Atso

Sorry, I forgot the control piece. No AA applied here.

Thanks Richard, they're getting better now aren't they? Ok, Anti-Aliasing experiments for 2 pixels and 8 pixels (I broke the 4 pixel one!). The 2 pixel AA is on the left and the 8 pixel is on the right. A close up showing the lubricator wheels with 2 pixel AA, some visible lines around the lower part of the boiler. And again the same view at 8 pixel AA. The boiler lines are still there but much reduced and I think they'll disappear completely under a couple of coats of paint.

I'm not sure whether increasing the AA level will help or hinder but my initial thought is that, overall the two pixel AA is a good compromise between getting a smoother (but not perfect) surface and keeping a decent level of sharpness.

I've been playing around with the Anti-Aliasing upgrade on my Photon. First up an N Gauge N2 without any Anti-Aliasing applied. Not bad at all but the print lines on the boiler are a little disappointing. Next, the same CAD but with a two pixel Anti-Alias applied during printing. There are still some minor print lines visible but it is a big improvement. The Chitchu software will allow you to applie Anti-Aliasing to the outer 2, 4 or 8 pixels. I'll be running a print using 8 pixels today to see if it negatively affects details. Also some cruel closeups of my GWR County (no AA used here yet) to show the level of detail possible on an N gauge print.

I've been playing with the Anti-Aliasing upgrade too. The N2 body has had a 2 pixel AA applied to it and I've done another one with 4 pixels and will shortly be trying again at 8 pixels. Compared to the early N2 print above, it certainly does make a difference. No Anti-Aliasing this time but a set of cruel close ups of the Photon printed County. I've still got a couple of minor niggles to sort out but it is getting there...

Thank you Tony. Nick's locomotives are superb and are a real credit to his skill and ability. My own efforts are most certainly inferior to such brilliance. The N2 is one of at least three that will run on Hadley Wood and will likely end up sharing duties with an N1, N7, A5 and (the out of period) V1. Considering that around 40-50 locomotives will eventually be required, I am more than happy to run or adapt RTR whenever the trade produces something suitable. For example I am the proud owner of eleven Dapol A3s (around half 'in the works' being detailed/altered to represent various A1s and A3s) and five Dapol A4s. These are a major leap forward compared to the Farish and Minitrix offerings from years past but do benefit from some addition detailing and (in the case of the A3s) minor livery corrections. As my birthday is just around the corner, Kate has been pestering me about a present. Therefore today, she placed a largish order with Isinglass for various carriage drawings. Most of these are of ex-GNR prototypes but I've also asked for one of the essential LNER builds that isn't covered in the late Nick Campling's excellent book. After various 3D printing experiments, I've concluded that the bulk of these coaches would be better produced in etched nickel silver but I'll have to give the designs some thought to try and keep the overall weight down. Off topic, we spent this afternoon at the St. Albans Steam and County show where we found one Professor Watson and his one sixth(?) scale traction engine, Frederick. We were lucky enough to each get a ride with Tim and Frederick was kind enough to boil some water for an excellent cup of tea! Thanks Tim.

Sorry Tony, my comment was make with tongue firmly in cheek... The N2 is sitting on a proprietary chassis, a slightly modified Farish 4F. While the wheelbase is wrong, the front and rear driving wheels are more or less in the right place.

Not all of us "N gaugers" plonk RTR straight on the track Tony...

I'm not a GWR modeller either.....

A couple of bits from me. A modest redesign of my old N2 body resulted in it fitting on a Farish 4F chassis. While the middle wheelset is in the wrong place, the overall wheelbase is more or less correct. I printed another one overnight which has the 'U' bend and exhaust pipes for the condensing gear printed as part of the body with the two pipes running from the smokebox to the tanks printed separately. I need to design and print a new 'pony' truck for the rear wheelset as the leftover one from my V1/V3 tanks leaves the wheels too far back. The 43xx is an old project that I decided to dust off and make an effort to complete recently - still very much a work in progress though. A NQP Grange has donated the tender and chassis parts for this one (the opposite of what Swindon did!). I took this one to RailEx last weekend where it seemed to get some favorable responses.

Those coach ends look really good Mike. The domed roof end is a bit of a pig to get right - my own method works but is time consuming. Regarding warping, I've recently found that my best results have come from leaving the prints on the supports and leaving for at least an hour in the UV light box. While it has not cured everything, most things seem to be more willing to retain their shape. A couple of recent N gauge Photon prints from me. The donor chassis for the N2 is from a Farish 4F along with one of the Shapeways Versatile Plastic 'pony' trucks I had made for the V1/V3. Unfortunately (but not unexpectedly), when used with a different donor chassis, the trailing wheels are far too far back. I'll knock up a new design and see how that works. A GWR 43xx using most of the chassis bits from a Dapol Grange. I still have to print some replacement front and rear frame spacers to carry the cylinders and proving mounting points for the body... I've not updated the firmware on my Photon yet either but I am keen to see if there is any real benefit to using Anti-Aliasing. Edit: BTW I'm using 0.6mm diameter supports which are reduced to 0.5mm diameter at the head. I've found that this make the sanding of the supported area much less hassle.

