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Hi All, As I have mentioned previously elsewhere on this site, for some time now eye problems mean that I have difficulty in building things from scratch so have taken to 3D printing to over come this especially if I need multiple identical items. Unfortunately I have yet to invest in my own 3D printer so have been using the services of a company called Shapeways, who's "local" base is in the Nertherlands. However, they do print in Bronze, Brass and other metals which I could not do at home. At the moment I am currently working on: A Hudswell-Clarke Industrial loco body for a Hornby Toby chassis;Replacement bogies for a LIMA Torpedo/Transformer wagon;Stanton XXXX Ladle Wagon an internal wagon used in the iron and steel industry (XXXX being awaste product from the iron smelting process beginning with the word "s" which is also used for a colliery waste tip and a derogatory term which is why it is probably banned on this site);But I have successfully printed the following: Buildings etc. A War MemorialChirk Signal Cabin, Main (up) Station Building and toilet block, Dowen platform building and Goods Shet; 009 Gauge (1:76 or 00 narrow gauge) Three types of Couplings for 009 Locomotives with NEM pockets;009 Couplings for a KATO N gauge chassis;009 GVT Centre Door Saloon body;009 Small Ruston Hornsby Loco Body kit with various parts to enable different variations to be built on a tiny Japanese N gauge chassis;;009 Sentinel Locomotive body kit with various options;009 Hunslet style chimney 00 Gauge (Standard Gauge) Replacement bogie for the Hobbyboss 1:72 scale Krasnaja Zvezda (Soviet Armored railcar) so that it will run on 00 (16.5mm) Gauge track;Interiors for the Hornby Short Clerestory Brake (R4914) and All 3rd (R4913) coaches (also used in other liveried versions);Camping Coach Interior for the Hornby Short Clerestory R4913Spacing Washers to allow Hornby Bogies to be fitted to Lima Coaches;Various replacement Buffers for wagons and coaches;Motor adaptor to fit a CD motor into the Lima 94XX/J50 chassis;GWR Tank Fillers & Tool Boxes;GWR “American” Bogies versions to fit Grafar(00)coaches, K’s Siphon F Kit, AIRFIX/MAINLINE/Hornby Siphon G and H; and Lima Siphon G;GWR Fish-belly Bogie versions to fit Grafar (00), Hornby, and Kit built coaches;GWR 9' Plate Frame Bogie to fit AIRFIX/MAINLINE/Hornby Siphon G;GWR Dean 6'4” Bogies with and without footboards with different fixing for various manufacturers coaches including the Hornby Short Clerestories;GWR Dean 8'6” Bogies with and without footboards for the Hornby Short Clerestories;GWR Dean 10' Bogie with different fixing for various manufacturers coaches,GWR Churchward Fish-belly Bogie- fitGWR 7' Collett Bogie to fit AIRFIX/MAINLINE/Hornby Siphon G;GWR 7’ Collett Bogie to fit Hornby coaches;GWR 7’ Collett Bogie for LIMA Siphon G;GWR 9’ Collett Bogie for LIMA Siphon G;GWR 517 class loco bodies for the Dapol/Hornby 14XX locomotive chassis;GWR 517 Smokebox Doors early and later types;Pullman 6 Wheel Bogie for the Hornby Railroad Pullmans.Parts to convert the Hornby GWR 28XX and 2884 2-8-0, locomotives to Oil burning, this comprises a print for the Oil tank and another containing the pipe and cab shutters;The Queens Coach from the GWR Royal Train;GWR Diagram S1 Tadpole (Bogie fish wagon);GWR Diagram S5 Tadpole A 6 wheeled fish brake wagon;GWR Diagram S4 Tadpole A 6 wheeled fish wagon;GWR Rectangular Drinking Water Tank Wagon Body;GWR Siphon J;GWR Collett 8 Wheeled Tender Chassis for DAPOL/Hornby Collett 4000g tender body;GWR Cordon gas tank wagon;NEM Socket for Ratio wagon bogies;GWR Spark Arrester for Bachmann GWR 57XX pannier;Replacement Chassis for Triang/Hornby Coke WagonGWR Saddle Tank Body For Std Hornby 0-6-0Cowans Balance Weight with lettering for Gornby/Triang R127 hand crane with number 7601;Replacement Coal Rails for Bachmann G86 wheeled chassis to fit Hornby LMS Sausage/Milk Van Chassis;6 wheeled chassis to fit Hornby GWR Sausage Van Chassis;GWR Diagram M17 Bullion VanGWR Diagram O4 Siphon (Low Roof)GWR Diagram O2 Siphon (Low Roof)Doors for LMS Diagram 1828 Steel Bodied VanGWR Outside Framed 8T Goods Van Body for Dapol ChassisGWR N34 Steel Bodied 21t Loco Coal Wagon Body for Dapol 21T Hopper wagon chassis;LNER ex GER Steel Bodied 20T Loco Coal Wagon Body for Dapol 21T Hopper wagon chassis;GWR N28 21T Mineral Wagon Body for Dapol 21T Hopper wagon chassis;GWR N23 21T Mineral Wagon Body for Dapol 21T Hopper wagon chassis;LNER 20T Loco Coal Wagon Body for Dapol 21T Hopper wagon chassis;GWR Diagram X9 MICA B Body for Dapol 10’ chassisGWR Diagram V32 TEVAN Body for Dapol 10’ chassisand even A replacement key for my Triang-Hornby 00 Clockwork Train set locomotive!

