Atlantic's works: Portable layout update

[kimballthurlow]

Congratulations Graeme on acquiring an iconic locomotive type, especially at the right price.
I have often bid and failed on a OO scale Long Tom at the auctions, but they always go for obscene prices.
Bird says of these engines "the time is now suitable for a considerable increase of the tracive capacity of mineral engines on the GNR ... and ....that the exceptional power of this class was finally suitable for the available traffic management of the lines."

Kimball

[Atlantic 3279]

Thanks Kimball. Maybe I ought to think about giving the poor thing some brake gear too. It has none at all at present, which might have been okay for my early 1870s 174 class, as first built, but certainly won't do for a loco dating from around 1900...

[Woodcock29]

I've also got an unbuilt one stashed away. The NuCast version of the Cotswold kit. I thought of maybe building it as the Q3 given that lasted until 1937 but we'll see.
Andrew

[Atlantic 3279]

Diverted from track laying by excessive heat and humidity in the loft, I've started "building" / re-building /"refining" a couple of those 3D printed Barnums that came my way in mid-May when I was too busy with other matters to make an immediate start on them. As is often the case, I'm finding that completion could be quite quick and straightforward if you accept the quality and details "as received" but it becomes a much more complicated and time-consuming process if improvements or alterations are attempted.

Mine still required installation of the partitions between the saloons and the toilets, which has involved plenty of work with a file to get a good fit, and plenty of clearing up of white dust afterwards. In fact the interiors as a whole appear to be a very tight fit (or not quite a true fit) within the space allowed in the bodyshell. I've also decided to reinforce the solebars and headstocks to make them stay as straight as possible. The printed detail is all lovely, but the material is brittle, so take care...

I have not yet worked out how it might be possible to slide correctly pre-shaped truss rods into place through the printed queen posts, past the V hangers and into the oblique sockets in the undersides of the solebars, without braking anything. I'll be looking for ideas.

[jwealleans]

I see Sir is tackling one on RMWeb. Given his propensity to break resin components, we might get some ideas about repairing the material before too long.

[earlswood nob]

Good morning all from sweltering Surrey

I have started a conversion from an old Cotswold (later NuCast) Q1 into a Q3.

The boiler has been made from two SEF J39 boilers cut and resoldered to the correct length.

I have constructed a plate frame chassis, in place of the brass lump which came with the kit.

The Q3 needs a new scratchbuilt cab, and a type 'D' tender. London Road Models do an expensive type 'D' tender.

The original Q1 boiler can be used as the basis for a R1 tank. I did think about using it for a C2 conversion, but it would need smokebox modification.

Earlswood Nob

[Atlantic 3279]

Thanks Malcolm. I sort of had my resin K2 boiler and cab in mind for the Q3. Maybe an altered version of my resin GN tender for both 0-8-0s too - eventually.

Sir, break things? Surely not?

[jwealleans]

Sir, break things? Surely not?

I refer m'learned colleague to Exhibit 1:

when I tried to open out the resin shanks to take the buffers' splines, they shattered like (white) chocolate

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/64295-wri ... nt=4870470

[Atlantic 3279]

Better to drill gently rather than twist a metal-cutting broach in the hole...

[earlswood nob]

G'day all

An afterthought: the Q3 boiler was a converted K2 boiler, so it wouldn't take a lot to fir it to a Q3 chassis/footplate.

Earlswood Nob

[Atlantic 3279]

Work on the 3D printed Barnums continues while heat deters me from further track laying in the loft. My personal pedantry led me to install some metal stiffening to compel floors and parts of sides to remain straight, and I've done a bit of fine filing / sanding to eliminate print texture and subtle waves from surfaces, then deepening any eroded or faintly printed joint lines by additional scribing. Seats so far are simply in red primer, table tops, partitions, inner faces of body, solebars, headstocks, and wheel centres in teak-brown paint. Bogies and underframe fittings are in black top coat already, but the bodywork so far is simply in slightly whitened, sprayed, Humbrol 113 "Rust" which I hope will be the right sort of pinkish brown to serve as the necessary base-coat for subtly grained teak finish.

[Chas Levin]

Nice work; my brake arrived a couple of days ago, looks superb. I don't think adding metal stiffening is pedantic - it crossed my mind too, as one of two areas show a slight bow. Neither is that any criticism of Mr Rose's work, it's an intrinsic limitation of the medium, like the surface 'waves'; swings and roundabouts though - look at the crisp detail you get!

[Atlantic 3279]

I agree Chas that the almost completed structure and the neat, ready-applied details of the as-received models adequately compensate for potential drawbacks that are attributable to the available material (and perhaps to conflicting requirements in the production process) which a relative newcomer to 3D printing cannot be expected to fully overcome using small scale facilities in the domestic environment, as opposed to an expert team working with a suite of technical and industrial facilities.

It has been commented elsewhere that the price per carriage is more than that of an etched kit, but... these models require dramatically less assembly work/skill, they include all of the normally visible interior features (do all etched kits?) and I'm not sure that any etched kits to build equally detailed Barnums are currently available anyway, so a comparison of prices isn't necessarily valid. I know that when I built my Jidenco pair 20 years ago I altered, substituted or added quite a lot, and even then I still had flat-faced solebars and 2D bogies sides save for the cast axleboxes/leaf-springs.

If I were being producing Barnum kits in cast resin (and I have no intention of doing so) I could include metal stiffening within the castings, but it would be a time-consuming task and I would not attempt to cast most of the bodyshell in one so the final product would probably have to sell for at least as much as Alan's and would require more assembly work. I wouldn't for instance attempt the one piece bogies, nor and underframe with all of the brake gear, dynamo and battery boxes already in place.

[Chas Levin]

Yep, fully agreed with everything there.

That's an interesting idea you mention though Graeme - including metal stiffening within the castings. I haven't looked at a lot of resin or 3D kits so far, but I've not seen mention of anyone doing that and it would seem to be a good way to build in rigidity: are some people doing that already?

[jwealleans]

Based on conversations I've had with resin specialists at shows, King's of Grimsburg are the only supplier offering this refinement, or were until the pandemic.