Fran

The roof truss designs below are roughly 300mm wide, based on OO scale this would mean the building/ engine shed would be 75' wide? I know that some buildings would be that wide but I imagine the design would be more 'industrial/commercial' these look that they're agricultural/domestic style. Does anyone have a links specifically railway building design that I maybe able to imitate? My other concern is that the spars may get too thin, they're currently 2mm. Maybe a truss style roof isn't the way to go for a model building.

My first time to visit a Model Railway show/event and I was very impressed. The trouble that different clubs and individuals have gone to with their layouts was very impressive, with clubs from all over the country in attendance. There seemed to be a lot of people milling around but not to many to hinder getting a go view of the layouts or the stalls. Above is a map of the event, the rooms/areas were nice and bright and not cramped, I didn't know what to expect but it I was pleasantly surprised by the whole event. Loved the humour of this partial shot of the layout, this one featured running water with one of the builders was saying that they were going to add anglers at some stage??? The detail in this and many of the other layouts was extraordinary for my untrained eye. This European tramline combining the 4 seasons in a single layout, along with a park with cyclist pedalling around in circular route and all to scale... I did like that. Below are a few pictures from the event. This layout is sponsored by Tayto

Thanks for the heads up, apologies I didn't see your reply. I see they use a UV printing, it would be nice to have that kind of machine at my disposal. It would certainly speed up the process. The laser cut edges are the biggest drawback on the items that I've done, it might be possible to mask/disguise them if it was a building... there's no hope on a container.

Thanks for the input @jhb171achill and comments @Galteemore and @Jarl , I need to perfect my technique and expand my range before even considering ... It is cool that you consider that the gate is good enough. Thanks for the encouragement.

I made a few modifications/compromises to allow for the small scale and changed the filament colour to silver/grey, there's a little clean up required but it's getting there. Working in 1/32 seems to be easier but I imagine the skillset will be more honed working at OO

Thanks to all for the feedback, I was hoping that there was a little wriggle room (artistic license) and this seems to be the case. After this tentative 'dipping the toe in the water' it makes me admire the patience and skills that you 'layout builders' have.

Being new to scale modelling I'm still trying to my head around producing every day objects to OO scale. With trains, carriages and tracks being mass produced to this scale, along with other items, this appears to make life easier in creating a layout. A couple of weeks ago I tried laser cutting a 'Sunburst' gate out of 3mm MDF, this was successful to a degree but not true to scale as it's to thick. I thought that I'd give 3D printing a try and designed a farm field gate 12' wide x 4' high, in real life the galvanised tubes are 48-50mm diameter which is 0.6mm at OO scale. The printer did manage to create them (gates under the ruler) however they aren't particularly good with stringing even after 2 attempts. I made the gates slightly thicker ( 0.8mm picture above the ruler) they're better and a little more 'rigid'. Maybe a gate is a bad example to choose but if there's houses, farms or industrial estates in a layout, surely these can be separated by fencing? Stone and brick walls or a hedge line might be a better option? Is it generally 'OK' to take 'artistic license' and be practical to make sure the item is fit to be used or is it 'best practice' to stay true to scale? Ultimately it's down to the builder, however, there's no point in getting into bad habits when starting on this journey.

The angle of the photo and depth of material is deceiving, the bars are hairline thin. I don't have any 1mm MDF but I do have some heavy card. "How thin can you go???" the latest IRM challenge

Just to experiment and to see have fine my laser can cut, I tried using the same file as I used above reduced down to 40mm wide. I'm very surprised at the result, it has cut it successfully even though I push out some of the middle elements. I thought it was just going to be a burst mess. The fact that the material is 3mm MDF must have helped to give it a little strength. Every day's a school day.

Here's a second attempt using this lamination technique, this time using pva to secure the print mdf before cutting, using hi-res image is a must as the print quality isn't great.

Being a newbie and not a true modeller (I apologise for that remark especially on this forum) I don't necessarily work to a set scale, it's usually sized to suit myself, however, that is probably about to change the more I learn and find out about modelling. The model in the picture is 300mm wide as it's more of a display piece rather than having to fit in a certain scene/layout. If my understanding of 4mm scale is right, assuming a gate is approx 4' high a scale gate would be 16mm high? Wow, that is small, a laser can cut very file details but I'd imagine the finished item would more flimsy that a paper doily.

I'd still think a small inquisitive lamb could get out though . The next time I'm passing I'll call in, the biggest thing will be remembering to measure it as it's lying against the side gable of the house and not immediately visible when you drive up. Here's the picture of the plan that I traced. You have got to love the shading and the additional detail, in my view it's a piece of art. On my traced drawing it's 200mm between vertical uprights and 94.677mm between the horizontal bars but with it being a vector drawing I did scale so that I had one even number.

My friend has two of these, mind you he does live on/close to the Dundalk/Greenore railway route. This one is the better of the two and in great condition, even though it's had no attention. I'd be tempted to buy it off him if I had a field that needed a gate

Traced from an original drawing the gate is laser cut in MDF. Such a simple yet elegant design.

Agreed, the edges do stick like a sore thumb compared to the level of finish I see on here and the scale and texture of the roof is not great. It's a starting point though. Thanks for the heads up, a 'nude' building with it's 'clothing' falling around it wouldn't be a good look. That's another technique I need to try out along with etching timber cladding and dry stone walls. Thanks to all for the feedback, the journey along this model building learning curve is underway.