Graham's Workbench

[irishthump]

On 15/8/2025 at 7:17 AM, David Holman said:

That looks very good. Any chance of a more detailed breakdown of construction? For example, what are the blocks that the rollers are mounted in? Daft enough as I am, to model in three gauges (21, 32 and 36.76mm), looks like there is potential to create a multi gauge rolling road using your method.

Construction wise I simply removed two of the longer steel rods from the pot stand then used the small plastic feet to fix them to the plywood.

I’m I used epoxy as it allowed me some time to adjust the fit of the rollers perfectly. I reckon it will hold as I don’t expect it to be subject to much force.

I then drilled and tapped a small hole in the end of each rod to take a small set screw for attaching either wire or crocodile clips. 

[irishthump]

Picked up one of @Past-Avenue’s lovely 3D printed 30 ton brake vans at the last Bray show.

I opted for an unpainted version which came supplied with decals. It really is an excellent print with a very smooth finish that takes paint very well.

I used a more of a brown bauxite colour (Tamiya XF68) which is less red than some models I’ve see but I’m happy enough with it. It will be heavily weathered anyway.

While the decals were fine, I just couldn’t get the wasp stripes to work. Sorry Enda! So I opted for hand painting them, I think it looks ok. 
I also removed the NEM coupler pockets. The molded ones are spot on, I just prefer to mount coupler boxes on my stock.

The finished product, sans weathering.

 

Edited September 6 by irishthump

[Past-Avenue]

That turned out really well and it will even look better when you weather it.

It's nice to see someone been able to finish a model that you have to look twice at it to see if it's a model or the real thing. 

Well done Graham and thanks. 

Enda 

[irishthump]

1 hour ago, Past-Avenue said:

That turned out really well and it will even look better when you weather it.

It's nice to see someone been able to finish a model that you have to look twice at it to see if it's a model or the real thing. 

Well done Graham and thanks. 

Enda 

Like I said the finish on the model was excellent, it took the paint really well. 
I’ll be honest, I was expecting a much rougher finish so I was very impressed.