murrayec

Hi Aussie Phil Excellent, its looking fantastic. That mud looks like you have been digging out in the garden, so real murrayec

Hi BosKonay I just sent an email to John Hamil- 'Friends of the Fry Model Railway', I will post as soon as he returns murrayec

Excellent murrayec

Hi Dee You have probably done this 'ballingrane station photos' google search;- http://www.panoramio.com/photo/18810490 http://www.geograph.ie/photo/2351959 http://www.industrialheritageireland.info/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=333 http://museum.limerick.ie/index.php/Detail/Object/Show/object_id/22961 murrayec

Hi Nelson Here it is, it seems like a lot but after you read down through it, it's not. Its like all things- once you have a go, you find how easy it is! Silicone Moulds;- 1. Supersil 20 Silicone Rubber Parts A & B. - Mixed by weight 10 parts A to 100 parts B. 2. Weighing scales. - Try and find one that does not switch off after 2 minutes, it's a pain! 3a. Mould casings- I made these from perspex with a 10mm alu angle stuck on, this gives variable sizes for moulding in. Use a perspex or glass base to set-up on. 3b. Mould casings made from plastic card- fixed size 4. Pipette - very important for adding Supersil 20 Part A, don't try to pour it from the bottle 5. Vacuum chamber- not fully necessary, Supersil 20 is quite good at getting air away from the master. This was made from a lunch box and a medical vac pump, though the box is not rigid enough! 6. Plaster-scene for sealing the mould casings sides and to the base with a fillet on the outside - ensure the base extends well beyond the casing for this job. 7. A DART bogie mould and its plastic card master. A mixing container and spatula is also required- go for a plastic kitchen mixing jug its easier to clean- let the silicone dry and then it just peels off. Mixing thoroughly is very important- cut the end of the spatula square so that you can wipe the bottom and sides of the jug. Sit the whole thing on a level surface to dry- it will take a good 6 hours to set completely and then carefully open the casings and trim off the outside edges with sharp knife. The master parts should be well stuck down to the casing base, ensure there are no gaps under the master or the silicone will find its way under and the the mould may tare when taking the master out- you cannot repair a damaged mould, nothing will stick to it! Just start again. Store the moulds carefully in plastic bags, do not stack them, they will deform over time if stacked. Put the in a box like this;- Two sided moulds are possible but master single sided first. With two sided the plastic needs to be forced in with a syringe and this can distort the mould. I support the moulds with MDF backing boards and light elastic bands. When making this type of mould a release agent (ambersil Formula 5) is required between the pouring of the second side- otherwise you will not get the mould open- silicone rubber will stick to itself. Plastic Casting;- I use polyurethane plastic, its not as dangerous as resin, and easier to use 8. Easy Flow 120 Parts A & B. Mixing is by volume 1 Part A to 1 Part B. 9. Mouldlife resin pigment. Mix no more than 5% of the plastic volume otherwise the plastic will react and bloat, or be very brittle. 10. Asatone- for cleaning syringe and fine Delux points, n other things! 11. ambersil Formula 5 non silicone release agent. Not fully necessary but it does help to let the plastic flow over complex moulds. 12. Gloves. Are necessary- this stuff is toxic 13. Sheet of plate glass for working on, small mixing spoon, chepo kitchen measuring spoons, syringe, and Delux fine feed points. I made cleaning sticks from NS wire to push through these to clean them. 14. Chepo kitchen measuring cup, these came in the same pack as the spoons, I use these for mixing the plastic in. The dirty one is the maximum plastic I use at a time- you only have about 2 mins to get the plastic fully into the mould. Any longer and it will be a mess! 15. Pots to keep your pigment mixes in. 16. Spirit level to set the plate glass working surface level. Mix the plastic equal and thoroughly, you have less than 2 mins to pour, clean every thing within 5 mins with kitchen towel. I keep a small jar of asatone ready to drop the Delux points into and suck up into the syringe immediately after the mould is filled. Clean the Delux points with the NS wire immediately. With the open moulds, for larg parts I pour straight from the mixing cup, trying to keep a constant flow into the mould. Its very hard to get the plastic level with the top of the mould because of the air pressure- just wipe the excess plastic across the mould lightly with a spatula onto a kitchen towel or onto the plate glass. If you create a depression doing this just spoon in a few drops to fill again. You can always sand the back on wet n dry paper when the plastic has hardened. For small parts and deep stuff I use the syringe- place the point deep into the mould and push, try to keep the point in the plastic at all times. With the syringe and fine points you have only about a minute before it gets harder to push. Do not empty the syringe into the mould, there will be air there and you will just push it into the plastic and ruin the cast. After 2 minutes do not use the plastic, it will only be a mess. The plastic will harden in about 20mins, but best to leave it for about an hour. When removing the parts flex the mould first, carefully pull the edges away from the plastic with your finger nail and slowly work the piece out. murrayec

Seems to be working now Dave!

