Model Railway Forum

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:25 pm Do none of the companies that supply bits to make your own track have them or do they only have packs of 500?

Only bulk packs - understandable to be honest.
I’ll email Hardy’s, Modelu and West Hill sometime to see if they might add them to the range at some point in the future.
If they need an example, I have a genuine GWR 3 bolt chair in the garden.

You do a great service to members painting or weathering locos and rolling stock so perhaps somebody on here with a printer could do something for you Steve.

Great work there Steve - your eye for detail is very good.

My quest for rail chairs continues - I’ve pinged off emails to three main suppliers and will report what they have to say.
And yes, I did spend some time watching YouTube videos about resin printing last night - I think I know where that will lead.

From what I see on another forum 3D printing can take over your life.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:11 pm From what I see on another forum 3D printing can take over your life.

I am getting closer to disappearing down this particular rabbit hole.

I’ve only had one reply from the printers I contacted (but it’s early days) but coincidentally I received a survey from ModelU which indicates they are investigating supplying their 3D files for home printing which could be very interesting.

Have you looked at 3D printers? Hornby used to sell the Humbrol printer - appears to have disappeared from the shop, but Rails of Sheffield have it, considerably cheaper.

bulleidboy wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:10 pm Have you looked at 3D printers? Hornby used to sell the Humbrol printer - appears to have disappeared from the shop, but Rails of Sheffield have it, considerably cheaper.

I’ve started to look. Two basic types of printer - the Humbrol version melts plastic filament and lays it down in layers which tends to be better for larger, coarser prints (as far as I can make out). The other type uses a photosensitive resin to build up layers - these are the ones used by Modelu etc for fine detailed prints - that’s the type I am looking at.
I’ve been playing with some CAD software on the PC to see if I get on with it - it’s a bit like a gorilla trying to play a piano at present! Ideally i’d Like to be able to photograph an object then import the image to draw around - probably much better and easier ways to do it but that is the way my analogue mind is working at the moment.
Now if only I could find a way to convert a simple photo (jpeg) into an STL file.
I think I have reached the point where a little (minuscule) bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Steve have a look at the Platform1mrc forum. There is some amazing drawing and printing on there. Well worth a look.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:56 pm Steve have a look at the Platform1mrc forum. There is some amazing drawing and printing on there. Well worth a look.

I feel somewhat demoralised now I’ve looked over there.