I've been working on a couple of locomotives again recently. First up is an N2 for which I have adapted the CAD to fit a modified 4F chassis. I'm really happy with this as it is the first time I've managed to print a tank locomotive (or a tender body!) to an acceptable standard on my printer. I've used the trailing truck I designed for the V1; unfortunately (but not surprisingly) it puts the rear trailing wheels too far back so I'll need to design another one. Next up, I've recently decided to revised a project that I abandoned a little while back to make use of a spare Grange chassis I had lying around.

I'm in that boat as well - although it is still a couple of years until I hit 40! My own interest is the 1934-39 LNER period; despite the LNER having been dissolved some 33 years before I was born. I'm fascinated by the fact that locomotives and stock built in the 1890's (or earlier) could be seen operating next to the (at the time) latest innovations in design. Rather than a sleek, uniform look to formations, it is the variety of heights, lengths, roof profiles of stock and locomotives that appeals to me. The down side of choosing this period is that, being an N gauge modeller, most of the locomotives and stock required to present a decent representation will need to be designed and built by myself. While the RTR manufacturers might make my life easier by releasing more items that are appropriate, given the smaller size of the N gauge market, I'm not getting my hopes up - nor am I criticising any manufacturers as they are only displaying good business sense. Is the market declining as older modellers pass away? I'm so not sure. However, I do believe that, as the demographic changes, the market interests will naturally shift. All products have a lifespan and it will be up to the manufacturers (and clubs, exhibitions, magazines) to adapt and encourage new blood into the hobby. Personally, I believe that the biggest future challenges to the current market will be space and money. My generation is expected to be poorer than the previous one and fewer people seem to be able to afford their own homes (which seem to be constantly getting smaller). Maybe the future will be the further development of the train simulators. Why build a space consuming layout of a small section of a railway when you can have drive the entire network (and change periods at the click of the mouse) on your computer? However, I do not believe that 'traditional' railway modelling will die out but it may end up being a smaller number of self reliant people. If the market cannot sustain the current RTR manufacturing, maybe we'll see more of a swing back towards the cottage kit market in the future.

Thanks Carl. We've gone for using the Merg system and I think it'll be best if you speak to dad about the technical side of this. However, once the software is set up, it is quite easy for a technophobe like me to programme servos! When will it be finally time to exhibit? I've been working out a sequence based off elements of the 1937 Carriage Workings book. All I can say is that RTR offerings cover less than 10% of Hadley Wood's requirements if I'm going to succeed in presenting a reasonable representation of what happened in the 1930's. I've seen it stated several times that LNER built carriages only represented around 30% of what was operated during this period. Having spent a little time researching the various diagrams, I would say this is about right. Worse still, the excellent Dapol Gresleys only represent four types, all mid to late 1930's builds. I've not found a working with their buffet car yet - buffet workings were not that common at that point in time and the two I've identified used converted GNR carriages, which are much shorter than the 61' 1 1/2" LNER Gresleys. As very little is available as kits either, designing and building the stock to run on Hadley Wood will probably take many more years than the layout will! A consequence of designing a big fiddle yard, I suppose...

Thank you Tony. While I built and laid the track, my father is responsible for the electrical side of things. However, I have learnt a few basic things about servos and how to set them up. I've also learnt that it is very easy to snap the tie bars by having too much throw on the servo! On the plus side, I now know that it is perfectly possible to fix problems with the track down...

A little bits of a problem this morning. One of the servos decided to throw itself right around and broke a tie bar in the process. I've now done my first replacement of a servo and started to learn a bit about how to program them. The relays got wired up and programmed last night (I wasn't about!) so, once the repair was made, we spent a little time this morning testing the scissor crossing. The 4F used as a test locomotive did need a couple of the back to backs adjusted but this was done easily without having to dismantle anything. One of my A4s, Silver Fox, has also successfully traversed the crossing (again, with one tender wheelset needing a slight adjustment). Three Gresley coaches have also been tested under power but hauled by the 4F as there isn't enough track available to take them with the A4! Overall, I'm really happy that it seems to work.

There has been some more progress on the first board over the last few days. The first couple of servos are in along with some of the control circuitry - this is where having a father who is a retired electronics engineer is a big help! I've also made up some of the track for the next bit of track laying and started to size up what is required. None of the new bits have been stuck down yet and there will not be any track overhanging the board once I'm done! The three coaches have been getting used as clearance vehicles. They've also started to give me an idea just how big the fiddle yard will end up being...

So there is! Interesting, it doesn't appear when I look at your post on my phone... I'll been having a read a bit later.

