Mainly 3D Printed LNER Locomotives in N gauge

[Atso]

Some more lengths of straight track have been soldered together for Hadley Wood's fiddle yard and most have now been laid. I'm now reaching the end of the second board!



The five Gresley coaches and three wagons are already getting a bit lost in the overall size of the fiddle yard. The center two loops will be able to hold fifteen coaches, or (more importantly) at least forty five coal wagons as well as a loco. Once I've replaced the Rapido couplings with my wire hook/loop arrangement, I'm hoping that the distance between the wagons will close up sufficiently to bring the total to fifty coal wagons. The next two loops will hold the equivalent to twelve coaches (plus loco) and the next two beyond that will hold nine (plus loco). The outermost loops will act as feed/holding lines for the kickback sidings.

You may notice that the loop (currently a siding) nearest to the camera isn't as long as the other seven lines. This is because it will have two turnouts that will feed the inner kickback sidings. These are currently being built as a single unit.



The red box below indicates where this will be located on the trackplan.



In case anyone is interested, I did some rough calculations to work out the number of solder joints in view. Not including the beginnings of the wiring, there are approximate 3,500 solder joins in view in the first picture!

[Atso]

Well as usual, I've gotten myself sidetracked and have been playing around with this since Monday.





It is an Ivatt N1 tank engine, but is still in need of its condensing pipes and other details (once I've decided which loco it'll be) to render. The CAD is of a saturated version but I do plan to do a superheated one too. I'm also going to use this as a first foray into etched chassis design and construction, which will be interesting to say the least!

[Atso]

I found a photograph of 4557 near Hadley Wood in 1935 and so decided that this will be the identity of N1.





She's fitted with an older boiler with Ramsbottom safety valves and still retains the original GNR lamp iron arrangement. However, she had been fitted with plated bunker rails, a smokebox door stop and sheet metal shields to the cab by this point.

Next up will be working out the chassis arrangement!

[Atso]

A couple of days work as seen the start of the etched chassis concept. Nothing ground breaking, 2mm Association split frame system but narrowed for N gauge track and a direct worm and wheel from the motor.





How it looks with the body on...



...and the initial test print of the body (and a C12!).

[flying scotsman123]

I do think this is the best 3D printing I've come across, you can't see any print lines at all - and then I remember it's N gauge to boot!

[Atso]

I do think this is the best 3D printing I've come across, you can't see any print lines at all - and then I remember it's N gauge to boot!

Thank you, it's been a steep learning curve and there are still some things that aren't great but it is getting there.

I've spent a lot of time designing up a chassis to fit the N1. This will be etched and assembled using 2mm Scale Association split frame methods, but with N gauge wheels.





I've slowly been redrawing the 3D chassis rendering into 2D etching artwork. Why does it always take so long to work out everything in the flat!?



Needing a bit of a break from all the design work, I returned to a Worsley Works scratch aid for some Gresley 51' non-corridor stock.





I still need to sort out roofs, compartments, bogies, etch from other sources but the full third is beginning to look the part I think.

[Atso]

I've made some progress on the N gauge brake third.

[RBTKraisee]

I joined the forum because of this thread and the amazing work you've done there. Really jaw dropping work there - the designing, the 3D printing and especially the hand painting.

Your last post was way back on my birthday, so I'm really curious if you have any updates?

Thanks,

Ross.

[Atso]

I joined the forum because of this thread and the amazing work you've done there. Really jaw dropping work there - the designing, the 3D printing and especially the hand painting.

Your last post was way back on my birthday, so I'm really curious if you have any updates?

Thanks,

Ross.

Hi Ross,

Many thanks for the kind words. My apologies for the delay in replying, I've been job hunting and not very active on the forum. However, I have been modelling and offer the following.

First up is the GNR six wheel full brake.



Since I finished this model, I've changed my 'teaking' method - more on this later.

I've also been clearing down my pile of half finished projects...













...as well as being silly and starting some new ones!







These three are hacks and scratchbuilds.

The result of my new 'teaking' method using oil paints...



...and the revival of an old project using this method.



I really should get back to making track, but I'm not in the mood for it at the moment!

I hope this makes up for the long period of silence.

[Atso]

Some more work has been undertaken.

The Howlden lavatory third has been largely completed, with just the footboards and gas tanks to fabricate and fit.





I've also been working on an ex-GNR Gresley Dia 248D full third coach.





This coach will form part of the five coach Cambridge Buffet Car ('Beer Train') set. The Buffet is now being printed.



Yes, there are plates and beer bottles on some of the tables!

This is the original test print of the Buffet Car body, before I was informed of some inaccuracies that needed to be corrected.

[flying scotsman123]

Simply stunning work, and I keep having to check, this is N gauge yes!? The finish and detail of the 3D printing is one thing, but the level of decoration you've achieved is quite another.

[Atso]

Simply stunning work, and I keep having to check, this is N gauge yes!? The finish and detail of the 3D printing is one thing, but the level of decoration you've achieved is quite another.

Thank you!

Yes, it is N gauge. The 'teak' has been really enjoyable to recreate using oil paints. The lining has been done using a bow (ruling) pen and lined using Precision's teak base coat rather than a true yellow as it works better in this scale. Otherwise painting has been largely done using a cheapish airbrush and careful masking. Weathering on the wagons is a mix of washes and weathering powders.

[Jules]

Truly inspiring ... love your work! Thanks so much for sharing...

[RBTKraisee]

Wow. That sure makes up for the quiet period, Steve!

This really inspires me to do something myself. I'm a Brit living in Florida these days and I suspect there aren't a lot of folk doing UK rail systems on this side of the pond, so it would be somewhat unique.

I've started working on a CAD drawing of King's Cross station in London, so I'm trying my hand at this hyper-detailing approach for myself. I'll try printing the first parts later this week and make a thread here to follow the progress.

Best of luck with the job search. Can I ask; what sort of job are you hunting for?

Ross.

[Atso]

Thank you for the kind words guys.

Ross, I wouldn't call this hyper detailing myself as there is a lot of slight of hand in these models too. However, maybe I've been hanging around a few very gifted 2mm modellers for far too long now!

King's Cross would make a great model and I did consider it myself. However, the desire to model long freight trains hauled by 2-8-0 and 2-8-2s pushed me further north. My original plan was to model Hitchin as I think it is a very interesting station. However, this would have required double the space I have available, so I settled on Hadley Wood with it's short distance between the tunnels.

Paul Walker built an N gauge model of King's Cross many years back which I believe still exists. With a little compression, it fits in at around 10 foot. I've included a link to an article about the layout below; best of luck with yours. Do you have any images of the CAD work you've done so far?

https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/ ... n-mansell/

I'm no longer job searching as I've just accepted a job working for local government.

I love Florida and have visited Tampa a couple of times. I hope that you're are staying safe out there during these troubling times.