Hello from Bridgnorth, Shropshire.

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Hello from Bridgnorth, Shropshire. I've been dabbling in G scale for about 20 years, off and on, and lurking about in the background of this forum gathering ideas for a while now.

I thought now would be the best time to finally break cover as I've just finished my first loco 'Gerontius'. It's scratch-built on a Toy Train chassis, mainly 3d printed but with a few of the fixtures and fittings coming from GRS and Walsall Model Industries. This is actually Gerotius Mark 3. The first incarnation was built about 11 years ago and based on a Occre 'Der Adler' 2-2-2. I couldn't get it to run correctly, so the Toy Train chassis was purchased and the loco rebuilt to give it a form similar to that of the Shopshire and Montgomeryshire Railway's 'Gazelle'. In this form it spent 10 years in a cupboard while I travelled the world, only recently being dug out and rebuilt again into its current form. Only the boiler fittings, nameplate and builders plate remain from the original locomotive.

20230526_151216.jpg

I've modeled in N and OO-9 but have always preferred the larger scales. I've had an idea in my head for a good few years to use 1/24th scale with G track to model a scale 3' 6" gauge system. I splashed out on a 3D printer back in October and have been beavering away making wagons, a carriage and the aforementioned locomotive since then. My plan is to create a grotty, post colonial railway filled with rust-bucket locos and rolling stock like you'd find populating the pages of a Colin Garratt picture book. Some of the wagons are 100% 3D printed, some have bodies made of cardboard with 3D printed chassis and detail parts. I can upload pictures and give hints and tips about their building for anyone that is interested.

It is my intention to do everything on the tightest of budgets, hence all the 3D printing, the cardboard and the using of second hand bits found at the back of cupboards.

My next task is to build a layout for all this stuff to run on. Now, as I said, the budget is tight, so I don't really want to go spending £80 a pop or more on points. Therefore, if there are any members of this forum who might be able to give me a few tips on building track (especially points) that would be a big help. In return, I'm sure I could give 3D printing novices some helpful tips.

Thanks very much,
Ben.
 
Welcome to the forum Ben.

I do like that Loco too....
 
Welcome to the forum Ben, we go months without a mention of G Standard Gauge, then 2 of you magically appear within days.

Your super job has a very Y7/8 ish to look it. My thoughts due to the cab style are Y7, I presume that was your guiding line? The two types are easily confused till you see pictures next to each other, the Y8 is noticeably smaller. I have a Y7 that I scratch built in 0 gauge back in the late 70’s. But the picture below of my Gauge 1 Y8 and my (sic) gauge 1 wagon fleet should show the similarity between the two. My Y8 was a cheep impulse purchase at Garden Railway Specialists and is battery powered (note the switch), I have looked at making it Radio Controlled and it should be possible. This could be a way for you or at least battery powered if you print your own track, metal 3d printing beyond mere mortals just now! My 3 wagons have been cheep 2nd purchases at shows.

Good luck with your efforts and keep us informed with pictures please.
IMG_7254.jpeg
 
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Thanks, Gizzy!

Hi Dunnyrail,

How do I view the picture of your Y8? I can't see it.

You're quite right! I did use drawings of a Y7 and a Y8 to get some idea of the design. I intend all my locos and rolling stock to be freelanced, but I have to start from somewhere to get an idea of basic dimensions.

The loco is battery powered using three Li-ion batteries and an RC Trains controller and receiver. With battery power plastic track won't be a problem. I'm not sure how 3D printed rails will hold up outside, though. I think I'll purchase rail and then attach it to wooden sleepers. Building the points will be the problem. I'm wondering if there's a template I could download, or if someone on here has one...?

Next out of the workshop was going to be an 0-6-0 tank based on a New Zealand F class (I like the shape of the tanks), but I impulse purchased a Lionel G scale 2-8-2 Polar Express loco off E-bay the other day. I thought maybe I could bash the chassis into something resembling a Chilean Nitrate Railways 4-8-4 tank. I'm now worried that this chassis will either be woefully under-powered or all the gears will strip when I put any kind of load behind it (or both). We shall see.

Here is a picture of the Chilean tank:
https://flic.kr/p/2jxPWuG

Here is a side view of the loco to give you more of an idea of its Y7/Y8ness:

20230526_151336.jpg

Thanks very much.
All the best.
Ben.
 
Ben-Taylor said:
Thanks, Gizzy!

Hi Dunnyrail,

How do I view the picture of your Y8? I can't see it.

You're quite right! I did use drawings of a Y7 and a Y8 to get some idea of the design. I intend all my locos and rolling stock to be freelanced, but I have to start from somewhere to get an idea of basic dimensions.

The loco is battery powered using three Li-ion batteries and an RC Trains controller and receiver. With battery power plastic track won't be a problem. I'm not sure how 3D printed rails will hold up outside, though. I think I'll purchase rail and then attach it to wooden sleepers. Building the points will be the problem. I'm wondering if there's a template I could download, or if someone on here has one...?