Electronics are not my area of expertise (assuming I have such an area!). However, having helped operate a few exhibition layouts, I'm not a fan of micro switches - they always seem to fail at the worst possible time and usually at the exhibitions where the tech wizz isn't present! Therefore, I am using relays to change the polarity of the points (turnouts? What is the correct term?) on Hadley Wood. Actually to clarify, my father will be and (hopefully!) teaching me about such things in the process. Anyway, I hope that Tony will be please to read that I've finally started to lay some track!

Thanks Pete, To be honest, Hadley Wood was not my first choice for a location; that was Hitchin. However, to do Hitchin justice would take almost twice the space I have access to and the two closely spaced tunnels at Hadley Wood make it much easier to model a self-contained scene. Maybe one day I'll get to build Hitchin and incorporate Hadley Wood into a large layout.... One day.... My own interests lie more with operating (close to) prototypical trains and the scenic side of things is a secondary concern (although I will be modelling it as accurately as my abilities allow). I share your belief that it is better to make something several times and get it right than to accept something that will only become more disappointing as time goes on. I’ve attempted to build freelance layouts in the past but have never managed to progress them to the scenic stage as they’ve become too far removed from prototypical practices and interest has waned. I’ve found researching Hadley Wood very enjoyable to date and far more enjoyable than trying to make something that didn’t exist believable. In keeping with my interest in prototypical operation, I plan to operate a sequence to be able to tell a story of the kind of things that were happening between 1932 and 1939. The fiddle yard has been designed with this in mind to try and represent a cross section of the many trains that would have passed through Hadley Wood. The idea is that the fiddle yard therefore can be operated as three separate sections (outer kickbacks, loops and inner kickbacks) so that something can be kept moving in the scenic section while one of the banks of kickback sidings can be getting the another train ready. I’ll have to wait until I’ve got all the track laid and wired up before I can start assessing how successful the plan is in reality. I guess the trick will be planning the sequence around what can be achieved. Yes, it is complicated but, hopefully, I’ll only have to lay, wire and fettle it once! What location are you modelling? Somewhere very close to Euston obviously. Do you have a link to your layout, I’d love to see what you are doing?

Thank Richard, My inspiration was seeing how Little Bytham (as an operation) and Borchester Market worked. I'll keep you informed on how things develop. My biggest concern is pushing N gauge wagons through the point work but my tests so far have been positive. One thing I'm not looking forward to is checking the back to backs on all my stock. Dapol generally seem to be set correctly but Farish wheels can be all over the place. While the Farish stuff is usually fine using Peco (or other brand's) track, the slightly tighter tolerances of my hand built stuff leads to derailments until they are adjusted.

Things have actually progressed a little with some of the track starting to be laid! It hasn't all be plain sailing though, the "super scissor" is out! It was laid on Friday afternoon and following much testing and fettling, I decided to scrap it as it would have been too unreliable. I spent Saturday and Sunday mornings building a replacement standard scissor crossing (about five hours work) and got this in place last night. A couple of points feed it into the rest of the fiddle yard at at expense of around 10cm off the planned length of the loops. Pictured above is the work to date, three of the points are only roughly positioned and not fixed yet. The plan is to build the entrances to the loops and kick back sidings on this board and then everything laid will be wired up and tested. This won't include any of the inner kick back sidings as the entrance to these will be on the middle board and will only be laid once the final position of the points feeding these has been established. Hopefully, the work to date starts to give an indication of just how expansive the fiddle yard will be. Once I've finished laying this initial section, progress will slow as my father, a retired electronics engineer, is responsible for the wiring (and teaching me how it all works so I can repair it myself in the future!). I no longer have some baseboards and bits of track, but instead I finally have the beginnings of a layout! Even better, the test wagons an coach have been successfully pushed over the sections laid so far!

I've been asked a few times recently about progress on Hadley Wood. The truth is that other bits and pieces have gotten in the way along with days where I've not been able to do much (thankfully getting fewer in number now). As a bit of an update, I present the sum total of the fiddle yard track built to date. This represents almost enough track to start laying down the first few bits of the fiddle yard and around 25% of the total track required (both plain and points). Thankfully I only need two "super scissors" and I hope that they work as designed! Hopefully I'll be able to built another three points tomorrow as well as a few more straights and start to seriously think about laying it down.

Hi Mike, My experience is that the prints will warp again once they have cooled - even if put them into a light box for an extended period of time and if you bend them to the correct shape in hot water (I've not tried boiling water though). However, I have found that once primed, the prints become much more stable. I think that the resin continues to react with UV and blocking the ability of UV light to hit the resin goes a long way to retaining the shape of the print.

Oh no! I've never met Paul but we spoke (and bantered) on the forums regularly and he had been a great friend when I was going through some low points. I had hoped that this year would be the year when we finally met up but sadly now, not to be. Take care Paul, I hope that you've found a massive LMS layout up there.