60526 wrote:I managed to get along to Scaleforum at Leatherhead today and had a chat with BillB. Having seen the brakevan that started this thread, it's incredible how you can produce such a model with integral handrails etc, it may be uneconomical for a kit but it appeared to be an exceptional model. He also had a Gresley 63' underframe made by the same process. It is a sintered process, the finish is not the same as say a plastic injection moulding, but I would have bought one there and then, all the detail in one mould.
They should be available, to order, from my website in 2-3 weeks
I also saw the other coach frame shown earlier in the thread, but what caught my eye was a roof frame for a clerestory coach. If you could buy 4mm roof canvas then you would probably lay it over this roof section and let it dry and stretch if you get my drift. Ok, perhaps thin plasticard would do since I'm a 4mm narrow gauge modeller.
I've used ordinary 160 gsm card, which works well. The frame material will stand boiling water so it should be posible to use them as a former for thin plasticard.
Bill said something interesting, this has partly come about through modellers buying just his brass sides or top works of his kits and the dislike for solding the underframes? Bill should explain this better than me. I do tend to try and work to a budget with my modelling and I might be an example of what Bill described. I've got one of his Gresley twins and I only bought the body kit, I'm in the process of sctratching the base and underframe, but something is telling me that perhaps I should have bought the underframe kit. One day I am going to buy a Barnum, but the cost keeps comes back to me.
It's the way economics works. Ready to Run manufacturers are only able to produce a relatively small number of models and know that they can get a return on their investment. If modellers want something different, then these models are always going to be more expensive, either in terms of initial cost or the amount of time has to spent building the models. After a long time in the business I firmly believe that the majority of modellers would rather have a smaller number of working models than a cupboard full of unbuilt kits. So what I am trying to do is to change that relationship by producing much simpler kits or even R-T-R models at a price that maybe more than what modeller have been used to but reflects the ease of construction.
Bill, can you explain what the pre-grouping loco and tender on your stand was. I'm not sure if this was produced by the same process as the van?
It is a Somerset & Dorset Scottie, and yes it is a 3D print done of the same type of machine as the brake van.
Funny exhibition Scaleforum this year, I was more endeared to the trade than the layouts. Good to see a couple of layouts from North of the Border, but somehow Clutton the GW P4 layout won the most entertaining layout award, perhaps by running a Pannier as Duck with the face gave them some more points.
The Bristol Mafia get everywhere...........
