combination of strength and detail.

[drewzero1]

I was wondering if it might be this one from Thingiverse, rescaled from 7mm? I had considered attempting something similar except that I only want a single fairlie, and I promised myself no more locos until the line outside is ready.

From reading signs in a video I was able to find that the micro layout that caught my eye was called "Lunisolar Peat Tramway", but have been unable to turn up any more information. Looking closely at the turnouts I do recognize them as LR.

Lunisolar Peat Tramway

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I do look forward to seeing how that Fairlie turns out, especially if it's anything like the two previous examples presented here.

[3 minutes of fame]

A single Fairlie is on the list, so I need to work on adapting the Double Fairlie to create it. The chassis should work for either, and I designed the wheels at the weekend. For the initial build, the wheels will be 3D printed, but the aim is to eventually replace them with metal tyred wheels to improve the look and roadholding.

I do like the micro layout. I'm planning a double storey design, with the rack and pinion system to move stock between the 2 levels off scene. Couple that to some Binnie type tipplers and my plan is for a little mining layout with a circular stream of wagons emptying and refilling one another. That should make it fun to operate and view.

Theming is planned, but I'm not revealing that quite yet..

[-steves-]

This is the build for my double fairlie if you fancy using it for some help?


LINK HERE

[3 minutes of fame]

Progress has been a little slow, but the Fairly Fairlie has had a couple of coats of paint, and I've built a couple more bug boxes. Train colour is a little lighter than FR paint their trains, but not as khaki as the photo might suggest.

I am hoping to get the chassis designed this week, and possibly even cut. Let's see how it goes..

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[ge_rik]

They look great. A coat or two of paint really brings a build together. Those bug boxes look very tasty!

Rik

[3 minutes of fame]

A short video of the new Bug Boxes running, along with the Glyn Valley tram loco

[3 minutes of fame]

The Fairly Fairlie is coming along. I laser cut a chassis out of wood to check the fit prior to milling it out of aluminium. Wheel size might need to be increased, but they do need to be a little bit undersized to give more room for the bogie to swing.

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[-steves-]

Looking great so far. I have to agree about those wheels looking undersize, a quick fix I am sure