If you google "hope pit" and switch to images you will find pictures of most if not all the actual mine buildings Hornby based their model on. Some giving a really useful insight in to how they all were arranged. Hope this helps!

Slightly off topic, but sparks used top fly for exactly the same reason if you attempted to couple the old Triang diesel shunter to the Triang Hornby Pannier 8751 since the diesel used the same chassis as the pannier just the other way round!

Many thanks Fishmanoz

I think the nicest livery was the early paneled GWR livery and the LNER teak wasn't bad. The LMS maroon looks a little dark to me and I think it was a shame they did not do them in BR livery. The only problem I had with them was the couplings, although there is a mount for triand Hornby couplings if you turn the bogies through 180 degrees and remove the Grafar ones. However, as my GWR ones are almost mint, I decided to 3D print my own replacements with NEM pockets which look like GWR fish belly bogies.

Hi Mickky, The livery of the Hornby departmental coaches is a bit "modern" for the GWR who painted such vehicles all over brown with red ends. One option would be to use a Ration 4 wheeled brake coach (A coach of this type was actually used in real life). The GWR also had purpose build vehicles some of which are preserved at the Great Western Society's museum at Didcot see: and For my own tool/mess van I repainted a BR eastern region Hornby six wheeled brake 3rd (see below): Unfortunately I hadn't realized that the red widow frames were part of the glazing which is why they didn't get painted brown when I resprayed the body shell. If you are tempted to do this, please note that while the glazing for the side windows will come out, the guards end of the coach is actually molded in clear plastic with the "wood" being painted.

Can anyone suggest a suitable decoder to hard wire to a Wrenn R1? Many thanks Steve

If you are interested in seeing a real Coral, I recall there was one at the GWS museum at Didcot

I would go a little further and say flexible track is definately not for carpet layouts as it needs to be nailed down!

Given that planet would not need much pulling power, have you considered using a drive band rather than gears? A traction tyre from a Steam loco might make a suitable drive band?

Please can you tell me what chassis did you get and what make. as I have a Mainline Royal Scott with a damaged set of valve gear but also need to convert it to DCC.

A friend of mine uses stuff called "Bullfrog SNTO" which I believe is painted on. I have never used it myself but that might be a solution.

I think I had a similar problem with my first 101. The slop in the pins meant the connecting rods fouled with coupling rods. What didn't help was that one set of wheels were slightly out of gauge. I think a combination of re-gauging and bending the rods eventually got it working. Incidentally, I have just got over any running problems by replacing the chassis with a Dapol B4! but that was only to get more realist valve gear. The only trouble is I have yet to work out how to fix the chassis onto the body securely.

Got the first test print of the sl@G ladle wagon, but need yo correct a few errors. The wheel bearings were a tight push fit onto the axles so have had to open those out slightly. Also when converting dimensions to 00, I made the entire wagon too narrow making the buffers too close together (HO gauge spacing!) so have had to amend the hopper, buffer beams and buffer spacing. Now awaiting a second set of test prints. On a good note the buffers came out in brass perfectly.

Been going through the bit box and have finally managed to assemble a Matt Albert Hall although it actually has an X04 rather than X03 powering it. All I need is a suitable tender. I am also working on Kneller Hall. I have a body, a chassis but missing a pony truck and cylinders with GWR lining rather than the Alber Halls BR type which is more common on eBay. I have a Third X04 powered chassis from a Hall but not too sure what toi use it for

When I started there was just Hornby-Triang (though Triang had just been dropped) and Wrenn in 00 and Jouef and Fliechmann that were readily available in HO but the last two were prohibitively expensive. The first locomotive I bought myself was the Wrenn LMS 0-6-2T no 2385 for the magnificent sum of £7.45. I remember it distinctly as it took me the whole year to save up for it together with some money my Grandmother saved (she used to put a few coppers away for me each week to buy something while on Holiday). I remember counting all the 2p, 1p and 1/2p out with hardly any 5p, 10p and no 50p pieces at Pecorama. I think a packet of crisps cost around 5p then, so the 0-6-2T was equivalent to around 149 packets of crisps. It then took me another year to save up for 4983 Albert Hall except that my father changed most of the coin for cash - I think he felt there was more things worthwhile to do in Devon than to count out coins in a shop! Six months later I was able to afford GWR 101. So by the time I was around 14 I had just managed to get five locos not including my Dads 3 rail 0-6-2T which was plinthed outside the main station on my railway. So I think what I am trying to say is that model railways have always been relatively expensive.