Next out of the workshop was going to be an 0-6-0 tank based on a New Zealand F class (I like the shape of the tanks), but I impulse purchased a Lionel G scale 2-8-2 Polar Express loco off E-bay the other day. I thought maybe I could bash the chassis into something resembling a Chilean Nitrate Railways 4-8-4 tank. I'm now worried that this chassis will either be woefully under-powered or all the gears will strip when I put any kind of load behind it (or both). We shall see.

Here is a picture of the Chilean tank:
https://flic.kr/p/2jxPWuG

Here is a side view of the loco to give you more of an idea of its Y7/Y8ness:

View attachment 314067

Thanks very much.
All the best.
Ben.
Click to expand...
Oops sorry Ben forgot to add it to the post, now been added.

Home made track can be a bit of an issue, I found it barely worthwhile for plain line. The savings are certainly with points. As for a template hm, I just made a jig out of chipboard with wood thinner than sleepers to hold sleepers in place then used a cut out ply template for my chosen radius and joined things up with straight lines to get a mark for where rail would go.

I did use brass Bonds 7 shaped pins (not available now?) to attach the rail to wooden sleepers but this became a real problem in time as they pushed out with wet and dry cycles outdoors. Better to use steel pins as they rust into the sleepers, but then the pins eventually rust away.

Another method I have used with more success is to drill 2 holes in the sleeper each side then pass some old mains wire U shaped bits through, if you drill right through the jig they can pass into this as well. Solder rails to the U then when point finished take from jig and bang surplus wire into sleeper, this keeps the thing solid. Someone who used to supply track to Garden Railway Specialists used this method so I copied it.
 
Welcome to the forum Ben. Read up on Igor's threads, he's in the process of building a mega wheeled loco
 
Ben welcome to the forum :)
 
Welcome on board. I admire your ambition to kitbash a 4-8-4T as your second model but your first one is so good I'm sure you're in with a chance! What kind of curves do you have? You may have to articulate the 8 wheel bit, or use flangeless middle wheel(s). Not sure about cardboard for the wagons outdoors, could you not use plasticard?
 
Thank you for the kind comments everyone.

Dunnyrail: Thank you very much! This is top advice. I shall look further into jig construction, especially with points. Thinking about it, I could probably print a jig.

Paul M: Yes. I saw Igor's thread before about building a model of the Russian 4-14-4. Most interesting! The chassis I'm using has bald flanges on its two centre wheels, so hopefully it will be okay. When I start the build, I'll open up a thread in the scratchbuild / bash section of the forum and keep everyone posted. The 0-4-0 loco was very much a bodge; I had to print the entire body twice because I balleds up the painting the first time round and I had terrible trouble fitting all the electronics into it. I am now a dab hand with a razor saw!

I don't have any curves on my railway yet as I only have about 10 feet of track set up in my spare room, but when I do get to building a line, I'm going to try to go no tighter than four feet radius. I've already fitted wire extensions to the buffers of my stock to negate against buffer lock and aid shunting maneuvers around sharper curves.

The cardboard for the wagons I've built so far is first sprayed with filler primer, then sanded. It is than sprayed with filler primer and sanded again, then sprayed with normal primer. The primed 3D printed parts are then added and then the whole lot is given two coats of the top coat colour. This is then sprayed with gloss varnish, then matt varnish and then weathered. The whole lot is then finished off with another coat of matt varnish. As you can see, the wagons are more paint and varnish than they are cardboard. I don't intend on leaving the wagons out 24/7, so this will hopefully protect sufficiently against any weather, but we shall see. Plasticard would be a more sensible option, but it's rather expensive, especially in 4mm thick A3 sheets, which is what these wagons are made from.

Here are the wagons in question:
20230528_191436.jpg
20230528_192314.jpg


Thanks very much.
All the best.
Ben
 
Hello and wellcome from the other side of the G scale size world, ok Much wenlock ! ...Nice 3d printing, may need to pop over and get a tutorial from you.... Do you know about the layout being built over near stanmoor Park ?????????? came across a coupl of weekend ago at that concrete oddities sales place...ideal place to run your great creation.
 
3d printed track can work, just choose the right material.

here’s something a friend has done, there should be some files linked in the description for you to try


for the track, could you borrow or buy some second hand track/points draw it up and then resell afterwards?

also great work on the modelling so far.

Dan
 
dunnyrail said:
Hm my Y7 picture now added a couple of times, hope it can now be seen in post #3.
Click to expand...
Yes! I see it now! What a beauty! That's the level of model making I need to attain. Following on from what I've written previously, I've seen a fellow on YouTube that's built a model of one of these from card in O gauge. Even the chassis is card. Amazing!
 
a98087 said:
3d printed track can work, just choose the right material.

here’s something a friend has done, there should be some files linked in the description for you to try


for the track, could you borrow or buy some second hand track/points draw it up and then resell afterwards?

also great work on the modelling so far.

Dan
Click to expand...
That's a good idea about making templates from second hand track. I think I'll have a go at that.

Thanks for the video. That can be my evening's viewing tonight.

Many thanks.
All the best.
Ben.
 
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