Hi Kirley Did an 'NIR 80 classes photos' - Search in google http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20L/Lisburn/IrishRailwayStations.html#Lisburn_20110514_002_CC_JA.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/87372073@N06/favorites/with/11581489234/lightbox/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/87372073@N06/favorites/with/11581525884/lightbox/ http://www.geograph.ie/photo/2781126 murrayec

Hi nelson It looks really great, as kirley says the timber has a great... magic As David mentioned earlier- plastic moulding is the one for making the job so much easier for the other 5! you wont have to cut out those curvy bits ever again.. I can give you a list of stuff if you like? murrayec

Hi David Those locos are stunning, everything is. I like the boxes, storage boxing is very important especially if all the fiddly bits are attached- the model will not go back into the manufactures boxes. I use 'Really Useful Boxes' with a home made aero board tray stuck with PVA and 4mm cardboard base, that lifts out, the locos n stock sit on their wheels in pockets, and I wrap them in a square visgueen sheet that aids lifting them out RUB's come in all sizes, they stack and are very strong murrayec

Hi rebelred Take a look at this, at the start is notes on opening up an 071, which is roughly the same for 141/181's;- http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/content.php/362-Installing-sound-in-a-141 Though look out for those handrails! It is best to take them off. When pulling the body up- remember part of the orange skirt is part of the chassis just under the footplate- hold it here and pull on the upper body Have fun murrayec

Hi As far as know sanders have been done away with because of the damage caused to the rails-n-wheels. Modern locos are all equipped with electronic traction control, though as Stephen says- 071's are obviously too old murrayec

Deadly What about that truck pulling out at 4:10!! murrayec

Hi nelson I reckon weather them, you did a great job on the plank wagon, go for it. If you do the same job on this it will be an amazing looking train murrayec

Hi Nelson Looking very nice, I like the use of wood. Now for the other 5! eaah... murrayec

Hi cg No, No- Broken 'N', Squinty 'N', & Bent Buffer- classic. Some chaps go to great lengths to do that! Love them all murrayec

On 3d model copyright control;- I somehow feel that the big boys would not be happy with a facility to download the source code for printing by subscription. Suddenly their would be and incredible amount of models available to print off and I reckon they would be based off existing RTR models or the big boys would believe so. This is when power takes over, a bit like what the music industry has gone-n-going thru! Microsoft and Mac promote their own media players and have resisted attempts by other media player manufactures getting onto their platforms- this is an example of the 'power' murrayec

Oh and... There are free models available, though you will find on the more complex ones- they have errors! I have not seen any passable model train models for free yet. Other thing on these free models is read the fine print, its like 3d modelling software or google- prepare or get your model you do not own the rights! the site you downloaded it from or the software you use does! murrayec

Yes Fran With 3d solid modelling, EDM, and CNC machines, the model industry has come on incredibly. They now have the facility to proof the proposed model in 3d computer models before the drawings go out to the manufactures EDM machine shop. Also with EDM it is quite easy to re-do the tooling after the drawing info is updated if changes are made. They also use high end 3d printers for proofing. The royalties are paid on the tooling manufacture, based on the number of units the tools will be used to make, and the manufacture holds the tools for future runs. The brunt of the charge for manufacturing a model is on the tooling, usually up in the hundreds of thousands of pounds for the like of Hornby & Bachman models. Of course with the big boys- all things are negotiable BosKonay Design companies who specialise in tool design do get royalties. It is a huge industry- injection moulding is used in nearly every product for sale! I looked at getting a few books on the subject and was stunned to find the cost in the region of £500.00 to a couple of grand! murrayec

BosKonay If I was commissioned to do a 3d model of say an A Class, the charge would be in the region of €xxx.xx, as Glenderg points out- if I issue the file to someone for printing, its out in the free world, I have no more control of it. Anyone can print from it, even people that will charge for prints- that's not right, I should be entitled to some fee but I cannot 'control' that any more. murrayec

Hi purple Delta arm printer- cool Looking forward to seeing the buffer stops murrayec

It is a great idea, but it will have problems- the main one is how can a producer of a 3d model control how many prints are made from the 3d file! CJ Ward quote for producing a 3d model, if I remember correct its about £300.00 to do this and then they will quote for printing each model. ShapeWays buzz is printing for you from a file and you pay for each print- copyright control by holding onto the file, just issuing prints. Some clever programmer will come up with an interface program that a purchaser of the file can only print what's paid for and then the file is deleted or locked. murrayec

Excellent Glenderg Every time I see photos like that, I think how scarce paint was in CIE! murrayec

Cool garfieldsghost I must get the kits down out of the attic and I'll be ready... murrayec

Hi purple How's it going with your machine, have you anything to show us? The other thread came to an end! I trained people in 3d modelling, most had 2d drawing skills to start with and it took them about a year to hone the skill. Key thing is been able to see the thing in 3d in the head and then translate it into a 3d model on the computer with the sometimes non intuitive tools of the program their using. murrayec

Nice one Fran Nothing wrong with those modelling skills, when I saw that post first I bought a few of the kits, stored for a DARTless day of making! What exactly needs to be done with plastic card and a craft knife to make this kit Irish? murrayec