Hi RT, I do my own 3D models and save them as an stl 3D object then send them to Shapeways to print. You would need to open an account with them to upload your own prints and order them. However, they do allow people to put their successful prints up for sale to which you can add your own markup for any that you successfully sell. Sadly since Brexit they have become quite expensive as far as shipping is concerned (I think their courier adds a handling fee). Hi WATB I've uploaded four prints associated with this wagon. One for the buffers, one for the chassis and one for the hopper, so the hopper would be tip-able. but I do not know if it would stay in the tipped position (I wont be getting the test prints until May). However, The fourth print (the one shown) is for a combined print where the hopper is fused to the chassis (it works out cheaper to print than the two parts separately). My hope is to build up a rake of three with fixed hoppers while the fourth is likely to be to be a wagon load (probably the test prints) Anyway thanks both for the comments and encouragement.

My latest 3D project is a Stanton Sl@G Ladle, these wagons were used at the Stanton and Stavely iron and steel works to transport waste from the blast furnace to the dump for later reprocessing. I am currently awaiting a plastic test print to ensure everything fits together and that I've got the dimensions right for the coupling heights and 00 gauge back-to-back. If it works I might get it printed Stainless steel (as shown above) for the extra weight.

Not so mad, the Rapido Titfield Thunderbolt sound fitted loco has dialogue from the film _ I wish I'd ordered it!

Regarding lights, having them on diesels is a "nice to have" but on a British steam locos I would say they are a restrictive hindrance and best not to have them at all (unless your model is a preserved one with the high beam spotlight on the front) My reasoning is, as many will know, that back in the day the number and position the lamps were changed to indicate the type of train. So unless you are going to restrict your loco to one type of traffic its best to have none rather than wrong - but that's just what I think. On that subject I've always wondered why Hornby positioned the illuminated lamps on the 1970's Duchess of Sutherland indicated a fast freight of Fish train rather than express passenger!

There can even be difficulties with what look like the same tenders. I wanted a small tendered Knight of St Patrick but couldn't get a spare 3500g star tender, so I bought a Railroad Hall with a view to simply swapping the tenders (in real life the 3500g tenders on the Hall were the same as the star. All looked very promising until I put it on the track and there was a short. Seems like the Star's and Halls tenders are wired the opposite way round!

Many thanks, I thin I will sort of play safe, I'll use the spares to create a running chassis but will need to find a non running motor bogie to supply the Keeper plate as I had removed the coupling which I now need, so will probably need to use the XP64s plate and be careful not to scratch the screws. Only thing is I've been looking for a non-running Lima 47 for about seven years now and each time I've bought one I've managed to fix it (usually an broken wire joint. The easiest to fix was a spares/repair where the dummy bogie kept falling off. As you may guess all I had to do was take the body off and slide the retaining clip back on, didn't even need to do a service just a very light oil!

I have just bought a virtually mint LIMA class 47 in the original XP64 livery. When I opened it I found a certificate saying that it was part of a limited edition of 290. The price was only around £10 to £20 over the odds for a standard 47 so I think I got a bargain! I am therefore wondering the best way to adapt it to run on my DCC layout without devaluing the loco? My usual way of dealing with Lima Diesels) would be to unsolder all the wiring and replace with a DCC chip, except I would then keep the wires so the process could be reversed with a bit of soldering using the original parts. Alternatively, I could use parts from my spares box, to hard wire it for DCC operation. Except I would need to use the the power bogie keeper plate/frame from the XP64 which thankfully only unscrews so is far easier to reverse. Many thanks for any thoughts PS did Hornby ever make a TTS sound chip for a 47?

It certainly looks as if the previous owner has added detail and picked out the injectors (the pipework under the tanks near the cab) in copper. Also has the top of the safety valve been drilled out. I also norice they have removed the couplings and some of their mounting blocks By the way 2744 was Deaigned by William Dean and built in April 1899 at Swindon Works. In 1948 it was based at Croes Newydd (84J) and withdrawn in Nov 1950 its last shed being Shrewsbury (84G). Hope this is of interest.

Turbo motive was basically a Princess with turbines so many parts of the original loco were the same.